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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 18th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) – Guv’nah Baker’s Gotta Work!

Massachusetts State House in Boston (File Photo)

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That is the short round-up coming from the Massachusetts State House this week just as Christmas Day draws near.

  1. The Good: After an admirable eight-year stint as the Governor of the Commonwealth, Charlie Baker, a former Harvard basketball player, announced during the final days of his lame-duck stretch that he’d be moving on to a very challenging job.
  2. The Bad: In 2018, a full year after the Supreme Court of the United States took-on the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act case pitting the State of New Jersey against the NCAA, with support from the major North American professional sports leagues, Governor Baker said he believed the Commonwealth should “look into” the prospects of legalizing sports gambling in Massachusetts. In January 2019, Baker announced that he planned to file legislation to permit Massachusetts residents to wager on professional sports, including online-only sports pool operators, stating “Expanding Massachusetts’ developing gaming industry to include wagering on professional sports is an opportunity for Massachusetts to invest in local aid while remaining competitive with many other states pursuing similar regulations.” … As that statement was made, the popular Fantasy Sports company, Draft Kings, set up shop in Boston and sprinkled large amounts of their shareholders’ money to sponsoring everything from thoroughbred races to luxury golf course hospitality venues at the PGA Tour event at the TPC Boston.By May 14, 2018, the SCOTUS ruled in favor of New Jersey. The high court ruling did not surprise a soul as both the NBA and NHL had completely pivoted on their prior public posture, more of less stating, “if we can’t beat ‘em, we might as well join them,” although an ill-stated “integrity fee” tax was proposed and batted down in public forum. Only a month after the SCOTUS ruling, then Governor Phil Murphy was placing 2018 World Cup wagers at Monmouth Park. Murphy, who succeeded Governor Chris Christie as both wrote legislation and fully supported New Jersey’s legally secure lawsuit against PASPA and the rights of all States to have legal gambling instead of some being left on the outside looking in.A month. It took all of a month for New Jersey to activate and that first to market approach led New Jersey to process $1.1 billion in sports gambling transactions in November 2022, up from $1.06 billion in October, 2022, according to New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reports.

    Meanwhile Massachusetts remained stalled after the State House and Senate each came up with dueling legislative rulings on how and when to institute the new Laws. It took marathon sessions in July 2022 to finally get a proper law passed and ready for Governor Bakers’ signature.

    In the 2018-2022 span, 33 other States passed laws allowing sports gambling. Massachusetts was still bickering over the legality of placing wagers on in-State collegiate sports (mainly football and basketball) but split the difference by allowing legalized sports gambling on Massachusetts school teams only when they compete in Bowl games, playoffs and national tournaments. That ruling came much to the delight of “Joey the Bookmaker” and “George the off-shore and online bookie” thriving at collegiate dorms and off-campus housing located at every college and university in the Commonwealth.

  1. What could be uglier? Governor Baker, this week, agreed to terms on an employment deal to head the National Collegiate Athletic Association, also known as the NCAA. Baker is scheduled to replace outgoing NCAA President Mark Emmert, who served from November 2010 until Baker takes over on March 1, 2023 – just as March Madness will begin.
  2. Baker’s legislative, management and consensus-building skills will be tested from day one. He will be entering a shark-infested playground where football and basketball generate billions in revenue, but the NCAA must oversee each and every sport for the good of their beloved student-athletes. That is especially so for Baker to oversee equal rulings, funding facilities and eventually equal Name, Image and Likeness deals for NCAA athletes to generate revenue utilizing their own personal assets and interests, benefitting from on and off the playing field interests in their lives and personalties.
  3. A recommendation for the Governor before he sets foot in the NCAA offices is to meet with BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman, the only person in the USA with proper, grounded and legal knowledge of what works in both pro and collegiate sports. After that? I’ll reserve another 10-12 suggestions and meet-ups for a reasonable but well-deserved consulting fee.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: NFL history was made in the past 24 hours as the Minnesota Vikings came back from a 33-point halftime deficit to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, 39-36, in overtime. The Vikings were kept scoreless until there were only 8:25 left in the third quarter of Saturday’s triple-header on the NFL Network. When Vikings PK Greg Joseph drilled a 40-yard FG in the overtime, it marked a 39-3 scoring run for the NFC North-leading Vikings.

RECORDS MADE TO BE BROKEN: Going into Saturday’s game, THESE great games were the prior greatest NFL comebacks, as chronicled by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of course, back on January 3, 1993, Buffalo’s Frank Reich led the Buffalo Bills to a 32-point comeback win over the then-Houston Oilers. The comeback was highlighted by Reich’s four late TD passes, one to WR Don Beebe and three to WR Andre Reed. … New England football fans are fond of a 28-3 mantra taken from the Patriots’ 25-point comeback during Super Bowl LI in Houston back on February 5, 2017. Although the Patriots and Falcons were tied with 104 rushing hards, then-New England QB Tom Brady out-passed ATL’s Matt Ryan 442 yards to 240 yards as the Falcons attempted to stall and protect their 21-3 halftime lead. After letting up the first touchdown of the second half to give ATL their 28-3 lead, Brady and the Patriots went on to out-score the Falcons 19-0 in the fourth quarter to earn the win, 34-28.

GOOD NEWS WHEN THE CAPS GO UP: The Premier Hockey Federation announced a significant salary cap increase for next season, doubling the amount of compensation to players from $750,000 to $1.5 million per team in 2023-24. In the league’s ninth season, the rise in team player salary will be the third salary cap increase and represents a 900% growth since 2021 when the team salary cap was just $150,000 per team.

“This historic salary cap increase reflects the strength of our league and developing business model, and supports an enhanced player experience that over the last year when full healthcare benefits, facility upgrades, league expansion, and a record 84-game schedule, were introduced,” said Reagan Carey, PHF Commissioner.

ARMY vs. NAVY in FOXBORO: The countdown to kickoff for the 2023 Army vs. Navy Game, presented by USAA officially began the day after Army’s 20-17 defeat of Navy in overtime for the 2022 game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. In 2023, America’s Game is scheduled for the New England region for the first time in its 124-year history. There are several notable milestones for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States leading up to the game, including the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. … The lead-up and festivities will be plentiful but we’ll opt for a Boston “T-Party,” instead.

A BIG, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD BIG EAST THOUGHT: St. John’s (11-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) defeated Florida State, 93-79, in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida. For the Johnnies’ who are experiencing their best start, noting the victory marked just the sixth time in the last four decades the Johnnies navigated their out-of-conference play with only one loss. … With the tough BIG EAST schedule ahead, it might be Sunday, January 29th before St. John’s can expect to earn their next victory. That’s when the Georgetown Hoyas visit St. John’s for one of only four regular season appearances at Madison Square Garden. … St. John’s was picked sixth in the BIG EAST preseason poll by the conference’s coaches.

ORR: Sincere condolences to the family of the late Louis Orr, a formidable competitor against St. John’s as a Syracuse player and then as head coach and an assistant with multiple NCAA teams. Orr was 64, and his cause of death was cancer, according to reports.

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: In the spirit of Christmas and giving, this week’s Words & Music is inspired by Jeff Kazee who held his (hopefully, forever) annual Holiday Concert/Recital this week at the Rockwood Music Center on Allen Street in New York’s East Village.

Kazee will start us off with one of the great Christmas Songs of all-time. In fact, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007. The story of how it came to be is quite legendary, as Producer Lee Mendelson, a fan of jazz music, heard Vince Guaraldi’s work on the radio in San Francisco and asked him to create a song for the animated documentary to be produced for air on CBS on December 9, 1965. The song Christmas Time is Here went from being scribbled words and music on the back on an envelope to worldwide fame. Here it is in honor and memory of Charles Shultz

THE GIFTS OF THE BRUCES: Following Jeff’s lead of covering some of the greats while mixing in some of his original work, this week’s column is recognizing two songs written by superstars but gifted to other for their initial debut.

Without hesitation, I list this epic song as my all-time favorite as a Bruce Springsteen-penned for Patti Smith to make famous. What a gift it was!

This version includes a house band named U2, headed by Bono and joined by Springsteen himself.

Lastly, one of my faves – if not THE FAVE, Bruce Hornsby wrote a song that Don Henley made famous. “The End of the Innocence” is the lead single and title track from Don Henley’s third solo studio album, released in 1989. The song peaked at No. 8 and is performed often by both Henley and Hornsby in concert. They co-produced the sound track and the whole music-loving world can remember the gift. Here’s a 2019 version performed by Hornsby and YMusic in Brooklyn, New York. (I was fortunate enough to see Bruce perform this only a few nights earlier here in Boston. It just might be the greatest-ever performance of this incredible song. Keep in mind, Henley won the 1989 GRAMMY for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his rendition. Hornsby took it up a notch in terms of musical arrangement to a degree of difficulty seldom reach by anyone on the face of the Earth.

THIS IS IT, A PERFECT LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY GIFT: Whether it be for your favorite sports fan or a die-hard fan of the PGA Tour: While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook & Column, written by Terry Lyons. Each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city newsstand on Saturday night around 10pm to pick-up a copy of the Sunday papers. Inside, just waiting, was a sports-filled compilation of interesting notes, news, quotes and quips. TL’s Sunday Sports Notes are brought to you by Digital Sports Desk. Subscriptions to the weekly column and to our six-days-a-week PGA Tour Brunch are the perfect gift for your friends or family members who love pro golf. PGA Tour Brunch was published through the completion of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and will return the first week of January, 2023.

NOTE: Next week, we’ll be celebrating Christmas Eve but at 10pm that night, look for a special edition of While We’re Young (Ideas). After you get it, click the one-year subscription gift bonus offer. HERE

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 11th

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While We’re Young Ideas with the 2022 End of Year “Diggies”

 

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The global pandemic killed 6,649,490 million people and counting. It stopped every sport in nearly every nation. Temporarily it put “Digital Sports Desk” and 147 million either unemployed or out of business, and it ruined great traditions that we celebrate together. Sadly, there will be those 6.649m empty chairs at the Christmas dinner table this year, but thankfully, many of us are settling back to our lives as we knew them in 2018-19.

With that in mind, our popular Digital Sports Desk “DIGGIES” are back and this column will introduce the first of the 2022-23 editions, celebrating what we’ll call the Gems of the sporting calendar. After the first two, the DIGGIES are listed in no particular order. Please note, two of the great 2022-23 DIGGIES occurred this weekend and there’s a bit of a Boston-focus on this year’s winners.

