TL's Sunday Sports Notes

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook

December 16, 2023 by Digital Sports Desk

While We’re Young (Ideas) – On Baseball Free Agency

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Los Angeles Dodgers recent free agent signee, Shohei Ohtani, will collect seven hundred million over 10 years but only $2m a year in compensation with the rest – some $68m a year – to come in a record-setting deferral deal that might make former New York Mets and MLB journeyman Bobby Bonilla blush.

Of course, Bonilla “only” collects $1.19m a year, but does so until 2035. That’s not bad for a guy who hasn’t played an inning since 2001, but it signified a system gone mad in 2001. Now, 23 years later Major League Baseball has a full scale systematic player contract crisis on its hands.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have three of the top five hitters in baseball – none of them home grown – but still with a farm system often considered the envy of baseball clubs everywhere. Mookie Betts (2B/OF) was acquired through a trade with the Boston Red Sox. He promptly signed an extension with the Dodgers and will pocket $392m over 13 years. Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman (1B) signed a paltry six year, $162m deal with the Dodgers in 2022, a year after leading his only other team, the Atlanta Braves, to an MLB championship and two years after receiving the Most Valuable Player award for the National League.

That leads us to Shohei Ohtani – a generational two-way superstar – who signed as a free agent just after the Baseball Winter Meetings and set the salary scale on fire with the reported $700m deal. But just this week, The Athletic reported Ohtani’s deal was a smoke and mirrors cash-deferment deal of a lifetime, with the deferred money to be paid out without interest from 2034 to 2043. That’s quite a retirement plan for a guy who reportedly earns $50m a year in off-field endorsements, a number sure to rise.

With another generational player, Dodgers longtime starter Clayton Kershaw recovering from shoulder surgery and technically a free agent himself, the Ohtani deal is structured to provide salary flexibility to the Dodgers with free-agent Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the crosshairs. Former Tampa ace Tyler Glasnow fell in the Dodgers’ blue line, signing a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers that makes official the trade of Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot from the Tampa Bay Rays to Los Angeles, the Dodgers announced Saturday.

The LA-Tampa deal ends right-handed starter Ryan Pepiot and outfield prospect Jonny Deluca to the Rays. it was contingent upon Glasnow signing an extension. The window to do so opened Thursday morning, and the parties quickly came together with the framework of a deal that will tack four years and $111.5 million in new money onto the $25 million Glasnow was owed for the 2024 season.

There is no deferred money in Glasnow’s deal.

Wrote The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal this week, “The usual howls are coming. The large-market teams end up with all the best players. A $700 million contract is outrageous. Baseball needs a salary cap.

“We’ve been hearing this talk for years. The small-market frustration, to a degree, is understandable. But the most expensive teams — see the 2023 Mets, Yankees and Padres — do not always win.”

Yes, Ken, Baseball DOES need a better salary structure system – aka – a Collective Bargaining agreement that allows all major league teams to deal from the same deck of cards. But, as we know, Baseball’s super-agent Marvin Miller-esque Players Association will have no part of a structured system similar to the NBA, NHL or NFL. Baseball wants to be the wild west just they way Miller, the late architect of Baseball’s free agency and unlimited team salary operating system, wanted it to be before he passed away in 2012, but face it – the system is broken.

The only recourse for MLB teams is to draft wisely, build the farm system and strike it rich with a dozen home grown players, all playing under their original contracts.

IDEAS FOR A BETTER TEAM SALARY CAP SYSTEMS: Is it within reason for Baseball to solve its rich team/poor team issue of team salary with a league-wide system that can finally place all 30 MLB teams on even ground. Baseball would need to have 40 “Salary Slots” to spread across each 40-man roster to distribute the average team salary of $122,724,208 or $3.068m per man? Of course, paying all players the average would not fly, nor would it be right.

In general, this entire idea wouldn’t fly with the tight knit MLB Players Association. They pride themselves on total free agency and arbitration for players who can’t agree with their teams on fair terms.

But, for argument sake, take the $122,724,208 average team salary figure and place 10 of the 40 players on the current MLB minimum salary of $720,000 per year. That would subtract $7,200,000. from the team salary figure, and rounding off it would leave $115,524,000 to be distributed to 30 “slots” for players. The slots would begin at 18% of team salary and wind down gradually.

If the best player – Slot #1 took 18% of the team salary, he would earn $20,794,320. That would leave $94,729,680 for 29 others. If Slot #2 took 15%, he would earn $14,209,452 per year, leaving $80,520,228 for the remaining players. … The percentages would lessen, as would the salary of players decreased and the slots would diminish from #3 to #30. nFor ownership, salary and cost certainty for payroll would be determined and team looking to make trades would have a simple mechanism to trade slot-for-slot or slot for a combination of slots. The trading of future Draft Picks for a player would be an exception and the team receiving the draft pick(s) would need to slot in the respective proposed salary of the player from the slots they have open. They would be given three years to do that. This system might result in difficult team decisions to trade away one of their current players or cut a player to fit someone new into their hierarchy. In some cases, it might force another trade.

Injury exceptions would need to be reviewed by independent doctors and a player might need to be replaced with a free agent assuming his spot or a minimum wage player coming on board and subjecting his team to bump everyone up one “slot.”

Two-way players who can go up and down from the minors to the majors would be limited to three call-ups in a given year, or the player would earn minimum.

Reducing length of contracts to five years would be a must, maybe negotiate for four.

When recruiting free agents, a club GM could say, “I have an expiring contract at “Slot 3” and it might be a “take it or leave it” situation. Some veteran players might take a lower slot in order to play as the sixth man or seventh man on a championship contender.

The salary structure and full team salary would increase with increases in revenue and In-Season Tournament and NBA Playoff shares would be in addition to the regular season system.

Let the negotiating begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: What have we heard in Foxboro all week? “We’re getting ready for Kansas City.” … In San Antonio, the Spurs snapped a 17-game losing streak on Friday night, that’s (0-16 in a row) and (4-20 for the season) for longtime coach Gregg Popovich who is undergoing a total rebuild around 2023 No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama. Yes, Bill Belichick is (3-10), coming off a miracle win in Pittsburgh and going into a tough match-up this weekend against the KC Chiefs (8-5) at Gillette Stadium. Pop won the NBA Lottery last season after going (22-60) and the forecast doesn’t look very good for this season with only the Detroit Pistons rivaling the lowly Spurs.

Two of the most decorated coaches in the history of their respective sports are feeling the pressure that comes from losing. In Boston, rumors surfaced midweek that Patriots team owner Robert Kraft had already made up his mind to part ways with Belichick, with that decision coming after a loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany.

The problem with that report? No sources were cited and Belichick did not comment or directly answer any questions, defaulting to his usual monotone response about his next NFL opponent.

Last weekend, both Belichick and Kraft appeared on ESPN’s College Gameday prior to the Army/Navy Gam played at Gillette. With Kraft situated front and center on the Gameday set, ESPN radio host Pat McAfee put Kraft in an awkward position, stating: “I don’t envy your position, what’s about to happen. We all know, we don’t have to ask.”

