Sports

Abby Picks, Year 4, Week 7

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Back in the late 70s, Reggie Jackson earned the moniker Mr. October for his assassin-like clutch playoff hitting.  A few(very few)Vegas watchers are beginning to wonder if Abby is on her way in the 20s to earning the nickname Ms. October for her assassin-like assault on the NCAA betting lines.

Another strong week brings the season she’s stacking up to 22 wins against 15 losses while winning 35 tasty bones and losing 18.  Her hunch bet lost last week, so that tally stands at 5-1.

Stay humble, we constantly remind her, as the Vegas Penthouse and the Vegas Outhouse accommodations are just one week’s reservations apart.

  1. Clemson -13 at Syracuse —  Abby’s been off of a down Clemson year.  But she thinks these Tigers get a dead cat bounce up north.  One bone.
  2.  Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech +5 1/2 —  This looks like a very live home dog.  The ML is tempting for a straight-up win as well, but give her the points.  One bone.
  3. Michigan St at Indiana +4 1/2 —  The Spartans have been playing winning football all year.  Indiana is a bit of a disappointment vs expectations.  Saturday the script flips.  One bone.
  4. Army at Wisconsin -14 — Abby barked for Army three weeks in a row.  She’s fading them now.  Whisky did her right a week ago, and she’s back for another round.  Two bones.
  5. Arizona St pick at Utah — What goes up and down more than a yoyo?  A Sun Devil.  Abby likes the Utes at home.  One bone.
  6. Oklahoma St at Texas -4 — The loser of last week’s epic Red River Showdown throws down.  Abby likes this one so much it scares her a bit.  Three bones.
  7. TCU at Oklahoma -13 1/2 — The winner of last week’s epic Red River Showdown might be in for a letdown.  A back door (or doggy door) cover is possible.  Nonetheless, Okie can score points in bunches.  One bone.

Mississippi can score points in bunches, too.  But the over/under at Rocky Top is 83 1/2.  On a strong hunch, Abby likes the under.  She also likes the Tennessee blue tick hound.

Four chalks, one pick, and two dogs.  It’s a bit against the norm.

Woof.

 

The New Wor(l)d Police

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Psst.  Did you hear the one about the Catholic priest, the rabbi, the Irishman, and the rooster?  Of course, you didn’t.  It’s no joke anymore.

Once upon a time, people found it funny to poke fun at themselves and others with the use of stereotypical jokes.  No more.  It’s deemed racially insensitive and sometimes even more.  Don Rickles would need a different occupation today.

The free speech police, over the course of time, switched sides.  Once, its job was to protect.  Now, its job is to deem what is allowed and what is not.

And, when the utterance is divisive, uncalled for, and downright mean even greater consequences loom.  We aren’t here to judge the change in the wind, we’re here to examine its hypocrisy at times.

And, one of those times might be 2011, though we only heard about it in late 2021.  The guilty party, you ask?  Jon Gruden.

What did he say back then?  It’s actually what he wrote.

Gruden emailed then-Washington Football Team president Bruce Allen about DeMaurice Smith, back in 2011.  “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” he wrote.  That qualifies for insensitive at the very least and misspelled as well.  But, you get the picture he painted.

Gruden later told ESPN he used the term “rubber lips” to describe someone he saw as lying and that he was frustrated by the lockout at the time and failed negotiations between Smith and Goodell.

And, now here comes the word police to solve the ten-year-old crime and administer punishment as well.  Judges and juries come as a package deal these days.

Some close to Commissioner Roger Goodell believe that ultimately a hefty fine and further diversity and inclusion training will be forthcoming, with a suspension possible.  But they also suggested that there are not many comparable situations to this and that other evidence could necessarily lead to a more intense punishment.

Other evidence?  Sounds like it’s time for an investigation.  Send in Kenneth Starr.

Gruden was working for ESPN at the time, not the NFL.  But, that won’t stop the NFL, or his current employer the LA Raiders, from doing what they deem necessary.

“The email from Jon Gruden denigrating DeMaurice Smith is appalling, abhorrent, and wholly contrary to the NFL’s values,” the league office’s official statement read.

