The Sports Curmudgeon

Normally, I would spend time today reviewing my notes from the 32 basketball tournament games I watched between Friday and Sunday.  However, I think I will save a condensed version of that review for later this week because there is something else I want to deal with today.  It is something that is not really an advertisement for Buick that has been inserted into advertising slots in the weekend games.

Here is the deal.  The screen goes black; there is what sounds like a radio or TV play-by -play of an exciting sports event; the screen tells you that you did not see it because “more than 40% of the athletes are women but they only get 10% of the TV exposure.”  And Buick is committed to righting that wrong.  I have no interest in trying to justify or challenge those numbers; I do challenge the very strong implication made by the folks at Buick that the reason I did not see those events is because they happened in women’s sports.

There are three variants on that thing that I will call an “ad” from here on out:

1. Missy Franklin setting an NCAA record in swimming in 2015.
2. Elizabeth Giguere scoring a sudden-death goal to win a game that is not identified in the “ad”.
3. Arike Ogunbowale hitting a buzzer beater to win the women’s NCAA basketball championship in 2018.

Let me start with the Missy Franklin example.  The reason I did not see that on TV – and you probably did not either – has nothing whatsoever to do with men’s sports versus women’s sports.  It has to do with the simple fact that swimming is not a hugely popular TV sports property.  I did not see Missy Franklin in the women’s NCAA finals in 2015 AND I did not see anyone in the men’s finals in 2015 because they were not on in prime time because – wait for it – very few Americans care about swimming in non-Olympic years.  Moreover, even in Olympic years, the surge in US interest in swimming rises to the level that ESPN would need about a dozen different networks to have swimming as a signature event.

• Memo to Buick:  This is a perfect example of equality between men’s and women’s sports in America.  Most folks do not care about either sport in pretty much equal measures.

Next is the sudden-death goal by Elizabeth Giguere.  I confess that I had never heard of Ms. Giguere until last weekend and when I did hear/see the Buick “ad” the first thing that caught my attention was that I did not know of a college sport where a sudden-death goal would decide a championship.  However, Google quickly taught me that Ms. Giguere is an ice hockey player from Canada who indeed scored an overtime game-winning goal in women’s ice hockey to send her team to the women’s Frozen Four in 2018.  To be sure, the US interest in ice hockey is greater than the US interest in swimming as a TV sports property; however, that “greater interest” focuses on the NHL and not college hockey.  Every day, the Washington Post has a listing of every sporting event that will be on TV networks available in the DC area for that day.  Granted, I cannot recall the last time I saw an entry for “Women’s college ice hockey”; however, I also cannot recall the last time I saw a listing for “Men’s college ice hockey” either.

• Memo to Buick:  Here is another example of TV networks ignoring minor collegiate sporting events equally between the men’s version of the sport and the women’s version.

The last example is Arike Ogunbowale hitting a buzzer-beater against Mississippi State to win the NCAA women’s basketball championship for Notre Dame in 2018.  I actually did see that event but did not remember Ms. Ogunbowale’s name as the heroine of the moment.  Women’s basketball is on TV, and it is often featured on ESPN or ESPN2 in reasonable time slots.  It would not surprise me at all to learn that a regular season women’s game involving one of the traditional powerhouse women’s programs could draw a larger audience than a men’s game in the same time slot involving two minor men’s teams that are only being televised on a network as a time-slot filler.  However, that is not particularly relevant here because the “ad” refers to the winning shot in the women’s final tournament game not just any random game.  So, here is a simple test:

• The women’s basketball tournament is being telecast in full on the ESPN family of networks this year.  In the men’s games on CBS and TBS, there is one “live read promotion” per half  for the women’s tournament in every men[s game and there is a banner ad on the courtside table in full camera view promoting the women’s tournament games on ESPN.  A quick check of the women’s tournament games revealed no similar cross promotional endeavors.  ESPN is not some fly-by-night sports network.
• Now, how do you think the audience numbers for the two tournaments will compare?  I do not know the exact answer but the only question in my mind is how much larger will the men’s audience be as compared to the women’s audience.
• In fact, when  you watch SportsCenter on ESPN – the network carrying the women’s tournament games – they will report more heavily on the men’s tournament because more people care about the men’s tournament than the women’s tournament.  ESPN knows that and wants to feature reports on events where there is greater audience interest.

Television executives seek to put things on the air that will draw viewers; there is an audience for professional wrestling such that three different cable networks put on wrestling programs every week.  I do not watch them, but enough people do that TV networks and advertisers pay to be allowed to put them on the air.  If a program attracts eyeballs, it gets exposure; if/when “the numbers” tell the execs and the advertisers that audiences are looking elsewhere, that program goes dark.  It is a cold-blooded business that only intersects “gender-issues” to the point of fan interest that produces viewer interest.

What Buick is doing here is virtue-signaling, and virtue-signaling is not attractive.  Hey, look at us because we are going to do something special for women’s sports and allege that we are doing it to right a wrong.  What I think what they are doing is calling attention to themselves by pointing out something that happens in the natural course of the business of sports and making it sound as if they are going to change all that.  Good luck with that endeavor; get back to me when you think you have “leveled the playing field.”

Finally, I referred to Missy Franklin and women’s swimming above.  Here we are in 2022 and it is not an Olympic year so general interest in swimming in the US – and women’s swimming specifically – is at low tide so to speak.  What is the sports focus on women’s swimming this year?  It has nothing to do with world records or NCAA records or team championships.  THE STORY for 2022 is the inclusion of a transgender woman into the women’s competition.  That fact drew attention to Ivy League swimming in 2022 to a greater extent that I can remember in my 70-plus years as a sports fan – – and remember, I attended an Ivy League school for four of those 70-plus years.  Even with the focus on that controversy – and not the sport itself – I wonder how many serious sports fans in the US know that Lia Thomas won an NCAA Championship in this year’s swimming finals.  In case you did not know that fact, perhaps it is because you did not also know that you could have watched it live on one of the ESPN family of networks.  Or maybe you knew that and did not see it because your sports interests lie elsewhere…?

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

 

 

Yesterday proceeded in almost ritualistic fashion here in the satellite office of Curmudgeon Central.  A little before noon, I turned on the television but not to hear any of the studio chatter about the tournament or the games of the day.  What I needed to do was to find the channel numbers for TNT, TBS and truTV.  I already know the CBS channel number because that is where I watch NFL games and college football games when I am here in Central PA.  It took about 5 minutes to find all four channels and to get used to rotating among them as preparation for what was to come.

Then the games began and other than a short interlude for dinner, I was in front of that TV set until a bit after midnight when all the games had been decided.  [Aside:  Since yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, my long-suffering wife prepared a corned beef and we dined on corned beef sandwiches on Jewish rye bread with coleslaw and Thousand Island dressing.  YUM! ]

The early games were OK but nothing better than that; the late games were much more interesting/entertaining.  I had a note pad with me and made some comments about the games as they were in progress; today’s rant will consist of me trying to make sense of my handwriting from yesterday.