The lack of a reply from Kraft, call it the silence, was deafening.

In San Antonio, the waters are much calmer and all indication is that Popovich will make any and all career decisions on his own.

Don’t expect changes in Foxboro or on the Riverwalk anytime soon.

DRAY: Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green earned an indefinite suspension this past week when he clocked Jusuf Nurkić, center of the Phoenix Suns, after the two were tangled up on an in-bounds play. Green was hit with an indefinite suspension by the NBA less than 24 hours after the incident and the NBA noted, “This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.” … “Green’s suspension will begin immediately. He will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play.” … An indefinite suspension. That’s a five alarm fire in the NBA. Rightfully so for such a cheap shot and it coming in a play of tangled-up arms that happens three or four times a game, easily. Green’s most recent suspension, a five-gamer, came after he entered the fray of an altercation with the up and coming Minnesota Timberwolves and placed opposing center Rudy Gobert in a blind-side head-lock as he walked Gobert away. … While I’d love to see the NBA Players Association volley-in with an opinion on proper discipline for one union member cold cocking another union member, we’d all wait until the ghost of the deceased former executive director Larry Fleisher to appear before that would ever happen. It will be left for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA senior-veep of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars to opine the length of a suspension that will surely approach 10-games. That would put Green in the sin bin until a January 4, 2024 game against the Denver Nuggets. That length of suspension is reasonable, considering the situation, but it will come after the NBA and the Warriors consult on a plan going forward. We’re unlikely to hear a syllable from Green’s former teammate, Andre Iguodala, now serving as Acting Executive Director for the NBPA. Iguadola, a class act to be sure, replaced Tamika Tremaglio, who had served in the role of Executive Director since January 2021.

TIDBITS: Who decided that just because “Up With People” was joined by the Southeast Missouri Marching Band and Anita Bryant at Super Bowl V (1971) that every damn sports event needs to include a miniature rock show at halftime or, in the case of the NHL Stadium Series (Met Life Stadium – February 17), a pregame concert? On Wednesday, the NHL thrilled all by announcing the Jonas Brothers would play before the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers face off in New Jersey. The Jonas Brothers hit The Disney Channel in 2005 right out of Wyckoff, NJ and it took three years for them to be nominated as “Best New Artist” at the 2008 GRAMMYs.

Honestly, do you think the Jonas Brothers are going to sell a single ticket to the grizzled fans of the Philadelphia Flyers or New Jersey Devils? The NHL would be far better off by offering cold Philly pretzels and a packet of mustard for every fan paying for parking at Met Life.

The last time a musical act tipped the scales of entertainment at a sporting event was 2017 when Hamilton star Daveed Diggs, DJ Jazzy Jeff, actor Michael B. Jordan, Jidenna, and Run D.M.C.‘s Darryl McDaniels joined The Roots for the NBA All-Star Game and the introduction of the stars.

Before that, roll the calendar back to 2007 when Prince did the halftime act of all-time at Super Bowl XLI in Miami (in the rain, no less). The NFL should’ve retired the tradition right then and there. Prince will never be topped, and that’s coming from a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (2009), The Rolling Stones (2006), The Who (2010), Tom Petty (2008), and even Beyoncé (2013).

But, the Jonas Brothers?

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 10th

December 10, 2023 by Digital Sports Desk

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

FOXBORO – Surely, you’ve heard the question before. Everyone has. Everyone thinks and dreams, but very few can check them off the list.

The Bucket List.

The question: Can you name your Top 10 Bucket List of Sports Destinations and Events?

It’s a tough one.

Those of us lucky enough to call New York and Boston as home base can check off a few by jumping on the “4” Train or the Green Line T to arrive within minutes at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, respectively.

To delve into this topic, there will be three sets of 10 Bucket List choices. First will be a very typical list of all the obvious “bests.” Second, will be my good friend Mark’s choices and lastly, the WWYI columnist will list the ultimate Sports Bucket List, with an attempt to be more obscure. The lists will be in order of preference.

Here we go:

Top 10 Sports Destination/Event Bucket List

The Super Bowl (any location)
The Summer Olympic Games (any location)
The Kentucky Derby
The World Series (any location)
The Masters
Ryder Cup (in Europe)
The Winter Olympics (any location, but Europe ideal)
World Cup Final (any location)
Wimbledon
The Final Four (any location, any four basketball teams)

Mark’s list, and it’s a good one:

Buffalo Bills home opener (annually, said the die-hard Bills fan)
Wimbledon (Men’s and Women’s Semis
The Winter Olympics (anywhere)
Monaco Grand Prix – Formula One
The Super Bowl (anywhere, especially if the Bills make it)
Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Green Bay Packers home game at Lambeau Field
The Masters
Army vs Navy Football Game
The Kentucky Derby

The TL Bucket List of Sports (WWYI edition) – Not Your Average List

The Army vs Navy Game – But, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Little League World Series
The Travers and The Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course
The French Open
The Ryder Cup (Bethpage, Long Island, NY)
Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Monaco Grand Prix – Formula One (Monte Carlo)
The BIG EAST Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden
Wrigley Field – any Cubs home game
The Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts)

Do any of the events and destinations on this final list need an explanation? I doubt it, but for posterity’s sake, here’s a line on a few of the events selected by yours truly.

Embed from Getty Images

Army v Navy – The impact of this event doesn’t hit you until you are there, in other words, until you’ve attended one … especially if it’s in Philadelphia. The pomp and rivalry is unmatched, but the ceremonies also stress the camaraderie of the cadets and midshipmen, often standing with alternating uniforms of the officers to be. … The game goes on, and the intensity builds (depending on the score), but as a civilian looking at the players – and more notably, the sections of cadets and midshipmen in dress gear – you can’t help but think that the young men and women will soon be putting their lives on the line, whether they are in training or deployed in war times. Some of those you gaze at – in respect – might not be around in another five years. It’s a daunting feeling, and because of it, the Army vs Navy game tops my list.

The Travers – The setting at the Saratoga Race Course is delightful, especially if you catch a nice summer day. The Travers brings the crowds, and the tiny town (and the bars) remains packed. The food is good, and the atmosphere is fantastic. Sure, the Kentucky Derby is more famous, the Belmont could determine a Triple Crown, and Delmar is unmatched, but I’ll take Saratoga, and the last Monday Hopeful was always a get-away day. It’s a favorite of my favorite Railbird, too.

The Ryder Cup at Bethpage (Black Course) is a driver and a long iron away from the hometown of WWYI’s author. Combine the familiar grounds with golf’s best event, and you’ve got something very special. It edged out a trip to Augusta, Georgia for The Masters.

The BIG EAST Championship/Tournament is a longtime favorite. The setting is the key at The World’s Most Famous Arena. Other college conference/teams can only dream of playing at The Garden.

The Boston Marathon, staged on Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth (new hometown) is the best day of the year. The event is inspiring to all who run and spectate. Friend of the column, 1967 Boston Marathon champion, Amby Burfoot, calls the race “the Carnegie Hall of Marathons,” citing New York’s prestigious Music Hall constructed between 1889 and 1891. And don’t forget, the Boston Red Sox play at historic Fenway Park at 11:00am on the holiday, and guess what? The bars are OPEN!