There is an irony that Gruden wrote to one of the ultimate decision-makers of a team that at that time was known as the Washington Redskins.   Public sentiment in 2011 and prior strongly suggested that the Redskins change their nickname.

Did the league consider the nickname appalling, abhorrent, and wholly contrary to its values in 2011?  Does it now?  Will the league look back to its behavior then and fine itself somehow?  No.  Maybe some additional sensitivity training?

Daniel Snyder, the owner of the now nicknamed “Football Team” wasn’t ever going to change the nickname.  But, a #metoo movement swept through America in 2017 and with it swept out an exposed “boys club” mentality in the Washington front office.  Like the nickname, sexual harassment was a part of everyday life inside the organization.

Snyder did the NFL a solid and the NFL threw Snyder a lifeline.  Really, that’s more boys club at its finest.

Did the league consider the front office behavior appalling, abhorrent, and wholly contrary to its values then?  Will the league now investigate and fine Snyder or his team now for its behavior then?  No.

Google and Facebook are companies that decided a while back to control the narrative by limiting what you can say or write on their platforms.  It’s their right. The NFL can do the same on its own turf.  But now we get the NFL reaching into a private email written when Gruden was not employed by the NFL over a decade ago.

The slope is slippery.

The bill of rights protects the act of burning an American flag as freedom of expression. You don’t have to like it, just respect it.

It also protects freedom of speech, ignorant or otherwise.  You don’t have to like it, just respect it.

Well, it used to.

 

Abby Bets, Year 4, Week 6

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Rare is the Saturday that you take Vegas’ lunch money, but last weekend Abby did just that.

Rare was the steak that she bought and devoured enjoying her doggone good picking prowess.  That pushed her performance season to date to 18 wins and 11 losses, 28 bones won versus only 15 lost, and a still perfect 5-0 hunch bet result.

Even rarer would be doing it two weeks in a row.  Safety first is her motto this week as she doesn’t like chasing parked cars.

  1.  Arizona St -13 v Stanford and Washington St +3 1/2 v Oregon St. — Our west coast parlay pairs an odd couple.  Do the Sun Devils deserve to be favored by double digits over a team that beat Oregon last week? No.  Oregon St is playing solid football and has won four in a row.  Washington St?  Not so much. The west coast has a lot of odd couples.   One bone to win three bones.
  2.  Georgia at Auburn over 47 —  Georgia has not allowed a point in two straight weeks and only 23 in five games!  Auburn’s D bends but does not break.   Therefore, forty-seven seems high.  Both are due for a defensive letdown.  One bone.
  3.  LSU +3 1/2 at Kentucky — Fire Ed Orgeron!  The offensive line is offensive!  The playcalling stinks!  Kentucky is undefeated.  They are at home.  They just whooped Florida.  This is their year.  You get the one-sided picture.  Abby loves a good zig when others zag as you may have heard before.  Two bones.
  4.  Wisconsin -11 at Illinois —  In most games, Wisconsin doesn’t even score 11 points.  But, Abby thinks the Badgers are angry and we know the Fighting Illini have little fight.  Two bones.
  5.  Oklahoma -3 1/2 v Texas — Two future SEC teams renew their annual Dallas dogfight.   The Longhorns have been playing better of late, while the Sooners have been stumbling around.  That trend reverses itself Saturday.  One bone.
  6.  Michigan at Nebraska +3 1/2 — These two fan bases have a love-hate relationship with their head coaches.  Harbaugh is going to hate it, and Frost is going to love it when Nebraska kicks a last-second field goal to win this one straight up. One bone.

Alabama takes their talents to College Station tomorrow to face a reeling Aggie group.  Abby sees a close Bama cover but likes the under 51 1/2 on a hunch.

Woof!!

 

 

 

 

Abby Picks, Year 4, Week 4

Posted on by thependulumswings staff
  1. Faithful reader number one, after reviewing Abby’s picks last Saturday night, suggested that Abby take a bow.  Bow? Wow!  Faithful reader number two suggested that a steak was in order over the normal chow.  Wow.

As Judge Smails famously told his grandson, Spaulding in Caddyshack, “you’ll get nothing and like it.” Three weeks does not make a season.  But it is a good start.  With ten wins and six losses, sixteen bones won v six lost, and the hunch bet advancing to 3-0, it’s time for week four.

