The Vicissitudes Of A Sports Junkie

     Okay—we have our Super Bowl teams. Not the teams I wanted, but nonetheless these two were the winners. And winners they were, on the road and albeit under a veil of cloudiness which the National Football League must address in some capacity—sooner than later.

     In the first game, the NFC Champions are the Los Angeles Rams. They came into New Orleans and withstood the Saints and the noise of the crowd reverberating inside the dome (see the tape over the earholes of LA QB Jared Goff to enable him to kinda hear the instructions from the coaches). 

     Yes, they were the beneficiaries of the worst non-call in the history of pro football when the Rams' DB ran directly into the New Orleans receiver, initiating helmet-to-helmet contact while never looking back towards the ball, striking the wide out before the ball reached the vicinity. That caused the Saints to settle for a field goal instead of the touchdown they might have had, and effectively ended the chance for New Orleans to win the game outright in regulation time. For in the overtime, Saints QB Drew Brees attempted some ill-advised throws which were unsuccessful, which handed the ball back to the Rams. On the ensuing drive, LA kicker Greg Zeurlein booted a 57 yard game-winning field goal, one that might have cleared the uprights from 67 yards away.

    It was one heck of a contest, involving perhaps the two best teams in the NFC (I can hear the Eagles fans now-I know a case could be made for you being one of the two top teams as you lost to the Saints on an Interception which should have been a completion). The Rams defense sometimes known to be porous, controlled the line of scrimmage and held the Saints running game in check. 

     Rams Head Coach Sean McVay utilized a trick play whereby All-Pro punter Johny Hekker threw a strike for a completion on a fake punt attempt. Hekker attended Oregon State where he arrived as a walk-on to play quarterback. He had been a high school standout who took his school to the State Championship game. Special teams coach John Fassel, son of Jim Fassel,  once the head coach for the New York Giants, knew what he had in Hekker, who is 6’5” tall. In his career, Hekker is now 12 for 20 throwing the ball in the NFL.

     Do I feel for the Saints? Of course I do. But there really is no mechanism in the rules which allows for playing a game under protest—especially when there wasn’t a call made. Which leads me to believe that there needs to be a booth review challenge for each team on a down call. Or in the fourth quarter, the reviewers can stop the game for infractions that are overwhelming. In this instance there were two—the pass interference and the helmet-to-helmet hit. Otherwise, the referees will determine the outcome of games and do it unfairly, without help when they may need it most. The integrity of the game mandates that there be a way to eliminate such egregious mistakes. For those who thought that largely silent Commissioner Roger Goodell was going to intercede and make a decision to overrule the non-call, forget about it. 

     The nightcap pitted Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and company (a.k.a. the New England Patriots) against Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the January cold of the western Missouri night. In an unprecedented second overtime affair, a first in the history of the National Football League, New England prevailed because they won the coin toss and held the ball the entire time until they scored the winning touchdown.

     It was another heart throbbing game. It matched two renowned head coaches, just like the first game where McVay and the Saints’ Sean Payton matched wits. The Patriots ability to stifle Mahomes and the KC offense in the first half may have been where New England won the game. For if Mahomes and his mates had been able to get untracked earlier, then the Brady bunch might have had to play catch up all night. 

     In this game too, there were some weird penalties in the fourth quarter and a review which showed that punt returner Julian Edelman did not touch a rolling ball he never should have been near. That reversal took the Chiefs out of prime position to score and just like the Saints perhaps score a touchdown to win the game in regulation.

     The CBS broadcast in the fourth quarter and overtime merely had play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz acting as lead in to retired official Gene Stenatore analyzing the calls and non-calls made by the all-star officiating crew; Stenatore moonlights as college basketball official and co-owns a sanitary supply store with this family in Pennsylvania. His explanations were dead on.

     That was a prelude to the most amazing feat by former Dallas QB Tony Romo, who is and should be the lead CBS analyst. On the game winning drive, he correctly told us in clear terms what plays Brady would run, including n audible Brady called at the line of scrimmage. It was great theater to begin with, amplified by Romo’s keen insight. 

     I, too, feel the pain of the Chiefs’ fans. Until the overtime rules are changed, exciting players like Mahomes will be denied the chance to match a touchdown by their opponents, forcing the defense to stop the opponent or lose the game. That is not the way it should be. 

     My solution to this problem is to allow a kickoff by the team which scores the touchdown and then let the opposition attempt to score. If they are successful and kick the extra point, to tie, there is another round of plays starting at the opponents 40 yard line. The team with the ball can settle for a field goal, but if they score a TD, they must go for two points. That way, the team which goes second can win it outright by scoring a TD if there was only a field goal or win if they score a TD and the extra point attempt of the first team had failed and they score the extra two points. The game can go on like this, rotating which team starts first, until a winner is decided. A safety at any time by a team will win the game. That, NFL Competition Committee, will allow talented players like Patrick Mahomes to not sit idly by, without recourse to lead their team to an exciting victory.

     An interesting sidelight to the Super Bowl. Edelman and McVay were opponents in college. Mc Vay was a standout high school quarterback in Georgia, winning the player of the year award. He went to Miami (Ohio), where a broken ankle derailed his career. He did make a couple of catches against Edelman’s Kent State Golden Flashes, where Edelman was the starting QB. The two squads split the four meetings between the schools while both were there.

     A lot will be made about the Patriots’ incredible history, Belichck and Brady have achieved. No one matches the number of times that they have reached the Super Bowl. The fact that this was a subpar year for the Patriots in terms of wins doesn’t mean a thing. As long as Brady, Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh Mc Daniels are together, do not bet against New England. 