A FEW HONORABLE MENTIONS: (In no particular order) are: The Travellers(Cromwell, Connecticut) near Hartford. Once the Greater Hartford Open, the Travellers has fast become a favorite of the players on the PGA Tour because of the great TPC River Highlands golf course and the hospitality put forth by the organizers; the Frozen Four is NCAA ice hockey’s version of the Big Dance. It’s a must for college ice hockey fans. Similarly, the Beanpot Tournament in Boston pits Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern on consecutive Mondays in February. The winners get the famed Beanpot. It’s just a great event. Of course, there are hundreds of others, such as the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Final, the Rose Bowl, the NHL Winter Classic or simply a game at Montreal or Toronto.

FEEL FREE to post your own top 10 in comments on Substack or the Digital Sports Desk Twitter (‘X’) page or on Face Book. So, go ahead! Name yours.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | On Jets’ Aaron Rodgers

December 3, 2023 by Terry Lyons

Embed from Getty Images

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

FLORHAM PARK – Whether you’re playing poker or watching NFL football, the old adage remains the same. “If you’ve been playing in the game 30 minutes and don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”

Take the New York JAY-EEE-TEE-ESS for example: If you’ve been watching since QB Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles’ tendon four snaps into his debut with the Green Team on September 11th, you know the giant thud the NFL season took even though New York defeated the favored Buffalo Bills, 22-16, that night in overtime. The prognosis for the 40-year old Rodgers was not good. Even a man half his age might struggle with such a gruesome injury.

After pulling off the upset that Monday night, the Jets went into a three-game tailspin but course-corrected to a 4-3 record when the beat their cross-corridor rival NY Giants as October turned to November. Then? Another four-game death spiral to their current 4-7 record in the AFC East and less than a 1% chance of making the NFL Playoffs.

With those odds, in a hand of poker or a season full of football, who is this patsy we speak of?

It’s us.

Rodgers played us like a fiddle.

Rodgers directed a four week gaslight of the gullible media (and NYJ fans) better than George Cukor could’ve imagined on his best day.

Rodgers picked the first game (Nov. 6-7, loss vs LA Chargers) of the Jets’ current four-game slide to seed the thought and the media ate it up.

“Jets’ QB Rodgers Talks December Return”

Of course social media and the hook-line-and-sinker Jets fans took it to new levels before Rodgers could light the gaslight by walking it back in a weekly (paid) interview with ESPN radio man Pat McAfee.

“Obviously, that was said with a little tongue-in-cheek there,” Rodgers told McAfee. “It’d be nice to be able to be back in a couple weeks. That’s probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline.

“It’ll be a few fortnights,” Rodgers said, to set the table for even more speculation and sports talk.

Rodgers did so as he ditched a walking boot or crutches and displayed a no limp policy as he tossed 50-yard bullets with little to zero effort – letting the B-roll flow.

Why?

It’s quite simple: Rodgers was doing what he could do to take the heat off the Jets disappointing season. Obviously, he didn’t know the Jets would skid times four, but he certainly had an idea the meat of the 2023 schedule (vs. Chargers, @Raiders, @Buffalo and v. Dolphins) would be a test far too difficult to allow inexperienced QB ZachWilson to go it alone, never mind letting the New York media hounds and the fans devour Coach Robert Saleh before Thanksgiving.

Rodgers positioned the deflector shield as the weeks of November passed by with Wilson being benched for career back-up Tim Boyle, a fifth-year man out of Eastern Kentucky. All-the-while Rodgers fueled daily stories of jogging, eyeing practice, setting a 21-day practice ‘window’ to convince team doctors he was ready to go, despite his near-record early return and the Jets’ less than 1% chance of playing a meaningful football game.

He knew the media would fall for it, and they did. After all, there was nothing else for Boomer to blabber or for SI to program in Chatbot ai until another 70 days when pitchers & catchers report.

As the jury returns, WWYI will call the smoke-screen a success as Rodgers and the Jets qualified for the Gaslight Bowl. Maybe the game’ll be orchestrated by the late director, Cokor, but they’ll need to resurrect Charles Boyer and the most beautiful Ingrid Bergman in order to stage the show,

Maybe they won’t?

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: While in the prime of his longtime run as lead NBA writer at Sports Illustrated, Jack McCallum switched assignments to the weekly Scorecardcolumn and within the creative gems of wacky weekly stories was the mainstay: It was entitled: Sign of the Apocalypse.

The only thing funnier in the entire magazine was Steve Rushin’s closing piece.

Can it be duplicated? No.

Can it be copied? Yes.

Maybe this column should leave the word Apocalypse for McCallum’s legacy, thus pointing a synopsis on oddities in the Year(s) 2023-24 to have a new title? How about “Clues of the Cataclysm” to adorn WWYI for the year ahead?

We’ll start today: Can you BELIEVE what they’re doing to the publication we once loved? Sports Illustrated was a treasure of sports writing, sports and investigative journalism, the best of the best in sports photography and a serious record of the weekly activities in the world of sport.

Walter Iooss Jr. to Manny Milan to John Iacona to John McDonough on the photo trail were rarely matched. The SI photographers fought for access and they were usually rewarded with access. Access beyond anyone’s imagination. The late, great Lou Capazolla made sure everything went well from a technical standpoint. Freelance greats, like the NBA’s Andrew D. Bernstein or Nat Butler often earned cover shots and inside double-truck spreads.

Articles in “SI” were well reported, well written and well edited and fact checked. If I stayed-up late on 100 Sunday nights fact checking with Hank Hersch, I stayed-up another 1,000 nights (and some Monday mornings) with Franz Litz.

Not only were the stories well reported, the writers always seemed to come up with that gem. Every article had a great note or quote that you’d never heard before and it provided insight to the subject being interviewed. SI never failed.

Until now.

From this week’s New York Times: Sports Illustrated has struggled to “adapt to the digital age,” and Monday’s revelation of alleged Artificial Intelligence (generated) articles were “just the latest sign of drift at Sports Illustrated, exacerbated by a relentless pursuit of engagement with the site’s non-journalistic entities,” according to Nerkar & Draper of the Times. SI’s stewardship by Authentic Brands and the Arena Group has been “particularly rocky,” they wrote. Arena’s options for generating revenue are “somewhat limited, encouraging a daily churn of articles.” Employees have “complained publicly” that Arena has been “dismissive of concerns about article quality and a lack of editors — made worse in February when 17 members of the staff were laid off — all while enforcing weekly quotas from writers.” Authentic Brands bought SI’s intellectual property in 2019 and sold a 10-year license to “publish Sports Illustrated to TheMaven, (sic)” which has since been rebranded as the Arena Group. Since 2019, there have been “repeated rounds of layoffs” at SI and “reductions in the circulation” of the print magazine. Hundreds of sites dedicated to individual teams — helmed by non-staff writers (who are) “paid small sums — were created with little oversight and diluted what it meant for ‘Sports Illustrated’ to write something.” … SI’s problems “began before Authentic Brands and Arena,” wrote the NYT. Under its original owner, Time Inc., there “were layoffs — including the last remaining staff photographers at a publication celebrated for its sports photography” — and it went from “being a weekly print magazine to a monthly”

After an initial $1.00 come-on for the first month, a new subscription to Sports Illustrated will run $95.88 for 12 issues with both digital and print access for readers, or digital only at $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, billed annually. Print only runs $20 for a year (12 issues) or $30 for two years (24 issues).

