Author: thependulumswings staff

Harden’s Safe Space

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

James Harden just wants a fair chance.  In fact he said so himself after his Houston Rockets lost game one of the Western Conference Semifinals 104-100 to the Golden State Warriors.

“I mean, I just want a fair chance, man,” said Harden, who scored 35 points but was 9-of-28 from the floor and 4-of-16 from behind the 3-point line. “Call the game how it’s supposed to be called, and that’s it. And I’ll live with the results.”

Harden, who has led the league in free throws attempted and made in each of the past five seasons, gets fouled while shooting his three’s more, far more, than any other player.  It’s largely because his step-back jump shot is so difficult to contest.

Rockets head coach, Mike D’Antoni walked a fine line after the game.  He wanted the world to know that the referees told him that they missed some first half calls.  He faces a potential fine for criticizing officiating. “So, I mean, the response was they came in halftime and said they missed them. That’s what they told me. They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots. So be it. They’re trying to do the best they can do.”

Hopefully both Harden and D’Antoni realize that all of the calls that they are referencing above are “after the shot, safe landing space calls.”  The new foul rule is indeed a rule.  However, it doesn’t affect the accuracy of the shot.  The non calls certainly could have resulted in free throws for the career 86% free throw shooter.  Heck, maybe they would have been enough for the Rockets to win.

We wonder more, much more, about the 19 shots from the field that he missed.   And, 12 of those were either from or beyond the three-point line.  Make one more two point attempt and one more three point attempt and you win the game for sure, refs be damned.  Nine for 28 is 32% overall.  Four for 16 is 25% from three.  Phew.

So now the Rockets are down 1-0.  They’ve never beaten the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs during the Harden era.  Make no mistake about it, Harden feels the heat from that.  Now he feels like he needs to beat them and the referees.

And, its going to be tougher for him now.  After all, the refs are taking away his “safe space.”

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL Draft

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Draft Day one is in the books.  It’s Friday and rounds two and three are on tonight’s happy hour menu.  The restaurant business is tough.   We are a competitive bunch.  So we offer you a buy ten nuggets get ten free below.  Enjoy and TGIF.

