D's Notebook

Tag: NFL (Page 7 of 10)

Snow and Sports

January 14, 2019 /

A busy and fun weekend around our house.

Saturday C and I headed out at 7:00 am for her first preseason volleyball tournament. At that point in the day we had about 2” of snow. The roads were not great, but not terrible either. It helped that no one was out on them, other than parents going to volleyball tournaments. We were at one of two volleyball facilities that back up to each other. There was a long line of cars to pull into each, more traffic than I saw on the 30 minute drive there.

C’s team did ok. They won three of four sets in the pool play part of the day. Then they lost their first playoff match before winning the second in dramatic fashion. They were down 13–9 in the third set, against a bunch of fifth graders, before they came back to win 16–14. Six hours in a cold gym on hard, metal seats wiped me out. C was tired, too. When we left all the cars were covered in another 3+ inches of snow. The roads were, again, not great but still usable. We made it home without incident.

We ended up getting about seven inches of snow at our house, which I believe was the biggest snowstorm in Indy in nearly five years. We were overdue. We were pleased at how well our new snowblower worked. We replaced our 12-year-old blower in the fall. I had my eye on some higher end models but S insisted I stick with a more budget-friendly pick. Our choice runs at least twice as fast as our old one, and is lighter to boot. S ran it once Saturday while I was out, and I did a second run Sunday morning. I cleared our whole driveway in less than three songs on the old American Top 40 I was listening to!11

I was very thankful that the KU-Baylor game matched up with the first half of the Colts-Chiefs game. That way I missed the Colts laying a big, fat turd and was able to move on to other things when the KU game ended.

A disappointing end to a surprising and successful season for the Colts. They enter the off season with a young, talented team, more cap space than any team in the NFL, and a general manager who absolutely cleaned up in last year’s draft. There’s every reason to believe even being half as successful in this year’s draft and free agency will make the Colts the AFC South favorites next year, and right up with the Chiefs and Patriots as best teams in the conference. Of course, football always surprises, so whether the results match those expectations is another story.

For the Chiefs, although I watched very little of the game, I thought of one very promising comparison. The 2006 Colts were absolutely terrible on defense late in the year. In December it looked like it was going to be another waste of an epic season by Peyton Manning and the offense. They the defense flipped a switch when the playoffs started and were amazing. In fact, other than in the second half of the AFC title game, the offense was pretty mediocre through the entire playoffs and it was the defense that got the Colts their only Super Bowl title since coming to Indy.

I’m not sure whether the Chiefs can sustain what they did defensively on Saturday. But if they can? Look out. You only need a halfway decent defense with that offense.

My other predictions were so-so. I thought the Cowboys-Rams game would be closer that most folks expected. I went to bed before it ended, but it wasn’t the complete domination that some predicted.

I whiffed on the Chargers. My bad. And apparently Tom Brady reads this blog, as his comments after the game about all the people who thought they sucked and couldn’t win a game were clearly aimed at my comments about the Pats on Friday.

That Philly-New Orleans game was really solid. I feel for Alshon Jeffrey. That guy has made so many big catches over the years and whiffs on a fairly easy one that cost the Eagles a chance to pull the upset. Sports are brutal sometimes. I’m sure Philly fans will handle his mistake gracefully. Some people believe every championship team needs a gut-check game along the way to wake them up. Perhaps yesterday was the Saints’ gut-check game.

Sunday we had all the two-year-old nephews over to play in the snow. We only spent about 20 minutes outside because the winds were beginning to pick up, but we drug them around on sleds, made snow angels, and L and C made a snowman. It was pretty funny watching the little guys play. They’re beginning to separate a bit more in both abilities and personalities. Throw in none of them being at the developmental stage where they can co-play or begin to understand sharing and it can be a volatile mix at times. But for the most part they are very entertaining. We’re watching one of them next weekend, so this was good prep.

NFL Predictions

January 11, 2019 /

I should probably lock in some kind of prediction for tomorrow’s game between the Colts and Chiefs.

I’ve watched zero minutes of the Chiefs this year, so I only know what I’ve read about them. But that’s been plenty. They spent much of the season being the most talked about and exciting team in the NFL. For all the nervousness among some Chiefs fans about their playoff history against the Colts, KC is a 5.5 point favorite for a reason.

I haven’t watched a ton more of the Colts, to be honest. Their Sunday night finale in Nashville was the only game I’ve watched more than half of all year. Still, I’ve watched enough to have a good feel for the team.

Fittingly, I doubt I’ll watch much of tomorrow’s game. C has an all-day volleyball tournament. KU plays Baylor at roughly the same time as the football game. And we’re supposed to get our biggest snow storm in several years during the day. I’m hoping it hits early enough for the roads to be so bad volleyball gets cancelled. I’m really not looking forward to dragging C out of bed at 6:30 so we can be on the court by 7:30.

I think the Colts will make a game of it, especially if the weather is bad. Andrew Luck is playing the best football of his career. The offensive line has, out of nowhere, become one of the best in the game. The running game has been punishing in the last two months. And the defense has been a true revelation, stuffing the run, playing well-enough against the pass, and forcing turnovers. For a team that was terrible last year the Colts are very, very solid.

But making the jump from Wild Card winner to conference finalist feels like one step too far. Especially having to do it in Arrowhead. Unless the Colts can force multiple turnovers, or the weather is so bad that it turns into an old-school game where every play is a handoff, I just can’t see them getting it done.

The Chiefs will put to rest 24 years of playoff misery against the Colts.

Kansas City 38
Indianapolis 27

In other games:
Rams over Cowboys. I think this will be closer than anyone would have expected six weeks ago.
Chargers over Patriots. I think Philip Rivers is a first-class douche. I have a hard time finding myself pulling for him. But I just don’t think this year’s Patriots are as good as their record is.
Saints over Eagles. Surely Nick Foles magic isn’t enough to take out the Saints in New Orleans?