The result in a damn shame. A once beloved and iconic product/brand in the sports world has been reduced to alleged horse fodder.

It hurts. Yes, it hurts for anyone who thought Sports Illustrated’s best use of AI meant there was a great story upcoming on Allen Iverson.

The BIG EAST and OTHER ASSORTED COLLEGE ITEMS: St. John’s center Joel Soriano, the lone holdover from last year’s team, scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Johnnies to a 79-73 victory over West Virginia on Friday night in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. St. J newcomer Chris Ledlum added a season-high 17 points and Nahiem Alleyne had 12 of his 14 points in the second half for St. John’s (5-2), which has won three straight. … St J’s RJ Luis Jr., a talented swingman who returned in last Saturday’s rout of Holy Cross, is back on the IL. The UMass transfer is suffereng from shin splints and will be out a month, said coach Rick Pitino after the Johnnies’ win over West Virginia.

On Tuesday, Providence used a 13-1 run late in the first half in an 86-52 handling of Wagner. Guard Ticket Gaines scored a team-high 21 points, all on 3-point field goals. Bryce Hopkins added 20 points and six rebounds. The Friars (6-1) held the Seahawks to 27.7 shooting from the field. … ESPN has six BIG EAST teams penciled-in to its early 68-team bracket predictor, namely: UConn, Marquette, Villanova, Creighton, Xavier and Providence. … Xavier has fallen to (4-4) overall while Creighton and Providence have surged to (6-1) on the early season.

Conference leader and defending NCAA champion Connecticut lost to Kansas, 69-64, in its BIG EAST vs BIG 12 showdown on Dec. 1.

HOLIDAY SPIRIT: In the spirit of the holidays – (Psst, Christmas is 22 days away) – you might need a unique gift for your favorite sports (or GOLF) fan. There are two options. First a subscription to this weekly publication. – “While We’re Young (Ideas)” which brings a full column of notes, some great quotes, newsworthy stories or opinions about an issue in the news – usually sports industry news. Secondly, the popular e-Newsletter PGA Tour Brunch will be publishing again – usually six days a week – when the Tour cranks it up at The Sentry in Maui – January 4-7, 2024. Sign-up for one, both or get in touch if you have something else in mind (a business deal for the sports news or golf industry – hint, hint). For insight and an easy navigation tool to follow the Tour —> Click HERE.

NFL POWER RANKINGS: As of the completion of Thanksgiving Weekend competition, there are very few elite teams in the National Football League. While there might be a chance for some team from the middle to become a Cinderella Story, that chance is slim. Here are the best teams:

1. Philadelphia Eagles

2. San Francisco 49ers

3. Baltimore Ravens

4. Kansas City Chiefs

5. Miami Dolphins

6. Dallas Cowboys

NFL PARITY or MEDIOCRITY: The vast majority of the NFL squads this season are in the valley of unmistaken, god-awful mediocrity. It’s as though NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell snuck into Lester Bangs’ mind (played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in the fabulous motion picture, Almost Famous), crept into the hellish cages of every football coach every made and stole both the concept and quote of: “You’ll meet them all again on the long journey to the middle.” Yes, the middle of the NFL – too high for. atop draft selection and too low for serious playoff contention. Here are my inglorious middles of each NFL Conference:

AFC: Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans.

NFC: Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams,

NFL BEYOND HOPE in 2023: These clubs are horrible and will compete for the top one, two or three picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, but the teams are so deplorable not even the No. 1 pick will help much. They are not divided by conference but listed by inverse order of ineptitude:

8. New York Giants

7. Tampa Bay Bucs

6. Washington Commanders

5. New York Jets

4. Chicago Bears

3. Arizona Cardinals

2. New England Patriots

1. Carolina Panthers

EARLY NBA LOOK: NBA teams are approaching the 20-game mark and, by now, the preseason prognostications have been thrown out with the trash. It is time for the NBA Look with More Perspective.

In the East, there are three teams with a very good chance of making it to the 2024 NBA Finals and they are:

1. Boston Celtics

2. Milwaukee Bucks

3. Philadelphia 76ers

In the West, there’s only one team – the Denver Nuggets – and – setting aside serious injuries – they are a lock.

1. Denver Nuggets

Everyone else is playing for a losing bid in the Western Conference Finals.

IN-SEASON TOURNEY: As written once before, there might be a competitive advantage to teams eliminated from the Knock-Out round of the first NBA In-Season Tournament. The teams advancing theoretically play the better teams, while the teams eliminated will play their make-up games against other eliminated clubs.

As noted up top, as fans face a deep and dark December, there is hope on the horizon as we prepare for Pitchers & Catchers reporting day on February 14, 2024 and the first Grapefruit and Cactus League games on February 24, 2024. (2/24). Other important dates for the upcoming ‘24 MLB season are:

March 20-21 – MLB Seoul Series ((Dodgers vs Padres)

March 28 – Opening Day

April 15 – Jackie Robison Day

April 27-28 – MLB Mexico City Series (Astros vs. Rockies)

June 8-9 – MLB London Series (Mets vs Phillies)

June 20 – MLB at Rickwood Field (Birmingham) – (Cardinals vs. Giants)

July 12-16 – MLB All-Star Game Festivities – (Arlington, Texas)

September 15 – Roberto Clemente Day (MLB-wide)

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 26th

November 26, 2023 by Terry Lyons

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Giving Thanks in 2023

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief

NEW YORK – It’s Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 and we’re here to make some important statements. “We’re back to normal,” and “Thanksgiving of 2019 seems so long ago.” That conjures up ill-fated memories of the horror, death and overall separation felt by most from March of 2020 to this past May 2023, after the Delta and Omicron variants of the virus subsided.

While it seems to be a trend to downplay the virus and knock Dr. Anthony Fauci with many pointing fingers as though Fauci, alone, was responsible for a global pandemic, the opposite is true. Remember now, COVID-19 hospitalized 6,484,329 Americans and killed 1,153,910 poor souls with the numbers posted by the World Health Organization through November 21st. To the informed, there’s an honest realization that Fauci did his best to forecast and curtail an on-going virus that was ignored by his bosses – an administration that – literally – wanted to dismiss cruise ships at sea from docking in the USA just to “keep our numbers down.”

Worldwide, the number of deaths from COVID-19 are daunting as 6,979,786 souls (and counting) are gone due to the virus with severe spikes realized and tracked in January 2020, January 2021 and 2022. With WHO public numbers updated through November 16th, there are 772,011,164 confirmed cases and they’ve been treated with 13,534,602,932 doses of the various anti-COVID vaccines.

