Author: Jack

There is one more thing that needs to be said about March Madness 2017.  It certainly looks as if it was enjoyed by a lot of folks.  On average, the ratings on CBS and the associated TBS networks for the whole TV package were up 13% over 2016.  The final game between UNC and Gonzaga had ratings up 21%.  Based on early Nielsen ratings 24% of the TV sets in use during the game were tuned into the game.  The number of video streams sent out by the NCAA for the final game was up also.  Here is why I think that is important…

Ratings for the NBA so far this season are down.  Every time I run across a report of weekly ratings for NBA telecasts, the picture is not pretty and I believe that an important element of the NBA’s falling ratings is reflected in the March Madness increased ratings.  Tune in to see an NBA game that you have been anticipating because it is between two good teams and you just might see all the best players for one team in street clothes.  Since you do not have hundreds of dollars invested in arena tickets for that event, you just might turn the game off; moreover, you may not be so “anticipatory” about the next game between two good teams because you also read about other games where players “needed a rest”.

[Aside:  Back-to-back road games are the things that cause NBA players to “need rest”.  In the ACC tournament held in NYC, every team was on the road and to win the tournament, a team had to win 4 games in 4 nights.  No one needed a rest…]

In the college tournament games, you are going to see the best players even if they are injured and should take a rest.  In addition, those players are totally invested in the games in terms of focus and emotion.  After an NBA team loses a playoff series, you do not see tears; after a March Madness tournament loss, you see them frequently.  Even sitting in your living room, you can sense how important the game is to the college players vis a vis the pros.

NBA ratings will increase once the playoffs begin and as the playoffs proceed.  However, the huge money paid to the NBA for its TV deal is not going to be sustained if the only good ratings come in May and June but the airwaves are occupied from November to June.

Changing subjects … I am pleased to announce that our long national nightmare is over [ /Gerald R. Ford ].  We now know the answer to the question that has been smoldering for the last 8-10 weeks:

• Whither Tony Romo?

Yesterday we learned that he will no longer be playing football on Sundays; he will be in the television booth doing color analysis for CBS on Sundays.  Romo will be paired with Jim Nantz as the #1 announcing team for CBS displacing Phil Simms from that chair; there was no explanation as to what Simms’ role with CBS – if any – will be starting this Fall.

[Aside:  There is a symmetry here.  Dak Prescott showed up as a rookie in Dallas and took Romo’s job causing Romo to retire and show up at CBS as a rookie where he took Phil Simms’ job.  Wheels within wheels…]

Tony Romo is in a challenging situation here.  The color analysts on the lead announcing teams at FOX and NBC are:

1. Troy Aikman
2. Cris Collinsworth.

Notwithstanding the fact that there are fans around the country who will swear that both Aikman and Collinsworth hate their favorite team, both of those men are excellent at what they do and they have been doing it for a long time.  Troy Aikman did not step into the lead analyst role straight out of the NFL; he did some “apprentice assignments” first.  Cris Collinsworth spent more than 5 years in various broadcasting roles before his ascension to the top slot.  Tony Romo is going to do this “cold” and the comparisons are inevitable.

Please note; I said Tony Romo is in a “challenging situation”.  I did not say he was doomed to failure or anything of the sort.  I am merely putting down a marker here to remind myself not to draw conclusions about his future after a game or two – – unless of course he comes out of the gate as the reincarnation of John Madden.  We shall see…

The MLB season is under way.  Baseball more than any other US sport celebrates its history as well as its present.  However, that is not to say that there cannot be changes in baseball even when it comes to an iconic venue that is part of the National Register of Historic Places – – Fenway Park.  The Red Sox played their first game in Fenway Park in April 1912. They did not broadcast that game for a simple reason; there were no radio stations in existence at the time; this is a place where one bathes in “baseball history”.

Notwithstanding all the above, Fenway Park has leaped from its beginnings in the early 20^th century directly to the 21^st century with this new addition:

• A Virtual Reality Batting Cage:  According to the folks who run the stadium (Fenway Sports Group) this new feature will give fans a chance to ““feel what it’s like to take swings against Major League players at Fenway Park.”
• Nothing says “2017” like “virtual reality” …

The folks at Fenway also made two gustatory additions for this year:

1. The Tully Tavern:  This is a new full-service bar area named for and featuring Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey.  This happens to be a whiskey to my liking so I would definitely check this out were I to get to a game in Fenway Park.
2. Lobster Poutine:  One of the vendors will offer this concoction that I doubt I could resist.  I like lobster in just about any way other than as a topping for chocolate ice cream.  Poutine is a Canadian specialty made of French Fries, cheese curds and a light brown gravy; there is a restaurant in our area that makes this dish by frying the potatoes in duck fat; the word “spectacular” comes immediately to mind.  I have no idea how these folks might combine “lobster” and “poutine”, but I would surely give it a try if I saw it.

Finally, here is an item from Brad Rock in the Deseret News; I am in full agreement with his conclusion here:

“The Salt Lake Bees have announced their promotional schedule for 2017.

“Among the special nights are Golf Night, Frank Layden Night, ‘70s Night, Yoga Night, Star Wars Night and Singles Night.

“Considering the Bees had the second-worst record in the Pacific Coast League last year, maybe they should work on Win the Game Night.”

