The Sports Curmudgeon

Antoine “Fats” Domino died yesterday at the age of 89.  He was one of my favorite musical performers when I was a kid.  Some brief thoughts:

• Arriving at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter says:  I Hear You Knockin’
• My reaction to news of his death:  Ain’t That A Shame
• Where to bury him:  On Blueberry Hill

Rest in peace, “Fats” Domino …

People complain about “pace of play” in baseball.  Sometimes, MLB games drag on for seeming eternity; so, I get the complaints and often agree with them.  Not last night…  Game 2 of the World Series was more than 4 hours long and none of it was bothersome.

For a short time, it appeared as if this would be labeled the “Groundhog Day Game”.  Game 1 provided a 3-1 score where the winning margin was a two-run homer by the second guy in the Dodgers’ batting order in the bottom of the sixth inning.  That happened again in Game 2; and given the effectiveness of the Dodgers’ bullpen, it appeared as if the only way it would not come to pass would be if the Dodgers added to their score.  Instead, the Astros rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning; the Astros took a 2-run lead in the 10^th; the Dodgers tied the game in the bottom of the 10^th; the Astros took another 2-run lead in the 11^th inning; and the Dodgers could only muster a single run in the bottom of the 11^th.  Final score was 7-6; the Series is tied at 1 game apiece; the teams get a day off to travel to Houston and watching Game 2 was four-plus hours well spent.

I have said that many managers tend to over-manage in the playoffs and I really think that Dave Roberts did that last night.  Dodgers’ starter, Rich Hill, threw four solid innings striking out 7 batters and allowing only 1 run; I cannot find his pitch count in the box score, but I recall glancing at the screen graphic in the fourth inning and it was in the mid-50s; for some reason, Roberts pulled him and went to the bullpen to start the fifth inning.  I cannot find any report that Hill was injured or that he needed treatment of any sort; so, I chalk that up to over-managing.

Now that he has retired from network play-by-play activities, Brent Mussberger hosts a radio program from Las Vegas that focuses on sports betting/gambling.  He is an outspoken supporter of changing the Federal law that prohibits sports betting in all but a handful of states and delegating the authority to decide on legalization to the various states.  Obviously, he and I agree on that issue almost completely.  I read a report of an interview with Mussberger that had an interesting tidbit in it.  According to him, the sportsbooks in Las Vegas took in a larger handle on college football games than they did on the NFL games last weekend.

As I read that, my first reaction was to shrug my shoulders.  After all, on a typical weekend, there are about 60 college games on the card calling for action and there are never more than 16 NFL games; last weekend, there were only 14 NFL games.  However, again according to Mussberger, this is the first weekend that has happened.

That ought to make one stop and think; wagering on football games has been a major industry in Las Vegas since the “invention” of the point spread.  Wikipedia says that a math teacher named Charles McNeil was the person who “invented” the point spread in the 1940s.  I was not sentient then; so, I cannot confirm or deny that assertion.  My point is that football wagering is not something that started as recently as the 15 minutes of fame bestowed on Linda Tripp.  [Google is your friend …]

This datum is surely not conclusive of any hypothesis but it makes me wonder about the NFL.  The Grand Canyon was formed by erosion, pebble-by-pebble; grain of sand-by-grain of sand over eons.  Erosion is almost impossible to observe in real time; it can only be seen by comparison over long periods of time.  And I wonder if this datum is one slightly visible moment of erosion of the NFL’s dominance.  Consider:

• NFL live attendance is down in most cities.  Even “good” teams/”successful” teams play games in front of empty seats.  That was rarely the case 10 years ago.  I can offer up a half-dozen reasons why this is the case in 2017 and I will acknowledge that this datum is inconclusive about almost anything.
• NFL TV ratings are stagnant at best and down in most comparisons.  For the immediate term, this is a bigger problem for the five networks that carry NFL games.  Four of those networks – FOX, CBS, NBC and ESPN – have contracts that pay the NFL a fixed sum to air the games.  If ratings drop, they do not get the same fees from advertisers and their bottom lines suffer.  However, over the long term, declining ratings can lead to declining TV rights’ fees and that would be a big deal for the NFL.
• People threaten boycotts related to the NFL.  Some want to boycott the games because they are put off by the “anthem protests”; others want to boycott games because of the league’s “insufficient” sensitivity to domestic violence issues; others want to boycott games because … [fill in the blanks here].  Boycotts rarely work but if people successfully boycott even one sponsor of NFL games and drive sales figures down significantly – and keep them down for a while – that would be a game-changer.

Now add to all those individually insignificant happenings a “downturn” in the gambling handle for NFL games.  That datum might indicate two things and neither is very good for the NFL:

1. It could mean that people are losing interest in the NFL overall.  The league would never admit it, but a significant portion of the league’s growth and popularity is due to the fact that people bet on the games – – thanks to Charles McNeil and his point spreads.
2. It could mean an acceleration in the deterioration of TV ratings because for many people who live on the West Coast, the major reason to tune in to see a game between the Dolphins and the Jags is because they have “a little something riding on the game”.

I am NOT suggesting that the NFL is in trouble or that it is doomed.  I am saying that the NFL is going through a rough patch in 2017 with regard to growing the league toward its stated objective of $25B in revenue in 2025.

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

“I watched some of the North American Wife Carrying Championships.  That way when curling comes to Omaha next month it won’t seem quite so silly.”

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

 

 

It should not come as even a small surprise to anyone who has read these rants for a while to hear that I am not someone dedicated to politically correct speech or thought.  I try not to go out of my way to say or do offensive things; but I recognize that everyone must encounter “minor offenses” on a regular basis in life; and so, I don’t think that is such a big deal.  In fact, I believe that the First Amendment guarantees that one will hear or read something offensive on a regular basis if the standard for “taking offense” is set very low.

I mention this because Al Michaels felt the need to issue an apology recently based on a remark he made about the NY Giants.  What he said was that the Giants were …

“… coming off a week worse than Harvey Weinstein.”

I’m sorry; I don’t see why that comment required an apology.  Harvey Weinstein had indeed had a bad week; he was identified as a serial sexual harasser/abuser/predator; that is a bad week for anyone.  Moreover, he stands accused of some pretty heinous behaviors/actions and – for the life of me – I have no idea why that would insulate him from scorn.

