The Sports Curmudgeon

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………

 

 

The US will not compete in the World Cup tournament in Russia in 2018.  The immediate reason for that is the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) lost to Trinidad and Tobago a couple of days ago.  As of this morning, Trinidad and Tobago ranks 99^th in the world on the FIFA World Table; that puts it two notches behind Mauritania and two notches above Madagascar.  And the US lost to that team in a situation where a win or a tie guaranteed the Americans a trip to the World Cup.  That is about as embarrassing as losing a game to the Cleveland Browns.

Forget all the nonsense you may have read about how this sets back the development of soccer as a major sport in the US.  The US would have struggled to make it out of the Group stage in the World Cup and was not going to win the tournament.  A World Cup is what it would take to have soccer take meaningful strides in the US as a major sport; that was simply not going to happen.  Here is the most important take-away from this embarrassing loss:

• In his post-game press conference, US Coach, Bruce Arena, expressed his shock and his dismay at the outcome and said that the team should be in the World Cup tournament.  Then he added that there was no reason to make sweeping changes to US Soccer; he said that there was a solid and progressive system in place and this was not the time to contemplate significant changes.

Excuse me?  You lost a play-in game to the 99^th best team in the world and you think everything is hunky-dory?  Here is the logical end-point to that line of thinking:

• This sort of thing will happen again.

Looking analytically and not emotionally at the situation, men’s soccer in the US is a niche sport that is played mainly in the suburbs.  Even in that suburban sports environment, the best athletes do not tend to gravitate to soccer over football, basketball and baseball and the coaching/training available to most suburban soccer players is amateurish.  That is the current state of affairs as overseen by the US Soccer nabobs.  Those folks – the ones who hired Bruce Arena – need to look at their programs and their structures to figure out why the USMNT lost to Trinidad and Tobago and to figure out how to prevent that from happening again.

Notwithstanding Bruce Arena’s self-interested statement, this is exactly the time for thought, analysis and then significant change.  One thing that might be very beneficial would be to identify young talent early on and then to send those young players overseas for soccer training at some of the academies there.  I am not a soccer expert but when I watch European players as opposed to American players, they play differently.  European players seem to know what they are going to do with the ball before it arrives on their foot; American players seem to focus on trapping the ball and setting up to do something that they will figure out once they have the ball controlled.  I doubt that is genetic; I suspect it is taught – – except not in whatever US teaching/training programs exist.

Since I mentioned the Cleveland Browns above – in great literature that is called foreshadowing; here it is called a convenient coincidence – the team has decided to bench rookie QB, DeShone Kizer this week and to start Kevin Hogan.  Since the Browns were reborn in 1999, their cumulative record is 88-205; that is a winning percentage of .300; their number of starting QBs over that stretch is measured in dozens; the current head coach has a record of 1-20 since his arrival; the GM and much of the Front Office come from the world of baseball and they are devoted to advanced analytics.  If NFL Films decides to do an hour-long feature on this mess, here is my suggested title:

• Moneyball Comes To Cleveland

Whatever advanced algorithms are in use by the Browns’ Front Office, may I suggest that they need more work.  Indeed, the team roster was devoid of sufficient talent a few years ago and just about nowhere was the talent deficit starker than at the QB position.  So, what did the analytics tell the Browns to do in free agency and in the NFL Draft?

1. Two years ago, the analytics said to pass on drafting Carson Wentz in the #2 slot and trade down with the Eagles.  I am not nearly ready to anoint Wentz as a great QB, but he is a whole lot better than anyone who has played the position – or been on the roster to run the scout team in practice – for the Browns in the last two seasons.  The Front Office explained their choice saying that their data did not project Wentz as a top 20 NFL QB.  Compare that standard to the QBs on the Browns’ roster today (DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan and Cody Kessler) and ask which of them the analytics projects as a Top 20 NFL QB…
2. Last year, the analytics said to do the same thing to DeShaun Watson and wait to draft Deshone Kizer in the second round.  (Actually, the Browns passed on Watson twice since they had the 1^st overall pick and then, the 12^th overall pick which they traded away to Texas to allow the Texans to draft Watson.)

This week, the Browns travel to Houston to face DeShaun Watson and the Texans.  If Kevin Hogan leads the Browns to a win, you can be certain that the Cleveland papers will anoint the team as “Hogan’s Heroes”.  If, however, they lose [Aside:  The Texans are minus-500 on the money line.] and Watson lights the Browns’ defense up, someone should ask the GM what he was thinking.  His perfect response would be to channel Sergeant Schultz and say:

“I know nuuuuthing.”

It would at least be very close to the truth…

Oh, speaking of DeShaun Watson as the Texans’ QB, let us just say that Bill O’Brien has made do with some quarterbacking mediocrity since his arrival in Houston.  Prior to drafting Watson – and inserting him into the lineup in Game 1 – here are the Texans’ QBs that have given the team three consecutive winning records:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick
2. Brian Hoyer
3. Case Keenum
4. Ryan Mallett
5. Brock Osweiler
6. Tom Savage
7. T.J. Yates

I do not want to anoint DeShaun Watson as an all-time NFL great just yet, but looking at his seven predecessors as the Texans QBs, can we agree that they would not be known as The Magnificent Seven?

