Engage. Enrage. Enjoy.

Blowing Smoke Following the Science?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Follow the science.  That’s been an often-used narrative since mid-March in the year of COVID-19.  It’s been the “go-to” when you are told to not go to bars for example.  It’s also been the barometer to gauge success in reopening America to the degree that it has in the regions that have.

It’s taken the place of ” we don’t have enough ventilators.”  Or, ” we don’t have enough ICU beds.”  Or, “we don’t have enough tests.”

Which brings us to the restart of the sports world.  In general MLB and the NBA have restarted with few problems save a rogue Miami Marlin who broke from protocol and infected a dozen or so Marlin teammates.

The NFL teams are in week two-plus of a delayed fall camp.  As of this AM, the NFL has administered 58,397 COVID-19 tests to 8,573 players between August 12 and August 20.  How many tests were positive?  Zero.

Remember, follow the science.  And, it seems if you do you will find that humans who test negative will continue to test negative while in close proximity.  And,  if they follow mask, social distance, and good hygiene practices when they are elsewhere they will continue to test negative.  The NBA even eliminated the “elsewhere” except for Lou Williams who went elsewhere for a brief gentlemen’s club social (not distance) gathering, but we digress.

So, “following the science” of the above seems to bellow “play ball.”  Except the BIG 10 and PAC 12 pouted, took the ball, and went home at least until Spring.

No one in the PAC 12 has been heard from and it seems that few care.  But, in the BIG 10, they care.  And, they’re mad.  Actually this long ESPN expose’ on how the BIG 10 came to an abrupt U-turn on the road back to football and all fall sports states that players, coaches, parents, some presidents, and administrators aren’t just mad, they’re furious.

So what brought them to this cancellation?  The new commissioner, Kevin Warren, has been nearly silent since the announcement but admitted that he should have been more communicative.  Supposedly the school presidents voted to shut down.  Those same presidents have been quite reluctant to speak on the record about the vote, if one actually took place, and how they individually voted if there was a vote.

The league went from an Aug 5 schedule announcement to an Aug 11 cancellation.  Pancakes don’t flip that fast.

As one Big 10 coach told ESPN, “We’re just left in the dark. Why wouldn’t you communicate? Why wouldn’t you respond? I don’t get it. Something’s just off.”  So much for transparency.

“Been in this league for 20-plus years,” a league source told ESPN. “This has been embarrassing.”

More directly from the article- “Warren on Wednesday sent an open letter providing more details about what the league considered, including troubling trends of COVID-19 spread, contact tracing difficulties and concerns about having reliable rapid tests.”

He went on to reiterate that the decision to postpone “will not be revisited.”   You’ll get no football and you will like it.

The father of one player called the open letter “just a bunch of regurgitation and smoke-blowing.”

All of this makes the state of Iowa the state of confusion.   BIG 10 member Iowa isn’t playing.  Big 12 member Iowa St is.  Make sense?

In a week or two, or in a month or two, the SEC, ACC, and the BIG 12 might regret their attempts to put on the proverbial shoulder pads.  Ask them now and they will tell you that they are following the science.

Does the “follow the science” argument in the passionate BIG 10 and in the dispassionate PAC 12 seem like, well, just a bunch of regurgitation and smoke blowing?

A short time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

Kneeling and Nielsen Numbers

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The commissioner’s job in the major American based sports is a lucrative one.  It’s lucrative because it comes with great responsibility.  It’s difficult on many fronts.

One of those fronts is that they work for the owners, yet need to keep the players happy, with great TV ratings always an end goal.  TV broadcasting rights are the source of greater than 50% of the income that the leagues take in.

And in these “unprecedented, new normal, COVID-19 times” some of the other 50% isn’t ringing the cash register either.  The turnstiles are silent, and, therefore the stands are empty.  This makes TV ratings more important than ever.

So, it’s interesting that Adam Silver, NBA commish, and Roger Goodell, NFL commish, have taken the stances that they have with regards to the Black Lives Matter organization (and/or Movement) as well as the kneeling during the presentation of the flag and national anthem.

