Category: Daily Rants

I do not know how many of you are aware of the guttural dislike that exists between Troy Aikman and Skip Bayless. If you are in your 30s, you might wonder why either of these folks would even know one another let alone care enough about one another to dislike the other. Well, there is a history … and today both of these folks are now in the employ of FOX Sports.

The fact that both of these gentleman cash significant weekly checks from the same mega-bank account does not make them brothers in arms. Troy Aikman – quite simply – has no time for Skip Bayless. Here is what NBC Sports’ profootballtalk.com quoted Aikman as saying:

“To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement. Clearly, Jamie Horowitz [President of FOX Sports] and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to building a successful organization. I believe success is achieved by acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”

[Emphasis added]

Let’s rewind the tape – – so to speak. Back in the early 1990s – before Skip Bayless was the patron saint of the “Hot Take” – he was a columnist for the Dallas Morning News and Troy Aikman was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Sometime in that period of history, Skip Bayless wrote a book about the Cowboys and the inner sanctum of the team which implied VERY directly that Troy Aikman was gay. Even if one subscribes to the current narrative that such a sexual orientation does not matter a whit, it surely did in the early/mid-1990s. Troy Aikman did not appreciate those allegations then and he has not forgotten them in the intervening years.

Skip Bayless was hired away from ESPN by FOX Sports recently with the idea that Bayless would bring his Hot Takes to FOX Sports in a way that duplicated/mimicked/outshone the “debate-style formatting at ESPN that has been successful during the weekday daytime hours. Reports say that Bayless got multi-millions to make that jump; I have no way to know if those reports are true, but I am sure that Skip Bayless did not take a new job that payed him minimum wage.

Troy Aikman has been the lead analyst for FOX in their coverage of the NFL. He and Joe Buck are FOX’s answer to Jim Nantz/Phil Simms (CBS) and to Al Michaels/Cris Colinsworth (NBC). Troy Aikman’s words above demonstrate to me that the fact that he and Skip Bayless both draw VERY comfortable salaries’ from the same source does not mean that the hatchet is buried. In fact, what those words say to me is that the execs at FOX Sports need to assure that any time Skip Bayless and Troy Aikman are in the same room, there are no hatchets within reach of anyone.

I enjoy Troy Aikman’s work as a color analyst on NFL games. Most importantly, I do not give a fig if the analysis he provides comes from the mouth of a gay person, a straight person, a bisexual person or an asexual person. I find his commentary interesting and insightful. When I am watching an NFL game, that is the highest priority for me – – assuming that the words are not coming from someone whose credibility with regard to NFL football is questionable such as PeeWee Herman.

For the record, I find Skip Bayless tiresome. I did not like his ESPN show with Stephen A. Smith (First Take) and I really do not like his new program on FOX Sports with Shannon Sharpe (Whatever It Is Called). The only advice I might give to the mavens at FOX Sports is pretty basic:

If you keep these two folks separate from one another, you can probably continue to make inroads into the existing ESPN audience. Mazel Tov with that…

HOW-EVAH (channeling Bayless’ former co-host, Stephan A. Smith, here) if you ever have to choose between the two because having both of them in the same company is about to resemble the 21st Century version of the Gunfight At The OK Corral, keep Aikman and jettison Bayless. In my opinion, it is not even a close decision…

It is really good to have readers for these rants who can provide commentary here that is substantive and well beyond the level of the “Hot Take”. Here is a communique that I received yesterday from a reader here in the DC area regarding the NFL Mythical Picks from earlier this week:

“When was the last time that the teams who played in the Super Bowl opened the next season playing each other?

“It was 1970 – the first year of the full AFL-NFL merger, when the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-10.”

I am surprised that it took the NFL this long to provide such a match-up to start the new season. I realize that the NFL schedule is formulaic and that it is not always possible to have the Super Bowl teams play one another in the subsequent year. Nonetheless, I would have thought it would have happened at least once in the past 46 years…

I want to point you to a column written by Brad Rock in the Deseret News this week. The rivalry between BYU and Utah is an intense one; it may not be at the same level as Army/Navy – – but it is close. This column relates how such a rivalry can exist without the need to trash the opposing school’s coach or kidnapping the opposing school’s mascot.

The rivalry is there.
The intensity is there.
AND the maturity is there too.

Sports are a part of life; sports do not equate to life nor do they have such meaning that they define life. Sports are important enough to me that I have been writing about them on the Internet 5-days a week for more than 15 years now. Nonetheless, sports are entertainment; they are not the core essence of my life and they ought not to be the core life of anyone else. This column is worth reading in its entirety…

Finally, consider this comment from Brad Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald regarding Usain Bolt’s performance in the Rio Olympics:

“Usain Bolt won his third straight Olympic gold medal in the 100 meters. My favorite point was at the 70-meter mark when he passed Secretariat.”

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

Happy Labor Day everyone. Since I do not consider writing these rants as “labor”, I do not feel that it would be proper for me to take the day off. And so, I press on…

Over the weekend, the Vikings and the Eagles consummated a trade involving a starting QB. Such deals – when they happen – usually happen in the off-season. In rare circumstances – one of which I will mention later – they happen in mid-season. I cannot recall a trade like this happening in the time between the final exhibition game and the first game of the season.

The Vikings acquired Sam Bradford clearly motivated to do so by the non-contact injury suffered by their starting QB, Terry Bridgewater in a recent practice session. The Eagles received the Vikings’ 2017 first-round draft pick plus a conditional 4th round pick in 2018. [Aside: I believe the “conditions” here are that if the Vikes make it to the NFC Conference Championship Game the pick becomes a third-round pick and if the Vikes make it to the Super Bowl, the pick becomes a second-round pick.]

