That Was A Lot To Write About

Nathan Eovaldi. Nathan Eovaldi. I know his name. You know his name. Red Sox fans certainly know his name. Astros fans have recent memory, so they remember it too. Yankees and Marlins fans might remember how to spell it correctly, even if their memory is a bit more distant. Dodgers fans saw him briefly in 2011—that was 11 years ago—so their memory lapse regarding the spelling of his name might be forgiven.

As to me, I committed the cardinal sin of writing on a Mac. I spelled Nathan Eovaldi’s name incorrectly. The laptop never forgot this. Every time I try to use his name in a blog, spell check rears its ugly memory and makes me look like an idiot. Which happened in last week’s edition. 

E-O-V-A-L-D-I. Let me repeat it once more: E-O-V-A-L-D-I. I am at war with spell check. Even if I had a chalk board and wrote his name correctly 100 times, I cannot trust that it will turn out right in this week’s blog. 

So, my faithful readers, please accept my apologies for last week’s misspelling. In case spell check does it again, please accept my apologies in advance. 

When I left off with the A.L.C.S. and N.LC.S., winners hadn’t been finalized. Now they have, and we have gone through Game 2 in Houston, with the Astros and Braves tied at 1-1.

Viewership on FOX is up double digits. Quite frankly, I don’t know why. The Braves are no longer “America’s Team” when their telecasts were a staple of the infancy of WTBS, Ted Turner’s national cable station. 

Perhaps it is the Astros whose magnetism is drawing viewers. Viewers, for the most part, who haven’t forgiven the team and its unpunished players for the cheating they did to win a world title. 

What I can say is that the lineups are worthy of being in a World Series. Up and down the starting nines for each team and there are not many weak links. Martin Maldonado, the Houston catcher, isn’t hitting, but his defense and handling of pitchers is superb and makes up for his offensive woes. His Atlanta counterpart, Travis D’Arnaud, is hitting much better than Maldonado, contributing to an already powerful group. Dansby Swanson, the Atlanta shortstop, bats at the bottom of the Braves lineup and he slugged 27 home runs this season.

Of course, there is Jose Altuve. As goes Altuve, so goes the Astros. Which he proved on Wednesday night with another post-season home run. Altuve has bashed 22 homers and has driven in 48 runs in the post-season. Altuve is tied for second place all-time with former Yankees great Bernie Williams. The leader is Manny Ramirez, who slugged 29 dingers in his post-season career. 

The pitching is the weakness for both squads. Charlie Morton was the top pitcher for the Braves and he started Game 1. Unfortunately, as Morton was sailing along in the Series opener, a comeback grounder struck his leg. While Morton remained in to pitch for a little bit more, he was removed and is out with a leg fracture. 

The Atlanta bullpen rose to the occasion, shutting down the potent Houston bats. And even if he was tagged early, starter Max Fried pitched deeper into Game 2, thereby saving a bullpen which will be taxed to the limit should this Series go the full seven games. 

On the other side, Houston’s bullpen is underrated. The starting pitching for the Astros is suspect without such stalwarts as Justin Verlander and Lance Mc Cullers on the mound. Thus, like the Braves, the Astros will have to match the Braves bullpen and whichever team hits just a little bit better will win the Series. 

Some trivia. It took Atlanta’s Jose Soler three pitches to enter the record book. Soler became the first person in World Series history to begin a World Series with a home run. Hard to believe.

When Fried faced Astros 3B Alex Bergman, it was the first time that two Jewish players who attained bar mitzvah faced each other in the World Series. Mazel tov, guys. 

Rumor has it that 1B Anthony Rizzo, the mid-season acquisition from the Cubs, would like to remain with the Yankees. That is the word to the newspapers from his NJ relatives. 

Rizzo is a star. He can hit for an average, hit in big situations and he is a Gold Glove-caliber fielder. The short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium is to his liking. As is the composition of the team—one that could be close to making it to a World Series with the right moves in the off season. That is why he left Chicago—he didn’t see the Cubs contending anytime soon. 

Moreover, his personality is infectious. It is apparent in the dugout. Plus word is that he and Aaron Judge became close, and the Yankees know that Judge is the heart and soul of the team going forward, so it might behoove GM Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner to think about giving the 31 year old some of that Yankees cash leftover after they splurge on a long term deal for Judge.

Except where does another long-term signee, DJ. Le Mahieu fit in the Yankees lineup? If Rizzo is anchored at first, that means that there are three players to fill three spots—2B, SS and 3B. Which is a major dilemma.

First, New York must figure out how it will proceed with shortstop. Do they go and sign a free agent to a lucrative deal? Or sign a one year deal with a less pricey player? Or stay with Urshela at short and put Le Mahieu at third, waiting for super prospect Anthony Volpe to be ready to play in 2023?

These are hard decisions for the Yankees. Trading Urshela or Gleyber Torres could come back to haunt the team. And who knows if Le Mahieu will recover nicely from his sports hernia surgery and regain his batting crown hitting, or if he will become a very average player for the remainder of his Yankees tenure? 

It was nice having the weekend off from watching the Jets two weeks ago. Unfortunately, they returned to play and were shellacked by the not-so-good New England Patriots. Compounding the already miserable day was the injury to rookie QB Zack Wilson. 

Wilson suffered a PCL sprain, which is estimated to keep him out for 2 to 4 weeks. Journeyman Mike White took over in Wilson’s absence and immediately led the team to a TD, but little else positive happened. White’s stats were good; the team’s weren’t. 

White, who played at USF, then at Western Kentucky, was a 5th round pick of the Cowboys. He is in his 4th season in the NFL, but Sunday was his first real game experience. 

This makes White a veteran in the league, with rookie experience. That isn’t very good, with the Cincinnati Bengals and QB Joe Burrows coming to town for Halloween. Cincy went out and whomped a very good Baltimore team on the road last Sunday. If they playoffs started today, the Bengals would be the top seed in the AFC. 

