Author: Jack

When it comes to a discussion of sports’ popularity, it is easy to point to the English Premier League and the FIFA World Cup and the NFL as hugely popular products.  For the Chiefs/Niners Super Bowl encounter, 123 million people tuned in at one point to the game.  It is also easy to see how the NFL can “poach” on other sports’ franchises and calendars:

• The Super Bowl now abuts “pitchers and catchers reporting” for MLB
• Regular season NFL games draw larger audiences than World Series games
• The NFL took on – and smothered – the NBA on Christmas Day the last two years

Those are easy things to spot; what is more subtle but just as real is the growing audience for women’s professional sports.  Not to worry, I am not about to fly off the handle and suggest that any women’s pro sporting event is about to challenge the NFL for audience superiority; nonetheless, women’s sports are growing rapidly:

• Interest in the US Women’s National Soccer Team has grown to the point that it equals – – and maybe even surpasses – – the interest in the US Men’s National Soccer Team.  That surge in popularity began, I believe, in 1999 when Brandi Chastain presented the sports bra seen around the world.  The trend continued upward as the US Women dominated the world stage for a while and it continues as the team now seeks to regain a similar global stature.
• Interest in the WNBA has exploded.  Forget the cold attendance stats and the TV ratings; those things exist and demonstrate clearly the assertion here.  More importantly, people are talking about the WNBA and newspaper columnists are writing about it routinely.  Those actions point to an interest level that simply was not there for women’s professional basketball even a year ago.

In the case of the WNBA, I think it is rather obvious that the arrival of Caitlan Clark and Angel Reese into the ranks of WNBA athletes as rivals from their collegiate confrontations has been a major spark in the increased popularity.  Some folks have already tried to draw analogies for Clark/Reese to the rivalry and the importance imparted to the NBA by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson back in the early 1980s.  I am not quite ready to go that far, but the Clark/Reese “angle” is a Godsend for the whole of the WNBA.  Let me provide an anecdote here:

Earlier this season the Washington Mystics had yet to win a game.  I believe they began the season at 0-11; they were awful, and no one cared about them and their misery.

• One night, Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky came to DC and the game had over 10,000 spectators despite the Mystics’ awfulness.  In years past, a crowd of 10,000 for a Mystics game was not necessarily commonplace unless the team was very good and looking for a playoff slot.  The Sky won the game and the Mystics remained winless.
• The next night, Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever came to DC and the game had over 20,000 spectators; it was a full house that came to see a winless team.  No, they did not; those fans came to see Caitlin Clark just as most of the 10,000 fans from the previous night came to see Angel Reese.  By the way, the Mystics lost again …

Yes, I know; anecdotes are not strong supporting arguments for an assertion by themselves, so let me offer this data point.  In a televised game featuring the Sky and the Fever, the audience measured 2.33 million viewers.  That was the largest audience for a WNBA game ever recorded.

One more point as offered up by Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“The difference: The Caitlin Clark Effect was in evidence again when the WNBA’s All-Star fan voting increased this year by almost 600 percent.”

Another women’s sport that is growing very rapidly and could get an exponential growth spurt is Flag Football.  According to data reported as Sportico.com, the number of girls between 6 and 12 years old playing Flag Football has increased by 200% since counting began.  In addition, ESPN – – with support from the NFL – – will present a new NFL Flag Championship tournament to be held in Canton OH.  There will be boy’s and girl’s competitions, and both are going to be televised “equally”.  The involvement of the NFL in an amateur girls’ sport is a big deal; the involvement of ESPN in an amateur girl’s sport is a big deal; both of those “big deals” would have been pie in the sky 5 years ago.  More evidence for the growing interest in women’s sports in the US …

Here is something to watch as interest in women’s sports expands.  There are at least two professional football leagues for women.  I am not talking about Lingerie Football where women compete in “less than full football attire”; I am talking about women playing football with the same sort of rules as do NFL players.  The two leagues that I know about are:

1. The Women’s Football Alliance – – in business since 2009
2. The Women’s National Football Conference – – in business since 2018

I wonder if interest in and coverage of those two leagues will grow like the way things have gone for the WNBA and women’s soccer.  After all, football is an extremely popular sport in the US – – more so that either basketball or soccer – – and these women are playing it according to “men’s rules”.  I will be interested to see if any of the current women’s sports luster adheres to these two professional football leagues.

Finally, since today has been about the emergence of women’s sports, let me close with this observation by humorist Dave Barry:

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.”

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

 

 

The Paris Olympics will open on Friday; the last time the Games were held in Paris was in 1924 – – 100 years ago.  The two sets of Games will bear little resemblance to each other once you get beyond the pomp and circumstance of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  In fact, for the Opening Ceremony, only the grandeur will be the same because this year the athletes will be presented onboard barges on the Seine River and not in a land-based stadium.