In a way, this trade makes sense for both teams. The Vikings made the playoffs last year and were eliminated when they missed a chip shot (27-yard) field goal in the final seconds of their game with the Seahawks. They aspired to big things this year and then they lost their starting QB to a freak injury. Shaun Hill was the next man up on their depth chart with Taylor Heinicke behind Hill. In case Taylor Heinicke is not a name that comes immediately to mind, here is a short bio:

Played QB for Old Dominion University; signed as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings after the 2015 Draft; no game experience; starting the 2016 season on the injured list due to a bizarre injury to his foot back in July.

The bottom line is that the Vikings needed to add a QB – or two – to play ahead of or behind Shaun Hill.

Meanwhile the Eagles’ braintrust clearly recognized that the team was not going anywhere in 2016. They had given up a lot to trade up to select Carson Wentz in the 2016 Draft and Sam Bradford at QB was a “holding action” at best. Hence the swap…

Usually, it takes a while for a QB to fit into an offense; that is the reason that teams have training camps and Organized Team Activities and the like. Bradford will have until Sunday – a total of 8 days – to blend into the Vikings system. I can only recall one situation where a team tried to make something like this happen and the results were not pretty.

About 5 years ago, the Oakland Raiders were playing well in the early part of the season when their starting QB, Jason Campbell, suffered a season-ending injury. Meanwhile, Carson Palmer and the Bengals were in a spitting contest; Palmer threatened to retire and would not play for or with the Bengals. The Raiders opted to trade for Palmer rather than go forward with Kyle Boller for the rest of the year. They game the Bengals a first-round pick and a second-round pick for Palmer.

Let me just say that the trade was a disaster for the Raiders. Palmer did not take hold of the system there and the draft picks lost hurt the team down the road. Clearly it was not all Palmer’s fault; after he found his way to the Arizona Cardinals, he has had plenty of success there. However, the Raiders missed the playoffs – and missed having a winning season – after the trade and then the Raiders tanked in the next year. This is the cautionary note for the Vikings…

Meanwhile, the Eagles now say they want to play Carson Wentz at QB right out of the gate. To that I say:

What’s the hurry?

The predicate for all of this appears several paragraphs above. The Eagles are going nowhere in 2016 even if the ghost of John Unitas returns to Earth and leads the squad. The start of the NFL season is always a fun time; obviously, this year will be no exception in Minnesota and in Philly…

Oh, one more thing about the trade… The Eagles’ QB depth chart as of this morning has Carson Wentz and Chase Daniel as #1 and #2 in whichever order pleases you. They do not have a 3rd QB on the roster.

Since I mentioned the Vikings above, they will open this season in their new playpen – US Bank Stadium. The team has sold out the stadium for the year and it has sold out all of its suites and club level seats. In addition, they sold 50,000 PSLs ranging in price from $500 to $10K adding another $125M to the revenue stream. Fear not for the financial state of the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings or Zygi Wilf…

Noting that the real NFL season has yet to begin, consider that there is joy among the networks that have television rights to NFL games. Before the season begins, the networks have reportedly sold a little more than $2.5B in advertising slots for the upcoming games. Each network with this sort of inventory to sell reports that sales are up compared to last year at this time AND that commercial slots are selling at higher prices than they did last year.

Last year, you must recall that Draft Kings and FanDuel saturated football telecasts with the three or four ads that they produced. According to reports, those two companies spent a combined $150M on ads last year. This year, those two companies will supposedly only do a few “spot ads”. That means two things to me:

1. We can give thanks to the football gods that we will be spared those stupid repetitive ads this year.

2. There are plenty of potential sponsors out there who are willing – even anxious – to get their message out during NFL telecasts.

Finally, here is an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times that brings together the world of politics and the world of sports:

“Comedian Argus Hamilton, looking forward to another NFL season: ‘Football is for people who can’t stand politics but still enjoy watching millionaires destroy each other.’”

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

Since I am confident this will not continue into the future, let me begin today by patting myself on the back. In my NCAA Mythical Picks earlier this week, I made 4 selections for Thursday night games and hit all 4 of them. For this brief and shining moment, I am – mythically of course – way ahead of the game. Now that I have “strutted my stuff” so to speak, let me use this as a teaching moment.

After those 4 picks in Thursday games, I can look at the Friday schedule and see that there are 2 games where I made picks. If I were to fall victim to the gambling fallacy of “being on a hot streak”, I would bet the mortgage money on those 2 selections for tonight. Let me be clear:

I will not do that.

“Hot streaks” always end – and if you fall for the gambling fallacy of “pressing bets while on a hot streak”, they will end badly.

But I can still feel good about myself for now…

Tim Tebow has an offer to play pro baseball. The Aguilas del Zulia – the Eagles of Zulia – in the Venezuelan League have offered him a chance to play winter baseball there. Zulia is a state in Venezuela in the far northwest of the country on the border with Colombia; the largest city in Zulia is Maracaibo – the heart of the oil industry in the country with a population a bit over 1 million. Luis Aparacio came from Zulia and the stadium where Aguilas del Zulia play their games is named for Aparacio.

This is a classic good news/bad news situation:

Good News: This is professional baseball; it is certainly not MLB but if Tim Tebow seriously wants to get to that level one of these days, he needs as much time on the field to develop his skills as he can get. As of this morning, it is the only offer on his plate. And, by the way, lots of players who made it to MLB have spent time in the Venezuelan Winter League in the past.

Bad News: Venezuela is a country that is plummeting downward such that it may sink below “Third World Status” into “Iron Age Status”. Some minor league players here in the US are suing teams claiming they are not making minimum wage; I suspect that those players are still living in better conditions than prevail in many parts of Zulia.

