Let's review this
I want more replay than less.
I want an automated strike zone. I'd prefer the eye in the sky on calls that were blatantly missed. I want a grid across the football field that identifies the dozens of microchips inside the football so the nation's most popular social pastime is not a land-consumption contest in which the consumption of land is measured by old white dudes with two sticks connected by a chain.
Like in dealing with "Six Million Dollar Man" Steve Austin, we have the technology. We have the capability.
(Side note, part I: First: the intro for "The Six Million Dollar Man" was every bit as cool as I remembered it to be. Take a look. The intro was a show unto itself.)
(Side note, part II: Yes, I'm somewhat shocked that we have not seen a remake - call it "The Six Billion Dollar Man" - in an era of entertainment in which almost everything is remade.)
(Side note, part III: Talk about the fading price of a dollar. In 1975, "The Six Million Dollar Man" was a superspy who saved the world for OSI. In 2021, "The Six Million Dollar Man" is Dansby Swanson.)
Anyway, I am for getting every call right and using the tools at our disposal.
But what we have now is a joke. And it's a waste of time that has become a detriment to enjoying the game, whether it's the NBA dudes running to the scorer's table or every big SEC football play that brings the crowd to its feet needing to be examined in Birmingham while CBS sends it to a three-minute commercial.
Replay's noble intention has become a tour through TSA security check-in at Hartsfield while watching a game. And even still that would be OK if the process did its job.
In an effort to placate the umps and referees of professional sports, we have limited and rules-restricted replays on calls. To make matters worse, the replay officials cower behind the "irrefutable evidence" malarkey to overturn a call.
That's a safety net that is designed for plausible deniability and used as a shield to protect the sports version of the Thin Blue Lie to cover a colleague's mistake when close.
Nevermind the ludicrous argument keeping the "human error" element as part of the process is a good thing. What? If that's the case, then every third NFL series of each half, the emergency quarterback should have to start. Well, it keeps the human error element in play, right? Or every sixth inning AJ Minter must face at least one batter. Again, human error corollary and where is human error more pronounced right now than AJ Minter?
As for the holes in replay, last night there were some prime examples.
The play at the plate that should have ended the decisive inning in UT's season-ending baseball loss to Texas. A critical out-of-bounds call in an old-school physical NBA playoff game as Suns edged the Clippers.
I'm OK with the delays, if we get the calls right.
I'm OK with the way it was and our games not being bogged down every other call, even if we miss some.
I'd prefer we go as automated as possible as soon as possible and forget the phrase 'human-error element' ever existed.
All three of those are better than the half-measures and the half-hearted investment from the replay officials we have now.
Now? NOW?
Want a real sign of despair?
No, not Braves manager Brian Snitker baking sweet cookies and complimenting everything from those glorious yellow shoes to his aftershave (proved the young star actually does shave) in an effort to un-irritate Ronald Acuña Sr., who blasted The Snit-Show last week on social media.
This one is even more egregious and an absolute "Hail Mary, Mother of Grace, can I save my job" move.
Check this one out: Facing the last eight days before state governments rule on Name, Likeness and Image rules for college athletes, and after years of burying his worthless, empty bobblehead in the sand, Mark Emmert is taking action.
Seriously.
The memo error-prone Emmert sent to member schools includes this: "If, however, NCAA rule changes are not in place by July, please know that I will work with our governance bodies to develop temporary policies that assure student-athletes that they will not become trapped in such circumstances and that all will have NIL opportunities. I have directed my staff to create proposals to this end. We will provide more details next week as this approach is reviewed by the NCAA Board of Governors and the divisional governance bodies."
They have known about this since October 2019. And, they had next to nothing to do in terms of competition and organizing championships last spring and summer, so you know they had the time to examine this.
Now, faced with the SCOTUS spanking and the frayed edges of the tattered NCAA construct unraveling in all directions, Emmert is getting proactive. Man, somewhere in the afterlife, Nero is looking at Mark Emmert and saying, "THIS guy? Wow."
Because, it's getting close
It's never a bad time to discuss college football, right?
Right?
So, with that, let's go to my email and check in with my friends at sportsbettingdime.com and their ranking of the hardest schedules in FBS college football.
(Cover your eyes fellow Auburn fans, because this is not pretty.)
For starters, a disclaimer - and it's very important to remember that these folks use algorithms like these to craft point spreads and make millions - from the experts at sportsbettingdime.com: "The proprietary @SBD Strength of Schedule formula is based upon their opponents' efficiency ratings from last season minus the production lost from the 2020 team; recruiting rankings; major transfers added and lost. The formula is then adjusted for each game based upon home and road games."