Michigan/Colorado St.:  David Roddy of CSU is a wide-body who is also agile with a soft shot.  Charles Barkley ought to love this guy.  Colorado St. was hot from 3-point range early but cooled off significantly.  Michigan’s size advantage was too much.

Providence/S. Dak. St:   Baylor Scheierman does about everything you would ask of a player; he led team in scoring, rebounds and assists over the season.  The Providence defense is the difference here; it is just too good; S. Dak. St. finally wore down.

 Memphis/Boise St.:  If anyone ever asks for the definition of “helter-skelter” all you have to do is find a You Tube link for one of the Memphis games.  For a while in the second half, Memphis changed styles and decided to stand around and merely observe the game.  Memphis had a 19-point lead in the first half and then the game got close.  Strange game…

• Program Note:  There was an ad for Reese’s University involving studies of chocolate and peanut butter.  People who thought that ad was “interesting” or “entertaining” have the intellectual capacity of garden tools.

 Baylor/Norfolk St.:  Ten years ago, Norfolk St. won a game as a 15-seed.  They have represented the MEAC in the tournament in the last two years and have lost by 35 points or more both times.  Baylor was bigger, quicker and had better shooters; other than that, this could have been a close game.

• Program Note:  PowerAde has told me myriad times already that “Pause is Power”.  What, pray tell, might that mean?

Tennessee/Longwood:  At the 10:22 mark in the first half, I made this note. “Hard to imagine Tennessee finding a way to lose this one.”

Richmond/Iowa:  Finally, a good game to watch…  In the first half I noted this was clearly the best game of the day so far.  Both teams play well at both ends of the floor.  Richmond defense is tenacious; at one point, they forced two shot clock violations on two consecutive possessions.  You don’t see that often.  Once again, la 12-seed upsets a 5-seed!

Gonzaga/Georgia St.:  Georgia St. sure looks like a more potent team as a 16-seed than Norfolk St. did.  This was a 1-point game at the half and was close (Zags by 4 with 10:30 to go in the second half) until the Zags went on a 21-0 run.  Zags’ center Chet Holmgren had a double-double and threatened a strange triple double because he had 7 blocked shots.  However, at 7’1” and a listed weight of 189 lbs., my note on seeing him on the floor was:

“Someone get this man a sandwich; he looks like a famine victim.”

UNC/Marquette:  The Tar Heels sure looked better than an 8-seed in this game and Marquette was simply outclassed.

• Random Observation:  Have they repealed the 3-second rule in college basketball?

Kentucky/St. Peter’s:  St. Peter’s made this into a physical, defense-oriented game and did not let Kentucky run much at all.  The game was tied at the half and then it went to OT – – and St. Peter’s won as a 15-seed.  That has happened before, but it has not happened to Kentucky before.  This was an “OMG Game”.

New Mexico St./UConn:  Late in the first half, I made this “mathematical” note:

• 2 good defensive teams + 2 mediocre offensive teams = close game

That turned out to be the case with the game tied with only 5 minutes to play.  In the end, another 12-seed eliminated a 5-seed as the Aggies advanced.

Indiana/St. Mary’s:  St. Mary’s led at the half and then just poured it on in the second half.  The most interesting event in the game involved two Indiana cheerleaders; if you have not seen the video of that, please take a moment and check it out here.

Creighton/San Diego St.:  This was an 8-seed/9-seed game, and it was close – – the way such a game should be and not at all like the UNC/Marquette game earlier.  San Diego State ran out to a big lead, but Creighton closed to 7-points at the half and then sent the game to OT.  My note at the end of the game was:

“Creighton pulls a rabbit out of the hat.”

Arkansas/Vermont:  Arkansas has better athletes; Vermont is more fundamentally sound.  This game was close all the way and fun to watch.  In the end the better athletes prevailed by 4 points.

Akron/UCLA:  In the first half, my note says, “It looks like UCLA just expects Akron to give up and go home.”  Akron led at the half and even though UCLA won the game it was an UGLY win indeed.

 San Francisco/Murray St.:  I was looking forward to this game because a former colleague wrote me prior to the tournament saying that San Francisco was “really good” and could make the Sweet Sixteen.  I had not seen San Francisco play, so I was intrigued.  Murray St. came to the game having won 30 games in the season but was only seeded at #7 so I thought this would be an interesting game.  I was right; it was close all along and then went to OT.  Murray St. won the game, but San Francisco provided plenty of entertainment.

Kansas/Texas Southern:  With about 12 minutes left in the first half, I wrote:

“No mystery here; game is not in doubt.”

Like the song says, “Tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”  I shall be at the TV with note pad at the ready looking for more close and exciting games.  Yesterday provided 5 or 6 good games to watch.  Yesterday, Kentucky lost as a 2-seed; today the other three teams seeded at #2 in their bracket take the floor – – hoping not to suffer a similar fate.  Those three teams are:

• Auburn – – playing Jacksonville St.
• Duke – – playing Cal St. – Fullerton
• Villanova – – playing Delaware

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

 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone.  Let me take today as an opportunity to seek guidance from the vast Sports Curmudgeon audience – – all dozen or so of you.  There is a famous Irish blessing that says:

“May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

And the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

So, why is that opening wish in the blessing as a good thing?  If the road keeps rising up, that means I would wish for you always to be going uphill.  The rest of the blessing consists of beneficial stuff, but I do not understand the opening.

I have another “Ireland linkage” for today that is sports related.  I have mentioned before that #1 son lives in Dublin.  A couple of days ago, I got an email from him asking an interesting question.

• For how long would Barry Bonds have to “unretire” to “reset the clock” on his Hall of Fame eligibility?
•  He could easily make the Orioles’ roster.

Obviously, I have no idea what the answer is, and I know of no one who had been retired for 15 years even trying to make a comeback, so I doubt there is any precedent for such a thing.  But now that he brought up the subject, I hope Barry Bonds is thinking along these lines and gives it a try.  I can only imagine the members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America going into rhetorical contortions to take a position on that question and then defend it.

And by the way, if Bonds went to the Orioles and offered to play for the MLB minimum salary, the team would be crazy not to sign him and keep him unless he is totally incompetent.  He will not hit 60 home runs or anything like that, but he will draw interest to a team that lost 108 games or more in each of the last 3 full seasons of MLB.  Last year, the Orioles averaged only 9,793 fans per game.  They outdrew only the Rays, A’s and Marlins; those three teams have perennial attendance problems.

Speaking of baseball, there are folks out there trying to make the case that the Universal DH is part of the new CBA to increase fan interest.  A disclaimer is needed here; I do not like the DH rule and have not liked it since 1973 when it made its debut in the American League.  Having said that, I would like to suggest that if indeed this provision is in the new CBA to increase fan interest, then it is a feeble effort at the very best.  Ask yourself this question:

• Do you know anyone who has ever attended or watched an American League game solely because he/she cannot abide the sight of pitchers taking a turn in the batter’s box?

