The Sports Curmudgeon

The NFL actively seeks to be “in the news” 365 days a year.  In looking to meet that objective, this is the time of year when the NFL owners adopt new rules for the upcoming season; that comes from an annual meeting of the owners at this time every year.  This year, there will be five rule changes and one surprising rule that will not change.

The rule that will stay allows for the Tush Push.  Last year, a ban on the Tush Push came within one vote of passing; I thought for sure that meant the end of the Tush Push this year but that was not the case.  As far as I can tell from reports, the idea of banning never came before the owners for a vote; so, I guess the sentiment is:

• Long live the Tush Push.

The five changes this year are interesting, but none will change the game to the extent that the so-called Dynamic Kickoff changed the game.  Here are the changes:

1. After a score, the kicking team can declare an onside kick at any point in the game.  Previously, the kicking team had to be behind in order to try an onside kick and even then, it had to be in the fourth quarter of the game.
2. Eliminate the incentive for a kicking team to kick the ball out of bounds intentionally when kicking off from the 50-yardline.
3. Modify the receiving team alignment on kickoffs
4. League folks can consult with on-field officials on matters related to ejections for things like flagrant fouls or non-football acts.
5. For 2026 only, the NFL Officiating Department can overrule clear and obvious mistaken calls on the field.

Let me parse these quickly:

1. I am not sure this change is a big deal; teams in the lead do not try a lot of onside kicks.
2. This only affects kickoffs that come after a 15-yard penalty on a scoring play preceding the kickoff.  This is a good idea; it probably will not happen often.
3. The alignment modifications are immensely arcane; no fan viewing at home will discern a significant change in the game as a result of this rule change.
4. This is a great idea; when a fight breaks out, officials upstairs can view the play and see who started it and who retaliated and who deserves punishment(s).  The officials on the field often do not get to see the “whole picture”.
5. The last rune change is there in case the NFL has to go with “Replacement Refs” again due to stalled negotiations between the NFL and the Referees’ Union.

Moving on …  Surely, you have read about or seen pictures of the recent “two-car accident” involving Tiger Woods.  He was arrested over the weekend on charges of DUI and refusing to take a DUI test; not surprisingly, he made bail and is out and about.  At no point between the time of the accident and the present did I think Tiger Woods would be sentenced to jail for this accident and that whatever charges were brought against him would either be dismissed or pleaded down to something trivial.

I also said to a neighbor on Monday of this week that I fully expected an announcement that Tiger Woods would be “seeking therapy” and that he would be taking time to heal and to recalibrate his life.  As if on cue, here is the headline for an article at CBSSports.com:

• Tiger Woods will seek treatment following DUI arrest, stepping away from golf days before 2026 Masters

And here is how Tiger Woods articulated his current predicament and what he was going to do about it:

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today.  I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work towards lasting recovery.

“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time.”

Question:

• Did he miss any of the touch-points for prepared statements in situations of this kind?

What is the “Over/Under” for how long he will be in “treatment” before he emerges “healthier, stronger and more focused”?  If I set the date at May 10^th, I’ll take the UNDER.

Finally, since today is April Fool’s Day, let me close with this from Mark Twain:

“The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.”

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

 

 

There is WNBA news today.  The Native American tribe that owned the Connecticut Sun – – along with the Mohegan Sun casino – – sold the WNB A franchise to Tilman Fertitta who is the current US Ambassador to Italy and who also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets.  The sales price was $300M and Fertitta is expected to move the team to Houston in 2027 and re-name it as the Houston Comets.  Meanwhile, the team will play out the 2026 season in Uncasville, CT.

That price tag of $300M is the highest amount ever paid for a WNBA franchise; the two new expansion teams that will enter the WNBA later this decade only paid $200M as their “entry fee”.  The tribe had a higher bid of $325M from a minority owner of the Boston Celtics who planned to move the team to Boston, but the league evidently nixed the deal because it “preferred” having the team play in Houston instead of Boston.  No, I don’t know why that was the case; but according to multiple reports, that is what happened.

In other basketball news, the NBA reportedly is considering three “proposals” to eliminate – or at least minimize – tanking teams.  Please note that a league that continues to permit tanking loses any claim on the moral high ground when the phrase “integrity of the games” comes forth.  And in the NBA now, tanking is more common than fighting for advantageous playoff positioning.

