Category: Daily Rants

Everything old is new again – or so the adage goes.  The NFL regular season is old and over; the NFL playoffs are new and starting.  With Wild-Card Weekend about to happen, it is time for some analysis and picks.

The Chiefs host the Titans and the Chiefs are 8.5-point favorites at home.  The Chiefs came out of the gate in September looking like Lombardi’s Packers from 50 years ago and then went into a fugue state for about a month only to come back to normal and play well down the stretch.  The Titans ended the season on a low note; they lost to the Niners and the Rams and narrowly beat the Jags last week when the Jags had exactly nothing to play for.  Here is a team stat for the Titans that is surprising for a team participating in the playoffs:

• The Titans threw more INTs (17) than TD passes (14) for the season.

The Titans succeed when they can run the football and the biggest weakness for the Chiefs is their run defense.  If you just look at the stats, you would likely conclude that the Titans will control the clock with the run and keep it close.  That scenario makes the 8.5-point spread look like a lot for the Chiefs to overcome.  Having said that, I have trouble putting faith in the Titans; I just think the Chiefs are the better team and they have the better coaching.  Without a lot of conviction, I like the Chiefs to win the game and to cover that big spread.

The Rams host the Falcons and the Rams are 5.5-point favorites at home.  The line opened at 5 points and as of this morning you can find it as high as 6.5 points at one of the sportsbooks in Las Vegas and as low as the original 5 points at one of the Internet sportsbooks.  Everyone has focused on the Rams’ offensive awakening this year as is evidenced by this historical fact:

• The Rams are the first NFL team ever to lead the league in scoring for a season after they were the lowest scoring team in the league in the previous season.
• In round numbers, the Rams scored an average of 14 points per game in 2016 and an average of 30 points per game in 2017.

I think there is a factor that has been overlooked regarding the Rams.  Defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, has been successful just about everywhere he has been, and he has some very talented players to implement his schemes; Aaron Donald is a human wrecking ball in the middle of that defense.  The Falcons’ defense has played well in recent weeks, but I would be hard pressed to make the case that the Falcons’ defense will shut down the Rams’ offense here.  I’ll take the Rams to win and cover here.

The Jags host the Bills and the Jags are 9-point favorites at home.  The Total Line for the game is 39 points.  If you want to see a game between newbies to the playoffs, this is for you.  The Bills’ last appearance in the playoffs was in 1999; the Jags have not been there since 2007.  I think the oddsmaker has the Total Line right:

• I do not trust Blake Bortles and the Jags’ offense to light up the scoreboard.
• With LeSean McCoy at less than 100% – –  if he can go at all – – the Bills will have to rely on Tyrod Taylor to manufacture points against the Jags’ top-rated defense.
• Neither choice is particularly appetizing…

McCoy leads the Bills in rushing (1138 yards) AND he is the leading receiver on the team (77 receptions).  If he doesn’t play at all, the Bills may be hard-pressed to score 13 points.  On the other hand, if Bortles goes into “interception mode”, the same can happen to the Jags.  Purely a hunch, but I like the Bills to keep this game close; I’ll take the Bills plus the points here.

The Saints host the Panthers and the Saints are 7-point favorites at home.  The Saints beat the Panthers twice this year; I know it is difficult for one team to beat another team 3 times in a season, but I expect that to happen here.  The Saints – for the first time in several years – are a balanced team.  They can run the ball; they can throw the ball; and, most importantly, they can stop the other team more than occasionally.  I think the Saints will win and cover here and move on to the next round of the playoffs.

Since I will be in transit next Monday, I need to make a pick in the CFP championship game here.  With Alabama as one of the participants yet again, some might be tempted to rename the CFP as the AJIT – the Alabama January Invitational Tournament.  As of this morning, Alabama is a 3.5-point favorite over Georgia.  Making a selection in this game comes down to what you believe you saw in last week’s semi-final games:

1. Georgia’s run attack dominated Oklahoma amassing 319 yards.  Do you believe they can do that to the Alabama defense?  If so, Georgia will win the game outright and be the national champions.
2. Alabama’s defense simply throttled Clemson holding the Tigers to a mere 154 yards of total offense for the game.  Do you believe that is the sort of defensive effort Alabama will demonstrate on Monday night?  If so, Alabama will win handily.

I think the outcome of this game will be in doubt late in the 4^th quarter; in the end, I like Alabama to win the game, but I like Georgia plus the points.

Finally, with the CFP championship game involving two teams from the SEC, here is a pertinent comment from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald:

“LaVar Ball plans to start a league for players who want to skip college. This sounds similar to the SEC.”

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

 

 

At a Holiday Gathering prior to New Year’s, I had a discussion with a former colleague about the possible reincarnation of the XFL; he called it XFL 2.0.  He asked if I had any ideas what the league might do to identify itself as something other than a “Spring Football Feeder League for the NFL” (his term).  As we chatted, we identified some of the things the “old XFL” had done to be different from the NFL and how some of them worked and some did not.

For example, in the “old XFL” they did away with the opening coin toss and had one player from each team scramble for a loose ball about 10 or 15 yards away from each one.  That was a dumb idea to begin with and was shown to be even dumber when one of the “scramblers” came up with an injury in the “action” that was to replace a coin toss.  I cannot be certain, but I doubt that there has ever been an injury during a coin toss making a player unable to participate in the game.

At the same time, the “old XFL” came up with the field cameras and the extensive use of the overhead wire guided cameras that have now become commonplace in the NFL.  The question we were trying to flesh out was what might XFL 2.0 do to contribute to professional football.

I have long thought that one of the least dramatic plays in a football game is the place kick.  I liked the idea of the 2-point conversion from the time that the college game adopted it more than 50 years ago; it came into the NFL in the 1990s, but it is not used there nearly as often as I would prefer.  Therefore, my first suggestion for XFL 2.0 would be to abolish entirely the point after touchdown.  Teams scoring a TD would then run a play from the 3-yardline and if successful it would be worth an additional 2 points.

Carrying on with that theme, I want to dis-incentivize long field goal tries.  Granted a 55-yard attempt is more attention-grabbing than a 30-yard try; nonetheless, I would prefer real football plays to any field goal try.  Therefore, I would make any field goal try between 40 and 49 yards in length worth only 2 points and any try of 50 yards or more worth only 1 point.  Shorter field goals will still be worth 3 points.  Here is my reasoning:

• If a team has the ball 4^th down and 3 yards to go at the opponent’s 35-yardline, just about every NFL coach would send the field goal team out to the field.  The result will be a 52-yard field goal try.  Marginally interesting…
• However, if that try is only worth 1 point, maybe that would encourage coaches to try to make the first down and continue the drive.  Much more interesting …
• Teams would sometimes opt to punt the ball from there to pin the opponent inside their own 10-yardline.  Not as exciting as a play to go for the first down, but more exciting than a field goal try…

My colleague’s reaction to those ideas was to tell me I was “taking the foot out of football”.  All I can say is that if you react that way, I will have to plead guilty.

