Buyers of Sellers? Dynasty Crumbling...

                                             Buyers or Sellers? Dynasty Crumbling....

     As I sit here on this mid-July night, aimlessly watching the first place Baltimore Orioles, hardly a juggernaut, play the 46-46 New York Yankees in the second game of a four game series in the Bronx. The Yankees are a team in flux, and tonight, they have Nathan Eovaldi, himself a hard-throwing erratic enigma, pitching thereby epitomizing their stature. For now, the game is scoreless in the second inning, but the truth is that it is only a matter of time before the Yanks do nothing or self-destruct.

     The team sits in fourth place, 7.5 games behind Baltimore and a full 5 games behind third place Toronto. As to the Wild Card position in the American League, they are 6 games behind the Boston Red Sox and 5 behind the Blue Jays, but including those two squads, they have 6 opponents to overcome. And they are 12-19 against the AL East teams.

     There are some very bright spots. Shortstop Didi Gregorius and outfielder and designated hitter Carlos Beltran are hitting nearly .300. Beltran is an All-Star this year and a potential Hall of Fame player based upon a superb career as a switch hitter with some pop in his bat. Beltran is 39 years old and in the final year of his contract; he has slowed down considerably and is regularly replaced for defense in late innings.

     Four pitchers excel. Starter Masahiro Tanaka has justified his large contract. Then there are the 3 relievers who blow away batters--Dellin Betances, a young fireballer with an awesome curve who comes into the game usually in the 7th inning; Andrew Miller, a hard throwing lefthander with a wicked slider covers the 8th inning; and  Aroldis Chapman, capable of throwing his heater upwards of 105 m.p.h., closes the games for the Yankees. This trio normally pitches lights out.

    But that is it for this team. Aged Alex Rodriguez cannot play the field and his .218 average is unacceptable--the only solace is to watch his quest for 700 or more home runs. Sure fielding and former power hitting Mark Teixeira is beset with injuries and his average is even lower--.181. Chase Headley is a pedestrian switch hitting third baseman. Starlin Castro as second base is young and has promise. Speedy Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury have continued to underperform in the outfield and at bat. Brian McCann does hit home runs and frame pitches, but cannot throw out runners attempting to steal; his backup Austin Romine can hit some and catch, but he is a backup. There is little offense. More at home than on the road.

     The remainder of the starting pitching is inconsistent. Ivan Nova is the best of the lot, and he was originally slotted for the bullpen. Highly paid C. C. Sabathia is older and is past his prime; his consistently good days are in his rear view mirror. Michael Pineda has youth and promise, but it comes fleetingly and he is prone to giving up home runs. The remainder of the bullpen largely consists of fill ins going and coming from Triple A.

     So what should management do with this team as the trade deadline looms. There is a lot of interest from other teams for Betances, Miller, Chapman and Beltran.  However, can this team contend? While they have lost a series to Boston to start the second half of the season, they have this series and an interleague series with the top-rated team in MLB, the San Francisco Giants, this coming weekend, before embarking on a road trip to Houston to play the young and hungry Astros then moving onto St. Petersburg, FL to play the Rays who have one of the worst records in baseball. Including tonight, the Yankees have 12 games left to show that they are capable of making a move to contend in some fashion.

      Minor league help is minimal. Catching prospect Gary Sanchez is not quite ready and powerful outfielder Aaron Judge is currently out with a knee injury. First baseman Greg Bird, who filled in admirably for Teixeira last season, is out for the season after labrum surgery. Young pitcher Luis Severino was demoted early this season and appears not to be recalled soon.

     What if the Yankee pitching stabilizes and hitters start to come alive? Are they realistically a contender? Should they trade to improve their chances to win now?

     Most people say they aren't that good and this will not eventuate. Yet high management and ownership is unwilling yet to concede this might happen.

     If that is the case, they should carefully deconstruct this team. If there is interest for much of the roster, they should consider trades that will embellish the team for next season and years beyond--in essence, become much younger. Do not give away the store, but responsibly replenish the roster in key areas of pitching and the outfield. Buy out A-Rod's contract if possible; he serves little use for the team if he cannot be traded to someone who sees value in him. If tossing in the towel means attendance suffers, then this must be undertaken if the Yankees are to be back in the midst of the fight for the playoffs starting with next season.

     Then there is the question of the baseball leadership. I think that manager Joe Girardi over manages with his top pitchers, but that is due to a lack of hitting and pitching which dies not make more than 5 innings too many times. He should be retained. My wife thinks that pitching coach Larry Rothschild might need to go--I don't know if he is to be entirely blamed for the pitching problems. General Manager Brian Cashman has been in New York for 18 years--is it time to blame him for long-term contracts that extended too far and a barren minor league system? Maybe. What he does around the trade deadline might seal his fate.

