On the Road to Perdition

     This was a week chock full of stories. From comparisons to heartfelt tragedy. I will try to make some sense of what has transpired since we last met.

     I was going to write a piece about the trade of Pittsburgh Pirates' outfielder and face of the franchise, Andrew Mc Cutcheon, to the San Francisco Giants. That the Pirate fans want the owner banished speaks volumes how the trade affected the psyche of Pittsburgh fans already reeling from the Steelers' loss in the AFC playoffs. Mc Cutcheon embodied class and dignity in a Pirates uniform. I feel badly for the Pirates' fan base and hope that management knows what it is doing in rebuilding this team.

     Perhaps I could have written about Matt Patricia, the New England Patriots defensive coordinator who will become the next head coach of the Detroit Lions after the Super Bowl concludes. Matt graduated from R.P.I. with a degree in aeronautical engineering and obtained a Masters in Education from UMass. Who gave up a brilliant and promising career in engineering after 2 years to seek something more rewarding in coaching football players. My hunch is that he is going to succeed big time in Detroit, especially starting with a proven QB in Matthew Stafford.

     Instead, we have begun the two weeks that is Super Bowl time. The lead in to the event that captivates millions and makes incredible money for its commercial spots.

     The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Minnesota Vikings to win the National Conference title. Given the fact that the New Orleans Saints should have been been playing in this game but for the miraculous throw by Vikings QB Case Keenum to WR Stefon Diggs which resulted in a game-ending 61 yard pass play, it is not surprising that the Eagles would emerge as the victors. Behind their super backup QB Nick Foles and a stout defense, this was a mismatch. Moreover, no dome team has won a Conference final on the road; Minnesota is a an indoor team.

     Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars looked every bit the team that knocked off the second-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers. They took it to the New England Patriots and G.O.A.T. Tom Brady. Led by QB Blake Bortles, whose underrated status is a joke, the Jags had the Pats on the ropes. But that was the first half.

     We have almost learned to expect Brady to lead a 2nd half comeback. Ask the Atlanta Falcons about that from Super Bowl LI. So it came as no surprise that the Patriots' defense diagrammed by Matt Patricia shut down Bortles & Co. while Brady and WR Danny Amendola once more did their damage.

     Now we have Super Bowl LII coming up inside the gleaming, glass-encased U.S Bank Stadium in frigid Minneapolis. New England started out as a 6.5 points favorite. Until someone plunked down an astounding $10 million bet on Philadelphia to win. That unheard of bet undid the Las Vegas betting line, moving the odds in favor of the Patriots to 4.5. I hope the casino vetted this bettor to make sure of an ability to pay...

     As with all Super Bowls, the minute exams of players and teams started right after the Eagles' win. Can understudy Foles, in relief of an injured Carson Wentz, lead the Eagles to an improbable victory over Brady as he and Coach Bill Belichick seek their 6th crown? Will Belichick retire with a win as his coaching staff loses its offensive and defensive coordinators?

     For that matter, will Foles be a hot commodity that Philadelphia can trade if he pulls the upset in Minnesota? Or will he remain a high-priced insurance to Wentz as the incumbent starting QB rehabs from an ACL and LCL surgery? And will Philadelphia drown in celebratory free Bud Light courtesy of Eagles' right tackle Lane Johnson's boast about winning the Super Bowl? Dilly Dilly?

     Then there is this comparison of Brady to basketball all-time great Michael Jordan.  With a win, would Brady be the greatest male athlete in U.S. history? Can anyone inject heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali or golfer Tiger Woods into this ridiculous debate?

     On a footnote, I am glad to see Woods make the cut this week on the PGA tour at Torrey Pines near San Diego. Perhaps not as happy as the networks and the PGA; both entities sorely missed the iconic Woods and his dominance.  Cautionary note--don't expect too much--he has missed many years, he is older, plus he has had multiple back surgeries. Yet what a story it would be if Woods became the old Tiger for even one more time given all that has happened to him.

     This week, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2018 class. Leading it is the Atlanta Braves' Chipper Jones. The switch hitting third baseman/outfielder, an over all number 1 draft pick, was an overwhelming choice. (The other number 1 draft choice in the HOF is Ken Griffey, Jr.) His 19 year career--all with Atlanta--produced 1 N.L. M.V.P. award, 8 All Star nods, 468 homers, a .303 lifetime batting average with 1623 R.B.I.

     Joining Jones as a first ballot classmate is outfielder Vlad Guerrero. A 9 time All Star and also an A.L. M.V.P. with the Angels, the Dominican-born Guerrero had a career .318 average, with 449 homers and 1496 R.B.I. During his 16 years in the majors, Guerrero was a feared slugger with Montreal, the Angels, Texas and Baltimore. averaging 34 home runs and 113 R.B.I., per season.

    Third on the list was Padres' closer Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman was the first closer to reach 500 then 600 saves. He ended his brilliant career with 601 saves. When this generation's closers are named, two names stand out--Hoffman and next year's certain enshrinee, Mariano Rivera.

     The final choice for 2018 was slugger Jim Thome. Thome played first base and third base more than he was a Designated Hitter. His numbers were eye-popping--612 homers and 1699 R.B.I. over 22 seasons. His yearly average was 39 home runs and 108 R.B.I. While playing with Cleveland and Philadelphia, his seasonal numbers were even greater. In 2003, he produced 47 homers and 131 R.B.I at age 32 with the Phillies.

     All worthy candidates. This was only the second class that had 4 former players entering Cooperstown. Which left little room for a fifth member in 2018. Two notables who moved up in the voting were Seattle Designated Hitter/third baseman Edgar Martinez and erudite, Stanford grad with a degree in economics, Righthander Mike Mussina, who had a 18 year career with Baltimore and the Yankees. Martinez, with a grass roots sabermetrics campaign started on his behalf, jumped 12% in the latest voting; his 70.4% among voters bodes well for his chances to be enshrined. He needs 20 more voters to look favorably on his chances.

     Mussina collared 63.5% of the voters' attention. "Moose" needs 49 more votes to get to Cooperstown though he isn't of the same caliber as pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz. Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, all who were elected during Mussina's 5 years on the ballot. What Mussina has done is steadily rise from 20.5% in his first year to getting closer and closer to the magic figure. This, in part, is an acknowledgement of how difficult it was to pitch at a high level during the Steroid Era. A 270-153 record with a 3.68 E.R.A. in a career where offenses were dominant makes a compelling case to grade Mussina as the seventh best pitcher in his time and Hall of Fame worthy. Would it be a Yankees' dominating time in 2019 with Rivera or 2020 with Derek Jeter, if Mussina joined their parties?

     Incredibly, there is the sordid mess that the Larry Nassar tragedy has created. Nassar did the unspeakable to many young athletes, especially female gymnasts. As a result he deserved the 40-175 year prison term imposed this week. The harm he did is unquestionable. He will, in fact, die in prison.

     What his unseemly life exposed was a culture of not listening to the cries of young women who were sexually molested by a doctor they thought they could trust. The United States Gymnastics Association and Michigan State University are at fault here. High level officials with both organizations have been removed or resigned.

     Moreover, ESPN, in its award-winning Outside The Lines program, has documented 37 instances of sexual assaults within the MSU football and basketball programs. While football coach Mark D'Antonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo deny any wrongdoing or cover ups, ESPN has records that show a salacious pattern of indifference to women who were attacked by predators. Those predators were repeatedly let off of the hook. One woman, whose case seemed to be very compelling, was told by the prosecuting attorney that her case would be dismissed because she would not be a convincing witness. That prosecutor now works at Michigan State.

     Undoubtedly, we have not seen the end of this story. What will unfold in civil litigation and NCAA investigations will take an even greater toll on Michigan State overall and specifically, its athletic programs. The MSU President and Athletic Director have both resigned. The protests abound on campus.  It is a terrible mess, with too many lives broken as a result.

     On a lighter note and certainly stupidly, WWE head Vince Mc Mahon has resurrected the XFL as an alternative to the NFL. Note to Mc Mahon--stick to wrestling--the XFL failed once before and it awaits the same fate. Besides, wrestling fans want to see if former MMA diva Rhonda Rousey wins the first women's Royal Rumble on Sunday.

