Travelogue

I write a blog early so I can go travel to the South again and what happens? A whole heck of a lot. 

Besides worrying myself a bit about the Nor’Easter, which slammed New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine, and how it would affect my driving plans (it didn’t), I hardly watched televised sports during the last 8 days. 

Sure, I saw Rutgers come from behind to outlast Nebraska, once more raising their faint NCAA hopes. Which may have come tumbling down in a stupefying overtime loss at Northwestern on Tuesday. I wish I could have seen Paul Mulcahy’s out-of-the blue 31 point outburst and the Knights roaring back to outscore the Wildcats 42-18 in the second half. But I would have been angry if I had seen Caleb Mc Connell and Geo Baker go scoreless for the entire game. 

I watched the Warriors win at home versus Kyrie Irving (boo, hiss!! for his vaccine stance) and the Nets, which played without Kevin Durant and James Harden. It wasn’t pretty, but Golden State concluded its homestead with 6 straight victories after an OT loss to Indiana to start the time at the Chase Center. 

Hey, even F&M won on Saturday. The Diplomats swept the season series from Washington College, taking down the Shoremen in Lancaster. 

A rear trifecta for me. My teams actually winning on the same day was cause for a mini-celebration. Except I had to go to sleep, to be adequately prepared for the grueling road trip ahead. 

Sunday dawned bright and cold. Did I say cold? We are talking in the low teens when we left the driveway. With 7” of snow deposited on our property courtesy of the aformentioned storm. 

Thankfully traffic wasn’t overbearing down to Baltimore. I still have visions in my head of summertime trips with Fan X, where he somehow maneuvered his way through the hordes of cars and trucks on Interstate 95 in Maryland to miraculously get us to our seats at Oriole Park at Camden Yards just in time for the first pitch. (For the record, we made it to Exit 53 in a shade over 3 hours, as we had two bathroom breaks and chowed down a quick lunch)

My wife and I made a stop at a strip mall in Columbia, Maryland to see my college roommate and a devoted reader. Can you believe that we didn’t talk about sports at all?

The road trip was uneventful even around Washington. I did remorsefully see the signs for Capital Center Drive, a shout out to when the Bullets and Capitals played in the namesake arena out on the I-495 Beltway. Of course, there were Metro signs for Nationals Park, and we passed nearby Fed Ex Field, the home of the-then Washington Football Team, now known as the Commanders. Couldn’t ownership have thought of anything better than to glom the nickname from a video game? I won’t even mention how they screwed up the logo with incorrect dates of the franchise’s three Super Bowl wins. Wait, I think I just did. 

Traveling down I-95 through NOVA, it seemed like the D.C. Metro area extended for miles beyond the southern side of the Beltway. The traffic southbound was fairly strong, but heading northbound, it was even heavier. 

Suddenly, everything came to a halt. We were mired in a 5 mile, 45 minute back up due to an accident which caused two lanes to be shut. Our travels hadn’t reached Richmond and my thoughts of seeing the end of the Cincinnati-Kansas City AFC title game seemed to be dashed. I had a long way to go to Rocky Mount, NC, and darkness would become my old friend. 

My wife kept tabs on the game on her cell phone. At first it seemed like KC and Patrick Mahomes II would run away to another Super Bowl appearance. Except that Joe Burrow and crew had other ideas. With the game coming to an end, I finally gave in and located Westwood One on Sirius XM and caught the call of Ian Eagle along with Tony Boselli. 

The Chiefs tied the game with a field goal, then won the coin toss. Would history repeat itself? Could Mahomes lead his team down the field to a score and deny the Bengals a chance to have the ball?

Not on this Sunday. From the radio play-by-play, it seemed like Mahomes gave the game away in his last two passes, the latter being intercepted in good scoring position for the Bengals. And that’s what happened. A few minutes later, Cincinnati punched its ticket to So-Fi Stadium with a game-clinching field goal. 

I wanted the Chiefs to win and be recognized as a dynasty. But I also recognized that Burrow is every bit as good as the hype coming out of LSU with a National Championship. Don’t count this young Cincinnati team out, even if the Rams came from behind at home to down their nemesis, the San Francisco 49’ers. While LA is quite good, I believe the AFC is better than the NFC, and Cincinnati will not be giving up much playing in the Rams stadium on Super Bowl Sunday. 

At least the game was over early enough for us to get some sleep. We caught the game on the Raleigh FOX affiliate at the end of the first quarter. It just didn’t have the pizazz of the other games preceding it, including the Rams-Bucs game the week before. 

Or as it might be called, Tom Brady’s final game. For on Saturday, the rumor that Brady was retiring was stated as fact. Then promptly denied by Brady and his associates.  The outpouring of love for the G.O.A.T. was nice to see. The Jets were sure glad he was gone. By Tuesday morning, the oft denied rumor became fact—he was really retiring. Which led to another swell of love and affection for TB12. 

Brady went out on a high note, even in defeat. He was top gun this season. He owns so many records that will be difficult to break. He was the ultimate competitor at quarterback.