     One thing for sure--the end of July is going to be the most exciting part of a rather desultory season thus far. For a proud franchise, this is humbling.

   


   

   

Is It Kevin Durant's Fault?

                                                        Is It Kevin Durant's Fault?

     Let's start with I am biased here. I wanted the Golden State Warriors to win the 2015-16 NBA Championship. I wanted validation for 73 wins. I like Steph Curry. I like Klay Thompson. I like Draymond Green. I like Anthony Iguodala. I even like Andrew Bogut and Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa. I rooted for Mo Speights and Harrison Barnes. I pulled for Steve Kerr and his travails to returning as Head Coach. So Cleveland and its fans have that long-sought banner. More power to LeBron James. Kyrie Irving was the difference maker. Let J.R. Smith keep his shirt on.

     But it is a new season already, notwithstanding that the Rio Olympics are on the horizon. Free agency has struck in its immaculate earnesty. Trades have abounded. The New York Knicks, my erstwhile favorite team with just 2 championships to show for all its tenure in the NBA, went out and made themselves better. Even the Brooklyn Nets, the ancestor of the New Jersey Nets, went into the market and swooped out with Jeremy Lin whose Knicks success (Linsanity!) still makes him a cult hero in these environs.

     No, the name of the game is to get better. To build upon success. To put yourself in a posture to contend and even win a championship (or two). This might even happen someday to the Philadelphia 76'ers, the masters of woefulness in recent memory with such dismal records despite having solid draft positions.

     The salary cap numbers are out of sight. $94 million. That's absurd. Very good players like the aforementioned Harrison Barnes receive ungodly sums of money for multiple years to sign with a new team--in this case it is the Houston Rockets who have unlocked their vault. Certain Hall of Fame players like Dewayne Wade are playing the free agent market to secure 2 or 3 more years beyond their prime either from unrealistic suitors like the Denver Nuggets or to leverage and pressure the Miami Heat, his only team, to capitulate and give him loads of cash for loyalty. Tell me, did that work out for A-Rod and the New York Yankees?

     All of a sudden, loyalty to a fan base matters more than ever. This is largely due to LBJ's return to Cleveland to bring home the bacon. Let me repeat myself--his RETURN home to Cleveland. Remember how vilified he was when he went South to join Wade and Chris Bosh in South Florida? No matter how successful he was there?

     So here comes Kevin Durant, one of the 5 best players in the current NBA. A lock as a Hall of Famer. He is a free agent. The betting was that he'd sign again with Oklahoma City for 1 year @ a measly $20 million to enhance his chances next summer for a more lucrative free agency payday.

     In a ludicrous recruitment tour akin to the stupor that free agency is itself, he visits the Los Angeles Clippers. Then he meets with the Golden State Warriors in the Hamptons on Long Island, far removed from his hometown of Washington, D.C. or the rather hot and dry Sooner State, who send their management, coaches, and Durant's good friend, Steph Curry, the reigning M.V.P. And he is swept of his feet by their pitch and their offer.    

     Kevin Durant decides to become a Golden State Warrior. The money is good. But the chance to play with the team-friendliest ball-moving team in the NBA which came within about 1 minute of winning the NBA Championship is an allure which no other team can offer. He does not have to worry over 4th quarter meltdowns by point guard Russell Westbrook, a known ball hog and glory seeker who is great but definitely is not K.D.

     What does Durant not have? An NBA Championship ring. What does this group of Warriors have--a ring and the opportunity, if healthy, to legitimately contend for years to come. GSW has become a sort of NBA Dream Team with 4 players the likes of Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green. Iguodala can go back to being a 6th man coming off the bench. They become the presumptive favorites for the upcoming season. Why wouldn't Durant want to thrive in this kind of environment? He does not have to be the one to carry the team night in and night out. As near as the Thunder had come to the NBA Finals this year and with their 1 prior appearance in the Finals, what would their chances have been this year had he stayed put?

     Fans and writers are up in arms about Durant abandoning OKC. How much does loyalty count these days in any arena--sports or business? Didn't Oklahoma City swoop in and take away the Seattle Super Sonics from the devoted fans of the Pacific Northwest? This is business and Durant was taking care of himself. You didn't see him remotely considering going home to play for the Washington Wizards...

     Free agency happens every year. Fans are jolted. The playing fields of all sports are leveled in different ways and shapes. There isn't this hue and cry anyway when Apple loses an innovative computer scientist to Google, is there? Or when a lawyer gets a better chance for partnership through a headhunter?

     Get over it, Thunder fans. Get ready for some less than stellar teams. Boo K.D. as you wish whenever he plays in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Recognize this, OKC and the rest of the NBA, it isn't Kevin Durant's fault. It is the monster that has been created with the ability to go from team to team while paying astronomical sums of money to--basketball players.  Maybe we can blame this all on LeBron anyway...