  1.  Too bad it rained on Nashville’s party as the evening wore on.  The only thing that looked better than the setting was the size of the crowd.  Estimated at 150k by most, Commish Roger Goodell thanked the over 200k who attended.  Regardless, that’s one hell of a block party.  NashVegas was in full swing.
  2. The Kliff Klingsbury era is in full swing in Arizona as well.  Taking QB Kyler Murray is King Kliff’s statement.  He chased him and chased him as a high schooler when Kliff was coaching college.  He caught up to him as each advanced to the next level.
  3.  When Goodell read Murray’s name, King Kliff’s lost what little leverage he had in attempting to trade Josh Rosen, the Cardinal’s answer at QB just 12 short months ago.  We wonder if on one level Kliff really cares that much.  Call Rosen a sunk cost.  Arizona is moving forward and will hold a Josh Rosen fire sale today or tomorrow.  Rosen was a polarizing pick last year.  Knocks on him are plenty, with the most damaging being his indifference to his occupation.  A burning desire to compete and win at a leadership position is a must.
  4.  San Francisco said thank you very much, and picked Nick Bosa, pass rusher extraordinaire from THE Ohio St U.   More than a few NFL “insiders” gave him the highest draft grade this year.
  5. Those who did not have their highest grade on Bosa did on Quinnen Williams, the latest interior defensive line disruptive force to come out of Saban’s Alabama based NFL training grounds.  The J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets wisely pounced.  In baseball having a strong up the middle defense (C, 2B, SS, and CF) is a must. NY has Jamal Adams at safety and Williams now plugging the middle.  It is crowded up front on the Jets DL though.
  6.  Then the fun started.  Longtime NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, turned Raiders GM, selected Clelin Ferrell, DE Clemson.  Ferrell very likely could have been had 5-10 picks lower.  Good player, high motor, high football IQ guys are wonderful but so are more draft picks.  Jon Gruden probably snarled.  He always does.
  7. Tampa Bay at 5 picked LSU LB Devin White.  In today’s NFL LB’s don’t  litter the first round landscape.  However, he was one of two LB’s taken in the top 10 this year.  And he was one of  two LB’s taken this year named Devin.  Devin Bush went at no. 10.  Pittsburgh, who never trades up, traded up to take the Michigan product.
  8. And then the fun really started.  The New York “Football” Giants took Daniel Jones, Duke QB.  Embattled Giants GM Dave Gettleman tied his future Big Apple based employment to this pick.  Around the NFL opinions on Jones vary greatly.  One scout labeled his ceiling as a “backup with pedestrian talent.” Is he Eli II, or is JAG (just a guy)?  Eli I is 38.  We’ll find out soon enough.
  9. At no. 8 Detroit broke the seal on a deep tight end class.  Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson joined a team who now is labeled as the New England of the west.  Detroit is in the east, but it matters not.  Labels are labels.  Head coach Matt Patricia even dons the ever-present pencil behind his ear like his teacher Bill Belicheck.   Is Patricia the next Belicheck?  Is Hockenson the next Gronk?  The answers likely are “hell no” and “hell no.”
  10. Ed Oliver, DL Houston, fell into Buffalo’s lap with the Ferrell and Jones picks coming before them.  Oliver could dominate at the next level.  He’s that good.  But, going to Buffalo from H Town is a bit of a change.  Oh, and Buffalo finished 30th in offense last year.
  11. Pittsburgh jumped, as mentioned earlier, into the 10 hole to grab their coveted LB.  They moved one ahead of Cincinnati who picked 11th.  Cincinnati is used to looking up at Pittsburgh. They’ve had to do so in the same division for decades now.  They took Jonah Williams, OT Alabama.  The Bengals have struck out with three recent high round OL picks.  Is Williams the game changer.  The answer is likely “no.”  But, he is a safe pick as a versatile lineman.
  12. Green Bay followed with the first of their two first round picks.  They worked New Orleans over last year when the Saints moved up a dozen spots and gave up this year’s first rounder that GB used later.  With the 12th pick they took Rashan Gary, DE, Michigan.  Rashan looks the part.  Rashan has the potential.  Potential means you haven’t done anything yet.  Three and 1/2 sacks last year at Michigan isn’t anything.  Rashan might need surgery for a torn labrum at some point as well.  Hmm.  Boom or bust are both in play here we think.
  13. With two QB’s sitting on the board, Miami took the highest player on their board, period.  It wasn’t the highest available. It was the highest coming into the draft. Christian Wilkens, DT, Clemson heads to Miami.
  14. The Atlanta Falcons took two offensive lineman in the first round.  The first of the two is Chris Lindstrom who played guard at Boston College.  The second was Kaleb McGary from Washington at pick 31 via trade.   Both have mean streaks and need them to keep Matt Ryan upright.  Atlanta seems soft to us.  Good moves we think.   GM Thomas Dimitroff needs to better coordinate high fives and hand shakes in the Atlanta war room though.  Owner Arthur Blank dressed in style but lacked style on the bromance moves.
  15. Washington picked a QB, Dwayne Haskins from THE at 15.  The Redskins already have Colt McCoy, Case Keenum, and Alex Smith.  They already had Kirk Cousins, RG III, Rex Grossman, Jason Campbell, Mark Brunell, and Brad Johnson.  Are you picking up what we are putting down?
  16. The NY Giants made Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson the third Dabo Sweeney coached defensive lineman taken in the top 17 picks.  Impressive Dabo.  Very impressive.  It’s no wonder Nick Saban was back in his office this week a mere 36 hours after hip surgery.  You have to keep up with the Dabo’s.
  17.  The Packers continued to add defense picking Darnell Savaage at safety with pick 21.  It was somewhat costly for a team that had a lot of draft capital to spend though.  They packaged the Saints pick from a year prior and two early fourth rounders to get him.  Like the Saints Marcus Davenport in reverse of a year ago, it’s not sometimes what you gain (either might turn out to be very good picks) it’s the potential of what you give to get.  Time will tell.
  18. Oakland took the first RB in the draft, Josh Jacobs, from the football factory known as Alabama.  His pedestrian stats in college aside, he runs hard.  Gruden just snarled smiled so it must be a good pick.  We are underwhelmed.
  19. The Redskins might have struck gold with top ten talent Montez Sweat, DE Mississippi St .  His injured past and somewhat troubled past raised his risk.  The reward might be well worth it.  The run on defensive line talent in this draft was impressive.  Getting to the QB and protecting the QB is what makes this league what it is these days.
  20. The NE Pats stood pat and used the final pick in the first round on N’Keal Harry, WR Arizona St.  Belicheck always trades down and around.  Last night he didn’t.  N’Keal rhymes with Shaquille which isn’t easy to do.  The pick seems quite underwhelming to us.  However, Belicheck drafts last every year for a reason.

Round two starts in 10 hours.  It might take that long to digest the above.

 

 

 

Just a Bit Inside!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Last evening Philadelphia Phillie Rhys Hoskins homered off of NY Mets reliever Jacob Rhame in a 6-0 win.  This came just one day after Rhame buzzed two consecutive fastballs just above Hoskin’s cranium in the meaningless ninth inning of Mets 9-0 blowout.  Hoskins basked in the moment, taking a very long 34 seconds to touch all of the bases.

