NBA

Sports-It’s a Numbers Game

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sports and numbers are tied at the hip.  Except we hate ties.  That’s why we ask who won and how on a daily basis?  Last night three teams won in two different sports in very different fashion.   That allows us to dive into the NBA TV market numbers as well as some most unlikely MLB numbers all in one fell swoop.

Last night the Denver Nuggets blew out the Portland Trailblazers by 26 to take a three games to two lead in their conference semifinals best of seven.  This occurred right after the Toronto Raptors blew out the Philadelphia 76ers by 36 to take a three games to two lead in their conference semifinals best of seven.

Tonight the Milwaukee Bucks, with a three games to one lead attempt to close out the Boston Celtics.  Later tonight the Golden State Warriors tangle with the Houston Rockets in the only series that is currently even at two games a piece.

Let’s make some assumptions and look forward to what the NBA and it’s TV partners don’t want to look forward to.  What’s that?  Small TV markets in big games is what is that.

Assume Milwaukee closes out Boston.  Assume that Denver and Toronto can do the same (all be it on the road Thursday) to Portland and Philly.  And, lastly,  assume Houston finally puts a dagger in the Warriors from the Golden St.

Then what?  Then you would have four teams still standing that rank 8th (Houston), 17th (Denver), and 36th (Milwaukee) in the United States per Nielsen.  Oh, and you would have Toronto, Canada.  Oh, Canada!  Oh boy!

Toronto is actually the largest market in Canada and would rank in the top three in metro measured TV sets if it were in the US.  But.  But.  It’s doubtful that any Canadian team in any sport draws the interest of many from the US coast to coast.  If Portland (22nd largest market) were to come back the above only gets worse.

It’s too early to worry about this you say?  Then what’s that sweat pouring off of the brows of NBA league execs this morning all about?  How does no New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco/Oakland, Miami, San Antonio, or Cleveland look to you?  It looks rough.

Speaking of rough while still looking at numbers, how about what Mike Fiers did last evening in MLB?  Never heard of Mike Fiers?  Late last evening Mike Fiers threw a no hitter for the Oakland A’s.  It was baseball’s 300 career no hitter.  It was journeyman pitcher Fiers second no hitter.  This very improbable feat started in Oakland only after a 98 minute delay as 100 stadium lights would not function.  And, he threw it against the Cincinnati Reds who 24 hours earlier hit back to back to back homeruns on three total pitches.

Fiers threw a whopping 131 pitches to get it done.  It’s the most pitches thrown in a no hitter since 2015 when, well, Fiers threw 134 in his first no-no in 2015.  His ERA entering the game after 8 starts sat at a fat 6.81.  According to Elias Sports Bureau research, that’s the highest ERA for any player throwing a no-hitter with at least 25 innings entering the start.  His career 4.11 ERA is the third highest ever for a pitcher to throw two or more no hitters.

Sometimes numbers don’t tell the whole story.  Sometimes they do.

 

 

 

Ten (Actually Eight) Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Judging by our inbox your hunger for Ten Piece Nuggets is insatiable.  We aim to please.  Your Monday AM serving of facts and opinions over multiple sporting profession are waiting below.