Somehow, I don’t think the Jets will be making much of a game on Sunday. Then again, could lighting strike with Mike White like it did so many years ago when an unheralded Tom Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in New England and Brady went on to rewrite the record books? It will certainly be Trick or Treat at Met Life Stadium this Sunday. 

A few NFL games I watched interested me. In a monsoon in Northern California, the Colts profited from too many mistakes by the 49’ers and won 30-18. QB Jimmy Garropolo, once the heir apparent to Brady in New England, is a having a rough go without his top receiver, TE George Kittle. To the naysayers, I know the Niners are in a very combative NFC West where the Rams and Cardinals are quite good. San Francisco is not out of the playoffs quite yet, if the team can get healthy; at a minimum, they can cause grief for LAR and ARI.

On Monday night, Saints QB Jameis Winston played just enough better than former Jets and Giants QB Geno Smith, surviving a close game by a final score of 13-10. Another two teams destined to not make the playoffs. 

Much more entertaining was watching the Manning brothers alternative broadcast on ESPN 2. I missed parts of the second and third quarters due to our family’s inane fascination with Below Deck on Bravo. I saw the entirety of their interplay with women’s basketball legend Sue Bird, a Pacific Northwest resident who reminded Eli that as a youngster on Long Island, she once rooted for the Giants and the Mets, along with a fourth quarter of laughter and high class analysis with former Saints QB Drew Brees, now at NBC. 

I missed the exchanges with Tom Brady—Peyton told Tom he hated his games versus New England, while Eli chirped in how much he like to play against Tom, referring to his two Super Bowl wins and the end of the Pats’ 2007 undefeated season. I also liked the mocking tribute to Eli having his number retired at his alma mater, the University of Mississippi, which decorated each end zone in red with white letters spelling MANNING. 

The Mannings are must see TV for the football aficionado. I wish my family would go to On Demand, for Below Deck but that isn’t gonna happen, so I’m stuck watching the Mannings as I can. 

Then there was the thriller in the Arizona desert on Thursday night. Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers came in and halted the unbeaten status of Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. Despite a depleted receiving corps, Rodgers repeatedly executed his magic. 

One throw for a TD was particularly Rodgers-esque.  He looks left, following one receiver, then suddenly pivoted and fired a dart to another for the score. 

The guy may be cocky and aloof. He may be arrogant and misunderstood and even under appreciated. What this man, who scored 1310 on his SAT’s and is a self-professed geek and was highly under recruited before a year at junior college and then two record-shattering years at Cal, is this—Aaron Rodgers is driven to excel and he will tolerate no fools along the way to Canton, Ohio and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

With all that happened, Arizona had a last minute drive which began after a goal line stand that took them to scoring territory. Cardinals’ Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury, an offensive genius, made a call for Murray to throw to the left side of the end zone. 

QB Murray checked off of that call at the line of scrimmage. He wanted to go to WR A.J. Green in the right corner of the end zone. Except that there was a miscommunication on the fade throw—Green never turned around  and the ball was picked off. End of comeback and chance for the undefeated season to continue. 

I thought there was pass interference. No one made mention that the DB had a two handed hold of Green’s jersey. I think the officials swallowed their whistles. 

I hope these two meet again in the playoffs. Even thought the Cardinals lost all-pro defensive lineman J.J. Watt for the season, they still are a very fine defensive team. And Murray might be on the same page with Green the next time around. 

A couple of more things to discuss. The NHL is taking appropriate action in the aftermath of a long overdue investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse of a player by a Chicago Blackhawks assistant coach. The current GM, other staff and the head coach then, who was the head man of an unbeaten team in Florida, have either resigned or been fired. It’s late, but it is better than never. 

The Knicks are on a roll in the early season. First, the Knicks finally ended a 15 game losing streak to the Sixers with a win over their nemesis at MSG. Then they took the show on the road and handed the upstart Chicago Bulls their first defeat of the season. 

Last season, the Knicks were a surprise. This season, they are a revelation. Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto—teams which were at or near the top in the Eastern Conference—are  starting out slowly. Washington and Miami are getting off to better starts. 

In the West, the Lakers blew a 26 point lead and lost at Oklahoma City without an injured Lebron James and a still lost in space Russell Westbrook. Memphis knocked off the Warriors in OT. Minnesota is looking good under head man, Chris Finch, F&M ’92. LAC is struggling without Kawhi Leonard. 

One thing for sure—there is a lot of basketball left. With or without Kyrie Irving or Ben Simmons playing. 

As usual, I did it in for two teams. I lauded Dartmouth and Harvard in the Ivy League football chase. Both lost—now 5-1 Columbia shut out the Big Green on Friday night. Then Princeton downed Harvard in 5 OT. Harvard had two game-winning passes in the third OT wiped off the board. 

Finally, I end with this. Illinois stunned Penn State at University Park, winning in 9 OT. That’s an absurd way of deciding a game. 

For once, the NFL has it right with one 10 minute OT and each team has the opportunity to possess the ball. The exception is if the first to possess scores a TD on the opening possession. Then it becomes a sudden death outcome and the game ends. Or if nobody score in the 10 minute period, the game is a tie. These are the pros, and if it is good enough for them to conclude a contest tied at the end of regulation, it certainly must be good enough for college games.

That was a lot to write about. Enjoy. 

Leading Up To My Birthday

Plenty to write about as I speed towards my 71st birthday on Monday. By time I am of a new age, the opponents in the World Series will be determined, the Jets and Giants may have lost again, the Golden State Warriors might be 3-0 and Rutgers will not have lost a football game—it is their bye week. 

Opening with the baseball playoffs, Atlanta and Houston return home to close out their respective series. Which might not be so easy. The Dodgers and Red Sox have been worthy foes. 

