Author: Jack

I mentioned yesterday that Mike Budenholzer might be fired as coach of the Phoenx Suns after the team significantly underperformed expectations in 2024/25.  Well, that happened overnight; and Budenholzer is now looking for work having an NBA Championship on his résumé.  He coached the Bucks to the title in 2021.  Meanwhile, the Suns will be hiring their third coach since May 2023 when they fired Monty Williams.

Let me give you some facts about the Suns’ recent coaches:

• Monty Williams was NBA Coach of the Year in 2022 as the coach of the Suns
• Frank Vogel won the NBA Championship in 2020
• Mike Budenholzer won the NBA Championship in 2021.

            I am beginning to think that it might it be the case that “the problem” with the Phoenix Suns is centered elsewhere in the organization.  You make the call …

Sticking with the NBA, the play-in round of the Playoffs starts tonight.  The NBA now has 20 teams out of 30  that qualify for the Playoffs and, frankly, that is too many.  Consider this data:

• Of the 4 play-in teams in the East, none posted a winning record in the regular season.
• The 7^th seed in the East (Orlando) is a “Playoff team” with a record of 41-41.
• The 10^th seed in the East (Miami) is a “Playoff team” with a record of 37-45.
• Adding in the 4 play-in teams in the West, there are two more teams with records below .500.

Theoretically, the next two nights should be dramatic in the NBA.  The play-in round is single elimination; there should be energy and anticipation for these games.  Well, if there is any such energy, I don’t sense it at all.  In fact, I know I will not be watching both games in full tonight because I really do not care who wins and loses in this playoff round.

Moving on to MLB …  The Rockies lost to the Dodgers last night by a score of 5-3.  By scoring those 3 runs, the Rockies broke a scoreless streak of 31 innings which set a club record.  While that sounds amazingly inept, it is not even close to the MLB record for consecutives scoreless innings; that record stands at 48 scoreless innings, and it was done by two teams:

1. The Philadelphia A’s in 1906
2. The Chicago Cubs in 1968

The Colorado Rockies are off to a miserable start in 2025; their record of 3-13 is the worst in MLB – – even worse than the White Sox.  Their run differential is minus-46; a negative figure is to be expected with a 3-13 overall record, but the Rockies are outpacing the other bottom dwellers in that category too.  The next worst run differential belongs to the A’s at minus-24.

And this morning, the Rockies got another piece of bad news.  Outfielder Kris Bryant was put on the IL with “lumbar degenerative disk disease”.  I am not going to pretend to be an orthopedist, but that sounds extremely ominous.  Bryant has been with the Rockies since signing on there as a free agent in 2022, but his time there has been spent on the Injured List more than it has on the field.

• Since he signed on in Colorado, the Rockies have played 502 games.
• Bryant has appeared in only 170 of those games.

Kris Bryant is a former Rookie of the Year and a former NL MVP and a four-time All-Star.   His future does not seem nearly as bright as his past …

In other baseball “news”, the NL West standings this morning have the Dodgers in third place which is odd because some had speculated that the Dodgers might go 162-0 this season with its star-studded lineup.  Both the Padres and the Giants hold small leads over the Dodgers as of this morning and the Padres have an interesting twist to their record:

• The Padres are 3-3 on the road.
• The Padres are 11-0 at home.

The Padres are scoring runs this  year.  As of today, the Padres run differential is +36 which is second in MLB to the Cubs who are at +37.  Can the Padres – – and/or the Giants for that matter – – keep this up and make it a race in the NL West?  There is still a whole lot of baseball to be played …

Finally, I’ll close today with this observation by Oscar Wilde:

“Some cause happiness everywhere they go, others wherever they go.”

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

 

 

The NBA regular season which began back in November of last year is over; the playoffs are set; frankly there are only two real surprises to me in the final standings:

1. The Phoenix Suns will not be part of the playoffs at all.
2. The Detroit Pistons are not only in the playoffs but are above the “play-in zone”.

So, let the playoffs begin …  but before we focus on those events, allow me to present you with some data from a completely meaningless game last Friday between the Oklahoma City Thunder (best record in the league) and the Utah Jazz (worst record in the league).  Per the box score in the Washington Post:

• The Thunder attempted 53 three-point shots.  (They made 24 of them.)
• The Jazz attempted 63 three-point shots.  (They made only 17 of them.)
• In 48 minutes of game time, the teams combined for 116 three-point shots which is 2.4 attempts per minute, or one three-point shot every 25 seconds of game time.
• Attendance at the game was listed as 18,175; I sure hope those fans enjoyed that action.