                                                                Philadelphia

         I am a New York fan. My bias extends deeply through the core of New York sports. I love the NY sports teams. My slight diversion in major college sports goes to where I grew up--in close proximity to Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, which was small potatoes when I was young but which now has burgeoned into a nationally-known team by way of ESPN and its neophyte membership in the Big 10 Conference.

        Being so New York centric, every other market seemed to be minor or insignificant compared to the New York megalopolis. There were 3 baseball teams when I was a youth, then the present 2. There has been a various number of professional football teams, now again settled with 2 who share the region from a stadium in North Jersey. Two more NBA teams; 2 soccer teams; 3 NHL franchises now with a fourth defunct one in its history. Madison Square Garden was the indoor mecca for basketball-especially with the NYC powerhouse schools of St. John's Manhattan, Fordham and New York University along with the National Invitational Tournament, which still exists today but in its heyday was more prestigious than the NCAA hysteria known currently as "March Madness." MSG also hosted track meets, dog shows and NBA doubleheaders.  Yankee Stadium was where Ruth, Di Maggio, Mantle, Jackson and Jeter made history.

          New York was a city of 8 million and with millions more packed into growing suburbs in New Jersey, Westchester County, on Long Island and in outlying areas. There were television stations galore including the homes of NBC and CBS. So many daily papers including the erudite New York Times ("all the news that's fit to print"). The United Nations was located in Manhattan. Wall Street with the New York Stock Exchange, too.  The Empire State Building and the imposing skylines. Tunnels and bridges to enter Manhattan Island. The best eateries. The biggest park. The best zoo in the world. Everything was magnified. All things seemed to be the best. Nowhere else could compare.

          I disclose the NY state of mind because I have not forsaken my allegiance to my teams. Instead, I am entering the lair of people who actually root for another city's team. The teams from Philadelphia. That city located 90 miles from New York City, separated by New Jersey and accessible by bridges over the Delaware River. The one that New Yorkers visit on occasion for touristy things like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, or the US Mint. The place where their go to food is a cheesesteak from rivals Geno's or Pat's, diagonally across from each other in an odd South Philly feud. A growing skyline shows the new Philadelphia; yet traveling in from any angle the old, row house neighborhoods still are prominent, a testimonial to the working class ethic which permeated Philadelphia long ago.

         Philadelphia is a big city in population--it is the fifth largest city in the US and the Delaware Valley is the fifth largest metropolitan area. its television market is fourth in the nation, after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It has all of the major amenities that a city should have in terms of a standout university (the University of Pennsylvania), great hospitals and dental schools; it is home to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. There are very well-known art museums. It has a great park too, and a river runs right through its midst. Thee is a very active Navy Yard, a small subway system and it was the hub of many railroads. It had a couple of newspapers too--the Inquirer is very well respected.

       Which is why there is a heated rivalry between fans from both cities. New York snobbery is considered boorish in Philly. Philadelphians are considered to be second class neanderthals by those same New Yorkers. Neither side is getting it right. And hasn't for years.

        My very first exposure to Philadelphia sports came with a trip to old Connie Mack Stadium in North Philadelphia for a July night game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers (2 years removed from being the Brooklyn Dodgers who, along with the New York Giants, abandoned New York for the untapped riches of California) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League. Although my loyalties were with the American League Yankees, I was a student of the game and I peppered my father about other teams--the Mets were still three years away from formation; having gone to dental school at Temple University in Philadelphia, he knew of the Phillies and that the stadium was not too far away from the campus. While the Phillies won the game on a Clay Dalrymple HR with Hall of Famer Robin Roberts pitching a gem for the home team, I recall the vitriol emanating from the competing Dodgers and Phillies fans. Boos and words an 8 year old had never heard in such an unending stream. Nonetheless, on my own, I started to follow the Philadelphia sports teams with some greater interest. Because they weren't that far away from my childhood home in Central New Jersey.

        Universally, the Phillies weren't very good. Compared to the Yankees, they hardly ever won. In 1950 the Phils did win, only to succumb to the Yankees in the World Series in four games.  Then in 1964, the Phillies could have actually won the National League except for an epic collapse at the end of the season. Not to say that they haven't had their moments. In 1964, Jim Bunning, later to be the Republican Senator form Kentucky, pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Father's Day. The Phillies, loaded with Hall of Famers and close to HOF players, excelled in the late 1970's culminating with their first World Series win in 1980.

         The Phillies fortunes took another steep decline until the 2000 decade when a new group of stars took them to the second championship in 2008. All totaled--11 NL East titles; 7 NL pennants; 2 World Series victories. Stark compared to New York standards. The Mets, in existence since 1962, have won 2 World Series.

