Summertime At Its Best

  The East Coast is in the midst of a heat wave to end Spring and begin Summer. Transit has been affected by the heat, causing shutdowns of a variety of lines. Public Service Electric and Gas, my gas provider, has been forced to stop work because of the conditions—although that didn’t stop crews from tearing up my grass and shrubbery earlier in the week to install new gas lines and move my meter outdoors. 

With intolerable heat, the demand for electricity rises. Which usually leads to providers like Con Edison in New York City asking its customers to cut back on power use during the day.

Evidently, one customer took that admonition to heart. The once powerful New York Yankees are not scoring runs, opting to let the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves have their  own powers surges, at the Bombers expense. 

The Yankees had been on a roll. Aaron Judge was hitting the ball at a near historic clip and leading MLB in so many categories. Free agent-to-be Juan Soto was his companion, walking so many more times than anybody in baseball this season and getting timely hits. Anthony Volpe, the sophomore shortstop, was fielding like he did last season when he won a Gold Glove and his batting average was above .280 in the leadoff spot. 

The one-two-three combination of Volpe, Soto and Judge, augmented by Alex Verdugo and Giancarlo Stanton and with periodic contributions from other starters, was pounding the heck out of their opponents. Plus the pitching, even with the absence of starters Clark Schmidt and Gerrit Cole, last year’s AL Cy Young winner, was solid, with the rotation and with a bullpen which ranked at the top of the league. The team seemed nearly unbeatable. 

That feel good streak started to unravel when two things happened. First, Soto experienced discomfort in his throwing arm and was pulled from a game. The tests came back negative but he had to sit out until deemed medically able to throw, which happened in the Kansas City series. 

The problem was that Soto’s absence occurred when the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers arrived in New York. In three playoff-like games, LAD took two of three. Even when the Yankees came back on Sunday night, it felt like the Dodgers were perhaps the better team. 

Traveling to KC and even with Soto and Judge out of the lineup, New York won the first game handily. Games 2 & 3 went to NYY, but in Game 4, a Thursday afternoon affair, closer Clay Holmes, who my wife finds too inconsistent, blew a lead and cost New York the ballgame. 

While the first game in Boston began great with Alex Verdugo hitting a home run against his old team on the first pitch he saw, the bottom dropped out for the Yankees. Boston literally ran wild on the base paths, taking the next two contests in very convincing fashion. The Yankees bats went somewhat silent and the pitching fell apart. Defense was non-existent.

It really didn’t get much better when the team returned home to face its closest pursuer, the Baltimore Orioles. Despite losing some significant pitching talent, the Birds remained upright and the hitting was solid. 

In the end, the Orioles won 2 of 3, which meant that they have beaten the Yankees 5 out of 7 games this season. The finale was so bad when Baltimore put a real hurting on Yankees pitchers, to the tune of 17 runs. The Orioles looked to be the far superior team and what the Yankees had done previously to other teams was merely a mirage. 

Atlanta, a perennial playoff team, was next to come into Gotham. Friday night was another massacre, with the Braves slugging three home runs against the suddenly slumping Carlos Rodon. With a win on Saturday, the Yankees did everything right—good pitching, first inning run production and timely hitting. This is what powered them for a month, led by their superstar captain, Judge, who powered a home run into the right field stands on his first at bat. Thankfully he suffered no injury when hit on his hand by an errant Orioles pitch on Tuesday night.

But make no mistake—this team has serious flaws. The catching is in disarray. The pitching revolves around a lot of new parts in the bullpen and has hopes that the starters, now including their ace, Cole, will come around again; the fact that Luis Gil seems fatigued after his tremendous start is of concern given the tendency for overuse in his return from Tommy John surgery is always a concern. 

And Gleyber Torres is mystifying at bat and in the field. D.J. LeMahieu isn’t hitting and Anthony Rizzo is out with a fractured arm as he was beginning to hit. Ben Rice may or may not be a solution at first base while Rizzo is on the IL. Plus resurgent Giancarlo Stanton tweaked his hamstring on Saturday night—pessimistic Yankees fans anticipated some injury to sideline the slugger.  Anticipate an IL stint for the tough luck DH.