You’re sick of COVID, we all know, so why do all these facts and figures head up a sports notes column on Thanksgiving Weekend? Because sports fans need to be more aware and thankful for Science. It is something to truly appreciate, despite the fact it’s outside of the world of sports.

Please be thankful for the researchers who worked so tirelessly – under pressure – on a dangerous public health issue beyond what any of us could fathom. I’m thankful for the doctors/nurses, medical workers, first responders and all who teach them. I’m even thankful for the lawyers who backed their work. That has to date back to 1948-1955 when the polio epidemic and Dr. Jonas E. Salk and his colleagues researched and developed a polio vaccine that treated some 16,000 cases of polio in 1955. By 1994, polio was eliminated in the Americas.

As it relates to the all-important research, I urge all readers of WWYI to be aware of the likes of the JIMMY Fund and Pan Mass Challenge (research work at the Dana Farber Institute) that raised $72 million this year and a total of $972 million since 1980. Those incredible amounts of money are enough to endow every single cent to go towards the research which saves lives on a daily basis and someday might save your life, especially if you’re suffering of the dreaded disease of cancer.

It did mine.

MORE THANKS: Yes, there’s poverty, crime, lawlessness, and mass murders by the week (maybe by the day). There’s war – terrible wars in Ukraine/Russia, the Middle East and genocide in Sudan – but you don’t hear much about Congress arguing over funding for the Sudanese wars, do you? But, for one second, stop your crazy life and think.

There’s so much to be thankful for in 2023. Again, I please note science, research and education are the foundation of health – and remember, “the greatest wealth is health” or think of the Arabian proverb, ““He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”

MORE THANKS II: In 2023 and beyond, let’s be thankful for former NY Islander Pat LaFontaine and his Companions in Courage foundation. Executive Director Jim “JJ” Johnson just noted CiC helped their 1,000,000th patient. JJ needs some help from us now and the support from Holy Trinity is and will be at the highest possible point as ‘23 turns to ‘24. … How about a thanks to coach Bob McKillop? Add: Lou Carnesecca and John Kresse. ,,, Here’s a few more: The McIntyre family and their ability to care for a jacket, Val Ackerman and John Paquette of the BIG EAST, the end of the UAW and SAG strike, Boston College – athletics and resident assistants, and the same for Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville.

Thanks, Norah and the CBS News, the entire WBZ-TV news team (David Wade) and the entire sports crew, led by Dan Roche in the Red Sox press room, then Kevin Doyle, PR and press room attendant at Fenway, Jeff Twiss at the Celtics, Brian Olive, too. Travis Basciotta and Annie Kew at the Bruins. Abby Murphy, Justin Long, Devin Benson, Raleigh Clark and Carlos Villoria Benitez at the Sox. And to Zineb Curran on the corporate side. The coolest thing about Zineb – aside the fact she excels at her impossible/never ending job – is that she’s from Casablanca (Morocco). She recently announced Boston Common Golf and reps bud, Mark Lev, amongst the FSG and Sox hierarchy. … Skip Pernham, Joe Fav, Audrey, Sammy, Tony Fay, Kevin Sully Sullivan, and Josef Volman. To Will Ahmed, and Jonathan Jeffrey of Whoop, Joe Malone, Mark Sage, Bobby and Greg Pannell, Billy Ess, Dennis, Chuck, Johnnie D, Pat Hogan, Goldy, Scoot, Barney, Rick H, Harold – Harry O. Mugs and Mary, Godmothers Barbara – who always remembers the important dates, and Barbara and Bryan, too. By the way, Billy’s son, Matthew, made the team at Kellenberg! Forgive me if I overlooked a few.

A high Five for Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park – my favorite room and ball yard. Add, the Beacon Theatre, Bar & Books on Hudson, the old Corner Bistro and Villanova Tommy (Ret.), along with Bruce Hornsby, Billy Joel, Mark Riviera, Southside, Rich Pagano, Will Lee, and Jeff Kazee. Jeff’s the man on December 20th at the new and larger venue, The Cutting Room.

High 5’s for the great Matt Winick, loyal reader Rich Hussey, David Goldberg and Tom Junod (Trinity’s best two writers), Rob DiGisi, Joshua Milne aka Mr. Carolina. Thanks to Matt Doherty, Brian Moran and our Rebound Live zoom cast. … The Cross Sound Ferry, a Padron Anniversary ‘64, Angel Gallinal and Rob Levine. HT friends, one and all: Min, Tony Luisi, St I contingent: Audrey, Dianne, Mary Civ, Clare Krummenacker-Crossley (who has a Sweet J from the perimeter), Debbie and her Mom who ran the bookstore. Robert Bed, Ray, Speels, Tony Pagano, George, Paul LoPresti, Barbara Kobel, Joe Koch, Dougie, Murph, Jim Dige, Ernie L, Bill Macedonia – my HS gym locker-sharing bud, and John Geerlings. Add: Joey T and Kathy L, Atta, John Murray, Mario, Regina C(fellow St J’s) and Carole Ann Catapano (thanks on the house assist, as it was gut-wrenching). Hundreds of others – all still one – Remember “The Black,” Mike Blackie Blackwell, and we’re all Titans forever.

Closer to home, thanks to Joe D, Stephen Riley, Tod Rosensweig and the recently retired DJ all deserve a Boston-based mention. … Best to Bob Ryan – the Commish, Jan Volk and The Tradition. … Johnnie, Dave, Arty, GM Dana and GM Higor along with the entire West End Johnnies (and Fenway Johnnies) operation. Congrats to Dana and his bride on their recent nuptials.

Here’s to John Kosner, who is always there for for our friendship and for sound business advice. Buddy Gumina – Grant Ave Partners, Boston VC Sports crew and especially to Ken Adelson via Pivottv Media.

I’m thankful for my neighbors. If the pandemic did ONE thing, it solidified the relationships for many of those who live on our street. Special thanks to Tucky and Matt and Jen, to Rachel for organizing the best damn block party in the history of the Commonwealth. Crap! Even, the Mayor showed up! … And special thanks to Margo and the late golden retriever Deacon. … Deacon was a great dog – went out, got cancer and was gone in a blink of an eye. He was our dog, Penny (Lane)’s role model. … While we’re at it, let’s thank the good dog, Billie, and his Dad, Kevin and all the other members of our little play group that has Penny – somehow sensing it’s Saturday and/or Sunday and going bonkers all morning until she sees my Yeti travel mug and knows it’s PLAYTIME!

By the way, let’s give thanks and a warm welcome to Max. He’s the new pup on the block and Penny’s little brother. He’s been fully adopted by the Lyons/Martin crew and is calling our home his home, as of this weekend. Which brings us to the finish line for this year’s THANKS … to Clare and the girls and all of our wonderful immediate and extended family (Tom and Mom).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: There’s a special trio of new books to recommend as Holiday gifts for your favorite basketball fan. Let’s list them in no particular order and highly recommend you buy/read/gift them all.

David Hollander wrote, “How Basketball Can Save the World.” Hollander stresses the powerful aspects of the sport of basketball and how it teaches very important messages in the simple manner in which the game is played. Let’s focus for a second on teamwork, being in sync with one-another, and a realization of being one small part of a concept much larger than any one of us.