        I have attended games at Connie Mack Stadium, renamed after the legendary owner of the Philadelphia Athletics (relocated to first Kansas City then Oakland), sterile Veterans Stadium, where the Phillies were a co-tenant with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, and now Citizen's Bank Park. Sure the fans were rabid. But they booed payers unmercifully. Michael Jack Schmidt (Mike), their best player ever and Richie (Dick) Allen, a prodigious slugger, felt the wrath; Allen had to leave town it was so bad. I never could quite grasp why the boos--for even the best players.

        College football centered around the University of Pennsylvania. Once a power, they now are firmly settled in the Ivy League, with Temple University an up and coming power. Villanova University did have a bit of success but actually abandoned football before reinstating it at the then Division 1-AA level.  But the truth is that when mighty Penn State comes in, Lincoln Financial Stadium sell out. Sure Army and Navy used to draw 100,000 annually to their rivalry but dadly, that too is diminished and at times is not played in Philadelphia. Being fair, New York did have Fordham and New York University and Columbia playing big time football yet they receded into the background with the advent of pro football.

        Speaking of pro football, The New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles have played football seemingly forever. Both have very loyal fan bases. They are ties together on the mysterious fumble that Giants QB Joe Pisarcik inexplicably made at Giants Stadium on a hand off to Larry Csonka instead of running out the clock for a sure Giants victory, only to be scooped up by then Eagles DB Herm Edwards (who later coached the New York Jets and is an ESPN expert/talking head) whereupon he scampered 26 yards to an improbable Philadelphia victory. The similarities end there. Although the Giants went through an enormous drought before winning a Super Bowl, they have won a couple. Philadelphia can point to one appearance and no rings. Even my Jets, whose history of successes is meager, at least garnered one Super Bowl victory in their only appearance--albeit 47 years ago. What those two teams have in common is an abundance of green in their uniforms and that they play each other yearly in the preseason. I have always thought that Eagles fans were natoer and less law-abiding--which is why in Veterans Stadium the authorities had a holding cell area and a magistrate on hand for rowdy, unlawful conduct that seemingly always occurred.

         No less vocal fans were the loyal Flyers hockey fans. Philadelphia won the Stanley Cup with the Broad Street Bullies--a group who could score, play defense and backed down from no one--meaning they'd fight at any time, including warm ups. Management even invoked good luck charm Kate Smith to sing God Bless America in person or on tape. Meanwhile, there are 3 hockey teams in the New York area--the New Jersey Devils have won a couple of Cups, eliminating the Flyers in the process; the Islanders won a number of those Cups and they too eliminated the Flyers on their way to victory. Even the New York Rangers, the epitome of frustrating performances, have more recently won the Stanley Cup even with a 60 years plus span from the last Cup win.

        Basketball always played a pivotal role in both cities sports history. Professional basketball was huge in both locales. Yes, I did say was. The Philadelphia Warriors were my first memory of the NBA in Philly, New York had its Knicks. When the Warriors abandoned Philadelphia for the San Francisco area, the Syracuse Nationals moved into Philadelphia to fill the void. Both franchises had some modest degree of success. My only NBA championship game which I attended was at the Philadelphia Convention Center when the Warriors and 76'ers played. In my younger years, I used to go fairly regularly to the Spectrum to see NBA games, the now defunct home for the city's NBA and NHL teams. Lots of great players on both sides, but now not much to show at all. As bad as the Knicks are, the Sixers set yearly standards for how bad an NBA team can be.

        As I stated earlier, in its day, Madison Square Garden hosted so many collegiate doubleheaders involving the 6-8 local colleges playing amongst themselves and hosting national and regional powers.
Philadelphia countered with its own unique vision of college hoops:  the Big Five. The University of Pennsylvania hosted the games at their arena, the Palestra. Penn, La Salle, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova played in their cathedral in heated battles against each other and with teams invading their turf. Seemingly every game was on television. Now the conferences and larger arenas on campus at Temple and Villanova made the Big Five into a lesser light. The games had importance, but not like they used to.

        Which brings me to where we are today. On Monday night, the Villanova Wildcats defeated the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in an epic battle won on a heroic last second shot to capture the NCAA championship for the second time in school history. For all of the limited triumphs that the two cities have gained, this one made it sweeter for Philadelphia. For the few champions who have emerged from either city, this one seemingly out did all of the others in terms of sheer magnitude. A great game involving one of the legendary programs in all of intercollegiate sports, going down to the wire with the outcome determined by a single basket when overtime loomed so ominously.

