10 Piece Nuggets

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

On yesterday’s road trip to diversity, we got hungry.  The drive from Portland to Madison has 2000 mile markers and very few restaurants.  We yearned for nuggets.  You know the feeling.  It’s fast food for the sports-minded.  Have ten below on us.

  1.  The Pittsburgh Steelers blew a 14 point halftime lead and eventually fell to the visiting Washington Football Team last night on MNF.  The Steelers seldom lose at home, and have only lost one game in the 22 years prior at home when leading by 14 or more.  And, poof goes the last undefeated team in the NFL this year.  Don Shula (RIP) and his 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins can rest easy for at least one more year.
  2.  After the Steelers’ loss who owns the longest winning streak in the NFL now? It’s the New Orleans Saints with nine and counting.  The New York Football Giants are next with four while the Washington Football Team is third with three.  In the NFL you are either getting better or getting run over.  Suddenly two NFC East teams have come alive.
  3. Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera fought cancer this year. When he entered the then Redskins offices he fought incompetence, complacency, good ole boys, a talent void, and a losing culture.  He’s a bit old school, a fighter, and maybe the most underrated head coach in the league.  After a 1-5 start they stand at 5-7 with four games remaining. They have the 49ers, Seahawks, Panthers (his old team), and the Eagles left.  An 8-8 record certainly is within reach.
  4. The Minnesota Vikings also started 1-5.  At home this past Sunday they needed overtime to defeat the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.  In the NFL they don’t count how, they count how many.  The Vikings evened their record at 6-6.  Head coach Mike Zimmer is a bit old school, a fighter, and maybe the most underrated head coach in the league.  Where have you heard that before?    The Bucs, Bears, Saints, and Lions are their final four down the regular-season stretch.  It’s a team no one would like to play if they get to the expanded playoff format.
  5.  Don’t look now but the New England Patriots are 6-6 after back to back wins with Cam Newton throwing for under a hundred yards in each of the games. The Rams, Dolphins, Bills, and Jets remain.  That’s a tall task with a shaky QB.  Does anyone doubt Bill Belichick can do it?  Computer simulations give the Patriots a 14% chance of making the playoffs.  Does Belichick even own a computer?
  6. One day after his ill-advised, all-out blitz failed to take down the opposing quarterback on the game-deciding play, New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was sacked by coach Adam Gase in a Monday morning meeting that lasted nearly an hour.  DC Williams called the exact same aggressive and foolish play in the 2011 NFC Division Championship game sending the Saints to a last-second loss in San Fran.  At 0-12, Adam Gase will collect a paycheck for only four more weeks than the DC he fired yesterday.  Sam Darnold will need a new address too.  The Jets fell in love with Trevor Lawrence months ago.
  7. Who benefitted from Williams’s moronic call in 2011 in Candlestick Park?  Jim Harbaugh.  He was the AP Coach of the Year that year for San Francisco.  By 2014 he had worn out his welcome on the left coast and headed east to Ann Arbor, MI for a lot of green and greener pastures.  Fast forward to 2020 and Harbaugh is either in the beginning, middle, or end of the end as the Wolverines coach.  He’s 1-6 on the year and 0-5 lifetime against this weekend’s rival opponent THE Ohio St. Buckeyes.  THE is favored by a whopping 28 points.
  8. Harbaugh’s teams in college have won 68% of their games.  What percent of the games have his NFL teams won?  Sixty-eight percent.  It takes an unlikeable, polarizing guy to have to leave before he is asked to do so with that type of winning percentage.  That’s Harbaugh, khakis and all.  It says here that this is his last game at Michigan too.
  9.  Vegas loves it when the public sees the obvious.  Big favorites over bad teams are the best of the best for Sin City.  Last week there were four double-digit dogs in the NFL.  The Jets covered and blew the outright win on the aforementioned last play.  The Broncos covered easily.  The Giants won straight up.  And Cincinnati lost by 12 as an 11 point underdog.  There’s a reason there is so much marble and gold on The Strip.
  10. Speaking of which a few lines that are interesting, Coastal Carolina is favored by 13.5 at Troy.  Surely there is a letdown after the win over BYU at home with College GameDay present is there? Yes.   Bama is a 31.5 road favorite over Arkansas after they beatdown LSU.  Is there ever a letdown by a Nick Saban coached team? No.

You read.  You got fed.  Now, get busy.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We pause our series on specific divisions within the NFL to bring you some Monday morning nuggets.  But there is plenty of the NFL in the nuggets. There’s a Pope, too.  Start your Monday off right, consume away.