Consider how basketball teaches everyone important messages about gender and equity, inclusion and resilience. As we know, there’s a lot going on to help a basketball team at any level become one. The buzz-phrase is to put “trust in each other” and, as coach Larry Brown always preached, “to play the right way.”

Taking those messages and the basic concept to the world is what Hollander hopes and truly believes can make the sport an international language for peace and understanding. He works and provides guiding principles for reimagining what might be possible to correct the course the world is on today.

The United Nations took one of Professor Hollander’s ideas and declared December 21 – the date that Dr. James Naismith invented and played the first game – as World Basketball Day. Among the ways to celebrate the day are:

Hand someone a basketball
Join or host an “open run” (scrimmage)
Attend a game (Live-any level)
Watch a game on TV or a screen somewhere
Gift a Nerf-hoop to a college student
Simply hold a basketball

Along the same lines, there’s a great new book by friend and colleague Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff entitled, “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of the Global NBA and WNBA.”

Krasnoff, who earned her Ph. D at the City University of New York, is both a student and teacher of sport and basketball as a tool of diplomacy. Her book and her lifelong research delved into the rise of the sport of basketball in France. She taught the concepts of Sport and Diplomacy at NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute of Global Sport (where yours truly has lectured) and later became a Research Associate and Co-Director of Basketball Diplomacy-Africa for (School of Oriental and African Studies) SOAS University of London.

Her research led her to write her first books, “The Making of Les Blues: Sport in France, 1958-2010” and “Views from the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France (1914). Krasnoff combined efforts with Mr. Boaz Paldi and the United Nations’ Development Programme where Paldi works as the Chief Creative Officer. Together, they tackled tough issues on how sports and public relations can play important roles in the problems humanity faces in times of crisis.

Basketball Empire is a good read for a fan seeking a deep dive into the history of basketball or an academic looking for clear results from extensive research in the field of diplomacy.

Three recently published and “Must Read” Sports Books, all great for a 2023 Holiday gift (photo by Digital Sports Desk

Lastly, a fun read for any New York sports fan or for any fan who appreciates some of the greatest sports stories in history is “The 20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports History (Our Generation of Memories – 1960 to Today) by Todd Ehrlich and Gary Myers.

While the book is a must read for any New Yorker born from 1959 through modern days, it is so well done, it’ll be appreciated by all.

The book begins with a forward by former New York Giants wide receiver, David Tyree, and if you remember, it was Tyree who made one of the most unexpected, difficult and impactful catches in Super Bowl history. (Super Bowl XLII (2008) when Tyree made what is commonly called, the “Helmet Catch.”

It was the last catch of Tyree’s career and it miraculously extended the game-winning drive in the Giants’ 17-14 victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots. The moment was voted “Play of the Decade” (2000s) by NFL Films and it tips the hand on the type of memories described marvelously by Ehrlich and Myers throughout the book.

“20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports” is a great gift for your 20-to-60 something sports fan and the concept of the book is sure to spread to other cities and even college campuses as Ehrlich expands his research and writing team(s).

Without spoiling the contents of the book, the key aspect of the storytelling is the magnificent way a single moment/memory is backed-up by the steps taken by the team or individual to get to that meoment in sports history.

Additionally, there was not a moment missed – and in an unusual manner – there might not be a valid argument to top the 20 moments chosen by the authors. How rare is that in the age of sports talk radio and arguing over every single day in sports?

You can purchase the books:

20 Moments in NY Sports HERE
Basketball Empire HERE
How Basketball Can Save the World HERE

TIDBITS: Some early observations from college hoops: After beating No. 1 Kansas in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational this past Tuesday, the Marquette Golden Eagles lost 78-75 to No. 2 Purdue in the title game of the tourney. The Golden Eagles (4-1) were down 15 points before making a late surge and having a chance to tie the game in the game’s final possession. Tyler Kolek led MU with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. … UConn’s Tristen Newton recorded his third career triple-double on Friday and No. 5 Connecticut (6-0) routed Manhattan College, 90-60, to win its 23rd consecutive non-conference game. … Each of those 23 non-conference wins, including all six in the last NCAA Tournament, have come by double digits. That gives the Huskies a tie with the 2008-2009 North Carolina Tar Heels for most consecutive victories in non-conference play.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 19

November 19, 2023 by Digital Sports Desk

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Charissa Thompson, NFL sideline reporter for FOX Sports and NFL Prime on Amazon (Thursday Night Football), walked herself into a hailstorm of negativity this week when she participated on an industry podcast and explained to listeners that she periodically “made up” comments and attributed them to head coaches who blew-off a halftime or pregame interview.

While speaking on an episode of the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Thompson said, “I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again: I would make up the report sometimes, because … the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime, or it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report.

“So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’ Because first of all, no coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over … and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that,” she continued. “So I’m like, ‘It’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.’”

OUCH!

In the name of a long history of sideline reporters from Lesley Visser to Pat O’Brien to Hannah Storm to Ahmad Rashad to the late Tony Siragusa, Ms. Thompson set NFL game coverage back 25 years or more.

Why?

Explained David Aldridge, an editor for The Athletic but widely known as an NBA beat reporter and then sideline reporter for the NBA on TNT, “Writing about sideline reporting, much less doing it, is fraught with peril.

“Amend that. “Peril” is not precise here. More accurately, those who think the job is superfluous will never believe there is any value to the reporting gleaned from those who do it best, or to the real-time reporting on injuries and strategy.

“But that doesn’t mean Charissa Thompson’s admission that she, apparently more than once, simply made up halftime reports when she couldn’t speak to coaches coming off or back onto the field during her time as a Fox Sports sideline reporter for football games isn’t immensely corrosive to my business. Thompson, a host for Fox Sports and for NFL games on Amazon Prime, apologized Friday and said she “chose the wrong words” during an interview but added she “never lied” during her halftime reports.

“Too late,” wrote Aldridge, feeling the pain of 1,000+ cuts by social media critics.

“There is an assault on journalism,” D.A. continued. “It is ongoing and unceasing. It is an extension of the assault on truth by powerful people — in autocratic governments, in multinational corporations, garden-variety jerks — who don’t want to be regulated or challenged or criticized. It is a sign of journalism’s ongoing power that it is under such relentless attack by so many.

“It is working: Journalism is now regularly among the least trusted professions, and misinformation thrives. A lie on X/Twitter or IG or TikTokmetastasizes in the collective social bloodstream, swallowed whole by many who don’t know better — and, sadly, promoted by many who do.

“The best journalism provides a necessary counterweight to that fiction. It is the seeking of truth, and the conveying of actual events – how they happened, and why they matter,” noted Aldridge in a column posted under The Athletic’s banner.

It’s not that difficult, says this columnist, and this incident should not be blown out of proportion as we all volley-in our claims to journalistic integrity. Couldn’t Thompson simply state, “Coach “X” wasn’t able to stop for our sideline interview but earlier in the week, he stressed x, y and z for his team to succeed today.

