Author: Jack

There was a report last week at CBSSports.com that the Carolina Panthers may have been in violation of an NFL rule as the team conducted its hiring search for a new head coach.  Since the Panthers had not announced a new coach, I wondered how they could be violating whatever rule was referenced here.  According to the report, the NFL has a rule that every person on a search committee for hiring a new head coach must have completed “the mandatory inclusive hiring training” prior to serving on the search committee.  Evidently, owner David Tepper’s wife did not complete the training, but she participated in some of the search committee activities.  My first reaction was to yawn…

Here is a statement from Jonathon Beane – – the NFL’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer:

“The inclusive hiring training is a key element of our efforts to foster an equitable hiring process.  Any suggestion that this mandatory requirement was not met by applicable clubs will be addressed and corrected immediately.”

That led to my second reaction which is:

• Here is more evidence that the NFL favors form over substance about how senior coaching vacancies are filled in the NFL.

Let me look at this logically for a moment.  David Tepper’s wife, Nicole, is the Chief Administrative Officer of Tepper Sports and Entertainment which you may surmise has close ties to the Carolina Panthers.  And by the way, her title is no more or less awesome than Jonathon Beane’s title with the NFL.  And the fact of the matter here is that the NFL officially deems her to be unworthy of helping the Panthers select a coach because she did not take a training course constructed by the NFL.  She is guilty of being prejudiced until she is cleansed of that taint by taking a course constructed by the NFL.

Really?  The league that has been criticized from here to Saturn for its exclusive hiring results creates a mandatory training program that will infuse openness and inclusivity into everyone on every search committee just like that?

If everyone on the planet must take this mandatory training regimen in order to be cleansed, how did the NFL certify the cleanliness of the people who run the damned training regimen?  Who cleansed the cleansers?

I am not here to defend the hiring practices of NFL owners as a group.  At the same time, can we please report on events that lead up to hiring decisions in a bit more objective fashion.  Here is a bit of reality:

• The NFL has an optics problem with the mix of its head coaches and senior coordinators.  Reporters and columnists have ridden that horse to fill space for about 20 years now.
• The NFL is also the defendant in a lawsuit charging the league with racial discrimination.
• Those environmental factors are the reason the NFL has a person designated as its Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.  I would wager a tidy sum there was no such position in existence at the time the NFL and the AFL merged.
• So, if/when someone perhaps needs to complete the training having been part of the first elements of a coaching search, there is no need to get on a high horse and announce that the situation will be “addressed and corrected immediately.”

I cannot find any reference to the training that is required in terms of the length of the course(s).  However, since the training is mandatory for owners themselves, my guess is that the training is not full-time for six months.  It sounds to me like a one-week feelgood session where everyone holds hands and sings Kumbaya at the end of it all.  And if I am even close to correct, such an event has little chance to change the heart and character of the participant any more than a 5-day anger management class can change the heart and character of someone prone to become a mass shooter.

Enough of that, let me move onto another report that annoys me this morning.  There are several sources of annoyance, but I will select Kevin Blackistone’s column in today’s Washington Post as my example.  The headline for the article in the print edition is:

“Dungy shows the regressive and intolerant worst in sports.”

In case you missed it, Tony Dungy was a featured speaker at the March for Life on the National Mall last week.  He also responded to a Tweet with a reply that many folks find ridiculous and insensitive.  And now, Tony Dungy is labeled as a “bad guy”.  When he was a successful Black head coach in the NFL, he was a pioneer and an example of how and why there needed to be something like a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer in the NFL.  When he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, he was praised to the heavens.

But then he said something many folks in the media disagree with and – horror of horrors – he accepted an invitation to speak to a group that many folks in the media consider to be troglodytes.  How dare he do that?

Kevin Blackistone and others are now telling Tony Dungy what Dungy’s position ought to be regarding issues related to abortion, same-sex marriage and gender identification.  Sorry, but I cannot get on that train.

I have my own position(s) on those three issues, and it is totally improper for me to tell Kevin Blackistone and/or Tony Dungy that their positions are abhorrent and/or vile.  Their positions are just that – – their positions.  Disagreement is fine; personal attack is out of line; and in this case, denigrating Tony Dungy for his position that has not changed over time is a tad hypocritical given the adulation he received in the past.

Finally, let me close today with a line that Don Rickles often used in the middle of his act:

“Is there anyone here I haven’t offended?  I’ll get to you later.”

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

 

 

Baseball fans can rejoice; the sequence of Football Fridays has just about run its course; only two more will come to pass after today.  So let me open this week’s endeavor with these words from Lady Randolph Churchill – – Sir Winston’s mother:

“Life is not always what one wants it to be, but make the best of it as it is the only way of being happy.”

I’m happy and will surely try to make the best of this late-season Football Friday and the way we always begin these things is to review last week’s Six-Pack selections:

• College = 0-0-0                                                          Season Total = 20-12-0
• NFL = 2-1-0                                                                Season Total = 24-23-3
• Money Line Parlays = 2-0                                         Season Total = 11-22
• Parlay Profit/Loss = +$375                                       Season Total = +$508

 

College Football Commentary:

 

Things are relatively dark in the world of college football at this time of the year but there is a story brewing in Ann Arbor that could bear watching.  Michigan Offensive Coordinator, Matt Weiss, has been suspended once it came to light that police are investigating a report of alleged “computer access crimes” involving Michigan athletic department computers.   I have no idea what the scope of that investigation might be, nor do I know precisely what “computer access crimes” might encompass, but I do know that Matt Weiss had a very successful season in terms of producing a Wolverine offense that scored a lot of points.

Just stay tuned into this one…

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The Vikes/Giants game showed me that the Vikes were luckier than competent in amassing their 13-4 record in 2022.  (The team’s point differential for 17 games was minus-3 points while they won 9 more games than they lost!)  The Vikes went 11-0 in one-score games meaning they were 2-4 in games with a significant point differential.  That “Purple pass defense” out there on display last weekend was embarrassingly bad after ranking 31^st in the NFL in passing yards allowed in the regular season.  There is a coterie of NFL fans who live to hate on Kirk Cousins; he was not great in the game last weekend, but he was not to blame for that defensive showing either.

Trevor Lawrence was at his worst in the first half against the Chargers and at his best in the second half.  When he learns to stifle “Bad-Trevor” such that “Good-Trevor” does not have to bail the team out, he is going to be awfully good.  Trevor Lawrence was worth the overall #1 pick in the draft.

Thinking about the Chargers as we look ahead to the 2023 season and beyond, Dean Spanos is one of the NFL owners who does not like to pay someone not to work.  Having said that, I really think the Chargers can and should move on from Brandon Staley and move forward from there.  Sean Payton working with/tutoring Justin Herbert could be a marriage made in Heaven.  Then again, here is what Mae West had to say about marriage:

“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.”

Granted the data here represent a small sample size; it only has been 3 years that the NFL has had 7 teams per conference in the playoffs.  However, in that time, the #7 seeded team has never beaten the #2 seeded team in either conference.  At least the Dolphins made a game of it this year…  The other “seven-versus-two game” was a blowout by the Niners.

Skylar Thompson was 18 of 45 for 220 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions (44.7 QB rating) in the Dolphins’ Sunday’s loss to the Bills, so the quarterback play wasn’t good. Tua led the league in passer rating this year, but who knows if he would have been his early-season-self prior to the second – – or maybe the third – – concussion he sustained that eventually ended his season.