• Memo For: Al Michaels:  Kudos.  That was an apt metaphor.  No apology was needed.

While tangentially on the subject of TV sports commentators, ESPN has hired Katie Nolan after her departure from FOX Sports1.  This personnel decision has drawn a lot of media attention and I simply do not get it.  The tone of most of the commentary here is that FOX Sports1 made a huge error and ESPN scored a huge coup here.  For me, this personnel shift registers about “Meh!” on the Importance Spectrum.  Here is my bottom line:

• I do not dislike Katie Nolan in any way; at the same time, I would not tune in to any program because I knew that she was hosting it or was a guest on it.
• I saw her with Scott Van Pelt on the late-night SportsCenter show he hosts; my take-away was “Meh!”

Josh Gordon is seeking reinstatement in the NFL after his umpty-jillionth substance abuse suspension.  Frankly, I don’t care one way or the other if the NFL reinstates him or if the Browns choose to keep him on their roster if he is reinstated.  What was interesting is that Gordon claimed that when he was in college – at Baylor in the Art Briles Era there – one of the coaches “tutored him” on how to beat the drug testing he was going to have to submit to after his first substance abuse incident.

Obviously, that allegation has not been proven and the “tutoring coach” has not been identified; however, if true, this is yet another indelible stain on the Baylor football program under Art Briles.  Coaches love to portray themselves as teachers/mentors who do more than draw up game plans and design plays.  The image they like to paint for themselves is that they are in loco parentis – they are stand-in parents who mold young men into adults who are positive contributors to society.  Somehow, that image does not square with teaching substance abusers how to beat drug tests down the line…  Here is a link to the CBSSports.com report on this matter.

In one of his recent Sideline Chatter columns in the Seattle Times, Dwight Perry posed an interesting rhetorical question:

“Does reporting WWE rasslin’ results qualify as fake news?”

It seemed to me that expounding on the answer to that question might be a great mid-term question in a course on Ethics in Journalism.  And that got me to thinking about some other rhetorical questions for which I do not have great answers.  Consider:

1. Q: If all scoring plays in the NFL are automatically reviewed, why don’t they also review potential scoring plays where the ruling on the field is not a score?  [Answer: I have no idea why they do not, but they should.]
2. Q:  When will the Golden State Warriors play their first playoff game?  [Answer:  The regular season ends on Wednesday, April 11; the Warriors first playoff game will be in the most advantageous TV time-slot between April 12 and April 15.]
3. Q:  Whatever happened to Joba Chamberlain?  [Answer:  I don’t know.  What I do know is that the NYC media had him on track to become a pitcher somewhere between Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan until he wasn’t on that track any longer and they dropped coverage of him like a hot rock.]

None of my rhetorical questions would be worthy of posing to a course on Ethics in Journalism – or any other course for that matter.  But there is a question that I would like to pose here for your consideration.  Consider this your ‘homework assignment”:

• Q:  Given the recruiting scandal that is under investigation by the FBI at the moment, would you be surprised to learn that the “rating services” – the ones who declare that this kid is a 5-star recruit and that kid over there is only a 4-star recruit – receive “inducements” that might influence/inflate the ratings for specific prospects?
• If this situation were to obtain, would it bother you?
• Why or why not?

500 words or less…

Finally, here is another item from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times:

“It seems only fitting that the Red Sox handed corpulent third baseman Pablo Sandoval a $90 million contract, then had to eat nearly half of it.”

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

 

 

It is a day late but here are brief comments on the football happenings from last weekend.  As usual, I want to start with college football.

• Penn St. 41 Michigan 13:  I thought the Lions would have trouble covering a 10-point spread; so much for that.  Saquon Barkley accounted for 263 yards in the game and Michigan was shut out in the second half.
• Rutgers 14 Purdue 12:  Surprise!  Rutgers is on a two-game win streak…
• Louisville 31 Florida St. 28:  This loss puts Florida St. at 2-4 meaning the Seminoles will have to go 4-1 in remaining games to be bowl-eligible.
• Iowa St. 31 Texas Tech 13:  This win puts Iowa St. at 5-2 which is about as surprising as seeing Florida St. at 2-4.  The Cyclones have beaten Oklahoma on the road and held Texas Tech to 13 points in Lubbock.  Strange doings…
• Notre Dame 49 USC 14:  The Irish are 6-1 and the loss was by 1 point to Georgia.  The remaining schedule for Notre Dame is not a cupcake with games against NC State, Miami and Stanford on tap.
• Army 31 Temple 28 (OT):  It is not yet Halloween and Army is bowl-eligible as a result of this victory.
• Fresno St. 27 San Diego St. 3:  This loss for the Aztecs means every team in the Mountain West has 2 losses and probably means the Mountain West will not be the “other conference” to get a New Year’s Day bowl bid.  The other interesting thing here is that Fresno St. was 1-11 last year and now leads its division of the Mountain West.
• TCU 43 Kansas 0:  It is not surprising to see that TCU smoked Kansas or even that Kansas was shut out.  The surprise here is in the stats; total offense for Kansas for the game was 2 yards.  That is not a typo; passing yardage was 27 and rushing yardage was minus-25 yards.
• UMass 55 Georgia Southern 20:  UMass “improved” its record here to 1-6.  The score at halftime was 48-17 so it looks as if both offenses forgot to return to the field for the second half.

The victory for UMass allows them to join a bunch of other teams with a single victory for the season.  Several teams sport 1-7 records at this point including Bowling Green, BYU, Nevada, San Jose St. and UNC-Charlotte.  If I have counted correctly, there are only two winless teams left with 0-7 records; they are Baylor and UTEP.