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

 

 

Congratulations to the University of North Carolina as the men’s basketball national champions for 2017.  Before the tournament started I was sort of hoping for a final game that would be a rematch of UNC and Villanova from last year; that didn’t happen.  My bracket pick had a final game between UNC and Kansas; that did not happen either.  Gonzaga earned their place in the final game.

Having said all of the above, I told my game-watching companions as soon as the game was over that I thought it was not a particularly well-played game by either team; and moreover, I did not think that the game was well officiated. I said then – and I still believe – that the only saving grace for last night’s game from a viewer’s standpoint is that the game was close throughout.  Knowing that I have seen every final game on TV since 1954, one of my viewing companions asked if I meant this was the worst final game I had ever seen.  I said then I would have to sleep on that question because it would take time to dredge up memories.

As of this morning, I will say that the closeness of last night’s game assures that it cannot be the worst final game I ever saw because close games where the winner is in doubt down to the final minutes are universally better than blowouts.  I do not recall the year, but I do remember when Duke beat Michigan in the final game in a blowout; that was when Michigan had the Fab Five.  That game was no fun to watch.  I also recall when UNLV beat Duke by about 30 points in a final game.  That game was not fun to watch.  I remember one of John Wooden’s teams at UCLA (with Bill Walton at center) demolishing Memphis State.  That game was not fun to watch.

The only blowout final game that was fun for me to watch was my first one in 1954.  LaSalle beat Bradley by about 20 points but I loved the game because I was given dispensation from my parents to stay up and watch it even though it was long past my bedtime.  That game was “special” to me for that reason; it was sort of like having an extra New Year’s Eve in the year when I could stay up until close to midnight…

Switching gears …  One might think that the news value of items connected to the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas might calm down now that the NFL has approved the transfer of the franchise from Oakland.  Well, that might be wishful thinking.

The Raiders signed a lease in Oakland before the start of last season that gave the team access to the stadium in Oakland for last year and it contained two one-year options for the Raiders to extend that lease.  So, the Raiders have a place to play in 2017 and in 2018.  HOW-EVAH [ /Stephen A. Smith ] the new digs in Las Vegas may not be ready until after the 2019 season.  Aye, there’s the rub …  [ /Hamlet ]

The Executive-Director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority told ESPN.com that it is unlikely they will be “welcomed back” in 2019.  I understand; in the immediate aftermath of the NFL vote that cost Oakland its team, there will be frayed nerves and hard feelings.  I also understand that this sort of statement can be the opening element of a potential future negotiation where the Coliseum Authority will want to extort a princely sum to extend that lease yet one more year.  Nonetheless, this is a storyline that is going to continue to be part of the news until and unless the new stadium in Las Vegas is ready for NFL games starting in September 2019.  Here is a link to the ESPN.com report:

Scott McKibben is the executive-director of the Coliseum Authority and he told USA Today that it would be financially beneficial to the Authority to have the Raiders play anywhere else in 2019.  McKibben said:

“It’s actually financially to our benefit if they didn’t exercise the options and play here even in the two years they’ve got [2017/18].”

Obviously, I have not seen the details of the lease that exists at the moment nor would I have access to the accounting for the Coliseum Authority.  However, that statement might lead one to assume that Messr. McKibben and his colleagues are doofuses.  Consider:

1. They negotiated this lease with the Raiders about a year ago when the idea in the air was that the Raiders and Chargers would jointly move to LA and build their own stadium there.  The lease in question is not one that has been in existence for a long time such that the Coliseum Authority could not do an accurate projection of what it might cost to stage Raiders’ games in their facility in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
2. If the Coliseum Authority knew the costs relatively accurately and still signed a lease that guaranteed that they would get less “rent” from the Raiders than their costs, then the Coliseum Authority is not exactly on speed dial from the folks at MENSA.
3. Not being a resident of California or the Bay Area, I do not know the details of the Coliseum Authority, but its name suggests that it is an entity that acts on behalf of the local government and is somehow beholden to the local government.  If that is even vaguely correct, then Raiders’ fans have yet one more entity to draw their ire.  Not only will the team pick up and leave but they are going to be playing out their days in Oakland while putting a deficit number on the board for the local government to cover. Does that suck or what?

Frankly, I wonder how the fans in Oakland will support the Raiders after 2017.  I presume that most of the season ticket sales/renewals have been done by now so the finances for 2017 are relatively settled in.  But how about 2018?  The Coliseum Authority might be cool to the Raiders coming back in 2019; perhaps the fans will be cool to their coming back in 2018?

Finally, Dwight Perry had this item in the Seattle Times over the weekend putting a punctuation mark on the telecasts of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament:

“WBNS-TV viewers in Columbus, Ohio, missed the deciding moments of Sunday’s North Carolina-Kentucky regional title game — Malik Monk’s tying three and Luke Maye’s final-second winner — because its weather staff cut in to deliver news of a tornado warning for Franklin and Madison counties.

“Heidi was unavailable for comment.”

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

 

 

The UConn women lost in the semi-finals of the women’s tournament last Friday.  Mississippi St. played tenacious defense and won the game with a shot at the buzzer in overtime.  The win snapped UConn’s 111-game winning streak.  This was no fluke; Mississippi St. deserved to win this game.

According to this report in Saturday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal, a bettor placed a $7000 wager on the UConn women to win the game on the money line.  Had they won, he would have collected $7100 – a $100 profit.  Instead, he is out the full $7K.  Meanwhile at the same casino, another bettor put $200 on Mississippi St. on the money line.  He collected $4200 – – a profit of $4K.