I don’t know if there will be another like him. There has never been anyone like Babe Ruth. Or Michael Jordan. Or Wayne Gretzky. And now there won’t be anyone like Tom Brady. 

We continued our trip on Monday through  North and South Carolina, into Georgia. We stayed overnight in my birthplace, Albany, Georgia. Who knew that I shared Albany as my first home with Ray Charles, not just Ray Knight? 

On Tuesday  we departed from Georgia into Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and into Louisiana. When we passed through Mobile, I thought of Henry Aaron, a native of that city and I also thought of the upcoming Senior Bowl to be held there on Saturday. The Jets coaches are leading one side. 

Seeing the Superdome with the Caesar logo and red and green lights made it look as cheesy as the Smoothie King Center next door. I saw a lot more Alabama stickers and colors on cars than any other SEC school during our trip. 

Tuesday was also the day Brian Flores had had enough. Fired from the Miami Dolphins despite getting his team untracked was uncalled for (but within the right of team owner Steven Ross), Flores had been embarrassed when his mentor, Bill Belichick erroneously texted him instead of Brian Daboll, to congratulate Daboll on becoming the head man for the New York Giants—BEFORE it had been announced. 

This showed what a sham the Rooney Rule had become in terms of hiring black head coaches. As of today,  Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin remains the only man of color leading a team in a league dominated by players who are of color. 

Flores was never given enough of a chance—he was a token interview in a stacked deck for the Giants, as the new GM sought someone he was familiar with from his former team, the Buffalo Bills. Flores felt the same way in Denver, which has adamantly denied the fact. 

So he chose to expose the NFL by way of lawsuit. Even if this hurts him in his quest to be  a head coach in the league—he is still in the running for the openings in New Orleans and Houston. 

Some of the things he related—tanking games at the request of the owner in exchange for $100,000—were abhorrent. Flores also indicated that he was being forced to recruit star-crossed Deshaun Watson to come to Miami, despite the allegations of so many women against the quarterback. 

The NFL is a dirty business. It gets what it deserves. A lawsuit of this magnitude has been necessary for a long while given how black head coaches are always short-changed in terms of few hirings of deserving men and earlier than usual firings of those who get to lead a team. 

The NFL coffers still get richer in spite of their glaring employment deficiencies. NBC has announced that all Super Bowl commercials have been sold for the tidy sum of $7 million per ad. People will party heartily on February 12th, which used to be known as Lincoln’s Birthday. I wonder how he would ruminate and opine on the goings on in the NFL and the country? And how does Ryan Tannehill feel about the news that Aaron Rodgers is building a home nearby Nashville, where Ryan is the quarterback for the Titans—for now?

Anyway, we are back in New Jersey, in the comfort of our house. This travelogue is over. I can return to watching sports on TV. 

I Should Have Seen This Coming?

I should have realized that something was afoot on Friday night and that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary sports weekend. Steph Curry hit his first game-winning shot of his career, in helping the Golden State Warriors to a come-from-behind victory over the Houston Rockets at the Chase Center.

Think about it. Throughout his remarkable career, during which many have said he is the greatest pure shooter ever to play the game, we have sen Curry dazzle us with his moves and his uncanny ability to get open no matter how tightly defended. His shooting is a thing of beauty—so many swishes that ripple the net, whether it be from his trademark 3 point shots or from mid-range jumpers. 

So it is logical for us to have believed that Curry had already won a couple of games for the Warriors with his stellar shooting. Yet on Friday night, when Curry put in a shot as time ran out, it was his first game-winner. 

Mired in a shooting slump which seemingly began right after he broke the record for most three point goals in NBA history, Curry was visibly frustrated when the team, minus stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, fell behind by 18 points. He showed his anger by kicking a chair. Good thing he didn’t injure himself.

Rescuing the Warriors from another home defeat at the start of a seven game home stand after having fallen to a depleted Indiana team in overtime two nights before, the shooting wunderkind put this exploit in perspective. He simply marveled and exhaled, noting that “{I}t’s about time.”

But this weekend wasn’t solely about the NBA and the Warriors. No, it was time for divisional play in the NFL Playoffs. Four games. Both #1 Seeds, Tennessee in the AFC and Green Bay in the NFC, were to play their first games. The other four teams had won the previous weekend and the oddsmakers really didn’t favor Cincinnati, Buffalo, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams to win.

Those savant oddsmakers got only one of those games right. That was the Buffalo-Kansas City game on Sunday night, the last of the four games over two days, and those guys setting the point spreads had plenty to sweat about until the conclusion of that matchup. 

Plus nobody told the underdog teams, all on the road, that they weren’t going to win their games. Only the particular team and their fans really had any confidence in an upset. 

Game one was between Cincinnati and Tennessee. The Bengals came into Nashville having triumphed in their opening game, downing a Pittsburgh Steelers squad that had made it to the playoffs on fumes. 

Sure, Bengals QB Joe Burrow looked awesome. He has the swagger of a top choice in the NFL Draft and the playing ability to back up his brashness. 

