Can You Avoid Eye Strain?

  Once more, I open with baseball. I’m going to start with the New York Yankees. 

My first batter is Aaron Judge. New York Yankees Number 99. Played baseball at Fresno State. Was all-everything in high school. 

You might have heard that he broke the American League record for home runs. That he is a giant among his peers with his monumental size. Along with his quintessential leadership skills as the Captain of the winningest franchise in MLB history. 

Judge has hit more home runs faster than anybody. After slugging two balls over the fence versus Detroit as I write this blog, he now has 361 home runs. That is the fifth most homers in Yankees history after he passed Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra’s 358 round trippers and tied Hall of Fame outfielder Joe Di Maggio. 

Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are comfortably ahead of Judge—for now. Remarkably, this is the first time the order has changed on that illustrious list since 1957. 

Why am I a bit pessimistic about Judge this year? Since his torrid start of the season after his right flexor tendon injury, Judge hasn’t been quite the same player. 

His average has suffered; his batting eye is a little bit off; and his throwing speed has been questioned. All of which is not good for the team.

This is a highly flawed team. Detroit, the leaders in the AL Central Division, has exposed the lack of relief pitching and hitting. Scores of 12-2 and 11-1, with 12 total hits showed that when hitters like Anthony Volpe (benched and now nursing a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder), Ryan Mc Mahon (pinch hit for) and Jazz Chisholm, Jr aren’t producing, the offensive woes of Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger become more pronounced. On Tuesday, NYY batters struck out 12 times and left 6 runners stranded. It was even worse on Wednesday when the Bombers struck out 13 times and left 18 runners on base. 

Yet in both games, the starting pitching by Will Warren and Carlos Rodon was more than acceptable and kept the team in the game until the seventh inning in both games. It was the bullpen which failed miserably—surrendering 9 runs before anyone was out in the seventh inning on Tuesday and 9 runs in the seventh inning and beyond on Wednesday.

The Yankees will be lucky to survive the next four games with the Tigers and then three in Boston, where the Red Sox would dearly love to pass its rival and secure home field for the Wild Card playoff games. Even games in Minnesota and Baltimore along with home games to end the season with the White Sox and Orioles are must wins. The precarious position the Yankees are in is made even more pressing by the surge of the Texas Rangers, 1.5 games behind Seattle for the final Wild Card berth.

So, with good starting pitching, this team needs to beat up on teams early and now hope that the leaky bullpen will stabilize just enough to secure wins. This may be wishful thinking. 

As my wife likes to say, the Yankees win when Judge is on. I agree. They cannot afford a collective slump from him, Bellinger, Grisham, Stanton, Ben Rice and Chisholm. Judge may not win the AL M.V.P. award with the performance of Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, Jr.

Anthony Rizzo was the Yankees first baseman last season. He slumped terribly, perhaps the result of concussions he suffered. A free agent for 2025, no team tendered him a real offer. So on Saturday, Rizzo is retiring as a Chicago Cub, at Wrigley Field, and is assuming a role as an ambassador for the team. 

Rizzo was an instrumental part of the 2016 World Series championship team. Although he ended his career in New York and became close with Judge and others. He should always be remembered for his exploits as a Chicago player. Good for him. 

This made me think of future Hall of Fame inductees and their loyalty. For instance, Giancarlo Stanton—will he be more prone to realize his greatest performances were with the Marlins even if he tops 500 home runs while a Yankee? What about Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander—they played for multiple teams—is Scherzer more a National than a Tiger and Verlander more a Tiger than Astro? How about Freddie Freeman—is he more a Brave than Dodger? What about current Yankee Paul Goldschmidt—Arizona or St. Louis? Manny Machado—Oriole or Padre? Too much idle time, I guess. 

A little ado over nothing in college football. ESPN College Game Day selected Knoxville for its broadcast this weekend. #6 Georgia travels to meet #15 Tennessee. Sounds fine to me.

Except that fans in Florida feel robbed. That’s because upstart #18 South Florida goes to Southern Florida to face #5 Miami. All well and good—I know that USF has beaten formerly ranked Boise State and Florida. UM has a defeat of Notre Dame on its resume. If USF defeats UM, then they could go undefeated and yet never have a chance of being on Game Day, since their schedule is not daunting. Oh well.

