Ezekiel Elliott. C'mon, man

So now the suspension is back on. I lost count after a while, but think this is maybe the tenth or eleventh time Dallas Cowboy running back Ezekiel Elliott's six game suspension has been upheld, reversed, re-upheld, etc.

It all seems to depend on which side can court and judge shop in a favorable venue to get the ruling they want.

What has been lost in the on-going whack-a-mole court mania is the reason it came about in the first place.

Dear Mr. Elliott was alleged by some to have physically abused a fair damsel, sometimes known as a significant other -- or old lady -- whatever.

But he was never even charged with such a crime, much less convicted of same. Therefore, as the always perfect -- right -- American jurisprudence system goes, EE remains innocent until proven guilty. In other words, pure as the driven snow, or perhaps of the same high character and quality of the best white lightning in all of Tennessee. Forget steroids and human growth hormones, just a few snorts of that stuff can make any animal, two-legged or four, run wild as well, but I digress. But I never saw it in the black variety. Go figure.

Nevertheless, enter one Roger Goodell, grand exalted supreme ruler of all things pro football, and sometimes referred to in his lesser capacity as Commissioner of the NFL.

High lord Roger and his minions determined, in their infinite wisdom, that mere commoner Elliot had run afoul of the player conduct code. Off with his head, or at least a six game suspension.

And so it came to pass.

But then it was reversed by one of those pesky courts.

[They tend to get in the way of, ahem, righteous authority at times in those countries dumb enough to keep relying on democratic systems with checks and balances. Unfortunately, the US happens to be one of those backwards countries.]

Then re-instated by another.

Then off again.

On again.

Off, on, off, on, off, until most of us lost count.

Any sort of moral justice went out the window a long time ago. It became, and remains all about winning -- by both sides -- the NFL and the Players Union -- which both have an army of lawyers to keep pressing on.

Do I think EE originally smacked that girl around? Probably. But because no charges were filed, then it becomes like the proverbial tree in the woods falling and trying to determine whether it made any noise while nobody officially witnessed it.

Did Goodell and his merry band of discipline hander-outers have a right to punish such a tree, excuse, Elliott, without any proof of same either? Probably so as well.

It's called a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement whereby any player that casts the league in a negative light can be zapped for doing so.

EE was guilty of this. Or was he?

After all, none of this ongoing court craziness would have happened if Goodell hadn't handed down the suspension -- for a crime that legally never happened -- in the first place.

So who indeed has cast the league in a negative light over all this time?

Maybe Goodell should be given a suspension. And it appears more than a few owners -- his bosses with hiring/firing power -- have become dissatisfied with his performance as their exalted leader.
Dude's making over $40 million a year, which they have to pay for, and he continues to bring them aggravation and bad press?

I dunno who's right and wrong here. I just wish somebody somewhere could make a decision which is binding, and this whole cluster -- you know what -- was decided. Period.

I mean, so what if EE misses a few games? He'll still be raking in millions. And if his absence costs the Cowboys a playoff spot -- so what again? There's no way they were Super Bowl caliber even with him.

And if the league ultimately loses this legal wrangling? Who cares? Maybe their heavy-handed tactics need to be taken down a serious peg. Translation -- you can't zap somebody until proof has been shown they actually committed a crime/violation. In this case, they don't have it. Never did.

Regardless, somebody with the authority to do so, please make a final call and stick to it.

While I'm all for instant replay and the democratic system, this "upon further review" stuff is getting ridiculous.

Detroit Lions reality check.

Over the years it's never ceased to amaze yours truly how gullible fans -- and the local media that continues to lead them down the proverbial primrose path -- are for the Detroit Lions. They willingly drink the same toxic Honolulu blue and silver kool-aid every year. This one is certainly no exception.

Once again, there is talk in Motown about their beloved Lions making the playoffs. Given the puddy-tats have so far been the beneficiaries of every break imaginable through the first half of the 2016 season, it's not beyond the realm of possibility they might -- MIGHT -- indeed qualify for the post-season. More on that to follow. But let's look at how they got where they currently stand, which is at 4-4 halfway through the season.