And let’s not forget that the Bengals and Burrow had actually been the best team in the AFC for a potion of the regular season. If anything, the Bengals might have been underestimated given the fact that the franchise hadn’t been in or won in the playoffs seemingly in eons. 

Tennessee had been on a roll to end the regular season and capture the top seed. With a solid defense and good coaching, the Titans overcame the loss of top running back Derrick Henry to an injury. For this game, Henry had been cleared to play, so that made the Titans appear to be more formidable. 

Was this a great game? Not really. Titans QB Ryan Tannehill looked dreadful, while Burrow excelled. Henry was rusty. 

Nonetheless, it took Burrow leading his team to find goal position at the end of the game and the Bengals’ rookie kicker to convert a game-ending field goal for Cincinnati to march on. It was exciting, and a portend of what would happen next.

The Saturday night cap featured the San Francisco 49’ers, led by much-maligned Jimmy Garrappolo at quarterback, facing the presumptive NFL M.V.P. Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers, a favorite to make it to the Super Bowl. 

For all of his smarts as a QB, his huge ego and a load of talent, Rodgers had a history of not beating San Francisco in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Jimmy G did nothing but win for the Niners, whose management had the temerity to draft a QB to replace him with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. It was thought that he was too injury-plagued, suffering another injury to his upper body heading into this clash. 

In the end, the Niners prevailed in the snow and cold of northern Wisconsin, with veteran Robbie Gould, who seemingly never misses in the post-season, converting the winner. Rodgers was now 0-4 versus San Francisco and contemplating what he was going to do next with his career at age 38. I can’t say that there weren’t a lot of people happy that Rodgers and the Pack lost because of his vaccination stance. 

So, two game were won at the end of regulation by the road teams. Sunday couldn’t possibly match the excitement of Saturday. Right? 

Wrong. At roughly 3:00 p.m. EST, until somewhere after 10:30 p.m., there was some incredible football. One game included a tremendous comeback by the G.O.A.T. and the other game was a shootout with two of the best young QB talents in the NFL. 

The Los Angeles Rams were playing to their expected capabilities behind Matthew Stafford at QB. The offense clicked and the defense was stifling. Tom Brady, the inexorable 44 year old gunslinger, was looking old and ready for retirement. 

Except that is Tom Brady’s DNA is made of sterner stuff. Somehow, with the help of some Rams miscues, Brady engineered three TD’s to tie the score towards the end of regulation. 

The problem was that the porous Bucs secondary couldn’t stop Stafford and WR Cooper Kupp, who led the NFL in all categories at his position. The duo teamed up for a huge gainer, putting the Rams in field goal territory. Just like both games on Saturday, the kicker made his kick as time ran out, vanquishing Brady and Tampa Bay. 

Three games. Three field goals by the visiting team to win at the end of regulation. How the heck could the Bills and Chiefs possibly top those magical games? 

With some word-defying play which led to a Kansas City win. In overtime. 

QB’s Josh Allen of Buffalo and Patrick Mahomes II of the Chiefs are two of the top guns in the NFL. I don’t care how great Brady has been or how Rodgers may win back-to-back M.V.P. trophies. This duo went at it in a heavyweight match that may have been the greatest playoff game ever played. 

I will spare you the statistics from this game. Because they are mind-boggling. Both QB’s put up ungodly yardage, completions, with no interceptions and both led their teams in rushing. 

What can be said is that 25 points were scored in the last 2:00 of regulation. Back and forth. When Allen connected with WR Gabriel Davis on his playoff-record fourth TD, it looked like the Chiefs were doomed with :13 left on the clock. Buffalo was ahead, 36-33. 

After a mind-boggling decision to kick the ensuing kickoff into the end zone, thereby preserving the time for Mahomes to operate, he did so with surgical efficiency. Two passes to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and the Chiefs were in field goal range. 

Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker, who had missed a field goal to end the first half as well as failed to convert an extra point, was good from 49 yards. Tie score. Overtime was looming.

In a fateful choice, Allen, Buffalo’s captain, called tails for the coin toss. The coin landed on heads. Kansas City ball. 

The game was effectively over before the OT began. Mahomes and his superior receivers were not to be denied. His offensive line kept Buffalo at bay and he shredded the Bills’ secondary. With a magnificent pass to Kelce in the corner of the end zone, this game was over. 

Nobody deserved to lose. One team had to. Buffalo is a little snake-bitten from its last defeats in the Super Bowl. Allen and his mates should not hang their heads in defeat. 

As for the Chiefs, this is the fourth year in a row that the team is hosting the AFC Championship. Cincinnati could derail the KC Express. 

The Rams and Niners meet for the third time this season. LA has not stopped the high-flying SF offense in either game. A win at home for the Rams puts them at home for the Super Bowl. 

Who could have anticipated the outcomes of those four games? It would be a stretch to believe that these two title matches could meet or exceed what transpired last weekend. 