  1. In an unprecedented meeting, a delegation of five NBA players and several officials from the National Basketball Players Association are at the Vatican this Monday morning for a private audience with Pope Francis to discuss their work on social justice issues.  This was at the Pope’s behest.   It’s another blast of fresh air to keep the social justice platform flying and it’s the most outspoken pope jumping into the limelight yet again.  Now if he could take measures to minimize those pesky pedophile priests that he “hires,” but we digress.
  2. One day after Florida State abruptly postponed its scheduled game against Clemson because of a positive COVID-19 test among the Tigers’ roster, Dabo Swinney lambasted FSU’s administration for the decision.  “This game was not canceled because of COVID,” Swinney said. “COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game. To me, the Florida State administration forfeited the game.”  Dabo tends to color outside of the lines a bit.  He never hesitates to “give all the glory to the Lord” either.  If he doesn’t get the Bama gig post-Saban maybe he’s on a shortlist to be the next pope, but we digress again.
  3. Speaking of Alabama, while many other big-time programs leak oil all over the 2020 track, the Tide just keeps the pedal to the metal.  Nick Saban is the engine that never needs a tune-up.  They remain ranked numero uno in the latest AP top 25 after a 63-3 mud stomp of the Kentucky Wildcats Saturday.  They haven’t been tested in five weeks.  The Iron Bowl v # 22 Auburn might be (MIGHT BE) a test and is only five days away.
  4. Did you have both Cincinnatti and BYU undefeated and ranked inside of the top ten in the AP Top 25 as we enter the home stretch in NCAA football before the season started?  No, you didn’t.  Cincy survived and gutted out a win late over a hungry and always ready UCF Saturday.  BYU had a glorified practice against North Alabama.  BYU might have the best QB in the country this year in Zach Wilson and that is saying something with guys named Jones, Fields, Lawrence, and Trask slinging it around.
  5.  Did you have Penn St at 0-5 and dead last in the Big 10 East and Northwestern at 5-0 and alone in first in the Big 10 West?  No, you didn’t.  Penn St lost last week to Nebraska who this week got worked by Illinois.  As an encore, the Nittany Lions gave up 41 getting blasted by Iowa in (not so) Happy Valley.  Wisconsin scored a meager 7 points in 60 minutes against a stout NW defense.  The Badgers coughed the ball up five times in all and four in the first half alone.  Northwestern only scored 17 themselves, but that was nine more than needed.
  6. Turning to the NFL, this staff reporter was assigned to the Saints v Falcons contest in the Superdome where 6000 faithful masked and watched the Saints D turn in its third straight sterling effort.  Falcons QB Matty Ryan is sore this AM.  Cam Jordan sacked him three ( and now 21 times in his career) of the eight times the Saints D sacked him altogether.  The Saints’ offense only mustered 24 points in Taysom Hill’s first NFL start.  Taysom is 31 but had more fun out there than a kid.  But, it was 14 more than needed when you hold the formerly high flying Falcons O to just three field goals.  Remember, two weeks ago Tom Brady and the Bucs only got one field goal at home against NO.
  7. The New Orleans win coupled with the Green Bay loss to Indy flipped the race for the NFC one seed.  NO is 8-2 while GB slipped to 7-3.  Seattle is also 7-3.  Don’t look now but the LA Rams are 6-3, also playing strong on defense, and face 7-3 Tampa Bay in FL tonight on MNF.
  8. Upsets ruled the day.  The aforementioned Indianapolis team trailed 28-14 at the half but won 34-31.  The Titans beat the now limping Ravens in Baltimore.  And Tua sat for quarter number four in Denver as Ryan Fitzpatrick tried to rally the Dolphins.  His late pick secured the win for Denver 20-13.
  9. After Kansas City held off the Vegas Raiders that leaves the exciting AFC playoff picture, well, even more exciting.  Pitt is 10-0 while KC is 9-1.  Indy and Tennessee are tied virtually at 7-3 in the South, while Buffalo leads the East at 7-3, all the while that Cleveland is somehow 7-3.  Losers from yesterday, Miami, Vegas, and Baltimore are all 6-4.
  10. Everyone knew that Joe Burrow would need to break a leg to prop up the woeful Cincinnati Bengals when he was drafted #1 overall last spring.  Their D is porous.  And, their O line is a sieve. Ranked 29th by Pro Football Focus in pass protection metrics, yesterday against the Washington Football Team the Cincy offensive line lived down to its reputation.  And, down went Burrow.  He was sacked and so was his season.  He did indeed break a leg.  Or, at least his ACL.  An MRI will tell the severity of the injury later today.  That’s sad, just like the Bengals franchise.

Happy Monday.  It’s a short week at least.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We know you like ten nuggets.  We hope you like hash.  It’s how the ten nuggets are served today.  The sports world was a bit of everything over the last 48 hours. So we have a lot of leftovers.  We sling some below.

  1.  Dustin Johnson took full advantage of soft greens at Augusta and won The Masters in rare wire to wire form.  Finishing with a 4-under 68 in Round 4, Johnson set a 72-hole scoring record of 20 under, the lowest score to par in the history.  Twenty-one under would have been the lowest to par total in any majors in their collective histories.  In his interview afterward, he could barely speak.  It’s a must-watch.  It speaks volumes about why we love competition, hard work, and inner success.
  2. His two closest competitors by mid-third round and through the final one weren’t named DeChambeau, McIlroy, Koepka, Thomas, Rahm, Rose, Casey, Woods, nor Mickelson.  If you think that watered down the crown, think again.  The golfing world officially introduced us to Sungjae Im and Cameron Thomas.
  3. Im won The Honda Classic earlier this year, is all of 22 years old, and hits the ball down the middle EVERY time he tees it up.  His short game is flawless as well.  With ball-striking like that the world-rated 25th player is here to stay.
  4. Smith hails from Down Under.  He’s an interesting character.  He isn’t built like a Koepka.  He doesn’t talk like a Thomas.  He doesn’t dress like a Speith.  He somehow made pars from the woods, the parking lot, and the hot dog stand.  He’s a breath of fresh air.  Oh, and along the walk all over the hallowed grounds, he became the first player in the history of The Masters to shoot sub 70 in all four rounds.  The 49th highest-rated player is here to stay as well.
  5. There wasn’t a top 25 matchup in all of college football Saturday.  That didn’t stop the theater though.  The best/worst of all came late Saturday.  It certainly appeared to the naked eye that the Oregon St. Beavers had a first down, not once but twice, in a crucial spot at the end of their PAC 12 matchup with Washington.  Two bad spots later, the momentum swung.  If you want to dig deeper, there is a bigger mess behind the scenes in the PAC 12 season exposed by this article.
  6. On Friday COVID-19 times forced the cancellation of the California at Arizona State game and the Utah at UCLA game both scheduled for Saturday.  Later that afternoon the PAC 12 scheduled the two “healthy teams” Cal and UCLA to square off on Sunday. Yes, Sunday.  UCLA dominated the game 34-10.  Did anyone see it?  Anyone?  Still, it’s better to have played than not.  It was an aggressive move from a conference that was very reluctant to start the season at all.