  • No. 1: The Boston College vs Boston University hockey rivalry: As retired BC ice hockey coach said in his “Jerry York Night” speech on Friday, “the BC vs BU rivalry is the best in college hockey. They call it the “Battle of Comm Ave” in Boston and this past Friday night’s 9-6 Boston College Eagles victory took the match-up to new heights. BC’s Freshman forward Cutter Gauthier scored two goals and added two assists in the 288th edition of the rivalry. … The Eagles made their legendary coach proud as he was honored between periods and gifted with two First Class airline tickets and an all-expenses paid vacation trip to the Hawaiian Island of his choice. The potty-mouth BC fans made York cringe as the packed house, and the Conte-Crazy student sections were acting like they’d never been there before. The rivalry deserves some R.E.S.P.E.C.T. The players displayed it with a center-ice handshake line after the brutal battle of BU’s size and strength vs BC’s scoring, speed and agility. It’s a good thing the BC student sections couldn’t skate. 
  • No. 1-A: The annual ARMY vs NAVY game – usually played in Philadelphia – is a bucket list event for every sports fan in America. The patriotic pageantry is on display all day long, starting with a Noon (ET) “March On” ceremony that stops every fan in their tracks, but the stark reality while watching the cadets and midshipmen assemble is that some of the talented football players for both ARMY and NAVY might be laying their lives on the line for their fellow Americans someday all too soon. It is the best college football and it ranks on top of the list of DIGGIES Sports Gems. Please note: Boston fans are on call as the ARMY vs NAVY game will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on December 9, 2023, the first time the event will be staged in New England. If it weren’t for the need of the extra 20-25,000 seats, the game could’ve been scheduled for Fenway Park.
  • The 2022 ARMY vs NAVY was a classic, a 20-17 double-overtime win for ARMY. Every play mattered. It was and always is stunning!
  • The Army alma mater: “And when our work is done // Our course on earth is run // May it be said, “Well done” // Be thou at peace.// E’er may that line of gray // Increase from day to day // Live, serve, and die, we pray // West Point, for thee.” (It was sung second this year as it has been in five of the last seven years).
  • Continuing in NCAA College Football, the gems are polished every year when the following institutions play each other, usually alternating home field advantage:
    • Harvard vs. Yale – also known as “The Game.”
    • Ohio State vs Michigan
    • Alabama vs Auburn – The “Iron Bowl.”
    • There are plenty of other great college football rivalries, like Notre Dame vs USC or Oklahoma vs Texas, which dates back to 1900. They all receive honorable mentions for a 2022 DIGGIES award.
  • The Travelers at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, near Hartford, Connecticut. Surely, The Masters and The Players, Pebble Beach and all of the Majors deserve mention, but The Travelers is the hidden gem hiding in plain sight each June. The event falls a week after The U.S. Open, so you might expect a light field, but The Travelers draws all the top-ranked players, largely because of a great golf course, vibrant crowds of spectators and the volunteers who represent The Travelers insurance company and the local Greater Hartford community.
  • The Breeders’ Cup thoroughbred horse races best the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont Stakes. “Seven World Series games in one day,” says sports pundit and enthusiast Chris Brienza who loves to attend the event, no matter where it’s staged. In 2022, it was at Keeneland (Kentucky). As of December 11, 2022, we’ll need to wait 326 days until the Breeders’ Cup runs at Santa Anita in Arcadia, California.
  • The Boston Marathon – Best day of the year in Boston and surrounding suburbs where the Carnegie Hall of road races is held each April. The race also coincides with the traditional 11am Patriots’ Day start for the Boston Red Sox.
  • BIG EAST Friday and Final Four Saturday ranks as the best two dates in NCAA College Basketball. The 30-minutes before the tip of the semifinals of March Madness just might be the best half-hour in sports.
  • Of course, The Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series and Stanley Cup Final all rank high in must see events, but the rivalries in the major North American sports have waned. For the DIGGIES, it must be a hidden Gem, so all the majpr sports events are assigned Honorable Mention for this year’s list.
  • In Europe, the super rivalries of Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, known to all as “El Clasico” futbol is the best of the best. That said, you might want to pack your riot helmet for the Panathinaikos vs Olympiakos games in both soccer and basketball in the Greek League deserve honorable mention. “El Clasico” wins the DIGGIE.
  • Lastly, the college basketball rivalry of Duke vs North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference gets a DIGGIE as the best school vs school rivalry in North American sports. Circle Saturday, February 4th at Duke (Durham, NC) and Saturday, March 4 at Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC) for the 2023 renditions, with only a slight chance they’ll meet again in the ACC Tournament or during March Madness.

WELCOME HOME BRITTANY: How is it possible that a decorated U.S. Olympian, NCAA and WNBA champion’s return to the United States after an unfair, wrongful and excessive detainment in Russia can become a political volleyball? Yet, that’s what’s happened since Brittany Griner was released from a Russian prison. On December 8, in a now highly controversial prisoner swap authorized by the US State Department and the President of the United States, political chess players upped the ante of debate, doing exactly what the Kremlin planned, further dividing the USA voting public.

Here’s some background to consider as you contemplate your own opinion of the story that is quite terrible all-around. For some, you might’ve seen this post on Facebook. If not, please read on:

We must applaud the sentiment of the family of Paul Whelan as they commented this week on the useless and somewhat preposterous – call it – “either/or” commentary on the release of Griner, as though USA diplomats had a choice of whether to trade a known Russian arms dealer for Door No.1 or Door No. 2.

It was NOT a choice of one or the other but is being depicted as such, by those as important in US government as presumed 2023 Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

Here are the players:

1). Brittany Griner: A two time Olympic gold medalist (4 time gold medalist, if you count World Cup), 3-time Big 12 Player of the Year, 2012 NCAA Champion for Baylor, and 2014 WNBA Champion.

OR

2). Paul Whelan, a Canadian-born citizen who also has citizenship in the UK, Ireland and the USA where he served the USA as a Marine Corps Reserve (1994-2002) and Marine Reserve SGT, (2003-08) until he was discharged after court martial in January 2008 on larceny charges, making false statements, illegal use of another’s social security number and given a bad conduct demerit upon his discharge. … BTW: Regardless of the charges, his service remains admirable.

Let’s underline the point, the USA was not given a choose one or “the other” scenario. Our Diplomats and National Security Council have been negotiating on Whelen’s behalf since he was detained in Russia back in December of 2018. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We’ve made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he’s been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return.” On January 4, 2019, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “We don’t agree with individuals being used in diplomatic chess games… We are all extremely worried about him and his family.”

In 2019, Konstantin Yaroshenko – who was accused by the USA as a drug-smuggling pilot and jailed – was released to Russia in return for American Trevor Reed, also a Marine who was arrested for getting in a fight with Russian police/military authorities.

The complexity of the situation made me curious about all of the details, so it time to delve into the story after Whelan’s brother, David, said in his family statement: “There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home. The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”

Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, during her appearance on a live interview broadcast Dec. 9 on CBS News from Martha’s Vineyard, explained a lot in her interview transcribed here after the first question probed at the general public commentary, social media postings and mounting controversy surrounding Griner release but Whelan still detained. … “They infuriate me, said Elizabeth. To begin, where have all those people been for the last four years since my brother has been held? Where were their good ideas. I hope they’re sharing them with the National Security Council.

“The way I look at it, once a hostile foreign nation has taken an American citizen as prisoner, we need to do what ever it takes to get them back. Then, we need to use punishments and deterrents to stop it from ever happening again. I welcome anyone to share their ideas. They can send them to me. I’ll pass them on,” she added.

“I can’t tell my brother (Paul) everything that is going on. I can’t tell anyone everything that is going on. This is difficult. It’s not an easy thing to solve. We have a country – Russia – who is trying – purposefully – to cause trouble over here. They weren’t going to send both Paul and Brittany home at the same time and give our President “the win.” We need to figure out a way around that. I don’t know what the solution is.

“The charges against him (her brother) are as ridiculous as it comes. This is a story they (Russian govt) have concocted. They planted the USB drive on Paul and then arrested him five minutes later to gain leverage over the US. They treat Paul’s case differently from that of (former Marine and released detainee) Trevor Reed or Brittany.

“The foreign governments that are taking Americans like this, is that they are not taking them for being the specific persons. They’re taking them because they want to get back in some way at the United States. I do have hope (in US government). The folks that were first working to get Trevor and Paul back, and trying to get Brittany and Paul back, they are going to all lengths to make that happen.

“Any wrongfully detained American that comes back is a win for America.

(On Griner family stating Dec 8th that they would become very involved in Whelan family efforts)

“When I saw Cherrelle (Brittany’s wife) say that their family was going to fight for Paul, and keep the attention on his case, that was the first “emotional crack’ (in Elizabeth’s public posture) to see their support.”

The moral of this post: Read up before tossing shade.

TID-BITS: Rest-in-Peace Grant Wahl, 48, former Sports Illustrated reporter who died suddenly while covering the World Cup. … Busy night for the NHL Deans of Discipline as Seattle Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was suspended for three games, without pay, for an illegal check to the head of Washington Capitals defenseman Alexander Alexeyev during a game at Washington, D.C., on Friday, Dec. 9. … And, Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner was suspended for three games, without pay, for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel during their game at Buffalo on Friday, too, … The WSJ is reporting that Venture Capitalists are seeking ownership in the Phoenix Suns, with a $3 billion price tag being floated via financing from Pay Pal founder and tech giant Peter Theil who was the first outside investor in FaceBook. … In FIBA – not FIFA – news: No.1 ranked Strahinja Stojacic was crowned MVP of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour 2022 regular season by a panel of fans and players. The Ub Huishan NE star has had a golden season and led the No.1 ranked team to four straight Masters titles, when he won three of the four tournament MVPs. Stojacic aka ‘Doctor Strange’ dominated the players’ vote with a whopping 32.7% to finish clear of his brother Stefan, who finished second with 15.4%. Next best were Riga superstars Karlis Lasmanis and Nauris Miezis at 11.5% and Antwerp’s Thibaut Vervoort with 9.6%. … The Baseball Winter Meetings ended with a flurry of free agent signings, including former Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts signing with the San Diego Padres. … We’ll take a look at the old Hot Stove happenings next week.