  1.  We stated last week that the NBA semifinals of Toronto v. Philadelphia  and Denver v. Portland, then both tied at 1-1, smelled like seven game throwdowns.  With road wins yesterday Denver and Toronto evened up each series at two games apiece.  Game sevens feel even more likely.  It effectively makes these two matchups a best two of three from here.
  2.  We stated last week that game two for Milwaukee was critical already as Boston owned them in game one.  Milwaukee responded resoundingly and now lead that series 2-1.  Game four is tonight.  A week later t’s a must win now for Boston.  It says here that this is done in six and quite possibly five games.  Milwaukee has too many weapons.   We’ll bet you five Milwaukee Bucks that it is.
  3. We stated last week that game two for Houston was critical already as Golden State was up one.  Houston tried valiantly but fell down two games to none.  Saturday they needed overtime on their own floor after leading by 13 late in third quarter to snatch their first win on their own home court.   Game four is tonight.  It says here that this is done in six and quite possibly five games.  Golden State has too many weapons. We’ll bet you five Gold(en State) coins.
  4.  As the story goes as the weather warms the further the baseball goes.  On the weekend both college and the pros provided some long balls in thrill of victory, agony of defeat, and walk off games.  The Padres trailing in the bottom of the ninth 5-4 at home got a walk off grand slam from Hunter Renfroe to beat Dodger closer Kenley Jansen (he of the five year $80 million contract) 8-5.
  5. Not to be outdone, in a wild one in Baton Rouge Sunday, the LSU Tigers overcame 7-0, 10-1, and 15-9 deficits to tie their game v the Ole Miss Rebels in the bottom of the ninth.  Trailing 15-9 with two outs the Tigers got back to back to back three run then solo then solo homeruns to force extra innings.  The Rebels were unfazed and scored four in the top of the tenth to secure the game 19-15 and the series 2-1. Ole Miss outhit LSU 23-22 in that game alone.  In college, late in a series, when you are out of pitching, you are very out of pitching.
  6. Not to be outdone by college, the Cincinnati Reds went back to back to back yesterday against Jeff Samardzija and the SF Giants.  But these were no ordinary back to back to backs.  These were accomplished on three straight pitches.  It was the second time this season that the Reds went yard in three consecutive at bats.  The Giants were unfazed however and battled back to beat the Reds 6-5.  A quick check of the Elias Sports Bureau shows that it was the first back to back to back on three straight pitches in twelve years.
  7.  The World Series Champion Boston Red Sox are headed to the White House soon to visit President Donald Trump.  Their leader, Manager Joey Cora, won’t be meeting the nation’s leader, Donald Trump, though.  After months of thought Cora, who hails from Puerto Rico, says that he doesn’t feel comfortable to do so after the way Trump’s administration handled the hurricane relief to his native land.  Last April Cora blasted Trump’s tweets about the relief saying “I hate that people make it a political issue.”  We assume that him skipping the trip to the White House isn’t making it a political issue.
  8. The Donald, no stranger to the political correctness (or not( struggles facing America weighed in on the very controversial decision at the finish of the Kentucky Derby.  The decision to DQ Maximum Security for interference and put the roses on Country House Trump thought was not a good one.  He tweeted that “It was a rough and tumble race on a wet and sloppy track , actually, a beautiful thing to watch.” “Only in these days of political correctness could such an overturn occur, ” he concluded.  We assume that the rough and tumble race on the wet and sloppy track reminded him of his run against one Hillary Clinton.

Two nuggets fell off of the plate.  Sorry.  The five second rule applies, but we didn’t get there in time to save them.  We owe you.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Leftovers from the NFL Draft, a few appetizers from the NBA, MLB is cooking, and even a bite from a game show highlight today’s ten piece nuggets.  Commence consuming if you wish.

  1. The  NFL threw an NFL Draft party and everyone was invited.  Quite a few showed up too.  It’s TV ratings were the highest ever as 47.5 million watched.  Over 600k attended in Nashville.  Crazy.  Nashville knows how to do it.   Remember when the NFL TV ratings were down and out and never to return because of Kaepernick, kneeling during the anthem, and disrespecting the flag?
  2. Tampa Bay drafted kicker Matt Gay in the fifth round.  This comes just a couple of years after they drafted their current kicker Cairo Santos.  Apparently they lost confidence in Santos.  Gay said that he was surprised that TB took him so early in the draft.    The one thing you need in a kicker is confidence.  Apparently Gay isn’t too confident either.
  3. The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Toronto Raptors last night in Toronto, taking the home court advantage away.   That evened the series at one game a piece.  Doesn’t this one already smell like a game seven will be needed?
  4. The Portland Trailblazers got worked over by the Denver Nuggets as well.  Damian Lillard complained in-game about the officiating.  After the game he commented that his team complained too much during the game about the officiating.  The Trailblazers trail in the series one game to none.  Doesn’t this one smell already like a game seven will be needed?
  5. Boston shocked and rocked Milwaukee Sunday.  Game two is tonight.  Isn’t this already a must win for Milwaukee?  You bet it is.
  6. Golden State slid by Houston, and all of their complaining about the refereeing, Sunday.  Isn’t this a must win for Houston?  You bet it is.
  7. Suspended and reinstated LSU head basketball coach Will Wade might be in the proverbial soup again.  Late yesterday a video surfaced (which he was not in) that had former Arizona assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson discussing Wade having made a $300k offer to lure incoming freshman Naz Reid to LSU for his now one and done season.  Whether he did, or did not, we don’t know.  If he did, however, we think he grossly overpaid.  Reid has declared for the NBA draft.  He might get his passport stamped for Europe instead.
  8. Who has the best record in baseball one month in?  It’s the Tampa Bay Rays of course at 19-9.  Second?  It’s the Minnesota Twins of course at 17-9.  Third?  It’s the St. Louis Cardinals of course at 18-10.  Who did ESPN broadcast for their national game last night?  It was the 14-17 Oakland A’s at the 12-17 Boston Red Sox of course.
  9. If you like 3 point bombs, watch the NBA these days. If you like home runs, watch MLB these days.  In 2017 a season record 6105 home runs were smashed.  One month in, 2019’s pace is 1.33 dingers a game v. the 2017 pace of 1.26.  Keep up this pace and they shatter 6105 by an additional 358 taters.  Sure, it’s only one month in.  But, the “new” swing that’s being taught through the minor leagues for the last five years is to lift the ball.  Lift it they have so far.
  10. Alex Trebek has never seen anything like this. James Holzhauer’s 18th appearance on Jeopardy was  a rather close call.  But, it was another winning one with $54,017, or $18 dollars more than Adam Levin who amassed $53,999.  This brings Holzhauer’s total take to $1,329,604.  He’s the fastest ever to one cool million in the show’s history.  The per game rake is unlike any previous.  All time money winner Ken Jennings needed 74 wins to get to $2.5 million way back in 2004.