Someone sent an anonymous letter to the President of Coastal Carolina University alleging that members of the cheerleading squad

1. Participated in prostitution,
2. Purchased alcohol for underage members of the squad
3. Paid others to do their homework.

The second and third entries on that list are not unheard of on college campuses; the first one however must have gotten the president’s attention because he suspended the cheerleading squad and they will not participate in competition scheduled for later this week.  The police have interviewed team members but as of this morning no charges have been filed.

This is either an extreme over-reaction on the part of the school or there is unreported information from the ongoing investigation into this matter.

If – – I said IF – – there is any substance to the allegation of prostitution by the cheerleaders, it gives new meaning to:

“Two bits; four bits, six bits a dollar …”

Gonzaga beat South Carolina by 4 points on Saturday with the game going pretty much to form.  When the Zags were able to run and/or to get open shots they scored; when they had to run pattern offense against South Carolina’s defense, they struggled.  Here is my conclusion based on that game and the rest of the tournament performances by South Carolina:

• Frank Martin is a damned good basketball coach.

My pregame assessment of the UNC/Oregon game was off-base.  I thought that if Joel Berry did not have a top-shelf game, UNC would lose the game.   Berry had – for him – a less than mediocre outing but UNC still managed to win because Kennedy Meeks played at a level that I have not seen from him in the past several years – – let alone games.

I want to offer one more observation here that will probably draw some ire.  Dillon Brooks was named the PAC-12 Player of the Year.  He is a good player to be sure but I wonder if his tournament play lived up to the level of that accolade.

The line for tonight’s championship game is:

• UNC – 2 (152.5):  I think this game will be a track meet so I would take the game to go OVER.

A CBSSports.com report says that Georgetown has agreed in principle with Patrick Ewing to become their new head basketball coach.  This hiring decision keeps the coaching position “in the Georgetown family” and it puts some extra pressure on Ewing to succeed with the program.  He was the anchor of the Georgetown team that was a fixture in the Final Four in the early 1980s before going on to his NBA career and his “return” to the Georgetown bench will necessarily draw comparisons.  Ewing has had plenty of assistant coaching experience in the NBA since his playing days ended but this will be his first time in the head coaching position.

Bonne chance, Patrick Ewing.

I read a report saying that Americans will bet $36B on baseball in the upcoming 2017 season and that the expected handle in Nevada casinos for baseball will be $2.1B.  the rest of the money will be wagered “illegally” through bookies and internet sites.  These estimates need to be taken with a grain of salt because they come from the AGA [American Gaming Association] which is a trade group representing casinos and gambling interests.  This group seeks to make sports betting legal and regulated in any jurisdiction that may want to have a sportsbook operate in the open.  While I agree with the goals of the AGA, I find the estimate of $36B bet on baseball hard to understand.

Finally, Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune is obviously unhappy with the Bears’ quarterback situation.  Consider this series of comments from his column, The Rosenblog:

“Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Tom Brady told him he wants to play another six or seven seasons.  That’s 24 starting quarterbacks in Bears years.”

And …

“After swooping down on Tampa Bay backup Mike Glennon with what looks like a slick bit of bidding against themselves, the Bears completed their apparent forfeiture of the position by signing Cowboys castoff Mark Sanchez, and congratulations to the Bears:

“They’ve managed to make their quarterback signings feel worse than their actual quarterback play.”

And …

“My look at the Bears’ projected quarterback depth chart:

1.    Mike Glennon

2.    Whoever They Draft

3.     Mark Sanchez

4.     Your Name Here

5.     David Fales

6.     Some Guy Eating Cheetos On His Couch

7.     Connor Shaw

8.     That Guy Over There

9.     Yeah, You.”

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

 

 

As the Final Four games approach, it is interesting to look back on the tournament form a perspective other than the games themselves.  ESPN had its bracket challenge contest this year where people picked the full brackets.  There were 18,797,075 entries in that contest and from that mass of entries only 657 of them had the Final Four predicted correctly.  In case your calculator battery is dead, those correct prognostications amount to 0.0035% of the total entries.

One other meaningless fact from the Final Four is that Oregon coach, Dana Altman, and South Carolina coach, Frank Martin, both had the head coaching job at Kansas State in the past.

• Dana Altman was at K-State from 1990 to 1994; it was his first head coaching assignment at the collegiate level; the Wildcats made the tournament once under his guidance.  His overall record there was 68-54 but his record in conference games (the Big 8 at the time) was an unimpressive 19-37.  Since his days at K-State, Altman went to Creighton from 1995 until 2010 and used his success there to land the Oregon job from 2010 until now.  Since coming to Oregon, Altman’s teams have won 21 games or more in each season.
• Frank Martin was at K-State from 2007 to 2012; like Altman, it was his first head coaching assignment at the collegiate level; the Wildcats made the tournament four years out of the five Martin was at K-State including one trip to the Elite 8.  His overall record there was 117-54 and his record in conference games (the Big 12 by this point) was 50-32.  Martin took the South Carolina job in 2012; this is the first of his teams there to make the NCAA tournament.

If there is some sort of link between the other two coaches in the Final Four – – Mark Few and Roy Williams – – I have not been able to discern it.  The only sort of link I can find for Mark Few is that he graduated from Oregon in 1987 but that was well before Dana Altman arrived in Eugene, OR.

