Monumental Ineptitude

Yesterday, in reading Peter King’s column Football Morning in America, I ran across this statement:

“Cleveland had 11 first-round picks in the eight drafts between 2009 and 2016. None are left on the team.”

He mentioned this in the context of the recent trade that sent WR Corey Coleman from the Browns to the Bills for a 7th round draft pick in 2020.  Coleman was indeed taken in the first round by the Browns; they used the pick they got from the Eagles when they let the Eagles move up to #2 in the draft to take Carson Wentz.  Just so there is no misunderstanding, getting a 7th round pick two years from now for a player is roughly equivalent to getting a used kicking tee and an Egg McMuffin.

I know not to doubt Peter King when he makes a declaration of that sort, but I did have to go and see who the Browns’ first round picks were from 2009 to 2016.  I wondered if the guys were just players who did not work out for the Browns or if they washed out of the league.  So …

  1. 2009:  Alex Mack played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Falcons.  He has been to the Pro Bowl 5 times
  2. 2010:  Joe Haden played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Steelers.  He has been to the Pro Bowl twice.
  3. 2011:  Phil Taylor played 4 years with the Browns until they released him.  He is out of the NFL.
  4. 2012:  Brandon Weeden played 2 years with the Browns until they released him.  He is out of the NFL.
  5. 2012:  Trent Richardson played 1 year with the Browns until they traded him to the Colts.  He is out of the NFL
  6. 2013:  Barkevious Mingo played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is in the Seahawks’ camp this summer.
  7. 2014:  Johnny Manziel played 2 years with the Browns.  He is now in the CFL
  8. 2014:  Justin Gilbert played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now serving a 1-year suspension for violation of the NFL substance abuse policy.
  9. 2015:  Cam Erving played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now with the Chiefs.
  10. 2015:  Danny Shelton played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now with the Pats.
  11. 2016:  Corey Coleman played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him to the Bills a few days ago.

That is a monument to poor scouting that would be difficult to replicate in the modern era of football.  In fact, that span of ineptitude poses an interesting topic for debate/discussion:

Which draft was worse in terms of first round selections?

  1. The 2014 draft that produced Manziel and Gilbert – – or – –
  2. The 2012 draft that produced Weeden and Richardson.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is not an easy choice; they were both miserable.

Recall back at the ACC Media Day, UNC coach Larry Fedora ranted about how there was a war on football and that if football failed America would go down with it.  Let’s just say that I was not the only commentator to ridicule him for that level of hyperbole.  Well, Larry Fedora’s UNC team is back in the news and not in a good way.

UNC changed its shoe company this year and part of the deal was that Nike gave athletes specially designed Air Jordans; these were not going to be sold in stores or online.  Well, a bunch of the players turned around and sold those shoes and that is an NCAA violation.  So, UNC has suspended 13 players for anywhere between 1 and 4 games this season and the starting QB is one of the players on suspension.

UNC was 3-9 last year.  If the Tar Heels go 3-9 again this year and have to suffer through the ignominy of this sort of blockheadedness on the part of their “student-athletes”, Larry Fedora will no need to worry about any war on football; he will need to look for a job

  • And isn’t it special that “The Heels” are in hot water for improperly selling shoes…?

Another college coach has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2018 season.  Jimmye Laycock has been the head football coach at William and Mary for 38 years; that makes him the Division I coach who has been in his job for the longest time.  William and Mary has won the Division I-AA championship twice in his tenure and his record going into this season is 245-189-2.  Laycock is also an alum of William and Mary.  My guess is that if he ran for mayor of Williamsburg, he would be a formidable candidate.

Bonne chance, Jimmye Laycock.

The Dallas Cowboys welcomed Randy Gregory to camp after he had been suspended by the NFL for a year due to substance abuse violations.  This is merely the latest in a series of suspensions for the same reason.  A couple of weeks ago, Jerry Jones said without any modifiers that if one of the Cowboys did not stand on the sidelines for the national anthem, that player would not play for the Cowboys.  So, a serial drug abuser is OK but …

Finally, Brad Rock had this observation in the Deseret News recently about the PAC-12 Media Day:

“Heisman candidate Bryce Love skipped the Pac-12’s media day, saying he was too involved in studies to attend.

“Ute fans are already telling him, ‘Don’t forget the Oct. 6 Stanford-Utah game will be during midterms’!”

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

 

 

The Las Vegas Asses

In case you did not know, there is a WNBA team in Las Vegas – the Las Vegas Aces.  As far as I am concerned, from this point forward, they should be called the Las Vegas Asses.  The team pulled a no-show for a scheduled game against the Washington Mystics over the weekend because of travel problems.  You can understand a team not showing up to play a scheduled game in a situation where they cannot get to the venue; that was not the case here; the Las Vegas Asses were in DC.

The team took about 24 hours to get to Washington meaning they were in airports and on aircraft for a very long time, but they arrived in DC about 5 hours before the scheduled tip-off.  Instead of trying to make the best of things – and look to see if they could find a voodoo doll that would cast spells on the offending airline – they had a team meeting and called their union and decided to pull a no-show because of “health and safety reasons”.

To say that was a bush league stunt would be a compliment.  The WNBA is a minor league at best; it strives for attention and recognition – but not this kind of recognition.  Let me be clear; when I say the WNBA is a minor league I mean just that.  Minor league baseball teams play to equal or larger crowds; minor league hockey games draw crowds equivalent to what the WNBA draws.  Every time I read or hear one of the WNBA players talk about professionalism and how dedicated they are and how they should be seen as professional athletes, my answer will be:

  • The Las Vegas Asses

Minor league baseball teams travel by bus from place to place.  Look at any minor league team schedule and you will see bus trips that cannot be comfortable for the team – – but they show up, grit their teeth and play the scheduled games.  And do not even begin to compare a delayed flight with the travel rigors encountered by minor league hockey players in Canada in the Western Hockey League or the Ontario Hockey League.