Would a viewer think less of her? Would the game producer wonder why she missed the interview although their two-way communication set-up would’ve tipped-off the TV truck in real time? Would a network executive think less of her, and might it reflect negatively on future assignments?

Maybe so, maybe not. It would’ve been a non-issue if she simply told the truth – to her colleagues and the viewers (the fans). Without a doubt, Thompson needed to tell the truth.

Ahh, the truth. It sets you free in every profession except journalism and nightly cable TV entertainment shows, camouflaged as news coverage.

“Newspapers don’t tell the truth under many different, and occasionally innocent, scenarios,” wrote Aldridge’s old boss, the late, great Ben Bradlee(editor of the Washington Post from 1968 to 1991). “Mostly when they don’t know the truth. Or when they quote someone who does not know the truth.

“And more and more, when they quote someone who is spinning the truth, shaping it to some preconceived version of a story that is supposed to be somehow better than the truth, omitting details that could be embarrassing.

“And finally, when they quote someone who is flat-out lying. There is a lot of spinning and a lot of lying in our times — in politics, in government, in sports and everywhere. It’s gotten to a point where, if you are like me, you no longer believe the first version of anything. It wasn’t always that way,” said Bradlee in an October 22, 2014 opinion piece that quoted his own essay, excerpted from the Press-Enterprise Lecture he delivered at the University of California, Riverside, on Jan. 7, 1997.

Bradlee’s words are often paraphrased: “We don’t always print the truth. We print what people tell us is the truth.”

That’s an illuminating statement – whether in 1973 or 2023 – when the truth is batted around into self-admitted “alternate facts.” A scary situation for sure.

Back to Thompson: The reporter apologized and will try to move on.

“Working in media I understand how important my words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry,” Thompson wrote.

But the fallout has begun, and many journalists are carrying the weight of Thompson’s unbelievable and unforgivable action(s), captured on live tape to be played forever and ever. Ideally, it will be discussed at journalism schools to teach an important lesson.

There’s a sub-plot underneath all of the discussion on truth, made-up coaches’ comments and everything being written in the wake of Thompson’s failures. The sideline reporters, as well as the pre-game hosts and studio talking heads, are all seeking on air time. Like playing time for a player, airtime is controlled by the game producers at the live remote broadcasts, and it is as valuable as gold.

No airtime, no recognition.

No recognition, no chance to advance one’s career.

We’ve heard it all before.

It’s all about money, exposure, self-promotion, ego, and perceived upward mobility for a coveted network assignment. It’s a cut-throat world in sports television, and making up quotes and strategies for a football coach is not the way to advance.

Embed from Getty Images

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Bruins veteran and fan favorite Milan Lucic is stepping away from the team, effective immediately. “The Boston Bruins are aware of an incident involving Milan Lucic Friday evening,” the team said in a statement. “Milan is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The organization takes these matters very seriously and will work with the Lucic family to provide any support and assistance they may need. We will have no further comment at this time.”

Boston Police said the department could neither confirm nor deny any investigation into an incident involving Lucic.

The veteran forward has been sidelined with a foot injury after taking a puck off his skate. He was eligible for return but Bruins coach Jim Montgomerysaid Lucic had fallen behind on his rehabilitation program.

STORMING: St. John’s is 2-2 over their first four games and will play Utah on Sunday for third place honors in the Shriner’s Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Coach Rick Pitino has seen the fatigue and lack of familiarity before as he blends an entirely new team together.

“We played a really good first half,” said Pitino after the Johnnie’s loss to Dayton. “We had one defensive breakdown [in the first half]. When you’re playing a team and the game is see-sawing back-and-forth with [eight] lead changes, you can’t blow coverage.

“We had 11 blown coverages in that game after having one in the first half. So, why is that?

“Because you have 14 guys that have not played together and are not used to this type of defense. Defense hasn’t been their personality. It’s like the best player on a high school team where the coach says stay out of foul trouble and let the other guys play defense. That’s what happening right now.

“We have a bunch of guys that were the best offensive player on their team and now in order to win the BIG EAST, they have to play defense and it’s going to take some time.”

TROUBLES: It was a bad week for two rising entities in the sports world. Out in Las Vegas, this weekend’s Formula 1 race was besieged by logistical problems. Wrote Autoweek: “The first day of track activity at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix proved to be quite the embarrassment for the FIA and Formula 1 after a loose drain cover caused significant delays and amended sessions.

“It was a lesson in humility for Formula 1—which is the promoter of a Grand Prix for the first time—after relentlessly and arrogantly hyping its event as one of the biggest sporting spectacles of the year,” continued Autoweek.

The second practice session, due to begin at midnight in Vegas, was delayed, as officials continued to work on the 30 man-hole covers along the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Race officials are being proactive when discussing the new talk of the town, the $2.3 billion “Sphere” which can illuminate the sky. F1 and the FIA, motorsports global governing body, have barred the Sphere from displaying blue, red or yellow when cars are on the track, so as to not to disorient drivers who look for those colors on trackside LED panels to convey key information, such as danger near the track.

The damaged So-Fi Center in Florida (Photo: Twitter/X)

In the TGL indoor golf world – featured prominently here last week with the announcement of the Boston Common Golf team – the roof caved in on Tuesday night.

Literally.

Thankfully, no one was injured during or after the incident, but the air-supported dome appeared to be significantly damaged as of Wednesday morning. As of publication, there is no clear cut prognosis for the new building (TGL’s studio, so to say), nor its effect on scheduling.

Lastly, we had a “Delay of Drone” at this week’s NFL Thursday Night Football game. The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday confirmed it is investigating a rogue drone that was spotted hovering above M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The sighting led game officials to temporarily halt the Ravens-Bengals game in the second quarter. Another delay came later during the fourth quarter, but Ravens representatives said at the time it was unrelated to the drone.

In a statement Friday, representatives for the Maryland Stadium Authority said security and Maryland State Police were able to locate the drone pilot and directed him to immediately land the drone. The individual was unaware of the restrictions but did not have a waiver to operate the drone in the vicinity of the stadium during the game. Authorities have since forwarded details of the incident to the FAA’s law enforcement assistance program.

TIDBITS: The annual Tradition at TD Boston Garden is on the horizon. The Tradition is the annual celebration of sports in Boston and a fundraising gala for the Sports Museum on the Garden’s two Suite Levels. Since 2002, the Sports Museum has been privileged to honor a host of sports legends at the event, including Bill Russell, Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Martina Navratilova, Jack Nicklaus, Lawyer Milloy, Pedro Martinez, Red Auerbach, Larry Bird, Ray Bourque, Doug Flutie, Cam Neely, Aly Raisman, John Hannah, Nancy Kerrigan, Chante Bonds, Shaquille O’Neal, and many more. The Class of 2023 is a fitting continuation of that line-up of superstars and it will take place on the floor of the Garden on November 29.

