NFL

Bored With It All

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need fans in the stands.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Greetings from the middle of the country.  It’s 20 degrees cooler here than at the world headquarters of BBR.com.  Regardless, we have some hot takes below.  Ten Piece Nuggets, as random as they come, are served.

  1.  Biden’s reluctance to denounce violence after his party has all but encouraged it is a losing hand.  Polls told him so.  That’s why he reluctantly, finally said as much, ever so meekly earlier this week.  The public opinion for who is to blame for the “peaceful” violence shows up strongly in the latest JP Morgan Chase poll.  It shows an 8 point swing to Trump from Biden and advises investors that they see the race as 50/50% with a 5-6% unknown of respondents perhaps duping them by stating that they were Biden supporters but in fact are Trump supporters.  Hmm.
  2. Remember when Hillary famously said, “if you get him, you get me?”  She was referring to William Jefferson Clinton when he was running for President.  Well, if you get Joe Biden you get Kamala Harris.  And you get all that’s behind curtain number three says Monty as Joe is doing his best Weekend at Bernie’s impersonation of Bernie.  No, not Sanders.
  3. So who is Kamala (comma la)?  Is she the aggressive States’ Attorney General of Cali who drew significant criticism for throwing the book at criminals and refusing to hear appellate claims?  Or, is she the person who asked for donations through a fund set up to provide bail money for arrested “peaceful” rioters in Minnesota? Or is she a political chameleon?
  4. Nearly four years ago America rejected, first in the Republican primaries, then in the general election, all career politicians.  Like him or not Trump disposed of Graham, Rubio, and Bush first.  Then after Bernie (this time Sanders) stayed too long and wore Hillary Clinton down, Trump took her out.  Four years later you have a government career of 40 plus years in Biden and a career of approaching 30 years in government in Harris.  Will the pendulum swing back that far that fast?  The general election is nine short weeks from today.
  5. The President has momentum from the GOP convention and the above-mentioned polls on national violence.  Will Biden emerge from the basement and actually campaign or debate in person?  Incumbent Governor of Washington Jay Inslee (D) won’t.  Rush Limbaugh speculated yesterday that Inslee would be the first of many Democrats on the undercard to duck a face to face debate in an attempt to give cover to Biden to stay hiding.  Muhammed Ali emerged from a few rounds of “rope a dope.”  Will Biden?  He actually campaigned in person yesterday in Pennsylvania, home of Punxsutawney Phil ironically.
  6.  Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is in so far over his head that he doesn’t even know which side of the narrative to take, so he takes both.  Take a look at his succession of tweets here.
  7. Madame Speaker Pelosi had her head in a washbasin yesterday.  She must have needed a wash prior to a dye of those pesky 80-year-old grey roots popping up again.  She also forgot her mask.  San Francisco, home of the speaker and the beauty salon, is a county that has not yet allowed salons to reopen.  Oops.  “It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” salon owner Erica Kious told Fox News.  Will she blame it all on Trump today?  Surely some of the greys are his doing.
  8.  Would the Saints trade Alvin Kamara (should it be pronounced “comma ra” like Kamala?)?  You bet.  They likey won’t, but savvy GM Mickey Loomis and long time head coach Sean Peyton are wheeler-dealers and have a good deal of house money stored up with ownership.  They’ve never viewed Kamara as an every-down back and they aren’t going to break the bank accordingly.  His year-long nagging injury last year was a great equalizer to his vaunted elusiveness and furthered their view.  His three-day holdout ends today after they floated his name around the league.
  9. The NFL will follow the NBA and MLB’s lead allowing/encouraging social justice slogans and victim’s names on unis, and the playing field itself.  In fact, Commish Roger Goodell weighed in yesterday.  Citing a police officer shooting Jacob Blake in the back on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Goodell said the incident has “brought forth more feelings of anger, frustration, anguish, fear for many of us in the NFL family.”   NFL “family” member Colin Kapernick refused to comment when contacted by BBR.  Family.  Roger Roger.
  10. Rumor has it that the BIG 10 is strongly considering reconsidering their hasty decision to forgo fall football as well as all fall sports.  In fact, it is more than a rumor.  It leaked late last evening that Kevin Warren, Bug 10 Commish might now try for an early October start.  What’s the difference between Spring(as planned), October (as might be planned), late September (as the SEC. ACC, Big 12, and others have planned), and early September ( as the NFL is doing)?  Nothing.  Politics.  Power.  It’s all based on following the science we are told.  It’s never been based on science.