And enough of the clamor from Baton Rouge. Florida is now unranked, so that eliminates them from consideration. Besides, if South Carolina stays unbeaten as does LSU, October 11 would be a good bet for Game Day to visit. 

The Big Ten has some cute intra-state matchups this week. Ohio is at #1 Ohio State. The guys from Athens are 0-3 lifetime against the Buckeyes. And soon to be 0-4, unless they are better than expected after playing Rutgers tough on the road and defeating West Virginia at home. I don’t think Indiana State and #22 Indiana will be that close. Neither will Central Michigan at #23 Michigan, Villanova at #2 Penn State and Towson facing Maryland be close. 

The NFL started off with a bang. The Philadelphia Eagles downed the Dallas Cowboys, but only after a spitting incident. Star Eagles’ defensive lineman Jalen Carter was ejected before the game for spitting at Dallas QB Dak Prescott. His suspension was the loss of playing in the game and his fine was $57,222. What role Prescott had in this has never quite been defined. (In college, a Florida player was also ejected for spitting on a USF player this past weekend) 

There is no place for spitting at an opponent in any contest. No matter what is said. Keep your cool and then take out your anger during the contest. Similarly, when Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson was wrongfully engaged by a Buffalo Bills fan, he needed to step away. Just like the female fan in Miami who accosted the father of a young boy, berating him until he surrendered the baseball he had gotten in a scrum and gifted to his young son. We can do better. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must be so happy after the way the games turned out on Week 1. Philly prevailed in a close contest on Thursday. The Chargers finally defeated AFC West nemesis Kansas City in Brazil on You Tube; the experiment drew 16.2 million viewers. 

On Sunday, Pittsburgh did just enough to defeat the New York Jets with a 60 yard field goal in the last two minutes of the game. Aaron Rodgers exacted his revenge. NYJ needs to circle the wagon, for tough division rival Buffalo invades Met Life Stadium on September 14. 

How good are the Jets and Steelers? It’s hard to say. Buffalo is the only team in the AFC East to start the season with a win, barely escaping Baltimore at home. Pittsburgh’s defense regrouped enough to stop the Jets when needed. A very good Washington team comes to Pittsburgh on Thursday night, which should measure how improved the Steelers are. 

Minnesota came back with a vengeance in the fourth quarter to down the Bears at Soldier Field. J.J Mc Carthy survived an early interception returned for a touchdown and led a Vikings comeback for the win. The guy has a tremendous winning record in high school, at Michigan and now is 1-0 in the NFL. I think the Vikings might be the sleeper in the loaded NFC North. 

There are a lot of good games on tap this weekend. Besides the Commanders-Steelers, Bills-Jets, the Seahawks go to Pittsburgh; Denver is at Indianapolis; a huge game between the Eagles and Chiefs is on tap—KC could go 0-2 and then what? And on Monday night, Tampa Bay visits Houston and the Chargers return to the US and meet the Raiders in Pete Carroll’s home debut. 

One NBA item of note. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers is under investigation for a purported no show job arranged to circumvent the salary cap. For $28 million. Supposedly Leonard and his family tried to arrange something similar in Toronto when he was there and won the NBA title. If shown to be true, what will NBA Commissioner Adam Silver do to both Leonard and Steve Ballmer, owner of the Clippers?

The spotlight is on the NFL. College football has some nice contests, but it isn’t quite as glamorous right now. Baseball is still three weekends away from its regular season concluding. 

There is a lot to digest on TV. Can you avoid eye strain?

Football Is Back

  College football is in its second week. The NFL starts this week. MLB races have just over 20 games left. It’s the ideal scenario for me to remain optimistic. By the time the MLB playoffs happen in October, some of that optimism could be dashed. 

Let’s begin with the colleges. In this era of Name-Image-Likeness generating pay to play (it sounds so corrupt), it was appropriate that Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy called out Oregon for paying “ a lot of money for their team.” He continued, saying that maybe for non-conference games, like this week’s matchup between the Cowboys and the University of Oregon in Eugene, should really among the teams which spend more than the $7 million OK State paid out last year—alluding to the Ducks’ budget for players being over $40 million last season. Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning retorted that to be competitive, you have to spend the money. 