There will be ten teams in this year’s Draft Lottery; there is absolutely no doubt which ten teams that will be; the Lottery participants have all seen to it that they cannot be excluded.  I could probably make a strong case in favor of at least eight of those teams as “intentional tankers” so if I were looking for an adjective to describe the current “tanking environment” I would probably say that the practice was “rampant”.

The proposal that seems to get the most attention for now would be to expand the Lottery to include the ten teams that do not make the playoffs PLUS the eight teams that take part in the play-in round of the playoffs.  That would almost double the number of teams seeking high picks theoretically diminishing the incentive to lose regular season games.  While that is mathematically the case, I think such a system would simply relocate the tanking line.  Teams would be incentivized to finish below sixth place in their conference rather than fifth or sixth place because a Lottery seat would accrue to teams finishing seventh and below.

There is a theoretical solution to the problem, but I doubt it could be implemented.  Tanking is sort of like pornography; Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said:

“I shall not today attempt further to define… ‘hard‑core pornography’… But I know it when I see it.”

Trying to define tanking is a fool’s errand, but fans and Commissioner Adam Silver know it when they see it on the court in regular season games.  So, if the Commish had the cojones once or maybe twice to strip a “tanking team” of its draft pick for a year, tanking would screech to a halt.  Maybe if David Stern were still exchanging oxygen in the biosphere, such a situation might happen …

Meanwhile, Mark Cuban has offered an idea to pump up the interest in regular season NBA games.  Rather than shorten the season to make individual games more meaningful, Cuban suggests shortening NBA games from 48 minute to 40 minutes.  He points out correctly that games of 40 minutes duration are the norm in college, in women’s basketball, in FIBA games and in the Olympics; ergo why 48 minutes in the NBA?

His reasoning is that with fewer minutes to be played, there will be less need for “load management” by teams in the regular season.  Cutting 8 minutes off regulation time would save almost 10,000 minutes of action and until you think about it closely, that should mean fewer rest breaks for star players.  Let me channel Hamlet here:

“Aye, there’s the rub …”

No player in the NBA is averaging as many as 40 minutes per game; Tyrese Maxey leads the league with 38,3 minutes per game.  Let me randomly pick three NBA stars here:

• Kevin Durant plays 36.5 minutes per game
• Luka Doncic plays 36.0 minutes per game
• Anthony Edwards plays 35.5 minutes per game

Why would a coach reduce their playing time significantly if the game were shortened to 40 minutes?  Would it not be a “winning strategy” to have a teams “best players” on the court for almost the entire game – – which would not cause any change in their “scheduling”?  The impact of Cuban’s proposal seems to me to be on the sixth and seventh man on each team who will see fewer minutes and then on the eighth and ninth man who might not see the floor more than two or three times a month.

Finally, this from Maya Angelou:

“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”

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

 

 

Hank Nichols died last weekend at the age of 89.  That name may not be familiar to everyone, but in the 1970s and 1980s, Hank Nichols was not just a college basketball referee; he was the best college basketball referee.  Officiating basketball was something I did as an “outside activity” during the time Hank Nichols was doing it for real; I aspired to call a game and control a game as well as he did all the time.  Needless to say, that was never the case.

Rest in peace, Hank Nichols …

Speaking about officiating, there was a report last week that all is not peaches and cream with NFL officials.  ESPN.com said then that talks between the league and the union representing the NFL officials broke off talks after reaching an impasse in trying to come up with a new CBA for the officials.  The current CBA expires at the end of May 2026.

The league says the union wants money and the league wants performance accountability.  The union says the league does not respect the level of commitment and contribution that its members make to the NFL product.  There are still two months to go until that current CBA goes away; so, this sort of rhetorical exchange is not unexpected.  However, there needs to be some sensible interchange ongoing in both camps because that deadline is approaching.