I am not in Paris; for the moment I am in Alternative Curmudgeon Central in Pennsylvania.  I mention that to make sure no one thinks I am “covering” the Olympic Games; I will watch some events on TV and that is it.  And that declaration makes me wonder how much of the TV coverage that will be available to viewers here in the US will be presented live and in person and covered by people actually in France.  I won’t go so far as to say that NBC and its affiliates “owe it” to the viewers to disclose such information, but it sure would be nice to see some level of candor there.

Frankly, I am not really looking forward to very much from these Games and my nonchalance toward the Olympics is nothing new.  Please take a few moments to read this rant that I posted in March 2007 and this rant from April 2008.  My views about the organizers and about the events themselves have not changed much at all; in fact, the addition of these three new events reinforces my idea that none of the new events have anything at all to do with anything the Greeks did in ancient times or what Olympians did in Paris 100 years ago.  Each host country gets to “introduce” new events to the Games on a “trial basis”.  Here are the three “new Olympic events” for 2024:

• Breaking – – in the US we call this Breakdancing
• Kayak cross – – contestants maneuvering through an aquatic obstacle course
• Surfing – – being held in Tahiti which is a French protectorate not on the Seine River

I am evidently not the only person in the US whose enthusiasm for the Olympics has waned.  American TV ratings were down 25% for the Tokyo Games in 2020 as compared to the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.  [Aside:  The TV ratings for the Winter Games in 2022 were down more than 40 percent as compared to the Winter Games in 2018.]  I wonder which of those three new events will attract millions of new viewers to screens all over the US to rejuvenate interest in these games?

Let me throw out a hypothesis here.  Up until the early 1990s, the Winter Games and the Summer Games happened in the same year.  That changed for the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway when the Winter Games were placed halfway between two summer Game events.  Has the frequency of “Olympic Games” every two years removed some of the “specialness” associated with the Games?  I’ll leave it to sociologists to address that hypothesis, but it is the best I can come up with for now.

When the Olympics were revived in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, he envisioned the Olympics as an element of “humans coming together in peace and harmony.”  He predated the Age of Aquarius {Hat Tip to The Fifth Dimension here] to be sure, but his ideals were pretty much the same.  I don’t think that the history of the world in the 20^th Century was one of constant peace and harmony and the fact that both the US and the USSR boycotted Olympic Games as part of their diplomatic confrontations leads me to think that – – just maybe – – the Baron’s Utopian hopes are a bit out of reach.

So, what am I going to find interesting in these games?

• The men’s basketball event will be interesting to me for two reasons.  The first is that the NBA has lots of “foreign imported players” who are quite good and who are now going to play for their “native lands”.  The second reason is that the US men’s team was a 43.5-point favorite over South Sudan in a “warm-up game” and needed a basket with less than 20 seconds remaining to win that game 101-100.  For the record, South Sudanese players are not dominating the NBA and – in fact – there are no indoor basketball arenas in all of South Sudan.  Oh, and did I mention that the US and South Sudan are in the same Group in the basketball tournament and will have to play again …
• Simone Biles will compete in her third Olympic Games which is noteworthy by itself.  Gymnastics is a sport where competitors age very quickly.
• The US Women’s National soccer team was uncharacteristically bounced early from the Women’s World Cup Tournament two years ago.  They have a new coach and a bunch of new players; it will be interesting to see how they perform in these Games.
• The US Men’s National soccer team qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008 (Beijing).  Not a lot is expected from the team; as of this morning the odds on the US taking the Gold Medal in men’s soccer are +2500.

So, we are getting to the point where we can count down to the time when the cry will go out to “Let the Games begin!”  My response will be along the lines of “Meh!”

Finally, to make you feel as good as you can about the Paris Olympics, let me close with three observations by Baron Pierre de Coubertin:

“The Olympic Games are the quadrennial celebration of the springtime of humanity.”

And …

“May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.”

And …

“Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of a good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”

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

 

 

As NFL teams are reporting to Training Camp, I want to take a moment and look at the CFL standings this morning because the CFL regular season is nearing the half-way mark.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have dominated the West Division for the last 5 years.  Ignoring the 2020 season which was cancelled due to COVID, Winnipeg has won the West for four straight years with a combined regular season record of 51-17-0; the team has gone on in the playoffs to be the West representative in the Grey Cup game in each of those seasons.  It looks, however, as if 2024 is not the Blue Bombers’ year.