Besides spicing up a non-traditional game, this epitomizes the state of college football among the big boys. Sure, Oregon gets significant money from Nike, the home state mega international shoe and apparel brand. 

But don’t shed tears for the Cowboys. T. Boone Pickens took his hedge fund money and gave it to his alma mater before he died in 2019. $165 million for football wasn’t chump change. 

This is more about the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference versus the Big 12. Oklahoma State has been left in the lurch by in-state rival Oklahoma, which, along with its bigger traditional rival, the University of Texas, bolted for the greener ($) pastures of the SEC. Instead of playing the Sooners and the boys from Austin, OK State is left to play Baylor, Arizona, Houston, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, UCF and now ending the season with Iowa State instead of OU in the Bedlam Series. 

Of course, the end of the series can actually boost the playoff chances for OK State not having to lock horns with the Longhorns or battle the Sooners. And conversely, the rugged SEC schedule could thwart the chances of OU making the 12 team field. Which is why a larger playoff including more schools is on the horizon. Start counting the dollars, SEC and Big Ten members. Too bad, Big 12 and the ACC. You just are after thoughts. 

And for the record, Iowa and Iowa State are managing to play this weekend. Oregon State and Oregon play on September 20. Washington and Washington State meet on the same day. Tradition can still remain alive when there is a will and a way. 

Other games of significance include South Florida at Florida in the fourth-ever meeting between the schools; UF has won all three previous contests. This could be an upset special given the way the Bulls manhandled Boise State in its opener last week. Michigan and Oklahoma tangle in Norman in a Big Ten-SEC battle. Arizona State travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. 

East Tennessee State, led by former Michigan QB Cade Mc Namara, visits Knoxville to take on Tennessee. ETSU beat up on Murray State last week while Syracuse gave the Vols a tussle and the team lost some key players to injury. I’m not saying ETSU will win, but this is a game to watch the score. 

Most of the Division III schools open up this weekend. Of note is the rivalry between RPI and WPI. At stake is the Transit Trophy. Not the ones involving buses or trains. It’s the tool used for surveying. After all, these are two engineerings schools. 

St. John Fisher, a notable DIII football power, travels to New Jersey to meet a solid FDU-Florham squad. Wheaton and Mount Union, two ranked teams, square off on Saturday, with playoff implications on the first weekend. 

Franklin and Marshall heads to Annville, PA to meet Lebanon Valley College. Trotting out a new head coach (the former head man is now at Cortland), the Diplomats have had an edge in this series, winning 34 while losing only 9. 

Rain will impact the F&M game as wells the opener between Dallas and Philadelphia in Philly. Dallas is now minus Micah Parsons, whose talent is going to help Green Bay in a very tough NFC Central. Jerry Jones has managed to keep the Cowboys relevant and in the news—even if the franchise’s last Super Bowl was a mere 30 years ago. 

However, relevancy and remaining newsworthy does not win championships. Going toe-to-toe with the defending Super Bowl champions on the road in a divisional matchup isn’t necessarily a formula for success. 

That is kind of the same circumstance the New York Giants find themselves in Sunday in Washington. Giants QB Russell Wilson better bring his “A” game with him. The Commanders are considered a worthy contender for the NFC East title and maybe even to make it to the Super Bowl.

In Brazil, two unlikely teams meet in an important divisional game. Kansas City, the perennial AFC West winner, the team which brings you media stars Patrick Mahomes and the newly-engaged Travis Kelce, opens up far away from Arrowhead.

Their opponent is the Los Angeles Chargers, coached by college football pariah Jim Harbaugh. LAC needs a win badly. KC cannot necessarily afford to lose early. 

The revamped New York Jets host Pittsburgh on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers makes an immediate return to Met Life Stadium, wearing black, white and gold instead of green and white. 

Could Rodgers has revenge on his mind, given how acrimonious his divorce from the Jets went? Does he have enough left in the tank to be solid and lead the Steelers in a division where Cincinnati and Baltimore reside?

Meanwhile, is former NYJ player Aaron Glenn, who seemingly bleeds green, the right man to lead the Jets back to the playoffs, ending the NFL-longest drought of 14 years and counting? Is new QB Justin Fields, himself smarting from perceived mistreatment in Pittsburgh last season, ready to take NYJ to the next level?