Deal? Deal.
Now for the details. Playing a 12-game schedule of 12 games at Alabama is considered the hardest possible schedule - or as Owen Wilson's character says in "Armageddon," "The scariest environment imaginable" - and would have a score of 397.09. The easiest schedule would be playing New Mexico State at home for 12 weeks and it would have a score of -471.94. There's your scale. Here are the rankings:
Top 10 most difficult - Arkansas (126.35), Kansas (118.21), Auburn (104.06), Texas (102.48), Oklahoma State (101.39), Baylor (101.11), Mississippi State (97.18), Kansas State (90.82), Notre Dame (87.29), Ole Miss (82.70).
Takeaway: Life is harder in the SEC West and for teams that play nine conference games.
Teams of note - Georgia Tech is 11th (and No. 1 in the ACC in terms of strength of schedule); for JTC and Fat Vader, Florida is 16th and LSU is 18th; Tennessee is 27th and Georgia 29th; Alabama is 50th; Kentucky is 70th.
Thoughts?
This and that
> Speaking of delays, the growing number of umps circling around pitchers to check for sticky stuff is another delay in an already slow game. Again, I'm for enforcing the rules. But what's to stop a manager from asking for a sticky check when a pitcher gets in a groove. Heck, Max Scherzer got more checks last night than the kindergarten tattletale.
> NBA draft lottery was last night. I love the draft; you know this. The draft lottery? We're friends. Detroit got the first pick. Anyone think they take anyone other than Cade Cunningham?
> According to this, friends, traffic deaths and car crashes are racist. Seriously.
> And there was a borderline riot that caused local authorities to shut down a Virginia school board meeting over the hatred spewed about pronouns and critical race theory. Again, seriously.
> Now Michael B. Jordan is facing the backlash and allegations of 'cultural appropriation.' His crime? People are offended by what he named his brand of rum. Seriously. Our whole society is NUTS. (Uh oh, is 'nut' an offensive term? Do I come across seedy by using it? Am I being agriculturally inappropriate?)
> Now this one, well, this one I understand. The 'fried chicken' zinger was not funny for Fuzzy Zoeller and it certainly did not work for Ikea in Atlanta, which emailed its employees this about Saturday's Juneteenth celebration according to TMZ: "To honor the perseverance of Black Americans and acknowledge the progress yet to be made, we observe Juneteenth on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Look out for a special menu on Saturday which will include: fried chicken, watermelon, mac n cheese, potato salad, collard greens, candied yams." Yeah, uh, no.
> Rachel Zegler has been cast to play Snow White in the live-action Disney remake.
> You know the rules. Here's TFP sports editor and prep sports guru Stephen Hargis on the new football coach at Sequatchie County. (Side question: I may have asked this before, but who besides me thinks the Sequatchie County Sasquatches would be a most excellent nickname choice?)
> Longtime UTC fixture Mike Royster is leaving the athletic department after 47 years. Kudos, Mike, on a great career.
> I am happy to see progress across the national discourse about the importance of voter IDs in our election process. Not referencing any polls, just the national conversation from both sides. The voter ID has always been my biggest talking point in this overblown screamfest of faulty allegations of stolen elections and just as dishonest comparisons to Jim Crow segregation. A photo voter ID should be required to participate in our national process to pick our elected officials. You have to have a license to catch a fish; we absolutely should require one to cast a vote. (And this mumbo-jumbo of an electric bill with an address? PUH-lease.)
Today's questions
OK, which way Wednesday starts this way:
Which way on the "Best of the Best" ballot would you vote on "Best Golf Course" in town? Yes, The Honors is there, and if this were an actual title fight, it would be a -10000 favorite. But it's a vote, and considering members and rounds played, I think I'll make Brainerd Golf Course a slight favorite to win the polling.
(Side note: Also on the ballot is best columnist/reporter. I wanted to vote for Ben Benton, but alas, he was not on the ballot.)
Which Braves reliever do you trust the most? (And amazingly the answer is probably Luke Jackson, which is a testament to his turnaround and to the lack of options down there.)
Which players get it done in a critical Game 1 tonight - Giannis or Trae Young (or both)?
Which replay plan do you support - go with as much technology as possible, what we have, scrap it all?
Got a question? Fire away.
As for today, June 23, let's review.
On this day in 1972, President Nixon signed Title IX.
On this day in 1989, "Batman" premiered with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Talk about two great careers. Pretty sure Batman does not make the Rushmore for either of them.
LaDainian Tomlinson turns 42 today. Rushmore of running backs in the 2000s, because LT is a no-doubter, right?