The NFL has begun a process of “vetting” new officials.  Like it or not, “new officials” will need to be considered “replacement refs” with all of the negative baggage that label carries with it from an earlier labor negotiation created.  Now, if you are tempted to “pick a side” in this dispute, let me offer some data:

• There are about 150 NFL on-field officials, and I read a report that the average salary for an official is $205K.  So total salary costs to the NFL would be about $30M.  If travel expenses plus other “overhead expenses” were as much as 100% of salary, that would men total cost to the league is $60M.
• NFL officiating is a “part-time gig” for most officials.  Let me just say that very few people in the US have “part time gigs” that pay more than $200K plus travel expenses.

The NFL is a business entity that has revenues in the $20B neighborhood; while a cost of $60M is not negligible, it is a charge that can be accommodated in the business structure.  At the same time, those 150 or so officials have themselves a pretty sweet deal as it is; those terms do not lend themselves to expressions of “worker exploitation”.

Here is my Bottom Line:

• Do not let greed or ego stand in the way of a new CBA.  Neither side can claim any sort of moral high ground here; settle down and make the numbers work.

Since I have been watching college basketball extensively over the past few weeks, I have noticed Geno Auriemma’s presence in a couple of ad campaigns.  That prompted me to go and look at his record at UConn – – his only head coaching stop in women’s college basketball.  It is important to note that when he took over the program at UConn, the Lady Huskies had only had one winning season in the program’s history.  That all changed in the 1986-1987 season, which was Auriemma’s second year on the job.  In his overall tenure at UConn, his teams have gone 1288-165, which is a win percentage of .886.

Looking at the UConn record a little more closely, you can see:

• 37 NCAA Tournament appearances
• 25 Final Four appearances – – including this season
• 12 National Championships
• 6 undefeated seasons – – with this season pending as a seventh undefeated season.

Saying that Geno Auriemma can coach a bit is like saying that guy Sinatra could sing a bit.

There is likely to be a community sense of euphoria in Storrs, CT today with both the mane’s and women’s basketball teams in the Final Four of their respective tournaments.  The men’s team advanced on a miraculous comeback win last night over Duke.  In the first half, it looked as if Duke could simply name the score of the game; the UConn offense was discombobulated, and the UConn defense was noting more than mediocre.  All that changed in the final 15minutes of the game and UConn won the game on a last second shot “from the logo” and advanced to play Illinois next Saturday.  The winner of that game will face a difficult task against the winner of the Michigan/Arizona game in the other bracket.

Finally, something from Geno Auriemma seems proper here:

“I’m a hardass, but we wouldn’t have had all the accomplishments we have as a basketball program if that’s all I was. Players would have stopped listening to me, and I would have been run out of coaching if that’s all I was. So, I think we win because I am, because I demand sometimes more than they can give. But I don’t know what that is until I find out you can’t give it.”

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

 

 

The March Madness sequence that involves cutting the field from Sweet-16 to Final Four is usually the best weekend of basketball of the year considering both quality and quantity.  Normally, all the teams playing are playing at a high level of talent and efficiency; there are not nearly as many games as in the first weekend of the tournament, but there are usually no mismatches either.  With that backdrop, I settled in last night to savor what eight of the Sweet-16 teams had to offer.  Here are some comments:

• Iowa 77  Nebraska 71:
  • Iowa sure doesn’t look like a “9-seed” tonight.
  • Game was close from the start; biggest lead was about 10 points.
• Purdue 79  Texas 77:
  • Texas had to win a play-in game to get in the tournament.
  • Giving 2^nd seed Purdue all it can handle.
  • Tramon Mark is a stud.
• Arizona 109  Arkansas 88:
  • Arkansas plays lackadaisical defense; that is fatal against Arizona’s offense.
  • Koa Peat is only 19 years old?
• Illinois 65  Houston 55:
  • Every shot is contested by both defenses – – tenacious defense all around.
  • Illinois grinds out every possession on offense – – no great scorers but no lack of effort.
  • Houston can’t shoot.  [Final stats = 22 of 64 from 2-point range.]

I said in an earlier rant that AJ Dybantsa was the most entertaining player I saw in the first rounds of the tournament and I continue to believe that.  If he were to decide to go to the NBA next year, I suspect he will need to add more than a little muscle to his frame.  Not so with Koa Peat of Arizona.  He is listed at 6’ 8” and 235 lbs.; that might have been accurate back in November at the start of the season, but he looks bigger than that now.  His body is already “NBA ready”.