As of this morning, Winnipeg is in fourth place in the CFL West (there are 5 teams in that division) with a record of 2-5-0; only the Edmonton Elks have a worse record in the division at 0-6-0.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders lead the West today with a 5-1 record.

A potentially interesting situation exists in the East Division.  The defending Grey Cup champions – – Montreal Alouettes – – lead the East at 5-1-0; the Toronto Argonauts are in third place at 3-3-0.  However, the Argonauts will get their starting QB – – Chad Kelly – – back from suspension after the Argonauts’ eighth game and Kelly is the reigning league MVP.  The two teams have met twice so far this year and have split those two games; they will meet one more time on September 28^th; I think that could be a game to circle on the calendar.

Moving on …  Last week, I mentioned that George Blanda threw 42 INTs in a 14-game season back in AFL days and that the Houston Oilers went 11-3 despite all those INTs.  I can now expand on that comment thanks to a note from the “reader in Houston”:

“George has the NFL/AFL record for most INTs (6) in a game for a team that won:

“In the 1962 season opener, Houston was at the Bills. George finished the game 15–30 for 188 yards and a TD with six INTs, but the Oilers took the win that day with a final score of 28–23. One out of every five passes he made that day were intercepted.

“As a matter of fact, George also led the AFL in INTs in 1963-65 with 25, 27, and 30 respectively.”

Next up …  Another reader forwarded to me a posting on X.com by someone whose screen name is ‘Barry”.  Clearly, “Barry” is someone who enjoys over-analysis of the English language leading to concocted offensive phrases.  Here is the post from “Barry”:

“Reminder that the term “Home Run” is incredibly offensive to homeless people, people in wheelchairs and especially homeless people in wheelchairs.”

Well played, “Barry”.  I hope your note comes to the attention of Commissioner Manfred and that it causes him agita.

And speaking of MLB Commissioner Manfred, I found this comment in Bob Molinaro’s column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Not so fast: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is smart to hold off on robot umpires until at least 2026, until ‘technical issues surrounding the definition of the strike zone’ can be ironed out. Not, I’m guessing, that they can ever be ironed out to the satisfaction of every player.

“Wondering: Do robotic ball and strike calls generally favor hitters or pitchers?”

I don’t know if the “Ball/Strike Bots” will favor pitchers or hitters, but I suspect that the “Bots” will remove one of the more ridiculous aspects of the game.  Gone will be the days when the batter starts to argue balls and strikes with the umpire and that tete a tete leads to a fulmination by the manager at the umpire which involves kicking dirt all over home plate and ejection city.  There won’t be any person there to receive the fulmination; the player and or the manager would look pretty stupid arguing with invisible detectors and circuitry.  Personally, I will not miss that sort of silliness even a little bit.

Finally, words of wisdom from Mark Twain:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

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

 

 

For years, I have criticized the golf media for its complete focus on Tiger Woods to the exclusion of just about everyone and everything else.  Yes, Woods was the best golfer on the planet 25 years ago and he held that position for about a dozen years.  Nevertheless, the golf media never got to the point where it could look away from Woods for even a moment and examine some of the other players on the Tour.  That syndrome continues today in a macabre dimension.

It has been a while since Tiger Woods dominated a significant golf event; he is 48 years old, and his body is breaking down to the point where he simply cannot do what he used to be able to do routinely.  This situation has nothing at all to do with any of the low points that Woods has experienced in his life away from the golf course; this situation has to do with aging and with his trying to heal from significant injuries.

This week, Tiger Woods teed off in the British Open at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.  He did not make the cut; after the first two rounds his score was 14 over par and he was in 149^th place on the “leaderboard”.  For someone with his history, a departure of that sort should normally call for a tip of the cap and a few handshakes and a quick pivot to find another story involving the players remaining in the tournament.  But the golf media cannot wean itself off finding a “Tiger Woods angle” everywhere and anywhere.

One of the commentators – a former professional golfer – said this:

“You look at the eyes; you’ve got to think there’s quite a lot of painkillers being taken to cope with the pain, you know…”

Enough already.  Tiger Woods is no longer one of the best golfers on the planet.  When he does try to compete in golf tournaments, he is about an even money proposition to make the cut let alone to win the event outright.  One can revel in his fall from the pedestal if that is what brings joy; on the other hand, one can simply acknowledge the reality of the situation and take note of the times he does compete and the times he does not.  But the time has come for the golf media to heed the message in the writings of Omar Khayyam:

“The Moving Finger writes: and having writ, Moves on…”

Next up …  Caleb Williams signed his contract with the Chicago Bears this week; the contract is for $39M guaranteed over the first 4 years of his NFL career.  Basically, Williams signed the standard contract for an overall #1 Draft pick as a QB which means his whole negotiation process was extended in time and full of Sturm und Drang that resulted in – – normalcy.  Let’s review the bidding here:

• First, we heard from “sources in the know” that Williams did not want to play for the Bears and was going to go back to USC to live off NIL money and then wait to see who might take him next season.  Didn’t happen.
• Then, Williams was considering how to force the Bears to trade him if indeed they did choose him with the overall #1 pick.  John Elway and Eli Manning managed to make that happen; so, there was precedent.  Didn’t happen.
• For a while, the story was that Williams wanted a small equity stake in the team that drafted him.  Remember, all minority owners must be vetted and approved by 75% of the owners.  I doubt that many of them would want to open that house of horrors as they all get to negotiate those sorts oof terms with future draft picks and free agents.  Didn’t happen – – and never had a real chance of happening.
• The latest scoop on why the negotiations were dragging on focused on a demand by Williams that the Bears would not use the franchise tag on him when this rookie contract expired.  Didn’t happen.

All those stories were sourced to people in the know.  Well, it seems that they may have been “out of the know” to some extent.  Moreover, Caleb Williams may or may not have been a party to any or all those reports that never came to fruition.  The Bears believe that they have drafted the player who will fill a huge gap on the team; Williams arrives in Chicago with Heisman Trophy honors and a “Can’t Miss” label from loads of scouts and analysts.  What the Bears – – and Bears’ fans – – need most is for Williams to play to his anticipated level and not fail to meet expectations in a similar way that the stories about his contract demands never panned out.

Finally, Bob Newhart died yesterday at the age of 94.  I’ll close today with his words:

“All comedians are, in a way, anarchists. Our job is to make fun of the existing world.”

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

 

 

Joe “Jellybean” Bryant died earlier this week.  Despite having an eight-year career in the NBA along with a nine-year career playing basketball overseas in addition to a coaching career that spanned all or part of twenty-one seasons, Joe Bryant is best known as “Kobe Bryant’s father.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he died of a “massive stroke”; Joe Bryant was 69 years old.

Rest in peace, Joe Bryant.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Wilt Chamberlain had a game where he collected 55 rebounds, and that record has stood for more than 50 years.  As if on cue, I received an email from the “reader in Houston” expounding on rebounding stats in the NBA.  So let me present this augmentation of “rebounds in a single game” over the NBA’s history:

• The 25 highest rebound totals in a single game in NBA history range from 55 (by Wilt Chamberlain) to 39 (by Bill Russell).
• It is appropriate that those two men bracket the top-25 list here because Chamberlain and Russell accounted for 23 of the top 25 rebounding games in NBA history,
• Chamberlain’s name is on the list 14 times.
• Russell’s name is on the list 9 times.
• Nate Thurmond’s name is on the list once (42 rebounds in a game in 1965).
• Jerry Lucas’ name is on the list once (40 rebounds in a game in 1964).

Thanks to the “reader in Houston” for this info…

Moving on …  Rumors abound that Skip Bayless will be leaving FS1 – – and his show Undisputed – – sometime this summer.  The NY Post referred to this reporting as “bombshell news”; I don’t know that I would go that far.  However, it is fair to say that FS1 does not have anyone currently on the air who can step in immediately for Bayless and maintain any sort of “command presence” in that time slot.  Recognize that Undisputed does not draw nearly the audience that ESPN’s First Take commands, but the only other FS1 personality who could be a credible replacement is Colin Cowherd – – who already has a 3-hour program on FS1.  A long time ago, FS1 had Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley on the air; those two could have been excellent replacements for Undisputed but both men are onto different pursuits these days.

Switching gears – – but staying with the general issue of sports commentators on TV …  I ran across this item from Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“TV timeout: Now that Charles Barkley says he’ll retire from NBA broadcasts after next season, it’s an opportunity for one of the NFL networks or streaming services to think outside the box and make him the third man in the booth. Doesn’t matter how much Barkley knows about football — how much did Howard Cosell know? — he’s a worldwide personality with an audience.”

Indeed, that is “out of the box thinking” and I think it might just work.  If the personalities and the “chemistry” set up correctly in a three-man booth with Barkley joining two “certified football guys”, that might be very entertaining.  Barkley did a cameo on the Manningcast and was his normal jovial and extroverted self; I think this is a great idea and I wish I had been the one to think of it first.

Next up …  You all know the adage that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.  Well, here is another “statistical anomaly” that was in the communication from #2 son about sports oddities.