TD Boston Garden (Photo by T. Peter Lyons)

NHL POWER RANKINGS: As promised from last week’s column, here’s the WWYI Power Rankings for the National Hockey League, as of December 10:

  1. Boston Bruins – 14-0-1 at the TD Garden
  2. New Jersey Devils – Tied with Boston with 43 points.
  3. Las VegasGolden Knights – 20 of 29 in the win column = 41 points
  4. Toronto Maple Leafs – 8-0-2 in their last 10 games
  5. Tampa Bay Lightning – 35 points, and always dangerous as reigning champs
  6. Winnipeg Jets – 8-2-0 over last 10 games, 10-3 at home
  7. Dallas Stars – NHL-Leading 105 goals for, but in second place in West-Central
  8. Log-Jam in the East-Metropolitan – Carolina, Pittsburgh, NYI and NYR

There’s a long, long way to go.

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: Everyone’s favorite part of this column takes a somber turn as this song is posted in memory of Grant Wahl. It is performed by my NYC music bud Rich Pagano with ultra-music-hoops bud Jeff Kazee on the keys and the talented John Conte on bass. They make up “Early Elton” in between gigs, with Kazee usually backing Southside Johnny and the Jukes.

Kazee will be performing a Christmas-themed SOLD OUT solo act this Wednesday, in New York at the Rockwood Music Hall. It will resemble the Living Room Lounge shows which guided so many of us through the global pandemic when it seemed it would never, ever end.

Last year, his set list included:

THE HOLIDAY SHOW

Christmas Time is Here

The Christmas Song

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Blue Christmas

White Christmas

Feeling Great (Kazee)

Everyday Is Like A Holiday (Jeff & Sophia)

Merry Christmas, Baby/Bells Will Be Ringing

Chinese Food For Christmas

A Cradle in Bethlehem

We Three Kings of Orient Are

Nut Rocker

Grownup Christmas List (Sophia Kazee)

This Christmas

O Holy Night

Run, Run, Rudolph

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | Dec 4

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – USC lost and TCU lost!

USC is OUT while TCU is in.

The Georgia Bulldogs smoked LSU, 50- 30, to take the SEC championship and lock the No. 1 seed in the upcoming College Football Playoffs while the Purdue Boilermakers vs. Michigan Wolverines Big Ten Championship game was underway as this missive posted its “Bulldog” edition, the Wolverines with a 14-13 lead at the half.

There will be tons of speculation and reasoning for the CFP committee to toss-around the virtues of Ohio State, Alabama, and TCU to decide the final two teams to qualify. Ohio State and Alabama are probably the best two teams of the five, but TCU’s season-long resume might qualify the Horned Frogs to No. 3 as ‘Bama, Tennessee, Clemson and Penn State seem to blend into one, as in one short. USC finished 11-2 in the Pac-12, but lost to Utah twice in the season, once on October 16th, and again in the conference championship game Friday night, thumped 47-24. That places USC as a solid No. 8 or No. 9 at best.

Taking it all in, it might be easier to assign TCU and USC to the January 2nd Rose Bowl and let Georgia and Michigan play the final on January 9 and call it a season. That would make either the Fiesta Bowl or the Peach Bowl pretty annoyed.

By Sunday morning, the decisions were made:

College Football Playoffs 2022-23:

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. TCU
  4. Ohio St.

Outside looking in?

  1. Alabama
  2. Tennessee

On the flip-side, let’s all celebrate the fact Miami (Ohio) and the University ofAlabama-Birmingham – their friends call ‘em UAB – will kick-off Bowl season with berths in the Bahamas Bowl on December 16th – just 12 days away. On Christmas Eve, Middle Tennessee and San Diego State will travel to Honolulu for the annual Hawaii Bowl on December 24th and enjoy a “Mele Kalikimaka” on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas Day, December 25th.

HERE NOW THE NOTES: The Boston Celtics are 18-5 to date, 11-2 at the TD Boston Garden. That amazing start was good enough for the NBA to recognize head coach Joe Mazzulla as the NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October and November. It marked the Celtics 16th overall NBA Coach of the Month honor since the award’s inception during the 1982-83 season. Boston leads the league in points per game (121.9), field goal percentage (49.8), three-point field goal percentage (40.8), free throw percentage (85.3), while also ranking sixth in assists (27.5). … For the first time in franchise history, the Celtics averaged at least 123.0 points and shot over 50.0 percent from the field during one calendar month (min. 10 games) for games played in November when they posted a 14-2 record.

Not to be forgotten, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was named the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for October/November. Tatum earned his second career NBA Player of the Month award and now holds the third-most monthly honors in Celtics history behind Larry Bird (7) and Paul Pierce (3). This season, Tatum has appeared in 21 games (all starts) and is averaging career-highs of 31.6 points on 48.8 percent shooting from the field and 87.3 percent from the line, along with 7.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 36.7 minutes per game.

BOSTON BREWIN’ – The Boston Bruins, the Celtics’ neighbors at TD Garden and their respective practice sites, are 20-3 for the season and 14-0 at home after Saturday night’s victory over the highly competitive Colorado Avalanche by the score of 5-1. … The Bruins and the red hot New Jersey Devils are 1 and 1A in the NHL power rankings. This column will delve into that full list in depth next weekend.

KNAPP MEMORIAL FUND: Eight NFL teams and up to 50 NFL coaches will participate in different ways to support the first-ever Coach Knapp fundraiser this December, which will benefit The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund. The fund was created this year to educate drivers on the dangers of distracted driving, reduce the number of distracted driving-related deaths, and promote distracted driving awareness reform in the United States. … Knapp’s wife, Charlotte, and his close friend and agent, Jeff Sperbeck, created the fund to honor the legacy of Greg Knapp who was killed after being hit by a distracted driver while he was bicycling in July 2021. Coach Knapp was known for climbing the stadium stairs before every single NFL game he coached over his 25 season career…. Stadium stair climbs and other fundraising activities will play a part of the tribute. … At the time of his passing, Knapp was previously named Passing Game Coordinator for the New York Jets under head coach Robert Saleh.

PGA TOUR BRUNCH: The six-days a week missive, known to you all as PGA TOURBRUNCH is right around the corner with the first issue of 2023 planned for Wednesday, January 4 with the Sentry Tournament of Champions scheduled to take place January 5-8 in Kapalua, on The Valley Isle of Maui in Hawai‘i. … After a wrap-up column on January 9th, PGA Tour Brunch returns January 11th with a preview of the first full-field event of 2023 when the PGA Tour pros tee-off for the SONY Open in Honolulu. You might’ve read it before, but PGA TOUR BRUNCH is the perfect gift for your favorite golf fan (maybe fans). It’s a gift that keeps on giving all season long, and up to the Tour Championship in late August 2023. … Why Brunch? Well, it is sent in advance of each round of golf and – with the tournaments played in different time zones throughout the season, the time can change a bit. Ideally, it pops-up in your inbox at 12 Noon (ET), at a time when you have a minute – over LUNCH or BRUNCH to relax, grab your mobile device and take-in a screen or two or three of the most important information on the tournament being played each week. Some basic stuff, yes! Tee Times, Leaderboard, what time the TV and Radio broadcasts will be for the day/week and just a few links to surf to get deeper information. … It saves time, as we’ve done the groundwork to put forth what you NEED to read to follow the Tour. For a limited time (Today through Dec 31, 2022), we’re offering a 20% discount as a Special Holiday Greetings and Gift idea. Click HERE

PGA TOUR BRUNCH is the “sister publication” to the missive you’re reading now – While We’re Young (Ideas) aka TL’s Sunday Sports Notes. Both are available for subscription via Substack and both are sent to your device by email and they’re archived on the Substack App and our home sites. Similar to PGA TOUR BRUNCH, you can gift a subscription to WHILE WE’RE YOUNG (Ideas) – before Dec. 31, 2022 by visiting HERE.

WORLD CUP: The hopes of the United States advancing in the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament came to an abrupt end Saturday, much to the 3-1 ear-slapping at the hands of The Netherlands. Although the FOX, USA-loving broadcast teams and studio commentators made excuses of “what an experience” and “too much youth,” stating, “we should be proud” cliches, and emphasizing on the incredibly un-professional use of the word “we,” the truth be told, the USA got their asses kicked.

Maybe some Kipling – from his Poem, “If” might fit the sitch:

“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster.

And treat those two impostors just the same.”

See you in: (USA sites) – New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco/Bay Area, Los Angeles; Vancouver and Toronto for Canada and Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey for Mexico in the truly North American World Cup of 2026.

  • The Triumph* clip is NOT for office consumption and it dates back to a Conan show during the Rio World Cup.

WORLD CUP TID-BITS: Jennie Taft made the FOX and FOX Sports 1 studio shows work. Why, oh, why did they mover her to pitch-side reporter? … Has anyone ever seen NBA/ABA great Rick Barry at the same phone booth as former USA soccer player turned broadcaster Alexi Lalas? … Buried in the personal memory bank was a 1990 trip to London to see the likes of Tears for Fears, Elton John, Eric Clapton, a Genesisreunion with Tony Banks (piano), Mike Rutherford (guitar) and Phil Collins (drums, vocals) at Knebworth. The trip coincided with a World Cup quarterfinal win for England over Cameroon (3-2, on the 1st of July) and a (1-1) tie vs Germany which resulted in England losing 4-3 in the shoot-out on the 4th of July. England had several chances to win and a goal recalled for being off-sides to further the disappointment. The image embedded was a gentleman, sitting on the curb just outside an upscale pub near the JW Marriott Grosvenor House. He had his head in his hands for 10+ minutes, not moving a muscle otherwise. It was then, and only then, I could understand the meaning of World Cup soccer to the English, the Europeans and the world as a whole. Of course, I was thinking about MLB scores back home and the fact Pink Floyd headlined Knebworth, a notch above Paul McCartney and Wings. … Sadly, I think the excitement of the USA qualifying and advancing to the Round of 16 in this, the 2022 World Cup, will mean little to NOTHING for the MLS or television coverage for the sport of soccer in the USA. … FOX Sports commentators admitted to the lack of size, strength and depth for the USA team. Excuse the basketball reference, here, but the USA needs to develop a more “Jordan Rules” mentality and to utilize the Chuck Daly/Isiah Thomas invented strategy to bang, crack and hit anything that moved as it made its way in front of the rim (USA goal and especially the goal-keeper). I’m not talking about drawing yellow cards or penalties (allowing shots at point blank range), but I am very much aware of what the Detroit Pistons – via Bill Laimbeer, RickMahorn, Dennis Rodman and the rest of the “Bad Boys” – did to the mighty Chicago Bulls and its stars who took it to the rim. Additionally, the Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley did the same in the 1991-95 era of New York Knicks/NBA basketball. Riley convinced the Knicks that they were capable of winning and advancing in the playoffs if they played rough and tough. He convinced the likes of Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and John Starks that they could win if they played very physical basketball. Team USA needs to hit the weight room or do some recruiting.