First up they played the Arizona Cardinals. The Cards have turned out to be a pretty bad team, having given up over 60 more points than they've scored. This does not qualify as a quality win.

Then off to the NY Giants. They're flat-out terrible. Another win, but everybody clobbers the Giants this year.

The Lions caught the Minnesota Vikings, on the road, when the latter was down to their third-string quarterback. Granted, a win, but nothing to crow about.

Same with the recent game in Green Bay. Without Aaron Rodgers -- out with a broken collarbone -- and BTW his replacement Brett Hundley is almost embarrassing -- the Pack are basically floundering.

That's the Lions four wins to date.

On the flip side, the Lions have played the Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints. All of those games have resulted in losses, three of them at home for the Lions.

Pitt, Carolina, and Nawlins have decent records, though the Falcons appear to have developed a Super Bowl loss hangover.

Nonetheless, to date, the record is clear. The Lions beat up on bad teams, or those with their starting QBs out of action, but lose to halfway decent teams.

The second half of the season finds the Lions landing in yet another rose garden.

They have a game with the always woeful Cleveland Browns, perhaps the only NFL franchise more historically inept than that in Detroit.

Two games with division rival Chicago, which has a predictably struggling rookie quarterback learning the hard way under fire.

One with the Baltimore Ravens. They haven't been any good in recent times, nor are they this year.

Another with the Cincinnati Bengals. As long as Marvin Lewis is still the head coach, those equally bumbling puddy-tats aren't going anywhere either.

[Idle thought. How does this guy, after having proven himself so incompetent for over a decade, keep hanging on to his job?]

A contest with the Tampa Bay Bucs, which are rapidly coming apart at the seams.

Another with the Vikings on Thanksgiving Day, at home in Motown. The Lions should give thanks indeed. Always a step away from the injured reserve list, pretty good QB Sam Bradford is back on it. Former starting QB Teddy Bridgewater, out over a year rehabbing a horrific knee injury, may or may not be totally physically ready to go. And even if so, no way will he be fully back up to game day speed by the time this game happens.

Then another home game with the Packers. By then, Green Bay, if they continue to struggle in Rodgers's absence, which would be no surprise, might well have decided to officially shut him down for the season.

This particular broken collarbone, a result of a cheap shot by a Minnesota linebacker, was on his throwing arm side. Even when the doctors clear him to play, how long until #12 feels totally comfortable and back in rhythm throwing his usual passes all over the field? It might be in the Packers favor to let him heal completely and hope for the best in 2018.

So in a nutshell, the Lions have had and will have a ridiculously easy schedule this year. The only four pretty good teams they've faced, or will, defeated them.

They should easily win the vast majority of their remaining games, because they'll be playing the patsies of the league. Only the Vikings even have a winning record, and their QB situation remains very much in flux. Notice they somehow escaped contests with the likes of surprising Philly, New England, the resurgent LA Rams, KC, Seattle, Da Boys in Dallas, even Jacksonville and Buffalo, which have turned out to be pretty good.

They've lived a charmed season indeed, with every possible break going their way so far.

So yes, they might actually make it to the playoffs.

But that is where the kool-aid fueled magic carpet ride in Detroit will likely crash and burn again.

Because if and when THAT happens -- guess what?

No more patsies and rose gardens.

Whoever they face will be a "for real" team.

And so far, to no objective viewer's great surprise, when the Lions have faced true adversity -- they've been drubbed.

Hey, it's just another year of Detroit Lions football. Another campaign of hype -- see the usual suckers jumping on the bandwagon -- with a spectacular crash waiting at the end of it.

One would think they'd learn, but they never do.

Alas.

The tragedy of Roy Halladay

It seems like just yesterday Roy Halladay was mowing down major league hitters. Both during his long tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays and then on to the Philadelphia Phillies, Halladay was among the best in the game.

Two Cy Young awards. An eight time All-Star. And that's just the baseball side.

Nary a whisper of any steroid activity, stepping out on his wife, or any other shenanigans which we hear so much about regarding other professional athletes.

