The Sports Curmudgeon

Congratulations to the Florida Gators as the National Champions of college basketball for 2025 with an exciting and entertaining victory over Houston in the Final Game of March Madness.  I don’t know what more one might ask of the three games that led from the Final Four to Florida’s championship status; all three games featured dramatic come-from-behind rallies by the winners and all three games were seriously in doubt in the final two minutes of the contests.  In the three games this weekend, the team that had the lead at halftime wound up losing the game.  On the “Entertainment Scale” those Final Four Games pegged the needle on the “Wow Meter”.

Until I checked my email yesterday afternoon, it had not registered with me that “Mattress Mack” had not been in the news for making a large wager on the Houston Cougars to win the National Championship; he is the “Ultimate Houston/Texas Sports Fan”.  The email I received from the “reader in Houston” explained the situation.  Here is the scoop:

“Mack lost a lot of money recently to casinos regarding his promotions to return money to those who spent more than $4,000 on mattresses, so he sat out the annual NCAA promotion where he would refund money if a team from Texas won the tourney.

“For the baseball season, he has a new gimmick though. If the Astros win 10 straight (they’ve done it seven times over the last decade), he will give full refunds to those who spend over $4,000 on mattresses.

“If the Astros win 9 straight, he can hedge his potential refund to customers by going against the Astros in their next game, if he so wishes. However, with the Astros team this season, winning seven straight is a longshot, let alone ten straight.”

The Astros indeed lost some quality players in the last offseason; Kyle Tucker went to the Cubs; Justin Verlander went to the Giants and Alex Bregman signed with the Red Sox.  Those are serious losses.  However, the Astros also added Isaac Parades and Christian Walker to the roster, so the team is not exactly bereft of talent.  Jose Altuve, Yanier Diaz and Yordan Alvarez are a solid core for the Astros’ lineup.

Switching gears …  The NBA regular season is just about over.  There is minimal tension left in the schedule; the playoff teams are set in the Eastern Conference and only one playoff slot is uncertain in the West where the Mavs lead the Suns by 3 games with four games left to play for both teams.  This year, there is no late-season “excitement” in the late season NBA games unless you are looking at the tanking teams to see which ones will get how many ping-pong balls in the Draft Hopper.

• The Jazz will finish last in the West.  They have 16 wins as of today with 3 games left to play.
• The Wizards lead the race to the bottom in the East.  They have 17 wins as of today with 4 games left on the schedule.
• The Hornets could catch the Wizards and become the Ignominy of the East.  The Hornets have 19 wins with four games left to play.

The other NBA stat I want to give you this morning has to do with a complaint that I have had about NBA games for the last several years.  With a few games left to play, the NBA has set a new record for the number of three-point field goals made in a season.  Here is a line from yesterday’s Washington Post – – The Day In Sports:

“The NBA record for three-pointers in a season fell again.  Boston’s Sam Hauser connected with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ game against Washington Sunday night – – the 31,580^th made three-pointer of the season in the NBA.”

In round numbers, an average NBA game sees 27 made three-point shots out of 68 three-point attempts.  There are approximately 60 regular season games left on the NBA schedule; at this rate the previous league record for three-point shots made will be surpassed by around 4,000 successful three-pointers.  Sorry, that is a large part of the reason why I prefer college basketball to the professional variety.

Finally, since I began today with the national championship game last night, let me close with these words from Duffy Daugherty, former head football coach at Michigan State, on the importance of championship games:

“When you are playing for the national championship, it’s not a matter of life or death. It’s more important than that.”

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

 

 

Well, I will only get half of my “wish”.  I wanted to see Duke/Florida as the Final Game for the tournament this year but will be happy to see Houston/Florida later this evening.  Both Houston and Florida overcame significant deficits on Saturday night to make it to tonight’s game.  The oddsmakers have Florida as the favorite by 1.5 points and the Total Line this morning is 142 points.  If Saturday’s games were an indicator, I would be playing the UNDER on tonight’s game; I am anticipating two defensive efforts.

Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, UConn and Geno Auriemma won their 12^th national championship on Sunday with a dominant win over South Carolina.  That 12^th national championship for Coach Auriemma is the most by any coach in college basketball – – men’s or women’s.

The late breaking story of the day however has nothing to do with college basketball; over in the world of MLB, the news is that the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guererro, Jr. have reached an agreement on a contract extension worth $500M over the next 14 years.  Guererro was in the final year of his contract with the Jays and was going to be THE blue-chip free agent in baseball over the next offseason; that drama is now avoided with this huge extension.  Guerrero is 26 years old; this contract extension – – with no deferred money by the way – – will pay him through the MLB season where he is 40 years old.  The Jays must realize that they will be overpaying in that final season; so, they also anticipate that they will be getting a bargain over the early seasons in the deal.

The Jays have another player on an expiring contract to deal with.  Bo Bichette will be a free agent this winter; while signing him will not take another $500M commitment by the team, he too is a player who will attract a lot of attention if he hits the free agency market.  The Jays were active in the last offseason signing vets like Max Scherzer and Jeff Hoffman which indicates that Jays’ management sees the future of the team being in the near future.  Perhaps, Toronto is a place to focus baseball attention these days?

Sticking with MLB, I think the entire kerfuffle over “torpedo bats” is even less interesting than a tempest in a teapot.  The bats are perfectly legal according to MLB rules for 2025; here is the pertinent information from “Rule 3.02 The Bat” from MLB’s official rules for 2525:

• (a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.
• (b) Cupped Bats. An indentation in the end of the bat up to 1¼ inches in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter. The indentation must be curved with no foreign substance added.
• (c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance that extends past the 18-inch limitation shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.
• (d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by Major League Baseball.

As Porky Pig was wont to say, “That’s all, folks!”  If the so-called torpedo bats meet those criteria, they are legal.

