Sports

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!

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year Three, Week Three

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We’ll be brief this AM.  We’re lucky Abby studied the board early this week as she has a bad cough and a runny snoot.  Hopefully her improvement this AM means we can avoid waiting in the dreaded car line for the dreaded swab up the nose halfway to Omaha.

Meanwhile, she’s off to a good start in dreaded 2020.  Through two weeks she’s 6-4-1 picking games against the spread while winning nine bones waged and losing only six.  She had a hunch that The Donald would win, win, win v the dreaded one as well.  So the Hunch Bet evens at 1-1.

Texas Tech +13 at Iowa St. – Iowa St lost to ULL three weeks ago.  Last week the Cyclones beat Oklahoma.  Today a hurricane is going to beat up ULL’s campus.  It’s 2020.  Abby says Iowa St wins but doesn’t cover.   One bone.

Florida at Texas A&M + 6 1/2 –  This line makes little sense to Abby.  Florida looks great out of the gate.  Meanwhile, A&M struggled v. Vandy in their opener and got their annual beatdown from Bama last week.  She’s going to zig when others zag.  Abby smells a Vegas zig when others zag.  One bone.

Oklahoma -2 v Texas-  Two of the most disappointing teams early square off in the Red River Shootout.   Could Oklahoma possibly lose three in a row with the next great NFL coach roaming the sidelines we ask in jest?  Sure.  But, on the other sidelines roams the greatest college coach hired three years ago we say in jest.  Hmm.  Neither team plays defense.  Okla gets one more stop than Texas.  Three bones.

Alabama at Mississippi + 24–  Nick Saban has never lost to a former pupil turned head coach.  It won’t happen this week either.  And it won’t be close.  But it will be close enough for Kiffin’s crew to cover.  One bone.

Miami at Clemson -14 –  This is the year.  Miami is the real deal this time.  We’ve heard this before.  D’Eriq King is the real deal.  We’ve heard this before. So is Clemson.  One bone.

To escape the perils of Hurricane Delta LSU moved its game to Missouri. The line went from -21 to minus 14.  But, the line that stayed close to the same is the o/u of 55.  Abby loves her some under.  On a hunch take under 55.

Woof!

 

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.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 3, Week 2

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Week one predicting isn’t for everyone.

Abby isn’t everyone.  She pawed her way to four bones while giving back two.  Her record was 2-2-1 (Louisville pushed the bet) and her hunch didn’t punch the ticket.  That’s plenty good enough in a week that LSU and Oklahoma went down in flames while others played flat (Texas A&M) and others barely escaped (Texas).

“Enough already, on to week two,” Abby barks.

  1.  Boston College +14 1/2 v. North Carolina- Old Mack Brown has the Tarheels on the right path.  But we’ll take a determined BC at home to cover late.  One bone.
  2. Duke +12 v Virginia Tech- Ditto the above.  One bone.
  3. Baylor at West Virginia +3 –  Dave Aranda’s D will hold WVA down below their usual point production.  But, but we expect the Mountaineers to cover and in fact win outright at home.  One bone.
  4. Ole Miss @ Kentucky -6 – The Rebels defense is offensive.  Kentucky is clearly the better team and angry coming home from a road spanking at Auburn.  Three bones.
  5. Auburn @ Georgia -7 – Abby loves Bulldogs.  Auburn will give it their all and keep it close for three quarters, but Georgia covers late.  Two bones.
  6.  Arkansas @ Mississippi St. -16.5 – Abby loves Bulldogs.  We could see a letdown after the LSU beatdown.  But Arkansas can’t score enough to keep it inside of three scores.  One bone.

The world awakens this AM to the news that President Trump has the coronavirus.  He’s 74.  He’ll beat it like a drum.  He’s nothing if not a fighter.  Take over 74 as the hunch bet lock of the year.  Get well soon, Mr. President.

There it is.  Abby has four home teams, three underdogs, two bulldogs, and one president while chasing nine bones.

Woof!