     I love McVay’s intensity and I really like the play of Goff. I think that if the Rams defensive line outplays the Patriots offensive line, LA will bother Brady and win. But if the Patriots shut down Aaron Donald and friends, this is New England’s game to win. And we have Nance, Romo and Stenatore again in the booth. I look forward to this clash.

     In baseball, the Hall of Fame voting results were to my satisfaction. Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous selection. His credentials were undeniable, just like when he trotted in from the Yankees’ bullpen to the sounds of “Enter Sandman,” the game was over. The record holder for the most career saves, his legendary cutter the part of lore when it suddenly appeared while he was playing catch with fellow pitcher Ramiro Mendoza. Lights out as a set up man in 1996, he was destined for greatness once the Yankees moved him to the closer role. He personified dignity and class, but lurking within the deeply religious Panamanian was a burning desire to excel. Which he did. Again and again and again.

     Mike Mussina deserves his spot in the Hall. Pitching for Baltimore and the Orioles in homer-friendly parks and against the toughest competition from within the AL East for his entire career, Mussina’s 270 wins showed how good he was. The Stanford graduate, who sometimes spoke in terms even the beat writers could not comprehend, was another fierce competitor. Although he won 20 games only once, and that was in his last season, there were very few pitchers during his time who could match his durability and success on the mound.

     Roy Halliday split his career between Toronto and Philadelphia.  A hard-throwing right hander, he was a winner through and through. To me, Halliday’s greatest feat was pitching a no hitter in the NL playoffs while with the Phillies. When he was on his game, he was fearless and no batter really wanted to face him.

     Edgar Martinez came up with Seattle as a third baseman. While he was okay at the hot corner, Martinez could really hit. He was well-placed in the American League and became a fearsome designated hitter for the Mariners. To show how good he was, he hit over .600 versus Rivera, the best average against his fellow inductee. 

     Once more the controversy over the use of steroids became an issue when the totals for alleged users Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds did not reach 60% of the votes and seem likely not to attain the required 75% for entry into the Hall of Fame. Alex Rodriguez, a P.E.D. user who was caught and suspended, lamented about Clemens and Bonds in terms of his own candidacy. 

     My feeling is this—if the games counted, then the statistics count too. Which means that the players competed and succeeded, albeit with enhancements. Unless you were caught using a banned substance and served your suspension, no one knows for sure if you cheated—notwithstanding the incredible achievements players like Bonds and Clemens had in their later years. Looking at their bodies, one cannot walk away not believing that they took drugs to aid their careers. 

     I would not vote against Bonds or Clemens for the Hall of Fame. And while I, like other fans cheered A-Rod as a Yankee, his getting caught cannot help his cause among the writers. Because he will get compared to a shortstop like Derek Jeter, who amassed hits and World Series rings without being suspected of cheating. 

     Would I vote for A-Rod? Yes, I would. Do I believe the voters will vote him in? No. So he is left with a lot of money, and couple of nice gigs as an a analyst fo ESPN and FOX along with a serious relationship with the beautiful and talented Jennifer Lopez. Nice consolation prizes. 

     One more baseball item. If Mariano Rivera was voted into the Hall of Fame unanimously, what are the writers going to do when Derek Jeter is eligible in 2020? A generational talent, the captain of the New York Yankees ended his career sixth on the all-time hit list. How he can’t be voted in unanimously like Rivera will boggle my mind when that happens next year. Such is the subjectivity of Hall of Fame voting.

     A report on Rutgers basketball. The men have won two straight games, raising their record to 3-6 in the Big Ten. I was in the RAC on Monday night when they defeated a slumping Nebraska team. Down 31-18, the Knights roared back into the game then dominated the second half. On Saturday they traveled to State College and defeated Penn State 64-60. The two road wins that Rutgers has are at Miami and now at Penn State, where the Nittany Lions give all teams fits. Up next is Indiana in Piscataway. Dare this team dream of three in a row?

     

     The women ranked #14 in the latest poll. A trip to Iowa to face the #16 Hawkeyes resulted in the first conference loss. They will drop in the rankings for the Iowa defeat. A loss to Penn State on Sunday would move them out of the rankings. 

     How about the Golden State Warriors? The team is on fire, having defeated the Boston Celtics on the road to rack up their 10th straight win for the sixth season, tying them with the San Antonio Spurs for that distinction. One night it is Steph Curry leading the team; the next night either Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant is the top scorer. The team now has integrated DeMarcus Cousins into the offense, who has showed he can be dominant at the low post, which will make the sharpshooting trios of Curry, Thomson and Durant even more lethal. Add to the mix that Draymond Green is triggering the offense while minimizing his turnovers and that Shawn Livingston and Andre Iguodala are still providing quality minutes off the bench. Curry’s pronouncement that the team can play much better is downright scary for the rest of the NBA.

     Finally, the Australian Open is over. The men’s winner is Novak Djokovic, a straight set victor over Rafael Nadal for his seventh win Down Under. Youngster Naomi Osaka, recently the U.S. Open champ, won her second consecutive Grand Slam title. Djokovic has his sights on Roger Federer’s 20 Grand Slam titles. Osaka is going to be a force for years to come. Both are good for tennis at this juncture.

     The one sadness from the tournament was seeing Serena Williams fall apart after turning her ankle on a match point up 5-1 in the third set. Serena did not blame the loss on the ankle as she gamely tired to compete. However, it was clearly evident that as much as she tried, with the heart and determination of the champion she is, Serena could not will her body to victory. She made no excuses for her loss.

