The Elephant Is In The Room

Lots to talk about, and for a change, some good things happening in the New York market. Not that sports doesn’t exist outside of NYC/NJ, but…

Yankees fans can rejoice (or at least exhale). D.J. Le Mahieu is returning to the Bronx for the next 6 years. He will be paid $90 million for his expected productivity. 

Obviously, Le Mahieu loves being in New York, loves hitting at Yankee Stadium, loves the American League East and, from what is said, he loves his teammates. This is a win-win scenario. 

What this might signal is a trade for Luke Voit, the reigning AL home run king. His market value is high, even if he would be another loss of a quality individual and teammate. 

The Yankees would be crazy not to obtain a shortstop to replace Gleyber Torres, who should be stationed at second base. Necessarily, Le Mahieu would be shifted to first base, as Gio Urshela is the incumbent at third base. Has anyone made a phone call to Didi Gregorius to see how interested he might be in returning to the Bronx after his stint in Philadelphia?

More good news from the Stadium. The team and Aaron Judge avoided arbitration, settling on a one year, $10.175 contract for 2021. If he remains healthy, the sky is the limit hitting behind “La Machine.”

GM Brian Cashman still must address the pitching staff. With the prospect of not having James Paxton or Masahiro Tanaka on board for the upcoming season and Luis Severino not likely to be back until mid-season (or the beginning of the season if COVID pushes the start back) along with question marks regarding youngsters Delvi Garcia and Domingo German as he returns from his suspension, do the Yankee brass believe in another youngster like Clarke Schmidt to come through or Luis Cessa to fill the gaps? 

Perhaps the Yankees will find their second top tier pitcher in Corey Kluber, a former two-time Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland who has rehabbed himself back into form as evidenced by a recent pitching session in front of a number of MLB teams. He was worth a $11 million investment for one year. Or will Voit or somebody else be used as trade bait for a third proven arm?

On a gray mid-January day, the Yankees again stole the local headlines. Simply because they are the New York Yankees. BTW—no injuries have been reported as of this date!! Fingers and toes remain crossed…

Then there is my football team, the New York Jets. In a bold move, the team has hired 41 year old Robert Saleh, who comes from the 49’ers where he was a highly-respected Defensive Coordinator. From all accounts, Saleh is bright, energetic and laser-focused. His Niners defenses were ranked consistently among the top in the NFL. He is likely to bring some key offensive and defensive assistants with him from San Francisco, which may include the whiz brother of the Packers’ Head Coach, Matt LeFleur. 

Was it a solid move? Yes. The fact that the choice seemingly came down to Saleh and Arthur Smith, an assistant for Tennessee, who was snapped up by the Falcons as their head coach demonstrated how good this man can be in the minds of at least two teams. 

Is the cupboard bare in Florham Park? Look at the 2-14 record and know that there is some more talent there than people credit. The Jets failed to send anyone to the Pro Bowl this season. That is not indicative of the team having some talent. Simply not enough talent to avoid a significant losing record. And that includes QB Sam Darnold, who would prosper in a new regime. 

Team management will have some very hard decisions to make. Who to pick with the #2 selection in the NFL Draft? And they have plenty of cap space to be active in the free agent market to get some quality players to come to play for an up and coming coach. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel in East Rutherford. GM Dave Gettleman is back for one more try and Head Coach Joe Judge will have Saquan Barkley healed and ready to go. I expect Daniel Jones to improve even more and the Giants can win more than 6 games in 2021. The other member of the NFL East aren’t so formidable—even Dallas when it gets back QB Dak Prescott, who I think is a tad overrated. 

Jacksonville made a splash by hiring former Florida and Ohio State head man Urban Meyer. The lure of Trevor Lawrence must have been too enticing for Meyer to remain on television. Even if he has had health issues previously, Meyer, who won National Championships at the aforementioned schools, figures he can handle the pressures of the NFL—a league he has never coached in. 

The second week of the NFL Playoffs is this weekend . There were no great surprises last weekend—Baltimore was playing much sounder ball and their win at Tennessee was a product of the maturity of QB Lamar Jackson and a stifling defense. Cleveland overcame a rough finish to the regular season and downed a Pittsburgh team which was a shell of itself from four weeks ago. 

The NFC has future Hall of Fame QB’s Tom Brady and Drew Brees going head-to-head. Brees turned 42 on Thursday, which is one year younger that the ageless Brady. Brady looked sharp versus Washington, but it was Washington, that won the moribund NFC East. On the other hand, Brees looks like he is recovered from his broken ribs and collapsed lung. This will be a fun game to watch.

Jared Goff came into the game at Seattle with a hand that was 12 days removed from surgery. The Seahawks were playing so-so the entire season. The Rams defense thoroughly frustrated Seattle QB Russell Wilson, sacking him numerous times and forcing him into bad throws and interceptions.

I don’t see the Rams coming back from Green Bay with a win. Aaron Rodgers and company is primed and ready to reach the Super Bowl. I have no reason to believe they aren’t capable of that. 