In closing, there’s one other important detail, call it another fact. The Netherlands was a better Futbol team. They out-played the USA, fair and square. In addition to The Netherlands, there are at least xx other teams better than the USA team and they include: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Spain and Portugal, for sure. Add to the probably better teams of Switzerland, Poland, S. Korea, Japan, and Croatia. In other words, if you ranked the Round of 16, the USA was arguably 16th, maybe 15th or 14th.

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Nov 27

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TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook on Acronyms in Sports/TV

NEW YORK – Whether we like it or not, we’ve chosen to live in a world full of acronyms. As per usual, the sports industry leads the way. After all, the National Basketball Association is known worldwide as the NBA – except in The New York Times where it is the N.B.A.. The other major North American sports follow suit, as in the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), all known globally.

At one point in time – ‘circa 1975-1980 – the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball attempted to market the sport as Baseball, but it never caught on with the masses because of the fact every player and fan knew of the major accomplishment of making it to the “Majors,” to the “Show.” Simultaneously, the popularity and value of minor league clubs was reason for MLB to create MiLB, the governing body and marketing arm for many of the minor leagues.

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The next level of sports organizations might challenge every fan with their numerous acronyms, especially in the world of golf and tennis. We’ll spot you a few:

  • PGA – (Professional Golfers’ Association)
  • PGA of America – Represents golf club professionals and hosts tournaments and hosts/organizes the annual PGA Championship.
  • USGA – (United States Golf Association) – The federation for golf in the United States; Reps golf courses, the rules of game, tracks golf handicaps to rate players and hosts the U.S. Open on annual basis.
  • PGA Tour – The league for men’s professional golfers
  • LIV Golf – Rival league to PGA Tour (54 vs 72 hole tournaments)
  • LPGA – The league for women’s professional golfers
  • USTA – (United States Tennis Association)
  • ATP – (Association of Tennis Professionals, also know as the men’s tennis tour)
  • WTA – (Women’s tennis tour)
  • MLS – (Major League Soccer)
  • NASL – (North American Soccer League)
  • PBR – (Pro Bull Riders)
  • NLL – (National Lacrosse League)
  • PLL – (Premier Lacrosse League)
  • WNBA – (Women’s National Basketball Association)
  • NWSL – (National Women’s Soccer League)
  • PHF – (Premier Hockey Federation) – Was launched as NWHL, as in National Women’s Hockey League
  • NCAA – (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
  • IOC – (International Olympic Committee)
  • USOC – now known as USOPC (United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee)

Within the Olympic and Paralympic Committee, we could go to the oomph degree with USATF (United States Track & Field) all the way to USAB (United States of America Basketball), formerly known as ABA/USA and other offshoots like the AAU (Amateur Athletic Association) or NWBA (National Wheelchair Basketball Association), and the NHSF (National Federation of State High School Associations).

Editor’s Note: If you dare, click on the previous NHSF link for a look at acronym hell.

On a Personal Note: Within the world of sports acronyms, this columnist would go out of his way to always write USA Basketball instead of taking the shortcut to USAB, which was born of shortening the title for subject lines within internal e-mails, quite the same as the World Championship of Basketball quickly became WCOB when the NBA league office was responsible for the staging of the 1994 Worlds in Toronto.

We’ll draw the line before mentioning Rugby, Cricket, eSports or a dozen others.

Outside of Sporting, the other industry guilty of the acronym wars is the broadcasting world. Again, let’s delve into just a few of the major network types:

First, there were three: ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) and NBC (National Broadcasting Company). Soon to be added were PBS (Public Broadcasting System), FOX (named after 20th Century Fox) which followed the demise of the DuMont Network. In those days, if your television went beyond 13 channels of VHF (Very High Frequency), you were lucky to receive a few UHF (Ultra High Frequency) stations.

Boston Celtics TV ad, complete with (L to R) Dennis “DJ” Johnson, Danny Ainge, then Larry Bird, Robert “The Chief” Parish and Kevin McHale

Boston’s sports fans are familiar with the UHF channels as Boston Bruins games were broadcast on Channel 38 (WHMB/WXEL/WHIS/WSBK) and the Boston Celtics games were featured programming on Channel 56, Boston’s oldest UHF station which began as WTAO-TV and continues until today as a CW affiliate which eventually secured rights to both the Bruins and the Celtics. The history of that broadcasting network was a combination of CBS and Warner Brothers, along with UPN (United Paramount Network), not to be mistaken with UPI (United Press International) which competed with AP (Associated Press) which syndicated news to the whole mess listed above.

In Europe, you can watch CANAL+ or FR-1 in France, TVE or Cadena Cope in Spain, or maybe you’d prefer “tele basura” which translates to Trash TV.

To conclude, this week I watched GMA (Good Morning America) on ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) while I checked to see if Sunday’s NFL (National Football League) schedule has games on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) or FOX (20th Century Fox, now owned by Rupert Murdock and his media empire, while I logged-in to the NYT (The New York Times) to double-check which game is on SNFonNBC (Sunday Night Football) and MNF (Monday Night Football) before I watched the SEC (Southeast Conference) Championship game to see who will compete in the CFP (College Football Playoffs) on NYE (New Year’s eve) as long as I pay my FIOS (Verizon’s Fiber Optic Service) bill and that will depend on whether a scored a NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deal for a client or if my investments did well on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) or NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) which surely will be chronicled by the WSJ (Wall Street Journal).

Whew!

NOW WHAT? With Michigan’s drubbing of No. 2-ranked Ohio State, there are two clear-cut leaders for the CFP Playoffs and two toss-ups. Let the arguing begin.

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. TCU
  4. USC

The outside looking in are:

  1. Alabama
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Penn St.
  4. LSU

After that, it really doesn’t matter as Clemson lost at home to South Carolina (31-30).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Aside from a ton of speculation on Rafa Devers and Xander Bogaerts, there’s been no official news from the Boston Red Sox aside from a Wednesday (Nov. 23) trade for infielder/outfielder Hoy Park from the Pittsburgh Pirates, in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Inmer Lobo. … Park, 26, played in 68 Major League games for the New York Yankees (2021) and Pirates (‘21-22).

Miguel Gurwitz, left, with TV partner Carlos Hermosillo

MUNDO CLASS: Telemundo’s Miguel Gurwitz might be the busiest man on earth this weekend and he’s halfway done. Gurwitz, who is anchoring all Telemundo’s World Cup coverage while calling some matches behind the legendary Andres Cantor, will take on a marathon of broadcasting only rivaled by the late, great Jerry Lewis on his Labor Day Telethon. Beginning Thursday, the native of Mexico and current Miami resident, the regular play-by-play voice for NBC Telemundo’s Sunday Night Football Games, was on-air for the better part of 18 hours on Thanksgiving Day.

Beginning at 11am, Gurwitz anchored all of Telemundo’s World Cup soccer coverage, and then as day turned into night, he switched from futbol to football, calling the SNF on NBC/Telemundo primetime game between the New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings game. Gurwitz called the NFL game off broadcast monitors LIVE from Qatar to complete 18 hours of work.

Gurwitz was back at it for Friday and Saturday WC 2022 coverage, splitting studio and game commentary before he shoots for another futbol to football marathon today when he works four games from Qatar and repeats his NBC/Telemundo marathon with his play-by-play call of Green Bay at Philadelphia at 8:20pm ET.

Will Monday be a day of rest?

Nope … Gurwitz will be working four more World Cup games.

WORLD CUP of BS – Right before the matches began, tone deaf FIFA president Gianni Infantino served-up a media session that was hard to believe. Not only did he overlook Qatar’s human rights record of staggering hypocrisy and racism, he went on for 57-minutes reversing the tides of accusation towards western media claiming they were hypocrites due to their own past and current behavior. In a bizarre rant he said: “Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker. Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country.

“As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.”

C’Mon Man. Need a drink? Or a cold Nastro Azzurro?

Since World Cup’s opening eve, just imagine the many hooligans who’ve been experiencing the “DTs” by the 45:00 mark of each match as the ban against public drinking of beer and alcohol was determined the week leading up to competition. From what TV cameras are showing, the packed venues feature capacity crowds, emotional fans and strong competition out-weigh the B.S.. Upsets have included Japan over Germany and Saudi Arabia over Argentina. The headline Thursday was that Cristiano Ronaldo is the first men’s WC player to score in five World Cups. … The major dust-up seems to be the rising tensions and protests between Iranian women and authorities and supporters and chants of “The Islamic Republic of Iran.” … Iranian authorities have responded in the homeland with deadly force to suppress protests which erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini in September following her arrest for wearing a headscarf incorrectly.

RULES CHANGES: Understanding the long history of the sport and the fact you only need a field, two goals and a ball to play – meaning you do NOT even need lights or electricity – this will make the futbol hardline traditionalists cringe with pain, but here’s a basketball expert’s thoughts to improve World Cup soccer. Admittedly, because of the “beauty of the game” and the control factor, these will NEVER happen:

  1. Institute a 4:00 minute shot clock
  2. “Back court” violation … Once ball crosses into offensive half of the field, the team on offense can not cross ball backwards to the backfield, but instead force traps at midline.
  3. Put Official as the game clock operator and that’s official for all the world to see
  4. While not a fan of Penalty Kicks to decide outcomes, personally, I can live with Round of 16 rules-on, so no change.

FINAL HARD FOUR: It’s a “hard four,” as in 7-to-1 odds paid off. Yes, the Final Four basketball tournament – the final weekend of March Madness – will be played in Las Vegas for the first time in 2028. Like a Spring Break with velvet tables, Vegas is the ultimate destination for wagering on the NCAA tournament has long been a staple of March Madness. Massive changes in sports gambling laws opened the door for the NCAA to award the men’s national semifinals and championship game to Allegiant Stadium to conclude the 2027-28 season. In other words, the NCAA is ‘all-in.’

The NCAA also announced Ford Field in Detroit would host the Final Four in 2027, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis would get the 2029 event and AT&T Stadium in Dallas will stage the 2030 event.

While We’re Young (Ideas) and Notes

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NEW YORK – As the 2022 Holiday Season begins this week with Thanksgiving Day, this November 24, 2022, there’s no better time to STOP and THINK about the important things in our lives and to be thankful for each and every one of them, each and every day.