This was an NBA regular season with several head-scratching events.  In fact, about the only NBA news that I shrugged off as “business as usual” was the fact that Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard were injured, and both missed a lot of games.  Here are four of the “abnormalities” of the regular season in no particular order:

1. The Mavs traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis.  Since the Mavs braintrust thought trading Doncic was a good idea in the first place, it makes a modicum of sense that they would also think Anthony Davis was sufficient return on investment as a trade.  No one else did.  [Aside:  Unsurprisingly, Davis suffered an injury in his first game with the Mavs that kept him out for a couple of weeks.]
2. The Kings fired their coach, Mike Brown.  It was only two seasons ago that Brown was the NBA Coach of the Year, and it is not as if the Kings have a long history of dominance in the league that Brown’s team failed to uphold.  At least the Kings made the playoffs this year limping into the “play-in round” as the ninth seed in the West.
3. The Grizzlies fired their coach late in the regular season.  Why is that strange?  Well, at the time of the firing, the Grizzlies’ record was 44-29 (winning percentage = .603) and the team was solidly in position to make the playoffs.  In the wake of that coaching change, the Grizzlies are still in the playoffs, but their record is 4-5.
4. Not to be outdone, the Nuggets fired their coach even later in the regular season – – with only 3 games left on the regular season schedule.  The Nuggets are seeded fourth in the West for the playoffs and finished the season with 50 wins.  And yet, they fired their coach who only two seasons ago won the NBA Finals with the Nuggets.

Given that it seems like winning games is not a good enough reason to retain coaches in the NBA anymore, might there be a coaching bloodbath in the near future?

• I mentioned above that the Suns somehow missed the playoffs surprisingly.  Their coach is Mike Budenholzer, who incidentally coached the Bucks to the NBA Championship a few years ago, and you have to wonder if he can/will survive the Suns’ 36-46 record this year.  How did he forget his winning ways so quickly?
• The Sixers obviously thought that getting Paul George to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey would make them contenders.  Embiid and George each missed a lot of games; Maxey missed fewer games; the Sixers not only failed to make the playoffs, they finished the season with a dismal record of 24-58.  Their coach is Nick Nurse, who incidentally coached the Raptors to the NBA Championship a few years ago.  How did he forget his winning ways so quickly?

There is at least one island of coaching stability in the NBA at the end of this regular season.  The Trailblazers have extended the contract of coach, Chauncey Billups despite the fact that the Blazers missed the playoffs and had a 36-46 regular season record – – same as the Suns by the way.

Finally, since today has been mostly about coaching, I’ll close with this from Tom Landry – – the longtime coach of the Dallas Cowboys:

“Really, coaching is simplicity. It’s getting players to play better than they think that they can.”

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

 

 

Yesterday, I marveled at a minor league baseball game where pitchers could not find home plate if  you game them a radar; that game saw 32 batters reach base with a walk.  Today, I want to report on another oddball happenstance in a minor league game.  Today’s focus is on the Midwest League and a game between the Beloit Sky Carp and the Cedar Rapid Kernels.  Emaarion Boyd is an outfielder for the Sky Carp; in yesterday’s game, Boyd stole 6 bases which is impressive by itself.  What makes it just a tad unusual is this:

• He did not have a hit in the game.

He was walked once, hit by a pitch in another at-bat and reached first on a fielder’s choice.  On those three occasions, he stole second and third base.  Boyd is 21 years old and has been in pro baseball for three seasons; in 2023 he played in 91 games for Clearwater in the Florida League and stole 56 bases there.  Boyd is in the Marlins’ minor-league system for now and has appeared in 6 games for the Sky Carp this season with 7 stolen bases as of today.

Sticking with baseball …  The Atlanta Braves have gotten off to a miserable start to the 2025 season; this morning they are dead last in the NL East with a 3-9 record.  However, they did get a bit of good news yesterday in the performance of Spencer Strider in a rehab start.  Strider had an alternative to Tommy John surgery last year to repair a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and last night was his third rehab start as he prepares to return to the Braves.

Last night, Strider threw 5 1/3 innings and struck out 13 batters in a Triple-A game between the Gwinnett Stripers and the Norfolk Tides.  The Braves’ awful start can be attributed to their lack of offense; the Braves have scored a total of 38 runs in 12 games this year; only the woebegone White Sox have scored fewer runs (35 in 12 games).  If Strider returns to the Braves’ rotation and pitches to his previous standard, that would be a blessing for the Braves as they wait for their bats to wake up.

Moving on …  The oddsmakers had the NBA’s Phoenix Suns as one of the favorites to win the NBA Championship this year with futures odds at +650.  As a point of reference, the co-favorites on the futures board were the Celtics and the Nuggets at odds of +450.  Talk about underachieving, the Suns have been eliminated from the playoffs – – let alone the NBA Finals and will finish the season with a record below .500.

I think there are two components to this underachievement that could get less scrutiny than they deserve:

1. There is more to winning than just scoring; it helps to be able to keep the other guys from scoring at will.  The Suns signed/acquired three star players – – Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.  All of them are proven scorers; none of them are more than average defenders.  I recall a chat I had with a friend back at the beginning of the NBA season; he is into wagering on NBA games – – among other events – – and he said that whenever he thinks about the Suns he immediately thinks, “Take the OVER.”
2. Maybe the “problem” isn’t always the coach.  Maybe what a winning team needs is some consistency on the bench and some time for the coach to get his “system” ingrained in the roster.  The Suns fired Monty Willians who had amassed win percentage of .628 with the team; they hired and then fired Frank Vogel whose win percentage with the Suns was .598.  Mike Budenholzer is the current coach and given the disappointing performance of the Suns this year, I would suggest that he is not a shoo-in to continue in that position.  Here’s the thing; all three of those coaches have been successful NBA coaches and two of them were successful in Phoenix.  And yet, they are gone.

