Author: Jack

The Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff reached a milestone in the 127^th game of the season.  That assemblage gave up its 258^th HR for the season and that ties the record in all of MLB history for “number of HRs allowed by a team in a single season”.   Please note that there are 35 games left on the Orioles’ schedule; it is a good bet that this pitching staff will set a new standard.  In case you are wondering, the projection is that the Orioles will allow 329 HRs this year.

Rather than mock the Orioles’ staff for its inability to keep the ball in the ballpark, let me use this stat to make a serious point regarding MLB expansion.  From a fan perspective, there is a real allure to the idea that MLB might expand to 32 teams putting 16 teams in each league thereby allowing for more balanced scheduling and limited inter-league play.  From an owners’ perspective, there is the allure of humongous franchise fees to be divvied up and possibly greater TV rights fees down the road as two new markets acquire “local heroes”.

Every yin has its yang, however, and the Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff is a great example of the “yang” here.  The Orioles are fielding the equivalent of a Triple-A pitching staff and that staff is being lit up on a nightly basis.  In addition to setting a record for HRs allowed this season, the Orioles have given up 805 runs so far this year (6.34. runs per game).  That is 68 more runs allowed than the next most forgiving pitching staff (Rockies).

Now consider that the typical MLB roster carries 12 pitchers.  If there were 2 new teams, that would create the need to find 24 more pitchers to play in the major leagues.  There are simply not enough quality pitchers available; adding two teams would be akin to adding two more “Orioles’ pitching staffs” to the major leagues.  I suggest that is not the path to the future that MLB should select.

The XFL 2.0 continues its trek to become an actual sports entity.  This week, the league announced the locations and the names of its 8 franchises:

1. Dallas Renegades
2. DC Defenders
3. Houston Roughnecks
4. LA Wildcats
5. NY Guardians
6. Seattle Dragons
7. St. Louis BattleHawks
8. Tampa Bay Vipers

The franchise placement strategy here is interesting by comparison with the late – but not lamented – AAF placement strategy.  The AAF put teams mainly in places where there was football interest but no incumbent NFL team (Birmingham, Orlando, Memphis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego).  Note that XFL 2.0 will have 7 of its 8 teams in markets where there is an existing NFL franchise and 1 team – in St. Louis – where there was formerly an NFL team.  I am not suggesting that the viability of XFL 2.0 will hinge on where the teams are located; clearly, its survival will depend on the quality of their football product and the amount of “football interest” that remains in the viewing public after the Super Bowl.

The draft for XFL 2.0 will take place in October 2019; as of this morning, the league has exactly 1 player under contract.  That would be former Steelers’ QB, Landry Jones.  The league will play a 10-game regular season starting in February 2020 with a 2-week post-season in the Spring of 2020.  The league is conducting test games with small colleges to try out some rules it hopes to implement:

• Forward laterals allowed:  This means there can be more than one forward pass on a play, and it would seem to mean that offensive linemen behind the line of scrimmage would be eligible receivers.  I will need a tutorial by the league in the early games to understand all the implications of this rule.  [I don’t know enough to know if I like this rule or not.]
• No PATs:  After a TD, the scoring team will opt to run a play from the 2-yardline or the 5-yardline or the 10-yardline.  If successful, those tries would be worth 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the scrimmage line chosen.  [I do like this rule.]
• Speeding up the game:  There will be an official added to the crew whose job it is to place the ball ASAP to speed up play.  Players who commit procedural fouls – offside – will need to sit out a play and have a sub entered into the game.  [These rules evoke a giant “Meh! From me.]
• Timing rules:  There will be a 25-second play clock and until the time of the two-minute warning, the clock will run continuously stopping only when there is a change of possession – – which will allow for commercial breaks on the telecast.  Instant replay reviews will be 30 seconds long.  [I like the instant replay time limit; I think I will like the continuously running clock; I wonder if 25-seconds is too short for the play clock.  These are interesting.]
• Special Teams Rule Variants:  There will be no fair catches; the league here will emulate the CFL on punt returns.  There will be kickoff returns in XFL 2.0 because the proposed placement of the ball for kickoffs is the kicking team’s 15-yardline.  [I’ll reserve judgement here, if I may…]

Let the games begin …

Finally, since XFL 2.0 is trying to look at football from a different perspective, consider this Tweet from Brad Dickson regarding the use of a different perspective:

“In Texas the oldest man in the U.S. has died at 112. He attributed his long life to a daily cigar & shot of whiskey. You know, I’ve been doing this healthy living thing all wrong.”

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

 

 

I got an e-mail from a reader last night chiding me for disrespecting current MLB players and the nicknames they put on their jerseys for Players Weekend this year.  Indeed, there were some clever ones mixed in with an awful lot of ones that elicit a giant yawn.  I like player nicknames where there is a cleverness associated with the creative process that led to the moniker.  Yesterday, I mentioned 4 such nicknames; let me add a few to the pile:

• King James:  LeBron James was anointed as “The Chosen One” while still in high school.  That plus the association of King James with The Bible makes this name interesting.
• The ‘Fridge:  One look at William Perry and you knew that he had paid many a visit to his refrigerator.
• The Microwave:  Vinnie Johnson was described as “instant offense” as a sixth man in the NBA.  Ergo, the nickname…
• The Minister of Defense:  Reggie White was an ordained minister – – and he played a bit of defense too.