Moving up to the next rung on the ladder, here is a run-down of NFL action from the weekend:

• Titans 12 Browns 9 (OT):  What is worse?  Needing OT to beat the Browns or being outgained by the Browns?  The Titans looked awful even though they won.  The Browns are a hot mess – – plain and simple.
• Rams 33 Cards 0:  Adding injury to insult, Carson Palmer broke his arm and will be out a minimum of 8 weeks. The Cards are toast!  Stand by for at least a dozen commentaries about why the Cards ought to sign Colin Kaepernick immediately.  Even if they do, their season is over.
• Jags 27 Colts 0:  The Colts should put Andrew Luck on IR immediately lest someone involved with decision making for the team be tempted to put him on the field any time this year.  He needs to heal his shoulder completely; this team is down and out for the season.  The Jags dominated both sides of the ball gaining more than 500 yards on offense while the defense pitched a shutout.
• Chargers 21 Broncos 0:  Shutouts are rare in the NFL and this is the third one for this weekend.  The Broncos’ defense played well enough to win allowing only 242 yards for the game.  But the offense was a no-show once again Trevor Simian was sacked 5 times.  Chargers have won 3 straight now.
• Bears 17 Panthers 3:  Mitchell Trubisky was the winning QB here; he completed 5 passes all day and the Bears had all of 5 first downs.  Shades of Texas football under Darrell Royal?  The margin of victory here was a scoop-and-score of 76 yards and a Pick Six both by the same defender – – Eddie Jackson.  Total offense for the Bears was 153 yards.  The Panthers managed to be less productive than that.
• Vikes 24 Ravens 16: A late TD by the Ravens makes this look closer than it really was.  The Ravens were held to 220 yards total offense.  The Vikes are looking good in the NFC North right now.
• Saints 26 Packers 17:  The Brett Hundley Era did not begin well.  He was 12-25 for 87 yards in the game and that sort of stat line will not feed the bulldog.  Meanwhile, the Saints are in the lead in the NFC South and have won 4 in a row.
• Dolphins 31 Jets 28:  Jay Cutler left this game with a chest injury and Matt Moore came in to finish the game.  The Jets led 28-14 when Cutler exited so maybe – just maybe – there is an emerging QB controversy in Miami?  A last-minute INT by Jets’ QB, Josh McCown set up the Dolphins’ winning field goal.
• Bills 30 Bucs 27:  The Bills ran the ball for 179 yards and collected 3 turnovers in the game.  Nonetheless, they needed a fumble recovery with less than 3 minutes to play to set up the winning field goal here.
• Pats 23 Falcons 7:  The Pats dominated this game on both sides of the ball.  For the first time this year, the Pats did not allow 300+ yards passing, and the Pats gained 162 yards rushing.  The Falcons have a strange schedule this year.  They play their first division game on Nov 3 and then they play 5 NFC South games after Thanksgiving.
• Steelers 29 Bengals 14:  Cincy kept it close for a while, but the Steelers were clearly the better team here.  The Bengals total offense in second half was 19 yards.
• Cowboys 40 Niners 10:  The Cowboys had 501 yards of offense here.  The Niners decided to start rookie QB CJ Beathard over Brian Hoyer.  The result was the same, however; the Niners remain winless.
• Seahawks 24 Giants 7:  The Giants only gained 177 yards on offense for the entire game.  Nevertheless, the game was close at the end of the 3^rd quarter with the Seahawks leading only 10-7.  How did that happen?
• Eagles 34 Skins 24:  Carson Wentz was the star of the show here; he led 4 TD drives of 80+ yards in this game.  The Eagles’ defense continues to generate significant pass rush using only the four down linemen.

Finally, here is a comment from syndicated columnist Norman Chad regarding the new football locker room at Texas featuring 126 flat screen TVs:

“It’s essentially Buffalo Wild Wings, without the liquor license.”

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

 

 

I know that Monday is typically the time to review the football happenings from last weekend, but I’ll kick that can down the road this week because there are a couple of things I want to get to first.  At the start of the MLB playoffs, I picked the Indians and the Dodgers to be in the World Series.  The Yankees derailed that prediction by eliminating the Indians and then the Astros secured the American League slot in the Series.  In the NL, the Dodgers cruised to victory.

One of the readers of these rants is a former colleague who has seen them from a time when they were not on the Internet; they were merely an e-mail feature.  He is a rabid Dodgers’ fan and when I mentioned that my pick to win the Series was the Indians, he called that selection wishy-washy and demanded specificity.  My reply was:

• Indians in 6 games.  Final score in Game 6 is 5-2.

That met his “specificity” request and so I’ll stick by that prediction here but change the Indians to the Astros.  So, there it is …

Recall that I wrote recently about the Commission on College Basketball convened by the NCAA.  Here is some of what NCAA President, Mark Emmert, had to say about the core mission of this Commission:

“I believe we can – and we must – find a way to protect the integrity of college sports by addressing both sides of the coin:  fairness and opportunity for college athletes coupled with enforcement capability to hold accountable those who undermine the standards of our community.”

Given how easily UNC “skated” on the charges of academic fraud – simply by pointing out that any student at UNC had the same opportunity to take these sham courses for meaningless high grades – there is now NOTHING to prevent each and every other school involved with NCAA football and/or basketball to do the same thing.  They can do this to keep completely ineducable “student-athletes” eligible and can devalue the diplomas of other students who merely attended the school that offered such sham courses.  What the NCAA must do is to come up with a deterrent.

The problem is that the deterrent needs to be on the economic axis because the motivation(s) to cheat on NCAA rules is that schools who cheat and become successful command more money for their athletic programs and teams.  It seems to me that leaves the NCAA with only a couple of avenues:

• Carve out the authority to levy fines on schools that mimic UNC’s sham course formula and those fines need to be able to get into the 8-figure range if need be.
• Start handing out suspensions to schools meaning they cannot participate in any conference games or playoff tournaments for periods of time.  That sanction will cost the school money AND it will also cost the conferences money and that might goose the self-enforcement activities just a bit.

The Commission has been “chartered” but will not meet until some time in November.  The Final Four dates for this season are set for March 31 – April 2, 2018.  I wish I could get a bet down on the proposition that whatever the Commission comes up with in terms of analysis, findings and recommendations will not be revealed until after April 2, 2018.  I do not expect the Commission report to have any blockbusters in it; nonetheless, there is no way this is going to be part of any public discussion until after the basketball season is over.

The other college basketball scandal – the so-called “bribing” of players to choose which school they will attend – is evidently an ongoing concern involving the FBI and the DoJ.  I still do not understand how and why this is a Federal criminal violation but I certainly see how it is a wrecking ball to the foundation pieces of the NCAA’s slavish devotion to amateurism in college sports.  I am now beginning to “have an issue” with some of the coverage given to the Federal probe.