Switching gears – – but staying with basketball …  JT Toppin was an important part of Texas Tech’s run to the Elite Eight in this year’s March Madness.  Demonstrating how college athletics have changed over the past year or two, Toppin announced that he will not enter the NBA Draft this year and that he will not enter the Transfer Portal either.  He will stay at Texas Tech for another year and will get an NIL deal that reports say will be worth $4M.

Toppin has played two years of college basketball so he has “eligibility” left – – whatever “eligibility” might mean these days.  Just suppose Toppin really likes living and playing in Lubbock, TX; if he were to stay there next season and the one after that for $4M a year, what would be wrong with him continuing to play basketball for Texas Tech beyond that?  The whole idea behind “eligibility” was to try to prevent colleges from amassing a set of “ringers” who were not students but were there as “hired hands” to win games.  And that is exactly the situation now in college athletics and Toppin’s decision simply brings the details of such a deal out of the shadows and into the open.

Finally, in support of my suggestion that defense is part of winning basketball, let me close with this from Tom Glavine:

“There is no second baseman in the game who can turn the double play better than [Mark Lemke].  Why are people always looking for offense at that position? What’s more important is getting outs, and turning the double is a huge factor in getting outs.”

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

 

 

They say that when you go out to see a baseball game, there is always a chance you will see something you have never seen before.  Well, that was certainly true for the 327 people who attended a Florida State League game between the Dunedin Blue Jays and the Jupiter Hammerheads.  The final score was 19-5 in favor of the Jays but that is not the story by a long shot.  Here is the deal:

• Seven pitchers for the Hammerheads gave up 22 walks in the game.

Not only is that a Florida State League record; it is a record for all of full-season minor league baseball and it eclipses the MLB record for walks in a game by 3.  In MLB, the Washington Senators had pitchers issue 19 bases on balls in a game in 1971.  Let me give you a smattering of highlights from the box score of the Dunedin Blue Jays’ victory here:

1. The Jays’ pitchers got into the spirit of the game by walking 10 Hammerhead batters – – including 5 walks for the Hammerheads’ leadoff batter.
2. It was just not a day for hitters; in addition to the 32 walks issued by all the pitchers, there were a total of 24 strikeouts in the game.
3. One Jupiter pitcher worked one third of an inning.  He walked 3 batters and struck out one.
4. Another Jupiter pitcher worked 1 1/3 innings walking 3 batters and striking out 3 other batters.  He also found a way to give up 6 earned runs in that short stint on the mound.
5. On top of all this, four players were hit by pitches in the game.
6. Oh yes, there were also 3 wild pitches and a balk.
7. The time of the game was 3 hours and 39 minutes.

Here is the stat I would want to know that will never appear in the box score:

• How many cold lagers did the home plate umpire quaff after that bit of torture?

Earlier this week, there was another unusual baseball happening.

• Yeshiva University beat Lehman College 9-5, and three huge losing streaks were ended on that day.

The two schools had a double-header scheduled.  When the two teams took the field in Game One, Lehman had a 42-game losing streak working.  Lehman won the first game 7-6 and ended that losing streak.

Yeshiva started the day with a 99-game losing streak and by losing the first game it moved into triple-digit territory without a win.  However, in Game Two, Yeshiva finally emerged victorious by a score of 9-5.  Losing streak #2 went down the drain …

Since Lehman was working on a 42-game losing streak that day, I have to assume that Lehman is not a college baseball powerhouse.  Nevertheless, the third losing streak to be broken on that day involves Lehman’s dominance of Yeshiva over the  years.  Until that win in Game Two earlier this week, Yeshiva had never beaten Lehman in a baseball game.  When Yeshiva won that second game, they ended an all-time 18-game losing streak to Lehman.

If ever there were a reason to storm a college baseball field, I think this would be it.

Last year, the White Sox lost 121 baseball games, and they have opened this year losing 9 of their first 11 games.  In order to lose that many times, you would think that teams would need to invent ways to fend off victory.  Well, the White Sox did that this week.

The Sox trailed the Guardians 3-1 in the ninth inning, but they had the bases loaded with two out.  No, Casey did not strike out there; the Sox found a better way to lose.  Miguel Vargas singled to left scoring the runner on third and the runner on second – – Mike Tauchmnan – – went steaming around third base intending to tie the score.  And then Tauchman pulled up lame and was tagged as an easy third out.  It seems that for the White Sox, when it rains, it pours.

Sticking with baseball – – but on a more positive note now – – the first two “Players of the Week” for 2025 have been named.