 

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 3, Week 1

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s hard to believe but Abby begins year three already of her doggone good picking prowess for BBR this AM.  And she’s been doggone good indeed.  Take a look at last year’s final picks and overall standing here.  Bow wow wow!

This year’s picks start a month later than usual.  Thanks a lot COVID-19.  Break a leg why don’t cha already?

As a refresher, consider each bone equal to an $11 wager to win $10.  Damn bookies and their juice, Abby growls.

  1. Central Florida v East Carolina under 77 1/2- UCF is good again this year.  East Carolina is bad again this year.  Seventy-seven and one-half points is a lot in any year.  UCF wins handily, but the total is spared.  One bone.
  2. Tenessee -3 at South Carolina- Who gave up the fewest points in the last six games of their schedule last year in the SEC?  Ala who?  LS who?  It was the Volunteers.  Jeremy Pruitt has something started in Knoxville.  Plus, Abby is a sucker for a blue tick hound.   Three bones.
  3. Louisville +3 at Pittsburgh-  Louisville ran into an inspired Miami team last week.  Pitt is good, but never that good in the ACC.  This is a nice bounce-back spot for the Cardinals.  Two bones.
  4. Kentucky +8.5 at Auburn- Kentucky is to the SEC as Pitt is to the ACC.  Is this year different?  Stoops’ team is more talented than any since he arrived in Lex.  Auburn wins, but it will be closer than the experts think as Lee Corso says.  One bone.
  5. Florida -14 at Ole Miss- Florida returns a lot of talent and a solid to darn good QB in Kyle Trask.  Abby loves home dogs but thinks that the Rebels/Black Bears are just outmanned here.   One bone.

LSU hosts Miss St. and new head coach Mike Leach and his Air Raid O Saturday.  LSU lost plenty of offensive weapons.  But, LSU has plenty of new offensive weapons.   Leach loves to throw the ball.  The o/u line is 57.5.  It looks low.   But it’s game one for both.  Expect LSU to run the ball a bit more than last year.  We’ll zig when others zag here.  Take under 57.5.

There you have it-four roadies and an under and a hunch on another under to start the year.

Win or lose, at least it’s a start.  Are you listening PAC 12?

 

 

It’s a Dangerous Intersection

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

With so many working from home you’d think the traffic would be far lighter.  But, on the corner of Sports Street and Life Lane, it’s busier than ever.  And once again yesterday, to make matters worse at rush hour, that damn train rolled through as well.

You know the train by name.  It’s a passenger train outbound to nowhere.  It’s called the Cancel Culture Express.  Except for this time a passenger that The Movement was trying to throw off decided to step right in front of it and dare the engineers to hit him.

If you’re an NFL fan you’ve heard of Luis Moreno, Jr. haven’t you?  He’s with the Carolina Panthers.  He has been for 10 years and counting.  Well.  It’s ten years and counting until yesterday.

No, he doesn’t play linebacker and he doesn’t kneel when the National Anthem is played.  Moreno is a Spanish-language broadcaster for the Carolina Panthers and a darn good one.  He says felt pressured to leave his job because the team is upset that he is a supporter of President Donald Trump.  In our “all-inclusive” society we only are inclusive if you choose to be included in the cause.

Moreno told the Charlotte Observer that he began openly supporting Trump on his personal Twitter account this Spring.  Shortly thereafter he was contacted about his tweets by Eric Fiddleman, the Panthers’ radio and television affiliate manager.  Fiddleman asked Moreno to delete any affiliation with the team from his personal Twitter account.

Fair enough.  The Panthers clearly feel the need to be on the right side of BLM and the NFL office nowadays.  It’s their brand and they should choose their messaging.

But, Fiddleman continued to fiddle.  He reportedly contacted Moreno (who actually is an independent contractor for them, hence even further removed) again in the summer, but this time to tell him to stop his political tweets. “If what they want me to do is stop supporting the president, I’m not gonna do that,” Moreno told Fiddleman.

Moreno further charged that Steven Drummond, the Panthers vice president of communications and external affairs, refused to speak with him about the “issue” of his social media posts and support for Trump.  Ten years of loyalty won’t help you cross the intersection these days when the ole’ Cancel Culture Express is blowing its horn.

