The First Weekend Of October

It’s the first weekend of October. The first of crispness of a fall night is paired with the splendor of the Waning Gibbous phase of the Harvest Moon shining its effervescent light over the countryside. The trees are starting to turn the beautiful hues that Autumn brings, even if the colors won’t be as splendid due to a lack of summertime rain. And what am I doing? I’m watching the NBA Finals, a spectacle normally held in June. 

While baseball is in its expanded  playoff mode, college football is being played in a few locales and high school football has started in New Jersey, there is an oddness yo the way sports is proceeding. The French Open is underway in chilly Paris, where the COVID outbreak is peaking again. Hockey finished its tournament, crowning the Tampa Bay Lightning as Stanley Cup champions. The Preakness, a fixture in the spring, is being run in the fall. 

What else but to expect the irregular in the new normal which suffices as the sports calendar. It’s been this way since March, so why stop now?

COVID-19 sure reminded us of its virulence. Most notably, the President contracted the coronavirus and was transported to Walter Reed for treatment. The President of the University of Notre Dame also was overtaken by the disease, probably at the Rose Garden ceremony to announce the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court vacancy as a result of the death of the iconic Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Considering his school had been dealing with a rash of positive COVID tests which included Notre Dame’s celebrated football team, his not wearing a mask was heresy.

Out of the blue, the Tennessee Titans were subdued by a rash of positive tests running through the players and support personnel. This led to the postponement of Sunday’s game versus Pittsburgh, and the tweaking of the NFL schedule in weeks 7 and 8 to permit the two teams to play. And it is not so certain that the Titans will be allowed back to their practice facility next week if the positive tests don’t abate. If the Titans are unable to suit up a squad, that has the potential to throw the NFL schedule into chaos. 

Speaking of chaos, it was disclosed on Saturday that New England QB Cam Newton has contracted the coronavirus and will be unable to play. He was having a great year with the Patriots and now not just his season is in jeopardy. I wish him and all those affected by COVID-19 a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, the NBA Finals have been dominated by  a show of force by the Los Angeles Lakers. Lebron James and Anthony Davis have been lethal in both scoring and defense. Their scoring is reminiscent of Shaquille O’Neal and Koby Bryant in their championship years. 

Miami is playing short-handed, having lost Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic to injuries. No matter how well Jimmy Butler plays, the Heat are over-matched. Kelly Olynyk, despite his 24 points in Game 2, is not going to offset Davis’ brilliance and determination. Rashon Rondo’s 16 points and 10 assists helped make the difference for the Lakers, who fired up 47 three point attempts, making 16. Imagine if LAL had made more of those attempts, It would have made an already lopsided game worse. 

I have enjoyed following Duncan Robinson of the Heat. Robinson started out at Williams College, where he led the Ephs to the DIII championship game while receiving DIII Rookie of the Year and Fourth Team All-American accolades. 

When Mike Maker, his head coach at Williams left to coach at Marist, Robinson was immediately contacted by a number of major college programs. Robinson wanted to play at a place which offered the academics that Williams could provide and was a winning program . He had gotten to know Nik Stauskus, who had played for John Beilein at Michigan. Through Maker, who had coached for Beilein at West Virginia, a contact was made and eventually a scholarship was offered and accepted. 

Robinson became a three-point shooting whiz at Michigan during his sophomore year, leading the Big Ten in three-point shooting percentage. Robinson was named the 2018 Big Ten Sixth Man and was part of the 2017-18 squad that lost to Villanova in the 2018 Championship game.

With Miami, Robinson has set or tied franchise records for three-point shots. He even participated in the All-Star weekend Three-Point Contest. 

Watching Robinson in the Finals made me think of a number of things. First, he is one of the best DIII players ever to play in the NBA. There he was, guarding Lebron James, arguably one of the two or three greatest players in the NBA’s rich history—a far cry from playing against Southern Vermont. 

It was clear that Robinson was forcing or rushing his shots, probably from nerves participating in the Finals and the Heat being an underdog to the Lakers. He is cumulatively 2-10 thus far, a far cry from his usual percentages.Plus, his defense is not very spectacular and looks to be a bit of a liability for Miami. Despite his dismal shooting and defensive awkwardness, ABC analyst and former Knicks and Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy praised Robinson on how he has developed as a passer. 

My final thought on Robinson is this—he will most likely be the only person to have played in the DIII and DI Men’s Championships and the NBA Finals. Quite an accomplishment. Even if he is likely to be the only player to ever lose all three. 

Turning to baseball, this is a rarity in itself. The 8 remaining teams have all played each other in this year’s bubble. The Rays and Yankees come from the AL East; Houston and Oakland are out of the AL West; the Marlins and Braves are NL East foes; and the Dodgers and Padres are the top two teams in the NL West. So, unlike the opening round where there were all first time matchups, there will be great familiarity among the participants. 