  1.  Wisconsin -6 v Notre Dame —  Soldier Field is the awesome setting for this early fall midwest scrum.  Abby is so mystified by this line that she’s going 100% against her thought.  That thought is that the wrong team is favored.  One bone.
  2.  Miami OH at Army -7 —  Can the Army make it four in a row versus the spread?  They’ll give it a go.  One bone.
  3.  Florida International at Central Michigan -11 — Cent Mich ran into an angry LSU team last week.  Two weeks ago they nearly beat Missouri.  Abby expects a rebound. Two bones.
  4.  Texas Tech at Texas -8 — The much-maligned Longhorns begin what might be their final stroll through the BIG 12.  They might start slow, but talent will take over in the second half.  Two bones.
  5.  Nebraska at Michigan St. -5 — Michigan St. might well be the best team in Michigan.  Is this the year they bust through and be the best team in the BIG 10 East?  Doubtful, but if they want to they need to take care of an average foe in the Cornhuskers first.  One bone.

Five home chalks get picked by a dog that likes underdogs!

Texas A&M might have their hands full in Arlington this weekend v a surging Arkansas program.  This is strength v strength.  The Ark O line v the A&M D line.  Abby, on a hunch, likes under 47.

Woof!

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Three quick weeks in we’ve hit the quarter pole in a twelve-game schedule.  What do we make of the action thus far? It’s interesting as always, but conference play starts this week and we’ll be a lot smarter because of it soon.   Get your nuggets below.

  1.  ESPN ran this Sunday AM headline, “Bama Looks Beatable!”  Perhaps.  Another way to describe their 31-29 win over a well-coached Florida team in The Swamp would be: True sophomore Bryce Young, making his third start ever, led Bama into the hostile Swamp, scored 31 against a good defense that anchors the #11 ranked team in America, and won.  Saban has raised the bar so high that our perspective and ESPN’s headlines are jaundiced.
  2.  Georgia held on to the second spot working the not-so-game SC Gamecocks, 40-13.  That Oct 30th largest outdoor cocktail party that we don’t call the largest outdoor cocktail party anymore between the Gators and the Bulldogs should be quite the alcohol-fueled duel.  The Bulldogs will be glad they are hosting very pesky Arkansas and Kentucky prior and not traveling to play them before the first fan bellies up on Halloween weekend. The pollsters left Florida at #11, deservedly so, after the 2 point loss.
  3. Oregon took the week off after beating THE in the Shoe.  Well, not really.  They beat Stoney Brook 48-7 in the northwest rain.  After a 75 yard drive to start the game, the Ducks held SB to only 169 yards of offense for the remainder of the game with subs waddling in liberally.  The difference between Oregon and the rest of the PAC 12 is that they play legit D.
  4.  The BIG 10 wants in on the fun as well.   Iowa, yes Iowa, is now #5, Penn St. is #6 and THE OSU is #10.  They’re celebrating the 30 points that the Hawkeyes put up on Kent St. Saturday like it’s a corn crop safely in the silo.  Iowa has no O, but it has a playoff quality D.  Penn St. now has a single-digit win over Wisconsin(there) and Auburn(home) as two solid resume builders. That white-out scene in Happy Valley is quite the sight.
  5. It wasn’t pretty, but now #6 Cincinnati stayed undefeated after beating a good Big Ten team 38-24 on the road.  Indiana kept it close for a while. The Bearcats strategically scheduled no one this week to build up to a trip to South Bend next week.   An impressive win there would put Cincinnatti in the playoff conversation.  Though after ND, they play no one ranked in the top 25 as of now.
  6.  Texas A&M (7), Ole Miss (13), and Arkansas (16) give the SEC West four teams ranked in the top 16.  Florida kept it close with the juggernaut known as Bama.  Can any of these three shoot the moon, er, Bama? The best chance is three weeks away in College Station it seems.
  7. But, A&M needs to be focused this week on the opponent at hand-Arkansas in Fayetteville.  Sam Pittman has done quite a job resurrecting the Hogs.  The Razorbacks had one lonely win v 23 losses in SEC play from 2017-19 before Pittman took the steering wheel in 2020. There were a few chuckles when he was announced as the next pig expected to get smoked at the luau.  No more.   Whooo Pig!  The Aggies are an early six-point favorite on the road.
  8.  The BIG 12 has Oklahoma at #8 and Kansas St. #25.  Where’s the beef? It’s lean in cattle country.  Oklahoma’s win 23-16 over Nebraska wasn’t exactly what the Sooners needed to push higher.
  9. Life is good in Provo. Coming off last year’s 11-1 season, the BYU Cougars have secured a membership in the Big 12.   Now, BYU sits proudly at #15.  They’ve beaten three PAC 12 schools in three weeks.  Arizona, Utah, and Arizona St. are all early 2021 skins on the Cougars wall. Arizona St. had a chance to raise their profile and the PAC 12 South’s a bit on Saturday but wasn’t quite ready for primetime.  The other shoe dropped when UCLA gave up 75 yards in 6 plays in only 40 seconds and lost at the buzzer 40-37 to Fresno St.  UCLA dropped to #24 in the process.  In the PAC 12, it’s Oregon, and pray for rain.  Wait!
  10. Some eyebrow-raising early lines are out.  Wisconsin is a 5 1/2 point favorite over Notre Dame in Soldier Field.  Florida St is just a 2 1/2 point home dog to Louisville.  Memphis beat Moo St. Saturday but are only an at-home 3 1/2 point pick over UTSA.  And Michigan St is a slim 4 1/2 point home choice over Nebraska.

