NFL

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Thoughts sometimes enter and exit the cranium rather randomly.  Today is one of those times.  A deadline nears.

  1.  The White House says that they don’t know anything about the “Let’s Go Brandon!” cheers erupting from coast to coast.  This hardly seems possible.  Although, until last month they may have never heard of Del Rio either.
  2. Janet Yellin wants to tax unrealized capital gains.  Your stock goes from $50 to $60 bucks, you pay a percentage of the $10 even if you haven’t sold the stock. What happens if it goes from $60 to $40 next year?  Does Uncle Sam still allow you to offset the loss and pay you back the money you paid on the gain?
  3.  Dr. Fauci asked us to follow the science.  That hasn’t always worked so well.  But, now we can follow the tweets.  #firefauci has been top ten trending on Twitter for four days in a row now as it was learned that he might be behind cruelty to dogs in lab experiments.  Messing with human lives gets you air time.  Messing with K9s might finally get the old lapdog out of his pulpit.
  4. Northern Cali has had a terrible drought going for a while.  Now it’s concerned with the mega-storm that might have dropped five inches or more of rain.  You’d think that would be good for the area except for some pesky mudslides.  Note to NoCal, regions of the south get five inches of rain multiple times a year.  The sky isn’t falling.
  5. Crew members on the movie “Rust” reportedly used the firearm involved in the death of Halyna Hutchins the morning of the fatal accident for some target practice.  It was then put back with the other “cold guns” on the set.  The problem was it had a live round in it.  Call us crazy but maybe, just maybe, a cache of guns that cannot ever be used conventionally again might be better suited for the whole film industry.
  6. One tweet this AM suggested that if SNL had any “you know whats” they would invite Donald Trump to play Alec Baldwin this Saturday night.  Too soon?  With weekly record low ratings, it might not be too, too soon.
  7.  Northern California doesn’t have all of the bad weather on lockdown either.  Alvin Kamara had this to succinctly say about his trip with the New Orleans Saints to Seattle last MNF evening.  “Every time we come up here the weather is shitty.”
  8. With Zach Wilson sidelined at least two games with a sprained knee, the New York Jets secured quarterback insurance on Monday. They reacquired Joe Flacco in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Raise your hand if you knew Joe Flacco was still in the NFL.
  9. Rumors continue to swirl that a deal between either the Eagles and Texans or the Dolphins and the Texans for DeShaun Watson is nearing as the trade deadline of November 2 nears.  The minimum asking price is three no 1s and at least two other picks or players.  Has a trade in the NFL for one player giving up a plethora ever worked out for the winning bidder?  Does anyone remember the Hershel Walker trade?  The Ricky Williams trade?
  10. The World Series starts tonight and it might be a dandy.  Two good teams get after it.  But wouldn’t it have been way better if the Los Angeles Dodgers could have attempted to exact revenge against the Houston Astros for the 2017 sign-stealing scandal?

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.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Life and Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

BBR’s fall Board of Directors meeting starts tomorrow in an undisclosed location in the Deep South.  This AM we are emptying our files, folders, creatives, thoughts, and tidbits to provide ten very random nuggets.

We’ll likely be dark until Friday when Abby gives us the weekend’s winners.

Business meetings aside, beaches, booze, and ball games beckon.  After all, someone once said all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  Who is this Jack person?

