The Sports Curmudgeon

The NFL Combine for 2024 is over; I believe it requires a few comments this morning.  Think for a moment what the Combine is.  It is a collective event where coaches, scouts and executives from any and all of the NFL teams can convene in one place and “evaluate” potential draft picks on the basis of the players’ performances in a scripted set of drills.  It is a practice session with a smidgen of “audition” stirred in; outside the realm of the people responsible for constructing NFL rosters, this “event” should be sufficiently arcane to be uninteresting.

Not so.  The marketing genius that is the NFL has turned this totally boring set of workouts into a TV event that people take time out of their workdays to watch and into an event that people will go and see “in the flesh”.  Let me be clear here; I probably watched a total of 5 minutes of the televised workouts from this year’s Combine and the NFL could not pay me to go and sit in the stands and watch even a half-day session of these workouts.  But I must be an atypical NFL fan because millions of viewers and attendees were in rapt attention to the proceedings.

I mention this because there were some draft prospects this year who refused to “play the game” in the normal way.  Every year, there are a few prospects who choose to skip the Combine altogether or who choose to defer showing off their skills at the Combine rather to showcase them at private individual workouts.  This year, more than a few players took that stance and the player that most folks believe will be the overall #1 pick took that “solitary status” to a new level:

• Not only did Caleb Williams choose not to participate in any of the scripted workout drills, he refused the medical exams provided for all the prospects.
• Williams’ reasoning here is that only one team will draft him and that he will be off the draft board early – – if not #1 – – so only a few teams will have the opportunity to draft him.
• Ergo, why do all 32 teams need to know about his height, weight, hand size, EKG, visual acuity, et. al?

In a way, he is absolutely right.  And at the same time, he just may be showing that he has a tad of the prima donna in him and that he does not believe that all the rules/norms apply to him.  Before you tell me that I am being overly harsh on this young man, let me remind you that even before the bowl season was over, people tied to Williams hinted that he might want an ownership stake in the club that takes him and that he might hold out if that was not included in the contract offer that came from the team that selected him.  [Aside:  I seriously doubt that he will get any “ownership equity” in the team that selects him, but we shall see …]

Other high prospects chose to skip much of the regimen of the Combine.

• Marvin Harrison Jr. did not take part in the broad jump; I guess he figures that teams have seen him catch passes in real games and do not need to know how far he can jump in a posture that is not closely related to pass catching.
• Malik Nabors also chose to sit out pass catching drills.
• Brock Bowers did not participate in the drills either.  But since Bowers suffered a leg injury during his last season at Georgia, he did partake of the medical evaluations.
• A couple other “top QB prospects” such as Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels did not “throw” in the Combine.  They will do so in private/solo workouts later in the Spring.  [Aside: Does it make you wonder about their self-confidence in their ability to be compared directly to other prospects doing the same drills on the same field on the same day?]

So, I am sure that many of you wonder why any of this matters.  Well, it should matter in some degree to the NFL execs who have created and promoted this set of workouts to the point that the Combine is a “news event” with a broad following.  From their perspective, the failure of highly visible and potentially top draft picks opting out of participation does not enhance the TV product.  So, the question now turns back to the NFL:

• The Combine is an “invitation only event”.  Joe Flabeetz from Whatsamatta U cannot just show up; lace up the cleats and run a 40-yard dash.
• So, why do the keepers of the invitation list extend invitations to players who subsequently choose not to participate?  I am confident that there are plenty of guys like Joe Flabeetz out there who would be more than happy to show up and give it a go.

Next topic …  Mitchell Trubisky was a free agent until a bit earlier this week when he signed on with the Bills to backup Josh Allen.  I have said here before that “Backup QB” is an important part of team building even though the preference for any team is never having to use said backup QB.  But this signing of Trubisky made me wonder a bit and sent me to the stats:

• The Bears took Trubisky with the overall #2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft; the team had to trade up to make that pick.
• After 4 years with the Bears, he had started 50 games, but the Bears did not pick up his fifth-year option despite one Pro Bowl season in 2018.
• He spent a year with the Bills appearing only in “garbage time”.
• He then spent two seasons with the Steelers that were unremarkable.
• As a starter, Trubisky’s record is above .500 but his TD/INT ratio is 72/48 or 3/2 and that is not good.

So, one might wonder why the Bills might want him as their “insurance policy” in case Josh Allen needs a game or two on the sidelines.  There are two modes that GMs can use for that position in roster building; they can get themselves a “fill-in starter” or they can use the position as a developmental position to create a future starter or a future trade asset.  Clearly, the Bills have chosen the former route.  It is pretty clear to me that Trubisky is the model for “plug-and-play-short-term-starter”; he is not likely ever to get a job in the NFL as “the franchise QB” despite his draft status in 2017.  And he seems to have an important personality characteristic for his role:

• He can tolerate being in the shadows and not in the spotlight.  And he has never brought drama or “off-field issues” to his locker room.

I think that is a large part of the reason that the Bills brought him back to Buffalo.

Finally, these closing words from author Joseph Heller:

“Success and failure are both difficult to endure.  Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide.  With failure comes failure.”

