The View From North America

Dear Trevor, please just shut up

2024-02-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

It's 16 days until Spring Training, and I'm in a quandary.

My owner's given me a few dollar bills to spend on a 5th starter, and I think I'm there, but the injuries were been so damned bad for pitchers last year with the pitch clock, that I'm not counting my chances.

We knew Yamamoto would go to the Dodgers, so we didn't even go for it. We could have done a bit better than what was asked for us for Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee's a mess, anyway), but we weren't going to give up the house for him. Verlander and Scherzer have both stayed in their spots, and if we're honest, and we weren't going to up Philly on Aaron Nola ((Hey, our team's rich, but it ain't 7 years, $172 million rich). The Yankees have offered Blake Snell a lot of house, but Scott Boras has told him that he wants more real estate. And he's not cutting prices, either.

But we've got this who's been calling us relentlessly about getting a tryout. But we're unsure if we're going to do it.

You know him? Yeah, it's Trevor Bauer.

I'm not the only GM of my 32 who's not bothered by the back story to Bauer. Sure, he had dalliances with that girl, but she turned out to be an absolute liar, and I'm surprised he didn't sue her for extortion. If you listened to her stupid radio interviews, you would be shocked that he didn't.

Listen, the league's hardly one that cares about human rights. Marcell Ozuna, who only got 20 games for beating his wife (joke) and nothing about the DUI arrest, is still given some love on MLB TV. Domingo German managed to play in New York. And throw a freakin' perfect game for those game before they booted his ass out for getting out of his head and throwing a sofa and stuff. Batterin' Aroldis Chapman's only got 30 games for choking his ex-girlfriend and shooting gunshots into a freakin' garage, and now he's got two World Series rings, for Chrissake. And there are others and others.

But Trevor? The guy's poison, and we all know it.

He's got that weird thing inside him that means he always has to run his mouth. He seems like the crazy dude sitting in his mother's basement believing the 4Chan posts that COVID was really porn for frogs.

The dude's got more presents online than Bill Gates. Instagram? Check. You saw him play out his life in Japan on that one. Twitter? Check. He told everyone on The Musker's place he was a better bet than Blake Snell, because he'd cost less than the guy, which would have irked him. His whole spiel about Snell 'deservedly making hundreds of millions' while there was another Cy Young winner waiting on the sidelines made him more desperate than the solo girl in a wedding movie.

Then there's the Youtube, where he bitched and whined about the rosin and sticky stuff debate, which mightily pissed off Manfred (The only thing Manfred probably enjoyed was his spatting with the Astros) . In fact, it pissed him off so much that he singled him out after his online attack about the sticky stuff. His fastball's spin rate lost 200 rpm when the boys started going all FBI on people's asses. Hey, I've had a couple of guys booted off my team for sticky stuff or rosin. MLB has never lost an appeal.

Thankfully, the Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2022, which is 1922 in social media years. He's still a Dodger on that page, which is kinda comical.

Dude, when Bauer's not throwing a baseball to a video phone (or a wall), he's publicly dueled with Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander. He's thrown a ball over an outfield wall after a crappy outing. He made the Mets and their fans look stupid, and someone who works for Steve says that that's taken some doing!

Look, he can still pitch. Yeah, so the Japanese leagues are a step below our guys, but he managed an under 2.50 ERA, and shouldered over 130 innings. He was so bad early on that he got relegated to the minors, but he came back and was a NPB All-Star and fan sensation (Man, the sword shit went down well with them).

But the guys upstairs hate him. Which is amazing, if you think about how many of our guys hate those chumps upstairs.

I mean, look at the social media account of most of the players on my roster. These guys are making money and letting their balls do the talking (but not in a Bauer way). Maybe a few shots of a wedding or something that they are pitching, or telling people about where their next appearance is. More often than not they spend the season giving love to their teammates or saying: "See what you did" at Shohei or Acuna or someone who's hit a 540ft bomb in center...or caught one before it became one. I mean, I'm sure Brian Cashman's going to tell Stroman to either dial it down or turn it off while he's a Yankee, because he was great at rubbing people the wrong way when he was a Met and a Cub. Look, I'm sure there's a little fun. Especially during the Baseball World Cup. But I only had to Google the word: "Bauer" and "controversy" or "Bauer" and 'spats' and they've sent me back the Encyclopedia Britannica.

And we know he's desperate, because he did an interview with the charmers at Fox News where he sounded contrite. He said that he'd made some mistakes, tried to stay away from wanting to get laid on the internet, and said through reflection, he'd grown up a lot. And echoing a sort of President We All Know, he said a lot of teams had been in conversations with him. I'm sure we all believe him, but put 32 GMs like me into a room and jab them full of tequila or truth serum, and how many really told Rachel Luba they were interested in him? Where are the public workouts? Surely something must have leaked out by now? I mean, everybody's got a freakin' camera phone! But then, after his moments of reflection and prayer yada yada yada, he takes less than a month to take a quasi-shot at Snell, who's never been a crazy person (apart from the bit where he looked like Satan for talking about cash during the pandemic).

I mean, why in the hell do that when your back is well and truly against a wall? Does he not have a brain? Or does he think that his mechanical engineering degree makes him far more of a brainiac than anyone else?

The problem for my market is that there aren't a lot of others to choose from. Corey Kluber, who we looked at for a couple of minutes, has decided to retire. Jordan Montgomery's probably going to be too rich for our liking after his great half-season with the Rangers. Hey, there's always Madison Bumgarner, who's got a mouth on him - just ask Wilson Contreras about that - but his 10.26 ERA was atrocious last year, and he was pretty awful in 2022 too. Any bets on him getting better?

What are better options? Brandon Woodruff, who had a great year in 2023 and has had a very good career up to now. Are we actually prepared to sign him and wait around until 2025 and risk the shoulder? Or 9,000 year old Rich Hill, who'll fill in some innings. The only one we're not going anywhere near is Urias, who's also been banned for domestic violence. We don't need that on our resume.

If we need a clubhouse leader, we should get Liam Hendriks, who's been through more than most in recent years, but is coming from Tommy J.

Or, like the Dodgers and Cubs and numerous others, do we go and get a guy or two from Japan, who could help us more than a loudmouth in the locker room?

But as I've told my fellow 31 after we met for some late night debauchery at one of our owner's houses while he was away on his yacht, I'll think about Trevor Bauer, and might even get him for a workout.

If he turns off all of his social media and shuts the hell up, and doesn't mention who he's working out with.

New View From North America: Remembering Super Bowl Week

2024-02-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

It’s Media Week in Las Vegas this week, where hordes of journalists interact with NFL players and others (sadly, Taylor Swift is in Japan starting her tour) before the Super Bowl. I spent an awful lot of time on Radio Row for the four years I was covering it (2004-2009), and in many ways, it was more lively than the game itself, mainly because it was fairly obvious no-one really gave two shits about being there (apart from the NFL stooges), but was determined to have fun.

In other words… Welcome to the jungle. Expect when before it was lions, tigers and vats of booze and cocaine, poured on by Axel, Slash and whoever the other two were, it’s row upon row of radio stations, with live radio DJs rattling off repeated views on who’s going to win the Super Bowl, and trying to make the week interesting.

When I was back then, there was no Rogan or notion of podcasting. ESPN Radio was very much around. Sports Illustrated hadn’t gone to the crapper. And Maxim Magazine was still putting out, you know, magazines.

Journalists bitch and moan about how the NFL players hit up Radio Row, hawking a product and saying not particularly interesting things about how the season went. They still bitch about it today. But that was the deal. Do you honestly think that a journalist was going to get a player standing up for the teammate who's been caught with two strippers and a bag of coke in the back of a limousine in Miami? They get asked crap about how the season's going to be next year, what the new coach is going to bring to the team, and why the owner should pay them for being great this year. (‘Looking forward to being better/ Can’t wait to meet him/ It’s going to be a great year next year/I think I'm worth the guaranteed money).

You learn some things. You learn that you’re not the only one trying to work out who that bald safety for the Giants who’s hawking Burger King is. Maybe it was the fact that most of the players were made famous behind their helmets, and we weren’t yet in a world of Instagram and Twitter, so we didn’t get a window into their lives as we have now. And if they stay out of trouble, even TMZ can't get them.

There were some who stood out. Chad Ochocinco - who was at the height of his showboating and great fun for the whole of the league - was a great interview, and a fun guy to be around. He asked me about Arsenal's chances for the year, and I asked him about his relationship with the NFL. Oh, and there was Reggie Bush, who was the most famous American Football players of this day and age because of his incredible games for USC.

But there was an awful lot of “Who in the fuck is this?”, because all 6-5 adonises with $50,000 worth of jewelry on their arm and a cross that Michaelangelo would have been proud of making kinda look the same. Unless you were a 'rock star quarterback' (ie Manning or Brady), the four years I was there most QBs kept their heads way below the parapet, probably worried about the torrent of questions about the game-costing interceptions they threw. But man, Montana and Marino still had that aura when they graced the rom, and Jerry Rice - who was worked for Sky in Miami at the time - seemed to love being addressed 'GOAT' on first meeting.

However, let's not feel too sorry for the PR people who went along to Radio Row, tied to the players arm like a limpet to make sure he didn't say anything stupid and to make sure that the BLOODY PRODUCT was pitched in the interview with 101.5 Minnesota. And one of the other guarantees was the the spiffy agent with the shit-eating false grin made famous by Jerry Maguire was always there too, handing out business cards to everyone, safe in the knowledge that he'd never call anyone back. So they were happy to tell the throng of ignoramuses like me that this was "XXX. Jets". Because there wasn't social media, baby! They NEEDED all the love. Dude, everyone won, from the DJ from Minnesota to the player (who was getting paid anyway) to the guy who was allowed to book XXX from the Jets at the last possible second.

I was in the crappy position, though, of working for a Sky Sports, who was lower on the totem pole that Radio Partridge from Dallas. Because they'd heard of Radio Patridge, but they'd never heard of Sky Sports, because the NFL wasn't even a big thing there. So I found myself selling Sky Sports quicker than the chap in the street outside a Man Utd game trying to sell fake Beckham shirts. I didn’t mind it. I got to meet nice athletes, burn the candle at both ends all week long, and go to a Super Bowl for free. Thinking back, I sold Sky Sports.com so hard during that time that if I'd been on commission, I'd be walking around with the gold chains and the two buxom women, baby.

Thankfully, due to the client whores, they couldn't really care who I worked for by the end. They gave me my 5 minutes. They loved the British patter, knew that giving a product and a player a worldwide audience would be good for all clients involved (the words "free publicity" to a PR person is the same as yelling "free condoms" at a fraternity party). The player themselves thought that it was cool that a British guy dressed in a suit and Crocs ('Gotta stand out, baby!) could chat their ear off about college football, rather than why their performance on Week 5 against San Diego, was a fantastic reason why John Q. Owner should shell out the Benjamins ('Always make sure the guaranteed money is paid', a NFL free agent once told me) Hell, we even found ourselves advising Clinton Portis advice on whether to buy real estate in Chelsea (as it was he didn’t heed my advice, and went bust a few years later after he was taken advantage of by a bent agent). Damn you, Clinton, I could have have your 'London real estate man'.

Also around the areas of the machine were the NFL guys. Not the players, but the poor bastards who worked for the league. Not only were they going F1 pedal-to-the-metal, shipping players to the podium for presentations from anything from Rookie Of The Year to Humanitarian of the Year, but they were getting in the ear from 'important' journalists who would temper tantrum about not getting the transcribed notes from the team’s practice facility quick enough to dealing with the rock stars that hosted a press conference about their half-time show (Heck when I was there for the Miami one, Prince did an impromptu 20 minute set, which was simply amazing to everyone involved).

But despite all, that you knew not to get online. These were the gatekeepers, the veritable sheriffs of The Row, their NFL badges shining out like beacons in the day and night. Screw about, say something stupid, and your ass was cancelled quicker than a badly-watched TV pilot. Even though they were subservient to Roger Goodell who in turn was subservient to the owners, to me they weren't to be cheeked, so every time they came pass me I nodded my head and told them what a fine time I was having (Not that they cared, mind).

The best way I got through the door with my Sky Sports tag was when we went back-to-back-to-back on big-time athletes in 2006: Lennox Lewis, Vladimir Klitschko, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Lewis and Klitschko came along as a pair, and seemed to be friends throughout. Motormouth Mayweather was worth the flight and then some. His patter was incredible. (“Hatton says he can sell a fight in six weeks? Damn, I can sell a fight out in six hours”). Not only did they know who in the hell Sky Sports were (That’s what happens when you’re sporting rock stars and UFC is just a twinkle in a bald man’s eye), but they were glad to speak to you, and you were glad to speak to them about something other than the bloody football game.

The ‘scene’ had some comedic value. In addition to that crazy Prince gig (I still drone on about it to this very day, I saw Billy Joel downplay the National Anthem (‘Man, it’s just a tune, and not a particularly exciting one'), And I talked to the drummer for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, chatting about the fact that he was from Brighton without actually knowing who the hell he was (he just wanted to talk about Brighton & Hove Albion), while having a smoke outside the front gates.

PARTIES, BABY!

After the days all finished, some of the more serious journalists went back to drink beer and talk nasty about the players or make their predictions about what might happen on Sunday. Others were hammering on the computer at Radio Row in a peaceful corner, trying to make their editors happy. The serious journalists I met were gods to me. Man, I grew up reading Sports Illustrated’s Peter King and Steve Rushin. They were penning prose like me, but they were getting paid a lot more.

But while these journalists were doing important stuff, it was party time for me. My forethought and sucking up got me into the ESPN/Madden Party (three times), as well as other things. There was no way in hell I was getting into the invite-only, $10,000 suit-only Maxim Party, which was hosted by some NFL star and a rapper (this year in Vegas, it’s 50 cent). Nor was I going to be making the Commissioner's bash, either, where I could have begged Arthur Blank to up the dividend for Home Depot.

I still mourn my decision not to go to the Sports Illustrated Party in Detroit (it was a snowstorm, and I hadn't a clue how to get out there, let alone back). It would have been wonderful to hang out with more talent than my friend Graham, but there we go.