  7. Michigan fans are trying to reconcile how a team that was ranked in the preseason is now 1-3 for the first time since 1967 after suffering its largest home loss in 85 years.  Wisconsin worked them 49-11. Head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is 10-9 in his last 19 games, couldn’t really pinpoint how it happened.  But he did concede that Michigan is lousy.  “Not in a good place as a football team,” he said.  Cerebral he is that Harbaugh guy.  It looks like another worn-out welcome for the quirky former QB.

  8. Penn St is arguably worse. They suffered their fourth loss in four games this one to a Nebraska team who entered the game winless and having scored only 30 points total in two games.  The Cornhuskers put 27 on Penn St. by halftime and 30 in all in their win with a first-time starter at QB.  Directionless is the Nittany Lion team this fall.  A recent recruiting article states that they only have one of the top ten recruits from Pennsylvania from 2018-9 on their squad.  Perhaps, void of talent is the Nittany Lion team this fall?
  9. South Carolina decided to put the worst behind them.  Will Muschamp was bought out as HC for the Gamecocks.  His once proud D surrendered 59 to Ole Miss in their latest loss and the administration and the money that runs SC said sayonara.   Muschamp was once named head coach in waiting behind Mack Brown at Texas.  He decided that he didn’t want to wait and bolted to Florida.  He was not ready for an HC job then.  He was run out of there and is still owed six million from that buyout.   South Carolina thought differently.  Now they think again.   Muschamp wins the Charlie Weis Award for having two universities paying him buyout money at the same time.
  10.  However, we turn to the NFL for the worst of all.  The NFC East’s four teams now stand collectively at 10-26-1.  That’s a 28% winning percentage.  Eight of their wins, and therefore, eight of their losses have come against each other.  That puts their out of division record at, wait for it, 2-18-1.  That’s a 10% winning percentage.  Perhaps we should say that’s a 90% losing percentage.  Historically bad doesn’t accurately describe the worst of the worst.

You’re excused.  Put your plate in the sink.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Hopefully, you haven’t lost your sense of taste or smell.  Covid-19 can do that and worse to a human as you know.  We’re taking ten nuggets out of the oven this AM for you.  The disease has interrupted our fun as sports fans all over again and is unfortunately interspersed in the conversation below.