Here is one more baseball item for today; it is an unusual stat that I ran across:

• The Reds lost 3 consecutive games by the score of 1-0.  The last time that happened in MLB was in 1960 when the Phillies accomplished the same feat.
• Reds’ fans need to hope that their team does better in 2025 than did the Phillies in 1960.  That Phillies team finished dead last in the NL with a record of 59-95 and were 36 games behind the league-leading Pirates.

For those of you who are numbers-oriented, you probably noticed that the MLB season in 1960 was 154 games in length.  In fact, that was the last MLB season of that length and I think it is time for MLB to begin to think about contracting its season back a little bit.  Here’s why:

• With the expansion of the playoffs – – and the desire not to have advancement in the playoffs determined by single elimination games – – the baseball season now has too many “cold weather games” on the schedule in both late March and in late October/early November.
• Combined with the economic aversion to schedule double headers, the MLB season eats up too much real estate on the astronomical calendar.

Baseball is not a cold-weather game.  By shrinking the regular season a bit – – and committing to scheduling double headers on Memorial Day and July 4^th – – MLB can dodge some of meteorological bullets that are inevitable in many of their venues such as Toronto, Boston, NY, Minnesota, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philly where all the parks are open air parks.  Ideally, I would reduce the regular season to 144 games with two days devoted to double headers.  I know that will cause the baseball purists to cringe; so, I would settle for going back to 154 games in the regular season with two days devoted to double headers.

Just a thought …

Finally, since most of today was about baseball, let me close with these words from Mr. Baseball – – Bob Uecker:

“I hit a grand slam off Ron Herbel and when his manager Herman Franks came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel’s suitcase.”

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

 

 

As part of its determination to dominate sports media all year round, the NFL held one of its scheduled owners’ meetings this week and tweaked some of the rules.  In order to minimize the incentive for teams kicking off to simply kick the ball out of the end zone, the league moved the starting point for offensive drives out to the 35-yardline instead of the 30-yardline.  The underlying idea here is to add more kickoff returns to the game because kickoff returns can be exciting plays.

The institution of the so-called “Dynamic Kickoff” where the defenders do not get a running start for 40-50 yards before colliding with blockers and returners was done to promote more returns and to reduce player injuries.  Nonetheless, special teams’ coaches and defensive coordinators seemed willing to have the offense take possession at the 30-yardline because less than a third of the kickoffs were actually returned last season.  Nonetheless, the rule had some positive result because there were 300 more kickoffs returned in NFL regular season games in 2024 than there were in 2023.

According to reports, there may be some more changes to this rule after the owners meet again in late May.  In the meantime, it seems to me that the rules mavens may be setting the incentives incorrectly here.  Suppose the rule went like this:

• Kickoff goes out of the end zone on the fly and the ball comes out to the 35 yardline.
• Kickoff goes into the end zone and is not returned by the receiving team, and the ball only comes out to the 20-yardline.  [Aside:  That was the rule for decades in the NFL.]

Now, the incentive is for the receiving team to do something other than take a knee and for the kicking team to keep the ball on the field of play.  If they keep the player lineups as they were in 2024, they will have more kickoff returns in a situation where it appears injuries were also reduced.  Just a thought …

Another rule change for 2025 is that regular season overtime games will use the same rule for overtime as in playoff games in the sense that both teams will be guaranteed to have the ball on offense.  Under this rule, it is advantageous for the team winning the overtime coin toss to choose to kick off.  By doing that, the team winning the coin toss will know exactly what it needs to accomplish on its possession to win or tie the game and that is a significant advantage.  On balance, I like the new rule better than the old rule for regular season overtime games.

Regular season overtime games will differ from playoff overtime games in terms of the length of the game.  In the regular season, overtime is limited to 10 minutes; in playoff games, play goes on until there is a winner and a loser.  Since the NFL playoffs are single elimination, such is a necessity for playoff games.

Another change for 2025 will be a new authority granted to the on-site replay official.  Starting next year, the on-site replay official will be allowed to reverse penalty flags for hits on defenseless players, facemask/horse collar violations and the distinction between roughing the kicker and running into the kicker.  However, this new authority only allows for reversal of penalties called on the field, the replay official cannot “discover” a new penalty while reviewing a play no matter how obvious that might be.  Again, this sounds like an improvement to me.

The most revolutionary rule change for 2025 involves measuring for first downs; the chain gang will have “secondary responsibility” – – whatever that means – – and measurement will use visual technology developed by Sony.  The system is called “Hawk-Eye”, and it will be operated in the Game Day facility in NY; the system does its calculating, and that result will be communicated to the officials on the field theoretically in less time than it takes for the chain gang to come onto and off the field.  I guess the chain gang’s presence in “secondary responsibility” is insurance if there is a technology hiccough during the games.

Several proposed rule changes were tabled for further consideration at the meeting in May.

1. Should the “tush-push” continue to be allowed as a legal offensive play?  If it is deemed to be improper, then I think any and all plays where ball carriers are assisted by teammates should be outlawed.
2. Should there be rule changes to increase the probability of recovery for onside kicks?  I would have to see the proposed new rules to know if I like these or not.
3. Should playoff seeding in each conference be based on regular season records as opposed to division championships?  I would vote for this one immediately.

One proposed rule change was voted down.  The Lions proposed that the automatic first down that accompanies a defensive holding call or an illegal contact call be removed as part of the penalty.  I think the owners got this one right; if the automatic first down were removed, I think there would be a spike in defensive holding and illegal contact situations and that would not be a plus for the games.

Switching gears …  Set yourself a reminder for tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM ET so that you do not miss the NCAA semi-finals on CBS.  There are no “pretenders” left; each team in both games is worthy of winning it all; Saturday night should be great sports entertainment.  I said two weeks ago that I thought Duke/Florida would be an entertaining Final Game; that matchup remains a possibility …

Finally, another gem from Al McGuire:

“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.”

