Leading Up To My Birthday

Plenty to write about as I speed towards my 71st birthday on Monday. By time I am of a new age, the opponents in the World Series will be determined, the Jets and Giants may have lost again, the Golden State Warriors might be 3-0 and Rutgers will not have lost a football game—it is their bye week. 

Opening with the baseball playoffs, Atlanta and Houston return home to close out their respective series. Which might not be so easy. The Dodgers and Red Sox have been worthy foes. 

In the NLCS, the Atlanta bats have hit the vaunted Dodgers pitching fairly hard. Not that I feel sorry for Los Angeles. LAD awoke form its slumberi on Thursday night to thrash the Braves behind a 3 homer, 6 R.B.I. night from Chris Taylor, a hero in the NLDS. He became the first player ever to strike 3 home runs when his team faced elimination. Taylor is invaluable; he can play multiple positions; on Thursday night, he was slotted in at third base to spell an ailing Justin Turner. AJ Pollock added two homers in the 11-2 rout, a game which was another successful bullpen game for LAD, despite losing reliever Joe Kelly to a biceps strain after surrendering a two run shot to Freddie Freeman in the first inning. 

I have seen articles declaring this to be a momentum shift to the Dodgers. That remains to be seen. LAD is set to pitch its aces, Max Scherzer and Walker Buehler in Games 6 and 7. Atlanta counters with Ian Anderson in Game 6, with veteran Charlie Morton pitching the next night, if necessary.  

Have the Dodgers bats awakened? Can Taylor, Pollock, Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts and company defy the long odds so as to not see the epic 106 win season go down in flames? Or are the Braves the team of destiny this year, despite losing two top players from their powerful lineup and finally vanquish the hated Dodgers? Will Jac Pederson’s pearls bring him more luck versus his old team? Good story lines for late October games. 

Houston has acted like the superior team in their battle with Boston. Clutch hitting, especially by second baseman Jose Altuve, who my wife still holds responsible and unpunished for his role in the sign stealing episode, along with strong pitching, has allowed the Astros to be on the brink of returning to the World Series. 

Boston will start Nathan Eaovaldi in Game 6. Eaovaldi’s last outing, coming into close out Game 4, didn’t end top well. With the umpire blowing a called strike three, the at bat turned into a disaster and ultimately led to a big ninth inning for Houston, taking victory from the Sox and placing the Astros on the precipice of winning the series. Eaovalid is the last hope for Boston. I just cannot see him shutting down the Astros.

Sticking with baseball, the Yankees have rehired Aaron Boone while jettisoning three coaches and a fourth has left the staff. There are a lot of fans who disagree with this move. With all that happened in 2021 regarding injuries, COVID and some classic underperforming, the Yankees were remarkable in winning as many games as they did. 

Is Boone as good a manager as Joe Torre? No. Then again, Torre had a better team to manage. Torre didn’t have to deal with a pandemic and the amount of injuries that accumulated in 2021. And Boone’s decision-making at times was as brilliant as it was bad.

Boone has the trust of his players. They went to bat for him, telling management how they like him. Now it is time for management to replace the broken parts in the coaching staff and on the field. A lot is going to happen between now and the start of Spring Training. Hopefully it will make this team store enough to contend with the teams in its own division—Tampa, Toronto and Boston are all strong competitors. This story line has just begun to unfold. 

Let’s also discuss the strike zones for the playoffs. The ball and strike calls have been so fundamentally wrong at times that they have directly impacted on the outcome of games. Clear balls are called strikes and strikes, especially two strike calls which are in the corner or even in the heart of the strike zone are called balls. 

I know that this dichotomy has been forever. It is magnified by the strike zone projected onto the screen. Viewers at home get to see the errors which the umpires make. 

Yes, I know they are human and humans make mistakes. But when it is on the verge of an epidemic and the calls greatly influence the action, then further review of the system must be undertaken. I don’t know what the end result will be. What is happening now is unacceptable. 

Next up is hockey. I have actually watched a couple of Devils games. The team was far improved in their home wins over Chicago and Seattle. Losing former top draft choice Jack Hughes to a separated shoulder is a very bad blow for the team. Which showed in their performance against Washington, an elite team.