     I wish ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale had been more cognizant of Serena’s plight than he was. Karolina Pliskova did what she was supposed to do—take advantage of the situation. Pliskova played hard, fought off numerous match points and came out the winner. 

    Having injured myself numerous times playing tennis on a much lower level, the pain Serena suffered was real and can almost be debilitating. The mind wants to continue to play but the pain is a real deterrent. That she was even competitive at times was remarkable. Kudos to Serena.

     No football this weekend. I need a break. Thankfully, on Saturday night we were at at dinner in Lambertville with college friends; I was able to miss the NHL All Star Game. Again. And I would rather do anything else then watch the NFL Pro Bowl on Sunday. Which I am certain I will do. Besides, I am into the performance of former Saint Mary’s basketball recruit Mahershala Ali in True Detective on HBO.

     Such is the hectic life of a retired sports junkie.

"The Times They Are A Changin'"

     Fifty years ago this past week, two events occurred in my life. The American Football League’s New York Jets, behind the brash guarantee of their celebrity quarterback, Joe Willie Namath, as the late and equally verbally flamboyant Howard Cosell used to call him, upset the National Football League’s Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The 16-7 score was not indicative of how the upstart Jets controlled the game. The belief that the Jets would even be competitive with the established NFL’s best team was considered laughable by the press and veteran observers. After all, the Green Bay Packers had dominated the first two Super Bowls, so there was little chance that the AFL could put a team on the field which might offer some real resistance to the Colts.

     This monumental win by the AFL triggered the subsequent merger of the leagues into a new National Football League. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Colts actually switched into the new American Football Conference. A whole new and exciting era of professional football was at hand. All because a talented and bold QB from Beaver Falls, PA and the University of Alabama, who had troublesome knees, led a bunch of NFL retreads to victory over a roster of supposedly more talented players.

     I remember being on semester break from college, at home in Highland Park, watching the game. I can recall how astonished I was that the Jets were outplaying the Colts. I am sure that at that moment I did not recognize the significance of the Jets’ victory. And who knew that in 1977, I would purchase Jets’ season tickets with my sister, and become a ticket holder for the next 42 years, for a team whose signature win was their only Super Bowl appearance. 

     At first glance, it doesn’t seem like 50 years has elapsed since that game in Miami. I saw Namath on Showtime just before the action began last weekend. He looked old. That gave me pause as I realized how long ago this monumental contest took place.

     I don’t know how many players in this weekend’s championship games appreciate what Super Bowl III meant to pro football. After all, none of them were born at that time. Even a fair number of the coaches  for the four teams were either very young or hadn’t been born yet. And if they are students of the game, they might appreciate what happened that late afternoon in South Florida. From what I have read, the Kansas City Chiefs player development personnel take the team to the team museum at Arrowhead Stadium, where the AFL history is chronicled. More than likely it is tailored to the Chiefs, especially Lamar Hunt,  one of the founding seven owners of the AFL, and the Chiefs win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV in New Orleans in 1970. Yet if it is a true history, Joe Namath and his Jets should receive some mention.

     For me, I was both a Giants and Jets fan, since the teams operated in different universes. With the blackout rule in effect at that time, I couldn’t see either team’s home games. Fortunately, the Super Bowl was not a home game for either team. 

     But that night in the Orange Bowl, with the underdog Jets’ win, made me a Jets fan for life. One who painfully waits for the next Super Bowl appearance, which will hopefully occur under the guidance of ex-Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase, he of the intense, bug-eyed look at his introductory press conference. 

     Coach Gase has made a good hire in Greg Williams, formerly the interim head coach at Cleveland, as his defensive coordinator. Gase is a quarterback coach. His job is to tutor Sam Darnold, bringing out the talent that so many expect from the youngster from California.

     Once more there is hope and optimism surrounding the Jets. We traveled this road when Todd Bowles was named to the top spot. Unfortunately, that led to chaos and disappointment…again. It would be so rewarding to see a change in the mostly moribund existence of this franchise. 

     Under Rex Ryan, with Mark Sanchez at quarterback, another USC QB who left school early, Jets fans thought they had the road to the Super Bowl ahead of them when the team made two consecutive AFC title games. The Sanchez era would come crashing down on national TV with the”butt fumble.”

     Thus Jets’ fans celebrated the Super Bowl win with a sense of pride tinged with a lot of regret as to how the next 49 years turned out. A lot of fans were vocal in their dislike of the team’s selection of Gase as the Head Coach. 

     Maybe I am the eternal optimist when it comes to new beginnings with the Jets. Sure, there is much work to be done with this team before they become competitive. I look at Kansas City. Their only Super Bowl win was nearly as long ago as the Jets. With a young and hungry QB in Pat Mahomes, and a retread coach in Andy Reid, they have attained success quickly. Their loyal fans have been rewarded with their first ever AFC or AFL Championship Game at home; the two times they made the AFC finals KC played at Buffalo.

     Tom Brady and the Patriots are not going to play and win forever. Even with as good a year that the team had, making the AFC title contest a record ninth time, Father Time inevitably will catch up with Brady and even the genius behind the Pats’ successes, Bill Belichick. The team to fill that void can be the New York Jets—under the guidance of Adam Gase. Some of the greatest minds in pro football such as Don Shula and Belichick were not successful in their first head coaching job until they had a star QB to lead their offenses—Bob Griese then Dan Marino in Miami for Coach Shula and Drew Bledsoe ’s injury paving the way for Brady to play in New England. Take a glance at the Chiefs—Andy Reid first coached in Philadelphia and was fired before he resurfaced in KC. 