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

 

 

The big news yesterday was the decision by the Denver Broncos to release Russell Wilson; and in so doing, the team will eat about $89M in dead cap money.  Without going into the minutiae of NFL salary cap mathematics, “dead cap money” means that there will be a charge against the salary cap for the Broncos allotted to a player who will not be on their team while the charge is in effect.  As I understand it, the Broncos will have to deal with these dead cap numbers:

• 2024 season = $35.4M
• 2025 season = $53.6M

When the Broncos traded for Wilson here is what they gave to the Seahawks:

• Two first round picks
• Two second round picks
• One fifth round pick
• A backup QB – – Drew Lock
• A tight end – – Noah Fant
• A defensive lineman – – Shelby Harris

That was back in 2022 which means that the Broncos have not had those assets for two seasons, have not made the playoffs with Wilson and now will have to construct their squads for 2024 and 2025 with significant dead cap charges on their books.  That trade is probably not as bad as the famous “Herschel Walker trade” back in the 1980s, but this one is still pretty awful.

So, where might Russell Wilson go to ply his trade later this year?  On the assumption that he wants a starting job and not a backup job, I think there are eight possibilities around the league:

1. Bucs:  If Baker Mayfield signs elsewhere, that leaves the Bucs with Kyle Trask and John Wolford.
2. Commanders:  If they sign Wilson, they can then consider trading the #2 pick in the draft for multiple picks that the team needs to patch more than a few holes in the roster.
3. Falcons:  Rumor has it that they want Kirk Cousins but if he re-signs with the Vikes or goes elsewhere, the Falcons would be in play here.  Russell Wilson is not the QB he was 5 years ago, but he is better than what the Falcons put on the field last season.
4. Giants:  What is the prognosis on Daniel Jones’ rehab and availability next season?
5. Raiders:  Wilson is an upgrade over what they have on the roster now plus it would put Wilson in the AFC West where he could face the Broncos twice a year…
6. Steelers:  Is Kenny Pickett “the guy”?  Is Mason Rudolph “the guy”?
7. Titans:  Is Will Levis “the guy”?  Ryan Tannehill is not “the guy”.
8. Vikes: If Kirk Cousins packs up and leaves town …

I have the Vikes on this list knowing that there are rumors out there that what the Vikes want to do if Kirk Cousins signs elsewhere is to trade up in the Draft to #3 (owned by the Pats as of now) to take a QB in this draft.  Supposedly, the Pats want three first round picks plus “other considerations” as a minimum for such an exchange.  That is a hefty price for any team to pay.

Switching gears …  “Mattress Mack” is back at it again.  Mack is the owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, and he bets on local teams to win championships and uses that wager as a hedge against a major offer he makes to customers at his furniture store.  Mack bet $1M on the Houston Cougars to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship next month; he got +750 odds on the wager, so he stands to win $7.5M.  The deal he offers to furniture customers goes along these lines:

• Buy a certain amount of furniture over a defined period and pay for the purchase.
• Keep the receipts because if Houston wins the basketball tournament, your purchase price will be refunded.
• If Houston loses, some or all of Mack’s $1M losing bet will be covered by profits from the increased furniture sales generated by his promotion.

For the record, the Houston Cougars lead the Big-12 in basketball as of this morning with a conference record of 13-3 and an overall record of 26-3.  In a year with no dominant team on the national scene, the Cougars have a real shot at winning it all – – for themselves and for “Mattress Mack”.

While on the subject of wagering on sporting endeavors, the gambling industry generated $10,92B in profits for calendar year 2023 and registered a total handle of $119.8B for that same time period.  Those numbers also generated $14.4B in revenues for states where legal gambling exists meaning the States made more money than the operators.

Finally, some closing words today from Jacques Plante, former goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens:

“How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?

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

 

 

A seemingly minor kerfuffle surfaced late last week and over the weekend.  Someone asked Mecole Hardman – – the receiver of the game-winning TD pass in last month’s Super Bowl – – if in this year’s free agency, he might be going back to the Jets where he signed a deal last year.  Hardman’s time in NY was less than productive and he was traded by the Jets in mid-season back to the Chiefs where he had begun his career.  Hardman said he did not enjoy his time in NY and that he definitely would not consider an offer from the Jets this time around.

The reporting on that exchange between Hardman and a writer qualifies as a “Nothing-burger”.  But then someone on the Jets suggested that Hardman may have leaked the Jets’ game plans to the Eagles and the Chiefs while he was still in NYC.  [Aside: for the record, the Jets beat the Eagles and lost a close game to the Chiefs last season.]

And that assertion/allegation/accusation changes to entire ecosystem for this kerfuffle.  If the NFL is indeed as fixated on maintaining the integrity of its games – – as it should be since those games produce more than $20B in revenue annually- – , they need to get the unvarnished facts here and make those facts known.

Obviously, IF Mecole Hardman – or any player for any team in the NFL – deliberately gives away his team’s game plan to an opponent prior to that game, that player needs to be suspended for life from the NFL.  Such a behavior is about as bad as a player taking a bribe to throw a game; the NFL cannot tolerate it.  The “integrity of the games” is severely jeopardized by such behavior.