The Footballs

November 14, 2018 /

A few quick football thoughts.

KU

The Sisyphean rite that is the changing of football coaches at the University of Kansas continues. David Beaty, a truly decent but woefully under qualified man, got the ax a week ago. The timing seemed a little strange given KU had just knocked off TCU two weeks earlier. But things never really make much sense around KU football.

If there were any doubts about Beaty’s ability to handle the job, those were removed last Saturday as the Jayhawks lost a thoroughly winnable game against Kansas State. Once again KU was plagued by seemingly basic mistakes that consistently cost them points. It was the same shit that’s been going on for years: terrible game management, penalties at the worst possible moments, the inability to make one play to win a game. The talent level is up. The numbers are up. But, week after week, it is the little things that teams should master in August that kill KU’s chances.

As I wrote earlier this year, Beaty no doubt has made the program better. It was a nearly impossible task to dig out from the hole Charlie Weis put the program in. Beaty at least got things stabilized. But he simply isn’t a good enough coach to get the program to the next step, where winning even 4–5 games each year is a possibility.

Now for the new coach speculation. Les Miles’ name has been out there since before his buddy Jeff Long became the new KU athletic director last spring. I believe as soon as Long got fired at Arkansas, people around KU were clamoring for Sheahon Zenger to get the ax so they could hire Long and, hopefully, bring his pal Miles along. Last week at the Champions Classic, when I got to sneak into a conversation of people who know people, Miles was the only name that anyone was talking about.

I honestly don’t know why Miles would take the KU job. If he wants to coach again and make a lot of money, there will be better offers whenever he is ready. I know he and Long are legitimately close. But I doubt they are close enough to come to the worst Power 5 program in the country for the last gig of your career.

Some KU fans worry that Miles would be Charlie Weis version 2.0. I don’t buy that. Charlie was never invested and refused to do any of the hard work that came with coaching a lower-tier program. I don’t know that Miles is prepared to do all that work, either, but I have a feeling if he took the job he’d actually recruit the best schools in Kansas City instead of only going to New Jersey and Hawaii to “create pipelines” to those states like Charlie did. And Miles had plenty of on-the-field failures, but he’s still a much better coach than Charlie.

Some folks worry that Miles would be a short-term choice, arguing he’s likely to not coach more than five years. As always, I say this is the dumbest reason not to hire someone in the world. We’re already firing a coach every 3–4 years. We should be thrilled if we can finally get someone who can stabilize and improve the program and then wants to leave in five years, either for another, better job or because they’re ready to retire. In fact, I think KU should be in the business of hiring a new coach every five years because the last one went to the SEC or Big 10. Iowa State has kind of gone through that cycle. They’ve had their share of down years along the way. But the program is also miles ahead of KU’s.

The biggest problem with Miles, to me, is that if he doesn’t come to KU, whoever they do hire is going to be a huge letdown. With the notable exception of Dave Doeren, who I think is highly unlikely to leave NC State, there isn’t another name on the list that moves the needle with fans. So just as people who were excited about Jim Harbaugh were disappointed with Turner Gill, or who wanted Mike Leach and were instead given Charlie Weis, there will be an enthusiasm gap from day one if it is anyone but Miles.

I also wonder if Miles is as big of a deal to kids these days as he is to adults. Let’s say he takes the job, dives in 100%, and gets a good staff around him. Will kids give a damn about what he did at LSU and Oklahoma State now that he’s at Kansas?

My basic philosophy for KU football these days is that it can’t get any worse. So I’m hopeful whoever is next can build on what David Beaty started, keep improving the talent level, understand how to manage a game, and get the momentum behind the program up from 25 MPH to maybe 40–45 MPH. Nothing too crazy.

My personal KU coach wish list is:

1) Dave Doeren
2) Les Miles
3) Anyone else with D1 head coaching experience who is competent

I’m resigned to being disappointed and writing another version of this three or four Novembers down the road.

Colts

Hey, the Colts aren’t terrible! In fact, they actually have a path to the playoffs.

Let’s not get carried away now…

The Colts defense has been a revelation so far this year. But it also tends to break down way too often in the second half. The offensive line has been, gasp, solid. Andrew Luck, after a rough week one, rebounded nicely and is playing really well. If he had more than one NFL-caliber receiver, his stats would be even better. I’ve only watched parts of Colts games here and there, but three different times I’ve seen passes that were comfortably in the hands of Colts receivers somehow slip through, ricochet off of pads, helmets, or chests into the hands of defenders for interceptions.

Rebuilds in any pro sport are tricky things. You’re always balancing who you have with what you need and how those various pieces fit together within a budget. I think it’s safe to say the Colts are ahead of schedule in getting back to prominence. But the bigger concern for me is how they handle the up-coming offseason rather than what they do for the last half of this season. Do well in the next draft and round of free agency and the back third of Luck’s career suddenly has the promise the first third had.

Chiefs

As a long-time Chiefs hater, it pains me to admit that the Chiefs are freaking awesome. So I am hoping at some point their traditional luck comes through and torpedoes this season.

I will say, though, that after the Royals winning the World Series, and seeing how the city reacted, there is a part of me that admits it would be cool if the Chiefs somehow defied nearly 50 years of bad luck and made it to the Super Bowl. Not that I’d be pulling for them. But I am finally comfortable saying that would be a nice thing to happen to my hometown.

Pretty, Pretty, Pretttttttty Super

February 5, 2018 /

So, yeah, I watched the Super Bowl. I’m a goddamn American, right? Despite my lack of interest in the NFL these days, I wasn’t going to miss the biggest game of the year. Also, if I’m only going to casually watch pro football I kind of have to watch the Super Bowl, as it has become a cultural obligation. Like I said, I’m an American.