I self-taught meteorology this past year as a pandemic exercise. It is supposed to snow in Buffalo at game time. Lake effect snow in Buffalo in January. I think that may have been in my book.

Lamar Jackson has never played in snow. He is a running QB. How it will affect his game is the Ravens’ greatest concern. That and stopping the high-resolution offense of the Bills led by QB Jared Allen. 

The most intriguing contest matches the Browns and Chiefs in Kansas City. When Cleveland QB Baker Mayfield was at Oklahoma, he racked up over 500 yards passing and threw for 7 TD’s in a win over Texas Tech. 

His opposite at QB threw for over 700 yards and 5 TD’s in a losing effort. His name was Patrick Mahomes II. 

I am not enamored with either defense. If these two bring that kind of high intensity offense to their clash, the chance to win could come down to which QB has the ball last. 

There was a college football game on Monday. It was billed the National Championship. In reality, it was coronation. Ohio State was absolutely no match for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Led by QB Mac Jones, RB Najee Harris, WR DeVonta Smith, C Landon Dickerson and T Alex Leathewood, these players swept the awards for their respective positions and Smith won the Heisman Trophy as well as was named offensive M.V.P. with his three TD catches in the first half before suffering a hand injury.

Add in the fact that Steve Sarkasian, the Tide’s Offensive Coordinator, won the Frank Broyles Award for the top assistant coach. He is now the new head coach at Texas. Sarkasian’s play calling was superb, baffling the Buckeyes’ defense.

Now Nick Saban has won 7 national titles, 6 while in Tuscaloosa. He is the college equivalent of his good friend Bill Belichick, who has won the most titles in the NFL. Belichick didn’t have a good a team as Saban did, one loaded with high NFL Draft choices. (Note to Jets GM Joe Douglas: you cannot go wrong with drafting either Smith or Harris at #2)

Belichick garnered plenty of praise for declining the Presidential Medal of Honor that was to be awarded to him on Thursday. Whatever his motivation was, it was the right decision.

The NHL season began for all except the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers, due to COVID-19 attacking the Stars. Naming rights have been sold for the four playing divisions. Evidently this move was a financial necessity. Games are grouped together—the Islanders and Rangers are meeting twice at Madison Square Garden to open the season while the Devils host the Boston Bruins.

The favorites to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. For Leafs fans, it would end over 60 years of frustration. For the upstart Knights, it would be their second Cup Finals in their third year of existence. 

Let’s see how this unfolds. COVID-19 and injures will have a lot to do with which teams emerge. Along with good goaltending. 

I have left the best for last. That is the mega deal involving the trade of James Harden for Houston to Brooklyn. Four teams were involved—Indiana and Cleveland acquired talent in the swapping of multiple draft choices and young star players.

The Nets went all in to establish another version of a Big 3—like Lebron James, Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The prospect of a multiple scoring champion in Harden joining NBA title winners Kevin Durant (Golden State) and Kyrie Irving (Cleveland) sounds great on paper and even when spoken. 

But their union is nothing like the one in Miami. Durant has recovered from his horrible Achilles tendon tear. However, he has lost so mileage on his legs that no matter how Dr. Martin O’Malley has reconstructed KD, he just isn’t going to be the player who first came to the Warriors to team up with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Then there is Irving. He is a selfish, uncertain lot. He recently went AWOL, was seen unmasked at a party, and now is on the COVID restricted list as well as being out almost $900,000 in salary. He is talented for sure. He wears out his welcome where he goes—Cleveland and Boston. And he may still think the world is flat. 

Which leaves Harden. He couldn’t win with Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook. He manufactured a trade from Houston with his boorish and selfish behavior. He is a gunner and hasn’t met a shot he doesn’t like. Harden is way down in scoring this week with a 24.8 ppg average, far behind the top three of Bradley Beal of Washington, the surprising C.J. Mc Collum of Portland, a Lehigh product, and Curry.

The best defender of the group is Durant. Harden is atrocious at defense. Each one thinks he’s the man. The rest of the team is actually weaker as a result of the trade. 

My questions are these—who will pass to whom? How many shots will be forced? And with the game on the line, which one is going to want to take the final shot and who will sulk? In Miami they didn’t have those problems. They played and won as a team. With defense supplementing offense.

The Nets gave away the future for winning now. It may be a bad, bad bet. Time and egos will tell. 

It might not matter anyway. Games in the NBA are being postponed at an alarming rate due to the coronavirus. Many college teams are on pause and another women’s program, this time at the University of Virginia, halted play for the remainder of the season.

Alabama’s mascot is an elephant. The story goes back to 1930 when then-Coach Wallace Wade assembled a gigantic line, one which had grown exponentially in size from the previous season. A writer referred to them as “Red Elephants,” a nod to the color of the Alabama uniforms. 

With all of the items I have covered, from baseball, to the NFL, to college football, hockey, the NBA and COVID-19, it is fair to say that, even without mentioning the Oakland A’s and the pachyderm on their logo, the elephant is surely in the room.