Author: Jack

          The NCAA Tournament swings into action this evening with its 4 play-in games.  Even before the first layup line takes place, there has been a COVID-19 angle to the event in Indianapolis; the NCAA had to send home 6 of the officials who were selected to officiate the games.  A positive test for one of the officials disqualified him and contact tracing protocols revealed close contact with the “infected official” by five other officials.  The NCAA had anticipated the potential for officials to become infected and had invited 4 “spare officials” to Indianapolis to cover for any that might need to be sent home.  According to tournament organizers, those 4 officials will now be put in the regular rotation and that they will not be inviting any other “spare officials” to Indianapolis.

Originally, the NCAA had planned to have 4 teams waiting in the wings just in case one of the tournament teams cannot make it to their opening game due to pandemic protocols.  The idea was, if that happens, one of those 4 stand-by teams will be substituted into the bracket.  That was to apply only to the first game in the bracket; after that round, if a team could not put 5 eligible players on the court for a game, the opponent would be declared the winner and would advance.

Yesterday, the NY Times reported that the NCAA had reversed course and that there would be no “substitute teams” even in the first round of the tournament.  At some point, someone somewhere is going to use this ”disappointing circumstance” to justify a call to expand the tournament beyond 68 teams.  I will take this opportunity before the fact to label that “justification” as BALDERDASH!

In the tournament field this year, there is a team that arrives with a record that I have never seen in normal times.  The Colgate Red Raiders are seeded #14 in their bracket and will face the Arkansas Razorbacks tomorrow.  Here is the oddity of the Colgate schedule and record:

• Colgate is in the Patriot League and the conference schedule was altered in response to COVID-19.  They played no out-of-conference games.
• Colgate is 14-1 as of today.  However, they have only faced 5 opponents.  Colgate is 5-0 against Boston University, 4-0 against Holy Cross, 3-1 against Army, 1-0 against Bucknell and 1-0 against Loyola.
• Colgate is a high-scoring team – against Patriot League opposition.  In 5 of their 15 games, they have scored more than 90 points and in two games they scored more than 100 points.

Colgate and Arkansas meet tomorrow at 12:45 PM EDT.  The game will be on truTV.  I will use that game as one of my anchors during that time slot because I want to see how Colgate can stand up to an SEC team that had a 22-6 record this year.  If you want to check out the game, you probably should spend a moment today to find truTV on your cable system.  I have not watched any truTV programming since the NCAA Tournament two years ago and I had to “re-discover truTV” and it whereabouts…

Indianapolis is also the scene for sports news in a different sport today.  Now that the trade for Carson Wentz from the Eagles to the Colts is official, there will be an introductory press conference in Indy organized by the Colts.  These sorts of introductory press conferences are not unusual and rarely if ever produce anything other than unbridled optimism and total joy on the part of all participants.  I cannot recall a new player or a new coach saying at his introductory press conference that he would rather be just about anywhere else.  However, there is a wrinkle in the press conference scheduled for later today:

• The Philly press that covers the Eagles is not invited; and if they show up, they will not be allowed to ask any questions according to one of the Eagles’ beat reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

This is not a good “optic” notwithstanding the fact that the press in Philly can be dogged and aggressive in their questioning.  Here is the issue:

• Whether or not this was reality, there were reports that part of the schism between Wentz and the Eagles’ coaching staff was his unwillingness to take “tough coaching”.
• Staging his inaugural event in Indy as one where “tough questions” would be avoided simply by precluding anyone who might be predisposed to ask a tough question plays into the “doesn’t like tough coaching narrative”.
• In defense of the Colts’ decision here, Carson Wentz’ departure from Philadelphia involved a rupture between the team and the player AND it also involved a rupture between the player and the local media.  Carson Wentz was benched at halftime of a loss to the Packers in the first week of December.  He refused to speak to anyone in the press in Philly since then.  It is not unreasonable on the part of the Colts’ communications mavens to anticipate the potential for a suboptimal circumstance there.

Finally, speaking of NFL QBs and staged press events where the world is viewed through rose colored glasses, consider this point made by Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Straight talk: Ron Rivera’s disclosure that he was afraid to play Alex Smith last season for fear the Washington Football Team quarterback would injure his surgically repaired leg again — ‘I struggled with that every day’ — is as honest and human a response as you’ll hear from an NFL coach.”

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

The 2021 Olympic Games – – which were supposed to be the 2020 Olympic Games – – are slated to begin in about 4 months in Tokyo.  There remains some uncertainty about the Games, but the IOC has said that if they need to be postponed in 2021, the Games will be canceled, and all future IOC energy will be focused on the Games scheduled for 2024.  So, what is the current status?

The Japanese oversight organization for staging the Olympic Games had been headed by Yoshiro Mori who used to be the Prime Minister of Japan.  He found it necessary to resign from that post after making a sexist comment saying that he thought women talk too much in meetings.  Interestingly, he was replaced in that leadership role by a woman – – Seiko Hashimoto – – who had previously represented Japan in the Olympics as a speedskater.  Sports organizations internationally do not have large representations of women in leadership roles; Japan is not the only venue where males dominate the top spots.  There is some sentiment that if Ms. Hashimoto leads these games through to a smooth and safe end point, it will strike a blow for women who seek to advance along that career path.