I must admit that there were a few Players Weekend names that were clever and creative too:

• High Foltage:  Mark Foltynewicz used a clever play on words
• JDOT ADOT:  Perfect for J. A. Happ…
• J V:  Justin Verlander used his initials – – but he is certainly not a member of the Junior Varsity.
• Not Justin:  Perfect nickname for Shane Bieber.

Back in the mid-70s when the idea of putting player names on the backs of their jerseys was still relatively new, Ted Turner tried to use that trend to his advantage.  Turner owned the Braves at the time and he also owned Channel 17 in Atlanta which was one of the early “superstations” meaning it used a satellite link to make itself available to that new-fangled thing called cable TV.  Turner signed pitcher Andy Massersmith – one of the early free agents in MLB – for the Braves and gave Messersmith the number 17.  Then on the back of the jersey, he put the “player name” as “CHANNEL”.  Messersmith was going to be a pitching advertisement for Turner’s superstation.  The Commish put the Kibosh on that idea rather quickly…

I have another addendum to yesterday’s rant.  I began yesterday mentioning the passing of Jack Whitaker over the weekend; there was another passing in the sports world last weekend of a more arcane nature.  Jim Hardy passed at age 96.  Hardy was a quarterback in the NFL for several teams in the 40s and 50s; he holds an NFL record for QBs that no player after him has tried to break:

• Early in the 1950 season playing for the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals via the St. Louis Cardinals), Jim Hardy threw 8 INTs in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles.  As you might expect, the Cardinals lost that game 45-7.

Not to leave you with the wrong impression, Jim Hardy came back the next week and threw 6 TD passes – with zero INTs – to lead the Cards to a big win over the Baltimore Colts.  The man had a short memory…

Rest in peace, Jim Hardy.

T.J. Simers was an acerbic columnist for the LA Times; to say that he was in a cranky mood when he wrote many of his columns is about as polite a description as one might come up with.  I never met the man; so, I have no idea if that is his natural demeanor or if it is merely a persona he assumed when sitting at his keyboard.  I enjoyed reading his columns and was saddened to learn in 2013 that he had been “downsized” from the LA Times.  [Aside:  The Times has also parted company with another favorite columnist of mine; so, I have little empathy for their decision in either case.]  Simers filed an age and disability discrimination lawsuit against the Times soon after that downsizing event.

The situation is far more complicated than I described above; so, let me provide a link here to a report in the Washington Post about this matter.  This has come to the top of the pile now because Simers won a $15.4M award for damages from a jury in a Federal court.  Simers’ legal team is in a celebratory mood; the LA Times says it is “weighing its legal options”.

Finally, Dwight Perry had this comment in the Seattle Times recently about one of the off-center entries in competition:

“The Roskilde Music Festival in Denmark kicked off with its 21^st annual Naked Run, in which competitors wear nothing but sneakers, socks and maybe some strategically placed body paint.

“So, who needs the Running of the Bulls when you can have the Running of the Bares?”

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

 

 

Jack Whitaker died over the weekend at the age of 95.  He was one of the old guard in sports television.  I believe his first national exposure was on the CBS pre-game show for the NFL back in the 60s.  He was part of the program that featured a young Brent Musberger, Jimmie the Greek Snyder and Phyllis George.  He was also the TV voice for the Belmont Stakes the day Secretariat ran his historic race there.

Rest in peace, Jack Whitaker.

On “Players Weekend”, MLB allows players to put whatever name they want on the back of their jerseys – – within reason of course.  It might have been fun to have had such a weekend when some great players in the past had great nicknames such as:

• Mr. October
• Splendid Splinter
• Stan the Man
• Sultan of Swat

Oh well …

In NFL news, the league has reinstated Josh Gordon – seemingly for the umpteenth time – – and that is probably very good news for the New England Patriots.  A potential shortcoming for the team in 2019 is the roster of pass catchers; with Rob Gronkowski in retirement and Julian Edelman much closer to his mid-30s than his mid20s, the ranks of pass catchers is thin.  The Pats did draft a WR early in the draft and it would be a big plus for them if N’Keal Harry was an early bloomer, but Gordon – when he manages to stay clear of the league’s drug policy – has already shown his worth at the NFL level.  Last year, Gordon caught 40 passes in 11 games for the Pats and gained 720 yards; that is an impressive 18 yards per catch.

As if the Patriots needed a lucky break …

All too often, fans get themselves into a euphoric state when their favorite team starts the season on a hot streak.  Going even beyond the state where sugar plums dance in their heads, fans begin to envision a triumphant march for their heroes to something like the Super Bowl Championship or the World Series Championship.  More rational thinkers recognize the danger of extrapolating from a small sample size and manage to curb their enthusiasm.  This year’s baseball season provides one such example:

• At one point in April, the Seattle Mariners were 13-2.  No one would expect any team to continue to win 87% of their games, but at 13-2, some folks might have entered a rapturous state.
• This morning the Mariners’ record stands at 53-73; they are 27 games behind the Astros in the AL West.

The Mariners are a team in rebuilding mode; a record akin to 53-73 is not outrageously bad.  Any thoughts of “playoffs” or “World Series” back in April would have been a conscious denial of the roster that had been assembled for the 2019 season.