     Almost as inane was the draft the NBA utilized to pick the sides for its upcoming All Star Game. The idea is dumb and the complaints about it not being televised are dumber. The NBA ASG is broken--no defense is played and dunks are the name of the game. Very few remember who starred in these contests. The NFL Pro Bowl game suffers from similar spectator enthusiasm and is merely an exhibition game. Goals in double figures are scored in the NHL All Star game, as there is no checking or hitting. Give me the MLB All Star game any time. More exciting match ups have resonated from the very first one in 1933. The other sports simply cannot showcase their stars like baseball.

     Once again we must endure the crazy football stories which will originate from writers covering the Super Bowl--what will the New York Jets do for a QB? Will the Vikings keep its three QB's--Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford, the latter two, injury-prone? What about those dog masks that the Eagles and their fans wear as part of the underdog mentality that is also making Amazon richer with the demand for these items? Aren't you glad that the New York Giants will start Eli Manning at QB next season?

     Thankfully we had the Golden State Warriors to watch against Eastern Conference-leading Boston. With Steph Curry scoring 49 points to overcome Kyrie Irving in a duel of the two of the best guards in the NBA, the Warriors defeated the Celtics in a scintillating affair.

     The Celtics-Warriors match up was in complete contrast to the train wreck the Cleveland Cavaliers have become--the finger-pointing and blame for their sudden descent is soap opera material. With college basketball heading towards March Madness and Villanova and Purdue at the top of the men's rankings, the once-great UConn Men's basketball team is under NCAA scrutiny while the undefeated UConn women roll on.

     Early on Saturday morning in the U.S., we were treated to an excellent Australian Open Women's Finals match between top-seeded Romanian Simona Halep and the second seed, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Two superbly conditioned athletes slugging it out for three hard-fought sets. Wozniacki claimed her first major title and secured the Number 1 ranking, out dueling Halep. Ageless Roger Federer, another G.O.A.T., headlined the Men's Final. It is great to see Roger still competing like he does. Especially with Federer prevailing over Marin Cilic to win his 20th Grand Slam tournament in 30 tries.

     Fortunately, there are enough diversions to take our minds off of the hot sports issues of the week. After all, isn't that what sports is all about? Besides, there is the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena. Just another instance of sports intersecting with the world. In that vein, who would have thought that mortal enemies North and South Korea could have merged their teams to compete in the upcoming Winter Games?

     Hopefully the Grammies will result in less controversy and discussion than this week in sports...
   
   

Streakers

     The streak lives. And it won't be challenged for another two years due to the fact that the two teams are in different ACC divisions. Which means that they play once a year, alternating home contests.

     So Clemson will not get a shot at beating the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill until 2019-20. Right now, the record is 59-0 in favor of the Tar Heels. That's right, Clemson has not beaten Carolina in Chapel Hill EVER in the 92 year rivalry. Just at the newer basketball facility on campus, the Dean E. Smith Center, named after the legendary Tar Heels coach, Clemson is 0-28.The all-time series is 134-20, which is pretty extreme dominance by one school over another on a regular basis.

     Unlike Joe Di Maggio's 56 game hitting streak, which has remained virtually unchallenged since 1941, beating a team is going to happen. It happened to the UConn women last year in the NCAA Tournament when Mississippi State shocked the Huskies, ending their 111 game streak. The UCLA men fell to Notre Dame in 1989, ending an incredible winning run of 88 consecutive games. The previous longest home winning streak in men's college basketball belonged to Princeton, a 52 game mark against Brown, which finally ended in 2003.

     No, it's going to happen. Some day, Clemson is going to win at North Carolina. At least I think that is the case. The Tigers have had a number of missed opportunities to end the streak. In 2008, Clemson had as much as a 15 point lead during the game, led by 11 with 3:00 left in regulation, and managed to lose to North Carolina in Double OT.

     The pressure is on both squads when the game is in Chapel Hill. Clemson, this year ranked higher at No. 15 than the 20th ranked Tar Heels, had as good a chance to put an end to the streak. But history points out that in the past, when both teams were ranked, UNC was 17-2, with none of those losses at home. Now that record in 18-2 in favor of UNC.

     Yet the Tigers fought back in the second half to make things uncomfortable for UNC. No one on North Carolina's teams, when hosting Clemson, wants to be on the team that loses to end the streak. Alums, like Kenny (The Jet) Smith, a past Tar Heel star, a very good player with the Houston Rockets in the NBA, and a studio panelist for TNT NBA coverage, were there to prevent the streak imploding simply by their mere presence, which was duly noted by the current Tar Heels and provided a great incentive to win. Conversely, when Clemson made its surge in the second half, the emotion and pressure was too much, causing them to lose rhythm and momentum, therby blowing their chance at immortality.

     Tar Heels Head Coach Roy Williams, who has seen many of those UNC wins as an assistant coach and as the head man, calls it the "forever" streak. He marvels at the longevity, but certainly does not wish to be a part of history when it ends.

     Who knows if the streak will be extended in 2020 when the teams meet again in Chapel Hill. Will it reach 60? 70? Only time and some good luck on Clemson's side and bad fortune for the Tar Heels might put an end to this remarkable achievement.

     For now, the streak endures. To the joy of many in North Carolina, along with the corresponding dismay of more in South Carolina.

     When I think of the Clemson-UNC streak, I think of two streaks that were recently broken in college football. Both involve teams from Maryland.

     Navy-Notre Dame has endured conference affiliations and World War II. Notre Dame was a struggling Jesuit institution which needed Federal money to help keep the school afloat. That came in the form of a Navy V-12 program on the Notre Dame campus, resulting in a virtual Navy ROTC in South Bend during WWII. Vietnam War protests removing ROTC organizations from many campuses never touched Notre Dame due to the lasting ties between the institutions, first forged on the gridiron.

     Notre Dame is one of the superpowers in college football. They play many of the heralded major schools at some time or another--Michigan, Southern California, Stanford and Miami were norms on the Irish schedule.

     Then there is Navy. We all know that Army-Navy is one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. Air Force also gets the Midshipmen heated up. When they play Maryland, their proximity leads to another passionate contest.

     However, starting off in Baltimore in 1927 with a Midshipmen win, the ND-Navy series turned decidedly in favor of the Irish. This past November was the 91st renewal of friendly hostilities between the schools, which constitutes the longest continuous rivalry between two schools from different regions (although they are 10 hours apart by car).

     Notre Dame leads the series 76-13-1 (I believe one game was a post-game forfeit and wasn't counted). For 43 years until 2007, Notre Dame had beaten Navy 43 straight times. Since the dramatic victory in 2007, Navy has held its own against the big bad Fightin' Irish.  Like so many other school having ongoing series beyond their most traditional rival (for example--Georgia versus Georgia Tech is an end of  the season in-state rivalry, but Georgia-Florida is a date circled on the calendars of both schools), this is one rivalry, notwithstanding geography, which shows no signs of dying. At least the Midshipmen aren't concerned anymore about ending an ungodly losing streak.

     Maryland and Penn State have renewed their football series as a result of Maryland eloping form the Atlantic Coast Conference to join the Big Ten in 2013. Taking geography into account, the Big Ten wisely placed the Terrapins and the Nittany Lions in the same division.

     But since 1961, with an interruption in play forced by Penn State's entry into the Big Ten, Maryland had won no more games versus its border foe. That was until 2015, when the Terps hung on for a 20-19 victory in State College, ending 34 straight futile contests for Maryland against Penn State. To Penn State it was a loss. To Maryland, it was a gigantic victory. That's what breaking a curse can do for you. I cannot imagine how the Kentucky football fans are taking the 31 straight losses to Florida right now, which is the longest active college football streak. (Perhaps heavy drinking before the game??)

     Of course, we look at the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series win, ending the drought that started after the 1907 Cubs Series victory and the Red Sox 2004 World Series title, ending the "Curse of the Bambino" after 86 years as noteworthy. But the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays have never won a World Series. Some historians throw the Texas Rangers into this group as they have not won a World Series since they left Washington in 1971; when the franchise was in D.C., they won a World Series. Heck, Seattle, Milwaukee and Montreal/Washington have never played in a World Series.

     As we approach the Super Bowl, the AFC Championship underdog Jacksonville Jaguars, along with the Houston Texans, the expansion Cleveland Browns, and the Detroit Lions have never played in a Super Bowl. Cities where there has never been a Super Bowl winner include NFC Championship foes Minnesota and Philadelphia, Chicago/St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo, Cincinnati and last year's hard luck losers, the Atlanta Falcons. And for me, it will only be 50 years next season since Joe Namath and his teammates stunned the Baltimore Colts to win the only Super Bowl the New York Jets ever have appeared in.