I went along for the party it was without the media credentials. I was there to have fun, and so were they. The PR person floating around knew who I was, but after a few beers in him or her, they didn't care either. In fact, I was encouraged to 'loosen up' once or twice. Sure as hell the NFL guys were loosening in the expensive jeans and $5,000 white trainers, cheerfully swigging down freebie champagne and calling each other ‘baby’ (If you watch NFL Films, it’s a ‘league thing’, not just a ‘Tom Brady thing’). Hangers-on like me, the agents and the corporate schmos were having as much of a blast, although because I don't drink, the amount of free Coca-Cola was getting me to talk even faster. At the ESPN/Madden Party, we reunited with Chad Ochocino, where he hyped up his FIFA game to me (apparently it's a computer game), and chatted to Matt Leinart about how great his USC days were. Another time in Miami I boogied along to Paul Oakenfold's tunes for six hours. I'm sure no-one knew who in the hell he was apart from me, but it was a lot of fun.

THE BIG GAME

By Super Bowl Sunday, I was spent. The candles were out of wax. The equipment at Radio Row was all gone. None cared about Campbell’s Soup or Courvoisier anymore. It was game-time. After the reason why we all flew to see the games were finished, you got to chill on the field with celebrating athletes and familes, or go to the locker room of celebrating teams (we hit up the Steelers and Colts ones in 2006 and 2007), and take it all in. It had been one hell of a week.

And although you were spent, bitching was not an option. A taxi driver en route to the airport after the Dallas Super Bowl told me this. 'Do you know how many people would cut their arm off to be a stadium for one minute just to say they’d been to a Super Bowl?”, he said to me, cutting off even the idea of moaning very, very short.

Anyway, good times.

Super Bowl stars aren't always college stars (Sometimes they are)

2024-02-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sunday's Super Bowl is going to be awesome.

Yes, they'll take about Taylor Swift a lot and pan to some movie star who's there blagging a free ticket while trying to look 'cool' (Why do they always look like posey bastards instead of people simply enjoying a game for free?), but hell, there's a hell of lot of fun going on on the field, too.

Patrick Mahomes is the latter day Tom Brady. He's led the Chiefs to four Super Bowls in five years, and looked damned electric in all of them. The House that Built Joe Montana and Jerry Rice is back to another Super Bowl, thirsty to avenge the one they lost in 2019. There's a future Hall of Fame tight end one of side, and the most exciting players in the NFL on the other in Travis Kelce and Christian McCaffery.

Oh, and there's Brock Purdy, who'll be talked about someone who was 'plucked out of the dumpster' from his college days, because that's how CBS will want to spin you.

But that's not particularly true.

Anyway, check out those players who were rock stars in college, those who were stars, those who we didn't particularly know about, and one guy who we didn't know s**t about who's now earning $42 million in a contract.

THE COLLEGE SUPERSTARS

Christian McCaffery (49ers): Christian McCaffrey was a God in college. Thanks to his incredible running and catching abilities, broke Barry Sanders' record for all-purpose yards (3,684). He should have won the Heisman that year, but a running back called Derrick Henry won it instead. A dose of 'Alabama bias', we think.

Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs): Regardless of what people might tell you, Mahomes was a freakin' rock star in college. A product of the late Mike Leach's unbelievable 'Air Raid' offense, Mahomes topped the whole of college football for all-purpose yards (5,337) in 2016. Went 10th in the first round, so he was hardly Brock Purdy.

Chase Young (49ers): At Ohio State in 2019, there was no more dominant defensive player. He has 16.5 sacks, and unsurprisingly went 2nd in the 2020 Draft. Sadly for him, it's not really panned out since then.

Nick Bosa (49ers): The brother of NFL player Joey, Nick Bosa was as good as they come at Ohio State. His stand-out year was his second in college (he was injured three games into his third, and immediately declared for the NFL Draft rather than return to college and risk further injury), where he had 8 1/2 sacks. Bosa was so good that offenses would purposefully try and guide things AWAY from him. Not that they were all that successful, mind.

THE STARS

Deebo Samuel (49ers): Deadly as a receiver and a punt receiver as South Carolina, his success at the 49ers was hardly a surprise to those who saw him in the SEC.

Kadarius Toney (Chiefs): Although he made his name off a COVID year in 2020, Toney's speed was enough for him to get him picked up by the Giants in the first round.

Brock Purdy (49ers): The headline will tell you that Purdy was a 7th round unknown, but he was quite the gamer at Iowa State, leading the Big 12 in passing yards. Had he played for a 'bigger name', he would have been taken higher.

Trent Williams (49ers): You know when you saw someone in their first year in college and you thought: "He's going to be great in the NFL"? Well, that's former Oklahoma offensive tackle, now 49er Trent Williams. He was a major reason Sam Bradford won the Heisman in 2006, and a lynchpin on a very, very good team.

Clyde Edwards-Hellaire (Chiefs): Part of the greatest offense in college football history at LSU, Edwards-Helaire ran for 1,415 yards and 16 TDs. 'CEH' wasn't a big-name on the rock star team, but boy, was he key. That's probably the reason why he's never left the Chiefs since being drafted.

THE MID-TIER GUYS

Nick Bolton (Chiefs): A hard-hitting, nasty defensive end out of Missouri gained a reputation for being all over the field and being a bruiser.

Ray-Ray McCloud (49ers): McCloud was a stand-out punt returner at Clemson, but he was pre-Watson and Lawrence, so no-one really knew about Clemson and how good they would become.

Juan Jennings (49ers): Although 6-3 Jennings was a presence in 2019 for the Tennessee Vols, but he hardly set the world alight in a world that featured a freaky LSU offense that put up stunning records. Best known for catching a Hail Mary at Georgia that stunned Sanford Stadium.

Mecole Hardman (Chiefs): Like McCloud and Samuel, the Georgia wide receiver was actually a far better punt returner, leading the NCAA in punt return yards (20.1 yards/return in 2018)

Brandon Aiyuk (49ers): The Arizona State Sun Devils wideout did well in his conference during his two years at Arizona State, but anyone who saw him having such a productive career.

THE RELATIVE UNKNOWNS

Travis Kelce (Chiefs): Unless you knew anything about University of Cincinnati or Big East football back in 2012, then you didn't know who Travis Kelce was. He must have tested pretty well (he was first pick of the third round by the Chiefs), but his stats hardly lit the world on fire. Had this been 2023, Kittle's skillset would have had him taken in the first or second.

Georgia Kittle (49ers): Like Kelce, there wasn't a big appetite for tight ends in the NFL in 2016. They were expected to catch some passes, but basically they were big blockers who caught the ball sometimes. Sure, there were freaks like Heath Miller (Virginia in the mid-2000s) but these were few and far between. That's probably the reason why he was drafted only in the 5th round. Like Kelce, had this been 2023, Kittle's skillset would have had him taken in the first or second.

Dre Greenlaw (49ers): One of the best players on the 49ers team, he fell under the radar when he was at Arkansas, playing only two full seasons out of a possible four in Fayetteville. Was a fifth round pick in 2019, but if you said you saw this coming, you were lying.

Rashee Rice (Chiefs): The Chiefs receiving touchdown leader for 2023 isn't Travis Kelce...it's this man. So why didn't people hear more of his in conference? Mainly because the team he played for was pretty irrelevant, despite having one of the most fun offenses in the game in 2022. He was ranked third in the NCAA in receiving yards, which made him special enough to go in the 2nd round to Arrowhead, but was he a household name to college football viewers? Nope.

THE COMPLETELY UNKNOWN

Charvarius Ward (49ers): Ward never received an invite to the NFL Combine, and it was his killer pro-day that got him a call from the Dallas Cowboys in 2018. He had a great time with Kansas City, and later earned himself a 3-year, $42 million payday with the 49ers. But heck, what a way to come up.

The tumbling of the House of SI

2024-01-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Sports Illustrated House is a little dilapidated right now.

Damn. It used to be the place to be seen. There were the times when the cover still meant something. It meant that you’d made it.

It was so cool. That place was the Damned Louvre of sports. You want Mona Lisa? They had Mona Lisa, 400 Picassos and Corbet’s “L’Origin Du Monde” all over the walls, and we all lapped it up.

See? There’s Tiger’s roar on the 18^th at the Masters. There’s Michael’s tongue. The bit where they announced LeBron as the new Messiah, and the one where the Yankees found their way back to the top in 1996. Chicago found a ‘G.O.A.T’….and let’s not Brandi Chastain’s World Cup-winning sports bra moment, with the one word we all scream…”YES!’.

Speaking of goats, there’s Michael Johnson’s gold shoes from Atlanta ’96, the Miracle on Ice, and Larry Bird being Larry ****ing Bird. Hey, there’s the Great Gretzky, The Babe, and THAT LSU team.

Your painter? That would be Walter Ioos Jr, the Fran Leibowitz of the sports photography world. He made more icons than a Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The guy was Picasso, without the womanizing.

Hey, Mr Ioos is pretty good at photoing Swimsuit issues too….he’s done it for the last 40 years (I would like to personally thank him for Tyra Banks, who still embeds herself into my soul). Hey, let’s not forget about the swimsuits. They were very important issues.

While it was always nice to be on the front cover, there was dozens of incidents where being on the front cover meant that you didn’t cross the finish line in first place. In fact, it’s tortured some of the greatest around, from the Alabama Crimson Tide to Serena Williams.

But the house wasn’t just the goddmaned gallery. Look at the writers who hung out there too. You hear the typewriters clickety-clacking away, and see the beauty being painted with every word.

Look, there’s Frank Deford, the King of Words. Over there! It’s Gary Smith, who’s ready to make you cry, laugh and always think every single time he puts pen to paper! Want to chat about the NFL? Here’s Peter King. Blab about baseball? There’s Tom Verducci. College Football? Mandel and Staples are in there, probably talking to Saban who’s talking about Bryant. Oh, and there’s MY GUY: Rick Reilly. His backpages were freakin’ gold dust for years. I wasn’t the only one who turned to the back page with the speed of Usain Bolt to see what he talk about. And there’s Steve Rushin, who can do anything and be great at it.

(Reilly penned an all-timer called “What Would Jesus Do?”, (Written on the back page of the SI issue celebrating the USA’s win in the 1994 Women’s World Cup) when he brought The Messiah to the sports field (He wore blue jeans, a COLUMBINE ATHLETICS T-shirt and a WWGD? wristband. "What Would God Do?" asked a woman in the mob. "Nah," Christ said with a laugh. "What Would Griffey Do? My Dad and I are huge Junior fans”) .

In the vaunted library you could find years and years of game accounts in beautiful longform, gorgeous profiles and look at the fresh-faced ‘Faces In The Crowd’, it’s been going since 1956, and 11 future Hall of Famers and one Queen Fashion Designer were formerly fresh-faced high schoolers with big hopes and an even bigger smile. And you’ll wonder what happened to certain people in the ‘Where Are They Now?’ issue, and we look up SI Sportspersons Of The Year, with the first one being a Brit (Roger Bannister) and the last one being a pretty good football coach (Deion Sanders).

The writers had the coolest thing that writers don’t have any more: Access. In the old days, the sportsmen would be hanging out with the journalists in the hallowed halls of the SI House. They’d be having a beer, smoking a cigarette, and telling you everything you needed to know, without the worry that some Florida Man will send him death threats. Hey, the gatekeepers were actually gatekeepers, not guys running the journalistic equivalent of China.

But the old house is looking a little weather-beaten, and that’s pretty sad. Hell, we don’t know if they can handle the repairs.

After all, time, tide and the internet waited for no man, or magazine - even one with more adonises than a Playboy v Chippendales double-issue. The new audience wanted their words to be on their screens and laptops and their cellphones, and everyone thinks they can take more iconic shot than Walter (Note: They couldn’t), and they don’t care. Advertisers refused to help with the touching up, and things are sliding into ruin.

Those with the cellphones will forget about the articles they read online, because they always forget, because their memories are becoming worse than knats. Heard anyone talking about what they read lately? Nope. Nor me. The first half of a feature is skimmed, the second half forgotten. The readership has become entitled about getting something for nothing. Heck, AI even did some of SI’s smaller pieces for them.

Jeez, I hope that the house finds the décor soon. I hope people realize that sitting in front of a screen reading stuff off their phone hurts their head, and they want to go back to paper and the written word. I hope we go back to once a week and twice on Sunday.

But with the people that are running the house right now, it’s likely to get worse than better, with the memories assigned to a vault rather than furnishing us with anything new.

The falling apart of the New York Yankees

2023-08-17T08:02:00.001-07:00

Any Yankees fan worth their salt could have told you that this was going to happen sooner or later.

There had been enough miracle seasons, where the Yankees had scraped their pinstriped behinds into the play-offs, and done just enough to scrape through a AL Central team and then lose in the ALCS.

The team hadn't been World Series standard for years, and everyone knew it.

And although New York Yankees fans are burning rage at the moment as the team slumped to yet another series loss (they haven't had a winning series since June 30th, and have only convincingly beaten bottom-dwellers Oakland and Kansas City this season), the below .500 record should not have been much of a surprise this year.

Here are the reasons:

1) Injuries

People had talked over and over about how the payroll wasn't performing, and that might be true, but that's the only factor, then those people are snorting more cocaine than Wall Street in 1986.

There's an injury curse, and the Yankees need some serious opposite-way juju to get everyone healthy (Maybe in 2025).

We have seen injuries during the season for: DJ LeMahieu (twice), Anthony Rizzo (concussions, which impacted his ability to hit for two months but only came on recently) and Giancarlo Stanton. We've also seen Nestor Cortes (twice for long periods of time), Domingo German (twice, the second time for a drunken rage that stuck him in rehab), Carlos Rodon (he only had 6 mostly-goddawful starts this season before getting injured), Luis Severino (most of the season), Jose Trevino (the best defensive catcher, 50% of it), Jake Bauers (arrived as a FA, made a great play, injured himself, now mired in a slump) and the league's best defensive centrefielder in Harrison Bader. Then there was Josh Donaldson, who's averaging a mighty .142 with 15 hits and 10 HRs this season...and only played 33 games all year long (he was also hated, but that's another story). Then throw in the all-season injuries to Frankie Montas, Scott Effross and Lou Trivino, and you've basically been fighting fires with a 50% Triple-A line-up.