According to an AP report earlier this week, the IOC has stripped 4 more athletes of medal they won in the Olympic Games due to detection of PEDs. That sounded like a simple and straightforward report; I did not think there would be much of anything therein worthy of comment. I was wrong. These 4 athletes won their medals in Beijing; those Games happened in 2008.

Question for the IOC and for the Drug Testing Mavens:
It took 8 years for these test results to come to everyone’s attention. So, is the testing lab is on one of the moons of Saturn?

According to a report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Coca Cola is now going to sponsor the Saudi Arabian Football Federation providing support for the Saudi National Team and three major soccer tournaments in Saudi Arabia each year put on by the Football Federation. In the big picture of “world soccer”, this is not such a big deal. I mention it here because every time this sort of thing goes down, you get to read a statement by parties to the agreement that take “soaring rhetoric” and leave it in the dust. Consider these words from a representative of the Saudi Federation:

“Today we witness an important partnership with Coca-Cola, one of the leading global brands renowned for their history in supporting sports, as an official sponsor of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. This new partnership reflects the importance and the stature of our federation, teams and the competitions we organize.”

For the last decade or so, Coca Cola Zero has been the “Official Fan Refreshment” of the NCAA. Is this what the guy meant by “renowned … history in supporting sports”?

Naturally, someone from Coca Cola took the opportunity to say a few words. In this case it was Middle East Region Marketing Director for Coca Cola and here is what Coke hopes to do:

Coca Cola will use various platforms and channels to tell the “…real human stories of Saudi’s pride and passion for the sport”. He went on to say, “We are certain the Saudi National Team will inspire fans of all ages, including the generation who will represent the country at the 2018 World Cup qualifications.”

Let me add just a bit of perspective here. I believe there are 165 countries that FIFA recognizes as having a National Team. In the latest rankings I can find, Saudi Arabia ranks 101st. Moving on …

Finally, since I mentioned the IOC and the Beijing Games above, I think it appropriate to close the week with two comments about the Rio Olympics from sportswriters that I read regularly:

“Ryan Lochte is reportedly set to join the cast of ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

“Sources say he chose the show over an offer to debut a Brazilian series called ‘Leaving the Scene.’” [Brad Rock, Deseret News]

And …

“According to Brazilian media, 20-year-old Ingrid Oliveira and 17-year-old Giovanna Pedroso have ended their Olympic diving partnership after Oliveira kicked the teen from the room they shared at the Olympic Village in Rio so she could enjoy a night of sex with Brazilian canoeist Pedro Gonçalves. Um, is that a canoe, or are you just happy to see me?” [Greg Cote, Miami Herald]

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

Julie Foudy played in 4 Women’s World Cup Tournaments – winning two of them – with the US Women’s National Team. She is in the National Soccer Hall of Fame and she has been a reporter/commentator with ESPN for about 10 years now. When it comes to soccer – and particularly women’s soccer – she is very much like the old E.F. Hutton commercials. You remember them:

In a noisy restaurant setting two people are sitting at the table and one is telling the other about some stock tip he just got. Then the other person says, “Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton and E.F. Hutton says …”

At that point, the entire restaurant is silent and all the other diners are leaning toward the E. F. Hutton client to hear what comes next.

The slogan was:

“When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

So, when I heard Julie Foudy say that the US Women’s National Team will likely move on without Hope Solo even after her 6-month suspension is over, I had to take note of that and wonder if this would be one of the rare situations in sport where talent is set aside because of some personal/character/controversial incident. Hope Solo is 35 years old; I believe that the next Women’s World Cup will be held in the summer of 2019 when Solo will be 38 years old.
There is no denying that at age 35, she is still a top-shelf talent as a goalkeeper and I have no basis for projecting what her capacity in that job might be three years hence. However, if Julie Foudy’s declaration is on target, then the folks who run the US Women’s National Team need to start to find Solo’s replacement very quickly.

The US Women’s National Team is a dominant presence in the world of women’s soccer and the position of goalkeeper is hugely important to the success of any soccer team. Hope Solo has been with the Women’s National Team since 2000; she holds the US record for the most shutouts by a goalkeeper; at one point she was the goalkeeper for a string of 55 games where the team went undefeated. Replacing the talent will be difficult; the soccer mavens ought to start now. Are there any standout women’s goalkeepers playing collegiate soccer these days? I surely do not have an answer to that but I sure hope the soccer mavens do…

Here is Bob Molinaro’s position on the Hope Solo situation and suspension from his column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Life sentence: Though no fan of Hope Solo, I don’t think U.S. Soccer should have suspended her for six months – a period of time, incidentally, when the U.S. plays no significant games – after she called the Swedish soccer players “cowards.” It’s not a free speech issue with me. I just think that it’s punishment enough for the boorish goalkeeper that she has to go through life as Hope Solo.”

Here is another item from Bob Molinaro’s column last week:

“In passing: The Washington Nationals have a pitching prospect on the Hagerstown Suns by the name of Joan Baez.”

Since the Nats are in the National League, that would mean that Joan Baez would have to hit for himself should he make it to the majors. And that would mean that he would need “walk-up music”. So, what might his namesake – the musician – provide as possible choices:

Diamonds and Rust – – after all he is a pitcher not a position player

No Expectations – – after all he is a pitcher and not a position player

Oh, Happy Day – – for his first plate appearance in MLB

East Virginia – – after all, that is where Washington DC is

The Hagerstown Suns are in the South Atlantic League which is A level minor league baseball. Baez is only 21 years old; and so far this year, he has an ERA of 4.08 in 114.2 innings pitched. That may not look overly impressive but he does have 115 strikeouts with only 57 walks. That says to me that he is still worth the coaching effort that a pitching coach has to do to develop a young arm.