Having just mentioned Canadian sports, let me make an awkward transition here to the Canadian Football League where Johnny Manziel made a disastrous debut for the Montreal Alouettes last Friday night.  He threw 4 INTs in the first half – the first one coming on his first pass attempt – and the Alouettes lost the game by 41 points.  Ironically, the opponent was the team that just traded Manziel to the Alouettes earlier that week.  To be fair, Manziel had all of 4 practice sessions with his new team before hitting the field Friday night and that was his first live action football in more than a year.  Nonetheless, Johnny Football looked more like Johnny Faulty – – or even Johnny Fatal.

The only positive spin I can put on this would be that at the current exchange rate, 4 Canadian INTs only equals 3 American INTs.  That is the best I can do.  Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a gorilla with a flashlight.

The Urban Meyer Saga continues to evolve – but it is not getting any prettier.  Brad Rock covered Utah football for the Deseret News back when Urban Meyer was the coach there – before his time at Florida where he won a national championship.  He wrote a column for that paper last week about Meyer’s time at Utah and included comments from players who were on Meyer’s teams there.  This is the sort of historical perspective that I have not seen in any of the “national reporting” on the current mess.  Here is a link to Brad Rock’s column; I think it is well-written and deserves to be read in its entirety.

Over the weekend, lots of commentators on the Urban Meyer Saga expressed surprise that Meyer changed his story thereby “proving” that he lied to the media and the public at the Big-10 media fest to kick off the football season.  Calm down everyone; let me lay this out in simple declarative sentences for you:

  • Football coaches lie.  They lie all the time.  They lie to recruits.  They lie to parents of recruits.  They lie to the press.  They lie about academic progress.  They lie about injuries.  They lie about player suspensions.  They lie about opponents’ strength.
  • Lying is a critical skill for football coaches.  Truthful football coaches will not succeed.  Lying can become a way of life.

So … when Urban Meyer was asked a question at Big-10 media day about domestic abuse allegations against one of his coaches, he did what comes naturally to a successful football coach.  He lied.  That is not an admirable thing, but it is a totally understandable thing.  That is what football coaches do all the time.

In the media frenzy to pile on Urban Meyer, there seems to me to be an under-reported aspect to the story.

  • The abuse victim says that Urban Meyer’s wife, Shelley, knew of the abuse incidents.  Assume that is absolutely true for a moment here
  • The reporting focus has been that if she knew, then Urban Meyer must have known also.  More than likely correct.  HOW-EVAH [/Stephen A. Smith]
  • Shelley Meyer is a Registered Nurse and she is an Instructor of Clinical Practice at Ohio State.
  • Two pillars of nursing ethics are non-malfeasance (doing no harm to the patient) and beneficence (doing the right thing for the patient).
  • It would seem to me that Shelley Meyer had a professional obligation to report and act on her knowledge of abuse here AND that as an employee of THE Ohio State University, she had a responsibility to make all of this known.

Again, I want to be clear.  Neither Urban Meyer nor Shelley Meyer abused the victim here; neither is the source of her pain and suffering.  Nevertheless, given their positions and given their employer, they each had an obligation to alert others to the situation with the intention to prevent any further abusive situations.  Based on the reporting to date, it would appear that neither one of them discharged that responsibility in an efficient or effective manner.

Finally, here are two observations from sportswriters about the Urban Meyer Saga from over the weekend:

“Death Valley, Calif., recorded the hottest month on record, with an average of 108 degrees in July.

“Though Urban Meyer’s seat at Ohio State is already threatening to break it.”  [Dwight Perry, Seattle Times]

And …

“The only way Urban Meyer should be allowed to coach again is if he fires his wife.”  [Scott Ostler, SF Chronicle]

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

 

 

Chinese Basketball Association – The Other CBA

With all the hoopla that surrounded the NBA free agent signing frenzy this summer, a couple of happenings slipped through the cracks.  In times past, players who could not make the NBA or who were in the twilight of their basketball careers would find their way to Europe to play in one of the many national leagues there.  Recently, the Chinese option has opened for players.  Stephon Marbury has been playing in China for more than 5 years now as a member of the Beijing Ducks.  [Mmmm…  Tasty!]  Marbury is now 41 years old.

Over the summer, Chinese Basketball Association teams have made offers to other NBA veteran players to entice them to cross the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic Ocean to extend their careers.

  • Dwayne Wade reportedly has a 3-year $25M offer from the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.  There are also reports that Wade has signed a “lifetime contract” with Li-Ning – a Chinese clothing and shoe manufacturer.  As of this morning the offer from the Golden Bulls is still unsigned and on the table.  Wade is 36 years old; last year he only played in 21 games in the NBA.  I would be very surprised to see an NBA team offer him anything close to a 3-year deal worth $25M.
  • Last week, Lamar Odom (age 38) announced that he will resume his basketball career in China next year.  He did not reveal the team and there were no reports of the contract terms involved but Odom did say that Stephon Marbury was his “inspiration” to go to China to play again.  He also announced that he will be moving to Shenzen, China – the area that links mainland China and Hong Kong.  By coincidence, Shenzen also has a team in the China Basketball Association, so maybe we do know the team he will play for.  Odom has been out of the NBA since 2013 and has had serious addiction problems since then.

The reigning champions of the Chinese Basketball Association are the Liaoning Flying Leopards.  Liaoning is the Chinese province that borders North Korea; I have never been there; and if they have flying leopards there, I do not think I would want to visit.