In the NLCS, the Atlanta bats have hit the vaunted Dodgers pitching fairly hard. Not that I feel sorry for Los Angeles. LAD awoke form its slumberi on Thursday night to thrash the Braves behind a 3 homer, 6 R.B.I. night from Chris Taylor, a hero in the NLDS. He became the first player ever to strike 3 home runs when his team faced elimination. Taylor is invaluable; he can play multiple positions; on Thursday night, he was slotted in at third base to spell an ailing Justin Turner. AJ Pollock added two homers in the 11-2 rout, a game which was another successful bullpen game for LAD, despite losing reliever Joe Kelly to a biceps strain after surrendering a two run shot to Freddie Freeman in the first inning. 

I have seen articles declaring this to be a momentum shift to the Dodgers. That remains to be seen. LAD is set to pitch its aces, Max Scherzer and Walker Buehler in Games 6 and 7. Atlanta counters with Ian Anderson in Game 6, with veteran Charlie Morton pitching the next night, if necessary.  

Have the Dodgers bats awakened? Can Taylor, Pollock, Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts and company defy the long odds so as to not see the epic 106 win season go down in flames? Or are the Braves the team of destiny this year, despite losing two top players from their powerful lineup and finally vanquish the hated Dodgers? Will Jac Pederson’s pearls bring him more luck versus his old team? Good story lines for late October games. 

Houston has acted like the superior team in their battle with Boston. Clutch hitting, especially by second baseman Jose Altuve, who my wife still holds responsible and unpunished for his role in the sign stealing episode, along with strong pitching, has allowed the Astros to be on the brink of returning to the World Series. 

Boston will start Nathan Eaovaldi in Game 6. Eaovaldi’s last outing, coming into close out Game 4, didn’t end top well. With the umpire blowing a called strike three, the at bat turned into a disaster and ultimately led to a big ninth inning for Houston, taking victory from the Sox and placing the Astros on the precipice of winning the series. Eaovalid is the last hope for Boston. I just cannot see him shutting down the Astros.

Sticking with baseball, the Yankees have rehired Aaron Boone while jettisoning three coaches and a fourth has left the staff. There are a lot of fans who disagree with this move. With all that happened in 2021 regarding injuries, COVID and some classic underperforming, the Yankees were remarkable in winning as many games as they did. 

Is Boone as good a manager as Joe Torre? No. Then again, Torre had a better team to manage. Torre didn’t have to deal with a pandemic and the amount of injuries that accumulated in 2021. And Boone’s decision-making at times was as brilliant as it was bad.

Boone has the trust of his players. They went to bat for him, telling management how they like him. Now it is time for management to replace the broken parts in the coaching staff and on the field. A lot is going to happen between now and the start of Spring Training. Hopefully it will make this team store enough to contend with the teams in its own division—Tampa, Toronto and Boston are all strong competitors. This story line has just begun to unfold. 

Let’s also discuss the strike zones for the playoffs. The ball and strike calls have been so fundamentally wrong at times that they have directly impacted on the outcome of games. Clear balls are called strikes and strikes, especially two strike calls which are in the corner or even in the heart of the strike zone are called balls. 

I know that this dichotomy has been forever. It is magnified by the strike zone projected onto the screen. Viewers at home get to see the errors which the umpires make. 

Yes, I know they are human and humans make mistakes. But when it is on the verge of an epidemic and the calls greatly influence the action, then further review of the system must be undertaken. I don’t know what the end result will be. What is happening now is unacceptable. 

Next up is hockey. I have actually watched a couple of Devils games. The team was far improved in their home wins over Chicago and Seattle. Losing former top draft choice Jack Hughes to a separated shoulder is a very bad blow for the team. Which showed in their performance against Washington, an elite team.

As for the Kraken, they are a gritty bunch. I don’t think they will be as successful as the Vegas Golden Knights were in their inaugural season. But they won’t be as inept as the Capitals and Islanders were in their first year. 

What Seattle has is a state-of-the-art arena. The refurbished Key Arena, now called the Climate Pledge Arena, is as eco-friendly a building as can be found in professional sports. I watched a video narrated by ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, which was an explanatory guided tour of the repurposed building.  Take a peek at her tour—it is amazing what the architects have done to welcome the NHL to the Pacific Northwest. 

A little bit of NFL is next. I found two games of interest to me this past weekend. Dallas played at New England. Dak Prescott is spectacular at QB for the Cowboys. The team seems to be a legitimate NFC championship-caliber group. 

Meanwhile, New England has a bright future with Mac Jones at the helm. Even with the Jets coming off of a bye week, the Patriots remain clear favorites to prevail in the rematch in Foxborough. 

I watched Monday night’s Buffalo-Tennessee contest with greater interest. If Buffalo had won and the cumulative point total was 50, my daughter and I would have won the weekly FOX News pool.

Alas, going on fourth and short in the waning minutes didn’t work out for the Bills. Tennessee hung on to win the game. QB Ryan Tannehill was good enough to win the game for the Titans, who, with the win, interjected themselves back into the AFC playoff picture. And Derrick Henry, the NFL’s leading rusher is still a beast as well as a legitimate M.V.P. candidate.

That stay on the periphery of playoff contenders might take a hit this weekend when Patrick Mahomes II and the Kansas City Chiefs visit Nissan Stadium. This version of the Chiefs is at 3-3, and Mahomes has uncharacteristically thrown 8 interceptions thus far, second only to the Jets’ Zach Wilson, who leads the NFL with 9 INT. Still, the smart money is on KC, as the Titans are too inconsistent right now—remember, this team put up a clunker a couple of weeks ago in the Meadowlands in an OT loss to the Jets.

Moving on to college football, Rutgers fans can rejoice. After last week’s debacle in Evanston, Illinois resulting in a 21-7 loss to Northwestern, there is no game this week. The calls for Offensive Coordinator Sean Gleeson’s head have intensified. 

Remember this, RU faithful. The O-line is depleted and includes walk-ons. Speedy WR-KR Aron Cruickshank is sidelined. Thus, the offense is limited. Will Greg Schiano listen to the objectors and replace Noah Vedral with freshman Gavin Winsett? Or will the team hope to improve despite the offensive woes?  Illinois on the road is the next opponent. 