In that sense, I sincerely hope that Ms. Hashimoto wins the day.  If she does, she will do so with more than the normal burden of organizing and control associated with a “normal” set of Olympic Games.  The COVID-19 pandemic will not be history by July 2021, but it will be better than it was last July and better than it is here in mid-March 2021.  Vaccine availability and vaccination rates get better by the week in developed countries and in the developing world.  The trend is in a positive direction; the unknown is what the status will be in July…

Some countries have placed a priority on getting their Olympic athletes vaccinated; if that were to happen nearly worldwide, that would make the Olympic Village and the events themselves safer by no small margin.  And that leads to a potential ethical question for the IOC and the Japanese hosts:

• What to do with an athlete who is not vaccinated?

An even thornier question might be:

• If Athlete A is not vaccinated because vaccine was unavailable in his country, should s/he be treated in the same way that Athlete B is treated if Athlete B was presented with the vaccine and refused to take it?

To my mind, any and all of the logistical and ethical questions involving the athletes pale in comparison to the questions about spectators for the Games.  On one hand, it is the presence of spectators – and the money they will bring with them and spend in Japan – that will reduce the economic burden created by the costs associated with hosting the Games.  If history is any guide, the Japanese taxpayer will not break even on this deal even if there were to be no travel or social restrictions come July.  However, with every restriction that is put on attendees, the amount of red ink will increase.

Obviously, I have no idea what sorts of regulations may be in place in Japan in July, but it would not shock me to learn that there could be limitations placed on capacities at hotels and restaurants and bars in addition to capacity limitations on the events themselves.  Might the immigration authorities demand that visitors from countries where the pandemic is “less controlled” show proof of vaccination?  Will every spectator need to submit to a COVID-19 test prior to entering the event venue?  This is not going to be walk in the park for the Game organizers.

Keeping a good thought here, let me assume that things break right, and thousands of athletes arrived in Japan ready and able to participate.  There will be the normal contingent of Olympic events including track and field, swimming, gymnastics, equestrian events …  In addition, there will be 5 “new” sports on display this time:

1. Baseball/Softball:  These events return to the Olympics for the first time since 2008 when the Games were in Beijing.
2. Karate:  Evidently, people have advocated for karate to be part of the Olympics for several decades; I did not know that.  Since the original Olympic Games were intended to demonstrate various skills associated with warfare and combat, karate seems like a good fit to me.
3. Skateboarding:  Believe it or not, there are two variants of skateboarding.  One is referred to as “street skateboarding” where the course emulates a street with steps and handrails and curbs.  The other variant is “park skateboarding” where the course itself presents hills and slopes and complex obstacles.  [Aside: even with this new information, I shall not be spending any time watching even a moment of this competition.]
4. Sport Climbing:  Athletes here will scale a vertical wall.  I guess this is like the hundred-meter dash staged at right angles to one another…
5. Surfing:  I would watch Skateboarding before watching surfing.  ‘Nuff said…

Just for perspective here, there used to be an “Dueling pistols” event in the Olympics more than 100 years ago.  In one incarnation, contestants fired actual bullets at plaster dummies at distances of 20 meters and 30 meters.  In the other incarnation, contestants fired wax bullets at each other.

Finally, since  today has been about the 2021 Olympic Games, let me close with a comment by Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle about the opening ceremonies at the 2012 Olympics in London:

“They should’ve had Keith Richards light the Olympic flame by flicking a cigarette butt.”

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

Marvelous Marvin Hagler (that was he legal name) died last weekend at the age of 66.  He was the undisputed middleweight boxing champion from 1980 to 1987.  There have been great middleweight boxers over history and Marvin Hagler belongs in the pantheon of those great fighters.  In 1985, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns met for Hagler’s championship; that fight has come to be knowns as “The War.”  The first round was a slugfest from bell to bell; Hagler suffered a severe cut in the second round as both fighters continued to punish each other.  In the third round, Hagler finally knocked Hearns down; the referee stopped the fight when Hearns collapsed into his arms as he wiped off the gloves.  It was the best boxing match that I remember seeing.

Rest in peace, Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

Last week, I mentioned in a rant that the NCAA Tournament Final Four had taken place in Madison Square Garden seven times the last being in 1950.  I received a detailed message from the reader in Houston over the weekend which allows me to “revise and amend my remarks.”  [Hey, if those gasbags in the US Senate can do it, so can I.]  The reader in Houston is the unchallenged champion of sports history in these parts, and here is the pertinent part of his email to me:

“Please note that from 1939 through 1950, there were only eight teams in the NCAA Tourney and to call it a “Final Four” for those years is almost ludicrous compared to the current terminology where a team has to win numerous rounds to get to the “Final Four”, making “Final Four” sound prestigious to say the least. (On a side note, I never heard of a reference to the “Final Four” or “March Madness” until the 1970s when the tourney went mainstream on the networks when Brent Musburger first used the terms on air. Before then, we always used the term “semi-finals” for what now is known as the “Final Four”.)

“Back in those days, the “Final Four”, as we refer to it today, was not held in the same city. There was an Eastern Regional consisting of four teams and a Western Regional of four teams with each regional in a different city. The Regional winners would then meet at the designated site for the championship game several days to a week later.