I have been tracking the MLB teams that project to lose 100 games or more for the 2018 season since the end of April.  The Baltimore Orioles have the worst record in MLB this morning; they are 1.5 games worse than the KC Royals; their record is 33-76.  The O’s were big-time sellers at the MLB trade deadline getting prospects for just about anyone on the team that any other MLB team sniffed around.  The exception was Adam Jones – and All-Star caliber outfielder – who is still with the O’s.  The reason he is still there is a tad unusual.

According to reports, the O’s had a deal in place to send Jones to the Phillies.  That would have sent Jones from a bottom-feeder to a team at the top of the NL East with playoff aspirations.  The deal fell through when Jones exercised his right under the MLB CBA to veto the trade because he is a “10-5 guy”.  According to the CBA, any player who has been in MLB for 10 years and has been with his current team for the last 5 years has the right to veto any trade at any time.  Jones played the 10-5 card.

Reporters asked him why he turned down the opportunity to play for a contender and Jones’ answer was direct – and a bit testy.  He said he did it because previous MLB players went on strike to win him those 10-5 rights and he decided that he wanted to use them.  Had he stopped there – and had the reporters not continued to question him on the issue – that decision would be lost in memory already.  However, he went on to say that it was no one’s business why he made the decision and that unless others were ready to take up the burden of paying all of his bills, then they needed to “shut the Hell up”.  Let me dance on that tightrope for a moment:

  • Jones is absolutely correct; this is his decision and he has exactly no obligation to explain it or justify it to anyone.
  • At the same time, he is intelligent enough to realize that his decision here is not the one that many other players would have made and that “unusual-ness” is going to be the subject of inquiry by reporters.  Therefore, he might have had a more tolerant or measured response at the ready.  I don’t think he intended to tell the world to go away; I think he reacted to reporters’ questions in a way that is not commonplace for him.
  • Adam Jones is a free agent at the end of the season.  It would be ironic if at that time he chose to sign with the Phillies, no?

One other thing about the Orioles and their record …  Thirty years ago, in 1988, the Orioles started the season by losing their first 21 games in a row.  The previous record for consecutive losses to start the season was shared by the Tigers (1920) and the Senators (1904) with 13 losses.  The Orioles did not “eclipse” that mark; they obliterated it.  The 1988 Orioles went on to post a final record of 54-107 [There must have been a rain-out that they decided not to make up.] and they finished a mere 34.5 games behind the AL East leader when the AL East had 7 teams.  This year’s Baltimore Orioles are on pace to win only 50 games and lose 112.  Ouch!

While on the subject of MLB, Bob Molinaro had this comment in his column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Milestone: From the where-has-the-time-gone file, I was surprised to hear last week that Washington Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg was turning 30. Seems like just the other day the big righty was a gangly kid appearing on his first disabled list.”

I remember Strasburg’s first game.  He struck out 14 batters and the Washington baseball poets went gaga.  They were ready to commission the plaque for Cooperstown that day.  I suggested then that it might be a good idea to pump the brakes just a tad.  After all, those 14 strikeouts in his first game still left him exactly 5,700 strikeouts behind Nolan Ryan.

Finally, Dwight Perry had this comment about another MLB pitcher in the Seattle Times:

“Ex-MLB pitcher Kevin Brown caught two men stealing from his mailbox in Macon Ga., and kept them at gunpoint until police arrived.

“Elias Sports Bureau statisticians alertly credited him with a hold.”

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

 

 

Urban Meyer In The Crosshairs

Ohio State has put Urban Meyer on paid administrative leave while it investigates a report that Meyer was aware of a domestic violence incident in 2015 perpetrated by one of his assistant coaches.  I am not going to rehash the events and the allegations here; you would be hard-pressed to go to any national sports website this morning and avoid reading those details.  Here is a link to one of many such summaries of the background here.

What we have here is another situation where several conflicting narratives apply at the same time:

  • Urban Meyer is innocent of any criminal action until he is found guilty of that action in a courtroom.
  • In the court of public opinion, however, things are not looking good for Urban Meyer as of this morning.
  • Nowhere in any of the reporting have I found a hint that Urban Meyer committed any acts of domestic violence.  Nonetheless, it is clear that such acts did occur and that leads to an inquiry that harkens back to the Senate Watergate hearings in the early 70s.
  • What did Urban Meyer know and when did he know it?  PLUS, if and when he knew what he knew, what did he do about it?

Ohio State University is in a delicate situation today.  These allegations come on the heels of allegations of sexual abuse within the wrestling program in the past and some of that muck and mire has spilled over to current Congressman James Jordan (R-Ohio) who was an assistant coach at Ohio State while some of that stuff was ongoing.  Let me be blunt here:

  • That was wrestling; this is football.

Wrestling may be important at Ohio State, but the reality is that wrestling is not football.  And Urban Meyer has 3 national championships to his credit; and national championships are a big deal to Ohio State alums, boosters and students.  No matter what Ohio State does to and with Urban Meyer, the university is going to piss off a large and vocal chorus of people.

Complicating the situation for the Ohio State pooh-bahs is a precedent at Ohio State in their football program.

  • In 2011, a bunch of Ohio State players received “improper benefits” in the form of discounted tattoos from a local tattoo artist.  Ohio State suspended Coach Jim Tressel for 2 games and then upped that ante to 5 games after an investigation and fined Tressel $250K.  Then, Coach Tressel “decided to resign” as the head football coach at Ohio State.

On one hand, it is easy to look at those two situations and say that “domestic violence” is a whole lot more serious than “discounted or free tattoos”.  So, on that axis, the “firing” of Jim Tressel makes the retention of Urban Meyer nigh onto impossible.