     NHL teams which have never won a Stanley Cup include St. Louis, Buffalo, Vancouver, Washington, San Jose, Winnipeg/Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta/Winnipeg, Nashville, Columbus and Minnesota. But in hockey crazed Ontario, Toronto Maple Leafs fans feel apoplectic about the fact that the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in 1967; ask New York Rangers fans about the drought from 1940 to 1994, when the Blueshirts emphatically ended their losing. Geez, Rangers fans, it is 14 seasons and counting if the team does not win the Cup; is this another budding streak?

     Seven teams have never made it to the NBA Finals--Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, Minnesota, Charlotte, Toronto, Memphis and New Orleans. Phoenix, Brooklyn, Utah, Indiana and Orlando have made it to the NBA Finals but have not won a title.

     Just so we can clear the air a little, the longest losing streak in the NBA belongs to the Philadelphia 76'ers--28 losses over 2 seasons. The Los Angeles Lakers have the longest winning streak--33 victories. The Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76'ers appeared in 22 straight NBA playoffs, which is the record. But if you were a child in 1951, you remember the Rochester Royals winning the NBA crown. Their successors in Cincinnati, Kansas City/Omaha and Sacramento haven't won since.

     The 2017 Cleveland Indians set the American League consecutive win streak this past summer at 22. The 1916 New York Giants hold the record of 26 straight wins. The 1961 Philadelphia Phillies have the MLB record of 23 straight losses. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles have the dubious American League record at 21.

     Returning to college basketball, the longest winning streak against one opponent is 52 by UCLA against the University of California at Berkeley from 1961 to 1985. Syracuse has an intact 47 game winning streak against Colgate, which began in 1963. That's a lot of losing.

     So I empathize with the Clemson fans and point out that others have had much pain in rooting for their teams. The bad news, Tar Heels fans, is that it looks inevitable that Clemson may win in Chapel Hill one day.

     The good news, Clemson fans is this--you won't actively worry about the streak until we are gearing up for the 2020 elections. I wonder how the political pundits will view another Clemson loss in relation to national politics. Those pundits can say wait until the 2022 mid terms, which would be the same spin that Tigers fans would have to make. Then again, the Democrats have not have had control of the House of Representatives in 23 years. That is a pretty significant losing streak. The G.O.P. has a modest 8 year streak of controlling Congress. At least they don't play basketball for real on Capitol Hill.

     And who didn't think that politics and Clemson-UNC hoops didn't have a little something in common. Losing can be contagious...

Perspectives

     My eyes saw a lot of things this past sports week. I wish to make comments accordingly.

     Monday night was the College Football National Championship game between then #3 Georgia and #4 Alabama. Two Southeastern Conference foes, whose states share a sizable common border which is the boundary for the Eastern and Central Time Zones. They don't meet much in the SEC regular season, as they are in different divisions, and they didn't meet this year in the SEC Championship game, largely due to Alabama's in-state arch rival, Auburn, beating the Crimson Tide and thus winning the SEC West. And while Georgia exacted revenge on Auburn for a previous in-season loss to the Tigers and won the SEC Championship, Alabama had to worry that Ohio State or Wisconsin, the winner of the Big Ten Championship, might seize that fourth and last spot in the tournament. Alas, the Buckeyes victory over the Badgers did not put Ohio State ahead of Alabama.

     To get to the Championship round, Alabama had to dethrone defending champion Clemson, who they lost to last year in excruciating fashion for the National Championship. Which they did with a stout defense and just enough offense.

     Georgia won a heart-throbbing overtime contest in the Rose Bowl against then #2 Oklahoma and Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield. Georgia, behind freshman QB Jake Fromm and its two hard-charging running backs along with a ferocious yet suspect defense, could put up points but was vulnerable to giving up big plays.

     The game in Atlanta was a tale of two halves. The first half was dominated by Georgia. What happened in the second half and the overtime proved to be the difference maker for Alabama.

     Nick Saban, the Tide's head coach was dissatisfied with the score and the results produced by his incumbent QB, Jalen Hurts. So Saban benched the QB, who had two career playoff wins.

     He inserted 5 star recruit Tua Tagovailoa to start the second half. A bold move in that Tagovailoa had only seen limited action throughout the season. The Hawaiian lefty, from the same high school that current Tennessee Titans QB Marcus Mariotta attended, almost single-handedly drove the Tide to a most unlikely victory. Right after suffering a big sack that cost the Tide 16 yards in overtime, with Georgia ahead on a field goal, Tagovailoa connected with Henry Ruggs III, another true freshman on a go pattern for the winning score.

     Alabama played hurt, having to play a true freshman at the critical left tackle spot. Tagovailoa escaped a sack and ran for a crucial first down late in the fourth quarter. Alabama had talent and a lot of luck on its side. They deserved to win--this coming from a Georgia native rooting hard for the Bulldogs. The Tide simply dominated Georgia in the second half, and Georgia abandoned its successful run first mentality and fell too much in love with the pass. As well as the Bulldogs' freshman QB Jake Fromm played on Monday night, he was out dueled by his Elite 11 roommate and close friend, Tagovailoa.

     Yet what bothered me were four plays that the Big Ten officiating crew missed which might have made the game turn out differently.  Calls were either made incorrectly on the field or no penalty marker was thrown. And Alabama was the beneficiary of all four of these officiating miscues.

     On the first possession of the second half, Alabama lined up to punt on fourth and eight at its own 24 yard line. Georgia made a concerted rush towards the punter and blocked the kick. The Georgia player was flagged for being offside. Replays showed that he had anticipated the snap and was not in the neutral zone.

     Additionally, that same replay showed that Alabama had three players flinch prior to the snap. That was a second penalty missed by the officials. Instead, Alabama got the 5 yards on the penalty and executed a much better punt.

     These officials also missed a clear face mask penalty against Alabama; a deliberate shove of Fromm by an Alabama defender after the play had been whistled dead; and with 3:56 to go, on fourth down near the Georgia goal line, another false start was not called against the Crimson Tide.

     This is not sour grapes; Alabama won the game and should have based upon its level of play. But to get four significant plays wrong by missing obvious calls that bolstered the Tide and definitely hurt the Bulldogs was not right.

     There has to be a system whereby replay officials can spot fouls or overrule calls on the field without a challenge from a head coach or after a touchdown. It may be burdensome to start. Presently, outcomes of games are left to the officials' discretion and can, as in this instance, directly affect the result. In this game, too much was at stake and the officials' mistakes determined a victor. That cannot occur any longer.

     A second thing which I was fervently rooting for came true. The Philadelphia Eagles, the top seed in the NFC, led by QB Nick Foles, who replaced star starting QB Carson Wentz in week 14 when Wentz's knee was torn up, dethroned the defending NFC champs, the Atlanta Falcons on a windy and cold day in South Philadelphia.

     The Eagles now play the Minnesota Vikings for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Philadelphia will host this game based on its NFC-leading 13 wins.

     Had the Eagles lost to the Falcons, and had Minnesota won its game versus the Saints in Minneapolis, then the second-seeded Vikings would have played at home for two or, if they had beaten Atlanta, three games, since this year's Super Bowl is being held in Minnesota's gleaming gem of a stadium. No cold, outdoor matches for the Vikings; no travel plans disrupting preparation for the next game. I find that this is not fair.

     Up to now, it hasn't happened where a team could have stayed home for all its playoff games. As it is, after the Vikings' miraculous last play win today, they still are in position to host the Super Bowl with a win in Philadelphia next week. This has never happened before. Nor should it. The National Football League needs a series of neutral sites that are rotated to insure that this kind of scenario cannot occur. The integrity of the sport demands no less.

     Sticking with football, a large number of underclassmen have declared for the NFL Draft, foregoing the remainder of their college career.  Many will be drafted--there are a number of legitimate first round picks in this group, including 6 quarterbacks who can impact a team's immediate future like Wentz and the Los Angeles Rams' QB Jared Goff. Most will likely not complete school and obtain a degree.

     I have never liked this system, but it isn't going to change. Colleges are not going to fund athletes who leave for the professional ranks if they don't make it with the NFL. I recognize the familial need for money in a sport which is violent and where injury happens way too often, derailing promising careers.

     That is not my beef here. Included in the ranks of underclassmen leaving college early were a punter and a place kicker. A punter and a place kicker?? Those are generally undrafted positions, filled with a litany of free agents. Are these legitimately good and talented players who are ready to play in the NFL, or are they making a big mistake by not staying in college for all four years of eligibility? It is more likely that they will not have lengthy professional careers. I wish they had stayed in school to develop a back up plan should they get cut after trying to make a team.

