Labor Day Weekend and Two Memorials

Lionel Messi is remaining with Barcelona. Whew. After much gesticulating and posturing, the two warring sides reached a deal to keep, for now, the mercurial scorer. While the speculation where the superstar might land was rampant, in the end, he stayed where he had been most successful and he is now suddenly happy. This is good for soccer and there is peace in the rest of the world, I feel good. 

Don’t look now, but there are three Game 7 in the NHL this weekend. Dallas, the Islanders and the Golden Knights were up 3-1 in their series. The Philadelphia Flyers won two overtime games to tie the series and place New York on thin ice. Vancouver had outsmarted and out skated Vegas to even up their series. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit used to be impossible and so far 2 of the 3 series have gone to the teams that were up 3-1. The Stars won in OT and it took Vegas well into the third period to solve goalie Thatcher Denko, who had stonewalled the Golden Knights for well over 120 consecutive minutes. Now, I am feeling that once trailing teams will not emerge victorious. 

In the NBA, the Boston Celtics felt they were robbed of a victory by the officials in their matchup with the defending champion Toronto Raptors, which would have put the C’s up 3-0. Miami has owned the Milwaukee Bucks in the first three games of that series; NBA teams facing a 0-3 deficit are 0-139. In the West, the Clippers dominated the first game of their series with a tired Denver team that barely outlasted a very good Utah Jazz team in a tough seven game series. Houston won a seven game series over Oklahoma City in dramatic fashion; their reward is a rested Lakers juggernaut. It did not bother James Harden, Russell Westbrook and company as the Rockets won Game 1. And the bubble has not burst. 

College football began last weekend and there are a smattering of games Labor Day weekend. The Big Ten has been reassessing its stance and has looked into the viability fo starting games in late November. The Presidents voted 11-3 to not have a fall season. Even with strong parental and player pressure, the potential of a 2/3 vote in favor of playing is unlikely. 

It is less than a week until the NFL season begins. Cam Newton appears to be the starting QB in New England, unless Bill Belichick has a trick or two up his sleeve. Adrian Peterson, one of the greatest runners in the league’s history, was released by Washington. Kickers have been signed and released. The shoring up of rosters is almost final. It looks like there may be a start to a season, subject to COVID-19 and how it impacts the fall. 

Both the Jets and Giants talk good games right now. Then again, all teams are 0-0 and believe they have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. This Super Bowl, if it does happen, will not involve a NY/NJ team. 

COVID hit a big name and his family. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his wife and two daughters have all recovered from the disease. No matter how diligent private citizens are, the virus is still out there, lurking and waiting to strike. 

It hit the Oakland A’s, where 2 people tested positive. More games were postponed. On Friday night, the MLB schedule counted 20 games when it is normally 16. Make up after make up contest is the norm. The Yankees had 2 doubleheaders last weekend with the Mets, a 3 game series against Tampa Bay, all at home, followed by an off day make up game at Citi Field against the Mets and a doubleheader in Camden Yards versus the Orioles. Eleven games in eight days, with not one Yankees player having tested positive during the season. 

Is this really baseball with all the unknown names playing? I have seen more pitchers on the Yankees and Mets who I had never heard of, let alone on Tampa or Baltimore. Batting averages are pathetic. Gary Sanchez, Brett Gardner, Mike Ford—all have averages which are below .200. They are not alone—big names like Cody Bellinger and Kris Bryant are in the same predicament. Seemingly every box score I review shows a plethora of mediocre batting averages. Even all-world Mike Trout is hitting in the high .270’s, although his home run on Friday night tied Tim Salmon for the Angels’ franchise best at 299, promoting the possible headline: “Trout catches Salmon.”

Sure, there are hitters who are batting near or over .300. Mookie Betts is leading the Dodgers as the team was 25-10. D.J Le Mahieu is still way ahead in the AL batting race.  Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Manny Machado are a very formidable 1-2 punch in San Diego. I saw that future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw is now 5-1 for the Dodgers; if he stays healthy, he might even have a good post-season. There are players who are performing well—it’s just that more seem not to be doing so well. 