On the other hand, the “tattoo incident” could have led the NCAA to impose severe sanctions to the Ohio State football program.  In the current matter, the NCAA will likely stand on the sidelines and cluck about how all of us are socially responsible for out actions and pabulum of that ilk.  [Aside:  I presume that the NCAA learned from the Penn State incident that its purview is athletics and not criminal behavior(s).  If they did not learn from their embarrassment there, the NCAA might punch this tar baby too.  We shall see…]

Because I do not yet know what Urban Meyer knew and when he knew it and what he did about it when/if he knew what he knew, I will postpone saying what I think Ohio State ought to do here.  I suspect, however, that this is the end of the Urban Meyer regime in Columbus.  In the current environment of #meetoo and the light being shone on domestic violence by people in football and the parallelism here to the mess at Baylor under Art Briles, I do not see how Ohio State can keep him on the payroll.

Some commentators have already jumped to the conclusion that Urban Meyer’s career as a coach is over.  I am not ready to do that just yet and I will cite the case of Dave Bliss as a reason not to make such a leap of logic.  Here is what I wrote about Dave Bliss and his outrageous behavior(s) back in 2003; please take a minute to skim through it.

Now that you are back here, Dave Bliss was hired subsequently as a college basketball coach and then again twice as a high school basketball coach at two Christian high schools.  And that is why I am reluctant at this point to say that Urban Meyer will not be a football coach ever again.

Enough about that…  Yesterday I wrote about the naming rights for the Bonita Springs HS football stadium and I mentioned that a reader here lived in Bonita Springs.  Here is what he added to the story regarding why a healthcare provider might be willing to pay to name a football stadium.

“Big-time competition between Lee Health and Naples-based NCH (healthcare system) these days.  The two systems are opening free-standing ER’s less than a mile apart in Bonita Springs and NCH is opposing the state’s recent approval of a new 82-bed acute care hospital that Lee proposes to build in South Lee County.  Lee obviously wants to stay front and center in residents’ minds.

“The new Bonita Springs High School is probably about 4 miles from our house.  Lee’s freestanding ER and proposed new hospital are about 3 miles from our house, so all these developments are very close to home.”

Finally, here is a comment by Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times regarding a college football coach preparing for the upcoming season:

“Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich brought a Britney Spears impersonator to Mountain West media day.

“And if the Rainbow Warriors repeat last year’s 3-9 performance, we assume, they’ll bring her back to sing ‘Oops I Did It Again’.”

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

 

 

An Apocalyptic Sign…

There are no circumstances imaginable wherein I would claim to be any sort of Biblical authority.  Having said that, I ran across a report yesterday that led me to check out a story in the Naples Daily News – that is Naples, Florida and not Naples, Italy – because it seemed to me to be a potential sign of the apocalypse.  The report seemed to be too outrageous to be true but the article in the Naples Daily News confirmed it.

There is a town on the west coast of Florida called Bonita Springs.  In fact, one of the readers of these rants lives in Bonita Springs.  They are building a new high school in Bonita Springs and of course the school will have a football team and a stadium in which to play its games.  Nothing seems even a bit off-center so far, right?  Here is the kicker:

  • Bonita Springs High School just sold the naming rights for its high school football stadium for $292K.  The deal runs for 5 years.

That is outrageous all by itself, but there is another layer here.  What sponsor would want to “invest” $292K to put its name on a high school football field for 5 years?  You would think that it would be a sponsor that was involved in the lives of high school students such as:

  • A clothing manufacturer
  • A local merchant
  • A maker of acne medication.

Not even close.  The sponsor here is Lee Health – the largest healthcare system in southwest Florida.  There are other high schools in that area that have sold off stadium naming rights – albeit for far less money – to local sponsors.  One of the other sponsors is a local heating and air conditioning company; another is a local law firm.  To that mix, we now add a healthcare system.

Here is a link to the article in the Naples Daily News in case you find this sufficiently off-center that you want to see the original piece to convince yourself it is not satire.

There is another “partnership” I want to talk about today.  MGM Resorts and the NBA have announced that MGM is the “Exclusive Official Gaming Partner” of the NBA.  Based on the announcement, I think this is what that means:

  • MGM pays the NBA for its official data which will then be used to determine winners and losers of various bets such as player proposition bets.
  • The NBA will get betting data from MGM as a way for the NBA to monitor “unusual” or “disturbing” trends in betting action on its games.

After years of fighting legalization of sports wagering, the NBA moved very quickly to monetize for themselves the fact that sports wagering is going to be legal is a whole lot of places in the future.  Where one stands on any issue depends on where one is sitting at the moment…

Last weekend, I got an e-mail from a former colleague and long-term reader of these rants saying he was surprised I had not commented on ESPN and its TV offering(s) since my return from the Balkans.  He pointed out that Keith Olbermann is back with ESPN and making various on-camera appearances and I have not commented on that state of affairs.  Also, he was surprised that I had not commented on a new ESPN program called High Noon – guess what time it might be on the air – hosted by Bomani Jones and Pablo S. Torre.  So, here is my response:

  • Since I have been back, I have not caught Keith Olbermann on any ESPN programs and I was not aware that he was “back in the fold in Bristol”.  If my count is correct, this is the fifth time Olbermann and ESPN have been “an item”; the last four times they were “an item” the breakup was ”less than amicable”.
  • Everyone here knows that I really like Keith Olbermann’s commentary and style regarding sports.  I really hope he can keep it together with the sits on mahogany row this time around.
  • I had never even heard of the program High Noon until last weekend.  Typically, I am not watching TV at midday unless it is to watch football on Saturdays and Sundays in the Fall.  So, I tuned in to ESPN2 see what this was all about.
  • This program works!  Bomani Jones and Pablo S. Torre are both intelligent and analytical about the issues they discuss; there is little hysteria; there are no hot-takes.  Most importantly, there appears to be a connection between the two of them that makes their interactions more realistic and more engaging.  If these two guys are not good friends off the air, they are awfully good actors.