But I want to take this a step further.  Again, IF Mecole Hardman actually revealed the Jets’ game plan to someone associated with the Eagles and/or the Chiefs, the NFL needs to find out who those persons are and banish them too.  Receiving such information prior to a game against the Jets and not reporting the fact of receiving it makes the receiving party as culpable as the transmitting party to the assault on the “integrity of the games”.

There is an item posted at nbcsports.com/nfl/profootball/rumor-mill saying that Pro Football Talk had contacted the NFL and that the league had “no comment” even to the point that it would not acknowledge the existence of an investigation.  The folks at Pro Football Talk say the NFL should conduct such an investigation; I will go a few steps farther and say that the NFL absolutely must investigate here, and it needs to do so in the light of day.

I am not the least bit surprised that the NFL would prefer to sit back and see if this whole business dries up and blows away.  However, what is needed here is a real investigation done by an outside entity with a promise from the outset that all findings and evidence will be revealed to the public.  And if you and I never hear about such action(s), keep all of this in mind the next time the NFL worries about players or coaches or owners gambling at things like slot machines or casino table games or the like.

• Memo to NFL Execs and “The Commish”:  If you want people to take you seriously when you bloviate about the “integrity of the games”, you had better get to the bottom of this.  And you cannot get to the bottom of this by simply waving it off and saying that there is no problem at all here after conducting a sham “investigation” with no publication of findings.

The NFL Gambling Policy says that the sharing of “confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game or event” is a no-no.  Clearly a team’s game plan for an upcoming game is confidential and non-public.  So, even IF no one involved in the alleged exchanges of game plan information used that information to bet on the game(s), it is still a violation of league policy.

I have emphasized the word “IF” above because it is possible that the person on the Jets who made the initial statement that set this whole issue on a negative vector has nothing related to “evidence” of such a clandestine exchange.  In that case, it would behoove the NFL to close all this out with a simple declarative statement plus an admonition to players and coaches that such accusations are akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Moving on …  Don’t do this in India Ink but take a pencil and lightly circle the date March 27 on your calendar.  If you look at the NBA standings this morning, you may notice that the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons both have records of 9-51.  There are still plenty – – maybe too many? – – games for these teams to play in the regular season but each team needs to win another game to avoid the ignominy of joining the Sixers as the most inept team in NBA history.  Recall back in the 70s that the Sixers completed a season with a 9-73 record.

Here is why you need to circle March 27 on your calendar:

• On that auspicious occasion, the Detroit Pistons will visit Washington DC to take on the Washington Wizards.
• Regardless of how bleakly both teams may play over the course of the final 22 games in this regular season, one of them WILL win at least their tenth game of the regular season and escape disgrace.

Finally, since much of today’s rant involves an issue potentially tied to the “integrity of the games” for the NFL, let me remind the NFL pooh-bahs that “integrity” is like “virginity”.

• One only gets to lose it once.

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

 

 

As the month of March arrives, one of the tasks facing many households is the dreaded Spring Cleaning.  If you looked in on Curmudgeon Central with its “files” masquerading as “piles” of papers, you might think that the best cleaning process would be a flame thrower – – and my long-suffering wife would likely agree.  However, my clipboard with notes about things to rant on in the future is in a state where cleaning it up is more like spiffing it up and could easily be accomplished by devoting two rants to that process.  So, I shall do a half-way Spring Cleaning on my clipboard today.

• [Aside:  It would be unmannerly of anyone to suggest that this is a half-assed cleaning as opposed to a half-way cleaning.  Just saying…]

First up is a local story of sorts.  The Washington Commanders have played their games in FedEx Field since 1999; the naming rights deal ran through 2026.  This week, the shipping company pulled out of that deal meaning new Commanders’ owner Josh Harris’ projections of team revenue for 2024 could come up $7.5M short – – unless a new deal comes along quickly.  According to a statement from the Commanders:

“We have already started the process of identifying our next stadium naming rights partner — a partner who will play a crucial role in ushering in the next era of not only Commanders’ football, but also a robust slate of top live events and concerts.”

I know nothing about the inner workings of either party here or how the decision to truncate the agreement came to be, but I will say that the stadium facility itself in Landover MD is not something I would want my name on.  In the late days of their existence, Shea Stadium, The Vet and RFK Stadium were – at the very best – eyesores.  FedEx Field had degraded to that status and was not/is not a jewel to be associated with one’s name.  Any new naming rights deal would have to include some transition rights to whatever new stadium the Commanders get because the most appropriate naming rights partner for the current facility would be Waste Management Inc.

Moving on … Fed Ex Field is not the only off-field aspect of the Commanders’ franchise that needs replacing; in the annual NFLPA survey of players regarding their working conditions, once again the Commanders finished dead last in the league.  Here is how the Washington Post summarized this situation:

“The survey included 11 categories: treatment of families, food/cafeteria, nutritionist/dietitian, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and ownership.

“Among those categories, Washington’s locker room and training room ranked last. Only 26 percent of Commanders players who voted said they felt they had enough room for their lockers, and some cited multiple sewage leaks. Washington ranked 31st in treatment of families, training staff, team travel and head coach.”

 

If you thought that Josh Harris and his minority partners had a lot of work ahead of them to get the on-field product up to an acceptable level, add a new stadium and a total revamp of the team facilities/practices to that “To Do List”.