My colleague offered a modification to my idea of eliminating the PAT.  He said that a team could have a place-kicked try for a single point but that the player making the kick must be the player who scored the TD.  My reaction was that his idea could inject some blooper highlights into a game, but my intention was to put more actual football plays into the game.

• [Aside:  Making extra point conversions less automatic could increase the number of “Bad Beats” or “Back Door Covers” in XFL 2.0 games and that might increase wagering interest which would then increase interest …]

My former colleague thought that players should be incentivized to win games.  Here was his suggestion:

• Assume a player has a contract worth $100K and they play a 10-game regular season.  That player would nominally receive a game check of $10K.
• However, my colleague wants to make 25% of every players game check an incentive.  For the $100K player, that would mean his game check for a winning game is $12.5K and it is $7.5K for a losing game.
• Interesting concept…

My final suggestion was to eliminate entirely the “half-the-distance” penalties in the game.  If, for example, offensive holding is decreed to be a 10-yard penalty, then it should not be less than that just because the foul occurred at a certain point on the field.  Here is how I would handle this:

• Offensive team has the ball 1st and 10 on its own 6-yardline and there is a penalty for offensive holding on the first play.  Instead of walking off 3 yards and making it 1^st and 13 from the 3-yardling, I want to move the first down market from the 16-yardline to the 26-yardline.  Offensive holding costs the offending team 10 yards.  If the offensive team commits another penalty on the next play, then just move that first down marker further down the field…
• On defense, it gets a bit trickier.  Offense has the ball 1^st and goal at the 6-yardline going in for a TD.  The defense commits a “hands-to-the-face” penalty on the first play.  Instead of marching off only 3 yards and running 1^st down again, the ball would be placed at the 6-yardline and 10 yards of penalties against the defensive team would go into a “penalty bank”.  The next time the offending team gets the ball 1^st and 10, those penalty yards would be marched off and the team would start the next drive with 1^st and 20.  Oh, and if the defensive team commits two such penalties, more yards go into that “penalty bank”.

Will these ideas guarantee success for XFL 2.0?  Hardly.  Will these ideas generate discussion as to the differences between the NFL and XFL 2.0 thereby generating some initial interest in the reincarnated league?  Probably.  Are these changes likely to happen?  Let me just say that Vince McMahon does not have my phone number or e-mail address…

Finally, since I mentioned Vince McMahon above and his claim to fame is the world of pro ‘rassling, here is a comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times about pro ‘rassling:

“A man proposed to his girlfriend at ‘Monday Night Raw.’

“That’s what she gets for saying she expected a humongous ring.”

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

 

 

Greetings for the New Year from a rainy/windy day in Dublin, Ireland.  We are here visiting our son, daughter-in-law and grandson for a week.  Postings between now and the middle of next week will be on an “as time permits” basis…

Black Monday came and went with only a couple of surprises.  The news late yesterday that Marvin Lewis got a 2-year extension with the Bengals was more than a surprise to me and the quick release of Jack Del Rio by the Raiders was also a surprise.  Less than a year ago, Del Rio got a 4-year extension to his contract with the Raiders reportedly worth $20M; Raiders’ owner Mark Davis, is not known for throwing money around so I did not see that move coming in the least.

It would be difficult for me to believe that Jack Del Rio is solely responsible for the disappointing and almost somnambulant performance exhibited by the Raiders for the last month of the season, but the team surely did not finish the season looking as if they cared about winning even a little bit.  There’s that; and the fact is that it is a lot easier to replace a coach than it is to replace a half-dozen or so of the least enthusiastic of the players.

The retirement of Bruce Arians was also a surprise – although not as much as the Lewis or Del Rio situations.  In the reports of his leaving the Cards, I read that he was the winningest coach in Cards’ history which seemed strange to me because he only won 49 games.  I know that the franchise has not been a dominant one in the NFL, but that seemed strange to me, so I went looking at the coaching history of the Cardinals in Chicago, St. Louis and now in Arizona.

• From the team’s founding in 1920 until the early 1960s, no coach for the team had even coached 49 games let alone won 49 games.  Wally Lemm was the 25^th coach in Cards’ history starting in 1962; he lasted through the 1965 season and coached 56 games winning 27 of them.
• Ken Whisenhunt was the coach from 2007 through 2012 coaching 96 games but winning only 45 of them.
• Bruce Arians regular season record in his 80-game stint in Arizona was 49-30-1.

Whoever replaces Chuck Pagano in Indy will require two things to succeed.  He will need Andrew Luck’s shoulder to be in tip-top condition starting in training camp and he will need an offensive line that can protect his healthy franchise QB.  I know that is a tall order and that the responsibility for making it happen is not totally in the control of the new coach, but that is the reality of the situation.  Oh, by the way, waving a magic wand over the defensive unit to make them a tad more formidable would not hurt either.

The Browns will not change head coaches this year, but they do have a new GM and the spotlight is on him.  Let me give the old Front Office in Cleveland the benefit of the doubt; let me stipulate that they purposely blew up the team with the idea of accumulating draft picks to rebuild the franchise.  Well, they now have the overall #1 pick and the overall #4 pick in the April draft plus they have two other picks in the first 40 selections.  The situation in Cleveland is pretty simple and pretty bleak:

• The Browns’ run defense is good.
• If Josh Gordon can stay clean, he is a talented WR.
• Isaiah Crowell will not make Browns’ fans forget Jim Brown, but he is a serviceable running back.
• Other than that, the Browns’ roster is sub-standard.

Dwight Perry had this item pertinent to the Cleveland Browns’ situation in the Seattle Times last weekend:

“Obit in the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, listing Paul Stark’s cause of death: ‘Complications from a brief illness, exacerbated by the hopeless condition of the Cleveland Browns’.”

In college football, Arizona has fired coach Rich Rodriguez.  The reports say that he had been the subject of an investigation into “workplace misconduct” during last season and that the school had “decided to buy out his contract”.  Those two things do not always go together so it would appear that there is more news to be learned from the situation.  Rodriguez had been at Arizona for 6 years and the team had been in 5 bowl games during that time.

During the college bowl season, the NCAA folks decided to make a self-serving announcement.  They were proud of the fact that 8 of the teams participating in the bowls had 90% graduation records – or better.  Indeed, that is impressive – – until you focus on one other number:

• There are 40 college football bowl games.  Using the simplest of mathematical reasoning, that means there are 80 teams participating in bowl games.
• Ergo, only 10% of the teams participating in bowl games graduate 90% of the players on the team.

Somehow, that does not sound nearly as good as the announcement made by the NCAA…

Finally, Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald had his own assessment of the status of the Cleveland Browns with this commentary:

“Quarterback Sam Darnold reportedly may stay at USC to avoid being drafted by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are now bragging about ‘doing our part to keep young people in school’.”