         For the moment, the New York-Philadelphia rivalry has taken a backstage to a bunch of collegiate basketball players from a tony Catholic school on the suburban Main Line outside of Center City. Millions watched in awe as the final shot swished through the net in a filled football stadium far away in Houston, Texas.  Sports heroes were etched into history on a national stage. More importantly, Philadelphians were given a chance to rejoice for their first time since the Phillies won in 2008 and even more so, for the first basketball title since another even more unlikely group of Villanova Wildcats upset the heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas in 1985.

        I am sure that the celebrations have extended beyond the downtown parade, the campus hysteria and the cancellation of classes on Tuesday, the likely result of one big collective hangover. Sure, the Sixers stink for another season, the Flyers may not make the NHL playoffs again, the Phillies are very young and non-contenders and the Eagles are in coaching turmoil once more. Most Philadelphians will agree that this is true. Nonetheless, the center of the sports world in this country is squarely back in Philadelphia. There is plenty of Brotherly Love to go around. For awhile after this season, too.

       While I rooted for Carolina, I am happy for you, Philadelphia.  It was luck but in the end, as a really good squad won a championship. Your squad. What sayeth you, New York? How about those Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Devils, Islanders, Giants, Jets, Yankees and particularly the Mets with the high hopes fans have after making it to last year's World Series? Outshined by a college team in the city that you detest?

        Sounds like the rivalry continues. Who is going rise up to win next?

       

Really?

I watched 3 basketball games on February 27, 2016. Two were at the collegiate level. One was a Saturday night prime time telecast involving 2 top NBA squads. 3 games. At 3 different levels. 3 different results. All provoking the question in the title--Really?

First on tap was an afternoon Big 10 Conference tilt between the lowly Rutgers Scarlet Knights and second-division Northwestern on the home floor of Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois. Rutgers has not won a Big Ten game this year nor have they won since a monumental upset of Wisconsin at home last January--the same Wisconsin team, albeit minus its star player, that beat the vaunted University of Kentucky team destined to go undefeated and win the National Championship. There have been some competitive games during that stretch--it took Illinois triple overtime to dispatch the Knights.

Rutgers entered the game minus its 2 top big men due to injury and its top scorer, sidelined by an unspecified violation of team rules. That proved to be the key to this matchup. Rutgers gamely tried but offered little resistance to a hot-shooting Northwestern team who hit three-point field goal after three-point field goal enroute to a 30 point halftime lead, which they never gave up and cruised to a 39 point victory, mercifully not going for the 100 point mark. The Knights looked disorganized and, after awhile, disheartened. A picture of their beleaguered coach, looking sleep worn and frustrated with his team's inability to execute the fundamentals of the offense they practice. This kind of performance, no matter what the reasons--bad chemistry, individual motivation over team goals, lack of key players, still should not come with such a heavy price attached to it. Not at this level. Seeing the final score and having witnessed the massacre, I could only ask myself--Really?

At 7:00 I turned on the computer for the webcast of my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, hosting Swarthmore College in the Centennial Conference Tournament championship game on F&M's home floor in Lancaster, PA. These were the top two seeds, the two best teams in the Conference, vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament that goes to the winner. F&M, coached by D III's winningest coach and an almost perennial post-season team, up against Swarthmore, who had never made it to the CC final. The two regular season games were close F&M wins, including the one in Lancaster which resulted in coach Glenn Robinson's 900th career coaching victory. So I was nervous about the game.

The first 20:00 was a blowout. The Diplomats dominated the Garnet from every aspect, leading by an astonishing 50-26 at the half. Yet I had seen some spark coming from Swarthmore at the tail end of the half which gave me pause to think this may not be over.

Swarthmore came out on fire at the outset of the second half and F&M did not. It was a reversal of fortunes. F&M had no answer for the shooting, rebounding and hustle evidenced by the Garnet. The game kept getting closer and closer and I was edgy. Then with a bit over a minute left in the contest, Swarthmore pulled to within one point at 62-61. Somehow, the Diplomats hit just enough baskets and free throws when the Garnet started to foul in order to give them more possessions and a greater chances to tie or lead if F&M did not make its foul shots.

It was a scrappy, determined effort by a Swarthmore team which was missing its top scorer. Sure F&M won at home. But it was far from pretty. Given a lead almost like the one Northwestern had over Rutgers, the Diplomats hung on for a victory that should never had been so close. Was I happy? Yes. Was I elated? No. Just like the game a couple of hours earlier, I again asked myself--Really?

With my wife in tow, we marched to den TV to watch the Golden State Warriors, they of the record-setting win total and defending NBA champions, take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC, a team with two superstars and only 18 losses thus far this season. As soon as I turned on the screen, I saw it was 9-0 in favor of the Thunder. I remarked to my wife that this might be time for the Warriors to lose only their sixth game as opposed to their gaudy 52 wins.