I want to make one more comment about the Arizona/Arkansas game.  In the second half as Arizona was pulling away to make the outcome completely obvious, the Arkansas players stopped playing basketball for a short period and sought to “thug-up the game”.  There was one incident where the officials had to call a Flagrant-2 foul and eject a player to maintain order on the court.  That is not a good look for the team and specifically for Coach Calipari.  I understand that emotions on the court can sometimes be difficult to control, but the coach on the bench is an adult who is nominally in charge of the team, and it behooves the coach and the game itself for that coach to intervene and put a stop to “thuggery”.

• Not a shining moment for Coach Calipari there …

Moving on …  Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together to celebrate a holiday that acknowledges the blessings that have come to family members; it is nominally a time of camaraderie and fellowship.  There is a household in the Philly area where such may not be the case come November 2026.

Phillies’ infielder, Alec Bohm, just filed a lawsuit against his parents accusing them of defrauding him and mismanaging his money.  He seeks $3M from his parents and a full accounting of “his money”.  According to Spotrac.com Bohm has career earnings of $27.7M and is currently on a 1-year deal for $10.2M which was agreed to as a way to avoid salary arbitration in the MLB offseason.  Not surprisingly, the parents deny any malfeasance in the matter.

We are early in the legal process here; we are at the stage where both sides have issued statements of their position:

Per Bohm’s lawsuit:

“Daniel and Lisa Bohm, used several limited liability companies to funnel money from his personal financial accounts, which they then ‘converted to their own use.’

Per the parents’ lawyer:

“Mr. and Mrs. Bohm love their son very much and have always acted in his best interests, both personally and professionally and still do so to this day.  They are deeply saddened by the allegations made against them in this lawsuit and the sensational false narrative painted here, which they believe are entirely without merit.”

Don’t worry about passing the cranberry sauce in late November here …

Finally, an appropriate closing comment from Clarence Darrow:

“The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.”

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

 

 

The NBA is going to “explore” the possibility of expanding by two teams as early as 2028/2029.  It has been a while since the league expanded (the Hornets entered the league in 2004) and save for the merger of the NBA and the ABA, expansion has usually been one-at-a-time.  The last time two teams entered together was in the 1990s when the Raptors and the Grizzlies came into existence.  The cities being targeted now are Seattle and Las Vegas.

The motivation here is crystal clear; each new franchise will cost the new owner several billions of dollars which will be divided up among the existing owners.  That might mean a “direct deposit” of something like $300M for each existing owner in the next couple of years; I don’t anticipate that any of those owners are likely to view that as a negative incentive.  Unless …

The NBA owners are successful in the world of business; that is how they got the money to buy the franchises they now own.  The NBA has in place a long-tern lucrative TV deal which is currently being shared by 30 teams; expansion would divide that revenue stream by 32 teams.  So, maybe the calculation gets a tad “trickier”.

The expansion draft might not be as clean as it would be for only one team entering the league.  When the Hornets drafted existing NBA players, no team stood to lose more than one player.  Well, if that holds true here and each new franchise gets 15 players in the Expansion Draft, every team will lose one player, and the two expansion teams would be required to take someone from the bottom-feeding teams which cannot possibly be an attractive thought.

There is also a decision to be made regarding the new teams’ position in the NBA Draft.  Previous expansion teams were not given top picks; I read one report that said the Timberwolves and the Magic had to wait until #10 and #11 in the collegiate draft in their expansion year.  Obviously, granting a higher slot in the draft will make a good negotiation point for the league in setting the price for the two new franchises – – but that means two existing teams will get lower lottery picks and that is not fully exciting.

And there is one more issue for the league to deal with – – Geography.  It should not be difficult to conclude that both Las Vegas and Seattle should be in the Western Conference.  If the league is to remain balanced that would mean sending a current Western team to the Eastern Conference.  The two teams currently in the West that are the furthest east are the Memphis Grizzlies and/or the New Orleans Pelicans.  I have no idea what the owners there might think about being “uprooted” within the league nor do I have any sense that owners of Eastern teams would be welcoming.