Granted, I have only seen two episodes of this program, but I came away with a crazy thought in the back of my mind:

  • Maybe the powers that be at ESPN are prepping these two guys to “take over” the Pardon the Interruption franchise whenever Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon turn off their microphones.  Both pairings involve intelligent and rational people who exude a personal friendship/relationship that goes beyond what is on the screen at the moment.
  • Since I enjoy PTI a lot, that last comment should not be seen as any suggestion that the program be kicked to the curb.  I would hope that PTI would continue for years to come.  But if the suits at ESPN are thinking about “succession planning” for PTI, I think they ought to be watching High Noon closely.

Finally, a word from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times:

“Authorities in Manitoba have dropped marijuana charges against Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Duron Carter.

“Apparently the instant-replay booth ruled he didn’t have possession.”

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

 

 

Four MLB Teams Project To 100 Losses This Year

At the end of April, six major league teams projected to lose 100 games or more in 2018.  At the end of June, three of those six still projected to lose 100 or more games in 2018 – – and the Mets threatened to join that less-than-elite grouping.  So, here we are at the end of July and what is the “Bottom-Feeder Outlook” projecting:

  • Baltimore:  Their record as of this morning is 32-74 or a winning percentage of .302.  That projects to season-long losses of 113 games.  The Orioles have been on this “watch list” from April forward.
  • Chicago White Sox:  Their record as of this morning is 37-68 or a winning percentage of .352.  That projects to season-long losses of 105 games.  The White Sox have been on this “watch list” from April forward.
  • Kansas City:  Their record as of this morning is 32-73 or a winning percentage of .305.  That projects to season-long losses of 113 games.  The Royals have been on this “watch list” since April.
  • San Diego:  Their record as of this morning is 42-67 or a winning percentage of .385.  That projects to season-long losses of 100 games.  The Padres were solidly on the list at the end of April but rallied to be well clear of the list by the end of June.  As of today, they squarely on the “100-loss mark”.

For the moment, no one else seems in danger of losing 100 games or more this year; and if that pans out, it would mean that the clear majority of the “stinko teams” for 2018 would be in the American League.  In fact, the American League “races” are not particularly interesting this season.  If you concede that either the Red Sox or the Yankees will win the AL East and that the loser of the AL East will be a wild card team, then the only real “race” is for the second wild card slot and even that looks to be a “race” between the Mariners and the A’s.

Meanwhile, in the National League, there are races within races wherever you look.

  • In the NL East, the Phillies lead the Braves and the two of them lead the Nats.  Anyone who says they “had that” back in March needs to raise his/her hand and then provide some documented evidence.  Any of these teams would have wild card aspirations if they lose this division.
  • In the NL Central, the Cubs and the Brewers are at the top of the standings, but the Pirates are right in the middle of the wild card race.  The Cardinals are close and the Reds who have blossomed since the start of May could make a late run but their deficit from early in the season could well be too much to overcome.  Baseball is not a sport friendly to a “Silky Sullivan” pace – – Google is your friend.
  • In the NL West, the Dodgers seem to have gotten their act together and yet find themselves in a dogfight for the division lead with the D-Backs and the Rockies.  Only 1 game separates these three teams this morning.  Right now, the second-place finisher in the NL West would be a wild card team in the NL.

Switching gears – figuratively and literally – NBC is televising the Tour de France on a variety of its networks/platforms, so I am not surprised to see a ton of promotional “stuff” at places like NBCSports.com.  Nevertheless, I did shake my head when I read this headline on that website:

“Ever Wonder what’s on a Tour de France team bus?”

Since you asked, the answer is a resounding, “NO!”

Over in NFL happenings, the NY Jets finally got a deal done with Sam Darnold – drafted overall #3 by the team a few months ago to be the franchise QB that the team has lacked since Joe Namath left town more than 40 years ago.  Without a signed contract in place, Darnold has missed OTAs and minicamp and several days of training camp.  He is a rookie QB who needs time to learn the differences between NFL football and NCAA football; no matter what else happens from this day forward, that is learning time he will never get back.  According to various reports, there were two “sticking points” in the negotiations:

  1. The Jets were pushing for “offset clauses” in the contract that would apply to the “guaranteed money” in the case that Darnold is cut within the first four years of the deal.  Essentially, the Jets wanted to be sure that if they cut Darnold and he signed with another team, he would not get the Jets’ money plus the other team’s money.
  2. The Jets also wanted to be able to “clawback” some of the “guaranteed money” in the deal if Darnold was suspended or fined by the NFL for things like domestic violence or PED usage or drug usage.

Those “sticking points” for the Jets were stupid from Day One.  Here’s why:

  • If the Jets are going to cut Darnold loose sometime in the first four years of this deal, the last thing they need to worry about is a few million dollars that will come out of the team exchequer and find their way to Darnold’s.  If Darnold is a bust and has to be released that soon, the havoc that will be wrought within the organization and throughout the fanbase will dwarf the few million dollars that the Jets will “lose” here.
  • I can see “clawback language” that relates to suspensions because that would mean that Darnold would be unavailable to the team for regular season games.  However, if he is fined by the league for something, I do not see how or why that should entitle the Jets to take more money from him.  And, oh by the way, your scouts and coaches and background checkers should have given you a bit of confidence that your #3 overall pick and future franchise QB is not going to have those sort of problems, right?

The Jets need a franchise QB and Darnold has the physical tools to be that sort of player.  Given the time Darnold has missed over this summer, it is not “career-threatening” but that time lost is going to make his 2018 impact a tad problematic.  To my mind, this is just another incident in the body of evidence that says the NY Jets are a royally screwed-up franchise.  Plus ça change, plus ça même chose…

Finally, here is a childhood recollection from Brad Dickson formerly with the Omaha World-Herald:

“When I was a kid my family traveled to Husker football away games and stayed at KOAs which stood for Campground of America. Picture Guantanamo Bay with picnic tables.”

