Sunday, November 08, 2015

BYE BYE BASEBALL, HELLO...WHAT?

This is that lull in the sports world (for me at least), when I have to watch sports that don't really interest me. Things like college football and pro basketball. Oh sure, there is a lot of athleticism involved and I do end up watching some of them and even enjoy a good portion. I'll start to get interested in pro football a little - the NY Giants at least - until they're out of it, then, well, there's always movies.
There was an interesting highlight on ESPN this morning, Arkanasas Coach Bret Bielema's post-game interview after his unranked Arkansas team upset #19 Ole Miss in as exciting a finish as you'll ever want to see. So was the interview.
 http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/arkansas-coach-excited-hopping-wife-win-article-1.2427303

We watched some college football the other day and Annie-O asked me who I was rooting for. I just shrugged and she said, "Me neither. It's kind of a relief to just watch and NOT get emotionally involved, isn't it?"  She was right. It was nice to be able to think, "Good hit," followed by "Nice defensive play," for the same situation. And my opinion of the strategies were much more dispassionate than when I tell Annie-O that "Joe Girardi's parents were never married." 

Now it's time for The Silly Season, when all the baseball rumors surface, some though-provoking, some realistic, most wishful thinking, but in the long run...all Silly. We can discuss these as they surface. In the meantime:

The world of the professional athlete
What do you do if you don't like your teams uniform? You could complain, - probably won't help - or you could lobby to be traded to someplace with a "cooler" uniform. Unless you're LeBron James, or should I say, King James? He decided he didn't like the sleeves on the Cavaliers uniform, so he tore them off. In the middle of the game against the Knicks. I also read the he initially approved the uniform (I can't believe I just wrote that) before Cleveland dared change it. Now I believe we will see sleeveless uniforms in Cleveland from now on.    Who's in charge here? (As if I didn't know.)

Dallas Cowboy Greg Hardy goes whippy on the sideline, shoving a coach and yelling at teammates, during the game. Worth a suspension in my book, but in owner Jerry Jones' book.  Much worse is the fact that pictures finally showed up about Hardy's domestic-violence incident from 2014. Hardy allegedly began hitting his girlfriend Nicole Holder, throwing her into a bathtub, dragging her on the ground, and later slamming her onto the couch with the guns, then choking her. Jones did nothing about all this, calling Hardy "...one of the real leaders."                                   That big blank space here was while I was getting up off the floor. The Players Union was no better, getting the original 10 game suspension reduced to 4 games.  Somehow Hardy got the Domestic Violence charges expunged, and after all, he is "a real leader."

Fame is fleeting (not a Yogi-ism ) as some baseball players found out this past World Series. Nobody could get out Daniel Murphy of the Mets earlier in the playoffs, but during the World Series, you'd have to say he was less than ordinary. The jokes have already started ["Daniel Murphy went Halloweening and did well, but then he began dropping all his candy"]
Yoenis Cespedes hit like Babe Ruth during the Mets stretch run, winning games with his bat and with his glove.  Then the World Series began and he played like Ruth Bader Ginsberg. In retrospect, he was hurt during the series. I don't think free agency is going to be as big a payday as these two guys were expecting. 

Which brings up another point. Met Manager Terry Collins was so bad managing during the Series, that I almost began to appreciate Joe Girardi.   Almost.  He let Cespedes hit after he fouled a pitch off his knee. The guy couldn't walk, let alone run. He could have hit the ball off the left field wall and still been thrown out at first. Where's the upside of the that decision? He let Matt Harvey talk him into letting him go out for the ninth inning of a shut-out in a game the Mets absolutely had to win. Okay, maybe that had some value, but when Harvey couldn't find the plate with the first hitter, he let him stay in again and the rest is history. Well, Collins did get the team to the World Series so now the Mets have to keep him. 

I never realized this. No baseball player has ever accepted the 'qualifying offer' that teams can offer potential free agents.Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Let's see what happens this year.

An article on line this week revealed how Tom Brady spends his millions. Why did that need a whole article? Have you seen a picture of his wife?  

***THEY SAID IT***
"Cincinnati is 8-0. Who’d a thunk the Bengals would lead the NFL in any category but arrests?"  -- Janice Hough


"On Miami’s eight-lateral kickoff return to beat Duke, every Hurricane player who counted all the laterals received three credits in math."  -- Brad Dickson
"How did the San Antonio Spurs manage to sign All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge: “I was there. I was involved. I spoke. I begged. I got on my knees. I offered my children. Things like that."  -- Coach Gregg Popovich
" Who’s announced more GM recalls in Detroit this century — the auto maker or the NFL team?"  -- Dwight Perry
"Ex-Louisville assistant basketball coach, Andre McGee, allegedly paid for stripper parties on campus for freshmen and recruits. Nobody noticed because they were busy at stripper parties for sophomores, juniors and seniors."  -- RJ Currie
"Ohio residents voted down a referendum to legalize marijuana. Which means there is still no legal way to enjoy a Cleveland Browns game."  -- James Corden, CBS

"The Fox broadcast booth for the World Series included Pete Rose and Alex Rodriguez. Which raises the question: How’d they miss John Rocker?"  -- Brad Dickson
"Speaking of drinking, has anyone noticed the color of Denver coach Gary Kubiak’s hair? I wonder how many bottles of Grecian Formula he drinks in a day?"  -- TC Chong
"In recalling his role in one scene in the 1967 film “The Dirty Dozen”: “Got it in one take. I didn’t want to hit that concrete too many times.”  -- Former Brown great, Jim Brown
" Does anyone doubt that if Greg Hardy had a real job instead of playing for the NFL, that he’d be in jail now?"  -- Janice Hough
"Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter reportedly has said “he doesn’t feel he is out of his job.” No surprise. He probably doesn’t feel he is out of his mind either."  -- RJ Currie
"The Chinese Communist Party has banned golf, excessive drinking and adultery. In that order, I assume?"  -- Brad Dickson
"The folks voting in the college football polls are pulling their votes out of their ears. The polls mean nothing; the voters do not know which team is the #9 team in the country any more than a politician knows truth from falsehood."  -- The Sports Curmudgen

CP-
 
 

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