     Jets fans can look at the 1968 New York Jets and recognize their place in history. Namath was coached by Weeb Ewbank, a man who had been jettisoned by the Colts after leading them to the NFL title. His Baltimore QB was the legendary Johny Unitas. 

     Can the future of this team have a tandem as glorious as the Namath-Ewbank tandem? I will be watching. And hoping.

     The other event which had a dramatic effect in my life was the announcement by Franklin and Marshall College that in the 1969-70 academic year, women would be admitted to the college. Co-education would change the fabric of the school forever. I was party to F&M’s rebirth.

     For a school which began in 1787 with a small donation by Ben Franklin and merged with Marshall College, this was epochal news. This decision was probably inevitable, but there were plenty of detractors. 

     When I was accepted at F&M, it was an all-male school, it was during my freshman year that talk about bringing women on campus started. President Keith Spaulding, who I knew and liked, guided the Board of Trustees to reach the historic conclusion that co-education was a necessity if the College were to survive.

     We had a vehicle for student opinion located in the middle of campus.  It was dubbed “The Protest Tree.” Given we are talking about some of this country’s most turbulent times with the continuation of the Vietnam War, the Protest Tree was a great forum for intellectual and emotional discourse.

     The Protest Tree became a significant outpost for student reading, even more so than the student weekly paper. Sometimes F&M administrative decisions were either supported or denounced there. Co-education was certainly addressed there.

     The feeling about F&M moving forward with women on campus was not taken well by traditionalists who desired the status quo. But F&M was competing in an environment where other, similarly-situated schools were going co-ed. This would put F&M at both a financial and an academic disadvantage, where the brightest students would go elsewhere—to the colleges who had integrated females into their core. 

     I was barely 18 years old when this debate erupted. As with the Vietnam War, unlike my more sophisticated classmates and the far more worldly upperclassmen, I listened and did not immediately form an opinion. 

     I picked F&M largely because I fell in love with the campus in the early to mid-1960’s when my father took the family to Lancaster. I revered my father, who had attended a fine small, liberal arts college with a superior academic record—attracting many of the brightest students. I read the F&M mailings when they came, just as I kept up on the doings at Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry, where he attended after World War II. F&M was where I wanted to go and I believed I was bright enough to succeed there. 

     Thus, part of me remained the chauvinist. I thought an all-male liberal arts college with an excellent reputation was the place to be. F&M was truly the only school I wanted to attend, so the fact that it was only populated by males never bothered me—even if I had a high school girlfriend. She could wait for me back at home during intercession. 

      I did not know how co-education would change the school; I was concerned that the admission of women might actually hurt F&M’s standing. In hindsight, that belief was short-sighted, especially when President Spaulding assured us that the first groups of women would be academically gifted—perhaps more so than the extraordinarily males in my class. 

     My exposure to the way things were at F&M was interesting. My four years at F&M coincided with the start of the “Free Love” era, an extension of the British Invasion started with the Beatles and Rolling Stones and the expressiveness of the San Francisco-Bay Area styled culture prevalent in rock bands and in politics. 

     Like me, many freshman had girlfriends waiting for them at home. Of course, that didn’t stop some guys form seeking out alternatives while their hometown honey was not available. The girls in town were largely looked at with disdain, and many F&M men thought that they could have fun with the Millersville State College girls. (Surprisingly, some had long term relationships which led to successful marriages—including my senior year second semester roommate).

     We had bus trips to all-girls schools like Wilson and Beaver Colleges, for mixers, as they were called. I was somewhat shy and certainly not very tall in stature. I din’t fare well in Highland Park with the girls—except for my girlfriend, who was not a J.A.P. like the more popular ones. So I went because everyone seemingly went, but I hated competing against guys from Penn or Lehigh and Lafayette who showed up acting haughty and disdainful of F&M. Plus even when we hosted mixers, I never felt comfortable in those environments.  

     I was a very straight-laced jock wannabe. I came to F&M unrecruited for baseball, yet my focus from day one was to play ball at F&M because I thought that I was pretty good and I never received a chance in Highland Park. I had something to prove. Plus I wanted to be a lawyer for a variety of reasons, which is why I chose Government early on as my major. At the start of my freshman year, that actually was the order of my college priorities.

     I was a Democrat and I did not like what had happened at the Democratic National Convention In the summer of 1968. The rioting and anger that fueled the convention was upsetting, just as the riots in 1967 were to me, as they destroyed Newark and shut down New Brunswick for a time. I still thought that peaceful discussions were the way to achieve change. Others disagreed with my line of thinking, including at F&M.

     However, I was not a person who sought confrontation, nor was I worldly and sophisticated. I had lived in a cocoon in Highland Park, oblivious to thinking deeply about the meaning of change, other than it was a dangerous time with Russia and the Cuban missile crisis and that electing Barry Goldwater in 1964 was a very bad idea.

     No matter what was happening at F&M in terms of U.S. politics and the long-term plans of the President and the Board of Trustees, I was immune to the larger, more global things which other, far more experienced envisioned. Besides, in January, 1969, it was more important to me that the Jets won the Super Bowl, as it would be when the Knicks won the NBA Championship later in my second semester of my freshman year.

     I would feel the growing pains of co-education in its formation in my sophomore and junior years as more women landed on campus. By my second semester of my senior year, the novelty of women on campus had become the new reality. I was more mature, having spent six months in Washington, D.C., roaming the halls of Congress, spending copious amounts of time with adults who treated me as one of the group. I understood what the Vietnam War was about and I developed rational and logical conclusions about my feelings. 