When Santa Claus rides into the official MACY*S Thanksgiving Day Parade, it’s open season for Christmas, complete with seasonal music, decorations, shopping and (hopefully) tidings of comfort and joy.

For starters, I’m thankful for my family. My two daughters are the definition of 1,000 Points of Light and Joy. Surprisingly, it’s been quite a challenge for me and my wife to be the parents of adult children as we miss them as they carry-out their lives. As an empty nester, I’ve sought advice from experienced parents and some of the smartest people on the planet. Everyone says the same thing, “Let them go and grow.” I’ve been a big believer in that tactic ever since our family decision to enroll each of my daughters in CITYterm – a program run from The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY. So sadly, CITYterm no longer exists but it was the single most important experience of my two daughter’s lives and a monumental step forward for our family and their maturation process to help prepare them for college. I knew that between their education in NYC/Boston and the CITYterm experience, they were ready.

A wonderful holiday tradition we should all be thankful for each year is the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. From 1981 through 2008, the great Christmas Tree kept me company as my office overlooked St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and the tree was just a block away. For the most part, I visited it daily on my commute and always stopped in wonder of its beauty, size and spirit. It was the best part about working in the Rock Center area, although the holiday crowds were a bit overwhelming. But, it beat sinking into the asphalt of 5th Ave on a 98-degree summer day. That’s for sure. This year, the tree will be lit on November 30th. It will measure 82 feet in height and is 50 feet wide, weighing 14 tons with over 50,000 lights to do the tree the major league status of a Rock Center tree. It hails from Queensbury, a town between Glens Falls and Lake George in Upstate New York.

In addition to my immediate family, I’m thankful for and deeply appreciative of my “original” immediate family, my mother, age 97, and my brother, Thomas, and his family, along with the whole gang – Tim, Christopher, Sean and Paul – and their terrific families. The Martin side of the coin is equally great and there’s FAR too many to name each and everyone, but they’re all so wonderful and have played such an important role in our Massachusetts-based life, among many other important aspects of growth and helping us all face the challenges of the many CH, CH, CH – Changes.

Some other reasons to be thankful – rapid fire – are: Brian, Matt, T Walsh, Josh, and Spy. Johnnie, Dave G, Dana, Higor, Dave Oh, and Arty, of course. Hundreds of Mass-based friends – John MacKinnon, Stephen Berger, Matt Hauber – now in Christchurch for goodness sake. I’m thankful for the Holy Trinity ‘77 and surrounding years “kids” and the Keswick Americans. The literary crew: Bob Delaney, Dave Scheiber, Philip Turner and his son Ewan who have all taught me so much. NO name dropping allowed, but I have to say thanks to Bill and Lori and to Bruce Hornsby and his son – my European basketball man, Keith, now playing in France’s Div. I LNB for Nanterre 92.

Thanks to my Red Sox Press Box family, headed up by attendant Kevin Doyle. I miss them already, but there’s only about 85 days to go until Pitchers and Catchers report.

Also, thanks to Howie for the intro to the wonderful world of Derek and Susan and the TTB. What a series of albums entitled, “I Am the Moon.” Brilliant and a new genre of music to enjoy. Buy it.

Column inches will make me stop here, but sincere thanks to everyone in my life. I’ll be back at New Year’s with an extended list.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Ben Martin and Patrick Rodgers – both at (-14) – are tied for the lead at the RSM Classic, the final tournament of the PGA Tour’s Fall season. The next official tournament is the Sentry Tournament of Champions, scheduled January 5-8 in Maui, Hawaii.

That’s when PGA Tour Brunch will return and post mobile-friendly e-news six days a week. Fact-filled PGA Tour Brunch will take you all the way to the Tour Championship in August and is the PERFECT holiday gift for your favorite golf fan.

COUNTDOWN TO THE WORLD CUP: It’s here! The long-awaited World Cup begins today with home nation Qatar vs. Ecuador match on FS-1. This week, the focus wasn’t on the tournament but instead the banning of alcohol within WC venues. The decision will cost WC sponsor Budweiser millions but will be cause for hooligans from every nation to attempt to “sneak-in” their favorite spirits and beverages. … Budweiser was scheduled to sell beer within the event-ticketed perimeter surrounding each of the eight stadiums before and after each game. But, this week the last minute decision was made to ban alcohol and serve only Bud Zero. … The world famous beer brand, which is one of FIFA’s longtime partners, responded with a Tweet, “Well, this is awkward,” although the post was quickly deleted. … This is the first World Cup staged in an ultra-conservative, Muslim-based country with very strict controls on all alcohol consumption. Spectators can drink beer in the evenings in “the official FIFA Fan Festival,” a designated party area that also offers live music and activities, and in stadium hospitality suites for sponsors and VVIP guests, a policy similar to the NCAA Final Four in the USA.

Speaking of the USA, the USMNT opens-up play on Monday vs. Wales.

What’s WWYI favorite nation?

Dough-Nation! – Click HERE for PGA Tour Brunch or HERE for While We’re Young (Ideas).

TID-BITS: The Gavitt Games were played this week and BIG EAST rep Georgetown faced the Big Ten’s Northwestern Wildcats. With 4:52 remaining in the first half, Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas led by five, 28-23. But with :48 left in the game, Northwestern led 75-60 – a mere 20-point swing. A bad beat for Ewing, Georgetown and the BIG EAST. … On the other hand, Nebraska was leading St. John’s 22-12 with 5:07 left in the first half of a rough and tough defensive battle. In the second half, two different teams showed up, as St. John’s outscored the Cornhuskers 50-23 to take a 70-50 lead at the final buzzer. … Milwaukee Bucks star and former NBA MVP Giannis  Antetokounmpo created quite a stir on Friday night after his 4-for-15 debacle from the free throw line in a 110-102 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. After the game, Antetokounmpo took to the court to get some free throw shots up as the 76ers’ home court was being cleared and maintenance and media were attending to their post-game tasks. Philadelphia 76ers forward Montrezl Harrell claimed he was doing a post game workout and snatched the basketball away from the Bucks’ star who then went to the other end where technicians were dis-assembling their remote cameras. Antetokounmpo wanted no part of waiting as the workers were mounting a ladder next to the rim and backboard area. Antetokounmpo promptly asked them to move the ladder, but then took it upon himself to do so, tipping the top-heavy 10-foot ladder over only to have it crash to the court. … Not a good look for the former MVP who has struggled with his free throws since his rookie year.

Willets Point, Queens, site of proposed soccer stadium

WILLETS POINT: (Continuing in a New York State of Mind, rather than Boston-themed column) … The City of New York, Queens County and the NYFC soccer club announced plans to build a brand new soccer stadium as part of a Willets Point redevelopment plan. The new stadium, as news reports put it, would be located “directly across the street from the right field foul pole” near CitiField, the home field of the New York Mets.

Please tell me if I’m wrong, but since I first set foot in the old Shea Stadium (1964) to watch the Mets, the area designated for the new stadium and development has been nothing but an auto mechanic shop destination of the worst degree. Oil changes, Mufflers, Tires, Engine re-builds, Transmissions – you name it. Can you imagine what the earth under these shops and quonset huts has endured since the 1960s?

There is zero chance the oil, transmission fluid, and other mechanical waste was properly disposed of during the many years. I wouldn’t walk 100 feet into that zoning nightmare if you gave me $100 a step. At one point, I was told by a very reliable source that the New York Islanders of the NHL looked at the mess before they settled on their current, new site by Belmont Raceway, and guess what the Islanders found?

Disgusting? Un-healthy? Dangerous?

The word is that they’ll clean it all up. Yeah right! It would be similar to cleaning up Deepwater Horizon and the Piper Alpha, Beta and Santa Maria, along with the Gulf War oil spill of 1991 which left a 101 x 41 mile trail of oil in the Persian Gulf. The effort to clean-up in the outer limits of Citi Field started in 2021 when then-NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio participated in the announcement of a clean-up. I’d rather clean-up Chernobyl.

It’s so bad out there, it makes Camp Lejeune look like the beaches of Turks and Caicos.

It’s bad. Real bad. So bad the lawyers tell me I don’t have to write allegedly, but might try a-sledgedly.

It’s really bad out there. How bad?

It’s so bad, if they could remediate all 23 acres of Willets Point, and re-harvest the oil, the price of a gallon of gasoline would drop to 59.9-cents and there’d be enough oil left over to heat the Northwest Territories all year long.

It’s bad.

So bad the restaurants will simply serve salads with Vinegar and patrons will drag their salads along the floor. It’s so bad, an Australian rock band will play every game and hit the stage at Midnight.

It’s so bad, it’s alleged the New York City FC is going to market every season ticket with an oil change, tire rotation and a lube job.

You get the picture. Good luck to the fans of NYFC.

80 FOR BRADY: Every now and then you have to wonder how a film possibly sees the light of day. How did it get funded and produced? This week, “80 for Brady” broke the mold, as it was executive produced by former New England Patriots (current Tampa Bay Bucs) quarterback Tom Brady. The movie is scheduled to be in theatres this February 3rd. While there’s no grace in piling on Brady for his venture to produce a movie with a plot of the “Golden Girls meet Tom Brady,” you can’t help but wonder how bad a year it’s been for TB12 when he went from Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen to Lily Tomlin.

Take a look at the (much too long) trailer and decide for yourself:

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov. 13th

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Since the ‘70s, Free Agency in Major League Baseball has been a fact of life, yet the sting of major league clubs losing prized and maybe homegrown players hurts just as much in 2022-23 as it did in 1972 when St. Louis Cards outfielder Curt Flood vs (MLB Commissioner) Bowie Kuhn challenged the “reserve clause” in Baseball and arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally who were officially granted free agency on March 16, 1976. The Supreme Court later ruled in favor of Kuhn and Baseball, but MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement introduced the Curt Flood rule, and, the rest, as they say, is HIS-TOR-EE.

CHICAGO – MAY 16: A general view of Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubs take on the Houston Astros on May 16, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs defeated the Astros 5-4. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Forty-eight years ago and slightly before the historic Messersmith/McNallyrulings, Seitz also ruled that Jim “Catfish” Hunter was free of his contract as he signed a then-whopping five-year, $3.25m contract with the New York Yankees, leaving his “Swingin’ A’s” behind in a new era of Baseball.

This winter, baseball stars like OF Aaron Judge (NYY), SP Jacob deGrom(NYM), SS Trea Turner (LAD), SS Carlos Correo (Minn), hometown Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts (BOS), SP Justin Verlander (HOU), INF Dansby Swanson (ATL), OF Brandon Nimmo (NYM), 1B Jose Abreau(CWS), and a host of others will test the free agent market. Others, by virtue of opting-out or no Qualifying Offers being rendered, are thrust into the free agent market. For the Red Sox, DH J.D, Martinez and SP Michael Wachaare two examples of the latter group.