  1.  NFL Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s 66 yards long, best-ever field goal beat the Detroit Lions 19-17 yesterday at the game’s end.  It bounced on and then over the crossbar.  The 19-17 final is the same score that the Saints beat the Lions on a 63 yarder at the game’s end by Tom Dempsey 51 years ago.  The Ravens overcame a fourth and nineteen on the last drive to get in range.  They also avoided a blatant delay of game penalty.   Detroit losses in “oh so Detroit” fashion once again.
  2. Aaron Rodgers needed a mere 37 seconds to brilliantly drive the Packers to a final game-winning field goal as well.  After the ugly loss to the New Orleans Saints to open the season, Rodgers has thrown six touchdowns without an interception over the past two weeks.  A few years back he asked everyone to relax after a mid-season loss.  He even spelled it out for reporters. R-E-L-A-X!  In today’s world of instant overreaction, fueled by social media, we forgot to learn that lesson yet again.
  3.  The Raiders, Broncos, Panthers, Rams, and Cardinals are the lone undefeated teams after three weeks.  If you picked that three weeks ago you are one smart, or very very lucky, individual.  The Tampa Bay Bucs lost to those Rams late yesterday breaking a 10 game winning streak.
  4.  “Da Bears” invested the second pick overall last April in Justin Fields and yesterday decided to make him their starting QB.   He was sacked nine times while only throwing six completions versus the Browns for a putrid 68 yards.  Three games in the Bears are 1-2 and have scored a total of 40 points.  Can Head Coach Matt Nagy survive the season?  Doubtful.
  5. That thud that woke you up Saturday night was Clemson dropping to #25 in the AP Top 25 after its second loss of the early season.  North Carolina St. did the deed after Georgia held Clemson to three in the Labor Day weekend opening loss.  Clemson is still ranked, but on reputation only.  The reverberation that you felt was Arkansas pushing Texas A&M around.  A&M fell from too high #7 to #15.
  6. If you haven’t watched the Hogs play, you’re missing the best story of the football year.  Sam Pittman and his fine staff have the Razorbacks at 4-0 and ranked #8. They come at you for 60 minutes and from every angle.  They’ve beaten Rice, Texas, and Texas A&M all thoroughly along the way.  Maybe Friday Night Lights should be filmed in a different state?
  7. Let the annual debate of “does Notre Dame belong in the playoffs” begin.  They started the season slowly but are 4-0.  They started the game in Soldier Field slowly too, but closed strong, beating Wisconsin 41-13.  The Badgers scored a total of 23 against Penn St and ND in two early-season losses against quality opponents.
  8.  Turning to the world that we live in, guess which US state has the highest rate of new infections from the coronavirus?  Alaska.  Cases there have ratcheted up while the south seems to be past the latest peak.  So much for social distancing helping out.  And, you can read all of the state-by-state infection rate blame game info that you want.  The virus doesn’t see, know, or care about state borders.
  9. In fact, it doesn’t care about which country it is in either.  Norway joined Sweden and Denmark in removing all restrictions.  “It has been 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a Friday news conference. “Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life.”  561 days.  What happened to two weeks to flatten the curve?
  10.  Where’s Brian Laundrie?  “No buzzards, no body,” says Florida cattle rancher Alan McEwen.  He has spent nearly every day of the last 30 years navigating the woods where Brian Laundrie is suspected of hiding and says it’s not conducive to habitation.  “There’s no surviving out here, I don’t know how to say it,” he continued.  Did Laundrie’s parents give the FBI and local officials a head fake when they retrieved the car from the entry point to his hiking in the preserve?  You have to think so.  Laundrie is either alligator food or never was hiding in the swamp.  A really sad story has turned beyond bizarre.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Time to lighten it up a bit with the “you know what” hanging heavily on our minds again. Have an order of Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports to kick off your weekend early.   As usual, no two are alike and the heat comes at you from any direction.