The Thunder were clicking on all cylinders. Their stars, big man and high-scoring Kevin Durant was having a high-scoring night, virtually unstoppable in an array of three point attempts and on shots closer to the basket, while fellow All-Star guard Russell Westbrook was a bull, strong finishes to the hoop along with stifling defense. With that one-two punch and the role players at the top of their game, the Thunder kept thwarting advances by the Warriors and maintained a sizeable enough lead. Through three quarters and into the fourth stanza.

In the third quarter, the reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA last season and the likely MVP again this season,Stephen Curry, had been kept somewhat in check by the Thunder's switching defense. Given his herculean performances in the three prior games on this elongated 7 game road swing, it seemed inevitable that he, like the Warriors, were destined to have an "off" game. "Off" to Curry meant that he would score below his season's average of 30 plus points per game.

But it was that third quarter which changed the dynamic of the battle. Curry got tangled up with Westbrook on a drive to the basket and turned his left ankle. The Warriors had to foul to stop the game so that they could substitute for him. Curry hobbled to the dressing room. The game's outcome seemed to be preordained. No Curry meant no win this night.

Magically, he reappeared and was immediately reinserted into the game. With a fierce determination, Curry started to take over the game, bombing away behind the three point arc with virtual unerring accuracy. All the work of his cohorts, especially his teammate Draymond Green, who scored little, rebounded and passed like no none and had a halftime profanity-laced tirade which was so loud that the ABC sideline reporter felt compelled to report apparent disharmony to the national TV audience, suddenly mattered.

Even so, in the last two minutes of the the game, the Thunder still kept their lead. But with another Curry trifecta and a bad pass by Durant scooped up by Green on a heady play before the ball went out of bounds to end any Golden State hope, Durant made a colossal error. He fouled Andre Iguodala as Iguodala went to shoot a last second desperation shot to try to tie the game. Iguodala, a seasoned pro, an Olympian and last year's NBA Championship MVP, sank both foul shots despite having only a 60+% seasonal average at the free throw line.
Instead of a Thunder win over the Golden State juggernaut, there would now be a 5 minute overtime session.

That's when Curry made an awe-inspired statement. Dancing and prancing around an array of defenders, he launched three pointer after three pointer, all seemingly touching nothing but net on its way through the hoop. And Durant committed his sixth and final foul early in the overtime period foolishly trying to block a Curry shot. That proved to be game, set and match, although the game's score vacillated back and forth between the two teams until it came down to the end.

Who had the ball as time was rapidly running down and the score tied? Steph Curry of course. No timeout by Coach Kerr. Steph came over midcourt and without hesitation let the ball fly. It's high arc was majestic. The downward flight proved to be the dagger to the OKC heart as it swished through the cords. Nobody shoots like that.

Curry finished with 46 points, more than half obtained after his ankle injury. He shot an amazing 12 for 20 from three point territory. That tied the NBA game record for three pointers made. He also broke his season record for most total three pointers as well as continued his record streak of having made at least one three point goal in each game he has played. You have got to be kidding...

Three games. Three different paths to victory. The final one punctuated by a inhuman performance by a player who may be the best shooter and perhaps the best player to play in the NBA in a contest for the ages. What a day.

Can you blame me if I once more say Really?

                                                        THE Rivalry

        Each college and university has its rivals. Arch enemies to the end. Bitterness and acrimony to the hilt.
Alumni in a froth. Students besides themselves. Television agog over the ratings.

        So many rivals. In-state. Inter-state. Intra-city. Public schools versus public schools. Private schools versus private schools. Catholic schools versus Catholic schools. Public versus private. Public versus Catholic. Private versus Catholic.

        Some are sport specific. Football. Basketball. Women's Basketball. A number of schools have multiple rivalries.

        There are trophies involved. There are mascots taken. There are symbols marred or destroyed. There is storming the field or court after a victory. Riots occur, win or lose.

        I can recite so many. Alabama-Auburn. Army-Navy. Georgia-Florida. Oregon-Oregon State. Stanford-California. UCLA-USC. Harvard-Yale. UConn-Tennessee in Women's Basketball. Smaller schools are no exception, i.e. Amherst-Williams and Hampden-Sydney versus Randolph-Macon come to mind.

       They have their names. The Civil War. The Red River Rivalry. The Bedlam Brawl. The Holy War. Every one has its own unique level of intensity.

       However, thee is one rivalry, at least for me, which captivates me season after season. It is sport-specific. Both teams get a home game out of it and sometimes end up playing each other in a post-season tournament. Television makes a spectacle out of it--a big leap from its formative days when the game was only shown regionally. And the teams are normally, year in and year out, at the top of the sport.

       That rivalry is Duke University playing the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Men's Basketball. Or simply-Duke-Carolina. Located only 10.5 miles apart. Duke is a  private, elite academic institution. UNC is a top flight public research university. Students who attend each college differ greatly in their diversity and aspirations.