I have commented on the need for MLB to find ways to increase the pace of play and have offered suggestions to accomplish some of that in the past. Not nearly as frequently have I mentioned the most annoying pace of play by some of the PGA Tour golfers. I think I might be able to build an entire Lego city in the time it takes some of them to line up a chip shot that will land on the green. It is maddening.

I ran across a report recently about how one amateur golfer came to address the slow pace of play of others on the course with him. Lee Johnson and his wife caught up to the foursome ahead of them and asked to play through. The foursome said no. So what did Johnson do?

According to the police in Payson, UT, a fight broke out between Johnson and someone – some ones – in the foursome and officials from the club house had to come out and break up the fight and restore order. What the club house officials did not do, however, was to convince the foursome to let Johnson and his wife play through.

Later in the round, Johnson and his wife again caught up to part of the foursome ahead and obviously they were still playing slower than Johnson thought they should. Once again, Johnson asked to play through; once again, the request was denied. This time, Johnson took out a pocket knife and stabbed one of the slow players in the group ahead of him. Johnson was “wrestled to the ground” by the other golfer in the foursome present at the time.

The injury from the knife was not life threatening; he was taken to a local hospital and the injury was described as “a small cut”. Johnson was arrested; his wife was not arrested since she was not part of the attack.

[Aside: That left the foursome one short and it left Mrs. Johnson playing alone. I wonder if she just joined the foursome to help alleviate the course blockage that must have occurred as the police were called to the scene. No report on that…]

I do not want to advocate golfer-on-golfer violence, but perhaps the PGA Tour officials might find a way to use this event as a way to speed thing sup a bit?

Finally, since I have quoted Bob Molinaro twice above, let me go for the trifecta here with one more of his observations:

“Time zone issues: If you think NBC’s tape-delayed coverage from Brazil was annoying, remember that the next three Olympics are in Korea, Japan and China.”

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

With the college football season set to begin later this week, I had intended on using today to make some general comments about the upcoming season. Then, two things happened in the NFL that made me change my mind – so college football needs to go on the bottom shelf for the moment.

The first thing that happened was that Colin Kaepernick sat down during the playing of the national anthem prior to an exhibition game. He is a backup QB and this was an exhibition game so that act was not exactly something of a magnitude that we might equate to events such as:

The Battle of Hastings in 1066
The Spanish Inquisition in 1480
The Declaration of Independence in 1776
VE Day in World War II in 1945.

Nonetheless, there has arisen a furor over that event that is totally out of proportion to the event itself. This is even louder than the recent “affront” that Gabby Douglass paid to the national anthem when she “failed to put her hand on her heart” during its playing in honor of her achievements in the Olympics. She did nothing wrong and Colin Kaepernick did nothing wrong. The reason that some super-patriots are so offended today is based in the document they purport to know and love so much – – The Constitution of the United States.

People like to point to the 10 amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights as the foundation and the codification of what US society is. Usually, they are right to do so – until they fail to see that their outrage and scorn at a behavior such as Colin Kaepernick’s is a logical consequence of the Bill of Rights.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech (expression) particularly when that speech (expression) focuses on political matters.

Here is something else the First Amendment guarantees:

Every single American with an IQ larger than his/her belt size will someday hear, see or read something they find offensive. Some other person is going to express an opinion that is fundamentally contrary to someone else’s opinion; it has to happen; it is NOT a reason for vitriol.

I do not agree with Colin Kaepernick on this inconsequential matter. When I am at a game and they play the national anthem, I stand; I remove my hat, I look at the flag during the rendition. I do not sing the song or hum along; I just look at the flag. That is what I do; that does not mean that is what you have to do.

This is a tempest in a spittoon. All of the actors in this drama to include Colin Kaepernick, other NFL players, reporters who keep this “story” alive and folks on social media who have little of substance to add to this subject need to take a deep breath and put this matter into perspective with other US and world problems.

To give you an idea of the import I put on all of this, let me pose a question:

Which is the greater affront to the US and/or its national anthem:
A. Colin Kaepernick sitting quietly on a bench during its playing – or –

B. The abject mutilation of the score of the song by those who sing it with their own “artistic flair”?

My answer is “B” – and it is not even close…

The other NFL event of the weekend was the injury to Tony Romo in a meaningless exhibition game. He will be unable to play for about 6 – 10 weeks according to doctors due to a fractured vertebra. Last year, the Cowboys were 1-11 in games that Romo could not start; his return to action was assumed to be a fact by the Cowboys who did not sign a backup QB after Kellen Moore went down with a leg injury in a previous meaningless exhibition game. For the moment, that leaves the Cowboys in the hands of Dak Prescott – a rookie who has looked like a Hall of Fame player so far in the meaningless exhibition games he has appeared in. I never profess to have mind-reading skills and even if I did, I doubt that I would try to read Jerry Jones’ mind. However, it does seem to me that GM Jerry Jones has to be looking around to see how to make some chicken salad out of this chicken s __ t.

Here is a possible suggestion:

Put Tony Romo in the injured reserve list as a player who can return to action once he heals. I believe each team is allowed one such designation. A player on that list cannot practice for a minimum of 6 weeks and cannot play in a real game for a minimum of 8 weeks after being put on that list. The Cowboys should wait until the day before the regular season starts to make that designation so that Romo’s return to action would be 8 full weeks into the season and there would be no temptation to “rush him back to the field.”

Simultaneously, the Cowboys need to get another QB – if for no other reason than Dak Prescott might also get hurt. With Romo and Kellen Moore “on the shelf”, the backup to Prescott is Jamiell Showers who was with the Cowboys for the 2015 season but never saw the field on game day.

