What a week! It began with an intrepid reader on the sidelines in Lancaster offering subjective color commentary from the Johns Hopkins stands while wearing his newly-purchased F&M hat in honor of our alma mater. With Hopkins picking on a particular cornerback, the #8 Blue Jays outlasted a comeback by the Diplomats to remain undefeated along with Susquehanna, as Centennial Conference play is in a bye week for all teams.
Then a friend from the Public Defender’s office who now lives in the Charlotte area provided a history of the kickoff celebration for the Charlotte FC team. It has a grecque origin, done to a fusion song by Farruko. If that wasn’t enough, he shared that fans of Deportivo Alaves, a Spanish team, do the Ponzan to the 1969 or so Pippi Longstocking TV series theme. Really.
Even more interesting was that the Adelaide 36’ers, a low level Australian professional team, landed in Arizona and bombarded the Phoenix Suns in the opening 2022-23 exhibition game. While the Suns were belted out of the NBA Playoffs last season, they are considered to be in the hunt for the title once more. Unless last season’s drubbing and this beat down were not flukes. Who knows?
Thus it was no shock that the New York Jets found a way to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road this past Sunday. The Jets, with this win, went 2-2 against teams from the AFC North. And what that really means is that Baltimore and Cincinnati are pretty good while Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the teams the Jets beat, are not.
Look, the Jets are trying to find their identity. There are a lot of moving parts, and at times they connect beautifully, like the way QB Zach Wilson masterfully led the offense to the winning score.
But the defense and special teams can be exasperating at times. Moreover, the offensive line is in shambles at the tackle position, which has caused Wilson and Joe Flacco, who started the first three games under center, to constantly be running for their lives.
Up next is Miami. Teddy Bridgewater has taken the helm in the absence of Tua Tagovailoa while the latter is in concussion protocol, a place he should have been before the start of the game with Cincinnati last week. He is a competent QB who, if given the chance, can work the field for the offense.
With Tua leading the Dolphins, the team soared to a 2-0 start, including a win over the very formidable Buffalo Bills, a team many believe can win it all. I see the Dolphins as a very wounded animal. How wounded remains to be seen.
Nonetheless, when I am in my seats at Met Life Stadium on what looks like it will be a cool Sunday afternoon, I don’t anticipate leaving at the half like we did when the Bengals shredded the Jets defense and the offense looked inept.
I’m not necessarily predicting that the Jets will emerge as a 3-2 team. But I wouldn’t be as surprised to see them come out victorious, making the trip to Green Bay something to look forward to, given that the Packers are in London this weekend, facing a fairly good New York Giants team, albeit with their QB, Daniel Jones, iffy with an ankle sprain.
I read some pundit who said that the Philadelphia Eagles could go undefeated this season. After four games this guru can see that clearly? Sure, the Eagles are playing great ball. Wins over Detroit, Minnesota, Washington and Jacksonville are nice. And the schedule isn’t full of tough AFC squads and only a few NFC contenders.
However, this is definitely not the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the last team to run the slate and attain perfection. Talk with me in five weeks, when the Eagles have played half their games. Then we might have a better idea how legitimate a contender this team is.
It has taken a lot of time and mental torture for Aaron Judge and for those who intrepidly followed his quest to overtake Roger Maris as the American League home run champion, to reach that magic number.
Thus, when he finally took a hanging slider and parked it in the seats at Globe Life Field on Tuesday evening, there was an exultant exhale around Yankees Nation and everywhere that was watching his exploits. It felt like the great toilet flush at the half of any Super Bowl.
Questions abound about how legitimate Barry Bonds’ 73 home runs stands as the record. Judge definitively stated that he believes it is. As do I.
It may stink that he purportedly cheated to get to 73 by taking steroids. Bonds has never admitted to that, and it is clear he thought that Sammy Sosa and Mark Mc Gwire, who exceeded Babe Ruth’s record of 60 homers in a season, were not his equal as a hitter.
What Judge did this season did not diminish one iota what he accomplished. He almost won the Triple Crown, missing the batting title by .004. His leading the majors in so many offensive categories in this age of relief pitchers throwing absurd breaking balls and 100 m.p.h. fast balls is a season beyond what anybody has accomplished.
This is not to demean the season Shohei Ohtani just completed. He is the first player to qualify for recognition in both hitting and pitching. Ohtani passed the 162 inning mark and compiled 219 strikeouts. He also hit .273 with 34 home runs, 30 doubles and 95 runs batted in in 157 games. Truly remarkable, as he is the first since Babe Ruth in 1913 to do this.
Judge and Ohtani are the two greatest offensive forces in the game right now, and Ohtani offers a dimension that no one else can. It’s too bad that only one is going to be the A.L M.V.P. That should be Judge, who will land a contract surpassing the 1 year, $30 million deal Ohtani received on October 1.
Baseball now heads into its post-season. With a new format that awards byes to the two winningest teams in each league. While the opening rounds start on Friday and are played on consecutive days in one park for each of the four series, it offers two more teams an opportunity to have a chance to continue their seasons, with the hope that they catch lightning in a bottle and make it to the World Series.
Philadelphia and St. Louis start things off. While the Phillies are a pretty good hitting club, I just don’t see them getting past the Cardinals. N.L. M.V.P. candidates Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado anchor a deep team which has a distinct home field advantage.
The Mets could not outlast the Braves, swept by their antagonists this past weekend in suburban Atlanta with the NL East title on the line. As a result, the San Diego Padres come to Citi Field for what might be the best pitching matchups in any series. Without Starling Marte in the lineup, the Mets have struggled a bit. This might be the difference between continuing or packing their bags for a long off season.
Tumbling Tampa Bay, playing to a losing record in the last 25 games, heads to Cleveland where the youngest team in baseball awaits. I can easily see the Guardians emerging to meet the Yankees in the next round.
Finally, troublesome Seattle travels to Canada to take on the Blue Jays. I see this as a toss up, with either team winning and then facing the very tough Houston Astros.
Certainly a fun time of the year. Rutgers faces a make or break home game Friday night with Nebraska. The SEC continues to sort itself out; Georgia had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Missouri on the road. Which cost the Bulldogs the top spot in this week’s poll.
Pro football enters Week 5 with a crucial contest between Cincinnati and Buffalo, both harboring Super Bowl thoughts. And will Tom Brady be distracted by the divorce rumors swirling around when the Buccaneers take on the Falcons? Can the Rams come back and down the Cowboys after the 49’ers took them apart on Monday Night?
So many questions. So much to watch. Did I say that the NHL starts on Friday?
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