 

Abby Picks, Year 4, Week 3

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sometimes the tail wags the dog.  Not this dog.  Abby Roux is riding the wave.  Four total points stood between her and a perfect week two.  So it goes.  She’ll gladly take it.

The results in week two were identical to week one.  That brings the season totals to six wins v four losses, ten delicious bones won v six lost, and the hunch bet is two and oh so fine.

Week three seems tricky.  Picks follow.

  1.  Michigan St +6 1/2 at Miami —  Something about this line troubles Abby greatly.  Is the wrong team favored?  She hopes.  It’s a bit more humid in Coral Gables than in East Lansing this time of the year.  That said, take the Spartans plus six and a half for one bone and straight-up(+190) for one bone wagered to win two.
  2. Mississippi St. at Memphis +3 1/2 —  Is the wrong team favored, part two? This is the beginning of the end for Mike Leach.   The money line isn’t great, so one bone on the plus.
  3. Central Michigan at LSU -19 1/2 —  Hopefully the wrong team isn’t favored here.  LSU has done nothing in two games to inspire any confidence much less be favored by this much over a high school team.  Did we mention that Abby likes to zig when others zag?  Two bones.
  4. Arizona St – 3 1/2 at BYU —  The Sun Devils historically trip over their pitchforks in a spot like this. Herm Edwards is in year four in Tempe.  UCLA in week one, and Oregon in week two got big out of conference wins for the PAC 12.  Ariz St. does as well in week three.  One bone.
  5. Florida St +4 1/2 at Wake Forest — Nobody circles the wagons like the Seminoles, do they?  They’ll need to after a devastating loss last week to Jacksonville St.  Wall Street calls this a dead cat bounce.  Abby hates cats, so she approves of this Wall Street metaphor.  One bone.

Alabama, favored by 14 1/2, travels to Gainsville to beat Florida this Saturday.  The over/under is 60 and 1/2.  Abby thinks Bama’s D will come to play.  On a hunch, she’ll take the under.

Woof!

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Well, if week one was crazy, then week two was cray, cray, as they say.

We have a few observations as you might imagine.  Ten to be exact.