Finally, since I have been talking about quarterbacks here, let me close with an observation made by Dandy Don Meredith about his Cowboys’ coach, Tom Landry:

“Coach Tom Landry is such a perfectionist that if he was married to Raquel Welch, he would expect her to cook.”

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

 

 

I am going to stray off the normal path of these rants today.  I have run across some reports which are tangential to the sports world or which involve sports that I do not comment on regularly here.  Let me start with European professional golf.  The Euro Tour is an established professional golf tour in Europe and according to reports, they will experiment with a rule imposition in the Austrian Open this year.

• The Euro Tour will use a shot clock in the Austrian Open this year.

Here is the deal:

• Players will have 40 seconds to get off their shot.  The report I read was not clear on what constitutes the beginning of the countdown, but once it starts a player needs to execute the shot within 40 seconds.
• The first failure to get a shot off in the required time will get the player a “yellow card”.  [Aside:  This is Europe after all where soccer is king.  There should be no surprise to see a “soccer-influence” on the penalties here.]
• For each subsequent violation of the shot clock, a player will be given a penalty stroke.

I think that this sort of rule would be a boon to golf on TV.  I am not a consumer of golf on TV except for the weekends of the major tournaments; so, I am not the target demographic for people at the PGA who want to increase TV audiences.  However, what will get me to change the channel quickly is to watch a professional golfer take 3 minutes to study and line up a putt.  That is not good TV and that is not critically important to a professional golfer.

As with just about any rule change, most of the current pros will probably not like it; I get that.  However, if it gooses TV ratings even 5%, that means increased ad revenues for the networks and that means more prize money for tournaments down the line.  Yes, that is trickle-down economics; but in this case, it works.  You can read more about this concept here.

Another interesting development tangential to the sports world is a report that Nike has received “a swath of patents” related to a new self-lacing sneaker that will sell for $700.  Lest you think I only imagined something so out of the ordinary, here is a link to a report on the subject.

These are going to be high-tech shoes.  They will have sensors in the soles that will keep the shoe attached to the foot with the same pressure as the wearer does different things with his feet.  Nike says this new shoe – currently called the Hyperadapt 2.0 – will be used in NBA games and that would indicate to me that Nike has already set in motion plans with some of its NBA player-partners to sport these shoes in live competition.

According to the report linked above, this new shoe represents the first “high-tech” adaptation to the shoe industry since “light-up shoes” about 25 years ago.  Fortunately, there is no mention of marrying “light up shoes” with “self-lacing shoes”.  I recall when light up shoes first hit the market and I was officiating a basketball game where two of the players were wearing them.  Talk about distracting…

There was a time about 2 years ago when stories about the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar were front and center on a regular basis.  In more recent times, that subject has been quiescent other than a few stories recently alleging that Qatar has been using North Korean workers to build some of the needed venues and that those wages actually go to pay for parts of the North Korean nuclear development program.  I do not know if that is the case; I would hope it was not the case; it would surprise me to learn that it is indeed the case.

Now, there is a hint that perhaps the 2022 FIFA World Cup will not take place in Qatar after all.  We know for sure that there were “irregularities” in the bidding process that awarded the tournament to Qatar in the first place.  We also know for sure that the summer weather in Qatar is not conducive to playing championship level soccer; the average high temperature in Qatar from the beginning of May until late in September is 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher – – and it tends to be humid then too.  FIFA may need to stage the World Cup tournament in the winter months and many of the powerful leagues and associations around the world are not thrilled with that idea.  Notwithstanding those “irregularities” or the “climatological realities”, FIFA has pressed on with the idea that the 2022 World Cup Tournament will take place as announced.  Until now …?

The BBC obtained a copy of a report prepared by an international management consulting firm which concluded that the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar is a “high-risk project”.  Let’s count some of the ways – over, above and beyond the health risks imposed on players and fans by the heat of the day:

• Qatar is currently embroiled in diplomatic squabbles with some – but not all – of its neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula plus Egypt.
• The current cost estimate for presenting the tournament is in the neighborhood of $200B.  We are still 5 years away from the start of the tournament and none of these sorts of projects ever come in “under the estimate”.
• The FIFA President – the guy who took over after the “Qatar bidding irregularities” led to investigations that led to a housecleaning at the top of FIFA – has said that Qatar is in a “diplomatic crisis” but that FIFA is not considering any change of venue.

For the record, FIFA has moved a World Cup Tournament in the past.  In 1986, the World Cup was to take place in Colombia but economic factors and some ongoing drug wars in the country suggested that a change of venue would make sense.  Those games were played in Mexico that year; there is precedent here.

Finally, here is a comment from Brad Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald regarding the emergence of professional tag as a competitive sport in Europe:

“There is a new competitive sport: Tag. The good news is it shouldn’t take long to explain the rules.”