     Then there was the boorish fan sitting court side in Milwaukee who yelled a stream of obscenities at Golden State's Klay Thompson after a hard foul by the Bucks left Thompson sprawled out near the fans underneath the basket. The mild-tempered Thompson didn't like what he heard and reacted disgustedly. Teammates ran to Thompson's aid, removing him from an ugly situation while also voicing their disapproval for the fans's vulgarities.

     Arena security acted quickly and decisively. The fan was removed from that precious and probably costly seat due to his behavior. And rightfully so. No matter how much one pays for a seat, no matter the level of play or the zealous  rooting for the home team, no player should be subjected to a stream of obscene remarks. Nor should other fans have to endure the fan and his discourteous and rude behavior.

     I applaud the Bucks for training their staff to act in the manner that they did. I hope that this clown has his ability to attend college and pro games revoked throughout the country. This guy deserves no less. Money and prestige do not entitle a fan to act inappropriately. I cannot say if alcohol was a factor. That is another subject for another time.

     Finally--a note to broadcasters. Stop over-hyping situations. Many times it is not factually accurate and detracts from the game itself.

     My reference is to the recent Rutgers-Michigan State basketball game. The then-second ranked Spartans were at home in East Lansing and they could not shake Rutgers until the end of over time to secure the victory.

     As Rutgers matched scores with Michigan State, the announcers talked about how this could be a signature win for the embattled program if RU prevailed. Rutgers, replete with many years of losing and not having gone to the NCAA tournament since 1991, was moving forward, heading in the right direction under Coach Steve Pikiell. A win here would have been big for the program.

     To say that this would be a signature win was simply inaccurate. Rutgers would have to follow this up with more wins and earn an NCAA bid to make this statement have real meaning. Otherwise, a win by the Scarlet Knights would have been considered a big upset win on the road if they played inconsistently the reminder of the season. Moreover, Michigan State would have to make a deep run into the regular season and the NCAA tournament to justify this being a signature win. Which the Spartans may do, notwithstanding arch-rival Michigan's dominant win on Saturday over State.

     At least Michigan State's loss was justification that had RU won, this victory would not have been a signature win over a team that is now going to tumble in the polls. I look at Rutgers football's 2006 Thursday night prime time win over second-ranked Louisville in a packed stadium. That was lauded as a signature win. It did lead to some good teams under Coach Greg Schiano. When he left, and with the entry into the Big Ten, the quality wins have been few and far between.

     In the meantime, I will wait, as patiently as I have since 1991 regarding Rutgers basketball and a lot of years with football, for the day when I can look back and point to one game as the spark to RU having top-rated teams.

     A nap sounds better.

   

2 Croatians and a Lot of Football

     As we await the final game of the college football season and we enter into the NFL Playoffs, we are faced with the age old question--who is more important, the coaches or the players? "Honest" coaches say that it is the players, for without talented players, there would not be any success. Of course, there are other coaches who make it all about themselves, not withstanding the assortment of players they have assembled into a team.

     Many players would have you understand that it is all about them. They are excellent athletes and they perform at a higher level than other players. Or those more honest about their successes will relate those successes to a "team effort."

     The 12 NFL teams that made it into the tournament, plus Alabama and Georgia, won more games than most of their competitors. Those teams are replete with star athletes, from a multitude of gifted 5 star athletes recruited by the college teams, to the Hall of Fame caliber players like Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlishberger, to top 1st round draft picks like Jared Goff and Cam Newton. There are a bevy of wide receivers, including Andre Brown, who was having a career year before missing a couple of games due to injury. Then there are defensive stalwarts such as the plethora of New England defensive backs and the marvelous play of rising star T.J. Watt, brother of Houston's all-everything J.J. Watt. Don't forget the running backs like Todd Gurley and the breathtaking duo at Georgia Plus there are some of the best kickers, too. The list is almost endless.

     There will be heroes and goats as the college season concludes in Atlanta and the NFL season heads towards Minneapolis and the Super Bowl. Stellar play will be balanced by glaring mistakes. Athleticism will overshadow brute force and sheer will, yet both are important in football success.

     Yet, to prevail, there is the need for coaches. Highly intelligent, dedicated coaches who will put the players in the right places, with the proper defenses and the better offenses. Without the coaches, would the athletes prevail by themselves? I think not.

     Look at the coaches in the College Football Championship.  Alabama's Nick Saban has won 5 National Championships while compiling an incredible 217-62-1 collegiate record as the head coach at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. After winning his first National Championship at LSU and his teams going 48-16, Saban mistakenly re-entered the NFL where he had been an assistant coach for the Houston Oilers and then on the staff of Bill Belichick as his defensive coordinator when Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. His pedestrian 15-17 with the Miami Dolphins was enough reason, based upon Saban's success at LSU, for Saban to agree to let Alabama make him their 27th head football coach.

     At Alabama, Saban's teams have gone 126-20, won 4 National Championships in 6 attempts, won 7 Southeastern Conference titles and he has been named SEC Coach of the Year 4 times. Fifteen of his former assistant coaches are head coaches in the NFL or in college, including one of his best, Georgia's Kirby Smart. Along with Belichick, two of the most renowned names in football coaching are of Croatian heritage.  Not too shabby for a former defensive back from West Virginia who played at Kent State (fatefully, he and a teammate decided to have lunch first before going to watch the protests, thus avoiding the calamitous National Guard shootings of the protesters) and reluctantly became a graduate assistant under Coach Don James, first successful himself at Kent State and then the University of Washington, where James' 1991 team won a National Championship.

     So what you see from Saban is that his learning curve started with Don James and then continued under his good friend, Bill Belichick. He coached in college and in the pros under a number of good, quality mentors. He found assistant coaches who had the burning desire to learn and excel. Plus they were great talent evaluators. His Alabama teams melded exceptional, teachable, top college prospects who might be able to play at the next level, with superior coaching. Which is why his squads have only 20 losses. But even Saban could make a big mistake--a young, ambitious man named Urban Meyer applied for a graduate assistant position with Saban while Saban was coach of Toledo, but his application was rejected. Meyer went on to win multiple National Championships at Florida and Ohio State.

     Having mentioned Bill Belichick, he is undeniably one of the greatest NFL head coaches, if not the greatest of all time. As in 5 time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots' head coach. As in 2 time Super Bowl winner as the defensive coordinator under the legendary Bill Parcells with the New York Giants, which included the monumental upset of the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXXV based on tremendous execution of his masterful defensive game plan (which resides in the Pro Football Hall of Fame).

     The son of an assistant coach at the United States Naval Academy, he learned the x's and o's of football from his father. As a youngster, he played football and lacrosse, the latter his favorite sport. He is in the Athletic Hall of Fame at Phillips Exeter Academy where he went to shore up his grades after graduating from Annapolis H.S., and at Wesleyan University, where he played center and tight end on the football team, was a senior captain of the lacrosse team and he also played squash while earning his degree in Economics in 1975.

     Belichick joined the staff of the Baltimore Colts in 1975, earning $25.00/hour. In 1976, Belichick was an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions, then with the Denver Broncos in 1978. He then started an impressive 12 year stint as an assistant with the Giants, first under Ray Perkins and then Parcells.

     The Cleveland Browns beckoned the wunderkind with a head coaching job, where his teams went 36-44. He was fired just as the team was moving to Baltimore. He reunited with Parcells in New England as an assistant coach and the team went to the Super Bowl.

     Belichick was the interim head coach of the New York Jets in 1997 for six days while the Patriots and Jets negotiated a deal to release Parcells from his New England contract. Belichick remained with Parcells in New York as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. When Parcells stepped down after the 1999 season, Parcells had arranged for Belichick to be his successor. That lasted 1 day, when, in a bizarre press conference, Belichick resigned as the Jets' Head Coach. Two separate terms as the Head Coach of the New York Jets, lasting 7 days.

     Declining the Jets turned out to be Belichick's greatest move. Named as the Patriots' head man in 2000, New England had a 5-11 record. That losing record is Belichick's only one with New England, and coincided with the only season that Number 12, Tom Brady, perhaps the G.O.A.T. QB ever in the NFL, was not the starting QB.

     Belichick's numbers are astounding with the Patriots. 214-74 in the regular season and 25-9 in the post-season and counting. Brady, of course has a lot to do with those numbers.