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

 

 

Maryland was my “sleeper team” in this year’s tournament and made it to the Sweet-16 before taking its leave.  Its coach, Kevin Willard, had been at odds with the former Athletic Director who had just moved on; so, under normal circumstances, you would think that Willard would be back trying to improve on a Sweet-16 appearance next year. Nope, that would be too normal.

Willard complained that the basketball program was a poor stepchild in the Maryland Athletic Department and spoke of the happiness he felt when he was in the Big East (Seton Hall) where football did not dominate every thought and action in an Athletic Department.  As soon as Vilanova fired its coach after a third straight year without a March Madness invitation, speculation was that Willard wanted the job.  Indeed, he took the Villanova job and went back to the Big East and the Terps went out and hired Buzz Williams in his place.

I think both Villanova and Maryland upgraded at the basketball coaching level.  Do not take that comment to mean that I think Williams is clearly superior to Willard as a coach; rather, I mean Williams seems far more content to work in what is the “Maryland environment” than Willard was – – and that is a big plus.  Consider that Williams’ last two jobs were at Va Tech and Texas A&M.  Clearly, football is the dominant interest at those two schools; Williams seems to be adapted to that sort of environment for the basketball program.

But it is that “environment for the basketball program” that remains at Maryland and has existed ever since the Terps jettisoned the ACC for the Big-10.  With that move, Maryland chased “football money” even though there is no way for Maryland to be a “champion” in Big-10 football anytime in the next few decades.  Now, if Willard is to be believed, the Athletic Budget constrains the basketball program significantly.  According to reports, Willard asked for the team to stay together in a NY hotel for a night over the Christmas Holidays and was told there wasn’t money in the budget for that.  But when the football team travels to play Stanford, there is money for a much larger squad to stay in a hotel in the SF area …

Buzz Williams will be successful at Maryland; he has been everywhere else.  But I predict that he too will finally chafe under the financial constraints that he will endure there and his success with the Terps will land him a bigger job somewhere in the next 5 years or so.  Maryland is a “basketball school” who is seeking to become a “football school”.  That is not an impossible undertaking, but it is not an easy one either.  And it is going to make the position of “head basketball coach” a revolving door for a while.

Moving on …  The “Oakland” A’s had their home opener in Sacramento this week; they lost that game 18-3 but that was not the worst news item to come from that game.  They played in the minor league stadium for the Sacramento team which seats 14,000 fans.  And for the home opener in the new venue, the A’s did not sell out the venue; attendance was 12,119.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that the A’s did not average 12,119 fans last year in Oakland and I guess it looks better to play in a stadium that is 85% full as opposed to one that is 20% full.

In the longer term, this does not auger well for the A’s.  They will be in a minor league park for at least two seasons and probably longer; I will go out on a limb here and say that fact will not be a selling point for free agents to consider the A’s as a destination nor will it make any current players who become free agents more prone to “stay home”.  Yes, they signed Luis Severino in this offseason; but I wonder if that was merely an aberration.  Time will tell …

Switching gears …  The Braves could not possibly have anticipated the horrendous start the team got for the 2025 season; as of this morning, the Braves are 0-7 having been outscored 32-14 in those 7 losses.  I know; the Braves still need to get Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Spencer Strider back onto the field regularly; that will kickstart the team.  However, the Braves need to do better than they have lest they fall so far behind in a competitive NL East that they do not have enough season left in order to “catch up”.

One more item today …  Here is an example of why it is important to look at statistics in context.  Data Set #1:

• The average TV audience for March Madness is up 3% this year as compared to the TV audience in 2023.  AND …
• The average TV audience for the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is up 43% from 2023.

Let those numbers marinate in your brain for a moment and get a sense of your reaction to them  Now consider Data Set #2:

• The average TV audience for March Madness in 2025 is 9.4 million viewers.  AND …
• The average TV audience for the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2025 is 367,000 viewers.

Both statements are true according to reports from places that track such data.  Most folks will react rather differently depending on which data set is presented to them.

Finally, another observation from Al McGuire:

“When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric.”

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

 

 

ESPN’s SportsCenter has been a foundation piece for the network since ESPN signed onto the air in 1979; I read somewhere that there have been more than 60,000 “episodes” of SportsCenter in ESPN’s history.  About 15 years ago, the network decided to move the operation completely to Los Angeles and to end the idea of an “Eastern” version from Bristol, CT alongside an “Western” version in LA.  I remember that my reaction at the time was that SportsCenter was not broken so why fix it.  After all, moving lots of people and crating a new set and infrastructure in LA was going to cost ESPN a lot more than “three easy payments of $39.95”.

Now, ESPN has decided to close down the LA operation and move SportsCenter back to Bristol in its entirety.  The company cited “current business needs” as the basis for this decision to relocate.  Plus ça change …

I don’t care even a little bit where SportsCenter originates; I only care that it does what it set out to do in 1979 which is to provide scores and highlights for various games/matches/tournaments/whatever.  I don’t care if the presenters are male or female; I don’t care of the graphics are flashy or plain; if the hosts can add some humor to the telecast naturally and not ham-handedly, that is good but not necessary.  The final LA-based SportsCenter will be sometime in mid-May.  Please let the show’s producers recognize that the move back to where the program started can also be a message to get the show back to what it was always intended to be.

That is only one bit of programming change slated for ESPN in May 2025.  The network announced that Around the Horn will air its final episode on May 23, 2025; the show has been on the air 5 days a week since November 4, 2002, so it has had a good run indeed.  ATH was the lead-in program for Pardon the Interruption and at one time it reliably drew audiences of more than 750,000 viewers on a cable network outside of prime time.  Those audience numbers have eroded significantly in recent years, and I will use my experience as the basis for an explanation there.