Joe Biden hopes he hit a home run too.  Just one day after he was supposed to release his presidential campaign announcement video he did.  His video is a good bit longer than 34 seconds(209 to be exact) and he doesn’t touch all of the bases.  Rather it appeals directly to his base.  It buzzes a fastball or two right at the cranium of President Donald Trump.

And so the race to rally the base is on.  In the very first inning of Biden’s video he remembers the conflict (and tragic death of one innocent bystander) between far right-wing groups and anti protesters in August of 2017 in Charlottesville, VA.  He calls out Trump’s comments that there were “a lot of good people on both sides there.”  So the race for 2020 among 20 Democrat hopefuls is joined.  Biden wasted no time telling us that Trump was bad.

Old school baseball at its finest, or at its worst if you prefer, was on display in NY.  “He got me,” Rhame said. “Make a better pitch, he doesn’t get to run the bases.”  Added Mets manager Mickey Callaway: “I really don’t have any thoughts on it. That’s their team. They can do what they wanna do.”  “If a ball goes over your head the night before, the best way to get back at the pitcher is by putting the ball in the seats,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said.  Unapologetic it was. Old school it is.

So too is Joe Biden.  Old school politician he is.  The last time he had to raise funds he shook many a hand and hugged and hugged and hugged many a lady.  Today, the world-wide web is your fundraising friend.  Obama’s campaigners ran breathlessly to Beto’s camp. What a breath of fresh air this Beto guy is they said.  He reminds us of a certain guy named Barrack in 2008 they said.   O’Rourke is 47.  Joe turns 77 this year.  He’s old enough to be his crazy uncle.  He could be related, but can he relate?

But Joe is apologetic.  A month or so ago he apologized to all women, saying about the Anita Hill testimony during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nominee hearings ” I wish I could have done something.”  “To this day I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us.”  Joe forgot, or forgot to tell us, that he was the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that ran the hearings then.  And just a couple of weeks ago he apologized for hanging on too long during all of those uplifting hugs.  He said “I will be more respectful of people’s personal space.”  He even noted that today is more about taking selfies.

Hoskins said that the slow homerun jog wasn’t about retaliation. “A couple of guys kind of said the phrase, ‘Don’t poke the sleeping bear,”‘ he said.  And with that baseball continues to slog on with some of yesterday’s traditions.  Perhaps far too comfortable insiders are still running the show.

Today Biden can take a 209 second video trot around the diamond. The 24 hour news cycle will provide the stadium.   Tomorrow he should expect two fastballs high and tight.  Eventually he will have to stop apologizing for his past.  Eventually he will have to stop telling us who Trump is.  Eventually he will have to tell us who he is, won’t he?

Or, he just pokes the bear that President Trump is.  And The Donald never sleeps.

 

 

 

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

With 5G technology and artificial intelligence on our doorsteps we will very soon be able to see, hear, and do things better and faster than ever before.  So what will America prioritize to see, hear, and do better than ever?

While that conversation, driven by capitalism, evolves in boardrooms and meeting rooms the world over, Wall St. has certainly has bought in.  A record-setting day yesterday had most indices closing at new all time highs.  This writer took a Uber ride Friday night and the driver was eager to give us stock tips.  A good stock tip might be “when Uber drivers give stock tips it’s time to sell stocks.”

Regardless, Main St. seems to have bought in too.  Employment is at all time highs too.  Inflation is low.  Interest rates are tame.

All is well, eh?  Well.  Maybe not.  A quick trip around the newsrooms in the last 24 hours shows us just how bad life really is apparently.

Brick and mortar is dead.  Brick and mortar is dead.  Maybe not.  Kohl’s Department Stores announced yesterday that they are expanding their agreement with Amazon to increase the number of their retail stores from 100 to all 1100 to accept Amazon returns.   Traditional stores teaming up with fierce internet competitors that were going to drive them out of business sounds crazy. It’s about foot traffic, always.  Both stocks rose sharply.  Bernie Sanders called Amazon criminal the other evening in a town hall.  It turns out that they very legally pay less taxes than Bernie wants them to.  Sounds like they help employ a few folks that do pay taxes.  “Crazy Bernie” someone calls him.  We’ll be back after this commercial break.

California wants to eliminate those tiny plastic shampoo bottles that hotels provide.  Turns out that they are being found in the oceans at an increasing and alarming rate they say.  First it was those plastic rings around so many six packs of cola strangling all of the seals.  Once eradicated, the plastic straws that you drank the cola with started floating in the seas.  What could be next?  Could it be all of the plastic syringes lying in the streets that were handed out to drug users up the coast to insure clean needles for all?  More after these commercial words.