     So, too, does the coaching tree that unfurls from his lead--Belichick studied under 5 NFL head coaches; 7 of his assistants became NFL head coaches; 7 assistants became Division I football coaches--there is overlap with Saban, Bill O'Brien and Al Groh; plus 19 more who have been assistant head coaches, coordinators or executives in the NFL. Urban Meyer--yes the one who Saban rebuffed--considers himself to be a protege of Belichick (then again, so does Saban). Belichick has learned from Bill Walsh, the late, great Stanford and San Francisco 49'ers coach, and he became good friends with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano when Belichick's son Steve played lacrosse at Rutgers--so much so that a pipeline of Rutgers players from Schiano's teams have had major success with New England. And if that isn't enough, son Stephen is the safeties' coach for the Patriots and son Brian is a scouting assistant for the team. And for good measure, his daughter Amanda is the head coach for women's lacrosse at Holy Cross.

     Belichick's tenure has been far from spotless. Controversy abounded with the videotaping of the Jets' sideline signals, which was against league rules. For this, dubbed "Spygate," Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots lost their 2008 first round draft choice.

     Then there was "Deflategate." Balls used in a playoff game versus Indianapolis in 2015 were found the be under inflated. Tom Brady was subsequently suspended for 4 games, leading to legal battles that finally upheld Commissioner Roger Goodell's ruling. Although the Patriots came back and won the Super Bowl, the taint follows both Brady and Belichick.

     And now ESPN has reported that there is internal strife among Brady, owner Robert Kraft and Belichick relating to the trading of backup QB Jamie Garoppolo to San Francisco. Observes say that Belichick is less than thrilled with the outcome, that Brady is in favor with Kraft over him and that Belichick may lose his two coordinators as head coaches elsewhere. Whether this is the end of his run in New England is strictly conjecture as this point.

     Whatever happens, his legacy is as great as anyone's in the NFL. His name belongs with the top coaches in the professional game: Halas, Lambeau, Landry, Lombardi, Noll, Parcells and Walsh.

     Just like Nick Saban, besides the Croatian ties, these two giants know how to spot talent on the field and display the talent to coach those players to be even greater. Which is why they are at the pinnacle of their respective domains.

     Thus, I find it laughable that in the SEC, so many good coaches are fired or have to leave their schools because they cannot beat Saban. Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M all made changes, with Dan Mullen leaving Mississippi State for Florida. Even Georgia is just two years removed from that chase, having picked off alum and Saban coordinator Smart to replace the very successful Mark Richt, who only went 145-51 in 15 seasons. Alas, Richt's shortcoming was that he could not defeat Saban nor win a National Championship.

     The exuberant 42 year old Smart was a superb player and an Academic All American at Georgia, then the Broyles Award winner at Alabama, being recognized as the top assistant coach in the nation in 2009. His pedigree, from his father who was a high school football coach at Bainbridge, GA H.S., through his affiliation with Saban, is exemplary. However, the SEC has high expectations. The burden in this Monday night's game is equal but different--Saban is supposed to win because he is Nick Saban. For Smart, he too is supposed to win--because Georgia hired him to beat Saban and Alabama.

     The same expectations which reside on the shoulders of Saban are there with Belichick. He is supposed to win because he has Brady and he is, after all, Bill Belichick. All the other AFC coaches are pretenders, whether it be Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, a Super Bowl winner himself during his 11 years with the Steelers; or Andy Reid, who has chalked up many regular season wins while in Philadelphia and Kansas City but no Super Bowl wins; newcomers in Buffalo, Tennessee and Jacksonville. Only Ron Rivera of Carolina and Sean Payton from New Orleans have earned a Super Bowl ring as a head coach in the NFC, and they have Cam Newton and Drew Brees as the QB's. Again, everyone is chasing Belichick.

     Which is why I wish good fortune to Jon Gruden, leaving the safety of the ESPN booth, to return to the Oakland Raiders, where he won, but ended up ironically being traded by owner Al Davis to Tampa Bay, where Gruden's team won his Super Bowl. Ten years and a lot of money can be a big lure for someone to return to the coaching ranks.

     Nonetheless, as long as Belichick has Brady and remains at New England, Gruden, just like Nick Saban's pursuers in the SEC, and like so many before him, will be looking up at Belichick, trying to catch the master.

     Good luck guys. At least the pay is good.

   

   

Send In the Clowns?

     I question how much change I accept in the sports world. This is not about the athletes, who are far superior to those of 50 years ago. The stadiums and the playing fields and the equipment they play with--all far better than in the past. But that is not the problem I have.

     My dilemma goes to the traditions of New Year's Day and how they don't resemble what I saw in 1968. Has this change been good for sports? Or am I just an out-of-touch old man who thinks  things were better back then than they are now?

     I didn't do much on New Year's Eve in 1967. I was with my girlfriend until 12:01 on January 1, when my father expected me to be home by 12:30. Considering that I did not have a driver's license and I was nearly a mile away from home, I thoroughly enjoyed the invigorating run up the hills rising away from the Raritan River in Highland Park, New Jersey. And, for the record, I made it home with 2 minutes to spare.

     My New Year's Day consisted of not too much riveting excitement. But the sporting events of New Year's Day 1968 were important to me. They followed the 79th annual Tournament of Roses Parade from chilly Pasadena, where it might have been a cloudless sky, but at 7:00 in the morning P.S.T., it was downright cold. I like seeing Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on their horses, parading down Colorado Boulevard as much as the awesome floats (I think they were as our family did not yet own a color TV) or the loud, high stepping bands from the University of Southern California--the Spirit of Troy and Indiana University Marching Hundred. Also telecast was the Mummer's Parade, a bunch of crazily festooned marchers, strumming their stringed instruments, along with a bevy of clowns adding to the Philadelphia madness. See the picture below, from the Temple University photo archives, of the Liberty Clowns, as shot by Jack Tinney of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.





The Orange Bowl Classic held the King Orange Jamboree Parade down Biscayne Boulevard in Miami the night before the game and they even had a basketball tournament. That was second rate to the aforementioned spectacles.

     It is what followed the parades which was my main focus. The four bowl games that were always held on New Year's Day. Orange, in the Orange Bowl in Miami; Sugar, in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans; Cotton, in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas; and the "Granddaddy of them all," the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Only the best teams went to these games. And invariably, a mythical National Champion (or sometimes two) emerged from the day's play, based upon the votes cast in the Associated Press and United Press International polls. Many times, a Heisman Trophy winner, symbolic of the best collegiate football player in America, participated in one of the four games.

     Back in 1968, there were other bowl games--the Gator, in Jacksonville, FL; the Sun, in El Paso, TX; the Bluebonnet Bowl, in Houston; and the Liberty Bowl, which had relocated from Philadelphia to Memphis, TN. They did not have the stature of the New Year's Day games--merely because they weren't played on New Year' Day.

     The New Year's Day games were nearly all day games in 1968. The major television networks, while covering the contests, had started to make demands to move the games to a more suitable hour for a national audience, which began with the Orange Bowl going to prime time night game in 1964 when Texas and Alabama, with Joe Namath vied for the trophy.

     The culmination of the college football season was New Year's Day, absent post-season all-star games. Fans, many of them in various of states of disrepair from revelry on New Year's Eve, could watch these games bleary eyed in the stands or at home on TV. It was an annual ritual. A smorgasbord of college sports, bands, cheerleaders on display in warm, serendipitous settings. Certainly a sharp contrast to the cold, sometimes snow-covered turf of the Northeast. It seemed like it was a non-stop party, an extravaganza that could only be held on New Year's Day, advertising the four destinations for 8 schools whose record was deserving of playing in an elite contest.

     The day always opened with the Cotton Bowl on CBS. 75,000 hooting and hollering fans entered the stadium on the Texas State Fairgrounds to watch Texas A&M defeat Alabama 20-16. Football was religion, especially in the South and Southwest, so the game always featured an invocation by a man of the cloth prior to the teams trying to beat each others brains in. I always got a kick out of the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles marching group of smiling women in cowgirl gear and boots, who normally performed during the halftime show. It is unclear whether they were at the 1967 Cotton Bowl, but they did make Lady Byrd Johnson an honorary Apache Belle in 1967.

     Conflicting with and competing for a TV audience was the Sugar Bowl. Nearly 70,000 fans found  a way to get off of Bourbon Street to cheer their home standing Louisiana State University Tigers over the #5 ranked and only unbeaten major school, the Wyoming Cowboys. The score was 20-13, but proud UW alums noted that there were as many Cowboys fans in New Orleans as there were LSU fans--probably an apocryphal statement of pride from the UW faithful--LSU dominated the Louisiana football scene.