But it is not just the seventh-seeded teams that make for playoff problems.  The team with 7th best record in the NFC bracket – not the #7 seed but a division winner – also got spanked on Super Wild Card Weekend with Bucs losing 31-14.   [Aside:  Let the record show that the game was not nearly that close.]   The Bucs’ regular season stats explain their 8-9 record.

• The Bucs ranked 25th in points scored 30th in average yards per pass completion, 26th in touchdowns scored, 22nd in “red zone production”, and 20th in turnover margin.

Yes, the Bucs won their division and yes, maintaining the rivalries within divisions is a good idea for the league, but the Bucs were no more worthy of a playoff slot this year than the Washington Generals are worth a moment’s consideration in this year’s “Bracketology”.

The Bucs threw the ball 66 times against the Cowboys.  Yes, they fell behind and needed to play catch-up football – – but they were throwing it all over the place in the first half when the score was 0-0.  I made this note to myself around halftime of the Bucs/Cowboys game on Monday night:

“Maybe Byron Leftwich is not certified the innovative genius of an offensive coordinator that he has been made out to be?”

And what do you know?  By Thursday of this week Byron Leftwich was “relieved of command” for the Bucs’ offense which will be undergoing a major restructuring in this offseason.  It was not just the game last weekend, the Bucs’ offense was not very productive this year as noted above; so, changing out the OC would seem to make a ton of sense.  However, I do recall loads of folks identifying Byron Leftwich as some sort of offensive genius who deserved to be a head coach somewhere – – if only those white franchise owners would give him a shot don’t you know – – and those heaps of praise were not that long ago…  Here is the Bottom Line in the real world:

• Byron Leftwich’s offense was efficient and effective when it had a solid offensive line in front of Tom Brady who had the likes of Gronk and Antonio Brown inter alia to throw the ball to.
• In 2022, Byron Leftwich’s offense only had Tom Brady from that listing above…

The Bucs are not heaping all the blame on Leftwich.  The team – – and head coach Todd Bowles – – have recognized that the team “underperformed” in 2022 and the team has begun a housecleaning of the coaching staff.

• Four offensive assistant coaches have been fired.
• One offensive assistant coach has decided to retire.
• One special teams’ assistant has been fired.
• One defensive assistant has been fired.
• One defensive assistant has decided to retire.

Look coaches and assistant coaches come and go; without top-shelf players, they never achieve greatness.  So, this is the time on the NFL calendar when there is an ongoing search for scapegoats to explain various aspects of under-achievement around the league.  Scapegoating is not unique to the NFL as indicated by this comment from former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich:

“Until someone is prepared to lay out the systemic problem, we will simply go through cycles of finding corruption, finding a scapegoat, eliminating the scapegoat, and relaxing until we find the next scandal.”

Let me return for a moment to the Vikes/Giants game last weekend.  Daniel Jones has not exactly been a fan-favorite among Giants’ fans for the last couple of years, but everyone needs to acknowledge how well he played against the Vikes last weekend.  Jones finished the game with this stat line:

• 24 of 35 for 301 yards and 2 TDs with 0 INTs
• PLUS, he rushed for 78 yards.

Daniel Jones is the first player in NFL history to throw for 300 yards, rush for 75 yards, and throw for two touchdowns in a playoff game.  Not bad for a guy whose fifth-year contract option was not picked up by the Giants’ braintrust…

I know; if you are a Daniel Jones hater you will quickly point out to me something I already know.  Jones was most impressive Sunday, but he was also facing a Vikings’ defense that finished the regular season 31st in total yards allowed and 31st against the pass.  Forget the nit-picking; here is a 2023 offseason reality for the NY Giants:

• Daniel Jones deserves a contract offer from the Giants that will avoid him being tempted to test free agency thereby forcing the Giants to use a franchise tag on Jones which will pay him $40+M for one year – next year – guaranteed.

Here are a few statistical notes from last weekend’s wild card playoff games:

• The Bills outgained the Dolphins 423 yards to 231 yards – – and the game went down to the wire with a 3-point differential.  Bills’ turnovers kept the game close; if the Bills do not remedy that sort of behavior, they will be out of the playoffs this weekend.
• Justin Jefferson caught 7 passes for 47 yards in the game against the Giants – – but none of those receptions came in the 4^th quarter when the Vikes needed to overcome a Giants’ lead.
• The Chargers’ rushing game was AWOL last weekend.  They tried to run the ball 23 times and gained a total of 67 yards.  That is just under 3 yards per carry and for a playoff team, that “don’t feed the bulldog” …
• The Ravens’ defense did what needed to be done; they held the Bengals to 234 yards on offense and 17 points on the scoreboard.  There is no way to pin that 98-yard scoop-and-score on the Ravens’ defensive unit and the Ravens’ offense outgained the Bengals by 130 yards.  But the stat that demonstrates why the Ravens lost – – in addition to that 98-yard scoop-and-score – – is that the Ravens had the ball in the Red Zone 4 times and got only 1 TD out of those opportunities.
• The Seahawks led the Niners 17-16 at the half – – but if anyone thought they were the better team on the field that day, that someone was residing in a delusional space.  When the smoke cleared, the Niners had outgained the Seahawks by 173 yards and won the turnover battle 2-0.

 

NFL Games This Weekend:

 

Before I get to the four games this weekend, let me observe that three of the four teams in the NFC East are still playing at this point of the season.  So, let me be the one to label this weekend’s slate of games as:

• The NFC East Invitational.

Lest anyone wonder about the situation of the fourth team in the NFC East – – the Washington Commanders – – they may not be playing this weekend, but they are the only team in their division that is potentially up for sale in this offseason.  Commanders’ fans all over the DC area are making pilgrimages to their local churches praying that a sale to a new owner – – any new owner not named Sam Bankman-Fried – – goes to closure in the next 8 weeks. 

(Sat 4:30PM EST) Jags at Chiefs – 9 (52):  The Chiefs beat the Jags in the regular season 27-17 but I think this game will be much higher scoring than that.  Trevor Lawrence is improving game by game and the Jags’ pass defense will once again struggle to pressure Patrick Mahomes.  I see lot of points here, so I’ll take the game to go OVER; put that in the Six-Pack.

(Sat 8:15PM EST) Giants at Eagles – 8 (48):  The line for this game is unusual for a game in the playoffs.  One sportsbook has the game at 9 points and has had it there all week long;  For most books the line opened the week at 7.5 points, and it has crept up to 8 points at most books.  However, you can still find this at 7.5 points at one Internet sportsbook along with the spread at 8.5 points at two other Internet sportsbooks.  Those sorts of disparities exist for some regular season games, but it is unusual for a playoff game.  More than a few Eagles’ fans have posted notes saying that the Eagles can just mail this one in because the Eagles won both regular season encounters ”comfortably”.  I disagree; the Giants are peaking now, and the Eagles have not looked nearly like their early-season dominant form for the last several weeks.  I like the Giants plus the points here; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sun 3:00PM EST) Bengals at Bills – 5.5 (49):  Neither team showed its best form in winning last weekend; both teams need to correct that sort of nonsense if they aspire to move on and play the winner of the Jags/Chiefs game.  The weather forecast for Buffalo on Sunday afternoon is for rain changing to snow with temperatures in the low 30s at kickoff.  Josh Allen must cure himself of his turnover proclivities here; Joe Burrow needs to pray that his makeshift OL can keep his body and soul together for the three-and-a-half hours of this game.  I am tempted by the OVER here – – but not two and a half days in advance of that sort of weather forecast.

