I Should Have Seen This Coming?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Six remarkable games. I should have seen this coming? 

This Is How I Spent My COVID Isolation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is how I spent my COVID isolation.

Stay Safe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay safe. 

New Year's Rumblings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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