The headline over Bob Molinaro’s column today reads:

“Is there a better bet than UConn women to win it all? That’s doubtful.”

Well, here are the betting lines as of this morning:

• UConn wins the women’s national championship:  – 1050
• Anyone else wins the women’s national championship:  +550

(Frankly, I am surprised the odds are that low.)

For tonight’s semi-final game in the women’s tournament, the line for UConn/Mississippi State is:

• UConn – 21 vs. Mississippi St. (150)
• Money lines are UConn – 4750 and Mississippi State +2375.

To answer Professor Molinaro’s rhetorical question from that headline above, the only things I can think of that are more likely than a UConn championship are outside the sports realm such as:

• A senior White House official will say something dumb in the next week.
• Democrats in the Congress would vote against a cure for cancer if it were discovered by Ivanka Trump.
• You get the idea…

Switching attention to the NBA for a moment, there has been a sort of forced “debate” over the past several weeks in print and on sports radio about who should be the NBA MVP for this season.  As usual, the “debate” really comes down to different people having different criteria for what the “Most Valuable Player” is.  Consider:

1. If you think that the MVP for a season is the best all-around player, then the NBA should just award it to LeBron James every year until such time as he is not clearly and conspicuously the best all-around basketball player on the planet.
2. If you think that the MVP for a season is the best player on the team with the best record, please be quiet until you know which team has the best record at the end of the season and then the choice will be rather obvious.
3. If you think that the MVP should be the player with the best stats for this year, then Russell Westbrook is your man because it looks as if he will average a triple-double for the season.  That has not happened since Oscar Robertson did it back in the 1960s.  Recognize, however, that the Thunder – despite Westbrook’s heroics – are probably not going to win 50 games for the year.
4. If you think the MVP should be the player who led his team to a very good record for the year (better than 50 wins and maybe even better than 60 wins) but may not be as good all-around as LeBron James, then Kawai Leonard and James Harden come into the discussion.  [Aside, I think there is a real and serious debate to be had regarding those two players and this award.]

The problem with the “debates” that have been ongoing is that the creator/moderator of the debate never addresses the criteria that will be considered.  That results in people talking past one another usually in escalating volume levels which illuminates nothing.

Come to think of it, that description summarizes just about everything coming out of the US Congress today and for the past 10 years or so.  No one ever sets up a “debate” to argue about “MVC” or” Most Valuable Congressthing”.  If anyone ever does that, I think that I will move myself to a cave in the Andes in Patagonia.

Finally, I cited a headline from Bob Molinaro’s column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot above.  Here is a comment from within that column for your cogitation:

“Word play: So Mets reliever Jeurys Familia gets a 15-game suspension under MLB’s domestic-violence policy. Anybody else see the irony of a player named Familia being accused of domestic violence?”

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

 

 

Baseball season starts early next week and here are my predictions for how the season will end in early October.  There will be lots of games and storylines and memorable moments between now and then, but here is how I see everything shaking out.

AL East:

1. Boston:  Yes, they will miss David Ortiz.  However, the addition of Chris Sale to the starting rotation improves their pitching significantly.
2. Toronto:  They are the “best of the rest” in the division.  A significant “comeback year” from Jose Bautista will let the Jays put pressure on the Red Sox.
3. New York:  They are in the midst of a roster rebooting but their young players appear to be awfully good.  They cannot challenge the Jays or Red Sox … yet.
4. Baltimore:  Chris Tillman is their top-of-the-rotation starter and he is on the shelf for now.  To win with their excellent bullpen, they need to have leads in games.
5. Tampa:  I think the Rays are overmatched in this division and may be major sellers come the trading deadline.

AL Central:

1. Cleveland:  Losing Mike Napoli cannot help the Indians but adding Edwin Encarnacion will help the Indians.
2. Detroit:  This is a veteran team that is getting long in the tooth.  To finish this high, they must avoid the injury bug.
3. KC:  I just do not think they have the talent to challenge the top of the division.  Losing Wade Davis over the winter surely did not help the team.
4. Minnesota:  The Twins just have to be better than a 59-win team this year – – don’t they?
5. Chicago:  How they plan to replace Adam Eaton and Chris Sale is not clear to me.  Maybe they can rise above the Twins in the division but nothing beyond that.

AL West:

1. Texas:  They will win the division but will be pressed by the Astros all year long.
2. Houston:  They spent a lot of money in the offseason adding veterans to their lineup.  A good comeback year from Dallas Keuchel would go a long way toward getting the Astros over the Rangers.
3. Seattle:  The Mariners made lots of roster changes in the offseason but the fundamental success of the team rests on Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager.
4. LA:  Mike Trout is the best all-around player in MLB but there is not nearly enough around him to get the Angels anywhere near the top of the division.
5. Oakland:  A strong comeback year by Sonny Gray could get the A’s over 70 wins this year – – or not.

My call for the wild-card team in the AL is the Houston Astros by a whisker over the Toronto Blue Jays.

NL East:

1. Washington:  Adding Adam Eaton and Matt Wieters to a team that won 95 games last year equals another division title.  The Nats’ only shortcoming is their bullpen.
2. NY:  The Mets need a big comeback year from Matt Harvey and the rest of the starting rotation to stay healthy all year long to be able to threaten the Nats.
3. Atlanta:  The Braves won 68 games last year but they are my pick for most improved team in 2017.  I think this year is the start of a long and productive career for Dansby Swanson.
4. Miami:  The accidental death of Jose Fernandez last year is more than this roster will be able to overcome.
5. Philly:  Phillies only scored 610 runs last year; the next lowest total in MLB was 649 runs by the Braves.  I do not see any potential for an offensive explosion from that roster.