(Sun 6:30PM EST) Cowboys at Niners – 4 (46):  For me, this is the Game of the Week.  This will either be the “Brock Purdy Coming Out Party” against the best defense he has had to face yet, or it will be the “Brock Purdy Clock Strikes Midnight Game”.  Or, perhaps this will be the game that indicates that the Bucs’ defense against the Cowboys last week was nothing more than mediocre and then against the best defense in the NFL – – statistically – – that offensive explosion last week was a mirage.  I like the Cowboys plus the points, and I like the game to go OVER; put both of those picks in the Six-Pack.

So let me review the Six-Pack for this week:

• Jags/Chiefs OVER 52
• Giants +8 against Eagles
• Cowboys +4 against Niners
• Cowboys/Niners OVER 46

And just for fun, here is a Money Line Parlay for the weekend:

• Giants @ +300
• Cowboys @ +175                  To win $1000.

Finally, consider these words from humorist Arnold Glasow and ask yourself how many “good leaders” there are among the folks who own NFL teams:

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”

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

 

 

Today shall be a day of cleaning up odds and ends that wound up on my clipboard over the past several weeks.  There is no thread that I can find to weave through these random bits to give it any sort of organization or cohesion; so, prepare for a bumpy ride.

I got a text yesterday from #2 son with a bit of humor:

“If baseball wants to be more exciting, they should have celebrities throw out the LAST pitch.

“Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Danny DeVito!”

The possibilities here seem endless.  This could resurrect the career of folks like Urkel…

It is always heartwarming to read about a guy who makes a bet at long odds and wins a ton of money when the bet comes in.  Reality says, however, that there must be guys who lose enough bets to cover that payout; were that not the case, the sportsbook would go bust.  Here is a report that will give you an idea of a bettor’s loss on a large wager.

• Last weekend when the Chargers led the Jags 27-0, a bettor on DraftKings reportedly bet $1.4M on the Chargers to win the game.  It was a straight Money Line bet and the odds at the time were minus-12,500. 
• I’ll do the math for you.  The bettor risked $1.4M to win $11,250.  And he lost…
• Yikes!

During the NFL telecasts last weekend, let me be kind and say there were ample references to the fact that both Brock Purdy and Skylar Thompson were 7^th round draft picks last Spring and that the Niners/Dolphins got themselves a real bargain with those selections.  I do not dispute the “bargain” aspect of those picks and I do think that it is an aspect of the NFL experience that should be front and center for the fans watching the game(s).

Having said that, I wonder why the broadcasters do not point out other bargain picks.  I had to go to the Internet to confirm the following, but I thought during the games last weekend that both George Kittle and Stefon Diggs were fifth round picks – – in different seasons to be sure.  Kittle and Diggs are among the very best at their position as offensive weapons but there is rarely ever ebullient oratory about what bargains they were in their draft years.

And by the way, bargain QBs have a long history in the NFL and that long history demonstrates that football scouting is not a science even though teams try to reduce players to measurements which are then fed to algorithms which spit out results.  Long before computers and things like the NFL Combine and mock drafts, teams assembled their “Draft Boards” without nearly such “scientific precision”.  I am not talking here about Tom Brady lasting until the late 6^th round in the Draft; I want to look back more than 6 decades for teams that found QB gems in late rounds:

• John Unitas is certainly one of the ten best QBs in NFL history.  He was picked in the 9^th round of the 1955 NFL Draft.  Interestingly, he was cut by the Steelers at the end of training camp in 1955 and wound up signing with the Colts in 1956 as a free agent.
• Bart Starr had a ton of success as the QB of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.  Starr led the Packers to 3 NFL Championships – prior to the creation of the Super Bowl – and then led the Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls.  He was drafted in the 17^th round of the 1956 NFL Draft – – the year after John Unitas was drafted late and cut by the Steelers.

The more things change …

A judge in Florida ruled that the deal between the overseers of Miami-Dade Arena (where the NBA’s Miami Heat play their home games) and the collapsed crypto exchange, FTX, was null and void.  In round numbers, FTX was going to pay $7M per year for 19 years to have its name adorned on the building.  Without getting into details, FTX will need to scrape together every dollar it can to settle its bankruptcy claims and the people in Miami surely do not want to be reminded of this deal-gone-south over the next decade and a half.  Call this one a win/win situation.  It will be interesting to see what entity wants to be the one to replace FTX as the naming sponsor of the building.

Too bad Jeffrey Epstein is no longer active in the biosphere.  He could afford the expense and such a deal would maintain the notoriety of that building’s name.  Oh well …

Finally, I am pleased to have cleared these items of flotsam and jetsam from my clipboard today so let me close with this observation by my favorite curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken:

“Every man is thoroughly happy twice in his life: just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.”

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

 

 

Antonio Brown is back in the news.  It should not be a great shock to learn that he is there not in a good way.  According to a report at tmz.com, Brown’s Snapchat account has been suspended because he posted “intimate” pictures of himself and the mother of his children.  Snapchat says that it has rules in place that prohibit “sexually explicit content and bullying or harassment of any kind.”

The woman’s name is Chelsie Kyriss; she and Brown are no longer together, and she said that she has “repeatedly” asked Brown not to share “the private parts of their former relationship”.  Somehow, that seems to be “a bridge too far” for Antonio Brown.

The picture at issue here which got Brown’s account suspended reportedly shows Ms. Kyriss performing oral sex on Brown.  Let me be clear:

1. I do not believe that oral sex is an activity that will condemn the participants to eternal damnation, nor do I believe that it should be illegal.
2. I do believe that it should be a private/intimate activity that need not be recorded for posterity.
3. And I firmly believe that if it is recorded in some way for some reason, it should not be shared beyond the immediate participants.

I have not spent even a nanosecond of my time following the broken relationship between Brown and Kyriss but another item in the TMZ report indicates to me that it is a sordid affair indeed.  There was a domestic violence incident involving these two people a few months ago and Ms. Kyriss alleges that in the heat of that event, Brown “sent explicit videos to their son’s phone”.  When I read about that, I stopped and took about a minute to try to concoct a scenario where I might think to myself:

• The next thing I need to do about now is to send an explicit video to a minor child.

Guess what.  I came up with nothing that got me close to pondering such an action probably because I was trying to be rational.

And because I have this proclivity for analytical thinking, I am once again reminded by this situation that one can never have “intimate photos/videos” circulating on the Internet if one abides by Precept #2 above.

Moving on …  I think there is an interesting situation that has evolved related to Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.  Recall that Flores alleges racial discrimination against him and Black candidates for head coaching jobs in the NFL as a class.  Flores was joined as co-plaintiffs in that suit by Ray Horton and Steve Wilks.  I am not an attorney and I have nowhere near sufficient information to comment on the merits or deficiencies of the plaintiffs’ case here.  I do think – from my perspective as a layman – that a dilemma exists for some of the plaintiffs.

Flores spent last season as the “senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach” for the Steelers.  Wilks began the 2022 NFL season as the “defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach” but was elevated to the job of interim head coach of the Panthers when the team fired Matt Rhule as its head coach.

According to a report over the weekend, the Arizona Cardinals – the team that fired Steve Wilks after only one season on the job forming part of the basis for Wilks’ claims as a co-plaintiff in Flores’ lawsuit – have requested permission from the Steelers to interview Flores for their now vacant head coaching job.  So:

• Would Flores potentially damage his case by taking that interview specifically for a job with the team that allegedly wronged his co-plaintiff?
• Would Flores potentially damage his case by refusing to interview for a head coaching position in the NFL?
• And what if he were offered the head coaching job?