“I’m hurt,” Moreno told the paper. “Because this has nothing to do with my performance on-air.  I’m one of the best, and I’ll put myself against anybody in the country when it comes to what I do in Spanish. None of my support for the president was done on any of their social media pages, it was never done on any of the airtime. This was solely on my personal time on my personal accounts.”

Moreno added that he won’t return to work unless the team says he is free to advocate for whomever he supports politically. “I am not OK with them censoring my freedom of speech in support of the president,” he added.

And with that, he put his hand up and stopped the Cancel Culture Express before it ran over him.

“Silly him,” you say.  “He’s the one out of a job,” you say.

It’s rare these days, but refreshing when it happens.  Someone spoke up for common sense, dignity, and most of all freedom of speech.

Moreno was a member of the “silent majority.”

He’s not anymore.  He spoke up.

Take a Stand.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The NFL 2020 season kicked off last evening.  But, before it kicked off there was hope that our summer of disease and discontent could turn nicely into fall like a green leaf turned red, yellow, and orange.

Afterall there has been only one positive test in the league for COVID-19 in over 8300 tests to date. Wowza! And, the NFL has not only allowed, but encouraged players and teams to express their concerns against racial inequality and for social justice.  Wowza!

Well, that didn’t go so well.  Prior to the visiting Houston Texans v home Kansas City Chiefs, players from both teams locked arms in unity.  And the fans booed.  Not all of them booed but enough to be heard did so.

Prior to that, the Texans stayed in the locker room for both the National Anthem and for Alicia Keys’ performance of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” otherwise known as the Black Anthem.  The Chiefs stood on the field as a team for both.  So much for unity until their arm locks.

Benjamin Watson is a former NFL player.  He had a very successful stint as a tight end for 15 years in the league and was on the winning NE Patriots team for the Super Bowl in 2005 as well.  He was known as a great teammate, hard worker, intellect, and leader both on and off of the field.

Following the events in Ferguson, Missouri, Watson wrote a Facebook post on the issue of race in America that was “liked” on Facebook more than 850,000 times. The post received national attention.

On November 17, 2015, Watson released a book, Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race–And Getting Free From the Fears and Frustrations That Divide Us.

Watson took to Twitter last evening. He wrote “Don’t kneel.  Don’t lock arms.  Don’t love each other.  Don’t care about your country.  Don’t seek social justice and equality.  Just play.  Sad.”

And we wonder.   Where did free speech and freedom of expression wander off to in the anything but United States?

It went to a spot that only allows it if you agree with what is being said.  Maybe some fans just want pure sports.  Is it ok for them to express that?

We used to frown upon kneeling for the anthem but recognized the right to do so.  Now we frown upon objecting to kneeling.
The right to kneel or lock arms is equal to the right to boo that very act.  Or it should be.

Did you notice the word “equal” in the last sentence?  It stands for equality.

Well, it used to stand for equality until it was frowned upon to want all to stand for the Anthem.

Bored With It All

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sir Winston Churchill lived a long and fulfilling 91 years.  He passed away in 1965.  His last words from his last bed were “I’m bored with it all!”  With that said he slipped into a coma.  We have to wonder if Churchill was channeling the year 2020 nearly 55 years ago.

Are you watching sports on TV?  We’re trying.  Churchill’s words keep ringing in our ears.  When we ask ourselves why we think we’re so bored, more than anything, it’s because of what is not ringing in our ears.  We hear no roar, no matter what venue the sport, as there are either zero or very, very few fans in the stands.

Who knew that the in-person fan and his/her participation would have such an effect on the fan watching from home on a comfortable couch chewing on Cheetos? We didn’t.  Did you?

Maybe half seasons, shortened seasons, and start/stop/start seasons have also watered down the interest.  But, the enthusiasm generated in person seems to have a greater effect on those at home than ever imagined. It all seems very flat emanating from the flat screen.