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

 

 

Picking winners – let alone picking winners against the spread – in the final week of an NFL season is a crap-shoot at best.  It would take incredible access and heretofore unrivaled mind reading skills to know which teams were going up to show up with motivation and which ones would show up to play out the string.  In that respect, Week 17 of an NFL season is almost the same as figuring out college bowl games.  The oddsmakers have it even worse than I do; the oddsmakers must try to figure out all that stuff and then lay out lines for people to bet into; the oddsmakers have to do mind reading with the teams AND the oddsmakers have to do mind reading on the betting public as they publish their lines.

• Happy New Year to those oddsmakers.  This is the last weekend you will have to do this for a while.

In the performance of their line-setting duties, the folks in Las Vegas have some strange looking lines on the board this weekend.  Consider:

1. The Rams are 11-4 and have clinched the NFC West.  The Niners are 5-10 and cemented in last place in the NFC West.  The Rams are at home this weekend against the Niners and the oddsmakers have made the Niners a 3.5-pooint favorite.
2. The Eagles are 13-2 and have clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs as the NFC East champions.  The Cowboys are 8-7 and are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  The Eagles are at home this weekend against the Cowboys and the oddsmakers have made the Cowboys a 3-point favorite.
3. The Chiefs are 9-6 and have clinched the AFC West championship and they are locked into the #4 seed in the AFC playoffs.  The Broncos are 5-10 and are in last place in the AFC West.  Nonetheless the oddsmakers have installed the Broncos as 3.5-point favorites at home this week.

Good luck making sense out of those games – as well as plenty of others this week.  I’ll try to let you in on what my Ouija board is telling me here in Curmudgeon Central.

The Ravens host the Bengals and the Ravens are 9.5-point favorites at home.  The Ravens clinch a playoff slot with a victory here; they should be plenty motivated to play well.  The biggest question in my mind is this:

• Were the signs of life produced by the Bengals last week for real or were they merely a symbolic form of a death spasm?

This is Marvin Lewis’ last game on the Bengals’ sidelines.  It would be totally fitting for the Bengals to lose the game based on knuckleheaded out-of-control play by one of the team hot-heads late in the 4^th quarter.  It would be a punctuation mark for Lewis’ tenure in Cincy.

The Lions host the Packers and the Lions are 6.5-point favorites at home.  This is a completely meaningless game; neither team can be in the playoffs and both teams are mediocre.  Count this game as one of the Three Dog-Breath Games of the Week.  This could be Jim Caldwell’s last hurrah as the coach of the Lions – a franchise that has known the meaning of “futility” for quite a while now.  Let me pretend that Jim Caldwell does not survive as the coach of the Lions beyond “Black Monday” at the start of next week.  If that is the case:

• His head-coaching future beyond the Lions in the NFL does not look good.  Since 1956 when Buddy Parker left the Lions as head coach, the team has had 17 head coaches (including Jim Caldwell).  None of those 16 head coaches who have come and gone before him have EVER coached another game in the NFL as a head coach.
• Jim Caldwell has an overall winning record with the Lions.  Of the 17 head coaches since Buddy Parker left in 1956, only 3 of the other 16 head coaches can claim that stature.

The Bills are 2.5-point favorites on the road against the Dolphins.  If the Bills win and both the Chargers and the Titans lose, the Bills will make the playoffs and end the NFL’s longest drought without a playoff appearance.  That is correct; the Browns have been in the playoffs since the last time the Bills were there.  Presumably, the Bills will be motivated to win; the Dolphins are out of the playoffs no matter what happens this weekend.  However, the Dolphins are 4-3 at home this year while the Bills are 2-5 on the road.  The Total Line for the game is 42 points; I kinda like the OVER here.

The Falcons host the Panthers and the Falcons are 3.5-point favorites at home.  This is the most meaningful game of the week because it has potentially significant effects on both teams:

• The Panthers can still win the NFC South with a win here and a Saints’ loss.
• However, the Panthers are in the playoffs no matter what happens here.
• The Falcons can make the playoffs with a win, plus the Falcons are at home.
• The Falcons have the motivational edge and the venue edge here – – but do you really trust either team to perform to their top level on any given weekend?  I don’t.

The Saints are 7-point favorites on the road against the Bucs.  The Saints win the NFC South if they win this game.  No matter the outcome, the Bucs have earned the label of The Hot Mess Express – 2017.  If you like trends, check these out:

• Saints are 13-3 against the spread in their last 16 games against NFC South teams.
• Saints are 13-4 against the spread in their last 17 road games.
• Saints are 9-3 in their last 12 games against teams with a losing record.
• In this game the Saints are on the road against an NFC South opponent who sports a losing record…

I like the Saints to win and cover here.

The Titans host the Jags and the Titans are 3-point favorites at home.  This game means little to nothing to the Jags, they are the AFC South champions for 2017.  For the Titans, this is a big deal; despite losing their last 3 games in a row, the Titans remain in a “win-and-you’re-in” situation.  Maybe the Jags’ defense will be motivated to hold the Titans down as a way to get the taste out of their mouths of giving up 44 points to the Niners last weekend?  Or maybe not…?  There are two opposing trends at work in this game:

• Jags are 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 road games.
• Titans are 8-2-1 against the spread in their last 11 home games.

You make the call …

The Pats host the Jets and the Pats are 15-point favorites at home.  The Pats clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win here.  That situation plus the fact that the Jets are the opponents here ought to provide the Pats with sufficient incentive here.  The Jets have been the underdog in the last 9 games versus the Pats; in those 9 games:

• Jets are 7-1-1 against the spread.

The Colts host the Texans and the Colts are 5-point favorites at home.  This is another abjectly meaningless game and it is certainly one of Three Dog-Breath Games of the Week.  This is probably Chuck Pagano’s last game as the head coach of the Colts; if the Texans lose to the sorry-assed Colts here in a blowout, it might also be Bill O’Brien’s last game as the head honcho in Houston.  By the way, notwithstanding the Texans’ 4-11 record entering this game, they will not have a high draft pick in the 2018 NFL Draft because they traded that pick away to the Browns.  In fact, the Browns have the Texans’ first round pick AND the Texans’ second round pick next year…

Speaking of the Browns, the Steelers host the Browns and the Steelers are 10.5-point favorites at home.  There are plenty of storylines at work here and as the Browns careen down the path to a winless record in 2017.  Ponder how many fans in Cleveland will be tuned into their TV sets this Sunday and how many of them will still be sober by halftime.  Back in Week 1, the Steelers beat the Browns 21-18; in Week 17, the Steelers can put bookends on a Browns’ season record of 0-16.  That accomplishment would put the Steelers in tune with the symmetry of the universe – or something like that.  Word out of Pittsburgh is that the Steelers will rest Ben Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell.  Does that matter – if in fact it is true?

