The Sports Curmudgeon

For newcomers to these rants at this time of the year, let me explain what this specific rant is all about.  I like college football and will spend a lot of time in the coming months watching it and reading about it and listening to others talk about it.  What I am trying to do here is point out some of the things that I think will be interesting over the course of the upcoming season.  That’s really all there is.

This is not “inside information”; I have no “sources”; this is just “stuff I find interesting” – – and I hope you will too.

There is another difference between this pre-season overview and most of the others you can find anywhere and everywhere on the Internet.  Come January/February of 2027, I will dig this exposition out of memory and grade myself on my perspicacity – – or lack thereof.  Those “post-mortem” reviews usually provide for some belly laughs as we all contemplate how wrong I was.

So let me begin with a qualified listing of College Football Coaches on A Hot Seat in 2026.  It is a qualified list because I will only consider coaches in “big programs” that are recognizable; I will not pretend to know which of the coaches in the Sun Belt Conference or in C-USA might be “coaching for their jobs” in 2026.  In alphabetical order, here are 8 coaches whose teams need to show significant improvement in 2026 if those coaches are to keep their jobs:

1. Bill Belichick – UNC:   Last year was inglorious for UNC football to say the least.  Now Belichick’s hand-picked “Football GM” is on admin leave based on some sort of HR allegation.  No losing season record will be acceptable here; if you are a Tar Heel fan/alum you might not want to check the schedule for 2026; it is foreboding to say the least.
2. Kalen DeBoer – Alabama:  He has been at Alabama for two seasons so far and the Crimson Tide has lost 4 games in each of those two seasons.  Should that happen again, I suspect that the money-boys in and around Tuscaloosa will find a way to cough up the estimated $50M it will take to buy out Coach DeBoer.
3. Luke Fickell – Wisconsin:  No national championship aspirations here, but I am surprised he was not fired at the end of last season.  In his three seasons at Wisconsin, the cumulative record is 16-21 but the worse part of that is that the team has won fewer games in every season since Fickell took over the program.  Moreover, in the 8 losses last year, Wisconsin scored 10 points or fewer in all 8 of them.  The buyout number here is about $20M which is peanuts in that economic niche.
4. Mike Locksley – Maryland:  This will be Locksley’s 8^th season at the helm of the football program.  From 2021-2023, the Terps eked out winning records and won a bowl game in each year.  However, the Terps have gone 4-8 in each of the last two seasons and 1-8 in conference games both years.  His buyout number is less than $15M; so, this could well be a “put-up or shut-up” proposition for Mike Locksley.
5. Mike Norvell – Florida St.:  There is a recollection of Seminoles’ teams being serious contenders for national championships.  In 2023 Norvell’s Seminoles went 13-1 only to lose to Texas in a bowl game.  Since 2023, however, Florida St. is 7-17.  I believe his buyout is $51M; if he has another losing season, my guess is that the money-folks in Tallahassee will send him packing.
6. Bill O’Brien – BC:  In 2024 – – his first year as head coach- – , O’ Brien’s Eagles posted a 7-6 record despite losing in the Pinstripe Bowl.  That record was as good as it gets for BC football since 2009 when the Eagles went 8-5; that was fine until last season when BC went 2-10 and 1-7 in conference games.  Reports say his buyout is only $11M meaning the Eagles had better be significantly improved in 2026 if the coach is to keep his job.
7. Deion Sanders – Colorado:  Forget all the bluster and recognize that even with a Heisman Trophy winner and a potential NFL starting QB, Colorado under Sanders’ guidance has a record of 16-21 and has lost its only bowl game appearance.  I think Sanders’ biggest element of job security is that Colorado is not a plum job that is highly sought after by other coaches.  Nonetheless, another losing record might convince some “Boulder Billionaires” that the bloom is off the rose there.
8. Dabo Swinney – Clemson:  I know; Swinney has won two national championships; but those were back in 2016 and 2018 which is prehistoric in the minds of Tigers’ fans who expect that level of accomplishment more frequently than not.  Last season’s record of 7-6 was the worst for the Tigers since 2010.  There will be lots of upset fanboys if the Tigers lose 6 games again in 2026, but it should take a bigger disaster than that in the upcoming season for Swinney to be fired.