• In the National League, it is Kyle Tucker of the Cubs
• In the American League, it is Alex Bregman of the Red Sox
• Bregman was signed as a free agent this winter; Tucker was acquired by a trade this winter.
• Both were longtime Astros – – Tucker for 7 years and Bregman for 9 years.

Finally, since today was about baseball, let me close with this from Tommy Lasorda:

“There are three types of baseball players: Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happens.”

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

 

 

Presumably, this will be my final comment on this year’s March Madness.  Yesterday, the following headline appeared at CBSSports.com:

• 2025 NCAA Tournament: Florida vs. Houston was most-watched national championship since 2019

The game averaged 18.1 million viewers and in the final minutes 21.1 million folks were watching.  That average figure for audience size was up 22% as compared to last year and was the largest audience for a Final Game since 2019 (Virginia over Texas Tech).  The presence of all four teams seeded at the top of their bracket probably increased the focus in the Final Four this year resulting in the “audience bump” on Monday night.

Moving on …  Today looks like it will be a tale of two quarterbacks.  The first one is Geno Smith of the Las Vegas Raiders.  The Raiders traded a draft pick to acquire Smith from the Seahawks last month and the team has now given him an extension on his contract.  Reports say that the extension will keep Smith under contract with the Raiders through the 2027 season for $85.5M and $65M of that total is guaranteed money.  Personally, I think that is a lot of money devoted to a 35-year-old QB who is not a “Top Ten Guy” at the position.  So, why the extension and the expense?

• The Raiders have a new coach – – Pete Carroll – – who is 72 years old.  I suspect that he is not remotely interested in a “five-year plan” or a “tear-down and rebuild” modus operandi.  Smith may not be an All-Pro QB, but Carroll knows what he can and cannot do from the time they were together in Seattle.  I think there is a comfort-factor at work here.
• Also, it is not as if the Raiders have budding talent at the position on the roster.  There are two QBs on the roster this morning in addition to Geno Smith.  Aiden O’Connell is presumably the #2 guy given that he has started a bunch of games for the team over the last two seasons.  Yes, he has some experience; no, he has not had unbridled success.  The other QB on the roster is Carter Bradley who never saw the field in his rookie season out of South Alabama.
• The Raiders have the sixth pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.  This is projected to be a “lean year” for QBs coming out of college.  Even if Pete Carroll were interested in developing a young QB – – which I doubt is the case – – this is not the sort of QB crop that might excite him sitting at #6 in the Draft.

The Raiders are coming off a 2024 season with a record of 4-13-0.  That team had several roster holes and QB was among them.  Geno Smith may not be a great QB, but he is a competent starting QB which means that Raiders can devote attention to other roster deficiencies in the Draft and in considering other free agents.

The other quarterback today is Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson.  Last week, the Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam said in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the team “took a big swing and miss with Deshaun”.  In case you do not remember, here is what the Browns traded away to the Texans to acquire Watson:

• 2022 Draft:  A first-round pick and a fourth-round pick
• 2023 Draft:  A first-round pick and a third-round pick
• 2024 Draft:  A first-round pick and a fourth-round pick

            On top of that steep price, the Browns then gave Watson a 5-year contract worth $230M and they fully guaranteed the deal.  The average annual salary of $46M was high at the time and the idea of fully guaranteeing the deal was considered to be outrageous by other owners.  Oh, there was one other detail overhanging the whole transaction; Watson had been accused of sexual harassment/misconduct by a couple of dozen women and he faced discipline by the NFL that could have involved a year’s suspension.

So, that was the big swing.  To understand the “miss” you have to see what the Browns got for their trouble.

• Watson was suspended for 11 games in his first season with the Browns by the NFL the misconduct.
• For the Browns, Watson has started 19 games in 3 seasons; he has had serious injuries in the last two seasons.  In those 19 games with Watson at QB, the team has a record of 9-10-0.
• At the moment, Watson is suffering from a major injury.  In a game last October, he tore his Achilles tendon.  In working to rehab that injury he suffered another team of the tendon in January 2025 and underwent another surgery then.  Given the typical recovery time from that sort of surgery, Watson is doubtful for most if not all of the 2025 season.

Watson’s contract runs through the end of the 2026 season and the Browns owe him a little over $50M over the next two seasons – – fully guaranteed, remember.  He will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2026 season; but absent a visitation by his Fairy Godmother, he should not expect any contract offers then that bear any resemblance to his current deal.

The Browns “took a big swing and a miss”; the Raiders did not take nearly such a big swing, but if they miss as badly as did the Browns, it could be a serious situation out there in the desert …

Finally, there is a line in Michael Lewis’ book, The Blind Side that seems pertinent here:

“When a star running back or wide receiver is injured, the coaches worry about their game plans. When a star quarterback gets hurt, the coaches worry about their jobs.