For D III enthusiasts, the Centennial Conference leaderboard is now jumbled after Muhlenberg downed previously-unbeaten Johns Hopkins last Friday night in Allentown. Susquehanna is the lone unbeaten CC team. The trio of Muhlenberg, Susquehanna and Hopkins are ranked 18, 19 and 20 in the latest D3 Football Top 25.  Susquehanna obviously has to play the other two title contenders, hosting Hopkins on October 30 and traveling to Muhlenberg on November 6. After that, there could be clarity in the standings or a three-way tie. Saturday, Muhlenberg hosts lowly Juniata, a school which F&M roared back in the second half to down 41-13, The Eagles were previously clobbered by Hopkins 77-0. Muhlenberg wins by at least 60 points?

In the NESCAC, the trio of Trinity, Wesleyan and Williams are all 5-0. The team that might decide the NESCAC title winner could be 3-2 Amherst, which plays all three in consecutive weeks. Those three weeks might be fun as the leaves have turned past peak and cold settles into the region as a harbinger of Winter. 

Finally, a note on the rankings. The top 14 teams teams seemingly year after year have high rankings, with the possible exception of Union. At numbers 16 and 17 are Cortland and Ithaca, both 6-0. Union stands in the way of Ithaca, playing the Bombers on the turf in Ithaca. Cortland has an easier schedule to their date with Ithaca in the regular season finale on November 13. Too bad this game isn’t next season, when it would be played at Yankee Stadium.

I took a peak at the current FCS poll. The athlonspots.com Top 25 included two of the three unbeaten in the Ivy League. Dartmouth sits at #19 and Princeton is #25. Harvard is unranked. The FCS Coaches Poll has Harvard at #16, Princeton at #17 and Dartmouth is unranked. It is hard to judge the ivies at any time because their interplay with other schools is limited. Yale, 2-3 has lost to Dartmouth by 7 and came close to UConn, a low DI program, losing 21-15 in East Hartford. Meanwhile, Dartmouth has beaten UNH, a past FCS powerhouse. 

Like the CC and NESCAC, this all will be sorted out, beginning with Harvard at Princeton on October 23. After a Friday night trip to play at Cornell, the Tigers travel to Hanover to take on Dartmouth and end the season hosting Yale and traveling to Penn. Dartmouth heads to Cambridge on October 30, with Harvard playing at Columbia, home against Penn and at Yale, while the Big Green has the Harvard/Princeton gauntlet before easier game with Brown and Cornell. 

My infatuation with Ivy League football began with my reading the Sunday New York Times sports section as a boy. I have seen Ivy League teams at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, old Palmer Stadium at Princeton, the Yale Bowl and I drove by Harvard playing Brown in Providence one day many years ago. I have also seen Columbia play at Rutgers in the 1960’s, and attended games involving Harvard and Penn against Lafayette. I have watched telecasts of Ivy League games; I listened to Rutgers seemingly always losing to Princeton except in the Centennial game at Rutgers Stadium, televised in Lancaster, where I was in 1969. 

That kind of exposure to Ivy League football makes me kind of a non-Ivy grad geek. But probably no more than my interest in so many other conferences in the FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III. Seeing three undefeated teams at the end of October is always thrilling—whether it is in the Ivies, or its little brother, the NESCAC. 

Speaking of conferences, the American Athletic Conference, in light of the poaching by the Big 12 when Cincinnati, UCF and Houston defected, along with the 2019 departure of UConn have accepted FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB to make the AAC viable. Not earth-shattering news. What is more important is that Memphis and UAB can once more battle on the gridiron for “a trophy styled after a giant rack of ribs.” Now that is the real deal.

I will conclude with the NBA. Steph Curry collected a triple-double over the Lakers on opening night. He scored 45 points on Thursday to open the home slate with a win over the Clippers. He was perfect in the first half, collecting 28 points. He is so much fun to watch, It is scary that Reggie Miller, a Knicks killer while with the Indiana Pacers and now a TNT broadcaster, says that Curry’s best days are ahead of him. Are you kidding me? Wow.

The Lakers look lost. There seems to be a lack of chemistry that will integrate Russell Westbrook into the offense. Until Coach Frank Vogel changes the rotations and finds a place for Westbrook to play his own game, Westbrook will remain deferential to Lebron James and Anthony Davis and even Carmelo Anthony. Which spells trouble for the aging Lakers, who sport the NBA’s version of an old age respite. 

The Ben Simmons saga continue in Philly. He has been sullen, sulking, insubordinate. Now he is not mentally ready to play. He is daring management to get rid of him. Charles Barkley, who has a ton of experience with Sixers fans, says Simmons must go. True. Daryl Morey, who wields the power, will hold out for the best deal he can leverage. Except he has very little leverage. And that is lessening by the day. Anybody on board for a Simmons for Kyrie Irving swap?

The NBA 75th Anniversary team was announced in its entirety on Thursday night. To no one’s surprise, there were some disagreements about who should have made the team. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was upset that his guys Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were omitted. Others were miffed that Manu Ginobli and Pau Gasol were left off. How about Bernard King of the Knicks and Wizards? Big Bob Lanier, the giant who patrolled the paint in the 1960[s and 70’s? 

There are probably more names I could think of if I spent more time on the subject. For me, the names that I thought were not necessarily in the Top 75 were Damien Lillard and Anthony Davis. If there was a Top 100, then perhaps they make it. Remember this is a beauty contest with tremendous subjectivity where older and younger minds don’t necessarily agree. This debate will continue because too many people feel aggrieved. Oh well.

Such is the state of sports leading up to my birthday.

In The Middle Innings

So little excitement in the sports world. Pre-season basketball. The NHL has resumed regular season play, with the gems now nationally televised on ESPN and TNT. The NFL chugs along with its season, the Jets and Giants remaining as one win teams. The vaunted Alabama program took a big hit last Saturday night, when Texas A&M corralled the Tide. And MLB has reached the ALCS and NLCS.