The Skins are 3-point favorites on the road against the Giants.  Here is another meaningless game and one of the Three Dog-Breath Games of the Week.  The Skins are 2-5 on the road; the Giants are 1-6 at home.  The only thing that is clear to me about this game is that for Kirk Cousins this is a “Money In The Bank Game”.  It is not clear which NFL team is going to pay him a ton of money next year, but someone will, and this game will be part of the reason that they do so.  By the way, the Total Line for the game is 39 points.  Consider:

• UNDER has been the winner in 11 of the last 14 games between Skins and Giants in NY.
• UNDER has been the winner in 9 of the last 12 games between these teams wherever.
• Weather.com says it will be very cold and windy on Sunday afternoon…

The Vikes host the Bears and the Vikes are 11.5-point favorites at home.  For the Vikes, a win gives them a BYE Week in the NFC playoffs; that should be sufficient incentive against a hapless Bears’ team bringing a 5-10 record to the kickoff.  This game may prove to be John Fox’s last game as the head coach of the Bears.

The Cowboys are 3-point favorites on the road against the Eagles.  This is a rivalry game, but it has no bearing on playoffs or standings or any of those sorts of things.  The Eagles have home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs; the Cowboys are planning their January vacations with their families.  Last week against a porous Raiders’ defense, the Eagles’ offense was inept or dormant.  They will need to play Nick Foles at QB simply to get him in sync with the rest of the offensive unit.

The Chargers host the Raiders and the Chargers are 8-point favorites at home.  The Chargers can make the playoffs with a win here and a Titans’ loss to the Jags.  The Raiders just want this season to be over.  Last week against the Eagles, the Raiders were in a close game and led 10-7 in the third quarter of the game.  However, here is how the last 8 possessions of the game went for the Raiders on offense:

1. Interception
2. Fumble
3. Punt
4. Missed field goal
5. Fumble
6. Punt
7. Interception
8. Fumble returned for a TD

Some folks think the Raiders need changes to the coaching staff.  Maybe that would help over the course of a season, but that performance on the final 8 possessions of the game last week is not the product of bad coaching; that is bad playing.  By the way, how long is it going to take until the fans in Oakland realize that these are the Oakland Renters and not the Oakland Raiders and that the team is getting very close to skipping town on those fans once again?

The Seahawks host the Cards and the Seahawks are 9.5-point favorites at home.  The relevance of this game is straightforward.  The Seahawks make the playoffs if they win here and the Falcons lose to the Panthers.  Other than that…

The Broncos host the Chiefs and the Broncos are 3.5-point favorites at home.  The Chiefs will give Patrick Mahomes his first NFL start here; the Broncos will take a look at Paxton Lynch at QB here.  So, basically, this is a JV game…The Chiefs will be the #4 seed in the AFC playoffs no matter what happens here; the Broncos are playing for whatever shards of pride remain.

The Niners are 3.5-point favorites on the road against the Rams.  Jimmy Garoppolo has led the Niners to 4 straight wins after the team went 1-10 before him.  The Rams clinch the #3 seed in the NFC playoffs with win here.  The Total Line for the game is 43.5; I like the OVER.

Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote of the Miami Herald about an NFL tempest in a teapot:

“Jaguars fans are shipping garbage cans to Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney after he called QB Blake Bortles ’trash.’ I’m not sure what’s more surprising: That Bortles is having a good season. Or that there are Jaguars fans.”

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

 

 

It is about that time of year when it is de rigueur to list the “Dozen Most Memorable Sports Moments of 2017” or something like that.  As I went through my memory bank to create such a list, I could only come up with 10 memorable moments and they divided themselves into two categories.  I came up with 5 “on-field” events that are memorable and 5 others that were equally memorable but did not have anything to do with any actual games.

Here are my 5 On-Field Events of 2017 that are most memorable:

1. Clemson beat Alabama in the CFP for the national championship with a great last-minute TD drive.
2. The Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit in the 3^rd quarter to beat the Falcons in the Super Bowl.
3. Mississippi St. beat UConn in the Women’s basketball tournament snapping UConn’s 111-game winning streak.
4. Serena Williams won the Australian Open while pregnant.
5. The Astros beat the Dodgers in a most exciting World Series.

Here are my 5 Off-Field Events of 2017 that are most memorable.

1. The FBI investigations into alleged fraud and payoffs in college basketball recruiting that led to the arrests of several assistant coaches.
2. The NFL’s National Anthem protests.
3. The Mayweather/McGregor promotional tour proving that their “fight” was nothing more than a moneygrab.
4. Charles Oakley being led out of MSG by security because he and Knicks’ owner James Dolan are having a feud.
5. Jerry Richardson deciding to sell the Panthers in the wake of revelations about his behaviors in the workplace.

Feel free to add to these lists.  They were not given unto me atop a mountain…

I think everyone who has read these rants for even a short while knows that I have no time for any of the All-Star Games.  Were I the Sports Czar, all of them would be canceled immediately.  The NFL’s Pro Bowl is particularly untoward simply because even the players selected to the game do not want to be there.  A significant fraction of them opt out of participating.  Nevertheless, when I scanned the list of players selected for this year’s iteration, I was moved to go and find out what the Pro Bowl selection process was.

It turns out that fan voting counts for one-third of the Pro Bowl voting process.  I had not known that and learning of that component to the selection process makes me even more skeptical of the final list.  The other two-thirds of the vote is based on players’ votes and coaches’ votes as to who should make the teams.  As I suspected, newspaper copy editors around the country have no say whatsoever as to who makes the teams and who does not.  The reason for my suspicion is the selection of Kyle Juszczyk to the squad for the second year in a row.

Shea Patterson was a 5-star recruit and the top-ranked QB graduating from high school in 2016.  He enrolled at Ole Miss and was slated to play behind Chad Kelly there, but Kelly suffered an injury in mid-season making Patterson the starter as a freshman.  He played at Ole Miss for a season-and-a-half and then transferred to Michigan.  The reason for the transfer is that Ole Miss has been hit with a bowl-ban and recruiting limitations based on a variety of shenanigans there.  Rather than go through the sordid history, you can read a summary of the issues and events in this CBSSports.com report.

Due to the bowl-ban, it appears that Patterson need not sit out a season at Michigan as would be the case if he transferred there simply to enjoy the winters in Ann Arbor.  This means that Michigan – and coach Jim Harbaugh – ought to have better QB production next year.  The Wolverines were merely mediocre at QB this year and last year; the rest of the Michigan squads were solid.  Patterson represents the high potential QB that Harbaugh’s teams have not had at Michigan; recall when Harbaugh had Andrew Luck at QB at Stanford, the team excelled.

So, next season ought to be very interesting for the Michigan fans and for those who may have had some doubts about Jim Harbaugh’s coaching legend.  He has been at Michigan for 3 years and has played Michigan’s 2 biggest rivals – Ohio State and Michigan State – a total of 6 times.  In those games, Michigan is 1-5; now it would appear as if Michigan has an upgrade at the QB position.

Of course, here in Curmudgeon Central, skepticism is commonplace; if there is a fly in the ointment, the objective here is to find it and shine a light on it.  So, here goes:

• About that 5-star rating coming out of high school and the label as the top-ranked QB in the country that year, consider the case of Baker Mayfield who merely won this year’s Heisman Trophy.
• When Mayfield graduated from high school he was not even offered a scholarship at a single Division 1-A school; Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech.
• When Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma, he was a walk-on there too and had to earn a scholarship there.