What was abundantly clear was that the AL Central (3 teams ) and the NL Central (4 teams) were the weakest divisions. The only other team to lose in the first round was the Blue Jays, who I thought played the Rays tough down in St. Pete for the two games they met.

So who are the surprises to reach the second round? Start with Miami. Described as “Bottom Feeders” by NBC Sports Philadelphia on-air personality and former Phillies pitcher Ricky Bottalico, the Marlins have used that as a rallying cry for the season. Having survived COVID, the team that played the Yankees on the last weekend of the regular season looked pretty good to me. Under the tutelage of manager Don Mattingly, this young group showed confidence and maturity in taking down a Chicago Cubs team which is sure to be dismantled with so many top-heavy salaries and so little to show for it. 

The Braves pitching completely shut down the Cincinnati Reds offense for 22 innings. A series with Miami will be very interesting.

San Diego and Oakland both showed some grit after losing the first game of the three game series. For the Padres, they get the Dodgers, who they have no fear of. Oakland plays Houston, which dispatched the Minnesota Twins in two game, extending the Twins post-season futility to 18 straight losses.

Which leaves the enigmatic New York Yankees. Floundering through a forgettable season, marred by injuries and shoddy defense, the Yankees won Game 1 in Cleveland by bashing probable AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber in a 12-3 win, then, in the longest 9 inning game ever played, winning a come-from-behind victory in a 10-9 thriller. 

The Yankees bats awoke for those two games. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez slugged homers. AL batting champ D.J. LeMahieu continued to hit, as did Gio Urshela. In Cleveland, the Yankees looked like the team they were projected to be. 

However, they draw the Rays. The heated history between these teams has been well-chronicled. New York went 2-8 this year in the season series with Tampa. From the team fans worried about as they entered the post-season to the brash, confident team which vanquished the Indians, which Yankees team will show up in San Diego to meet the Rays? This may be the most anticipated second round meeting from the media’s viewpoint. Let’s see how it plays out. 

Reverting to the NFL, the Jets and Giants are just bad teams. The Jets were embarrassed by a third-string QB on Thursday night when Denver won at Met Life Stadium. I realize that Sam Darnold is still young and inexperienced, having played only 30 NFL games. He is saddled with a horrible offensive line and mediocre receivers. With Le‘Veon Bell out, the running game is non-existent with 37 year old Frank Gore not able to make up for the ineptitude of the O-line. And it is that O-line which repeatedly causes dilemmas for Darnold, forcing him to get rid of the ball prematurely or take numerous hits and sacks. One of those sacks led to a sprained A/C joint which, while he admirably played in pain on Thursday, may limit him for the remainder of the season. 

I saw how angry Adam Gase was with his team’s performance. The offense underperformed and the defense made undrafted Brett Rypien look like a pretty good NFL QB (maybe). Pierre Desir may have intercepted Rypien and returned the pick for a TD, but he was repeatedly targeted and burned by the Broncos.

No matter the injuries and the excuses, the Jets are horrible. Coming off the longer layoff, they draw Arizona at home. With 5 more divisional games and three West Coast games ahead, it is difficult to see a win for Gang Green. And the more I watch, the more sympathetic I am for Gase, who is on the hot seat. Is this train-wreck really his fault?

The Giants are in LA to meet the Rams. I was thinking about a score. How does 52-9 sound? While the Jets seemingly have no chance. Daniel Jones does lead his team to near-victory—see the Chicago Bears game when the Giants had a chance at the end. Besides, the NFC East has the worst record for a division in the NFL. Which means that the Giants might have a shot to win against the hapless Eagles, Cowboys and the Washington Football Team.  

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes II demolished the Ravens in Baltimore. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson called KC their “kryptonite.”Whatever way you describe them, the Chiefs are fun to watch. They draw New England in a game which has lost a lot of its luster with the loss of Newton as the Pats’ QB. 

A tip of the hat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in winning the Stanley Cup. They were deserving of this honor, defeating a very good Dallas team. Having secured the second seed, the Lightning played like one of the top teams. I felt good for them. 

Now I have an absence in my routine as hockey season is no more. By early next week, pro basketball will be finished. If the Yankees fail versus the Rays, baseball will effectively be done for me. Pro football—see above as to why the Jets season is over. 

Finally, with the death of the great Cardinals’ right-hander Bob Gibson, a grim statistic seemed to arise in my mind. Seventy-four former MLB players have passed in 2020. Too many for me to stomach. Many of them were names known for their greatness—Seaver, Kaline, Brock—or their meaning to the game—Don Larsen, Jay Johnstone, Tony Fernandez, Bob Watson, Glenn Beckert, Lou Johnson and Tony Taylor to cite just a few. So sad.

All this in the first weekend of October.