The five participants in the first episode of Around the Horn were:

1. Max Kellerman – – Host/Moderator
2. Bob Ryan – – Boston Globe
3. Jay Mariotti – – Chicago Sun-Times
4. Woody Paige – – Denver Post
5. TJ Simers – – LA Times

Whether or not you like or agree with any or all those five participants, you must admit that it is an impressive lineup.  Around the Horn gave me access to the ideas and opinions of people with gravitas in the sports world; there was a reason to pay attention to what all of them had to say and to decide after listening if you agreed with them or not.  Such is no longer the case.

When I tune in now – – and it is far less frequently than I did even 5 years ago – – I often change the channel as soon as I see the panel for the day.  There are never “four heavyweights” on a single day; in fact, I consider it worth staying and watching if there are at least “two middleweights” on the show.  Far too often, when I see who will be “debating” the sports issues of the day, my reaction is:

• Why should I care what he/she has to say about that?

Rather than using highly regarded columnists as the panel, ESPN used the program to expose some of their ESPN Radio personalities to a wider audience clearly in an attempt to solidify that person’s position in the sports commentary cosmos.  That is a logical business decision; it is simultaneously a lousy programming decision.

The producers of Around the Horn fail to see something that is important to me – – and if the numbers could speak, they would likely agree with me.  There are a few timely sports issues worthy of “discussion/debate” every day; the key word there is “few”.  So, if I turn on my TV at 5:00 PM ET and see a genuinely junior varsity panel about to yap at me, I know that I can just wait 30 minutes and hear Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon discuss many of the same topics.  In that situation, there is no doubt about what I am going to do; if the panels on Around the Horn went back to possessing gravitas, I would watch both shows to get solid opinion and analysis but that is no longer reliably available on Around the Horn.

When SportsCenter had its 40^th anniversary, ESPN reunited Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann for one presentation of SportsCenter.  That tidbit of nostalgia was fun.  I wonder if the producers of Around the Horn might think of a reunion show for its finale?

• TJ Simers has passed so the original panel cannot be reunited.
• Jay Mariotti, Woody Paige and Bob Ryan are still around.
• Max Kellerman would be a worthy addition as a panelist even though he was the “moderator/host” for the first episode.
• Tony Reali could sign the program off with the signature paper wad toss at the camera at the end.
• Just a thought…

Finally, since I got several positive comments on Al McGuire’s closing comment yesterday, I will take the suggestion of a reader and close with other “McGuireisms” until the Tournament is over:

“A team should be an extension of a coach’s personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.”

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

 

 

I’ll start today with capsules of the Tournament games from Friday through Sunday:

• Tennessee handled Kentucky comfortably leading me to wonder how the Vols could have lost to the Cats twice before.
• Unless you are an Ole Miss alum or had Ole Miss on the Money Line as part of a 5-leg parlay, you had to love the Ole Miss/Michigan St. game or else you just don’t like college basketball.  It was a close game throughout with total hustle by every player all the time.
• Michigan stayed close to Auburn for about 25 minutes but could not keep up at the end.
• Houston 62 and Purdue 60.  The winning basket came on an inbounds play with 1 second left on the clock.  What else do you want?
• Duke dominated Alabama with its defense.  Bama scored 113 points on Thursday and was held to 65 on Saturday.
• Florida needed a strong second half comeback to beat Texas Tech.  I said I wanted to see Duke/Florida as the Final Game; that preference is still possible.
• Houston’s defense held Tennessee to 15 points in the first half and went on cruise control for the second half and a comfortable win.
• Michigan St. could not get the ball wet if they shot it from a rowboat in the middle of the ocean for the first half.  Sparty never gave up but could not make up for that shooting scourge losing to Auburn  last night.

The Final Four is pure chalk – – all four #1 seeds in the four brackets are still alive.  So, here is the question:

• Was the Selection Committee prescient?  Should they all be patting themselves on the back?  OR …
• In these days of NIL money and universal transfer potential, is this going to be the new normal where “big programs” get the “big money” and the “best players”.

I lean more towards the latter …

Moving on …  There has been an ongoing “war of words” between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith for several weeks now and I have ignored it because it seems almost contrived to me.  If you have not been following that saga, consider yourself fortunate.  Having said that, Sally Jenkins decided to comment on this “feud” last weekend; and as usual, she got to the bottom line quickly.  The headline for her column was:

• LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith are shouting over their insecurities

Here is a link to her column which I commend to your reading – – and just to entice you, here is her opening paragraph:

“They are large public figures with the wealth of pharaohs, and yet LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith display the egos of eggshells. Their yah-yahing has gone on for a month now, first Stephen A. with his armchair braying and now LeChosen One on a show with an even louder rasp, Pat McAfee’s, trading what we are to understand as manly barbs in an argument over honor. But the true, if cynical-sour, amusement lies in watching their duel of fragility. You can crack either one of them with one hand for an omelet.”

Switching gears …  There is change afoot at CBS relative to color commentators for football telecasts starting in 2025.  Gary Danielson announced that he will retire after the end of the 2025 college football season and CBS said that Charles Davis will replace him.  Normally, that would mean CBS could take a year to find someone to take Davis’ place on NFL telecasts, but CBS also announced that JJ Watt would take Davis’ place starting this year.  What the CBS mavens have in mind for Charles Davis remains a mystery.

What we do know is that JJ Watt will be teamed with Ian Eagle as the play-by-play guy.  I have been a fan of Ian Eagle for decades; I still think that he and Jim Spanarkel provided the best coverage of college basketball ever.  His ability to excel in covering a variety of sports sets him apart from many other great broadcasters over the  years.  Unless JJ Watt turns out to be a complete clunker on the microphone, he and Eagle will be an outstanding pairing – – maybe preferable to the CBS #1 broadcasting team of Nantz/Romo?  [Aside:  Having seen/heard Watt in a studio setting for a year, he is not going to turn out to be “a complete clunker”.]