I know that there are several attorneys who read some of these rants on a periodic basis; I shall leave it to one of them to comment on the dilemma that I see in the current situation.  Maybe it is merely a figment of my hyper-active imagination?

Next up …  Mattress Mack is at it again.  According to the reader in Houston, “Mack” has bet $200K (a pittance compared to some of his other wagers) at +625 odds on the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC Championship and then move on to the Super Bowl.  The sales promotion that goes along with that wager is this:

• Customers who bought 3 pieces of Yellowstone furniture in a certain time period will be reimbursed for the purchase price if the Cowboys indeed win the NFC Championship.

Finally, since I mentioned a dilemma above, let me close with this explanation of “dilemma” by Yair Lapid, a member of Israel’s Knesset:

“An old friend of mine, an economist by trade, once explained to me that the statistical definition of ‘dilemma’ is 49.9% in favor and 50.1% against.  If the gap is greater, there is no dilemma because the answer is clear.”

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

 

 

The Cowboys’ dominant win over the Bucs last night did something potentially far more ominous than merely to set the stage for the matchups in the next round of the NFC playoffs.  By eliminating the Bucs from the playoffs – – and by extension Tom Brady from the playoffs – – the Cowboys started the clock on another significant NFL-related competition that officially began around midnight EST last evening.  I am referring to the competition to determine:

• Who will be the bigger drama queen in this off season, Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers?

Let the stories begin …

• Will either/both retire this year?  Brady can go to FOX as their lead game analyst for a cool $37M per year; Rodgers can continue his spiritual journey on astral plane #6 with or without his current lady friend.  Both can be expected to milk those just-below-the-surface storylines.
• If either/both decide to play again next season, will either/both be back with their current employers?   Brady’s contract with the Bucs technically runs through the 2026 season but the years from 2023-2026 can void simply by either side saying the contractual equivalent of “3-6-9, I resign!”  Rodgers’ contract situation is far more complex and the most advantageous way for the Packers to move on without him would be for them to trade Rodgers before June 1^st.

Let the speculations begin…

Already on the table are rumors that Brady is coveted by the Raiders and that he likes Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis.  Already on the table are rumors that Rodgers is coveted by the Jets but I have not yet seen any “insider stories” about any sort of attraction between Rodgers and Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson.

Look, folks …  Both Brady and Rodgers love the spotlight – – for their on-field successes and for their off-field activities.  Every time there is a new speculative report about what is next for either man, that will generate an environment where some reporter somewhere will try to shove a microphone in front of them while shouting a question about the most recent speculation.  And unless Brady or Rodgers is on his way to the lavatory for an urgent personal need, both men will enjoy the encounter even if they give away no new information and feign minor annoyance at the question.

I have no idea what Aaron Rodgers will choose to do next year and/or for the rest of his life.  Based on previous decisions that he made and based on statements reported to be his, I can say with total confidence that he and I will only think alike about life situations by accident.  However, there is one factual item I can put out here that ought to – in my mind not necessarily his – have significant influence on his decision about playing NFL football in 2023:

• His contract contains bonuses and incentives that would allow him to make as much as $59,515,000 for one more season of football.
• That is a lot of cheese to leave on the table…

I also have no idea what Tom Brady will chose to do next year and/or for the rest of his life.  He has lived and seemingly enjoyed a “celebrity’s life”; I have no experience in anything remotely related to that.  However, it should come to no one’s surprise here that I have a contrarian view of Brady’s 10-year deal with FOX as an analyst.

• I do not think Tom Brady will enjoy being a color analyst where the travel requirements will have him on the road twice as much as would be the case if he were a player AND I do not think Tom Brady will be very good as a color analyst.

For the first caution above, I take Brady at his word that he wants to be present for his kids and their upbringing.  Players get half their games at home; color analysts are on the road every week – – save for the accidental scheduling where the #1 broadcast team does a game in Brady’s hometown.  [Aside:  If Brady leaves the Bucs, the #1 broadcast team for FOX will not be in Tampa often.]

For the second caution above, I do not see Tom Brady as being relaxed and comfortable behind a microphone.  Sure, he is ebullient when interviewed after a Super Bowl victory as would anyone with emotions above the level of “Automaton”; but in his press appearances under other circumstances, the vibe I detect is that he would certainly prefer to be somewhere else so long as that “somewhere else” is not some sort of chamber of horrors.  Maybe I am interpreting his press conference demeanor completely wrong; I am hardly a paragon of human sensitivity.  But if I am only partially correct, Brady will grow to dislike his job in the booth and when people do not like what they are doing, they rarely do it well.

If I were smart, I would leave it here; present a final observation and go collect information for tomorrow’s rant.  But because I have no problem with embarrassing myself in public, let me offer my prediction as to the final outcome for both QBs after all the Sturm und Drang that will happen in the next several months:

• I believe that Aaron Rodgers will play again in 2023 and that the Packers will trade him to either the Raiders (reunion with Davante Adams), or the Jets or the Commanders.
• I believe Tom Brady will also play again in 2023 and that he will sign a two-year deal with either the Bucs (stays close to his kids), the Dolphins (Tua’s health is a big question mark), Titans (reunion with former teammate Mike Vrabel) or “wherever Sean Payton decides to go”.

Finally, since I have offered some predictions today let me close with this reminder:

“It is easier to predict the pasture than the future.”

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

 

 

After the FIFA World Cup final game between Argentina and France, I said that if you watched that game and did not enjoy it, you were simply never going to be a soccer fan and that was okay.  Similarly, if you watched the five NFL playoff games from last weekend and did not enjoy any of them, you are simply never going to be a fan on “American football” and that too is okay.  All but one of the five games last weekend went down to the wire and were decided by a single possession.  Three favorites won; two underdogs advanced.  Established stars made their presence felt; less recognized players introduced themselves to the viewing audience.  It was a fun weekend for NFL fans.

Naturally, here in Curmudgeon Central there is some focus on lessons that should be learned based on the games and their outcomes.  Let me present three here.

The LA Chargers lost after leading 27-0.  That is not the largest blown lead in NFL history; it is not even the largest blown lead in NFL playoff history.  Nevertheless, it is a situation that needs to be addressed.  Let me start with the Chargers’ offense.  The Chargers ran 31 offensive plays in the second half which began with the Chargers leading 27-7; the average time consumed was 27 seconds per play meaning there was time to be drained from the clock if in fact the Chargers could have found a way to mount even a half-decent running game.  However, the Chargers’ run game on Saturday produced only 67 yards on 23 carries and that convinced the Chargers’ offensive play caller to call 8 running plays and 20 passing plays in the second half.  Yes, the offense needs to “stay aggressive”, but when leading by 20 points, there is also a “need” to drain the clock.

There is also some introspection needed by the Chargers’ defense – – players and coaches.  Head coach, Brandon Staley, came to the Chargers based on his defensive credentials which at the NFL level were these:

• 2017-2018:  Chicago Bears’ outside linebackers coach
• 2019:  Denver Broncos’ outside linebackers coach
• 2020:  LA Rams’ defensive coordinator
• 2021-2022:  LA Chargers’ head coach.

For a “defense guy”, let me say that 2022 was not a season that looked as if the team had any sort of focus on defense.  In the regular season here is how the Chargers’ defense fared:

• Yards allowed per game = 346.1 (20^th in the NFL)
• Points allowed per game = 22.6 (22^nd in the NFL)

But the defense showed up in the first half over the weekend with 4 INTs in the first half against the Jags; they were aggressive in the pass rush, and they played tight coverages.  In the second half, the aggressiveness disappeared.  Since I doubt that someone spiked the halftime defensive Gatorade with Quaaludes, the most logical conclusion is that the defensive play caller adopted a more passive approach to the game.  And that defensive play caller is Brandon Staley.