The bottom line here is that the big fat payday that results from expansion brings some uncertainties with it.  That is why the league is only “exploring” the possibility of expansion.  But with that tidbit tossed into the public domain, it required Adam Silver to “meet the press” and discuss a variety of issues including:

• Tanking: The league has tried to stamp out tanking for decades and has been singularly unsuccessful.  The Commissioner has said it was high on his priority list and this week he said that changes will be coming to reduce the incentives for tanking teams.  We have heard that before and the reason it never seems to work is a feature specific to the game of basketball.  One great player can alter the direction and the fortune of a basketball team far greater than is likely in either baseball or football.  Here is Silver’s comment after meeting with all the NBA owners:

“I will say it seemed unanimous in the room that we needed to make a change, and we needed to make a change for next season.  Exactly what that change is, we’re continuing to work on. No votes were taken today. I think there’s also unanimous agreement that we need to make this change in advance of the draft and free agency this year, so all the teams understand the rules of the road going into next year. That means we will most likely have a special board meeting in May, in which, at that point, we will vote on whatever modification we come up with.”

Good luck, Commish …

• “The 65-game rule”:  Currently, for a player to be eligible for major awards like MVP, they must play in 65 games or more.  Cade Cunningham has a collapsed lung and may not make it to 65 games this season, but he should get a lot of consideration as MVP.  The rule was intended to limit “load management”; Cade Cunningham is not “load managing”; a collapsed lung is nothing but serious.  The union wants the rule changed/modified/waived; the league has taken that under advisement.

 Finally, these words from George Washington seem appropriate today:

“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”

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

 

 

Today starts the 2026 MLB regular season; the Yankees and the Giants take center stage for a single game opener this year.  But before I get to baseball today, there is another big story out there.  Yesterday, UNC fired coach Hubert Davis; the Tar Heels’ late-game collapse in the tournament against VCU is the proximal cause of the firing, but Davis’ tenure there has not been nearly up to the consistent standard of UNC basketball.

This is a big deal because Carolina basketball has been a “family matter” for years; Carolina’s coaches retire; they are not “asked to go elsewhere”.  Moreover, it looks as if UNC will have to “go outside the family” for its new coach and some of the names being thrown out are at places that never realized their coaches might be tempted to leave.  Rumors have it that these coaches – – among others – – are “in play”:

• Billy Donovan – – Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls
• Tommy Lloyd – – Head Coach at Arizona
• Dusty May – – Head Coach at Michigan
• Brad Stevens – – GM of the Boston Celtics

UNC’s decision to go looking for a new coach could have ripple effects down the line.  The only school that would seem not to have to worry would be Duke; there is no way on the planet that UNC would offer Jon Scheyer the job nor any chance he would take it.

Now back to baseball.  In the American League:

• I like the Yankees, Tigers and Mariners to win their divisions.
• If you are looking for dark horses, I suggest the Red Sox and the Royals.

In the National League:

• I like the Phillies (slightly), Cubs and Dodgers to win their divisions.
• If you are looking for dark-horses, I suggest the Giants and the D-Backs

Someone somewhere must have a potent voodoo doll targeting the Atlanta Braves pitching staff.  If you look at the Braves’ roster, they have 5 “RHPs” on the Injured List and two of the five were clearly slotted to be in the starting rotation.

My pick of the Phillies to win the NL East assumes that Zack Wheeler will indeed recover from his thoracic outlet surgery and give the team several months of quality starting pitching.  If that does not materialize …

I have five selections for Win Totals this season:

1. The O’s won only 75 games last year, but they upgraded in the offseason specifically adding power hitting in Pete Alonso; they will be better in 2026.  However, the win total for the O’s is now at 86.5 and that is too high because they have so many division games against tough opponents.  Orioles UNDER 86.5 wins.
2. The Tigers are the best team in a mediocre AL Central.  Assuming Tarik Skubal retains most if not all of his form over the past couple of seasons, they should win the division, and the Tigers will go OVER 85.5 wins.
3. The Mets won 83 games last year and lost Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso to free agency.  The win total line for 2026 is at 90.5 wins; I don’t see that happening.  Mets UNDER 90.5 wins
4. The Reds won 83 games last year and the total this year is projected at 81.5.  Hunter Greene had elbow surgery and is not expected to be back until June or July.  I think that is bad news for the Reds.  Reds UNDER 81.5 wins.
5. The D-Backs added Nolan Arenado to a team that won 80 games last year.
   The win total this year is 79.5.  D-Backs OVER 79.5 wins.