There were a few NCAA football games on TV this past weekend.  Normally there are some blockbuster “kickoff classics” to whet our appetite.  Instead, we saw our military teams and a few others.  Army marched all over Middle Tenessee St. 42-0 while Navy got washed ashore by BYU 55-3.

Trump was accused late last week of not caring for the military.  Doubtful.  But, it sure looked like the Navy didn’t care about football.  They did no live tackling during practices leading up to the debut and did very little live tackling in the debut.  Army cared.

But most of all seeing a very few thousand Army men and women dressed in full fatigues all six feet apart from one another virtually high fiving after each score didn’t inspire.  There were no fans allowed at all in the Navy game.  The resulting silence combined with the utter mismatch was so deafening coming through the TV that this writer dug deep into the Netflix barrel to come up with something/anything more interesting.

The NFL starts this week.  Will it generate any more enthusiasm from the couch?  We’re hopeful, but we’re doubtful.

Let’s hope the year 2020 is bored with it all, too.  It will soon slip into its own coma.  We can hope.

And, let’s hope that the year 2021 is unrelated to and healthier in many ways than the year 2020.

We need fans in the stands.

 

 

Preacher Pete and His Sheep

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Give NFL Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll credit.  He knows how to run through a hole when he sees one and put it all out there.

He just didn’t see fit to call a play to create a hole for his “Beast Mode” running back Marshawn Lynch way back in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

You remember, don’t you?  The Seahawks had second-and-goal at the 1 with 26 seconds remaining. Seattle was 1 yard away from securing a second consecutive championship.   But instead of handing the rock the most powerful goal-line runner in football, Carroll called a pass play, causing double-takes on his sideline and in sports bars all over the football-watching world.  New England intercepted the ball, took a knee(not like Kapernick), and won the Super Bowl.

Seattle was left to second guess their coach for a failed call for the ages.  They were still so upset that years later they almost renamed the city CHAZ to erase some of the bad memories, but we digress.

Pete said after the game to let the criticism flow. “I can take a punch,” he said.

And, this past Saturday, after canceling the Seahawks practice in the wake of the Jason Blake shooting he delivered a punch or three as well.  In his comments about why he chose to cancel Saturday’s practice, Carroll made it clear that his goal was to educate “white people” about “racism in America.”

“This is about racism in America that white people don’t know,” Carroll said in a press conference. “And they need to be coached up and they need to be educated about what the heck is going on in this world.”

“White guys came over from Europe,” the coach explained. They had a “great idea” about freedom and equality that has never come to fruition. “And they put together a system of slavery.”  “It’s never gone away. And the really amazing thing that I’ve learned is Black people know the truth. It’s white people that don’t know.”

It’s important to keep the locker room united you know.  Pete saw the hole, and Pete ran his time.   Don’t take our word for it, ask Drew Brees if you need to.

Pete Carroll, a rich white coach, gave America a lecture about its ignorance.  Has Carroll ever exploited black guys on the football field for his benefit?  You know them.  They are the league minimum yearly 500K and often so much more black guys.  We should all be exploited so.

Has Carroll ever exploited soon to be educated (on scholarship money) or rich (on NFL money) college players?  Have you ever heard of Reggie Bush?  Carroll coached at USC, arranged for Bush’s parents to live rent-free in LA for three years, won a national championship, and rode the hell out of Dodge on a Trojan horse before the NCAA dropped the hammer on the program of exploitation.

Has Carroll ever used the Colin Kaepernick saga to his advantage?   Carroll on a June 3rd podcast,  “Kapernick took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take.”  We couldn’t hear Carroll audibly back when it happened though as the fire was too hot.

As the riots began last week, Kaepernick jumped to social media to tell rioters that the riots were the “only logical reaction” and that they need to “fight back.”  The next day, Kaepernick offered to pay for the legal fees of any Antifa rioter who gets arrested during the unrest.  On the podcast, Carroll added that Kaepernick’s “mission of what the statement was, such a beautiful” statement.

Carroll said that he regretted not offering Kapernick a contract to play for the Seahawks when he had a chance to do so.  The point is he didn’t. Do you regret not investing in Apple stock in 2000?

