Home run record
Major League Baseball is having a historic power surge.
And by the time the numbers are all calculated, the home run mark for a season will be smashed.
In fact, the record for most home runs in a month was broken twice in 2017.
When Alex Gordon's long fly reached the seats Tuesday it was MLB's 5,694th homer of the season, breaking the record set in 2000. With more than a week of games left to play, the projections are for the total to well exceed 6,000, which would by close to 2,000 more than were hit in 2014.
There are a few noteworthy items about this march to power paradise, if you want to call it that. (More on that in a moment.)
Rookies are delivering big numbers. Aaron Judge has 44 and a chance to break Mark McGwire's rookie-record of 49 set in '87. Add in Cody Bellinger (38 homers) and Rhys Hoskins (18 homers in 39 games) in the NL, and the newbies are crushing it.
Right now 31 players already have 30 or more homers, led by Ginacarlo Stanton of Miami.
When the record was reached, 11 teams hit 200 or more homers. This year there are 13 already with Arizona (198) and Cleveland (196) looking to make it 15.
Now comes two questions: Why and is it good for the game?
As for the why, there's a prominent theory out there that the league has made the ball smaller with reduced laces.
The reduced laces, if true, would be a huge deal, considering that small laces make it harder to throw sharp breaking stuff and even more importantly, small laces reduce the drag and resistance of balls flying through the air.
Another reason to the why, is that everything in the modern game is built on power. Power pitching. Power hitting. Power strategy of walking and waiting on a three-run homer.
When teams are built on more power - did you know the average fastball in today's MLB is more than 93 mph, up a full 2 mph in roughly a decade - we can't be surprised when the result is more power.
And yes, chicks dig the long ball, but is a better game? It makes for better highlights but is a truckload of strikeouts and walks and an increased number of homers a better product than shorter games with more balls put in play, more running and and more in-game action?
Discuss.
FILE - This Dec. 11, 2016 file photo shows Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at MetLife Stadium before an NFL football game against the New York Giants in East Rutherford, N.J. Jones reiterated his belief that star running back Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t guilty of domestic violence in a case the NFL has been investigating for a year. Jones said Sunday, July 23, 2017 on the eve of the opening of training camp that Elliott’s case was “not even an issue over he said-she said.” (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file) NFL fight ahead
Yes, Jerry Jones is holding up the extension of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. But we all can agree that the extension will get done.
This is just billionaire billiards and rich-man rigermarole. (And think if that high-profile tug of war between Goodell and Jones went public. You think those two don't have some real dirt on each other consider the scandals and headlines they have been around. Egad. And yes please.)
News came this morning that the NFL players voted to extend the contract of Players Union boss DeMaurice Smith.
Here's what we know:
Goodell and Smith get along like Trump and SNL.
Goodell and Smith are going to be the lead dogs in the all-too-soon, can't-be-overstated-in-terms-of-importance negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2021.
And those negotiations are going to be cut-throat. Period.
The players union is already telling players to start saving extra money in preparation of a work stoppage.
Wowser.
And here's betting the owners are also going to want some new concessions, especially considering a lot of the tangent reasons give for the sagging TV ratings.
Here are some:
TV ratings are down because of pregame protests. Think the owners would like to have a similar clause as the NBA CBA in which players are required to participate in national anthem ceremonies?
TV ratings are down because the play is bad. That is getting a lot of play and a lot of the thought behind it is that with fewer practices and OTAs and physical drills in those practices, the product is not as sharp.
TV ratings are down because of public image of the players and domestic issues.
That last one will become a very heated talking point, because a lot of what the players have bemoaned is Goodell is judge and jury and they want that changed.
We now know the lead dogs. And the barking and biting is going to be vicious.
Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop walks the field. The annual Spring Orange and White Football game was held at Neyland Stadium on April 22, 2017.Five-star departs
Not sure if you saw this - or if we are so close to Butch Jones' Five-star Hearts mantra that we owe a tip of the visor or not - but this made use think a little bit.