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

 

 

Congratulations to the Florida Gators as the National Champions of college basketball for 2025 with an exciting and entertaining victory over Houston in the Final Game of March Madness.  I don’t know what more one might ask of the three games that led from the Final Four to Florida’s championship status; all three games featured dramatic come-from-behind rallies by the winners and all three games were seriously in doubt in the final two minutes of the contests.  In the three games this weekend, the team that had the lead at halftime wound up losing the game.  On the “Entertainment Scale” those Final Four Games pegged the needle on the “Wow Meter”.

Until I checked my email yesterday afternoon, it had not registered with me that “Mattress Mack” had not been in the news for making a large wager on the Houston Cougars to win the National Championship; he is the “Ultimate Houston/Texas Sports Fan”.  The email I received from the “reader in Houston” explained the situation.  Here is the scoop:

“Mack lost a lot of money recently to casinos regarding his promotions to return money to those who spent more than $4,000 on mattresses, so he sat out the annual NCAA promotion where he would refund money if a team from Texas won the tourney.

“For the baseball season, he has a new gimmick though. If the Astros win 10 straight (they’ve done it seven times over the last decade), he will give full refunds to those who spend over $4,000 on mattresses.

“If the Astros win 9 straight, he can hedge his potential refund to customers by going against the Astros in their next game, if he so wishes. However, with the Astros team this season, winning seven straight is a longshot, let alone ten straight.”

The Astros indeed lost some quality players in the last offseason; Kyle Tucker went to the Cubs; Justin Verlander went to the Giants and Alex Bregman signed with the Red Sox.  Those are serious losses.  However, the Astros also added Isaac Parades and Christian Walker to the roster, so the team is not exactly bereft of talent.  Jose Altuve, Yanier Diaz and Yordan Alvarez are a solid core for the Astros’ lineup.

Switching gears …  The NBA regular season is just about over.  There is minimal tension left in the schedule; the playoff teams are set in the Eastern Conference and only one playoff slot is uncertain in the West where the Mavs lead the Suns by 3 games with four games left to play for both teams.  This year, there is no late-season “excitement” in the late season NBA games unless you are looking at the tanking teams to see which ones will get how many ping-pong balls in the Draft Hopper.

• The Jazz will finish last in the West.  They have 16 wins as of today with 3 games left to play.
• The Wizards lead the race to the bottom in the East.  They have 17 wins as of today with 4 games left on the schedule.
• The Hornets could catch the Wizards and become the Ignominy of the East.  The Hornets have 19 wins with four games left to play.

The other NBA stat I want to give you this morning has to do with a complaint that I have had about NBA games for the last several years.  With a few games left to play, the NBA has set a new record for the number of three-point field goals made in a season.  Here is a line from yesterday’s Washington Post – – The Day In Sports:

“The NBA record for three-pointers in a season fell again.  Boston’s Sam Hauser connected with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ game against Washington Sunday night – – the 31,580^th made three-pointer of the season in the NBA.”

In round numbers, an average NBA game sees 27 made three-point shots out of 68 three-point attempts.  There are approximately 60 regular season games left on the NBA schedule; at this rate the previous league record for three-point shots made will be surpassed by around 4,000 successful three-pointers.  Sorry, that is a large part of the reason why I prefer college basketball to the professional variety.

Finally, since I began today with the national championship game last night, let me close with these words from Duffy Daugherty, former head football coach at Michigan State, on the importance of championship games:

“When you are playing for the national championship, it’s not a matter of life or death. It’s more important than that.”

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

 

 

Well, I will only get half of my “wish”.  I wanted to see Duke/Florida as the Final Game for the tournament this year but will be happy to see Houston/Florida later this evening.  Both Houston and Florida overcame significant deficits on Saturday night to make it to tonight’s game.  The oddsmakers have Florida as the favorite by 1.5 points and the Total Line this morning is 142 points.  If Saturday’s games were an indicator, I would be playing the UNDER on tonight’s game; I am anticipating two defensive efforts.

Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, UConn and Geno Auriemma won their 12^th national championship on Sunday with a dominant win over South Carolina.  That 12^th national championship for Coach Auriemma is the most by any coach in college basketball – – men’s or women’s.

The late breaking story of the day however has nothing to do with college basketball; over in the world of MLB, the news is that the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guererro, Jr. have reached an agreement on a contract extension worth $500M over the next 14 years.  Guererro was in the final year of his contract with the Jays and was going to be THE blue-chip free agent in baseball over the next offseason; that drama is now avoided with this huge extension.  Guerrero is 26 years old; this contract extension – – with no deferred money by the way – – will pay him through the MLB season where he is 40 years old.  The Jays must realize that they will be overpaying in that final season; so, they also anticipate that they will be getting a bargain over the early seasons in the deal.

The Jays have another player on an expiring contract to deal with.  Bo Bichette will be a free agent this winter; while signing him will not take another $500M commitment by the team, he too is a player who will attract a lot of attention if he hits the free agency market.  The Jays were active in the last offseason signing vets like Max Scherzer and Jeff Hoffman which indicates that Jays’ management sees the future of the team being in the near future.  Perhaps, Toronto is a place to focus baseball attention these days?