Next item …  I tuned in to see part of a Nats Spring Training game earlier this week and I want to go on record now with this statement:

• James Wood is 21 years old, and he is going to be a force majeure in MLB.

Wood is a huge human being; depending on where you look, he is listed as 6’5” or 6’ 7”.  Do not picture in your mind this young man as a tall string-bean; he is built like a tight end or a power forward.  He hit a home run in the game I watched that may not have come down yet but even more impressive to me is his approach to the game.  This was a meaningless Spring Training exhibition game and Wood was hustling and playing as if it were an elimination game in the playoffs.

The Nats acquired Wood – – along with CJ Abrams and Mackenzie Gore and a couple other guys – – in the trade that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres.  Soto is now with the Yankees and Bell is now with the Marlins.  I do not think it is premature to say that the Nats fleeced the Padres on that deal…

Switching gears …  About a month ago Old Dominion basketball coach, Jeff Jones, “stepped away” from the position following a heart attack.  That health event came on top of ongoing treatment Jones was receiving for prostate cancer.  Earlier this week, Jones announced his retirement.  Previously in his career, Jones was the coach at American University for 13 seasons.  I never met Jeff Jones, but every time I saw him interviewed – – in defeat or in victory – – he impressed me as genuinely gracious and civil.  Bob Molinaro covering sports for the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot saw Jones far more often and far more closely than I did and here is what Molinaro had to say about this retirement announcement:

“Old Dominion’s men’s basketball team has lost too many games over the past five years, but judging from the attendance at Chartway Arena, many of the staunchest fans haven’t abandoned the program. I’m guessing that this, in part, is because of Jeff Jones’ temperament and dogged professionalism. May his successor pick up that mantle while giving the diehards a brighter bottom line.”

Finally, let me close today with another cogent observation by Bob Molinaro:

“One way to stop entitled college kids from court-storming is to surround the floor with wire mesh, the way it was done 100 years ago, more to keep players out of the stands than anything else. It’s where the now-antiquated term “cagers” comes from. Of course, I’m being facetious. But equally ridiculous are the voices in media and elsewhere celebrating court-storming as a worthwhile student rite and a public relations win for schools. The enablers should be ready to own this in the event of a catastrophic injury.”  [Emphasis added…]

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

 

 

I’ve been thinking about collegiate athletics and the effect that college football has had on the overarching structure of collegiate athletics.  And I believe that what college football has caused to happen is not necessarily good for college sports.  I have no interest in posturing here about the wages of sin and how money is the root of all evils.  The folks who administer college football saw the opportunity to bring in millions and millions of dollars into their individual and collective organizations.  Naturally, they took that opportunity.

College football will have in 2024 nine conferences, one conference with only two members, and three “independent schools”.  What used to be the PAC-12 will now be more properly called the PAC-2 and the three independent schools are:

1. Notre Dame – – just because they have always been an independent
2. UConn – – who cares?
3. UMass – – who else cares?

The addiction of American sports fans to American football provided the opportunity to make mega-dollars and with that incentive out there, the semi-logical geographically consistent football conferences began to expand and swallow up schools from other conferences creating geographically ridiculous conferences.

• The Atlantic Coast Conference will include the California Golden Bears, the Southern Methodist Mustangs and the Stanford Cardinal.
• The Big 10 will have 18 teams competing stretched from Rutgers and Maryland in the eastern US to USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington in the west.

The CFP will expand to 12 teams this year and surely beyond that number after 2026.  Football will bring in truckloads of cash and will cause problems elsewhere in college sports.  I am not going to wail about the loss of traditional rivalries as rival schools go to different conferences.  Frankly, if the rivalry is strong enough to be a “moneymaker”, that rivalry will survive.  Rather I want to take up the cause of the college athletes in a non-revenue sport such as baseball/softball, gymnastics, swimming, et. al.

Just look for a moment at the two conferences cited above.  These non-revenue athletes will have travel schedules imposed on them that make no sense outside the Venn diagram that is dominated by a circle labeled “Football Revenue”.  Your average college gymnast or swimmer is not looking for a great NIL deal or a ten-million-dollar pro career in his/her sport.  Most of those athletes are using their athletic abilities to get partial scholarships that ameliorate the costs of a college education.  And that travel scheduling cannot be of assistance there.

College football changed the landscape of college athletics in the past decade or so culminating in the structure we have starting in 2024.  Not all change is for the better…

And speaking obliquely about NIL, here is another fallout from that money-driven sector of college athletics.  For athletes who are going to school with “six-figure” NIL deals – – or more? – – what does the concept of “eligibility” mean?  When there was the grand delusion of the “student-athlete” there was a logic to something like “4 years of eligibility” since that was the expected duration of the “student” portion of “student-athlete”.  Now, in the revenue sports – and particularly in football – there are few if any pure “student-athletes” so:

• Why can’t a player stay as a “college football participant” for as long as any team will have him if he can find NIL deals to support himself?
• Why can’t a player enroll in a grad school and pursue a legitimate advanced degree – – and play football at the same time?
• Why does the player need to be enrolled at a school at all?