Oh, and then there was Aaron Judge, who had signed a monumental contract in the offseason, but managed to injury himself sliding into third base (10 day injury), and then out for nearly two months after making one of the catches of the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers that effectively cost the team season (they were awful with Judge playing and even worse without him!).

The impact has been severe for the team, and for the group in general.

2) The lack of leadership - inside the clubhouse

The Aaron Judge injury was a massive factor. It was always going to be with the best hitter in the league. But you expected senior players like Rizzo, Stanton and LeMahieu to pick up the slack and get everyone going, like Luke Voit did in 2020, when the team was absolutely terrible. There have been dozens of images of the players laughing amongst themselves as the team fell towards oblivion in yet another series. The problem with the team is that there's zero leadership. Rizzo was meant to be that guy, but his lack of form post-collision with Fernando Tatis (which turned out to be a long-term concussion), meant that he wasn't going to do it. All we've had is players shrug their shoulders, and leave Aaron Boone to spout out "Hey, we're trying to do good things". As for Judge? The man's a 'quiet' leader at the best of times. But when you're out for two months and the team's biggest player, shouldn't you have gone to Florida to rehab the toe for a couple of months instead of being a 6ft 7 distraction? While that would have pissed off the New York media, it might have said to the team: "Well, now someone else needs to step up." Instead, they were leaning on an immovable object.

3) Bad management - Outside the clubhouse

Aaron Boone is a pariah, and it's almost certain he's out the door at the end of the season, if not before. If he doesn't, the Bronx will burn.

But it's not all his fault. It's Brian Cashman and his own team. The analysis is fairly simple: Get a left fielder. Get a left-handed hitter who can take advantage of the short porch. Oh, and use the kids at Triple-A - Regardless of what Yankees fans did.

Cashman's 'analytics team' (I say this in the loosest of terms) have changed the line-up so much this season that it's nigh-on impossible to work out where someone's going to be on a certain day. And that's just me as a fan. How about the uncertainty as a player? On the other side, look at the Atlanta Braves line-up. Four players on the team have played every game this season, and the line-up is exactly the same day by day. Everyone knows their danged job.

They should have fired Dillon Lawson a lot earlier than they did. It was evident from the first two months of the season that the Yankees hitters were making the same mistakes as they did last season when everything was falling apart. They were striking out too much and not working counts enough, leaving starting pitchers in for longer. Also, they were terrible at scoring people when they had half a chance to do so. It was so bad it had almost become a meme. But they kept loyal until booting him for a guy in Sean Casey who had zero experience in the Majors, but was a buddy of Aaron Boone's. The offense has gone nowhere. Why not get someone else with MLB experience at the post, or even experience in the minors?

4) Listening to Yankees fans

This is underrated, but Manchester United (also one of the biggest names in world sport who last won a Premier League title in 2012 and a Champions League title in 2008) have had the same issue: Pay attention to what the fans want, and then get the player. For Manchester United, it's about transfer fees, and for the Yankees, it's for ginormous contracts.

This year was the case of Carlos Rodon, who was injury-prone even before he came along. In the offseason he was given a 6-year, $162 million contract. And he was injured most of this. When he came back, he sucked...and got injured again.

Last season's example would be this: Andrew Benintendi last year. At Kansas City he was spectacular, hitting .320. He was also a left fielder, which meant he could access the all-important short-porch at Yankee Stadium. He came to the Yankees, fell to .254, and as things were improving for him....he got injured. Another example? Frankie Montas. He was a stud in Oakland, holding opponents to a .225 batting average with a 2.56 ERA. The Twitstorm to try and get him was immense. But the analytics department seemed to lose this fact: He was garbage away from the stadium. Hitters averaged 8 HRs every 21 innings away from Oakland (that number was going to fly up at Yankee Stadium, one of the most hitter-friendly parks in MLB), had an earned run average of over 10 and hitters hit him more than 30% of the time. Oh, and he got injured, too.

At the All-Star Break, when things were pretty much dead ANYWAY, the Yankees refused to deal any of their prospects, which infuriated the fans, but if you really look at it, there weren't many players worth giving up the house for, especially for a three month rental.

5) The lack of a left-fielder

Oswaldo Cabrera, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers are NOT the answer. Also, the decision to put Stanton out in the field is some kind of joke. He is not quick.

6) The weirdness of it all

And as a footnote, this season has been really ****ing weird. The injury to Nestor Cortes early on in the season was a function of the new pitch clock rules. This has been the case for most ballclubs (just ask Tampa Bay).

But for the Yankees, it's been especially weird because the bullpen - after a horrible stretch just after the All-Star Break, has been pretty incredible. Their 3.14 ERA is best in the majors and it's not even close (the second best is 3.44) despite the fact that the chaps have been incredibly taxed all season long. Therefore, it shouldn't been that much of a surprise when Clay Holmes choked away the lead about Florida last week. The bullpen held Atlanta to 3 runs over the last three games. Zero.

And to highlight all of this, there was the matter of Domingo German, who threw a perfect game against Oakland. And about six weeks later, was put into rehab for drunkenly throwing a coach and telling one of the pitching teammates he was going to AAA.

Sometimes, you can't help but laugh.

Happy Christmas, baseball fans!!!

2023-03-29T08:23:00.005-07:00

Christmas is nearly here.

The fans are wrapped up, shirted up, capped up, and waiting.

The stadiums could not be welcoming.

It’s a beautiful time to be alive.

Yes, tomorrow's Opening Day for baseball.

For one day, we will forget about what feels like life right now and concentrate on the battles between pitcher and batter, the smell of grass and the shine of new gloves, helmets and gloves. The rookies will be playing for their futures, the veterans will be playing so they stick around for one more injection of money to pay for their futures, which may include divorces. Regardless of whether a team was crappy last year or brilliant last year, the new season brings along as much hope. If you’re 1-0 after this game, you’re going to the World Series. If you’re 0-1, then fire everyone and burn the whole thing to the ground. Because despite everyone telling you that it’s a 163-game season, baseball’s as irrational as any other sport.

You won the World Series last year? You finished 0-163 last year and 3 people showed up to games all year? Doesn't matter.

Because everyone's a World Series contender again.

This year, baseball should have a special buzz.

We’re coming off the World Baseball Classic, which was a damned near success (It should be called the Baseball World Cup, but it’s not. It will be blamed on FIFA and the fact that baseball is not played around the world, yet cricket has the name too, and not everyone grasps the willow).

There’s also the rule changes while enlargen the size of the base pads (helps base stealing and people getting on base), rules about infield shifts (whatever that means), batting clocks (means you can’t do your taxes between pitches) and everything else. It’s already turned 3 hour games into 2 ½ hour games, so getting there early before a game and having a pregame pee are essentials to seeing all 9 innings. Oh, and if you’re watching on TV, cherish those moments. One of the TV companies that carry games – Bally Sports – is in the financial crapper right now, giving everyone involved a headache. Including Major League Baseball, who seems to need a lot of Tylenol a lot of the time.

Baseball should be buzzing because we’re not going to have to see division rivals play each other 19 games, because the schedules more balanced (For me living in Houston, it means that it lowers the chances of me attending an Astros - Mariners 400 times in a season because the ‘Stros play no-one else for a month). We’re going to see every team in Major League Baseball play each other for a series, which leaves to some salivating line-ups. Get your hard-hats ready in the crowd for the Padres v Blue Jays series in Mid-July, folks. In early June two of the most storied franchises clash as the Yankees roll into LA to play the Dodgers.

Oh, and for 163 games, it’s Shohei against The World, which we’re OK to watch. Shohei Ohtani watch should have you salivating, too. One of the best pitchers and batters in baseball is going to be a free agent next year, and it’ll be a matter of non-stop discussion. If Aaron Judge’s contract renewal was a heavy topic in 2022, this will be off the charts. Some people are talking a $500 million contract. Considering how much players below his level have raked in, this might seem a bargain, if $500m can ever be one.

Oh, and the rookies. Anthony Volpe’s the youngest shortstop since Derek Jeter. So if he’s not hitting .500 in his first 10 games, then ship him back to AAA folks. Then there’s the dude who have a full season on this baseball planet, like Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez, Baltimore’s huge catcher Adly Rutschman and Houston’s flamethrower Hunter Brown.

There are also questions about whether players can continue to be brilliant in their second full season, like Atlanta’s centerfielder Michael Harris, who seems to attract fly balls into his glove, whether he’s flying around the park or not, and the Astros’ Jeremy Pena, fresh off a World Series ring and MVP Award. Kansas City’s roadrunner Bobby Witt might be the under-the-radar funnest talent out there, while Oneil Cruz threw the ball 97.8mph from short to first last season. We all felt the first baseman’s pain after that.

And there are the races. Oh, the races.

People are expecting a war in the East. In the National between the Mets, Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets bought Justin Verlander but their best closer blew out his leg celebrating a win in the World Baseball Classic, and is done for the season. The Philadelphia Phillies paid a king’s ransom for Trey Turner for the eleven years, and the Braves have the best young team in baseball that’s going to be just fine without Dansby Swanson, because this thing’s a machine, man. As for the American, the Yankees and Blue Jays absolutely hate each other, the Rays are the pesky and very successful afterthought-that-shouldn’t-be, and the Red Sox, who has a great pitching line-up but God only knows how the offense will hold up. Sadly, the Orioles have showed no interest in adding to their bright and fun line-up from last year.

The family ownership is their own version of Succession, you see.

In the Central division, Carlos Correa – fresh from trying to get OUT of the icy tundra of Minnesota - will start 2023 playing in a Twins jersey after a bizarre offseason when he was a Giant and then a Met and then a Twin again and the Cleveland Guardians boast one of the best young teams in the majors (they have to, bearing in mind the ownership are tightwads). The Chicago White Sox will be fine-to-good, but their biggest success may be signing Tim Anderson to a mighty deal during the season. We are all thinking of their closer Liam Hendricks, who has non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and will be cheering and swearing from the sidelines. Meanwhile on the North Side of Chicago, the fans are going to be excited about getting boozed up and seeing Dansby Swanson, because there’s honestly little else to be excited about up there. The Cubs’ biggeset rival, the St Louis Cardinals have remained solid during the offseason without doing anything special. And a lack of doing anything special will probably lead to yet another NL Central win, but the division isn’t.

Out West, where gold-diggers roam and Seattle crab fishermen worry about Alaskan red crab closures, make sure you watch every game between San Diego and LA Dodgers. The Padres idiotic, cheating, incredibly-talented shortstop Fernando Tatis will be back for the Padres, and the Dodgers are the Dodgers. And San Francisco TRIED to sign a superstar, but failed. Oh, and in the American, it’s Houston’s to lose – even with the lightning rod that is Jose Altuve out at the start of the year and question marks about the pitching, but J-Rod-led Seattle and Jacob De Grom-led Texas will make it interesting until, you know, two weeks to go. We haven’t a clue who’s going to win the World Series.

But we do know this: At the end of Opening Day, one team will be 1-0 and another team will be 0-1. And it will be glorious for all concerned.

How to save baseball

2023-02-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

Everyone who loves baseball is talking about Aaron Judge and his upcoming contract, which may reach $320 million by the time it's all over.

The fact that he's a New York Yankee makes it all the more enticing, but if we're honest, the Yankees are the biggest team in the American sports, and last year, Judge was the biggest name on the list after a superhuman season in which in won the American League MVP and became the American League's All-Time home run leader.

But here's Major League baseball's problem: Aaron Judge wouldn't be in the Top 5 of the country's biggest sports stars, let alone the Top 10 (he would rank behind LeBron James, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Kyrie Irving (for all the wrong reasons), Kevin Durant, and quite possibly young superstar Josh Allen), as well as superstar coaches Bill Belichick and Deon Sanders.

The biggest reason for this? Major League Baseball has done a lousy job of promoting him - as well as the sport.

There's a reason why the World Series had its lowest-ever viewing figures, how attendances have fallen 6% from pre-pandemic levels, and the words 'boring' seem to overtake the word 'Wow'.

So how do you solve the problem both nationally and internationally?

1) Cut out the blackouts!

If you're in a certain viewing area, you don't get to watch a team play. That means for someone like me, who lives in Houston, I don't get to watch Texas Rangers or Houston Astros games on anything but local cable TV, which means that streaming apps or online TV - the future of the sport, ain't gonna happen. In a world where not everyone has a local TV station, that utterly screws them. And I'm lucky living in Houston. Try living in Iowa - where the goddamn Field of Dreams movie was made - is no heaven for baseball fans. You can't watch six teams (Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milllwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, St Louis Cardinals Cardinals).

So why does baseball shoot itself in the foot? First of all, it hammers viewing figures. Baseball doesn't care about whether the fan ships himself off to Chicago to catch a drunken game at Wrigley. The owners are worried about their relationships with the likes of Bally Sports and other monstrous cable companies to whom they give financial fellatio.

Of course, Rob Manfred - the most hated Commissioner in all of US sports (FIFA's Gianni Infantino is the world's most disliked sporting body CEO) - blamed the TV companies for writing blackout clauses into their agreements with the clubs. He said that it was a 'top priority' for baseball owners to deal with them, but never mentioned how. After all, when the Golden Goose wants you to honk alongside it, you honk.

Major League Baseball is said to be putting together its own streaming platform for 2023 (cost: $20 a month) so that people can watch home games online, but we'll believe it when we see it.

2) Make it cheaper to go to the stadium!

Watching a half-full stadium is a crappy visual for anyone involved with the game, including the owners. They can offer all the free T-shirts, bobbleheads and MLB-branded dildos all they want, but people aren't going to turn up when the average cost per family for a day out is $204.

Reduce this by 20% for some games, and this will be more than made up for in concessions -- and the visuals will look good, too!

3) Make sure you have Saturday World Series day games!

Baseball seems to call itself the 'Family Game', and yet families get cut out of the World Series because the games are at night. The last World Series game that was in the afternoon was 1987. How about mandating that one World Series game is played in the afternoon? Maybe the Friday or Saturday game?