Secondly, the Miami Dolphins have not won a playoff game since 2000; they went on the road to play the Bills and were double-digit underdogs having to start their 3^rd string QB due to injuries to the other two guys.  Nevertheless, the Dolphins led 24-20 early in the second half and much of the Dolphins’ ability to stay in the game was due to mistakes by Josh Allen.  He lost fumble that turned into a scoop-and-score, and he threw 2 INTs.  Those three turnovers produced 17 points for the Dolphins and kept them in the game despite the fact that the Dolphins amassed the grand total of 231 yards on offense for the game.  Bills’ fans have to hope that Allen has gotten all his playoff turnovers out of his system in that game because 3 turnovers is not a winning ingredient.

Third, can someone – anyone – in the Ravens’ organization find and then utilize a competent WR?  Mark Andrews is a fine tight end, but he is the only pass-catcher on the team that is worth the cost of the helmet necessary for a player to take the field.  Let me be clear, none of the three QBs on the Ravens’ depth chart is a great passer; in fact, I will go so far as to say that all three are sub-standard throwers.  Having said that, there is no one out there wearing Ravens’ colors to throw at other than Andrews.

The Ravens’ defense sacked Joe Burrow 4 times, yielded only 234 yards of offense to the Bengals, and held the Bengals to 17 points.  [Aside: The miraculous 98-yard fumble recovery for a TD to win the game for Cincy cannot be hung on the Ravens’ defense.]  But that defensive performance was not enough because the Ravens’ offense was anemic.  The Ravens ran 74 plays in the game; the Bengals were limited to 50 and absent the miracle play that won the game, the score was tied.

Finally, I understand that the NFL playoffs are a celebration of achievement(s) by the participating teams and – as I said at the outset – the games this weekend provided top-notch entertainment.  At the same time there is a need to look at the ugly underbelly of some happenings as is expressed in an old Scottish adage:

“A man gazing at the stars is proverbially at the mercy of puddles in the road.”

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

 

 

I am writing this on Thursday evening because tomorrow is a travel day for me.  However, I am unlikely to be finished by midnight; so, I will declare this a Football Friday and move on.  As always, I will begin with the updated results of the last Six-Pack and the cumulative results to date:

• College = 0-0-0                                              Season Total = 20-12-0
• NFL = 2-2-0                                                    Season Total = 22-22-3
• Money Line Parlays = 2-1                             Season Total = 9-23
• Profit/Loss = +$391                                       Season Total = +$133

 

College Football Commentary:

 

Earlier this week, I wrote about the CFP Championship Game and about the financial impact of expanding the CFP tournament field.  I want to repeat my concern here about overexpanding the field all the way to 12 teams.  The financial numbers add up – – for now.  My worry is that there could be way too many uninteresting games in the early rounds of the playoff bracket that may sour some of the audience.

As a model, think back to the days where there were about 8 or 10 college football bowl games.  Those games were all a big deal because they were rare, and they pitted two very good teams against each other.  Now there are more than 40 bowl games and far too many of them involve mediocre teams.  The upshot is that many of the bowl games are as attractive as a porta-potty.

And spare me the argument that more slots in the playoffs will make the product more “inclusive”.  Last year, we saw what happened when spunky Cincy came from outside the “Power 5” and showed what it could do against Alabama.  What it did was demonstrate that going 13-0 against an AAC schedule is not nearly as impressive as surviving a season atop the SEC; the game was a rout.

I understand that finances rule the college football world and finances say expanding to 12 teams is a good idea.  I also think that 12 teams will represent over-expansion and that there will going to be too many playoff games where we see a team like Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State drop 50 or more points on the likes of good ol’ Upstart U.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The NFL has a new overtime rule just for the playoffs.  There are wrinkles in the fabric but those are details; the important thing is that both teams will get a possession in overtime unless there is a defensive score on that first possession.  Don’t worry about other minor changes; if/when there is an OT game, the networks will have detailed screen graphics ready for you to peruse.  Focus instead on this:

• It is now advantageous for the team winning the overtime coin toss to kick off instead of opting to receive.

Think about it.  By playing defense first, the team that wins the coin toss will know exactly what it has to do in order to win the game on that guaranteed second possession.

• If the opponent scores a TD on that first possession – – the worst possible situation – – then every place on the field becomes ‘four-down territory”.
• If the defense held and the second possession begins with the score still tied, then the offense is really just trying to get into field goal range meaning the defense has a much bigger scoring zone to defend.

I will be interested to see what coaches choose to do in playoff OT games this year – – and there is usually about one a year over the last decade.

Earlier this week, I said that we would be hearing about some tried and true topics for this time of the year.  In Thursday’s Washington Post, the lead column for the day had this headline:

“NFL hiring is under scrutiny.  Do the owners really care?”

My guess is that they really do not care – – so long as their hiring practices remain at the level of “scrutiny” and do not progress to the point where those hiring practices spur some sort of action that is economically deleterious.  Just saying…

The NY Jets missed the playoffs – again – this year despite having a better than average defense.  It sounds like a broken record, but the Jets still do not have a quality QB.  In fact, I would argue that their last quality QB was Joe Namath and Broadway Joe’s career peak was about 50 years ago.  Without going into the history of Jets’ QBs since the 1970s, let me provide a shortened chronology:

• 2008:  Jets take a flier on a late-career version of Bret Favre
• 2009:  The Jets draft Mark Sanchez
• 2013:  The Jets turn to Geno Smith
• 2015:  Ryan Fitzpatrick is at the helm
• 2016:  The Jets draft Christian Hackenberg in Round 2; he never takes a snap.
• 2017:  Josh McCown is under center
• 2018:  The Jets draft Sam Darnold – – who may have found a home in Carolina.

Over the past two seasons the Jets have used Zach Wilson, Mike White, Joe Flacco and Josh Johnson in the QB position.  The word for that chronology is – – FUTILE.

That level of futility brings to mind an observation by author Stanley Crouch:

“When people conclude that all is futile, then the absurd becomes the norm.”

NFL teams go from worst in their division in one season to first in that same division in the following season.  It happens at least once every other season.  The Jags really overdid it this year winning the AFC South after posting a horrible 3-14 record in 2021.  The improvement of Trevor Lawrence in his second season has been outstanding and the most obvious explanation is that there is a different set of coaches in Jax and that the team ambience is very different this year.  I won’t pretend to know how or why that quantum leap in Lawrence’s performance came about, but the result on the field is obvious.

The half-season audition by Jeff Saturday for the Colts’ head coaching job came to a merciful end.  The Colts were a hot mess in 2022; Saturday is not to blame for any of the roster inadequacies and he did seem to put some verve into the style of play by the team.  However, it seems to me that Jeff Saturday falls into the category of:

• Very Good player/Not-So-Good coach

He is not alone in that category – – one which spans several sports.  To give an NFL example of another person in that category, consider Norm Van Brocklin.