After decrying the evil of the “underground recruiting economy” and focusing on the firing of Rick Pitino and the AD at Louisville, some of the national basketball commentators have moved on to the business of “tut-tutting” about how this Federal probe has brought to light what “lots of people knew about” for a long time.  When I read that sort of thing, my reaction is simple:

• If you were one of those “lots of people”, how come you did not expose this long ago?
• If you weren’t one of those “lots of people” and you were “covering” this beat, how did you miss it?

I am not the least bit surprised that recruiting scandals have gone on in college sports for decades but I am not going to try to insinuate that I had any inkling of how it worked and that money was being funneled from shoe companies to high school prospects and their families.  And I resent commentators making that sort of insinuation without also pointing out simultaneously that they missed the boat on revealing this practice earlier on.

That sort of “tut-tutting” is exactly what we saw from the baseball writers back around the turn of the century when the “steroid business” and BALCO came to light.  Lots of them said that substance abuse was and open secret in locker rooms and that “everyone knew that stuff was going on”.  Yet, none of them wrote about it until one guy asked about a bottle of stuff in plain view in Mark McGuire’s locker and José Canseco admitted that he was a PED user and so were others.  You can’t be an “expert” and “ignorant” at the same time…

The revelation of this Federal investigation comes at a most convenient time for the NCAA.  They dragged their feet on the UNC matter for years and years until they had cover to make their decision public.  This criminal probe provides that cover since it diverts attention from some existential issues for the NCAA

• The “amateurism ideal” for college athletics demands the creation of the concept of the “student-athlete”.  He gets a scholarship – and a shot at a free college education – in exchange for his athletic endeavors; it is a barter exchange.
• However, if the university does not provide him with the opportunity to get that free college education by steering him to courses that teach him nothing of value, then his “student-hood” is as much of a sham as the courses are.
• So, if the NCAA actually cares even a little bit about the “student” part of “student athlete”, they must not ignore academic frauds such as the one at UNC.  Or, they can just admit that the whole idea of the “student-athlete” is nonsense.  Academic fraud destroys the concept of “education” which is precisely what a “student” is in the process of acquiring.

Finally, with the Dodgers in the World Series, here is a comment from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times about a former dodgers’ player:

“Ex-San Cristobal mayor Raul Mondesi — the 1994 NL Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers — has been sentenced to eight years in a Dominican prison and fined $1.25 million for corruption and mishandling of public funds.

“That’s what you call a costly caught-stealing.”

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

 

 

Since it is Friday, it is time to look ahead to the football action on tap for the weekend and – per tradition – I will start with college football.  Memphis overcame a 17-0 deficit last night to beat Houston 42-38.  The surprise here is that the game was so close; just last week, Houston lost to Tulsa and gave up 45 points in the process.  Let’s just agree that Tulsa is not exactly a “powerhouse” …

Occidental College plays Division III football – or they did until the middle of last week.  Occidental canceled the rest of their season after having to forfeit its last two games for lack of healthy players.  The team only had one healthy defensive lineman and only 35 players fit to be on the field.  The team was 0-3 in the games that it did play and was outscored in those three losses by a cumulative score of 170-19.  The school did not kill off the football program; the idea is to rebuild the team and play again next year in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Whilst on the subject of Division III football, Linfield College is on track for another winning season with a 4-1 record (3-0 in conference) and a home game against George Fox University.  That game should be interesting; George Fox is 5-1 (3-0 in conference) and comes off a 58-12 win over Willamette College.

Let me take a moment to focus on some of the bad teams in college football this year:

• UTEP is the only team with 7 losses so far this year – and they are winless to boot.  Oh, they already switched coaches and are playing for an interim coach…
• San José St. is the only team at 1-7.  The win was over a Division 1-AA school and the cumulative score for the games against Division 1-A teams is 265-75.
• Baylor is 0-5 and Kansas is 1-6.  The lower rungs on the Big 12 ladder are weak.
• UMass is 0-6 and has had two BYE weeks to prepare for this week’s game against Georgia Southern (0-5).  It’s a Bagel Bowl Game.  Yippee …!
• Teams that are often above average who are stinking out the joint this year include UNC (1-6), Pitt (2-5), Mizzou (1-5), BYU (1-6) and Oregon St. (1-6).

In games this weekend:

• Tennessee visits Alabama and Bama is a 35-point favorite.  If Alabama covers – remember the Vols lost at home to Georgia 41-0 3 weeks ago – Butch Jones might need to rent a car to get home.
• LSU at Ole Miss is the most interesting SEC game this week.  Ole Miss scored 56 points last week against Vandy; the LSU defense has been excellent at times and incredibly porous at other times.
• Louisville travels to Florida St.  Both teams are having disappointing seasons.  The Louisville defense is awful; the Florida St. offense is struggling to say the least.
• Michigan visits Penn St. and Penn St. is favored by 10 points.  That line seems fat to me…
• Syracuse goes to Miami coming off an upset of then #2-ranked Clemson.  Miami is a 17-point favorite this morning.  Obviously, the oddsmaker thinks last week’s performance by Syracuse was a fluke.
• USC at Notre Dame is clearly the best rivalry game of the week.
• Colorado goes to Washington St. where the Cougars will be looking to atone for laying a giant egg last week against Cal.  Colorado’s defense has given up 75 points in the last two games.

Moving up to the NFL, the weekend began with a wacky game last night; the Raiders beat the Chiefs 31-30.  Here is a thumbnail sketch of the final 3 minutes of the wildest finish of the season:

1. Raiders force a punt and take over at their own 15 trailing 30-24.
2. On 4^th-and-11, Derek Carr completed a pass for 13 yards to the Chiefs’ 29.
3. On 3^rd-and-10, Carr threw what was ruled a TD pass – – but replay showed the receiver was down inside the 1-yardline.
4. Now the fun begins with 8 seconds to play.  An apparent TD pass was nullified by offensive pass interference.
5. With 3 seconds on the clock from the Chiefs’ 10, Carr’s pass was incomplete – – but there was defensive holding on the play
6. In an untimed down from the 5, there was another incomplete pass – – but there was defensive holding on the play.
7. In another untimed down from about the 2, Carr hit Michael Crabtree in the end zone for the winning TD.  Needless to say, there was plenty of contact by both the receiver and the defender on that play.