            Before moving on, here is another reason why Dabo Swinney’s seat may be hotter than expected for a coach with his résumé at Clemson.  In the NFL Draft this April, teams there took five Clemson players in the first three rounds of the Draft and nine total players taken by the pros.  And that squad finished 2025 with a record of only 7-6.  I cannot be the only one to wonder how that could have been …

Oklahoma St has to win the “Portal Turnover Trophy” for 2026.  According to a report I read, the Cowboys said goodbye to 63 players who used the Portal to find playing time elsewhere and then added 42 players from elsewhere to join the team in Stillwater, OK.

Penn St. lost 49 players to the Transfer Portal but added 31 new ones via the same mechanism.  Many of the additions were transfers from Iowa St, where the new coach, Matt Campbell, was last season.  This will be interesting to watch because if this comes unraveled badly, I wonder how vociferously the Nittany Lions’ boosters will call for Coach Campbell’s head on a plate…

It is always interesting to look at college football schedules for quirks or soft spots or murderers’ rows.  If you look this year at the schedules for the weekend of November 7^th, you will see a heavy lineup of top shelf games:

• Alabama at LSU
• BYU at Utah – – the most underrated rivalry game in the sport
• Georgia at Ole Miss
• Miami at Notre Dame – – Convicts versus Catholics anyone?
• Oregon at Ohio State

If that does not get your adrenaline going, you probably should not read any more about college football here …

Indiana will have an interesting back-to-back pairing this year.  On October 17^th the Hoosiers will host Ohio St and then on October 24^th, the Hoosiers will go on the road to play Michigan.  Should be fun …

Iowa has a relatively easy schedule this year except for a three-week stretch that sees the Hawkeyes visit Michigan, then host Ohio State and then go on the road to Washington.

The Penn St. schedule is soft as a pillow for new coach Matt Campbell.  Out of conference games are against Marshall, Temple and Buffalo (not the Buffalo Bills), and in Big-10 games Penn State does not have to play Indiana, Ohio St or Oregon.

There will be something interesting to contemplate regarding TV audiences for college football games in 2026.  Last year, Indiana was “Cinderella”; this was the team that represented a “basketball school” and had never really been a serious football “powerhouse” in recent memory and all they did was run the table and win the national championship on the field against schools with more “pedigree” upon them.  Indiana will be “highlighted” more this year based on their status as defending national champs as should be the case; the question is this:

• Can Indiana football draw audiences without that “Cinderella narrative” in play?

The CFP Championship Game last year between Indiana and Miami drew an audience of 30.4 million viewers.  Obviously, regular season games will not draw nearly that number of eyeballs, but how will the audience numbers stack up.  I think that will be an interesting thing to see.

The PAC-12 imploded when the Big-10 and the Big-12 and the ACC poached all but two of the teams there.  Forget that; the PAC-12 is back starting this year; it may not be better than ever, but it will probably be a better brand of football than most of the other conferences outside the Power 4.

Eight teams will make up the conference in 2026; two of the teams are previous members of the PAC-12 – – Oregon State and Washington State.  There is one former Sun Belt team that has joined the conference – – Texas State.  And then there are five teams here from what used to be the Mountain West Conference:

1. Boise State
2. Colorado State
3. Fresno State
4. San Diego State
5. Utah State

Note that all eight schools are known as “Something-or-Other State”.  No other conference can make that claim; and don’t be a wet blanket and point out that three of the eight schools on the list of “Something-or-Other State” are cities and not states.

The reconstituted PAC-12 is a long way from claiming Power 4 status, but Boise State is a legitimate team and both Fresno State and San Diego State can put up a struggle against Power 4 opponents.  I am not sanguine that other conferences outside the Power 4 can make such a claim.