Last week, the Washington Post had a long article that tried to explain why there are no left-handed QBs in the NFL and there have not been any since 2017 when Kellen Moore retired.  Here is a link to that article; I am not going to come close to making all the points therein, but here are some of the highlights:

• Athletes who are left-handed seem to be aimed at baseball where left-handed pitchers can have long and lucrative careers.  This seems to diminish the number of left-handed QBs in the development pipeline.
• Coaches and GMs are creatures of habit.  GMs build teams with a strong left side of the OL to protect the blind side of a right-handed QB.  That would have to change with a lefty.  Coaches have playbooks that are designed for right-handed QBs in terms of how they pivot to hand off the ball and how they move to roll the pocket.  All of that had to be changed in a mirror image with a lefty.

Notwithstanding the challenges for coaches and GMs, it would appear that Tua Tagovailoa will be a prime candidate for a high draft choice in next year’s NFL Draft.  He will be entering his junior year at Alabama this year and in 23 games to date, he has completed 68% of his passes and thrown 54 TDs against only 8 INTs.  Those numbers would seem to trump any “mirror-image problems” for an NFL team needing a QB…

College football begins this weekend with a very abbreviated slate of games.  Florida will visit Miami on Saturday night.  Both teams feature strong defenses and the Total Line reflects that at 47 points.  The other Division 1-A game finds Arizona on a long road trip to play Hawaii.  The oddsmakers are not looking for a defensive struggle there; that Total Line is a hefty 74 points. [There are also 2 Division 1-AA games on Saturday.]

College football gets underway in a big way on the weekend of August 31.  There are a half-dozen Division 1-A games on Thursday night, nine more on Friday night, a couple dozen games on Saturday and one game each on Sunday night and Monday night.  T’is the season…

Finally, since I mentioned the Mariners’ fall-off in terms of win/loss record above, here is a comment from Dwight Perry that seems relevant:

“Mariners infielder Tim Beckham drew an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

“Considering he’s been hitting .211 since April 7, here’s hoping he kept the sales slip.”

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

 

 

DeMarcus Cousins had two things going against him as a “fan favorite” basketball player.  One was his short temper which made plenty of folks think of him as a spoiled brat.  The other was his size; Wilt Chamberlain once said about being as big as he was:

• Nobody roots for Goliath.

As Cousins aged, he also matured.  He never achieved Job-like patience, but he was no longer a guy with a short fuse.  He and Anthony Davis seemed to have a good thing going for them in New Orleans when Cousins tore his Achilles tendon.  That was in the middle of the 2017/2018 NBA regular season.  From the moment of that tendon loss until now, DeMarcus Cousins’ life seems to have been like that of the Al Capp comic strip character, Joe Btfsplk.  Everywhere poor ol’ Joe went, there was a rain cloud over his head and disasters happened all around him.  Joe was so unlucky; he did not even have any vowels in his name.

In the summer of 2018, Cousins signed a 1-year deal with the Warriors and after rehab and a short stint in the G-League to put him in “basketball shape”, he played in his first game for Golden State in January 2019.  Three months later, the playoffs were underway, and Cousins tore his quadriceps muscle rendering him hors de combat until the final series against the Raptors.

As a free agent this summer, he signed on with the Lakers on another 1-year deal.  That contract would pair him once again with Anthony Davis and it would augment that duo with the presence of LeBron James.  Yesterday, in a workout in Las Vegas, DeMarcus Cousins tore his ACL and may have put his career in jeopardy at age 29.  In the span of about 19 months, he went from “big man with a good outside shot” to “what will his next injury be?”

Looking at this from the perspective of the Lakers, Cousins was probably slotted to be a guy who could overlap with Anthony Davis to prevent too much “tire wear” on either of those big men.  He and Davis could provide a bit of “load management” for each other without having either one sit out a game.  If that was the Lakers’ thinking, the question now is where do they turn to get a replacement for Cousins.  Off the top of my head, I can think of several big men who are still unsigned – – but there is a reason that is the case in every situation:

• Carmelo Anthony
• Dwight Howard
• Nene
• Zaza Pachulia

I am sure there are other possible candidates for the Lakers to consider, but looking at the list above, I would have to say the pickings are slim.

Bob Molinaro has this comment in his column this morning in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Idle thought: If pretentious officials at The Ohio State University succeed in trademarking ‘The,’ the University of Virginia (and other state schools) should think about trademarking OF.”

And that is all you need to know about THE idea of trademarking THE word “The”.

There are reports of two new additions to ESPN’s coverage of the NFL:

• Ed Werder has been rehired by ESPN after he was purged/downsized/whatever about a year ago.  It seems that he will be ESPN’s man on the scene in Dallas/Houston – the role he filled previously for the network.  In the past, he had provided useful and interesting information – – albeit not mind-blowing insights – – when the light went on.  From my perspective, this is a good re-addition.
• Jack Del Rio has been hired by ESPN to be part of the studio analysis roster at ESPN.  Del Rio played in the NFL for 11 seasons; he was a head coach in the NFL for 12 seasons.  He is articulate and “outspoken” which means to me that he will be worth listening to.  I see him as Rex Ryan minus Ryan’s persistent self-pumpulation.  This could be an interesting hire…

Let me slide here into another NFL item that has filled space in the “news hole” recently.  According to reports, Dak Prescott turned down a Cowboys’ contract that was worth $30M per year and according to other reports, Dak Prescott is seeking a contract worth $40M per year.  From the outset, let me say clearly that none of those reports had enough evidence of whatever claim was being touted to call the reports ‘investigative journalism”.  Like all the commentators before, I too have not seen any of the Cowboys’ offers nor any of the demands made by Prescott and his agent(s).