  1.  Notre Dame inserted itself squarely into the FBS playoff race conversation with its double-overtime thrilling win over Clemson in South Bend Saturday night.  There’s still work to do, but the two teams now appear on a collision course to meet again in the ACC Championship game.  Did you even know that Notre Dame joined the ACC for this season?  Covid times basically forced their hand as it’s regularly scheduled opponents were iffy on starting a season back then.
  2. Dabo Swinney, post-game, played the role of Dabo Swinney quite well.  “We’re 7-1,” coach Swinney said after the loss to Notre Dame. “Nobody was handing out a trophy tonight. Nobody was rolling a stage out there tonight. We got a ways to go. We have a lot of guys that have grown and learned a lot from this year. It’s obviously been challenging on everyone.”  His nasally whining, holier than thou, poor us, and we have work to do attitude is challenging on a lot of college football fans.
  3. The SEC has canceled three games this week due to cases sprouting up on teams and the inevitable tracing that knocks those immediately around the infected out for a bit too.  Gone are the games pitting Auburn v. Mississippi St., Texas A&M v. Tennessee, and Alabama v. LSU.  When and/or if they will be made up is up in the air.  The postponed games are piling up, and the SEC Championship Game is coming up, so some games may not get rescheduled at all.
  4. If you’re a competitor or a dyed in the wool fan, you’re disappointed in the cancellations.  If you’re a fan of Mississippi St., Tennessee, or LSU you might secretly be breathing a sigh of relief.  Miss St. started 1-0 with a big upset (at least we thought it was then) at LSU and faded very fast.  Tennessee started 2-0 and has slid to the point where they want Jeremy Pruitt to volunteer to no longer be the Volunteers coach.  LSU started poorly, leveled off briefly, then forgot to show up for its game two weeks ago v Auburn.
  5. A few other games for this weekend have also been postponed.  And, a few are teetering on the proverbial brink as well.  The season is wobbling.  Can it forge its way through?  The college game is tricky.  You can’t bubble them.  You think you can, but you can’t keep them from friends, bars, nor parties.
  6. The PAC 12 just started.  In hindsight, why did they wait?  They said it was for a lack of quick results in the then testing.  Now that we have quick response testing, we only find out faster what we already knew.  People will continue to spread this thing around until there is a vaccine in widespread distribution.  We have our fingers crossed Pfizer.
  7.  “Hello friends,” says Jim Nance.  Live from the Augusta National Golf Course tomorrow is The Masters on CBS.  It was postponed from its usual early April start.  They avoided the first wave of the disease and walked headlong into the second one with this date.  No fans (the club calls them patrons) will be allowed onto the Holy Grail of golf courses.  Former champion Sergio Garica won’t be allowed in either.  He announced that he tested positive for you know what earlier this week.
  8.  The laid back Wednesday traditional nine-hole par-three tourney is a no go today.  One of its trademarks is for the pros to attempt to skip a ball across the water on one of the par threes.  Jon Rahm, currently ranked no. 2 in the world decided to honor the tradition while practicing on the regular course yesterday.  How did he do?  If you haven’t seen it, you must.  It’s right here.
  9.  In the NFL the Pittsburgh Steelers reached the halfway point at a perfect 8-0.  Along the way they beat the Titans and the Ravens in back to back road games to get to that clean record.  No small feat.  But the AFC is loaded with good teams and the best record is far from secured this early.  KC is loaded and shows no signs of a Super Bowl hangover.  Baltimore has a strong D and a QB who can change a game by himself.  Tennessee has a tough run game and a solid D.  Buffalo is winning in different ways which is always a good sign.  And, don’t look now, but here comes Tua and the Miami Dolphins.
  10. New Orleans is the flavor of the week in the NFC.  They did to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay team on Sunday night what Tom Brady and the New England team used to do to the Jets twice a year.  The NFC has several good teams, but will they have a great one by regular season’s end?  Green Bay fits the mold of good, but not great.  Seattle can’t stop anyone.  Arizona is interesting but likely a year away.  Chicago thinks they’re good, but they aren’t.  The Rams are 5-3 but they’ve only beaten up on the woeful NFC East thus far.  Don’t look now, but the Vikings might have righted their ship (see what we did there?).

It’s hump day morning.  Soon it’ll be downhill from here.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday’s rant about Hunter Biden and all that is wrong with that story left you hungry.  We understand.  Politics is getting harder on the stomach by the day.

We have your nuggets.  They’re a day late and were nearly a few nuggets short.  Deadlines are troublesome when your staff shows up late.

As usual, they’re randomly presented, but cooked just right.

  1.  Did you see what Tennessee Head Coach Mike Vrabel did late in the game v the Houston Texans Sunday?  He purposely sent a 12th man onto the field while on defense to draw a penalty.  It was 2nd and 1 and the clock had reached 3:30 left in the fourth quarter.  The high probability that the Texans, leading 30-29, would get a first down on that or the 3rd down play meant the clock or his timeouts could be drawn down significantly.  He conceded the first down, saved a timeout or two, and saved 45 or more seconds.  Scroll to the bottom of this article to see it unfold.
  2. The Texans went on to score but left the Titans enough time and timeouts to tie the game in regulation with a very late touchdown.  In overtime the Titans won the coin toss, drove the length of the field, and won the game.  It’s a Bill Belichick type of move from a Bill Belichick disciple.  Expect the ever-active NFL rules committee to take action this offseason somehow to prevent this in the future.  It’s called the NFL.  It’s called the No Fun League, where creative thinking is discouraged at times.
  3. The Dak-less Dallas Cowboys looked below average with backup Andy Dalton leading them last MNF evening.  It might be a long road ahead for a team that was picked to win the NFC East by most.  They fell to 2-4.  The East is bad.  Correction, the East is very bad.  The Cowboys remain on top of the division at 2-4.  That’s no typo.  The Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Phootball Eagles, and the New York Football Giants each have one win to show in six tries.
  4.  Who’s undefeated after six weeks?  Seattle, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh are.  Front runners in the NFL rarely fade.  It’ll be interesting in late December if these three are still on a shortlist vying for home-field advantage throughout.  It says here that they will be.  Baltimore and Kansas City might have a bit to say about that in the AFC, and Green Bay might as well in the NFC.  Sorry Chicago fans, they won’t but will contend for a nice seed at this pace.  The Bear D is good.  The Bear O is bad.  Did somebody just ask, “what about Tom Brady and Tampa?”  Nah.
  5. The Big 10 rolls out the pigskin this weekend.  Welcome back.  They’ve been missed.  More football is better than less.  And, Clemson and Alabama need someone to keep them company at the top.  It’s lonely up there.  It’s very lonely up there.  Sure, Notre Dame is undefeated.  Does anyone really think that they are on the aforementioned two teams’ level?  THE Ohio St might well be.  When the PAC 12 resumes, which we presume will be before 2024, maybe even Oregon can join a conversation.
  6. When Oklahoma St and Texas A&M are ranked 6th and 7th respectively you can tell football isn’t playing with a full deck nor to a full house.  2020.
  7. The World Series starts tonight.  Will you be watching?  The matchup is very interesting.  Tampa is a small, small media market,  LA is the second largest.  Tampa Bay’s payroll is 28th out of 32 teams.  Los Angeles pays 2nd best trailing only the NY Yankees.  The Rays are +175, the Dodgers are -215.
  8. The Rays have four current or former All-Stars with five total appearances.  The Dodgers have 12 players combining to make 26 appearances.
  9. The Dodgers acquired Mookie Betts in the offseason and the list of better nonpitching players in the game is very short.  The Rays acquired Randy Arozarena.  He was an obscure rookie outfielder in the Cardinals organization.  In 2019 he spent 1/2 a year in AA and half a year in AAA.  Arozerena was the MVP of the ALCS.  He’s been a house on fire in the playoffs to date.
  10. Do you miss the NBA already?  LeBron got his damn respect winning the Finals just a week ago yesterday with the LA Lakers.  The season resumes on January 18th of 2021.  It’s only 12 weeks away.  You can make it.