  1.  Bill Belicheck need not worry about his financial future.  But, after football, he clearly has a shot at tv work if he wishes with that ebullient personality. Not. And weather might be his thing.  Here’s his quote from training camp yesterday.  “Looks like the field will be wet. If it rains, it rains. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. If it’s hot, it’s hot. If it’s not, that’s what it is.”
  2.  How did Green Bay get petulant Aaron Rodgers back for 2021?  They promised to trade him after the season if that is still his desire.  The marriage counselors have five months to patch the thing back together.  One thing seems certain.  Either Rodgers or GM Brian Gutenkunst is a goner.
  3.  The Steelers and the Cowboys kicked off season 2021 last evening in the Hall of Fame game.  Did you watch it?  Why?  Steelers 16-3.  You won’t remember who played by Monday, or sooner.
  4.  If you did watch you learned that after 25 years of separation it looks like Jerry Jones and Jimmy johnson might be mending a fence or two.  Jones took significant blame for their breakup saying that it was on him to recognize and manage around what the duo had going at the time.  He also promised to add Jimmy to the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor before too long.  Johnson retorted during the conversation with “When I’m still alive?”
  5. Viking’s QB Kirk Cousins vowed to encase himself in plexiglass if needed to ensure his availability to lead the Minnesota team this year while staying away from Covid protocols.  Cousins is unvaccinated.  The Washington Post reported that the Vikings have the league’s lowest vaccination rate at 64.5% of players fully vaccinated.  Tsk.  Tsk.
  6. Kevin Durant and Jrue Holiday didn’t just break Australia’s spirit in the Olympic semifinals — they lifted the entire U.S. men’s basketball team up around them in a brilliant performance that led to a 97-78 victory after trailing by 15 in the first half.  They gained a berth in Saturday’s gold-medal game.  Did you watch it?  They’ll meet the French who pulled off a stunning late rally for an 83-76 upset of the Americans two weeks ago.
  7.  Did you know that the Toronto Blue Jays are a team loaded with players who had or have relatives in the big show in the past?  Cavan Biggio is the son of Craig.  Bo Bichette is the son of Dante.  And, of course, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the son of Vlad Sr.  But, there’s one more.  Lourdes Gurriel is the brother of current major leaguer Yuli Gurriel.   Genes.
  8. Vlad Jr. leads the bigs with a 1.061 on-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS).  That’s really good, but only good enough to rank 169th all-time for a single season.  Who had the best single-season ever?  Barry Bonds owns the top two spots with a 1.40 and 1.38 back in 2004 and 2002.  Babe Ruth owns an incredible 7 of the top 15 years of all time.  And rest assured the only juice Babe was on he drank.
  9.  Who has the shortest odds to get to the World Series as this AM?  The Dodgers are even money to advance in the NL.  It’s odd odds, if you will, as the SF Giants lead that division by four games.  Vegas knows.  In the AL, it’s the Houston Astros at +165.  BBR sees value in San Diego in the NL at +470 and Tampa Bay in the AL at +430.
  10. They have built it, and they will come.  And, they are getting throwback dressy for the shindig.  Ahead of the “Field of Dreams” game in Iowa on Aug. 12, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox unveiled their 20th century inspired team jerseys for the first-time special event.  The Sox ones are cool and way old school.  The Yankees look like the same old same old.

Enjoy the weekend.  BTS is near.

 

 

 

 

Guardians of Education

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

 

In case you missed it(ICYMI), yesterday the Kansas City Chiefs announced that they will retire Warpaint, their longtime Native American/Indian pony mascot that has roused fans at Arrowhead Stadium since 1955.

If you’re quite young or quite woke you very likely did not need the “ICYMI.”  In fact, you might be ROTF that we included it.  But if you’re a bit older, or not so woke, you might be asking WTF.

“We feel like it’s time to retire Warpaint,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan exclaimed. “Lot of reasons for that, but we just feel like it’s the right thing to do. So, Warpaint won’t be running at Arrowhead anymore.”

“We’ll continue the conversations,” Donovan added. “We’ll continue to take the path that we’ve taken. As I said, educating ourselves and educating our fans, creating opportunities to create awareness is important.”  Perhaps Donovan’s middle initials are PC?

“We made some significant changes last year, which we are proud of and we believe were the right things to do,” he emphasized.  Donovan also said that they are still considering eliminating the war drumbeat that opens up home games. Though, opposition to that is high.

Does that matter though if it’s yet another creative opportunity to create awareness?  Create, create, and create.

All of this comes just a few days after the Cleveland Indians renamed and rebranded themselves as the Cleveland Guardians.

