Enjoy Your Latkes

I feel I have a lot to say in this brief period, so let’s get to it. 

Let me say this—at this moment I have a lot less interest with baseball, largely because the Yankees haven’t done much since signing Aaron Judge. Meanwhile, the Mets keep adding to their bloated payroll and are far from done with their spending; Xander Boegarts fled Boston for the weather (and copious money) of San Diego; Carlos Correa landed a massive 13 year, $350 million deal from the San Francisco Giants which will pay him handsomely to age 41, where he will be unlikely to be productive and probably will not be playing shortstop.

Here’s my take on pro football in the NY Metro area—stick a fork in it—it’s done. The Giants were steamrolled by the 12-1 Philadelphia Eagles. Now the G-Men are in prime time on Sunday night against a rested Washington team which will be at home and has a greater chance of making the playoffs. 

Jets fans will be angry and frustrated again very shortly abut what could have been. Sure, Mike White has been spectacular in gaining yardage with his passes, unlike the golden boy, Zach Wilson, who stood on the sidelines in Jets gear for the last three games (does he get paid extra for modeling?). Had the offense scored two more touchdowns, the Jets would have downed the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills on the road and would be sitting pretty as far as the playoffs are concerned. 

Instead, White took a beating with two hard hits from the Buffalo defense, one causing him to wait and leading to substitute QB Joe Flacco coughing up the ball before White could return, the second necessitating a post-game trip to a Buffalo hospital to ensure that White could board the team plane home. 

Now suddenly resurgent Detroit, winners over the Vikings last weekend and embodying the never give up mentality of their head Coach, former NFL’er Dan Campbell, invades the Meadowlands. Like the Giants, the Jets are playing for their playoff lives, having fallen behind the LA Chargers for the last playoff slot. With Jacksonville, now playing much better with QB Trevor Lawrence playing at a level expected of him, Seattle and. Miami, the Jets face three teams with shots at making the playoffs. Doing something now with a banded up QB is even more unlikely.

NFL quarterbacks on the rise include Baker Mayfield, who was jettisoned by Carolina, landing on his feet in LA, engineering a comeback against the Saints on Thursday night, two days after arriving at the Rams HQ. Sam Darnold has returned from injury and looked good for Carolina—to the misery of Jets fans. Mr. Irrelevant—the last man taken in last year’s draft—his name is Brock Purdy, led the Niners easily over Tom Brady and the Bucs; he is questionable to play on Thursday in Seattle, as San Francisco’s hopes ride squarely on his shoulders. 

Moving to college hoops, when was the last time the UConn men, undefeated so far, are higher up in the polls than the vaunted UConn women? Geno Auriemma’s team is down two key stars, has lost two games, and had to claw its way past a good Princeton team at home—which normally would have been a much easier Huskies win. 

The University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin held the top two spots in the polls heading into the weekend. Alabama, which has now downed two number 1 teams this season (Houston and North Carolina), and Illinois, took care of the Texas two step. With Texas, they have greater problems , as Coach Chris Beard was arrested on serious domestic abuse allegations. 

Rutgers lost to Ohio State in a game they should have won. Notwithstanding that guard Caleb McConnell missed a crucial free throw, the last second gave winning heave by OSU which went in but should not have counted. The player had come onto the playing surface from out-of-bounds, which is a no-no. The refs missed it, giving the Scarlet Knights a heartbreaking loss. 

Then on Sunday, in a dreadfully low scoring affair, RU missed another free throw and Seton Hall again capitalized, scoring the winning basket with little time left. Once more, the player may have stepped out-of-bounds.

There is no precedent for overruling the calls (or non-calls) once the game is over. The ruling bodies must reconsider, to avoid similar future travesties like this. My thought is this—when the game is won in the last minute of play, the officials should go to replay (or there could be a third official in a locale where he is watching the game) to ensure that the game’s end was correctly called. 

A women’s hoops extravaganza was decimated in Las Vegas when an earlier tournament was not properly venued (on a ballroom floor) and without appropriate medical personnel present. Franklin and Marshall is set to play two games in Vegas in late December at  a D3 Hoops tournament run by the same disreputable company. Let’s hope they get it right this time. 

Then there was good old Grinnell College. Playing a school I had never heard of until four years ago, the Pioneer men stomped on poor Emmaus Bible College by a margin of 124-67. In that contest, Grinnell set the NCAA mark for 3 point attempts—a mind-numbing 111. That was every single Pioneer attempt at a field goal. They shot 40 for 111, with those 40 three pointers trailing the record 42 recorded against Emmaus in 2018. Grinnell closed out 2022 with a 124-72 trouncing of Westminster College of Missouri to bring their record to a mere 5-6. I guess they need some more cream puffs on the schedule.

The FCS Final Four is set: Incarnate World plays at North Dakota State, while Montana State travels to South Dakota State. On the Division III side, perennial powers Mount Union and North Central of Illinois battle for the championship this weekend. 

Just a side note—the schools which won Division III soccer and cross country were Chicago and MIT for the men, with Johns Hopkins winning both events on the women’s side. Highly respected schools can prevail. 

In the NBA, the Nets have quietly regained their mojo. The Celtics actually lost two games out West. Golden State has been maddeningly inconsistent; Sacramento has a better record. Phoenix has suddenly become mortal and has lost five in a row. Milwaukee is rounding into dominant form. And the Lakers lost games to the Sixers and Celtics which they should have won; which is why they are 11-16.

The World Cup has a great final. France and Argentina. Two blue bloods in world soccer. I might check in on this game. 

College football mourns the loss of Mississippi State Head Coach Mike Leach. His winning record reflected the genius of his offenses. He developed passing schemes which were non-existent. He has many disciples throughout the collegiate and professional ranks. 

Take a look at him and he looked overweight and lacking sleep, both of which were probably true. Yet this Pepperdine Law grad was a Renaissance man, able to discuss the most arcane things in detail. Guys like him can be rogue, which brought his Texas Tech and Washington State programs under scrutiny. 

But take a minute to read about him if you Wikipedia his name. You’d be surprised at the depth of this man and the accolades which followed his untimely passing from a heart 

condition. 

That’s it. Happy Chanukah. Enjoy your latkes and jelly doughnuts.