A few of the now 20 and counting announced Democrats for president have endorsed giving voter rights to either all Americans 16 and over, or all people living in this country, or all people living in this country that are incarcerated, or all three of the above.  We wonder if the cry for sixteen year olds to vote coincides with them being 18 and of legal age to vote come 2020?  First come, first served.  We wonder when it became a right of a non US citizen to vote, period?  See if you can vote in the country of your choice the next time you travel abroad.  We wonder if the plan is to bring the polling booths to the prisons, or to bring the prisoners to the polling booths?  We’re up against a hard break.  Back in two minutes.

We are back.   Elizabeth Warren one upped Bernie Sanders’ free tuition giveaway.  She wants free college too, but first wants to forgive 50k of student debt per individual that had to pay.  Meanwhile, Maxine Waters, Chairperson of the House Finance Committee, wants to know what the big banks are going to do help these million or so yearly student loan defaults.  She “grilled” several bank CEO’s  two weeks back asking what they were going to do about this crisis.  After the third CEO in a row reminded her that the government took over the loan program from these greedy bankers in 2009, she relented.  Awkward.  To summarize, the debt isn’t being repaid.  Warren wants to forgive and forget about it anyway.  It’s our government that is running the loan program even though the Finance Chairperson doesn’t know it.  Lets just make college free.  Banks are bad.  We’ll be back with some final words right after this important message from our sponsors.

We wind down our 5G broadcast to you tonight on a lighter note with a look at this brief video of the latest advances in robotic programming.  Wow.  Artificial intelligence is creepy.

And, just before we close we have breaking news.  It is confirmed that Joe Biden, who has been bidding his time, will announce tomorrow that he is entering the crowded Democratic field of announced candidates for president in 2020.   Wow.  How ironic is it that we mentioned Biden, artificial intelligence, and creepy all at the same time?

Thank you for watching.  Good day.

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL Draft

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In two days the NFL Draft extravaganza begins in Nashville, TN.  However, there was a problem  The original indoor/outdoor event plans needed a few cherry blossom trees cut down moved.  When this became public knowledge, the locals weren’t happy.  The league altered its plans to work around the problem, in essence passing the political football.   All is well again.  The league that prints George Washington’s can politically correctly have their annual draft.  And, the Washington Redskins can have their annual bad draft as well.  What about that nickname though?

The draft is but sixty hours away.  Here are ten draft nuggets to tide you over.

  1.  Speaking of the Tide, Alabama leads the NFL in total players drafted since 2010 with 73.  That’s not a surprise.  The SEC has had the most players drafted in each and every year since 2010 as well.  That’s not really a big surprise either.  LSU is second and Florida is third.  THE Ohio State University breaks the SEC run with a close fourth place.
  2. In 1975, the draft consisted of seventeen rounds. In 1977 it was dropped to twelve rounds.  And, in 1994 it was skinned to seven rounds.  This may surprise some politically correct millennials.   A seventh round pick was once considered pretty good.  It’s really not a wonder why so many free agents stick is it?  Less rounds means cheaper labor for the NFL.
  3. Until 2014’s draft each team had 15 minutes to make their first round selection.  If they traded the pick, the clock started anew.  Yawn.  It’s now 10 minutes per.
  4. Who has the most picks in this draft?  A team that desperately needs them, the New York “Football” Giants have 12 selections.  Tied with them is a team that does not desperately need them.  The Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots have 12 as well.
  5. How does Bill Belicheck do it?  Several of his extra picks are compensatory.  That means the league awarded them an extra pick in a certain round based on other teams grabbing their players in free agency under certain “non match of offer” guidelines.  He coaches them up, others take them.  He drafts newbies.  He coaches them up.  He wins it all.  Having Tom Brady is a big head start.  But others have franchise QB’s too.
  6. If you have the number one pick overall you can pick anyone you want. Anyone.  College scouting, combines, film study, pro workout days, individual interviews, Wonderlic tests, and countless other interviews should make the pick a sure-fire bet shouldn’t it?  The “modern”‘ NFL draft has been taking place yearly since 1960.  Of all of those first pick first rounders, only 15 (including Peyton Manning being a soon to be shoo in) have made it to the Hall of Fame.
  7.  In modern NFL history, there have only been two drafts without a Hall of Famer selected.  The years were 1984 and 1992.  Obviously recent drafts could fall into this category.  Time will tell us.  The 1984 draft gets a pass though.  In June of that year, the NFL held a special supplemental draft for players who had already signed with either the USFL or the CFL.   From that unique draft, Steve Young, Gary Zimmerman and Reggie White were wisely taken.  The 1992 draft has no excuse at all.  The top five picks that year were Steve Emtman, Quentin Coryatt, Sean Gilbert, Desmond Howard and Terrell Buckley.  Phew.
  8. The lowest drafted quarterback to win a Super Bowl is Bart Starr, who was taken at no. 200 way back in 1956. That’s but one spot lower than Tom Brady.  He went No. 199 in the 2000 draft. Finally, there’s Kurt Warner.  He wasn’t taken at all in 1994, and won a memorable Super Bowl six years later.
  9. Has one team ever had four first round picks in one draft?  Yes they have, and only once.  The New York “Not Football” Jets had four picks in round one of the 2000 draft.  Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, Chad Pennington and Anthony Becht were all hand-picked by the Big Apple team.  That was a pretty good one day harvest.
  10.  Way back in 1944, the Philadelphia Eagles picked Syracuse fullback Norm Michael in the way later rounds.  They were unable to contact him because he had enlisted in the Army right after college.  Fifty five years later an elderly Michael saw a list of Syracuse players selected by the NFL and learned that he had once been drafted.   We guess he thought it was better to enlist with the Army who could draft you than to be listed as drafted by the Eagles back then.