NL Central:

1. Chicago: Kris Bryant is the second-best player in MLB today.  Unlike Mike Trout, he has plenty of talent around him and the Cubs should win this division in a walk.
2. Pittsburgh:  Moving Andrew McCutcheon to RF may be the change of scenery he needs to have a bounce-back year.  Starling Marte will be a better defensive CF than McCutcheon was.  I think a big year is coming for Gregory Polanco…
3. St. Louis:  The Cards won 86 games last year and might win 88 or 90 this year.  That will not be sufficient in this division.
4. Milwaukee:  If the Brewers finish at .500 this year, the team should break out the champagne in the clubhouse.
5. Cincy:  The Reds stunk last year and traded away Brandon Phillips.  I think they will stink again this year.

NL West:

1. LA:  If there is a weakness on this team, I do not know what it is – – unless you count the potential for Yasiel Puig to “go rogue” at any moment.
2. SF:  The Giants’ bullpen was awful last year leading MLB in blown saves.  I don’t know if the addition of Mark Melancon is sufficient to avoid that sort of ignominy again this year.
3. Arizona:  The three bottom teams in this division are after-thoughts.  The D-Backs look like the best of the three to me – but they are not going to threaten either LA or SF for long.
4. Colorado:  The Rockies can score and the Rockies’ opponents can also score.  Probably good to take the OVER in lots of Rockies’ games this year.
5. San Diego:  The Padres have been torn down and need now to rebuild.  It is going to take time – lots more time than the 2017 season will allow.

My pick for the NL wild-card team is the NY Mets.  Obviously, if that starting rotation falls victim to injuries – – and at least 3 of the starters have a significant medical history – – this pick could be laughably wrong.

One other thing to note…  Two cities lost their NFL franchises since New Year’s Day; the Chargers left San Diego for LA and the Raiders are now cleared for takeoff from Oakland to Las Vegas.  The baseball season does not look to be a salve for sports fans in those cities because I think the Padres and the A’s are both going to win fewer than 70 games this year.

Finally, here is a comment from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle to set the tone for the upcoming MLB season:

“A fond adios to all those elderly Cubbie fans who say, ‘Now I can die happy!’ It’s called ‘thinning the herd.’”

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

 

 

Yesterday in discussing the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas and where they will play while the new stadium there is constructed, I said:

“The Raiders do have a short-term lease deal with Oakland to continue using the Coliseum there.  Having said that, I will not be surprised to read any time soon that someone will find a clause in that contract that purportedly voids the entire deal if the Raiders make a deal to leave the city.  That will go to court – and probably take at least 2 years to get anywhere near a trial – and in the end the team will likely settle with the city for a pittance because the stadium in Las Vegas is ready.”

Well, the first part of that seems to be in motion already.  Last evening, I found this report in the San Francisco Business Times and it says that “Oakland officials” have already begun to study their options regarding lawsuits against the Raiders.  Everything now is in the “posturing phase”; do not be shocked in the near future to hear that Raiders’ fans in Oakland are also studying their legal options.  Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circuses may be going away very soon; this circus will go on for at least another year or two.

There is another NFL story that has been overshadowed by the hoopla surrounding the Raiders’ move.  On the assumption that Roger Goodell and league officials can make all of this happen effectively, the NFL is looking into ways to speed up the games and make them more “viewer-friendly”.  Here is a link to what the league is trying to do at NFL.com.

One suggested way to avoid long breaks in the action is to stop having the referee run to the sidelines to go “under the hood” to watch replays when a play is under review.  The proposal is to have the referee review the play on the field with a tablet computer and for the referee and NFL Central in New York to make the decision right there.  This is not going to save a lot of time but – assuming that it works properly – it will be better than the situation we have now.

Another change contemplated is to reduce the number of commercial breaks in the games and simultaneously to increase the length of those breaks to accommodate the same number of ads.  In terms of “pace of play” or “action content” with regard to NFL games, there is just about nothing less interesting than this sequence of events:

1. Team A scores.
2. Commercial break
3. Team A kicks off (often a touchback)
4. Commercial break
5. Team B puts the ball in play at their own 25-yardline

That is between 4 and 5 minutes of tedium in a game and if the NFL can find ways to avoid that sort of thing – without having to give money back to their “broadcast partners” – fans should stand and applaud.

NBA Commish, Adam Silver told ESPN that he thinks there will be a female head coach in the NBA one of these days and he thinks it should be sooner not later.  He said that he felt a responsibility to make that happen.  He is correct in saying that there will be a woman in that role in the NBA in the future.  What I do not understand is why he thought he needed to inform the world of this matter.  There have been women head coaches in professional basketball in the D-League; Nancy Lieberman held that position for several years and is now on the coaching staff of the Sacramento Kings.  Becky Hammon is on the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs.  It is not as if no woman has ever been in that sort of a job in the history of the world.

From my point of view, the problem he creates by saying what he did is simple:

• The NBA Commissioner should have exactly no role whatsoever in who gets hired or fired in a head coaching job in the league.