Remember to stay out of the pool for 30 minutes after you eat.

 

Harden’s Safe Space

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

James Harden just wants a fair chance.  In fact he said so himself after his Houston Rockets lost game one of the Western Conference Semifinals 104-100 to the Golden State Warriors.

“I mean, I just want a fair chance, man,” said Harden, who scored 35 points but was 9-of-28 from the floor and 4-of-16 from behind the 3-point line. “Call the game how it’s supposed to be called, and that’s it. And I’ll live with the results.”

Harden, who has led the league in free throws attempted and made in each of the past five seasons, gets fouled while shooting his three’s more, far more, than any other player.  It’s largely because his step-back jump shot is so difficult to contest.

Rockets head coach, Mike D’Antoni walked a fine line after the game.  He wanted the world to know that the referees told him that they missed some first half calls.  He faces a potential fine for criticizing officiating. “So, I mean, the response was they came in halftime and said they missed them. That’s what they told me. They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots. So be it. They’re trying to do the best they can do.”

Hopefully both Harden and D’Antoni realize that all of the calls that they are referencing above are “after the shot, safe landing space calls.”  The new foul rule is indeed a rule.  However, it doesn’t affect the accuracy of the shot.  The non calls certainly could have resulted in free throws for the career 86% free throw shooter.  Heck, maybe they would have been enough for the Rockets to win.

We wonder more, much more, about the 19 shots from the field that he missed.   And, 12 of those were either from or beyond the three-point line.  Make one more two point attempt and one more three point attempt and you win the game for sure, refs be damned.  Nine for 28 is 32% overall.  Four for 16 is 25% from three.  Phew.

So now the Rockets are down 1-0.  They’ve never beaten the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs during the Harden era.  Make no mistake about it, Harden feels the heat from that.  Now he feels like he needs to beat them and the referees.

And, its going to be tougher for him now.  After all, the refs are taking away his “safe space.”

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Didn’t get enough protein on your three-day Easter weekend?  We have some early morning nuggets to help.  No dyed eggs though.  We’ve had enough already till next year.  Ten nuggets to add to your basket are below.