I think the 2018 season for Michigan football will be interesting from several vantage points…

Finally, here is a comment from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald that highlights the intersection of sports and politics:

“Former pro wrestler The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, may run for president in 2024. Jesse Ventura also made the leap from wrestling to politics. Why is it never the other way around? Orrin Hatch announces he’s stepping down to compete at Wrestlemania XXIII?”

Good question…

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

 

 

The college basketball season is coming to the end of its “silly season”.  Many of the games to date have been glorified scrimmages – despite the Wofford upset of UNC – or they have been interesting matchups made possible only by made-for-TV concocted “tournaments”.  It is too early to draw any conclusions about teams yet, but conference games are just about to start.  Nonetheless, there are 4 things associated with college basketball now that have caught my attention:

1. Can you imagine anyone happier than Steve Alford the moment LiAngelo Ball and his younger brother LaMelo Ball signed with that pro team in Lithuania?
2. Bobby Hurley has Arizona St. on the map in college basketball.  Arizona was supposed to be “the big guy” in that part of the country this year but Hurley has the Sun Devils at 12-0 and ranked 3^rd in the country.  This Saturday, Arizona and Arizona St. meet for the first time this season.
3. Bruce Pearl has Auburn at 12-0 despite all the “distractions” at work there considering the FBI investigations into recruiting scandals and Federal criminal charges.  Granted, Auburn has not played any college basketball “bluebloods” yet, but 12-0 is still impressive.
4. Trae Young at Oklahoma is getting a ton of attention as the best freshman player in the country.  I have not yet seen him play a real game; I have seen lots of ESPN highlights, but I do not consider those things to be reliable indications of a player’s skill or prowess.  This Saturday, the 12^th ranked Sooners host the 10^th ranked Horned Frogs of TCU.  If that game is on in my area, I will be tuned in.

Often, the most difficult questions to answer begin with the word, “Why…?”  Let me pose a few of them here:

• Why do fans attend NFL Exhibition Games?  The regulars see little to no action; the most important outcome for a game is to avoid any sort of injury to one of the team’s regulars; the tickets cost as much as real game tickets.  I don’t get it…
• Why do The ESPYs exist?  This programming is rampant network narcissism and various other media outlets report on it.
• Why do NFL teams have cheerleaders?  No one ever said that he/she would stop going to games if the teams ditched the cheerleading team.
• Why is the NFL Combine televised?  I realize that NFL Network needs programming to fill time on the air, but still…
• Why does the NCAA continue to pretend that making a school “vacate wins” or “vacate championships” is a meaningful punishment?  At some point, the folks who cover collegiate athletics have to call the NCAA pooh-bahs on this nonsense.
• Why aren’t the stupid bets between mayors or governors on games like the Super Bowl not prosecuted as illegal sports gambling?  Tell the truth; you would love to see FBI agents in dark sunglasses leading Gov. Frick and Gov. Frack out of their statehouses in cuffs as part of a perp walk.  You know you would.

Bob Molinaro had this in a recent column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Teeing off:  In an interview with Golfweek, Jack Nicklaus said he doesn’t follow the PGA Tour and won’t when Tiger Woods returns. ‘Do I wish (Tiger) well? Yeah, but I’m not interested in watching him,’ said Nicklaus. ‘I’ve watched him play golf for 20 years; why would I want to go watch more?’ He added, ‘I don’t watch anybody play golf.’ I’ve never felt so connected to Jack.

I too feel very connected to Jack Nicklaus at this moment – – but I would have missed the opportunity for this connection had not Professor Molinaro made me aware of this comment.  Many thanks, good sir…

Bob Molinaro had another cogent observation regarding the catch-that-wasn’t-a-catch in the Steelers/Patriots game about 10 days ago:

“Reversal of fortune: If you think the replay official cheated the Steelers out of the game-winning touchdown pass against the Patriots, maybe you can appreciate the irony of somebody named Jesse James being robbed.”

Wish I had thought of that line first…

The Miami Marlins are openly and unabashedly dumping salary; new baseball honcho, Derek Jeter has not even tried to hide that fact.  Meanwhile, about 250 miles northwest of Miami, there might be another “salary dump” in its early stages.  The Tampa Bay Rays just sent Evan Longoria to the Giants for a bunch of players who do not make nearly as much as Longoria does.  Let’s be clear; Evan Longoria in 2018 is not the same stud infielder that the Rays put on the field 5 years ago; his career is on a downward arc.  That is why I said the Rays might be in the early stages of a salary dump.  The key indicator for me will be the fates of starting pitcher Chris Archer and closer Alex Colome.  If either or both of those guys go somewhere else for prospects, then the Rays are dumping salary.

Finally, since I started today with commentary about college basketball, let me close with this comment from Brad Rock of the Deseret News on the same subject:

“A 2,300-year-old gymnasium has been discovered in Egypt. “Found inside were papyrus scrolls, copper carving tools, and Jim Boeheim’s clipboard.”

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

 

 

CBSSports.com has a report this morning that Terrell Owens asserts that he has been blackballed from the NFL just as Colin Kaepernick has.  T.O. says that the league knows he can still play – at age 44 – but he cannot get a job because he is blacklisted.  Owens’ last NFL game was in 2010.  You can read all about it here.

I do believe that Owens and Kaepernick are “out of a job” in the NFL for the same reason but the reason is not blackballing; I believe the reason is a cost/benefit calculation.  Here are the benefits:

• Colin Kaepernick is a capable QB; he is not a star QB or even a “Top Ten” QB, but he is capable, and he would win the starting job on more than a few NFL teams if he were on the roster.
• Terrell Owens ranks 8^th on the list of NFL pass-catchers in passes caught; he says he can still run a 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds; he may not be a lead receiver at his age, but he could certainly make a team on physical ability alone.

