I Just Don't Get It!

I’m annoyed. With the owners and the MLBPA. Those two groups have decided to draw a line in the sand. And we are facing the realistic prospect of a shortened baseball season, if any at all. 

The list of differences between the sides is enormous. Which makes for very little movement between the two on compromise. This is why very few meetings have occurred since the lockout began on December 2. The rumors emanating from the few times the sides have talked in person are that there was plenty of shouting. 

Apparently, Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA head Tony Clark have a deep, unrelenting hatred for each other. Whether it is egos or simply the agendas both groups have or a combination of both, this is not a formula for resolution. 

I think longingly, as a couple of my former F&M teammates have wistfully stated on Facebook, that some kind of practice should be starting. Collegians have been practicing in earnest for a while, with games about to begin. The major leaguers were always in lockstep with our prepping for the season. 

There was a picture of a father and son looking through the locked gates of the Chicago Cubs Spring Training stadium in Mesa, Arizona, likely wishing they could enter to watch their heroes throw, catch and hit. That epitomized the prospects for baseball right now. Doors locked by owners as a ploy to force negotiations. Players dug in, feeling slighted about the economics which, in their collective minds, inordinately favors the ownership cabal. 

We are going to have to endure the taint of the negotiations for the immediate weeks, and maybe long-term, depending on how long the acrimony continues. Personally, I am not in sync with either camp, as my sympathy is not with either given the salaries which are enormous, and the prices and smugness which the clubs have. 

I go back to a simpler time, when as a child and even in my college years and a bit after that, all I cared about was that the players, my heroes, played ball. I loved the hot summer nights in our tiled and wood-paneled den in my family’s home in Highland Park, a Yankees game from Detroit or Cleveland on the screen with Mel Allen handling the WPIX broadcast.  

We had a big fan, a powerful industrial unit which my father brought home from his dental office in nearby Edison. It noisily cooled the room if you sat in the right spot—my mother would actually bring a sweater to wear because of the sheer force of the wind from the fan. And there we would sit, eyes transfixed on the Philco black and white TV, watching Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and crew try to garner another win against their rivals. 

Who thought of the finances of the major leagues back then? Players had to supplement their income with second jobs. Mantle often told the story of how Yankees GM George Weiss wanted to cut Mantle’s salary in 1957, because he didn’t reach the lofty air of the Triple Crown he won in 1956, hitting .353 with 52 home runs, 130 R.B.I. and leading the American League in runs scored, slugging percentage and O.P.S. in helping to take the Yankees to a World Series win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. It didn’t matter that Mantle had a higher average and still hit 34 home runs, produced 94 R.B.I., led the league in walks and runs scored as the Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Braves in the World Series. 

So the history of management hindering the players salaries while reaping the profits goes back to my youth and before. And a history of bitterness between the union and management began with Marvin Miller’s tenure as the voice of the players, which has led to work stoppages that damaged the game for years, with the fans resentful of the money bandied about by both sides. 

I don’t like how this all sounds right now. I would rather be concerned over what moves the Yankees will make to shore up the roster and whether or not the team will offer Aaron Judge a long term deal—remember—the guy is recently married and could use the income. I just don’t care for the way things stand right now for baseball and how they portend for the future, starting with the 2022 season.

The Super Bowl is over. The Los Angeles Rams are the NFL champions. In a close but not that exciting game—how could anything top or come close to the previous weeks excitement—the Rams managed to score on a Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp connection near the end of the game and the defense, led by all-world pass rusher Aaron Donald, thwarted the last heroics of Joe Burrow and company to reach field goal range and attempt to tie the game. 

Most everyone outside Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky expected the Rams to prevail. Los Angeles was built for this year, with a veteran squad, a QB who needed to escape the vast football wasteland known as Detroit, and the WR who had worn out his welcome in New York and Cleveland. On the other hand, the Bengals had turned things around with a dynamic offensive duo in Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, his LSU teammate, but had a dubious offensive line and a questionable defense. 

Even when Odell Beckham, Jr., the extremely-talented wide receiver with the resume issues went down with an apparent knee injury, the Rams were able to stay in the game by the significant adjustments made at halftime to free Donald to pursue the quarterback. Which he did with a fervor. 

Too many post-game remarks were made. Would Sean McVay, the Rams brilliant coach return? (Yes)  Ditto Donald? (Yes) Does Stafford have Hall of Fame credentials after winning his first ring? (Perhaps) Are the Bengals for real? (Let’s see how the off season goes)

My answer to all of this garbage is to let it rest. Get a life. Of course, I am a diehard New York Jets fan, so what credibility do I really have anyway? 

The hard-to believe Rutgers Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team is on a roll. One of epic proportions. But is their winning streak over ranked Big Ten opponents sustainable after dismantling #12 Illinois on Wednesday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena in front of a sellout crowd which could eat and drink inside for the first time this season? 

Head Coach Steve Pikiell has the team performing up to the capabilities he expressed at the beginning of the season. The inexplicable losses to Lafayette—one of two home losses this campaign—and on the road to the likes of De Paul and UMass, bottom feeders in their own conferences, have certainly impacted the Knights’ chances to make the Big Dance. 

I think those losses can be excluded from their recent four consecutive wins over ranked opponents, including a stunning victory at Wisconsin, the school’s first-ever over the Badgers. Rutgers now has 7 Quad 1 wins—triumphs over top tier opponents—a mark that few Power 5 schools can claim. And again, they are definitely on a late season surge. 

There are those who feel RU is already in the NCAA Tournament based on this recent streak of success. My response is that it is mere conjecture. This is Rutgers. In 2020 they had a team worthy of the tournament. Then COVID stopped them in their tracks.

Last season, the Knights finally achieved their goal, and even won their opening round game over Clemson. Then they surrendered the lead and lost the next contest to a Houston team which made it to the Final Four. Historically, RU has had its share of ups and downs as far as the NCAA is concerned. That included a drought from 1991 until last year’s appearance. 

Which is why I do not consider RU a lock to be in this year’s field. The schedule is daunting. First, there is a revenge match this Sunday in West Lafayette, Indiana, as #5 Purdue seeks redemption for the Ron Harper, Jr. winning heave earlier this year. Road games at Michigan and Indiana will be equally formidable. The home games include a rematch with Wisconsin and the regular season finale with Penn State, which handled the Knights in State College. Nothing easy here.

Keeping the team healthy and playing to an elite level is a big challenge. Leading scorer Harper, Jr. left late in the game with a non-shooting hand injury which looked like a dislocation. His status is uncertain for Sunday and maybe for the remainder of the season. Rutgers cannot afford further injury to its core players—team leader Geo Baker; defensive wizard Caleb McConnell, likely the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year; suddenly super point guard Paul Mulcahy; blossoming center Cliff Omoruyi; and sub Dean Reiber. 

It has been one heck of a ride these past few weeks. Any falloff from the present level of play, whether by injuries or by reverting to its earlier level of play, could doom the team’s chances to return to the NCAA Tournament. 

Thinking that the team could actually win the regular season Big Ten title is water cooler stuff. Yes, it could happen. But that happening is as likely as Skylab was to crash in the US upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 

One thing for sure—with how baseball is proceeding, with what the pundits are doing to diminish the glow of the Rams’ Super Bowl win and Rutgers meteoric rise from the ashes—leaves me with this conclusion: I just don’t get it!