There is another point to be made here as it pertains to NFL contract stories.  In addition to things like the total value of the deal and the average salary per year, NFL contracts have to be judged to some degree on how much of the money is guaranteed and how much of the guarantee is up-front cash-on-the-barrelhead.  None of the reports I read pertaining to the Cowboys/Prescott negotiations provided any information along that line.

With those caveats in mind, let me suggest an impartial view of those talks:

1. $30M per year is the going rate for franchise QBs these days.  If the Cowboys think Prescott is their long-term QB incumbent, that will need be a starting point for their contract offers.
2. $40M per year would make Dak Prescott the highest paid NFL player ever.  I think he is indeed the franchise QB that the Cowboys are looking for, but I am not sure he has demonstrated that he is so spectacular to be worth that sort of money.
3. There is a whole lot of room between $30M per year and $40M per year and plenty of time for the two sides to reach an agreement.  Once the season starts there will be “real stuff” to report on and these negotiations will not need to be hyped to fill space in newspapers, on blogs and on the air for sports radio.

Finally, speaking of salaries for pro athletes, here is a comment from Brad Rock in the Deseret News:

“Billionaire Warren Buffett told Sports Illustrated that Alex Rodriguez ‘doesn’t need me — he’s got a money mind.’

“Yes, well, the $378 million he made in baseball would certainly do that.”

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

 

 

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Gregg Drinnan – the former sports editor of the Kamloops Daily News and the current owner/operator/jack-of-all-trades at the Taking Note blog you see on my list of “Columnists I Read”.  He knows my affection for outrageous culinary offerings at sports venues – – and he also realizes that I might not be completely familiar with athletes who starred in the CFL and the WHL.  Here is the salient text of his e-mail:

“Chris Walby is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He was a terrific offensive lineman with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. In the early 1970s, he played junior A hockey in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Kildonan North Stars would put him in front of the opposing net on the power play and no one could move him. He was huge …

“This week, the Blue Bombers will unveil the Walby Burger.

“The new Walby Burger will be launched Thursday at Red Zone Grill locations behind sections 107 and 130. The Walby Burger includes six burger patties, six chicken tenders, six hotdogs, six pieces of bacon, cheese, pickles, lettuce, fries, onions, tomatoes, and a secret special sauce.  Limited quantities will be available.”

This concoction will cost $45 – – but that is in Canadian dollars so I guess that means it’s a bargain.  It is also billed as a “five-pound burger” which means if someone eats all of it, he/she will not need to chow down again for about 48 hours.

Based on the construction of that sandwich, you might assume that Chris Walby wore number 6 for the Blue Bombers.  Well, you would be wrong in that assumption.  Based on the contents of that sandwich, you might assume that there will be limited quantities because there is insufficient room to store all those components at the Red Zone Grill if 500 gluttons showed up and ordered one.  I think you would be correct on that assumption.  [Aside:  I started to calculate an estimated caloric content for the “Walby Burger” but my calculator overheated and went dark in the midst of the calculation…]

The NY Post had a report earlier this week saying that Stan Van Gundy would be leaving ESPN and signing on with Turner Broadcasting.  As of this morning, I have not found any other reports confirming that upcoming move, but the NY Post tends to be highly accurate when it reports on media-related news.  So, I will take that report as an accurate one.

Stan Van Gundy has been a presence on ESPN’s studio programming related to the NBA since signing on there about a year ago.  Turner Broadcasting does not do nearly as much studio programming related to the NBA as does ESPN; so, it is likely that Stan Van Gundy will do some – if not all – of his analyzing during live telecasts.  If he is as interesting in game situations as he is in studio commentary, that could mean a shake-up at Turner Broadcasting with regard to the pecking order of their analysts.  It also leaves a hole at ESPN that will need filling.

Stan Van Gundy is very good behind a microphone.  Keep an eye – or an ear – out for what his assignments are at Turner Broadcasting and for who might replace him at ESPN…

Speaking obliquely of the NBA, the league has become a financial driving force for the formation of something called the Basketball Africa League (BAL) which will begin operation in March 2020.  There will be 12 teams; each will play a 5-game schedule against each of the 5 teams in its conference.  Games will be staged in 6 cities around Africa:

1. Cairo Egypt
2. Dakar Senegal
3. Lagos Nigeria
4. Luanda Angola
5. Rabat Morocco
6. Tunis Tunisia

Based on records from that regular season, there will be a winnowing to a “Super Six” – the three best teams from each of the conferences made up of 6 teams.  The “Super Six” will play a round-robin format to cull the field to the BAL’s “Final Four”.  That tournament will take place in Kigali Rwanda.

Your first reaction to this sort of news might well be along the lines of:

• So, what…?  or  Who cares?

I think that may be a tad short-sighted.  The NBA – – like the NFL and MLB – – would love to attract more interest and fandom overseas.  There are pro leagues in China, India, Australia and various European countries, but none of them have the NBA front-and-center in their operations.  The BAL could be a first for the NBA and that could be interesting and valuable even though the African audience for the BAL – and presumably for the NBA after that – is not an audience with huge amounts of disposable income to lavish on a new sports focus.  The NBA also demonstrated a pragmatic streak here when it chose to partner with FIBA in the creation of the BAL.  FIBA has expertise in dealing with the highly politicized world of “sports governing bodies” in various parts of the world; FIBA can offer the NBA a lot of “grease” in that aspect of setting up the new league.