Whew.  Deadlines.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Football

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Ok, ok.  You’re hungry for some Monday nuggets.  The kitchen opened a bit late while practicing social distancing, but into the grease we go.  Buffet style is so out of style, COVID -19 concerns you know.  We break that trend below.

  1.  The Houston Texans fired a coach/GM last Monday.  Yesterday, they played pretty well for interim coach Romeo Crennel against the visiting Jacksonville Jags and won their first game of 2020.  They’re 1-4 as the schedule gets easier than it started.  Yesterday, after their 5th loss without a win the Atlanta Falcons fired their coach and GM as well.  In Houston that was one person, in Atlanta that was Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff.
  2. Quinn came to the Falcons four-plus years ago from his DC position in Seattle.  He immediately installed a mean and opportunistic defense.  It finished 2017, his year one, as the statistically rated 8th best in the NFL.  Unfortunately, it also finished year one blowing a 28-3 Super Bowl lead to the NE Patriots.  In subsequent years it finished 25th and 23rd.  After five games this year it’s been shredded game and time again.  It’s tied for dead last.  Worse, they’re 25 million over the projected cap for 2021 and that’s before any COVID-related cap reductions rumored to slow the payroll roll in the NFL.
  3.  New York and New York join the lowly Falcons as the only other teams that have yet to post a victory in the NFL this year.  Those Jets are some bad.  The Giants are pretty bad, too.  They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday.  Back up QB Andy Dalton lead a last-second drive for Dallas including a 38-yard pass just prior to the game-winning Cowboys filed goal.
  4. Dalton finished the game because Dak Prescott didn’t.  If you missed why consider yourself among the lucky ones.  Officially, the Cowboys announced that Prescott suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle, which means the bone penetrated his skin as part of the injury.  Unofficially, they didn’t announce that when Giant Logan Ryan tackled Prescott on a designed QB draw his foot came out of the pile still attached to his body but facing the wrong way relative to the rest of his leg.  You might not want to watch, but if you must, it’s right here.
  5. If you don’t need smelling salts from that video and if you’re a Seattle Seahawks fan you might want to invest in a box.  They’ve won 14 of their last 16 one-possession games going back into last season.  No other NFL team has played in more than 10 and none have won more than eight, save the Seahawks.  Russell Wilson was gold again down the stretch.  He led a 94-yard game-winning drive while converting two fourth downs along the way to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.  This time Minnesota was the last second victim, falling 27-26 at the sound of the final gun.
  6.  There isn’t a better 1-4 team in the league than Minnesota, but as Bill Parcels says, “you are what your record says you are.”  And at 1-4 the Vikings are staring up at all of their North Division foes.  The good news is that they are only 0-1 in the division.  The ground can be made up. The bad news is that their usually fine defense has surrendered 152 points.  Only the Cowboys and Giants are worse.
  7. Don’t look now, but there is a team coming together out west in a new town and in a new stadium.  And it can score points in bunches.  The formerly Oakland, now Las Vegas Raiders put 40 points up on their longtime division rival and reigning SB champion Kansas City Chiefs last evening.  Only Seattle, and Dallas, and Cleveland (yes Cleveland) have scored more.  NFL insiders have snickered for two full years as Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden have assembled a team built a bit differently than conventional wisdom tries to dictate.  Snicker away.  Their D is lacking, but their confidence in their direction isn’t.
  8.  Turning to the NCAA, when a Nick Saban Alabama defense and an LSU defense gives up 48 and 44 points on a given Saturday, one must ask, “is defense dead in NCAA football?”  In 2011, those teams met twice.  In the regular season LSU won in Tuscaloosa 9-6.  In the then BCS Championship game the Tide shut LSU out 21-0.  That’s 36 points scored by four teams in two games.  Saturday, four teams in two games, Alabama v Ole Miss, and Missouri v LSU combined to score exactly 200 points in their two games.
  9. Has the game changed that much in one decade?  The answer in a word is, yes.  The RPO, running QB’s, dual-threat QB’s, spread concepts, four and five wides, and matchup mismatches have given the offense the upper hand.  If you throw in a few overtime games to boot, betting the over has been all over the money.  Maybe the Pac 12 and Big 12 were just ahead of their time.
  10.  And, finally, LeBron, Anthony Davis, and a few other Lakers won the franchise’s 17th NBA title last evening.  Impressive.  It’s LeBron’s fourth NBA title and with them, he’s captured 4 MVPs in the final as well.  Impressive times four.  And, he wants his damn respect.  Someday he might get it.