Sticking with MLB, I think the entire kerfuffle over “torpedo bats” is even less interesting than a tempest in a teapot.  The bats are perfectly legal according to MLB rules for 2025; here is the pertinent information from “Rule 3.02 The Bat” from MLB’s official rules for 2525:

• (a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.
• (b) Cupped Bats. An indentation in the end of the bat up to 1¼ inches in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter. The indentation must be curved with no foreign substance added.
• (c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance that extends past the 18-inch limitation shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
• (d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by Major League Baseball.

As Porky Pig was wont to say, “That’s all, folks!”  If the so-called torpedo bats meet those criteria, they are legal.

Here is one more baseball item for today; it is an unusual stat that I ran across:

• The Reds lost 3 consecutive games by the score of 1-0.  The last time that happened in MLB was in 1960 when the Phillies accomplished the same feat.
• Reds’ fans need to hope that their team does better in 2025 than did the Phillies in 1960.  That Phillies team finished dead last in the NL with a record of 59-95 and were 36 games behind the league-leading Pirates.

For those of you who are numbers-oriented, you probably noticed that the MLB season in 1960 was 154 games in length.  In fact, that was the last MLB season of that length and I think it is time for MLB to begin to think about contracting its season back a little bit.  Here’s why:

• With the expansion of the playoffs – – and the desire not to have advancement in the playoffs determined by single elimination games – – the baseball season now has too many “cold weather games” on the schedule in both late March and in late October/early November.
• Combined with the economic aversion to schedule double headers, the MLB season eats up too much real estate on the astronomical calendar.

Baseball is not a cold-weather game.  By shrinking the regular season a bit – – and committing to scheduling double headers on Memorial Day and July 4^th – – MLB can dodge some of meteorological bullets that are inevitable in many of their venues such as Toronto, Boston, NY, Minnesota, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philly where all the parks are open air parks.  Ideally, I would reduce the regular season to 144 games with two days devoted to double headers.  I know that will cause the baseball purists to cringe; so, I would settle for going back to 154 games in the regular season with two days devoted to double headers.

Just a thought …

Finally, since most of today was about baseball, let me close with these words from Mr. Baseball – – Bob Uecker:

“I hit a grand slam off Ron Herbel and when his manager Herman Franks came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel’s suitcase.”

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

 

 

As part of its determination to dominate sports media all year round, the NFL held one of its scheduled owners’ meetings this week and tweaked some of the rules.  In order to minimize the incentive for teams kicking off to simply kick the ball out of the end zone, the league moved the starting point for offensive drives out to the 35-yardline instead of the 30-yardline.  The underlying idea here is to add more kickoff returns to the game because kickoff returns can be exciting plays.

The institution of the so-called “Dynamic Kickoff” where the defenders do not get a running start for 40-50 yards before colliding with blockers and returners was done to promote more returns and to reduce player injuries.  Nonetheless, special teams’ coaches and defensive coordinators seemed willing to have the offense take possession at the 30-yardline because less than a third of the kickoffs were actually returned last season.  Nonetheless, the rule had some positive result because there were 300 more kickoffs returned in NFL regular season games in 2024 than there were in 2023.

According to reports, there may be some more changes to this rule after the owners meet again in late May.  In the meantime, it seems to me that the rules mavens may be setting the incentives incorrectly here.  Suppose the rule went like this:

• Kickoff goes out of the end zone on the fly and the ball comes out to the 35 yardline.
• Kickoff goes into the end zone and is not returned by the receiving team, and the ball only comes out to the 20-yardline.  [Aside:  That was the rule for decades in the NFL.]

Now, the incentive is for the receiving team to do something other than take a knee and for the kicking team to keep the ball on the field of play.  If they keep the player lineups as they were in 2024, they will have more kickoff returns in a situation where it appears injuries were also reduced.  Just a thought …

Another rule change for 2025 is that regular season overtime games will use the same rule for overtime as in playoff games in the sense that both teams will be guaranteed to have the ball on offense.  Under this rule, it is advantageous for the team winning the overtime coin toss to choose to kick off.  By doing that, the team winning the coin toss will know exactly what it needs to accomplish on its possession to win or tie the game and that is a significant advantage.  On balance, I like the new rule better than the old rule for regular season overtime games.

Regular season overtime games will differ from playoff overtime games in terms of the length of the game.  In the regular season, overtime is limited to 10 minutes; in playoff games, play goes on until there is a winner and a loser.  Since the NFL playoffs are single elimination, such is a necessity for playoff games.

Another change for 2025 will be a new authority granted to the on-site replay official.  Starting next year, the on-site replay official will be allowed to reverse penalty flags for hits on defenseless players, facemask/horse collar violations and the distinction between roughing the kicker and running into the kicker.  However, this new authority only allows for reversal of penalties called on the field, the replay official cannot “discover” a new penalty while reviewing a play no matter how obvious that might be.  Again, this sounds like an improvement to me.