As a footnote to the football games, I turned on the Jazz and Warriors. I saw the end of the game when Golden State pulled ahead for good. Of course, the Dubs had to withstand an attempted three point shot which went in and out of the basket and then the tip in which tantalizingly rolled around the rim before falling harmlessly to the ground. 

Six remarkable games. I should have seen this coming? 

This Is How I Spent My COVID Isolation

I am in my second week of isolation. It hasn’t been easy. When I hit the 10 day mark of this insidious bout of COVID-19, I will be eligible to leave the cellar for extended periods, as I have only left the room to head to the bathroom on the next level or during those times when my wife needed to access the washer and dryer, two of my constant companions during this illness. 

Am I better than I was when the virus first hit? The short answer is yes. 

However, I am nowhere near where I was prior to the illness. Nor am I anywhere near where I would like to be in my recovery. 

The biggest culprit has been fatigue. I have always had reasonably good stamina. This virus has sapped a ton of that stamina from me. My sleeping patterns have become erratic and are far from that optimal seven to eight hours of restful sleep that adults my age should have, not that I did that on a regular basis anyway. 

What this means is that it will take a bit of time to fully recover, given my ae and the lingering effects the virus. Things don’t happen as easily as they used to when you get past 70.

Besides sleeping all different hours of the day and eating, there isn’t a lot I am able to do. Sure there is the cell phone. I can clear my inordinate amount of daily emails, reading what interests me. 

Then there is CNN and other news outlets. Checking on the forecasts gets me to The Weather Channel app a couple of times daily. 

With a lack of focus from my tiredness, reading on line or The Star-Ledger in print is more difficult than it should be. Even movies aren’t that enthralling to watch—the choices on cable overnight are slightly less appealing than the ones during the day. Plus I am watching them alone, something I am unaccustomed to doing, given that my wife and I exchange glances or make pointed comments during a TV show or film. 

Eating has been one of the recreational highlights. I am totally reliant on my spouse and daughter to provide food. I may make a request or two, but it is in their hands to go shopping and prepare the meals or order in. Who would have thought I would miss a trip to Shop Rite at this juncture in my life?

I have absolutely no complaints about how I have been treated. Those who have concerns have shown them. I feel a lot of love and emotion from those who care. Which makes me thankful and gives me reason to see light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how annoying this incursion has been. 

When I get a cold or viral infection, it is usually over by this time. Thus, I am not at all used to a lingering illness like COVID. Even when I emerge from this chamber, it will still be with me although I won’t be infectious according to CDC guidelines. 

Little things, like those Shop Rite visits, or driving my car, once normal, everyday occurrences, will feel so much more rewarding. Just like the contact with my family which has been so restricted. Or walking for exercise. All are on the horizon. 

So much for the “retired” part of RetiredLawyerSportsOp. This blog is mostly about sports. And when you are isolated, sports is on TV every day in some form.

January means that it is time for hockey, college and pro basketball and the NFL Playoffs. Pardon The Interruption is back full-time. Talking heads everywhere. Sports Center on ESPN. 

Heck, I’ve watched Ernie Johnson, host of the free-for-all on TNT called Inside The NBA, where he mediates between Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, appear on an episode of All That Smoke on Showtime with ex-NBA’ers Stephen Jackson and Matthew Barnes. TWICE at 3:00 am when I couldn’t sleep.

I can channel surf on Verizon from 570 to 594 and find something intriguing to watch. College basketball on the ESPN family of networks. Pro basketball on ESPN, TNT, MSG, YES and NBA TV. NHL hockey is now shown on TNT, ESPN, MSG and NHL Network. 

I know that Davidson College, Steph Curry’s school, is formidable at 14-2 after a one point win at VCU. Duke, UNC and, for that matter, the ACC, isn’t very good. (Side notes: Florida State’s OT win over Coach K—I watched We Need To Talk with him and Lesley Visser— and Duke was their 13th straight OT win, a NCAA record; and FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton has 55 wins with his teams over ranked teams—also a NCAA record) Gonzaga may be #1 again after Baylor lost twice at home and Oregon felled UCLA, but are they really that good?

Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio State seem to be emerging as the top teams in the Big Ten. The competitive balance in the conference seems to be strong— Northwestern upended #10 Michigan State in East Lansing. Rutgers is maddeningly inconsistent. A road loss at Penn State was horrible. But a strong second half rally at Maryland gained the Scarlet Knights a needed road victory in the team’s quest for a second NCAA bid.

The Big East is topsy-turvy as well. Upsets abound in the SEC and Big 12. Trying to handicap the teams at this time is difficult. This year it is going to take into mid-February before there is a clearer picture in college hoops. If COVID does not become a disruptive force once more. 

By the way, I liked the colorful courts at places like Oregon and Colorado State. And I watched some women’s games involving UConn, South Carolina among others. College hoops kept me busy. 

I have watched the Golden State Warriors flounder in the absence of their engine, Draymond Green, out with a calf strain which will require more time to heal. Klay Thompson led the team with 21 points against Detroit. Seeing the “Splash Brothers” together on the court as much as I have has been enjoyable. 