As for the Kraken, they are a gritty bunch. I don’t think they will be as successful as the Vegas Golden Knights were in their inaugural season. But they won’t be as inept as the Capitals and Islanders were in their first year. 

What Seattle has is a state-of-the-art arena. The refurbished Key Arena, now called the Climate Pledge Arena, is as eco-friendly a building as can be found in professional sports. I watched a video narrated by ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, which was an explanatory guided tour of the repurposed building.  Take a peek at her tour—it is amazing what the architects have done to welcome the NHL to the Pacific Northwest. 

A little bit of NFL is next. I found two games of interest to me this past weekend. Dallas played at New England. Dak Prescott is spectacular at QB for the Cowboys. The team seems to be a legitimate NFC championship-caliber group. 

Meanwhile, New England has a bright future with Mac Jones at the helm. Even with the Jets coming off of a bye week, the Patriots remain clear favorites to prevail in the rematch in Foxborough. 

I watched Monday night’s Buffalo-Tennessee contest with greater interest. If Buffalo had won and the cumulative point total was 50, my daughter and I would have won the weekly FOX News pool.

Alas, going on fourth and short in the waning minutes didn’t work out for the Bills. Tennessee hung on to win the game. QB Ryan Tannehill was good enough to win the game for the Titans, who, with the win, interjected themselves back into the AFC playoff picture. And Derrick Henry, the NFL’s leading rusher is still a beast as well as a legitimate M.V.P. candidate.

That stay on the periphery of playoff contenders might take a hit this weekend when Patrick Mahomes II and the Kansas City Chiefs visit Nissan Stadium. This version of the Chiefs is at 3-3, and Mahomes has uncharacteristically thrown 8 interceptions thus far, second only to the Jets’ Zach Wilson, who leads the NFL with 9 INT. Still, the smart money is on KC, as the Titans are too inconsistent right now—remember, this team put up a clunker a couple of weeks ago in the Meadowlands in an OT loss to the Jets.

Moving on to college football, Rutgers fans can rejoice. After last week’s debacle in Evanston, Illinois resulting in a 21-7 loss to Northwestern, there is no game this week. The calls for Offensive Coordinator Sean Gleeson’s head have intensified. 

Remember this, RU faithful. The O-line is depleted and includes walk-ons. Speedy WR-KR Aron Cruickshank is sidelined. Thus, the offense is limited. Will Greg Schiano listen to the objectors and replace Noah Vedral with freshman Gavin Winsett? Or will the team hope to improve despite the offensive woes?  Illinois on the road is the next opponent. 

For D III enthusiasts, the Centennial Conference leaderboard is now jumbled after Muhlenberg downed previously-unbeaten Johns Hopkins last Friday night in Allentown. Susquehanna is the lone unbeaten CC team. The trio of Muhlenberg, Susquehanna and Hopkins are ranked 18, 19 and 20 in the latest D3 Football Top 25.  Susquehanna obviously has to play the other two title contenders, hosting Hopkins on October 30 and traveling to Muhlenberg on November 6. After that, there could be clarity in the standings or a three-way tie. Saturday, Muhlenberg hosts lowly Juniata, a school which F&M roared back in the second half to down 41-13, The Eagles were previously clobbered by Hopkins 77-0. Muhlenberg wins by at least 60 points?

In the NESCAC, the trio of Trinity, Wesleyan and Williams are all 5-0. The team that might decide the NESCAC title winner could be 3-2 Amherst, which plays all three in consecutive weeks. Those three weeks might be fun as the leaves have turned past peak and cold settles into the region as a harbinger of Winter. 

Finally, a note on the rankings. The top 14 teams teams seemingly year after year have high rankings, with the possible exception of Union. At numbers 16 and 17 are Cortland and Ithaca, both 6-0. Union stands in the way of Ithaca, playing the Bombers on the turf in Ithaca. Cortland has an easier schedule to their date with Ithaca in the regular season finale on November 13. Too bad this game isn’t next season, when it would be played at Yankee Stadium.