• Every football fan knows that it is a bad thing when your team’s QB throws multiple INTs in a game.
• Well, a QB named George Blanda played for the Houston Oilers in the AFL back in 1962.  He played and started all 14 games that season.
• The Oilers record in 1962 was 11-3.  The Oilers won the AFL East that year and lost in the AFL Championship Game to the Dallas Texans.
• Nevertheless, Blanda threw 42 INTs that year or 3 per game.
• In fact, Blanda attempted 418 passes that year meaning 10% of his pass attempts were intercepted.
• Wow!

Finally, let me close today with words of wisdom from Will rogers:

“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”

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

 

 

One of the fashionable musings of the moment is to ponder whether the current US Olympic men’s basketball team is equal to – – or even better than – – the Dream Team.  Frankly, I do not care enough about the outcome of such argumentation/analysis to bother with that question for more than a microsecond; but the fact that more than a couple commentators choose to spend time and energy on the subject reminds me that basketball has changed significantly over the years.  And, because the game has changed so significantly, people who focus on the current state of professional basketball may not fully appreciate “the way things were done” in the past.

Modern NBA fans know a few things about Wilt Chamberlain; obviously, his 100-point game against the Knicks in 1962 is familiar to just about every basketball fan.  However, there are other things to know about his game – – and his impact on the game – – that may be lost on current fans.

For example, in 1968 the LA Lakers journeyed to Philly to play the Sixers.  It was late in the season; both teams had excellent records at the time.  The Lakers record was 51-30 and the Sixers record was 61-19.  In that game and against an opponent clearly in the upper echelon of the NBA at the time, Chamberlain had this version of a Triple Double:

• 54 points – – 32 rebounds – – 14 assists
• He shot 24 of 29 from the field (there were no 3-point shots in the NBA then).
• He played all 48 minutes in that game, and he committed zero personal fouls.

Let me present the results of another game.  In 1960, the Celtics came to Philly to take on the Warriors – – before the Warriors went to SF and the Syracuse Nationals relocated to Philly to become the Sixers.  It was an early season game; the Celtics were 10-3 and the Warriors were 11-5.  Here is the Double Double Chamberlain recorded in that game:

• 34 points – – 55 rebounds
• He played all 48 minutes.
• His opponent that night was Bill Russell – – who also played all 48 minutes – – and Russell was and remains the best defensive basketball player I have ever seen.
• Those 55 rebounds in a game still stand as an NBA record almost 65 years later.

In those two examples, note that Chamberlain – – and Russell – – played full 48-minute games; that was not “routine” back in the day, but it happened more than occasionally.  There was no such thing as “load management”.  Consider this next statistical tidbit:

• For the entire 1961 NBA season, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game.
• A regulation game is only 48 minutes; to achieve this, Chamberlain played in all those “regulation games” and then played the overtimes that happened to occur during the season.

So, the game has changed significantly and the only real purpose of trying to make comparisons over long stretches of time is to manufacture a debate that has no real significance.  None of the current US Olympic basketball players comes close to playing 48 minutes a game for a single playoff series let alone for a full NBA season.  If one of them even hinted that he might want to try to do such a thing, I suspect his agent would experience a catatonic state.  The same thing was true of the Dream Team; they were all great players, but none were “iron men”.  And the Dream Team was separated from the days of Russell and Chamberlain by about the same number of years as the current Olympians are separated from the Dream Team.

Switching gears …  There is an adage in MLB that says:

“When you go to a baseball game, you have a chance to see something you’ve never seen before.”

Let me give an example of that adage.  Suppose you had gone out to see the Boston Red Sox/Washington Senators game on 23 June 1917.  Here is what you would have witnessed:

• The Red Sox starting pitcher was Babe Ruth.  You have heard of him in a different context …
• He walked the leadoff hitter.
• That led to a dispute between Ruth and the homeplate umpire; Ruth punched the umpire and was ejected from the game.  [Duh!]
• That leadoff hitter on first base was thrown out trying to steal second.
• The “relief pitcher” for the Red Sox was Ernie Shore and he proceeded to retire the next 26 Senators in a row.

No, that was not a “perfect game” for Shore, but it was the first time a no-hit game was thrown by two or more pitchers on a team.  That baseball adage surely applied on that day.

Finally, here is a perspective on changing times that seems an appropriate way to close today; it comes from political scientist, Charles A. Murray:

“In 1960, it was still – no nostalgia here – an age when you could leave your door unlocked even in urban neighborhoods.”

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

 

 

Vic Seixas died last week at the age of 100.  In the 1950s and 60s, Seixas was one of the top tennis players in the world; he is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame; he won all four of the Grand Slam events in his career and was a multi-time doubles champion as well.  He played in the tennis era that preceded tiebreakers; sets went on until one player led by 2 games.  In that environment, Seixas – – at the age of 42 – – won a three-set match with this score:

• 32-34, 6-4, 10-8.