Trading for a QB might be expensive for the Cowboys since other teams ought to recognize that the cowboys are in a pickle here. So, are there any free agents out there who might help out? Off the top of my head, here are some of the possibilities – and none are particularly appealing.

Jimmy Claussen: Teams keep giving him workouts.
Matt Flynn: Hey, he is vertical and taking nourishment.
Tim Tebow: Hey, he has won a playoff game as an NFL QB.
Charlie Whitehurst: A classic caretaker backup QB.
Michael Vick: Hey, he started 3 games last year and went 2-1.

One other route to obtaining another QB for the roster is to wait and see who gets cut by other teams as they get down to a 53-man roster. If you believe the rumors, here are some possibilities:

Mark Sanchez may be a “cap casualty” in Denver.

Brandon Weeden is “on the bubble” in Houston; might the Cowboys and Weeden enact a reunion in Dallas this year?

The Jets have 4 QBs on the roster and one almost surely has to go. My guess is that it will be either Bryce Petty or Geno Smith.

Lots of folks have thought that the Cowboys would be a contender in the NFC East this year. If Tony Romo cannot play for the first 8-10 weeks of the season, Dallas’ fortunes will rest with a rookie QB and/or one of the retreads listed above. The Cowboys are now officially the most mysterious team in the NFL for 2016.

Finally, here is a comment from Brad Rock in the Deseret News from a couple of months ago:

“BYU had a great day, last Saturday and an awful one at the same time.
Three teams (men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s rugby) played for national championships.

“All three lost.

“After which Susan Lucci was overheard saying, ‘It can get worse.’”

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

When I was in college in Philly back in the 60s, my best friend/classmate’s father had access to “passes” to the Phillies’ games. All we had to do was to show the pass and pay the “tax” which was 25-cents and we got good seats at the games. We saw a LOT of baseball games in the summers back then.

There was one vendor by the gate we had to enter that was selling copies of the Philadelphia Daily News. That tabloid paper would print a scorecard on the back page for the “Stadium Edition” so you could buy the paper AND keep score. This vendor would always intone in a very loud voice:

“You can’t tell the players without this scorecard…”

That is the feeling I have when I look at what ESPN has done with the cast of its NFL pregame shows – on Sundays, Sunday nights and for Monday Night Football. While the other networks are more or less stability mode, ESPN is behaving like Hercules when given the task of cleaning the Augean stables. All Hercules had to do was to clean out – in one day no less – the stables that housed thousands of cattle, goats and sheep. He did this by diverting the flow of a couple of rivers right through the stable area. The reason he got it done in a day was that he did not have to file an Environmental Impact Statement with regard to all the people who lived by the rivers downstream from the stables. Ah … progress.

ESPN has undertaken a similar level of “housecleaning” with regard to its pre-game and post-game NFL shows. And like that vendor outside Connie Mack Stadium in the 1960s, I am afraid you cannot tell the players without a scorecard. Therefore, let me go through who is gone; who is staying and who is a new addition to ESPN coverage here:

GONE:
Cris Carter: I cannot say that I am going to miss him all that much.

Mike Ditka: I am ambivalent about this change; over the past couple of seasons he had been OK but not great.

Tom Jackson: He retired after 29 years with ESPN in this role; he was not fired. I will miss him a lot; I think he provided good insight for the programs. Moreover, he and Chris Berman clearly “played well together” and it showed through on the broadcasts.

Ray Lewis: I will not miss him even a little bit. His “analyses” tended to involve a lot more heat than light.

Keyshawn Johnson: I have to say that I liked him a whole lot more than I liked either Cris Carter or Ray Lewis.

STAYING:

Chris Berman: Many people do not like him and have tired of his shtick. I like Chris Berman; he is intelligent and insightful. Reports say this will be his last year with ESPN in this NFL capacity. Frankly, I hope those reports are incorrect.

Trent Dilfer: He is getting better. A couple of years ago, I would have advocated stuffing a softball in his mouth; now, he is more than acceptable. It is good to have him back.

Suzy Kolber: She began this part of her ESPN career as a stand-in for Stuart Scott; frankly, I think she is an upgrade in that position. Her studio work related to the NFL has been very good.

Chris Mortenson: If he can come back from Stage IV throat cancer, he will be a welcomed back persona.

Adam Schefter: His voice can be annoying, but he does provide good, timely and accurate “inside info”.

Steve Young: Glad to see him back; it is good to have more than one person in the coverage team with an IQ north of 140.

NEW ADDITIONS:

Randy Moss: I did not see a lot of him on FS1, but lots of folks think he will be very good in this position. I hope they are correct.

Wendi Nix: I find here studio work related to the NFL to be OK and not much more. I shall reserve judgement here.

Charles Woodson: I have really high hopes for this guy…

The NFL will have new rules regarding injury reporting this year. There will be no players listed as “Probable” anymore; the reason is that more than 95% of those players actually played on the weekend after they were so listed. So “Probable” came to mean “Virtually Certain”. Players this year will be listed as:

“Questionable” (meaning it is a 50/50 shot that they will play)
“Doubtful” (meaning a 25% chance they will be able to play)
“Out” (meaning the player will not play)

According to reports, the league will “scrutinize” any players who do not show up on any of these lists who do not actually play on a given weekend. Moreover, the players listed as “Out” will not be released until Fridays instead of on Wednesdays as has been the rule in the past.

Finally, here is a comment from Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel with regard to the Rio Olympics:

“What will be more polluted at the Olympics, the water in Brazil or the blood of the Russian athletes?”

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

Last week, I ran across a report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle and I received an e-mail from a reader on the same topic on the same day. The subject was that Turner Field – the stadium that the Braves are “evacuating” at the end of this season has been sold to Georgia State University. The selling price is supposedly $30M.