     That translated into my acceptance of co-education as the right thing for F&M to continue. I transformed from a narrow, more reserved person who did not want change, to one much more willing to accept ideas which made sense.

     For me, the Jets win in the Super Bowl and the decision to accept women at F&M came at a crossroads in my life. It was the time that I started to form an identity, a set of beliefs which are central to my thinking today, and have allowed me to evolve as I have grown older. I could still be a jock and love sports, while I started to be a critical thinker and appreciate the minds of other who inspire and lead. 

     Which is why this week is so symbolic to me. It was a time for significant cultural transformation—in this country and in my own personal evolution. As the songster from Minnesota, Bob Dylan, the man who embodied a movement for my generation, said so well in his prescient song: “The Times They Are A Changin’”

I Prefer Cantonese

     Just like always, when I make a stupid prediction, the opposite happens. This dumb statement was about Rutgers’ men’s basketball not winning a game in the Big Ten this season. 

     First game after my idiotic statement, RU beats #16 Ohio State at the RAC. They did it without their captain, Eugene Omoruyi, a big presence in their lineup. RU employed a 2-2-1 zone which gave the Buckeyes fits. Most surprisingly, the Scarlet Knights converted on their free throws, at one time they had hit 12 out of 14. Plus Geo Baker had a good game; whenever he scores more than 14 points, RU wins.  

     I am not particularly impressed with Ohio State. Having lost to Iowa on Saturday, the Buckeyes are in midst of a 3 game slide. Meanwhile, RU now has a 2 game winning streak versus OSU, having won last season when the teams met in the Big Ten Tournament.

     Rutgers subsequently played hard for the first half at Minnesota on Saturday. The Golden Gophers ran off an 18-1 spurt in the second half to effectively put the contest out of reach. Minnesota is 13-3 and unranked now, but Richard Pitino’s squad had reached the Top 25 earlier this season.

     I am not going to make some silly prediction about RU now that Omuruyi and rising freshman Caleb McConnell are sidelined. Rutgers next game is at Purdue on Tuesday. While the Boilermakers are 10-6 overall, they won on the road at Wisconsin on Friday night and are 7-0 at home. This, like all of the remaining games for RU, will be tough to win. RU is in the bottom four of the Big Ten along with Northwestern, Penn State and Illinois. Northwestern is a quality team and has played a difficult opening conference schedule; they come to the RAC on Friday. Penn State and Illinois are both winless and possess below .500 records. 

     So there is a chance for RU to win some more games this season. I doubt that they will be favored in too many of those meetings. I like that Coach Steve Pikiell has gone to a zone defense. I was just so frustrated and I continue to be frustrated that RU is a bottom feeder in the Big Ten. Let that change already.

     On the women’s side, thankfully a judge in Alabama permitted Maori Davenport to play high school basketball. The Rutgers recruit scored 25 points in her season debut. She was supported by her future coach, C. Vivian Stringer and luminaries like Kobe Bryant and  the Alabama State Legislature. However, this is only a 10 day reprieve. The ASHAA has not responded to the motion, but the belief is that they will either appeal the decision or seek to nullify it. For now, common sense rules, and Maori can go back to doing what she loves.

     Her future college basketball team continues to become relevant in the Big Ten. RU picked up a pair of wins this past week. They are now 13-3,  the only unbeaten team in the Big Ten at 5-0. I expect that the team will return to the Top 25 when the updated poll is released.

     Checking in on other NJ schools, Monmouth is at 3-14, 2-2 in the MAAC. Some progress there. Rider, the unheralded school from Lawrenceville, is currently atop the MAAC with a 5-0 conference record. Princeton is alone in first place for now in early Ivy League play. The two teams with the best overall records, Brown and Yale, have yet to start their league campaigns. Seton Hall has been stumbling  a bit lately; they are 12-5 and 2-2 in the Big East. Villanova is a perfect 4-0 in conference and is 13-4, followed by Marquette at 3-1 and 14-3 in the highly competitive league. Surprising NJIT is now 13-4 and 1-1 in the American Sun Conference after a loss at North Alabama.

     F&M is currently in a 3 game slide, losing games to Washington, Muhlenberg and Ursinus, with two of the losses occurring within the friendly walls of Mayser Center. What is a rebuilding year is starting to show that F&M does not have the chemistry or the scorers to fend off hungrier teams. It is only 7 games into the Centennial Conference season; a lot can happen beginning with the next battle at Mc Daniel in Westminster, Maryland. The Green Terror owns a victory over the Diplomats, so maybe F&M can begin a streak of its own by avenging the loss.

     Alabama is losing players at a very fast rate, either to transfer or entry into the NFL. I foresee the Crimson Tide having a very nice season, maybe even making the Final Four again next year. But I believe they are a bit more vulnerable in the SEC in 2019.

     As for Clemson, dutifully celebrate your championship with doughnuts and cigars. Retaining it is going to be hard. Be like your coach—enjoy the moment and start to prepare for next year. Everybody will want a piece of the defending National Champions. 

     I liked the New York Jets’ choice of Adam Gase as the new Head Coach. While his record in Miami was below .500, his work as a developer of quarterbacks is greatly respected. No less an authority than Peyton Manning, who Gase coached in Denver when the Broncos won the Super Bowl, stumped for Gase as the Jets’ next HC. Note to GM Mike Maccagnan: get working to secure quality free agents and utilize your high draft picks to select impact players, ones who can accelerate the progress of the team on defense and conform to the talents of highly-prized QB Sam Darnold.