Ethan Strauss of The Athletic notes that the NBA ratings are coming in well under the pre-COVID break numbers.  In Feb., before COVID hysteria shut the league down, Sports Business Daily reported that the league had seen a 12 percent loss in viewership compared to 2018-19.  All of this is on top of a recent release of the numbers showing ABC’s NBA broadcasts in 2019-20 averaged 2.95 million viewers, down from its 5.42 million during 2011-12.  That is a 45 percent drop off.  Strauss also reported that TNT’s viewership is down 40 percent since the 2011-12 season, and ESPN has seen a decline of about 20 percent during the same time.

Other leagues are about breakeven comparing the now to the 2011-12 timeframe.   It should be noted that live streaming, a growing segment of viewership after cutting the cable cord, isn’t included in any metrics.

The NBA Commissioner tried to dismiss the sliding ratings early this year.  “I’m not concerned.   In terms of every other key indicator that we look at that measures the popularity of the league, we’re up,” he told the Washington Post in December.

What to do, what to do?

Enter Roger Goodell.  Goodell said that he wishes “we had listened earlier” to what Colin Kaepernick was trying to bring attention to when he began kneeling for the national anthem in 2016.  He expressed remorse about the lack of dialogue with the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, saying that the league would have benefited from a conversation with Kaepernick.

Goodell also said that players kneeling is “not about the flag” and that their intentions are being “mischaracterized.”  He is entitled to his opinion.  He may indeed be right.  However, if NFL TV ratings tumble along the lines of the NBA’s he may be right in his characterization, but wrong for his league’s coiffures.  Jerry Jones is holding (impatiently) on line three.

You would think that an America starved in 2020 for escape would be looking at the sports on TV in record numbers.  Instead, they are masked and standing in long checkout lines at Home Depot.

Could it just be that the NBA season is very disjointed?  It started.  It stopped.  It played a week or two of the regular season when it resumed.  Now it’s in the first round of its playoffs.  Or, could it be that a portion of America, bigger than the league is willing to admit, cut the cord in a very different way than described above?

Soon the NFL viewership will give us further insight.  It dropped 10-15% a few years back when Kapernick knelt and wanted everyone to listen.  It recovered that and then some through 2019.

But, 2020 always surprises us.

The next thing you know they’ll be two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time for the first time since 1959.

Are you ready for some football?

Again.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Last fall on a sun-drenched early November Saturday two undefeated SEC powerhouses clashed in an epic, 60-minute, deep south battle.  When it was done, LSU had outscored Alabama 46-41.

But really NCAA football won.  It was another battle for the ages.  And, all felt mostly right in America for those nearly four hours of real-world escape while watching it.  Heck, even the leader of the free world paused from his busy schedule as Donald J. Trump watched it in person.

A star was crowned that day.  Joe Burrow went on to an undefeated season for the ages, a national championship, and a Heisman Trophy.

Just three months later, COVID-19 hit.  Down went college sports and college in-person attendance.  Down went the stock market.  Down went Trump’s approval ratings.  Down went employment.  And, down went our spirit.

And, now just four months after that, COVID-19 still hits.  But, employment has started to go back up.  The stock market has gone up, up, up.   Maybe there is hope?  But.  Down went George Floyd.  Down went statues.  The south took a flag down.  Down goes police funding.   Up goes violent crime before, during, and after peaceful protests.  As a result our nation’s spirit has sagged even further.

So, it’s time for college football to lift us up again, isn’t it?  Not so, or not so fast my friend, says the Big 10.  We’ll find out more today as their presidents meet.  They floated the cancel idea over the weekend.  The response was mixed at best.  The Big 10 has led the way in canceling sports since March.

Not so fast either says the PAC 12.  They are going to delay until October at a minimum it seems.  What does a delay accomplish?  Does the PAC 12 play football?  We digress.

The Big 10 was looking for all to fold as they did last Spring.  It isn’t happening.  Not yet anyway.

#WeWantToPlay is a movement started just this weekend spearheaded by Justin Lawrence, the Clemson QB and odds on Heisman favorite.  It has other notables behind it like Ja’Marr Chase, the LSU Fred Biletnikoff winner for the best WR.  The hashtag is trending #1 on Twitter as we write.

Maybe the players have an important voice after all. And, unlike the #United movement comprised of mostly PAC 12 players it doesn’t ask for 50% revenue sharing.  It just asks that the programs keep the players safe.  The PAC 12 players must think they are tax collectors or NBA players.  They are the only two that can scrape 50% from your top line.