And it is those last words about Terrell Owens – “on physical ability alone” – that changes the equation because neither Kaepernick nor Owens would be on a team as an anonymous presence save for physical football acts every Sunday.  Kaepernick would bring with him the whole “anthem-protest thing”; Owens has been known to be a “less-than-perfect teammate” in previous stops along the way.  Thus, you have the cost/benefit calculation that seems to say that while both could make the team, neither one would make the team sufficiently better to warrant taking on the “other stuff” that comes along with Kaepernick or Owens.   Hi ho…

Given the NFL standings this morning, there is a possibility that the LA Chargers and the Buffalo Bills could wind up with the same record and with only one wild card slot available to the team holding the tie-breaker.  That team would be the Chargers based on the Chargers beating the Bills 54-24 on Nov.19.  That was the game when Sean McDermott decided to start Nathan Peterman at QB only to watch Peterman throw 5 INTs in the first half of the game.  The Chargers took advantage of that largesse and led the game 37-7 at halftime.  And that game might turn out to be the reason the Chargers make the playoffs and the Bills do not.  It is not likely, but it is possible…

A couple of quick remarks about six of NFL games over the weekend:

1. The Jags lost to the Niners and gave up 44 points to the Niners.  The Jags had the NFL’s top-rated defense at kickoff; how did they give up 44 points to the Niners?
2. The Lions lost to the Bengals eliminating themselves from playoff contention.  Granted, the Lions needed a lot of things to fall just right for them to get in, but in addition to having all those things fall right, the Lions needed to win out.  And so, on Sunday, the Lions lost to a Bengals team that had lost its last two games by a combined score of 67-14.  How Lionesque..
3. The Seahawks remain alive in the playoff race after eliminating the Cowboys over the weekend.  The Cowboys’ offense was a complete no-show in the game despite the return of Ezekiel Elliott.
4. The Giants were shut out in Arizona.  The Giants leading rusher in the game carried the ball 10 times for 18 yards.
5. The Rams beat the Titans and Todd Gurley had another great game.  He for 118 yards on 22 carries and he caught 10 passes for 158 yards and 2 TDs.  Not a bad day at the office…
6. The Browns lost to the Bears in a “snow-game”.  The Browns held the Bears’ rushing attack in check; Jordan Howard gained only 44 yards on 22 carries but DeShone Kizer threw 2 INTs and the Browns turned the ball over twice in the red zone.  How Brownsesque …

I was checking out some of the NBA action on Christmas Day waiting to see the NFL games in the late afternoon time slot.  As I turned over to the NFL game, the juxtaposition of basketball and football put a bizarre thought in my head.  Imagine for a moment that the rumors about Vince McMahon breathing a second existence into the XFL are correct.  Obviously, if the XFL is going to compete with the NFL and college football in a meaningful way, it will have to distinguish itself from either of those rivals and it will need lots of publicity and hype in the early stages of its existence.  So here is the bizarre idea:

• How about Vince McMahon as the “head guy” with LaVar Ball as his “second-in-command” where Ball has the responsibility for doing sufficiently outrageous things to keep the XFL in the sports section of the papers around the country on a twice-a-week basis?  Oh, and the players could wear Big Baller Brand shoes in the games as a “cross-promotion”.

A McMahon/Ball tandem might just put P.T. Barnum to shame…

Finally, here is a snarky football comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times last weekend:

“This just in: Raiders wideout Amari Cooper chosen to drop the ball in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”

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

 

 

Dick Enberg died yesterday.  His broadcasting career spanned 6 decades and had him at the mic for a variety of sports including the NFL, Wimbledon, March Madness and MLB.  At the Pearly Gates, I can see St. Peter looking down at the list of new arrivals and exclaiming, “Oh my!”

Rest in peace, Dick Enberg.

Before I get to the NFL games for the weekend, I want to comment on the “punishment” the NFL handed down to the Seattle Seahawks for its flagrant disregard for the existing concussion protocol a couple of weeks ago.  Russell Wilson was sent off for “examination”; he went into the blue tent for about 2 seconds; he burst out refusing to talk to anyone in the tent, grabbed his helmet and went back into the game.  The “punishment” is that the Seattle Seahawks as a team was fined $100K.

Forget for a moment if the protocol is a good idea; forget if it works; forget if it would work with minor tweaking of the elements within the protocol.  None of that matters now; the fact is that there is a protocol in place and a protocol in this case is a rule.  For flagrantly violating that rule, the team is fined $100K.

Punishment is nominally supposed to serve as a warning to others not to repeat such offending behavior.  Let me analyze that for just a moment.

• Forbes estimates that the Seahawks franchise is worth $2.45B.
• Forbes estimates that the Seahawks operating income last year was $85M
• Paul Allen owns the Seahawks; Forbes estimates his total worth at $20.7B

Fining the team or the owner $100K is meaningless.  There is no deterrent value there; this fine is pure nonsense.  If the league wants this protocol enforced, they need the cooperation of the coaches and the team staff.  So, maybe the punishment should have been the loss of a first-round draft pick for the first offense with the announcement that any future offense by the Seahawks would result in loss of all draft picks for a year.  Even that would not guarantee that a team would obey the protocol completely, but it would be a lot more of a deterrent than a fine of $100K.

As I look at the NFL games for the weekend, there are still a few enticing matchups on the card even though the number of teams with playoff aspirations continues to dwindle.  There was no Thursday Night Football this week but there are two games on Saturday.

• The Colts visit the Ravens and the Ravens are 13.5-point favorites in this game.  If the Ravens win out, they make the playoffs – – if my calculations are correct.  The Colts just plain stink.  The Ravens’ offense has had a sort of renaissance in the past couple of weeks emerging from a dormant period.  Against the Colts’ defense, that renaissance ought to flourish.
• The Vikes are 9-point favorites on the road at Green Bay.  The Packers were eliminated from the playoffs last week when they lost to the Panthers and the team – smartly – put Aaron Rodgers on IR so that he cannot play in this season’s final two meaningless games.  The Vikes can still have home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs; that would require them to win out.  The Vikes can still miss out on a BYE Week in the NFC playoffs; that would require them to lose out.  The fundamental difference between the Vikes and the Packers is this.  The Vikes have a very good defense.  The Packers have players who purport to play defense.