       To me, there is simply no rivalry which matches the fervor of its games. Packed houses always at the 9, 000 seat barn called Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham and first at Carmichael Arena and now at the gleaming nearly 22,000 seat Dean E. Smith Center, a monument to what the game of basketball means to the UNC faithful and to its legendary coach.

       Media names are big, too. Billy Packer, the long-time network analyst. Dick Vitale, he of the North Jersey bombast. Jay Bilas, a Dukie who actually played in the series, as did Hubert Davis who had a stint at ESPN, the current televisor of the games. Former Duke coach Bucky Waters. Mike Gminski, another Duke player. Their analysis made the event even more colorful. And the play-by-play announcers are legendary--Dick Enberg, Dave O'Brien, Dick Stockton, Tim Brando and my favorite, Jim Thacker who worked for the great C. D. Chesley and Jefferson Pilot Sports.

       Those coaches who have been involved since the start of the intensification of the games in the 1950's are among the giants of the sport. Carolina first had Frank McGuire and his New York pipeline of players, succeeded by Kansan Dean Smith, once the winningest coach at the highest level of play, followed by his longtime assistant Bill Guthridge and then eventually procuring another aide, Roy Williams, a national championship coach at the University of Kansas, itself an epic locale in college basketball . At Duke, Vic Bubas and then Mike Krzyzewski, now the winningest coach who has won Olympic Gold and who is either revered or hated.

        Then the players themselves were of the highest caliber. Michael Jordan. Christian Laettner, Kyrie Irving. Charlie Scott. Phil Ford. James Worthy. Art Heyman. Len Chappell. J.J. Redick. Grant Hill. Charlie Scott, Bobby Hurley. Royalty. Epic players on a big stage.

        Tonight at 9:00 another chapter in the long-storied battles waged by the two very different champions of NCAA Basketball begins. Although it is merely a regular season Atlantic Coast Conference clash, don't tell that to those animated, agitated and seated in the blue of the Smith Center with the millions watching. I will be enjoying it all, now in High-Definition TV, a far cry from Thacker-Packer intonations  in black and white back in my childhood home of Highland Park.

       You can say your rivalry for your school is the best. I cannot disagree. For me, it is Duke-Carolina with rapt attention. Hands down.

     

                                                    The GOLDEN Super Bowl

         The game is in the record books. Denver, behind a stout defense and just enough offense, throttled the vaunted Carolina Panthers and MVP Cam Newton. Peyton Manning won his second Super Bowl. We can stop questioning how good he is given all of his achievements in the pantheon of  NFl quarterbacks.

         Of course the experts dissected the outcome and its myriad of reasons why things turned out the way they did. Thee are as many divergent theories as to why Carolina lost the game as Denver won the game. Then again, we have wildly speculative ideas of alien life on Earth, who should be the 2016 G.O.P. Presidential candidate and who shot JFK.

         The National Football League will tell you that it is all about the game. Yes, it is a championship for the league title, and in this instance, the two top teams in their respective conferences faced each other. So the NFL got that right.

         What the NFL continues to get right is the command that they have over the American conscience through the continued efforts to market a football game into a part of Americana. Let's face it--the Super Bowl is marketing bonanza; pretty unique in that it is simply a football game.

         Last time I looked, despite their ties to the United Way charity and community charitable events, the NFL is a big time money-making conglomerate with tax-exempt status. The Super Bowl is their ultimate merchandising/marketing spectacle, for which nearly half the TV sets in this country are tuned into.

         From a simple game there became extravagant halftime shows lasting now 30 minutes and starring the greatest names in current musical entertainment. No wonder more sets were on the show than the game, even if it was a mere one percentage point more. Each airing network ties new or unique events after the game to rope in more viewers and therefore higher advertising revenues. Considering the rights packages they negotiated with the NFL requires them to make back every last cent and then some while still enriching the League's coffers. Equitable distribution at its finest.

         Speaking of advertising revenue, the Super Bowl is the greatest single money maker for a network for a one day event. Advertisers pay exorbitant fees to market their products, using niches and gags to captivate the audience who hungers for the ad spots more than the game itself. Sorry PuppyMonkeyBaby.

         This parade of commercials is tied to nearly 6 hours of pre-game hype and hysteria leading up to the actual start of the game.  The 30 second airings during the game are even more costly in the hopes that they are memorable enough to sell the desired product.

         We, the American people, susceptible to the NFL's clamor for us to focus on this extravaganza, have mad this event a party date akin to New Year' Eve. The money spent on parties is enormous and has a surreal impact on the local economies.

          Let us not lose sight of who reaps the largest benefits of the game itself first and foremost--the NFL. The players are handsomely compensated to begin with--do I see any tears really shed for Cam Newton despite his subpar performance and post-game childish behavior?  Then there is the licensing aspect--the NFL licenses EVERYTHING. Apparel. Cars, Drinks. The League's haul is gigantic.