Last season, about 20% of the NBA players on team rosters were from countries outside the US.  In the NBA Finals, Pascal Siakam – a native of Douala Cameroon – played an important role in the Championship run of the Toronto Raptors.  The NBA may be looking to increase it player pool as well as its fanbase.

Finally, consider this comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Golfer Robert Garrigus has completed his three-month suspension for using marijuana.

“Which certainly puts a whole new spin on ‘getting up and down.’”

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

 

 

I wonder if a voodoo hex has somehow been visited upon ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.  Consider recent events:

1. Analyst, Jessica Mendoza, was involved in a “serious auto accident” on a California freeway.  The reports say her car was “rear-ended at full speed”; she missed one of the telecasts but reportedly escaped serious injury.
2. Analyst, Alex Rodriguez, was having dinner with some of the crew members after the telecast of the game Jessica Mendoza missed.  While in the restaurant, his rental car was broken into and the NY Daily News reported that about $500K worth of jewelry and electronics were stolen.

Play-by-play announcer, Matt Vasgersian, is probably spending a lot of time glancing back over his shoulder…

In reporting the robbery story, no one should be surprised that the NY Post took the nickname “A-Rod” and morphed it into “A-Rob”.  What is extremely surprising to me is that anyone would be waltzing around town with $500K worth of “stuff” in a car that they would then park on the street across from a restaurant.

Speaking obliquely about baseball, there are two “controversies” ongoing well under the surface of the games and the pennant races and the like.  The first one has to do with extending safety nets for the fans all the way down the foul lines.  I can understand some of the arguments on both sides of this one e.g.:

• Fan safety must be a critical consideration.  Incidents of fan injury are rare.
• Nets obstruct fans’ view slightly.  Fans can and will get used to it.
• Nets will reduce incidents of fan interference.  Fans will get fewer souvenir baseballs.

This controversy could go on for a while.  What I hope is that it never becomes part of any negotiation for a new CBA between MLB and the MLBPA.  The current agreement runs through the 2021 baseball season; let us hope this one is put to bed before those negotiations commence.

The other controversy has to do with pay for minor league baseball players.  Some minor league players are suing MLB seeking to be recognized as hourly employees which would set a minimum wage for them and would also then apply various provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act – – such as payment for overtime and things like Spring Training.  According to reports, the lawsuit alleges that some minor league players earn only $5,500 for an entire season.

Let me do the math for you here.  At a minimum wage of $7.50 an hour, a figurative “burger-flipper” would earn $5,500 in just over 18 weeks.  There is ample debate today about raising that minimum wage level; I am not going to get into those muddy waters here but please note that raising that if I raise the minimum wager here, that will reduce the number of weeks of work that the “burger-flipper” needs to put in to match the salary of some minor league baseball players.

On one hand, MLB teams are not motivated to shell out more money for the full range of their minor league players.  After all, the vast majority of those players will never see the field in a major league game and therefore will never make even a minuscule contribution to the revenues of the major league team.  At the same time, one might wish that major league teams would not make such a narrowly focused economic decision here given that MLB teams are generally profitable enterprises.

Back in May, the NY Times published a piece on this issue and the minor-leaguers’ lawsuit and some Congressional involvement with lobbying efforts.  It will catch you up quickly on some of the highlights of this controversy; I recommend it to you.  Here is a link to that article.

Moving on …  I read recently that TV ratings for NASCAR events rose in 2019 as compared to last year.  The reason that caught my eye is that TV ratings for NASCAR had been in serious decline for the last few years so I read deeper into the report than I normally would to see if anyone had an explanation.  Generally, folks attribute this to a much more focused and energetic promotional endeavor on the part of NASCAR.  And, a significant component of that increased promotion for events is the role that the drivers play “off the track”.  NASCAR has a rule this year that every finisher in the top ten of a race must talk to the press after a race and NASCAR “encourages” all drivers to give interviews around the time of their qualification laps.

The increased interactions here presumably lead to more reports that keep NASCAR events in the news thereby increasing interest in the weekend racing.  The ratings are up a little more than 2% this year and NASCAR events average over 4 million viewers.  Those might seem like minimal increases but there have been significant increases in the “core markets” for NASCAR racing where the increased promotions have shown a 7% increase in viewership.

Finally, consider this comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald from a couple of weeks ago:

“The World Korfball Championships begin this week in South Africa. Korfball is two teams of eight (four men, four women) trying to throw a ball into a netless basket. In other words, its coed basketball, but with a ridiculous name.”

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

 

 

Two bad ideas that I have discussed here recently were turned around yesterday.

1. Antonio Brown learned that he would not be allowed to play football in 2019 unless he used the new “certified” helmet.  Instead of doubling down on his threat to retire, he said he would join the Raiders and get to work.
2. The NCAA had been getting hammered on multiple fronts over the so-called Rich Paul Rule for agents who might represent collegiate athletes.  Since it was never any real skin off their collective noses who might perform agent services for players, the NCAA chose to cut their losses and rescinded the allegedly racially biased part of that rule.

So, things should be quiet on those two fronts for a while.  However, I cannot say that the NCAA is going to have an upbeat week ahead because as smart as they were to change that silly rule about agents, they stepped in a huge steaming pile of excrement with another decision.  You could almost say that the NCAA – the organization that promotes the student-athlete concept – has just taken a stand in favor of academic fraud. Let me explain…

Recall several years ago that it was discovered that UNC put its student-athletes in some courses that did not ever meet as a class and basically required no work.  To the surprise of no one, it was also discovered that said student-athletes always got high grades in those courses giving them acceptable “progress toward a degree” and an inflated GPA to maintain eligibility.  Those student-athletes were defrauded; in exchange for their participation in the revenue sports that pay for the UNC Athletic Department activities, they were on scholarship and promised an opportunity to get a college degree.  Well, that degree would be a humongous sham if in fact the courses were content-free.  And if the courses never met and required next to no work on the part of the student – – or the professors I might add – – those degrees were a sham.

