Update-February still makes us shiver.
As the shortest month of the year rolls along we dug deep to find a savory serving of ten nuggets for our insatiable readers. We need to grab a bit from here and some from there to do so. The oven is on.
- In men’s NCAA basketball the new AP Top 25 is out. Duke regained the no. 1 spot for the third time this year. Somehow, Tennessee dropped for 1 to 5. Sure, Kentucky worked them over in Lexington Saturday. But, a drop of four spots with only two year long losses in what is supposed to be one of the top two conferences seems a bit strong. It doesn’t matter too much just yet.
- Kentucky, somehow rose one from 5 to 4. The same voters that punished Tennessee rewarded Kentucky for losing at home earlier in the week to LSU and then beating Tenn. It must pay to have the Kentucky blue unis come voting time. It doesn’t matter too much just yet.
- This just in. The PGA is now allowing shorts for the pros in practice rounds. After an offseason of rule changes for the stodgy sport that includes leaving the flag in on putts, can beer kegs next to the Powerade coolers on the tee boxes be far off? One can hope. This just in. John Daly liked boomboomsroom.com.
- How many mock drafts do you think you could review between now and the NFL draft in April. How many ways can the “draft experts” recast a list in hopes to get one to read one? Like the stock market pundits someone should write a column or three after the draft to mock the absurdity and inaccuracy of these mocks.
- Speaking of mocks, mocking, and bad franchises; have the Cleveland Browns turned a corner? Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, and a talented defense won seven games last year after the team won one game in the last two years prior combined. And they have a lot of decent, promising, young talent acquired in 2018 draft.
- And, here is the kicker. The once and forever woeful Browns have their own pick in all seven rounds in 2019. Plus, they have an additional 3rd, 5th, and 7th thanks to some savvy moves on draft day 2018 made by their “suddenly to be taken seriously” front office. Can the heretofore bad ownership stay out of the way?
- This writer sat fifteen rows from the ice in Nashville at a Predators v. St. Louis Blues game Sunday a week ago. The Blues prevailed sixteen seconds into overtime 5-4. Why is this now news? It’s not. It’s just the setup to say that hockey is SOOOO much better in person than on the TV. Two dimensions, even in HD, cannot do justice to what large grown men do at full speed on a relatively small piece of ice with wooden sticks and a small frozen rubber puck. If you haven’t recently, get to an NHL game soon. If they don’t look faster than ever to you it will be a surprise.
- Pitchers and catchers reported to MLB camps over a week ago. With Tampa Bay now pitching backwards in some games (starting the closer and finishing with longer innings guys) and other teams increasingly going to “Johnny Whole Staff” for pitching games by committee, innovative thinking is accelerating in baseball. Can it be very long before a team decides to not have pitchers and catchers throw and squat in early February in hopes that they will still be able to throw and squat in early October?
- In yesteryear four man starting rotations were the norm. Now nearly every team has a five man starting rotation, giving an extra day of rest to all. The analytics side to the game has really changed the thinking on many fronts for what we think is the good of yet another sport viewed by too many as too stodgy.
- Which reminds us of the whispers emanating from MLB’s front office. “Should we limit the severity of the defensive shifts that teams are making against hitters?” Here is a simple answer-NO. Should teams, and hitting instructors from early ages, rethink their approach as to how hitters work their plate appearance? Here is a simple answer-YES. Can you imagine the NFL dictating that defenses must not overload one side of the field? Well, with this commissioner, maybe you could. The ever-changing strategy is the actual beauty of these games.
March is but ten days away. Who’s counting?
aka Mr. GQ, the NBA multi time world champ head coach extraordinaire? Or, could you imagine the cool Riley bouncing out of a dugout in his woven Cole Hahn’s and Perry Ellis tailored suit to turn his cap backwards and spit tobacco juice hither and yon? Heaven forbid that one gelled strand of coiffed hair stray out of place. Which got us to thinking. Why do NBA coaches roam court side in thousands of dollars of fine silk threads and pressed shirts? ‘Why not?’ is our guess. Aside from sitting, standing, and very occasionally drawing up a play with a Sharpie on a white board there isn’t much physical exertion inside of a climate controlled arena to sweat about. Which got us to thinking.
And why do they wear NFL sideline team gear on game days? Ah, we think we know this one. NFL practices can be messy, with grass, mud, and sweat and all. And, the NFL is the ultimate marketing machine. “Ooh, did you see the new LA Rams shirt that (poster boy) Sean McVay wore on the sidelines?” “I gotta get me one.” Which got us to thinking.
But, someone once said “Impossible is Nothing.” Not for nothing, we choose The Big O, Oscar Robertson’s season of triple doubles by the slimmest of margins over Marilyn Monroe’s ex husband’s hit streak. What’s your choice?
Shorty sat on the shorter of the two “halves” of the 55 gallon drum. Imagine that. Each were cut down to size and retrofitted with a soft cushion top. Lefty looked confused-very.
And his Raiders won and won. Two Super Bowl wins and two more appearances with several coaches and ever-changing personnel in an ever-changing league bears that out.