There are some very good teams, too. Tampa is for real. They can hit, run, field and pitch. They will win the AL East. While still in second place, the Yankees patchwork team is floundering offensively and the pitching is very hittable. Reinforcements are not readily forthcoming—Gleyber Torres arrives on Sunday. With 22 games left, the Yankees are tied with Toronto for second place. Where are Aaron Judge, James Paxton, Giancarlo Stanton? Will they have adequate time to prepare for the playoffs if New York remains above water? Plus reliable Gio Urshela has made it to the IL with an elbow issue. It definitely is not good times in Yankeesland. Plus the 19 game winning streak over the Orioles is now history.

In the AL Central, the division boasts three really good teams. Minnesota is led by Nelson Cruz. Cleveland has continued to excel with its pitching and timely hitting. And the Chicago White Sox are seemingly ahead of schedule, with the young players playing like veterans and the pitching as strong as any other staff. With a 7-3 court, the Sox are atop the division .

A two team race might shape up in the AL West between the A’s and Astros. While Oakland has been playing .500 ball recently, the Astros are picking up steam. If Michael Brantley, hitting below .200 and Jose Abreu and George Springer, not hitting much above .200 get hot, Houston will be a factor in the American League.

The hottest team in baseball is Joe Girardi’s Philadelphia Phillies. When they were mired at 9-14, superstar Bryce Harper challenged the team. Since that tongue-lashing, the Phils are 10-1. And in the game they lost they trailed 12-1 and came back to 12-10 before losing to the Braves. Philadelphia features veteran players and leadership, and I like their pitching. Harper is hitting .279 with power. Rhys Hopkins is looking like himself again after a slow start. While they trail a good Atlanta team by 2 games for the NL East lead, they have played 4 fewer games due to COVID-19. With a schedule which only includes some season-ending games against Tampa, who might have clinched the best record in the AL at that time, the Phillies are my pick to win the division.

The Cubs are 4.5 games ahead of the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central. Chicago has 22 games remaining, and rookie manager David Ross has managed well with a lineup that has starts Bryant and Mike Rizzo underperforming. They should win the NL Central, but Milwaukee might make a late run.

The Dodgers are 30-10. They lead a very good Padres team by 6 games with 20 contests left for each. Thus, the NL West may have the two best teams in the league, and it isn’t even a contest for the division title. 

A couple of baseball notes. The games between the Yankees and Mets produced a lot of drama. Starting with last Saturday’s game, where former Yankee Dellin Betances uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Mike Tauchman to score. The pitch landed Betances on the IL. Sunday’s doubleheader had the Yankees training 7-2 in the bottom of the 7th, when the Bombers struck for 5 runs to tie the score, led by Aaron Hicks’ game-tying homer. The Yankees won in the 8th inning. In the nightcap, Sanchez pinch-hit with the bases loaded in the top of the 8th inning (the Yankees were the visiting team as this was a make up fo a game postponed in the series set for Queens) and blasted a monster homer to give the Yankees the win. Then on Thursday, with the score 7-6, Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman first blew the lead, then served up a 2 run shot to Pete Alonso to cement a Mets walk off win. Including the previous Friday night’s sweep of a doubleheader, each game was riveting and exciting, if not the best baseball ever played.

Speaking of Chapman, he incited a near riot in Tuesday night’s game versus the Rays. These two teams truly dislike each other. Pitches routinely either hit or brush back batters, many of them intentionally. The blood was simmering in the first inning when Masahiro Tanaka, a control pitcher, plunked a Rays player in the ribs in the first inning. 

But it was Chapman, on to save the game for the Yanks, who threw a 101 mph pitch at the Rays batter’s head, barely missing beaning him. When Chapman retired the batter, words were exchanged and Tampa manager Kevin Cash made very threatening comments towards the Yankees in a not-so veiled threat of retaliation. Yankees manager Aaron Boone and Cash were suspended one game each and Chapman received a 3 game ban (which should have been 5 games), which is on appeal, so this was why he could pitch on Thursday against the Mets. 