With Martin Luther King Day happening during my convalescence, I have seen many of the NBA teams recently. Memphis is really good, as is Phoenix. The Cleveland Cavaliers have suddenly become a force in the Eastern Conference; youthfulness combined with some strong veteran leadership makes them a tough match. Philadelphia has been a force since Joel Embiid returned from injury. The Nets took a big hit when Kevin Durant sprained his MCL; there seems to be unrest with the Kyrie Irving vaccination mess, as shooting guard James Harden apparently wants out.

Rangers fans should be very happy with the team’s play thus far. Gerard Gallant is one heck of a coach, as evidenced by how he took the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Finals in the team’s maiden season. The Devils show signs of life then fold as they did on the Island. The Islanders have reached .500 after their dismal start relating to COVID. With at least 7 games to make up, that could be very helpful if the Isles stay healthy and play like they recently have. 

Among the surprises are the SoCal teams—the Kings and Ducks are quite good this season. The Blues and Avalanche are Western contenders, as are the Penguins, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Capitals in the East. And things are heating up on the ice—even with no trip to the Beijing Olympics. 

I will end with the NFL. Most games were boring—routs and bad play were very evident. Along with poor officiating in the Raiders-Bengals game which should not have resulted in a Cincinnati TD when a whistle was blown when the official mistakenly thought the Cincinnati QB had stepped out of bounds as he threw a pass which was caught in the end zone, causing Vegas defenders to stop their pursuit. 

Dallas QB Dak Prescott tried to run with under 20 seconds left in their game versus San Francisco. He ran too far, not giving the official the time to set the ball before a snap occurred. Time ran out and the game was over. Prescott’s arrogant defense of his play and his side attack on the officials in response to a post-game question showed his lack of awareness. I don’t know if he is the right QB for the team going forward. 

Green Bay hosts the Niners and the Rams, with Matthew Stafford having finally won a playoff game, traveling to Tampa for a game against Tom Brady and the Bucs. The AFC games are intriguing—the Titans host the Bengals while the Chiefs and Bills meet in KC. Any one of the remaining teams can win and continue a run to the Super Bowl. Good stuff. 

This is how I spent my COVID isolation.

Stay Safe

What a weekend we just had. Great NFL games to determine which teams made it into the playoffs. Klay Thompson recovered from his serious injuries, scored 17 points to aid the Golden State Warriors in a win over Cleveland. Rutgers dominated Nebraska and looked like an NCAA team. F&M was demolished by #18 Swarthmore, but that was expected. And the National Championship game between Alabama and Georgia loomed on the horizon. 

Things were getting exciting in the sports world. I went to sleep happy on Sunday night. 

Then Monday arrived and my world went in a far different direction. I had a sore throat like I had never had before. My voice was an indistinguishable rasp.  A wave of fatigue overcame me. 

I soldiered on, not thinking too much about the illness which was taking over.  I stuck to my routine as best I could. But I did feel dizzy at times and had a little headache. 

Monday is my weights day. Since we have stopped going to gym, due to the Omicron wave, I did my workout in the cellar of the house. 

Normally a somewhat rigorous routine, this session was downright hard. I fought through it. 

By Monday evening, I was feeling horrible. Everything ached. My throat was worse and I had a very hard, hacking cough. I felt like crap. 

Getting through two hours of Below Deck on Bravo was excruciating. I still had the bulk of the Alabama-Georgia rematch to watch. 

While it was a bruising hard-hitting affair which resulted in an exchange of field goals in the first half, I was a lot like sleepy UGA, number IX in the long, proud line of English bulldogs before him. This UGA yawned and went to sleep in front of the ESPN cameras, causing an Internet roar of its own. 

As we had collectively made a decision to be tested for COVID, which would require standing outdoors in a line at 7:30 a.m., I opted to go to sleep after Alabama crept ahead 18-13. I was isolated in the cellar and I needed some rest. 

I did not sleep well into Tuesday morning. Naturally, I first found out that Georgia had stormed back to overwhelm the Crimson Tide. Euphoria in The Peach State. All was not peachy for this Georgia native. 

I was second in line to be tested. My fifth time getting that Q-tip up each nostril. 

But I knew this was different. I still felt lousy. I had some oatmeal soon after returning to my cave. Normally a voracious eater, it took time for me to finish my breakfast. 

Then I sacked out for over two hours. I went with chicken noodle soup for lunch. To help my throat. And back to sleep. 

We made a group decision to get rapid COVID tests. I was the only different one. You can guess the outcome. COVID had gotten me. 

Was I shocked? Somewhat. Because I wondered how I was the only one who tested positive. I tried to be so meticulous in wearing my mask. I would clean my hands and the shopping cart at the supermarket. 

I had stopped going to the gym. I avoided every restaurant that I could. Yet I was infected, despite two Moderna shots and a booster administered in November. I was that magic “breakthrough” case. 

I reached out to my primary care physician. She increased my Vitamin C & D dosage, told me to shower twice a day and to drink fluids including tea with lemon—which I do not like.