  1.  The San Jose Sharks scored a goal in a second overtime over the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth game of their very entertaining, road to the Stanley Cup playoff match up.  Sharks win 2-1.  It forces a game seven.  There are few more energetic, frenetic, and passionate sporting events than an NHL game seven playoff final.  Perhaps it’ll go to overtime to put it further in overdrive.  We can’t name a player on either team, but it won’t stop us from watching.
  2.  Note to self.  Don’t fight with Alex Ovechkin.  The 33-year-old Alex and 19-year-old Andrei Svechnikov decided to drop the gloves last week.  You can see the quick work Alex made of Andrei here.  The Washington Capitals team captain, multi time all-star, and HOF first ballot lock showed the youngster a thing, not two.  Respect your elders must have been the message.  The Carolina Hurricane must have felt like a, well, hurricane hit him.  If you don’t like violent knockouts, don’t hit the link.  Game six is tonight. The Caps lead 3 games to 2, and 1 TKO to zero.
  3. The Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL record-tying 62-win team, became the first Presidents’ Trophy winner to be swept in the first round. The Columbus Blue Jackets, the last wild-card qualifier to get in the Eastern Conference, flat-out shocked the Lightning.  Defense, defense, defense.  We guess it’s why we watch sports.  We never failed to be amazed.  Competition produces outcomes that make us shake our heads on a near daily basis.
  4. Charles Barkley tripled down last evening on his pronouncement that the Portland Trailblazers are headed to the NBA finals.  They lead the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 and can wrap up the first round matchup on Tuesday at home.  Damian Lillard might be on the verge of taking his game and his team to yet another level.
  5. Is there a better pregame or post game or sports studio show than the NBA on TNT in any sport?  Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Sir Charles know the game, like to jab at each other, enjoy what they are doing, and are downright hilarious.   Ernie Johnson is masterful at setting the stage and pressing go.  How can you not like Barkley?  What you see is what you get.   Ask a question and you get an answer.  Research is optional.
  6. We fully admit that the NBA regular season isn’t must see TV for this writer.  However, the brief view of these playoffs make us wonder if there is finally balance in the top four accross the  conferences.  For years, Lebron aside, the East hasn’t been all that.  It seems very legitimately four deep now.  Boston, Philly, Toronto, and Milwaukee are the top four.  Boston swept and is in.  The three others lead their respective series 3-1.  Two of those will go home in the next round.   It says here that they will be two good teams watching from home like we are now.
  7. Here is your PGA golf quick quiz.  Two parts.  Part one.  Who won the tournament last week, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said Tiger, Augusta National, and The Masters we aren’t impressed.  Part two.  Who won the tournament that ended yesterday, and on what course, and in what tournament?  If you said C T Pan, Harbour Town Golf Links, and the RBC Heritage we are impressed.  It’s a beauty of a course, but on Easter Sunday, and a week after the Masters, it had a tough, tough act to follow.
  8.  The sample size admittedly is small, but the surprising Seattle Mariners lead all of baseball in runs scored.  They’ve crossed home 160 times or 24 more than the second highest (Dodgers, 136) team.   That’s an average of 6.4 runs per game and about one more run a game than LA.  You can win a lot of games scoring like that.  They’ve given up 128 runs. That’s fourth worst in the league.  It’s an average of 5.1 runs allowed per game.  You can lose a lot of games getting scored on like that.
  9.  The Miami Marlins have scored an anemic 60 runs in 22 contests.  That’s a pitiful 2.3 runs a game.  You can lose A LOT of games scoring like that.  Does CEO Derek Jeter have a clue?  Apparently so.  His rather newly assembled front office is teeming with talent that knows how to spot, draft, and develop talent.  Four folks that are over personnel are ones that he poached from his former team, the Yankees.  Two are from the Bahstan Sox, and one is from the Golden State Warriors.  Coming from winning franchises all of them, they must now rebuild an organization that has to be close to rock bottom.  The Astros were there six years ago and the Braves were there three years ago.  Still, it’s a steep hill.
  10.  With about 12 percent of the MLB season gone, you knew that Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles (Dodgers) would be leading their divisions didn’t you?  Advanced analytics will tell you that at least four of these teams won’t get to the wire.  They may not, but this spring hope springs eternal for a quite a few surprised fans in a few cities that have started out well.  If they get to the quarter pole the chatter will grow an octave.

It’s Monday.  You’ve been off for three or four days.  Get back to work.

 

Lefty and Shorty Talking Baseball, Sorta

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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Lefty and Shorty were all but ready to close the Gulf Oil gas station last evening.  The Gulf of Mexico has spoken.  The early spring, humid, steamy air descended on the quiet evening.  Midnight neared and cars were nowhere near.  Lefty- Why on earth do we stay open this late on a Thursday night?  Shorty- So that you and I can talk sports.

Lefty sat to the left of Shorty.  Imagine that.  Shorty sat on the shorter of the two “halves” of the 55 gallon drum. Imagine that.  Each were cut down to size and retrofitted with a soft cushion top.