Nick Saban, perhaps the loudest voice in the head coaches’ room said, “Look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. We have around a 2% positive ratio on our team since the Fourth of July. It’s a lot higher than that in society. We act like these guys can’t get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they’re in a bar or just hanging out.”

Scott Woodward, LSU AD stated, “As we have said since the beginning, we are patiently working through each and every variable following the direction of our Return to Safety and MedicalGuidance Task Force. I believe our student-athletes want to play. We owe it to them to make every effort to do so safely.”

It sounds like Alabama and LSU want to get it on again and aren’t waiting till 2021 to do so.

So, is it up to the south to rise again?  The ACC seems inclined to follow the SEC.  The Big 12 is listening carefully.

If the Big 10 cancels, the carpetbaggers will head south.

Again.

 

 

 

You Can’t Handle the Truth!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sources tell BBR that the Washington Redskins will officially announce today that they are dropping their 87-year-old nickname.  While no new nickname will be announced, gone is the name “Redskins.”  We have a few questions about this decision.

Did you know that Washington’s logo of an American Indian chief had been designed by a Native American in 1971?  He was probably called an Indian in 1971, but we digress.  Do you think the Native American designer found the name “Redskins” offensive back then?  Probably not since he designed the logo to promote the team.

Did you know that owner Daniel Snyder was strong headed in his desire to keep the name until very recently?  Snyder had, for years, resisted any consideration to change the name.  He told USA Today in 2013 to “put it in all caps” that he would never make such a move. Some who have worked for Snyder said they believed he would rather sell the team than have a new name.

Does that make him a racist?  Probably.  Or, probably not.  We guess his crime didn’t rise to the level of Donald Silver’s offense as the owner of the LA Clippers a few years back.   Oops!  The NBA doesn’t call its owners “owners” anymore.   Plus Snyder is obviously getting to a more kind and sensitive way of thinking just 21 years after purchasing the team, that as of today, will be formerly known as the Redskins.  Or, is he bowing to the pressure created by others?

Amazon said it would stop selling Redskins merchandise. Then, Walmart and Target followed the online leader. And, according to The Washington Post, FedEx said it would remove its signage from the stadium unless the name was changed for the 2021 season.  Did the almighty greenbacks help decide the Redskins fate, forcing the pale-faced (is that offensive?) owner to change?  Someone once said, “follow the money.”

Wouldn’t it be a turnabout if the team would not allow the sale of the new logoed merchandise to one of these retail juggernauts?  You show me, and I’ll show you. That won’t happen.  “Follow the money,” someone said more than once.

Does the NFL change the name of the team on all of its historical records to the new name?  Will they “retire” all of the old footage of the football team?  Will Joe Theisman and John Riggins vaporize?

Doug Williams was the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.  Who did he play for?  The Redskins.  It would be a shame if that Super Bowl film was never seen again don’t you say? If there was a statue of him outside of FedEx Field in his Redskins uniform should it be torn down?  Tough call.

Did Colonel Nathan R. Jessup order the code red?  “You’re got damn right I did!” he shouted when prodded in the movie A Few Good Men.

“You can’t handle the truth,” he exclaimed.  He might be right.

 

 

 

What’s in a Name?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To play or not to play fall sports? That is the question that college and pro teams in all sports across this fruited plain are pondering as July rolls along.

Some face even a tougher long term question.  That is, do we erase our history and change our nickname?  The Movement beckons.  Below we examine a few that are contemplating this, and a few that should or could.  We even offer a suggestion or three along the way for renaming.   Logic has little to do with all of this so we decided to take it further down the drain.

Washington Redskins–  As stated yesterday, this entire franchise is offensive except for their offense which cannot move the ball.   How about Red Tails? The history of the Red Tails is well-known. They were a group of Tuskegee Airmen, all-black fighter pilots who played a major role during World War II.  If they drop Redskins and go to Redtails it would be appropriate in one way.  The Skins have been getting their tails whipped red pretty regularly for the last 25 or so years.

Cleveland Indians–  “Indians” is offensive somehow.  Nevermind that the organization likely chose the name to project a fighting warrior image and/or mentality.  That was once something to be proud of.  We use the term “Native Americans” these days. We propose a simple fix. How about the Cleveland Native Americans?  Sounds dumb to you?  It does to us too.

