NFL thoughts
We are a day or three away from the NFL preseason starting in earnest. With that, there is no central NFL talking point.
Rather, there are a plethora of items of interest. (Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of piñatas? Oh yes El Guapo.)
The New York Giants have told Odell Beckham he will not get as much as Sammy Watkins’ $16 million from the Chiefs. Two-sided coin here: No one would doubt Beckham > Watkins, but should the Giants be required to pony up because the Chiefs made a terrible contract decision? Discuss.
Aaron Donald is not reporting until he gets paid. We get that. He is in the final year of his rookie deal and is one of the game’s true double-team mandatory folks. It’s especially odd for a Rams team that is clearly all-in to win now after extensions and monster deals to Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks, among others. Donald is the most valuable Rams player since Dickerson and he’s the best defensive player in the league.
Seriously, what was the last good decision made by someone in a position of leadership in and around the NFL? We think you can add this one to the stinky solutions pile. After the T.O. field trip to McKenzie Arena at UTC for his Hall speech, it’s being reported that the Hall of Fame folks are going to require an RSVP in the case that a candidate gets in.
Say what? Just like we thought T.O.’s sideshow was the living definition on why so many said he was a rotten teammate and was slow getting enshrined, the Hall organizers are completely proving T.O.’s point about the voting factors in things outside the description of Hall-worthy credentials in the Hall’s own rules.
FILE – In this May 8, 2012, file photo, ESPN radio hosts Mike Greenberg, left, and Mike Golic throw out first pitches before a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland. The network announced Tuesday, May 16, 2017, that Greenberg would be leaving the longtime morning radio show he co-hosts with Golic to host a new morning TV show on ESPN TV that will premier Jan. 1. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File) Baseball’s headache
We have heard a lot of the discussions about baseball games going on and on and on and potential ‘solutions’ to this issue.
Some, like Mike Greenburg, advocate for a tie. I am not for that, at least on the major league level of any sport.
There are some minor league baseball associations which use the international tie-breaker, meaning a runner is placed on second base to start the extra innings.
And last night that method’s worst nightmare happened.
In a game between Tampa and Clearwater was scoreless heading into the eighth, which was the first extra frame because it was the second game of a doubleheader. Clearwater had no hits or walks through seven, but with the runner placed on second,the Threshers scored and won 1-0 without getting a hit or a walk. (A Thresher player reached on an error to avoid the “perfect game 1-0 loss” scenario.)
Rest assured this chain of events will be tossed about when these discussions come around.
FILE – In this Sept. 30, 2017, file photo, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer reacts to play during an NCAA college football game against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. Meyer says he likes the progress of the Buckeyes’ offense in the past month. He says quarterback J.T. Barrett and the passing game is clicking with Penn State and other tougher games looming after the bye week. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) More on Meyer
OK, because our college football fandom often makes far too many of us do far too many things that do not make a lot of sense.
Witness THE 100-or-so loons that gathered in support of Urban Meyer, THE coach of THE Ohio State.
The number actually should give the rest of us hope for the future and for the future of college football. That’s 100 nut jobs putting their program above decency, and that’s a very small fringe outlier of a program that size.
And while both sides should walk slowly toward the light until the provable truth is revealed, even risking walking on the side of supporting a CEO of a quarter-a-billion-dollar industry for potentially covering up domestic abuse seems nonsensical to us.
It also is the latest line item in college sports in which we expect and demand more from the 18-to-22-year-old young adults than we do from the paid adults in leadership positions in those same programs.
Also of note is this latest line item.
That story says no one from THE Ohio State contact Courtney Smith about the domestic violence allegations. Which again turns the worm toward someone losing their job.
Because now it’s likely that one of these is the path, right?
A) Meyer did not about the abuse, which is now fireable for him because in addition to lying at Big Ten media days, his statement from last Friday is as fabricated as sheet metal;
B) Meyer did know and did not report it, which again puts Urban Pinocchio in hot water;
c) Meyer knew and reported it, and none of his higher ups at THE OSU acted, which means someone above Urbie in the organizational flow chart has some splainin’ to do.
We also have this question:
If Meyer reported this all the way through, and Zach Smith said he never crossed the line, and whatever spin the brass at THE Ohio State and even at Florida will put on this, if all that is kosher and cool, then why was Smith fired at all?
This and that
– There was some discussion earlier this summer about the pressure LeBron James Jr. faces because of his name and his ability to play hoops. Well, here’s a story about where Bronny is headed to school in L.A. How about the pressure the middle school coach is about to face considering there’s a real chance the L.A. Times will be there for the Crossroads School eighth-grade opener?
-Wow, The Fugitive is 25 today. What a great movie. And it’s saying something for two dudes like Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones with those careers have the same movie be their far left on their Rushmore.
– Braves back in action tonight with a day-night doubleheader against the Nationals.
– LeBron James will have a Showtime documentary on “Shut up and Dribble.”
– The NFL Hall of Fame Game hit a record low in terms of TV numbers, down 18 percent in eyes and ratings from last year and 38 percent in both vectors from 2015. Excluding games on the NFL Network, it was the lowest-rated and least-watched Hall of Game in 20 years.
Today’s questions
True or false. Tuesday. True.
College football has the best overtime/extra inning procedure, true or false.
You’ll watch NFL preseason games, true or false.
We’ll ask again: Urban Meyer will be THE coach at THE Ohio State, true or false.
As for this day, well, the Mrs. and I have been hitched for 14 years as of today. Good times.
The Purple Heart was created by George Washington on this day in 1782.
Charlize Theron is 43 today. We approve of that message.
Peter Jennings died on this day in 2005.
Carl Spitzer was born on this day in 1927. He played Alfalfa of Little Rascals/Our Gang fame.
Rushmore of most signature celebrity hairstyles. Go, and remember the mailbag.