  1.  Alabama had mercy on Mercer.  After leading 31-0 at halftime, Bama cruised to a 48-14 victory.  Predictably, this made Nick Saban unhappy. His rants are fun to watch unless you’re sitting in front of him.  If you’ve seen this movie before you know it’s purely using the press to motivate his team into how good he thinks they can be.  Like him, or not, it’s vintage stuff from the legend that he is.
  2. Oregon provided the PAC 12 with another big statement going into the Horseshoe and taking Ohio St. down with malice. The score was 35-28, but Oregon was in control from the first snap.  Though, UCLA’s week one win v LSU looks a bit less shiny after the Tigers mailed in at home in week two beating a terrible McNeese St team 34-7.  Oregon won the line of scrimmage against a major contender for the playoffs in their house.  The “not physical enough” knock on the PAC 12 might be waining a tad.  Mario Cristobal take a bow!
  3. Fifth-ranked Texas A&M lost their starting quarterback, then nearly lost to Colorado.  An 11 play 77-yard grind late in the fourth quarter saved the Aggie day, 10-7.  The Aggie D is playoff-level good.  The O, and especially without Haynes King, isn’t.
  4. Clemson scored only three last week vs Georgia. They held South Carolina St. to only three this week.  But, like Jimmy, who cracked corn, nobody cares.  The Tigers 49-3 win is meaningless.  And, their schedule is weaker than Biden’s defense of the way he pulled out of Afghanistan.  No team currently ranked inside of the top 25 is on it.  A trip to Pittsburgh looks like their only possible road bump from here.  But, will 11-1 against fish wrapping paper be enough to get to the final four?
  5.  Notre Dame is replacing their leprechaun mascot with Houdini.  A week after surviving sudden death v Florida St., the mighty Fighting Irish got a last-minute touchdown in South Bend to overcome Toledo 32-29.  Wow.  Toledo.  And, Florida St. lost on a last-second hope and a prayer heave by Jacksonville St. this week.  Wow.  That doesn’t sound like the two-game resume of an eighth-ranked team.
  6. Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place.  USC is no Trojan horse.  They invited Stanford into the Collisium Saturday and the Cardinal took what they wanted.  Stanford was a 17 point underdog and won 42-28, or straight up by 14. You wonder how much sucker money went to the Trojans’ side of the line in Vegas. So much for the return of USC to the national landscape.  The LA Times has seen enough of head coach Kim Helton.  We’ve seen this Hollywood act before, haven’t we?
  7. Texas got a taste of the SEC that it will join in a year or two.  Arkansas was picked to finish last in the SEC West this year but worked Texas over and over.  Arkansas won’t finish last.  Three hundred and thirty-three rushing yards later, the scoreboard clock thankfully showed 0:00.  Arkansas rushed the ball 47 times for a hog-like 7.1 yds per carry average.  The scoreboard showed Arkansas 40, Texas 21.  The game wasn’t nearly that close.  Hopefully, Steve Sarkesian isn’t hungover this AM.  The Longhorn fans sure are.
  8.  Last week Penn St. and Wisconsin set the game back 25 years with their three yards and a pile of dirt fight.  Iowa and Iowa St. one-upped the Big 10 mudders this week.  Iowa completed under 50% of its 21 passes and rushed 39 times for a 1.7 yards per carry average.  And, they WON 27-17!  ND isn’t good enough to be ranked 8th.  Iowa isn’t good enough to be ranked 9th.  And, Iowa St surely isn’t good enough to be ranked 10th.
  9.  Cincinnati agreed to join the BIG 12 earlier this week.  On Saturday they took care of more business beating Murray St. 42-7 to go to 2-0 on the season.  Cincy is ranked a sneaky 7th.  BYU, Houston, and UCF also agreed to join the Big 12 after Texas and Oklahoma take their talents to the SEC soon.  The Big 12 only had ten teams, and are losing two, but gaining four.  Got that?  There really will be 12 teams one day once again.  But BIG?  Meh.
  10.  We borrowed the following from ESPN, cause we think it’s an interesting gambling oddity at the least.  Air Force topped Navy 23-3 in the first game between military academies this season.  And the result fits nicely into one of the most consistent trends in college football. Since 2005, 39 of 49 military games have failed to hit the Las Vegas total. Saturday’s over/under was set at an impossibly low 39.5, and yet the matchup never came close to eclipsing that total. Air Force hosts Army on Nov. 6, so mark your calendars to bet on that one, too.

Jury duty for one of our staff members beckons.   It’s an honor, your honor!