Rob Manfred - one of the most hated Commissioners in the game's history said in a 'Screw The Children' Speech in 2018: “I understand that there is a romantic notion out there about a World Series game played during the day and that children will be flocking from everywhere in order to watch that game,” he said. “The fact of the matter is we know who watches. We play day games during the postseason. We do not, in fact, attract more children to those games, and given that fact, we will continue to put games on at the point in time when we can get the biggest audience we can possibly draw because we feel that’s how we serve our fans.”

INTERNATIONALLY

Internationally, it's fairly simple. The World Baseball Classic has to renamed as the Baseball World Cup. It covers 20 countries, ranging from the USA to Great Britain, and it's not exactly going to be the first organisation to change the name of its massive international tournament to "World Cup". The 'Baseball Classic' is a recipe for disaster.

Secondly, have more international series. Look at the NFL. In an effort to stretch their brand, the NFL has had 40 games internationally. They recently played a game in Germany to a packed house. It doesn't matter what team the Brits actually support, they'll come just to see a NFL game. The players love it, and the fans love it.

Baseball have had 13 two-or three-game series in its existence. The last one was four years ago. There hasn't been one in Japan - one of the biggest staples of baseball - in ten years, and we've never seen a series in South Korea. Both of which are major baseball turfs. Why isn't this happening every year? And yes, they can fit it into a schedule. We promise.

Thanks for the memories, Tokyo

2021-08-09T10:11:00.004-07:00

And so ends Tokyo 2020.

Some will call it the 'COVID Olympics'. Some will call it "The Olympics That None Saw", because of the lack of fans in the stadiums and arenas. Some will say it should never have happened anyway, bearing in mind it was unpopular with the Japanese people and only happened in the first place to please IOC sponsors.

And all of that was probably true.

But it was also fantastic. It was an Olympics where everyone triumphed to even get there - after the longest year of their lives - to get to battle for the biggest triumphs in their chosen sports.

And while we all loved to see our countries do well, it was also awesome that we could praise the other countries do well too.

I mean, who didn't have a tear in their eye when the 13-year old Brazilian girl won the women's skateboarding contest, and was wildly applauded by her fellow contestants, who turned the whole competition in a huggy puddle? Who didn't love the 'Miracle Under Water', when Tunisian 18-year old Ahmad Hafnoui beat swimming giants from Australia and the USA to Olympic 400m swimming Gold - and looked as shocked as anyone else? Had it been an American who had won that race against all the odds, Disney and Netflix would already be in a multi-million dollar battle for the TV rights.

The world stood up and applauded the sportsmanship of Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who decided to share the gold in the men's high jump, instead of trying to best each other. There were also beautiful moments in the boxing room - especially after Irish boxer won her gold medal bout and immediately hugged her opponent and her opponent's team harder than her own!! And on the triathlon course, the winners celebrated everyone finishing, not just themselves (Because if. you can do swimming, biking and running in one spell, you deserve a pat on the back from everyone).

This year it seemed the athletes were willing to celebrate each other's successes. Because there was no laps of honor, athletes decided to hug each other more and be seen celebrating with the other silver and bronze medallists. There was very little - it seemed - sore losing.

Of course, there were the sad moments. God only knows how many athletes didn't partake in the Olympics because of being tested positive for that evil disease, COVID-19. Superstar golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm couldn't play for their countries after positive tests. And although a lot of Brits were celebrating Kate French's women's penathlon gold, many of us felt for Annika Schleu, who was walking away with the event until her horse - the inappropriately named- 'Saint Boy' - acted like a sinner and refused two fences in the showjumping and smashed into a third, relegating her into the ranks of the 30s. The devestation on her face still haunts us.

Then the haunted opening and closing ceremonies containing a lot of fireworks, but a quarter of the athletes who partook in the Olympics themselves, and zero celebrating fans waving flags and holding hands, as we'd seen in London, Rio and so many others before that.

As we know about the pandemic times, the most affected of things have been our brains. After rotting them for months upon months in our houses, expecting everyone to go out and be 'as normal' is a hard push. We've noticed that COVID was an equal kryptonite to athlete.

So when Simone Biles, who was for all intents and purposes the face of Tokyo 2020 due to her amazing gymnastic abilities, her battle for civil rights and against the demons of sexual molestation by former US gymnastics doctor, decided to leave her first Olympic event early and only return for the final one because of mental health, things got real fast. Sure, there was social media who painted her as a 'quitter'. I should know. I was one of them. But then I found out about Biles' mental health meant that she had the 'twisties', in which her routines could not be done without a far bigger chance of injury. Then I shut up, and cheered her onto her bronze.

Biles will be back. She'll be 27 in Paris, and will be favored to win the lot again. But for now, we all struggled alongside her. I can only hope that she - and so many people (not just athletes) get through it all.

But beyond Biles, there was some amazing, uplifting stories. There were athletes who had finally got to the pinnacle after so many years of trying. There was the transsexual weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a 51-year old men's race walker, and a 62-year old showjumper. It showed that the Olympics, while mostly a young person's sport, covers all ages and genders, too.

For the last two weeks and despite the raging Delta Variant making the pandemic return to the forefront of our consciousness, the Olympics made us all go away.

Let's hope the crowds are back in Paris 2024, shall we?

Should Lane Kiffin be sacrificed at the altar of Saban?

2020-11-10T21:28:00.005-08:00

By the end of Wednesday, COVID-19 cases and precautions had taken out three SEC games.

First was the one between Mississippi State and Auburn which was postponed on Monday. Then came the worries that LSU/Alabama was going to go after cases popped up with the Tigers. The same was with Texas A&M, after the school in College Station recorded positive cases on Monday . On Tuesday that was confirmed. LSU vs Alabama had been postponed, and so had Texas A&M vs Tennessee.

The Auburn - Mississippi State was immediately moved to December 12th, where it will partner with LSU's clash with Alabama and Vanderbilt's trip to Missouri.

But then comes the problem: Where do you stick the LSU vs Alabama and the lower-profile-but-actually-bigger game that is Texas A&M vs Tennessee games?

Both Alabama and LSU do not have an off-weeks for the rest of the season. Nor do Texas A&M vs Tennessee.

The SEC Championship Game is on December 19th, and it's Christmas Day on the 25th. The SEC's not about to move the SEC Championship Game to Christmas Day, and give his team(s) less preparation for the College Football Play-Off semi finals.

So what in the hell should he do?

He has to factor in:

LSU's season is to all intents and purposes over, but the Tigers have ZERO off weeks until the SEC Championship Game.
Alabama's season is not, and it has one off week.
Florida's isn't, and the Gators - through their own doing - have zero off weeks.
Texas A&M will still be in the shout for a play-off spot if Florida beats Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
Tennessee's season might be over, but could play it could play spoiler by ruining Texas A&Ms.

MOVING THE TENNESSEE GAME WILL BE EASIER

The SEC will very probably do what they did to the Auburn vs Mississippi State game on Monday, and move Texas A&M vs Tennessee to December 12th. The 12th was created as a 'lay away' week for SEC COVID games to go to.

But then, things get difficult. While Greg Sankey would love to please everybody and make LSU play two games in one week, this is probably not going to happen. Both LSU and Alabama will claim exhaustion if things get screwed up.

So our alternative is that Sankey sticks it to the SEC's Enemy No.1 - Lane Kiffin, but taking away a game he could quite easily win (LSU is terrible), and give him a shortened season, or else throw him a bone with another SEC East team to fill up the schedule, or simply say: "Tough luck, Lane".

SO HERE'S HOW YOU SACRIFICE OLE MISS FOR THE GREATER PURPOSE.

On December 5th Ole Miss is meant to be travelling to LSU. For Big 12 or Pac-12 fans, it would be a riveting game, with very little defense and touchdowns in the plenty. But in case of the bigger SEC picture, it's not worth a damn.

Ole Miss might argue that the Arkansas' game with LSU on November 21st could easily have been cancelled, but that would mean saying 'sianora' to Kentucky vs Alabama.....and there's no way that the SEC would do Kentucky vs Ole Miss II.

The only week that Alabama has off is on December 5th. Sankey could sacrifice Little Lane's feelings to the altar of Saban, and put the LSU game in then. And yes, while it will lead to Ole Miss playing one less game than everyone else, COVID-19 has been a weird year for college football.

If Lane Kiffin's really, really pissed, then Sankey can give him a date with Georgia on December 12th, or give him the option to schedule another non-conference team. Greg Sankey might want to consider an unbeaten team in Provo, Utah who will be drooling at the mouth to show how it can do against Power-5 opposition. Oh, and Zach Wilson vs Ole Miss' defense would be pretty fun to watch, too.

WHY NOT CANCEL FLORIDA VS LSU INSTEAD?

This one's pretty simple: College Football Play-Off. As mentioned, Sankey will want to shoehorn two teams into the SEC Championship Game. An idea 'eyeball test' on December 12th will be LSU trip to Gainseville and Texas A&M's trip to Tennessee. It'll get the chins wagging, and may force the College Football Play-Off to push either Notre Dame or Clemson out of the No.4 spot going into Championship Weekend. And if Florida stunningly upsets Alabama on December 14th Florida would be the second SEC team in there, because you can't argue with Alabama not being a Top 4.

The B1G is back, and I'm happy about it

2020-09-16T15:02:00.004-07:00

One of my favourite places in the world is Beaver Stadium, home of my beloved Penn State Nittany Lions. It might look like a very large version of high school stadium with its wrap-around metallic seating, not-wonderful PA system and an even worse press box, but it's home.

Away fans aren't made to feel welcome there, and the noise in the stadium with 110,000 baying fans clad in blue and white can hit the Richter Scale.

Two Penn State fans were groomsmen at my wedding. Three more came to the wedding itself.

I have bought gosh-knows-how-much in Penn State shirts, hats, and hoodies. Heck, I even have a T-Shirt wondering about the night employment of a certain Ann Arbor.

Speaking of Ann Arbor, I hate the University of Michigan. I don't mind the fans. I haven't met a Michigan fan I've wanted to throw in front of traffic, but boy, do I dislike the team. I hate them because in 2005, Lloyd Carr got an extra two seconds put back on the clock at the end of a game, and Chad Henne hit Mario Manningham and the Wolverines ruined Penn State's unbeaten season. And because of that hatred, I consider their loss to Appalachian State in 2007 one of the happiest days of my sporting life. Last year I did a deal with God: "If the Yankees lose Game 6 of the ALCS to the Houston Astros, but Penn State beats Michigan, I don't mind." True enough, God offset Jose Altuve's swing with Ronnie Bell's drop in the endzone, and I came away happy. And I love my Yankees.

So when I found out that Penn State wasn't going to play football in August, it broke my heart. I love college football, but watching the last two weeks of football without knowing that Penn State was going to play made the whole process somewhat melancholy. Actually I lie. It made it downright miserable.

After the decision was made, I wrote a column saying that the reason why the confeerence wasn't putting on football was because it wasn't worth the financial or reputational headache - which the conference has suffered mightily after the hideous crimes of Jerry Sandusky or Larry Nasser.

But after much bickering, posturing and a change in the expediency of results, the presidents changed their mind

The Big Ten is back.

Of course, there are reasons to be furious.

In the midlands of America, Big Ten schools are hotspots for COVID-19. Fraternities and sororities - generally the hub of them due to the fact that they are 'Party Central' for a lot of the stupid population - have been closed down or suspended, and schools rally around trying to pandemics getting out of control.

The situation reminds me of this....

There were a few members of the media wer

en't happy about the decision to return.

Christine Brennan from USA Today said that the B1G's decision to go back was the 'Darkest Day in B1G history', which it wasn't. It wasn't anywhere close. Ask Penn State fans and Michigan State fans about that.

We all know why they went back. It wasn't really because of increased testing, or that they really cared about the future of student football athletes. It was simply about money.

Gregg Doyel - in a post for the Indianapolis Star - said exactly that. We all knew there were $1 billion reasons to change their mind, and the Presidents needed the money.

The best thing about the money - from my point-of-view- isn't about recruiting or paying coaches enormous salaries or helping them update their changing rooms to woo said recruits, but the fact that it will also save dozens of non-revenue sports, save a lot of jobs and help a lot of kids with their educations as well as paying for school

The money might even help to pay for the testing for the schools, which can only be a good thing for young student athletes.

Look, we know that the Big Ten hasn't helped itself. The U-Turn has basically seen its reputation burned at the stake. Commissioner Kevin Warren looks like a fool. So do 13 presidents. The conference turned into a political football.

Oh, and it's not going to start until around Hallowe'en instead of the end of September (SEC start tiime), which will mean that it will finish during 'flu season - a time when COVID-19 is predicted to once again break loose across the country.

To make it happen, the B1G has inserted the most stringent guidelines in college football. A player who tests COVID-19 positive won't be able to come back until 21 days later. Any player testing positive will have comprehensive cardiac testing and will have to be approved by a cardiologist before returning. Oh, and if 5% of team is COVID-positive, games and practices will be stopped. There will also be other measures made in accordance with testing at colleges too.

Bearing in mind the raft of cancellations and postponements that there have been due to the virus, it's hardly surprising that the conference have been pushed to potentially heavy-handed measures.

But for now, Michigan sucks, and Ohio is a fake state.

Big Ten football is back, baby.

Does a college football player feel 'pressure' to play?

2020-09-01T09:38:00.002-07:00

The New York Times wrote recently that College Football shouldn't be played because school were pressuring players to play during a pandemic.

The remarks created a furore, with many fans - on both sides of the political spectrum - yelling about how wrong the New York Times was and 'how there was no pressure to play'.

A brilliant journalist, Tony Barnhart, wrote a piece saying he disagreed with the NYT piece, and all the people who haven't agreed with anything that the paper has written in its entire life, has jumped on the bandwagon, even if Uncle Tony's piece was an utterly respectful part of the day.

But to say that a player doesn't or shouldn't feel pressured into the season just because the NCAA are giving a player opt-outs just ain't true. In the words of Tom Cruise in 'A Few Good Men': "Any attempt to prove otherwise will prove futile because it just ain't true".

