Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Hero worshiping fools

There was a time many years back when many golf fans and pundits would bet on Tiger Woods to win any particular tournament over the rest of the entire field.

And it wasn't a bad bet. From the late 90s to maybe 2008, Woods had the most dominant decade the golf world had even seen, seemingly winning damn near everything.

But that was then. Fast forward. Now is a lot different.

Eldrick Tont has won a grand total of one tournament in the past five years. It just happened to be the last one of the prior golf season.

Yet fools persist. Some have the audacity -- see stupid -- to think taking Woods over the entire field today is a decent bet.

The various world golf rankings have dear Tiger somewhere between #10 and #20. And they want to take THIS guy over the entire field? HAHAHAHAHAHA.

A much more appropriate bet would be wagering on if Eldrick will make the cut in any tournament. That's about a coin flip these days.

Former NY Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera is another example of duh getting in the way of common sense.

Soon to be up for Hall of Fame consideration, some geniuses think he might be the first guy to score 100% on the first ballot of Hall voters.

Please.

The dude was a relief pitcher. Granted, a very good one, but still very limited in his abilities. He was only good for pitching one inning -- two tops. He never had to bat, or run the bases, or field anything other than the occasional ground ball back to the pitcher's mound. Truly a one dimensional player with little stamina at that.

Yet again, fools persist. Somehow they've come to the mind-numbing conclusion that this guy is more worthy of Cooperstown than the likes of Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, or Ty Cobb, the very first inductee. But none of them got 100% of the votes. What are these people smoking anyway?

To boot, how in the HELL did Cal Ripken Jr. receive the highest percentage of votes ever? There was nothing spectacular about him. Pretty good fielder, decent hitter, average arm, and no speed to speak of. He just played a long time, breaking Lou Gehrig's "Iron Man" record. And he wouldn't have done that if his daddy hadn't been his manager for so many years with the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken often played while he was hurt, to the detriment of the team. No other manager would have allowed that.

It's the whole "hero" thing. Everybody's a hero these days. Cops for merely doing their jobs. And OMG, anybody in the military. Heroes all. They're handing out medals faster than your average Olympics.

Case in point. Not long ago, yours truly worked alongside a guy that used to be in the US Navy. He enlisted to serve his country, and hopefully get to sail hither and yon seeing parts of the world he would never have a chance of seeing otherwise. He was in for four years.

And never set foot on a ship.

Nope, according to my bud, he wound up doing most of his time in Norfolk -- he called it "No-f-ck" Virginia, at a big naval base there.

So while others were in the "sea-going" Navy, by his account he was in the "golf-playing" Navy.

And still he received various medals, another regular "hero", which he laughs about to this day.

Heroes, heroes, everywhere.

Everybody's the greatest -- until the next one comes along in about 15 minutes.

It not only takes away from those that are truly deserving of the honor, but is getting so watered down as to be sickening.



Sunday, January 20, 2019

NFL playoff results

Two games. Both went into overtime. Pretty weird. Both visiting teams won. Weirder yet.

In the NFC contest, one thing was for sure. An Irish head coach named Sean was going to win. Also the same was going to lose.

And the New Orleans Saints got jobbed. Ripped off. About as close to cheating as you can get.

With a chance to put the game away, Drew Brees lofted a pass to running back Alvin Kamara, and Kamara got blasted -- before the ball got there by an LA Rams defensive back. It was blatant. Obvious. But no flag.

How in the world can the supposed "best" officials in the league have missed it? Sean Payton and his crew have every reason to be pissed. You'd think in a game of this magnitude, the refs could at least get it right on such an "in your face" play. Good grief, Stevie Wonder could have seen that foul.

Well OK, maybe those things happen once in a while. And all credit to the Rams place kicker, one Greg Zuerlein. With a chance to officially win the game, he nailed a whopping 57 yard field goal. To boot, no pun intended, it was even more impressive considering the ball was about as high as the top of the goalposts when it sailed through. That kick would have been good from 70 yards, maybe 75. A colossal boot it was. It's only a matter of time before the current field goal record of 64 yards falls. A team just has to be in the right position, at the right time of the game. Just before the half, or towards the end like this one.

So the Rams head to the Super Bowl, and good for them. In a few days everybody will forget about the blown call, except maybe the Saints. But it doesn't matter. What's done is done. They will face.....