“Over the early years, Eastern Regionals were held in cities such as Philly (1939), Indy (1940), Madison, WI (1941), New Orleans (1942), and New York City (1943-1950) with the Western Regionals being held in San Francisco (1939) and Kansas City, MO (1940-1950).

“During the early years, the finals were held in Evanston, IL (1939), Kansas City (1940-1942), and New York City from 1943 through 1950, except for 1949 when the finals were held in Seattle, WA.

“In 1951, the tourney was expanded to 16 teams and the rest is history, as it increased over the years to the current number. Because of the college point-shaving scandal of 1950-51, Madison Square Garden was no longer used as the home of the championship game, although in subsequent years earlier rounds of the tourney were held at the Garden.

“So to say that the “Final Four” took place seven times in MSG is incorrect, though in 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1950, the runners-up at the two regionals did meet in a National Runner-Up game for third place prior to the championship game at the Garden.”

I enter a plea of “Guilty” to the charge of presenting a glib and insufficiently researched point last week, Your Honor.  Thanks to the reader in Houston for this clarification and expansion.

A high school football coach in Georgia may have erred to the point of blasphemy.  Rush Probst is the head football coach at Valdosta High School and a You Tube video that appears to be Probst, the person says that the University of Georgia pays recruits to come to Georgia and pays certain star players to remain at the school.  Valdosta Georgia is in the heart of “SEC Territory” where college football is taken as seriously as anywhere else in the country.  Georgia’s fans are as rabid and as committed as any in the SEC; they will rise to the defense of their school if an outside accuser makes such a charge – – but to have one come from a school in the State of Georgia is not something to be expected.

Allegedly, Coach Probst said that Georgia coach, Kirby Smart< is aware that Georgia boosters pay “up to $150K” for players and very specifically that Nick Chubb received three payments of $60K to sign on with Georgia and then to stay at the school as opposed to declaring for the NFL Draft.  Obviously, Georgia is investigating the situation because if they do not investigate, the NCAA will.

Let me be clear about several points here:

• I have no idea if Coach Probst is the person speaking on that You Tube video.
• I have no insight into how recruiting is done at Georgia or any other college football program.
• IF what Coach Probst says on that video is true and can be shown to be true, it will represent a tectonic shift for college football’s image of amateurism.
• Coach Probst names a person as the “handler” – the intermediary – between Georgia coach  Kirby Smart and the player.  It will be interesting to see/hear from that person on this matter.

One thing I am rather certain about regarding this situation is that Coach Probst is not planning to apply for an assistant coaching position at an SEC school any time soon…

Finally, the remarks allegedly made by Coach Probst reminded me of a statement by the Greek Philosopher, Plato:

“Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say something.”

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

I read recently that ESPN had offered Skip Bayless a 4-year contract at $8M per year to return to ESPN when his contract with FOX Sports runs out in July – – and that Bayless turned that down and will stay with FOX.  Supposedly, ESPN’s plan was to reunite Bayless with Stephen A. Smith on the First Take concocted-debate program.  Ever since Bayless left ESPN for FOX in 2016, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman have been the faux antagonists on First Take.

In staying with FOX, Bayless will continue to argue with Shannon Sharpe every weekday morning on a show that is strangely named Undisputed given that the two hosts argue about everything.  Sharpe’s contract with FOX also expires in July but there has been no announcement regarding his status.

However, there is a report that Skip Bayless may expand his presence on FS-1 beyond the mid-morning Undisputed wrangling.  Supposedly, Bayless would be cast in the role of a “debate judge”.  He would listen to the argumentation presented by other sports yakkers on FS-1 and declare a winner in the concocted debate.  If such a program were to come into existence, FS-1 would be inundated with debate format programming; there could not possibly be enough controversial sports topics worthy of discussion to fill four to six hours per day five days a week.  The lineup would include:

• Undisputed with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe for 3 hours in the morning.
• Speak For Yourself with Marcellus Wiley and Emmanuel Acho for 2 hours in the late afternoon.
• Whatever They Call This New Skip Bayless as a Debate Judge Show for some period of time 5 days a week.
• The only place to find enough controversy to fill that amount of time with blather that is only sometimes relevant would be in the two houses of the US Congress…

[Aside:  I mentioned Emmanuel Acho above.  He delivers his arguments with the force and verve of an evangelical preacher even if the content of his remarks is no more controversial than a weather report.  Sometimes I begin to laugh when he is “making his points” because of his delivery and I miss out on the content.]

The ACC basketball tournament has been contaminated by the coronavirus twice in the past couple of days.  Duke had to withdraw from the tournament earlier this week when there was a positive COVID-19 test within the Duke basketball program; early this morning, UVA had to withdraw from the tournament and forfeit its semi-final game to Georgia Tech because there was a positive test for a player on the UVA team.

Duke is an unlikely at-large entry into this year’s March Madness.  If they do get an invitation, it will be a basketball equivalent of a “Lifetime Achievement Award”; this year’s Duke squad is not nearly as powerful as the ones that fans have come to expect for most of the Mike Krzyzewski Era in Durham.  Virginia is another story…

Virginia is going to get an at-large invitation and should wind up with a solid seeding in the national tournament.  However, reports say that the positive COVID-19 test in the UVA case was a player who participated in the Cavaliers’ last game on Thursday against Syracuse, so the team could be down an important player for the NCAA tournament games.  The NCAA protocol for COVID-19 and the teams arriving in Indianapolis for the games requires all players, coaches and staff traveling with the team to have seven consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before they arrive in Indianapolis.  Tournament games begin next Friday, and UVA has at least 1 player who may not be able to meet that criterion to go with the team to Indianapolis for the first-round games.