Let the “Hot Stove” games begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: If the NFL wants to assure safer playing conditions for its players, the league and teams need immediate changes to the turf at some stadiums and make other safety modifications, NFL players association president JC Tretter said. … Tretter, in a post on the NFLPA’s website Saturday, called for the league to ban the thin playing surface, saying it has led to “statistically higher in-game injury rates,” compared to all other surfaces for non-contact injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, such as ankles and feet. … Seven teams currently play home games in stadiums with slit film turf, according to the NFLPA: New York Jets and Giants (with shared Met Life Stadium), Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. … “Player leadership wrote a letter to the NFL this week demanding the immediate removal of these fields and a ban on them going forward, both in stadiums and for practice fields,” Tretter wrote. “The NFL has not only refused to mandate this change immediately, but they have also refused to commit to mandating a change away from slit film in the future at all.”

NFL POWER 10: The National Football League season is shaking-out and by Thanksgiving Weekend we should have a clear vision of the contenders and pretenders for the 2022-23 postseason.

The real pro-NFL pundits laud the “parity” of the NFL while those of us on planet earth recognize there are really only three good teams. Here is the WWYI POWER 10 with that in mind:

Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills – (*Josh Allen injury is hanging)
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings – (They’re not that great)
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
New York Giants
All of the Mediocre Teams: Tampa Bay, New England, LA Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and SF 49ers.

NOVA = NO GO: There’s an old Marketing 101 meets Globalization 101 story that said General Motors did not think through the naming of the popular “NOVA” sedan as Nova translated in some way to “Doesn’t Go” in Spanish, thus crushing sales in Spanish speaking Latin America.

Not true. It’s all a myth conjured up by some Marketing professor.

First, it’s a strange translation issue that really doesn’t work. Secondly, the car sold quite well in Latin America and outsold expectations of Chevrolet in countries like Mexico and Venezuela.

That brings us to ‘Nova, as in Villanova.

Villanova’s trip across the Schuylkill River to Temple Friday night resulted with a 68-64 defeat by the Owls and an early-season storming of the court by Temple fans. The Villanova Wildcats overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half and held a 64-62 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the game. The Owls made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to earn a 66-64 advantage. Nova coach Kyle Neptune is now (1-1).

The warning was in place last weekend, as WWYI reminded fans of coach Jay Wright’s retirement and the No. 16 Villanova Wildcats being a giant question mark coming into the season. It’s far too early to draw any conclusions, but the BIG EAST will be wide open come 2023.

PIONEERS IN JOURNALISM AND CABLE TV SPORTS: Thursday morning brought the news of the passing of legendary reporter Jane Gross and of sports cable TV icon Fred Hickman.

Wrote Richard Sandomir in The New York Times, “Jane Gross, who in 1975 became the first female sportswriter known to have entered a professional basketball locker room, and who later distinguished herself at The New York Times with her compassionate reporting on aging and a well-received book about her mother’s decline in a nursing home, died on Wednesday in the Bronx. She was 75.

Her death, at the same Riverdale nursing home in which her mother had died, was caused by a traumatic brain injury after a series of falls, said Michael Gross, her brother and only immediate survivor,” wrote Sandomir.

Gross, first to rightly do her job doing interviews on deadline in the lockers, covered the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for NEWSDAY, the Long Island newspaper once delivered door-to-door by this reporter. In 1975, Gross was covering a New York Knicks game and asked coach Red Holzman for access to the locker so she could compete evenly with the other reporters entering the room to gain access to the players and their viewpoints of the game.

Added Sandomir in his obituary on his colleague, “Jane Lee Gross was born on Sept. 10, 1947, in Manhattan. Her father, Milton Gross, was a syndicated sports columnist for The New York Post. Her mother, Estelle (Murov) Gross, was a nurse. From an early age, Jane was enamored of the sports world that her father covered, and she and her younger brother would sometimes accompany him on his assignments.”

Aside from her work in the Health section, Gross wrote for the Education sections of the Times.

Hickman made his mark as one of the first nationally known cable tv sports anchors. Together with the late Nick Charles (1946-2011) they anchored the 11pm (ET) “CNN Sports Tonight” which went head-to-head against ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1980-2001.

The duo were regarded as an informative and reliable source of sports news and highlights and they were equally applauded by fans and co-workers for their hard work and camaraderie.

For those of us fortunate enough to work with Hickman as he and his production team created Sports Tonight and later, This Week in the NBA, and later Inside the NBA, Hickman was a welcome presence in NBA arenas around the league when the shows went remote during the NBA All-Star weekend, Playoffs and Finals.

The cause of death for both Charles and Hickman was cancer.


SOME GOOD NEWS: To continue the fight against cancer, the Pan-Mass Challenge bike race, the nation’s single most successful athletic fundraiser, announced a record-breaking $69 million gift to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This gift brings the PMC’s total contribution to the fight against cancer to $900 million since 1980 and is the largest single donation Dana-Farber has ever received. Incredible. Congratulations to PMC superstar Billy Starr and his staff, all volunteers and PMC riders and to the great people at Dana-Farber, The JIMMY Fund, all medical and technical teams at all the great Boston-area hospitals, including Mass General.

 

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 6

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While We’re Young (Ideas) | Looks at the NCAA Hoops Top 10

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – If there’s any sign from anyone or anything that Gonzaga will not be the 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion, stand up and be counted. Shout your reasonings from the highest mountain in the West Coast Conference.

The naysayers are coming: West Virginia coach and recent inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Bob Huggins questioned Gonzaga’s chops, claiming in a backhanded way just how tough it is and what a toll the Big 12 schedule would take on the Zags.

“I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga [to join the Big 12],” Huggins told reporters this week, almost daring Zags coach Mark Few to take the bait as newly crowned Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark lures Gonzaga to join his conference in all sports. Yormark’s task is an attempt to make the Big 12 recognized amongst the top level of college basketball conferences in the land, a la the ACC, Big Ten, BIG EAST or the SEC.

Of course, it’s a long “bus ride” home from Morgantown, West Virginia to Spokane, Washington for the women’s tennis or rowing team or the Mountaineers’ men’s golf team from West Virginia to the State of Washington, but – so be it – in this business of college athletics where boundaries may be limitless in the interest of any revenue producing sport.

The University of Connecticut found out the hard way when their (previously local) schedules – against the likes of Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, or a train ride to DC to take on the Georgetown Hoyas – became lengthy flights to SMU (Dallas, Texas), Tulane (New Orleans, Louisiana) or Memphis (Tennessee) for its teams. Those long hauls kept the precious and guarded student athletes far away from campus on weekday school nights. Oh, the shame.

UConn, as originally reported by our Digital Sports Desk sister site, returned to their home in the BIG EAST, lauding the advantages of conference opponents close to home to allow those priority No. 1 student-athletes and their parents a reasonable ride to witness competition at its best.

Another naysayer for a Gonzaga ‘23 title is the bible. No, not The Bible but the College Basketball bible, as in Chris Dortch’s Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

Blue Ribbon picked North Carolina as its No. 1 selection with Gonzaga rated No. 2. The Zags’ review/preview highlighted the loss of 7-footer Chet Holmgren but also noted the commitment to return to college and forego the pros by 6-10 Drew Timme and 6-7 Julian Strawther who started 31 of the Zags’ 32 games last season.

Dortch and the college basketball guru consensus rated blue bloods Kentucky (3) and Duke (5) with Houston in between to round out the Top 5.

Here is the Top 10 of Blue Ribbon’s Top 25:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Gonzaga
  3. Kentucky
  4. Houston
  5. Duke
  6. Arkansas
  7. Kansas
  8. UCLA
  9. Baylor
  10. Tennessee

TL’s NCAA Basketball Top 10:

Not too much of a difference from Blue Ribbon or the other polls, except at the top.

  1. Gonzaga
  2. North Carolina
  3. Kentucky
  4. Kansas
  5. Houston
  6. Arkansas
  7. UCLA
  8. Baylor
  9. Duke
  10. Tennessee

Duke’s lower rating reflects the loss of Coach Mike Krzyzewski, but is not a negative comment on the Blue Devils’ new head coach Jon Scheyer who is under tremendous pressure to produce in his first season. To his credit, Scheyer’s familiarity with the Duke system and its recruits are the reason for a Top 10 mention.

Creighton (11th) rates as the top BIG EAST team in preseason polls and Villanova (16) drops to the middle of the Top 25 pack, much due to the loss of head coach Jay Wright. Former Fordham coach and ‘Nova assistant, Kyle Neptune, takes over for Wright and faces similar pressure to that of Scheyer.

Next week, this reporter will take a stab at a preseason full bracket prediction.

CFP: On the College Football front, here are the Top 6 going into this weekend’s play, as rated by the College Football Playoff committee:

  1. Tennessee
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Georgia
  4. Clemson

On the outside, looking up were:

  1. Michigan
  2. Alabama

Note: The College Football Playoff will match the No. 1 ranked team vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl Game. This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 31, 2022 at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Los Angeles will host the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium.

GEORGIA UP TOP: On a rainy night in Georgia, the Bulldogs dominated Tennessee and will gain the top rung of the CFP ladder when voting is conducted this week. While home field advantage certainly played a part in the Georgia win, the fact of the matter is that Georgia looks to be the best college football team in the country. The Bulldogs – with remaining games at Mississippi St. and Kentucky, then at home in Athens to close the regular season out vs. Georgia Tech. … It’s reasonably expected that Georgia will enter the SEC championship game as the No. 1 team in the country.

Earlier in the week, Boo Corrigan, the chairman of the selection committee, said there was quite a debate on all of the Top 25 rankings, but particularly for the top three slots, “The debate over the Top 25 rankings were extensive and very animated, particularly at the top,” he said. A case was made for Ohio State to be No. 1, for Georgia and for Tennessee, and there were good arguments for each one of the schools.

At the end of the debate, the committee voted Tennessee No. 1 because of their impressive road win at LSU and their victory over Alabama, and Alabama is a team that the committee respects highly. Ohio State has a powerful offense and a very solid defense, with an impressive win last week over Penn State. Georgia has been dominant this season, which has been plain to see, in particular the win over Oregon at the start of the season.