     What a colorful picture the marquee match up Rose Bowl spectacle must have given us (remember, no color TV in the Sperber den). NBC showed us the beautiful cheerleaders in their sweaters, representing USC. Tommy Trojan, on horseback, patrolling the sidelines; a tough, venerable mascot symbolizing a warrior mentality on the gridiron. USC, the champions of the Pacific 8 Conference, moving up the road from Los Angeles to nearby Pasadena, to play the upstart Indiana Hoosiers, the Big Ten representatives. O.J. Simpson, the U.S.C. tailback, led the #1 ranked Trojans over the determined #4 ranked Hoosiers, before 102,000 in the stadium and countless millions who watched the telecast anchored by the legendary Curt Gowdy and his partner, Al De Rogatis. Simpson, who would have later fame in the NFL, in movies and on TV before notoriety enveloped him, was the M.V.P.

     The Orange Bowl, which followed the lengthy Rose Bowl, had the halftime spectaculars that stopped people in their seats rather than head to the concession stands or the rest rooms. Bands, pageantry, entertainment, dancing--the precursor to the incredible Super Bowl halftimes. For the record, in a tightly contested affair, the Oklahoma Sooners from the Big 8 Conference eked out a 26-24 win over the Tennessee Vols of the South Eastern Conference that night.

     So, the Big 8 won two games while the SEC went 1-2. Such was the state of the southern tier bowls--they preferred the teams from the SEC or the Big 8--in fact, the Orange Bowl, by contract, had to take the Big 8 champ.

     Which leads us to this New Year's Day. The Rose Bowl is still intact on the first of January. It just won't feature the Pac 12 and the Big 10. Instead, it is in the rotation of games leading up to the National Championship game, thereby providing the audience with the Georgia Bulldogs taking on Oklahoma. The other National Semi Final, at the Sugar Bowl in the Mercedes Benz Superdome,  pits Alabama meeting the defending National Champions, the Clemson Tigers, in a rematch of last year's exciting finale.

     I could not wrap my head around the Goodyear Cotton Bowl (naming rights are so valuable) being played on December 29th--3 days from its traditional perch, among such noteworthy games as the Belk Bowl, Sun Bowl, Music City Bowl and the ever-popular Arizona Bowl in Tuscon, with 5-6 New Mexico State having played 6-6 Utah State.

     The Capital One Orange Bowl was on December 30th. 12-1 Wisconsin played 10-2 Miami. Two top football teams. This game is lumped in with the Taxslayer Bowl, the successor to the Gator Bowl, the Liberty Bowl and Glendale, Arizona's Fiesta Bowl, which has risen in status to become one of the bowls in the rotation for the National Semifinals.

     Instead, on New Year's Day, the Outback Bowl, named after a steakhouse chain, puts Michigan against South Carolina; the Peach Bowl, in Atlanta, has undefeated Central Florida trying to cap a perfect season versus Auburn; and the Citrus Bowl, with Notre Dame taking on LSU in Orlando. All three games start between Noon and 1:00, acting as preludes to the Rose Bowl in its normal evening slot and the Sugar Bowl nightcap.

     No games are scheduled for December 31st. That day belongs to the National Football League to finish its regular season. None are on at night, which really stinks, since I won't even have comedienne Kathy Griffin to watch, insanely railing at Anderson Cooper on CNN.

     There just are too many bowl games (40--30 of them are prior to the Cotton Bowl) with too much TV money. Mediocre teams or at least average teams get to compete in another contest and a share of the pot for themselves or for their respective conferences.

    In setting up a four team National Championship, tradition went by the wayside. There is enough controversy over how the four participants are selected. Unless the Finals, this year to be held at the sparking new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta on January 8th, has the two SEC schools (Alabama, Georgia) facing off, Ohio State, winners of the Big Ten title and victorious over USC in the Cotton Bowl, will be squawking as to why weren't they selected instead of one of the 2 semifinals losers.

     I have hated to see the diminution of the New Year's Bowl games.  Prior to the start of the National Championships, there were usually 6 games on the slate--the Fiesta and Outback Bowls joined the Cotton, Fiesta, Rose and Orange Bowls. Still way too many games for one day.

     With the clamor for a true National Champion to be determined on the field, change was inevitable. From December 16th through New Year's Day, 49 contests involving 98 "deserving" teams, will have been played. This year I may have watched parts of 10 of those affairs, important to the networks and sponsors, but fairly meaningless overall.

     What will I be doing on New Year's Day? Probably watching portions of the three afternoon bowl games along with the now annual NHL Winter Classic from baseball's Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, where a rink was constructed so that the New York Rangers can host the Buffalo Sabers.

     And yes, I will be watching the National Semifinals. They still involve two of the four 1967 New Year's Day bowl games. At least I can cling to some semblance of tradition when I watch the Rose and Sugar Bowls. Then again, the four aforementioned New Year's Day games loom on Monday, and I hope they are truly exciting.

     What more could this New Year's Day football junkie want anyway in this new era of college football? I don't think I will get the Mummers Parade on TV anyway...

For What Happens In Vegas...

     I traveled cross country with my father in the summer of 1959. I was 8 years old. I had just started playing in the Highland Park Midget League as a second baseman because I was under the age of 9 and quite small (big mistake there--I was born to play the outfield). My mother had just given birth to my sister, Laura, and he needed a break form his general dentistry practice in Edison, New Jersey.

     So off we went--driving across the continental United States as the Interstate Highway System was being built. That meant driving through the hilly roadways of Wheeling, West Virginia; the seemingly endless cities of Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana on U.S. 40, a mostly two lane highway with too many cars, stop lights and enough reasons for my father to curse a blue streak.

     We survived St. Louis and made it through Missouri, stopping at the Mickey Mantle Holiday Inn in Joplin, Missouri where a display showcasing his Triple Crown feats from 1956 was prominently displayed in the lobby. We traversed Oklahoma and crossed a swollen Red River to Wichita Falls, Texas where my father met his former Commanding Officer in the U.S Air Force Dental Corps when he was stationed in Albany, Georgia--my birthplace. I had the best steak I had ever eaten there in Wichita Falls.

     I steered the car in Texas when he used his Bell & Howell zoom lens to shoot pictures of cattle. We went to the Grand Canyon. I actually saw Disneyland in its formative years when it was surrounded by acres of orange groves instead of ballparks, arenas, office buildings and suburban concrete. We made it to Denver. Back through Oklahoma and the rest is a blur to me.

     What is not a blur to me is the place I first went to in 1959 and I have been to nearly 15 times--Las Vegas. The one in Nevada, not New Mexico. The imagery was unforgettable.

     What Las Vegas has always been to me is glitz and glitter. Even in its infancy in 1959, Las Vegas was all neon lights and welcome air conditioning from the the oppressive dry heat. Vegas, its shortened moniker, was a mobbed up town, full of casinos and motels to go with the distinct two areas--downtown and the famous Strip--which was Las Vegas Boulevard heading to Mc Carran Field, the city's airport. Just as the downtown hotels and casinos still sparkled and gave more than a hint of the Western cowboy town, the Strip symbolized the future of the city--where the big action would eventually draw families as much as high rollers. Where the big names in entertainment would perform--from Frank Sinatra to Celine Dion, from Johnny Carson and Jay Leno to Bill Maher, where nudity was acceptable on stage with the Follies Bergere. The idea was to attract people to come and spend money. Which has worked so well.

     Las Vegas knew it had to have a sports connection, so when the bigger places--first the Las Vegas Convention Center just off of the Strip and then the opulent Caesar's Palace started holding major boxing events on site in stadiums built as needed, it gave the elite and the gamblers a reason to spend, spend and spend. Vegas also was a place where sports betting was legal--odds makers for games that people bet on legally in the city's sports books came from Vegas; their odds also allowed the illegal gambler to have a line on a game that he could bet in his own city.

     While Vegas became a destination for so many to act silly, wild, out of character and to let their hair down, to eat top notch food or cheaper buffets, there remained an element of sin which kept away the righteous big league teams. The University of Nevada at Las Vegas became a basketball powerhouse under legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian, Tark the Shark, who was known for his towel which he bit on during games as much as his fast paced style of play with players other schools wouldn't touch. His teams won a National Championship, became known as the Runnin' Rebels and built the first big arena in the city besides the Convention Center. His downfall was consorting with alleged game fixers, that led to a power struggle with the UNLV President, which Tark lost.