Don’t ask me why, but the MAC will add another new team this season.  In case you misremembered, UMass joined the conference in 2025 and proceeded to go 0-12 for the season and was the top seed in my imaginary SHOE Tournament last December.  [Aside:  More about that “tournament” in upcoming Football Friday rants.]  This year, the MAC – – most famous for its Tuesday and Wednesday night games in nearly empty stadiums in the month of November – – will welcome Sacramento State to the festivities.  UMass/Sacramento State on September 26^th and/or Kent State/Sacramento State on October 30^th should be interesting to no one outside the nuclear families of the participants.

College football does more than provide entertaining competition for its fans every weekend in the Fall/Winter season; college football develops and advances compelling storylines.  Even a casual college football fan will recognize the storyline surrounding Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU; same goes for how successfully Indiana competes this year after its Cinderella season in 2025.  But here are three storylines that might not have jumped to the front of your consciousness just  yet:

1. North Dakota State will jump up from Division 1-AA to Division 1-A this year and compete in the reconstituted Mountain West Conference.  More than a few pundits think that the Bison will win the MWC outright in 2026.  That is an interesting storyline by itself.
2. Will Kyle Whittingham produce a powerhouse at Michigan given that he has never had a roster nearly as highly regarded as the one he will inherit there?  Or will all the off-the-field distractions in and around Ann Abor sabotage his efforts there?
3. Did Penn State improve the quality of its coaching cadre hiring Matt Campbell away from Iowa State or will James Franklin – – just down the road at Va Tech – – have the last laugh?

Out in Las Vegas, they post win totals for just about every team in every conference and the wager is very simple.  You bet the team to go OVER the win total or UNDER the win total.  So here are five predictions for the upcoming season:

• Iowa OVER 7.5 wins:  They have three tough games in a row in late September/early October (see above) but the rest of the schedule could be easy pickings if Iowa can only find a half-decent offense.
• Michigan St. OVER 3.5 wins:  This program has been in disarray for the last 4 seasons but the schedule this year under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald seems to have at least 4 or 5 games that are winnable.  Eastern Michigan, Northwestern, Rutgers, Toledo and Wisconsin are all beatable.
• Mississippi St. UNDER 5.5 wins:  I look at the schedule and I can’t count six wins for the Bulldogs; in fact, I only count three …
• UCLA OVER 5.5 wins.  This is a wager predicated on UCLA’s soft schedule for this year.  In the Big-10 they draw Maryland, Michigan St, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin; out of conference they have Nevada.
• UNC UNDER 5.5 wins:  The schedule is brutal; I’ll give the Tar Heels wins over East Tennessee State, Syracuse and UConn; but I cannot count three more wins on that schedule.

And before I bring this missive to a merciful close, let me identify my “Sleeper Team” for 2026.  For the record, my “Sleeper Teams” for the past two years have both made it to bowl games and last year’s “Sleeper Team” (Georgia Tech) went 9-4 overall and 6-2 in conference.  This year, I will stay in the southeastern part of the country and label FLORIDA as my Sleeper Team for 2026.

• The Gators have had a losing record in four of the last five seasons.  That performance cost Billy Napier the coaching job in Gainesville, FL and ushered in a new era under Jon Sumrall.
• Sumrall has had 2 previous head coaching jobs at schools well below the level of Florida or any of the SEC schools.  Nevertheless, his record at Troy in two seasons was 23-4 and then his record at Tulane in two seasons was 20-8.
• Florida was 4-8 last year; I think the Gators can win 7 or 8 games in 2026.

Finally, these words from sports commentator, Clay Travis, seem appropriate as a way to close out this opus on college football:

“I’m not sure any sport lives off of the enthusiasm of its fans better than college football. It just brings a different element.”

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

 

 

I must admit from the outset that I do not really understand the motivation behind all this.  Gianni Infantino – – FIFA President – – is considering a plan where FIFA would create a “commercial subsidiary” which would run upcoming FIFA events like the World Cup and the Club World cup.  The subsidiary would be known as FIFA Forward enterprise (FFE) and private investors would buy into FFE to the tune of $20B.  FIFA said it would raise $4.2B this year to fund “development programs” and that it would “carefully select long-term investors” who would purchase shares that were minority and non-controlling positions in FFE.

When I read the reports of this intention by Infantino and FIFA, my immediate reaction was:

• Why?