Turner Field used to be the Olympic Stadium that Atlanta constructed for the 1996 Games. It was a “neighborhood” before the city got hold of the property and built the Olympic Stadium; the idea now is for Turner Field to be demolished and for Georgia State to expand its campus into part of the land and for “mixed use development” to happen on the rest of the land. The Atlanta mayor clearly felt in a rhapsodic mood saying that the “asphalt eyesores” would go away and in their place would arise a walkable neighborhood “with shops and amenities”.

The report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle is completely upbeat as one might expect with news such as this. The e-mail from the reader sounds a small alarm bell here:

“That part of Atlanta could certainly use a bit of redevelopment, but I am not sure a ‘mixed use’ plan and extension of the GSU campus will fit with the adjacent high crime area. The Atlanta police keep a heavy presence here during Braves games, so this ‘legacy’ of the Olympics will be interesting to watch.”

And this …

“This project was motivated differently, but the result will be the same as other Atlanta redevelopment projects. Every somewhat neglected neighborhood has a few very dedicated residents who fight like hell to get the city to help with crime and abandoned or over crowded buildings. For the most part these are long time Atlantans with no political clout and less money. In comes a project a few streets over and the years of construction noise and dust make their lives miserable. Then, upwardly mobile young people move in (a black lawyer or doctor making $100K is no different than the white variety). Property values shoot up in the surrounding neighborhoods because of their proximity to the higher valued buildings. And taxes increase along with the new assessments. Many of those long time residents find themselves owing more in taxes than they can afford and the vultures glide in and scoop up investment property they have no plan to maintain, so the downward spiral continues until the next redevelopment plan.

“I saw it happen many times in my years growing up, and living as an adult, in Atlanta. Tomorrow has always been more important in my hometown than yesterday or today. There is no sense of community when a dollar is on the line.”

According to a report at NBCSports.com/pro football talk, the lawsuit filed against the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame regarding the cancellation of the Hall of Fame Game will be amended to assert that there was “deliberate deceit” on the part of the league and the Hall of Fame. The lawyer who filed the suit had this to say about the timeline of events:

“The league and the Hall of Fame informed the players, ninety players to the Packers and ninety players for the Colts, at least an hour and a half before they told the fans that the game was cancelled. Then to make matters worse they told those same individuals not to say anything about it, to tweet about it, et cetera. They clearly tried to cover this up and keep it from the fans in the interest of money.”

The plaintiff’s assertion here is that the fans were kept in the dark so that they would go to the stadium and buy food/merchandise/whatever that would not have been purchased had the fans known there would be no game. Other than to say all of these assertions are baseless, neither the NFL nor the Hall of Fame have had anything to say on this matter. However, if the court accepts these revised charges, it would seem to me that both of entities named as defendants will have to present evidence with regard to the decision processes and the timeline for the cancellation.

I have no dog in this fight; my feelings on the Hall of Fame Game have been rather explicit here. However, there is the potential for a delicious irony here:

Imagine for a moment that the plaintiffs want to examine the phone records for Commissioner Goodell and the judge so orders. However, it turns out that the Commish turned in the phone he had on the day of the Hall of Fame Game for a new one about a week later. There is no phone for the plaintiffs or the court to examine. Too bad …

Would that create an uproar, or what?

The Arizona Diamondbacks have not exactly torn up the National League this year. In fact, the only teams in MLB with a worse record are the Braves and the Twins. However, the D-Backs are at the forefront of culinary masterpieces at their ballpark. Consider these:

The D-Bat Dog starts with an 18-inch corn dog. (Right there in the menu description, I am moving on to the next item but hang on because there is more.) That baby is stuffed with cheddar cheese, jalapenos and bacon. Then it is served with a side of fries. And the cost is – wait for it – $25.00.

For those fans who did not take out a second mortgage to buy stadium food before going to the game, the team also sells something called the Venom Dog. This is a footlong sausage spiced with habanero peppers that is topped with guacamole, black beans, pico de gallo and sour cream. This will set you back $10 – plus whatever cost you incur for antacids in the late innings.

Finally, here is a comment from Brad Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald:

“Lionel Messi has dyed his hair blonde. That’s for the people who email to say I never include anything about soccer in my column. OK, next …”

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

I fully expect someone to accuse me of trolling here. Yesterday, I mentioned the walk-off inside-the-park home run by Tyler Naquin of the Cleveland Indians and said that the last time an Indian had done that was 100 years ago. I did not do that to poke a stick at the reader in Houston who is THE MAVEN of sports history/sports stats. He has to have a dedicated server to keep track of all those stats; if he has them all in his head, then he has a 40-acre brain.

I mention this because I indeed got an e-mail from him about than 2 hours after the rant was posted on the website. Here is a ton of info about inside-the-park home runs, walk-off inside-the-park home runs and related stuff courtesy of the Houston Sports Maven:

In the early days of baseball with the large dimensions of many of the stadiums, inside-the-parkers were plentiful with Jesse Burkett hitting 55, Wahoo Sam Crawford hitting 51, Tommy Leach hitting 48, and the Georgia Peach and Honus Wagner both hitting 46.

However, since WW2, Willie Wilson is the leader with just 13. Wahoo hit 12 himself in 1901.

Of the over 230,000 HRs hit since the end of WW2, about one in every 162 was an inside-the-parker.

18 players have hit two insiders in one game with Dick Allen (1972 for Chisox) and Greg Gagne (1986 for Minny) being the only ones to do so since the end of WW2.

There have been 6 walk-off insiders since 1990.

10 insiders have been hit in the WS with Alcides Escobar (KC) being the last to do so in Game 1 of last year’s WS vs. the Mets.