     For years, the major sports leagues avoided Vegas, feeling that the gambling and seedy side of the town would invade the sanctity of the game. The first foray into Vegas was by the NBA's Utah Jazz, who set a couple of games at the Thomas & Mack Center, the large campus venue that UNLV built for its team, which was within a mile of the Strip. The Jazz was playing to small crowds in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City and they felt that a couple of games in Vegas would help with the payroll.

     One of those games turned out to be a milestone in NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the towering superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers, a lanky, tough  and very tall center from New York City and the NCAA champion teams of the great John Wooden at UCLA, came to Vegas to play the Jazz on April 5, 1984. A huge crowd of over 18,000, mostly Lakers fans who could easily drive or fly into town from Southern California, came to witness NBA history. With a patented sky hook of 12 feet,after a pass from Hall of Fame guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the 37 year old Abdul-Jabbar became the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, surpassing another great 7 footer and former Laker, Wilt Chamberlain.

     The Jazz built a new building and the NBA was reduced to coming to Vegas for exhibition games and a Summer League which debuted in 2004. The exception was for the one grand showcase February 18, 2007 NBA All-Star Game. The game itself was a success, but the aftermath of fans urinating and acting out of control after the game marred what was a testing of the waters by the league. The NBA said that it needed a more contemporary arena to establish a franchise in the city.

     Las Vegas really began to grow in population due to its moderate winter climate and its becoming a destination for conventions, bachelor parties and stunts like motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel's jump over the 141 foot long fountains at Caesar's Palace in 1967. Of course there is the horrific act of evil by a deranged man who mowed down innocent concertgoers attending an outdoor show. With the third largest rate of growth in the U.S., only behind Harris County , Texas (Houston) and Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix), Clark County now has a population of 2.5 million individuals. Nevada is the second-fastest growing state, trailing only Utah. Las Vegas itself is the 28th largest city in the U.S. The Las Vegas TV market is 42nd in the U.S.

     Having been described by famed sportswriter Jerry Izenberg as "Gomorrah in the Desert" and nicknames "Sin City" for its adult brand of entertainment, the statement of "What Happens In Vegas Stays in Vegas" is an apt description of the city, located in a basin of the Mojave Desert. Without the advent of casino gambling in 1931, air conditioning to battle the summertime heat and the migration of the casinos to the Strip, Las Vegas would never become the destination it is.

     Yet the major sports teams have avoided Vegas due to the rowdiness and lawlessness associated with the city. The worry over gamblers taking over and influencing sports teams establishing themselves in Vegas is a relic of the 1950's-70's. Bowl games are held in Vegas. College basketball tournaments have found homes in Vegas. All without incident.

     The mot notable invasion of the major leagues is via the National Football League's Oakland Raiders. Owner Mark Davis, tired of the antiquated stadium his team plays in, sought a home back in Los Angeles, where the Raiders had once resided when they first vacated Oakland. Facing stiff opposition form the league owners who favored the Rams relocating back from St. Louis, the NFL would only allow the Raiders to be a secondary tenant in the stadium that developer Stan Kroenke, husband of billionaire Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke, would build to house his Rams team.

     Davis then sought refuge in San Antonio, a city which has a big stadium. San Antonio became a temporary home to the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and the Louisiana Superdome. But that wan't enough for the astute Davis.

     He negotiated with the people of Las Vegas and Clark County and with Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson and he came away with plans for a domed stadium which would seat 65,000. Adelson and then Goldman Sachs pulled out of the plan and only when the Bank of America came to the rescue, did the NFL agree and vote 31-1 to permit the Raiders to relocate, which is expected to happen in 2020. On November 13th, the Raiders broke ground for the $1.9 billion facility in nearby Paradise.

     Las Vegas could be a Super Bowl site--it certainly has the hotel space. The Raiders and the NFL will reap a bonanza from this coup.

     However, there is another team that is magically enthralling its league. That team is the expansion Golden Knights of the National Hockey League. Opening their maiden season in the T-Mobile Arena, they have zoomed to the top of the standings in the Pacific Division. More on the team later.

     Hockey was not new to Vegas. In 1991, the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings played an exhibition game in a rink built at Caesar's Palace. The Kings and Colorado Avalanche have also played exhibition games in Vegas, in a series called Frozen Fury; San Jose and Phoenix have also played in this competition. Moreover, Las Vegas has been home to the NHL Post-Season Awards Show. And rumors abounded that Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer would seek to move the Coyotes from Phoenix to Vegas.

     In 2014, the NHL permitted billionaire Bill Foley to solicit interest in hockey in Las Vegas. A season ticket drive which started in February, 2015 reached 10,000 deposits in April. In June of that year, the NHL opened expansion competition to Las Vegas and Quebec City, who sought to re-establish the Nordiques, who had moved on to Colorado and became the Avalanche. Las Vegas, with the solid fan base and lots of money behind the effort, was awarded the one expansion franchise in June, 2016.

     After paying the $500 million expansion fee, Foley hired former Washington Capitals' General Manager George Mc Phee, who went to work constructing the first team. Mc Phee established his minor league affiliations. He signed free agent Reid Duke, selected Gerard Gallant as the first head coach, and then selected Marc-Andre Fluery, a goalie from Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins along with James Neal, a tough, scoring winger from the Nashville Predators.

     Gallant has taken a roster of non-household names in hockey and rounded them into a really good hockey team. While they are a respectable 8-7-1 on the road, at home in T-Mobile Arena before a very boisterous crowd, the Golden Knights are an astounding 15-2-1. Dubbed the "Vegas Flu," something seems to overcome top teams when they visit the Golden Knights. Maybe it's the water. Or maybe it's the nightlife. Or perhaps Gerard Gallant has molded a really good squad from from the expansion draft.

     The initial success of the Golden Knights is unparalleled for an expansion franchise. Look back at the futility of the New York Islanders and those Washington Capitals, who could not win even 10 games in their inaugural seasons. The Florida Panthers of 1993 are deemed to have been the best expansion team, amassing 33 wins and almost reaching.500 for the year. Although the NHL season has only reached 35 games for the Golden Knights and they have 23 wins, barring a total collapse and major injuries, they have the capacity to be above .500 for the season and make the playoffs. Some experts have said that the Golden Knights are the second best team in the NHL. Heady stuff for an expansion franchise. Bill Foley is getting a great return on his investment. And playing hockey in Vegas was not at all too risky a gamble for the NHL.

     Given the spectacular debut of the Golden Knights and the expected good fortune of the Raiders when they finally are in Vegas, the burning question is who will be coming next--the NBA or Major League Baseball. While Vegas is an established college hoops town, there is plenty of room for the NBA to come to town. With success.

     MLB, on the other hand, will take a different approach to relocating or establishing an expansion team in Vegas. While there is Triple A baseball with the Las Vegas 51's in an outdoor venue, the need for a stadium with a roof is a necessity, as there is in Phoenix where the Arizona Diamondbacks play in the enclosed Chase Field.  But MLB is wary, as the D-backs do not draw well and like the Arizona Cardinals, who do draw well, NFL attendance cannot act as a barometer for financial success when it comes to baseball.

     Still, MLB will be wise to watch how the Raiders, the Golden Knights and any NBA team may do in Las Vegas. I am willing to bet that by 2030, MLB has a team in Vegas, given the continued  population growth and the corresponding increase in TV market size.

     Las Vegas has come a long way from a dusty railroad town on the Union Pacific line. Or even when I first visited in 1959.

     The lights shine even brighter today in the desert. There are more attractions for families and for gamblers. For me, I am thrilled that the Golden Knights are winners. Because Vegas always has more losers than winners-the odds are stacked against those who gamble.

     I intend to make another trip or two to Las Vegas. It is a far different city than when I first arrived, or even when I last visited over 15 years ago. Sports has greatly helped in the resurgence of the gambling mecca. I applaud the NHL and the NFL's foresight in placing teams in Las Vegas.

     Perhaps the Golden Knights will be a record-setting team in its first season. That Gerard Gallant will be feted as the NHL Coach of the Year. Could the inconceivable occur--the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup?

     Dreams like that should only stay in Vegas. For what happens in Vegas...

Baseball Battiness

     This week has been a strange one around Major League Baseball. A number of trades to dump salary to avoid the dreaded luxury tax. All started by the systematic dismantlement of the Miami Marlins by minority group owner Derek Jeter, who is in charge of baseball operations for investment capitalist Bruce Sherman.