If you do not know a horde of such folks – – and I know no such folks – – then there is no cadre of pent-up fandom for National League teams that is set to emerge over the next year or two.  Actually, there is a way to implement the DH that I might find interesting because it brings back a strategic element to the game that the DH mitigates.  Suppose the DH rule had a corollary:

• Since the DH is basically a permanent pinch hitter for the pitcher, when that pitcher is removed from the game, so is the DH.  Subsequently, pitchers will bat for themselves.

Based on reports I have read, there are several minor things in the new CBA that will generate changes.  One is the scheduling.  The number of games each team will play within its division will drop from 19 games to 14 games and each team wii play 60 games against the 10 teams in the other two divisions.  That will increase the number of interleague games and I am not sure that is a great idea.

Another schedule wrinkle is that MLB is going to put on regular season games in “new countries” such as:

• “Asia”
• Dominican Republic
• London
• Mexico
• Paris
• Puerto Rico

Since MLB already plays games in Japan, I assume that “Asia” means South Korea where there is already a professional baseball league and fan interest.  However, the “potential market” in China must be a consideration and a temptation for Commissioner Manfred and his minions.  I am surprised by the inclusion of London and Paris on this list because I am unaware of any baseball interest in either city – – but there are undeniably lots of folks in each one who might be converted into baseball fandom.  The Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico make plenty of sense given that plenty of MLB players come from those places.

There will be 12 teams in the playoffs.  That diminishes the regular season except for teams fighting for the sixth playoff spot in both leagues.

The MLB Draft will now have a lottery similar to the one used by the NBA such that the team with the worst record is not guaranteed the overall #1 pick in the Draft.  The idea here is to minimize the reward for tanking a season.  That is a noble intent, and this is a step in the direction of that noble intent.  However, if anyone thinks that the NBA Lottery has cured the tanking problem, let me offer only three words:

• “Trust the process…”

Finally, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, let me close with this thought from Oscar Wilde:

“I am Irish by race, but the English have condemned me to talk the language of Shakespeare.”

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

 

 

I am going to do something today that I have never done before.  I am going to “reprint” – if you will – a rant from the past.  It is not that I am getting either lazy or nostalgic; I am in a short-term time crunch; that’s all.

With March Madness about to begin for real tomorrow, I thought I would bring back a rant that I posted on March 11, 2004.  The headline then was :

• “Once In A Lifetime – – At Least”

Enjoy this “Blast From The Past” if you will…

 

This missive is intended for fans of NCAA basketball.  If you are a sports fan in general and kinda like college hoops, this is for you too.  If you just hate basketball because of the noise of squeaking shoes on hardwood courts, you can stop reading now because none of this will interest you – not even a little bit.

You’ve probably heard about people who make “life lists” comprised of things they want to be sure to do in their lifetime.  Often, these lists contain adventurous items such as “climb Mt. Everest” or “be the first paleontologist on Mars”.  [That second one actually was once a goal for  #1 son.]  Sometimes there are noble entries on a life list such as “curing hunger in the Third World”.  I’m sure that some of these life lists contain fantasy items such as “break Wilt Chamberlain’s putative record for sexual partners”.  I have one for all NCAA basketball fans to add to their “life lists” – if you don’t have such a life list at the moment, start one – that falls into the purely hedonistic realm:

• Go to Las Vegas; park your carcass in one of the top tier sports books, and watch the first two rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  That’s a four-day commitment to enjoyment.

Trust me on this; if you love NCAA basketball, this is something you have to do at least once while you take up space on this planet.

Picture this.  You are in a room with enough big screen TVs to make you think you are in Best Buy.  There are at least several hundred people there with you.  Everyone there is a basketball fan and everyone there has not only a “fan interest” in the games but also a “financial interest” in some of the games.  Every game is telecast in its entirety.

On each of the first two days of the tournament, there are sixteen games you can watch in an environment where every action in a game draws a reaction in the room.  Several years ago, I had ceased to pay attention to one game because the outcome was no longer in doubt and I had no wager riding on the game.  I don’t even remember what game it was now.  All of a sudden, the noise level in the room went berserk; there were people cheering and people booing; there were cheers of joy and woe all at the same time.  It involved the game I had chosen to ignore.

What happened?  One team was leading by 12 with 4 seconds to play; the team that was behind substituted all of its players so that the bench scrubeenies could all say that they had played in an NCAA tournament game; the ball went inbounds and one of these scrubeenies launched a 30-foot shot that went swish; they lost the game by 9 points.  That was the loudest cheer of the day to that point because the betting line for the game was 9.5 points.  People who had the favorite just lost what looked to be a sure winner and people with the underdog just got the Las Vegas version of “found money”.  I had to ask someone what had happened and then watch the replay to get the flavor of what happened.  The atmosphere in the room is electric and you have to pay attention all the time.

The next two days will seem tame because there will only be 8 games per day.  After trying to track 16 games on Thursday and Friday, Saturday will seem like a walk in the park – – at first.  But I promise that the adrenaline will kick in on Saturday and Sunday as it did on the opening days.

There is also a lot of opportunity to make some easy money there.  No, beating the books is not easy on that weekend; they are in no danger of going bankrupt because of my profits.  The easy money comes from other visitors who come to Vegas to party and carouse and watch their favorite school in the tournament.  It is the basketball equivalent of a trip to a “bowl game”.  Lots of these folks are willing to make wagers with you on the side that are guided by their hearts and their glands and not their brains.  I was sitting near a guy from a school that was a 12-seed in the tournament and he was just positive they would clobber the 5-seed in the first round.  Vegas had it wrong; they were giving the 12-seed 8 points but Harry Huckleberry was convinced the 12-seed would win the game outright.  I asked him if he had played the money line on the game but he said there was no money line on that game but he would be willing to bet me $50 at even money that “12-seed Tech” would beat “5-seed A&M” straight up.  I really wished his name had been Paine Webber because I really wanted to say, “Thank you, Paine Webber,” when he made the bet and then paid up after his team lost by 15 points.

I will be venturing to Las Vegas next week – with the usual suspects of course – to check out the first four days of the tournament once again.  After forty-eight games in four days in that kind of environment, I will come home in a state of sensory overload.  [Did I mention that you can bet horse races at the same time and in the same venues?  And of course the NBA and NHL are still playing at that time of year too…]  If I did something like that once a month, I’d be carried out of there one of those days by the men with the canvass sports jackets.  You know the ones I mean.  They have really long sleeves and the sleeves tie in the back.

• But everyone who is a basketball fan needs to do it once – and if you are really a junkie, you need to do it once in a while.