Anticipating a full weekend of games all of which produce that sort of cardiac conclusion is fantasy.  Nonetheless, there could be some interesting games:

• Bills/Bucs:  The Bucs are banged up – including Jameis Winston.  Perhaps we get to see more of Ryan Fitzpatrick who put 27 points on the scoreboard in the 4^th quarter of last week’s game.
• Ravens/Vikes:  It is a “purple-on-purple” game.  Expect a low-scoring defensive game here.
• Cards/Rams (in London):  If the Cards win, they will be tied with the Rams in the NFC West.  Rams’ defense will have to stop Adrian Peterson and make the Cards a 1-dimensional offense.
• Jets/Dolphins:  This is actually an important game in the AFC East.  Who had that back around Labor Day?
• Saints/Packers:  Brett Hundley is the next man up for the Packers for the foreseeable future.  All of a sudden, the Saints discovered defense…  However, remember this is an outdoor game for the Saints – – a dome dominant team.
• Broncos/Chargers:  The Chargers are on a 2-game win streak.  The Broncos dropped a turd in the punchbowl against the Giants last week.
• Cowboys/Niners:  Cowboys come off a BYE Week and draw a winless opponent.  However, the spread is only 6 points.  Hmmm…
• Bengals/Steelers:  Channeling Keith Jackson here, these two teams plain don’t like each other.
• Titans/Browns:  Titans are on the road; Titans had a short week; Titans’ QB is banged up and immobile.  Given all that the Titans are 6-point favorites in the game.  That tells you what you need to know about the Browns.
• Panthers/Bears:  Mitchell Trubisky has not seen a pass rush like the one he will see here.
• Seahawks/Giants:  The Seahawks are not a good road team and this game is a transcontinental road trip.  Are the Giants coming back to life or was last Monday an aberration?
• Falcons/Patriots (Sun Nite):  The Falcons can’t blow another halftime lead – – can they?
• Skins/Eagles (Mon Nite):  MNF gets another top-shelf game.  Even though it is early in the season, an Eagles’ win here would give them a huge lead over the Skins in the NFC East.

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

“Last Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the [University of Nebraska] homecoming king proposed to the homecoming queen and she said yes. If the bride throws the bouquet accurately, one-third of Husker fans favor starting her at quarterback.”

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

 

 

The NBA regular season is 48 hours old; it will continue for the next 6 months; only then, will most of the games on the schedule matter as much as a little bit.  However, in the first 48 hours, there have been some significant happenings.  Unfortunately, all of them have to do with injury.

• One of the big moves of the off-season was Gordon Hayward leaving the Utah Jazz to sign with the Boston Celtics.  Just minutes into the first game of the season, Hayward broke his leg and dislocated his ankle; he has undergone surgery and the prognosis is that he is done for the season.
• Another big move was Chris Paul leaving the LA Clippers to join the Houston Rockets.  There was plenty of speculation about how Paul and James Harden might operate together and in their first game it left the question begging.  In crunch time, Paul was on the bench with a sore knee.
• Oh, in that same Rockets’ game their opponent was the reigning champion Golden State Warriors who lost the game and learned that Draymond Green would need an MRI on his knee.

The injury to Hayward is clearly the most significant happening here.  The Celtics added Hayward to a roster that won more games than anyone else in the Eastern Conference last year.  Later, the Celtics traded to acquire Kyrie Irving giving up Isaiah Thomas and other assets.  Irving is an upgrade over Thomas but Thomas was an All-Star last year so the upgrade is not mind-blowing.  It was the pairing of Irving with a solid player such as Hayward on top of the already talented roster that had Celtics’ fans anticipating the season.

Oh, did I mention that Isaiah Thomas is also injured and is not expected to be available for action until mid-season?  So much for the idea that basketball is a non-contact sport…

Earlier this week, I shared my thoughts on the NCAA’s decision not to sanction UNC for the academic fraud that happened there for a period of about 20 years.  I am not going to go into that again today but I mention it only to assure that you recall that decision in light of another decision the NCAA made recently.  I know that 2017 still has a tad over 10 weeks to go until it becomes history, but I will go out on a limb and call these two proximal decision by the NCAA:

• The Exacta of Uselessness for 2017.

Stand by for the heavy lifting here…  Amid the FBI investigations into “bribery and fraud” associated with the recruiting processes in college basketball and the revelation of blatant violations of NCAA rules and regulations by coaches, players and shoe company representatives, the NCAA has taken action.  By Jove, the organization recognizes the need to do something impactful here so that it can regain control of its rules and regulations.  And so, the NCAA …

• … announced that it was forming a Commission on College Basketball; and in that announcement, it declared that in light of this criminal investigation, the time had come for “decisive action”.

I have no idea what the NCAA will identify as “decisive action” but I will say this:

• If you believe that the NCAA will put into effect “effective action” to prevent recruiting improprieties based on recommendations from the Commission on College Basketball, then you probably also believe The Nutcracker is what happens when you go off the high dive.

The Chairperson for the Commission on College Basketball is former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.  Members of the Commission will be drawn from the education community, business leaders, folks involved with collegiate sports and government in addition to former student-athletes.  So, the window dressing is in place; the credentials and the experiences of the Commission members are unassailable; all that remains is for those folks to ask what I call “The Perry Mason Question”.  Let me explain:

• In every Perry Mason episode, the mystery is unbelievably complex and opaque until about 55 minutes into the hour-long episode.  At that point, Perry Mason asks a single question of one witness and – Poof! – everything becomes clear; the way forward is obvious to all; there is never a problem again.

In real life, “The Perry Mason Question” rarely exists; and when it does, there is no guarantee that anyone will discover its existence and ask it.  But the NCAA is out to take “decisive action” and so it is interesting to see what the charge to the Commission might be.  According to NCAA President, Mark Emmert, there are 3 areas that the Commission will study:

1. Relationships between and among the NCAA, member schools and coaches with “outside entities” to include apparel companies, AAU basketball programs and agents/advisers associated with student-athletes.
2. The relationship between the NCAA and the NBA with specific focus on the effect of the “one-and-done” feature of college basketball.
3. How to promote transparency and accountability at the NCAA and its schools.

The first two areas outlined above have been studied, investigated and reported upon for decades.  The second area specifically already has an obvious answer.  The “one-and-done” situation is caused exclusively by the NBA’s existing CBA; that document created and maintained the environment that spawned “one-and-done”.  Until and unless that feature of the CBA is modified, there will be “one-and-done”.