The most revolutionary rule change for 2025 involves measuring for first downs; the chain gang will have “secondary responsibility” – – whatever that means – – and measurement will use visual technology developed by Sony.  The system is called “Hawk-Eye”, and it will be operated in the Game Day facility in NY; the system does its calculating, and that result will be communicated to the officials on the field theoretically in less time than it takes for the chain gang to come onto and off the field.  I guess the chain gang’s presence in “secondary responsibility” is insurance if there is a technology hiccough during the games.

Several proposed rule changes were tabled for further consideration at the meeting in May.

1. Should the “tush-push” continue to be allowed as a legal offensive play?  If it is deemed to be improper, then I think any and all plays where ball carriers are assisted by teammates should be outlawed.
2. Should there be rule changes to increase the probability of recovery for onside kicks?  I would have to see the proposed new rules to know if I like these or not.
3. Should playoff seeding in each conference be based on regular season records as opposed to division championships?  I would vote for this one immediately.

One proposed rule change was voted down.  The Lions proposed that the automatic first down that accompanies a defensive holding call or an illegal contact call be removed as part of the penalty.  I think the owners got this one right; if the automatic first down were removed, I think there would be a spike in defensive holding and illegal contact situations and that would not be a plus for the games.

Switching gears …  Set yourself a reminder for tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM ET so that you do not miss the NCAA semi-finals on CBS.  There are no “pretenders” left; each team in both games is worthy of winning it all; Saturday night should be great sports entertainment.  I said two weeks ago that I thought Duke/Florida would be an entertaining Final Game; that matchup remains a possibility …

Finally, another gem from Al McGuire:

“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.”

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

 

 

Maryland was my “sleeper team” in this year’s tournament and made it to the Sweet-16 before taking its leave.  Its coach, Kevin Willard, had been at odds with the former Athletic Director who had just moved on; so, under normal circumstances, you would think that Willard would be back trying to improve on a Sweet-16 appearance next year. Nope, that would be too normal.

Willard complained that the basketball program was a poor stepchild in the Maryland Athletic Department and spoke of the happiness he felt when he was in the Big East (Seton Hall) where football did not dominate every thought and action in an Athletic Department.  As soon as Vilanova fired its coach after a third straight year without a March Madness invitation, speculation was that Willard wanted the job.  Indeed, he took the Villanova job and went back to the Big East and the Terps went out and hired Buzz Williams in his place.

I think both Villanova and Maryland upgraded at the basketball coaching level.  Do not take that comment to mean that I think Williams is clearly superior to Willard as a coach; rather, I mean Williams seems far more content to work in what is the “Maryland environment” than Willard was – – and that is a big plus.  Consider that Williams’ last two jobs were at Va Tech and Texas A&M.  Clearly, football is the dominant interest at those two schools; Williams seems to be adapted to that sort of environment for the basketball program.

But it is that “environment for the basketball program” that remains at Maryland and has existed ever since the Terps jettisoned the ACC for the Big-10.  With that move, Maryland chased “football money” even though there is no way for Maryland to be a “champion” in Big-10 football anytime in the next few decades.  Now, if Willard is to be believed, the Athletic Budget constrains the basketball program significantly.  According to reports, Willard asked for the team to stay together in a NY hotel for a night over the Christmas Holidays and was told there wasn’t money in the budget for that.  But when the football team travels to play Stanford, there is money for a much larger squad to stay in a hotel in the SF area …

Buzz Williams will be successful at Maryland; he has been everywhere else.  But I predict that he too will finally chafe under the financial constraints that he will endure there and his success with the Terps will land him a bigger job somewhere in the next 5 years or so.  Maryland is a “basketball school” who is seeking to become a “football school”.  That is not an impossible undertaking, but it is not an easy one either.  And it is going to make the position of “head basketball coach” a revolving door for a while.

Moving on …  The “Oakland” A’s had their home opener in Sacramento this week; they lost that game 18-3 but that was not the worst news item to come from that game.  They played in the minor league stadium for the Sacramento team which seats 14,000 fans.  And for the home opener in the new venue, the A’s did not sell out the venue; attendance was 12,119.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that the A’s did not average 12,119 fans last year in Oakland and I guess it looks better to play in a stadium that is 85% full as opposed to one that is 20% full.

In the longer term, this does not auger well for the A’s.  They will be in a minor league park for at least two seasons and probably longer; I will go out on a limb here and say that fact will not be a selling point for free agents to consider the A’s as a destination nor will it make any current players who become free agents more prone to “stay home”.  Yes, they signed Luis Severino in this offseason; but I wonder if that was merely an aberration.  Time will tell …

Switching gears …  The Braves could not possibly have anticipated the horrendous start the team got for the 2025 season; as of this morning, the Braves are 0-7 having been outscored 32-14 in those 7 losses.  I know; the Braves still need to get Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Spencer Strider back onto the field regularly; that will kickstart the team.  However, the Braves need to do better than they have lest they fall so far behind in a competitive NL East that they do not have enough season left in order to “catch up”.