FIFA is a non-profit entity – – believe it or not – – that already runs the single biggest sports event in the world along with other broadly popular events.  So, what is the need to attract a ton of capital and why sell off even a part of the immensely popular and profitable asset known as the FIFA World Cup?  My second reaction was:

• This is an  idea that will dry up and blow away.

As Lee Corso often said, “Not so fast, my friend!”  There must be some credibility assigned to this idea in the “soccer world” because UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) got its knickers in a knot immediately; the first statement from UEFA was:

“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially.”

At that point, I thought there would be finger-pointing and posturing as FIFA and UEFA angled to get the biggest pieces of the action from the creation of FFE  – –  lots of rich people all trying to get richer while not letting other rich people get richer than they are.  Once again, I underestimated all that.  To hear UEFA explain it, this is an existential crisis for football; it said:

“This crosses a line that football governing institutions should never cross.”

Wow!  And I thought originally this would dry up and blow away …  And the beat goes on.  UEFA is holding an emergency conclave of its 55 members and has threatened to boycott FIFA events if this FFE plan materializes.  It would be wrong to say that UEFA is bigger than FIFA, but the FIFA World Cup would be significantly diminished if indeed there were no European countries involved at all.

This is not the first – nor will it be the last – time that FIFA and UEFA have locked horns.  So, I was totally wrong in my initial assessment; this fight will be around for a while and will eventually be seen as yet another skirmish between these two gigantic associations that run and promote soccer events around the world.  Just sit back and take a sip of coffee – or an adult beverage if  you prefer – and watch for the next episode of As The Soccer World Turns.

Moving on …There is an article in this morning’s Washington Post that explains clearly why I do not like to watch tennis matches.  According to the story, the action of tennis points is separated by 25 seconds used by players as moments of Zen as they seek to be “as present as possible” for the next point.  In a typical tennis match, the ball is in play for about 20 minutes over a 2-hour period.

Yes, I know.  The football is only in play for a small fraction of the time spent in front of a TV consuming the game and the same can be said for baseball.  I enjoy both of those games; so, what’s the difference?

In football and baseball, other “stuff” happens in the “down time”.  Substitutions are made; plays are called; pitchers choose to hold a runner or not.  That is not the same thing as game action, but it is part of the game that is interesting to me as a viewer.  For tennis, I am abjectly uninterested is watching someone spend 25 seconds – the allowed time between points – to “find his/her center” or to “make themselves totally present” for the next point.

I am not saying that is unimportant or pretentious or anything like that.  What I am saying is that it is not entertaining to me to watch it happen over and over and over again.  Many people use yoga as a means of mindfulness, and it is clearly something that is valuable and important to them.  However, watching someone perform yoga is not entertaining and the reason I turn on my TV to watch a sporting event is to be entertained.  If that makes me a hedonist, I plead guilty.

Finally, if you have not yet decided if FIFA is a “good guy” or a “bad guy” in the sports world, consider these remarks about it pro and con:

“Football, or soccer as it is known, is a game of two halves. It’s a game with rules and a referee. FIFA, the governing body for football, follows neither the rule of law or has the oversight of a referee.”  (Sharan Burrow – trade unionist)

And …

“FIFA stands for discipline, respect, fair-play, not just on the field of play, but in our society as well.”  (Sepp Blatter – former President of FIFA)

And …

“Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”  (James Comey – former FBI Director)

And …

“I have non-breaking news for you: FIFA does not care what you think. Over the years, FIFA has never seemed influenced by what is written or said in papers, articles, tweets, blogs, and on television about how it operates.”  (Julie Foudy)

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

 

 

It has been a little over a week since ESPN “chose to go in a different direction” and parted company with Ryan Clark and Cam Newton among others.  Even now, Clark and Newton continue to portray themselves as victims in that set of circumstances.

Cam Newton has said that he was always true to “the culture” when he was offering his comments and that faithfulness played a role in his departure.  When he references “the culture”, it is clear from context that he means “Black culture” and “Black people”.