Arizona, you’re on the clock.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Didn’t get enough protein on your three-day Easter weekend?  We have some early morning nuggets to help.  No dyed eggs though.  We’ve had enough already till next year.  Ten nuggets to add to your basket are below.

  1.  The San Jose Sharks scored a goal in a second overtime over the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth game of their very entertaining, road to the Stanley Cup playoff match up.  Sharks win 2-1.  It forces a game seven.  There are few more energetic, frenetic, and passionate sporting events than an NHL game seven playoff final.  Perhaps it’ll go to overtime to put it further in overdrive.  We can’t name a player on either team, but it won’t stop us from watching.
  2.  Note to self.  Don’t fight with Alex Ovechkin.  The 33-year-old Alex and 19-year-old Andrei Svechnikov decided to drop the gloves last week.  You can see the quick work Alex made of Andrei here.  The Washington Capitals team captain, multi time all-star, and HOF first ballot lock showed the youngster a thing, not two.  Respect your elders must have been the message.  The Carolina Hurricane must have felt like a, well, hurricane hit him.  If you don’t like violent knockouts, don’t hit the link.  Game six is tonight. The Caps lead 3 games to 2, and 1 TKO to zero.
  3. The Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL record-tying 62-win team, became the first Presidents’ Trophy winner to be swept in the first round. The Columbus Blue Jackets, the last wild-card qualifier to get in the Eastern Conference, flat-out shocked the Lightning.  Defense, defense, defense.  We guess it’s why we watch sports.  We never failed to be amazed.  Competition produces outcomes that make us shake our heads on a near daily basis.
  4. Charles Barkley tripled down last evening on his pronouncement that the Portland Trailblazers are headed to the NBA finals.  They lead the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 and can wrap up the first round matchup on Tuesday at home.  Damian Lillard might be on the verge of taking his game and his team to yet another level.
  5. Is there a better pregame or post game or sports studio show than the NBA on TNT in any sport?  Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Sir Charles know the game, like to jab at each other, enjoy what they are doing, and are downright hilarious.   Ernie Johnson is masterful at setting the stage and pressing go.  How can you not like Barkley?  What you see is what you get.   Ask a question and you get an answer.  Research is optional.
  6. We fully admit that the NBA regular season isn’t must see TV for this writer.  However, the brief view of these playoffs make us wonder if there is finally balance in the top four accross the  conferences.  For years, Lebron aside, the East hasn’t been all that.  It seems very legitimately four deep now.  Boston, Philly, Toronto, and Milwaukee are the top four.  Boston swept and is in.  The three others lead their respective series 3-1.  Two of those will go home in the next round.   It says here that they will be two good teams watching from home like we are now.
  7. Here is your PGA golf quick quiz.  Two parts.  Part one.  Who won the tournament last week, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said Tiger, Augusta National, and The Masters we aren’t impressed.  Part two.  Who won the tournament that ended yesterday, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said C T Pan, Harbour Town Golf Links, and the RBC Heritage we are impressed.  It’s a beauty of a course, but on Easter Sunday, and a week after the Masters, it had a tough, tough act to follow.
  8.  The sample size admittedly is small, but the surprising Seattle Mariners lead all of baseball in runs scored.  They’ve crossed home 160 times or 24 more than the second highest (Dodgers, 136) team.   That’s an average of 6.4 runs per game and about one more run a game than LA.  You can win a lot of games scoring like that.  They’ve given up 128 runs. That’s fourth worst in the league.  It’s an average of 5.1 runs allowed per game.  You can lose a lot of games getting scored on like that.
  9.  The Miami Marlins have scored an anemic 60 runs in 22 contests.  That’s a pitiful 2.3 runs a game.  You can lose A LOT of games scoring like that.  Does CEO Derek Jeter have a clue?  Apparently so.  His rather newly assembled front office is teeming with talent that knows how to spot, draft, and develop talent.  Four folks that are over personnel are ones that he poached from his former team, the Yankees.  Two are from the Bahstan Sox, and one is from the Golden State Warriors.  Coming from winning franchises all of them, they must now rebuild an organization that has to be close to rock bottom.  The Astros were there six years ago and the Braves were there three years ago.  Still, it’s a steep hill.
  10.  With about 12 percent of the MLB season gone, you knew that Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles (Dodgers) would be leading their divisions didn’t you?  Advanced analytics will tell you that at least four of these teams won’t get to the wire.  They may not, but this spring hope springs eternal for a quite a few surprised fans in a few cities that have started out well.  If they get to the quarter pole the chatter will grow an octave.