Just wondering …

And just as the pursuit of money has created seismic changes in college sports, there seems to be a similar pursuit that is getting underway in MLB.  Stories are beginning surface about the owners pondering expansion by two teams.  Let us strip away any PR nonsense here about the fervent desire for baseball in certain expansion sites; that was the narrative here in DC to get the Expos here and the Nats’ fans – – the ones who were starved for baseball for lo those many years – – only draw well when the team is in contention.  Many is the season, the Nats do not sell out Opening Day.

MLB expansion is about money and nothing else.  The carrot in front of the owners is the hefty “admission fee” they will charge to 2 new ownership groups.  To keep this in round numbers, assume the entry fee is $2B for each new team – – just a tad more than the last franchise sold for.  If the MLB front office took $100M off the top for its expenses, that would leave the 30 current owners with $3.9B to split up.  Here’s the math:

• $3.9B  ÷  30 owners  =  $130M apiece

Obviously, that is enticing.  At the same time, there might be other consequences that are not so appealing:

• Three franchises were ‘on the market” in the past couple of years.  Two came off the market when they could not attract what the owner wanted for the team.  In the Nats’ case, that number was reported to be $2.4B.
• The third franchise on the market was the Orioles and they just sold for $1.75B.

That tells me there was no clamor of bidders driving prices upward for three existing teams in the near past.  Expanding the leagues will take two of the possible purchasers for baseball teams out of the marketplace; they will have their expansion franchises and cannot own two teams at the same time.  So, is MLB expansion an unalloyed good thing?  I don’t think so.

And by the way, the current CBA between MLB and the MLBPA will need renegotiation soon; the agreement expires in December 2026.  So, ask yourself this:

• If you had something like $2B lying around to invest in owning a baseball team, would you buy one before you knew the terms of the new CBA?
• If you have $2B just lying around, you probably have a level of economic savvy that would tell you to “wait and see”.

Finally, today has been about money so let me close with these items related to money and other things in life:

“Always remember, money isn’t everything – but also remember to make a lot of it before talking such fool nonsense.”  Earl Wilson

And …

“I learned in school that money isn’t everything.  It’s happiness that counts.  So momma sent me to a different school.”  Zsa Zsa Gabor

And …

“Money isn’t everything but it sure keeps you in touch with your children.”  J. Paul Getty

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

 

 

Recall about a month ago when Maidstone United – – in the lowest tier of English football – – upset Ipswich Town – – in the second tier of English football – – to reach the “Sweet 16” of the FA Cup tournament.  Well, that Cinderella story came to a grinding halt earlier this week.  Maidstone United had to win qualifying matches just to get into the tournament and then it won 4 games in FA Cup competition relying on its defense.  In the last of its qualifying games and then in the four wins in the FA Cup tournament itself, Maidstone United had allowed only two goals.

On Monday of this week, Maidstone United took on the team from Coventry – – another team in the second tier of English football.  The Maidstone United defense was not nearly as stingy as it had been in previous tournament games and Coventry prevailed easily by a score of 5 to nil.  The last time a team ranked as low as Maidstone United made it to the “Sweet 16” in an FA Cup tournament was in 1978; so, even in defeat, the “Stones” as they are known, can take pride in their achievement.

Switching gears …  I ran across a stat at CBSSports.com over the weekend that surprised me.  They listed the teams in the NFL with the most regular season losses over the last 20 years.  The team with the second most losses surprised me; I would have guessed for quite a while before I got this.  I will post here four of the top five and then, later the “surprising-to-me team” that is second on the list:

1. Browns:  Most losses with 221
2. Mystery Team:  This squad has lost 215 games in 20 seasons.
3. Jags:  209 losses
4. Lions:  208 losses
5. Commanders:  202 losses

Were I guessing the order, I would have had the Browns and Lions as #1 and #2 in no particular order.  The Jags would have been on the list somewhere and where are the Jets in the Top 5 listing?  [Aside:  The Jets are 6h on the list having lost 199 games in the last 20 seasons.]

In current NFL news …  Matt Araiza was known as “The Punt God” in college after he unanimously won the Ray Guy Award as the best punter in college football back in 2021.  The Bills drafted him in the sixth round, but he never suited up for the Bills because just before their first Exhibition Game in 2022, Ariaza was accused of being part of a gang rape on an underage girl.  The Bills certainly did not need that sort of negative energy around the club involving a punter and they released Ariaza almost immediately.

The authorities investigated the accusation here and determined that “the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges.”  Notwithstanding that finding by the District Attorney’s office, the alleged victim and Araiza each filed civil suits against each other.  Back in December 2023, those suits were both withdrawn; neither party admitted any wrongdoing and no money changed hands in either direction.  With that mess seemingly settled, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Araiza to a 1-year contract at minimum salary ($795K) last week.  I was surprised that the Chiefs made this move because the Chiefs’ punter, Tommy Townsend, was a first-team All-Pro as recently as 2022.  A little searching showed me why the Chiefs did this:

• Townsend will be a free agent this year and counted almost $3M on the Chiefs’ cap last year meaning he would likely be even more “expensive” from 2024 onward.
• Ariaza has a résumé suggesting he could be a low-cost replacement.
• Ergo he is both an insurance policy against Townsend signing elsewhere and a leverage asset for the Chiefs in their negotiations with Townsend.