St. Louis Blues and Cincinnatti Reds–  Both have to go.  If we aren’t going to see color anymore, then we aren’t going to see color anymore.  St Louis could be the Arches assuming that isn’t offensive to Lewis and Clark who started their journey from there.  Cincinnati is known as the Queen City.  The Cincinnati Queens anyone?  Well, that one needs some work.

Tulane Green Wave and the Alabama Crimson Tide–  These are easy water-based fixes.  Tulane Wave and Alabama Tide.

Florida St. Seminoles–  Fuggettaboutit.  This has to go.  If Redskins are out and Indians are out, Seminoles has to be out too.   Gators and Hurricanes are taken.  Rednecks are plentiful but should be deemed offensive as well.  Florida St. Everglades has an eco-friendly ring to it and would be a tough venue to play.

University of Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns–  “Ragin” is borderline too suggestively violent.  “Cajun” sounds insulting.  It’s but a half step up from Coonass.    But, Cajuns are a unique breed.  They embrace who they are and wear the moniker like a badge of courage.  They’d likely be insulted if you called them French Canadians from Nova Scotia.  The Cajuns can keep their name.  Maybe they are on to something.  Pass the Tabasco Sauce and have a boudain ball.

Come to think about it, golf has a problem too.  Gary Player is known worldwide as the Black Knight.  Heck, actually, the entire game of chess has a problem.  Black knights, black rooks, white queens, and white kings all have to leave the board.  Bishops are religious references.  Can one still be deemed a Chess Master?

We’ll stop.  Our Aunt Jemima pancakes are ready plus the hole we’ve dug is plenty deep enough.

Cancel culture loves playing the “shame the name” game.  We thought we’d play along as well.

 

 

Not a Bad Knot Afterall

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The fake noose story wound up last evening on the fake news channel CNN.   It started in garage no. 4, spread through the NASCAR community faster than cars coming out of turn no. 4, went through an FBI investigation, and crashed on Don Lemon’s show.

And it seems everyone is upset.  Earlier this week in a statement NASCAR said it was “angry and outraged.”  Bubba Wallace said to Lemon last night, “I’m mad because people are trying to test my character and the person that I am and my integrity.”

What started as NASCAR making white people with rednecks unhappy that they can no longer bring their Confederate flags to the races ended with 32 race car drivers symbolically pushing Wallace’s car over the finish line as if it had run out of gas.  People had knots in their stomach over the knot in the garage.  And now the story has run out of gas.

It turns out that the noose was not a noose, but was a garage door pull visible in video as far back as October of 2019.  Or, if you prefer, it was a noose knot tied to serve as a garage door pull.  If there were any Boy Scouts left we’d ask them what it was.  What it wasn’t was a symbol of hate aimed specifically at Bubba Wallace.

So the sport that takes four left turns about 500 times every weekend took a wrong turn trying to take a right turn further to the left.  Got that?  But in today’s woke world it’s better to overreact than to underreact.  You can back away from the narrative later, but you can’t get left behind when they wave the green flag.  Gentlemen, start your narratives!

And, this makes banning the Confederate flag yesterday’s news.  If you tear down a statue today people aren’t as mad about the one you tore down yesterday.  The Movement moves fast, NASCAR fast.

Thank goodness 15 FBI experts investigated immediately.  There must be a joke in here somewhere.  How many FBI investigators should it take to thoroughly examine a garage door pull?  None.  It was 15 too many.  Let the local blue that the “peaceful protesters” want to defund investigate it.   But in today’s world enough is never enough.

NASCAR might be misfiring on a few cylinders with its fanbase.  Or, not.   Time will tell.

And you thought getting back to sports would provide an escape.

Somebody wave the checkered flag and end this nonsense already.

 

 

 

Rooney Rule Redo

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Timing, they say, is everything.   The NFL wishes the enemy that we cannot see would go away as all of the rest of civilization does.  But, if it had to happen, could it have happened at a better time in a year for the league?

Shortly after the regular season was capped by Pat Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in early February, the pandemic began.  As pitchers and catchers got going in MLB, and while the NHL and the NBA were in the middle of their regular season everything stopped.  You know how it has played out, or should we say how it has not played out.

The NFL was busy with its offseason as interest in all of its doings year around is a great marketing success story that for the other leagues is but a field of dreams.