I took a peak at the current FCS poll. The athlonspots.com Top 25 included two of the three unbeaten in the Ivy League. Dartmouth sits at #19 and Princeton is #25. Harvard is unranked. The FCS Coaches Poll has Harvard at #16, Princeton at #17 and Dartmouth is unranked. It is hard to judge the ivies at any time because their interplay with other schools is limited. Yale, 2-3 has lost to Dartmouth by 7 and came close to UConn, a low DI program, losing 21-15 in East Hartford. Meanwhile, Dartmouth has beaten UNH, a past FCS powerhouse. 

Like the CC and NESCAC, this all will be sorted out, beginning with Harvard at Princeton on October 23. After a Friday night trip to play at Cornell, the Tigers travel to Hanover to take on Dartmouth and end the season hosting Yale and traveling to Penn. Dartmouth heads to Cambridge on October 30, with Harvard playing at Columbia, home against Penn and at Yale, while the Big Green has the Harvard/Princeton gauntlet before easier game with Brown and Cornell. 

My infatuation with Ivy League football began with my reading the Sunday New York Times sports section as a boy. I have seen Ivy League teams at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, old Palmer Stadium at Princeton, the Yale Bowl and I drove by Harvard playing Brown in Providence one day many years ago. I have also seen Columbia play at Rutgers in the 1960’s, and attended games involving Harvard and Penn against Lafayette. I have watched telecasts of Ivy League games; I listened to Rutgers seemingly always losing to Princeton except in the Centennial game at Rutgers Stadium, televised in Lancaster, where I was in 1969. 

That kind of exposure to Ivy League football makes me kind of a non-Ivy grad geek. But probably no more than my interest in so many other conferences in the FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III. Seeing three undefeated teams at the end of October is always thrilling—whether it is in the Ivies, or its little brother, the NESCAC. 

Speaking of conferences, the American Athletic Conference, in light of the poaching by the Big 12 when Cincinnati, UCF and Houston defected, along with the 2019 departure of UConn have accepted FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB to make the AAC viable. Not earth-shattering news. What is more important is that Memphis and UAB can once more battle on the gridiron for “a trophy styled after a giant rack of ribs.” Now that is the real deal.

I will conclude with the NBA. Steph Curry collected a triple-double over the Lakers on opening night. He scored 45 points on Thursday to open the home slate with a win over the Clippers. He was perfect in the first half, collecting 28 points. He is so much fun to watch, It is scary that Reggie Miller, a Knicks killer while with the Indiana Pacers and now a TNT broadcaster, says that Curry’s best days are ahead of him. Are you kidding me? Wow.

The Lakers look lost. There seems to be a lack of chemistry that will integrate Russell Westbrook into the offense. Until Coach Frank Vogel changes the rotations and finds a place for Westbrook to play his own game, Westbrook will remain deferential to Lebron James and Anthony Davis and even Carmelo Anthony. Which spells trouble for the aging Lakers, who sport the NBA’s version of an old age respite. 

The Ben Simmons saga continue in Philly. He has been sullen, sulking, insubordinate. Now he is not mentally ready to play. He is daring management to get rid of him. Charles Barkley, who has a ton of experience with Sixers fans, says Simmons must go. True. Daryl Morey, who wields the power, will hold out for the best deal he can leverage. Except he has very little leverage. And that is lessening by the day. Anybody on board for a Simmons for Kyrie Irving swap?

The NBA 75th Anniversary team was announced in its entirety on Thursday night. To no one’s surprise, there were some disagreements about who should have made the team. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was upset that his guys Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were omitted. Others were miffed that Manu Ginobli and Pau Gasol were left off. How about Bernard King of the Knicks and Wizards? Big Bob Lanier, the giant who patrolled the paint in the 1960[s and 70’s? 

There are probably more names I could think of if I spent more time on the subject. For me, the names that I thought were not necessarily in the Top 75 were Damien Lillard and Anthony Davis. If there was a Top 100, then perhaps they make it. Remember this is a beauty contest with tremendous subjectivity where older and younger minds don’t necessarily agree. This debate will continue because too many people feel aggrieved. Oh well.

Such is the state of sports leading up to my birthday.