     Before I reach the Marlins and the frenzy which has enveloped them, I need to address the recent announcement that the Modern Era Committee had voted for Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, two Detroit Tigers teammates in the 1980's to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ted Simmons, a switch-hitting catcher and infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, missed entering the HOF by 1 vote.

     Morris and Trammell did not qualify for the HOF in the 15 years they were on the ballot after waiting required the 5 years to be eligible for the HOF. I thought both were very good players who did not deserve to enter the HOF by the original ballot. I am not going to quibble about their upcoming enshrinement. If the Committee, comprised of Hall of Famers George Brett, Rod Carew, Bobby Cox, Dennis Eckersley, John Schuerholz, Don Sutton, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount; baseball executives Sandy Alderson (Mets), Paul Beeston (Blue Jays), Bob Castellini (Reds), Bill De Witt (Cardinals) and David Glass (Royals); and veteran media members/historians Bob Elliott, Steve Hirdt and Jayson Stark, felt these two stars deserved to enter the HOF, then so be it.

     It is who did not make it via this Committee's voting that bothers me. Two names. Tommy John and Marvin Miller. Names known by people outside of baseball. Two individuals who changed baseball forever.

     Marvin Julian Miller, a Brooklyn native, was the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under the direction of Miller, the union dramatically changed the economics of baseball.

     Miller, trained in economics at NYU, became aligned with labor unions as an advisor and then a negotiator, most notably with the steelworkers. In 1966, he campaigned for and won the MLBPA Executive Director's position. In 1968, he negotiated the first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the owners and players, which modestly raised minimum players salaries and per diem expenses. More importantly, it set out procedures for arbitration of grievances and provided a formal structure between the owners and the players. The subsequent 1969 agreement, set forth arbitration before a three person panel, not the Commissioner, as was the case in the prior agreement.

     Miller actively counseled player Curt Flood in his challenge to baseball's restrictive reserve clause, prohibiting player transfers, as the players were deemed to be property of the owners and without their own rights. Flood may have lost the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, but his actions opened the way for Miller to establish free agency and end the reserve clause.

     With Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Miller helped Hunter gain free agency when Oakland owner Charlie Finley failed to pay the Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer according to his contract. Hunter then signed a big contract with the New York Yankees.

      Another arbitration decision allowed high profile pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave Mc Nally, to become free agents and no longer property of their respective clubs, when their contracts were completed. Free agency ultimately was the signature of Marvin Miller, even surviving the owners' attempt at collusion in not negotiating with free agents.

     Under Miller's strong guidance, the players engaged in 3 job actions and the owners retaliated with 2 lockouts of their own when negotiations for a new CBA were upcoming. Average salaries rose to $326, 000 in 1982. Baseball has no salary cap and became the first professional sport to have a CBA. Miller's legacy is enormous and players even today are indebted to Marvin Miller for his courageous actions on their behalf. The MLBPA is considered to be one of the strongest unions in this country even today--a true testimonial to the hard work of Miller on behalf of the players.

     Two icons in baseball announcing--Red Barber and this year's Ford C. Frick award winner, Bob Costas, have been outspoken in their praise of Miller and the travesty that has taken place in repeatedly denying Miller his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Joe Torre, Hall of Fame manager and a star player, spoke about the achievements that Miller gave each player during Torre's career and up to today and he felt honored to have "sat alongside him."

     But Hall of Fame voters in 2003 and 2007 never came close to enshrining Miller in Cooperstown. Some of the committees were full of players of eras prior to Miller and the MLBPA, and others had former MLB executives voting, men player/author Jim Bouton described as people who Miller" had kicked their butt." Bouton, in referring to the players on these committees, added: "Do they think they became millionaires due to the owners' generosity?" Former Commissioner Bud Selig and home run champion Henry Aaron agreed with others who campaigned for Miller's entry into the HOF.

     Miller, who died in 2012 at age 95, was disdainful of what he called a "rigged Veterans Committee" ever voting him into baseball immortality. Even with rules changes as to the committee makeup, the closest Miller would come to garnering the numbers he needed was in 2010 when he fell 1 vote shy.

     So it is no surprise that, once more, the players and executives could not agree on voting Marvin Miller into Cooperstown, giving him only 7 of the necessary 12 votes. The hope remains that they finally get it right in 2019 when another vote is upcoming and he is on the ballot again. Unfortunately, and very sadly, what remains is only a hope.

     Tommy John was a pitcher for a number of good teams in the 1970's--the Dodgers and Yankees stand out. He started his career in 1963 with the Cleveland Indians as a young lefthander. He ended it in 1989 with the New York Yankees with 289 career wins and 4 All Star appearances. En route to a 13-3 start with the 1974 Dodgers, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm. On September 25, 1974, Dr. Frank Jobe performed a radical surgery on John's pitching arm, replacing the affected ligament in his elbow with a tendon from John's right forearm. John re-learned how to pitch, using a different motion to put less strain on his arm and elbow. The success that followed was astounding. He had a 10-10 record in 1976 with Los Angeles. John won 164 more games after the surgery, 40 more than he had won prior to going under the knife--that total was only one less than the great Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax won in his illustrious career. John went on to play an incredible total of 26 years, winning 289 games.

     The ligament replacement surgery John underwent became so successful and now routine, thateveryone who knows baseball to recognizes it as "Tommy John Surgery." Yet with his totals and his legacy as the pathfinder for those who routinely have the surgery and extend their careers with better results than before the surgery--and in the process garner millions of dollars from owners to pitch--the HOF voters never came near to placing John in the Hall. And just like Marvin Miller, veterans committees have completely overlooked the iconic place in history that Tommy John is known for.

     Miller's snub is somewhat understandable given the continued resentment of the big business types of baseball and the mistreatment of his stature by former players who reaped the benefits of his tenacity.

     But with Tommy John, the failure to place him in Cooperstown boggles my mind. He and Dr. Jobe revolutionized baseball with a primitive surgery that could have easily failed. John's achievements on the field set the way for so many other pitchers, young and old, with over stressed arms, to rejuvenate their careers. Michael Pineda, a pedestrian pitcher who is not pitching this season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery while a member of the New York Yankees, signed a two year, $10 million contract with Minnesota as a free agent, with the Twins anticipating Pineda's return to the mound in 2019.

     Therein lies the absurdity in not having both Miller and John in the HOF. Without Tommy John's miracle via Dr. Jobe's brilliance, and the free agency that Marvin Miller so gallantly fought for, Pineda would be just another pitcher with a dead arm and no further chance to extend his career and reap the financial rewards of his profession.

     I plead with the voters in 2019--get it right as far as Tommy John and Marvin Miller are concerned. I'll live with Ted Simmons being voted in along with these two forces in Major League Baseball.

     Now onto the bizarre act known as the house cleaning of the Miami Marlins. Ridding themselves of Stanton's enormous contract, and exchanging stars Dee Gordon and Miguel Ozuna for minor league prospects, leaves the team decimated.

     Sure, Stanton's back loaded $325 million contract was an albatross. Yet ridding the team of stars in order to take a 77 win team and make it into a virtual non-contender with a payroll, already low for a major league franchise even with Stanton's bloated contract, takes the heart out of baseball in South Florida.

     Bruce Sherman sits in the wings as Jeter does the handiwork. Famously, Sherman did this kind of paring to the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, leaving them tattered and with skeleton staffs.

     Miami baseball has notoriously fickle fans. The Marlins ranked 27th in MLB attendance last season--even with Stanton launching long home runs in the Art Deco futuristic Marlins Park, an edifice saddled with an enormous amount of debt service--as is the team itself stuck with over $400 million in debt foisted upon it by reviled former owner Jeffrey Loria. Those fans will probably stay away this season, in line with Stanton's urging them to watch form "afar,"a not-so-veiled shot at Marlins' management and the debacle they have created. I cannot blame them for this stance--who wants to pay good money to see an inferior product?

     Who is really to blame here? I put a lot of this on MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred. To permit the Marlins to continue to sell off its assets fails to prioritize the on-the-field product and the best interests of baseball. Marvin Miller would have been aghast at how this is proceeding and he would have railed at the MLB owners for this sham while rallying his troops to oppose this attack on competitive balance.

     The only thing that the Marlins might do, in the interests of baseball, is bring back 73 year old Tommy John and let him pitch for the team. Heaven knows, but he could possibly win 11 games and reignite his Hall of Fame credentials as a 300 game winner.

     Wouldn't that be ironic?