How did the city that once was so polluted it caught its own river on fire get from the Indians to the Guardians?  The Guardians of Traffic statues have flanked both sides of the Hope Memorial Bridge since 1932. Each of the four-winged Art Deco figures sports winged helmets and crowns, and each statue holds a different vehicle to signify “the spirit of progress in transportation,” per bridge engineer Wilbur Watson.

That’s right Indian fans, you now get to cheer for progress in transportation.  Go Electric Car, Go!  But, stay out of the river.

Meanwhile, back in KC, what’s left to educate us?  Maybe it’s time for the nickname “Chiefs” to go.

If the Washington Football Team drops Football Team and actually gets to a nickname, maybe KC could be PC for a year and be the KC PC Football Team.  And, a year later they could evolve into the Kansas City Educators as their team president so succinctly told us they were doing above.

Washington, the team formerly known as the Redskins, is down to a scant few choices for nicknames.  Could one be the Washington Politically Correct?

Who knew just how uneducated and close-minded we all were?

The Atlanta Braves know.

For now.

NVM.

 

 

 

The Spirit of St. Louis

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In 1903 the Wright brothers’ first flight ever went about 300 yards .  Twenty-four years later Charles Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis 3600 miles nonstop across the Atlantic from New York to Paris.  America applauded and St. Louis roared.

In 1995 the NFL Los Angeles Rams relocated to St. Louis.  Twenty years later the St. Louis Rams completed the round trip relocating to Los Angeles from St. Louis.  America sighed and St. Louis cried.

St. Louis contends that once Stan Groenke fully bought out his previous partners it was all but wheels up for the franchise to head west.  And after a series of legal steps and missteps, a lawsuit hit the NFL yesterday like the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome used to hit Archie Manning.

The massive lawsuit filed by St. Louis against the NFL over the relocation of the Rams will (barring a settlement) culminate with a full-blown trial, which is due to begin just as the Rams prepare to host a Super Bowl in their new stadium.

In short, the Rams felt that they had every right to break their agreements and stadium lease in St Louis in 2015, while St. Louis did and still does not.  The Rams cited serious deficiencies in their then existing stadium, serious revenue shortages in their proposed riverfront new one, population stagnation, and lack of predicted future growth as legal and otherwise reasons to take flight.

The Rams took their case to the NFL heavyweights to ask for permission to log a flight plan.

The NFL publicly granted that permission while knowing that Groenke had purchased a massive amount of land in LA to relocate the team there and surround it with a multi-billion dollar entertainment and housing complex.

This became known in a phone call between the Rams owner, a few other owners, and none other than the Commissioner who presides over wrongdoings and punishment in NFL matters,

Roger Goodell.  During the conversation, Kroenke said, “I’m going to buy two parcels of land and build a stadium in L.A.,” and that he’s trying very hard to stay under the radar screen and keep it hidden. Goodell said, “We will respect your confidentiality.”

The judge, who made the ruling from the bench (which means the evidence pointing to it was clear), concluded that clear and convincing proof exists to support a finding that those individuals operated fraudulently.

At the heart of it, Rams COO Kevin Demoff gave Goodell talking points regarding the land purchase for his pre-Super Bowl press conference in 2014. Here’s part of what he said, “Stan is a very successful developer. He has billions of dollars of projects that are going on around the country in real estate development. So I think instead of overreacting, we should make sure we do what’s necessary to continue to support the team locally as the fans have done in St. Louis.  There are no plans to my knowledge of a stadium development.”

And, soon thereafter St. Louis’ heart was broken.

And, now the plaintiffs in the litigation shall have access to information regarding the financial worth of Commissioner Roger Goodell and five NFL owners: Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Giants owner John Mara, and former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.

The financial info is necessary as a barometer to determine the punitive damages if the defendants are ruled guilty and restoration is to be paid.

The old saying is “money talks.”  But, old people with money don’t like others talking about their money.

The city of St. Louis, which feels like their community was harshly and unfairly criticized, won a game yesterday v. the entire NFL.