Next up …  While we are in a part of the year when the NCAA is a tolerable institution because it presents us with March Madness, that same bumbling institution found a way to be Debbie Downer one more time.  Colorado wanted to hold some joint practices with another school and to play an exhibition spring game with that school.  Syracuse raised its hand figuratively and it seemed as if that paring might be the start of a new trend in college football.  For reasons that are not totally clear to me, the existence of that exhibition game and the joint practices required the blessing of the NCAA.  And of course, the NCAA said no to the request.

[Aside:  Actually, the reason “blessing” was necessary is that there is a rule prohibiting teams from scrimmaging in the spring.  Why that rule was imposed in the first place is what is not totally clear to me.]

The NCAA cited three reasons for the denial; here they are:

1. The timing of this request was too late.  Other schools have already set their Spring schedules and have even begun spring practice.  So, Colorado and Syracuse may have gained an unfair advantage if permission was granted.  OK, that is a plausible excuse.
2. Colorado and Syracuse might gain an unfair recruiting advantage because other teams would not have a Spring exhibition game this year.  This one is pretty thin …
3. The potentially negative academic impact on the players who might need to miss classes to prepare for the exhibition game.  Give me a BLEEPING break!

Finally, as March Madness 2025 nears its conclusion, let me close with this from Al McGuire:

“The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets.”

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

 

 

Here are some notes from last night’s tournament games:

• Maryland – – my “Sleeper Team” – – hung with Florida for half the game trailing by only 2 points at halftime.  Then the roof caved in and the Terps lost by 15 points, and it could have been worse.
• BYU scored 88 points last night; Arizona scored 93 points last night; both teams lost last night, and both gave up more than 100 points.
• Alabama made 75% of their 3-point attempts last night. That is an amazing stat for a practice session where no one is guarding anyone.
• I stopped flipping back and forth between the Duke/Arizona game and the Arkansas/Teas Tech game when Arkansas led by 13 points with under ten minutes to play.  During an ad, I went over to see what the damage was only to find Texas Tech down by only 4 points.  When the game went to OT, I stayed there and watched it all.

There is a promo that has been running throughout the tournament games from the NCAA.  It says that NCAA athletes should not suffer abuse by people who bet on college sports and lose those bets.  For the record, harassment and abuse are never appropriate in contexts far beyond college sports and wagering on college sports; there is no justification for that kind of behavior.

Having said that, perhaps this is yet one more unintended consequence of the completely unregulated “NIL-world” that exists today.  College athletes are no longer the idealized “scholar-athletes” who compete simply for the joy of the competition.  At best, many are semi-pros, and no one complains if a pro athlete is scorned on the Internet because someone lost a wager and the way the athlete played that night.

Moving on …  Here are some notable events from MLB’s Opening Day yesterday:

• The Orioles hit 6 home runs on their way to a 12-2 win over the Blue Jays.  Adley Rutschman did the most damage, going 3 for 5 with 2 home runs, three RBIs and 3 runs scored.  Not bad …
• The Mets project to be an offensive juggernaut this year with pitching as their possible weakness.  However, yesterday, the Mets only scored 1 run in a loss to the Astros and only gave up 3 runs in the loss.  Baseball can be funny that way.
• The White Sox lost 121 games in 2024, and the futures bet for this year has them losing about 109 games; the White Sox are probably an excellent Triple-A team but not nearly a good MLB team.  Nonetheless, yesterday they embarrassed the Angels winning by a score of 8-1.  In case you don’t think losing 8-1 to the White Sox is embarrassing, add to that the fact that the Angels finished off the White Sox 8^th inning by having utility infielder Nicky Lopez get the final out.  The Angels waved the “White Flag” against the “White Sox” on Opening Day.
• The Pirates and Marlins game featured Paul Skenes and Sandy Alcantara as the starting pitchers.  If I were going to bet on that game – – which I did not – – I would have taken the game UNDER the run total because I would have figured that each starter would leave the game after 6 or 7 innings with the score about 1-0 in either direction.  Wrong!  The final score was Marlins 5 and Pirates 4.  Baseball can be funny that way.
• Adley Rutschman was not the only player to hit two home runs on Opening Day; the A’s first baseman, Tyler Soderstrom also hit two home runs.  However, Rutschman’s blasts – – along with other teammates’ contributions – – led to a convincing win.  Soderstrom’s two home runs were both solo shots; they represented two of the three hits accumulated by the A’s as a team in the game; notwithstanding those two home runs, the A’s lost to the Mariners by a score of 4-2.
• The Padres beat the Braves yesterday 7-4.  It was a 9-inning game.  The Padres used 7 pitchers in the game.  Starter, Michael King went 2 2/3 innings.  None of the Padres’ relievers went longer than 1 2/3 innings.

Switching gears …  Kent St. was a bad college football team in 2024; they hit the Devil’s Exacta for the season finishing dead last in Total Offense and also dead last in Total Defense nationally.  Amazingly, the coach was not fired even though the team record for his two seasons at Kent St. is a less than laudatory 1-23.  Spring practice for Kent St. football is about to start and yesterday the announcement came that Kent St. has put Head Coach Kenni Burns on “administrative leave with pay”.  Here is part of the school’s statement:

“Kent State has placed head football coach Kenni Burns on administrative leave with pay.  Greg Glaus, executive deputy athletics director, will continue to oversee the administrative responsibilities related to the program. Offensive coordinator Mark Carney will direct on-field activities at this time. No further comments on this personnel matter will be provided.”

Two points here:

1. This discombobulation of Spring Practice cannot be advantageous for a team that needs dramatic improvement.
2. Carrying a 1-23 record into any sort of “investigation” into a “personnel matter” is not much of an asset.