Abby Picks, Year 4, Week 2

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

While Wisconsin, Nebraska, Washington, and LSU disappointed their fan base in week one last week, Abby hit the ground like a bloodhound.  She hunted down three winners v two losers, five tasty bones up v three down, and hit her hunch.

That said you’re only as good as your next week, not your last in the gambling game.  She approaches week two cautioning herself not to overread week one.

Now, to the picks.

  1.  Western Kentucky at Army -6 –That said, Army got it done in week one.  She’s marching with the cadets again.  Either you stop their three-headed run game or you lose.  One bone.
  2. Pittsburgh at Tennessee +3 — The Volunteers and their beautiful bluetick coonhound Smokey stands their home ground.  Abby likes them straight up, but will take the three and run.  Two bones.
  3.  Buffalo at Nebraska -13 —  Scott Frost is coaching for his job.  Expect the Huskers to be hungover from the corn mash they took last week by Bielema and the Fighting Illini, but pull away in the second half.  Two bones.
  4.  Texas at Arkansas +7 — Texas pulled away impressively from U of Louisiana, formerly known as U of Louisiana Lafayette, formerly known as U of Southwestern Louisiana in Sark’s debut.  What’s in a name anyway? It’s all about the chant.
  • Raise your arms above your head during the patented (yes patented)  Hog Call, yell “Wooo” and wiggle your fingers for a few seconds.
  • Next, bring both arms straight down with fists clenched while yelling, “Pig.”
  • Then extend your right arm with the “Sooie.”
  • Repeat these steps two more times and finish by yelling.
  • Win two bones.

5.  Stanford +17 at USC —  If you look back at last week, you’d think Abby has gone doggone mad.  Did she mention that it’s important to not read too much into week one?  She’ll zig here when others zag.  One bone.

Washington travels three time zones to Ann Arbor to face the Michigan Wolverines for a 7 pm kick.  Under the lights, the over/under is low at 49 points.  Abby thinks lower, and that Washington will give Michigan a battle in a field position/field goal-filled defensive struggle.  She likes under 49 on a hunch.

Woof!

 

 

A Band of Brothers

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Every episode except the very first of the critically acclaimed Showtime hit series Ray Donovan began with the screen dark and Liev Schrieber saying “previously on Ray Donovan.”

And in the 30-seconds that followed very seldom was the recap that didn’t involve a bat to the kneecap, or a punch to the gut, or worse.   For all of their problems, the fictitious Irish heritage Donovan family would quickly band together and never backed down. If you picked a fight with Mickey, Ray, Terry, Bunchy, half-brother Daryll, and even Abby, you got more than you wanted back from the fighting Irish.

And, almost as predictable as Ray throwing a haymaker you knew it would only be a matter of time in today’s world that cancel culture would want to pick a fight with Notre Dame over their Fighting Irish nickname.

When journalists at the Indianapolis Star reviewed a recent survey on college mascots, they focused on the fourth most offensive on the list — Notre Dame’s leprechaun who cheers on the Fighting Irish.

So, The Star asked the university for their response to the survey that asked 1,266 participants to rate 128 mascots at colleges and universities in order of best, worst, sexiest, creepiest, and offensive.

Be careful what you ask for.  “Our symbols stand as celebratory representations of a genuine Irish heritage at Notre Dame, a heritage that we regard with respect, loyalty, and affection,” the ND statement said.

Notre Dame said its nickname began as a term used by other schools to mock its athletic teams. At the time, anti-Catholicism and anti-immigrant sentiments were strong.  Notre Dame was largely populated by ethnic Catholics.  They were mostly Irish, but also Germans, Italians, and Poles.  The university was a natural target for ethnic slurs, it said.

As the football team gained national prominence in the early 1900s, journalists began to use the ‘fighting Irish’ phrase in their stories. ‘Soon, Notre Dame supporters took what was once an epithet into an ‘in-your-face’ expression of triumph,’ the university said.  In your face, they said.

By 1927 the nickname was officially adopted.

As for the leprechaun, Notre Dame said it is “symbolic of the Fighting Irish and intentionally a caricature.”  Therefore, “the intent is to recognize the determination of the Irish people and, symbolically, the university’s athletes.”