The most exciting play in baseball is the inside-the-park grand-slam in which there have been about 225.

The only one of those which was a walk-off was on July 25, 1956 by Roberto Clemente of the Bucs vs. the Cubs in a 9-8 Bucco win at Forbes Field.

Let me channel the late Paul Harvey here and say:

“And now you know … the rest of the story.”

The life-story of Todd Marinovich has not been happy or uplifting to say the least. He was prepped by his father from his early years to be a “super-quarterback”; the hype and expectations for his career in the NFL – where he was supposed to be dominant – had to have been an enormous burden. Marinovich was drafted by the Raiders in the 90s and his career consisted of 8 games over 2 seasons. None of his stats was impressive. Last week, Todd Marinovich’s life sank to a new low; is it rock-bottom?

Marinovich was arrested in Irvine, CA and cited “for multiple offenses after being found naked and being in possession of drugs.” According to the local gendarmes, they had a report of a naked man on a walking trail and in response to that report they found a naked man – allegedly Marinovich – walking through someone’s backyard and that the man had both marijuana and meth in a bag with him.

This is not Marinovich’s first interaction with the police with regard to drugs. At one point, he was arrested for growing his own crop of marijuana at a time before anyone thought that might become a legalized activity in the US. He also has been arrested over the years for possession of heroin, meth and cocaine in separate incidents. Last week’s incident adds “wandering naked in public” to the repertoire. Marinovich is 47 years old; he is no longer a child or a young man who will someday grow up. Maybe this event will be the thing that propels him into a rehab regimen that will stick; on the other hand, maybe he is beyond the reach of rehabilitation and this is who he is and who he is going to continue to be. Stay tuned …

That arrest report brings to mind the pants-dropping event at the recently completed Olympics in Rio. If you did not hear about it, let me summarize for you:

A Mongolian wrestler – Mandakhnaran Ganzorig – was leading an Uzbek wrestler by a score of 7-6 with less than 10 seconds left in the match. The match would determine the bronze medal for that weight class.

Ganzorig began waving his arms at the Uzbek opponent and ran around the mat. The time ran out; Ganzorig fell to the mat and his coaches ran out and draped him in the Mongolian flag. All seemed right with the world…

The judges then penalized Ganzorig 1-point for “fleeing the hold” and not competing for the final seconds of the match. Evidently, that is within their prerogative; I am not a wrestling judge. That tied the score at 7-7.

The Mongolian coaches filed a protest. However, when the judges over-ruled the protest, that cost Ganzorig one more point and now the Uzbek wrestler was declared the winner – and bronze medal recipient – by a score of 8-7.

All of that is what led up to the trouser-dropping … One of the Mongolian coaches went to the judges’ table, stripped off his shirt, took off his pants, picked up his clothing and unceremoniously dumped it on the judges’ table. He refused to leave the mat or the venue until the security folks at the venue escorted him away.

Somewhere, someone in the WWE has taken note of all this and is figuring out how to turn this into part of a WWE pay-per-view extravaganza. You just know it …

Finally, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times has found another nexus between the world of politics and the world of sports:

“Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is on his third campaign manager in three months.

“Somewhere, George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin just can’t stop smiling.”

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

Walk-off hits – or home runs – are exciting when they happen in a MLB game; but, truth be told, they are not exactly rare occurrences. A “walk-off balk” might not be very exciting, but it is not commonplace by any means. Last week, we saw a walk-off home run that was exciting and rare at the same time because:

It was a walk-off inside-the-park home run!

Here is how it went down:

The Blue Jays led the Indians 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Jose Ramirez tied the game for the Indians with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Outfielder, Tyler Naquin, was the next batter and he hit a shot to left field that took an odd carom off the wall away from the Jay’s outfield and Naquin circled the bases to score the winning run.

Some folks in the baseball stat world with a lot of time on their hands – or a really fulsome database for searching – determined that the last Cleveland Indian to hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run was Braggo Roth in August of 1916. Roth had an 8-yaer career in MLB and he hit a total of 30 HRs in his career. In 2016, he only had 4 HRs and the walk-off inside-the-park shot was one of them.

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks but he returned last week with a cogent comment about baseball:

“In passing: His Angels are in last place, but for the fifth year running, Mike Trout is baseball’s best everyday player.”

I absolutely agree here. There are maybe a dozen baseball players in MLB at any given time that I would go out of my way to see play the game. The first two players who fit that bill for me as a youngster were Ted Williams and Robin Roberts. Over the years, players such as Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Lou Brock, Rod Carew, Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, Pete Rose, Dwight Gooden, Reggie Jackson, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, Ichiro, Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Roger Clemens filled that role. Today, Mike Trout is probably the player I would most go out of my way in order to see him play the game of baseball. I think he is that good. Please note that everyone on my list above belongs in the Hall of Fame for what they did on the field…

While I am on the subject of baseball, it is not too early to give you my front-runners for Managers of the Year in both leagues. I will do it in alphabetical order because there is still time for fortunes to shift and sentiments to change:

National League:
Don Mattingly (Marlins): No one thought they would be a serious wild-card contender in April.

Dave Roberts (Dodgers): Given all the injuries this team has had, they should be duking it out with the Padres for last place in the NL West not being in the hunt for a wild-card slot.

“Whomever” (Atlanta Braves): Consider this a nomination akin to giving the recipient a Purple Heart. The Braves are barely better than a top-shelf minor league club.

American League:

Terry Francona (Indians): They are cruising in a division that has last year’s World Series Champs in it.