It’s Monday.  You’ve been off for three or four days.  Get back to work.

 

Ya Gotta Believe!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Back when the 1973 New York Mets, aka “The Amazins,”  were making their very improbable run all the way to the World Series, team member Tug McGraw coined a phrase.    It was “Ya Gotta Believe.”  And believe the Mets did, going from last place in their division on a very late in the season August 30th all the way to a 4 games to 3 World Series loss to the Oakland A’s.  Tug’s tug on his teammates passion to unite behind a cause was a winning formula.

So too it is in politics.  Tell people something enough and eventually they will accept it as the truth and a way of life and unite behind a cause.  Just a few months back, and several hundred billions less in debt, the US Senate held a hearing to either approve or reject Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.  Quickly Christine Blasey Ford became the centerpiece of the effort to block his confirmation.  She claimed a then teen Kavanaugh about 30 odd years ago  attempted to rape her at a party.  Where?  She didn’t know where.  When? She didn’t know when.  Her friend that she said was with her at the party said she wasn’t.

It mattered not.  You gotta believe her some said.  Kamala Harris, Democratic Senator on the Confirmation Committee said she did. She is now a candidate for President.  Others did too.   Hawaii Senator Hirono went so far as to state that Ford needed to believed, she believed Ford, and that men needed to shut up.  This was before the testimony to reveal any credible evidence.  You know, everyone is guilty if they are on the wrong side of the argument until proven innocent.  When the hearings concluded, the unconvinced of guilt lefties felt like yet another “victim,” who just came forward, needed to be heard.  She was represented by the honorable, but now indicted for attempted bribery of nike, Michael Avenatti.  Nothing credible came of that either.   Shocker.  Another delay.

Eventually Kavanaugh was confirmed.  But, that was only after the delay and the narrative could be heard and heard and heard.  After all, what better free advertising for the party attempting to regain control of both houses in 2018?

Enter the Trump Collusion Mueller Investigation.  Enter Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee (House and the word Intelligence together, like politicians, make strange bedfellows).  Pencil Neck, as someone calls him, claims to have evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians.  Twenty-three months of Mueller, his cadre of lawyers, investigators, over 500 subpoenas and over one million pages of info requests of Trump’s team later, we have the Attorney General Robert Barr echoing Mueller that there was no collusion.  And, Mueller stated no legal reason to think Trump obstructed justice.  Barr said, too, that it fails to meet the legal bar for it.

Harry Reid said that he had evidence that Mitt Romney cheated on his income taxes.  Give em hell Harry.  No evidence yet.  None ever coming.

“We need Mueller to testify before the Oversight Committee,” comes the cry.  “Surely there is more to this,” comes the cry.  “What’ll we do with all of these pitchforks and lanterns,” comes the cry.

We now have government officials asking for government officials to interview under oath a government appointed special prosecutor who investigated the executive branch of our government for two years and came to no legal wrongdoings.  Ya Gotta Believe says Adam and others.  Adam, show us your evidence.  It was your civic duty, not political hay to make, 23 months ago.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good narrative it seems. Oh, and if we can keep this up till, say, 2020, we can use this cloud hanging over Trump to beat Trump, can’t we?

Seems like one party would rather try to win running on what the other party did wrong (ya gotta believe) rather than what that party did itself right.  Right?  Wrong?  The American citizens lose either way.

 

Judging Baseball’s Approach

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Last night the injured, but still proud, New York Yankees beat the uninjured, but not so proud anymore, Boston Red Sox.  The 5-3 final completed a three game sweep over the listing 2018 World Series Champions.  “Get out da broomz and swept out da trash” in a heavy “New Yawk” accent could be heard from coast to coast.  You could have watched it from coast to coast too, if you chose.

But did you?  Did you watch?  Or did you watch an NHL or NBA playoff game last night?  ESPN (the worldwide leader in hype and chasing ratings) chose the Yanks v. Sox for their national broadcast last evening.  And they will again and again this year.  The combined win percentage last night entering the game of the two teams was 38%.

Many, many seasons ago, when there were but three TV channels and one game only shown in a week every Saturday that contest would not have seen the light of the afternoon day.  Tony Kubek is shaking his head, and Curt Gowdy would be if he were still alive today.