Ryan Clark has voiced his own interpretation for the reasons he was fired and his interpretation has layers of intrigue and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that are far more subtle than Newton’s explanations.  Clark has asserted more than once that he was not “laid off” by ESPN but that he was “fired”.  That seems to me to be a distinction without a difference, but Clark has repeated that assertion more than once which means it is an important distinction to him and so I will accept his rendition of the situation.  Clark says that the network wanted to fire him but did not have any cause to do so; therefore, ESPN waited until it was time to announce layoffs and included him in that overall restructuring as a cover for what it wanted to do but could not justify.

Some reports have said that Stephen A. Smith had warned Clark as much as a year ago that Clark had rubbed one or more of the ESPN execs the wrong way and Smith supposedly encouraged Clark to meet with those who were speaking negatively about him.  I have not seen or heard Clark say that he took or rejected such advice from Smith, but he has said that office politics was a major factor in his separation from ESPN.

I bring this matter up again this morning because this story has legs.  This is not the first set of layoffs at ESPN or at some other major sports entity.  Usually, such events are like meteors in the night sky; they are the brightest attraction there is for a very brief moment – – and then it is back to normal without any streaks interfering with one’s contemplation of the constellations.  Not so here; this story keeps hanging around and I don’t know if that is because there is indeed some sort of nefarious overtone to the entire matter or if it is just because both Clark and Newton have platforms of their own to keep their names “out there”.  My position on this matter has not changed in the last week or so:

• I never liked Cam Newton as a commentator from the first time I saw him.  If I were an ESPN exec, I would never have hired him in the first place.  But of course, I am not now and never will be an ESPN exec… 
• Ryan Clark was not the best football analyst/commentator on ESPN, and he was certainly not the worst commentator at the network. 

And I suspect that we have not heard the last of this saga …

Moving on …  Two European countries with lofty national soccer aspirations have announced changes in the wake of their failure to win the recently contested FIFA World Cup.  First came Germany which did not make it to the Round of 16 in this year’s tournament; Germany fired coach, Julian Nagelsmann.  That was not a huge surprise; Nagelsmann had come under severe criticism after Germany’s ouster from the World Cup at the hands of Paraguay.  The Germans introduced Jurgen Klopp as the new coach/manager of the national team.  Klopp’s most recent coaching stop was with Liverpool in the English Premier League in 2024; at his introductory news conference, Klopp intimated that the German job would be his last in soccer:

“Jurgen Klopp has no career after the national team.  Ideally, this will be the highlight of my career, my life, my working life.  I will put everything into it that I possibly can.”

Not to be outdone, France made a change in the leadership of its national team too.  Zinedine Zidane – – maybe the best French soccer player ever? – – will take over the leadership of Les Bleus; this is his first coaching stint since he left the sidelines for Real Madrid back in 2021.  Zidane was given a 4-year contract for the job which makes sense since the next World Cup will not take place until 2030.

Finally, here is an interesting perspective from Henny Youngman:

“What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.”

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

 

 

The big news over the weekend was LeBron James choosing to sign with the Sixers.  In the last 48 hours I have read analyses of that choice that run along three lines:

1. What led LeBron James to this decision?
2. Are the Sixers the favorites to win the NBA Championship next season?
3. Here’s why the euphoria surrounding this signing is a bubble that will burst quickly.

Let me address those topics.  In the first case, I have no idea why LeBron James chose to sign with the Sixers and there are probably fewer than a half-dozen people on the planet who do.  When you read or hear someone making such pronouncements, check their mind-reading credentials carefully.  Here is what I think is undoubtedly true:

• It’s not about the money he will make in Philly.
• His deal is reported to be for 2 years and a total of $8M.
• That sounds like a lot of money to us normal folks, but according to Spotrac.com James’ basketball earnings to date total up to $581M.
• It’s not about the money.

Enough of that…

The Sixers had four solid starters prior to this decision – – assuming that Joel Embiid can remain relatively healthy.  That is not a trivial condition to put on the Sixers’ fortunes for next season; Embiid has missed two full seasons due to injury/rehab and has not played in 40 games in a regular season in any of the last 3 seasons.  When healthy and available, he has been the league MVP in the past; but that was only in one season out of ten.