Scott Servais (Mariners): In his first year as a manager at the MLB level, he has the Mariners contending for a slot in the playoffs. It has been a while since the Mariners have been there…

Buck Showalter (Orioles): Never a contender for the “Mr. Congeniality Award”, he has the O’s in the thick of the AL East race for division champion and/or a wild-card slot.

Bob Molinaro had another observation in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot in his column back from vacation that I found interesting:

“Ratings game: Usain Bolt is the greatest track athlete of his generation, but is his career more impressive than that of American Carl Lewis and his nine gold medals? Nah.”

This is a debate that can go on forever. This is akin to the argument about who was better, Williams or DiMaggio. Who was better, Willie, Micky or The Duke? I have said that I do not like debates of this nature because I find it distasteful to say anything negative about any athlete who is so accomplished that he finds himself as part of such a debate. I am happy to have witnessed the greatness of both Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt. I shall remain happy to consider both of them outstanding Olympians.

Finally, I missed this one but Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times did not:

“Faster, Higher … Poorer?

“’The last Olympics that didn’t lose money for the host city?’ asked Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“’Los Angeles, 1984.

“’The last Olympics at which the IOC didn’t make a ton of profit, even though it doesn’t really do anything except collect money?

“’Athens, 750 BC.’”

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

I am certain that you have heard sufficiently about the “Ryan Lochte Circumstance”. So have I. However, last week, there were a few folks out there who were trying to make this case:

Ryan Lochte was being treated with kid gloves by the press because he is a white male and the evidence for that was the huge brouhaha that came up when Gabby Douglass did not put her hand over her heart during the national anthem.

I do not read the minds of columnists and commentators; nor do I read the minds of the folks trying to make this argument. However, it does seem to me that Lochte’s coverage was anything but “kind and gentle”. If this is the best argument one can find to illustrate “white male privilege”, I suggest it might be put on the back burner because it does not make the case well at all. For the record, where I stand on this matter is simple:

I do not recall ever being taught that it was a “crime against humanity” to hear the national anthem without having my hand on my heart. I was taught that one stood straight, took off your hat and put your eyes on the flag. What Gabby Douglass did was perfectly acceptable to me.

By contrast, Ryan Lochte is the leader in the clubhouse for the Asshat of the Year – – 2016.

If you would like to read just one more takedown of Ryan Lochte before he and his behavior sink into the muck and mire of sports history, let me suggest this column from Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post.

Jerry Jones is a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the class that will be inducted in August 2017. I think this is a bit strange and perhaps more than a bit premature. I acknowledge that Jones is one of the owners who has successfully marketed his team and the league to the benefit of all of the owners and to the benefit of the NFL “brand”. He is a master of promotion and positivity; those traits have helped to make the NFL the entertainment juggernaut that it is. He recognized early on that pro football is entertainment and that the best way to “grow the business” was to continue to entertain the fans.

I recognize that those are powerful credentials and I recognize that Jones will have plenty of support from the folks who do the voting because the majority of them are people who cover the NFL and teams in the NFL. Jerry Jones is probably the most “open” and “available” owner in the league; when someone covering any aspect of the NFL that might involve the Cowboys even tangentially needs to get a comment from an owner, Jerry Jones is willing to provide it. However, this is the part of the “Jerry Jones résumé that gives me pause:

In addition to owning the Cowboys, Jerry Jones serves directly as the GM for the team. That is part of his “NFL career”; and in that part, he has been “less than fully satisfactory”.

I need not go into the record for the Cowboys once “The Triplets” – Aikman, Smith and Irvin – went their separate ways. As a GM, Jerry Jones would have been fired multiple times if he worked for any owner other than Jerry Jones.

I do not vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I never will. If I were in that position this year, however, this nomination would give me pause…

Last week, I wrote about the importance of the backup QB in the NFL. There is an implicit problem in having good backup QBs for all 32 teams; that would mean there would have to be 64 “good QBs” out there. The fact is; there are not. The Niners demonstrated that fact late last week when they signed Christian Ponder to a 1-year deal after third string QB, Thad Lewis required season-ending surgery. The Niners’ current backup is Colin Kaepernick who is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and who has been plagued with “shoulder woes” during training camp. Christian Ponder is the Niners’ safety net.

Ponder last appeared in an NFL game in October 2014; there is a reason for that. Ponder has started 36 games in a 4-year NFL career. The team record in those 36 games is 14-21-1. Using the ESPN QBR (Quarterback Rating system) which has a range of 0 – 100 as a measure, Ponder’s best season was 51.63 – ever so slightly above average. In those 36 starts, according to Pro Football Reference, he engineered exactly 3 game-winning drives.

What I find interesting about this signing is that the Niners now have a depth chart that reads:

Blaine Gabbert – #10 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft
Colin Kaepernick – #36 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft
Christian Ponder – #12 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The Niners would seem to own the 2011 NFL Draft …

The Miami Dolphins will play their home games this year in Hard Rock Stadium. No, they have not moved to a new venue; this is another name for the stadium that was originally known as Joe Robbie Stadium back when Joe Robbie owned the team back in the Iron Age. Hard Rock Café is a rock music themed restaurant chain and they are the latest in a long list of business entities to put their name on this stadium. Off the top of my head, this place has been called:

Pro Player Stadium
Land Shark Stadium
Sun Life Stadium

I am sure I missed one or two others along the way. Good luck to Hard Rock in maintaining enough interest in this naming venture to have it last for a while. Meanwhile, if the Dolphins fortunes take a turn for the worse, be sure to look for someone to say they are between a Hard Rock and a hard place. BaDaBing! BaDaBoom!!!

Finally, a comment from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times on the “Ryan Lochte Circumstance”:

“Ryan Lochte spokesman for Burger King?

“Hey, don’t laugh. They’d probably sell a lot of Whoppers.”

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