How good are the Bills, Ravens or Bengals in the AFC? Are Detroit and Minnesota each taking a step back in the NFC Central while the Bears are ascending? How much better or worse are Denver, Las Vegas, Miami and Houston in the AFC? Will Matthew Stafford’s back hold up enough for the Rams in a crowded NFC West where the 49’ers are the favorites but Arizona and Seattle are talented? This is why they play the games—if not just for the revenue and gambling. 

As much as the Jets haven’t made the playoffs in the agonizing 14 seasons, the plight of other teams seems worse. Imagine if you are a Cardinals fan—the last time the franchise won a title was in 1947 when they were in Chicago 77 seasons ago (poor St. Louis Cardinals fans might have gotten redemption when the Rams won the Super Bowl while in St. Louis). Detroit last won in 1957; Tennessee (nee Houston) won the AFL crown in 1961 and the then-San Diego Chargers won the AFL in 1963; fellow AFL franchise Buffalo has been waiting since 1965 for a champion. Cleveland fans have been waiting on a championships since 1964. 

Then there’s the case of the Minnesota Vikings. The team won the NFC championship in 1969 while there were two independent leagues. Unfortunately for the Vikes, they lost to Kansas City in the Super Bowl. They get an asterisk. 

With all that takes place on the field, with the new innovations for first down markings, it’s going to be a long season starting now. Not to worry—Taylor Swift might be the performer in the Super Bowl—if Commissioner Roger Goodell can keep a secret. Imagine Kelce and crew getting there one more time and Swift rocking the house at halftime—that’s a major PR coup for the NFL or the kind of thoughts conspiracy theorists run with. 

Quickly, regarding baseball. The New York Yankees woke up from their funk, only to mar their chances to overtake Toronto with a bad bullpen game (too much reliance on analytics by Manager Aaron Boone) coupled with horrible ball and strike calls by the umpire going against NYY in a Wednesday night loss in Houston. Reliance on the home run will only get this team so far if the bullpen fails repeatedly. 

Boston suffered a big blow with the loss of rookie sensation Roman Anthony for the season. Given the troubling circumstances surrounding the departure of Rafael Devers to San Francisco (he caused a brawl while enamored with a home run he hit against Colorado) and the lack of any real star power, Alex Cora has done a great job guiding this team. He may not win AL Manager of the Year only because Toronto’s John Schneider is piloting a division leader, but he’s one heck of a field general. 

The New York Mets slugged their way to two victories in three games at AL Central-leading Detroit. In case nobody has noticed, Juan Soto has re-emerged; his .255 batting average is climbing and he has slugged 37 homers while driving in 91 runs. There is some serious pop in the NYM lineup with Pete Alonso (33 Hr 113 RBI) along with Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo. If the pitching can hold up and the amazing rookie Nolan McLean continues to perform (4-0 1.37 ERA with 28 K’s and 7 BB), don’t shut the door on this team.

Not necessarily much Wild Card drama. Texas seems to be making a late push, trailing Seattle by 1.5 games. San Francisco will have trouble overcoming a four game deficit for the last NL spot. 

Even the pennant races aren’t red hot. The Yankees and Red Sox have to play better to catch Toronto. Houston has a nice lead over Seattle. Detroit will be among the first to clinch a division. While the Brewers lead over the Cubs has shrunken to 5.5 games, it would take a miracle for Milwaukee not to win the NL Central. Philadelphia is solid in the NL East. San Diego needs some luck to catch the Dodgers. 

M.V.P. races are a bit interesting. Will it be Judge or the Big Dumper, Cal Raleigh, in the American League? Can Kyle Schwarber (49 HR 119 RBI) actually dethrone Shohei Ohtani (46 HR 87 RBI) in the National League? It’s not who is the best player—it’s who is most important to his team’s success. 

And I forgot the US Open. Where Novak Djokovic has made a record 53 Grand Slam semi-finals appearances. Defeating Carlos Alcaraz and then Jannik Sinner as a likely Finals opponent will be hard to accomplish. 

There is plenty of star power in the women’s semi-finals. Aryna Sabalenka meets Jessica Pegula while Naomi Osaka plays NJ native Amanda Anisimova. 

Could be good matches in both draws. If you have time to watch them. Or any baseball.

That’s because football is back.