But, they should remember that the entire USFL once won an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL and got treble the damages caused by the heinous NFL actions.

The damage awarded by a jury was exactly one U.S. dollar.

The lawyers got rich.  The NFL got richer and richer.  And, the USFL got three dollars to fold into their wallet before they folded their league.

So, stay tuned.  If nothing else, one should admire the spirit of St. Louis.

Limit-Five Nuggets per Reader

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Happy Fourth of July soon enough!  BBR starts its midyear conference tomorrow through 7/6.  It will be replete with sand, sun (hopefully), food, adult beverages, and fireworks.

Our intent today, getaway day, was to bring you a serving of Ten Piece Nuggets.  But, with inflation the way it is trending, and labor and commodity shortages what they are, we are forced to limit the product much like toilet paper of a year gone by.

So, as they say-eat slowly.  You’ll get filled up unless you’re looking for gasoline.

Five nuggets follow.

  1. Gas prices across the United States are at their highest level since late 2014 with shortages predicted in the run-up to the Fourth of July holiday weekend.  According to AAA, the national average on Tuesday is about $3.11 per gallon and by this weekend, that figure may rise another nickel. Gas station signs in LA yesterday showed $5.29 a gallon, while prices topped off at $5.95 a gallon in NY to top it off.  The Yankees might be fourth in MLB’s NL East, but they’re first in price per gallon. Tell the last person leaving NY to turn out the lights.

  2. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.), warned Monday that the pandemic is not over and said it is not yet time to return to normal and “encourage a lot of social mixing.”   Good luck with that.  Last week, W.H.O. officials began urging vaccinated individuals to wear masks again over variant concerns.  Good luck with that as well.  According to CNN, the rise of the Delta variant could have Biden administration officials rethinking public health measures.  Didn’t they just pat themselves on the back with the nation’s vaccination milestones?  Enter the Delta variant.

  3. The old and successful tactic of doing one thing and blaming/accusing the other side of doing it was on full display earlier this week.  When the latest city homicide figures splashed across the various mediums, the Dems went on the offensive.  The trigger(pun intended)?  The year-over-year death totals spiked dramatically.  The Democrats then took to the airwaves blaming the Republicans for wanting to defund the police.  What’s scarier than soaring homicide rates?  People believing the Democrat’s line is what is scarier.  Most interesting of all is that nearly all of the cities with runaway percentages are run ship to stern by the party whose mascot is a donkey.
  4.  Turning to sports-the Indianapolis Colts received approval Tuesday to host full capacity crowds at their home games this season, becoming the final NFL team to receive approval from their local government.  We’d have bet money that one of the left coast or NY teams would have been the last.  Maybe that’s why they’re referred to as progressive after all?  We’ll soon see if one or more of the 32 teams craters to the big variant scare.
  5. And, in the dog days of summer, the Mississippi St. Bulldogs have an opportunity tonight to accomplish a first in school history.  Moo St. has never won a major college title in any of the big-time sports.  Never.  After getting walloped by Vanderbilt in the College Baseball World Series game one (8-2), the Bulldogs growled last evening.  They evened the series at one apiece with a 13-2 blowout of the Commodores.  Errors and walks have dominated both lopsided scores.  Tonight, both teams throw their aces on short rest.  We can’t envision a blowout tonight.  But, we could see a third straight rain-delayed start.  Vandy has a chance to go back to back as they won it all in 2019.  The 2020 season, like Democrats’ cries to defund the police, never happened.

Enjoy the fireworks.  And, enjoy not wearing a mask at least for now.

 

 

 

Can Lightning Strike Thrice?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Has any city ever held more than one major championship trophy in the same year?  Yes.  In fact, when you consider the four major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) it has happened twelve times.  “It” is owning two titles at the same time.

The city of New York dominates with half(6) of these occurrences.  Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit share the other six times with two for each city.

The most recent is actually current.  In 2020 the Lakers and the Dodgers each took home the trophy.  Six of the years were prior to 1953, or over 68 years ago when far fewer cities had professional franchises.