But Tennessee’s two wins against those two strong opponents really made a difference,” concluded Corrigan, the Director of Athletics at North Carolina State.

Those views will be altered as Georgia held court to defeat the Volunteers, 27-13.

No. 4 Clemson lost to Notre Dame Saturday night, 35-14, certainly removing Dabo Swinney’s Tigers from the Top 4 ranks. Michigan will get bumped up after a 52-17 shellacking of Rutgers.

Next week, we’ll be looking at:

  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Michigan
  4. TCU

The outside looking up?

5. Tennessee

6. Clemson

BOWLING for DOLLARS: Duke became college bowl eligible when the Blue Devils came to Chestnut Hill and defeated Boston College, 38-31, on a balmy Friday night in New England. Duke is now (6-3 Overall/3-2 in ACC) and has three games remaining – Virginia Tech next week, then at Pittsburgh and a finale hosting a tough Wake Forest team on November 26th. … On Saturday, Kansas upset No. 16 Oklahoma St. and became bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. After winning their first five games of the season, Kansas had a three-game skid until Saturday’s win. The Jayhawks have three games remaining, all tough match-ups. The games to play: @Texas Tech, vs Texas and @Kansas State.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | Oct. 30th

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – For those who’ve followed the NBA for decades, there’s a cynical, “We’ve seen EVERYTHING” attitude even when we look back at the extremes of Allen Iverson’s pontifications on “PRACTICE,” Ron Artest (Metta World) and the Pacers having an all-out brawl against the Detroit Pistons (a.k.a. Malice at the Palace), Gilbert Arenas packing heat intended for his teammate, Jarvis Crittenton, or a rogue and incredibly stupid former referee and his high school buddies getting knee-deep with the FBI and creating a gambling scandal of the ages, complete with jail time for the nimrod ref. If that weren’t enough, just this year, it became public knowledge that Phoenix Suns team governor Robert Sarver was conducting business in toxic fashion for decades. That followed dufus former LA Clippers team governor Donald Sterling’s racially charged remarks caught on tape back in 2014, with both team owner transgressions resulting in their requirement or desire to sell their NBA clubs.

There’s been team GMs (Daryl Morey) tweeting the NBA into an all-out business-crushing conundrum with its Chinese-based broadcasters and business partners, not to mention the authorities. Morey expressed his opinion on China’s human rights issues, especially focusing on Hong Kong back in October of 2019, and just as the NBA was beginning preseason games in Asia and India.

There’s been players clocking coaches (Latrell Sprewell vs PJ Carlesmo), players fighting teammates (GS’s Draymond Green vs Jordan Poole), and a head coach getting fined and suspended for gross violations of team rules – that being Boston’s Ime Udoka’s unbelievable implosion just as the 2022-23 NBA season was about to begin.

We’ve seen everything, right?

Wrong.

This week, five games into the season, the San Antonio Spurs abruptly waived guard Joshua Primo, the No. 12 (overall) first-round pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. At the time of the announcement, the Spurs’ guard put out a statement, referring to mental health issues and seeking privacy.

In a statement to ESPN on Friday night, Primo acknowledged a need to continue “mental health treatment more fully.”

“I know that you all are surprised by (today’s) announcement,” read the Primo statement. “I’ve been seeking help to deal with previous trauma I suffered and will now take this time to focus on my mental health treatment more fully. I hope to be able to discuss these issues in the future so I can help others who have suffered in a similar way. I appreciate privacy at this time.”

On Saturday, ESPN dropped the sledgehammer, and apparently the truth, as Primo was waived for allegedly exposing himself to women, apparently on multiple occasions. With ESPN’s pipeline into the Spurs’ front office, the word “allegedly” seems to be the legal formality of this unimaginable story.

“It is our hope that, in the long run, this decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua,” Spurs CEO R.C. Buford said in a statement as NBA teams – coast-to-coast – scrambled to obtain information of the behind-the-scenes reasoning for the transaction. Primo played in the Spurs’ first four games of the 2022-23 season, sat out the fifth game and then was banished in the hours surrounding the club’s sixth game.

Now, if all that wasn’t enough, reports are surfacing on Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving’s involvement in a motion picture he’s promoting entitled, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” The movie apparently includes antisemitic references and other controversial content, according to a review in Rolling Stone Magazine.

With all the off-court controversy, the NBA dealt with the Robert Sarver incident(s) promptly and the Boston Celtics dealt with the internal issues of their coach and unnamed code-of-ethics transgressions. Isn’t it well past the time when the NBA Players Association step-up to address the situations of the likes of Irving, Primo, Green vs Poole – all who make the players (as a whole) look ridiculous? It’s time for the Union to hold its members to higher standards while the League works hand-in-hand to provide Player Programs, Orientations and frequent team visits by the Player Programs and Basketball Ops league staffers. The players’ union itself needs to enforce some sort of discipline for conduct unbecoming a union member.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As the 2022 World Series began, the Houston Astros had approximately a 61% chance of winning the MLB crown while the upstart Philadelphia Phillies had a 31% chance.

Those odds were turned inside-out when Philadelphia rallied from an 0-5 deficit to defeat the Astros 6-5 Friday in a four-hour and thirty minute extra innings epic. Phils catcher J.T. Realmuto had game hero status with a two-run double in the 5th inning and the game-winning HR in the top of the 10th inning.

On Saturday night, Houston staked a 3-0 early lead and went on to a 5-2 home victory to even the series – 1-1 – a best-of-seven that has six or seven games written all over it.

Scheduling has been a challenge. Baseball will tip its cap to the NFL on Sunday and then return to action with three games in Philly on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday (Oct 31, Nov. 1 and 2), before returning to Houston for games on Friday and Saturday, (November 4 and 5, if necessary).

DIAMOND DUST-UP: The World Series has become The Local Series as fans in Houston and Philadelphia are going bonkers over the event, but fans outside the two competing cities have little to zero interest in the results of the games. National draws like the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the LA Dodgers, and the NY Mets were all eliminated, much to the chagrin of MLB and FOX Sports tv ad sales crews and Nielsen tv ratings watchers.

PICKS FROM THE PARQUET: Last week, we had the Opening Weekend anticipation of the NBA and predicted the teams that will be there at the end. Today, it’s a “what did you do for me lately” look at the NBA, as teams settle-in, each with about five games in the books.

Last things first: The LA Lakers (0-5) have yet to win a game.

The Milwaukee Bucks (5-0) have yet to lose a game and the Portland Trail Blazers who were expected to win fewer than 40 games, are a red-hot (5-1).

It’s far too early in the long NBA season to think anything in the first five games of the season will determine long-term trends. After all, the Boston Celtics looked invincible with three opening wins against the 76ers, Heat and Magic, but fell down to mediocrity with two consecutive losses this week (vs. Chicago and Cleveland). For the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics, their Sunday night (10/30-6:00pm ET) game against the Washington Wizards will be a key indicator.

Of note: Brooklyn (1-4) with 121.6 ppg allowed should send alerts throughout the Association.

FORE SCORE: When we last left you, Rory McIlroy was laying claim to World No. 1 with a win at The CJ Cup in South Carolina, topping the field that included 21 of the top 30 best golfers (outside of those who went to LIV it up).

This week, the PGA Tour is in beautiful Bermuda and there isn’t a hurricane in sight. Nor are there any of the Top 40 players in golf. Seamus Power, at No. 48, is the top-ranked player and he happens to be the tournament leader after 54 holes, shooting 65-65-65 for (-18) and a tie for first with Ben Griffin (65-64-66).

Meanwhile, LIV is finishing-up the semifinals of their final event, a match play tournament in Miami. LIV has been operating in obscurity the last two tournaments, one in Bangkok (Thailand) and one in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The time zone challenges were enough to keep any North American TV entity far and away, asking, ‘If a golfer cards a birdie in the desert, does it Tweet?” … The answer is yes, as it’s the only way a golf fan would know it happened.

Regardless, Dustin Johnson claimed an extra $18m as regular season champion. This weekend’s Match Play will help decide team champions, a nuance the golfing public has yet to embrace. The various formats – within and without the normal competition of stroke play, team play and match play – are a little too much in the gimmicky category and not enough of a distinction between the LIV and the PGA Tour’s normal stroke play.

WORDS AND PHRASES: There’s a growing list of buzzwords and phrases that are far too deep in the lexicon of life. This columnist could “Talk About” the “Talk About”command sideline reporters and even veteran journalists and reporters bark at their interview subjects, but instead we’ll get the readers of WWYIs started with just a couple of the zingers we all hear, intertwined in sports, news and everyday language. In Twitter language, I’ll go first:

  • The overuse of the word “Narrative” is the end-all of current buzzwords. When any reporter, network anchor or seminar presenter uses the “Narrative” word, I’m OUT.
  • “At the END of the DAY” – Oy vey. There must not be a blessed ounce of work done in the morning and throughout midday, but people must be bustin’ ass to get their work completed as promised to the masses, by the “END of the DAY.” From now-on, I want to know what’s been done by the MIDDLE of the DAY.
  • I don’t want to hear we need to “Drill Down” to get the “Low Hanging Fruit.” I don’t want to “Un-Pack” anything. Do you HEAR that ESPN’s Greeny on “Get Up?” Go Un-Pack your own news and headlines, I’m not doing it anymore.
  • No more “Thought Leadership” conferences or pitches for self-taught seminars at industry trade gatherings to impress everyone in the boardroom. And, please no more “Thinking Out of the Box.” What box? None of us were ever in a box.
  • On Conference Calls or Zoom-meetings, I don’t think it’s a good idea to shelve the most important topic being discussed and take it “Offline.” Let’s talk about it NOW because if it goes “Offline,” no one will ever do the hard work it takes to complete that job “by the END of the DAY.”

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | October 23

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They’re playing basketball (to the beat y’all)

We love that basketball (yeah)

They’re playing basketball (uh huh, uh huh)

We love that basketball

– Kurtis Blow

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The basketball season was 1968-69 and the New Jersey Americans relocated to Long Island to become the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association, a rival league to the heralded National Basketball Association.

The year ahead was going to be great for New York sports fans. The New York Jets, behind the guarantee provided by quarterback “Broadway” Joe Namath upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. It was the victory that put the then-rival American Football Conference (AFC) on par with the National Football Conference (NFC) and it made the National Football League (NFL) the most popular sports property in the United States.