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

 

 

Tom Brady’s retirement is over; he will be coming back to play NFL football again in 2022; the retirement lasted about six weeks.  I was trying to think of a sports event involving “life commitment” that lasted less than Brady’s retirement and the best I could come up with was the marriage of Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman which lasted – seemingly – about a day and a half.  A friend asked me how I thought Brady would do this year and my answer was simple:

• If the Bucs put an offensive line in front of him that can protect him and generate a halfway decent running game, Brady will do just fine.  If not, he will not do well at all.

Please note that my response assumes that Brady will be a Buccaneer in 2022; given the current environment where players force trades, perhaps that will not be the case…

The Steelers have addressed their QB situation by signing Mitchell Trubisky to a 2-year deal.  They made that move after it was announced that Deshaun Watson would not face any criminal charges coming out of the sexual assault allegations against him; a grand jury in Texas chose not to indict Watson.  Even with that knowledge, the Steelers chose to go with Trubisky which tells me that the Steelers recognize there will be some “blowback” when Watson is cleared to play in the NFL and the Steelers did not want any part of it.

Naturally, Watson was happy with the grand jury decision and told the press soon after learning of that decision that the cloud hanging over his career was gone and that any team interested in his services should get in touch with the Texans and his agent.  I guess I would feel the same way were I in his position – – but not being there, his optimism seems a tad premature.  Almost two dozen massage therapists still have civil complaints against him, and Commissioner Goodell has yet to weigh in on any sort of suspension that might arise from a violation of the NFL’s “Personal Conduct Policy”.  I doubt that the Deshaun Watson situation is completely in the rear-view mirror…

• [Aside:  Ben Roethlisberger got a 6-game suspension when a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her even though no charges were brought.  That precedent happened in 2010 predating events such as the #MeToo Movement.  Ezekiel Elliott also gat a 6-game suspension based on domestic violence allegations where no criminal charges were leveled.  There is precedent for NFL suspension absent the establishment of criminal guilt.]

It appears that the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys are on parallel tracks these days.  The Commanders had a scandal involving their cheerleaders causing a long-term exec in the Front Office to retire unexpectedly and then moved on to a situation where a woman claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the team owner.  In more recent times, it seems that the Cowboys have also had some “issues” with their cheerleaders involving the surprising retirement of a senior staff member.  And now, a woman claims that owner Jerry Jones is her biological father, and she is suing seeking to get that “fact” acknowledged.

The paternity aspect of that lawsuit is the sort of thing that Maury Povich handles on his TV show with a combination of objectivity, rapidity and even a soupçon of aplomb.  Somehow, I do not think any of those sorts of conditions will apply to this lawsuit.  In fact, I think the only interesting point about the lawsuit will be:

• What are the measures – and how might they be applied – to get the plaintiff here to “STFU”?

The TV ratings for the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing were “disappointing” at best and probably closer to “miserable” on the ratings spectrum.  Some of the spin masters coming to NBC’s defense pinned that “disappointment” on the fact that live events were happening 10 or 12 time zones removed from American viewers.  That is undeniably correct – but it is also a distraction and not an explanation.  The reason I say that is that the 2018 Winter Olympic Games were held in PyeongChang, South Korea; those games “suffered” the same time-zone burden.  So, compare the “TV numbers” between the PyeongChang games and the Beijing games:

• In 2018, an average of 19.8 million viewers per night tuned in to watch all or part of the televised events.
• In 2022, an average of 11.4 million viewers per night tuned in to watch all or part of the televised events.
• That is an audience reduction of just over 42% and the “time-zone burden” is virtually the same.

I will not pretend to have “the answer” to this significant reduction in viewing audience for the Winter Games.  I have seen others attribute it to the fact that the Summer Games had to be postponed from 2020 to 2021 creating what some have called “Olympic Fatigue”.  Personally, any “Olympic Fatigue” I may have suffered had nothing to do with the postponement of the Summer Games in Japan.  Other commentators point to “international tensions” as the cause of this audience decline. Once again, that may have affected the viewing choices of some folks, but it was absolutely not a consideration for me.

Someone at NBC needs to figure out the issues here because NBC is on the hook for about $8B to telecast the Olympics through 2032.  That is a lot of cheese to spend on a property where the audience trend is decidedly downward.

Let me put this in another perspective for you:

• The 2022 Winter Games were shown in the US in prime time when TV audiences traditionally are larger.  They also reached potential viewers on a variety of channels and streaming services.  The potential for “big audiences” were all present for those Winter Games.  The audience averaged 11.4 million viewers.
• The average NFL game is played on a Sunday afternoon not prime time.  The average NFL game includes all those clunker games – – such as Jags/Jets on the day after Christmas.  And with all that, the average NFL game draws an audience of 16 million viewers which is about 40% more eyeballs than watched the 2022 Winter Games.

Finally, Dwight Perry had this comment last weekend regarding another NFL quarterback and his offseason events:

“Packers QB Aaron Rodgers officiated at teammate David Bakhtiari’s wedding on March 5.

“No word on whether Bakhtiari got the Rodgers rate, but the QB did get the bridesmaids to jump offside with a hard count.”

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

 

 

March 14^th is always celebrated as “Pi Day”; this year it is also “National Napping Day” since it is the day after the clocks were advanced forward an hour to accommodate Daylight Saving Time.  For 2022, it is also the day after Selection Sunday for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament; and, here in Curmudgeon Central, that means it is a special day.

In many parts of the sports world, today is spent identifying the teams that were “snubbed” by the Selection Committee and/or the ones who were seeded higher or lower than someone not on the Selectin Committee thinks is proper.  It is a day of lamentation and/or outrage when neither is really called for.  No one was “snubbed”; had any team “on the bubble” who failed to get the call won a game or two more than they did, they would be “on the inside”.  The Selection Committee are not the bad guys; the teams on the outside did it to themselves.

So, while others are caught up in either lamentation or outrage, I prefer to take this day to have some fun with the tournament brackets as they have been presented.  For example:

• In one of the play-in games, the Wyoming Cowboys will take on Indiana.
• In the East bracket, we might see the Baylor Bears taking on the UCLA Bruins in an ursine showdown.
• If the UConn Huskies and the Vermont Catamounts both advance to the second round, it will be a showdown between cats and dogs.
• Similarly, the first-round game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Georgia State Panthers is a feline/canine battle.
• If the Texas Tech Red Raiders win their first-round game, they could meet the Alabama Crimson Tide in the next round – – or perhaps the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
• If the St. Peter’s Peacocks meet the Creighton Blue Jays in the tournament Finals, it will be an all-avian showdown.  [Aside:  The same would be true if the Peacocks faced the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens.]
• In the Midwest bracket, we might see the USC Trojans meeting the San Diego State Aztecs in a showdown of ancient civilizations.
• In that same bracket, we might also see the Miami Hurricanes facing the Iowa State Cyclones in a battle of the natural disasters.
• In the West bracket, the regional final could pair the Michigan State Spartans with the Georgia State Spartans.
• Imagine a Final Game between the Colgate Red Raiders and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.  Surely, that would be a first…