The Texans fired Lovie Smith; that makes two years in a row the Texans have fired a Black head coach after only one season; talk about bad optics.  Smith was 3-13-1 with the Texans this year – – but if you saw them play, the team did not just mail it in; the Texans won two of their last 3 games.  Like the Jets, imagine if they had a REAL NFL QB on the team, what they might be able to do…

The Cards fired Kliff Kingsbury after the team gave him a contract extension just last year.  Cards’ GM Steve Keim also got an extension last year through the 2027 NFL season and he too is stepping down – – presumably for health reasons since he has been on a leave of absence for health reasons for about the last month.  In his four years on the job, Kingsbury was 28-37-1 and the Cards were 4-13 this year. I ran across a statement that was sufficiently strange that I went and checked it out:

• No coach in the history of the Cards’ franchise has lasted more than 6 seasons with the team.
• Jim Hanifan was the Cards’ coach from 1980 through 1985.
• Ken Whisenhunt was the Cards’ coach from 2007 through 2012.
• That’s it; that’s the list – – and remember the Cards have been in the NFL since it began in 1920.

Now that the regular season is over, I think we can draw the following tentative conclusion:

• Aaron Rodgers proved to the NFL that it need not worry about ayahuasca as a PED that needs to be in the NFL testing regimen any more than it needs to test for the ingestion of spinach based on Popeye the Sailor’s performance.

The NFL and the Cleveland Browns took a step toward enshrinement in the Hypocrisy Hall of Fame last week.  Bernie Kosar was fired from his job as a team radio announcer; here is the deal:

• Sports betting became legal in Ohio.
• Kosar bet $13K on the Browns against the Steelers and said any winnings would go to charity.  (The Browns lost so that never came into play.)
• The NFL says that none of its players or employees can bet on NFL games.
• So Kosar was fired…
• And yet, the NFL is perfectly happy to have gambling ads on its programming and allows TV announcers to make clear and obvious references to things like the spread and the Total Line in their telecasts.

Bernie Kosar was a player, but those days are well in the past.  I have no idea if Kosar is any good as a “radio guy” but that is not the point.  There is no way that a “radio guy” could possibly damage the “integrity of the game”.  What Bernie Kosar did was legal, and it is something that the NFL exploits economically.  And for that he was fired…

The philosopher William Hazlitt had a great observation about hypocrisy and hypocrites:

“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy.  The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”

Here are some comments about a few games from last week:

Texans 32  Colts 31:  The Texans won at the end by converting a 4^th and 20 situation scoring a TD and then converting a 2-point conversion.  That gave the Texans 2 wins in their last 3 games and a final season record of 3-13-1; ironically, that cost the Texans the overall #1 pick in the Draft next April.  The Bears are now “on the clock” …

Commanders 26  Cowboys 6:  This was the NFL debut of Sam Howell as the QB for the Commanders.  Here is his stat line for the day:

• 11 of 19 for 169 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT
• 5 rushes for 35 yards and 1 TD

What does that do to the Commanders’ thinking as they look to upgrade their QB position?  It tells me that the team will not keep Carson Wentz and pay Wentz $26.2M next year, but that they are still in the market for a QB.

Panthers 10  Saints 7:  It is not often that you see an NFL team win a game with only 32 net yards passing; the Panthers did that last week.  Sam Darnold was 5 of 15 for 43 yards and he threw 2 INTs – – but the Panthers won the game.  The Saints scored on their first possession in the game and missed two field goal attempts for the rest of the game.  This game was butt-ugly.

Last week was not a good week for teams to score 16 points.  The Ravens, Rams, Giants, Packers and Titans all scored 16 points last week.  And all of them lost those games…

Before moving on to this week’s games, let me present a comment from Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot about NFL playoff officiating:

“New rules: It’s curious how during NFL postseason games almost nobody on the offensive line holds, pass defenders get away with grabbing receivers, and rarely is anybody detected for illegal blocks on kick returns. It appears that the refs are following orders to let ‘em play. But if a laissez-faire approach is good for the playoffs, why not just let ‘em play all season?”

 

Super Wild-Card Weekend Games:

 

I have a friend who is an avid NFL fan, but the “team of his youth” has been unkind to him.  He was born in Ann Arbor, MI and grew up with the Lions.  Over the years, he has become a fan of the game in addition to rooting for the Lions to become a factor in the league.  Over the years he has developed heroes on other teams, and he has found anti-heroes.

This weekend, he faces a dilemma in rooting interest in the Bucs/Cowboys game.  He “hates” the Cowboys and he “hates” Tom Brady.  When I asked him who he wanted to win the game, the noise he made sounded like the proverbial primal scream.

(Sat 4:30 PM EST) Seahawks at Niners – 9.5 (42.5):  The Niners have won 10 games in a row and 5 of those games have been with Brock Purdy as the QB.  The Niners’ defense is top-shelf but it is not the defense that has carried the team in Purdy’s 5 victories; the Niners offense has averaged 34 points per game with Purdy at the helm.  The matchup here that strongly favors the Niners is the run game.  The Niners average 139 yards per game on the ground; the Seahawks defense allows 150 yards per game (30^th in the NFL).  I think this is a mismatch and that the game could become a rout.  I’ll take the Niners and lay the points; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sat 8:15 PM EST) Chargers – 2.5 at Jags (47.5):  This game opened as a pick ’em game, but the line has moved steadily toward the Chargers all week long.  The Jags beat the Chargers in the regular season but that was ages ago.  I think this game will come down to the two QBs and their passing attack and that is where the Chargers have an edge because the Chargers’ pass defense gives up about 40 yards per game fewer than the Jags’ pass defense.  I smell a shootout here, so I’ll take the game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sun 1:00 PM EST) Dolphins at Bills – 13 (43.5):  The weather is supposed to be cold – – in the high 20s – – but with sunshine and no outrageous wind conditions.  That is an advantage for the Dolphins – – sort of.  The problem here for the Dolphins is that Tua is out, and Teddy Bridgewater is questionable.  Meaning no disrespect to Skylar Thompson or any graduates of K-State, I will be shocked if he can play on an even par with Josh Allen.  These division rivals split two games in the regular season; each team won at home; the Bills are at home here.

(Sun 4:30 PM EST) Giants at Vikes – 3 (48):  I have no idea how this game will unfold; these two teams are highly unpredictable.  These guys played each other on Christmas Eve and the Vikes won on a 61-yard field goal as time expired.  Who knows what these folks have in store for the audience this time around?  For that reason alone, this is a game you want to be sure to watch.

(Sun 8:15 PM EST) Ravens at Bengals – 8 (40.5):  These teams played last week.  The issue here is the QB situation for the Ravens.  Lamar Jackson has not played for weeks with a “sprained knee”; Tyler Huntley did not play last week.  If neither Huntley nor Jackson is available and the Ravens have to go with Anthony Brown, it will be a short playoff stint for the Ravens.  These division rivals split their two games in the regular season.  The Bengals enter this game with 8 consecutive wins to their credit.

(Mon 8:15 PM EST) Cowboys -2.5 at Bucs (45.5):  This is the “Chamber of Horrors Game” for my friend from Ann Arbor.  He should stop reading here because I am sure he does not want to see that I like Tom Brady and the Bucs plus the points here; put it in the Six-Pack.

So let me review the abbreviated Six-Pack for this weekend:

• Niners – 9.5 over Seahawks
• Chargers/Jags OVER 47.5 points
• Bucs +2.5 against Cowboys

            Just for fun, here is some Money Line parlay action:

• Giants @ +140
• Niners @ -500                                    To win $188

And …

• Jags @ +130
• Bengals @ – 400                                To win $187

Finally, for no particular reason, let me close today with these words from H. L. Mencken:

“Immorality:  the morality of those who are having a better time.”