So, why then this game?  Simple.  Always follow the money.  The only way to sell Anhueser Busch on advertising Bud Light is to grab the best ratings that you can so as to have as many fans watch as you can so as to charge as much as you can for the spot.

But is it the best route for MLB?  Local money drives TV and radio which is why all MLB teams show and tell via that route throughout the season.  So, for ESPN, the best route is to get a blackout in the combined two biggest markets that evening to sell more beer.  So, why then this way? Simple.  Always follow the money.

But, we ask again.  Is it the best route for baseball and its national branding?  Perhaps.  Its 162 game schedule and summertime slot might dictate selling the local team story to locals and hope that the playoff matchups and teams whet the appetite to a greater audience.  But, would MLB have a greater audience if it told you and sold to you the upstart teams and their starts and year-long stories?

We wonder.  Tampa, Cleveland, and Houston lead the American League three weeks in.  Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles (Dodgers) lead the National League.  Throw out Houston (who won the WS in 2017) and Los Angeles (who won the NL pennant in 2017 and 2018).  Can the casual fan name two names off of the four remaining teams?

If you asked the same three weeks into the NFL season we bet you could name five or six Buccaneers, Browns, Eagles, or Packers per team.  The NFL released its schedule just last night.  The Browns drew four prime time national spotlight games.  Their record in the last ten years combined is the 2nd worst in the league.  But suddenly, due to an improving defense, and a strong off-season free agent acquisition plan they are a coming national story.  Oh, and there is OBJ too.

The NFL sells what might be, not what was.  The NFL sells teams, their players, their coaches, and their strategies.  They sell the thought that parity gives non contenders a real good chance to contend. The NFL is making A LOT of money. It made $13.8 billion in 2017.

MLB sells beer to the two biggest markets on a given week night.  MLB is making a lot of money too.  It’s revenue, with way more games played, was $10.1 in 2017 in comparison.  It’s expenses are far greater to get there as well.

NFL regular season games, when pitted against MLB playoff games, amazingly out draw them in the most important game; the ratings game.

We fully understand that the two business models have their own benefits and challenges.  We just think one could learn A LOT from the other.

Come On In, The Water Is Fine

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

A whole flock of small rubber ducks just hit the river.  And, with it, the great race for 2020 has begun.  If you are watching it on TV it’s abundantly clear that the race downriver is from right to left.

The flapping, quacking, and invisible web-footed paddling is robust.  It’s about 20 such newbies or not so newbies all looking for the right current to power their way to the front.  What’s first prize?  It’s power in the race that wins the power out of the race.

There is but one problem.  By far the biggest and loudest quacker is, for now out front.

The biggest duck is none other than, ahem, Donald Duck.  As we breathlessly wait for the now neutered Mueller Report (less than 24 hours away) The Donald is swimming in fresher, clearer, and not so deep nor hot water.  Every opponent will have a staff member read the report and be able to find the worst moment and whale away.  This will last about 24 hours.  Then, reality will set in.  While they have had their scope sighted on the biggest duck for two years, they’ve shot blanks thus far.

So, then, what now a mere 17 months from the election?  Well, the swim to the hard left seems to be the rip tide of choice.  Remember a short three months ago when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped in with the Green New Deal.  It seemed like a swimmingly good far left idea at the time.  Quickly, it’s been overtaken by paddling of cute orange feet even further to the left.

Good old Bernie Sanders, he of a few feathers missing on his crown, has one upped his desire for free college tuition with a proposed 52% tax take on the income rich.  When asked in a Monday night town hall if he and his $562k income of a year ago were ready to ante up, he went dead left and talked about Google and Apple, and other capitalistic successes not paying any taxes.  And, he called it criminal.  Silly us, we thought “criminal” was doing something against the law.  He said nada, or not a thing, about his willingness to go along with his own proposal.

The newest duckling, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, told MSNBC’s Rachael Maddow last evening that this Electoral College thing, written into the Constitution by our founding fathers, was so yesterday.  And with that he shook his tail feathers and motored past the previous left.  He said, we paraphrase, that it no longer represents the true will of the United States.  We wonder how his friends and family from the great state of Indiana feel about his desire to minimize their voice?

And from the left coast, Northern California Congressman and now announced candidate as well, Eric Stalwell quacked loudest of all.  He declared that when elected he would push legislation to make all assault type rifles illegal.  He then swam into the deep, deep left side of the river by stating that if anyone refused to surrender their guns, they would be convicted of a crime and sent to prison.  To recap, he wants to make a legal part of the Second Amendment illegal and take away legally owned guns.  And, then he wants to convict those certain gun owners who won’t surrender them of illegal possession.  He suggested that other rifles and such only be stored in gun clubs, shooting ranges, and hunting clubs.   There is a duck hunting joke in here somewhere.