Lefty- Can you believe the slow start for New York, Boston, and Houston?  Shorty- Everyone knows the Knicks stink.  Lefty– What?  Shorty- But, Boston and Houston are good.  They clinched a playoff berth.  Lefty- I’m talking baseball. The season just started. All three are Vegas favorites.  Shorty- Oh.  Baseball?  Nobody cares about baseball this early.  Lefty- I care.  Shorty- Tampa is in first and nobody knows one player on their team.  Lefty- Snell.  Shorty– Smell what?  Lefty- Blake Snell, the pitcher for Tampa.  He won the Cy Young last year.  Shorty- That’s one.  Name another.  Lefty- I can’t, but isn’t it interesting that they sometimes pitch their staff backwards.  Shorty- Backwards?  That must hurt.  No wonder no one goes to their games.  Lefty- No! No!  They sometimes start their closer, and close with their starter.  Shorty- Sounds weird.

Silence fills the still night for a moment as Lefty shakes his head and tries to regroup.

Lefty- So, who is going to win the MVP race?  Shorty- Harden.  Lefty- You mean Harper?  Shorty- Harden.  Lefty- I’m still talking baseball.  Harper just got traded to the Phillies.  Shorty- Why?

Lefty-Have you heard of Abbott and Costello? Shorty- Yes.  They are Lefty and Shorty wanna be’s.  Lefty- Have you heard of Who’s on First?  Shorty- On first?  Where?  I don’t know.  Lefty- No, he’s on third.

Shorty- Be sure to lock up.  I going home to catch the Harden highlights on ESPN unless they are talking about LeBron and his groin injury.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Ramblings Across Multiple Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s always a good day to gather around the virtual campfire and roast some tasty nuggets.  In the crisp Spring air it’s even better.  After you digest your nuggets if you are good boys and girls we’ll fire up some S’mores.  But eat your dinner first.  It’s served one at a time below.

  1.  The NFL’s 100th season will open with the 199th meeting between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.  The league announced Monday that it would forgo the traditional opening-night matchup in which the Super Bowl winner hosts the first game of the season on the Thursday of Week 1.  On the surface it sounds like a good story.  Two of the original and traditional powerhouses clash on the not yet frozen tundra to celebrate the league’s now one hundred years of history.
  2. New England, defending Super Bowl Champs, will play in the Sunday night game.  So after the Thursday season opener, and after the dozen Sunday day games, NE is sandwiched in just prior to the next night’s Monday Night doubleheader.  One wonders if this is burying the lead story by the powers that be in the NFL? News cycles being what they are, the Patriots and their owner can only get so much air time and attention paid to them given the window they are placed in.  In other words, did the league not want the Patriots owner’s happy ending story to hover like a pesky cloud over the season’s opening game?
  3. NFL free agency open season signings reminds one of the early Black Friday sales game.  You just got to have this guy at this price and now.  It’s like a doorbuster flat screen TV sale at Best Buy.  Then reality sets in relative to your salary cap and your remaining needs, not wants.  If you are still on the sidelines you might not get scooped up till late summer.  It’s just like the day after Christmas.  Markdowns.
  4. UFC star Conor McGregor announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in a Twitter post in these early AM hours .  The announcement came just hours after McGregor, 30, told “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that he and the UFC were negotiating a potential return to the octagon as early as July.  It wasn’t that long ago that there was no mixed martial arts made for TV viewing.  It wasn’t that long ago that there was no Twitter either.  McGregor has retired before.  It’s part of fight game lore.  Then, you are lured out of retirement for one more championship bout.  It makes for a better fight story.  Sugar Ray Leonard is holding on line two.
  5. Did you ever watch “Undeniable with Joe Buck?”  It lasted 5 seasons and produced 50 episodes.  It’s a live audience AT&T Universe production.  Each episode showcases never-before-told stories about not only the athletes’ careers, but also their lives off the playing field.   It was, in our opinion, only as good as the interviewees and interviewer meshed.  Joe Buck can/could come across as a smug know it all at times.  After a pretty good five-year run, he has stepped aside.
  6. Enter “Undeniable with Dan Patrick” which is the same show of course with a different host.  We caught our first last evening with Jim Palmer, Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher, answering Patrick’s question tour of Jim’s career and life.  Jim Palmer still comes across as a smug know it all.  Few are better than Dan Patrick at interviewing in our not so humble opinion.  He has a way of putting the interviewees at ease and weaving through the questions so as to tell a story over time.  Palmer was anything but at ease.  No wonder he never got along with Earl Weaver.  Earl was raw and real. What you see is what you got.  Palmer isn’t.
  7. Palmer’s 268 wins over 19 years in MLB were due in large part to an outstanding career ERA of 2.68.  He only mentioned his 268 career wins five times by our count last evening.   Cy Young’s, World series wins, All Star appearances, and 558 career starts put his value in the marketplace at a one year highest salary of 275k in 1982.  It was good money back then if you could get it.
  8. But today’s MLB world is a bit different.  Of the 872 players on MLB rosters and injured lists as of Monday evening they averaged $4.36 million per annum.  Averaged is the key word.
  9. That average is down from $4.41 million at the start of last season and $4.45 million on Opening Day in 2017, according to AP studies.  Austerity has hit MLB.  Well, not really.  But it is interesting to note that when Mike Trout signs for 23k an inning, salaries in total are actually flat at best.  Yes, it’s 23k an inning as that is what 12 years at 430 million over 162 games each at 9 innings comes to.  Trout will make more after his first 12 innings than Palmer made in his best year.  It’s good money if you can get it.
  10.  The LA Lakers and LeBron were eliminated from playoff contention a few days back.  This isn’t news but ESPN continues to make it news.  Next thing you know they’ll be talking about Lonzo Ball losing 1.5 million as his father and another partner in Big Baller Shoes continue to act like they don’t know what they are doing.  Wait.  They just did.