When all that came to light, UNC took a lot of heat and deservedly so.  The NCAA huffed and puffed and established a Blue-Ribbon Commission headed up by Condoleezza Rice to make recommendations as to what should be done.  That august body focused on a significant loophole in the NCAA rules regarding academic fraud; that rule leaves to the individual member schools the authority to determine what constitutes academic fraud and what does not.  The Commission demonstrated its acumen by recognizing that this is the fox watching the hen house and recommended a change.  That was in 2017.

Moving with the speed and grace of a glacier, the NCAA took that recommendation and punted.  Call that rule the Moon River Rule because it has a hole in it a mile wide; that Moon River Rule will be left as is and schools can once again do what UNC did for a couple of decades until the sham courses were brought to light.  Well done, NCAA overseers.  I swear those folks could not find their way out of a porta potty even if you gave them a map, a compass and a lighted pathway to the door.

Academics took a backseat to athletics in this instance; that is hardly the first time that has occurred, but one might like to think that such happenings would be spread out in time and be episodic.  Well, if that is the case, we ought to have a long dry spell coming because there is another similar situation ongoing at the high school level in Michigan.  In this case, a student-athlete is being punished for living up to the “student” part of that descriptor and taking too many advanced courses.  Honestly, I could not make up anything that bizarre.

Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen is a wide-receiver at Walled Lake High School; he has been heavily recruited and has committed to go to Northwestern.  He has been ruled ineligible by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) and his school is appealing that ruling on Yaseen’s behalf.  Here is the Cliff Notes version of the problem:

• He has been ruled to have used up his eligibility despite being in his fourth year of high school.
• He had been home-schooled prior to enrolling at Walled Lake High School and he took plenty of courses that were above his grade level.  His success in those courses caused the MHSAA to reclassify him as a sophomore when he entered the ninth grade; and therefore, they believe he has spent his eligibility in three seasons at Walled Lake.
• The MHSAA has already denied a first appeal in this case and the high school has embarked on a second level appeal.
• Yaseen will leave high school in January to enroll early at Northwestern.  You can infer from that intention and the willingness of Northwestern to have him enrolled at that time that he is a good student.

The Detroit News broke this story; here is a link to that report.  If you had to attach a headline to this story, here is what I would suggest:

• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Finally, with the NCAA standing aside to allow colleges to police themselves with regard to academic fraud and failure to live up to the fundamental purpose of a college/university juxtaposed with a high school kid being declared ineligible to play football because he took too many advanced courses and passed them, it is time to turn to The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm for a closing item today:

“Education:  Sumthing that ewsed tu one tyme be valewed in the U.S. of Amurica, butt now iz not so mutch annymor.”

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

 

 

Last week, Bob Molinaro had this comment in his weekly column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“A fine balance:  Our kids need more coaches that can create enjoyable athletic environments. So says a Utah State University study that reports that the average child today spends fewer than three years playing organized sports and quits by age 11. Financial issues also chase them away. But mostly, the kids say they aren’t having fun.”

That made me think of the old Laurel and Hardy films because that is an example of “another fine mess”.  Kids are not having fun playing sports to the point that they stop playing when they are only 11 years old and that must be caused by something other than the games themselves.  After all, the sports we are generally talking about here (baseball, football, basketball, soccer, tennis…) have all existed for a long time and all of them used to command healthy and enthusiastic participation beyond age 11.  So, I thought I had better check out this study.

The study is a collaborative effort between the Utah State Families in Sports Lab and the Aspen Institute.  Here are a few of the specific findings:

1. In 2019, 39% of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 played some form of organized sports.
2. A separate study done in 2008 done by the Sport and Fitness Industry Association found that 45%of kids in that age range played some form of organized sports then.
3. Of the kids who play a sport and then stop participating, the average tenure of their participation is 2.86 years.
4. Kids are not quitting a sport to take up another one.  The survey found that situation happened in only 15% of the cases where a kid dropped out of a sport.
5. Kids are single threaded in sports these days.  The survey found that 45% of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 play only one sport.
6. A major factor in their decision to quit is that they say they stopped having fun playing that sport.  [Some parents reported that their children devoted up to 60 hours per week on their sport during the sport’s season.  That’s not fun; that’s a chore.]
7. Another factor influencing the decision is that parents yielded to cost factors associated with continued participation.

The fact that the chronological adults associated with plenty of youth sports dramatically over-react to the importance of such events has been evident for years.  It would seem from the data here that the pressure exerted by those adults is beginning to catch up with itself; participation is trending down.  I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness here; there is a major problem with youth sports in America and the biggest component of that problem is that adults have wrung all the fun out of participation by the kids.  I wish I could say I had an idea as to how to reverse that situation – – but I do not.  Here is a link to the results of this study.

As if that news was not a sufficiently bleak way to start your week, another item for today is the latest in the Antonio Brown soap opera.  Over the weekend, he threatened to retire from the NFL if he could not wear the same helmet he has worn in the past during the 2019 season and then reversed course to say he would play with the news helmet but would sue the NFL if he got a head injury wearing the new helmet they mandated.