The NFL Draft, broadcast from 32 basements without a glitch, was a runaway record breaker for viewership in late April.  The new schedule was turned into a three hour TV reveal. And now, best of all, the league is quite hopeful of being able to start and play that falls schedule on time.  Timing, they still say, is everything.

So, last Friday NFL.com leaked out some info on the league wanting to incentivize teams to hire black head coaches and GM’s. According to the release, several new proposals were under consideration.  Simply stated all involve draft pick position.   If a team hires a black head coach they move up six spots in the third round in the next year’s draft.  Hire a black GM and move up ten more.  Hire a black QB coach and get an extra end of the fourth round compensatory pick.  Keep the GM or the head coach around for three years and move up five spots in the fourth round as well.

The league cites the facts that 1) only 3 of the 32 head coaching positions are filled by blacks, and 2) only one of five openings this year was filled by one, and 3) two recently hired Steve Wilks and Vance Joseph were fired after one and two years respectively.

If any of the measures were adopted it would have been the first addressing hiring in any way since the Rooney Rule was adopted in 2003 whereby owners must interview at least one minority candidate for consideration.  The now-deceased Art Rooney, a very respected and now deceased Pittsburgh Steeler team owner and rules committee leader, is who, why, and how the name of the rule came about.

We wonder what Mr. Rooney would have thought of these proposals.  We wonder what the current Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin thinks of them.  Tony Dungy coached many years in the league, is a very well thought out and even voice, and a studio analyst for NBC Sunday Night Football.  He came out against them.

Tomlin enters his fourteenth year as head coach, has won 64% of his games, a Super Bowl, and has 208 victories in all.

Here are a few thoughts that we wonder about as we wonder what Tomlin thinks, or thought, about it.

Doesn’t each team hire the “best” coach for their team’s needs each time there is an opportunity?  If they don’t, is the league accusing its own owners of being prejudiced?

We are going to strongly assume that Wilks and Joseph “earned” their way in and “earned” their way out.  A bad hire is a bad hire.  Regardless of color, they aren’t the first to be shown the exit door in short order.

Are any of the above-detailed incentives really that much of an incentive?  Dare we say that it’s tokenism?  No one is going to hire someone to move up six spots in round three.  Teams trade draft picks and move around the board like the board game “Chutes and Ladders.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last year that there is no reason why half of his leagues’ coaches shouldn’t be women.  Should the NFL incentivize hiring women, too?  How about Hispanics?   If you’re going to emphasize minorities, why be selective?

Are you reading this saying to yourself “it’s because there are so many black players, you BBR staff writer dumbass?”  If so, what does that have to do with it?  Should the league incentivize teams to draft more white players?  Of course not.   Hiring the best for every employable position on every team from water boy to team president is always a good idea, isn’t it?

We viewed the possible plans as an embarrassment to the league.  It took 17 years to go from the well-intentioned but often criticized Rooney Rule to this.

We are happy to report that yesterday the proposition was widely criticized and voted down by the league owners.   Now the Rooney Rule has been expanded to ensure two minority candidates are interviewed.  Maybe that’s some type of progress.  Or not.  In 17 years maybe it will be expanded to “must interview three.”

How many extra picks should the Steelers get for having Tomlin so successfully coach for fourteen years?  We bet Tomlin would say “none.”

Let the best man win off of the field as they do on the field.

 

 

 

 

Say What?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s Friday.  Another week of sheltering in place, whatever that means these days, has nearly passed.   It means another week of no sports has nearly passed too.  We miss sports.  We miss sports characters too.  With the help of a valued reader, we dug up some colorful quotes from some colorful sports characters.  A baker’s dozen follow.

1. Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model:
    “I wan’ all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I want all the kids to copulate me.”

2. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season:
    “I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first..”

3. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins:
    “He treats us like men. He let us wear earrings.”

4. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann:
   “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” (a follow-up appearance was deemed necessary)

5. Senior, unamed, basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh :
    “I’m going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes..”

6. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach:
    “You guys line up alphabetically by height..” and “You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle.”

7. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison:
   “Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton ..”

8.  Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regimen of heavyweight Andrew Golota:
     “He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is.”

9. Chuck Nevitt , North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice:
    “My sister’s expecting a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an uncle or an aunt.

10. Frank Layden , Utah Jazz president, on a former player:
   “I asked him, ‘Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?’
   He said, ‘Coach, I don’t know and I don’t care.'”

11. Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F’s and one D: (NOW THIS IS FUNNY)
    “Son, looks to me like you’re spending too much time on one subject.”

12. In the words of NC State great Charles Shackelford:
    “I can go to my left or right, I am amphibious.”

13. Former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips,
   Phillips responded: “Because she’s too ugly to kiss goodbye.”

Goodbye till Monday.

 

 

 

 

March Mad Mess

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you dribble a basketball on a hardwood floor and no one sees it, is it still an NBA game?  It is.  It’s just far less of a moneymaker.

And it just might happen.  These days aren’t normal days.  These days are rightfully consumed with controlling the North American outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.  And, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who has all but embraced sports gambling, is very near needing to push his chips to the middle of the existing arenas.  Or, he could fold the chairs, close the doors, and wash his hands on the way out.

Discussions in the league office occur daily on the best way to continue to play the games, engage the fans, and minimize the risk of being accused of putting economics ahead of players and fans.  Several options are seriously being discussed.

One option is to move games to the city of what should be the visiting team if the risk of spread in that city is far lower than the home team’s city.  Take Golden State.  Please.  The Warrior’s home games gross about $3.75 million.  But the greater Bay Area and its governments might soon dictate that any sporting event played in a closed area be done so without any fans in attendance.

Other cities could soon follow.  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended that indoor teams in that state play without fans for the immediate future. The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a six-game road trip and don’t return home until March 24.  They have some time to evaluate the recommendation and decide how to proceed.

LeBron James weighed in last week when asked about playing in an empty arena. “I play for the fans; that’s what it’s all about,” James said. “If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans there, I ain’t playing.”

Upon further review, James had a beautiful verbal crossover dribble on the subject yesterday.  “If they feel that it’s best for the safety of the players, safety of the franchise, safety of the league to mandate that, then we’ll all listen to it.”  How noble of him to now listen to a mandate. Maybe “adhere” is just a three-point shot away.  And, how nice of him to speak for “all.”  Kings do that.

He also spoke when he lectured Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey back in October.  Remember Morey had tweeted out support for Hong Kong protesters, and essentially against the Chinese government.  Way back then James said that Morey was “misinformed and not educated on the situation.”

Now the day is very near that James and the entire league that all but defended China (and its immense economic effect on the league) might play in empty arenas due to a virus that started in China.  The bats that came home to roost are now in the soup.

And, March Madness is set to tipoff.  We should ask LeBron if we could rename it March Mad Mess.

 

 

Madden Money Was Once Mad Money

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

And you thought Tony Romo was getting paid well.  News broke yesterday that Peyton Manning met with ESPN officials this week.  What for you ask?

The “for” is ESPN’s attempt to take the one-year Booger McFarland Monday Night Football analyst experiment out behind the barn and put it down in a merciful way.

Tony Romo, after only his sophomore year in the analyst chair in the NFL on CBS booth next to Jim Nance, is set to earn $17 million per year according to sources close to the deal. Now ESPN, who has been shedding aged employees and bloated salaries for years, wants to up the game of who announces the game and how much they get paid to do it.

How much will it take to get Manning?  Will Manning be gotten at all?  He has thwarted several attempts to date to entice him to enter the broadcast industry.   Sources close to this yet to be agreed to deal place the value at $18-$20 million per season.  If true Manning would have Nationwide, ESPN, and a whole lot more cash by his side.

Booger in year one was as forgettable in the booth as Jason Witten’s one and done just one year prior.  One of McFarland’s best/worst quotes was “It’s a run/pass option meaning they have the option to run it or pass it.”  Got that?  Unfortunately, there were too many others.

ESPN needs an MNF spark in the worst way.   THE game has become one of the games available in a busy weekly NFL schedule.  Long, long gone are the must-see MNF TV days of Howard Cosell, John Madden, and even recently departed Jon Gruden.

Madden, the godfather of NFL broadcasts, made $8.5 million a year in his best year.  Adjusted for inflation that equates to $13 million in 2020 money.  This latest round has really upped the ante.

Somewhere Troy Aikman is smiling.  FOX will need to keep up with the Romo’s and Manning’s won’t they?  Or, will they?  The seats are getting full and the opportunities are few.

Are you ready for a Monday Night party?  Peyton Manning will bring the quips and the party favors.  He’ll be able to afford them.