I have fun with things like mascots and mascot pairings and players’ names that fall into patterns.  For example, consider the possibility that these players will go on in their lives and make a career that is indicated by the names they were given at birth.  People believe in astrology where the position of the stars at birth determines various aspects of one’s life; so, why not the name given at birth?  Consider:

• Carter Ash – – Smoke jumper – – Montana State
• Joey Baker – – No mystery here – – Duke
• Darius Banks – – Financier – – Chattanooga
• Brent Bland – – School cafeteria cook – – St. Peter’s
• Lamont Butler – – Valet – – San Diego State
• Andrew Carr – – Formula One racer – – Delaware
• Maliq Carr – – Andrew’s pit crew boss – – Michigan State
• Preston Cook – – Gordon Ramsey trainee – – Auburn
• Xavier Cork – – Vintner – – TCU
• Rashool Diggins – – Farmer – – UConn
• Malcom Dread – – Apocalyptic novelist – – Richmond
• Parker Edwards – – Park Service ranger – – LSU
• Joe Few – – Minimalist philosopher – – Gonzaga
• Jalen Finch – – Ornithologist – – Jax State
• Luke Fonts – – Graphic designer – – Providence
• Chris Ford – – NASCAR crew chief – – Norfolk State
• Simeon Fryer – – KFC franchise owner – – Texas A&M CC
• Alex Fudge – – Chocolatier – – LSU
• Luke Goode – – Philanthropist – – Illinois
• Will Graves – – Mortician – – Gonzaga
• Justice Hill – – Criminologist – – Murray State
• Eric Hunter, Jr. – – Survivalist – – Purdue
• Aundre Hyatt – – Hotelier – – Rutgers
• Jaden Ivey – – Landscape architect – – Purdue
• Chris Knight – – Crusader – – Loyola-Chicago
• Miller Kopp – – Detective – – Indiana
• Broden Lien – – Mortgage broker – – South Dakota State
• Chandler Leopard – – Safari Guide – – Auburn
• Zach Light – – Dietician – – Colgate
• Mitch Lightfoot – – Dance instructor – – Kansas
• Julius Marble II – – Sculptor – – Michigan State
• Charlie McCarthy – – Ventriloquist – – Kansas
• David McCormack – – Spice merchant – – Kansas
• Shereef Mitchell – – Law enforcement officer – – Creighton
• Joe Moon IV – – Astronomer – – Bryant
• Chance Moore – – Blackjack dealer – – Arkansas
• Storm Murphy – – Meteorologist – – VA Tech
• Justyn Mutts – – Dog breeder – – VA Tech
• Brandon Noel – – Mall Santa Claus – – Wright State
• Jeremy Roach – – Exterminator – – Duke
• Dylan Painter – – Too easy – – Delaware
• Oskar Palmquist – – Movie producer – – Rutgers
• Bailey Patella – – Knee surgeon – – Vermont
• Omar Payne – – Anesthesiologist – – Illinois
• Cam Pope – – Evangelist – – Jax State
• Charles Pride – – Lion Tamer – – Bryant
• Austin Sacks – – NFL defensive end – – Baylor
• Jabari Sawyer – – Carpenter – – St. Mary’s
• Marcus Shaver, Jr. – – Barber – – Boise State
• Michael Shipp – – Riverboat captain – – Indiana
• Brandon Slater – – Roofer – – Villanova
• Mouhamed Sow – – Farmer – – St. Peter’s
• Justice Sueing – – Attorney at law – – Ohio State
• Johnny Taylor, Jr.  – – Tailor to the stars – – Chattanooga
• Jordan Turner – – Wheelwright – – Baylor
• Kerwin Walton – – Retailer – – UNC
• Blake Wesley – – Theologian – – Notre Dame
• Sahvir Wheeler – – Interstate trucker – –  KY
• Justice Williams – – Judge – – LSU

Other players have what I call “Mirror Image Names”; if you reverse the first name with the last name, you still have a name that could easily be a tournament player – – such as:

• Galen Alexander – – Texas Southern
• Corey Allen – – Georgia State
• Dontaie Allen – – Kentucky
• Teddy Allen – – New Mexico State
• Raheem Anthony – – St. Mary’s
• Bryan Antoine – – Villanova
• Jules Bernard – – UCLA
• Lawson Blake – – Arkansas
• Trey Calvin – – Wright State
• Jaylen Clark – – UCLA
• Henry Clayton – – New Mexico State
• Ben Craig – – Davidson
• Robin Duncan – – Vermont
• Ja’Vier Francis – – Houston
• Juwan Gary – – Alabama
• Kent Gilbert – – Tennessee
• Ben Gregg – – Gonzaga
• Blake Henry – – Colgate
• Kayne Henry – – Jax State
• Jace Howard – – Michigan
• Graham Ike – – Wyoming
• Bensley Joseph – – Miami
• Theo John – – Duke
• Bates Jones – – Duke
• Vincent Lee – – Cal St. – Fullerton
• Tramon Mark – – Houston
• Cam Martin – – Kansas
• Chase Martin – – Purdue
• Mitchell Paul – – Baylor
• Kayden Perry – – Gonzaga
• Cedric Russell – – Ohio State
• Daylen Terry – – Arizona
• Dischon Thomas – – Colorado State
• Jaylen Thomas – – Georgia State

Here are players whose names might show up on an Artist’s Palette:

• Leaky Black – – UNC
• Cahiem Brown – – Norfolk State
• Gabe Brown – – Michigan State
• Kendall Brown – – Baylor
• Justin Brown – – UAB
• Tevin Brown – – Murray State
• Wendell Green, Jr. – – Auburn
• Ethan White – – Texas A&M CC
• Fabian White, Jr. – – Houston
• Isaiah White – – USC
• Joey White – – St. Mary’s

Some players have Geographical Names:

• Jordan Bohannon – – Iowa
• Dane Brazil – – St. Mary’s
• Brennan Canada – – KY
• Rafael Castro – – Providence
• Jordan Gilliam – – Texas Southern
• Jordan Hawkins – – UConn
• Jordan Miller – – Miami
• Reggie Parris – – USC
• Jordan Rawls – – Georgia State
• Jordan Roberts – – Texas A&M CC
• Jordan Walker – – UAB

[Aside:  Jordan Geronimo can easily be on this list, but I find it doubly interesting that someone named “Geronimo” plays for Indiana – – so I give him special billing here.]