Think about your lineman who came in as a four-star recruit from, let's say, Ohio. He's moved to the South because he can't stand the winters on the tundra anymore, and this SEC school has shown that it vomits out talent more than a sorority chapter at Arizona State.

He hasn't had the best career. He's managed to push himself enough to remain on the team for three years, but his film doesn't hold up to those in his area. At the moment.

2020 was going to be his year. There was a new quarterback in town, the line looked good, and if he did well, he was going to jump into the 2021 Draft as a high-to-mid second rounder. I mean he's not got the talent that Micah Parson, Ja'Marr Chase and numerous others have at their positions, but he should be a good pick if he gets his 2020 together.

And then Armageddon happens. People start getting sicker and sicker. College football's done in Ohio, but it's still on in SEC Country.

The opt-in/opt-out clause doesn't suit him. He's from a poor family and he didn't actually go to his SEC school for the academics. He's not a brainiac like Rev. So he needs a season, and he needs it yesterday.

THAT'S PRESSURE.

If he opts-out, the guys behind him coming in from recruitment are a bunch of five-stars. He might not even see the field in 2021 because it's so competitive. He knows that and his coach knows that. With the opt-ins, there's going to be more rooms for scholarships, and that means that schools are going to be dripping in talent. Especially his place, where you throw a dart, you hit a four or five-star player. The guy he's going to face off with if he opts out for the season, is a fresh-faced, 400lb lineman from Wisconsin that happened to eat a farm during his growing-up years.

THAT'S PRESSURE.

His teammates want to play, and so therefore he feels duty-bound to go and help them. Plus, no-one's got COVID-19 on the team (so they keep telling him), and they are prepared to take a vow of chastity over the next few months. A real vow of chastity, not the Jerry Fallwell vow of chastity. The players have been very persuasive, and they are 'recruiting' him to stay on the team.

THAT'S PRESSURE

Social media crap's rifer than COVID, yet - like any 21 year-old God, he likes to see what people say at him. He's been pretty Twitter-crazy lately because of different stuff from the unimportant stuff like the NBA Play-Offs to the higher calling of social justice protesting. And if he decides not to play in 2020, won't everyone just call him a loser?

THAT'S PRESSURE.

His team is unravelling. Players are opting out left, right and center. He's actually got the chance to stand out, be a leader, and be praised. People will look at him as a light shining in the darkness. He's not going to heal the sick, but he might pass a few band-aids around.

THAT'S PRESSURE.

Oh, and there's also the feeling of being a competitor. He's been told all of his life that he's never going to be a loser. Opting out of a 2021 will feel like like losing to him, and whether we like it or not, that's pressure.

The players weren't worth the B1G fighting for.

2020-08-13T16:51:00.006-07:00

$36,070. That's how much the average FBS college football player will cost a school in tuition.

85. That's the amount of scholarships on the table each year for each college football team each year.

$3.1 million. That's the amount that football players cost a school per year in tuition only.

In a plague like this there are going to be 'ancillary' victims. So rattled were they by the prospect of COVID-19 doing damage to college football players, the B1G conference cancelled their fall season.

Players spat bullets, shook heads and didn't understand. The fanbases didn't understand either.

This winter, there will be no Game. There will be no bitter battles for weird jugs, trophies and helmets. We won't be able to jump around, White Out, wave at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital, a Rose Bowl, make fun of Rutgers or any of the other things that we love about Big Ten Football.

Silence in The Fall.

But don't for a second think that the Presidents only discussed it amongst themselves, saw some medical advice and thought to stash away the season.

But don't think for a second that the Presidents only discussed it amongst themselves and the head coaches and came up with the idea.

$100 million. That's the cost that Penn State has paid out to victims of Jerry Sandusky so far.

$500 million. That's the amount that Michigan State has paid out to victims of Larry Nasser, the former Michigan State doctor who molested hundreds of students.

The B1G has been a home for controversy over recent years.

In addition to Sandusky and Nasser, Michigan has been accused of covering up decades of abuse by former physician Robert Anderson, who is dead and looking up at us as we speak. Then there was Ohio State and former head coach Urban Meyer and accusation of domestic abuse by then-assistant football coach Courtney Smith. And there's also the racist defensive coordinator at Iowa who had to be fired.

So imagine if a B1G college football player gets myocarditis - a rare condition that leads to heart damage and even cardiac arrest. That happened to Indiana offensive linesman Brady Feeney who was already struggling with it after contracting COVID-19 earlier this year.

And that player dies.

If you don't think that the school will be hit by a monster lawsuit, think again. If you don't think that the conference would be hit by a monster lawsuit, think again. If you don't think that the NCAA would be hit by a monster lawsuit, think again.

And it won't just be the legal damage. The reputational damage ("Your school's don't care for you"), the press attacks ("Oh dear. Another chapter for [add school here] and B1G"), amongst other things.

The B1G and their presidents asked themselves: "Is playing football during COVID-19 worth the risk?"

And when you think about the dollar bills, probably not.

Notre Dame don't make College Football's return easier

2020-06-29T14:01:00.003-07:00

College football needs to go again. It's a multi-billion dollar industry - and that's just in terms of TV rights - but it's also a mass employer and a huge resource in terms of income for local and state economies. Industries that also live off the college football season are wide-ranging, from insurance sellers to bookies to corporate barbecue makers to beer sellers.

And it's also good for kids wanting a taste of the experience too.

"A college football game can serve as a four-hour national commercial, showcasing a piece of that school’s student experience," the Washington Post wrote in 2018, noting that Auburn's applications had risen 11% in 2011 after the team won the National Championship.

From personal experience, watching the atmosphere at Beaver Stadium in 2003 when Penn State played Ohio State prompted me to take a 3 1/2 hour trip to State College, PA to see them play Indiana. Hedges and pretty sorority girls sold me to SEC schools, and the thought of a split stadium between burnt orange and maroon made me crave going to the State Fair to see Texas and Oklahoma.

One of the biggest names - if not THE biggest name - in college football is Notre Dame. Maybe it's the pomp and circumstance, the closesness between Catholicism and religion, or frickin' Rudy, but the gold helmet is recognised the country over.

Notre Dame has its own TV contract - which pays it $15 million per season - and it has recently had an alignment through all sports with the ACC, which pays it a tidy $5.8 million, too. Add to that the $9 million it receives from Under Armour as part of a ten-year shoe and apparel deal made in 2014, and the millions it makes every year from packing in its stadium. It's not got SEC-type change, but it's big enough. Oh, and it charges students an average of $53,000 to go there, too.

The Irish's TV contract helps them eschew full conference alignment, giving it full control of its checkbook. It's also given special treatment in terms of the College Football Play-Off, because it can never 'win its conference'.

Other schools - Army, BYU, UMass, UConn, New Mexico State or Liberty are also independent. Notre Dame is the biggest.

SO WHY AREN'T NOTRE DAME MAKING LIFE EASIER?

The college football season is 12 games. Conference teams play 8 or 9 inter-conference games, depending on the conference.

In the world of Coronavirus, worries about a mass second-wave/third wave are their height. Some universities are already going as far as saying that students will take the fall semester's classes online, while some are saying that there will be no in-person classes after Thanksgiving.

The easier thing to do for the NCAA is to mandate a 9-game schedule, cut out non-conference games, and make sure the season can be 'gotten in'. It's not great, but it works for the universities, the players - when they are trying to showcase their talent for the NFL - and the TV networks. It might not be so great for the schools (we reckon that stadiums at most will allow 30% of their usual fanbase into the stadium, and won't give away allocation beyond families (this includes banning bands, cheerleaders etc to keep the numbers down). This will SUCK for long-running rivalries like Clemson - South Carolina, which has played every Thanskgiving since 1960. Fans wanting to see Oregon vs Ohio State and USC vs Alabama from JerryWorld will be sorely disappointed. And Texas fans will be annoyed at not being able to destroy their liver during a weekend bender in Baton Rouge.

So where does that leave The Magnificent Seven?

Notre Dame might have six games on its schedule against ACC rivals, but if the total you can play in nine, the Irish are left out. After all, there are no non-conference games allowed.

This situation is worse for BYU and friends, who don't have such football alliances.

Look, there is no danger than college football will cut games. Because if they do, college football's biggest name will suffer.

But the Irish aren't making life easier, are they?

Adieu, Tom Brady

2020-03-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago I wrote an article saying that New England should pay Tom Brady, and get on with it.

They decided not to do so, and Tom Brady announced his goodbye to Boston on Instagram.

It's been one hell of a ride for the Patriots with Brady in charge of the backfield. They've collected six Super Bowl rings.

It's sad that he's not ending up playing with one team for the rest of his career, like the likes of Elway, Marino and Aikman. But then again, nor did Peyton Manning, who went to the Indianapolis Colts to the Denver Broncos, and won a ring at each place.

Stats-wise, he's in the Top 3 in pass attempts, passing yards, touchdowns and pass completions. He's been thumped by defenders (he's fifth in getting sacked), but has got up and said: "I will beat you". And that was Tom Brady.

Without Tom Brady, New England would still be a perennial play-off team, but that would have been due to the ineptitude of its fellow AFC East teams, rather than the Patriots' own standout brilliance.

Tom Brady was pretty much a system quarterback for the whole of his career. Bill Belichick and his team designed an offensive scheme to get the best out of him, and it succeeded. It wasn't predicated on 'long bombs' like you saw from a lot of quarterbacks, or on the throwing on the run or out-sprinting defenders (he's actually fifth all-time in getting sacked). It was predicated on short, sharp throws, which kept defenses on their heels. And with defenses on their heels defending a lead going into the last two minutes, Brady destroyed them, because his throws could now eat up 20 to 30 yards at a time. Within a minute, he could gorge the field, be able to accurate enough to hit a receiver on the 20, and a kicker (Adam Vinateri and Scott Gostowski) would do the rest.

I don't know how many games that the Patriots won by 1, 2 or 3 points thanks to that plan, but it seemed to be tons.

But despite his good receivers, what killed him in 2019 were the drops. The Patriots, seemingly unwilling to get themselves a top wide receiving corps for their best asset, ensured a platform where one receiver - Edelman - was thrown to 153 times. The Patriots dropped the ball 34 times - nine more than in 2018.

On New England's side, I don't know if Belichick or Patriots owner Bob Kraft will regret it. Kraft has made more money than God off Brady's back in terms of merchandising revenues. They might take a $13.5 million salary cap hit in 2020, but they won't be paying Brady $15m per year for 3 years, which would be financially stupid.

So where does Brady end up?

A lot of people think Brady's going to go to the Los Angeles/Las Vegas Chargers, because Philip Rivers was released by the Chargers and moved off to Florida.

Some people think he'll take Jameis Winston's place in Tampa Bay.

I don't know. I just think it's weird to think Brady's not going to be playing at Foxboro next season.

The Coronavirus: Sporting impact

2020-03-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Right, so we all about 'The Virus That Will Not Be Named'. It's caused havoc in the stock markets, it's caused havoc in business, and it's causing havoc to the sports calendar.

It's cancelled the Houston Rodeo (today), the Golden State Warriors vs Brooklyn Nets game will be played behind closed doors, and through March the Seattle Mariners are not going to be playing at home.

Oh, and in college basketball, the Ivy League went ahead and cancelled its tournament.

Here's my prediction - in the USA - as to what will happen.

March Madness (College Basketball)

The NCAA has just announced that the entire men's and women's NCAA tournament would be played behind closed doors, aside from 'essential personnel' and important family members.

With the money that the NCAA makes from CBS and TNT, I still don't think it's likely that the NCAA goes the route of many and cancelling the whole thing. Mind you, anything can happen.

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball will cancel the season for the first month of the season. Teams like the New York Yankees will probably be grateful (their players - a consistently injured rose will have time to rehab). Every major city is going to ban gatherings of more than 1,000 people, anyway. You could make a joke about the no-one really going to Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres games and 1,000 people would be a step-up from the usual attendance, and add to it the only about Major League Baseball's dwindling crowds, but it wouldn't be a stretch to think that they stop until the All-Star Break, cancelling everyone's schedules equally. It'll be the first good thing Rob Manfred has done in his whole career.

NFL

The NFL will not make the NFL Draft open to the public. Players will find out their future from their homes. The owners won't want the fans there. The fans aren't like to want to be there. No matter how much hand sanitizer there is.

XFL

The XFL will be played in front of empty stadia, or be cancelled completely. It's a pity because the stadiums are getting full and this is a big loss to the league's revenues, but it'll be the right thing to do. It might not be back after this.

NBA

As mentioned, the Golden State Warriors are going to play the Brooklyn Nets behind closed doors. This will happen to the New York Knicks as well as Brooklyn when they return to New York City. The NBA will mandate this to happen or otherwise either cancel the season or postpone it.

College Football

Thanks to the fact that it's starting in September, the impact could be relatively light compared to most sports, but every college will cancel their Spring Games (the main practice where fans and the media can see what colleges are doing). They are free, anyway.

Golf

The Masters and other tour events will be played in front of absolutely nobody. The Masters makes billions off sponsorships and TV money anyway. The fans not being there will make a nice change. Most of the golfer travel in on private jets, so they will be least affected. We are unlikely to see golf tournaments cancelled.

NASCAR/ Formula One

Races will be cancelled or be - again - driven in front of blank arenas. NASCAR will probably take its lead from F1, which is currently determined to hang onto its schedule.

The Patriots should PAY Tom Brady

2020-02-27T16:53:00.001-08:00

Tom Brady should retire as a New England Patriot....and the Patriots should pay him the money that means he can do so.

But this isn't about money. Brady has more money that God.

It's about the success. Brady won the team six Super Bowls. He ran the offenses like a conductor. Sure, he didn't have the cannon of a Peyton Manning or an Aaron Rodgers, but his ability to hit his receivers who remarkable.

About that. His receivers.

Last season every Patriot and Patriot-hater was equally excited that Antonio Brown coming to town. BradyBrown would be unstoppable....that was until Antonio Brown continued to commit career suicide, and the cupboard was bare.

With virtually no-one around, the fact that the Pats ended up with a 12-4 regular season was nothing short of miraculous.

This year at the NFL Draft you won't be able to throw a stone without hitting a good college wide receiver. The Pats have 12 picks out of the first 100. Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft shouldn't overthink this one.