One more item today …  Here is an example of why it is important to look at statistics in context.  Data Set #1:

• The average TV audience for March Madness is up 3% this year as compared to the TV audience in 2023.  AND …
• The average TV audience for the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is up 43% from 2023.

Let those numbers marinate in your brain for a moment and get a sense of your reaction to them  Now consider Data Set #2:

• The average TV audience for March Madness in 2025 is 9.4 million viewers.  AND …
• The average TV audience for the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2025 is 367,000 viewers.

Both statements are true according to reports from places that track such data.  Most folks will react rather differently depending on which data set is presented to them.

Finally, another observation from Al McGuire:

“When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric.”

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

 

 

ESPN’s SportsCenter has been a foundation piece for the network since ESPN signed onto the air in 1979; I read somewhere that there have been more than 60,000 “episodes” of SportsCenter in ESPN’s history.  About 15 years ago, the network decided to move the operation completely to Los Angeles and to end the idea of an “Eastern” version from Bristol, CT alongside an “Western” version in LA.  I remember that my reaction at the time was that SportsCenter was not broken so why fix it.  After all, moving lots of people and crating a new set and infrastructure in LA was going to cost ESPN a lot more than “three easy payments of $39.95”.

Now, ESPN has decided to close down the LA operation and move SportsCenter back to Bristol in its entirety.  The company cited “current business needs” as the basis for this decision to relocate.  Plus ça change …

I don’t care even a little bit where SportsCenter originates; I only care that it does what it set out to do in 1979 which is to provide scores and highlights for various games/matches/tournaments/whatever.  I don’t care if the presenters are male or female; I don’t care of the graphics are flashy or plain; if the hosts can add some humor to the telecast naturally and not ham-handedly, that is good but not necessary.  The final LA-based SportsCenter will be sometime in mid-May.  Please let the show’s producers recognize that the move back to where the program started can also be a message to get the show back to what it was always intended to be.

That is only one bit of programming change slated for ESPN in May 2025.  The network announced that Around the Horn will air its final episode on May 23, 2025; the show has been on the air 5 days a week since November 4, 2002, so it has had a good run indeed.  ATH was the lead-in program for Pardon the Interruption and at one time it reliably drew audiences of more than 750,000 viewers on a cable network outside of prime time.  Those audience numbers have eroded significantly in recent years, and I will use my experience as the basis for an explanation there.

The five participants in the first episode of Around the Horn were:

1. Max Kellerman – – Host/Moderator
2. Bob Ryan – – Boston Globe
3. Jay Mariotti – – Chicago Sun-Times
4. Woody Paige – – Denver Post
5. TJ Simers – – LA Times

Whether or not you like or agree with any or all those five participants, you must admit that it is an impressive lineup.  Around the Horn gave me access to the ideas and opinions of people with gravitas in the sports world; there was a reason to pay attention to what all of them had to say and to decide after listening if you agreed with them or not.  Such is no longer the case.

When I tune in now – – and it is far less frequently than I did even 5 years ago – – I often change the channel as soon as I see the panel for the day.  There are never “four heavyweights” on a single day; in fact, I consider it worth staying and watching if there are at least “two middleweights” on the show.  Far too often, when I see who will be “debating” the sports issues of the day, my reaction is:

• Why should I care what he/she has to say about that?

Rather than using highly regarded columnists as the panel, ESPN used the program to expose some of their ESPN Radio personalities to a wider audience clearly in an attempt to solidify that person’s position in the sports commentary cosmos.  That is a logical business decision; it is simultaneously a lousy programming decision.

The producers of Around the Horn fail to see something that is important to me – – and if the numbers could speak, they would likely agree with me.  There are a few timely sports issues worthy of “discussion/debate” every day; the key word there is “few”.  So, if I turn on my TV at 5:00 PM ET and see a genuinely junior varsity panel about to yap at me, I know that I can just wait 30 minutes and hear Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon discuss many of the same topics.  In that situation, there is no doubt about what I am going to do; if the panels on Around the Horn went back to possessing gravitas, I would watch both shows to get solid opinion and analysis but that is no longer reliably available on Around the Horn.

When SportsCenter had its 40^th anniversary, ESPN reunited Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann for one presentation of SportsCenter.  That tidbit of nostalgia was fun.  I wonder if the producers of Around the Horn might think of a reunion show for its finale?

• TJ Simers has passed so the original panel cannot be reunited.
• Jay Mariotti, Woody Paige and Bob Ryan are still around.
• Max Kellerman would be a worthy addition as a panelist even though he was the “moderator/host” for the first episode.
• Tony Reali could sign the program off with the signature paper wad toss at the camera at the end.
• Just a thought…

Finally, since I got several positive comments on Al McGuire’s closing comment yesterday, I will take the suggestion of a reader and close with other “McGuireisms” until the Tournament is over:

“A team should be an extension of a coach’s personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.”

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