In short, he was all-around good guy. A loving husband and father of two young boys.

And now -- poof -- he's gone -- just like that.

Something obviously went horribly wrong while he was flying his small airplane and it crashed not far off the western coast of Florida. No doubt the authorities will get to the bottom of it in time. But all that doesn't much matter now.

The forty year old is still dead and they're isn't any do-overs. His wife and kids are left to pick up the pieces and hopefully move on.

Yes, I get it. Lots of people die in America (and elsewhere around the world) every day from various causes. Massive violence rears its ugly head way too often. And no, this is not to say Roy Halladay was any more special than the thousands of others that continue to perish every day, again, for various reasons. Every life is precious.

But it seems so awfully sad that a guy like Halladay, who probably still had some "gas in the tank", retired a few years back (2013) so he could spend more time with his family, which he and they will now never have. In another year he'll be eligible for baseball's Hall of Fame, and will likely be a first ballot shoo-in.

To be sure, yours truly never had the pleasure of meeting the man, but I watched his career from afar and definitely appreciated the manner in which he went about it.

A pro's pro on the field and a model citizen off it.

Sometimes, tragically and mysteriously, the good die young indeed.

May he rest in piece and godspeed to his widow, children, other family and friends he left behind.

NFL rules changes

Yours truly would be the first to admit he's a hard-core NFL fan. Have been since I was a kid. From September through the Super Bowl in February, I can't get enough of the stuff.

And yes, I get it. The game itself is predicated on violence. It features the biggest, strongest, fastest gridders in the world that have honed their skills since middle school crashing into each other at high speeds. The nature of the game, as it were.

I further understand that injuries, lots of them, are inevitable. From broken bones, to various torn ligaments, tendons, and muscles, to long term brain damage are part of the package. Everybody knows that.

And it's not like these guys are forced to do it. Quite the contrary. The competition is ferocious for any NFL roster spot. Yes, they get paid well, fly first class and stay in high class quarters while on the road.

So all that said, it's tough to feel much sympathy for guys not only willing, but eager to jump into the arenas of combat.

Yet there are ways to cut down on some of the unnecessary violence if the league would use a common sense approach.

Want to get rid of a lot of the head injuries? Cut the tops off the helmets. Their only function is as battering rams, both offensively and defensively. Leave the sides, facemasks, etc. If they started playing with their heads up, much of the cranial carnage could be avoided. Nobody (hopefully) would be dumb enough to ram their exposed skull into the helmet, body, or pads of an opposing player.

OK, perhaps that will never happen. But let's look at some of the REALLY dumb penalties that are handed out.

1). Any foul that brings a 15 yard penalty with it should result in the immediate disqualification of the perpetrator. Unnecessary roughness, other "personal" fouls, and certainly unsportsmanlike conduct are willful acts. Done on purpose. There has never been a need for any of it. If players start getting bounced for these infractions, the coaches will see to it they don't happen again.

2) Some of these penalties wind up being jokes. I mean, what's the point of assessing a penalty to a defense when the opposing offense has the ball at their "one foot" line? Half the distance go the goal? A few inches? Do you really think that will hold anybody back from delivering a cheap shot? Same thing on extra points. How much sense does it make for the kickoff team to get a 15 yard advantage when any NFL kicker can already boot the ball well into the end zone, if not out of it completely?

Ah, but there's a solution if the league could bring itself to think outside the proverbial box.

When a player/team is zapped for a 15 yard penalty of any variety, let the opposing team have the option of taking it now, or putting it in a "bank" to be withdrawn later at their discretion. With a gridiron version of the "sword of Damocles" hanging over their heads, potential offenders would think long and hard before committing such an infraction.

Let's say Team A had such a penalty in the bank. Team B just made a crucial play, anything from a first down to a touchdown. But wait a minute, Team A pulls out and plays the penalty card. Oops, Team B's prior play is negated and they get marched back 15 yards to try it again. Tell me that wouldn't make these guys straighten up a bunch, and I'll tell you I don't believe it. Sure, let them continue to play the same game like they have since middle school. But this would be a great way to eliminate much of the unnecessary mayhem.