Despite my tired, achy body and the heavy cough, I thought I would have a good night of sports TV. Wrong.

Just like my illness, PTI and the Rutgers-Penn State game were uninspiring. RU showed once more why they are not very good, losing by 16 on the road to a not very good Nittany Lions team. 

Watching the Warriors lose on the road to the red-hot Memphis Grizzlies didn’t help my disposition. Memphis looked more athletic. Ja Morant is incredible. And the Warriors beat themselves with too many turnovers, even with Steph Curry recording a triple double, scoring 27 points while accumulating 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Klay Thompson is a work in progress—he scored 14 points in 19 minutes and his defense is not quite there yet.

So I took my cough and sore throat to bed. I awoke a tiny bit better. Except that my phlegm had streaks of blood in it. Somewhat unexpected. That was the only change.

More napping, soup and hydrating led up to the inevitable—my PCR test came back positive. It was certain that I had COVID. 

My PCP has prescribed a cough suppressant stronger than Mucinex or Robitussin DM to quell the cough. Writing this blog has been tougher than usual. 

My plight isn’t different from many. Nobody has the exact same symptoms or time limits. I really don’t qualify for any extra medications because I don’t have any underlying conditions. Thus it is a good thing that I have maintained my health all of these years. 

Nonetheless, I have no idea how the illness will play out. I’m 71 and it may impact me harsher and long-term. I am thankfully not experiencing shortness of breath—that’s the one warning sign which is most significant. 

Now I have a different vantage point as I am in the throes of this illness. And little tolerance for those who believe in half-truths and who clog up hospitals citing their constitutional right to exercise their personal choice to not get a vaccine. I feel sorry for those who on their dying beds wish they had made the right choice. Maybe surviving family members will learn from this.

I have greater sympathy for the overworked health care personnel who must endure this ongoing tragedy. Or others who are forced back to work in unsafe locales. 

The politicians irk me. Every one of them has a different agenda. Mostly self-serving. 

Media types and fringe elements who inflame with rhetoric are no better. In effect, we are damn lucky that we developed vaccines like we did—the carnage would have been unthinkable. 

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most respected expert in the field of these kinds of illnesses, along with CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, have given us so much proper direction, even with some missteps. It gave me no solace when Dr, Fauci said it is inevitable that we are all going to get the Omicron variant. 

There is a fallacy in the idea of herd immunity. These variants mutate. Many times over. Vaccines can only do so much. This isn’t over by a long shot. There is a great degree of uncertainty going forward, somewhat akin to my situation now. 

I have no sympathy for Novak Djokovic and the machinations going on in Australia. He and his minions lied. Like Aaron Rodgers made cute false statements. 

I would kick Djokovic back to Serbia and give Tom Brady the NFL M.V.P. award based on morality. Not that I am a great Brady fan. His numbers are incredible and he is first in pass attempts, completions, yardage gained, TD’s thrown and second in quarterback rating. At age 44. 

I understand the number of games postponed. I am amazed how athletes recover from COViD. Perhaps they are correct that Omicron will die down soon. It sure as heck has wreaked a ton of damage. 

Back to the present. I know you wish me well. As I do you. I will survive my isolation. 

Stay safe. 

New Year's Rumblings

We’re on the precipice of the College Football National Championship. Alabama and Georgia meet once more, with Alabama the top seed by virtue of its win over the Bulldogs in the SEC Championship eons ago (okay, it was early December).  Both got here by virtue of wins over overmatched Cincinnati for the Crimson Tide, while Michigan was no match for UGA. 

These are clearly the two top teams in the nation. No one comes close. Look, I watched Alabama stumble at Texas A&M, a very mortal team. Hiccups happen. 

Who knows which ‘Bama team appeared in Atlanta to claim the SEC title? For that matter, did Georgia have its own stumble that day and the real Georgia team was the one which thrashed Michigan on New Year’s Eve in the Orange Bowl?

Whatever happens, we will have a national title secured by one of these two teams after a two game playoff. Which is good, for the outcry to expand the playoffs beyond the two games determined by a committee would not enhance big time college football. 

Beyond Cincinnati and Michigan, the pickings were even slimmer. While Ohio State and Utah played a thrilling Rose Bowl contest, neither team could have held a candle to the two SEC powers. Going down the line, Baylor, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State would have been mere pretenders. And even the mighty SEC had a sub-.500 record this bowl season. 

Expansion of this product would not have made a difference. Except to the coffers of those teams and conferences which participated in the larger playoff. 

Unfortunately, what fuels the college football engine is the almighty dollar. Finding a way to make even more dollars through TV and sponsorships will ultimately drive the powers to dilute the product with more teams in the hunt. 

Now before I become too righteous about this topic, let me say this. I am a new convert to this position. I looked at the way the other divisions conducted their playoffs and thought this could work for the big boys. Playing down and including the conference champs and a few deserving wild-card entries wouldn’t be so bad. I admit I was wrong. 