Finally, here is a thought from humorist, Brad Dickson:

“You know that guy in the tux who always snatches Punxsutawney Phil out of the hole? Just once I’d like to see someone grab that [Bleep] by the nape of his neck & swing him around to see if his fat ass makes a shadow.”

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

 

 

The NFL free agency and trading period  happened while I was on the road; so, let me catch up with some comments on the signings and trades.  Lots of players on the move …

• Davante Adams  WR:  Signed with the Rams for 2  years and $46M.  Adams and Matthew Stafford should make the Rams offense formidable.
• Jonathan Allen  DT:  Signed with the Vikes for 3 years and $60M.  Good addition by the Vikes.
• Josh Allen  QB:  Extended by the Bills for 6 years at $330M and worth every penny of the deal.
• Saquon Barkley  RB:  Extended by the Eagles – – naturally.
• Zach Baun  LB:  Resigned by the Eagles for 3 years and $51M.  He had an outstanding year for the Eagles in 2024.
• Mekhi Beckton  OL:  Signed with the Chargers for 2 years and $20M.  Becton played well for the Eagles last year; his career has been haunted by injuries but stayed healthy in 2024.
• Joey Bosa  DE:  Signed by the Bills to a 1-year deal at $12.5M.  If he can avoid injury, this is a great signing; the problem is that Bosa seems always to be injured.
• JaMar Chase  WR:  Resigned by the Bengals for 4 years and $161M.  Excellent WR no doubt about that.
• Maxx Crosby  DE:  Resigned by the Raiders for 3 years and $106M.  Frankly, that looks like a bargain to me …
• Drew Dalman  C:  Signed by the Bears for 3 years at $42M.  The Bears revamped their offensive line in this player movement period.
• Sam Darnold  QB:  Signed with the Seahawks for 3 years at $100M.His first 16 games in 2024 were excellent; his final 2 games in 2024 were duds.
• Stefon Diggs  WR:  Signed by the Pats for 3 years and $69M.  Diggs represents a serious upgrade at the WR position for the Pats.
• Evan Engram  TE:  Resigned by the Broncos for 2 years and $23M.  Only played 9 games in 2024 but caught 114 passes in 2023.
• Myles Garrett  DE:  Extended by the Browns for 4 years at $160M after saying he wanted to be traded to a place where he could win a Super Bowl.  Money talks …
• Chris Godwin  WR:  Resigned with the Bucs for 3 years and $66M.  This is a smart move by the Bucs.
• Dre Greenlaw  LB:  Signed by the Broncos for 3 years at $35M.  Only played 2 games in 2024 due to Achilles tendon injury.
• Javon Hargrave  DT:  Signed by the Vikes for 2 years at $30M.  With the addition of Jonathan Allen, the Vikes have revamped the interior of their D-Line in this signing period.
• Najee Harris  RB:  Signed with the Chargers for 1 year and $5.2M.  Harris is the kind of RB that Jim Harbaugh likes.
• Tee Higgins  WR:  Signed by the Bengals for 4 years and $115M.  Excellent WR, but Bengals have now devoted almost $70M a year to 2 WRs. …
• DeAndre Hopkins  WR:  Signed by the Ravens to a 1-year deal worth $10M.  He is getting long in the tooth, but he gives Lamar Jackson a sure-handed target.
• Ed Ingram  OL:  Traded to the Texans where offensive line help is necessary.
• Jonah Jackson  OL:  Traded to the Bears where the need for offensive line upgrading is essential.
• Aaron Jones  RB:  Resigned with the Vikes for 2 years and $20M. Looks like a good deal for both parties.
• Daniel Jones  QB:  Signed with the Colts for 1 year at $14M.  He will start the year as the backup QB and then take over once Anthony Richardson gets injured yet again.
• Javon Kinlaw  DT:  Signed by the Commanders for 3 years and $45M.  Presumably, he is there to replace Jonathan Allen who signed with the Vikes.
• Cooper Kupp  WR;  Signed with the Seahawks for 3 years and $45M.  Can’t decide if the Seahawks got a bargain here or not.
• DeMarcus Lawrence  DE:  Signed with the Seahawks for 3 years and $42M.  This will be his 12^th season in the NFL after the first 11 years in Dallas.
• Khalil Mack  DE:  Resigned by the Chargers for 1 year and $18M.  Mack is on the downslope of his career, which explains the terms of this deal.
• Jake Matthews  OT:  Signed a 2-year contract extension with the Falcons.  Matthews has been in the league since 2014 and has not missed a game since his rookie season.
• DK Metcalf  WR:  Traded to the Steelers.  He and George Pickens will be a tough combo to cover – – if the Steelers find someone to throw the ball at them.
• Gardner Minshew  QB:  Signed with the Chiefs to a 1-year deal.
• Raheem Mostert  RB:  Signed by the Raiders to a 1-year deal for $2.1M.  Raiders’ running game needs help and Mostert at this price looks like an excellent signing.
• Larry Ogunjobi  DT:  Signed by the Bills to a 1-year deal at $10M.  The Bills added defensive depth with this move.
• Aseez Ojulari  LB:  Signed by the Eagles to a 1-year deal at $4M.  Last year the Eagles signed a free agent from the Giants who turned out to be an All-Pro.  Can history repeat itself here?
• Kenny Pickett  QB:  Traded to the Browns.  Might he be their starter in 2025?
• Hassan Reddick  LB:  Signed with the Bucs for 1 year at $14M.  At least he won’t hold out for half of the 2025 season …
• Greg Rousseau  DE:  Extended by the Bills for 4 years at $80M.  He was an important part of the Bills’ improved defense last season.
• Mason Rudolph  QB:  Signed with the Steelers for 2  years and $8M.  Is he going to be their starter?
• Cooper Rush  QB:  Signed by the Ravens as a backup for Lamar Jackson.  He showed his value as a backup last year with the Cowboys.
• Deebo Samuel  WR:  Traded to the Commanders.  He can be either an exciting playmaker or a royal pain in the ass – – or both.  Stay tuned …
• Darius Slay  CB:  Signed with the Steelers for 1 year and $10M.  This could be Slay’s final season, but he was plenty competent in 2024.
• Darius Slayton  WR:  Resigned with the Giants for 3 years and $36M.  That is about the same contract it would have taken the Giants to retain Saquon Barkley last year.
• Geno Smith  QB:  Traded to the Raiders; he should be their starting QB absent the need for a leg amputation.
• Robert Spillane  LB:  Signed by the Pats for 3 years and $37M.  This looks like a significant upgrade at LB for the Pats and a significant loss for the Raiders.
• Ronnie Stanley  OT:  Signed a 2-year extension with the Ravens.  He is the best OL on the team.
• Derrick Stingley Jr.  CB:  Signed by the Texans for 3 years at 49M.
• Josh Sweat: DE  Signed with the Cardinals for 4 years and $76.4M.  After his great performance in the Super Bowl for the Eagles, he cashed in nicely.  Cards’ head coach, Jonathan Gannon was Sweat’s defensive coordinator in Philly in the past.
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson  QB:  Traded to the Eagles.  Can he beat out Tanner McKee for the backup QB position?
• Joe Thuney  OL:  Traded to the Bears for more offensive line help.
• Laremy Tunsil  OT:  Traded to the Commanders.  The OL needed help, and Tunsil will provide some help.
• Bobby Wagner  LB:  Resigned by the Commanders to a 1-year deal worth $10M.  Given his production and his leadership, this is a stone-cold bargain for the Commanders.
• Milton Williams  DT:  Signed by the Pats for 4 years and $104M.  Williams had a good year with the Eagles and performed well in the Super Bowl; he cashed in here.
• Russell Wilson  QB:  Signed with the Giants for 1 year and $21M.  Presumably, he will start at QB.
• Jameis Winston  QB:  Signed with the Giants for 2 years at $8M.  Presumably, he will be the backup QB – – but remember that “Tommy Cutlets” is still on the roster …
• Chase Young  DE:  Resigned with the Saints for 3 years and $51M.  This seems like a huge overpayment by the Saints to me.
• Bailey Zappe  QB:  Signed by the Chiefs to a 1-year deal.