For the record, Virginia is the reigning NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion going back to 2019 given the fact that the coronavirus shut down the 2020 tournament completely.  That gap in crowning a champion is the first one since the NCAA basketball tournament came into existence in 1939.  The tournament began with 8 teams and stayed at that number from 1939 until 1950.  The field went through continuous expansion and reached 64 teams in 1985 and has been set at 68 teams ever since 2011.  Here are a couple of “fun facts” about the basketball tournament:

• UNC has had a #1 seed more often than any other school.
• Play-in games began way back in 1984 when there were 52 teams in the tournament and the top 16 teams were given Byes.  That left 36 remining teams requiring 4 play-in games to cut that “remaining field” to 32 teams.  The 32 teams would then cut to 16 teams and meet the teams on a Bye.
• The lowest seeded team to win the National Championship was Villanova in 1985.  That is the year the Wildcats beat Georgetown with Patrick Ewing in a major upset; Villanova had been an 8-seed in that tournament; Georgetown was a 1-seed.  Georgetown was a 9-point favorite in that game and lost by 2 points.
• Only once has the Final Four been made up of all the #1 seeded teams – since the expansion to 64 teams in the field.  That was in 2008 and the schools were Kansas, Memphis, UCLA and UNC.
• The Final Four has taken place 7 times in Madison Square Garden in NYC but the last time it was there was in 1950.
• Naturally, here in Curmudgeon Central we look for frustration factors whenever possible.  There are schools that have never participated in the NCAA tournament but for teams that have been there, Dartmouth has the longest stretch between appearances.  Dartmouth was in the tournament in 1959; they have not been there since then; they will not be there again this year because the Ivy League canceled its entire basketball season.

Finally, with the basketball tournament virtually upon us, consider this observation by Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Think there might be a future Baskin & Robbins endorsement for Oklahoma State basketballer Ferron Flavors Jr.?

“Looks like he’s banking on it: Flavors wears jersey No. 31.”

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

Two days ago, I wrote about the firing of Les Miles as the head football coach at Kansas after an investigation at LSU – the last school where he was the head football coach – found some disgusting behaviors on his part.  I said at the time that Miles deserved to be fired for what he has allegedly done even though it was long ago and at a different school AND THAT Kansas fans and alums ought not to expect much in the next selection of a coach because it is the same folks doing the searching/interviewing/hiring.

Well, now maybe the fans/alums at Kansas have a glimmer of hope.  The school announced yesterday that the AD who hired Les Miles and who missed the boat twice – – he missed the disgusting behaviors and he missed by hiring a new coach who went 3-18 in his two years on the job  – – has also been fired.  I have no idea if there is anything “untoward” in his time at Kansas that would merit the firing of Jeff Long from the AD job, but I do know that his record of seeking and hiring college football coaches is less than laudatory.

1. He hired Bobby Petrino.  Good coach; not so good husband; not nearly so good at lying to cover up his improper behaviors.
2. He hired Bret Bielema.  Decent coach; not so good working with administration and alums; now involved in a civil lawsuit with the school that Long represented when he hired Bielema.
3. He hired Les Miles.  Had a good coaching run at LSU and a miserable time at Kansas; his off-field behaviors at LSU were disgusting at best.

As is customary today, truth seems never to be front and center when people make statements in the midst of these sorts of events.  Here is what some of the Kansas Chancellor had to say about the newly fired AD, Jeff Long:

“I want to wholeheartedly thank Jeff for his service to KU. When we hired Jeff, he was charged with modernizing our athletics department and ensuring our coaches and student-athletes continue to have the resources they need to succeed. This was no easy task, and he far exceeded our expectations.

“Jeff guided Kansas Athletics to progress in student-athlete healthcare, diversity and inclusion, and student-athlete academic achievement, all while managing significant challenges not of his own making.  Most important, Jeff was unwaveringly dedicated to students, coaches and staff, and he represented KU with integrity and compassion. For that, we thank him, and we wish him the very best.”

If all that were absolutely true, Jeff Long would still have a job at Kansas.  It is as simple as that…

Moving on …  Pro Football Talk.com reported that the CFL and the XFL may find ways to “collaborate” in the future.  Both leagues are in “less than robust condition”.  The XFL exists only because it was purchased at a bankruptcy sale by a consortium led by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; the CFL lost its 2020 season to COVID-19 and hopes to start its training camps in May 2021 – – but there are still public health issues that could make that impossible.  The XFL holds no such aspirations for 2021; the XFL will not have a 2021 season and has characterized its 2022 season as “on hold” as of now.  Both the CFL and the XFL face existential crises now; presumably, some of the folks who make strategic decisions for these leagues believe that come sort of “collaboration” can benefit both entities.