Rest in peace, Vic Seixas.

The other bit of tennis news today is that Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon for the second year in a row.  Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets to claim the title.  Alcaraz is 21 years old and has already won three of the four tennis Grand Slam events; only the Australian Open remains before he can claim a career grand slam.

Moving on …  The Olympic Flame arrived in Paris yesterday – – on Bastille Day of course – – and the Olympic Games will begin in less than two weeks.  There is an “Olympic memory” that always comes to my mind as the Summer Games get underway.  If you ask most folks what they recall about the Games in 1968 (Mexico City), the most common answer is the “Black Power salute” from the medal stand by US sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos.  There was another outcome from those Games that I recall just as vividly.

Bob Beamon won the long jump in those 1968 Summer Games and set an Olympic and a World record in doing so.  What makes that memorable is that Beamon broke the existing World record by a whopping 22 inches.  That jump is still the Olympic record; it is no longer the World record, but it is the second longest jump in that event ever.

Switching gears …  As baseball takes a breather to put on its All-Star Game, the local nine in this area has a record of 44-53 which is pretty much in line with pre-season expectations for the club.  I recall in the off-season there was some buzz around the Nats’ signing of Joey Gallo; the narrative then was that he would provide veteran leadership to the young Nats’ team and that he would be a power-hitter in the middle of the lineup.

Gallo is indeed a baseball veteran; this is his 10^th year in MLB, and he must indeed be a valuable clubhouse asset because his on-field stats do not suggest that he is much of an asset there.  Consider:

• Gallo’s batting average this year in 46 games in .164.
• The last time Gallo posted a batting average over .200 was in 2019,
• This year, Gallo has struck out 71 times in 140 at-bats.  Yes, he has struck out more than half the time.
• As for “power in the middle of the lineup”, he has 5 homeruns and 11 RBIs in 46 games.

Next up …  It is patently obvious that NFL teams take a gamble when they draft a QB early in the first round; at least half those choices never live up to expectations.  In this year’s Draft, six of the top twelve picks were QBs and those rookies are just about to report to their first NFL Training Camp.  I think two of the intangible factors that lead to the “success” or the “failure” of young QBs are:

1. Coaching environment
2. Offensive system

A quarterback who was successful in college under a defensive-minded coach and system has a lot more to learn about becoming an NFL QB than a player who spent three years in a “pro-style offense”.  Now, when I look at the six QBs taken high in this year’s Draft, one of them seems to have a leg-up based on those two factors.  Look at the coaching environment surrounding JJ McCarthy:

• He spent his college career learning from Jim Harbaugh who was an NFL QB.
• His current head coach with the Vikes is Kevin O’Connell who bounced around the NFL as a backup QB for about 5 years.
• His offensive coordinator is Wes Phillips who was a QB in his playing days.
• His current QB coach is Josh McCown who has been involved with the NFL since McCown was drafted in 2002.

Regarding the Vikes’ offensive system, it would seem to be QB-friendly.  Last year, the Vikes lost starting QB, Kirk Cousins in Week 8 and had to start Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens for the second half of the season.  The Vikes did not make the playoffs, but they were still mathematically alive for a playoff slot in Week 18 of the season.

There will be a lot of focus on this crop of QBs taken in the first round of the 2024 Draft; I think the play and the development of JJ McCarthy will be the one I will find most interesting.

Finally, let me close with this observation by Quentin Crisp:

“An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last installment missing.”

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

 

 

Back in the 1960s, the US Supreme Court was dealing with the conflict between free expression and obscenity.  As part of his concurrence with a majority opinion, Justice Potter Stewart revealed his definition of hardcore pornography:

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”

The US Court of Appeals for the 3^rd Circuit (Philly) might have leaned a bit more heavily on Justice Stewart’s thinking this week.  A case was before the Court of Appeals that involves the status of college athletes as employees of the colleges for whom they play versus amateur student athletes.  According to a report in the Washington Post this morning, the Court said:

“… a test should be developed to differentiate between students who play college sports for fun and those whose effort ‘crosses the legal line into work’.”

Unfortunately, Justice Stewart is no longer an active member of the biosphere; he died about 40 years ago.  However, if he were alive, he might be able to look at various athletic situations involving colleges and college athletes and “know it when he sees it” regarding the question of playing for fun and “working.  Perhaps Justice Stewart’s thinking was too abstract, so let me offer another way to look at whether college football and basketball players are workers or just fun-loving kids:

• “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it’s a duck.”

Or consider a variant on that logic as expounded by the noted philosopher, Groucho Marx:

• “He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you.  He really is an idiot.”