As that Summer of ‘69 turned to Fall, the Miracle Mets, behind the pitching of Jerry Koosman (two World Series wins, including the series clincher) backed by Hall of Famer Tom “Terrific” Seaver and Gary Gentry, defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games to take the first Series victory in franchise history. Donn Clendenon, Cleon Jones and improbable offensive might of everyone from 2B Al Weisto reserve catcher J.C. Martin provided key hits while incredible defensive plays by center fielder Tommie Agee and right fielder Ron Swoboda made the Mets – Amazin’ and sent NYC and the Borough of Queens and most Long Islanders into a frenzy.

A flip of the calendar brought yet another championship to New York when the New York Knicks of the NBA defeated the LA Lakers and Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylorand Jerry West in a memorable seven-game series. While Willis Reed and his gutsy Game 7 return to action after seriously injuring his knee in Game 5, grabbed the headlines and Walt Frazier’s 36-point, 19-assist, 7-rebound performance went somewhat unnoticed because of Reed’s return.

Those championships were almost too much for a 10-year old to handle. But this (then) 10-year old harkens back to December 19, 1968 as the day the championship was solidified. It was the day Knicks GM Eddie Donovan had the guts to trade All-Star center Walt “Bells” Bellamy, and guard Howard “Butch” Komives, to the Detroit Pistons for eight time NBA All-Star power forward Dave DeBusschere.

Hit “The Open Man” became the Knicks’ mantra and, in fact, was the title of DeBusschere’s book chronicling the season day-by-day. It’s simple philosophy, honed by Knicks Coach Red Hozman was the perfect offense to deploy for the ‘69-’73 Knicks.

With Knicks tickets tough to come by in suburban Long Island me and my basketball-loving’ family would get our hardwood fix with regular attendance at (nearly) all St. John’s University home games. We attended dozens of Island Trees H.S. basketball games where both of my oder brothers played and then 100% of the Holy Trinity H.S.games from 1973 to 1977 and beyond as coach Bob McKillop and Matt Doherty hung banner after banner at HT.

All the while, the ABA Nets were our mainstay. After head coach York Larese flamed-out, the Nets recruited Little Louie Carnesseca away from his post at St. Johns, along with trusty assistant John Kresse (who gave me my college tour at St. John’s). The great Rick Barry was on the Nets, along with former Johnnies Joe DuPre and Sonny Dove. Bill Melchioni held down the point, while Laverne Tart was the shooting guard. The bigmen included Jim Ard, Manny Leaks, and another young Johnnie who made playoff appearances as much as the Kardashians appear in the Super Market tabloids.

Suffice to say, a good game of hoops was available every night of the week and we took advantage of that fact growing up. And it changed for the better when the Nets acquired Julius “Dr, J.” Erving who was at the height of his career.

At one point in 1977, an interview with Nets head coach Kevin Loughery and an intro to his then-assistant, Rod Thorn, began a life-long friendship as they led the Nets to titles in 1974 and 1976 over formidable ABA clubs from Kentucky (Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel), Denver’s (David Thompson), and Indiana Pacers’ big (Mel Daniels), just to name a few. Thorn would eventually join the NBA league office as the head of Basketball Operations and the so-called Dean of Discipline.

All-in-all, a pretty good apprenticeship in the sports of basketball and one that turned into a career come December 1980 when this columnist began a 26+ year career at the NBA league office, working under Commissioners Larry O’Brien and David Stern.

In the early ‘80s, the NBA league office was like Camelot. It was just a matter of time – and some hard work – to build the global platform and stage the game for the way its played today by the World’s Greatest Athletes.

THE NBA TODAY: It’s quite early for any meaningful  predictions for the on-going 2022-23 NBA season, but that won’t stop us from doing the very first Power Rankings” of the NBA season. Truth be told, the real power ratings are Post NBA All-Star Break.

Here’s a look at the Top 8 from each conference:

EAST:

  1. Milwaukee Bucks
  2. Boston Celtics
  3. Toronto Raptors
  4. Washington Wizards
  5. Brooklyn Nets
  6. Miami Heat
  7. Philadelphia 76ers
  8. Detroit Pistons

WEST:

  1. Golden State Warriors
  2. New Orleans Pelicans
  3. Memphis Grizzlies
  4. Houston Rockets
  5. Denver Nuggets
  6. LA Clippers
  7. Phoenix Suns
  8. Dallas Mavericks.

Check back in mid-December for a more educated prediction.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Cleveland Charge selected Sam Merrill (6-4, 205, Utah State) with the first overall pick of the 2022-23 NBA G League Draft on Saturday afternoon, which was held virtually. The Wisconsin Herd selected Joe Wieskamp with the second overall selection, while the Greensboro Swarm selected Aaron Wheelerwith the third pick.

RATINGS GAME: The NBA on Tuesday saw its best opening night doubleheader viewership since 2017, as TNT averaged 3.3 million viewers for 76ers- Celtics and Lakers- Warriors.

TID-BITS: I can figure out who is pouring more money into the economy – legal inquiries on Camp Lujeane, the folks funding CrytoLef hack campaign or Big Pharma selling every drug manufactured under the sun. … Coach Jim Calhoun will be the special guest Sunday, October 30, at Lavietes Pavilion. when Harvard hosts its annual fantasy day for Friends of Harvard, and local coaches. Basketball Hall of Famer and New England native, Calhoun, won three NCAA Division I men’s basketball championships as the head coach of the University of Connecticut. With over 900 NCAA victories (917-397), Coach Calhoun has extensive experience across all three divisions of NCAA athletics. Coach Calhoun will share his depth of perspective with our community, and we would be thrilled if you can attend! In addition to hearing Coach Calhoun speak, you will also be able to watch a Harvard Basketball practice and receive lunch as part of the day’s events. Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker will be running the show. … Tickets go on sale Monday, October 24, 2022 for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. This year’s conference is on March 3 – 4th, 2023 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

For a full subscription to our Sunday Notebook, “While We’re Young (Ideas)” please see: CLICK HERE

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | October 16th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) Examines the Upcoming 2022-23 NHL Season

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The weekly notebook has listed sports franchise valuations, underrated rock bands, NFL Power Rankings, and NCAA College Football Playoff possibilities week-by-week.

Next Up?

The TL Sunday Sports Notes a.k.a. “While We’re Young (Ideas)” will take a crack at the brand new National Hockey League season and list the best of the best and as the list goes, the bottom-feeder “hosers” will be left to the age-old chore (before the great Zamboni was invented) to hose down the ice for the next period.

For the ultimate face-off, “While We’re Young (Ideas)” is picking the Colorado Avalanche to play the New York Rangers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. The Avs dominated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Finals, winning the series in four straight. There is nothing on the radar screen to spark another western winner, although Edmonton, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Nashville and Calgary remain as contenders for a Cup Finals appearance.

In the East, the New York Rangers behind goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin have stepped-up as the team to beat. To advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers will have to reverse the outcome of last season’s Eastern Finals when the Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated New York, 4-games-to-2.

Last season’s contenders in the East – Carolina, Florida, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Boston – can all challenge the NYR and TB with a combination of goaltending, luck, avoiding injury and playoff positioning determining who might face the West (Colorado) in the final.

While Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nikita Kucherov and Shesterkin are top-rated players and most frequently listed as favorites for NHL Most Valuable Player (Hart Trophy) winners, the player who led the Avs to their third Stanley Cup title, Nathan MacKinnon, is the player to watch. He will determine the success of the Avs and can will the club to a championship, just as he did a year ago. In recent memory, only Mark Messier’s efforts for the 1994 New York Rangers can compare.

Jack Eichel, the local Boston favorite out of BU, left Buffalo and landed in Vegas where he finished the 2022-23 season strong. Orlando-born and Toronto-bred Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is another player to watch this season.

NHL POWER RANKINGS – (As of start of the 2022-23 NHL regular season)

  1. Colorado Avalanche
  2. New York Rangers
  3. Tampa Bay Lightning
  4. Carolina Hurricanes
  5. Edmonton Oilers
  6. Toronto Maple Leafs
  7. Calgary Flames
  8. Florida Panthers
  9. St. Louis Blues
  10. Pittsburgh Penguins
  11. Nashville Predators
  12. Minnesota Wild
  13. Boston Bruins
  14. Los Angeles Kings
  15. Las Vegas Knights
  16. Washington Capitals
  17. Dallas Stars
  18. Winnipeg Jets
  19. New York Islanders
  20. Vancouver Canucks
  21. New Jersey Devils
  22. Ottawa Senators
  23. Columbus Blue Jackets
  24. Philadelphia Flyers
  25. Buffalo Sabres
  26. Detroit Red Wings
  27. Anaheim Ducks
  28. San Jose Sharks
  29. Seattle Kraken
  30. Montreal Canadiens
  31. Chicago Blackhawks
  32. Arizona Coyotes

East: New York Rangers over Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-games-to-3

West: Colorado Avalanche over Edmonton Oilers, 4-games-to-1

Cup: Colorado Avalanche over New York Rangers, 4-games-to-2

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: In the world of sports, you learn something new everyday. A Premier League peep whispered to drop everything and tune-in to the USA Network at about 2:45pm (ET) Friday for the Brentford v. Brighton match.

The pre-game commentators for USA Net were touting their Soccer Showcase at Dilworth Park on Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia by comparing the “biggest weekend” they’ve ever televised,’ with all the “big” games in the Philly. This weekend, MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies host, and defeated the Atlanta Braves at Citizen Bank Park a couple hours ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers facing the Vancouver Canucks at the Wells Fargo Center, right across the soft pretzel-packed street. Of course, the “biggest game” of the weekend will feature the Philadelphia Eagles playing host to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field, a 9-iron from the basketball/hockey arena and an easy wedge away from the baseball field. By the way, the Sixers open the NBA regular season on Tuesday here in Boston and then return to the “City of Brotherly Love” to host the Milwaukee Bucks this Thursday.

Working backwards to what was learned this week, my surprise was teed-up by Rebecca Lowe, host of NBC’s English Premier League coverage, as her Philly-based introduction to the game in London was done just as the Brentford players took to the pitch:

BRENTFORD has a great tradition, far better than the tired, old Red Sox playing of “Sweet Caroline” in the middle of the 8th inning. During pregame introductions, seemingly every one of the 18,000+ Brentford fans raises their red & white team scarf and belts out The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” … If the team wins, the song is sung – once again – in the postgame.

The good times came to a halt postgame, however, as sadly, after the 2-nil Brentford victory and the postgame “Hey Jude II.” Striker Ivan Toney, who notched the two Brentford goals, was “subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media,” according to the club statement issued after the game.

“We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us. Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.

“We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime.”

[Read more…] about TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | October 16th