Leave it to Jon Gruden, now the ex-Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, to become embroiled in controversy which cost him his job. Somehow, emails were obtained from 10 years ago, when Gruden was an analyst for ESPN on its Monday Night Football program. They were directed towards the head of the NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith. 

Those emails weren’t pretty. They were racist and nasty. They were out of line. At any time.

There were those who came to Gruden’s defense, arguing how non-racist he was. We’ve seen, in the past few years, all sorts of illogical, pretzel-twisting defenses for the inane and rude arguments of others. So that kind of character defense could have been expected. 

Then there were the homophobic emails which emerged later in the week. What was unacceptable at first became a pattern of intolerance by Gruden which left no safe haven for him. 

I have never liked Jon Gruden. I thought he was arrogant and cocky. He made Bill Belichick likable, and Bill is as much a curmudgeon as can be. The constant smirk on Gruden’s face showed an arrogance for others, and I didn’t ever feel sincerity originating from him.

Sure, it can be argued that he’s a football coach and football coaches know only one thing—football. That is so wrong, because a football coach is a manager of men, and while he is determined t make them a team, teams are the composite of many identities deciding to work for the common whole. 

It was once thought that to make a team function as a unit, individual egos must, many times, be suppressed for the good of all. Except that anachronistic view has changed in the past few years. Players have their own identities and backgrounds. 

A smart coach knows how to navigate each of these individuals and to earn their trust. A smart coach knows when to talk and when not to talk. 

To me, Jon Gruden was not a smart coach. For all of his supposed expertise in X’s and O’s, he was a failure in dealing with others who disagreed with his vision of the world. His omnipotence was his everything, and it was his undoing. 

Racial sensitivity isn’t born of the politics of now. It didn’t come about from the George Floyd murder. 

No, racial sensitivity started with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s—before Gruden’s time. Jon Gruden was born in 1963, to a father who was a football lifer. Which became his life and was evidently devoid of the teachings of culture and sensitivity in high school in South Bend, Indiana (his father worked for Dan Devine, then the head coach at Notre Dame) or in college first at Muskingum College then at the University of Dayton where he was a seldom-used back QB. 

The apologists say he did nothing wrong. Nothing wrong? Tell that to the communities he betrayed. 

How could he retain his credibility under these circumstances? How could any young man place his faith and trust in a man who has demonstrated an ability to be nasty and anti-social in all of the wrong ways? 

His behavior in the 10 years since the unearthing of the emails in the investigation of sexually inappropriate behavior inside of the Washington Football Team does not matter. I don’t care one iota about his “rehabilitation” since then. More than likely, there are plenty of other misguided emails in a whole host of other locales which would confirm who Jon Gruden really is.

Whether he resigned or was fired does not matter. The fact that Jon Gruden and his snarky demeanor and private thoughts of insensitivity and arrogance are gone from the NFL is what matters. Intolerance is way more important than protecting a football coach of some renown. I only hope, for Gruden’s sake, that he learns from this humbling experience and shows the world by his actions that he has really changed.  

As I alluded, these emails came from the investigation into the horrific culture within the Washington Football Team. In that instance, owner Daniel Snyder was given a slap on the wrist. He was suspended, his wife ran the team and the NFL fined WFT.

Unlike in other instances, most notably when Carolina owner Jerry Richardson was summarily removed as owner of the Carolina Panthers for his unseemly behavior or when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver removed Donald Sterling of the Clippers for his sexual misdeeds amidst a revolt of the NBA players, accountability seems to be nil.

At least in the Richardson probe, there was a written report. Nothing like that in the WFT investigation. Given the fact that these emails about Gruden surfaced in the 650,000 emails reviewed, and given the fact that the WFT is still in turmoil as the F.B.I. raided the team’s Virginia facility and the head athletic trainer is now on leave, it is imperative that another, more microscopic examination of the team must be conducted concurrently by the NFL. 

DeMaurice Smith isn’t just posturing when he asked for release of the emails to the public. What other ticking time bombs are secreted within the obviously sordid culture within the WFT franchise, its ownership and its personnel? 

This kind of institutional malaise makes the New England Patriots look squeaky clean in comparison. And they’re not. One hopes, for the moral integrity of the NFL or, for that matter, professional sports, that there aren’t more of these smoking guns. 

Speaking of bad teams, the Houston Astros entertain the surprising Boston Red Sox in the A.L.C.S. This is Houston’s fifth straight appearance, making them one of three teams to accomplish that feat. But, as we all know, the Astros are the most tainted team in baseball after the whole sign-stealing misadventure which led to the manager and genera manager getting fired, Carlos Beltran losing his chance to manage the Mets and the Red Sox removing Alex Cora as manager for a year. 

Well, Cora is back as the Boston skipper and in an instance of baseball irony, he leads his team against his former team. He was the alleged architect of the scheme, and for his penance, he has a chance to defeat the players he once coached and lead his Boston club into a World Series matchup with either the Dodgers or Braves. 

I’ve read and heard the stories about the abuse heaped upon the Astros players since the scandal broke. How Cora felt the hurt of his former team. 

Well, they brought it upon themselves. They deserve the scorn that each one received for participating in such inappropriate behavior. 

I saw one headline calling this series “An Awkward ALCS.” The blame goes to MLB for not further punishing the Astros players. Or those in management. Like Alex Cora. Carlos Beltran is paying a greater price for perhaps a lesser, if not equal, role. It is their black eye and the ratings will either support the fact that people don’t care to watch or they are watching rooting for both teams to fail (which is, of course impossible). 

Yet we love calamity. NASCAR thrives over crashes and fights among drivers and crews. Nothing sells better than the drama of reality TV.

Yes, I will watch this series and the companion N.L.C.S. series. I am a baseball fan and besides, the Jets are in their bye week, so I am rid of that distraction for one week. I just cannot root for either team—just like I found it hard to root for either Tampa Bay or the Red Sox in the A.L.D.S., which was a great triumph of the underdog downing the giant—Tampa Bay’s Achilles heel proved to be its pitching, which was supposedly the best in the American League. 