Get back to work!

Ten Piece Nuggets-Football, Baseball and a PS

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Significant technical difficulties this AM at the world headquarters of BBR leads to a first.  You’ve been put on a diet.  Less than ten nuggets might be served below in hopes that we can beat the deadline to post.  Enjoy and shed some weight at the same time.

  1. Deep in The Heart of Texas starts with “the stars at night are big and bright.”  Maybe so.  But they aren’t shining on football in the state that brought you Friday Night Lights.  This past weekend the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Texas Longhorns, and Texas A&M Aggies all spit the bit.  Three of their games weren’t even competitive.   The Longhorns coughed up a fumble from point-blank range late in the fourth quarter to grab defeat from the jaws of victory v TCU.
  2. The Cowboys at 1-3 are only 1/2 game out of first in the woeful East Division of the NFC though.  Philadelphia, thanks to a late road comeback over the 49ers, is at the top at 1-2-1.  The division has the Washington Football Team at 1-3.  The name change didn’t help.  And, the NY Football Giants are 0-4.  That’s a smooth 3-12-1 combined.
  3.  The Texans are 0-4.  Bill O’Brien added GM duties in the offseason to his head coaching position.  He’s as stubborn as a steer headed to slaughter.  He is also the only head coach with such a duel role in the NFL we believe.  He bloated the Texans payroll to $225 million, highest in the league.  Their porous defense has surrendered 126 points through four games.  Only three teams have surrendered more as the season hits the quarter pole.  The Lions (127) and Jets (131) have surrendered more.  But, the absolute worst you wonder?  How bout them Cowboys at 146?
  4.  Tom Herman was the hottest name in NCAA coaching circles four years ago.  Texas threw big money at him.  He’s 1-3 versus in-state TCU and has lost 20 games and counting in 3.25 years.  His agent used LSU to broker a bigger deal with Texas.  LSU “settled” on Ed Orgeron.  In Austin, it’s “pew.”  In Baton Rouge, it’s “whew!”
  5. Texas A&M watched Johnny Football Mansiel run past Alabama eight years ago and thought Kevin Sumlin had something to do with it.  They tore up his old contract and guaranteed him $25 million over the next five years.  Three years later they ate that remaining $10 million.  Undeterred, they guaranteed Jimbo $75 million over the next ten years.  Fisher is a disciple of Nick Saban.  Fisher is 0-3 vs. his mentor now.  Saturday, Saban’s Bama team beat Jimbo’s A&M team 52-24.  In 2019 it was Bama 47-28 and in 2018 it was 45-23.  Seventy-five million doesn’t buy as much as it did previously it seems.
  6. Tom Herman and Jimbo Fisher have combined to take home about $45 million combined so far from the two public Texas universities.   They are still owed another $73 million guaranteed.  Who says you can’t throw bad money after bad money?
  7.  How is your betting going in this season that is but almost never was?  On Saturday college football underdogs went 23-7 v the spread.  Home underdogs were 10-2.  For the season underdogs are now 61.5% against the spread.  Take the points.
  8. A great NFL in-game bet is to take whoever the Detroit Lions are playing when the Lions roar ahead by 10 points or more.  Yesterday they led the N.O. Saints 14-0 five minutes into the game.  By halftime they trailed 28-14.  The Lions have now lost six consecutive games in which they led at one point by 10+.  It’s the longest such streak in NFL history.  This comes from a team that has never won a Super Bowl ever either.  Jeez.
  9. Joe Burrow became the first rookie ever to throw for 300 or more yards in three consecutive games.  He led the previously winless Cincinnatti Bengals to their first victory of the season.   Afterwards, in the Bengals locker room, he was presented with the game ball.  Burrow said the game ball is going back in the ball bag.  He consistently told his LSU teammates game after game in last year’s 15-0 championship run that they had bigger fish to fry as well.  It’s early, but it looks like Cincinnati hit on the first pick of it all.
  10. The MLB division level playoffs begin today.  Every series has bad blood between its opponents.  Oakland hates Houston and knew they were cheating all along in 2019.  The TB Rays and the NY Yankees played beanball recently and Rays’ manager Kevin Cash thinks the Yankees staff fails to police it’s pitching staff.  The Dodgers and Padres don’t like all of the posing each does after taters leave the yard.  And the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins have had their own rendition of beanball this year.  Let the gamesmanship and games begin.

Whew!  We were able to pile ten high on your plate.

P.S.  The NBA Finals between the LA Lakers and Miami Heat is 2-1 Lakers.  We had to look that one up.  LeBron’s new team is beating one of LeBron’s old teams.

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s Ten Piece Nuggets time.  Usually the nuggets are provided to satisfy.  Today they likely will leave you hungry for more, for more college football that is.  Yesterday a story broke that, if it plays out, will likely mean NCAA football will not play out this fall.  Our nuggets are questions and we want answers.