Here is part of an upbeat statement on this subject by Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner of the CFL:

“Canada has an exciting game and devoted fans, and our discussion with the XFL provides a tremendous opportunity to build on that strong foundation.  We look forward to exploring how we might work with one of the most innovative sports brands in the world to grow the game, engage fans in new ways, and reach new audiences. We look forward to seeing what possibilities our discussions might uncover, and to sharing those with our fans as the process unfolds.”

I like to watch the CFL version of pro football.  The CFL game is quite different from the NFL game in terms of pacing and game strategy while the essential elements of the CFL and NFL games remain the same.  The XFL has sought to carve out a niche of its own in terms of the product on the field seeking not to be simply “NFL- Lite”.  Perhaps, there can be ways for the two leagues to “collaborate”.

However, I must signal a cautionary note here:

• In the mid-90s, the CFL tried to expand into the “Lower 48” of the US.
• That foray lasted all of 2 seasons.
• Let me just say that throngs of fans here in the US do not turn out to mourn the day that their CFL team dried up and blew away.
• [Aside – and for the record:  I journeyed to Baltimore to see the Baltimore Stallions play during their brief existence.  I enjoyed the game; Ienjoyed the CFL in the US.  I do not mourn the demise of the Baltimore Stallions.]

I have no idea what it might mean for the two financially troubled leagues to “collaborate”.  History tells me one mode of their “collaboration” is not likely to work for very long.  On the plus side of this potential “collaboration”, Dwayne Johnson was once part of the CFL; he was a defensive end for the Calgary Stampeders for a short time before the CFL tried its “Southern Expansion”.  It will be interesting to see how this story continues and grows – – assuming that it does either of those two things.

Finally, consider this item from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times.  This represents a way for the XFL and the CFL to avoid as they seek to emulate the success of the NFL.

“NFL teams are required to provide three-dozen sliced oranges for visiting teams, The Athletic reported.

“Players’ parents, however, are not allowed to accost coaches over their kids’ playing time.”

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

Over the weekend, I was grazing through the channels on my cable subscription and happened across the PGA event of the week.  I did not linger awfully long because golf on TV is not a way that I spend a lot of my time, but I was immediately aware of something “new” in the telecast.  There were real live fans in attendance, and I could hear them.  It was not a soundtrack pumped into the telecast; these were reactions from actual human beings on site at the event.  That got me to thinking about other sports on TV and how their telecasts have been altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.  So, in no particular order:

• Golf:  I have never thought that the goofs who yell “Get in the hole!” on every drive off the tee added much to the telecast, but the polite applause accompanying routine shots gave a sense of reality to the contest last weekend.
• NHL:  I do not watch as much hockey as I do many other sports, but the telecasts seemed pretty much the same with soundtracks as opposed to live fans in the arena.
• NFL:  The absence of dozens of gratuitous crowd shots and minimized sideline reporting made the games more enjoyable; the soundtracks were so obviously phony that they detracted from the presentation.  The net change here is a wash…
• College Football:  Frankly, seeing the way some games had fans in the stands without masks and clearly not exhibiting social distancing made me feel uncomfortable given the COVID-19 situation in the Fall of 2020.  I found myself wanting to avert my eyes during the crowd shots with fans jamming together to cheer for their team on camera and on cue.  Not a good look there…
• MLB:  The telecasts last year were not significantly different with empty stands and/or cardboard cutouts.  The piped in audio was not nearly as artificial in baseball telecasts as it was in other sports.  I must admit that having seen a few innings of some Spring Training games this last week has given me the urge to go and see a baseball game live this year.  The presence of live folks on the camera shots makes me envious; I did not have that feeling last season.
• NBA:  The most glaring change in the telecasts to me was the absence of celebrities in their courtside seats behaving in ways to draw attention to themselves as if they were part of the game itself.  The audio soundtracks were often handled clumsily so there was a feeling that what I was watching was not “real”.
• College Basketball:  This is the sport where the biggest difference existed for me.  Watching Duke play a home game without the “Cameron Crazies” packed into the stands screaming and jumping up and down for the entirety of the action just seemed wrong.  However, limiting crowds was/is the right thing to do…
• Tennis:  The little of it that I did watch seemed to be pretty much the same presentation without fans as it was with fans in the stands.
• Horse Racing:  Other than crowd shots during Triple Crown events or the Breeders’ Cup races, TV cameras do not focus on fans in attendance.  [Aside:  As a denizen of the grandstand and “down by the rail” at many racetracks, I can assure you that there are good reasons for the cameras to focus attention elsewhere.]  The typical race telecasts on TVG looked the same in 2020 as they have for as long as horse racing has been on TV.
• English Premier League:  I missed the fans singing their traditional songs.  I had never realized that I had paid attention to that part of the telecast before until it was not part of the telecast and I wondered where it had gone.
• Australian Rules Football:  I did not notice any difference in the telecasts here.  The thing that I would hate to see happen in this sport is if they change the “costumes” of the guys at the goal who signal with their hands if there is a goal or a behind.

With increasing availability – and administration – of COVID-19 vaccines, the television presentations of sports going forward will likely drift back to what they were prior to 2020.  On balance, that is probably a good thing.