The New England Patriots, who damn near needed a miracle themselves to squeak by the KC Chiefs. Between Tom Brady and his receivers, they were quite un-Patriot like. See the Pats up 7-0 getting ready to score another TD. And Brady makes a bone-headed throw into the end zone where his pass was intercepted.

As the game went on and KC finally got something going, it looked for the longest time as if that pick would come back to haunt #12 and the Pats. Maybe cost them the game. Also, his receivers kept having the ball go through their hands winding up being intercepted as well. And who's that tight end of the Pats with the hands of stone? Betcha he won't be there next year.

Still, when crunch time was on -- as in OT, old #12 pulled another rabbit out of his hat. He marched the Pats down for the winning TD. Game over.

Yet that also didn't seem fair. OK, the Pats won the coin toss and elected to receive in OT. Of course they did.

Thing is, the Chiefs and QB Patrick Mahomes never even got the ball. It's a weird rule in the NFL. If the team that initially has the ball scores a TD, it's game over. But if they only get a field goal, the other team gets a chance to tie or win the game. How can that possibly be righteous? In this case, it all boiled down to the fifty-fifty chance of winning a coin flip. So like Sean Payton, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid probably isn't too happy right about now either.Maybe the powers that be in the NFL will finally get their heads out of their arses and see now dumb this rule is. And change it.

Nevertheless,it will be the New England Patriots squaring off against the LA Rams in the Super Bowl in Atlanta.

And a dandy of a game it should be.

Bring it on.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

NFL playoffs

To no great surprise, the top two seeds in each conference have made it to the finals. And a couple of good games they should be indeed.

New England @ Kansas City.

A tough call. Young KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been quite the sensation all year, even among the runners for MVP. And the Chiefs ARE playing at home, at probably the loudest stadium in the entire league. An offensive dynamo to be sure. Lots of points.

But they also give up lots of points. Not so good on the defensive side.

Once again, Bellichick, Brady and Co. seem to be getting it done with smoke and mirrors. Who is this Tony Michel running back that nobody ever heard of before? For that matter, only the Pats could make stars out of receivers like Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan. Quick, name anybody on New England's defense. I can't, but they seem to get the job done. That's some seriously good coaching.

Given home field is a 3 point advantage, the bookies listing KC as 3 point favorite means they consider the teams even otherwise.

And, as mentioned above, KC is a mighty tough place for any visiting team to play.

Still, it's Brady and it's the conference finals. Against a rookie on the other side.

Bet against the Pats at your own peril. I like them to prevail in this contest.

And now a word from our sponsors.

While channel surfing various sports shows, yours truly came across an ad from Tata Technologies. Not sure what product they produce, but given a name like that, my first guess would be some sort of push-up bras or breast implants. Would seem to make sense, but no time for that nonsense.  Click.

LA Rams @ New Orleans Saints.

Lots of similarities to the AFC contest. A young hotshot QB in Jerod Goff going up against the wily old veteran Drew Brees. Both offenses can score a ton of points. And once again, the Vegas wise guys have the home team as a 3 point favorite.

Another tough call. But despite the Rams having arguably the best defensive player in the league in Aaron Donald, truly a beast on the D-line, the Saints are capable of playing some serious team defense. And the Rams have shown a few chinks in their armor in recent weeks.

Gimme the Saints to win, but not sure if they'll cover. Think it will be a close one, the proverbial nail biter, maybe even a last second field goal deciding it.

Nonetheless, these are four REALLY good teams -- nary a pretender in the bunch -- slugging it out. And that's the way it should be.

Bring it on.






Thursday, January 10, 2019

The Sports Illustrated kiss of death

I admit it. I've been a subscriber to Sports Illustrated for many, many years. Hey, a guy has to have SOMETHING to read while on the "throne". And since Mad magazine underwent a wholesale "makeover", which has resulted in it being decidedly not interesting nor remotely humorous anymore, these are desperate times.

But one thing remains constant. The Sports Illustrated kiss of death. Their "cover jinx" has become almost legendary. If they feature an athlete on said cover, you can pretty much bet he or she is going crash and burn sometime soon.

The most recent issue is a good example. See SI plaster Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on the cover, replete with such lofty praise as "might be best SEC QB ever", and "main man".