And while Brady is talking to other teams at the NFL Combine in the hotels of Indianapolis (probably not while the rest of the Combine guys are solidifying their arteries at St Elmo's), the Patriots apparently haven't started talking yet. Presumably they are watching the market and waiting to drive it up.

They may well unload six of their draft picks, fly up the first round, and go get a Tua, Herbert or Jordan Love, but there's a little bit of a problem there: There isn't going to be anyone as good as Brady, and we doubt Brady will want to play babysitter, either.

Also, there's another big reason that the Pats need Brady: Merchandise and ticketing.

There are more 12s there during the NFL season than at a middle school prom, and that makes the Pats. In 2018 they made $600 million in revenue. That wasn't all from luxury boxes and seats. They probably did OK from Brady apparel, too. If Jay-Z was bigger than the Yankee cap, then Brady put the 'B' in Boston.

If Brady leaves, the fans won't be buying the merchandise any more. Tickets will still be rough to get a hold of, but the luxury box sales won't be as easy a sale if the Pats can't sell the 'Hey, come see Brady' to the whales visiting B-Town this season.

So in other words, do the right thing, Pats. Give Brady the contract he deserves for the last two years of his career.

And then give him the send-off that he deserves.

The XFL's not a product, it's fun

2020-02-18T09:16:00.004-08:00

It's 5pm on Sunday night. It's a February, but it's Houston, so it's humid.

The football season is meant to be over, but for this crowd, it's only just started.

This is the crowd that can't get into the Houston Texans games. They can't afford $150 for a ticket plus the rest for car park passes, beers and food. There are families. And unlike NRG Stadium, it's more representative of Houston as a city. In a sentence: It's not so.....white.

The crowd aren't bothered that there isn't a team owner, or that the quarterback's a dude who used to play for Temple. They are here, cheering for their team, which is this week playing the St Louis Battlehawks. They come, dressed in Houston-related garb (Astros(an effort to show support for their embattle baseball team, who turned their dugout into Best Buy in order to win the 2017 World Series)/ Rockets/Texans gear also makes an appearance), and there's a spirit of optimism and excitement. They line up to buy apparel (the stadium - which usually houses University of Houston college games - is obviously not used to selling this amount of merchandise). Look, there's a group of guys in overalls and worker's hats. Look, there's another fan in a Mariachi mask.

And they drink beer. A lot of beer. They have an appetite for imbibing American p**s in the plenty (sorry, Bud/Miller Light), and they laugh, cuss and chat like anyone else (though generally not around the families).

Around me are a group of friends from work, who are here to drink, talk crap, watch the game, talk crap at each other, drink more beer, work out whether they are going to the next game or not, and talk crap.

For me, the two pints of caffeinated soda beverage that I've put into my system has made my brain and mouth move like a Ferrari. In other words, I'm chatting crap and watching the game at the same time. I blame the ADD, in my head. My neighbour's one of the Friends From Work. He's originally from Philly (I told a Packers friend of mine: "Don't go to the Eagles game here wearing Packers stuff. The fans will beat your ass. And you know what? He didn't go to the game." I get the impression that if the situation had been reversed, he would have donned his Brett Favre jersey and Cheesehead, fuelled his system with Jack Daniel's and Colombian export, and offered the whole stadium 'outside'. I overhear him talking to his buddy about the amount of times he's ended up in jail cells for his booze-related activities, and it affirms my worry-views. I wouldn't want to be with him in a bar in college. He was probably 'that guy'.

Looking onto the field again with the corner of one of them on my neighbour just in case he wants to return to his college wrestling days with his work colleague next to me, I recognise some of names of the players on the field. There's [St Louis QB] Jordan Ta'amu! He used to the QB at Ole Miss until last season! There's [Roughnecks WR] Sammie Coates! He played at Auburn! Didn't I see him play for the Steelers (he did, and wasn't very good)? There's [Roughnecks WR] Cam Phillips, who played for Virginia Tech! There's [St Louis WR] L'Damian Washington! Damn he was good at Missouri! These guys - and their colleagues - were good college football players. They were hardly the last-taken kids on the playground football game.

And because it's professional sports, any friendship goes to the wayside. There's still the mouthing-off, brutal hitting, blocking, great wide receiving and displays of athleticism that I could never muster.

The XFL doesn't try to eliminate any of that and it somewhat encourages it (apart from the receiver who took off his helmet in the end-zone and cost his team 15 yards, that wasn't cool).

But it also comes with the 'same but different' attitude in the rule-making, too.

The new XFL is allowed two double forward passes on one drive, allows a player to catch the ball with one foot inbounds, a guy to spot the ball to make sure plays goes quicker, and it also simplifies the catch rule. The kick-off rule tries to make sure that players run the ball back more but also don't have the massive collisions that you get in the NFL. There's the extra-point rule, that 'kicks out' the booted extra point and replaces it with the choice to have a play from the 2, 5 or 10 yard line that if successful will result in 1,2 or 3 points (Houston ignored our screams of 'Go for Three!'). Personally, we wish that teams would have to go for a two-point conversion on every TD, but the '1, 2 or 3' rule is hardly the rocket science that they have at NASA down the road.

But the best? The TV replay. For years we've complained that TV replays don't get shown to the crowd. The fanbase until after the event. Everyone loses their temper. Fans come out pissed off. It seems as though the umps and league are combining in a cloak and dagger affair designed to annoy everybody. The English Premier League's been at it too, and has succeeded in annoying everybody. In the XFL, there isn't that problem. When Philip Walker, the Roughnecks quarterback got up and shot off for a 20-yard gain after seeming to have been tackled, there was some doubt on the officials' mind on whether he'd touched the ground or not. So they go to the TV booth. Everyone in the stadium can see the umps and booth talking to each other, and it's on loudspeaker so we can be talked through the conversation. There's not screaming, crying and deliberation. The hometown fanbase let out a frustrated 'Dammit' because of the cancellation of a good play, but the lack of controversy was refreshing to say the least.

After the game, there was a palpable sigh of the relief when the Houston came through 28-24. 90% of the crowd had stayed. The lower bowl of the stadium was sold out. The fanbase had enjoyed it. There were no fights, but there wasn't the security stopping fans from chiding each other that there would be in a NFL game.

And although I tried to ask different fans about what they thought about the 'product', the most important question I should have asked was: 'Did you have fun?"

But bearing in mind the grins on people's faces after the game and the cheers and the high-fives as people were leaving the stadium, the answer to these two weeks were a definite 'yes'.

The Houston Astros: Why weren't the cheaters punished properly?

2020-02-14T14:31:00.001-08:00

Whether it's stamping on a striker's feet on the football field to pass interference to loading oneself with steroids on the roads of the Tour De France, athletes have found a way to cheat and cheat again.

They don't care about how they get to the summit, they just care that they ARE on the summit.

In baseball, they cheat. They try and make lives easier for their players by stealing signs, putting spit on baseballs, corking bats, adding pine tar 'for grip' and just about anything to get ahead.

At times, it's been kind of comical, with players clambering into umpires' rooms to try and retrieve suspicious bats.

The cheating thing came to another furore in January, when it was found that Houston Astros players and management had cheated their way to the World Series victory.

And know this because they admitted that they had done so.

Their crime? Using a video camera in centerfield to relay signs from the catcher to the players, so effectively they knew what pitches were coming.

And while the form of it wasn't particularly interesting, it was exceptionally effective.

More stunningly, Major League Baseball had already said EARLIER THAT SEASON if the teams behaved as badly as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in their cheating in 2016 and 2017 respectively (both sides were fined), there would be suspensions and the offending teams would lose their first and second round draft picks, therefore hitting the future of a team where it hurt (not all teams have the trading power of the aforementioned superpowers, but still).

In sporting terms, if in basketball this was a flagrant foul, this was an organisational middle finger.

Opposition players and fans were obviously outraged. The Astros players themselves didn't seem to care until Spring Training early this week, when the apologies flowed but sadly, there were not the crocodile tears as there were in Australia (see Australian cheating scandal when players were caught using sandpaper to rough up the side of a ball to make it move).

Alex Bregman said: "“I am really sorry about the choices that were made by me team, by the organization and by me. I’ve learned from this and I hope to regain the trust of baseball fans.”

Carlos Correa: "We feel bad and we don't want to be remembered as the team that cheated to get a championship....What we did in '17 was wrong....I'm going to be honest with you: When we first started doing it, it almost felt like it was an advantage. ... But it was definitely wrong. It was definitely wrong and we should have stopped it at the time."

Yuli Gurriel had obviously seen his colleagues' press conferences and probably thought that honesty was the best tactic. "No one put a gun to our head....it would be a lie to say that one or two people are responsible."

Jose took the Goldman Sachs investment banker route, going with: "I want to say that the whole Astros organization and the team feels bad about what happened in 2017. We especially feel remorse for the impact on the fans and the game of baseball. And our team is determined to move forward."

The statement doesn't help bearing in mind Altuve has also been accused of wearing wires and buzzers to notify him of what balls were coming and when. When he celebrated his walk-off home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS, he should be seen yelling at this teammates: "Don't take off the shirt! Don't take off the shirt!" It looked suspicious then, and despite Altuve's stream of denials on the fact that anything was happening, it looks bad now....especially when he changed shirt straight after the bomb and came back to the field.

The fact is that in 2017 that the team went 8-1 during the play-offs at Minute Maid Park. That's sensational work and almost unheard of when the best of the best are clashing.

But it was OK that they said that, because such was the deal with Major League Baseball (as it emerged), they basically were able to blame Hinch and Luhnow and get away without penalty.

For us, this situation's as bad as the Chicago 'Black Sox' scandal of 1919 when the White Sox threw the World Series so they could make gambling money. There's been two films made about it (we preferred "Field Of Dreams", when Kevin Costner acted as Shoeless Joe Jackson's spirtual lawyer in a field of corn). movie - probably starring Ray Liotta as the Astros coach, some angry young dudes as the Astros players, and Jack Nicholson as Tom Crane, the Astros' owner (telling people that they can't handle the truth) - will come out. Probably on Netflix.

But our biggest question is this: Why hasn't Major League Baseball - which is already suffering from falling attendances - done the most honorable thing and.......suspended the players?

As wonderful as it might be for other baseball fans to see every Astro suspended for the 2020 season, it ain't gonna happen. The owners like TV revenues, and Houston - being a mid-market team that they are - could argue that it would mean more green seating, look worse on the eye (Of course, the balls coming to the players didn't look bad on the eye during the play-offs, but still), and hurt the sport.

So here's our recommendation for: Why not go with rolling 30-game suspensions, without pay? We would have loved this scenario: Bregman gets 30 games, then Altuve, then Springer, then Correa, then....then....And if a hitter has moved onto pastures green, he gets 30 games, too.

Unfortunately due to the mishandling of the situation by Major League Baseball, that's not going to happen.

The next best thing they can do? Null and void the World Series of 2017, fine each player their World Series 2017 bonuses and remove Altuve's MVP.

That might not make up for 2017....but it would help.

Can you imagine how Vanessa Bryant felt the day Kobe died?

2020-01-27T15:15:00.002-08:00

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You kissed your husband and your daughter goodbye. They were going to a youth basketball tournament on a helicopter. Kobe had taken a helicopter a million times before. This was going to be no different.

Sure it was a bit foggy outside, but the helicopter had permission to be there. It was going to be fine.

They’d be back in time for dinner and to watch the Grammys as a family.

Suddenly, there’s a phone-call, telling you that there’s been a crash. In a second you say a prayer that Kobe and Gigi haven’t been involved. It must be someone else’s helicopter there, right? I mean, it’s LA. Everyone’s got one nowadays.

The prayer isn’t answered. It’s Kobe. It’s Gigi. They aren’t coming back.

Suddenly, the phone's ringing off the hook. The texts. People are scrambling to be helpful. They are asking the dumbest questions. Some will mention the funeral and what you are planning. They start making helpful recommendations about counsellors, asking what they can do, how they can help.

Barack Obama and Donald Trump have sent their respects on Twitter, you hear. But you don't want the 'thoughts and prayers'. You just want your husband back.

In fact, all you really want is them to leave you in effing peace and let you hug your kids, talk to their grandparents, and have a moment to go to the bathroom and scream and sob.

Listen, living with Kobe hadn't been easy. He’d cheated on you back in 2003. He’d given you a $4 million purple diamond ring to aploogise. You’d filed for divorce in 2011. There will irreconcilable differences. But you battled together. He became a better husband. A better father. You called off the divorce in 2013, and since then Kobe was a devoted husband and father. You were so damned happy for him he got that Oscar for calling off basketball. It was bigger for him than winning those basketball trophies. Validated him on an off the field. That was cool.

He still spoke to stars. He'd texted LeBron when he passed him in all-time scoring and sent out a lovely tweet to the masses asking him about his opinion. He'd done in Philly. What LeBron said about your husband was really great. You'll listen to it again, and hope it doesn't feel like the eulogy that others are talking about.

You look on TV and you see the Staples Center. The home to the fun, the mayhem, the celebration of games and victories. You’d seen how Hollywood royalty came to The House That Jerry Built just to watch him. And you’d seen how they stood on their feet to say goodbye. Sure, you’d seen him come home pissed because he’d had a bad day or his Lakers had lost again or there had been a fight with Shaq. You’d talked to him about his body and hugged him when he talked about retirement. At the end of that 2016 season, the fans got to say goodbye to him.

Now, there is a crowd of thousands around the arena saying 'Ciao' for a different reason. Flowers, shirts of No.8 or 24 are out there. People drying their eyes. They felt they owned a part of your husband. I mean, Kings and Queens of countries had less crowds outside their palaces when they left too soon than Kobe has outside of his right now.

Behind you in background noise of the TV, there are 1001 eulogies. Everyone from Kareem to Shaq to some dude off ESPN. They talk about him. The never-endi

ng focus. The Black Mamba. The scoring. The titles.

It doesn't matter when he's died, does it?

You get bored, turn it off. You've heard too much.

You know that you're going to have to make a statement sooner rather than later.