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

 

 

All Over The Map Today …

Six players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY yesterday.  I am only half surprised that Terrell Owens did not show up wearing a yellow blazer as part of the audience to draw attention to himself.  After all, he won’t be attending the Football hall of Fame induction ceremony in about a week even though he is one of the inductees.  I thought he would be a party-crasher here; I’m glad he was not.

News from the Canadian Football League is that Johnny Manziel might get an extended chance to show that he can play professional football and that he is serious enough about doing that to maintain a measure of self-control in his life.  Manziel had been on the roster of the Hamilton Tiger Cats this season but he was blocked from the field because the Ti-Cats starting QB, Jeremiah Masoli, was tearing it up.  Masoli has thrown for 300+ yards in every game for the Ti-Cats this year – – and 9 in a row if you go back to the end of last season.  Last week, the Ti-Cats traded Manziel to the cellar-dwelling Montreal Alouettes.  There is more to the trade than just Manziel; four other players and a draft pick next year are also involved, but Manziel is the most interesting component of the trade.

Manziel did not play in last week’s game for the Alouettes – a game they lost to the Edmonton Eskimos by a score of 44-23.  The Montreal QB in that game was Vernon Adams and his stat line was mediocre (15 for 28 for 217 yards with 0 TDs and 1 INT).  [Aside:  Adams is the fourth starting QB the Alouettes have used in 6 games this year.  It is safe to say they are not “settled” at the QB position.]  The Alouettes record in 1-5 this year; notwithstanding that record, they are only 1 game out of second place in the Eastern Conference of the CFL.

When Manziel signed with the Tiger Cats, the coach there, June Jones, hailed his arrival in glowing terms saying that Manziel might become one of the greatest players in CFL history.  Halfway through his first season, he never saw the field and got shipped off to what is arguably the worst team in the league.  I am accustomed to the practice of coaches hyping new players beyond any realistic standard but in this case, Manziel went from a potential “all time great” to “trade bait” after 5 games.

There was another story from last week that boggles the mind.  Swimmer Ryan Lochte was suspended from competition for 14 months by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).  Lochte has done some bizarre things in the past – – Google is your friend here – – but this suspension comes as a result of sheer stupidity.  Here is the deal:

  • There is a rule – I don’t know why this is a rule, but it is a rule – that athletes subject to testing by the USADA cannot receive an IV unless the administration of the IV is related to hospitalization or unless the USADA has granted a waiver.
  • Lochte took an IV infusion of a Vitamin B complex.  That is not a banned substance; he failed no tests.  However, it was an IV and not a pill that delivered the Vitamin B to his system.
  • Then, Lochte notified the world on social media of his use of the IV by posting a photo of the event.

Also, from last week, the Phillies hit 7 HRs in a game against the Reds.  That is unusual in and of itself but in that game the Phillies only scored 9 runs meaning there were lost of solo shots there.  I went looking to see if the Phillies had set a record, but they did not:

  • In 1977, the Red Sox hit 8 homeruns game against the Blue Jays and 7 of those homeruns were solo shots.  That is the MLB record for most homeruns in a game with no one on base.

This homerun outburst did tie a franchise record for the Phillies and you do not have to go back 100 years to find the other time it happened.  It was in 1998 and here are the players who combined to hit those 7 homeruns back then:

  • Rico Brogna (2)
  • Bobby Estalella (2)
  • Kevin Sefcik (2)
  • Marlon Anderson (1)

If you can pick any of those 4 players out of the official team photo for 1998, you are a better person than I…

Yankees’ outfielder, Aaron Judge was hit on the wrist by a pitch and it fractured a bone in the right wrist.  Judge will be out of the lineup on the DL for 3-4 weeks.  When I read the account of this, my advanced age showed itself because I thought of the old Rowan and Martin Laugh In show on TV and Pigmeat Markham:

  • There go da Judge …  There go da Judge!

I’ll go adjust the dosage on my meds; I promise…

Finally, Bob Molinaro had this commentary in his column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot.  I could not agree more…

“TV timeout: Jon Gruden says that he’ll ‘walk away’ from his 10-year, $100 million Oakland Raiders contract ‘if I can’t get it done.’ I wish he’d taken that approach when he started as ESPN’s Monday Night Football blabbermouth.”

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

 

 

NFL Training Camps Are Open

Yesterday, I spent a bunch of time on NFL “matters” – particularly the LeSean McCoy situation in which the NFL looks destined to come out the end of the cycle with dirt on its face.  There are other NFL “stories” out there as teams head to training camp So let me focus on a few of those.  Let me start with ones that seemingly will take on a positive aura as we approach the regular season:

  1. The defending Super Bowl Champs – Eagles – have no idea yet if their prodigy QB, Carson Wentz, will be ready to play football in Week 1.  Given that their backup for now was named Super Bowl MVP in February, the Eagles would be stone-cold stupid to rush Wentz back to the field.  Wentz is their QB of the present and the future IF he is healthy.  The Eagles’ braintrust must resist the temptation to rush him back to the field.
  2. Andrew Luck returns to the Colts’ camp and reports say that he can “make all the throws”.  The Colts have to hope that report is 100% correct because none of the backups on the roster this morning is going to lead the Colts to a playoff slot.
  3. Kirk Cousins takes his very rich and 100% guaranteed contract in Minnesota seriously.  That is a good idea, because the Vikes came within a game of playing the Pats in the Super Bowl.  The Vikes need him to stay healthy and to continue his growth as a QB.
  4. Meanwhile in DC, the Skins project that Alex Smith continues his high-quality play over the season.  If the Skins falter badly again this year, Smith will be a pariah in Washington and Jay Gruden may be looking for work.
  5. The Rams shocked the NFL last year.  They have seemingly doubled down this year by signing free agents who have a history of “disruptive behaviors” on the field and off the field.  The Rams are going to be more than just a football team this year; they will be a study in how eccentric characters interact with one another.  [Oh yeah, they also signed their star RB, Todd Gurley, to a contract that has $40M in guaranteed money.]