Lastly, what gives with a team committing multiple infractions on the same play only being penalized for one of them? We see it all the time. If a defense got called for a personal foul (and by the new rules the offender is gone), and another infraction for unnecessary roughness (player also gone), that's two 15 yard penalties. So why aren't both assessed for a total of 30 yards?

Better yet, let the offense have the option of taking one of them and putting the other in the bank.

The same would apply for multiple fouls on any offensive team. Let the defense have the same options. If holding and a chop block were called on the same play, march them back 25 yards or let the defense weigh their choices as well.

If just a little common sense, which seems to be in short supply these days (see our fearless leaders in Washington D.C.) were applied to the NFL and, by extension, colleges and high schools, Roger Goodell and Co. could clean up a great deal of the seamy side of football which has not only plagued it for years, but at times made it laughable.

And why, pray tell, would the players and their union object to such rules changes when their long stated cause of making the game safer is so easily attainable?

Half the distance to the goal when the penalty is maybe an inch and ought to be 15 yards?

Get outta here.

Colin Kaepernick and the scrap heap

Just off the top of my admittedly feeble head (I'm too lazy to officially look it all up), I can think of many NFL quarterbacks that have already gone down to injury this year.

Carson Palmer of the Arizona Cardinals.

Derek Carr of the Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders.

Aaron Rodgers of the Packers.

Andrew Luck in Indy.

Ryan Tannehill of the Dolphins.

Teddy Bridgewater is still rehabbing in Minnesota, and Sam Bradford, an injury always waiting to happen, is dinged up again.

Now Deshaun Watson, fresh off a collegiate national championship, has bit the dust in Houston.

There's probably a few more, but who's counting?

At any rate, that's a bunch of replacements that have had to be thrown into the fire.

Yet still Colin Kaepernick has not been offered a job.

Yes, I get it. Once upon a time he was quite the QB for the San Fran 49ers. Then the knee/protest thing happened, which thrust him into a not-so-good spotlight. Subsequently, he walked away from SF into basically no-man's land -- sometimes known as free agency. In hindsight, perhaps a dumb move.

Whether or not CK is still talented enough to be an NFL starting quarterback can be debated, with both sides likely offering up valid evidence. Let's just say opinions vary.

Yet in a politically blind world, it's pretty tough to argue CK ranks somewhere below all of the no-names that have been offered NFL contracts in the meantime. Not even as a backup? Really?

Currently, he and his legal eagles are pursuing a lawsuit trying to prove beyond the proverbial reasonable doubt, or preponderance of the evidence, that the owners of the teams have colluded against him. Basically, they assert he's been "blackballed". No doubt, phone records and such things as emails will be subpoenaed to hopefully bolster their case.

To all of which, yours truly says -- good luck with that.

Even if the plaintiffs eventually prevail -- and it could take years to wind its way through the court system to a final resolution -- no judge or jury has the power to order any team or owner to employ him. Sure, he might get a pile of dough out of it, but this latest gambit in effect sealed his doom as to ever playing again in the NFL. That's not even to mention the age/rust factor that will go along with being out of the league for all that time.

Currently, teams can find any number of reasons not to offer him a job. Stats can be twisted to fit anybody's agenda. Or a team can merely state he wouldn't fit well into their particular system and game philosophy. Etc, etc.

But the heretofore unspeakable elephant in the room remains the PR disaster any team would face by bring Kaepernick on board.

It could fairly be said the NFL and, by extension, their fans have always been a rather patriotic bunch. This is why we see the giant American flags on the field before games, the military color guards, and the jet fly-overs, among other festivities. And of course, the playing/singing of the national anthem.

[Idle thought. If the anthem is that sacred, why do they allow so many "artists" to absolutely butcher it while giving their own renditions? Is it too much to ask they sing it like it was originally written, instead of trying to show off? I mean, is it about them or about the country and what it stands for? This in itself shows hypocrisy. But nobody wants to talk about that, though it's been blatantly obvious for decades. WTF?]