Get the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.  Time for some more S’mores.

Fashionable Managers are Good (for) Sports.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The NBA fashion show and All Star weekend has come and gone.  Team LeBron squeaked by Team Giannis in a defensive thriller 178-164.  In defense (none played) of the NBA the weekend is really more about style than substance anyway.  The atmosphere surrounding one of these weekends is dress up, party, three-point contest, dress up, party, pretend to play a basketball game, dress up, party.  The dearly departed Yogi Berra would call it 90% style and 50% substance we think.  Which got us to thinking.

When Yogi hung up his cleats from catching for his Yankees he eventually wore those cleats and an entire game ready Yankees’ uniform while managing them from the dugout.  This is, of course, just like every other MLB (or MiLB) manager before and after him.  Which got us to thinking.  Why do MLB managers wear the team uniforms?  Respect?  Tradition?  Superstition?  Are they more effective or authoritative if they dress so?  At a minimum we suppose that when they disagree with an umpire’s call its better to kick dirt on home plate with cleats and an easily washable uniform.  Which got us to thinking.

Can you imagine if they dressed like Pat Riley, aka Mr. GQ, the NBA multi time world champ head coach extraordinaire?  Or, could you imagine the cool Riley bouncing out of a dugout in his woven Cole Hahn’s and Perry Ellis tailored suit to turn his cap backwards and spit tobacco juice hither and yon? Heaven forbid that one gelled strand of coiffed hair stray out of place.   Which got us to thinking.  Why do NBA coaches roam court side in thousands of dollars of fine silk threads and pressed shirts?  ‘Why not?’ is our guess.  Aside from sitting, standing, and very occasionally drawing up a play with a Sharpie on a white board there isn’t much physical exertion inside of a climate controlled arena to sweat about.  Which got us to thinking.

Why do NFL football coaches wear coaching shorts and shirts and cleat looking shoes without cleats during practice?  And why do they wear NFL sideline team gear on game days?  Ah, we think we know this one.   NFL practices can be messy, with grass, mud, and sweat and all.  And, the NFL is the ultimate marketing machine.  “Ooh, did you see the new LA Rams shirt that (poster boy) Sean McVay wore on the sidelines?”  “I gotta get me one.”  Which got us to thinking.

Why don’t NHL coaches wear team sweaters and skates while standing behind 20 or so sweaty guys that sit on a cold bench holding a wooden stick waiting for their shift to be called out by men who wear suits and ties?  It’s always an adventure for the coaches try to walk on the ice with dress shoes on.  And, can the NHL afford a tanning bed for them? Milk white skin washes out against milk white ice.  The winters are long in those parts.  Which got us to thinking.

Why do soccer coaches (or managers or trainers or whatever they are called) in Euro leagues wear skinny ties and skinny pants with fitted shirts with their skinny sport coats next to those benches that look like bus stops?  Exact change is needed to board please.  Which got us to thinking.

We think that we might have over thought this.