Back to the Mystery Team on the listing above.  The team that is second on that list is the Raiders.  I know the Raiders have had some “lean years” since they won the Super Bowl with Jon Gruden on the sidelines, but I would not have thought they averaged almost 11 losses per season since then.

Moving on …  Stop me if you have heard this before, but Ben Simmons is injured again.  Simmons hurt his leg over the weekend in a game against the T-Wolves.  The Brooklyn Nets announced that Simmons experienced soreness in his left leg and needed to get “imaging” to determine the nature and the extent of the injury.  Simmons has been with the Nets for 2 seasons – – from mid-2022 through mid-2024.  In that time, he has appeared in a total of 56 games.

Finally, since I began today with a report on the ending of a Cinderella story, let me close with this analysis of fairy tales by author Jennifer Donnelly:

“Fairy tales give it to us straight. They tell us something profound and essential – that the woods are real, and dark, and full of wolves. That we will, at times, find ourselves hopelessly lost in them. But these tales also tell us that we are all that we need, that we have all we need – guts, smarts, and maybe a pocketful of breadcrumbs – to find our way home.”

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

 

 

The news from yesterday was that Peter King is retiring at age of 66 after writing a Monday column about “all-things NFL” for the last 27 years.  His column in Spots Illustrated was called “Monday Morning Quarterback”; when he left SI for NBC Sports, the only real change was in the title, “Football Morning in America”.  He wrote an excellent “sayonara column” yesterday that you can find here.  It is lengthy, but it is worth reading.

In that column, he writes about things he will miss from his 44 years as a sportswriter, and he writes about things he will not miss.  One of the things he will not miss is a pet peeve of mine and I will cite Peter King as an authority who agrees with my pet peeve:

“I think I won’t miss:

“a. Mock drafts. Busywork. Waste of time. Blight on the football planet. One mock draft, the week of the draft or close to it, after listening to sources and people you trust in the game—fine, and even good. Mock drafts in February – laughable; you don’t know anything. Mock drafts in October – worse, because you don’t have any idea who’s picking where. What a total waste of time.”

Bonne chance, Peter King in your retirement.  You have more than earned it.  Nevertheless, I will not be surprised to see you writing again without a regular beat or a recurring schedule and if that comes to pass, I will once again be one of your readers.

Sticking with NFL-related stuff for now, the Combine is underway in Indy.  The Combine is an “invitation only” event; this year, the NFL invited 321 prospects to the Combine; if the NFL Draft were constrained only to Combine participants, that would still leave more than a few prospects undrafted.  The early days of the Combine are devoted to what I call administrivia; prospects are measured, weighed and examined to record their exact physical dimensions which often differ significantly from the PR flack put out by their collegiate athletic departments.  When you hear some commentary on “hand size” for a QB, the data comes from these Combine measurement occurrences.

In addition to the on-field workouts and the athletic measurements such as vertical leap and number of reps in a 225 lb. bench press, teams can schedule and conduct up to 60 interviews of 15 minutes duration with any prospects in attendance.  This is the setting where prospects might take the Wonderlic Test or some variation on that and this is where coaches and coordinators quiz the prospect to find out if he is “dedicated to football”.  The Combine began yesterday and will disband on Monday March 4^th.

One other tidbit of NFL-related news came out over the weekend when FOX Sports announced formally their #1 TV announcing team for the 2024 season.  To no surprise, that team will be Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady.  Rather than leave the question hanging as to the fate of Burkhardt’s partner from the last two years, Greg Olsen, FOX also said that their #2 TV announcing team would be Joe Davis and Greg Olsen.

I am not a “Tom Brady hater” by any definition.  However, I am on record as being skeptical about his announcing career coming close to resembling his playing career.  I do not want that to be the case; I do not know that will be the case; I just want to wait and see how he does in the booth.  Peter King thinks Brady will be great on TV as he said in his column yesterday:

“Tom Brady’s going to be very good in the Fox booth. Well, he should be for $37 million a year, or whatever it is. Quietly, Brady’s been working over the last five months, getting used to doing games in the booth, and learning from people he admires in TV. Remember one thing about Tom Brady: He was handed nothing in the NFL. Everything he got he earned. And he knew when he signed this ridiculous contract, he’d have every eye in football on him when the job began in September 2024. Do you think he hasn’t knocked himself out to be sure he knows the rhythm and the cadence and the information patterns of doing color? Now that doesn’t guarantee he’ll be good. I just think he’s smart, and he knows what it’ll take to be good, and when he has to call out a friend in the game, he’ll find a way to do it.”

Let me keep the focus of this rant on the NFL.  The league has embraced “emerging technology” in many areas, and it seems to have been a positive relationship.

• Players can wear tech devices that monitor their health signs, sleep patterns and physical performance in the workout room providing data that can be used to tailor their diets and their schedules and their workout content.
• Expanded use of “analytics” has altered somewhat the way the game is coached from a strategic and a tactical standpoint.
• Skycams and field microphones have enhanced the visual production of the game for fans at home.