Now my full attentions were not on the game. We watched most of the first half at my sister and brother in law’s home. We were eating and conversing. There were two high-energy toddlers running around delighting us. And then, despite barely talking to me all weekend, M decided to sit down next to me and talk incessantly once the game started. Teenagers, man…

That’s all a warning that this won’t be as exhaustive an accounting of my Super Bowl experience as they once were on these hallowed pages.

For example, I barely paid attention to the commercials over the noise and interruptions. Of the ones I did see, I approved of the Tide commercials.[1] They were wacky and fun and thus memorable. My favorite was the NFL Network Dirty Dancing ad. That was just good stuff all around. Sounds like most folks agreed so I didn’t miss much in the first half. Kind of ironic the best ad came from an NFL entity.

Worst ad? In a freaking walk-over the Dodge ad that featured a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. Inappropriate, tone deaf, offensive, classless… There aren’t enough adjectives of disapproval. I have enjoyed comedian George Wallace’s Twitter reaction. Rather than rail on the ad, he decided to mock it. One example Tweet:

I’d say, “Hey MLK I gotta chop some wood but my Dodge Ram may not be able to handle all the wood I chop” and MLK would be like, “Let me meet you down there by the wood chopping area with my matching Dodge Ram.” We’d haul the wood then go fight for civil rights later that day.

George Wallace wins the day!

That’s about all I saw that was memorable.

As for the game, that was a hell of a game. In fact, it might have been the perfect game for the masses of Patriots haters. Eagles get an early lead, some wacky plays ensue that tend to help Philly a little more than New England. The Haters have hope. Facing a fourth and goal inside the five just before halftime, the Eagles run a play that Patriots tried to run earlier, but run it better as quarterback Nick Foles hauls in a touchdown pass to build a 10-point halftime lead. The Haters are nervously optimistic, but remember what happened when they jumped all over the Falcons bandwagon a year ago.

In the second half came the inevitable New England rally. We all knew it was coming and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Not even two Philly touchdowns that were upheld on controversial replay calls. Nope, it was all happening just like we knew it would. Pats take a lead, Eagles score to go back ahead, but leave entirely too much time on the clock because a receiver ran out of bounds during the scoring drive. It wasn’t a matter of whether the Patriots would score, but which white receiver would catch the winning touchdown pass.[2] Us haters were collectively looking for dogs to kick and debating whether to just turn the damn TV off.

Out of nowhere came Brandon Graham’s beautiful strip-sack that left Brady sad on the turf. A clutch-ass field goal by rookie kicker Jake Elliott meant it would take a true miracle to get to OT.[3]

But come on, we were all expecting the miracle, right? When Brady’s desperation heave bounced around and hit the turf there was a moment of held breath. Even the Eagles players were looking around, hoping not to see a flag somewhere on the ground that would extend the game for one more play before they could relax and celebrate. I’m no Philly fan, but I let out a little whoop in honor of them slaying the dragon for America.

Hell of a game.

So the Patriots lose, and do so with plenty to bitch about. I’m sure Boston radio is a freaking riot this morning, as Tommy from Southie calls in to complain about the NFL not applying the catch rules the way they had all season, and Donny from Dorchester screams about how Brady was hit late on his final throw, and Mikey from Quincy points out a Pats receiver got leveled 20 yards downfield as the last pass flew threw the air.

This is all good stuff and proof that even in the darkest days, good sometimes can prevail. Or at least evil can fall even if their vanquishers weren’t your first choice to do so.

Excellent all around.

  1. M has watched all of Stranger Things where S and I are only four episodes into the first season. It felt weird for M to be delighted by the presence of David Harbour while I just kind of casually recognized him.  ↩
  2. Am I the only one who found it hilarious that one of the few black skill players the Pats have is named James White? Belichick is always trolling, man.  ↩
  3. Elliott broke Matt Bahr’s record for longest Super Bowl field goal by a rookie earlier in the game. I remembered the Bahr brothers from my youth, so I looked them up. Fascinating! The oldest brother was an All American soccer player at Navy and was on the 1972 Olympic team. Then came Chris, who was a three-time soccer All American and one-time football All American at Penn State. Next came Matt, who was also a football All American. Chris and Matt both played professional soccer before their long NFL careers. And a younger sister was an All American gymnast. I guess it helps that their dad was a long-time member of the US national soccer team and is in the US Soccer Hall of Fame and their mom was a collegiate swimmer.  ↩

The Footballs

January 10, 2018 /

Good gracious, what a CFP championship game Monday night.

Like most folks who were unaffiliated, I was pulling for Georgia. Those downtrodden, underdog Dawgs from Athens.

I found it funny that Georgia has this big reputation as a somewhat cursed program. Maybe my humor stems from when I first started paying a lot of attention to college football, and Georgia was one of the best programs in the country. I know they’ve had some rough patches, but I’ve never not thought of them as a top tier football program. And I’d be thrilled if my alma mater could have “disappointing” 8–4/7–5 seasons year-after-year.[1] But it’s not like they have been averaging three wins a year for 50 years and suddenly jumped up into the elite.

But I understand where that comes from, with each of Georgia’s biggest rivals having won a national championship more recently than the Dawgs’ only title. And most of those schools have multiple titles over that span.[2]

So UGa was a very good story and easy to root for, especially with them playing Alabama and evil Nick Saban.

Naturally everything went exactly like Satan, err Saban, wanted it to.