Yes, I know that the Commish might have to stop in if a team decided to hire Charles Manson as its coach or even Tim Donaghy as its coach.  But neither of those things is going to happen so Adam Silver’s insertion into this sort of hiring decision is not welcome nor is it helpful.

It is not as if the NBA Commissioner has nothing to do these days.  There are several things going on in the NBA that need fixing.  Here are a couple:

• When star players decide they need a rest in a road game, the fans are cheated.  Do not sugar-coat what happens in these cases.  Fans pay a premium price to see stars on visiting teams play in the fans’ home arenas and then the stars show up in street clothes.  That would be called bait-and-switch if done by just about any other commercial enterprise.  It happens in the NBA; it is permitted by the NBA; it is not a positive thing for the NBA.
• Just as bad – if not worse – is the entire issue of tanking.  I know it happens; you know it happens; the NBA knows it happens – – but the NBA will not admit it happens and the NBA continues to make tanking a viable strategy for its teams.

If Adam Silver thinks it is worth his time and energy to assure that there is a woman in a head coaching position in the NBA “sooner and not later”, then maybe he also needs to spend time and energy improving the nature of the NBA owners.  Getting rid of Donald Sterling did no harm to the NBA; I doubt that many fans would argue with that assertion.  However, there are still folks in ownership in the league whose behaviors do not reflect well on the league.  Seeing a qualified woman as a head coach in the NBA would be a good thing; seeing new ownership in a couple of places – – like NY and Sacramento and Brooklyn – – would also be a good thing.

Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald from a week ago:

“NASCAR runs today in Phoenix. It will be loud. I won’t watch.”

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

 

 

In case you had not heard, the Oakland Raiders have been unhappy with their stadium there and applied to move out of Oakland to Las Vegas.  The NFL owners approved that move yesterday.  The new digs in Las Vegas will not be ready for at least 2 years – and perhaps 3 – so the question of where the Raiders will play home games becomes the next potential saga.

The Raiders do have a short-term lease deal with Oakland to continue using the Coliseum there.  Having said that, I will not be surprised to read any time soon that someone will find a clause in that contract that purportedly voids the entire deal if the Raiders make a deal to leave the city.  That will go to court – and probably take at least 2 years to get anywhere near a trial – and in the end, the team will likely settle with the city for a pittance because the stadium in Las Vegas is ready.

Another interesting angle to how this story played out is that it appears to me that Sheldon Adelson was used in the process.  Adelson pledged $650M to the deal and then threw some weight around to get the Governor and the State Legislature to approve a hotel tax in Las Vegas to come up with another $750M.  Then the Raiders and/or the league itself did what needed to be done to get Adelson to walk away from the deal only to have Bank of America step in to fill the $650M funding shortfall.  That seems awfully convenient to me…

I read a report that said coaches were already planning on what to do and where to stay to keep their teams out of trouble and ready to play when they visit Las Vegas.  Obviously, if they are worried about “the dreaded distractions”, teams will not stay on The Strip but frankly, this seems like a “manufactured worry”.  Think about it for a moment:

1. Visiting teams have been playing in Miami since 1966.  The homefield advantage for the Dolphins is not much better than normal NFL homefield advantage.  There are plenty of “dreaded distractions” and ways for players to “get in trouble” in Miami.  Teams do not stay in Port St. Lucie to keep the players out of harm’s way.
2. Visiting teams have been playing in New Orleans since 1967.  Change “Dolphins” to “Saints” in the above and realize that teams do not stay in Pascagoula MS to keep players out of harm’s way.

There is the potential for a long-term problem with this move.  The Raiders are a peripatetic franchise; this is the third time they have gone from one city to another.  If they happen to move out of Las Vegas somewhere down the road, someone might want to point out to the City Fathers there that the move would disprove their marketing slogan:

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…

There was another report yesterday that caught my eye simply because it has the potential for future material here.  Coincidentally, it also involves the city of Oakland.  José Canseco is going to be part of the Oakland A’s television team; he will do analysis for the pre-game and post-game shows for A’s games this season.  You may recall that during the Presidential Campaign of 2016, Canseco “volunteered” to be the Chairman of the Federal Reserve for then-candidate Trump.  Canseco said he had a plan to grow the economy by 25% – instead of the meager 1-2% we have experienced in the last10 years and the slightly better 2.5-3 we have seen since WW II.  I presume that he is taking the job in Oakland because he has gotten word that he will not be on the short list to replace Janet Yellen when her term expires at The Fed.  For the record, her term will expire in early 2018…

There is a storyline that has been out and about for the last several weeks or months that I have tired of.  The narrative goes like this:

• Jerry Jones is best buddies with Tony Romo; and that in the end, Jones will “do right” by Romo.

Since each person is free to define what “doing right” means here, the storyline is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  That is annoying on its own, but there is another part of this story that does not ring right to me.

• My back-of-the-envelope calculation says that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys have paid Tony Romo about $115M to play for the Cowboys since 2004.
• Might we agree that Jones has already “done right” by Romo?

As the MLB season gets closer, we will enter that time of year when a huge annoyance is perpetrated on sports fans.  If you go to a baseball game this season, you will likely be exposed to a gimmick that might have been cute back in the 80s – which is the timeframe that I first remember this nonsense – but it has outlived its “usefulness” and has become a pain in the ass.  I am talking of course about Kiss Cam.