You will talk about his legacy. How he loved the city of Los Angeles. How he was awesome beyond the court as a parent and philanthropist. You know, Kobe the person.

The guy who stayed out of his car to make people were OK after a wreck. The person who went to Skid Row to help homeless people. The person who wanted to influence young people to play the game he loved in the gym.

But really, where do you start?

Let’s hope everyone listens to it, and then goes away for a bit. Let you grieve. Let you rage. Let you hug your children so damned close and tell them Daddy and Gigi are in heaven.

You hope that Kobe and Gigi held each other’s hand when the flight was going down, and that they died without pain.

But you don't know. And you don't want to know.

All that you know is that you lost a 41 year-old husband, and a 13 year-old daughter.

And you're wondering how you face tomorrow. Never mind the rest of your life.

Derek Jeter: Bronx Icon to Cooperstown Icon

2020-01-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've been to cathedrals.

I've been to Notre Dame in Paris, St Paul's in London, St Peter's in The Vatican, and The Cathedral of The Holy Cross and St Eulalia in Barcelona.

And while New York City has its cathedral - St Patrick's - most people will tell you that the true cathedral in the City That Never Sleeps is the one in the South Bronx.

Yankee Stadium.

If you talk to real Yankee fans, they don't like talk about the 'new place', with its Mohegan Sun, Hard Rock Cafe, and the fact that it feels more shopping mall than baseball stadium.

But the old one? They'll happily break your ear off talking about the old one.

They'll talk your ear off about Monument Park, where the spirits of Ruth, DiMaggio, Maris and Mantle could see the games going on in front of them. They'll talk about short porches, and bombs to the black. They'll smile, remembering about the historical facade over the top, the flags representing each team in the American League and their standing, and the fact that you could look into the field just as you pulled into the Yankee Stadium subway station and drool a little. They'll talk about how they could get a beer at Stan's and then be able to jump into the stadium 15 minutes later, or wait a few minutes' more and verbally (sometimes physically) clash with their buddies in the bleacher's, or yell at the fans who jumped out of their chairs for a home run that was simply 'nothing but a long fly'. They'll talk about Bob Sheppard - the gravelly, iconic voice of the Yankees- announcing the players as they walk into bat. He's gone now, but his spirit lives on. They'll talk about the "New York, New York". It's Sinatra's version in victory, Minelli's in defeat. Most of them have seen more Sinatras than Minellis.

But the player from the Bronx Church of Latter Day Yankees that every fan of the pinstripes will agree on is the shortstop of Kalamazoo, Michigan - Derek Jeter.

And in a baseball world that has been inhabited by steroids, pills and cheating, Jeter was a symbol of greatness.

His wonderful plays. The tip of the hat. The jump throws. The compact swing that spawned the priceless play-offs hits, home runs , and clutch plays, as well as over 3,000 hits and over 260 hits. They always said that batting over .300 would get you in Cooperstown, and he batted .310.

On his final game he had the game-winning hit at the bottom of the 9th, with his parents and his nephew there to celebrate it. It was so......Derek Jeter.

His number has been retired by the Yankees. He's got a plaque in the new Monument Park alongside the greats of Yankee history.

And on January 21st, 2020, he was elected to the Valhalla of Baseball - The Hall of Fame, with 99.75% of the vote. There's not a hunting party out there to find out who it was, but Twitter's getting close.

---

I've sung a few Sinatras and wandered away with Minelli in my ears. I've seen comeback miracles, World Series, David Wells throwing a Perfect Game on a day that was meant to be a battle for Beanie Babies in 1998, and hugging everyone in the third base line bedlam when Aaron Boone hit the game-winning home run in the American League Championship Series in 2003 against the Boston Red Sox. The Sox can among us looked ready to do something terrible to himself....but instead decided to drown himself in whiskey.

And I got to see Derek Jeter play.

When I heard about Jeter's election to the Hall, my grin was wider than home plate to deep center. Of course it was predictable. Jeter was going to get in as soon as he retired.

But that didn't make it any less special.

Maybe it was because I used to say: "There's nothing sweeter than Derek Jeter" when No.2 did something cool.

Maybe it was because I was wearing a blue Yankees practice jersey with his name on the back when I got mugged. I kept my wallet, but didn't exactly keep my dignity.

Maybe it was because he was an icon of many successful Yankees teams that I cheered on and also ones that ripped my heart out plenty of ones too.

Or maybe it was the memory that I once told my late wife Suzy that I would call our kid - if we were ever to have one - 'Jeter'.

Half-jokingly, of course.

What can colleges do about declining stadium attendance?

2019-05-29T06:15:00.002-07:00

College Football attendance numbers are declining: What can we do about it?

Penn State, September 30^th, 2018. It’s a White Out. Beaver Stadium is rocking. It’s a special night to be a sports fan, let alone a college football fan.

Penn State is one of the odd stadiums out which has bucked the trend of college football, rising to second in the total of home attendance with an average of over 105,000 – but even then attendance dropped by an average of 1,000 – not helped by a lack of ‘glamour schools’ on the schedule (apart from Ohio State) as well as poor weather conditions.

And even in the SEC, there are lies banded around about college football attendance. For example, Georgia claims that they sell out every game, and the exact number of fans that go through Sanford Stadium every game is 92,746 – the exact capacity of the stadium. Funny that, because we noticed some empty seats with the Dawgs beat Middle Tennessee on September 15^th.

^{With season ticket prices an average of $465 for not many games (up from $300, astonishingly), as well as paying the college for a right to buy the season ticket in the first place, that's astonishing. The school blamed coach's salaries for the bump in prices, not capitalising on the Bulldogs' success, funnily enough.}

This will be because colleges go for the ‘tickets sold’ approach, rather than the ‘tickets used’, which leaves it all open to manipulation. And because the tickets are already sold, it means that fans looking for tickets inevitably have to go and see the scalpers (sorry, secondary sellers).

Alabama’s student attendance – which was lacklustre at best for non-big teams prompted famed Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban to the podium to release a diatribe. “I can honestly say I was a little disappointed there weren't more students at the last game. I think we're trying to address that. I don't think they're entitled to anything, either…. I think it ought to be first-come, first-serve. If they don't want to come to the game, they don't have to come….There are enough people around here that would like to go to the games."

The reason why fans are going less is simple: The ticket prices are going up, the seating isn’t particularly comfortable, it’s a pain in the backside getting away after the game, and the best seat in the house is on the TV.

So here’s how we recommend college football changes all of this to make the experience better.

1. Get a better home schedule

No-one seems to like going to NFL stadiums for a start-of-season regular-season opener, except the schools (who make millions from the hosts), and the host of the events themselves (the owners get an ego boost and the local area gets a boost from visitors). But the fans? They hate them. If you think the atmosphere would have been better if Texas A&M and Clemson had played in Atlanta than Kyle Field last season, then you should stop mind-altering drugs. The College Football Play-Off Committee should actively discourage the practice of regular season neutral site games. A better home schedule = better attendance. Simple mathematics. The NCAA should also mandate that every conference plays 9 in-conference games instead of eight, too.

2. 2. Improve the Wi-Fi.

College football stadiums are antiquated places, but schools – especially the bigger ones – have the money to make their stadiums wi-fi capable. If that means expanding boxes to make sure that the rush won’t slow down coverage, then so be it. It means that fans will be able to check out other games as they go along. And as betting is becoming an increasing part of the US sports calendar (whether we like it or not), it means that fans can do in-play betting as well as seeing how their different teams are getting along. It also helps fans to re-see touchdowns, or see beyond the big fat guy who stands in front of them screaming or grunting every time a punt happens. Also: Wifi’s a way that ‘the kids’ communicate to each other. Let’s not think that we all live in the moment because that’s simply not true. While we’re at it, show out of town scores. Baseball’s cool because you can see how Boston’s getting on against New York despite watching Cincinnati play St Louis. It’s not hard to replicate that in college football. If you do conference games plus games of interest, then you’ll keep the constant interest and conversation going.

3. 3. Make the seating more comfortable for everybody.

College football games – for the most part – are watched on metal benches. Some chairs have back supports dotted around, but most do not. If you had benches for fans to sit on in the NFL, there would be uproar, because fans expect more for their money and seat licenses (more on those later). Would it be the worst thing to either pad out seats or at least hand out cushions for fans? Despite the football being mediocre in Miami, the fact that students are watching games in an NFL stadium with an actual chair has got me drooling.

4. 4. Highlight reels, please!

People don’t like sitting sweating in the sun when there’s nothing happening on the field. They like it LESS when it’s raining or snowing. And so: Show highlights from quarters or drives during games for both sides. It helps people from thinking about frostbite/heatstroke. Also: Show highlights from the world of college football or in the conference during games. Funnily enough, it’ll keep them more occupied than they would be watching James Lazarus the local Ford dealer give a cheque to Mr. Mercutio, assistant VP of the Bingo State Athletic Foundation.

5. 5. Shorten the games.

It might be like this for every college football game, but the SEC on CBS’ games are most grinding for stopping after every drive for a commercial. Being in the college football arena, it’s a pain in the ass too. The NCAA and its conferences should follow MLB’s rules that the game changeover can only be 2 minutes, therefore reducing the amount everyone watches the game, which will then make games shorter and let fans leave earlier.

6. 6. Reduce ticket prices

For bad games (ie FCS opposition), reduce the ticket prices. Give away tickets to local people, or sell them for $10. Make them accessible. Put the fanbase first. And make sure that there are tickets distributable to the local area, to keep them out of the hands of scalpers as much as possible. Most athletic foundations would baulk at this, muttering about ‘supporting other teams’, but that’s not seeing the wood for the trees. If fans keep leaving, the other athletic programs ain’t gonna be supported anyway. And while we’re at it, we hate the way that fans are forced to pay a ‘minimum donation’ to athletic funds in order to have the right to buy season tickets. At best, it’s blackmail, and at worst, it’s the sort legal corruption that Al Capone would have been proud of. If you are going to do it, then if your team sucks (ie Tennessee or Arkansas), either freeze or reduce your donation requests. Otherwise, it’s just another way of pushing fans away. After all, there isn’t much demand for a team that sucks.

7. 7. Serve alcohol

Whether the Puritans of college football like it or not, people are going to drink in college football stadiums. If they don’t like fans – especially students – collapsing from alcohol abuse or getting arrested for it – outside of stadiums, then offer it inside the stadium. It will lead to fewer fights in the parking lot, and it also means that people won’t have the excuse of ‘I can’t get a beer in the stadium’ as a reason why not to come to a game. Not only that, but it’ll be a vital source of income, too.

8. 8. Improve getting to and from the stadium

Expand the parking lot sizes, or if a school won’t allow that, expand the highways or roads so that more fans will be able to get to or from the stadiums quicker. If that can’t happen, then put parking lots about 2 to 3 miles outside of stadiums, and have buses taking fans to and from stadiums. This method has worked exceptionally well in Austin, and has reduced traffic flow considerably.

9. 9. Make kick-off times earlier

This might be sacrilegious in the SEC, where fanbases pride themselves on destroying their arteries and livers before a game, but getting to and from games is a royal pain-in-the-behind. A fan who doesn’t want to miss a game but also doesn’t want to have to jump in a car and wait for 19 hours is in a quandary, and so, therefore, they would rather sit in front of the TV. So why not make night games an hour earlier, helping fans improve their post-game efforts to go home?

10. Improve the out-of-game experience (and by that we mean the conveniences)

I have noticed during my tailgating time in college football that one of the biggest complaints among tailgaters has been the toilets. It’s fine at 3pm for an 8pm kick-off, but it’s hell at 7pm. So why not multiply the number of toilets around the stadium by 5? Of course, that might mean less tailgating spots, but it will also mean less stuff from both orifices on the ground rather than in the porcelain god where it’s meant to be.

A letter to NFL Draftees

2019-05-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Dear NFL Draftees,

Welcome to the NFL.

Some of you have been drafted in the first round. You are the gods of the new breed. You will be expected to star immediately, or at least push for that job. Don't screw this one up, or the media will be so far up your behind that you'll have a microphone poking out your mouth.

Some of you have been drafted in the final rounds, or were not drafted at all. If you weren't drafted, your agents are scurrying around for you to find a place on a roster, where you will fight veterans for a job. Funnily enough, because you're cheaper labour, you may well take their job, but we don't know that.

But if you screw it up, you'll be fighting it out with another 1,695 players to regain that spot, or face relative obscurity in a practice squad, the Canadian Football League, the new WWE league called the XFL, which will probably collapse within one season like the Alliance of American Football did, because the NFL's got the power.

But most of all, I'm praying that you don't become one of the 78% of NFL players who go broke after they retire.

I've seen it way too many times as a writer. I've met Vince Young, who would later go from a $25 million NFL quarterback to Mr Broke in just 7 years. I've seen players walk around their entourage, all wearing designer shoes and designer jewellery. When I ask them what they do as a nice gesture, they say: "I look after him". I've had to bite my lip until it bled because I all I've wanted to ask is: "Where did you get your law or business degree from?" I'm also sick and tired of watching the NFL Draft and thinking: "How many of these guys will go bust?"

As I said two paragraphs before, the number's 78%. That means 25 of the first round picks are likely to go bust. Or bigger, that's 174 of the 224 who got picked will go bust. In other words, not many will survive.

You'll go back and think after it's all over in just over three years' time: "Why did I give my money away? What was I doing?", and blame anyone else but yourselves.

So we've come up with a few ideas so you don't go broke. And yes, we're taking not doing drugs, booze or indulging in bad behaviour as granted!

1) Don't buy a mansion. You can rent a very nice one until you retire. Why? Because the average NFL player's career is 3 years and 3 months. And if you're not a quarterback, it'll probably be even less that that. There's a new vat of talented juniors coming up year after year to supplement the already-talented seniors, and your place is more at risk than it ever was. If you're lucky, you'll get traded a few times. Constantly selling and buying a place will kill you when it comes to agency fees, as well as thousands of dollars worth of taxes. If you're making a huge amount of money as a first-round draft pick, then by all means buy your Mom a house as you promised. But not yourself. You don't need one.