Rather than focus on the first two areas, let me jump down to the third one on that list and point out – ever so politely – that the NCAA has been around since the time when Theodore Roosevelt was President; in fact, President Roosevelt is credited with founding the NCAA.  Here we are about 110 years after its formation and the NCAA finds it necessary to have a Commission make recommendations on how to promote transparency and accountability for itself and its member schools.  This will not qualify as a “Perry Mason Question” but let me ask it anyway:

• Why does an organization made up of adults who profess to be honorable individuals need to promote transparency and accountability?

Let me answer that question:

• There is no transparency and accountability simply because the adults involved here are not honorable folks and find the concepts of transparency and accountability to be antithetical to their personal agendas.

Not to prejudge the work of Secretary Rice and her Commission colleagues, but I doubt that they will arrive at my answer above.

Finally, Brad Rock of the Deseret News likened the ambience of college athletics to a different form of fiction/entertainment than I did here:

“A University of Alabama rules administrator has resigned following a federal investigation of college athletics.

“The hook is that he previously was assistant director of enforcement at the NCAA. Hmmm. Good guy goes to the dark side.

“Isn’t this the storyline of every superhero movie ever?”

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

 

 

I am striding out onto thin ice today; I want to talk about Colin Kaepernick’s grievance filed under the CBA against the NFL for collusion; as I have mentioned here many times, I am not an attorney; this topic is anywhere but “in my wheelhouse”.  Kaepernick has filed this grievance alleging that the reason he remains unemployed as a quarterback in pro football is his peaceful protest at the start of NFL games last season.  Here are statements from his representatives:

“If the NFL (as well as all professional sports leagues) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful political protest – which the owners themselves made great theater imitating weeks ago – should not be punished and athletes should not be denied employment.

“Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and harkens back to our darkest days at a nation.  Protecting all athletes from such collusive conduct is what compelled Mr. Kaepernick to file his grievance.

“Colin Kaepernick’s goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for, and to return to the football playing field.”

In a Ken Burns documentary, that statement would be read in a solemn voice with The Battle Hymn of the Republic played on a harmonica as soft background music.  I would like to make two observations about those statements:

1. Peaceful political protest should not be punished for hundreds of reasons – probably the least of which is to maintain the “meritocracy status” of the NFL.
2. I am totally unclear on what the statement refers to as our “darkest days as a nation” since what we are talking about here is a grievance about employment.  In my opinion, our “darkest days” were the times of the Civil War in the 1860s and for the life of me, I have no idea how this grievance relates to that or how this peaceful protest relates to the anything-but-peaceful political protests of that time.

From what I have read, to prove collusion one needs concrete evidence.  When the MLB owners were found guilty of collusion there were written exchanges found in the discovery process that laid open what they had done.  It seems to me that the existence – or the non-existence – of such memos/e-mails/text messages/whatevers is the key to this case.  And I think that is an important point.

In a legal process like this, it is important to focus on what the plaintiff can prove as opposed to what the plaintiff can allege and build a circumstantial case around.  Do I believe that Colin Kaepernick’s “national anthem behavior” last year is the reason he is unemployed now?  Yes, I do.  Do I believe that the NFL owners as a group – with or without participation from the NFL Front Office – ever sat down and mutually agreed that none of them would allow Colin Kaepernick to play in the NFL ever again?  Someone will have to provide me with some evidence there.

And to prove collusion, that is the evidence the Kaepernick legal team will have to present.  It is not important to consider what “everyone knows” or “everyone thinks” in a matter such as this.  Recall the OJ Simpson trial in the 90s; loads of people “knew” that he murdered two people but the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to convict him.  In the legal world, OJ Simpson did not commit those two murders; that is the fact of that matter.

The statements made so far are PR statements and nothing more.  Most of the analysis provided by talking heads on TV and columnists are commentaries on the merits of filing such a grievance.  Let me suggest that everyone take a deep breath here and wait to see evidence of collusion and not arm-waving assertions of how it must be the case.  A grievance should not be decided based on a well-scripted conspiracy theory.  If that were to happen, it would be a dark day for us as a nation.

Changing direction here, I want to play a little game with you.  Consider these data on 5 NFL head coaches all of whom plied their trade in the modern era.  No one here is George Halas or Curly Lambeau or Paul Brown.

• Coach A:  17 years as a Head Coach.  Record was 143-112-0.  Winning percentage = .561.  He is the Hall of Fame.
• Coach B:  19 years as a Head Coach.  Record was 172-130-1.  Winning percentage = .569.  He is the Hall of Fame.
• Coach C:  10 years as a Head Coach.  Record was 92-59-1.  Winning percentage = .609.  He is the Hall of Fame.
• Coach D:  16 years as a Head Coach.  Record was 154-94-0.  Winning percentage = .621.  He is the Hall of Fame.
• Coach E:  19 years as a Head Coach.  Record was 178-115-1.  Winning percentage = .607.  He is NOT the Hall of Fame.

Presented that way, you might think that “Coach E” should have no trouble with the Hall of Fame Selection Committee – – unless you think that the four coaches on this list above him are really not worthy of such an honor themselves.  So, let me reveal the names here:

• Coach A is Marv Levy.  I have no problem with him being in the Hall of Fame.
• Coach B is Bill Parcells.  I have no problem with him being in the Hall of Fame.
• Coach C is Bill Walsh.  I have no problem with him being in the Hal of Fame.
• Coach D is Joe Gibbs.  I have no problem with him being in the Hall of Fame – but I do wish that he had never come back for a second stint with the Skins which sullied his record and reputation instead of enhancing it.

There are going to be lots of NFL fans who will be unhappy to know that Coach E is Andy Reid – a man who took over two downtrodden teams and produced 19 productive years and counting.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Andy Reid to attract Hall of Fame consideration once he retires.

Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“The state granted Miami’s Magic City Casino permission to replace its dog races with jai-alai matches. ‘Damn!’ said one of the greyhounds. ‘And just when I was finally gaining on that !@#$ing rabbit!’ “

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

 

 

The Yankees and the Cubs lost their first two League Championship Series games on the road and face “must-win” games at home.  Both teams have seen their bats go silent; the Cubs have 7 hits in 2 games; the Yankees have only 10 hits in 2 games.  I have been saying for much of the MLB season that the Astros were fun to watch; if José Altuve’s mad dash home to win Game 2 of the ALCS does not convince you they are fun to watch, I would have to conclude you just don’t like baseball.