Yes, the Yankees are in first place as the O’s went to Houston and lost two games to the  Astros. Which NYY team are we really seeing—the one which won so many series in accumulating the best record in the majors, or the one which has lost 4 of the last 5 series and is headed downwards? Stay tuned—there is a half season to go.

Meanwhile, the next opponent for the Yankees after the Braves leave is the cross-town Mets. Seemingly the opposite of the Yankees, the Mets have put together a streak which has vaulted them back into the NL Wild Card picture after a dismal start to the season. Like the Yankees, the Mets are missing significant components to a team which many believed could contend with the Phillies and Braves for the NL East crown. Yet they have overcome the problems to surge up the standings. 

Let’s see how this first Subway Series plays itself out. It might show exactly how the two teams might fare going forward.

The NBA Finals is over. Boston completed its domination of the playoffs by defeating Dallas in five games. 

This was not a team which could necessarily top some of the legendary Celtics teams which had to beat more worthy opponents like the vintage Lakers teams or contend with the Bulls and Sixers in the East. Necessarily, they played with an intensity from their top stars which could not be matched by any other team. Indiana came closest and, in reality, that series wasn’t that close.

Is this the beginning of a dynasty? I don’t think so. There are young and hungry teams in the league which will be better after a year of playoff experience. Plus free agency and trades, along with salary cap issues will change the dynamic. 

Savor the championship win, Celtics fans. Just don’t get your hopes too high for a repeat. 

A couple of more NBA notes. After UConn’s Dan Hurley wisely rejected the Lakers offer to coach the team, former player turned broadcaster J.J. Redick was given the reins to the team, without any coaching experience. All the nice things have been said about his intelligence and J.J. is a podcast partner with soon-to-be free agent Lebron James, who is expected to re-sign with the club (with or without his son Bronny going him?). This team is not a contender, which, with the high expectations by management, could spell doom for the new guy.

And Klay Thompson has removed all mention of the Warriors from his social media. Either this is a negotiating ploy or the Splash Brothers are about to split. It seems inevitable, unless Klay comes back for much less money and a reduced role in the offense. 

For football fanatics, Aaron Rodgers failed to show at minicamp while DL Haason Reddick wants a new contract. Ah, the Jets are already in turmoil. Plus the NFL is weighing a salary cap for quarterbacks, who receive these ginormous contracts and tend to fail miserably. Except for Patrick Mahomes, who is busy right now, vacationing in Europe with his family. And not to fear about his tight end—Travis Kelce and his brother Jason and Jason’s wife Kylie were in London supporting Travis’ girlfriend  and seemingly big time Chiefs fan Taylor Swift as she played Wembley Stadium and cavorted with Prince William and family. Of course anything Kansas City at this time of the years is somehow associated with the Royals. 

Finally, if anyone hasn’t been watching the Stanley Cup Finals, get to a set for Monday night’s Game 7. Florida looked like world beaters in getting to this final stage and was playing like a champion in taking the first three games. 

Nobody told Connor McDavid and his teammates that the series was over. Instead, Edmonton seems to be in the driver seat to make a miraculous comeback (done only once, in 1942 by Toronto) and win the Cup after trailing 3-0. 

McDavid is the new Gretzky? He’s broken The Great One’s single postseason assist record and is five points from tying Gretzky’s record 47 points in 1985. At age 27.

A fitting way to end hockey for the season. ABC gets to air a tension-filled finale. You betcha I’m watching. Eh.

Baseball. Basketball. Football. Hockey. Summertime at its best.

One Heck Of A Trip

  It was 2035 miles long by car with two round trip flights to and from Newark-Liberty International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. This refers to the ten day road trip my wife and I just concluded on Thursday. 

The purpose of the trip was to attend games in St. Louis and Kansas City. Those places were among the three remaining cities where I had not seen a MLB game. 

But the trip became much more than simply baseball games at the two venues. It included so much more, yet stayed within sports themes too.