See TT and the Crimson Tide get absolutely scorched by Clemson in the national title game. 44-16 isn't exactly a close call. It was a blow-out and probably should have been even worse. See TT throwing interceptions, getting sacked on crucial plays, and finally getting yanked out of the game because he was so ineffective. Heckuva job, SI. You've done it again.

See SI talk about the "playoff bound" Minnesota Vikings. BANG. See the purple gang get smoked at home in the final regular season game and find themselves out of said playoffs. Heckuva job, SI. You've done it again.

Over the years, see SI's NFL "guru" Peter King make his fearless, and most often clueless predictions as to how the playoffs will turn out. It has become evident over the years that Mr. King couldn't "pick" his nose with a power auger, let alone be a reliable handicapper of football games. Who are the nitwits that keep referring to this guy as some sort of Nostradamus? Murphy's Law would be more like it. If there's any possible way King can get it wrong, rest assured he WILL get it wrong.

And finally on the same cover SI refers to one William Nack. I'd never heard of him before, but evidently he was quite the authority on the Kentucky Derby. His "final masterpiece" contained in the issue was quite touching and inspiring at that.

Thing is, Mr. Nack has been deceased since last April. According to my math, that means it took SI nine months to get around to publishing his story after he died.

But perhaps something good, or at least not bad, is afoot here. Considering Mr. Nack has long been dead, it would really tough for even Sports Illustrated to jinx him any further.

Here's what every sports fan should hope for.

That SI does not, repeat NOT feature their favorite player or team with an article, much less put he/she/it on the cover.

Cuz if they do, one way or the other, chances are they're going down.

Perhaps spectacularly in a ball of flames, like the above-mentioned Tua Tagovailoa. See his potential NFL draft stock go from likely first-rounder to maybe even not being on the board any longer. Unless he recovers in the next year or to at Bama, no given.

Yep, heckuva job, SI.

You've indeed done it again.






Wednesday, January 9, 2019

More REALLY dumb things

So the NY Jets have hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase as THEIR new head coach? True, Todd Bowles was a clueless disaster during his tenure there, but Gase? Isn't he the same clown that presided over the floundering Dolphins the last few years? That's like up-dating your old Yugo with an equally old Ford Pinto. Dumb.

See the talking heads already yapping about who should be the MVP of the NBA this year. Last time I looked, the season was only about half way through. Guys that had a great first half might tank in the second -- and vice versa. Guys can get hurt. Any number of things can happen before the regular season is over. To talk about this nonsense now is, well, dumb.

See the constant rumor that former Detroit Piston Chauncey Billups might be hired somewhere in the NBA as either a head coach, or, OMG, general manager. Hey, this guy can barely speak coherently on the afternoon sports talk shows. And some club is going to pay him countless millions to lead them to the proverbial "promised land"? Good luck with THAT. Dumb.

I LOL every time I hear the chant of "Tiger is back". Back from what? Being a serial wife-cheater? Acting like a royal spoiled brat away from the cameras but a perfect gentleman when he knows they're rolling? Cursing and otherwise behaving like a heathen on the course when things don't go his way? Shamelessly still taking millions of dollars in endorsements when he hasn't been remotely competitive for years? Oh wait, don't tell me. He's found love interest in something that isn't a white, blond girl. You know what's REALLY dumb about all this? The thousands of lemmings that still consider Eldrick Tont their hero. A role model even. What comes after REALLY dumb on the stupid scale?

Here's what I want to know. If the Green Bay Packers are indeed owned by their "fans", then who decides who their President, GM, and other front office personnel will be? As in, has the power to hired and fire coaches. Do they have an annual caucus? Town hall meetings? Or has this always been a farce, a scam played on the gullible fans? After all, apparently they can "buy in" but never "sell". What kind of shyster scheme is this? Would you invest in that? I love the city of Green Bay, but this is dumb, and quite possibly illegal.

But the REALLY dumbest thing of the week?

Yours truly.

I thought Alabama would easily defeat Clemson.

So OK, I'm an idiot.

But it did my heart a lot of good to see Nick "the prick" Saban and his Tide machine get so thoroughly trashed on national TV.

Love ya, Dabo Swinney, and the way you're going about things with such unbridled joy, happiness, and enthusiasm.