  1.  What has changed in the months, weeks, and days leading up to now that has the power brokers of the Power 5 conferences thinking that they may not want to play this fall after all?  The answers are 1) a pesky spike in the virus, and 2) the PAC 12 “United” group of players demands we suppose.  Neither should be any surprise to anyone.  As for the virus, it ‘s been on the rise for eight weeks now and seems to be leveling again.  As for the demands, it’s 2020.  Everyone has demands these days.
  2. If the Big 10 folds its cards for the season, why do the other Power 5 Conference Commissioners feel the need to follow suit?   Peer pressure we presume.  If your conference played and a hot spot team or three broke out heaven forbid the scorn that they would receive that could have been avoided.  Really?  Would a “breakout” this fall inside of a team or three surprise anyone as they planned for fall?  Does it now?
  3. If you move it to spring as is being suggested do you play January to April?  If the answer is yes, did anyone look the old Farmer’s Almanac?  The average daily high temperature in Madison, WI, home of the Badgers, is roughly -12.  That “-” sign means minus!  Ditto for February and two thrids of March.
  4. If you move it to spring as is being suggested do you play in April till July?  If the answer is yes, did anyone look at the average temperature in June in Miami?  It’s around 95 degrees with 95% humidity.  In July it’s wetter and worse.  Lastly, do you think that the virus magically disappears in spring 2021?
  5. If you move it to spring, do you lose essentially all of the players who would prefer to train exclusively for the NFL Combine and/or on-campus Pro Day workouts?  The opt out number this fall was only 21 total players announced at this point.  It will be 15 times that this spring.  The NFL Draft is in late April.    Do you think the NFL will change that to accommodate the NCAA?  If you do, BBR has some beautiful land for sale for you just south of Miami.  It’s taken on a bit of water, but nothing like the rise that the ocean will have in the next eight years when climate change really kicks in.
  6.  Is the reason for the likely cancellation due to player safety?  Is there a safer place than being on campus when fellow students aren’t?  Is there a better place than having a full-time nutritionist and testing 2x a week right at your fingertips?  Or, should we say right up, then down, your nose?
  7. If regular kids can’t go to school, why should they be “forced” to play football?  They aren’t being forced, Karen.  Opt-outs are receiving full scholarship benefits in today’s kinder gentler world anyway.
  8. What if some of them contracted the virus during a game and took it home to older loved ones in their families?  Sure, that’s a concern.  But that is a concern no matter where you are and what you are doing.  If you cut them loose from the “bubble” that they are basically in right now, isn’t that a bigger concern?  Have you been to a bar lately?  Do you think any/many of them might venture out, then venture home?
  9. Do you think any of these school presidents, conference commissioners, and NCAA who hahs have asked the players what they want to do?  Doubtful.  They’ll let you opt-out if you want to on your own for now.  But, when it comes to the big decision to play or not, they’ll tell you what you are going to do and you will like it!
  10.  Or, is this all about the fan experience?  By that we mean the “money collection” experience?  No fans mean no parking, no food and beverage, no private seat license revenue, no ticket sales, no suite sales, etc.  We tend to doubt that since they can clearly see what the NHL, MLB, and NBA have done.  There is plenty of NCAA TV revenue to go around.
  11. (Lagniappe)  Will any conference go rouge?  We hope so.  Our bet is on the SEC and maybe, just maybe, the BIG 12.

Are you ready for some football?  It sounds like you might need to tune into the NFL where money talks and players kneel.

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports (sort of)

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Pro sports are slowly returning.  Did you notice?  Did you watch any over the weekend?  Unfortunately, the “great escape” that watching the games has provided, it doesn’t do so any longer.  Intertwined are political statements and COVID-19 rules and precautions.  Such is 2020, but hopefully not much beyond.  We’ve got some nuggets on all of this below.

  1.  Major League Baseball threw out the first pitch late last week and played hardball all weekend.  The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Philly yesterday to open the season 2-1.  Instead of flying home last night, the team plane remained grounded in Philly as four Marlins tested positive for “you know what.”  Jose Urena, Miami’s starting pitcher was one of them.  Updated: The Marlins positive tests now number 14 players and tonight’s home opener is canceled.
  2. The NFL is playing its own version of hardball. Its final player protocol, expected to be released as early as today, has some harsh realities built-in.  Players were told on a conference call with NFLPA leadership that they could face discipline, including fines, for conduct detrimental to the team if they are found to have contracted COVID-19 through reckless activity away from the facility.   All of the details are here.
  3.  We assume the NFL would not be happy if one of its players decided to act like NBA LA Clipper’s player Lou Williams. The NBA has placed him in 10-day quarantine after the guard was investigated by the league for what he did while on an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus.  Williams was photographed by the rapper Jack Harlow at an Atlanta strip club. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story and tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”  There is but one small problem with that story-in the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando NBA bubble campus.
  4. Williams admitted that he went to the Magic City strip club in Atlanta for a short time on Thursday, but said that there were no entertainers present while he was there.  Sure.   Don’t you go to a race track when no horses are running?  He records the first double-double of the NBA season before it even starts.  The only thing worse than a lie is a bad coverup.
  5. The WNBA swung into action as well.  Like MLB they are playing their games sans fans.  Of course, the WNBA always plays their games without any fans, don’t they?  The Seattle Storm tipped off the 2020 WNBA season in Bradenton, Fla. with an 87-71 win over the New York Liberty.  Before the opener, both teams walked off of the court and “respectfully,” per the press release, stayed in their locker rooms during the playing of the National Anthem.  Respectfully, we wonder how a league significantly subsidized by the NBA, and with no fans in the stands, exists.  If a tree falls in the forest, well, nevermind.
  6. Mike Ditka shared his thoughts on all of this kneeling and/or protesting around pro sports and the flag and the national anthem.  Iron Mike said, “If you can’t respect our National Anthem, get the hell out of our country.”  If Ditka were still relevant on the NFL scene as a coach or commentator he’d likely be fired for that statement in today’s cancel culture.  Free speech is quite costly these days, but we digress.
  7. Charles Barkley, a big-time BBR favorite, shared a thought on who should vote for whom in the upcoming fall elections.  “Poor people have been voting for Democrats for 50 years and they are still poor,” Chuckster lamented.   Like Ditka, Barkley likes to keep things simple and to the point.
  8. Swinging back to baseball, surely by now you’ve seen Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing (we use that word very loosely) out the first pitch Friday at the Washington Nationals game?  Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs got in the best of the digs.  He tweeted, “Fauci’s first pitch came closer to the plate than any of his COVID-19 predictions.”
  9. And surely you’ve heard that the NFL team formerly known as the Redskins will, for now, be called the Washington Football Team.  Some on Twitter suggested “Washington Team Football,” or WTF for short.  Kids these days.
  10.  Remember the guy that was going to be MLB’s first bigtime two-way player since Babe Ruth?  He was so good that he would bat on days that he wasn’t pitching, and pitch on days that he wasn’t batting.  That was 2018 sensation Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels.  In his first 2020 start, after 20 months on the shelf repairing an ulnar collateral ligament, Ohtani lasted 20 minutes and did not record a single out.  He did give up four singles while walking three batters though. Not to worry, it’s a long season.  Wait, no it’s not.