But has any city ever held more than two major championships in a year(note year, not concurrently)?  No.

But, could it happen in 2021?  Say hello to the Bay Area.  Nope, don’t wave at San Franciso.  It’s the Tampa Bay area.

With one down, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady beat Kansas City in Super Bowl LV,  the city of Tampa needs two more to get there.

Last evening the Tampa Bay Lightning skated around, through, and faster in a game one rout of the Montreal Canadiens in the Lord Stanley’s NHL Finals. Winning a hockey game by a score of 5-1 is like winning an NFL playoff game by four touchdowns.  It was a beatdown.  Ah, but one game does not fill the old beat-up trophy with champagne, at least not yet.

Enter the Tampa Bay Rays into the conversation, please.  As the MLB 2021 season is very near the halfway mark in the regular season Tampa Bay owns the second-best record in the American League while trailing division leader Boston by one game in the standings.

The Rays do it on a shoestring budget and they do it with a lot of talent and heart.  Fluke?  Hardly.  The Rays lost in the ALDS in 2019 and in the World Series last year.  They have youth, enough experience, enthusiasm, super talent, and a very game manager.

The Bucs did it.  That’s one.

The Lightning look like a really good bet to do it.  They were 3-1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup prior to the game one dismantling of the Canadiens.  They quite likely will be two.

The Rays have a ways to go.  And, the National League is loaded with good to great teams such as the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants.

Alas, the dog days of summer are here.  And, in Tampa lightning is about to strike twice.

Can the Rays light up the sky over the bay a third time come fall?

 

 

Commitment to This Space

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of our staff writers is feeling a bit salty today.

Maybe it’s because he (or she-not sure about their pronouns) went saltwater fishing yesterday.  Or, more likely, it’s not.

The sports world giveth, and then sometimes the sports world taketh.

On Monday, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.  To this, we say, no worries.

His sexual orientation is his own business and that he chose to make it our business was “no biggie.”  It’s very well known that a percentage of NFL players past and present are gay.

But, this is just another important step you say?  After all, he’s the first to announce this while an active player.

What would be an important step is if this wasn’t an important step, rather if it was just another day.   “I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary.”

Boom, we think he nailed it.

But, well, the timing has us a bit puzzled.  It’s smack in the middle of Pride Month.  Coincidence?  Not likely.  Still, it takes confidence, so we guess there’s that.

He also announced a $100K donation to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth.  That sounds like a very worthy cause.  The “I’m a pretty private person” comment and this public donation seem to collide a bit.  But, we’ll still give the benefit of the doubt.

Then, there’s the NFL.

The league announced Tuesday it too is donating $100,000 to The Trevor Project, which is the leading national organization centered on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth.

“The NFL is committed to year-long efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the league said in a statement. “We proudly support the LGBQT+ community and will continue to work alongside the Trevor Project and our other community partners to further enhance our collective work and commitment to this space.”

How many times do you think that the NFL PR Department and Commish Goodell read over that release before its release?  Plenty.  But, not nearly enough.

“Commitment to this space?” Good lord!  It sounds more like an investment a venture capitalist makes to the burgeoning space known as artificial intelligence or cloud computing, etc.

We submit that the NFL just can’t help itself these days.  Sure, its business model is somewhere between great and otherworldly.  But, it’s been behind and further behind the entirety of its own woke movement.  Transparency in the workplace is a desired process.  That’s a good thing for the NFL because you can see right through it.

They will “continue to work alongside the Trevor Project.”  Continue means doing what you’ve been doing before, doesn’t it?  A search of the NFL’s affiliation with the project prior to Monday came up empty.

It came up as empty as the PR release came up empty.

The 28-year-old defensive end was a third-round pick in the 2016 draft, previously played for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before signing a three-year, $25 million deal with Las Vegas in 2020.