We began our journey with a flight from Newark to Chicago. Hertz bestowed upon us a brand new Subaru Outback, one which had only 4 miles on the odometer. That was going to change markedly during the next ten days. It was a beautiful vehicle to drive, which made the long segments very tolerable. And the gas mileage was over 28 m.p.g., which helped reduce travel costs. 

First stop was Springfield, Illinois. This was a makeup visit, as last year our Budget vehicle died en route and we only were able to get to Champaign, Illinois with the help of a vey friendly Illinois State Trooper. 

A couple of takeaways from Springfield. The food was lousy. The State Capitol is in need of major repairs. And the cicadas were buzzing us, noisy swarming from nearby trees. We were glad to leave town. 

Day 2 started with threatening skies, which abated by time we reached St. Louis. It remained hot, made much more tolerable by the absence of moisture. 

Before leaving Illinois, we took a detour off I-55.We ventured into Bloomington, to see Illinois State University. ISU was the school which delivered Doug Collins to the NBA as a star guard and then coach. 

An added bonus was that Illinois Wesleyan was on the other side of downtown. IWU is a Division III school. To most, that means nothing. However, when I took my family to the 1996 Division III Final Four in Salem, Virginia, Illinois Wesleyan was a participant along with Franklin & Marshall College, Hope College, and the eventual champion, Rowan University. I have now been to 3 of the 4 campuses; I doubt I will ever stop in Holland, Michigan to see Hope, home of the most obnoxious fans in Salem.

First stop in Missouri was Washington University. The august college was the home for the 1904 Olympics, and Olympic Rings adorn an area adjacent to the football field, which was the Olympic stadium. Outside the fence is a sign indicating that the roadway was part of the 1904 Olympic marathon. 

Wash U surprised me with its beauty. The Law School, in the Anheuser-Busch Building, is among the prettiest I have seen. With this visit, I have traveled to all eight schools comprising the University Athletic Association. That is the fourth Division III conference I have seen its entirety, along with the NJAC, NESCAC and Centennial. 

We sandwiched in a stop at Ulysses S. Grant’s home before dining at Charlie Gitto’s On The Hill. The Hill is the Italian neighborhood where icons Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up. It may have been eons ago when they lived there, but the traditions and atmosphere are permanent.

Ballpark number 1 was Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals. Red is the dominant color. The Cardinals faithful wear anything St. Louis. They are rabid and loyal. The Cards lost to Colorado 3-2 in a boring game. The pre-game ride to the top of the magnificent Gateway Arch in a small gondola was far more exciting. 

The next day we paused at Jefferson City to see the Capitol. Then we went to Columbia for the University of Missouri. Mizzou was what I expected it to be—a mix of modern and old buildings. And with updated athletic facilities. It was like a lot of its brethren in the Southeastern Conference—which I had now completed. 

Our worries on Friday were about the weather as we trekked from Overland Park, KS to the Truman Sports Complex. We had tickets for the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals at 7:10 p.m. CST. 

We parked our car in a lot adjacent to Ghia Field at Arrowhead, the home of the World Champion Chiefs. Thoughts of the frigid cold night in January, where so many people suffered, went though my mind as I was clad appropriately in shorts. So, too, did I think of Patrick Mahomes II, Travis Kelce, Head Coach Andy Reid and, of course, Taylor Swift. 

Kauffman Stadium, a.k.a. Royals Stadium looked older. It was still in good shape. A lively crowd was on hand despite the ominous weather. It was K-State Night, and the Royals wore City Connect uniforms. 

Yes, it did rain during the game. Not enough to halt it, but enough for us to use our umbrellas. Seattle rained runs on the scoreboard, scoring seven in the first inning and took an 8-0 lead. What made this game memorable was the fact that the spunky Royals never gave up, as the pitching held the M’s at bay while chipping away at the score until mounting a final rally to walk off with a 10-9 victory. I was impressed with Bobby Witt, Jr., the KC shortstop. He is going to be a perennial All Star. 

The remainder of the time in the KC area was spent relaxing, going to the Truman Presidential Library and sampling cuisine the area was known for. We actually walked on an artificial turf field for a mile at Shawnee Mission South High School until the custodian reluctantly had to lock the gate. 