Former five-star recruit Byron Cowart, who was ranked the top high school player in the country by Rivals.com a couple of years ago, is leaving Auburn.
And yes, we have already gotten a few Tweets from you guys about Cowart heading to Auburn North - aka Jacksonville State - and the Mocs having to worry about him in the years to come.
Cowart was one of two five-star recruits in the Tigers' 2015 recruiting class. The other, Jovon Robinson, is no longer with the program either. Robinson, who had monster games against Texas A&M and in the Birmingham Bowl in the 2015 season, was dismissed before the 2016 season.
Yes, normally this would a 'This and That' type of item.
Cowart's departure - he's ranked by this Rivals.com story as the biggest bust for a No. 1 overall recruit - also got us thinking about one of the fall-back phrases in college football.
We're not denying how important recruiting is to every college football program, and in truth every college athletic team.
But, it's too easy to say Nick Saban has created a monolith in Tuscaloosa because he's simply a great recruiter. Yes, he is a great recruiter, but just as important is he an equally great talent evaluator.
It's also just as critical that he has created a perfect scenario to keep five-star players focused and working to improve their skills.
It's been a while since you could name an Alabama five-star recruit you would deem a bust. (Yes, Deshawn Hand is on the list above, but he is still going to be an NFL player and his shortage on production is as much a lack of an opportunity because of all the talent at his position than anything else.)
This and that
- Ben Pettway, a local kid who played at Baylor School, was involved in the hazing assault on a football teammate at Wheaton College, a Christian university outside of Chicago. Here are the details and they are not pretty.
- Mayor of L.A. told Dan Patrick that he would have been fine with just the Rams coming to La-La Land. Take that Chargers, and your $100 parking. Man, has there ever been a better player who will be remembered with less love than any other Hall of Famer ever than Philip Rivers?
- The SEC released its 2018 football schedule. Here it is.
- This unidentified bettor had a better weekend than the 5-at-10's picks. After hitting a "big three-team" parlay on Sunday, the bettor picked a five-teamer that had four Sunday winners - Ravens, Patriots, Chiefs and Raiders - and the Lions to win outright on Monday night. The Lions' win turned his $8,500 bet into $263,000. Good times.
- Kevin Durant says he has not been able to sleep or eat after his Twitter flap in which he tried to defend himself on a fake social media account but it actually posted in his own account in which he talked in the third person and said the rest of the Thunder other than Russell Westbrook stink, including coach Billy Donovan. Durant seems a little unstable, right? Man, defending yourself from a phantom account? Losing sleep about a Tweet?
- Speaking of social media, the Ravens deleted a Tweet with a photoshopped Queen Elizabeth in Ravens face paint. Here it is because the interweb never forgets.
- TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer weighs in on UTC and Tom Arth's 0-3 start. Good stuff.
- More good stuff from the today's TFP, as UT beat ace Dancin' David Cobb details a good interview from UT defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. Shoop was direct and honest and informative. And while he did it in a lot of ways to protect head coach Butch Jones - "First, I want to say this, and this is from my heart: I think some of the criticism of Coach Jones is unfair. I made the call on the last play," was Shoop's first quote - we couldn't help but think how Jones could take a cue or 14,000 from Shoop on quotes to the media.
Today's question
Let's start here: If you were a light A-list celebrity would you be on social media?
Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin is 69 today.
Sophia Loren is 83 today. One of the all-time smoke shows.
On this day in a joint session of Congress, W declared the war on terror.
On this day 49 years ago, Mickey Mantle hit his final MLB homer.
On this day 44 years ago, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs.
On this day 33 years ago, The Cosby Show premiered.
Also, Red Auerbach would have been 100 today.
If we did an all-time, all-levels NBA Rushmore, who are the four faces on it?
Red Auerbach would have been 100 today.