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

 

 

Yesterday was a great day to be a sports fan with cable TV access until the final helping.  The Yankees evened their series with the Indians at 2-2 in what was the least exciting baseball game of the day.  The Dodgers competed their sweep of the D-Backs in the NL in workmanlike fashion.  Then, there were the other two games;

1. The Cubs beat the Nats 2-1 to take a series lead of 2-1.  They did this despite Max Scherzer throwing six-and-a-third innings and giving up only 1 hit and 1 run.  The Nats led 1-0 at the time but the three relievers that followed Scherzer could not hold the lead.  Dusty Baker has been questioned in the past for some of his playoff decisions and there were two in this game that will attract scrutiny.  The first was pulling Scherzer – presuming that Scherzer’s hamstring injury did not flare up – and the decision to pitch to Anthony Rizzo with first base open in the eighth inning will be “examined” if the Nats lose the series.
2. The Astros closed out the Red Sox in the ALDS.  This was the best game of the day because the Astros had to find a way to score 3 runs off Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrell to get the win.  Make no mistake, Sale and Kimbrell are both excellent but the Astros did what was necessary with 2 runs in the eighth inning and another run in the ninth inning to move on.  The winning run was driven in by Carlos Beltran; it seems as he has been around since the time when the world’s oldest profession was merely a hobby.

And then, there was Monday Night Football.  After a main course of those two great baseball games, the dessert offered by MNF was disappointing at best.  Imagine yourself at a fine-dining event with a fixed menu where you have had a stunning appetizer and main course only to discover that your dessert is broccoli and brussels sprouts pudding.  Yeah, that’s about right…

Even though the game was close throughout, it was a mess because the reason it was close was that neither team could do diddley-squat on offense.  The Vikes started Sam Bradford at QB and he was clearly still aching; he could not move well and his throwing motion was forced and erratic.  After halftime, Case Keenum came to the rescue…  Meanwhile, last night was the dawning of the Age of Mitchell Trubisky in Chicago.  He did not throw up on his shoes but he wasn’t very good either; Jon Gruden tried to make it seem as if he was doing lots of good things but that just did not pass the eyeball test.

I meant to include this comment from Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle in yesterday’s football roundup, but I missed it in my notes.  It deals with the controversy last week over Cam Newton’s troglodyte-like remarks to a female reporter; let me put it here:

“Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has a favorite saying. In urging his players to focus on the job at hand and shut out distractions, he reminds them, ‘Be where your feet are.’

“Newton’s spent all last week in his own mouth.”

Believe it or not, the NBA Exhibition Season is in full swing; it seems as if they just finished the playoffs a week and a half ago.  There has been lots of movement and change in the league over the summer but I doubt that I will care about more than a game-or-two between the start of the season and mid-February.  The NBA did make a change to the format of its All-Star Game.  The player selection for the game itself remains the same; there is fan voting, press voting and player voting to determine who is going to be in the game.  The change is that the two players who get the most votes will then “choose up sides” in playground style to set the teams for the game.  Wow!  I don’t know if my heart can take that level of excitement and tension…

The “problem” with the NBA All-Star Game – the reason that it is ridiculed – has nothing to do with how the two teams on the court are formed.  The “problem” is very simple but it is not one that the league or the players’ union wants to articulate:

• The NBA All Stars dog it in the All-Star Game.  They do not even pretend to play actual NBA basketball; they do not even give a good imitation of someone going through the motions to play basketball.
• They are entertainers who are ripping off the crowd that came to see them.  It is like going to a piano concert by Vladimir Horowitz and when he comes onto the stage all he does is play chopsticks.

In an attempt to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records in the category “Most Irrelevant Topic for Debate Ever”, the people covering the NBA have given us a 3-day discussion of Jeremy Lin’s choice of how to wear his hair.  Seriously …

Remember the D-League – – the minor leagues of pro basketball in the US?  Well, it is now the G-League and the “G” stands for Gatorade.  The other interpretation is that the G-League is three grades below what used to be the D-League but that would be ungenerous of me to point out.  The G-League has an Exhibition Season too; how much would they have to pay you to go and watch one of those events?

The NBA and the G-League are doing some experimenting with the G-League Exhibition Games and with the G-League games in November.  They are going to use 4 officials in those games plus they will try using 5 officials in a half-dozen or so games.  I remember that the D-League did some games with 4-person officiating crews so my only conclusion is that someone still thinks this is a good idea.

I officiated basketball for 37 years albeit not at any level remotely close to the D-League or the NBA.  The change to 3-person crews was beneficial to the game; when I watch NBA contests, I do not see many situations where officials are so out of position that they cannot make proper calls because they cannot see the action on the court clearly.  I think 4-person crews are overkill and the idea of a 5-person crew is redundantly superfluous.

Finally, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle seems to agree with me regarding expanded officiating crews in the NBA based on this comment:

“Another suggestion for the NBA: The Gatorade League (formerly D League) will experiment with four refs. The NBA should follow suit, but the fourth ref should be a trained acting coach whose job will be to call flops. James Harden would soon be playing in the G League.”

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