  • Georgia steadies themselves after some nervy opening minutes, grab a lead, and slowly build it.
  • Saban benches his starting QB, who has lost two games in three seasons, to play a true freshman who had yet to take a meaningful snap. IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. There will be books and movies and documentaries about that decision alone.
  • Eventually Georgia is up 20–7 and Dawg fans, die hard and casual, were beginning to think, “OK, they can do this.”
  • But the Tide start chipping away, their defense morphs into Ferocious mode, the offense starts moving the ball, and ties it on a gutsy fourth-and-goal play.[3]
  • They get the ball back, set up for a chip-shot field goal at the final whistle, and freaking miss it. Overtime! Even for those of us rooting for Georgia, you had to feel for the Alabama kicker in that moment. It’s not like SEC football fans are the most stable folks in the world, especially the most entitled of the bunch from Tuscaloosa. That kid was going to have problems had Alabama not pulled off the win.
  • Georgia gets the lead on a field goal, make a huge sack on first down, there is a deep roar of anticipation building in the stadium, and then Tua Tagovailoa throws an insanely beautiful ball that Da’Vonta Smith hauled in for the win.
    Yep, that’s exactly how Saban drew it up before hand. Give the anti-Alabama contingent hope, yank it away, give it back when it seemed impossible to give it back, then rip it away on a play that will live forever in sports history.

Damn.

Throw in a handful of very controversial officiating decisions, a fight on the Alabama sideline, an Alabama player having to be removed from the stadium on a stretcher, and the President of the United States not knowing all the words to the National Anthem, and this game had about everything.

Instant-motherfucking-classic.

Now was it better than last year’s classic between Alabama and Clemson, that also came down to the closing seconds of regulation? I guess that depends on how you like your football.

Last year was all offense, fitting for the current era.

Monday had some big offensive plays, but was dominated by the defenses, a throwback to an older age.

The crazy thing to me is even without tons of offense, it still took roughly four hours to get Monday’s game in. (Old man grumble, grumble, grumble.)

Both great games and I guess you choose based on how you feel about Alabama. For me, these games are just further proof that the football gods hate me. As much as I dislike Alabama, I respect them. And since I’ve never liked nor respected Clemson, I was reluctantly pulling for Bama a year ago. Two years in a row I went to bed after midnight after watching a scintillating game that my team-for-the-night came up just short. Football is dumb.

As for the NFL playoffs, I believe this is the first year ever I’ve not made predictions. I didn’t feel comfortable offering picks since I haven’t watched the NFL this year. And, besides, we know that New England is winning again. Why bother?

I watched most of Sundays games, and then parts of the Chiefs-Titans game. We were hanging out at a friends house so that game was in the background. We had kind of lost track of the game, but knew the Chiefs had jumped out early. We also missed most of the controversial calls. But I did look up in the fourth quarter, saw the Titans had narrowed the margin, and said, “Chiefs still have plenty of time to blow it.”

Which I can’t take too much credit for because, based on catching up with Twitter later in the evening, most Chiefs fans were saying the same thing.

I’ve softened some in my stance about the Chiefs. I think some of that stems from the Royals 2014–15 runs, and seeing my hometown explode in pride in joy. Although I’m never going to be on the bandwagon for a Chiefs Super Bowl run, it would be cool to see Kansas City fired up as it was in those Octobers again. I wasn’t pulling for them Saturday – to be fair I was neutral as I wasn’t pulling for Tennessee either – that loss seemed a little cruel to me.

Which I know makes my Chiefs fans friends feel a lot better.

  1. Winning three games in a season would be cause for burning things in celebration.  ↩
  2. Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Florida, and Auburn. Plus LSU and Bama, which are both lesser rivals. OK, that does suck!  ↩
  3. I would have kicked the field goal, let me defense get the ball back, and won the game in regulation. But then again, kicking wasn’t such a sure thing, was it?  ↩

A Shift

November 28, 2017 /

Dang it. Once again my slowness in writing has caused someone with a lot more readership than I have to hit the same topic. Will Leitch has a piece in New York Magazine about whether the NFL is on a downward spiral. He hits a lot of the same notes I wanted to hit in a more personal post. His piece is really good, so I do recommend reading it. But I won’t let it stop me from sharing my own thoughts. Finally.

Over the past month I’ve seen a pretty big shift in the sports I watch. After several years of watching the NFL less and less, I’ve kind of given up on the game. My Sundays are more often spent watching the Food Network with one of my girls, if we’re going to spend the day watching TV, than going back-and-forth between Fox and CBS with the afternoon games. Where once NBC’s Sunday night game was required viewing, I don’t think I’ve watched it for more than 30 minutes all season combined.

Why the move away from the NFL? Long time readers know how our fall soccer schedule started the process a few years ago. September and October Sundays were all spent on soccer fields watching the girls play. That’s what began to break the life-long pull the NFL had on me. Then – again as I’ve written about before – the mismanagement of the Colts has taken a toll on me. I don’t have much interest watching a poorly constructed team lose by playing bad football most Sundays.[1]

All the issues around football this year don’t help. Most of you would guess correctly I’m firmly on the side of the players in the kneeling during the anthem controversy. But I understand how some folks will be put off by that. I, though, am more put off by owners and advertisers trying to silence players. And I’m put off by the drama of Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell fighting about if Goodell should remain as commissioner and how much he should be paid. All these issues strike me as a league that is unclear on what its path forward should be, or worse attempting to distract from the real issue surrounding football that could threaten its future.

Yes, all we’re learning about the terrible toll football takes on the bodies and brains of its players has some effect on me, too. It’s hard to watch massive hits we grew up cheering knowing the long-term effects they carry. It’s frustrating to know that the NFL put off giving the players more protections for so long. And it’s terrible to see nearly every Sunday a player somehow avoids going under the concussion protocol despite taking a fearsome strike to the head.

Biggest, though, is simply the quality of play. The NFL just doesn’t seem as good or exciting as it used to. Part of that is just about every Sunday another superstar suffers a serious injury. Part of it is various rules and strategy changes that have made the games feel interminable. I fondly recall when the Peyton Manning Colts were at their zenith, when they were playing wide-open, pass-first football, but were so efficient at it that 1:00 games would sometimes end at 3:45. That was outside the norm, but it was possible. Games now, with all the replays and challenges and incomplete passes, are lucky if they check in at three hours fifteen minutes. That extra half hour, in which nothing happens, feels much longer.