True, most NFL owners and their front offices strive to put a winning team on the field. Also true is they get a ton of money from the TV folks and through sales of their own paraphernalia. It might well be they could still turn a handsome profit if fan attendance was abysmal at their stadiums.

But they don't want to see that. It would be embarrassing, if nothing else. Even billionaires are sensitive to that sort of thing -- maybe.

The bottom line is any team bringing Kaepernick to town and putting him on the field might face a fan revolt. Even lousy franchises over the decades, like Cleveland and Detroit, have a bit of pride. I think. Maybe.

So here's wishing dear Colin well in any and all of his future endeavors. Hey, he's just a dude that took a stand, or a knee, trying to make a point. In the whole scheme of things, this shouldn't be a big deal.

But oh my, it turned out to be. Yep, he got the attention he wanted, alright. But probably not the WAY he wanted.

The whole country, from the President on down to talking heads and chain mail senders have been sniping away ever since.

The moral of the story?

Everybody has a right to espouse a cause, and CK's was righteous in many ways.

But careful how one goes about it.

Sometimes opening up a particular can of worms without thinking through what might happen down the road can come back to seriously bite one in the keester.

Welcome to the real world, Mr. K.

The Ezekiel Elliott debacle

Personally, I have no idea whether EE committed any sort of assaultive behavior on anybody -- ever.

Sure, the arm-chair, hang-em-high prosecutors continue to come out of the woodwork, be it talking heads on TV or average citizens. Everybody's a judge, jury, and executioner these days.

Thing is, he was never even charged with any such offense, much less convicted. A conspiratorial double standard because he's a famous athlete? Perhaps, but hardly a slam dunk. Last time I looked people in America were still innocent until proven guilty. Yet I would be the first to admit that standard has been twisted around and bastardized over the years. Nowadays, the typical mindset is -- accused of something -- must be guilty. It's horribly wrong. Those that knee jerk their way to such conclusions never think it could happen to them or one of their loved ones. But it can. Happens all the time if your number comes up.

I would also be the first to cede Roger Goodell and the NFL often overstep their boundaries when meting out punishment, even though no crime has been established, much less proven. Yes, I get it. The almighty league has a cough, cough, reputation to protect, and they do so zealously. Somewhere there's a clause in the collective bargaining agreement (shame on you Players Union for being such fools to sign on to it) that states any action that makes the league look bad is punishable by fines, suspensions, and the like.

So originally, Roger and his merry band of henchmen zapped EE with a six game suspension. Again, even though no wrong-doing had ever been formally charged, let alone proven in a court of law. Seemed excessive, if not outright tyrannical.

Since, it has become a folly of the so-called "justice system" in the United States.

The suspension is on.

Oops, a judge/court says it's off.

Another j/c reinstates it.

Yet another halts it again.

Then back on.

Then off.

On.

Off.

Depending on who judge/court shops where, the fate of EE playing for those six games is anybody's guess.

Yours truly has but one question.

Is there anybody or any court in the country that can make a decision about this that is binding? As in no more appeals -- by either side?

Doesn't seem like too much to ask.

Any "normal" citizen would have gone broke a long time ago paying for legal fees to drag it on this long. But not EE, the league, and the players' union. They have legal eagles on staff that get their jollies pursuing matters such as this. I mean, what else do they have to do?

If I was to predict, I think dear Mr. Elliott is going to lose this one in the end. That doesn't mean it's righteous -- no opinion here -- but the league has long shown they have more clout than the union when they decide to dig in. See Tom Brady and "deflategate". Nothing was proven there either, but Giselle's man had to eventually serve the suspension.

Thing is, if the same happens to EE down the road, he and the union might have done more harm than good in the bigger picture.

The Dallas Cowboys are a maybe team for the playoffs, even with EE. So what would be the worst thing that could happen to them?

If they somehow found a way to get there, only to see their star running back zapped for 6 games.

Maybe he wins and maybe he loses, but had he accepted and served the suspension when it was first handed down, it would be long over by now.