So to recap as Liev does, the opposition to Notre Dame called the team the “insulting” name, and the press wrote of them as such. ND then turned the tables and nearly 100 years later still proudly wears the moniker like a badge of courage.  In your face, indeed.

After all, if you’re going to pick a fight it’s best that you not pick one with the Fighting Irish.

They’ll band together like three and a half Donovan brothers.

What an interesting twist.  The woke actually tried to wake themselves.

Score one for history.

Deep Breaths

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Back in the Stone Age, the word humdinger got a lot more run than it does today.  Have you never heard that word used?

Humdinger defined is a noun used to describe a remarkable or outstanding person or thing of its kind.

Baseball is a sport that some critics think still operates in the Stone Age.  But, give baseball fans, players, managers, and reporters credit for slimming down humdinger into a catchphrase for a home run.  They call them dingers.

In Denver, the air is a “mile high.”  So, dingers were flying towards Aspen with great regularity from the very start of the Colorado Rockies franchise.  In fact, they did so often that the franchise birthed Dinger, the Rockies Mascot, based on a triceratops – an herbivore dinosaur species that lived in the area, as evidenced by the several triceratops fossils found in the region.

Dinger made his debut on April 16, 1994, at Mile High Stadium. Like the legendary San Diego Chicken, Dinger made his official debut by being hatched. At the game, fans were told that an egg was found during the construction of Coors Field, and a grey egg was seen on the field. Two “doctors” were seen attending to the egg when it began to hatch – and thus Dinger was born.

But on Sunday, some 27 years (or roughly 2240 home games later) when a fan sitting not too far from home plate nor too far from the broadcast’s field microphones repeatedly yelled the mascot’s name to get his attention, he got the entire on edge world’s attention.

Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson stepped up to the plate in a game between two very below-average teams.  Brinson is African American.  And for viewers and some Rockies officials, the call for Dinger sounded like the worst racial epithet of all, the n-word.

No Marlins, including Brinson, said after the game that they had heard any of this.  But, one of the Rockies broadcasts did pick the shouting up, and the disgusted Rockies Organization sprung into action as you see below.

Monday Brinson said he had watched the replay “like 50 times in the last 15-16 hours” and believes he does hear the n-word.

And predictably the twitter world, the players union, and the media ran with the story.

Some of the best, or worst follows.

1.  @JessBlaylock
I proudly stand WITH Lewis Brinson, who is one of the kindest, hardest working, genuine people you’ll ever have the pleasure to meet. I firmly stand AGAINST hatred, intolerance, ignorance, and the disgusting behavior that was exhibited earlier today. We have a long way to go!

2.  MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement on Sunday night that ‘we have to continue to work together to ensure that racism is never tolerated on or off the field.’‘While many are truly committed to respect and equality for all, the abhorrent racial animus displayed today highlights that there is still much work to be done,’ he said.

3.  By BBR’s count, no less than 15 major US media outlets ran with the wrong side of the story by Sunday PM.  There were the usual suspects like the New York Times, ESPN, Newsweek (who knew they still existed, we digress), and CBS amongst others.

Multiple fans seated in the section stated that the fan was shouting from contacted the Rockies to clear the misunderstanding.  By early Monday morning the Rockies Organization, in cooperation with the broadcast by AT&T Sports and section ushers corroborated the multiple nearby fans’ version.  Dinger it was.  And, the earth could resume spinning on its axis.

The Marlins traveled to San Diego and played the Padres on Monday.   Believe it or not, a resilient Brinson homered in the game.  We doubt that anyone in the stands dared to call it a dinger though.

This brings us to the fate of Dinger, the mascot.  Apparently, the Rockies received calls Monday to dump the name as it’s too close to the hated slur.

This is no joking matter.  And, while we are on that matter, jokes can no longer be called zingers, either.

Roy Rogers’ horse would be in a world of hurt/hate right about now.

Who knew that for 27 years and 2240 or so ball games that the organization and its fans were walking such a tightrope.  Surely someone has yelled out Dinger’s name once or twice before?

No charges will be brought against the fan.  Duh.

And for 48 hours the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves got a reprieve.

We do indeed have a long way to go!

Inhale, exhale.