Copy editors at newspapers and websites everywhere will have nightmares with these players’ names:

• Chibuzo Agbo – – Texas Tech
• Babatunde Akingbola – – Auburn
• Rati Andronikashvili – – Creighton
• Aziz Bandaofo – – Akron
• Emir Buyukhanli – – Yale
• Tahirou Diabate – – San Diego State
• Ibrahim Famouke Doumbia – – Cal St. Fullerton
• Fousseyni Drame – – St. Peter’s
• Filippos Gkogkos – – Miami
• Oso Ighodaro – – Marquette
• Souleymane Koureissi – – Richmond
• Pavle Kuzmanovic – – Boise State
• Ga’Khari Lacount – – Longwood
• Volodymyr Markovetskyy – – Univ. of San Francisco
• Bez Mbeng – – Yale
• Michel Ndayishimiye – – Vermont
• Jahcobi Neath – – Wisconsin
• Amanze Ngumezi – – Jax State
• Nnanna Njoku – – Villanova
• Olivier Nkamhoua – – Tennessee
• Leslie Nkereuwem – – Longwood
• Eliel Nsoseme – – Georgia State
• Shakiru Odunewu – – New Mexico State
• Brandin Podziemski – – Illinois
• Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua – – Baylor
• Azoulas Tubelis – – Arizona
• Tautvilas Tubelis – – Arizona

These players’ names recall historical US Presidents:

• Grant Basile – – Wright State
• Grayson Carter – – Texas Southern
• Kennedy Chandler – – Tennessee
• Carter Gilmore – – Wisconsin
• Carter Higgenbottom – – Wisconsin
• Harrison Hoofkin – – Ohio State
• Andre Jackson – – UConn
• Tray Jackson – – Seton Hall
• Quan Jackson – – UAB
• Zeb Jackson – – Michigan
• Ty Johnson – – Loyola-Chicago
• Marquise Kennedy – – Loyola-Chicago
• Michael Kennedy – – Marquette
• Carter Sobera – – Auburn
• Elijah Taylor – – Notre Dame
• Tyler Polley – – UConn
• Douglas Wilson – – South Dakota State
• Tyler Wahl – – Wisconsin
• Ty Ty Washington Jr.  Kentucky

There are enough players whose names have Biblical ties that we can break them up into Old Testament and New Testament teams.  For the Old Testament:

• Aaron Fiegen – – South Dakota State
• Adam Cottrell – – Alabama
• Noah Frechette – – St. Mary’s
• Jacob Grandison – – Illinois
• Noah Horchler – – Providence
• Isaiah Kelly – – Yale
• Samson Johnson – – UConn
• Isaac Lindsey – – Wisconsin
• Isaiah Mobley – – USC
• Joshua Morgan – – USC
• Elijah Morgan – – Notre Dame
• Jeremiah Oden – – Wyoming
• Micah Peavy – – TCU
• Jacob Radaker – – Chattanooga
• Noah Reynolds – – Wyoming
• Jeremaine Samuels – – Villanova
• Elijah Tate – – UAB
• Adam Thistlewood – – Colorado State
• Isaiah Thompson – – Purdue
• Tadarius Jacobs – – Memphis

And here are the New Testament players…:

• Luke Appel – – South Dakota State
• Christian Bishop – – Texas
• Xavier Bishop – – Montana State
• San Antonio Brinson – – Texas A&M CC
• Max Christie – – Michigan State
• Michael Christmas – – Longwood
• Rod Grace – – Richmond
• Christian Ings – – Norfolk State
• De’Lazerus Keys – – Texas A&M CC
• Saint Thomas – – Loyola-Chicago

And of course, there are players whose names are Alliterative:

• Amin Adamu – – Montana State
• Alex Arians – – South Dakota State
• Adonis Arms – – Texas Tech
• Akok Akok – – UConn
• Aguek Arop – – San Diego State
• Austin Ash – – Iowa
• Ben Bowen – – Wyoming
• Connor Crabtree – – Richmond
• Cameron Crawford – – Mew Mexico State
• Davonte Davis – – Arkansas
• Darius Days – – LSU
• Devin Davis – – Creighton
• Dylan Disu – – Texas
• Duncan Demuth – – Vermont
• D’Marco Dunn – – UNC
• Deng Dut – – Wyoming
• Emarion Ellis – – Marquette
• Francisco Farabello – – TCU
• Grant Golden – – Richmond
• Jacob Jennissen – – Colorado State
• Jamal Johnson – – UAB
• Jaden Jones – – Rutgers
• Joe Jones III – – Georgia State
• John Jones – – Texas Southern
• Johnny Juzang – – UCLA
• Kur Kuath – – Marquette
• Luke Laketa – – Iowa
• Lado Laku – – Cal St. – Fullerton
• Langston Love – – Baylor
• Mawot Mag – – Rutgers
• Mike Marshall, Jr. – – Bryant
• Matthew Mayer – – Baylor
• Mike Miles, Jr. – – TCU
• Mason Miller – – Creighton
• Matt Mims – – South Dakota State
• Matthew Mors – – Wisconsin
• Ndewedo Newbury – – Univ. of San Francisco
• Pearson Parker – – Colgate
• Shaedan Sharpe – – KY
• Sasha Stefanovic – – Purdue
• Trevian Tennyson – – Texas A&M CC
• Tony Toney – – UAB
• Zakai Ziegler – – Tennessee

This year, I found six players who hit the “Alliterative Trifecta”:

1. Ali Ali – – Akron
2. Addison Arnold – – Arizona
3. Cameron Carter – – Cal St. Fullerton
4. Drew Dibble – – Davidson
5. Jaime Jaquez, Jr. – – UCLA
6. Josiah Jordan-James – – Tennessee

I keep looking but have yet to find a player name – – with his school – – that completes an “Alliterative Superfecta”.  I keep looking for someone named Tommy Tunes from Texas Tech or Billy Bob Banks from Brown.  No luck yet…

I want to give special mention to six players in this year’s tournament because their names form a complete sentence:

1. Nick Falls – – St Mary’s
2. Erickson Bans – – Bryant
3. Isaac Spears – – Montana State
4. Delaney Heard – –  Alabama
5. Race Thompson – – Indiana  (in the imperative mood no less)
6. Ian Burns – – Michigan

I was hoping that DePaul would make the tournament because Courvoisier McCauley is on the DePaul team.  It would have been great to have him here today to present the possibility of a Cognac Showdown between McCauley and Remy Martin – – Kansas.  Unfortunately, DePaul posted a 15-16 record this year and did not make the tournament…

One final player name that needs mentioning:

• Nickolas Louis-Jacques  (Colgate) leads the tournament in first names.

Enough frivolity for the day.  All the folks who are in high dudgeon today will shed those feelings overnight because tomorrow’s focus will be identifying potential “bracket busters” for this year.  Let the games begin…

Finally, I’ll close today with an observation by Bob Knight whose Indiana teams won this basketball tournament three times:

“The greatest motivator in the world is your ass on the bench. Ass meets bench, bench retains ass, ass transmits signals to the brain, brain transmits signals to the body, body gets ass off bench and plays better. It’s a hell of a sequence.”