          So who loses out here? The hosting municipalities are losers because, in order to get the game, they cede almost all their rights and not adequately repaired for the honor of being the venue. In this instance Santa Clara, California might lose a lot of money in time spent dealing with this spectacle, but the NFL even opted to market this as the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl, headquartering much of its weeklong festivities in San Francisco, which is good distance away from Levi's Stadium. Take that Santa Clara.

         But most of all, it is the fan who loses the most concerning a Super Bowl. The cost of a ticket is stratospheric. Add in the cost of a hotel, plane flight, car, food, etc. and the savings of many people can be shredded.  The NFL gets richer while you get poorer. I wonder how Bernie Sanders feels about that?

         Did I not watch the game? Of course not. Did I go to a party? Nope. Nor did I rush out today and buy a car, eat a Snickers or want to get fuzzy with a marmot. I sat in my cozy den with my wife and took it all in, starting at the late hour of 5:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  Satisfied that I did not submit to lure of the NFL any more than I had to, notwithstanding that I pay a goodly sum annually for New York Jets tickets and have little to show in the way of a return for my investment in terms of Super Bowl appearances let alone victories..

         For the record, I have seen better games. The halftime show was bad. Only a few commercials were noteworthy. Colbert was not worth staying up for. Peyton can have his Budweisers (another bit of self-promotion by the master player sales person) for we do live on the same planet yet not in the same realm.

         Now all I have to get through is the New Hampshire primaries tomorrow night. Cynically I wonder what is at stake there for the NFL and the networks...

Athletes and Surgery

                                                             
                                                          Athletes and Surgery

        By no means am I anything more now than a Weekend Warrior with an obsession to stay in shape. All the years of training, running, weightlifting, throwing, serving, swinging a bat or tennis racquet, swimming, etc. have had there profound effect on my body. Which is why on January 20 once more I will be taking that lonely, glasses off walk down a corridor of a surgical center in a hospital gown and an IV in my left hand.

        This time it is to repair my clavicle which has bothered me from the earlier 2015 surgery on my shoulder. This will be shoulder procedure number four. I have my knees (twice); both ankles; and a hernia; the result of a lurid attempt to hit an overhead smash in a tennis match. Orthopedic surgeons must love me.

        One thing for certain--we live in a time when these kind of surgeries have become commonplace and they return all levels of athletes to their chosen sports. And that is exactly what I am shooting for. A return to normalcy. To run again. Swim laps. Play tennis. Lift weights. All pain free other than the accumulation of years of abuse resulting in arthritis which I don't yet have but can anticipate.

        As much as I marvel what arthroscopic surgery has done for me, I think of the magic of the surgeries which bring professional athletes or those who want to be highly competitive athletes from the sidelines to the games. How they are even able to come back within a season is amazing.

        In baseball, one need not look any further than the surgery for a blown out elbow, aptly named Tommy John surgery for the left-handed pitcher who had a second, highly successful career when Dr. James Andrews determined that taking a tendon from the leg and transferring it to the elbow to replace an damaged ulnar collateral ligament with sufficient time to heal would allow a pitcher to once more pitch at a high level. The fact that both John and Andrews are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame is a flat out travesty. It seems that a significant number of elite pitchers now playing in the majors have had Tommy John surgery.

        How many times have I heard of players who tear their meniscus in some manner in the knee, only to be back competing in two weeks time post-surgery? Or that when the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. is torn after a vicious tackle or a bad cut by a football player running at full speed, that they are back in a year after extensive rehabilitation from a reconstruction surgery similar to Tommy John surgery but this time in the knee? Abdominal tears and sports hernias are now effectively diagnosed and surgically treated, too.

        Let's not forget the physical therapists too. They toil in relative anonymity but they are critical to insuring that athletes at all levels of play can play safe and sound after their operations. PT's are unsung heroes in the realm of orthopedic surgery.

        Today arthroscopic surgery is the least invasive norm. I wish that a great player like Mickey Mantle had access to that type of surgery. He might have lasted longer (notwithstanding his rampant alcohol abuse) and hit more home runs and played center field that much more. Unfortunately he was ahead of his time--however, not in a good way.

        Doctors and athletes are now inexorably intertwined. Without advances in medical science I dare say that a sport like baseball would be still a lot like the way the game was played nearly 50 years ago.

        Absent these surgeries, I would not be dreaming of a pain-free swim or hitting a tennis ball at age 65. While I will not be under an arthroscope this time,  I will take that knowledge with me when I make that all-too-familiar trek to the cold surgery suite with the hope and promise that I will be back playing the sports I love based on the knowledge and techniques of modern medical science.