The 2026 season will introduce robo-umps to the game and there will be challenges to calls of balls and strikes allowed – – maybe even encouraged.  Here is the process as I understand it:

• Human umpires make the calls on balls and strikes.
• Hitters, pitchers and/or catchers can challenge, and the robo-ump’s measurements are then shown to all in the stadium and anyone watching on TV.  Call is confirmed or overturned…  Managers cannot challenge.

Sounds simple, right?

• Teams start with two challenges apiece and need to use them sparingly/judiciously.  Successful challenges are retained; unsuccessful ones are gone.
• Extra challenges will be available for extra-inning games.
• Games played outside normal MLB venues (Mexico City games or Little League Classic games) will NOT have robo-ump technology and will “revert” to old-school baseball.

And here is how/where old-style baseball rhubarbs can remain in the tradition of baseball:

• Umpires can disallow any challenge if the umpire concludes that the player’s decision to challenge was “other players or the dugout”.  It must be the pitcher, catcher or batter acting alone.

Each batter has his own specific strike zone; players have been measured to within a millimeter to determine the top and bottom of each player’s strike zone.  The top is 53.5% of the player’s height and the bottom is 27% of the player’s height.  The width and depth of the strike zone are determined by the dimensions of home plate.

Settle in for the start of the 2026 MLB season.

Finally, an appropriate way to usher in a new baseball season is to hear from Bob Uecker:

“The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.”

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

 

 

My long-suffering wife would probably describe my behavior over last weekend as “an orgy of basketball”; I prefer to see it as a total immersion in March Madness.  Perspective is everything …  However, you choose to believe what the environment was like last weekend here in Curmudgeon Central, here are my notes from the games and the TV presentation.

Bruce Pearl replaced Jay Wright as the “coach-in-residence” on one of the studio shows this year; that is not/was not an upgrade on the commentary front nor on the sartorial front.  Coach Wright used to show up on set in an “Armani suit” that probably cost a couple grand; Coach Pearl wore a sports jacket with a pattern reminiscent of the rug in you Aunt Betty’s mud room.  No matter what the management gurus tell you, all change is not for the better.

Jim Spanarkel is teamed with Spero Dedes this year.  It is an excellent pairing because Dedes does the game under control and Spanarkel provides insight with a touch of humor.  Jim Spanarkel used to be paired with Ian Eagle – – and that was a great announcing duo – – but when Eagle was “promoted” to the #1 broadcast team slot by CBS, they found another outstanding play-by-play guy to match with Spanarkel.

• Memo To AT&T Ad Executives: “Lily” was a whole lot more entertaining than the “Guarantee Guys” and/or “Ted”.
• Just saying …

Notes from Friday’s games:

• Santa Clara/Kentucky was probably the best first round game this year and both teams deserved to win.
• Wright State/UVA was a toss-up with 3:00 left in the game.  UVA had a late spurt, but that game was much closer than the final score would indicate.
• Utah St./Villanova:  Entertaining back and forth game.  The team that made the last scoring run won it and moved on.
• UCLA/UCF:  UCLA coach [Mick Cronin] is a sideline asshole”.  Get a grip man; you’re an adult.   Also, UCF foul shooting should be an emphasis in practice; they shot 5 for 16 in the game.  Blowing the front end of a one-and-one is the equivalent of a turnover; foul shooting must be better than 31%.
• UConn/Furman:  Dan Hurley was calm and composed on the sideline; I hope he is OK.

Notes from Saturday’s games:

• Michigan St./Louisville:  If you ever need to point to a game as an example of “winning ugly”, this should be on your list of exhibits.
• Arkansas/High Point:  It’s like watching a tennis match.
• Nebraska/Vandy:  Most entertaining game of the tournament so far.
• Texas/Gonzaga:  Texas is this year’s Cinderella; the Longhorns make the Sweet 16 after being in a playoff game and having lost 14 games in the regular season.
• VCU trailed Illinois by 7 at the half but there was no furious comeback this time.  Illinois is workmanlike not spectacular.
• Michigan is the best team I have seen in the tournament so far.