We departed our hotel for our next leg of the journey. We stopped first at the University of Kansas. We saw a Jayhawk basketball player headed to venerable Allen Field House. The stadium is being renovated, so the football team’s six home games will be at Ghia, 48.8 miles away. 

Next up was Topeka, home of the State Capitol and where Brown v. Board of Education originated. Very moving. 

Then we arrived in Manhattan, the home of Kansas State University. Three things stood out—athletics and schools for agriculture and veterinary medicine. Very nice.

Our last stop of the day was in Lincoln, NE. While that is the Nebraska state capital, it is the home of the University of Nebraska. Arriving in town, the huge football stadium, baseball complex and arena are the first sites seen. I could envision how the city becomes the largest one in the state when the Big Red fans come in for games.

The following day we saw, Creighton University, Charles Schwab Field, the location of the College World Series now underway in Omaha and another agrarian school, Iowa State. We ended the day in Des Moines, the home of Drake University. 

The final day on the road included stops at Grinnell College, where the school’s basketball team took 111 three point shots in a game; and the University of Iowa. At the latter, we saw Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a modernistic place which Caitlin Clark called home until April, and Kinnick Stadium, home to the football team and a stone’s throw from the Iowa Children’s Hospital, where the football fans wave to the children at the end of the third quarter. 

It was at Iowa that I realized how much behind Rutgers was in athletics. Observing Iowa, my final Big Ten school, and the thought of the magnificent facilities at Nebraska, reinforced my belief that it will take forever for the Scarlet Knights to catch up with the rest of the league.

I did keep tabs on sports during the ten day trip. We watched the Celtics and Mavericks play in the NBA Finals and Edmonton and Florida square off in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Dodgers and Yankees, two old rivals, met that weekend without Juan Soto in the lineup due to a forearm strain; we saw Saturday and Sunday’s games where the teams split victories after LAD won an epic pitcher’s battle on Friday night. New York came to KC right after we left, and with Soto back in the batting order, took three of four from the Royals. 

It was also during this time that the sports world lost two icons: Bill Walton and Jerry West. I had always marveled about their play and their careers after hanging up their sneakers. Two of the greatest players in my lifetime. I felt older with their passing. 

That’s it. We are back in New Jersey. Watching the Yankees in Boston. Seeing the Mavs crush Boston in Game 4. Looking in on a possible sweep by Florida. Checking in on the Phillies and Orioles. 

I have seen every MLB franchise in a home game except the Red Sox. I have only Washington State left to finish the Power Five schools. Just Butler remains in the Big East, although I may have seen a building once upon a time while in Indianapolis. 

Lots of corn, wheat and soybean fields are etched in my brain. As are the memories of all the places we stopped, including a last minute side trip to South Dakota, my wife’s 48th state. 

Ten days. 2035 miles. Six states. A plethora of ballparks, colleges, state capitals and landmarks we visited, including the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Conference closure. 

It was one heck of a trip.

House v. NCAA

  This is my last blog before taking a well-deserved vacation. Not that I won’t be following sports. To the contrary, I will be going to college campuses and seeing games in venues I have wanted to visit. It is going to involve a lot of travel and I may need a vacation afterwards just to get some rest. Just kidding there. It’s going to be fun and I fully intend to report about my travels.

Meanwhile, the current landscape of sports is in flux. Not necessarily MLB, the NFL, NHL or NBA, although they may be greatly impacted by what came from a single court case against the NCAA. For the settlement reached in this historic litigation will forever change what college athletics looks like at all levels.

House v NCAA arose from the NCAA rules which “prohibit student-athletes from receiving anything of value in exchange for commercial use” regarding names, images and likeness (NIL), as well as prohibiting conferences and member schools to share the money made from broadcast partners  and any other contracts where the student-athlete’s NIL is used for the benefit of the school. Those were the two main areas of focus of the lawsuit; other monetary issues concerning NIL were also addressed in the complaint. 