Nothing dumb about that at all.

Just old-fashioned good stuff from the heart.

And it's kinda catchy.











Monday, January 7, 2019

All hail Clemson. National Champions!!!

Yours truly had to see it to believe it. Yeah, I knew Clemson was a really good team, but beating mighty Alabama for all the marbles seemed to be a bit much. Even the bookies saw it that way, with the Tide going off as about a 5-6 point favorite.

What NOBODY expected was the absolute beat down the Tigers put on Nick Sabin's crew. 44-16 speaks for itself.

This, with star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence out of the game and a true freshman quarterback in Trevor Lawrence. No relation, pretty sure. They certainly don't look anything alike. LOL

So Clemson becomes the first and only team in the "playoff era" to finish a perfect season at 15-0. With a resounding thrashing of Alabama to cap it off.

True, Clemson had a couple close calls along the way. They barely got past Texas A&M on the road, and curiously enough lowly Syracuse gave them a scare at home. But those sort of things happen during the course of a long season. True champions find a way to win when they're not playing at their best.

The two game playoff itself showed a whole different story. In the semis they throttled a previously undefeated Notre Dame team to the tune of 30-3. Roughly four touchdowns worth. Yeah, I know. The Irish are typically over-rated, but they'd clawed their way up to #3 in the national rankings, so that's saying something.

Yet most thought #1 ranked Alabama was the best team in the country. Maybe Clemson could "hang" with them, but knock them off? Highly unlikely.

And then BAM. Along comes the 44-16 slaughter mentioned above. Speaking of four touchdowns worth.....

So yep, all hail Dabo Swinney and his mighty orange Tigers.

Worthy champions indeed.

And the Alabama faithful notwithstanding, count me among those that got a great deal of satisfaction watching one Nick Sabin and his bunch get taken to the woodshed.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Kinda gets ya right -- urp -- there -- ya know?






Saturday, January 5, 2019

NFL Wild card weekend

So there I was, sitting at a local watering hole playing a video game, and minding my own business. Full disclosure --  my significant other, sometimes known as a girlfriend/old lady,whatever, is the bartender at that particular establishment on Saturdays until six. Which means I normally get pretty good service, unless I've pissed her off about something. Today was not one of those days. I was in good standing. Thank you for small favors, lord.

Then in walked a stranger who plopped down next to me and asked if he could change the channel on one of the TVs closest to us. I didn't care. Wasn't watching it anyway. Turns out, the Indy/Houston game was getting underway.

DAMN!! I forgot all about wild card weekend in the NFL. Saturday games. Only one thing to do. Pay up, go home, nuke something, and settle in. Bye hon, but gotta go. You know how it is. XOXOX.

First was a game I had a hard time rooting against either team. Who can muster much hate for a guy like Andrew Luck, that's suffered through so much, or a guy like J. J. Watt, who has contributed so much to worthy causes? So I didn't care which teams prevailed. (Turned out to be Indy). Not at all sure how well they'll fare at KC next week, but we'll see.

The good news was -- one of these teams had to win. The bad news was, one of them had to go bye-bye until next year.

The later game was the exact opposite. Dallas and Seattle?  I have a really hard time finding a reason to root for either.

Seahawks' head coach Pete Carroll is a loathsome creature. A few years back, he ran a crooked program at USC, it got busted and slapped with various "sanctions", but Carroll didn't care. He bailed north to Seattle for the big bucks in the NFL leaving the Trojans to deal with the mess he created in the first place. And every time I see him with his little bitty teeth (never trust a guy with rodent choppers -- there's a rat lurking not far under the surface) and chewing gum rapid-fire like your average shyster used car salesman, it makes my stomach turn.

OTOH, there's Dallas. That entails the equally loathsome Jerry Jones, the farce of them calling themselves "America's team", and the bimbo cheer-leaders, who, if you added all their IQs together, might equate to maybe your average potted plant.

The good news is -- one of them has to lose. See ya. The bad news is, one of them gets to play again next week. Arrgh.

It's unknown where one of these unlikables will play next week. Either @ LA Rams, or @ New Orleans. Depends on how the Philly/Chitown game turns out tomorrow.

But regardless, I'll know for sure who to root for, and against, in THAT game.