(Quick aside: How can a guy who loves baseball complain about football games taking too long? Well, A) baseball does have a time problem, too. But B) length is part of baseball, and much more manageable as a fan watching at home. You can do other things while watching baseball. For football, you really need to be locked in lest you miss something important.)

I don’t know which of those factors is the biggest, but when you combine them they all result in me having no interest in watching the NFL. I still watch plenty of college football on Saturdays, which likely makes me a hypocrite on one level or another. College football just seems a lot more exciting despite still having the injury issue, games taking forever, and my favorite team sucking big time.

Balancing this somewhat is my slow shift into being an NBA fan again. I’ve watched a good chunk of most of the Pacers’ games this season, and often spend some time watching the national NBA games each evening.

Reasons?

For starters the Pacers are a lot of fun to watch. At least so far I was dead wrong on their return for Paul George. Victor Oladipo has been fabulous when thrust into the role as primary scorer. He’s exciting, plays with flair and passion, and is much better than I expected. Domantas Sabonis has also been great as the Pacers primary bench weapon. Kevin Pritchard made some other wise roster moves resulting in a team that runs, shoots, plays defense, and is generally fun to watch. They’re not going to challenge the Cavs or Celtics in the East, but they at least make you want to watch and root for them.

It also helps that the NBA is in a really good place right now. Most teams are about getting out and scoring. Most of the Pacers games I’ve watched this year have checked in at just under or right at two hours, which is the perfect amount of time for a regular season game. The games are brisk and entertaining.

You have the Warriors, who are an all-time great team, at least in terms of talent and style. That’s a sexy team to watch. You have LeBron, who is doing things no one his age should be able to do. You have Kyrie Irving, who has reinvented himself and is leading the Celtics to do things no one expected of them. You have James Harden and the Rockets, who are spectacular. You have Joel Embiid, the man-child who (for now) is healthy and doing amazing things. There’s the Greek Freak, the Thunder, The Zinger, the promise of the T-Wolves, and a couple dozen young guys who are loaded with potential to take over as older stars age out. It feels like every time you turn on an NBA game, you’re going to see something amazing that you’ll want to start texting people about.

Oh, and the NBA has embraced the idea of its players taking social and political stands. Granted, those views are generally progressive and fit with my world view. But, still, unlike the NFL which tries to turn its players into nameless, faceless, voiceless, interchangeable jerseys, the NBA appears much more open to allowing its players to both emote and entertain.

Put simply, the NBA is a lot of fun, while the NFL seems joyless.

I don’t miss the NFL. Whatever hole it leaves in my sporting life has been filled by trying to re-learn the NBA. Once the NFL was my perfect generic sport. College basketball was my passion. Baseball was my first love. But the NFL was the sport where it didn’t matter who was playing. If there was a game on, I could sit and watch for 15 minutes or 30, and be entertained. Those days are over.

  1. Emblematic of the Colts’ issues, after keeping the roof of Lucas Oil Stadium closed on several perfect Sundays earlier in the season, they opened it for last Sunday’s game, when it was nice, but still fairly cool inside the building. Appropriately the roof got stuck when they attempted to close it that night. It was fixed Monday but, still, symbolism and whatnot.  ↩

Professional Football Prognostication

September 7, 2017 /

Oh boy. Football season is here.

“Do I detect a certain ‘Meh’ in that statement?” many of you might ask.

I will confirm, there is plenty of ‘Meh’ in that statement.

For a variety of reasons, I get a little more disengaged from the NFL every year.

Likely the biggest factor is how L plays soccer on Sundays,[1] something she’s been doing for four or five falls now. I just don’t sit down and watch football on Sunday the way I used to.

I generally prefer college football to pro.

I don’t play fantasy football.

There’s a part of my that finds it hard to get interested in the NFL simply because it has become so corporate and forced down our throats for 12 months of the year. Every other major sport takes a break. Not the NFL, which is always pumping content.

Finally there is the fact that I live in Indianapolis, and am a Colts fan. These are not good times for the Colts. And here’s where things get interesting. Because I think I’ve cracked the mystery of why the football gods are so angered at the Colts.

Andrew Luck was never supposed to be a Colt.

Oh we thought the football gods were on our side when Peyton Manning missed a full season just in time for the Colts to tank and get the #1 pick the year Luck came out. And things looked good at first. By Luck’s third year, the Colts reached the AFC title game and it looked like a long run of success was underway.

Then it all went to shit. Dozens of horrible personnel decisions caught up with them. They couldn’t keep Luck healthy. They had no backup plan for when Luck got hurt. They let him play too long when he was hurt. No one seems to know what condition Luck’s shoulder is in right now, if/when he’ll play this year, and whether he can be effective if he does get on the field.

At first, I figured all of that was on the Colts. But I’ve come to accept that the football gods realized they made a huge error in allowing Luck to end up in Indy. And they’ve done their best to correct that mistake. We might get Luck, but he will not enjoy the long, charmed run Peyton had before him, always playing with an amazing offensive line in front of him, Hall of Fame caliber running backs and receivers to support him, and a cutting edge offensive coaching staff calling the plays. Oh, and Peyton never got hurt until his final season on the field in Indy.

Luck’s spent the better part of his career handing the ball off to terrible and/or washed up backs, throwing to one very good (but not HOF) receiver and a bunch of stiffs, having the offense change every season, and running for his life behind an atrocious offensive line. The Colts can’t even put a decent defense together to at least balance the lack of talent around Luck on offense.