Time to for a walk in the cool breeze.

 

Preacher Pete and His Sheep

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Screw It!

 

 

The Jury Is Out on BOYCOTT-2020

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Except it won’t.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It worked for OJ.

 

Kneeling and Nielsen Numbers

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What to do, what to do?

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

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

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

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

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

But, 2020 always surprises us.

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

Are you ready for some football?

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports, Random, and News.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s Friday.  And it’s time to get your happy hour started a bit early.  We’ve got ten hor deurves.  You need to make a beer run.  And, do not forget your mask.  To the Ten Piece Nuggets we go.

  1. Joe Maddon, manager of the 8-18 and last place LA Angels, is mad.  He’s tired of seeing SF reliever Shaun Anderson throw at Mike Trout’s head.  “Enough is enough,” Maddon said after Thursday’s 10-5 road loss dropped the Angels’ record to 8-18. “This is the major leagues. There’s a level of accountability here also.”  Just wondering, who should be held accountable for the 8-18 record?
  2. Do you remember when we all used to sing happy birthday to a family member or friend and then have them blow out all of the candles?   Then you would all have a slice of that cake.  Turns out that singing and a strong exhale or two (blow them all out!) might not be what the doctor advises in 2020.  Maybe in 2021?
  3.  The Washington Football Team continues to be in the news.  A few days after hiring the first-ever black President, this time the news isn’t so good.  Washington coach Ron Rivera has been diagnosed with cancer but plans to continue coaching.  Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma located in a lymph node, the team said in a statement. Rivera said the cancer is in the early stages and is considered “very treatable and curable.”   That part is good news.
  4. It’s way too early to deem the NFL protocols a success in holding  COVID-19 at bay.  But, a few days into 32 training camps a total of only four players have tested positive.  It’s a start.  And, there is a long way to go.  The NFL is pretty adamant about starting the season on time.
  5. No so fast NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.  His league is likely to delay its planned Dec. 1 start for the 2020-21 season.  The hope is to get paying fans back into arenas.  The league’s gross revenue is roughly 8 billion with a “b.”  The fans in the areas account for 40% of that, or 3.2 billion still with a “b.
  6. MLB has postponed 34 games this season because of positive tests and counting.  Two Mets’ games this weekend are postponed after two members of the traveling team tested positive yesterday.  MLB soldiers on though.  And, that is a good thing.
  7. The NFL Kansas City Chiefs are putting in place new policies during games at Arrowhead Stadium with regard to Native American imagery.  Fans are now prohibited from wearing headdresses into the stadium. Face painting that is styled in a way as to imitate Native American cultures is also prohibited.  The Arrowhead Chop and the pregame beating of a drum, often by a former player or coach or other local celebrity is also on the chopping block.  Maybe they can announce if the “chop” stays or goes by beginning with, “after further review, the ruling on the field….”  So, let’s see, keep the stadium name of Arrowhead, and keep the arrowhead logo, and keep the name Chiefs is fine.  But the fans, those dreaded creatures, they can’t be allowed to do anything to offend anyone.  After further review, this makes no sense.
  8. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended the Chicago Police Department’s ban on protesters being able to demonstrate on the block where she lives.  She told reporters yesterday that she and her family require heightened security because of threats she receives daily.  If it’s a peaceful protest, as we’ve been told repeatedly by the good mayor,  why worry about safety?  It only takes 51% of the voting population to put someone into office.  Does anyone have a tent big enough to put over the Chicago circus?
  9. Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms suggested that the GOP is using the Chinese coronavirus pandemic to “spread misinformation and interfere with voting,” forcing many to “risk their lives” to exercise their right to vote. Risk their lives?  Really?   It only takes 51% of the voting population to kick someone out of office as well.
  10. Joe Biden’s acceptance speech last night was only 24 minutes long.  But, most analysts and reporters thought it to be quite effective.  Hillary’s was twice as long four years prior.  Fans of the nominee turned out to watch the speech.  The DNC built security walls to barricade supporters and voters into a specific outside area to watch Biden’s speech.  The walls were set up to keep both progressive and conservative protesters at arm’s length.  Again, there was no word on why this was needed for the “mostly peaceful” protests that have been popping up across the country.