Methinks there come a time to bite the bullet and accept short term fate in the name of long term prosperity. This concept appears lost on Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys, and the Players Union.

Continuing to kick the proverbial can down the road can come back and bite you even worse.

And it may well play out that way indeed.

We shall see......

World Series. Yes, yes, YES!!!

It only seemed fitting. Finally, FINALLY, Justin Verlander got his World Series championship ring. Or will soon.

The city of Houston, after being swamped and flooded by Hurricane Harvey, has a world title to celebrate. This is reminiscent of the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl in the wake of the devastating damage Hurricane Katrina wreaked over a decade ago.

Both Houston and New Orleans hadn't won squat in any major sport in a very long time. In the case of the latter, try never. Maybe Mother Nature -- or the sports gods -- were on their side when it mattered most.

It ranks right up there with the Chicago Cubs breaking their century plus jinx just last year. Or the Bosox not long before that. Cleveland doesn't count. Despite the long drought of the Indians, the Cavaliers won an NBA championship a year and a half ago. One parade will have to do for a while.

Over the years, Los Angeles has won plenty of stuff. True, it's been about 30 years for the Dodgers. But the Lakers, before they got terrible in recent times, captured titles, as did the Kings of the NHL.

And I, for one, have long been sick and tired of the Magic Johnson aura. It's like he falls into a rose garden every place he goes. While a college hoopster at Michigan State, he won a national title, but he had several really good teammates. His main competition was Larry Bird at Indiana State, who was basically forced to be a one-man show.

Then Ervin landed with the Lakers, only to join the likes of Kareem, James, and other All-Stars.

It could be argued he's been blessed in an even greater way. Merely surviving. That's because after being a serial adulterer, he contracted the HIV virus. The vast majority of those afflicted don't live nearly as long as Johnson, because it will morph into full-blown AIDS, from which there is no cure. Only those that can afford a super-expensive drug cocktail can ward it off for so long. Magic had serious dough.

Then he bought a piece of the Dodgers. Did I mention serious dough? Just when most thought ace pitcher Justin Verlander would close out the Series in Game 6 - it didn't happen. He pitched terrific, but got no run support. It appeared Magic's magic might strike again.

Enter the Houston Astros. They're every bit as talented as the Dodgers from top to bottom and, hurray, they won Game 7. Take that Ervin.

One thing yours truly could never understand about this match-up, though. Few doubt LA pitcher Clayton Kershaw is among the best in the game. His record speaks for itself.

But the Astros, like many other teams of late, have chucked the old school ways and turned to cyber-metrics -- see stat geek warfare -- to fine tune everything that CAN be tuned. High speed cameras capture spin rates on breaking balls. Also the slightest differential in a pitcher's arm movement during delivery. The same goes for hitters, their stances, and swings. Tweak, tweak, tweak.

Yet they seemed to have missed the obvious. The aforementioned Kershaw has always had a weakness. The first pitch to a batter is going to be a fastball right down the middle for a strike. Yet Houston hitters watched it go by -- time, after time, after time. You'd think the stats geeks would have noticed that. This was the pitch to hit. Thereafter would come a steady diet of of curve balls breaking a couple feet, and hard sliders that started out looking like strikes, but diving OUT of the strike zone. Whiff, whiff, whiff.

The late Ted Williams probably said it best. In any given at bat, a hitter is probably only going to see one really good pitch. Don't take it. Don't foul it off. Don't miss it. Hit it -- and hit it hard somewhere. Seems like a simple enough philosophy and Kershaw over the Series was plenty predictable in that regard.

Nonetheless, see ya LA. You just got beat on your home field in Game 7 of the World Series and had to watch the Stros whooping it up. Followed by the usual champagne orgy in the locker room.

And good for you, Houston, and especially Justin Verlander.

He finally reached the proverbial mountaintop.

Betcha Kate has an extra-special little something waiting for him after he gets cleaned up and hooks up with his significant other.

All things considered, I'd say Justin Verlander had himself a pretty decent day.

Hats off to Houston and their Astros. The 2017 World Series champions.

It couldn't have happened in a more fitting way......