Realistically you have to write off this year for the Colts. Even in the weak-ass AFC South. Even if Luck plays most of the year, and at a high level, the team is still trying to dig out of the mess of the Ryan Grigson years and isn’t ready to win this year. That means maybe, hopefully, next year they’re back in contention. And that is the season Luck turns 29. Elite QBs who can stay healthy can play deep into their 30s, as Peyton and Tom Brady have shown. But there’s the risk the Colts pissed away Luck’s best years because they couldn’t build an offensive line that could protect him or give him a running game to keep defenses honest. Plus Luck has taken way more abuse than Peyton or Brady did when they were young.

Some folks will blame Grigson, Chuck Pagano, and Jim Irsay. I say the football gods have as much to do with it as the Colts leadership.

Prediction time! Remember, DO take these to your bookie, because they are rock, solid, gold picks based on several minutes of glancing at other folks’ predictions.

AFC East: New England. As long as Belichick is coaching and Brady is QBing, this is the pick.
AFC North: Pittsburgh. One more run for Big Ben?
AFC South: A cesspool of a division. Some people love with Tennessee. I don’t really trust them, but can’t pick Houston, so I guess it’s Tennessee by default.
AFC West: Likely the most fun division in the game. You can make an argument for every team getting the right collection of breaks and winning it. And each team is one key injury away from thinking about drafting in the top five next April. Since I’m not a Chiefs fan, I’ll try to jinx them by picking them. Kansas City.
Wildcards: Oakland, Cincinnati

NFC East: Dallas. Don’t expect a season like last year, but the Cowboys should still be good enough to win their division.
NFC North: Green Bay. We’re all pulling for America’s official Second Favorite Player, Aaron Rodgers, right?
NFC South: The Redemption Division! Carolina wants to redeem themselves for last year’s post-Super Bowl collapse. Atlanta wants to redeem themselves for their in-Super Bowl collapse. Should be a great run. I’ll take Atlanta to eek out the division title.
NFC West: Seattle. Team turmoil will take their frustrations out on their opponents and claim the #1 seed.
Wild Cards: Carolina, Arizona

Playoffs!!!!!

AFC

Oakland over Tennessee
Kansas City over Cincinnati

New England over Oakland
Pittsburgh over Kansas City

New England over Pittsburgh

NFC

Green Bay over Arizona
Carolina over Dallas

Carolina over Atlanta
Green Bay over Seattle

Green Bay over Carolina

Super Bowl

Dude, come on. It’s one thing to go with a sexy, sentimental pick of Green Bay to get to the Super Bowl despite thinking they’re probably not the best team in the NFC. It’s another to pick them over New England. Hell, an NFC team could be 18–0 coming into the Super Bowl and it would still be dumb to pick them. Because, as you know, as long as Belichick is coaching and Brady is QBing… I think we all learned our lesson last February.
New England 35, Green Bay 31

  1. And her sisters used to. For one fall we usually had three games every Sunday.  ↩

Playoff Sunday

January 17, 2017 /

A nice, long weekend was exactly what we needed just four days after the girls went back to school. That was an intense four days!

I kid. I’m fully supportive of the MLK Day holiday. It just feels oddly timed after our late holiday break. And our girls are going to miss a few days of school next week[1] so January is going to be a very quick month. Academically at least.

We packed some stuff into our long weekend. There was a volleyball practice and a basketball game. I’ll share more about the hoops in a different post. M had a friend over on Sunday to hang out, eat dinner with us, and then sleep over. It was one of those random get togethers where M actually got invited to go to her friend’s house, but since we were headed to basketball, we offered to take her. Then we offered to take her to dinner. And then, when we sat down for dinner, they looked at us with bright eyes and asked, “Can we have a sleepover?!?!” All the rules go out the window on three-day weekends!

Saturday night we watched our nearly three-month old nephew so his parents could enjoy a night out and then a night of uninterrupted sleep. Little R isn’t known for his sleeping prowess quite yet. He was born four weeks early and has been fighting some reflux issues, so he’s been sleeping a solid 2.5–3 hours at a stretch. As happy as I was to give his parents a night out, I’m not going to lie and say I was looking forward to getting up every couple hours. Especially since I’m not in practice with that. But the night went well. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t go back to sleep for close to an hour after both of his middle-of-the-night feeds. Maddening!

Ah, but the biggest highlight of the weekend was some tremendous professional American football on Sunday. I did not get to see every minute of the two games, but I saw all the best minutes.

Before we get to the games, I need to address a point some of you may have thought of: what are my feelings about the Dallas Cowboys? After all, they were my first favorite sports team ever. I was a fan from 1977-ish up to the mid–2000s. That’s when there was the perfect combination of me getting sick of Jerry Jones’ seemingly being more concerned with expanding the Brand than improving the team, and my living in the city where Peyton Manning was hitting his prime. Would I jump back on the Cowboys bandwagon now that they’re good again?

Nope.

I loathe the Cowboys. While I can enjoy watching this year’s team play from a purely aesthetic point of view, I have not wanted them to win any of their games I have watched. So I was firmly in Green Bay’s camp on Sunday. Quite the switch from the early 90s when I was rooting for the Aikmans against the Favres.

So to the game. I saw all of the first quarter. Although I picked the Cowboys to win this game, I wondered if the more experienced Packers might not come out hot while the Cowboys might feel some nerves after the week off. I didn’t expect the Packers to jump all over Dallas early like that, though. In a game that will become an integral part of his Hall of Fame resume, Aaron Rodgers was just brilliant in the first quarter.

We left for dinner and I missed the next two-plus quarters of the game. I kept checking the score, though, and saw Dallas slowly work their way back into the game. By the time I was home and in front of the TV again, it was late in the fourth quarter and the game was tied. I made it just in time for one of the more brilliant closing sequences in recent NFL playoff history. Ultimately the game was about Rodgers and Mason Crosby. Crosby’s two – well three – field goals in the closing sequence were obviously the difference. But Rodgers somehow hanging onto the ball when he was sacked on the Packers’ final drive was unbelievable. It defied logic and physics. And then, seconds later, his brilliant rollout and pass to Jared Cook was an all-time great play.