Moving on …  Dan Hurley signed a contract extension with UConn earlier this week.  After winning two consecutive national championships, that sort of reward is hardly in the category of “shocking news”.  However, looking at the deal does raise some questions:

• Hurley signed for 6 years and $50M.
• Hurley turned down a Lakers’ offer of 6 years and $70M.

It would appear either that Hurley likes his East Coast life a lot better than he thinks his LA life would be – – or – – he made the assessment that coaching the LA Lakers with LeBron James and Bronny James would involve a level of drama that he just does not need in his life.  Or maybe it is both factors plus the dead solid fact that the $50M he will get from UConn is beyond the level of “chump change”.

Switching gears …  When people report on NFL revenues, they often use the terminology of “National Revenue”.  That category of revenue includes:

• All NFL national media rights deals
• All league sponsorships and “corporate partners”
• All royalties from things like NFL Enterprises, NFL Films etc.

A recent report said that the “National Revenue” for the NFL last year was $13B; that is the revenue that is shared equally among the teams.  So, even if you account for the HFL Front Office skimming a couple hundred million off the top for its own usage, each owner will wind up in receipt of about $400M BEFORE the owner sold the first ticket or a fan bought its first $15 beer, or a car pulled into the stadium parking lot for $75 or … you get the idea.

Last year, the NFL’s salary cap, which is spelled out as a formula in the existing CBA, was $224.8M.  So, if you are wondering how or why an NFL franchise could possibly be worth $6B to a consortium of owners, just take a look at those figures.  Moreover, the way that the salary cap is defined in the CBA provides a measure of protection for the owners should a situation arise where “National Revenue” craters.  An NFL franchise is not exactly a license to print money, but it’s close.

Finally, I will close today with a couple other observations by Groucho Marx:

“Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.”

And …

“Why should I care about posterity?  What’s posterity ever done for me?”

And …

“I didn’t like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions – the curtain was up.”

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

 

 

Let me begin today with another amazing sports stat that I learned from reading an email from #2 son:

• Jerry Rice had 2,169 yards receiving after his 40^th birthday; Rice played until he was 42 years old, so he had about 2.5 seasons to accumulate all those yards.
• Question:  Who is second on the list of yards gained receiving after the age of 40 and how many yards did that player accumulate?

Answer is below – – no peeking.

MLB seems to have weathered whatever storm might have arisen regarding the “gambling incidents” surrounding Shohei Ohtani.  Personally, there are still too many unanswered questions dangling there for my taste; but that situation seems to be completely under control.  Later this year, MLB banned for life Tucupita Marcano – – a young infielder who saw limited action with the Padres and Pirates – – based on betting on baseball.  Marcano is certainly not well enough known to make that situation into a “crisis moment” for the league.

However, there is another gambling-related situation involving MLB that is simmering at the moment.  MLB has announced that it has “disciplined” umpire Pat Hoberg for alleged gambling activities.  The league did not specify what the “discipline” is, nor did it spell out the alleged activities that brought on the “discipline”.  Hoberg has appealed the “discipline” but the process by which that appeal will be resolved is not going to be open to the public; Commissioner Rob Manfred will hear the appeal.  Hoberg had this to say about his case:

“I have devoted my adult life to the profession of umpiring, and the integrity of baseball is of the utmost importance to me. I look forward to the appeal process, and I am grateful that the Major League Baseball Umpires Association is supporting me in the appeal.”

MLB’s rules and policies forbid any player, owner, manager, coach or official to bet on baseball at any level of competition.  So, it is well within the realm of possibility that Hoberg’s “discipline” could involve him betting on something like the College World Series or – – perish the thought – – the Little League World Series. Hoberg has not seen the field as an umpire at all in the 2024 season; and given the pacing of decisions on things like appeals by a union, I would be surprised to learn that he was cleared of all charges and back in the good graces of MLB before the end of the 2024 season.

It seems to me that there are multiple outcomes here that present varying degrees of agita for MLB:

• Hoberg bet on MLB games where he was on the field.  The worst.
• Hoberg bet on MLB games where he was not involved.  Not as bad but still awful.
• Hoberg bet on minor league games.  Should be “disciplined’ for stupidity.
• Hoberg bet on college games.  Another level of stupidity
• Hoberg bet on sports other than baseball but did so in venues where such wagering is illegal.  Probably more a matter for the gendarmes than MLB.
• Hoberg and his next-door neighbor have kids on rival Little League teams and the two fathers bet a beer on the outcome of a game involving the two kids.  There is a rule and I guess it should be enforced, but maybe in this case the rule is stupid?

The “worst possible situation” appears to be off the table based on a statement released by MLB earlier:

“While MLB’s investigation did not find any evidence that games worked by Mr. Hoberg were compromised or manipulated in any way, MLB determined that discipline was warranted.”