Moving on to the Sunday games…

• The Lions are 4-point favorites on the road against the Bengals.  That spread tells me that the oddsmaker believes the Bengals will put forth substantial effort in this game; I am not sure I agree.  The Lions can still make the playoffs, but it will require them to win out and to find some pixie dust to sprinkle on a few other games this weekend and next.  For that reason, this game is worth the time it takes to follow the score as you are doing something else.
• The Chargers are 7-point favorites on the road at the Jets.  The Chargers’ loss last week to the Chiefs makes the Chargers a playoff longshot; the Jets are out of it.  This is a long trip for the Chargers and an early time slot game.  The Jets have a winning record at home and are getting a TD’s worth of points.  The Jets are a tempting home dog…
• The Bucs visit the Panthers and the Panthers are 10-point favorites at home.  The Panthers, Saints and Falcons are all in contention in the NFC South so none of those teams can afford to lose.  The fact is that either the Saints or the Falcons are going to lose this week because they play one another (see the next game on the list).  The Panthers must avoid/minimize those dreaded “distractions” caused by the revelations about their skeezy team owner; the Bucs are huge disappointments and have no real reason to play hard.
• The Falcons visit the Saints and the Saints are 6-point favorites at home.  This game is the most meaningful game of the week – unless you live in Seattle or Dallas and think the Seahawks/Cowboys game deserves that label.  The Saints lead the NFC South this morning based on tie-breakers with the Panthers; if the Falcons win out, they will be the NFC South champions – – if my schedule calculations are correct.  For me, this is the Game of the Week.
• The Broncos visit the Skins and the Skins are 3.5-point favorites at home.  There are two games that are strong contenders for the Dog-Breath Game of the Week and this is clearly one of them.  Neither team has anything to play for; neither team is any good.  The Skins’ home stadium will be about half empty at kickoff and will be 75% empty at the end of the game; no one cares about this game on Christmas Eve.  I will confer the Dog-Breath label on this game and attach another label to the other stinkeroo game later.
• The Dolphins visit the Chiefs and the Chiefs are 10-point favorites at home.  I believe that the Chiefs will clinch the AFC West with a win here; the Dolphins are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs – – but I think we all know they will not make it there.  I have no idea what put the Chiefs to sleep for abut a month in the middle of this season or what woke them up about 2 weeks ago, but the Chiefs are the better team here.
• The Bills visit the Pats and the Pats are 12-point favorites at home.  The Pats need to win to maintain home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs; the Bills need a win to continue to have a shot at the playoffs; you can see where the oddsmaker is leaning here.  Tom Brady’s record against the Bills for his career is 27-3.  That is the most wins by a starting QB over any opposing team in NFL history.  There is an interesting matchup here.  The Bills are 6^th in the NFL in pass yards allowed per attempt; meanwhile, the Pats lead the NFL in pass yards gained per pass attempt.
• There is one other early time slot game this weekend, but I will save it for the end today.  I have my reasons…
• The Jags are 4-point favorites on the road against the Niners.  The Jags are 10-4 while the Niners are 4-10; and the spread is only 4 points…?  Call this “the Jimmy G Effect” or call it “Garoppolomania”.  Back in August if you scanned this week’s schedule, you would likely have thought this was a dog-breath game; , it  is one of the intriguing games for the week even though it is not a life and death game for either team.
• The Giants visit the Cards and the Cards are 3.5-point favorites at home.  Since I put the Dog-Breath label on the Broncos/Skins game above, let me call this one a WAGARA Game where “WAGARA” is an acronym for Who Gives A Rat’s Ass?  The only thing marginally interesting here will be if the Cards score a TD.  In their last two games, the Cards have kicked 10 field goals and scored no TDs.  Other than that, these are two teams going through the motions…
• The Seahawks visit the Cowboys and the Cowboys are 5-point favorites at home.  Both teams can still make the playoffs but both teams must win out and both teams need other cards to fall correctly to make that happen.  The loser here will stay home in January.  Ezekiel Elliott is back; he announced that he intends to gain 200 yards in his first game back; the Seahawks were gashed by Todd Gurley last week to the point that a 200-yard game from Elliott is not unimaginable.  The question for this game is simple; does Russell Wilson have yet one more unworldly performance in him for Sunday afternoon?
• The Steelers visit the Texans and the Steelers are 9.5-point favorites on the road.  If this game were in Pittsburgh, this would be a “squash-game”; the Steelers are the better team and they are far and away the healthier team.  The fact is that the Steelers are not nearly as good on the road as they are at home.

There is no Sunday Night Football this week.  Even the NFL makes way for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve…

• On Monday Night – Christmas Night – the Raiders visit the Eagles and the Eagles are 9-point favorites at home.  The Eagles can clinch home field advantage in the NFC playoffs with a win here – or with a loss by the Vikes on Saturday to the Packers (not likely).  The Raiders’ playoff chances come down to them winning out AND having a bunch of other games turning out in a way that only a Disney screenwriter might imagine.

I left out an “early game” on Sunday because it needs special mention this week.  The game has no bearing on the playoffs or the standings; both teams are awful.  Absent “special considerations” this would be the worst game of the week without a doubt.  This game requires the Cleveland Browns to pay a visit to the Chicago Bears and on Christmas Eve no less.  The Bears are 6.5-point favorites in the game.

The Browns are 1-29 in their last 30 games; the Bears are 7-23 in their last 30 games.  How can this game have any “special considerations”?  Well, here goes:

1. The Browns are 0-14 this year.  Last year their victory came in their 15^th game of the season.
2. Browns’ coach, Hue Jackson, is 2-0 in games played on Christmas Eve.  Last year his Browns beat the Chargers; in 2011, his Oakland Raiders team beat the Chiefs on Christmas Eve.
3. The Bears are favored in this game; the Bears are 0-7 straight up as favorites in the John Fox Era.
4. Speaking of John Fox, he has a record of 0-2 on Christmas Eve.
5. These “trends” point to the Browns getting off the schneid and winning their first game of the year.  However, there is one strong countervailing trend at work here.  The last time the Browns won a game in Chicago was in 1969.  The Bears were 1-13 that year and they started 3 QBs over the season.  Those three stalwarts were Jack Concannon, Bobby Douglass and Virgil Carter.

I believe the Browns can win this game and not based on any of the “trends” listed above.  The Bears win by running the football and controlling the tempo and field position.  The Browns’ run defense is the team’s strong suit; the Browns only give up 3.3 yards per carry.  As of this morning, the Money Line odds on the Browns is +240.  If I were in Las Vegas…

Finally, this is a season of celebration for people of different religions and different cultures and different ethnicities.  Here in Curmudgeon Central, the celebration is Christmas but that does not mean that other holidays or festivals are denigrated in any way.  I am looking forward to a holiday focused on family and good friends; I hope that everyone has the same sort of happy time with whatever their celebration may be.  Stay well, everyone…

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

Last Saturday, there was a report at CBSSports.com saying that Vince McMahon was considering resurrecting the XFL.  Actually, what the report said was that there were rumors that this idea was under consideration and that Vince McMahon was not denying those rumors.  You can read that report here.

There is a segment of US society that thinks the game of football is becoming “wussified” with all the rules about how players can be hit/tackled, and the ground cannot cause a fumble – but can negate a pass reception.  That segment of the population might welcome a return of the XFL and its “caveman rules”.

There is a segment of society that thinks the “#MeeToo” movement has gotten out of hand and that the scales have tipped against men in leadership/supervisory positions.  That segment of the population might welcome a return of the XFL where players and cheerleaders were encouraged to date one another, and the cheerleaders were encouraged to maximize their level of “eye-candiness”.

There is a segment of society that thinks pro ‘rasslin is real.  Vince McMahon knows that segment of society well and has been providing it with exhibitions that satisfy its tastes for at least 30 years.  Here is the question I want answered:

• If the XFL makes a return, will they bring back Jesse “The Body” Ventura as one of the game announcers?

Here how Brad Rock reacted to news of these rumors in the Deseret News:

“Rumors say Vince McMahon is considering resurrecting the XFL.

“Because, you know, there has to be some other high-end entertainment to compete with ‘Battle of the Network Stars’.”

A recent announcement from the NFL is not a rumor; it is a fact.  The NFL will schedule another game in Mexico City next year as well as 4 games in London.  I can understand why teams that do not draw well at home – Chargers, Bengals, Titans, Bucs – might agree to giving up a home game to get the benefit of the draw from an overseas game.  I cannot figure out why any team would willingly make one of their 8 road trips have London or Mexico City as the destination.  So, maybe the NFL needs to incentivize this

Teams can “volunteer” to have one of their home games at a venue outside the US.  Those “volunteer teams” get to choose the date of their overseas excursion.