For a neutral to mostly neutral fan, that was a fantastic game.

Then onto Kansas City for the nightcap. Ya’ll know I don’t like the Chiefs, but I’m not a Steelers fan, either. So I just kind of sat back and watched it. And figured it would turn out pretty much the way it did. Because even though I’m not a Chiefs fan, I’ve watched them flame out in the most maddening way possible in January many, many times. I expected that the game would be close into the closing seconds and some kind of soul-crushing play would give Pittsburgh the win. Not sure I expected that soul-crushing play to be a holding call on a two-point conversion attempt, but the Chiefs are always finding new and interesting ways to torture their fans. The game reminded me a lot of the Colts-Ravens game back in 2007, when the Colts couldn’t get in the end zone but kicked five field goals to win. That was the Colts’ Super Bowl title team – that beat New England in the AFC title game – so maybe that means something for Pittsburgh. Then again, the Colts got to play at home while the Steelers go to Foxborough. Good luck with that.

One funny thing about the Chiefs-Steelers game was that M’s friend who was sleeping over comes from a Steelers family. So I told her that while I was from Kansas City, I was not rooting for the Chiefs. That got the girls asking questions.

“Why don’t you like the Chiefs? That’s weird.”
“Because they stunk when I moved to Kansas City and I was already a Cowboys fan.”
“Are your friends Chiefs fans?”
“Yes, most of them are.”
“Do you know anyone who is at the game?”
“Probably.”
“Don’t you want the Chiefs to win so they’re happy?”
“Well, I don’t want the Chiefs to win, but if they do win I’ll be happy that my friends are happy.”
“If the Chiefs lose will you tease your friends about it?”
“No, that wouldn’t be nice.”

The Saturday games sucked, so no need to discuss them.

Now we’re down to Green Bay and Atlanta, Pittsburgh and New England. I think the home teams are the better all-around squads. Plus, it’s tough to pick against New England at home in January.[2] But the two road teams have that magical feeling that makes this time of year fun.

  1. More on that later.  ↩
  2. Watch the ball pressure, Tomlin!  ↩

NFL Playoff Picks

January 7, 2017 /

I wouldn’t be half-assing it correctly if I failed to offer up some half-assed NFL playoff predictions. But, first, a few words about the Colts.

WTF?!?! How on earth do you bring back the GM and head coach who have produced an uninspired, incomplete team that misses the playoffs in the weakest division in football and is somehow ruining what should be the next great NFL superstar in the process? Bringing them back last year was shocking enough. But again, for next season? Freaking ridiculous.

I can’t think of a single valid reason to bring Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano back. Grigson’s personnel moves have failed time-and-again. Is he really the guy you trust to clean up his own mess? Especially when he publicly bitches about a contract that the Colts had to give Andrew Luck if they wanted to keep him? It’s not like the Colts are the first team who have had to give a quarterback a massive contract. Other teams have managed to build winners despite that huge chunk of change invested in their QB.

Pagano remains popular in the locker room. But the Colts consistently look unprepared early in games. That’s all on the head coach. And the defense stinks, which is supposed to be his area of expertise.

The clock is ticking on Andrew Luck’s career. At this point in his Colts career, Peyton Manning had Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James (after starting with Marshall Faulk), and Reggie Wayne, plus an amazing offensive line. Luck has T.Y. Hilton and…well, an old, game Frank Gore who is forced to run behind a terrible offensive line that can’t block for him or keep the pass rush off Luck. It’s frankly amazing that Gore managed to crank out 1000 yards this year. Grigson has shown no signs of being able to build on either side of the ball. Pagano is hamstrung by the GM’s deficiencies, but has a bunch of his own.

Clean house, start over with competent management, and stop wasting Luck’s prime.

Whew. Now for the playoffs. I laughed when I looked at the matchups this morning. I had no idea Miami made the playoffs! That’s how tuned out I am to the NFL because of fall soccer and the Colts’ sucking. I get a little less interested each year, and it’s hard to regain that interest. I’m fine turning on a random game for a half or or so, then moving on to other things.

Still, I gotsta make some picks. So here goes. (BTW, here are my preseason picks. I picked six playoff teams! That’s good, right?!?!)

AFC

Wild Card

Oakland at Houston. Ken Stabler vs. Dan Pastorini, right? I heard there is a quarterback issue in this game. Are they turning it into an old-timers game, complete with raising the deceased Stabler from his grave? I’ll pick Oakland just because the AFC South is terrible and Houston gets no credit for winning the division.
Miami at Pittsburgh. Man, it’s like 1978 on the AFC side! Not only did Miami make the playoffs, but they won 10 games!?!? Holy shit! Pittsburgh is going to wax them, though.

Divisional Round

Pittsburgh at Kansas City. I’m genetically inclined to never take the Chiefs seriously. That was reinforced by all those great, 1990s Chiefs teams that lost to inferior teams, at home, in the playoffs. And by their annual face plant against the Colts in the years I’ve lived in Indy. And, as a doubter, it’s hard for me to get onboard with a team that seems to win in flukey ways quite often. On the other hand, although I’m not a Chiefs fan, I am well steeped in the magic that may be currently residing under the concrete of the Truman Sports Complex. Could they be feasting on what fueled the Royals in 2014 and 2015? Chiefs.
Oakland at New England. I really, really hope it snows for this game! And there’s a controversial call that involved replay and obscure rule interpretations late in the game. Patriots,

AFC Championship

Kansas City at New England. Come on. New England.

NFC

Wild Card

Detroit at Seattle. I might have pulled the trigger on a Detroit upset pick a few weeks ago. But not now. Seattle.
New York at Green Bay. From my limited attention paid, this seems a common selection for an “upset” pick. Upset obviously in quotes because the Giants won more games than the Packers, they were just stuck in the wrong division. But I’m an Aaron Rogers loyalist, and will stick with him here. Green Bay.