Some of the storylines heading into training camp for NFL teams are not nearly as positive/upbeat as the five listed above:

  1. Jon Gruden takes over the helm for the Raiders.  If you look at résumés, Gruden is the best coaching hire for the Raiders since Mark Davis took over running the team for his now dead father.  At the same time, the seeds of dysfunction are strewn all around this team.  Kahlil Mack is their best DE/OLB; not only is he unsigned as of this morning, reports say that he and Gruden have not talked in the 5 months or so that Gruden has been the head coach.  This could suck…
  2. There may be trouble in New England this year – if not in paradise – if the media reports about friction between Tom Brady Bill Belichick and owner, Robert Kraft are real.  If things go south for the Pats, it will not show up until the playoffs because the other three teams in the AFC East have bigger problems to deal with than petty squabbles.
  3. I mentioned the LeSean McCoy situation yesterday.  There is more turmoil in Buffalo – a team that made the playoffs last year.  The Bills traded away their starting QB and will have a competition for the new starter among AJ McCarron, Nathan Peterman and rookie Josh Allen.

I am going to presume that the story about Jimmy Garoppolo having dinner with a porn star will have a shelf life as short as that of Anthony Scaramucci’s stay in Washington as White House Communications Director.  There is a “snicker factor” associated with the story:

  • Jason Whitlock called Garoppolo “Jimmy G-String” on Speak for Yourself.
  • Garoppolo said in a press conference that the “date” was a “learning experience”.  That can be taken more than one way.

Notwithstanding the above, consider that Garoppolo is a single, adult male.  He is free go to dinner with just about anyone – convicted game fixers would cross the line so he should not have Tim Donaghy in his Rolodex.  He did not come close to breaking any laws; the video after the dinner showed him getting into the back seat of a car meaning he did not drive after – possibly – consuming alcohol at dinner.  I hope this is the last we hear of this matter.

I mentioned above that the Rams are going for broke this year.  There could be several reasons for the organization deciding to do that and one could be to whip up interest in LA because the Rams have made it clear that it will not be cheap to see games in the new stadium under construction in Inglewood.  According to the LA Times here is the bottom line:

  • Premium seating – about 25% of the stadium – will require a Personal Seat License costing $100K.  This is actually a 50-year interest-free loan to the team because after 50 years, the $100K will be returned to the purchaser
  • Tickets for premium seats to Rams’ games will cost $375 each – for 10 games a season.  The Rams guarantee that this price will be frozen for 3 years.
  • Non-premium seats will require a PSL at a lower cost than the premium seats.  Some PSL’s will be less than $1K and ticket prices will not be as high.  However, the Rams are not guaranteeing that the prices of the “cheap seats” will be frozen for any period of time.

If you are interested in more detail about the Rams’ new stadium – – and the Chargers’ new stadium too – – here is a link to the LA Times report.

Finally, here is an observation by Brad Rock of the Deseret News from a while back:

“Several players and their coach have been suspended a combined 23 games after a fight during a women’s soccer match in Australia.

“The Age newspaper says charges included ‘violent conduct’ and ‘bringing the game into disrepute.’

“In other words, becoming the XFL.”

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

 

 

So, You Want To Host The Super Bowl …

Sometimes when older folks wax nostalgic about the wonders of early TV programming, they recall the good shows such as Ed Sullivan’s show and Jackie Gleason’s show and I Love Lucy etc.  They rarely recall any of the bombs that were on the air “back then” such as The Flying Nun or My Mother the Car – – or a mercifully short-lived series called So You Want to Lead a Band[Seriously, this was a program with Sammy Kaye and his orchestra.  Audience members were “invited” to come and lead the band and then a “winner” was selected at the end by audience applause.  My father loved it; I thought it was mind-numbingly stupid.]

I mention So You Want to Lead a Band because an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune could well have carried the headline:

  • So, You Want to Host the Super Bowl…

This article reveals what the NFL demands from a city/county/state in order to bestow them with a Super Bowl event.  There is a 163-page list of things which are non-negotiable ranging from the easily accommodated (minimum seating capacity at the stadium) to the very expensive (loads of free hotel rooms plus full exemption from all local taxes).  Oh, and the NFL also gets to keep all the ticket money – tax free.

Here is a link to that article in the Star Tribune and embedded there is the PDF for the NFL’s list of “demands”.  It is not required reading, but it is an example of how the NFL strongarms the venues for a Super Bowl game.  It demonstrates the economic power of a monopoly – which the NFL is when it comes to putting on a Super Bowl game.

Sticking with NFL stuff for the moment, the league has a decision to make soon regarding the status of LeSean McCoy.  His estranged girlfriend alleges that she was beaten up by a man or men sent to evict her from the house she is living in – which belongs to McCoy – at the behest of McCoy.  Obviously, McCoy denies the allegations and the investigations by law enforcement folks and by the NFL roll on.  However, …

  • Given the NFL’s historically horrible record in dealing with domestic abuse issues, the question now is what to do with LeSean McCoy.