     The first two games of the second round of the NFL playoffs went to the teams who should have won. Kansas City asserted its superiority, shored up its defense, and halted the red hot Indianapolis Colts. Behind a solid offense line, the LA Rams punishingly ran over and around the Dallas Cowboys, ending the Dallas Cowboys playoff hopes.

     New England dismantled the Los Angeles Chargers. LA never stood a chance, down 35-7 at the half—tied for the most points the Patriots have scored in a half in the playoffs. The Chargers have lost the last 7 meetings with New England in Foxborough, and traveled from Baltimore, to the West Coast back to New England. They looked fatigued because that’s what they were. 

     The game of the weekend was in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The Saints overcame a 14-0 lead by the Philadelphia Eagles and won 20-14. It was hard-fought and contested into the last two minutes. There was no Nick Foles miracle this time. The NFL will have a new champion.

     Next Sunday we have the LA Rams traveling to New Orleans in the early game. The late contest pits the Patriots at the Chiefs in what likely will be a bitterly cold Arrowhead Stadium. The top two seeds meeting in the Conference Finals. The way it should be. The 7 day forecast for Springfield calls for significant snow. No better place to be than ensconced in front of my TV in my warm den. Hopefully the action will be as hot as the prognosticators are forecasting. 

     I did come away with some more respect for Chargers QB Philip Rivers. Two things struck me. He does not curse, but he is exceptionally animated on the field, whether he is challenging his teammates for poor play, chastising the officials or talking smack to his opponents. He has a fierce will to win. The talent he has ben given throughout his career just wasn’t enough to make it to the Super Bowl, let alone win it. He will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

     I confess that I did not see much of the Colts-Chiefs game except when my wife and I were with friends in a Chinese restaurant which we like in Bordentown, New Jersey. A second confession is that I love Chinese food as much as I love sports. 

     Not that I can eat Chinese food every day; the rice would upset my system too much. But given an option, Chinese is my go to choice. I ate Chinese every Wednesday that my father had off from his dentistry practice. Egg drop soup, chicken chow mein, roast pork egg foo young and white rice. Canned pineapple for dessert. I knew tons of Chinese restaurants n the Middlesex County area, which was a godsend to my father; he used to drive up the Garden State Parkway from Highland Park and take us to a Chinese restaurant in Union Center, or pick it up and race home so that it would still be hot. When he was in a really good mood, we would splurge on roast pork with Chinese vegetables.

     There were times when my ability to eat Chinese food was compromised. Lancaster, PA, Wilmington, DE and Washington, DC were not meccas for Chinese food when I was in college. I did have one date with a young woman from Beaver College where we ventured into Philadelphia’s Chinatown. Neither the date nor the meal were memorable. 

     When we took our family jaunts across the country, I learned that a surprising locale had great Chinese food. That place was Las Vegas. Whether it was downtown at the Mint or on the famed Las Vegas Strip, the Chinese food was excellent.

     My father disliked onions, yet he loved egg foo young. He used to call places that overused onion or celery, “Onion Palaces.” He hated to have Chinese food outside of the New York area except for Las Vegas. He did not like the meals he had in San Francisco’s renowned Chinatown. I have always felt that they were very good, but not exceptional.

     The one place I recall from my childhood to be the best of all places was Lum Fong’s in Manhattan. There were two—one in Chinatown, and one in Midtown. A trip to Lum Fong’s at 150 52nd Street was an event. Patrons arrived dressed up and the women were adorned in fur and smelled fantastic. The food was to die for.

     Lum Fong’s other location was on Canal Street. We went there occasionally, but my father  far preferred the 52nd Street restaurant. While I have been to other places in Chinatown with mixed results over the years, I still have a place in my heart for Lum Fong’s that survived its demise in the 1960’s.

     In my later college years, I had occasion to try other dishes of Chinese food. I was not restricted like my father. It helped me like Chinese cuisine even more. I will eat shrimp, chicken, fish, scallops, vegetarian, noodles and even beef, although I am never quite sure whether it is really beef.

     I learned about Szechuan and Mandarin Chinese cuisine. It even opened me up to Thai and Japanese food. While those ethnic foods are very tasty and offer an alternative to Chinese, they are only alternatives.

     While at the Public Defender’s Office in Elizabeth, my colleagues and I established a tradition of Friday Chinese. For the longest time, we went to a place on Morris Avenue in Elizabeth. I ordered egg drop soup and vegetable lo mein or chicken with mushrooms. We ventured to another site nearer to the office on Mondays, where I usually had chicken with mushrooms. Both places eventually closed, but they did not disappoint in the characters who would frequent them. One even survived an I.C.E. raid and the other an attack by the cook on an Elizabeth H.S. student. I went to another place around the corner from the office for years, but the ownership turned sour and I could no longer eat there. So I brought Chinese food from a take out place in Springfield to work on Fridays.

     The range of the discussions at these shops was unreal. I learned so much more about law and politics on the walks to the restaurants and the circuit we used to take on Fridays around the Westminister section of Elizabeth to digest our meal. One time we even saw Air Force One gracefully rising with President George W. Bush after take off from nearby Newark International Airport. I cherished those times.

     Locally, I have a number of go to places. When I became a bar mitzvah at age 42 (a long story for another time), we celebrated the day with a ’60’s throwback shindig at Hunan in Morris Plains. My surprise 60th birthday party was held at—Hunan. New Year’s Eve is a standard at the sister restaurant, Hunan Spring, in walking distance from our house. When our daughter lived in Pittsburgh, we had a place outside of the city that we regularly frequented. After she had emergency surgery, I brought Chinese food back to the hospital for us. I have a former colleague from the Bergen Region who introduced me to a wonderful place in Denville. The list goes on and on.