There is nothing “cute” about Kiss Cam. In its most benign form, it is intrusive and voyeuristic.  And that is as good as it will ever get.  From that lofty perch of intrusive and voyeuristic, the Kiss Cam descends to a logical offshoot which is even more cringe-worthy.  In this obviously staged event, one party proposes marriage to the other party on camera in the presence of tens of thousands of people they do not know.  Whoop-di-damned-doo!

Look, if proposing marriage in front of 25,000 is OK, then why not hold the ceremony at the pitcher’s mound during the 7^th inning stretch and then invite everyone to join in watching the consummation of the marriage later that night?  You know, there is sufficient facial recognition software technology available today to enforce a lifetime ban from any sports stadium or arena for everyone who proposes marriage on camera.  Do we need legislation to make that happen or will an Executive Order do?

Finally, since Oakland was the focus for a couple of topics today, here is a comment from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle regarding the public view of Oakland A’s management:

“Consumer watchdogs warn A’s fans not to fall in love with those food trucks at the Coliseum this season.  ‘If the Jamaican taco truck becomes wildly popular,’ warns one consumer advocate who has studied A’s management over the years, ‘the A’s are sure to trade it for a fried-whale-blubber-on-a-stick truck.’”

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

 

 

Sports Curmudgeon  3/27/17

 

Of course, I will begin today with comments regarding the tournament games over the weekend:

• UNC/Butler:  Butler is a good defensive team and can usually control tempo – – but not in this game.  Butler scored 80 points and lost; that only happened to them once all season long.
• Baylor/S. Carolina:  S. Carolina’s defense is smothering without being frenetic.  They held Baylor to 17 for 56 from the field and 3 for 13 from 3-point territory.
• UCLA/Kentucky:  Kentucky’s guards not only outplayed, they dominated the UCLA guards.  This was an excellent game with lots of talent on display.
• Wisconsin/Florida:  You could not script a game ending like that for a movie and survive the scorn of the critics.  Wisconsin dominated the first 12 minutes of the game and then their offense went to sleep for the next 10-12 minutes.
• Kentucky/UNC:  Carolina played solid defense on the Kentucky guards and held Fox and Monk to 25 points vice the 60 points they got against UCLA.
• Oregon/Kansas:  Jordan Bell had another dominating game with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocked shots.  I wonder if he also made the travel arrangements for the team to get to Kansas City…
• Carolina/Florida: This was an excellent game. Freshman, Maik Kotsar played very well shooting 6 for 10 from the field.  S. Carolina only got 3 points from its bench players in the game.
• Gonzaga/Xavier:  Gonzaga was just too big and too quick for Xavier in this game; the Cinderella run ended abruptly here.

I would like to take a moment and reflect on the commentary that followed the UCLA/Kentucky game.  As I mentioned above, the UK guards dominated the game scoring 60 points between them; however, when pressured on defense in the next game, those same guards only produced 25 points.  That is a big swing and it points to a facet of the game that did not get sufficient attention.  The UCLA defense – such as it was – played a passive zone for much of the game; neither Bryce Alford nor Lonzo Ball as the guards out front did much of anything to challenge or disrupt the Kentucky backcourt.

After the game, there was a narrative that seemed to play out in much of the reporting and that narrative went sort of like this:

• Lonzo Ball’s father – Lavarr – shone a bright light on his son for this tournament and when it came to a big game against a big-time opponent, the light was too bright.

For folks who had tired of Lavarr Ball’s braggadocio, that is a satisfying narrative; but I think there is more to it.  I do not think that Lonzo Ball “wilted” in the glare of the spotlight that his father created for him; I think that Lonzo Ball is not a very good defensive player at this stage of his career and I think that deficiency in his game is due to the fact that he has probably never been pressured by any of his coaches to learn to play defense.  I think that is a more analytical conclusion from that game in place of some sort of self-satisfaction derived from mocking Lavarr Ball.

One other outcome of the basketball tournament this year is that it became part of the political system of the country.  No, I am not talking about the national “debate” over whether the players are exploited or about how/why the NCAA changed tournament venues as a result of laws passed in North Carolina regarding public restroom usage.  Rather, I am talking about the Senate in the State of Arkansas demonstrating nationally that each and every government problem in that State has been totally resolved to the benefit of every citizen in that State.  That MUST be the case because that august body took the time to introduce and pass a resolution to chastise the officials in the Arkansas/UNC game and to urge the NCAA to provide better training/education for basketball officials so that other teams, schools and fans will not have to suffer:

“… cruel and undeserved fate at the hands and whistle of a pinhead dressed in stripes.”

Let me move on to the other major revenue sport at the collegiate level – – college football.  The SEC announced last week that it will implement a new security measure for all its football games next year.  This policy has already been in effect for Alabama and Auburn games and now the SEC will institute it conference wide.  It is referred to as a “Clear Bag Policy” and it will limit what fans may bring into the stadium to watch a game.  Here is what will be allowed:

1. Bags that are clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and do not exceed 12″ x 6″ x 12″
2. One-gallon clear plastic freezer bags (Ziploc bag or similar)
3. Small clutch bags, with or without a handle or strap, that do not exceed 4.5” x 6.5”

There is even another restriction on these bags:

• An approved logo no larger than 4.5” x 3.4” may be displayed on one side of a permissible clear bag.

Finally, here is a comment from Bard Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald:

“Last weekend Council Bluffs hosted a Monster Jam event where big, powerful trucks crush smaller, weaker vehicles. It’s the same basic premise as SEC non-conference football season.”