Adding LeBron James to that “core-four” – – even allowing for the fact that James is in his 40s already – – means that the Sixers will be successful far more often than not when everyone suits up for a game.  The net roster change for the Sixers over this offseason is stunning.  They subtracted Paul George and added Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and first-round pick LaBaron Phillion.  Meaning no disrespect at all for Paul George, that is an amazing roster upgrade over a period of a few weeks.

Having said all that, I am not ready to crown the Sixers as champs just  yet.  The moves look great on paper, but the games are played on hardwood floors and not on paper.  The NBA East has had a reawakening; there will be a lot of tightly contested games in the East this year:

• The Knicks are the reigning champs.
• The Celtics still have Jayson Tatum to lead them.
• The Heat added Giannis over the summer.
• The Raptors will finally get Kawai Leonard once the league finishes investigating the “legality” of Leonard’s contract with the Clippers.
• The Pacers, Pistons and Hawks are all solid teams.
• Given all that, I am hardly certain that the Sixers can make it to the NBA Finals where either the Thunder of the Spurs should be waiting …

As to the third type of analysis – – this is a euphoric bubble that will crash and burn long before the playoffs – – there is one element in that argument that I think is cogent.  It is a fact that there is only one basketball in use in any given game.  Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James are all at their best when they control the ball; this lineup will demand sharing the ball and it remains to be seen how that will be accommodated by this lineup.  The good news there is that James, Embiid and Brown are all 30+ years old and have a measure of maturity among them; “sharing” and “maturity” often go hand-in-hand.

And then, there is news this morning that the Memphis Grizzlies bought out the contract of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and that he is also signing with the Sixers for a veteran minimum contact of $4M per year.  Caldwell-Pope’s calling card these days is defense which – – again on paper – – would seem to fit nicely with the putative starting five for the Sixers.

Finally, I’ll close today with a snarky comment that a friend sent to me in an email yesterday:

“Fifteen years ago, LeBron ‘took his talents’ to Miami.

This year, LeBron takes his receding hairline to Philly.”

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

 

 

The staging of the FIFA World Cup at stadiums in the US demanded that all the venues be natural grass; FIFA rules do not allow for artificial turf.  So, stadiums in places like Seattle WA and East Rutherford NJ had to be “resurfaced” for those FIFA contests there.  That accommodation has created a debate.

• NFL players vastly prefer grass fields to artificial turf.  One poll had the players favoring real grass by more than three-to-one.  [Aside:  Richie Allen also disliked artificial turf and said that if a horse can’t eat it, he doesn’t want to play on it.]
• About half of the NFL stadium venues are natural grass.  Players have taken the resurfacing of fields for FIFA as a reason to call again for natural grass fields for NFL games.
• George Kittle was in attendance for the Spain/Argentina final game at Met Life Field and posted this on social media after the game:

“Grass looks great at MetLife! Can we keep it that way @NFL?? Would appreciate it thanks.”

At least some owners are opposed to natural grass fields – – and some of their objections have a kernel of logic at the core:

• Stadiums with roofs make maintenance of natural grass difficult.
• When the stadium is also used by other teams – – collegiate or high school – – those natural grass fields can become threadbare quickly.
• Some stadiums are located in geographical areas where natural grass is dormant for a significant portion of the NFL season – – think Foxboro or Chicago.

There is also a monetary basis for team and stadium owners’ reluctance here.  Some of the stadiums receive significant a significant revenue stream from outdoor concerts at various times of the year.  Some of them occur during the NFL season and – evidently – concert goers exert even more wear and tear on a natural grass surface than two NFL teams playing a game on a weekend.  Team and/or stadium owners do not want to have to re-sod fields too often; NFL teams want to play on surfaces where the sod has taken root with the soil below and does not come up in chunks during a game; teams and/or stadium owners do not want to forego that juicy concert revenue.  Hence the sticking point…

As is always the case, eventually, this matter should be negotiable.  We are nowhere near that stage yet; currently, each side is making its case in public for or against such a change.  So long as either side is issuing statements about the virtue of its position, the time has not come for a negotiated settlement.