I will not be surprised to learn that a team or two has figured out how to use virtual reality as a part of their training and their game preparation in the near future.  And because of all that constructive relationship with “tech”, I am surprised that the league has not at least experimented with ways to determine where the ball should be placed other than an official running toward the tackle and planting his foot in the turf.  And don’t get me started on the “low tech” nature of measuring for a first down with a chain and a pair of sticks – – unless you also include surveyors gear to assure that the chain is extended exactly perpendicular to the yardlines.  Here is where I will cue up Ruby and the Romantics singing:

“Our day will come.

And we’ll have everything …”

Finally, I will close today with one more passage from Peter King’s column from yesterday:

 “… the innovative newness of TV products like Red Zone and the Manningcast make the game so much more interesting and informative. Scott Hanson’s a treasure. Peyton and Eli, same. They make football more fun. Rich Eisen suggested a Coachcast, with Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, somewhere in 2024. Agreed. How fun and informative could that be?”

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

 

 

Last week, a friend made a request for a rant.  He reminded me that I had previously said that NFL GMs needed to pay more than passing attention to the “backup QB position” when they did roster construction; my friend said he had been skeptical about the importance of my assertion until last season when “backup QBs” were making significant contributions to playoff teams.  So, his request was for me to present the free agents who might be available to GMs as they did their roster construction for 2024.

I said that I would try to fulfill the request but as soon as I started digging, I realized that there had to be constraints put on my search lest I not get it done before the season started in August.  Here is what I did NOT do:

• I did not research the contract status for any QBs in the CFL or the UFL who might be considered for backup positions in the NFL this year.
• I did not consider any QBs who have only played in college and may make their way to training camps this year as late round picks or undrafted free agents.
• I did not consider free agent QBs who are seeking starting jobs in the NFL such as Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield, Russell Wilson et al.

Here is an alphabetical list of QBs who are in the job market.  I will have a short comment about some of them.  If you want a deeper dive into their qualifications let me recommend that you visit www.pro-football-reference.com and enter the name of the player you are interested in.

Before I get to the listing, let me define the qualities of a backup QB in terms that no coach or GM would ever use in public.  A backup QB is an insurance policy; like an insurance policy, the preferred course of business is never having to use the QB or the insurance.  Backup QBs, therefore, need to be ”good locker room guys” who stay out of the “news/limelight” unless they need to be called upon in an emergency.  It is that last condition that keeps players such as Colin Kaepernick, Johnny Manziel and Cam Newton off my listing here.

• Brandon Allen:  Five years in the NFL but did not appear in a game in 2023.
• Kyle Allen:  Meh!
• Matt Barkley:  In 10 seasons, he has appeared in 20 games and started 7 times.  He must be a great locker room guy …
• Jacoby Brisset:  A proven backup QB on the field and supposedly in the locker room.
• Sam Darnold:  Once a highly regarded QB prospect.
• Josh Dobbs:  Been in the NFL 4 years and has been on 5 teams; clearly, he is a “quick study”.
• Jeff Driskell:  Career backup.
• Blaine Gabbert:  Twelve years in the NFL; appeared in 69 games; 51 TDs and 50 INTs.
• Will Grier:  Started 2 games for the Panthers in 2019; 0 TDs and 4 INTs.  That is the extent of his NFL career so far.
• Tyler Huntley:  His style of play makes him a perfect backup to Lamar Jackson.
• Drew Lock:  A second round pick in 2019.
• Joe Flacco:  Maybe too old for a team to sign as its starter, but his performance in 2023 says he can be a valuable backup.
• Nick Foles:  Has not filed his “retirement papers” and is a former MVP of the Super Bowl.
• Jimmy Garoppolo:  Rumors say he will be released by the Raiders.  He must serve a two-game suspension for PEDs.  Good enough for a backup role somewhere.
• Marcus Mariota:  Good guy to fill in for a game or three if needed.
• Gardner Minshew:  He might be hoping for a starting job, but I think he is a prime candidate for a backup position.
• Nate Peterman:  Career stat here – – 4 TDs and 13 INTs …
• Brett Rypien:  Meh!
• Mason Rudolph:  He might compete for the starting job in several places, because he has shown well in the backup role.
• Trevor Siemian:  Meh!
• Easton Stick:  A late round pick in 2019; started 4 games in 2023 and the Chargers lost them all.
• Nate Sudfeld:  Meh!
• Ryan Tannehill:  Loads of NFL experience; could step in and start if needed.
• Tyrod Taylor:  Not good enough to be a starter but has played well as a backup for 5 teams since 2011.
• Mitchell Trubisky:  Once a highly regarded prospect.
• PJ Walker:  Meh!
• Carson Wentz:  Showed great promise early in his career.
• Zach Wilson:  Rumors say he will be released by the Jets.  He was the #2 overall pick in 2021.
• Jameis Winston:  He can throw a team out of a game and/or back into a game – – often in the same game.
• John Wolford:  Three years in the NFL, he did not appear in any game in 2023.

There is a potential for at least one and possibly two QBs to be added to this list in the next month or so.  In 2023, the Falcons alternated starting QBs with Taylor Heinicke and Desmond Ridder.  Frankly, neither is any great shakes as a starter and both can be perfectly useful as backups.  Rumors have it that the Falcons – – with a new head coach – – will be in the market for a starter; some rumors have them trading with the Bears for Justin Fields; other rumors have them trading up in the Draft for one of the prime QB candidates in this year’s Draft.  If the Falcons acquire a starter, one or both of Heinicke/Ridder could easily be inserted onto this listing.