It was a wild and wacky weekend in terms of football outcomes so let me begin with college football.  The schedule did not provide many games where both squads were ranked so the upsets last week were even more stunning than usual:

1. Syracuse 27 Clemson 24:  Just about everyone had Clemson running the table this year and meeting Alabama in the CFP championship game for the 3^rd year in a row.  If Clemson was going to lose a game, it certainly would not have been to Syracuse.  Except it was – and it happened last weekend.  To make it worse, Clemson QB, Kelly Bryant had to leave the game with a concussion.
2. Cal 37 Washington St. 3:  This was not a fluke; Cal held Wash St. to 257 yards passing and only 23 yards rushing.  One DL for Cal, Ross Bowers, recorded 9 sacks in this game and Cal intercepted Luke Falk 5 times.
3. Arizona St. 13 Washington 7:  Arizona St. held the Huskies to 139 yards passing in the game and 91 yards rushing.  Washington missed two field goals in the game and both were less than 30-yard attempts.  The importance of the Apple Cup game took a hit this weekend.
4. LSU 27 Auburn 23:  Auburn was looking at a “1-game season” in their game against Alabama but LSU came back from a 20-0 deficit in the second quarter to win the game.  Auburn QB, Jarrett Stidham was held to 9 for 28 for 165c yards in the game.
5. Memphis 30 Navy  27:  This was the first loss of the season for the Middies and that makes 5 undefeated teams that lost that status this week.  Wow!
6. Oklahoma beat Texas in their rivalry game and – looking ahead – the Oklahoma/TCU game is one to circle on the calendar.
7. Speaking of TCU, they avoided losing their undefeated status this weekend beating K-State by 20 points at K-State.  TCU is a good football team…
8. Miami stayed unbeaten too with a come-from-behind-win over Georgia Tech.  The Hurricanes were down 11 points in the third quarter and rallied to win by 1 point.
9. Speaking of comebacks, W. Virginia trailed Texas Tech 35-17 in the middle of the third quarter.  Then things changed and the Mountaineers won the game 46-35.  Yowza!
10. Iowa St. followed up on their upset of Oklahoma last week by trouncing Kansas 45-0.  It is never a shock to see Kansas get stomped in a football game; but still, someone might want to check the contents of those Gatorade jugs on the Iowa St. sidelines…
11. Boston College beat Louisville 45-42.  Yes, BC scored 45 points in a single football game; normally, that takes about 10 quarters for them to accomplish.  Louisville has now lost 3 games and Lamar Jackson can forget about repeating as the Heisman Trophy winner.
12. Carolina beat Tennessee 15-9 in Knoxville, TN. That makes the Vols 0-3 in the SEC and I suspect that there are some Tennessee boosters that are calling to find out just how much “buyout money” there is in Butch Jones’ contract.
13. And just to show that there is some stability in college football, Alabama beat Arkansas 41-9 and in doing so held Arkansas to 27 yards rushing for the day.

I guess the NFL teams checked the Sunday morning papers and figured that this was “Upset Week” and wanted to get in on the action.  Ten underdogs covered on Sunday out of twelve games.

1. The Dolphins trailed the Falcons 17-0 at the half and came back to win the game 20-17.  Forget the Falcons’ epic collapse in the Super Bowl last year; that was last year.  In the 2017 season, the Falcons have been outscored in the second half 72-40 and they have already lost 2 home games.  Meanwhile, the Dolphins with their dink-and-dunk offense and Jay Cutler at the helm are 3-2 – – same as the NFC defending champion Falcons.
2. The Skins narrowly beat the Niners 26-24.  Remember, I said the Skins tend to play down to the level of their opponent; they were 11.5-point favorites at kickoff and did not come close to covering.
3. The Saints beat the Lions 52-38.  Halfway through the 3^rd quarter, the Saints led 45-10 and then the Lions got on a roll and almost made a game of it.
4. The Pats beat the Jets by a TD and there was a most controversial booth-review and the overturning of a call on the field that would have given the Jets the tying TD.  Instead it was ruled a touchback giving the Pats the ball at their 20-yardline.  It changed the game.
5. It took overtime, but the Bears beat the Ravens.  Mitchell Trubisky won his first NFL game as a starting QB.
6. The Cards led the Bucs 31-6 at the end of the 3^rd quarter and Jameis Winston was on the sidelines.  So, Ryan Fitzpatrick put 27 points on the board in the 4^th quarter to make this a game; the cards did prevail 38-33.
7. The Chiefs were the only undefeated NFL team as of Sunday morning.  Then the Steelers showed up in KC and beat the Chiefs 19-13.  The Steelers’ defense held Chiefs’ RB, Kareen Hunt, to 21 yards on 9 attempts.
8. The Chargers beat the Raiders 17-16 even though Darek Carr returned from his back injury.
9. The most surprising result of all, however, was the Giants going to Denver and beating the Broncos 20-10 – and the score looks closer than the game really was because of a late TD by the Broncos.

Finally, I mentioned above that Lamar Jackson was not going to repeat as the Heisman trophy winner and that brought to mind this comment from Brad Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald regarding another potential Heisman candidate:

“Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor has launched his own Heisman Trophy campaign. What would it take for a punter to win the Heisman? First, an offense that stinks a lot.”

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

 

 

I got lots of stuff to cover today and not a lot of time to do it.  So, on with the show…

The Cubs advance to the NLCS to meet the Dodgers after beating the Nats 9-8 last night.  Forget any nonsense you read about a “Washington Sports Curse”; the Cubs played better baseball than the Nats last night and they get to move on while the Nats get to preen as they look over their stats.  Because baseball seasons are as long as they are, there is a completely different environment surrounding a “win-or-go-home game” in the playoffs.  And last night the overmanaging by both Joe Maddon and Dusty Baker dragged this game out for an eternity.  I did not time it but it had to be about four-and-a-half hours.

• Both teams used 7 pitchers.
• All 14 pitchers hosted meetings on the mound with varied attendance all night long.
• Each team had 19 players participate.
• I believe only 3 team at-bats were “three-and-out” all night long.