This issue is one that is ripe for settlement; it all comes down to money.  The players say there are fewer injuries on grass; the owners say the injury data does not support that claim; blah! blah! blah! …  That sort of argument just keeps folks busy while the real calculus is being developed in camera.  Eventually, this will come down to basic arithmetic:

• The players get a fixed percentage of the NFL national revenue as player salary cap determinations.  This is not exact, but for the sake of argument here, assume the split is 50/50.
• So, if the owners are to incur an added cost to resurface and then to maintain grass fields everywhere, would the players accept a split of national revenues where they get 49.7% instead of 50%?
• How about 49.8%?

If there is a number on that percentage scale that becomes agreeable to both sides, this contretemps can dry up and blow away.  If not, it could become one of the laundry list of issues to be decided in the next CBA negotiations.  For the record, the current CBA between the NFL and the NFLPA runs through the end of the 2030 NFL season; neither side has an opt-out possibility, but the CBA can be re-opened by mutual consent.

So, if the players are willing to take a smaller cut of revenues as the determining factor for their salary cap and the owners believe that increased revenue for them will cover the costs associated with grass fields, the sides can re-open the CBA, agree to this issue and then re-close the CBA until 2031.  But so long as there is public positioning and posturing about the issue, nothing substantive is going on.

Finally, this from General George S. Patton:

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.”

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

 

 

One “theme” for today might be cleaning out my clipboard file of notes about little things that happened over the past couple of weeks that I never got around to.  An alternate “theme” might be:

“Here’s some stuff for you to consider in case you missed it…”

Let me begin with the restart of the MLB season after the All-Star break.  The Washington Nationals seemed foreshadow that the second half of their season will be like the first; the Nats score a ton of runs and they also give up a ton of runs leading them to a record that hovers around .500.

• So, the Nats’ first game after the All-Star break was a win over the A’s by a score of 23-4 – – lots of runs scored.
• The second game after the All-Star break was a loss to the A’s by a score of 15-1 – – lots of runs given up.

Plus ҫa change, plus ҫa mệme chose …

Next up …  Middle distance runner, Josh Kerr, broke the record for the mile race.  That record of 3:43.13 had been held by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj since 1999.  Kerr broke that record by about a half-second setting the new record mile mark at 3:42.66.  In case your calculator batteries are dead, Kerr ran his race at an overall speed of about 16.2 miles per hour.  Kerr is of Scottish extraction and competes internationally for the UK.

I remember as a kid the big news that Roger Bannister had broken what was then considered to be a barrier to human endurance by “breaking the 4-mnute mile”.  Bannister ran his race in 3:59.4 more than 70 years ago.

Moving on …  LeVeon Bell is back in the news.  No, he is not considering a comeback in the NFL; his presence in the news this time involves his arrest in Ohio for being in arrears on child support payments.  According to the warrant that caused the arrest, Bell is behind in payments by a total of $112,522.89; that warrant came from a court in Michigan; presumably, Bell will be transferred to authorities in Michigan for resolution there.

Bell’s lawyer makes an interesting point in his assessment of this case.  He says that Bell is behind in payments because those payments were directed when he was still in the NFL and earning millions of dollars per year; but that in his retirement days, the monthly payments exceed his monthly income and have not been adjusted.

This is not the only legal/financial issue pending for Le Veon Bell.  He was accused in a civil suit by his cousin of sexually abusing her as a child.  Bell did not show up in court as required and the judge entered a default ruling that he owed the plaintiff $25M.  I am not an expert in searching legal databases, but I cannot find any reference that says Bell has paid off that judgment.  Bell’s representatives here say they will file a motion to reopen the matter and reverse that punitive judgment which leads me to believe that debt has not been paid.

Switching gears …  Andrew Marchand’s beat at The Athletic is to cover sports media; if you were looking for a word or phrase to describe his reporting, I would suggest “authoritative” or “on the mark”.  He is now reporting that ESPN has “cut ties” with Ryan Clark.  Clark is certainly not my favorite ESPN on-air presence; and just as certainly, he is not the worst on-air presence on the network.  In Marchand’s report about this parting of the ways, he also said that more cuts were coming at ESPN as part of reductions involved with Disney Corp which is the parent company of ESPN.