What the other divisions do not have are bowl games. Too many, critics might say. But this network of post-season matchups is part tradition and part greed. Because, in this Omicron/Delta variant world, attendance was way down this bowl season. And teams were infected with the virus, leading to teams like Rutgers playing in the Gator Bowl on short notice or Central Michigan leaving Arizona when its game collapsed, to head to the Sun Bowl, where they actually were triumphant. 

None of the teams which had an extra game on their schedule would have been any more than a gnat to the likes of Georgia and Alabama. Sure, to the kids who played in the games, it meant a lot. So, too, to the conferences and teams which shared in the revenue stream. 

Am I an advocate for the plethora of post-season games in big time college football? No, I am not.  But that is not likely to change. In fact, we might see  more teams with a 5-7 record like Rutgers actually playing in December. Although it might be less likely that they end up in a prestigious game like the Gator Bowl. It was very fortuitous for RU that circumstances in a pandemic allowed for this to happen. 

So when you see the voting change to allow more teams to be in the playoffs—like the Big 12 and Pac 12 champions—you were forewarned. While there might be an upset every once in a while, expect the same teams to be present in the years to come (we miss you Clemson). With recruiting classes which yearly are in the top five, how can it not happen repeatedly? Until Nick Sabin retires from Alabama or Kirby Smart goes from Athens, Georgia to the pros, the more things stay the same. Which isn’t all that bad. 

The NFL winds down its already way too long season on Sunday night, when the Chargers travel to Las Vegas to determine which team makes the playoffs. Then the fun begins, culminating in the Super Bowl, set for February 13 in Los Angeles—if not derailed by COVID. 

Would I dearly love for the Jets to become good and be playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl? Of course. 

I had occasion to travel twice to Philadelphia this week. Both times I was next to  Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles. The home team has a game against Dallas this weekend. That game has been moved to Saturday night in the new flex schedule the NFL has with the extra week of play. Nothing like a January night game in the City of Brotherly Love after a storm has come up the coast, with cold air riding in its place. 

I pity those fans who are being abused by the NFL. Just like those in Green Bay who will likely have to endure a sub-zero temperature when the Packers host games this season. The St. Louis-Minnesota NHL Winter Classic, played at Target Field in Minneapolis on New Year’s Day, was played in sub-zero temperatures at night. 

There is a reason why the NHL took its product indoors. There is reason why there are domes in Minnesota, Detroit, Indianapolis, as well as in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta. The games shouldn’t be held outdoors in cold weather. 

I cannot fathom what it will be like to be at a Jets home game in January, should they ever reach that level. Even more so as I move into my seventies. Not a place I want to be, no matter how hard I am rooting for my team. 

Think the NFL cares about that? Not a chance. They know the fans are crazy enough to show, and the tickets will be sold at a very substantial markup. And the product will be lesser in some instances, affected by those frigid temperatures. 

Finally, I was struck by the college football transfer portal. There was one QB who, in the space of 18 days, was enrolled at three colleges. None of them had started classes for the next semester. 

This looking for a greener pasture after one year, for whatever reason, is not right for one reason. Academics. 

The sages at Pardon The Interruption were appalled about this particular instance. Except they felt badly for the coaches involved. 

Really? The coaches? The ones who are paid hefty sums to find the talent to represent the school they presently are at until they are either fired or leave for something better? Do we believe they care one iota about academic integrity? These are rhetorical questions. 

Somebody needs to run this ship and make staying at a school meaningful. For the academics. 

However, how can I expect that to happen when these same academic leaders are hungry for the bowl money to keep their bloated athletic budget afloat? Can anyone here spell hypocrisy? 

Nice shout out by Antonio Brown to my favorite ankle surgeon, Dr. Martin O’Malley of the Hospital for Special Surgery after the brouhaha at Met Life Stadium when the Bucs stormed back to beat the Jets after Brown left the field  throwing his black undershirt into the crowd. 

That epitomizes how we enter 2022. With COVID rampant and a whole lot of messes surrounding the sports world. Starting with the whole Novak Djokovic/Australian Open vaccination mess and including Steph Curry’s uncharacteristic shooting woes. Ugh.

That’s my New Year’s rant. Happy New Year everyone. 

John Madden

I had plenty on my mind this week to include in the blog. Then my phone lit up with text messages and a flash from ESPN.com. 

John Madden had suddenly died. 

My editor, a non-sports fanatic unlike me, would normally have no clue who he was. Except she knew who I was talking about. Not in depth, but she knew enough about him and that he carried great importance in the sports and entertainment world. 

There are many layers to who John Madden was. Sports fans largely knew him for his work as the Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders. Or perhaps as a color commentator on ALL four TV networks—CBS, then FOX, then ABC and finally at NBC. Nobody has ever done that except for John Madden. 

Plus a whole generation of kids and parents knew him for his Madden video games—now up to Madden 22. Players like Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes II grew up playing the Xbox games and now grace the cover of Madden 22. By the way, it is the best selling video game of all time. Who would have known Play Station and Xbox but for John Madden?