Carroll concluded on Saturday, “Let’s step up. No more being quiet. No more being afraid to talk to topics. No more, you know, I might lose my job over this, because I’ve taken a stand here. Screw it.”

Preach Pete.  Do as I say, not as I do.  Sheep.

Brees used Carroll’s logic above.  Abraham Lincoln had more success watching a stage play.

It sounds like Carroll would be wise to finally run with his own advice.

Because in the 2015 Super Bowl and numerous times before and after when it mattered, he chose to pass.

Screw It!

 

 

The Jury Is Out on BOYCOTT-2020

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In the last few months for the NBA, the NHL, and MLB great preparation and an abundance of caution have been taken for players’ safety to minimize or prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease.  Lessons were learned from this an applied to try to get the NFL and NCAA football teams in camp and able to start the 2020 fall seasons successfully.

The jury is still out, but the preponderance of the evidence seems promising that success can be had.

Little did anyone know that another problem could and would spread faster through the leagues than even COVID-19 could.

It’s called BOYCOTT-20.  It’s not as deadly, but its actual root cause is to prevent deaths ironically.

It started three days back in a meeting of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks team meeting.  They decided collectively that they had had it with the continued unnecessary deaths of black men at the hands of white cops.  Indeed, that is a valid concern.

Quickly, the BOYCOTT-20 festered in the NBA bubble.  All playoff games for Wednesday were boycotted.  The Clippers and the Lakers, led by the King, decided in a Wednesday PM meeting that they were done with the season.  And, Thursday’s games were canceled as the league tried to find agreeable ways to combat the warp speed virus.

The damn thing jumped out of the Orlando bubble and hit MLB like a Nolan Ryan beanball and the NHL like Gordie Howe slapshot.  They went dark last evening too.

And yesterday the SEC Kentucky Wildcat football team boycotted practice. Other SEC teams may follow today.

The PAC 12 and the Big 10 want desperately to boycott their football practice too.  Unfortunately, they succumbed to the deadly CC-20 (cancel culture) weeks ago. Unfortunate.  RIP.

The jury is still out on the success of these boycotts as well.

As a matter of fact, the jury hasn’t even been empaneled for the state v. Rusten Sheskey, the cop that shot Jacob Blake seven times.  As a matter of fact, Rusten Sheskey hasn’t even been arrested.

But, The Movement moves fast.  They’ve seen enough.  A black man shot in the back SEVEN times.  It’s all there on video.  It’s all there on video except all of the facts that led to that moment or those seven moments.

As a society we haven’t learned yet from the deaths or shootings of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL, or Freddie Gray in Baltimore, MD, or Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA, or Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, or George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, or now Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI.

We want change and we want it now.  If we don’t get it, we’ll take our ball and go home.  No more games.  That’ll show America.

Except it won’t.

America wants change too.  America doesn’t want more police interaction with criminals who disobey their commands.  America doesn’t want chokeholds.  But, America wants peace.

Acting like a petulant child spraypainting a building, shooting fireworks, or much worse won’t help.  Boycotting won’t help.

America wants an America where The Movement recognizes that multiple time offenders like Floyd and Blake aren’t good people.  Should they have been killed or nearly killed?  No.  But, they’re bad people-period.  In fact, they are really bad.  Look up their police records if you have 45 minutes to spare.  Maybe some will want to boycott armed robbery or sex offenses.

Boycott for the next ten seasons if you wish.  But on your way to the woke walkout take a minute to realize how very bad actors put themselves in very bad positions where very bad things can and do happen.

With all of the extra time off that boycotts bring, athletes can ask their woke self what they would do in an instant when you fear for your life even when you have the gun and the badge.  Then ask yourself if it would be better for those resisting arrest to avoid the situation altogether.  Again, and again, and again.

But BOYCOTT-20 might be subsiding.  Rumor has it the NBA told the remaining playoff players that their income might be clipped by 25-30% should they cancel culture their livelihood.  Sounds like sneakers will be squeaking on the hardwood floor as soon as today.

At a bare minimum can America wait for a jury to hear all of the facts?

It worked for OJ.