The NFL free agency season begins – legally – on March 11^th; nothing official can happen until then.  However, with the convocation of agents and scouts and coaches and GMs at the NFL Combine that begins today, there will be lots of sub rosa negotiating and posturing among the attendees.

So, if your favorite NFL team needs to dip into the backup QB market, I believe that this is the universe of candidates for your GM to consider signing – – with the caveats listed above.

Finally, I began above by drawing the analogy of an NFL backup QB to an insurance policy.  So let me close with these observations about insurance policies:

“Both terrorism and insurance sell fear – – and business is business.”  Liam McCurry

And …

“If you look at how the federal government spends our money, it’s an insurance conglomerate protected by a large standing army.”  Ezra Klein

And …

“Fun is like life insurance; the older you get, the more it costs.”  Kin Hubbard

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

 

 

Some habits die hard.  One of my enduring habits is reading a hard copy newspaper in the morning.  I even have a coffee mug that says:

• “I Love the Smell of Newsprint in the Morning”

A subroutine that derives from getting the paper in the morning goes back to the time when I worked Mondays through Fridays.  Every Friday morning, I would turn to the sports section because the Washington Post would always have a listing of all the sports telecasts and broadcasts for the upcoming weekend.  I still do that, and this morning’s listings reminded me of how over-exposed college basketball is on television.

• Tomorrow in my local area, there will be 42 men’s college basketball games available for viewing plus 4 women’s college basketball games.
• As if that were insufficient, on Sunday there will be another 14 men’s games along with 16 women’s games.

Nothing exceeds like excess …

Speaking of college basketball as one of the collegiate “revenue sports”, I have commented here in the past that the NIL revolution in college sports is right and proper at its core but is problematic in its implementation.  According to a report at 247Sports.com, the University of Michigan has hired a person, Sean Magee, to fill a position there with the title “Senior Associate Athletic Director and General Manager for Football.”  The person plucked to take this job comes from the Chicago Bears where his title was “Chief of Staff”.  Here is how the Maize & Blue Review portrayed the new Michigan position:

“A college General Manager oversees all of the roster construction for a program. A decade ago, a program could work with a recruiting coordinator alone, but that is not the case anymore. Moore wants to increase the recruiting staff at Michigan, put more resources towards NIL, and still keep a focus on player retention and the transfer portal. As General Manager, Magee will oversee all of that.”

If that sounds to you as if the college football program at Michigan is morphing into a business entity that closely resembles the way NFL franchises are structured, I will violently agree.  And the evolution is not limited to football.

Villanova University has hired someone to do – essentially – the same job for the basketball program there.  Baker Dunleavy is the “General Manager of Villanova Basketball”.  Here is how the Villanova Athletic Director characterized this position at the time of Dunleavy’s hiring in 2023:

“The dramatic changes in college basketball over the past several years have brought new challenges and forced us to collectively think differently.  I believe the creation of the GM role, particularly with Baker at the helm, positions Villanova well competitively for the future. It will allow Villanova to be even more forward-thinking and bring an innovative and seasoned perspective to the ever-evolving college basketball landscape.”

Here is how the Villanova Staff Directory summarizes the responsibilities of this position:

“The General Manager supports William B. Finneran Endowed Men’s Head Coach Kyle Neptune and Women’s Head Coach Denise Dillon in managing a myriad of responsibilities that impact both programs, including opportunities and education around Name, Image and Likeness; the transfer portal; student-athlete brand-building and marketing; and advancing institutional fundraising in partnership with University Advancement. The General Manager reports directly to the … Director of Athletics.”

Cue Bob Dylan here … “For the times they are a- changin …”

I began this morning scanning the weekend sports on TV listings and I saw that the Sixers/Bucks game on Sunday will be telecast here.  I will tune in to that one for several reasons:

• The two teams are separated in the standings by only 2.5 games.
• The Sixers are “injury depleted” with Joel Embiid still on the mend.
• The Bucks have not been playing well at all over the last month or so.

On January 23 – one month ago – the Milwaukee Bucks’ record was 30-13 (win percentage = .698) and they fired their head coach Adrian Griffin.  The Bucks had  added Damian Lillard to their roster this year and the expectations were NBA Finals at least.  But despite the gaudy record, the team’s lack of defense threatened those expectations.  Hence the firing of the coach and his replacement by Doc Rivers.  At first glance, that makes good sense.  Rivers has won an NBA championship in his coaching career, and he brought a 24-year coaching history with him to the job in Milwaukee.  In those 24 years as a head coach in the NBA, Rivers only had one full season where his record was below .500.

As of this morning, the Bucks’ record is 35-21 meaning that the team has gone 5-8 (win percentage = .385) since Rivers took over.  Yes, I know that is a very small sample but the difference in the two win percentages is stunning.  Should be a game worth checking out on Sunday afternoon…

Finally, I mentioned Bob Dylan’s famous song about changing times above; so, let me close with another famous quote about changing times from President John F. Kennedy:

“Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

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