Thankfully Chapman did not hit the batter and these teams will not meet again unless it is in the playoffs. This bad blood started last season and has gotten more intense this year. Look for it to resurface next year. And it is not good for baseball. 

NASCAR and the PGA are in their playoffs, as they would normally be. However, the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday, out of its May slot, with no fans at Churchill Downs due to the pandemic. ‘Tiz the Law, is the favorite, but has an unfavorable post position at 17. I heard that the race begins at 7:01 pm. It is being hawked as the intro to the Islanders-Flyers Game 7. Unbelievable, but the way things are in 2020, it is the norm, not the aberration. 

The sports world lost 2 iconic figures this week. Tom Seaver and John Thompson passed away. Both made lasting impressions.

George Thomas Seaver, a Fresno native and USC pitcher, landed with the hapless Mets via the Braves bungling his signing and his name being drawn from a hat. With that magical bit of luck, he transformed the most mediocre team in baseball into the “Miracle Mets’ of 1969. Seaver was a winner, a power pitcher who never gave in, sought every advantage he could find and then capitalized upon them. He was the face of the franchise, the real “Tom Terrific” (not Tom Brady ,as great as he is). The sadness is that M. Donal Grant, in charge of the Mets, resented Seaver and allowed him to leave, Tom thrived for many more years, which maddened the very vocal Mets fans. 

Seaver’s statistics were incredible. 311 wins. 2.86 E.R.A. 3,640 strikeouts. 3X Cy Young Award winner. 1X All-Star. NL Rookie of the Year. 61 shutouts. 231 complete games. Let those last two stats sink in—never will those feats be replicated. In my lifetime, Koufax, Palmer, Gibson, Marichal and Ryan were the top pitchers of that time frame. All in the Hall of Fame. None were better than Tom Seaver. None had the impact that he had over so long a period. 

Even as a Yankees fan, I wanted to root for him. I am glad that I saw him pitch. Because he was so good.

John Thompson Jr. was a giant, literally and figuratively. Six foot, ten inches tall, he had stellar career at Providence College, then was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he back up legendary Boston center Bill Russell on 2 championship teams. 

That is part one of his basketball background. What made him famous was that he took a moribund Georgetown University basketball team and made into a national power. Thompson compiled a 596-239 record, won the first NCAA Championship by an African-American coach, and changed the gamer forever. 

He was bright. He was articulate. He was  an exceptionally hard worker. And he could coach. Imposing enough at 6’10”, he carried a trademark white towel on his shoulder during games. Thompson seemed aloof at times, but he wasn’t. He did not let his guard down, yet he was compassionate. He knew how to seize the moment—whether it was to feud with fellow Big East coaches Lou Carnesecca at St.John’s or Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, who became friends. He even mimicked Carnesecca’s ugly sweaters by unveiling one on national TV before the two schools clashed at Madison Square Garden.

Thompson’s teams were black. He said it best—that if he was a 6’10” black man in the home of a white player, he was too imposing, but in the home of a black recruit, he was in a more natural setting. 

Those teams played hard, tenacious defense. Foes attacked them as being thugs. Sure, they fouled hard. But they played hard for their coach, who was prideful of his heritage and stood firm against all challenges. He knew what he was up against, and he knew what was necessary to succeed. When he was unafraid, his teams echoed his posture. For all African-American basketball coaches, he was a true leader, setting the tone for their chances to attain success. For this, and so many other reasons, John Thompson is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Two different people. One white and one black. Two men who made lasting imprints. There is much sadness in their deaths. There is more happiness in what they accomplished. 

It is Labor Day weekend and 2020 has sports in a different place at this time. On the holiday we celebrate all workers with a day off, we memorialize two of the greatest in their sports.