[Aside:  This investigation began during Spring Training in 2024.]

Here is the answer to the Trivia Question from above:

• Second to Jerry Rice in receiving yards gained after the age of 40 is – – Tom Brady.
• In 2018, at the age of 41, Tom Brady caught one pass for 6 yards.

Now, you know…

Finally, let me close today with these words of wisdom from Ted Williams:

“If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.”

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

 

 

Has there been some sort of secret alliance forged between the NFL and the various unions that represent construction workers?  At a time in America when conspiracy theories run rampant where the absence of evidence becomes probative in support of a conspiracy, perhaps we should take a look here.  NFL teams – – and their owners – – have a long history of getting localities to pay for stadiums using the threat of moving to a different locality as the leverage point.  But perhaps that threat has become threadbare?  After all, would anyone take seriously a threat by the Chicago Bears – – a team needing/wanting a new playpen – – to pick up stakes and abandon the Chicago market to begin a new life as the Albuquerque Anteaters?

So, if that time worn threat has lost some of its cachet, maybe the NFL mavens have opened up the playbook so to speak.  Maybe they have secretly allied themselves with the union workers who would build stadiums if only those recalcitrant local legislators would pass the funding measures that would put shovels in the ground for said new stadiums.  Team owners can offer the hope and glory of “development” and “civic pride” to those legislators; construction unions can offer votes.  And there is one thing that remains true for politicians at every level of government in the US:

• Priority #1 is to get re-elected.
• Priority #2 – #99 is anything and everything else.

Look around the NFL and take your eyes off any sort of news involving trades or free agent signings or analyses of backup QBs and focus on teams in the process of building a new stadium – – with significant public expenditures – – plus those who are still “working the phones” to get that funding approved so they too can provide work to those construction workers.

1. Bills:  The shovels are in the ground; the foundations have been excavated; the new stadium is emerging; it is set to open at the start of the 2026 season.
2. Bears:  The team tried to use the ploy of “build a new one or we move” even going to the point of buying up the old Arlington International Racecourse property, but that charade worked about as well as did the man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz.  However, local pols are now considering options and ideas for a new facility in Chicago – – which was “off the table” prior to the team purchasing that property in Arlington Heights, IL.  Local and State elections are going to happen in 2025 and in 2026 meaning candidates will be focused on “vote counting”.  This one is still up in the air, but I suspect some momentum in favor of funding a new stadium will develop soon.
3. Chiefs:  The folks in KC, Missouri voted down a funding referendum for a new stadium but the folks in neighboring Kansas came up with some dough.  Now it is Missouri’s turn to respond.  It may be a while until the shovels go into the dirt there and the construction workers’ paychecks get cashed, but something is going to get done there.
4. Commanders:  When Danny Boy Snyder owned the team, neither DC, Maryland nor Virginia wanted to do business with him even though the Commanders’ stadium is THE worst facility in the league.  Now with new owners who are not seen as toxic humanoids, all three regional entities are trying to convince the team to move to a new stadium in their part of the world.  [Hint:  Moving back into DC has the inside track here.]
5. Jags:  The team did not seek a new stadium from the ground up, but they did want renovations and updates to the current facility.  [Aside:  Recall that Jax was a stadium where they had to hide empty seats in the upper deck to make it look as if the team was actually interesting to local fans about 10 years ago.  Maybe one of the “renovations” will be to remove those cover-ups and replace them with animatronic suit-dummies?]  About 2 weeks ago, the city of Jacksonville agreed to cough up $775M to fund 55% of the cost of the planned renovations.  The completion date is set for the opening of the 2028 NFL season.
6. Titans:  They broke ground in March for a new stadium estimated to cost $2.1B and the anticipated opening of the facility is at the start of the 2027 NFL season.

There you have 6 NFL teams – – not quite 20% of the league – – where new facilities are under construction or are just about to go under construction or are deep into the process of finding taxpayer money to pay for the construction.  And it is not as if this is something out of the ordinary:

• Raiders:  Just got themselves a new stadium in Las Vegas and even hosted a Super Bowl.
• Rams/Chargers:  They share a new stadium that came with a price-tag of $5.1B.

Add this up and you have just over 25% of the NFL teams dipping into taxpayer money for new or renovated facilities now and in the very recent past.  When you read articles about the anticipated benefits and return on investment for localities when they opt to spend this money, also keep in mind that the people doing the work and getting paid to do the work on those new facilities are voters who just might look upon the politicians that provided the funding for their employment in a “benign fashion”.

Finally, as you are about to shrug your shoulders and think of me as a cynic, let me close with these words from George Bernard Shaw:

“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”

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