Some remember him as a pitchman for Lite Beer, running through hysterical monologues and demonstrating his wild antics. He appeared in commercials for Ace Hardware, Outback Steakhouse, Verizon Wireless, Rent-A-Center, Toyota, Sirius Satellite Radio and Tinactin. Madden was the perfect spokesperson.

To me, John Madden was a football guy. In essence, he was a lifer. He was a star offensive lineman in high school. His college career was an odyssey, with stints at the College of San Mateo; the University of Oregon on a football scholarship where he was a pre-law student and was reunited with childhood friend John Robinson, who had his own share of fame as a very successful head coach at USC; a stop at Grays Harbor College; and finally ending up at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he was all-conference at offensive tackle and played catcher on the baseball team. Madden graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in education followed by a master’s degree two years later. 

Madden was good enough to be drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 21st round in 1958. He injured his knee in training camp—he had injured the other knee while at Oregon—and that ended his playing career. 

His determination to play football foreshadowed what was to come in his post-playing days. Madden related that while he was rehabbing his knee injury in Philadelphia, Norm Van Brocklin, the Eagles star QB, would watch game film and Madden would explain what had happened. As such, he used his degree in teaching to mesh with his love for football. 

Madden made stops at Allan Hancock College and San Diego State before Oakland owner Al Davis hired him in 1967 as the linebackers coach. In February, 1969, Madden became head coach when John Rauch left to become the head man with Buffalo. At age 32, he was the youngest ever tp hold that position. 

His head coaching record was 103-32-7. Madden’s teams never suffered a losing season. He became the youngest coach to win 100 games, doing that in 10 years. He still has the most wins in Raiders history. And he won a Super Bowl. Impressive statistics—enough to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Madden chose to retire from coaching at age 42 due to a deteriorating ulcer condition and occupational burnout. As he said at his final press conference for the Raiders, he gave it his all. 

There he was—age 42, with two sons and a wife. He needed to have a career. And TV came calling. 

First he resisted the temptation to enter the media. Instead, Madden taught a course of football viewing at the University of California. 

But as he said, if he didn’t try broadcasting while he could, he would never do it. Which led to his initial work at CBS. Quirky and with enthusiasm that was boundless, just like his gestures and rants on the sidelines as a coach, Madden ascended to the lead analyst spot with Pat Summerall in 1981. They forged a partnership that became must-see TV for football junkies. 

The duo went to FOX when CBS lost the rights to the NFC games in 1994. It gave the fledgling network instant credibility. Madden had a face-to-face meeting with Rupert Murdoch which sealed the deal; Madden’s deal paid him more than any NFL player was making. 

FOX lost billions on the NFL deal, so it cut costs and did not renew Madden’s contract. So he went to ABC, which had been hot for him prior to signing the deal with FOX. ABC paid him $5 million a year and paired him with Al Michaels on Monday Night Football. 

When NBC began its Sunday Night Football telecasts in 2006, they had Michaels and Madden in the booth. In 2008, Madden ended his 476 consecutive weekends of broadcast appearances when he voted not to travel from Jacksonville to San Diego back to Tampa by bus, his choice of transportation as he was deathly afraid of flying. 

Madden retired from TV in 2008. He won 14 Sports Emmys. He mentored the brightest and best in TV sports executives at each network. 

Moreover, he was an innovator. He explained football terminology was explained by using g a grease board and led to the invention of the Telestrator, which permitted him to diagram football plays over video footage. The Telestrator is a staple of all sports broadcasts.  

When he did Thanksgiving Day games, he would award turkey legs to players who were outstanding in the game. This led to popularizing a New Orleans restaurant which brought a “turducken”—which had turkey, stuffing sausage and duck together—to a game in the Crescent City. Madden would award drumsticks from that bird to worthy players. 

On the advice of his buddy Robinson, Madden started the “All-Madden Team.” Unlike other all star teams, this was one that the players wanted to be on, because Madden, an icon to so many NFL players, chose the members based on “…a guy who’s got a dirty uniform, mud on his face and grass in the ear hole of his helmet.”

John Madden wrote three best-selling books. He had a Bay Area radio call-in show. He was a guest host on Saturday Night Live. He popularized bus rides with his “Madden Cruiser’ in partnership with Greyhound and Motor Coach Industries, getting multiple sponsorships along the way. 

Players and coaches adored him. Brett Favre and Madden had a special bond. He mentored Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells. Seemingly there wasn’t one person affiliated with the game he loved who he wouldn’t help in some way. 

Madden was proud of his sons, who played football at Brown and Harvard. He and wife Virginia celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary the day before his death. 

John Madden was a football genius who could resonate with the everyday man. He liked to integrate himself into the fabric of the country on his bus treks back to his beloved Northern California roots. 

Like I said, I didn’t know that much about John Madden before his death other than what I saw weekly on TV during football season. In viewing parts of “All-Madden” after his death and in reading the tributes from so many people and navigating a very lengthy Wikipedia, I found there was so much more to the man who appeared to be so garrulous. 

America has lost a treasure in John Madden.