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

 

 

Almost 50 years ago when Gerald Ford was inaugurated as President of the United States after the resignation of President Nixon, he proclaimed:

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

With the announcement last night that the MLB owners and the MLB players had reached an agreement on a new 5-year CBA,  I think President Ford’s announcement applies today.  Barring something like World War III erupting out of the Ukraine and/or the emergence of the omega variant of COVID-19, we are going to have a “normal” baseball season in 2022.

My position all along has been that neither side in this dispute had any claim on even a single square inch of the “moral high ground”.  And while I am as happy as anyone to know that baseball will take place in 2022, I would like to throw just a bit of cold water on the celebratory mood that seems to have engulfed most of the baseball media.

First, there is nothing – – and I do mean NOTHING – – in this new framework for a CBA that was not available to the negotiators the day after the lockout was announced.  No new ground was broken; none of the alleged abominations perpetrated by the “other side” in this dispute were eradicated.  Everything here could have emerged in short order had the two sides – – BOTH – – sat down and negotiated from realistic positions.  It was never clear to me then and it is certainly not clear to me now why there was a lockout in the first place; certainly now, it is clear that the negotiations dragged on – – or never even began in earnest – – for the first ten weeks after the unnecessary lockout.

• The owners were stupid and greedy in locking the players out.
• The players were petulant and greedy not knocking on the door to seek entry immediately.

Second, when all the details of the new CBA are ironed out and massaged by the lawyers, please do not think that we will enter an era of labor peace and mutual bliss on the part of the two sides here.  As I said above, NOTHING new is in this CBA other than a few numbers getting changed.  If the last CBA was sufficiently awful from the point of view of either or both sides, why would this one be any different?

Third, most of the baseball media sided with the players in this kerfuffle; that is OK with me; everyone has an inalienable right to be wrong.  Here is a datum that might lead you to believe that the players were significantly involved in delaying the outcome here.  Consider:

• Sitting in on negotiations for the players was the MLBPA Executive Subcommittee.  That body consists of 8 players elected by the rank and file.
• Each member of the Executive Subcommittee gets a ratification vote, and each team then gets one ratification vote too.  Thus, there are 38 votes for or against ratification and a simple majority is needed to ratify.
• In this case, all 8 members of the Executive Subcommittee voted NOT to ratify this proposed agreement, but the teams voted 24-6 in favor of ratification, so we got a deal.
• Please note, every player at the table doing the negotiating wanted baseball to stay dark longer than this.  With that on the record, might it not be the case that the players were not exactly striving for resolution?

The MLB regular season will begin on April 7^th; they will play 162 games and the players will get the full value of their contracts.  If there had been a representative of the fans at the bargaining table, maybe the following point would have been made:

• We don’t want to hear about 7-inning doubleheaders ever again unless teams charge only 7/9-ths of the admission price to those games and players only get paid 7/9-ths of their po-rated salaries for those games.

That is the sort of “issue” that neither the owners nor the players ever want to confront.  They both think they have a God-given right to ignore the fans that pay the freight for all the issues they just spent 3 months haggling over.

None of the haggling over the past 2 or 3 months really affected minor league baseball for a simple yet profound reason.  The lockout was by major league team owners not minor league team owners and the players’ side of the deal involved the MLB Players Association and minor league players are not members of that union – – with one exception.  Minor league players who were on the 40-man roster of a major league club at the time of the lockout are members of the union and therefore they could not be part of minor league teams or even workouts had this contretemps gone on further.  Basically, minor league teams had a set schedule and have been adhering to it:

• Triple A games will begin on April 5^th – – two days before MLB games
• Double A, High A and Low A games, will begin on April 8^th.

Just in case you are interested, here are the 8 members of the MLBPA Executive Subcommittee who were at the negotiating table and who voted against this now ratified CBA:

1. Zack Britton
2. Jason Castro
3. Gerritt Cole
4. Francisco Lindor
5. Andrew Miller
6. James Paxton
7. Max Scherzer
8. Marcus Semien

Finally, the poet William Butler Yeats had this observation about an Irishman; if you substitute “baseball fans” for “Irish” it seems appropriate today:

“Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”

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

 

 

Over the past year or so, whenever the “NFL franchise that calls itself Washington” got into the headlines, the event was about as welcome as sour milk.

• Allegations of “Peeping Toms” on undressed cheerleaders.
• Partners in the ownership group suing one another.
• Principal owner accused of sexual assault.
• Franchise fumbles the ball on its re-naming initiative.
• One of its roster players accused of vehicular homicide.

Yesterday, it was different; the Washington Commanders made news that was not sleazy, and it is unlikely to require a judge in a courtroom to render any decisions.

• The Washington Commanders traded for a QB and got Carson Wentz from the Colts.

That represents an upgrade for the team at the QB position so fans can sing Hallelujah; however, it is a stretch to say that this trade has brought to Washington their franchise QB who is going to lead this team for the next 5 or 7  years.  If I were to tell you that the Commanders were deficient at QB last year, your response should be along the lines of, “So how is that different from the last 35 years?”  The last real franchise QB for the Washington franchise was Joe Theismann and he last saw the field in 1985.

The fact is that acquiring Carson Wentz provides as many questions as it does answers.  Let me try to go over some of those questions and answers:

• Answer:  Wentz’s teams are 44-40-1 when he starts; he has thrown 140 TD passes compared to only 57 INTs; his career passing completion percentage is 62.6%.  He will be 30 years old in December, so he is not confronting the still undefeated Father Time.
• Question:  So … why will the Commanders be his third team in three seasons?

Two years ago, the Eagles benched Wentz in favor of Jalen Hurts; according to reports, Wentz did not take that demotion well and his behavior(s) in relation to his coach then were well below positive.  That got his coach, Doug Pederson, fired and it got Wentz traded to the Colts.  Last year, the Colts had the NFL’s leading rusher in Jonathan Taylor (1,811 yards and 18 TDs) and they had a Top Ten defense in points allowed.  Nevertheless, the Colts missed the playoffs in the most embarrassing way I can recall.

• In Week 18 playing against the 1-16 Jacksonville Jaguars in a win-and-you’re-in-game, the Colts lost; and Carson Wentz was awful in that game.

Here is the big question…  There are reports that unnamed players in both Philly and Indy were less than impressed with Wentz as a leader and/or as a positive element in the locker room and/or as “a guy”.  Most importantly, are those reports based in fact?  And if so, are there ways that the Commanders’ coaches can ameliorate those “problems” assuming they exist?

Carson Wentz has been a boom-or-bust sort of player for all of his career.  When he is “hot” he looks like Superman; when he is “off” he looks like Charlie Brown.  The Commanders are seeking stability at the QB position; stability and consistency go hand in hand; Wentz is hardly “consistent”.  Wentz is clearly a physical talent upgrade for the team, but questions remain…

Speaking of QB questions, let me turn now to two teams that need to decide about the QB position for next year.  Both the Colts and the Steelers have a good running back and a better than average defense; both teams have adequate if not great pass catchers; both teams lack a strong QB on their roster as of this morning.