Instead of notes from all the Sunday games, let me suggest that what I saw on Sunday reminded me of the story of the coelacanth.  For those of you not particularly interested in biological evolution, let me give you a Cliff Notes version of the coelacanth story.

• The coelacanth was known from the fossil record; it is a lobe-finned fish but not all the body structure of bony fishes; it is thought to be part of the evolutionary process that took fish out of the sea and onto land.  The oldest coelacanth fossils are about 400 million years old.  The species was thought to be extinct until 1938 when a fisherman caught one and retained it.  That fisherman – – looking at his catch of an extinct species – – may have had something in common with me watching Sunday’s games.
  • • In the Purdue/Miami game, there was a 3-second violation called by one of the officials.  I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.
    • Then in the Kentucky/Iowa state game, there was a violation called for “palming the basketball”.  Holy Ancient Relics, Batman …

Finally, this truth from comedian Joey Adams:

“Do not worry about avoiding temptation.  As you grow older, it will avoid you.”

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

 

 

Milestone Alert!  These rants hit the Internet in 2001; I save them on my computer with sequential numbers; today is the 5,000^th daily rant.  This endeavor has been a huge source of entertainment and enjoyment in my retirement.  I intend to keep on keeping on until my fingers wear down from all the keyboard striking…

I got an email from the “reader in Houston” with pertinent information relative to the NCAA tournament that begins in earnest at noon ET today.  As is customary for major sporting events, Mattress Mack has a sales promotion going on; here is this year’s deal for March Madness:

“For the NCAA Tourney, Mack’s wager will be that in the Final Four, if the team located closest to Houston wins it all, people who buy a “qualified” mattress for over four grand, will get full reimbursement for the mattress.”

Sweet dreams …

The four play-in games – – excuse me, they are now labeled as the “First Four Games” and doesn’t that make everything right in the world? – – are in the books.  Tuesday night produced two games that went down to the wire:

• Howard 86   UMBC  83  [UMBC rallied in the second half to make it close]
• Texas 68   NC State 66  [Texas won on a shot with 1.1 seconds left in the game]

Last night’s games were not nearly as close:

• Prairie View   Lehigh 55  [Lehigh led by 2 at the half.]
• Miami (OH) 89   SMU 79  [Miami’s record this year is 32-1.]

I don’t know if there are any omens in those four games relative to the next 63 games in the bracket, but Miami (OH) is an interesting case.  Their only loss of the season was an upset in the MAC Tournament by UMass.  Many people have pointed out, however, that Miami played about as meager a schedule as possible and some argued that if they did not win the MAC Tournament – – which they obviously did not – – they should not get an at-large slot in the NCAA tournament.

The Selection Committee disagreed with that stance but put Miami in a play-in game to secure an 11^th seed in one of the regionals.  So, the Selection Committee bought in to the assessment that Miami’s schedule was soft as cloud by seeding them as low as they did; teams with 30+ wins rarely find themselves among the last teams on the Selection Committee’s invitation list.

Miami’s first test in the “main bracket” will be tomorrow against Tennessee.  Here is the line for that game as of this morning:

Tennessee – 11 vs Miami (OH) (149):  The Total Line has stayed the same since the opening; one sportsbook has the Total Line at 148.5 if you want to be picky.  However, the spread has moved a lot.  It opened with Tennessee as a 15.5-point favorite and it has been dropping steadily since opening last night.

It has been a while since my alma mater has been a part of March Madness.  Penn got in this year by winning the Ivy League tournament over Yale who was the regular season Ivy League champion.  Penn’s last appearance was in 2018 when it lost to Kansas in the first round then; it would appear that this year’s team is destined to make only a cameo appearance.

Penn vs Illinois – 25.5 (151):  Once again, the Total Line has not moved much since opening on Monday; it started at 149 so the current number adds one extra basket for the Total Line.  However, the spread movement is not a good omen for Penn fans; Illinois opened as a 21-point favorite and the spread keeps increasing.