Have a peaceful weekend.

 

Bottoms Up!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

What has 2020 had in store for us thus far?  An impeachment was followed by an all-time high on the stock market.  Shortly thereafter a killer virus caused a global pandemic and an American lockdown.  This caused the stock market to retreat beyond a third in the swiftest decent in its history.  As we emerged from our caves a very bad cop knelt on a black man’s neck in Minneapolis who died.  This lead to ten days and counting of “mostly peaceful” protests if you watch CNN, or deadly riots if you watch FOX News.

So what are we going to do for an encore?  Welp.  NASA is watching an asteroid this weekend estimated to be “the size of the Empire State building” that is hurtling towards earth.  While it’s not expected to come close enough to cause any harm we must write in full disclosure that it is 2020.

Freedom of speech has come front and center in the national dialogue (see what we did?) and that is unfortunate for two reasons.  One, it’s called freedom of speech for a reason, so why should we ever need to be concerned about it?  Two, the nation’s opportunity to discuss and debate the needed and proper outcry from the George Floyd death might get garbled by the shift.

The New York Times (the failing NYT if you ask Trump) took much heat for publishing  Senator Tom Cotton’s op-ed piece.  In it, he suggested that Trump call out the military to suppress the oppressed.  An insurrection of its own occurred inside of the NYT.  Subscribers called to cancel as they were outraged at the conservative hit piece.  The NYT staff nearly revolted too.  The paper publically regretted the error and blamed it on a rushed editorial process.  Sure.

The overriding concern was that this gave oxygen to what could put black lives in danger.  That sounds like the opposite of Black Lives Matter.  And, that’s not good for a far left-leaning paper.

A day after Drew Brees spoke his mind he changed his mind.  Then, he apologized publically via Instagram and privately to his teammates in one of those lovely company-wide Zoom conferences.  It’s a shame that WOKE world whiffed at a chance to discuss versus hush.  Thankfully, even-keeled Tony Dungy came to his defense.

During an interview on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, Dungy stood up for Brees’ freedom of speech.  “I don’t downgrade Drew for that. That’s what he said. He may not totally understand, it may have been not exactly how he wanted to express it, but he can’t be afraid to say that,” Dungy said.  We can’t just say anytime something happens that we don’t agree with, ‘I’m done with that, and I’m done with this person.’ That doesn’t make sense. We have to be better than that,” the former Indianapolis Colts coach said.  Ah, so nice to hear a fair and balanced voice of reason in this storm.

Speaking of storms, Baton Rouge and the lower LA coast is expecting flooding this weekend from tropical storm Cristobal slowly heading their way from deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, at least no one was killed in riots last evening.  The stock market has had another great week to date.  The asteroid will miss us, won’t it?

Hopefully, you’re on summer hours at work by this week, or better yet on vacation.  It’s never too early to  start drinking in 2020.  Bottoms up!

 

Brees and Knees

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Drew Brees exercised his right to freedom of speech yesterday.  And, immediate reactions and overreactions poured in from around the sports world.  Woke Nation told everyone who tags, follows, trends, hastags, Snaps, or Instagrams that Saints Nation was ablaze because of it.

The BBR staff sat around a Zoom happy hour last evening.  Dixie beers straight from NOLA were aplenty.  Rather than fret about the short term, we asked “what does this mean long term for Brees’ legacy in New Orleans?”

Our conclusion?  We think that Drew Brees will be the mayor of predominantly black New Orleans the very first time that he runs for the post.  And, we think that he should.  We’ve long thought that he would.  And, we think that eventually, he will.  He has always wanted to make a difference outside of the hash marks.

When you boil it down, Brees said that he stands with his teammates and many others seeking racial equality and justice, but that he would not kneel during the presentation of the flag during the National Anthem that honors many who protected us and fought for our freedom along the way.

Woke Nation was outraged because it’s always important to be immediately outraged.  You cannot break through the massive clutter of social media and stay there unless your take is edgy, passionate, immediate, and progressive.