His on-field performance last year fell WAY short of expectations for an $8 million a year player.  Oakland had better get their PR department working now on a release that they may need to drop if/when he becomes a training camp salary cap casualty.

But, if they’re smart they won’t ask the NFL to help with the wording.

 

 

Trade Up for a Franchise QB?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The words “franchise” and “quarterback” go together in the NFL like “hammer” and “nail” do in the construction business.

Every team has a quarterback or three.  But, not every team has what anyone will tell you is the most important piece to success- a franchise quarterback.  A deep playoff run, much less a Super Bowl win, is highly improbable without one.

In this century (if you consider the year 2000 as part of this century) 25 times a team has traded up to be able to say “we got our guy.”  When you use the draft book that all teams use to value every slot in the entire draft, you figure that, on average, a team trading up to get the next Patrick Mahomes gives up an additional 1st round pick to do so.

A first-round pick is gold.  NFL teams’ highest hit rate on success is in round one and with the salary cap that successful pick is under contract for arguably less than half of his worth in free agency.  That’s called value and that’s how you win in the NFL-you have more talent under the same salary cap.

So, to give one up is to give up a lot.  So, how have the 25 trade-ups fared?  You’d think quite well considering all that goes into player personnel research.

The answer is good, ok, and downright ugly.

Good

In 2017 The Kansas City Chiefs sent their first, 2018 first, and a third-rounder to move to number 10 overall to take the aforementioned Patrick Mahomes.  One SB win, another appearance, three Pro Bowls, and one MVP later make this move not only good, but bordering on genius.

In that same draft, the Houston Texans traded two firsts for 15 spots up to nab DeShaun Watson.  Twenty lawsuits off of the field aside (and that’s one big aside when he’s the face of the franchise) his on-field development has been worthy.

Honorable mention for this level goes to the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen as well as the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson.

Ok

Joe Flacco only cost the Ravens a swap of ones, a third, and a sixth to move up eight spots to get him 18th overall.  While not elite he was special in their 2012 postseason and SB win with 11 touchdowns and no picks.  Flacco played 11 years with the Ravens and won 96 while losing 67.

The Rams traded multiple picks and got three in return for the first pick of 2016 for Jared Goff.  The price was steep.  The results were ok.  Goff led the Rams to the SB once, made the playoffs in three of the five years he was there, and posted a 42-27 overall mark.  But, Sean McVay fell out of love with Goff and shipped him to the NFL’s version of hell (Detroit) this offseason.

Others considered at this level are Jay Cutler (35k passing yards) and Michael Vick (rushed for over 900 yards in two seasons and went 38-28 as a starter before he got into trouble with the law).

Ugly

Amazingly the list is long at this level and picking the biggest winner (or loser) is tough.  “Lipstick” and “pig” come to mind, not “franchise” and quarterback.”

Johnny “Heisman” Manzel takes first (last) place here.  He appeared in 14 games in two seasons for the Browns.  And, with many off of the field problems he never played another down in the NFL.  Bust is thy name.

Tim Tebow cost Denver a second, third, and fourth-rounder to get into the bottom of round one. in 2010.  Tebow was out of the NFL by 2013.  He started 14 games, though one was a miracle first-round win over Pittsburgh in the 2011 playoffs.

The Browns make the board again with the selection of Brady Quinn in 2007.  He stated and played poorly in 12 games in the NFL.  The price to swap one’s was a high second-rounder.

Others in consideration were Josh Rosen (Cardinals) who could easily be in the above top three, Paxton Lynch (Broncos) with four starts and a league exit in two years, and J.P. Losman (Bills) who defined mediocrity in five mediocre Bills’ seasons from 2004-2008.

 

Five quarterbacks will likely go in the first round on Thursday night.  Teams reach every year to find Mr. Right.

In case you are wondering, Ryan Leaf was drafted in 1998 and therefore wasn’t considered for the above.

Had he been two years younger we would have needed a category below “UGLY.”

One or more of the five Thursday could join him.

Who will that be?  That would require a crystal ball.