For today’s games, the largest spread is 31 points – – Michigan is favored by that number over Howard.  The shortest spread is 2 points and that number seems to happen a lot in this year’s bracket:

• Georgia – 2 vs St. Louis
• Ohio St. – 2 vs TCU
• UNC – 2 vs VCU
• BYU – 2 vs Texas

Here is something to look for.  Nebraska is in the field this year; it will take on Troy in one of the early time slots.  Nebraska is a 15-point favorite in that game, and you may ask why that is something to look for.  Here is the deal:

• Ever since the NCAA basketball tournament began in 1939, Nebraska has never won a game.  They have made the field 8 times and have gone out in Round 1 every time.
• Is this their year …?

Finally, with the tournament in motion, I’ll close with this from Dean Smith:

“Basketball is a team game. But that doesn’t mean all five players should have the same number of shots.”

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

 

 

According to CBSSports.com this morning, the WNBA and the WNBPA have come to their senses and reached an agreement on a new CBA.  Plans call for the season to start on time in early May.  Notwithstanding the grandstanding by the players at the WNBA All-Star Game where they wore T-shirts that said, “Pay Us What You Owe Us”, the outline of the new CBA is far short of what exists in the NBPA/NBA deal; the revenue sharing in the WNBA deal is around 20% not 50%.  From my perspective, that is close to what the WNBA players are owed at this point; after all, the WNBA has never shown a profit for a season in its lifetime.

Scott Ostler has been a top-shelf sports columnist for what seems like forever.  He was part of the legendary staff assembled by The National and has been a bedrock contributor to the sports section of the SF Chronicle since the demise of The National.  He is also the author of an interesting book, How To Cheat In Sports.  Earlier this week, he announced his retirement; he will be missed.

Bonne chance, Scott Ostler.  Thanks for all your good work.

With March Madness having begun last night with two of the four play-in games in the books, here is a stat from the American Gaming Association that surprised me.  According to the AGA, between $3.1B and $3.3B will be wagered in the US on March Madness.  Even allowing for the fact that March Madness involves 67 games, that number seems awfully high to me considering that the Super Bowl that was played only 5 weeks ago had a total handle of $1.75B according to the AGA.  March Madness will produce almost twice as much betting as the Super Bowl?  Color me surprised …

There were reports earlier this week that NBC will not have Tony Dungy back next season as a commentator on Football Night In America; he has been in that role for the last 17 seasons.  Based on the way Dungy announced his departure, it sounds as if this was NBC’s choice and not his:

“I have been informed by NBC that I won’t be back with FNIA this fall, and it has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead.  It’s disappointing news, but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special.  I’ll have lasting memories of my time there, especially with Rodney Harrison, who has become a tremendous friend.”

Football Night In America needs change; I don’t know if removing/replacing Tony Dungy is a critical element in said change, but there needs to be a new look to the program.  As currently constituted, the “cast” is far too large.  My count has 10 people on-screen for the program and what happens is that each person gets to say a half-dozen sentences before the camera flips to someone else.

There was a time when the studio shows for NFL games involved discussions about football generally and about the game on the air specifically.  The discussions were serious; there were few if any attempts at comedy; there were no “hot takes”.  Such is not the case now; as the shows expanded from talking about football to jocularity, “hot takes”, softball interviews and fantasy football angles, the shows got longer and longer.  Football Night In America is not nearly the only NFL studio show in need of change, but it is the one that has made a minor change that could portend something more fundamental on the horizon.

Earlier this week, the Dolphins traded WR, Jaylen Waddle, to the Denver Broncos for “draft capital”.  Here are personnel moves by the Dolphins since the end of the NFL regular season in January:

• Release QB Tua Tagovailoa.
• Trade WR Jaylen Waddle
• Express no interest in resigning WR Tyreek Hill
• Sign free agent QB Malik Willis

I don’t know how to connect those dots.  Did Willis know that the team would be trading Waddle when Willis signed on?  If so, that means he should be happy with the Dolphins’ depth chart at WR which stretches credibility because according to ESPN this is the current “WR Room”:

• AJ Henning
• Jaylen Tolbert
• Malik Washington
• Tahj Washington
• Theo Wease, Jr.

Finally, a closing thought from PJ O’Rourke:

“If government were a product, selling it would be illegal.”

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