Such is baseball life when you are a Yankees fan and teams you hate seem to be winning while your team remains on the sidelines and you wonder what additional moves are going to ensue after the firing of the hitting coach and third base coach Phil Nevin for his botched move of sending Aaron Judge home to be tagged out on a perfect relay to squash a rally in the Wild Card game. Somebody had to be the scapegoat for that move. 

NewYork has a ton of decisions to make. First is whether manager Aaron Boone returns. Which is likely, although there was a surprise firing of the Cardinals skipper, Mike Shildt over “philosophical differences.” That might complicate things a bit, although I warn the Yankees to look at history—firing Yogi Berra and replacing him with Cardinals manager Johnny Keane in 1965 led to the dark times for the franchise. 

In a addition to filling the coaching vacancies, there are issues about signing Judge to a long-term deal; what to do with Gary Sanchez in his arbitration year; the headaches that Gleyber Torres creates; whether to sign Anthony Rizzo to a long-term deal; what to do about the woefully-underperforming Joey Gallo; how to fill the shortstop hole; supplementing the pitching; trading Luke Voit, etc. The list seems to be endless. 

Kudos to the Dodgers and Giants for a thrilling N.L.D.S. It took to the very last pitch by fill-in reliever Max Scherzer, a blown called third strike on a check swing, to give the Dodgers the win. I don’t know if the LAD-Atlanta series will equal that series in roller coaster thrills. Atlanta is a very fine team—even without two of their very young and very talented stars on the shelf. Atlanta lost to LAD last year in a a highly competitive N.L.C.S. last season, so it is not so clearcut which team will emerge. 

There are stars galore in this N.L.C.S. Freddie Freeman of the Braves and Mookie Betts of the Dodgers. Pitchers Scherzer and Walker Buehler for LAD and Max Fried for ATL. 

It will be interesting to see which teams emerge. From a historical standpoint, the Braves returning to Boston, where the franchise originated, would be nice. The Boston Braves actually played their home games in the 1914 World Series, won by sweeping the heavily-favored A.L. champion Philadelphia A’s—the first sweep in World Series history, at Fenway Park , the home home of the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, revenge could be sweet if the Dodgers defeat the Astros. After all, the Dodgers were one of the victims in the Astros’ cheating. And if it ends up as Boston-LAD, the Dodgers owe the Sox one for the 2018 World Series triumph by the Beantowners.  

Finally, a short comment on the Kyrie Irving saga. Irving is another person I have little use for. Any chance he was worth much evaporated when he made that outrageous comment that the Earth was flat. He burned his bridges with Lebron James in Cleveland, acting like the prima donna he is. He did the same in Boston, alienating his teammates and the loyal Celtics fans. 

His behavior hasn’t been much better in Brooklyn, and he has not performed well while he has been a Nets player. Which is not unexpected, given how mercurial and polarizing a figure he is.

The Nets are a talented team heading into the start of the NBA season. James Harden, Kevin Durant and Irving would be a lethal combination if healthy. 

However, Irving, who always has his own agenda, starting from his NJ scholastic playing days, to his one and does at Duke and into the NBA, has become a lightning rod for controversy. His choice not to be vaccinated is just another example of his selfishness.

I am not quibbling with his right to choose what his life will be. He lives with the consequences of his actions. However, this impacts his team’s opportunity to be a realistic contender for the NBA title.  

The Nets did the right thing in stopping him from practicing or even becoming a part-time player. While Irving says it isn’t about the money, which he says he would like to have, his reasons for eschewing the vaccination simply do not resonate. 

If the average worker was under a mandate to be vaccinated, he would be out of a job like the health care workers and teachers in New York. That kind of logic should certainly extend to basketball players, too. 

I saw one of my doctors this past week. He is double Harvard educated. He, like me, was having great difficulty understanding why people are making such an issue out of being vaccinated. He equated it with the polio vaccine and a whole host of other vaccines routinely administered to children. There was no sympathy for those on their hospital death beds bemoaning the fact that they should have gotten the vaccine. Nor did he have kind words for Irving. 

I wish Kyrie Irving well. I want no harm for him, no matter how much I dislike him for a myriad of reasons. He made his bed. Now he has to lie in it. He is no martyr for a cause. Only for himself.

Meanwhile, I will start watching baseball again starting on Friday night. In the midst of the college and pro football seasons. Abetted by the infancy of the NHL season and the NBA commencing later in the week. 

Somehow, I feel like I am in the middle innings of a very long nine inning game.

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

To paraphrase an ancient writer of some note, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” for me this past weekend. Which all came to a head on Tuesday.

Saturday was the worst of times. I had a growing interest in three games. Tampa Bay-Yankees at 1:00. Franklin and Marshall visiting Baltimore for a date with Johns Hopkins, ranked #14 in D III Football. And Rutgers, coming off a promising showing at Michigan, hosting the rough and tough Ohio State Buckeyes at SHI Stadium. 

The Bronx Bombers were playing for their playoff lives this weekend. They were in control after defeating Toronto on the road on Thursday night. Win on Friday and they would virtually clinch home field in the AL Wild Card. 

The Yankees entered the weekend ahead of Boston, Toronto and fast charging Seattle. But they also had the toughest opponent—Tampa Bay, the A.L. East winners.

There is no love lost between the two squads. So Tampa would have loved to derail the Yankees while prepping the upcoming playoffs where the Rays would host the winner of the Wild Card game on Tuesday night. Additionally, Tampa was shooting for 100 wins, which was a nice sounding figure nearly always a symbol of success. 

The Rays were the superior team for the first two games. Never mind that the Yankees had ben playing great on their final road trip, sweeping the Red Sox at Fenway behind the demoralizing homers from Giancarlo Stanton’s bat, then taking two out of three games in unfriendly Toronto—and losing the middle game of the three game set when they should have won that game too. 