     My wife loves Chinese food almost as much as pizza. She has been instrumental in my quest for a fine Chinese meal. We have found that we don’t like Southern California Chinese cuisine—too much like what is in China and hardly tasty like American style Chinese food. Off the top of my head, we have had Chinese food in at least NY, NJ, CT, PA, CA, OR, ME. MA, NV, TX, FL, AZ, DE. I have had Chinese food in England and we ate it in South Africa.

     I think that you get the picture. Chinese food is my favorite cuisine. If it doesn’t snow on Saturday, we are scheduled to have Chinese food in Armonk, NY with my cousin and his wife who live in West Hartford, CT. It is place that I have found halfway between us and David Chan’s is fantastic. We have been doing this for a couple of years on Martin Luther King weekend.

     So, while pro football players play to win and many who competed this weekend will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame located in Canton, OH, I prefer Cantonese. To each his own, I guess. 

Winners And Losers

     I wasn’t going to write this week because I had my second calcium lavage on Friday. I have changed my mind, as I am feeling okay, not lifting heavy objects and there was a lot happening in the sports world. For once, I will be discussing only a few subjects.

     I went to the Rutgers-Maryland contest at the RAC on Saturday afternoon. Before a nearly sellout crowd, RU laid an egg. A big one at that. RU actually led until about 8:20 was left in the first half. By that time, the Terps were in the midst of a dominant 28-4 run which gave them an overwhelming 40-19 halftime advantage. RU simply did not have the fire power to contend with the more athletic Maryland team. Rutgers would take one shot and not garner the rebound. Maryland hit their three point shots and when fouled, converted most of their free throw attempts. The 14 point final margin was not indicative of how badly outplayed the Scarlet Knights were.

     Next up is number 14 Ohio State coming to Piscataway. I am expecting another blowout. After watching the game on Saturday and seeing how RU struggled with both Columbia and Maine, who are not even close to the level of the Big Ten competition, I actually believe that RU might not win a conference game this season. 

     There may be some young talent on the squad, but they do not seem to have the ability to score with regularity nor can they convert their free throws. So the obvious question is why is there such a disparity in talent between a team like Maryland and this Rutgers team?

     Maryland started three players recruited in-state. Rutgers did not start any home grown talent. I refuse to believe that the level of high school basketball in New Jersey is below that of Maryland. Rutgers needs to get kids to stay in New Jersey. I recognize that some of our best players are one and done like Kyrie Irving and Karl Anthony-Towns. 

     However, there must be other players who can attend RU from New Jersey or the New York metro area who want to play in front of friends and family. They could provide the breakthrough that Head Coach Steve Pikiell needs—the same as his football colleague Chris Ash. Get a couple of studs to play for you and there is a program turnaround. If Greg Schiano (now out of a job as the Ohio State defensive coordinator) could do it for Rutgers football, as did Tom Young who long ago secured major talent on the 1976 team, which made the Final Four, this kind of success can be replicated on the Banks of the Old Raritan.

     My problem is that I grow increasingly disheartened with the continued losing by the showcase RU teams. Only women’s basketball is showing signs of returning to prior form. Even the highly touted wrestling program is only making small strides, which, besides having two potential championship wrestlers, is not enough in a state where wrestling talent abounds.

     I have two more RU games—Nebraska, which was ranked and owns a home win against Seton Hall and Iowa who is ranked in the Top 20. The prospects of my seeing a winner is almost non-existent. 

     Coupled with the Jets’ failure to win a Super Bowl in 50 years, the Knicks not faring much better since 1973, the Nets not having won an NBA title and the Rangers, Devils and Islanders collectively not winning much since the days of Mark Messier, Martin Brodeur and Bryan trotter respectively, the New York-New Jersey area has become a baseball town, for that is where the successes are. And with that, the Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009 and the Mets haven’t won since 1986. At least the Mets made the World Series in 2015.

     It is hard being a fan in this area. But Rutgers doesn’t even contend for a chance to make the NIT in basketball or a low level bowl game in football. There is no apparent relief on the horizon. Which is why, during the game on Saturday, I thought about Corey Sanders, who was the star last season and who made a fateful decision to leave school. Undrafted, he lasted in the G League less than a month before being waived on November 1. With him, RU could have been respectable this season. All I had left was to cheer the returning letter winners who were acknowledged on the court at halftime, or to watch the Dance Team, who is nationally-ranked. No wonder I was actually thinking about not obtaining a partial package next season for men’s basketball. It has come to that for me.

     One more point worth discussing. Rutgers recruit Maori Davenport has been denied the ability to play her senior year of high school basketball by the Alabama High School Athletic Association and its Executive Director, Steve Savarese. The disqualification was based on an administrative error by USA Basketball which sent Maori a stipend of $897 for expenses incurred by her while playing under the auspices of USA Basketball. When informed of the error, Maori immediately returned the money. In comes Mr. Savarese, who is the sole power with any discretion within the AHSAA. He ruled Maori ineligible for taking money—akin to making her a professional and no longer an amateur. Despite all of the remedial efforts of Maori, USA Basketball and her high school in Troy, Alabama, Mr. Savarese stood fast in his decision. This is an outrage—a clerical error, not the fault of the child, and she is blamed for not knowing better, thereby losing her amateur status? Incredible. I refer you to ESPN college basketball analyst and practicing attorney Jay Bilas, who wrote an excellent article, well-researched and recounting his actual phone conversation with Mr. Savarese. His analysis is spot on. This is a travesty which hurts only the child.