The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott reached a “long-term deal” yesterday.  I put quotation marks here because the deal is for 4 years and many contracts for NFL franchise QBs extend well beyond that term.  Notwithstanding the relative brevity of the deal, there are some big numbers and restrictive covenants associated with it:

• Total contract value with the attainment of all incentives could be as high as $164M.
• Guaranteed money comes to $126M.
• Signing bonus is $66M.
• There is a no-trade clause.
• There is a clause that prevents the Cowboys from using the franchise tag on Prescott at the end of this contract.

Looking at the max value of the deal, Dak Prescott will make $41M per year on average; looking only at the guaranteed money, he will average out to $31.5M per year.  Either way, that is a whole lot of cheese AND at the end of this deal, Dak Prescott will be only 31 years old and can take another bite of the “free agency apple” at that time.  My first reaction to reading about this deal was that Prescott and his people made Jerry Jones blink in their game of chicken over a long-term deal.  Indeed, the Cowboys get some QB stability here – – but not for long.  And then this free agency/new contract opera will fire up again.

Then, I thought again.  Jerry Jones has demonstrated two things over the 30+ years he has owned the Cowboys:

1. He seems to over-value his football personnel expertise just a bit; his role as the team’s GM has been spotty in terms of roster building.
2. His financial performance is anything but spotty; Jerry Jones takes large financial gambles inside football and outside football and he wins an inordinate fraction of those financial bets.

So, when I look at this as a “financial risk” taken by Jerry Jones, I have to think he has an angle on it.  Maybe he already knows how big the next set of TV rights deals are going to be for the NFL and where the salary cap is heading?

Finally, since I began today with comments on telecasts, let me close with this item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Sure sign we’ve been in lockdown too long: The Milwaukee Bucks unveiled a  ‘Hand Sanitizer Cam’ featuring a superimposed bottle ‘squirting’ fans in the stands.”

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

Les Miles is out as the head football coach at Kansas; according to reports, the parties here “mutually agreed to part ways”.  I take that to mean they have agreed to buy out Miles’ contract at a discounted value, but I have no direct knowledge of the terms and conditions there.  The issue causing this separation is a report that surfaced a few days ago related to an investigation at LSU.  According to the report, Miles behaved inappropriately toward women there when he was the head coach at LSU.

If the investigation at LSU is accurate and complete, Les Miles should have been fired by LSU if they had known at the time what was ongoing inside the football program.  There is some indication that some of this malfeasance was known because the report suggests that the AD at LSU wanted to fire Miles “for cause” as far back as 2013.  [Aside:  Miles stayed in that job until 2016.]

The fact that Les Miles had compiled a record of 3-18 at Kansas over the past two years did not give him much ammunition with which to put up a fight here.  The Jayhawks were 0-9 in the truncated 2020 season and 3-9 in Miles’ first season on the sidelines.  Moreover, 8 of those 9 losses in 2020 were by 15 points or more.  Jeff Long, the AD at Kansas, tried to put a smiley face on this matter with this statement:

“I am extremely disappointed for our university, fans and everyone involved with our football program.  There is a lot of young talent on this football team, and I have no doubt we will identify the right individual to lead this program. We will begin the search for a new head coach immediately with an outside firm to assist in this process. We need to win football games, and that is exactly what we’re going to do.”

I recognize that Jeff Long had to say what he did, but that statement makes clear that the athletic department at Kansas is not particularly efficient nor effective.  Consider 3 points:

1. Granted the investigation at LSU and the report dealing with the investigation had not happened in 2019 when Miles was hired at Kansas, but the events took place years before that.  So, might it be fair to say that the athletic department did not perform sufficient due diligence in that hiring process?
2. Athletic Director Long said they will use an “outside firm to assist” in finding a new coach.  Really?  The athletic department did not have a contingency plan in the event that Coach Miles was trampled by a runaway buffalo?  Kansas is in one of the Power 5 conferences; it is the doormat of that conference; any young and upcoming coach who might make Kansas respectable would goose up his career and his coaching value immensely.  And the AD at such a school does not have a couple such young coaches on his radar and the phone numbers of the agents for those young coaches on his rolodex?  To me, that is stunning…
3. Jeff Long – presumably with the assistance of an “outside firm to assist” – hired Les Miles for the coaching job two years ago.  The imperative to “win football games” was surely there at that time as well as now.  Nonetheless, the outcome of that coaching search resulted in a two-year record of 3-18.  Now, the same process will swing into action again.  Hope springs eternal …

There was another report from ESPN.com yesterday that made me shake my head.  According to that report, Jeffrey Lurie – Philadelphia Eagles’ owner – directed the team’s coaching staff and team personnel people to “build around Jalen Hurts” as the team QB in 2021.  Let me set the stage here:

• Jalen Hurts started 4 games in 2020; the Eagles were 1-3 in those 4 games.  In the game the Eagles won – over the Saints in New Orleans – Hurts played well and looked like a solid pick in the second round of the 2020 Draft.  In the next 3 games his performances were not nearly as compelling – – but until the final game against the WTFs, he did not embarrass himself or the team.  In that final game he and the rest of the team and the coaching staff basically threw up all over their shoes.
• The jury is out on Jalen Hurts as an NFL QB.  He may be the next Russell Wilson; he may alternatively be the next Brock Osweiler; there is simply insufficient evidence to make that call in March 2021.