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

 

 

There were 3 excellent tournament games last night and 1 game that was close at the half before turning into a rout.  Allow me some brief commentary:

1. Gonzaga/West Virginia:  West Virginia’s defense showed up but their “efficient offense” from a week ago did not; the Mountaineers shot a miserable 15 for 60 from the floor and still lost by only 3 points.  I know from experience that officiating a game with constant defensive pressure is a difficult task but the officials for this game cannot be proud of the way they administered this game.  The officials did not determine the outcome but they were not consistent in their calls.
2. Kansas/Purdue:  Purdue led by 8 in the first half and a late run by Kansas had them leading by 7 at halftime.  I thought Kansas was the better team all along but it seemed that Purdue would make a game of it.  Then the second half happened and Kansas won the second half 51-26.  There are several freshmen around the country that have gotten lots of ink this year – deservedly so – but Kansas’ freshman, Josh Jackson has been noticed only secondarily.  So, let me say this very clearly; Josh Jackson is really, really good.
3. Oregon/Michigan:  The hero of this game for Oregon was Jordan Bell.  In addition to 16 points and solid interior defense, Bell collected about every big rebound that the Ducks needed to seal this win.
4. Xavier/Arizona:  I will ask it again; how could the Selection Committee make Xavier an 11-seed?  My guess is that they did not spend any time watching the team play and were influenced by a late-season losing streak.  By the way, I really appreciated the officiating in this game; I think it was probably the best officiating job in the tournament so far.

In other college basketball happenings, Georgetown fired head coach John Thompson III.  For those of you who do not live in the DC area, this is a big deal – – not because a new coach will show up on campus but because Georgetown basketball and the surname “Thompson” have been united for more than 40 years.  When you read the reports about the school’s decision, you will read that Georgetown had two losing seasons in a row and has not been a factor in the tournament for a while and that the Hoyas have been bounced from the tournament by lower seeded teams regularly under John Thompson III.  All of that is true; yet, this firing is surprising.

To keep the characters in this saga straight, let me refer to John Thompson, Jr. (the father and the Hall of Fame coach) as “Big John” and let me refer to John Thompson III as “JT-3”.  “Big John” was a very successful high school basketball coach in DC at St. Anthony’s; many people put him at or near the level of Morgan Wooten (DeMatha High School) back in the early 1970s.  Meanwhile, Georgetown basketball stunk; in 1972, “Big John” took the job at Georgetown after the team had an embarrassingly bad 3-23 record in 1971.  “Big John” stayed at Georgetown for his entire college coaching career leaving in 1999.

As important as all that is, “Big John” came to dominate the college basketball scene in the DC area despite the presence of other high quality coaches like Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams.  “Big John” dominated the news and the recruiting; when Georgetown raised the money to build a new Athletic Center on campus, they named it the John Thompson, Jr. Athletic Center and put a statue of “Big John” in front of it.  As of the beginning of this basketball season, “Big John” still had an “office” in that Athletic Center.  When “Big John” retired, he handed the program off to his longtime assistant; and when that tour of duty was over in 2004, the school hired JT-3 who had been successful at Princeton.  “Big John” was in the arena for Georgetown games at least 80% of the time during the time “JT-3” was the coach.

What may not be apparent to those outside the DC area is that Georgetown has seen decline that goes beyond 2 consecutive losing seasons.  That “failure” could be overcome with one good recruiting class and the Hoyas’ record in those two losing seasons was 29-36; it is not as if the team had regressed to the 3-23 level it had been when “Big John” took over.  What has happened to Georgetown basketball here in the DC area is that it is no longer the “second biggest sports story in town” behind the Skins.  That used to be the case; now Georgetown basketball is approaching the category of “afterthought”.

The search for a new coach will involve Paul Tagliabue who is on the Georgetown Board of Directors.  In his time as NFL Commish, Tagliabue demonstrated the ability to navigate through choppy waters; he will need to do that here because the next coach at Georgetown will be under intense scrutiny from the moment his name is announced.

Switching gears, I ran across this report in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal saying that the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee has begun to recruit “thousands of volunteers” to help manage the swarm of visitors that will show up for Super Bowl Week in Minnesota in Feb 2018.  The key word here is “volunteers” and the Host Committee is looking to get 6,000 – 7,000 of them.

I do not want to get into a political discussion here, but one of the issues that tends to grind the gears of a segment of our society today is “corporate welfare”.  Well, here is a thought for anyone considering becoming a “volunteer”:

• The NFL has revenues of about $16B per year and is aiming to be a $25B per year entity in 2025.  When one works for them for no pay, that is a sort of “corporate welfare” and the NFL is an entity that already gets a more than generous helping of said “welfare” from government entities around the country.
• They can afford to pay for whatever services they seek to get from the volunteers.  Why give them yet another “free ride”?

Oh, for the record, volunteers do NOT get to see the game for free; they are not going to be in the stadium; they will spend time outdoors in Minneapolis in February doing their volunteer duties…

Finally, with Northwestern making the NCAA Tournament field for the first time this year, here is an observation from Brad Rock in the Deseret News:

“Nebraska’s men’s basketball team hasn’t won an outright conference championship in 101 years.

“This season finally gives Northwestern fans the chance to say, ‘Ha-ha!  You’re pathetic!’”

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