Eerily, the Nats led 4-3 in the top of the fourth when Dusty Baker began his “strategery” and pulled starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez.  The Nats went on to lose the game.  That is the same thing that former Nats’ manager, Davey Johnson, did to Gonzalez in 2012.  And once again, the Nats’ bullpen – and ironically the Nats’ best starting pitcher for the last two seasons – coughed up a hairball and the Nats’ season came to an end.

Dusty Baker is a baseball lifer and is seemingly liked by just about everyone.  I think that gives him a pass on some of his playoff managerial decisions that always seem to backfire.

Since it is Friday – and Friday the 13^th no less – I want to look at what is on the menu this weekend regarding football.  Let me start with college football.

Earlier this week, I summarized last weekend’s activity and made no mention of Washington beating Cal 38-7.  The reason for that omission was that I was hardly surprised by the result and it was not a rivalry game.  However, a reader who is a Washington alum pointed out that I had neglected to point out something unusual from the game:

• The stats say Cal ran the ball 25 times for a minus-40 yards.
• In college football, sacks are recorded as rushing attempts; in this game, the Cal QB was sacked 9 times for minus-41 yards.  That explains the highly negative output but it also means that on real running attempts, Cal tried to run 16 times and gained a net of 1 yard.

A tip of the hat to my informant here…  That is a stat worthy of mention.

I said last week the Oregon St. might be looking for a new coach sometime soon.  Well, that time arrived earlier this week; Gary Andersen resigned as head coach.  Maybe he was nudged; but according to reports, by resigning he left $12.6 million on the table; Oregon St. had given him a contract extension last January and that is what he had coming to him.  Andersen had been at Oregon St. since the start of the 2015 season going there after a successful stint at Wisconsin.  Things did not go well at Oregon St.; his record there was 7-23; in the last 4 games, his team lost by a cumulative score of 180-54.

File these circumstances under the heading “Rubbing It In”:

• Rutgers ranks 13^th in the Big 10 in Total Offense and 123^rd in the country.
• Originally, Saquon Barkley and Jonathon Taylor both “committed” to Rutgers only to change their minds later.
• Barkley is a Heisman-contender at RB for Penn State and leads the Big 10 in all-purpose yards.
• Taylor is the featured RB at Wisconsin averaging 7.9 yards per carry and ranking 2^nd in the big 10 in all-purpose yards.

There are still 13 unbeaten teams in Division 1-A.  Everyone knows about the “big-boys” here like Alabama and Clemson and Georgia and Miami and Penn St. and TCU and Wisconsin.  Keep an eye on:

Regarding top games this weekend:

1. Texas/Oklahoma:  This is the biggest game of the weekend and the best rivalry game of the weekend by far.  Both teams have shown well at time this year and both teams have embarrassing losses on their record; Texas lost to Maryland and Oklahoma lost to Iowa St.  Both teams can lose this game.
2. Arkansas/Alabama:  Bama is a 31.5-point favorite; the Arkansas program is staggering at this point; this will be ugly.
3. Carolina at Tennessee: Butch Jones needs another conference loss at home like a moose needs a hat rack.
4. Auburn/LSU:  LSU is coming off a road win; Auburn still has a chance to be the SEC West champ; LSU is “offensively challenged”; the game is in Baton Rouge.  The oddsmaker has the Total Line at 43.5; that seems about right…
5. Utah/USC:  If Utah prevails here, it will be because their defense won the game.
6. Michigan St./Minnesota:  Can “Sparty” build on its upset win from last week or will there be a rapid deflation?

Just the luck of the draw, but lots of conference games this weekend have blowout potential.  It is just a twist of the schedule.  However, as usual, there are some games that pair two really mediocre teams:

1. Northwestern/Maryland:  Who cares?
2. Rutgers/Illinois:  Even the coaches shouldn’t care.
3. Appalachian St./Idaho:  Not exactly a “border war” game.
4. New Mexico St./Ga Southern:  NM St. is a two-touchdown favorite on the road in this game.  Let that sink in…

Before I list the NFL games that are interesting this week, I want to point you to a column by Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post earlier this week.  I think this is the best summation of the conflicting views surrounding the “National Anthem Protests” and it articulately points out that both sides of the argument may be right and both may be wrong.  I am incapable of summarizing it in a befitting way and I would ask you to follow this link and read the column in its entirety.  It is worth the time and effort.

And here are the NFL games of interest for this week:

1. Chargers at Raiders:  Will Derek Carr be back for the Raiders already?  Raiders’ fans must hope this is not a “panic move” that might lead to further injury.  The Raiders have other significant issues above and beyond Carr’s absence from the lineup such as an under-performing defense (31^st in the league), “Beast Mode” looking more like “Lap-Dog Mode” and Amari Cooper disappearing as well as his namesake, D. B. Cooper.
2. Giants at Broncos (Sun Nite):  Giants suspended Dominic Rogers-Cromartie “indefinitely” this week after some sort of altercation/confrontation with coaches.  [Aside:  The CBA says a team can not suspend a player for longer than 4 games so “indefinitely” has a limit here.]  Given the Giants’ horrid offense and the Broncos excellent defense, the question here is if the Giants can score into double-digits.
3. Browns at Texans:  Beat writers should be furious with Hue Jackson and his decision to start Kevin Hogan at QB this week.  Had he stuck with DeShone Kizer, lots of those beat writers would have done a riff on the matchup of DeShone versus Deshaun this week.  Too bad; it might have been the most interesting thing about this game.
4. Niners at Skins:  This is the return to DC of Kyle Shanahan; do not expect a warm welcome…  The Skins are the better team with more talent; history says that the Skins play down to the level of opponents that they outmatch on paper.  Skins are 11-point favorites…
5. Colts at Titans (Mon Nite):  When the post the line, seriously consider taking the UNDER if Ryan Mallett is starting for the Titans.  That game might be 3-0 at halftime…
6. Rams at Jags:  When I was perusing the schedule to do my NFL Predictions back in August, I did not focus on this game as one of the best matchups of the week.  You probably didn’t either.  Jags are a 3-point favorite here; I think the Rams are the better team.

Finally, since I mentioned Rutgers’ offensive woes earlier on, here is a comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times that speaks to the futility there:

“Rutgers’ football program was put on two years’ probation on a “failure to monitor” rap.

“Even more embarrassing, the Scarlet Knights broke the rules — and the team sucked anyway.”

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