Assuming that the report on ESPN.com is accurate, Jeffrey Lurie is on a dangerous trajectory here.  He supposedly has been a sports fan all his life and has owned the Eagles for about 25 years.  In terms of the expertise needed to “make a call” on who ought to be the team’s starting QB, I believe I have listed all his credentials there.  And that is why this is a dangerous trajectory and that is why Jeffrey Lurie should step back, take a deep breath and cast his gaze on two of his fellow team owners.  Two other owners have inserted themselves into the determination of their teams’ QBs and neither franchise was the better for it.

1. Daniel Snyder has reportedly done this 4 times in his 20 years of owning an NFL team.  The QBs he “championed” were Jeff George (at the end of George’s career), Patrick Ramsey (who Snyder claimed to have “discovered”) RG3 and Dwayne Haskins.  The team record during Snyder’s ownership – along with his QB “guidance” – is a cumulative 139-196-1.
2. Jimmy Haslam reportedly did this only once when he supposedly over-ruled his folks conducting the Draft and had them select Johnny Manziel with the Browns’ second pick in the first round in 2014.  Haslam has not been known for top-shelf selections in other areas of the “football side” of the franchise either and the team record in full seasons since he took over in mid-stream in 2012 is a cumulative 39-88-1.

Jeffrey Lurie hired a GM, personnel folks, scouts and a coaching staff presumably with the thought in his mind that those folks know more about football than a fanboy does.  Jeffrey Lurie has two negative examples of what may happen when owners make player decisions not in consonance with the decisions of the “football people”.  Instead of caveat emptor (Buyer beware!) this seems to be a situation of caveat dominus (Owner beware!)

Finally, having mentioned two NFL owners – and potentially a third – who may fall victim to the sin of hubris, let me close with a pertinent observation by historian Erik Larsen:

“The Lusitania is a monument … to the hubris of the era. I love that, because where there is hubris, there is tragedy.”

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

An item in Bob Molinaro’s column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot reminded me that I have not spent sufficient time here talking about “amateur” sports recently.  Here is the item that triggered me:

“Gub-mint unleashed: By a vote of 36-0, the Kentucky state senate passed a bill allowing high school seniors to stay for another year and play sports. Silly, right? Picture years from now, an old man boasting to his grandchildren that the best time of his life was his fifth year of high school.”

I do not know what is worse here – – the idea of bringing back high school kids for another year in school so they can play sports or that the recorded vote in the Kentucky state senate was 36-0.  None of those chronological adults in the state senate thought this might not be a great idea to put into law?

I know that the nominal Class of 2020 and 2021 caught a tough break with COVID-19 interrupting their acts of glory on the field and on the court and in the pool.  I recognize that politicians would surely not want to do anything that would not cater to the suffering that all those high school athletes might have endured in the past year.  I believe that politicians would want to be able to wave a magic wand and make it all better for all those kids who lost out on athletic glory for reasons beyond their control.  And now I would pose this question to the state senators from Kentucky:

• What have you done to the athletes in the Class of 2022 who would have been the “top dogs” on their high school teams but will now have to cede some of that limelight to these returning super-seniors? 
• How might you plan on making that up to the Class 0f 2022?  Where might this end beyond the idea that high school in Kentucky goes from 9^th grade through 13^th grade?

In another wing of the “amateur sports” silliness of the moment we have the fact that the NCAA will indeed hold an NIT Tournament again in 2021.  There was a day when the NIT was far more prestigious than the NCAA basketball tournament; those were the days before the invention of “TV Dinners”.  The NIT has been relegated to the category of “afterthought-at-best” for about 60 or 70 years; its death knell was when it sued the NCAA for “monopolistic practices” and then settled that suit just before trial by agreeing to be bought out by the NCAA.

In a “concession” to COVID-19, the NCAA decided that this year’s NIT field would be reduced from 32 teams few if any fans gave a fig about to 16 teams that “aspire to relevancy”.  Because when this year’s tournament was being organized, New York – – home of Madison Square Garden where the NIT flourished in its glory days and where the NIT Finals had taken place in its declining years – – was being extremely cautious about fans in arenas, the NCAA chose to move the NIT games to Texas.

Given the proclamation of the Texas Governor last week, Texas is now “100% open” meaning that the NIT games can take place in indoor venues with full capacity seating and with no mask mandates or health screenings or – – you fill in the blank here.

• Memo to the NCAA:  Your junior varsity post-season men’s basketball tournament now has the potential to be a highly visible pandemic super-spreader event.  If you think that it is a good thing to have attached to “the NCAA Brand”, may I suggest that linking “the NCAA Brand” to Typhoid Mary is not a good thing?

No charge for that advice…

Once again, Bob Molinaro has cut through the fog here to provide clarity on the core issue(s) here:

“Tex-mess: Now that the college basketball anachronism called the NIT has been moved from New York to wide-open Texas, expect some teams to take a pass. Not to mention that the three-week-long NCAA women’s tournament must deal with mask-less Texans. Good luck, ladies.”

The NY Times had a report last week about a new basketball league for players who have graduated from high school – – whatever that may mean in Kentucky is no longer clear – – who want to do something other than play a one-and-done year in college basketball.  Please recall that LaVar Ball had set up one of these enterprises in the recent past; I suggest that it should be remembered as the Constipation Basketball League – – because it passed quickly.