 

[Aside:  I think we are about 2 more oddball incidents involving Antonio Brown before the following happens.  Terrell Owens calls a press conference; he stands at a podium with a picture of Antonio Brown projected behind him; he looks at the assembled scribes and commentators and says, “And you guys thought I was a pain in the ass…?”]

 

According to reports, these “new helmets” are the result of testing overseen by the NFL and the NFLPA and the “certification” of these helmets has been done jointly by the NFL and the NFLPA.  This is part of the attempt by both organizations to improve player safety – even though anyone smart enough to recognize that the acronym NFL does not have the letters arranged in alphabetical order knows for sure that pro football players will continue to suffer head injuries using the “new helmets”.

As much as Antonio Brown may think that this “new helmet” mandate is aimed at him, it is not.  Last year more than 2 dozen NFL players used helmets that will not be allowable in 2019 and – I know that Brown may not want to hear this – but at least 2 of those “other players” are more important to their teams than he is to his team.  The two “other players” I refer to here are Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

A quick summary of the 2019 Antonio Brown soap opera would be:

• He refuses to wear the new certified helmet to protect his head.
• He neglected to wear the proper protective clothing on his feet during cryotherapy resulting in frostbite.
• Approximately halfway between his head and his feet is the terminal aperture to his alimentary canal; he is behaving just like that body part.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers have enjoyed their quiet and focused training camp in Latrobe, PA this summer.

Finally, I began today with a comment from late last week.  Brad Dickson had this Tweet also from late last week and it seems appropriate in 2019:

“Today is National Book Lovers Day. Americans are largely ignoring the day as they prepare for the huge festivals and parades of the upcoming National Emoji Week.”

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

 

 

I am sure you have heard about/read about the new NCAA ruling about qualifications for agents that will represent student-athletes and how it is directed negatively against NBA “super-agent” Rich Paul.  The issues that stick in the craw of those who have taken Paul’s side in this controversy is the mandate of a bachelor’s degree (Paul does not have one) and the requirement for all applicants to show up at NCAA HQs in person to take a qualifying test. I am going to try not to take any side in this matter because I don’t think it is sufficiently important to create any agita in my life.

When I first read that the NCAA would require agents to have a college degree, my mind went down this path:

1. Well, of course they would emphasize a college degree; they are an association of colleges and universities.
2. Do other sporting entities have any similar rules?

Before looking at other sports, there is a distinction to be made here.  In other sports – like pro football – the certification of agents is done by the NFLPA which is a labor union that represents the players who would acquire an agent.  Nominally, that union is there to seek for its members the best possible situations.  In no way can I contort myself to believe that the NCAA is an entity that represents the student-athletes and seeks to maximize their pleasures.  With that speed bump in the way of a set of direct comparisons, consider:

• The NFLPA requires applicants to have inter alia an “Undergraduate AND Post Graduate degree (Masters or Law) from an accredited college/university” plus mandatory attendance at a 2-day seminar in Washington DC plus a passing grade on a “written multiple-choice proctored examination.”
• The MLBPA does not mention educational levels as part of its criteria to be a certified agent.  There is a written exam to be passed and mandatory agent meetings called by the MLBPA during the year as part of the process to become an agent and remain certified as an agent.
• I cannot find any listing of certification criteria issued by the NHLPA.
• The NBPA requires applicants for provide a copy of the “highest diploma received” which I take to mean anything including the successful completion of a pre-kindergarten program.  There is also an exam given by the NBPA every January consisting of 50 multiple choice questions with a 3-hour time limit and a requirement to attend “agent seminars” for the first three years of certification.
• The website for the Major League Soccer Players Union states simply, “Currently, we do not have agent regulations.”

My conclusion here is that the proposed NCAA hurdles to becoming an agent are not the most stringent ones out there but the educational requirement is higher than most of the other major US pro sports entities.  That is the unemotional conclusion to be drawn here – – and of course, in today’s highly rational environment, the reactions do not stop there.

Rich Paul is Black; that is an objective statement; that has also led some commentators to assert that the proposed NCAA regulation which is “obviously” targeted at him must also be racially inspired.  As I have reminded the world many times, I cannot read minds; therefore, I have exactly no idea if indeed there is a racial ingredient in this NCAA pronouncement.  I would only point out that Rich Paul would also fail to meet agent requirements set forth by the NFLPA and his failure would be for the same reason that he would not meet the NCAA standard.  And that objective fact leads me to this avenue of thought:

• If an educational requirement set forth by the NCAA is racially motivated, then an even more stringent educational requirement set forth by the NFLPA might be considered in the same light.
• The NFLPA represents approximately 2000 players and more than 60% of them are Black.
• The elected head of the NFLPA – DeMaurice Smith – is a Black man.
• I have difficulty getting my mind wrapped around the idea that the NFLPA should be thought of as somehow “deficient” on issues along a racial dimension.

Enough serious stuff; let me switch gears to a topic that is monumentally unimportant.  I speak here of the NFL Exhibition Season which got started last night – – assuming that you paid no significant attention to the Hall of Fame Game last week.  The games are meaningless, and the first game of the Exhibition Season is meaningless-squared.  The players on the field for most of the snaps are not going to be anywhere near an NFL stadium this Fall – – unless they are in Section 505 Seat 11 having purchased that ticket on StubHub.  Notwithstanding that fact, there are folks who wager on Exhibition Games and it will not be long until there is a way to play daily fantasy sports on Exhibition Games.