This goes for cars, too. You don't need the best car in the world. You won't spend a lot of time driving it, and you can always afford an Uber or at worst, a private car. If you really want one, then buy it used. Remember this: As soon as you take a car off the lot, the value falls by 20%.

Oh, and no yachts, either.

2) Do not let someone you don't know working for a company you've never heard of manage your money. Do you research or get a Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) do the research on who should manage your money. If someone in your circle gives you advice and they aren't qualified, it's probable that they don't know what they are talking about. There are too many stories of people giving their money to shady managers, only to see it robbed or disappear into the ether of crappy investment decisions. Make sure they come from a reputable firm. It might cost you a bit more, but if Mr 'Fly-By-Night' invests terribly and kills you financially, you could well be history. And investing-wise, go for the more conservative investing approach, keep cash in the portfolio, and because right now the markets are heading for a recession. Do not let the manager buy real estate in a place you've never heard of because 'prices are definitely going up', because right now it's looking like we're heading for a recession.

3) Do not let someone come to you with a business idea with no business plan. It's extraordinary how many players go bust because someone who knows someone with your group of friends/family comes with a business idea, asks you to give him or her money, and takes it. When the player asks about the business, the recipient of the money comes up with a B.S. excuse or is already gone. NBA star Kevin Love says that he's often been pestered about buying into a business. 'I always ask them for a business plan, and it's funny how many never come back with one. These people are not only liars, but they are thieves and frauds.

4) a) Do not let the NFL veterans get you on a dinner bill. Instead, do the rookie stuff like haul their shoulder pads to and from practice. They might smell like hell, but it's better than getting hit for the best part of $100,000.

b) In the same way, do not pay for your buddies and their girlfriends at a club. They'll love being in the VIP saying they know you - and bring along ladies to meet you - but you'll end up getting stung with the bill, because that's what leeches do.

5) If you get money for endorsements, only use that money. Rob Gronkowski, the future NFL Hall of Famer and Patriots tight end, got a salary of $54 million. He's spent none of that, but instead opting to live his life through endorsement checks. Marshawn Lynch and Saquon Barkley have done the same. And if you're a running back, you've got a pretty short career span anyway. Also, it's very probable that you won't make Gronk money, if you get any extras Gs from endorsements capitalise on it. Plus, you're not likely to be Tom Brady or Michel Irvin. No endorser's really going to care about you after your NFL career finishes, anyway.

6) If you have an inner circle, stick to that inner circle. Do not let others - from the church to people you don't know simply taking advantage of the situation - rinse you dry. I get that people from your hometown who have 'always looked after you' will expect massive donations for their excellence as you were rising through the ranks (probably because they could see a future paycheck coming), but that's B.S. If someone really supports you, they'll be happy for you and won't have any strings attached to that love. If you want to give 10% to charity or to the church, then go right ahead. That's a good thing.

7) Get a good tax lawyer. If you play Miami it's a great thing to do. You don't have to pay income tax when you play the Dolphins (and you'll probably win!), although you'll have to pay income tax in other places you play. A lot of players want to play in more 'tax-friendly areas', and don't like moving. Oh, and when you retire, get a good tax lawyer so you won't have to give too much to teh government from your wages. Washington, Texas, Nevada, Florida, Alaska, Wyoming, and South Dakota don't charge state income tax (we advise Washington, Texas, Nevada or Florida, unless you're into hunting and fishing!!!).

8) Learn from others. There are plenty of players doing things on the cheap. Kirk Cousins - he who made $84 million guaranteed from the Minnesota Vikings - still behaves financially astutely. As does veteran Ryan Kerrigan. There's not harm in talking about the secrets of lasting longer in the NFL with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, who's been around for 16 years and collected tens of millions in paychecks.

You ask "Who the hell are you to give ME financial education?" and I'll reply: "I'm nothing". But I'm sick to seeing good people exploited by others. These 'others' aren't good people. They are leeches. They will lie, cheat and do anything to 'get theirs' and after they are finished, they will move on, because that's what leeches do. I've seen it at The Super Bowl, when players take along a cast of 3 or 4 people, that you KNOW have come along at the players' expense as 'support', wearing expensive suits and nice jewellery.

Also, if you want to watch a program where the leeches consistently get the better of players, watch 'Ballers'. Because there's way too much truth in that.

Thanks,

Alex

Why bother with the NFL Combine?

2019-03-06T07:23:00.001-08:00

It's been a month since my first wedding anniversary to my wife Jane and - less importantly - the last Super Bowl. The Patriots won (again), and Pats fans fought each other during the parade (again).

A month on, and the NFL Combine from Indianapolis is over. Everybody was wowed by Ole Miss WR's DJ Metcalf terrific 40 time, drooling over how much Alabama freak Quinnen Williams can lift, how high Virginia DB Juan Thornhill jumped, and how far Missouri WR Emmanuel Hall did a broad jump.

Some did really well (Thornhill) and some sucked (Texas WR Lil' Jordan Humphrey).

But here's a question? Should it really matter?

We still don't understand why NFL staffs hit up Indianpolis to watch future NFLers dress up in an Under Armour-sponsored spandex uniform to perform feats that you'd normally see on an athletics field. More absurdly, the staffs get to interview a player in person, and those questions can range from good ole NFL stuff to some absurd and frankly insulting stuff about their mothers and their private life that should have the questioneer fired on the spot (at least that would happen in any other work place).

The NFL loves it because it's a chance to talk about the future, as well as have a comedy part of Rich Eiesen running the 40, and also break up the monotony of people re-watching 'America's Game' or Draft previews on the NFL Network.

But we still don't understand its use - although the teams do, because it's a great chance for the team to see each other and drink a lot, and get wasted on expenses.

AREN'T YOU WATCHING TAPE?

Here's why: If a player's good enough that you want to draft him, you'd probably be able to watch some tape. After all, a player- we hope - probably won't be in just spandex out there. So why aren't they doing their feats of agility in full pads?

Also, there's also this weird thing called film. If they watched the film, they'd know that Alabama's Quinnen Williams is simply watch film of the stunningly-gifted nose tackle. Or they would have to see if Emmanuel Hall could fly, because all they would need was to type in his name, and this video would come up.

Alternatively, they could look at stats. It's not hard to work out whether one player was a difference-maker or wasn't - particularly at the highest level. Of course, if a great secondary player underperformed year by year, look at who was with him in the secondary, and you can work out that QBs threw away from that player (see Minkah Fitzpatrick).

Yeah, we get that it's important to see 'a player in person', but surely that's what a team's scouting network is for (other hire other people to do it!), but why do it in withou the uniform?

PLAYERS BY THE (GREEN) SHORT AND CURLIES

The thing is is that the teams have the players by the spandex balls. Like anyone looking for their first job (STOP WITH THE JOKES ABOUT SEC PLAYERS GETTING WELL PAID TO PLAY IN COLLEGE NOW, PLEASE!), their aim is to make as much money as possible - preferably as early as possible. If their Combine's good, they've got more chance to fatten the wallet. The opposite can happen if your efforts suck like Humphrey's did. They also know that if they refuse to show up to the Combine or simply refuse to do some drills during it, the media will start to get snipey, because they've got nothing to talk about apart from this.

And for some players who go to smaller schools who don't have Pro Days (where players practice in front of NFL coaches in the comfort of their own schools), not showing up to the Combine can mean not getting paid at all. Although there are some excellent examples of players - including Super Bowl 2019 hero Julian Edelman - not being invited for the Combine (and John Elway refusing to go because it wasn't a big deal back then), turning an invite down for most players at small colleges is as stupid as yours truly turning an invite down to the Vanity Fair Party in Los Angeles.

If I'm a player and I'm so-so about showing up because I don't want to be pushed and prodded, or asked questions about whether I had two testicles (this happened to Texas' Chris Boyd this year), the biggest thing you could say in turning down the invite is this: "I don't want to end up like Clemson's Dexter Lawrence, Ohio State's Kendall Sheffield in 2018, and Billy Price in 2017". All three players were injured in Indy. After all, why should they risk a windfall to battle in a crappy version of Gladiators?

But how many NFL teams would actually believe this? Probably none. But for the bigger-time players, it could well be worth a try.

Be careful about drafting Kyler Murray...

2019-02-18T10:38:00.001-08:00

I've seen Kyler Murray both on the TV and in-person.

In person, he's small, and on TV, he's small. He's lightning on TV, and he's lightning in person.

He can scramble like Top Gun Tomcats on steroids, and he can be a ghost in the pocket, making defenders swipe at nothing before running like a cheetah for a touchdown.

The agents will compare him to Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. For us, everyone will say that because Wilson could be one of Snow White's Seven Dwarf Football Team, then Murray - who has superior speed - could waltz in too. Then there's the fact that both people played baseball at university and were prodigious athletes, with Murray already having a contract with the Oakland Athletics in his pocket last season (he was paid more than head coach Lincoln Riley).

Then there's the comparison to Baker Mayfield. His ability to bounce out of the pocket and run like a gazelle are well noted. But also there is Mayfield's leadership qualities (the good side, anyway). Mayfield's also on the short side (6ft 1). Oh, and Mayfield also transferred into Oklahoma, like Murray did.

But here's our caveat: His stupid decisions are monstrous ones.

Sometimes, he'll think he has the beating of a defender, and they'll eat him for lunch (see The Orange Bowl against Alabama). With the best offensive line in the country, he was sacked 18 times. And without being horrible, he was sacked 18 tiimes in one of the most defensively inept conference in football - and only once by a team that ranked over 28th in defensive S&P (Alabama, 3 times).

But this isn't all. Kyler Murray's interceptions this year remind you a lot of Johnny Manziel. Sometimes he'll try and do everything, and end up lobbing the ball into the arms of a grateful defender. This interception against Texas was particularly egregious.

He also tries too hard sometimes. His decision-making (ie THROW THE BALL AWAY PLEASE) isn't amazing, and he won't be facing Big XII defenses. He'll be facing defenses that will eat him for lunch if he's indecisive. Sure, the game is changing with the likes of Patrick Mahomes, but intelligent defensive coordinators will make sure he's dealt with with a superior gameplan.

Also, if he goes high in the draft, he won't get the type of receiving talent needed for him to be considered 'elite' immediately.

And then there's the baseball factor, which we mentioned earlier. Murray didn't say immediately that his first love was for football above baseball. He ummed and erred and refused to stick his hand up. Do you think that if he's injured or doesn't play well he'll simply suck it in and sit on the bench for what might be a year (or two)? He didn't do it at Texas A&M, where he threw his toys out of the pram and headed to Oklahoma when he didn't get the starting job in College Station, and didn't get on with then head-coach Kevin Sumlin. There's the major possibility that he does that and walks onto an MLB team. A ton of team would love his speed and centrefield skills.

Listen, we get the hype. He threw for 4,000 yards and 42 TDs and ran over 1,000 and 12 more. He duly won the Heisman candidate.

But will he be good in the NFL?

I'm not holding my breath.

NFL overtimes suck, and here's how to change it

2019-01-21T04:38:00.001-08:00

AFC Championship Game. It's overtime. Tom Brady engineers third down shot after third down shot. Rex Burkhead goes in for the touchdown. The Patriots celebrate. They are going to the Super Bowl. Arrowhead goes silent. They are not.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes looks from the sidelines at the celebrating players. He's despondent.

There's nothing he can do. He's done everything. But now, the power has been taken out of his hands.

The power wasn't taken out his hands because he did anything wrong. He didn't throw a ball to a Pats cornerback, or fumble it. He did throw abysmal throws. He didn't hit the wide receivers in the numbers and have them drop it.

His power was taken out of his hands on a coin flip. The Patriots won the coin flip in overtime, and the rest was history.

Speaking of history, here's how NFL overtime rules have shifted.

In 1974, fed up with ending games with ties, the NFL owners voted to have an overtime rule where the team to win the coin toss chooses whether to receive or to get possession and drive for the game-winning score. If they score, game over.

In 2010 with the world griping over whether a game should be decided on a coin toss, the NFL decided that games should be decided on coin tosses anyway. The rules, as per the NFL itself: "No more than one 10-minute period will follow a three-minute intermission. Each team must possess, or have the opportunity to possess, the ball. The exception: if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown on the opening possession."

The NFL - who don't seem to know what a catch, a pass interference, or targeting is at the best of times- has one of the stupidest rules on the planet.

It's like saying: In Grand Slam tennis, if a match goes to a fifth-set decider, the person to win the next game if it's 6-6 goes home victorious. Or telling football players, that if one team gets to take a penalty in a penalty shoot-out.. If they score, game over. To be fair on football teams, they tried a method where extra time was automatically finished by a 'golden goal' rule, but that was scrapped in favour of 30 mins of extra-time, and then penalties if both sides were equal.

No-one likes penalties, but it's a hell of a lot better than game-deciding coin flip which means that one team may not get possession in 'extra-time'.

The laws aren't arcane (they were changed in 2017). They are stupid.

ALTERNATE OVERTIMES

Some want to srap NFL overtime laws in favour of the college football model, which go like this. Both teams have a possession starting at the opposition's 25-yard line. If the game finishes even after one, then they must play another period. If the two sides are even into the third period, both sides are not permitted to kick extra points but have to go for two-point conversions.

It's the most fun of all overtimes. Witness this set of overtimes from the 2018 season between Texas A&M and LSU. Sheer craziness.

CFL model isn't bad either. They dictate that both sides get the chance to start from the 35-yard line, but there is no extra point after the touchdown. Both sides HAVE to go for the two-point conversion.

Even at high school level both sides get the chance to score.

The NFL's convoluted, stupid way of doing things - on top of their catch rule which is utterly insane (IF THE BALL TOUCHED THE GROUND IT SHOULD NOT BE A CATCH! SIMPLE!), has taken a new level and cost a ton of teams' offenses the chance to evenplay in overtime.

So we had an idea. Why not amend the NFL overtime rules to this?

Both sides need to have a possession of the ball. If one team outscores the other team on that possession, the game is over.

If this ruling had happened, the Atlanta Falcons would have had the chance to redeem themselves for the Super Bowl L1 collapse, and the Kansas City Chiefs might have had the chance to go all the way after coming back in the final minute to get the game all tied up on Sunday night.

But it didn't. And now, this is history.