• If the NFL does not get 5 “volunteers”, then the team with the worst record from last year will host one of the remaining games – and if they need 2 “directed assignments” then it will be the teams with the two worst records from last year and so on.
• As for the visitors, the league will look at the scheduled opponents for all 5 teams and put the team with the worst record from last year as the visiting team in an overseas game – – with the proviso that no team can be sent there twice in a season.

Teams tank to get better positioning in the upcoming draft.  Maybe there needs to be a sort of “negative incentive” to tanking…?

The NFL has sent teams abroad that draw well at home – and on the road – here in the US.  That deprives hone-grown fans the opportunity to see those teams here and that makes no marketing sense to me at all.  If the league wants to showcase those popular teams, have them play Exhibition Games overseas – since the NFL is hellbent to keep 4 Exhibition Games on the schedule.

There are 33 players on the MLB Hall of Fame ballot for 2018.  Obviously, I do not have a vote, but here is how I would vote – in alphabetical order – if I did:

1. Vlad Guerrero:  Second year on the ballot; lifetime batting average of .318 and lifetime OPS of .931.
2. Trevor Hoffman:  Third year on the ballot; 601 lifetime saves.
3. Chipper Jones:  First year on the ballot; lifetime batting average of .303 and lifetime OPS of .930.
4. Edgar Martinez: Ninth year on the ballot; lifetime batting average of .312 and lifetime OPS of .933.
5. Jim Thome:  First year on the ballot; 612 career home runs and a lifetime OPS of .956.

That’s it; that’s my list…

Wagering has opened on the FIFA World Cup to be held next year.  At the opening the three favorites are:

• Germany at 9 to 2
• Brazil at 5 to 1
• France at 11 to 2.

At the other end of the spectrum, you can get 1000 to 1 odds on Panama or Saudi Arabia to win the World Cup.  Just remember, it was not so long ago that Leicester City won the English Premier League and the opening odds on that happening were 500 to 1.

Finally, since I started off today with an item tied to Vince McMahon, let me close with this comment from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald regarding WWE:

“The WWE is coming to Lincoln on Feb. 3. It’ll likely feature good guys being defeated by villains. Didn’t we see enough of that with Mike Riley teams losing to Urban Meyer?”

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

 

 

Low probability events happen every day.  Yesterday was one of those days when the low probability event was in the sports world.  There are not a lot of basketball coaches at the collegiate level who can say that their teams have won 1000 games.   I believe there are only 4 coaches on the men’s side of the game over the 1000 mark; as of this morning, there are indeed 4 coaches in the women’s ranks with 1000 victories.  However, as of yesterday morning, there were only two.  Yesterday, both Sylvia Hatchell (UNC) and Geno Auriemma (UConn) won their 1,000^th game.  It would have been tough to script that.

Both Hatchell and Auriemma are chasing the all-time leader in women’s coaching victories, Pat Summitt (Tennessee).  Summitt recorded 1098 wins in her career.  Sylvia Hatchell is 65 years old; she could well be around long enough to eclipse Summitt’s record.  Geno Auriemma is 63 years old and should also threaten Summitt’s mark

Back in early September, I did my annual NFL Predictions Rant and included the standard list of “Coaches on a Hot Seat”.  Here is what I said then about Marvin Lewis and the Bengals:

“This will be Lewis’ 15^th season as coach of the Bengals; the franchise he took over was a laughingstock; in the last 14 seasons, Lewis has had the team in the playoffs 7 times.  That is the good news; here is the bad news.  The Bengals have yet to win a playoff game under Lewis.  In 2015, they had the game in their hands and then a total meltdown in focus and discipline cost them their first playoff win of the Marvin Lewis Era.  You would have expected improvement in that area in 2016 and that Lewis would have made it a team objective.  Well, that did not happen and the team finished a dispirited 6-9-1.  One other factor working against him is that he only has 1 year left on his contract.  Ownership in Cincy does not like to pay coaches not to coach …  I think the Bengals have to make the playoffs for him to keep his job – – and if they do not win their first playoff game, they have to lose respectably.”

This week word spread that Marvin Lewis will “step away” from the Bengals and the word is that he is doing so with the intention of being a coach or a GM elsewhere in the league.  That situation could make for some interesting “stuff” in the offseason.  Lewis had talent in Cincy and he coached ‘em up pretty well during the regular season.  In his tenure there, his record is 123-111-3 in a division where he had to play the Steelers and Ravens twice every year.  Moreover, he won the AFC North title 4 times.

At the same time, his Cincy teams were undisciplined – to say the least – and many folks think he was complicit in allowing them to be undisciplined.  The other thing that critics will point to is this; of all the NFL coaches who have been in 5 or more playoff games, Lewis has the worst record of them all:

• Marvin Lewis:  0-7 in playoff games
• Jim Mora:  0-6 in playoff games
• They are the only coaches on this list…

The injury to Antonio Brown in last week’s game will keep him out of the Steelers’ game this weekend.  That has seemingly amplified the volume on the “debate” about Antonio Brown being the NFL’s MVP this year.  I do not have a vote in that selection process and I usually ignore most of the hootdoodle that surrounds those selections, but I find the case of Antonio Brown interesting.

This situation is the latest example of the “situation without a resolution”:

• Should the award go to the “Most Outstanding Player” or should the award go to the “Most Valuable Player”?

In terms of on-field accomplishments, I would probably give the “Most Outstanding Player” award to Antonio Brown.  In 14 games this year here are some stats:

• 101 receptions (7.2 catches per game)
• 163 targets (62% of the targets are receptions)
• 1533 yards gained (15.2 yards per catch)
• 9 TDs

Having laid all that out and acknowledging that those stats are outrageously good, I wonder about “Most Valuable Player” in the following sense:

• Is Antonio Brown the “Most Valuable Player” on the Pittsburgh Steelers – let alone in the NFL?

Obviously, this is intended only to be a gedanken experiment; which situation would be more perilous for the Pitts burgh Steelers:

• Antonio Brown misses the playoffs this year and is replaced by the clearly inferior Eli Rogers or Justin Hunter – – OR – –
• Ben Roethlisberger misses the playoffs this year and is replaced by the clearly inferior Landry Jones or Joshua Dobbs?

I am not sure that the loss of Brown would be as harmful as the loss of Roethlisberger – and have no real desire to do the on-field test.  However, this thought experiment does highlight the “Most Outstanding Player” versus the “Most Valuable Player” dichotomy that often arises.

Finally, consider these two comments from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald that relate to NASCAR:

“Danica Patrick announced her upcoming retirement. She certainly changed the sport. Young people may not remember this but there was a time when auto racing announcers didn’t focus on the driver in 48th place.”

And …

“And finally: Russia has been banned from the Winter Olympics because of suspected state-sanctioned doping. The IOC got suspicious after a Russian luger won pole position at the Daytona 500.”

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