No, the heady roll which the Yankees took into the final series didn’t matter one iota.  They were facing the top team in the American League. 

On Friday night, the Yankees fell behind 2-1 early. Then Domingo German, former starter who was just back from a lengthy layoff due to injury, put men on base in the ninth inning. Manager Aaron Boone then brought rookie Albert Abreu into a high stress situation and he surrendered a single to the Rays’ stellar center fielder, Kevin Kiermaier. 4-1 Tampa. 

New York initiated a comeback, showing heart and grit in the process. Aaron Judge and Stanton were in the middle of this rally. Even the enigmatic Joey Gallo, who was hiding around .160 since his arrival from Texas at the trade deadline, masterfully executed a bunt single to the left side, overcoming the shift which put four players in the outfield and only one infielder on the left side

Veteran Brett Gardner, forced into a larger role than ever expected when Aaron Hicks went down early in the season, contributed with a clutch single to shallow right field. Gardner is the last link to the final Yankees World Series win way back in 2009. He became a leader on a team which needed leadership, even with the talent level so high, demonstrating by his actions what the Yankee way had been. 

But then the other side of the Yankees emerged. Gary Sanchez and Roughned Odor both struck out with tow runners on base to end the game. Tampa emerged as winners by a score of 4-3. 

The Yankees played hard and there was hope. Even if the Red Sox downed the Nationals and the Jays beat up on the lowly Orioles. At least Seattle had lost to the Angels at home.

Saturday was a beautiful day. The hope of the previous night’s rally was on the minds of fans like me. Reliable lefty starter Jordan Montgomery was on the mound. Just one more victory to clinch a Wild Card spot.

Except that Montgomery was shelled, with the Rays’ second baseman Brandon Lowe putting on a batting clinic during the game. Lowe slugged 3 homers to raise his season total to 39. He drove in 7 runs. Catcher Mike Zunino swatted number 33  and Austin Meadows slugged number 27. Tampa collected 19 hits in the 12-2 pummeling. The Yankees were held to 4 hits, scoring one of their runs on the 250th home run of Anthony Rizzo, the late season pickup from the Cubs.

Not to worry. There was Game 162. Surely the Yankees could win on Sunday. However, it didn’t help that the Red Sox won again in Washington, the Jays clobbered the Orioles and Seattle downed the Angels. 

During the Tampa Bay onslaught, I turned my attention to the Franklin and Marshall road game at #14 Johns Hopkins. F&M was struggling at 1-3, having only defeated Mc Daniel while losing close game at Lebanon Valley then in OT to Susquehanna, one of the top teams in the Centennial Conference. However, the Diplomats were coming off of a pasting by the Ursinus Bears, a team which had upset then-eighth ranked Muhlenberg.

Given the track record of F&M against the Blue Jays (yes, there were a lot of Blue Jays on my Saturday), which included an F&M win in their last meeting in Baltimore in 2019, I had plenty of optimism. Sure, JHU had run through their opposition, handily downing those Ursinus Bears while also annihilating Juniata 77-0. Still, I had a good feeling. Like I did when I turned on the YES Network broadcast for the Yankees game. 

F&M fell behind 13-0, then managed to trail 23-10 at the half. And that was it for the Diplomats. Hopkins regrouped and acted like the powerhouse that it seems to be, scoring 29 unanswered points in the third quarter. Final score: JHU 66, F&M 10. 

There I was—0 and 2 for the day. The Rays demolition had not yet ben completed when F&M fell to Hopkins, but it was a fait accompli. 

So I turned my attention to the Rutgers game, a 3:30 start. With the struggles that Ohio State had, losing at home to Oregon and being tested in their opening game at Minnesota, this appeared to be a more vulnerable Buckeyes team than in the past. I knew they had zip tied the Akron Zips in their last game before traveling to Piscataway. 

Still, I felt that the Michigan game of a week ago had shown that Rutgers was playing better ball than last season, when in his first year back on the Banks of the ‘ol Raritan, Head Coach Greg Schiano’s team mustered a surprising 3-6 mark. RU had actual chances to tie the Wolverines, and they certainly weren’t outplayed, having shut down Michigan’s powerful running game in the second half of the game while considerably out rushing Michigan in the process. 

That was all for naught. Ohio State scored quickly on the Scarlet Knights. Trick plays didn’t work for RU, nor did much else. QB Noah Vedral had not tossed an interception leading up to the game. That went by the wayside. The vaunted RU defense was shredded. Final score was 52-13. I gave up on this game early.

My Saturday was crushing. Three defeats. Not even by close scores. What was Sunday going to bring?

My wife and I journeyed to Met Life Stadium to see the Jets host the Tennessee Titans,  led by QB Ryan Tannehill and punishing RB Derrick Henry. I wasn’t overly optimistic. New York, behind rookie QB Zach Wilson, looked ineffectual versus Denver on the previous Sunday. In fact, it looked like it was going to be a long season ahead. Perhaps worse than 2020, which was abysmal.

But there were signs that I didn’t full appreciate. The Titans went into the game without their two top receivers. The Titans had beaten Seattle in OT and downed the Colts. They also were punished by Arizona in the opener. Experts assumed that Head Coach Mike Vrabel’s team was trending towards victory and that the stop in New Jersey was going to result in another win. 

What I learned just before kickoff was that the Jets actually had a good record playing Tennessee in the past, which included a winning record at home against the visitors. In fact the Jets had won the prior two encounters in the Meadowlands. 

Moreover, I had pulled out all of the stops for this contest and the Yankees game. While I wore a Jets T shirt, I had on my Yankees home jersey and a Yankees cap. My wife wore another Jets t shirt and she had on our white Jets jersey. When we arrived at our seats, we learned the Jets were adorned in their white jerseys, too. 

The Jets didn’t make it easy. They kind of kept Henry in check. The defense was solid, not spectacular. New York overcame an early Tennessee lead behind spectacular play from Wilson. The Jets QB looked like the #2 draft pick and his talent was finally on display—even if he made some rookie mistakes which could have cost the team the game. 