In reality, the only reason to pay attention to these games is an almost ghoulish one.  Players get injured in pro football games – and practices – and injuries to key players or to players who are important fixtures on a team’s depth chart can have a significant negative effect on that team’s regular season record.  For that reason, I scan the “gamers” written by reporters who were at the Exhibition Games.

Occasionally, there is an Exhibition Game without a disastrous injury that merits a second look.  Last night’s game between the Giants and the Jets fit that category:

• LeVeon Bell has not been in a football game for about 18 months.  He did not touch the football in last night’s game either.
• Eli Manning made a cameo appearance throwing 1 pass for 3 yards.
• Daniel Jones went 5 for 5 for 67 yards and 1 TD in the game.

Oh yeah; the Giants won the game 31-22 – – as if that matters.

Finally, here is an observation from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“The Oakland City Council voted to not collect a parcel tax this year.

“Apparently the city overflowed its coffers in 2018 just from the Raiders mailing it in.”

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

 

 

A news report this morning says that Geno Smith will start in the Seattle Seahawks’ first exhibition game over Paxton Lynch.  The two of them are battling it out in the Seahawks’ training camp to see which one will hold the clipboard for Russell Wilson this year.  Lest anyone doubt that Russell Wilson’s job is in no danger, Wilson will not play at all in that first meaningless exhibition game.  This “news item” is interesting to me only because I read a report about a week ago where Geno Smith told one of the reporters covering the Seahawks camp that his goal is to be a starting QB in the NFL and that this camp is about him proving that he can do that.

Taken at face value, that must mean that he expects coaches/scouts from other teams to attend Seahawks’ training camp sessions because the reality is that he will only replace Russell Wilson if Wilson is in a coma.  If his goal is to be a starting QB in the NFL, I wonder why he chose to sign with the Seahawks as opposed to some other team where the starter is not as solidly encamped.  I don’t know if his bold statement about showing he can be a starter in the NFL is braggadocio or self-delusion – – or – – if he is simply recognizing the simple fact that the injury bug is always lurking around NFL locker rooms.  We shall see…

• My best guess is that Geno Smith will get a real chance to be a starting QB for one of the XFL 2.0 teams if/when that new league launches.
• If that happens, then maybe Geno Smith can be “The Tommy Maddox of XFL 2.0”.

Last night, the Yankees beat the Orioles 14-2 to run their record at Camden Yards to 10-0 this season.  The outcome of the game is not important nor is the fact that it was a blow-out.  What was unusual is that Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde and high-priced lawn ornament, Chris Davis got into a kerfuffle in the dugout and players had to restrain Davis from going after Hyde.  Of course, after the game the official line is that this was just a misunderstanding and that it has all been smoothed over and it will all be “kept in house”.  Here are some data that overhang this situation:

• Davis is 3.5 years into a 7-year contract worth a total of $161M.  The deal calls for him to get $23M preseason for the duration of the deal.
• When the deal was done just prior to the 2016 season, it looked like a good move for the Orioles.  Davis had hit 47 home runs and driven in 117 runs the year before and in 2013 he had hit 53 home runs and drove in 138 runs.
• In 2016, the first year of the deal, he hit .221 and struck out 219 times.
• In 2017, he hit .215 and struck out 195 times
• In 2018, he hit .168 and struck out 192 times
• So far in 2019, he is hitting .183 and has struck out 110 times.

On Opening Day this year, the Orioles total payroll for their 25-man roster was $67.4M according to this analysis.  Chris Davis accounted for 34.1% of the team’s salary.  To say that he has been a disappointment for the last 3.5 years would be a monumental understatement – – sort of like saying LaVar Ball is an extrovert.  Davis was removed from the game after this dugout scene last night; it will be interesting to see if he is in the lineup when the Astros visit Baltimore tomorrow night…

Speaking of things that are coming apart at the seams in MLB, the Boston Red Sox are in meltdown mode.  They have lost 9 of their last 10 games and they are 6 games out of the second wild card slot as of this morning.  Last year the Red Sox lost a total of 54 games; here we are in early August with 8 weeks left in the regular season and the Sox have already lost 56 games.

It seems to me that the explanation for this collapse is the pitching staff.  Chris Sale is the Sox ace and he has not been “ace-like” for most of the 2019 season.  In addition, the Sox have not been successful in finding a closer to replace Craig Kimbrell who left in free agency.  I don’t men to hang all the blame there, because the rest of the Sox pitchers have not stepped up to take over when these two large holes appeared from the beginning of the season.

One more baseball note today.  Next year, the Yankees will play the White Sox in the Field of Dreams movie site in Iowa.  They will construct a temporary stadium there to seat 8000 people.  This seems to expand on the idea that MLB will schedule a game in Williamsport PA around the time of the Little League World Series and will send teams to the UK to play there.  The tag line from the film Field of Dreams is:

“If you build it, they will come.”

All I can say is that MLB is not expecting too many folks “will come” if the seating is limited to 8000.  After all, the population of Dyersville, IA is just over 4000 and one would expect that many of the townsfolk might be interested in securing a ticket for the spectacle.

Finally, having mentioned the Chris Davis contract in conjunction with last night’s dugout unpleasantness, consider this comment from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times:

“Californians carry the country’s highest mortgage debt — an average of $347,000.

“’Cry me a river,’ say the Baltimore Orioles. ‘We still owe Chris Davis $100 million!’”

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