     The NFL Wild Card round was entertaining. Indianapolis soundly defeated the Texans in Houston. Their defense throttled Deshawn Watson. Andrew Luck looked like his old self, fully back from the injuries which sidelined him for two seasons. There is a reason why the Colts have been on a 9-1 tear. While they are an underdog to Kansas City and they are a dome team playing outdoors in cold temperatures in K.C., Luck and his crew behind Coach Frank Reich will be formidable.

     Seattle and Chicago suffered losses due to the kicking game. The Seahawks kicker, Sebastian Janikowski hurt his hamstring at the end of the first half and the Australian punter would have been unreliable as a field goal or extra point kicker. This forced Russell Wilson and his crew to seek alternate ways to attempt to win the game. Ultimately, the kicker’s inability to  even make a reasonable attempt at an onside kick doomed Seattle.

     Chicago had a crueler fate. They tried Philadelphia by 1 point with 56 ticks left on the clock. Mitchell Trubinsky led the Bears down field and positioned the team for a game-winning field goal. Eagles head man Doug Peterson called for a timeout just prior to Cody Parkey, a former Eagle, kicking the ball through the uprights. Having to do it all over, Parkey hit the left upright with his kick, then the ball fell onto the crossbar but did not go over it, falling to the ground and dashing the Bears' chances. On Monday we learned that an Eagles lineman, Treyvon Hester, slightly tipped the ball just enough to alter its course. The fact that it was blocked maybe helps Parkey’s disconsolate psyche; it did not change the result.

     The LA Chargers-Baltimore Ravens game was a dud through most of the game. Until rookie Lamar Jackson awoke and rallied his team with just over 5 minutes to go. The Ravens had one last chance to make the comeback complete until Jackson had the ball stripped from his hands and recovered by the Chargers with 19 seconds left in the game. 

     Here are my predictions for the upcoming week—Dallas will not beat the Rams, nor will Philadelphia top the Saints, though the latter game is going to be much closer and who knows how much magic Eagles’ QB Nick Foles has left? In the AFC, KC should prevail over the Colts, even if the Colts are on fire. The Chargers win on the road, so I anticipate that they might upset Tom Brady and the Patriots in Foxborough; I am not overly impressed with this New England team.

     With regards to the referees dominating the game, it wasn’t the massive flag-throwing effort we saw a week ago. The men in the striped shorts were highly visible via the use of replay which substantiated or correctly overturned calls made on the field. The most bizarre was the catch made by the Bears’ WR Anthony Miller that was ruled incomplete. Eagles DB Cre’von LeBlanc managed to get Miller to lose the ball. The official ruled the pass incomplete and the official blew his whistle and waived his arms accordingly, then picked up the ball.

     The referee decided to look at the play on replay. The slow motion video showed Miller did indeed catch the ball, made a football move and then was stripped of the ball by LeBlanc.One would have thought that the play would have been overturned and the Bears would have maintained possession at the point Miller made the reception. Except that the rulebook states that the pass would be considered incomplete if the receiver did not get possession of the ball after the fumble. Chicago was left with a field goal instead of possibly going in for a touchdown. Imagine how that affected the result. 

     So what must transpire is the receiver and the defensive player must go after the ball whenever the official calls the pass incomplete. Replay can effectively decide that outcome instead of abiding by the rule in this kind of situation. Perhaps the Bears might have recovered the ball and they would have been in business. Like I said and the NBC team agreed, this was bizarre.

     Then there was the college football game for the National Championship between Alabama and Clemson—like it always seems to be. They met for the fourth time, third for the National Championship. A beautiful piece on the rivalry and history of these two schools was done by Ryan Mc Gee, a senior writer @ ESPN. It is available on ESPN.com and is worth reading, even after the game has concluded.

     In the first half, the pace was frantic. Clemson matched the intensity of Alabama, picked off two passes, the first interception having been returned for a score and the second one giving the Tigers fine field position on the way to another TD. Freshman Trevor Lawrence appeared to outplay the ballyhooed Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama, last year’s hero. While Tua did throw for two scores, he seemed to be almost normal—he was vulnerable to mistakes and didn’t read his coverage or anticipate and react to multiple looks the Clemson defense offered. The 31-16 halftime score represented the largest Crimson Tide deficit at the half under Nick Saban and the 31 points tied the most points a Saban-coached Alabama team has ever given up.

    The second half did not prove to be any better for Alabama. A former Georgia high school phenom, Lawrence found 8 different targets in shredding the Alabama secondary. For a 19 year old, he showed exceptional poise. Remember this aerial duo—Lawrence and Justyn Ross. Both are freshmen and both are going to be playing on Sundays in a few years. Two special athletes.

     The heightened effort of the Clemson defense smothered the Tide offense. There were a number of times that Alabama was in the red zone, only to come up empty due to heroic playmaking by the Tigers defense or bad decisions by Alabama, whether it be a fake field goal or poor execution on fourth down.

     Call it a beatdown, smackdown or whatever term suffices for a rout. Clemson annihilated Alabama. Pure and simple. The bigger question about this score is how will Alabama react next season? Will they lose their swagger and not even win the SEC? Did Clemson do more psychological damage than merely run up a big score on the Crimson Tide?

     The build up was greater than the result, at least in the eyes of the Crimson Tide fans. It exceeded expectations for the Tigers faithful. Clemson is your 2019 National Champions. No doubt about this one.