Former ESPN talking head Jemele Hill tweeted, “Drew Brees is why people shouldn’t assume that just because someone white is around black people that they understand black issues.”  Jemele Hill is why people who have no idea what Brees does off of the field say that they understand Brees.  Do you know what Brees and his Brees Foundation did for many minority families and causes post-Katrina?  No, you don’t.  He wants it that way.  And, his list of charitable efforts and contributions is quite long.

LeBron James tweeted that Brees was still ignorant as to why Kaepernick took a knee and said it had zero to do with the flag.   Thankfully we’ve heard little from LeBron since he told Daryl Morey that he was ignorant about the Chinese (communist) culture and that his words could be so hurtful. That was just after they occupied Hong Kong, but before their China virus broke out, was covered up, was lied about, was contained but wasn’t, and interrupted his NBA season.   We wonder if LeBron is ignorant to the fact that Brees donated about $250k to build a state of the art special needs playground smack dab in the middle of a park in the city last year.

Aaron Rodgers stated, “It has NEVER been about an anthem or a flag. Not then. Not now. Listen with an open heart, let’s educate ourselves, and then turn word and thought into action.”  It sounds like good advice.  Maybe he should listen to what Brees is saying.  Per Packer sources, Rodgers has a difficult time listening with an open head, much less a heart, to his teammates and coaches.  The Green Bay brass like his leadership so much that they traded up, reached, and drafted what they hope will be his replacement with Rodgers still in his prime.

We could go on.  But, what does the three of Jemele, LeBron, and Aaron have in common?  They don’t know Brees.  His family, friends, business associates, teammates, civic leaders, and coaches do.  Ninety-nine percent of them hold him in the very highest regard on and off of the field.

Star receiver Michael Thomas tweeted, “He don’t know no better.”

The nation known as America protects free speech even when it contains double negatives.   It used to embrace it.  The nation known as Woke only embraces it when you speak their language.

Maybe they don’t know no better.

 

 

 

 

The Glass of Water is Half Full

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s hard to look past Minneapolis this morning.  A terrible act of violence is being compounded by multiple bad decisions by city, state, and federal officials.  But, we will look past it.

The glass of water is half full this AM.  Believe it.  The nation had an outdoor party last weekend and a short work week as well.  It’s time to build on that.

Let’s talk about football.

Many plans have been put in place by both the NCAA and the NFL.  For now, with many fingers crossed, it seems like both will start on time and play before live audiences.

Given where we were a few weeks back, we’d be happy if the stadiums could only be, like the glass of water, half full.

For the Jacksonville Jaguars that would be business as usual.  Don’t laugh Rams fans. You’ve been practicing social distancing ever since your team decided to move back a few seasons ago.  The Chargers stadium has been full (all of 30k capacity) but it’s been with opposing fans. Shame, shame.

That aside, plenty of fun is straight ahead we hope.  We hope.

Can Joe Burrow be a savior in Cincy?  How cool will the stadium nearly on the Vegas strip be?  Tom Brady is the QB in Tampa!  What does NE look like without Tom?  Can KC repeat?  How bout dem Cowboys?  Phillip Rivers leads Indy in a wide open division.

Were the LSU Tigers a one-hit-wonder, or is Coach O building the program to another level?  Who will emerge this year from the pack to surprise?  Florida anyone?  Alabama sat home when the playoffs began.  Nick’s probably pretty mad about that.  THE Ohio St. is recruiting so well you’d almost think they were paying their players.  Does Texas get on the national stage?  Oregon is coming.  USC wants to make some noise too.  Is it still Clemson and their sons in the ACC?  Will Oklahoma actually field a defense?  Is Mississippi big enough for two egos named Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin?

We could go on.  And on.  Instead, we’ll pat ourselves on the back for our season win total winners in the NFL in San Fran(over) and Oakland (over) as well as a winning season in bones wagered, hunch bets, and wins for ABBY in the NCAA Friday column.

Soon enough it will all be here.  It’s under 90 days and counting right now.

We’re going to have a weekly bet column from here till the week one kickoff.  It’ll cover a wide range of propositions, teams, divisions, and cover both college and pro.

If you have a thought to share along the way, or a suggestion for a prop bet, drop us a comment or three.

Otherwise, fire up the smoker.

 

 

Rooney Rule Redo

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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