Subsequent to that report, Marchand said that Karl Ravech and Tom Pelissero were also laid off as part of this restructuring of the network.  Ravech has been with ESPN for more than 30 years; Pelissero is one of a corps of “NFL Insiders” the network features.  And the latest report says that more separations are coming to include:

• Cam Newton
• David Lloyd
• Bart Scott
• Charles Davis

Finally, this from comedian, Norm MacDonald:

“My dad had this thing – everyone in Canada wants to play hockey; that’s all they want to do. So when I was a kid, whenever we skated my dad would not let us on the ice without hockey sticks, because of this insane fear we would become figure skaters!”

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

 

 

Congratulations to the Spanish National Team; they have won the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and they did so in dominating fashion.  As noted in a prior rant, the Spaniards play a swarming and suffocating defense that gives them control of the ball and the game; at the time when the teams regrouped for Extra Time, the Spanish had taken 15 shots on goal, and the Argentinians had taken zero.  The Spanish goalkeeper could have filed for unemployment benefits at that point.

That Spanish goalkeeper and the Spanish defenders played 7 matches; ignoring Extra Time and Stoppage Time, the team played 630 minutes of soccer or 10.5 hours.  In that time, the Spanish team gave up exactly one goal.  You cannot lose a game if you don’t give up any goals…

Some folks were sentimentally rooting for Argentina so that Lionel Messi might end his World Cup career with another trophy; indeed, it would have been a good storyline.  However, if anyone is looking for a feelgood storyline from this year’s tournament, look no further than the team from Cabo Verde.  The estimated population of the islands that comprise Cabo Verde in 2026 is 560,000; that is not a huge base from which to draw talent, but their national team made it to the World Cup tournament for the first time ever in 2026.  Then, Cabo Verde made it to the Knockout Round in its first tournament ever.  Moreover:

• Cabo Verde played Argentina (Finalist) in the Knockout Round and lost 2-1
• Cabo Verde played Spain (Champion) in the Group Stage to a scoreless draw

There is the “Cinderella Story” emanating from this year’s tournament.

Looking back on the showing by the US team, they started well and inflated expectations.  For the first time, the US looked like an offensively capable team in this year’s competition; as is often the case, lots of folks willingly put on rose-colored glasses and imagined the possibility of the USMNT making it to the Finals.  Heck, even in the Group Stage loss to Turkey when the US rested many starters, the team scored 2 goals…

That all came to an end in the Round of 16 when Belgium won 4-1 and completely outplayed the US team.  Watching the Final game yesterday, it hit me that players on both teams seemed to know what they were going to do with the ball before it arrived at their feet or at their chest; the American team seemed to “capture the ball” and then figure out what to do with it next in its games.  And that momentary delay might explain how the US might dominate a game against Bosnia/Hercegovina or Australia, but why they do not measure up to competent European or South American teams.  And if my thinking is correct here, the solution to the problem probably lies in a total restructuring of Youth Soccer in the US.  And that leads to the question:

• Did the US sports audience fall in love with soccer during this tournament to the point that the relationship will last and carry through the 4  years until the next World Cup tournament?

If, indeed, this was a watershed moment regarding the interest in and the popularity of soccer in the US, perhaps there will be momentum to change the way soccer players are “grown” here in the US.  Many among the “soccer-faithful” think that this year was a turning point for soccer in the US.  If they are right, I expect someone will propose a sweeping overhaul of the “development process” for players here and that there will be momentum behind those proposals.

We shall see …

In “Breaking News” this morning, Michigan AD, Wade Manuel will step down from that role at the end of this calendar year.  Michigan spent $12M on an investigation of the Athletic Department and the various scandals perpetrating from there and now they have chosen to keep those findings “in camera” and offer only generalizations such as “failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by Athletic Department employees.”

Call me a cynic, but the idea that he will “step down in 5 months” says to me that the school does not have a “smoking gun” to fire him for cause immediately but that they have negotiated a palatable end point for this embarrassing situation by letting him stay on for a while and then to – seemingly – leave the job in a mutual parting of the ways.

Finally, an observation by Mike Ditka:

“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms.”

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