Our guess is that Joe Biden, who someone labeled as Creepy Uncle Joe, is waiting at a turn in the riverbank.  He is busy making sure his feathers can repel any water that his past might have taken on.   If he (when he) waddled in, the river’s course splinters.  With somewhat limited tact, he might find a different tack to the finish line.

With so many baby ducklings in the river, fresh air (time) and space (on the stage) to maneuver is tight.  The 17 month race is on. Soon enough Mother Nature will take its course and the flock will lose members.

And the mother of all ducks for now, Donald, will vigorously attempt to pluck what’s left (did you see what we just did?).

Meanwhile the race is on and the quacking is incessant.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Multiple Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s tasty Tuesday.  You’re hungry.  With the NBA playoffs, MLB off to a fine start, the Masters, and the NFL draft upcoming there is plenty to chew on.  Ten Nuggets await your consumption below.

  1. If you like Tiger or if not (and most do) you have to tip your golf visor his way.  Four back surgeries and two knee surgeries would derail anyone who is less than very determined to get to the top again.   One dozen or more affairs which drove one expensive divorce combined with those medical issues should derail anyone else.  Sunday, for 13 years, seemed so far away we’re sure.  It seems in America we love success stories.  We love to watch them fall hard.  And most of all we like a great comeback story.  Tiger provided all three and maybe there is more.
  2.  Some books have now posted odds on Tiger catching Jack’s 18 majors.  Tiger has 15.  Get your dollar out and win twenty back if you like his chances.  Many books took a bath in Tiger blood (where is Charley Sheen these days?) on Sunday.
  3. One dude, James Adducci, liked the action so much that he plunked down $85,000 on Tiger in the Masters.  He won over $1.2 million.  He claims that he’s never bet on ANY sports before.  His short story is linked here.  You ever heard of beginners luck?
  4. You might have already been night night on the east coast last evening when the west coast LA Clippers poured in 85 second half points on the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.  Trailing by 23 at halftime, and by as much as 31 in the third, the eighth seeded Doc Rivers led team won 135-131.  The 31 point comeback is the largest margin ever overcome in an NBA playoff game.  Doc was asked what he told his team at halftime. “That we were going to win.”  “I don’t know how.”  I guess “win one for the Gipper” was already taken.
  5. Rivers concluded his press conference by telling a story that happened on the streets of San Francisco (where is Karl Malden these days?) earlier that Monday. Reaching in his pocket to grab his phone he dropped $2,000 (don’t you carry that kind of walking around money?) out onto the street unknowingly.   A block further into his walk a man tapped him on the shoulder and said “I think this money is yours, you dropped it.”  If Doc plays the lotto this week and you can peek over that same shoulder to see the numbers, you should.
  6. Kevin Durant did his part in helping LA comeback recording a fat nine turnovers in the game.  All Star center DeMarcus Cousins very likely suffered a torn left quad early in quarter one for the Warriors as well.  It wasn’t a good night for the two soon to be free agents.  Given all of the turnovers, injury, and no defense played, it wasn’t a good night for Steve Kerr, Warriors coach, either.  If Steve plays the lotto this week, don’t peak over his shoulder.
  7.  The NFL draft is nine days away and counting.   The rumor mill of who, when, and where is heating up like the spring sun.  Expect one player to get attached to a false rumor about his off of the field behavior, or his terrible team interviews, or his drug use. Or, all three.  It happens every year.  When the inevitable happens he and his entourage (where is Jeremy Piven these days?) get to sit there and watch.  And watch.
  8. ESPN (the worldwide leader in hype) announced that Peyton Manning will be doing a multitude of historical, and slightly off beat features that shape the stories behind the stories that have made the NFL into the 100 year success story that it is.  One segment goes back to the breakfast table of the home where a box of Wheaties(where is Bruce Jenner these days?) is shaped into a prototype of what eventually became the Lombardi Trophy.  Peyton’s Places is the show’s name.  Sounds like it’ll be fun to watch.
  9.  In Little League you were taught to run every hit of every at bat out.  Let the umpire make the call.  Cincinnati Reds batter (Luis we think) Castillo stroked a clean single to right field.  Apparently he did not know it.  He was thrown out at first from RF.  The embarrassing video is right here.  We think it was Luis, but his jersey was #42.  He is listed on the official MLB roster as #58.  Maybe he put on the wrong uniform as well?
  10. One season ago The Boston Red Sox won it all.  Today they are 6.5 games behind the Tampa Rays.  The Tea Party(where is Lil Marco these days?) is forming in Boston.  At  six wins and eleven losses they are looking up at Tampa’s MLB best record of 12-4.  Tampa has already taken three of four from Houston among other early season trophies.  No need to panic yet Beantown.  But if the Rays pitching stays healthy, you might start soon.  Oh, and Tampa’s payroll is about 1/4th of the Sox’s.

Chow.