If you get an extra three minutes today, be sure to catch those Storm v. Liberty highlights.

If a tree……..

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We miss sports.  A week from tonight the NFL gives us a respite from the drudgery as their annual draft begins.  It’ll be different for sure in a virtual sort of way.  If you’ve kept your social distance from the NFL recently we have Ten Piece NFL Nuggets for you.  We are running low on vegetable oil at the virtual world headquarters, so we oven-fried them instead.

  1.  No one has cleaned their house more this offseason than the Carolina Panthers.  Incoming head coach Matt Ruhle, OC Joe Brady, and QB Teddy Bridgewater are a change to the look and culture of the franchise.  BBR expects them to be bold and active in the draft as well.
  2. Yesterday they tore up the old and wrote the new contract for Christian McCaffery.  It’s now an eye-popping 4 years for a total of 64 million Panther bucks.  Joe Brady will get him isolated on a linebacker much the same way he did with Clyde Edwards Hellaire at LSU and how Sean Payton does with Alvin Kamara at New Orleans.  Good luck stopping that.
  3. Last year the Panthers went 5-11 in Ron Rivera’s last year.  It was also Cam Newton’s last year.  In the upside-down NFL they could reverse that W-L record if the ball even gets snapped in 2020.
  4.  Who knew a QB that started 25 games in college, threw 30 TD’s against 17 interceptions would become the greatest QB in NFL history? Bill Belichick, we guess. That was Tom Brady’s resume coming out of Michigan in 1999.   Though even clairvoyant Bill B. would only invest a 6th round pick on him at the time.  What did Mel Kiper think then?  Kiper wrote, “He’s a straight dropback passer who stands tall in the pocket, doesn’t show nervous feet, and does a nice job working through his progressions.”  That was pretty accurate, just like the QB himself.  He had a fifth-round grade on him then.  His complete writeup from 1999 is here.
  5.  The Patriots likely will be looking around the draft for a QB.  Jalen Hurts anyone?  Belichick is great at using the best of what someone has and building around them as opposed to the opposite.  No doubt he has looked around the league and seen what Westbrook, Mahomes, and Jackson have done.  If the shoe fits?
  6.  The annual head faking is going on as teams jockey for position in the draft to get to the QB they may really covet.  Rumors abound and one has Justin Hebert (Oregon) now considered ahead of Tua Tagovailoa.  Doubtful, but you never know.  Miami has more draft pick capital than anyone in the draft and sits at #5.  They could move the board or move around the board if they so chose.
  7. If/when Tua starts for the team that makes him their choice he’ll be the first lefty to do so since 2014.  The last one?  Michael Vick.  Who was he playing for then?  If you guessed the J-E-T-S you’re in midseason form in the offseason.
  8.  Tom Brady’s new address in Tampa makes him an NFC South Division resident as well.   Vegas has the win total for the Bucs season at nine.  If New Orleans is the favorite to win the division again, and if the Panthers are poised to rebound it’ll be a tough division for sure.  Could the Atlanta Falcons be in for a long season?  There are only so many wins to go around when you play everyone twice inside the division.
  9.  The Dirty Birds are but one of seven teams with new uniforms or tweaks of old ones for 2020.  It’s always a good day to obsolete old unis and sell new ones if you are in the apparel biz.  You can see a good bit of the changes or the hints at the yet to be revealed ones here.
  10.  The draft will be very different this year for many reasons.  Scouts haven’t had the pro workout days they covet.  Individual interviews were kiboshed.  Team management will not huddle in the war rooms.  And, most of all, when Roger Goodell gets ready to announce the first pick of the entire draft he won’t be drowned out by the annual booing.  Too bad.

Cincinnati you’re on the clock.