Divisional Round

Seattle at Atlanta. This one seems cruel. Atlanta had a quietly spectacular year, and their reward is having to face Seattle after a week off. I know the Seahawks haven’t been quite the same team this year. But I think the Falcons collars are going to be awfully tight and Seattle wins a close one.
Green Bay at Dallas. And what to make of the Cowboys? Do you really go from mediocre to elite by plugging in a couple rookies and staying relatively healthy? That’s not supposed to happen. You’re supposed to have a transition year in there. While I question the Cowboys, I can’t pick against them here; the Football Gods will be on their side after the Dez Bryant game two years ago. Dallas.

NFC Championship

Seattle at Dallas. Can the Seattle defense contain the Cowboys offense? Can the Seattle offense score enough to win? All the questions are on the Seattle side. Dallas.

SUPER BOWL!!!!!

ESPN is going to freaking meltdown in one, massive TV-gasm if we actually have a Patriots-Cowboys Super Bowl. The two most popular/most hated franchises in the game taking over all sports media for two weeks! Seriously, at least one ESPN exec will have a heart attack if this matchup gets locked in three weeks from now.
Can I really pick the Cowboys, who haven’t been this deep in the playoffs in 20 years, against the team that has owned January for 15 years? Nope, can’t do it. New England 23, Dallas 21.

CALL YOUR BOOKIES!!!!

NFL Locks, 2016

September 9, 2016 /

Heyo! It’s NFL kickoff[1] weekend, which means it’s time for some half-assed, barely-informed predictions! It should be noted I pay almost no attention to what happens in the NFL offseason. I know Teddy Bridgewater got hurt a week ago, and the Vikings traded for Sam Bradford to replace him. The Colts drafted a bunch of shitty guys who will never contribute. I think someone the Cowboys drafted got into trouble with the police. But beyond that, I’m at a loss.

Before the predictions proper, a few thoughts about the Colts. A year ago, they were a sexy pick to get to the Super Bowl. They were coming off an postseason where they whacked the Bengals in the Wild Card game, dominated the Fighting Peytons in Denver, and then got run out of Foxborough in the Deflategate game. They were a young, hungry team led by the next NFL superstar in Andrew Luck. The blueprint was in place; it was up to them to follow it.

And then they fell on their faces last year and the blueprint was revealed to be a sham. The Colts refusal to build a solid offensive line in front of Luck finally caught up with him, as he was battered into two serious injuries, one of which cost him the second half of the season. When he was on the field, the lack of protection and an effective running game sapped his strengths, and he was often running for his life, taking brutal hits, and forcing throws that became interceptions. The coach and GM should have been fired, but for some reason owner Jim Irsay decided to keep both Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson, and give them another shot at fixing the mess.

The easy prediction is that a healthy Luck with a bolstered offensive line automatically puts the Colts back into the playoffs since they have the benefit of playing in the AFC South. The only problem is the South is not filled with complete pushovers the way it has been for the last decade. Every team has its own issues, but each team also has the chance to win 8–10 games if everything goes right. It’s going to take more than just showing up to win the AFC South.

I expect the Colts offense to be much better this year; IF they can keep Luck healthy and he plays smartly. The offensive line is already suffering from injuries, though. As is the defense, which has seen its backfield get ravaged by injuries in the preseason. If the Colts get back in the 10-win range, it’s going to be because Luck stays healthy for 17 weeks and leads the offense to a very productive season. I see a lot of 35–31 games in their future.

And now on to the picks!

AFC East

New England
From now until the end of time. Or until Brady and Belichick are gone, I guess.

AFC North

Cincinnati
Don’t get too excited, Bengals fans (see below).

AFC South

Indianapolis
Figure a healthy Luck makes them the best of a pretty middling collection of teams.

AFC West

Denver
The defense is good enough where the offense won’t have to score many points to win. And the offense just might be ok.

AFC Wild Cards

Houston, Kansas City
Both of these teams are capable of winning their divisions. Can Houston find offense? Can Kansas City stay healthy on offense?

NFC East

Washington
I really have no idea here. Maybe they’ll keep their roll from late last year going. Maybe not.

NFC North

Green Bay
Will be the best team in the NFL until January. Then something will fail late in the fourth quarter, whether it’s a defensive breakdown, a running game that suddenly won’t work, or a bizarre play.

NFC South

Carolina
Lots of people think the Panthers are going to fall back to the pack this year. I see some regression, but they still win the division. Provided Cam wasn’t seriously injured in their opener Thursday.

NFC West

Seattle
Figure this division goes into the last coupe weeks, but Seattle will be hungrier.

NFC Wild Cards

Arizona, Atlanta
Both teams will score enough points to be in every game.

AFC Playoffs

Indianapolis over Kansas City. I pick this every year. Why stop now?
Houston over Cincinnati. Poor Bengals fans.

New England over Houston. Yeah, like Houston is going to Foxborough and winning in January.
Denver over Indianapolis. Colts shitty defense lets them down.

New England over Denver. Offense will matter, as will home field, which the Patriots will have.

NFC Playoffs

Arizona over Washington. Blowout city, baby.
Carolina over Atlanta. Another Matty Ice playoff failure.

Arizona over Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers is becoming Dan Marino with a ring.
Seattle over Carolina. The Seahawks are on a mission.

Seattle over Arizona. A battle of styles and teams that split their regular season meetings. Seattle’s defense holds just enough to get the win.

Super Bowl

This time Pete Carroll doesn’t fuck it up. Seattle 31, New England 27

Now go see your bookies!

  1. I’ve typed the word kickball so many times in the past two months that muscle memory just took over and I typed that instead of kickoff.  ↩
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