• Colts’ QBs:  Sam Ehlinger and James Morgan
• Steelers’ QBs:  Joshua Dobbs, Dwayne Haskins and Mason Rudolph

Both teams should have playoff aspirations for 2022 – – assuming they find themselves a competent and reliable QB.  Of the five guys named above, Mason Rudolph is probably the best of the lot and he yet to prove that he is anything more than a stop gap.  So, who is out there for either the Steelers or the Colts to acquire?

• Teddy Bridgewater has stats similar to Carson Wentz but with a worse record of injuries.
• Nick Foles has something no other available QB has – – a Super Bowl ring AND a Super Bowl MVP award…
• Jimmy G is rumored to be on the trading block.  The Niners would probably like to recoup some of the draft capital they expended to move up and take Trey Lance in last year’s Draft.
• Jordan Love would seem to be superfluous in Green Bay these days…
• Gardner Minshew played well in place of Jalen Hurts in Philly when needed last year.  The Colts or the Steelers might have to bid against the Seahawks if the Eagles show interest in trading Minshew since he is a fan favorite in the Northwest having gone to Washington State.
• Mitchell Trubisky is an unrestricted free agent.  He has not shown greatness in his career, but he has shown some promise.  Rumor says he will sign with the Giants and stay with Brian Daboll who was his OC in Buffalo last year.  We shall see…

Or maybe either or both Colts/Steelers see a prospect in the Draft they really, really like…

Oh, by the way, MLB just cancelled another week’s worth of April games.  Hi, Ho…

Finally, Dwight Perry reminds us to keep a good thought here:

“March 20 is the International Day of Happiness.

“At least we can hope the baseball negotiations are over by then.”

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

 

 

Today’s athletes seem to work awfully hard off the field polishing their image – or in the modern parlance “advancing their brand”.  I want to focus on two NFL players today whose image polishing has not been totally effective recently.  Let me start with Aaron Rodgers…

I have always liked watching Aaron Rodgers play football; even if you are a diehard Bears’ fan and hate the Packers’ as a team and an organization to its core, you have to appreciate that Rodgers is one of the best ever at his position.  Off the field, he seemed to be intelligent, understated, and insightful while carrying an aura of Snoopy’s alter ego, “Joe Cool”.  I do not watch Jeopardy; so, I cannot say if he would have been a good replacement host for the program.  His low-key presence would seem to have fit the role.

However, over the past year, Aaron Rodgers has come across to me with an added dimension to his image/brand – – and it is not flattering.  Last year, he engaged in a long-term feud with his team management leading to stories about how he would never play for the Packers again and how he wanted to be traded and – – you remember all that.  Then came the NFL regular season and Rodgers worked his magic on the field again until the Packers lost in the playoffs to the Niners on 22 January.  That was six-and-a-half weeks ago.  A day or so after the game, Rodgers said that he would make up his mind about what he wanted to do with the rest of his career quickly so that the Packers could get their ducks in line and go forward with plans for 2022.  So, what has happened in those six weeks or so?

• We have had reports that Rodgers is going to retire.  If that were the case – and if he and Tom Brady actually “stay retired”, then Rodgers, Brady and Ben Roethlisberger can headline the Hall of Fame class 5 years from now.  [Aside:  I wonder if any of those three QBs would be happy “sharing that stage” with the other two inductees.  Just a thought…]
• We have had reports that Rodgers and the Packers’ management have patched up their relationship leading to the team making him a “huge offer”.
• We have had reports that he has made a list of teams where he would accept a trade – – and of course that led to speculation about what any potential trading partner might give to the Packers in exchange for Rodgers.

It has been six weeks, folks; no one forced Aaron Rodgers to say he would makeup his mind quickly; he did that all by his lonesome.  So, that leads me now to see him and his image as tending toward “attention whore territory” which is not even close to the image he has projected for the past decade.  Think about it; if he had been seen as an “attention whore” over the years, do you think he would have even gotten an audition for the Jeopardy host role?

The other player whose image/brand was blindsided and is taking on water would be Falcons’ WR, Calvin Ridley.  He has been suspended indefinitely – at a minimum for all of 2022 – for “violating the NFL policy on gambling”.  That is the sugar-coated version of the issue here; reports say that Ridley bet on NFL games last year including bets on the Falcons to win in parlay bets.  To be fair, he made those bets when he was inactive and not on the field; that is a small plus in this open ocean of stupidity.

Spare me the diatribe about the NFL’s hypocrisy for bellying up to the trough and taking millions of dollars from gambling institutions and websites.  There is a fundamental difference between the league allowing “strategic partnerships” with betting companies and the league allowing gambling ads on its programming on one hand and having an active player or coach or official betting on actual NFL games.  If anyone needs that distinction explained to them, I fear they will never understand it.

Ridley left the Falcons last year in October for “mental health reasons”.  That covers a broad landscape and I profess no expertise in the area.  However, according to reports sometime in November, he placed parlay bets on NFL games while he was away from the team.  Try as I might, I cannot cobble together a set of events whereby whatever healing processes/therapies/counselings he underwent for his mental health led him to think that betting on NFL games as a player in the NFL was OK.  Please do not try to convince me that it was a gambling addiction that was the mental health issue that caused him to leave the Falcons because if he had been betting on NFL games before that as an active player on the field, that makes it 100 times worse.

Ridley has subsequently Tweeted:

“I don’t have a gambling problem.”

Well, if that is unassailably true, then as far as I am concerned, he has an intellect problem.  The NFL has a history regarding players and gambling:

• In the 1960s, Paul Hornung and Alex Karras (both players inducted into the Hall of Fame) were suspended for 1 year for betting on games.  [Aside:  Karras also was a part owner of a bar in Detroit that was allegedly associated with organized crime there.]
• In the 1970s, the NFL “forced” Joe Namath (another Hall of Fame player) to sell a bar he opened in NYC because of “organized crime” association and possible illegal gambling activities.
• In the 1980s, the NFL had to deal with Art Schlichter whose gambling activities and gambling problem were chronicled even during his college days at Ohio State.  Rather than trying to summarize the train-wreck that was Art Schlichter, let me point you to his Wikipedia entry.

Aaron Rodgers is coming across as “annoying”; Calvin Ridley is coming across as “dumber than a bag of hammers”.  Neither “brand” is being advanced…

Finally, since I mentioned Alex Karras above, let me close with an incident that happened after he had been reinstated by the NFL.  As a game captain, Karras was at the 50-yardline with the officials for the coin toss; the referee asked Karras to call heads or tails and Karras reportedly replied:

“I’m sorry, sir; I’m not permitted to gamble.”

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