That list represents less than 20% of the player movement since the end of the 2024 season but I do have a couple of observations regarding this subset:

1. In the trade that sent Laremy Tunsil to the Commanders, the Texans got a total of 4 draft picks over the next two seasons.  However, in 2024, Texans’ QB, CJ Stroud led a harried life in the passing game; so, I wonder why trading away a solid LT made sense for the Texans.
2. Sam Darnold will arrive in Seattle to find DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett gone from the roster.  Those are big subtractions …
3. The Raiders signing of Raheem Mostert to a short-term deal acknowledges that 32-year-old RBs often see their performance go south very quickly.
4. The Bears added three offensive linemen in this round of player shuffling.  Perhaps the arrival of offensive-minded head coach, Ben Johnson, pressed the Front Office there to find some protection for their franchise QB?
5. With Mason Rudolph returning to the Steelers, at least he will not need a lot of help deciding where to live in the Pittsburgh area.

Finally, since today has been about changes of venue for lots of NFL players, let me close with this note from humorist Dave Barry:

“And so by the fifteenth century, on October 8, the Europeans were looking for a new place to try to get to, and they came up with a new concept: the West.”

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

 

 

The baseball season is upon us; in fact, there have already been two regular season games played in Japan.  And so, it is time for some predictions about how all of this will turn out come the end of September 2025. Let me begin in the American League:

• AL East:  The loss of Gerrit Cole for the Yankees’ rotation is a huge blow; I think it will cost the Yankees the division title.  Added to the loss of Cole is the loss of Juan Soto to free agency and the loss of Giancarlo Stanton to nagging injuries for at least the start of the season.  The Orioles and the Red Sox are poised to pass the Yankees here; it is almost a coin flip for me, so I’ll take the Red Sox to win the division with the Orioles finishing second.  The Blue Jays are not going to contend for the division for long this season, but the Jays might hold the wild card for another team to win the World Series this year if they decide to trade Vlad Guererro Jr. after failing to get him signed to a long-term deal.
• AL Central:  This is the most difficult division to unwrap.  Other than picking the White Sox to finish last, I can talk myself into just about any order you want to propose for the four teams above the White Sox.  So, let me stare into my cloudy crystal ball to foresee this outcome:

1. 1. 1. Tigers
      2. Twins
      3. Guardians
      4. Royals
      5. White Sox

• AL West:  I like the Mariners and the Rangers to fight it out in the AL West; I think the Astros’ hegemony in the division is waning significantly.  The Astros will not finish last because the Angels and the A’s will outstrip the Astros in the race to the bottom.  Give me the Rangers to win the division…
• AL Wildcard Teams:  I like the Orioles, the Mariners and the Astros to fill out the AL Playoff slots.