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

 

 

According to reports, the average number of viewers for the CFP Championship Game (Georgia/TCU) was a “disappointing” 17.2M people.  There needs to be some perspective on the amount of “disappointment” to be assigned here:

• The game was a blow-out.  Even college football fans like I am left that game as some point along the way.  I cashed it in when Georgia led 59-7 with about 10 minutes left in the game.  Those “defections” dragged down the average viewership to be sure.
• Some good news is that over the 3-game CFP tournament, the average viewership was up to 20.6 million fans per game which was a 9% gain in audience year-over-year.
• Despite the blow-out, the CFP game averaged more viewers than the average NFL regular season game from last year (16.5 million viewers).  Notwithstanding the “disappointing numbers here” the CFP Championship Game will likely be in the Top 50 in terms of TV audience for calendar year 2023.

ESPN pays $500M per year (round numbers) for the TV rights to the CFP – – and that number will increase significantly when the CFP expands in the near future.  It may be that other “broadcast partners” join in the merry making after the expansion but whoever is putting the games on TV will put more money in the coffers of the folks who run and organize the CFP.  What I would like for you to do this morning is to look at that amount of money and simply acknowledge that the idealistic model of intercollegiate athletics where spunky students – – who are really aspiring scholars – – use athletics as an extra-curricular activity to help them get the most out of their four years in college.  That model is not much more than a fairy tale.

Moreover, the fairy-tale nature of that model has been in place and obvious since the dawn of intercollegiate athletics.  The earliest competitions were in track and field and/or rowing; it did not take long before teams at various schools began to use “ringers” on their teams; the “ringers” may or may not have been professionals in the sense that they were paid for their “services”, but the “ringers” were also not spunky students who aspired to become scholars.

The bottom line is that college sports was never as pure as the driven snow and now that more than half a billion dollars is about to become attached to one aspect of college sports, it is lunacy to expect that purity will spring forth and thrive.  Look, more than 60 years ago when it would have been frowned upon if a college openly paid for ringers to come and play in that school’s uniform, those same colleges found it acceptable to invent the athletic scholarship.  To this day, I believe that an athletic scholarship is nothing more than a payment (by the school) for services rendered (by the athlete).  And athletic scholarships have been around since the late 1940s.

So, maybe it is time for everyone to look at college athletics for what they are instead of what someone somewhere once fantasized what they ought to be:

• Athletic scholarships are awarded to students for reasons that align with the major purpose of the university only by happenstance.
• Athletic scholarships require the continued efforts at an acceptable level of performance by the student.
• Athletic scholarships afford an educational opportunity to athletes many of whom would never be part of a college environment absent their athletic skills.
• Athletic scholarships are – in fact – some compensation for the athlete’s time and effort.
• Name, image and likeness deals belong to the athletes and not the school.
• Without rules or oversight, name, image and likeness deals have already devolved into corrupt practices and will maintain that trajectory.

And yet, I enjoy college football and basketball – – at least until the score is 59-7 with only 10 minutes left in the game…

Moving on …  Here is a Tweet from humorist Brad Dickson:

“News item: ‘Iowa officials are considering making it legal to hunt raccoons year-round.’ Who says there’s nothing to do in Iowa?

Let me book a flight to Des Moines as soon as I can …

I ran across a “listicle” – – that is an article based on a listing of something or other – – and it sought to rank the QBs for fourteen teams in the NFL playoffs.  Not surprisingly, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow are at the top of the list while Brock Purdy and Daniel Jones are at the bottom of the list.  But as I looked at the list, I was taken by the fact that only 4 of the 14 teams in the playoffs had to deal with the absence of their main signal-caller for part of the season:

1. Jalen Hurts missed 2 games
2. Dak Prescott missed 5 games
3. Tua Tagovailoa missed 4 games
4. Trey Lance and Jimmy G missed a combined 12 games

[Yes, I know Daniel Jones did not play last weekend but that was a meaningless game where the Giants had their seeding in the playoffs chiseled in stone before kickoff.]

The other ten teams basically had their starting QB “on the job” all the time.  In addition, if you look at the eight division winners from this season – – those are the teams that will host at least one playoff game – – six of those eight teams had their starting QB on the field every week:

1. Josh Allen – – Bills
2. Tom Brady – – Bucs
3. Joe Burrow – – Bengals
4. Kirk Cousins – – Vikes
5. Trevor Lawrence – – Jags
6. Patrick Mahomes – – Chiefs

It would appear that there is truth to the adage that quarterback is the most consequential position in American sports.

Finally, let me close today with two contrasting views of Oakland, CA:

“The trouble with Oakland is that when you get there, there isn’t any there there.”  [Gertrude Stein]

And …

“The trouble with Oakland is that when you get there, it’s there.”  [Herb Caen]

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

 

 

The NFL regular season just ended and like the regularity of the swallows returning to Capistrano [Hat Tip to The Ink Spots] we can expect a lot of commentators to focus on three tried and true story lines for this time of the year:

1. Head coaching candidates for position openings (currently there are 5 open slots)
2. The paucity of Black head coaches in the NFL
3. Which players may/should receive a franchise tag from their current team.

As I peruse the reports on top coaching prospects for this NFL offseason, I see a lot of familiar names (Eric Bieniemy, Sean Payton, Dan Quinn and loads of coordinators on successful/playoff teams in 2022).  I cannot even pretend to have any “inside info” here from either a coach’s perspective or a team perspective; but looking at the process from afar, there seems to be almost a Catch-22 in it.

Imagine that a team needs a new coach, and the GM starts a search and then the GM and the owner sit down with several candidates for “intense interviews”.  Who makes the hiring decision?  The GM?  The owner?  My point here is that if the owner walks away from that “interview” viscerally opposed to Joe Flabeetz as his next head coach, it makes no difference if Joe is actually a reincarnation of Vince Lombardi.  If the owner and the coaching applicant get it on like oil and water, the applicant will not get the job.

And there is a rub…  Successful NFL head coaches have a way of establishing a close working relationship with the players on the team; the common image is that the coach and the player are so tight that the player would “run through a brick wall for the coach”.  That being the case, how come I never read about a core bunch of the players on the team joining the GM and the owner for the interviews of the new applicants?

I am not advocating for the inmates to run the asylum here; my point is that the billionaire team owner is one category of society and a locker room full of NFL-caliber players is a very different segment of society.  It seems to me that a coaching applicant must relate to an owner in at least a neutral way but that same applicant – if he is to be successful – must relate to the players in a totally positive way.  And I simply do not believe that any billionaire owner has his finger on the pulse of the team to be able to divine that sort of potential player/coach interaction in an isolated interview process.  But that is how it has always been done and that is how it is going to be done in the early months of 2023…

Regarding the racial makeup of the cadre of NFL head coaches, I understand the narrative behind the reporting.  Having said that, the reporters who constantly bombard us around this time of the year with “The Count” of Black head coaches ought to consider the audience.  With the firing earlier this week of Lovie Smith by the Texans – – yes, the Texans have fired two Black head coaches in two successive seasons with both coaches having been on the job for only one season – – there are 2 Black head coaches among the 32 NFL teams.  There is also 1 Black head coach on the job on an interim basis and there is 1 Hispanic head coach on the job.

As an NFL fan and a consumer of news about the NFL and its teams, I already know that information; in fact, it took me less than a minute to take a mental tour around the NFL and count on my fingers the data presented above.  So, I do not need this information; it adds no value.

Now imagine Sam Glotz our there who does not follow the NFL and considers the game itself to be barbaric and whose sporting preferences lean toward race-walking and billiards.  Sam does not know the demographic information that will be included in the reporting; but simultaneously, he does not care about that information.  My point here is that those types of reports do not find wide swaths of readership who both care about the data and did not know the data prior to reading the report in front of them.