In the wake of the Adrian Peterson “situation” involving his disciplining of his young son, the NFL created something called the Commissioner’s Exempt List.  It is an adjunct to the league’s personal conduct policy and essentially it puts a player on what in government would be called paid administrative leave.  As I understand this – – and I am sure that I do not fully understand it:

  1. A player on the Commissioner’s Exempt List does not count against the team roster.
  2. The player is paid the salary due him – – without any performance bonuses of course because he will not achieve them while on the list.
  3. The player cannot practice with the team or attend games.  [I assume this means he cannot attend games with the team or in the owner’s box; if the player wants to buy a ticket and sit in Section 505, I would think that would be permissible.  Or, maybe not…]
  4. The team can allow the player to be in the practice facility to attend meetings or do rehab work.  What he cannot do is be part of “football activities”.
  5. There does not seem to be a time limit on the Commissioner’s Exempt List.  Its purpose seems to be to buy time for the investigations(s) to proceed in the sense that it keeps the player away from the team and out of the public consciousness.
  6. Since the player is being paid during his time on the list, there is no real claim against the league or the team if he is fully exonerated by the investigation.  It is not clear if “time served” on The List is ever part of any discipline that might come from a finding that the player is guilty of whatever is being investigated.

The NFL has a dilemma here.  These allegations are very recent; these investigations will take time and then the adjudication process will take even more time.  It would not be surprising to see that this matter might still be unresolved by Christmas.  So, if the NFL plays the “Exempt List Card” now, it could well be consigning McCoy to a full season on the sidelines – – without knowing if he is innocent here.  On the other hand, if they put him on the field and it turns out he did what his estranged girlfriend says he did, the NFL suffers yet another Public Relations black-eye.

I guess this is why Roger Goodell gets $40M a year from the league…

One more NFL note …  The Eagles released a CB from UCLA who had been injured all last season named Randall Goforth.  I am positive that if Chris Berman was still covering the NFL for ESPN, he would have named this CB:

  • Randall Goforth-and-Multiply.

Finally, here is an “announcement” from Brad Dickson, formerly with the Omaha World-Herald of a new business enterprise.  You know, in Nebraska, he just might have a goldmine here:

“In Omaha we already have a Husker Law, Husker Dental & Husker Plumbing. Now I’m introducing Husker Crematory where your loved ones are cremated inside a giant red & white helmet while the NU fight song plays.”

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

 

 

No Clairvoyance Here …

I had exactly zero “inside info” yesterday when I said the Orioles should trade Zach Britton because the O’s are clearly going nowhere this year and need to restock their farm system.  Reports today are that the Yankees have acquired Britton for three pitching prospects.  Given the strength of the Yankees’ bullpen with Chapman, Betances and Robertson, I would not have predicted that NYC would be Britton’s new home; but I guess the Yankees’ brass figures you can never have too much pitching.  As of this morning, the Yankees have 5 games to make up on the Red Sox to win the AL East and avoid the one-game wild card playoff.

A friend of mine was an avid NY Mets fan for a very simple reason.  He was from NYC and he hated the Yankees.  QED…  He often lamented that the “baseball gods” were Yankees’ fans and they conspired to find new ways to torture the Mets and their fans.  My friend passed away about 4 years ago; I wonder what he would think about the “baseball gods” if he were around today:

  • Noah Syndergaard has hand, foot and mouth disease and is on the DL.  There is no treatment; you just have to wait for Syndergaard’s immune system to get over this.  This condition arises one start after Syndergaard spent time on the DL for another reason and comes just before the trade deadline.  If – I said IF – the Mets thought about trading Syndergaard, it would be lots better for teams to see him pitch a few times after his return from that first stint on the DL.
  • Yeonis Cespedes – – he of the multi-year $110M contract – – now says he needs surgery on BOTH of his heels.  Cespedes had been out for about 10 weeks with a “hip flexor injury”; he came back for one game and announced the problem was really in both of his heels.  He had an MRI and is seeing a “specialist” this week.

With regard to the Cespedes situation, I know that the foot bone is connected to the heel bone and the heel bone is connected to the ankle bone and – – – all the way up to the hip.  What I don’t understand is this

  • A heel problem involves bone(s).  A hip flexor is a muscle.  I need a consultation with Dr. Oz on this one…

At the start of the season, the Cleveland Indians announced that their logo/mascot, Chief Wahoo” would be replaced on their uniforms/caps/paraphernalia at the end of this season.  I have no interest in getting into the insulting/not-insulting nature of Chief Wahoo; the Indians are putting the logo to rest so it is time to move on.  However, the team was evidently asked about what would replace the departed Chief next year.  I say that because the team felt the need to issue a statement saying that no final decision had been made, but that the “new logo” would “… honor the team’s tradition …”.

  • OK; I’ll bite.  What pray tell is “the team tradition” of the Cleveland Indians?

Bob Molinaro had this comment in a column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Talk show: In a matter of a couple years, the All-Star Game has gone from determining which league claims World Series home field advantage to Fox miking the players so that they can chit-chat with Joe Buck while in the field.”

I have argued that Bud Selig was an excellent Commissioner of Baseball and would be happy to maintain that argument.  However, for the sake of brevity, here is a link to what I wrote about that back in October 2012.

Back then, the decision to try to make the All-Star Game relevant by linking it to the home field advantage in the World Series was the least of the things that Selig did that I thought was of any value.  I characterized it then – as I would now – that it was not nearly as bad as the people who hate(d) Bud Selig would make it out to be.  Having said that, I think Bob Molinaro’s juxtaposition of World Series linkage with miking the players on the field demonstrates how many ways one might experience an All-Star Game.

I prefer the players being miked-up approach because it adheres to the “All-Star Game Tradition” which is to say that the MLB All-Star Game is an Exhibition Game that does not count and therefore is put on simply to have fun.  Think of it as a “Pro Bowl” where the players selected to participate actually show up for the event.

I do not know the individual who “invented” the concept of “walk-up music” for batters in baseball games.  I do know that said individual is someone who is worthy of at least the Sixth Circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno – – and maybe even worse.

Finally, let me close today with a baseball themed observation by Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander and model wife Kate Upton are expecting their first child.

“In lieu of Johnson’s baby powder, they plan to use a rosin bag.”

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