The defendants—the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences forged a united front to try to defeat the lawsuit. Yet they had to settle the matter or risk losing more money and more ground in a quickly escalating battle that was going to be worth more and more to the student-athletes and imperil the status of college sports, an already highly monetized entity. 

With the advent of NIL and the uneven calculus which already threatened chaos for the rich, subsidized by the television and streaming markets along with the more traditional big boosters, the defendants had to make a decision to save themselves further damage while weaponizing the settlement as a way to get Congressional oversight heading forward. 

Make no mistake. This is a monumental decision. Everybody wants a piece of the pie. The money is that big. It is reminiscent of how the MLBPA was formed, for free agency threatened to ruin the National Pastime. It is still a highly imperfect marriage, but there is a level of control which allows for large salaries while providing a salary cap to penalize overspending. In that sense, the other three major sports have followed baseball’s lead and have thrived. 

What is not known is how this settlement will actually be distributed. Former athletes from June 15, 2016 to November 3, 2023, the filing date of the lawsuit will receive $2.8 billion minus plaintiffs’ attorneys fees, as determined by the judge. The NCAA will be responsible for $1.1 billion, the Power 5 conferences ponying up about $1.65 billion, with the remaining 27 Division I conferences on the hook for $990 million. The FCS schools are none-too-happy about supporting their richer brethren, when they were not part of the litigation. 

The formulas and how to determine a fair market value for NIL will be subject to changes and be under great scrutiny. While the fair market value is initially determined, it will be subject to recurring, routine evaluation. 

While college sports involve big money generated from football and basketball, there remains a lot of red ink on their ledgers. Which, without cost cutting measures might grow even larger in staggering amounts while at simultaneously having to increase staffing to handle the new issue. 

Venture capital may be a wave of the future in terms of providing athletic departments with the necessary cash to meet their obligations, which includes paying the athletes in the affected class and prospective ones for their NIL. So, too, will corporations see a benefit here to invest—which might require more Congressional intervention to ensure that donors/sponsors receive beneficial tax breaks. 

Moreover, unionization may still be on the horizon. That will not sit well with the bigger or smaller schools. 

And what about reflecting on Title IX implications? That could create even more difficulty in trying not to violate U.S. and state Constitutional issues. 

Payments won’t commence until 2025. So money can be accumulated and set aside. 

In theory that sounds plausible. In reality, there is a whole class present day athletes who want their fair share of NIL money they believe is due them.

Was college sports economics broken? Absolutely. 

This is akin to the doctors employed by hospitals wanting to be much more appropriately compensated for their efforts and reputations. College athletes, perhaps off of high school rankings, as well as performance as collegiate athletes, want to preserve their individual images and capitalize on their worth. The ones who weren’t as fortunate should receive due compensation for what the present athletes will be getting for their images. 

I would love to see what Caitlin Clark receives for remuneration in comparison with her boyfriend, who played on he Iowa Men’s basketball team. Both fall within the aggrieved class. 

Do championship teams such as Georgia football or Kansas basketball warrant more capital to be distributed to their players because they reached the pinnacle and played the most games? Will this create a disparity with also rans and hurt the other 27 Division I conferences, making the already uneven playing field even more skewed? Or could this actually reconfigure things, bringing the big boys to more parity when they must make such large investments in NIL and staff?

What is certain is that this will be relitigated and legislated until most, if not all, are satisfied. Which includes the affected parties. Because the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences are not going to give up too much without still generating sizable profits. 

It’s going to involve a collective meeting of the minds between college administrators, athletic departments and other interested parties, including the athletes who have a seat at the table and a stake in the money. If such can be achieved. If not, the whole institution may crumble. Even if propped up by media money for the foreseeable future.

It would be foolish for me to speculate on how this plays out—compensating the past inequities and looking ahead even a few years out. The defendants might find that the agreement they have now won’t be suitable in 3 or 4 years hence. If they fight over conference allegiances, ergo dollars in their pockets, they will fight to the bitter end. 

Remember House v NCAA. It’s what made college sports different. 

See you in a couple of weeks. I will have plenty to report on at that time.