Here is the new idea…

• The Overtime Elite League will offer high school players salaries of $100K (plus some benefits on top of that salary) to skip college and play for the League.  It would employ approximately 30 players but not on fixed teams.  It would almost be like a “barnstorming league” where teams would be fluid from game to game.
• For a much more complete description of the basis for the new league check out this link to the NY Times article that describes it.

I believe that this is the hurdle that the Overtime Elite League – or any other league that seeks to monetize the performance of high school basketball players – must surmount:

• It must provide to the high school player taking that $100K salary and thereby forfeiting any NCAA eligibility an equivalent exposure of that player and the “brand” that player seeks to develop.
• Saying exactly nothing about which of the two is the “better player”, which player entered the NBA with more hype/recognition?  Zion Williamson or LaMelo Ball?  And remember, LaMelo Ball was being touted by his father and his older brothers for about 4 years before he was in the NBA Draft.
• The Overtime Elite League – or any other entity of that stripe – will need to find ways to allow its’ star players to become ‘household names”.  As a test, answer this question.
• Give me the names of the high school players who opted not to play college basketball this year and took NBA backed G-League contracts.  I shall not hold my breath while you go to Google to find those names…

Finally, I often close these rants with an entry from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm.  Since turnabout is fair play, let me share today, this definition of “sarcasm” sent to me by a former colleague:

“Sarcasm:  The ability to insult idiots without them realizing it.”

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

Later this month, the NFL owners will convene, and they will have at least 4 rule change proposals on their agenda.  For a new rule to be adopted, 24 of the 32 owners would need to approve.  Three of the four rules are toward the radical end of the spectrum; the fourth is actually retrograde.  Today, I will take a dive into these four rules proposals; let me start with the “retrograde” proposal.

• This change would “simplify” overtime games by returning to the “sudden death” mode.  Teams flip a coin to begin overtime and the first team to score in any fashion wins the game.  If neither team scores in a 10-minute overtime period, the game goes in the books as a tie.

That rule gives a significant advantage to the team that wins a coin flip and I do not like that aspect at all.  It also puts a premium on a team’s defensive performance because the team that kicks off in OT has to defend against the opponent advancing to the defense’s 30-yardline because that is “field goal territory”.  Placing a premium on defensive play is a plus for me.  On balance, I prefer the current rule that requires each team to posses the ball unless the original possession results in a TD or a safety.

The second rule proposal has been on the table before and failed to get the necessary 24 votes to implement it:

• In the fourth quarter, onside kicks would be replaced by a team attempting a “fourth-and-15 play” from its own 35-yardline. If the play succeeds, the team maintains possession and continues its drive from wherever the play ends; if unsuccessful, the defense gets the ball wherever that play ends.

I have no love for onside kicks, but I also do not like adding such a contrivance as a conjured up “fourth-and-15 play” out of thin air.  Frankly, I really do not care how the owners deal with this proposal.

The third and fourth rule change proposals are closely related, and they are radical changes to the way overtime games would happen.  These changes have been labeled “spot and choose”.

• At the beginning of overtime, there is a coin flip.  The team winning the toss would declare where the ball will be put in play; the team losing the choice would choose to play offense or defense from that point on the field.
• Variation #1:  The game is sudden death from that point; any score wins the game, but the OT period is limited to 10 minutes.  If neither team scores, the game is a tie.
• Variation #2:  The OT period runs 7 minutes and 30 seconds no matter who scores first.  The winner is the team that is leading when the overtime clock reaches zero; there can be multiple scores in the overtime period.  If the score is tied when the clock reaches zero, the game is a tie.

I like the idea of “spot and choose” for two reasons.  It does not give a significant advantage to the team winning a coin flip and it adds another element of strategy to the game.  For example, suppose Team #1 wins the toss and it has a dominant defense.  It could choose to put the ball at the 5-yardline giving Team #2 the choice of an awfully long field or the choice of giving Team #1 the ball at the 5-yardline which is chip shot field goal range in the sudden death variant.

Because I prefer for tie games to be decided by playing the same game that produced the tie in the first place, I would prefer Variation #2 above.  Sudden death is a concocted circumstance, and I would prefer to have a game wind up as a tie than to stray too far from the normal football game that got us to the point of overtime.  [Aside:  This is why I do not like penalty kicks in soccer; shootouts in hockey; runners on second base in extra innings in baseball …]

I do not see the owners going back to sudden death such that one team faces the possibility of never possessing for ball; I believe the current argot here would be “a bad optic”.  The owners did not like the idea of replacing the onside kick once before and I cannot recall a circumstance where an onside kick generated a huge controversy in the last year or so.  Therefore, I cannot see why any of the opposing owners would have changed their mind on the issue.  I would be surprised if either of those rules makes it into the books for 2022.

“Spot and choose” is such a radical idea that the owners are either going to love it and adopt it or they will hate it such that no one will ever propose it again.  That is the rule proposal to keep an eye on as the owners’ meeting gets closer.  That is an issue where an “NFL Insider” might be able to shed some light on the thought processes of supporters and/or opponents here.

Finally, as the NFL owners ponder the implications of these rule proposals, let me suggest they keep in mind these words from George Bernard Shaw:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

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