The best I can hope for in terms of speculation on new head coaches and how the demographics of the cadre of NFL head coaches might change this year is for the number of such expositions to be small.  However, looking at which players might get a franchise tag attached to their career is far more interesting because it can spur debate/discussion that has a finite lifespan.  So, here are seven suggestions I have relative to franchise tag decisions – – in alphabetical order so no one thinks this is a prioritization:

1. Saquon Barkley – Giants:  Finally, a season where he was healthy and available …
2. Lamar Jackson – Ravens:  Reports say the player – negotiating without an agent – and the team are still at odds over a totally guaranteed contract.  However, the Ravens’ offense in 2022 after Jackson suffered a knee injury simply imploded.  I think he gets “the tag” if there is no agreement on a long-term deal.
3. Josh Jacobs – Raiders:  The team did not pick up Jacobs’ fifth-year option so he will be a free agent this year.  There will be a market for his services so the Raiders might want to avoid an “open market” and simply lock him up for one more season.
4. Daniel Jones – Giants:  The team did not pick up Jones’ fifth-year option so he will be a free agent this year.  The Giants’ situation is complicated by the Saquon Barkley situation noted above; the Giants have two productive offensive players on expiring contracts and only one franchise tag…
5. Darron Payne – Commanders:  He had a great year in 2022 but the team has some decision-making to do here.  The team has already paid Jonathan Allen big bucks; Montez Sweat’s contract is up at the end of next season; Chase Young’s payday is looming.  So, how much cap space does the team want/need to devote to the defensive line?
6. Tony Pollard – Cowboys:  Yes, the Cowboys also have Ezekiel Elliott at RB, but my “eyeball test” says that Pollard is the main-man in Dallas these days.
7. Geno Smith – Seahawks:  Smith had the best year of his career by a wide margin in 2022 and led the team to the NFC Playoffs.  If any sort of “bidding war” starts over his future services, the Seahawks might pre-empt that with a franchise tag.  Or not…

Finally, Dwight Perry may have retired from his post at the Seattle Times, but I still have some of his commentary on my clipboard; so, let me close with this observation today:

“The Packers’ Sean Rhyan has been suspended for six games for a PED violation.

“But were they really performance-enhancing? Ryan is Green Bay’s third-string right guard.”

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

 

 

Two numbers stand out – – 65 and 589 – – as in 65 points scored by Georgia and 589 yards of offense rolled up by Georgia in last night’s CFP Championship game.  The game was a beatdown of epic proportion.  TCU fought their way into the CFP tournament and let me be clear:

• TCU belonged in the CFP bracket.
• Their presence there was no fluke.
• They proved their mettle beating a very good Michigan team a week ago.

Having said all of that, TCU was outmanned at virtually every position by Georgia and many of the Georgia second-stringers were better than the TCU defensive opponents.  Some folks will take the result of a Georgia victory by 8 TDs as a signal that TCU’s conference – the Big 12 – is a JV conference as compared to the SEC.  While I tend to agree with the premise that the top and the middle of the SEC is significantly superior to every other conference in the country, I think there is a more important focal point for last night’s debacle.

As I said, TCU belonged in the CFP; their résumé said they were one of the 4 best teams in the nation as of early December.  Now, imagine for a moment if the 12-team playoff bracket that seems to be locked into existence as of 2024 were in effect this year.  Remember, there will be lots of pressure on the Selection Committee to be “inclusive” with their invitations such that teams from outside the so-called Power 5 conferences get shots at the CFP tournament.  Put all that together and ask yourself how inviting a game might have been this year between Georgia and the twelfth-best team in the country given that Georgia was primed for a win-or-go-home contest.

I understand the desire for expansion of the CFP.  I also understand the money that will accrue to the college football consortium when there are more playoff tournament games to offer up for bids to the “broadcast partners”.  What I fear is that there are going to be more routs akin to what took place last night.  I like college football as much an anyone, but I tuned out in the 4^th quarter of the game because it was no longer interesting.

Had I been a Roman citizen in the first century, I probably would have found other things to do instead of going to the Coliseum to witness:

• Lions 54          Christians 0

Next up …  Reports say that Mat Ishbia has agreed to buy the Phoenix Suns (NBA) and the Phoenix Mercury (WNBA).  When that deal closes, it will be the end of the Robert Sarver saga in Phoenix where Sarver stood accused of running an organization that had the atmosphere of Delta House in the movie, Animal House.  You may expect to read and hear loads of opinionating about how “the good guys have won” in that circumstance and how there is a sea change in society about how bosses and owners can be “held accountable” for societally inappropriate behavior.  Be sure to check your blood sugar levels after you read lots of that sort of stuff in the near future.

Here in Curmudgeon Central, the view is often just a tad off in a different direction.  In this case there are two different directions.

1. Sarver and his minority owner-partners paid $401M to buy the Suns’ franchise in 2004.  The reported sale price for the franchise(s) in 2023 is $4B.  If Sarver only owns 50% of the Suns, he will walk away from the settlement table with a cool $2B.  Somehow, I doubt that he has been “punished” sufficiently severely that he might never engage in such improper behaviors ever again.
2. Just last year, the NFL’s Denver Broncos franchise sold for a reported $4.6B.  In case you need a hand, that is 15% more than what Ishbia is paying to buy the NBA Suns.  That leads me to wonder:

Is Ishbia paying way too much for the Suns?

Did Greg Penner and his wife get the bargain of the century buying an NFL team for only 15% more than a middling NBA team?

            Those amounts of money are like Monopoly money to me; I have no sense of what it means to be able to contemplate deals of that magnitude.  But I do know this:

• The owners in the NFL basically have a license to print money; unless I cannot do addition and subtraction, I do not see how it might be possible for an NFL owner to make less than tens of millions of dollars in profits every year – – at least until the tax accountants get hold of the numbers and depreciate everything down to the paper clips to conjure up a paper loss.

Speaking obliquely of the NBA, I have been pleased and surprised to see that referees have been retrained to call traveling violations in NBA games in 2022/23.  Someone went to the rule book and noticed that it should be a violation – penalized by loss of possession of the ball – for a player to take 4 or even 5 steps toward the basket without dribbling the ball.  Such happenings  had gotten to be almost commonplace in the NBA as of last season.

The league says that they have made traveling violations a “point of emphasis” for this season.  I for one find that emphasis as a positive for the pro basketball game and I hope that the league continues to tell the officials to emphasize those sorts of calls.

One more NBA-related item today …  Kevin Durant thinks that “entitled NBA fans” need to be quiet about things like players taking time off for “maintenance” and just enjoy the games.

• Memo to Kevin Durant:  Some NBA fans may indeed be entitled trust-fund brats.  However, no NBA player is in a position to rag on any other human on Earth for being “entitled”.  That is the height of hypocrisy – – and NBA players like you know lots about “height”.

The other head-shaking part of Durant’s harangue is that he seems not to understand the concept of self-incrimination.  Here is part of what he told ESPN in an interview:

“Fans have become more entitled than anything. So, they’re starting to question our motives for the game, or how we approach the game. The ones that do question — like who are you? Just shut up and watch the game tonight. We go as hard as we want to go. We go as hard as our bodies allow us to go at this point.”

“We go as hard as we want to go.”  And if you don’t want to “go hard” and I paid $250 to see you play on that night, you take my criticism as my “entitlement”?

Finally, let me close today with an observation by George Best – the man who Pele said was the best footballer that Pele ever saw:

“In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol, and it was the worst twenty minutes of my life.”

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