Nonetheless, the Jets went down the field in OT. They should have scored from the 1 yard line and ended the game. But one of Wilson’s gaffes cost the team and the Jets settled for a FG. The crowd in the half-filled arena was loud.

Tennessee drove down the field. The defense stiffened. The Titans had to settle for a field goal attempt to tie the score in the last minutes of the overtime period. The kick sailed wide and the Jets won the game. Euphoria shot through Met Life Stadium.

We sat in our car, waiting out the inevitable traffic jam. We were glued to the Yankees radio broadcast of the game with Tampa. Boston was losing. Toronto had won. Seattle was going down. The Yankees could secure home field and a playoff berth.

Except that the Bombers were mired in a 0-0 game, unable to hit the Rays pitching once more. New York managed only 4 hits on Saturday. Through 8 innings, the Rays had again kept the Yankees in check. 

The Yankees competed hard in this game. The pitchers kept Tampa in check, allowing only 5 hits. Third baseman Gio Urshela ran down a pop up and disappeared into the Rays dugout, holding onto the ball while suffering a banged up body. It was highly reminiscent of the Derek Jeter dive into the stands against the Red Sox.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees came to life. With Tyler Wade dancing off of third base, Judge delivered a shot up the middle, which deflected off the pitcher’s glove and Wade slid under the throw by Lowe to put the Yankees in the post-season.

Within an hour’s time, the Jets and Yankees had lifted my spirits from the doldrums of the previous day. Even Boston’s comeback to win at Washington didn’t diminish my elation.

Yes, the Yankees would stink at Fenway two nights later, meekly going out in the Wild Card game. Gerrit Cole looked horrible and the relief pitching didn’t quite hold. And let’s hoot at third base coach Phil Nevin for sending Aaron Boone to try to score from first base after a blast by Stanton ricocheted from the Green Monster in left center field. Hold Judge at third and the Yankees could have scored and narrowed the game to a 3-2 deficit. Instead, that move sealed their fate. Season over, mercifully.

For a moment, I want to return to memory lane. On October 9, 1971, I drove from D.C. to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, lured by an article in The Washington Post noting that there were a limited number of tickets still available for the World Series between the Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates.

I purchased an”obstructed view’ seat, which the ticket seller told me would not really hinder my view. I sat underneath the overhang from the second deck behind first base. 

I was treated to a gem of a game. Orioles starter Dave Mc Nally, one of four 20 game winners on the team, masterfully shut down the Bucs on 3 hits in pitching a complete game. Hall of Famer Frank Robinson connected on a solo shot. Merv Rettemund slugged two blasts and the O’s emerged winners by a score of 5 to 3, to my, and the 53,000 attendees’ delight. 

This was the only World Series game I have eve attended. What was even more memorable was the throw made by Pirates star right fielder Roberto Clemente. He caught a ball on the warning track in deep right then wheeled and fired a laser to third base on the fly. It was like the ball had been shot out of a cannon. I have never seen anything more impressive.

Forty-five years ago on October 12th, I was in the upper stands at Yankee Stadium for the American League Championship Series Game 4 between the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals. On that cool night in the Bronx, I watched Catfish Hunter lose to Doug Bird despite two homers from third baseman Greg Nettles. 

I left the next day for Madison, Wisconsin, where I would reconnect with my Washington Semester buddy Chris, who had graduated Baldwin-Wallace College, and was a D III All American high jumper. I would have one of the most memorable weekends of my 25 year old life.

I watched the Chris Chambliss home run which won the series for New York, one day removed from being inside of the Stadium. I went to my only college hockey game, where I saw the Wisconsin Badgers down Michigan in a thrilling match. Badger Bob Johnson was the coach, and he had  his son, Mark, a future Olympian and New Jersey Devils player, on the ice. The Badgers won the NCAA title in 1977 and Johnson was WCHA rookie of the year. I even had my first taste of dee dish pizza and loved it. 

And on Saturday, October 16, I was in Camp Randall Stadium when Ohio State came into town. The weather had turned cold on Friday and I was unprepared—the weather was raw and windy when I ran outdoors on Friday, it was cold and the temperature had reached the freezing mark on Friday night. I am sure that the exposure to the cold led me to be quite sick on the return flight to Newark.

Ohio State soundly defeated the undermanned Badgers. I recall having a cold Coors beer on my way to the stadium which actually warmed me for two quarters. 

The spirit in and around the stadium captivated me. Mascot Bucky Badger tooled around the Madison streets in a fire engine. The marching band played the fight song in its journey to the ballpark. To me, a D III fan, this was heaven. This was what college football was all about. Pageantry and tradition. 

And one other thing. There was a big party afterwards. Which was capped off by a 10:30 P.M. broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Which was my first exposure to the program, and I instantly fell in love with it. 

This week in my history was one memorable one. I was so fortunate to experience events like that in my life. October has been very good to me. 

I read an article which pointed out the fact that New York teams were not champions recently. The Giants were the last team to win a title, and that was in 2011. The Yankees drought went back to 2009. The Rangers, Knicks, Nets, Jets and Islanders have not won anything—the Rangers were winners in 1994, the Jets in 1969 and the Knicks in 1973. The Nets haven’t won a title since they entered the NBA and the Islanders famine is back to the 1980’s. Add in the WNBA’s Liberty, which has won a title at all, and the New York sports scene, since the run of the Jeter-led Yankees has been barren. 

I seem to feel some sadness for the Cubs fans with their “curse.” Yet they won in 2016. We in New York, with so many teams, haven’t had even that kind of modest success. 

Yes, we have had many playoff teams. But no champions in the last 10 seasons. Nary a one. 

To end the this rambling, let’s return to the quote. Here it is in its entirety: 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the season of despair.”

Should the New York teams suddenly start winning, like they did on Sunday, and F&M and RU join in, it would surely scare the Dickens out of me. Even if that phrase originated from Shakespeare.