Crossing over to the National League:

• NL East:  The Mets made the biggest splash in this offseason acquiring the services of Juan Soto for a significant fraction of a billion dollars.  Nevertheless, I don’t think that is enough to make the Mets the best team in the division because I think both the Braves and the Phillies are better.  If the adage that “good pitching will stifle good hitting” holds true this year, the Phillies should win the division so long as their bullpen does not implode.  The Braves and Phillies should take this down to the wire and I’ll take the Phillies to win the division.  The Nationals will probably finish fourth even though they may be the most improved team in the division simply because it is crowded in the top three slots.  Remember the name, James Wood; he may not be an All-Star this year, but he is going to be the foundation piece of the Nats starting very soon.  The Marlins will be last in the division.
• NL Central:  The Cubs and the Brewers are the best teams here.  It has been a while since the Cubs won the division, so let me pick the Cubs here by a nose over the Brewers.  When that comes to pass, credit the Cubbies’ braintrust for acquiring Kyle Tucker in the offseason as the basis for their division win.  The Pirates will be interesting every five days or so when Paul Skenes gets the start.  On the other four days, the Pirates will be less than interesting.  What to make of the Reds and the Cardinals?  Good question; I can see both teams finishing third in the division and I can see both teams finishing last.  You make the call…
• NL West:  My most confident pick for the season is for the White Sox to finish last in the AL Central; only a hair’s width behind that prediction in terms of confidence is that the Dodgers will win the NL West, and the Rockies will finish last in the NL West.  The D-Backs addition of Corbin Burnes gives them the edge for finishing second in the division.  Toss a coin between the Giants and the Padres for third place here.
• NL Wildcard Teams:  Give me the Braves, the D-Backs and the Mets as the rest of the NL Playoffs this year.

In terms of betting win totals for MLB this year, here are five selections:

1. Red Sox OVER 86.5 wins
2. Yankees UNDER 90.5 wins
3. Mariners OVER 84.5 wins
4. Cubs OVER 85.5 wins
5. Rangers OVER 85.5 wins

And here is an odd line that looks as if it is set to lure folks in.

• White Sox win total = 53.5 wins

To play this as an UNDER bet, you are saying that the White Sox will finish 2025 with a record of 53-109 – – or worse.  Your first glance says that is a horrendous record; how likely is it for a team to lose that many games?  Then, you take a look at the 2024 final standings and note that the White Sox lost 121 games meaning that the putative record of 53-109 would represent an improvement of 12 wins year-over-year.  That is a big difference for a team that projects to be slightly better than putrid for 2025.  My suggestion is to take note of this win total wager and track it for the season – – but keep your money in your pocket.

Finally, this from Henry Aaron:

“It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.”

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

 

 

George Foreman died over the weekend at the age of 76.          His career arc of Olympic heavyweight champion to professional heavyweight champion (more than once) to loveable pitchman for products ranging from portable electric grills to Meineke Mufflers to Invent Help (and probably a half-dozen more that do not come to mind now) is not matched by many other athletes or celebrities.

Rest in peace, George Foreman.

Let me present five notes I took from watching tournament games over the weekend:

1. When did the rule makers erase the traveling violation?  I would estimate a half-dozen violations were not called per game.
2. Similarly, when did the rule makers change the “three-second rule” to the “three-minute rule”?  As a former official, I sometimes look off the ball for play under the basket.  Twice this weekend, (once in Baylor/Mississippi St. and once in UConn/Oklahoma) I counted a player in the lane for 7 seconds without a whistle to be heard.
3. The best game of the weekend was Florida/UConn.
4. St. John’s/Arkansas would have been a much better game if either/both teams shot the ball well.
5. Based on the first two rounds, I think I want to see Florida/Duke in the finals because it would be a great game.

According to an AP report, there are no perfect brackets left as of Sundy night.  Here are some data:

• When Duke beat Baylor, one perfect bracket was left according to ESPN’s tracking.  That perfect bracket went under when Kentucky beat Illinois.  ESPN tracks 24.6 million brackets.
• The NCAA platform tracks 34 million brackets.  Those 34 million brackets went belly-up with the same Kentucky win over Illinois.
• The last perfect bracket submitted to Yahoo! before the tournament was busted by Michigan’s win over Texas A&M.
• CBSSports.com had a perfect bracket working until Saturday night when that bracket lost two games – – BYU/Wisconsin and Drake/Texas A&M.

While all of that is interesting, here is a paragraph from the AP report that brings a smile here in Curmudgeon Central:

“On the other end of the spectrum, ESPN reported that every pick was wrong on 30 of its brackets — a nearly impossible feat in its own right even if a contestant were trying to pick all losers.”  [Aside: Recall that ESPN tracks 24.6 million brackets.]

The 2025 tournament has not been gentle with the so-called mid-major teams.  If you count the five “power conferences” as ACC, Big-East, Big-Ten, Big-Twelve and SEC, then there are no mid-majors in the Sweet 16.  Moreover, a lot of those mid-majors exited the tournament with a double-digit loss.  This is a trend to watch because it is possible – – not nearly a certainty but certainly possible – – that the combination of NIL money plus the universal transfer portal might make the mid-major Cinderella story of past tournaments just that – – a thing of the past.

Switching gears …  While college basketball is front and center at the moment as it tries to crown a national champion and where all the games are hotly contested, the NBA finds itself in a bimodal situation.  About half the teams and players are seriously trying to get into the playoffs or to improve their seedings within the playoffs.  About a quarter of the teams are not trying as hard as they might because losing games now could get them a much better draft slot in June.  It’s not outright “tanking”, but for some teams the level of effort and focus on winning is “diminished”.

There is a fundamental difference between a team losing a lot of games because it has a deficient roster and another team that may not be playing its best players as much as they could in order to lose games and move up in the Draft.  Since I live in the DC area, the NBA team I see most frequently is the Washington Wizards; the Wiz are a bad team; they earned their 15-56 record because they are talent deficient.  If you watch the Wizards play, they play hard; they are simply not good enough to beat their opponents “on any given night”.

That is far less the case with the Sixers.  Yes, the team has had debilitating injuries this year to its best players, but watching the Sixers play recently does not give the impression that they are “going full tilt”.  Moreover, there is a double incentive for the Sixers to improve their draft position.  Not only would that give the Sixers a better shot at a good player addition but in 2025 the Sixers will lose their first-round pick to the Thunder if they draft 7^th or higher in the draft.  They can only keep their pick if they are in the “Top 6”.  Given that circumstance, the phrase “integrity of the game” looms on the horizon …

Finally, since today was about basketball, let me close with these words from James Naismith who invented the game:

“The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play ‘Drop the Handkerchief.’”

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