The honorees for 2023 are Dennis Eckersley (Baseball), Kevin Faulk(Football), Glenn “Doc” Rivers (Basketball), Brianna Scurry (Soccer), Bob Sweeney (Ice Hockey), and Dana White (Special Legacy Award for his creation of Mixed Martial Arts entity, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

SPECIAL OFFER: Feel free to forward this e-newsletter to your friends, family, neighbors, strangers, plumbers, fire fighters, astronauts and other sports fans with hopes they subscribe with this new Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday special discount offer. It is as inexpensive as Substack can make it (except for the many freebies which – at the least – boost my circulation numbers).

Special Holiday Discount

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: To say that I’m a big fan of bass guitarist Will Lee (not Will Leitch) is a bit like saying I’ve been rooting for the Johnnies all these years (saw my first game at Alumni Hall when Calvin Murphy and his Niagara University Purple Eagles visited Queens on February 13, 1969 – St. John’s 97, Niagara 60). Aside from an occasional charity concert, most of my Will Lee fandom revolves around his lead-bass role with the Fab Faux (Best Beatles cover band of all time) and his work as a long-time member of the CBS Orchestra and Paul Shaffer’s band for David Letterman. … Somehow or another, I stumbled upon a Letterman Show posted to YouTube. Although I’ve seen him sing dozens of Beatles/Paul McCartney ballads, I can say, I did NOT know Will Lee had this performance within him:

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook and news column written by Terry Lyons. The posting of each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city news stand 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, quotes and quips.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes is brought to you by Digital Sports Desk.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov. 12

November 13, 2023 by Terry Lyons

While We’re Young (Ideas) Looks at Boston Common Golf

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – There’s a new sports franchise in town and its players will begin hitting golf balls this January with games in Palm Springs Gardens Florida, not The Country Club or TPC Boston. Let’s welcome Boston Common Golf to the Commonwealth and jump on the “merch” to stuff your Christmas stockings, just before the initial TGL Season Preview on ABC this December 30th.

TGL is a connection to Tiger Woods’ brand and is backed by Woods and PGA Tour superstar Rory McIlroy.

Fenway Sports Group introduced the team this week at a press gathering at MGM Fenway a little while after the players were given a tour of the ballpark.

The TGL season will begin on Tuesday January 9, 2024, with coverage of ESPN and ESPN+. The first match will be broadcast at 9pm ET, a day after the College Football National Championship game.

The second week of matches will be broadcast Tuesday, January 16 at 7pm ET, a day after the NFL plays its Monday Night Football wild card playoff game. The promotional value of the CFP and NFL should not be lost on fans, as TGL golf executives carefully picked the dates to find open windows in the “big event” and NFL playoff game schedules. They’ll switch from Tuesdays to Mondays to allow the PGA Tour players time to travel to the next tour stop on Monday night or Tuesday morning, especially as the Tour swings through the home base of Florida and the Southeastern USA at the same time of year.

Mike McCarley, Founder & CEO, TMRW Sports and TGL and former golf executive for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel is calling the shots and has been working on the concept for nearly three years.

One by one, McCarley checked the items off his “To Do” list, partnering with Tiger Woods, attracting talents like Rory McIlroy and scores of others, securing an IP deal with the PGA Tour itself – proving its far better to work in conjunction with the Tour rather than to butt heads much the way LIV Golf made the scene a couple years ago.

In addition to introducing the four players (McIlroy, New England’s own Keegan Bradley, Australia’s Adam Scott and England’s Tyrell Hatton) to call the Boston Common Golf their home team, the TGL rolled our news releases this week like putts on a practice green .

On the same day the Boston Common Golfers were introduced, the general rules and the introduction of a shot clock to golf were put in place along with a handful of other assorted goodies revealed:

The SoFi Center, a purpose-built arena (studio) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on the campus of Palm Beach State College, will act as home base. Full use of technology is a foundational element of TGL, and it will offer fans a progressive, shorter format presentation of team golf.
The Custom-Built Venue is a first-of-its-kind experience for golf enabled by a data-rich, virtual course paired with a tech-infused, short-game complex.
TGL Teams: The six TGL teams will each have four players assigned. A TGL match will feature three players competing for each team in a modern match play format.
Modern Match Play: TGL matches will feature two teams squaring off across two sessions: nine holes of Triples, 3 vs. 3 team alternate shot, and six holes of Singles, head-to-head competitions. Each hole is worth one point and most points wins the match.
Tech-Enabled Fan Experience: There will be a high-energy, greenside fan experience (picture the Phoenix (Waste Management Open) with every shot live within a two-hour televised match. All TGL players will be mic’d up.
Referees will be employed to monitor the shot clock and rules.
Inaugural Season: 15 regular season matches followed by semifinals and finals matches, on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+ in the U.S.

The league also announced Jupiter Florida as its sixth (and final) franchise for the 2024 season. It’s no secret, Woods hails from Jupiter and he’ll be cashing sports franchise owner David Blitzer’s checks when the competition begins.

Blitzer is personally investing in Jupiter Links GC and is the first person to hold equity stakes in five North American major sports teams. Blitzer founded Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment with Josh Harris and is co-chairman and managing partner of its portfolio highlighted by the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), New Jersey Devils (NHL), Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, and Joe Gibbs Racing (NASCAR). Blitzer also is a co-owner of the Cleveland Guardians (MLB) and Washington Commanders (NFL). Additionally, Blitzer is a General Partner of Crystal Palace Football Club (English Premier League) and owns stakes in a variety of soccer clubs around the globe, including Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Blitzer needs to back a WNBA franchise and he’ll be in business.

(L to R: (PR emcee) is Zineb Curran, Lev, Bradley, Hatton, Scott and McIlroy. (Photo @DigSportsDesk)

Here’s a look at the TGL’s full ownership as of November 10th:

Atlanta Drive GC: led by Arthur M. Blank, AMB Sports and Entertainment (Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, PGA TOUR Superstores). Team roster currently includes Justin Thomas.
Boston Common Golf: led by John Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon, and Fenway Sports Group (Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, Pittsburgh Penguins, RFK Racing). As previously mentioned , team roster currently includes Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Tyrrell Hatton, and Adam Scott. The team will be run by club president Mark Lev of Fenway Sports.
Jupiter Links GC: led by Tiger Woods’ TGR Ventures and David Blitzer (Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Cleveland Guardians, Washington Commanders, Crystal Palace FC, Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals, Joe Gibbs Racing). Team roster currently includes Tiger Woods.
Los Angeles Golf Club: led by Alexis Ohanian (Angel City FC), Seven Seven Six, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams; as well as limited partners the Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex Morgan, Servando Carrasco, and Michelle Wie West. Team roster currently includes Collin Morikawa.
TGL New York: led by Steven A. Cohen (New York Mets), Cohen Private Ventures.
TGL San Francisco: a group led by Avenue Sports Fund with Marc Lasry, the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry; and limited partners Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson. Iguodala, by the way, was just named executive director of the NBA Players Association.

Look for a “Western Division” in either Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona or Frisco, Texas to pop-up in a year or two, allowing Tour players based in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas (among other locales) to play at a venue closer to their home base.

Does a Texas Friscos franchise sound alluring for Jordan Spieth’s participation in 2025 or beyond? Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones’ or Mavericks franchise guru Mark Cuban’s money awaits.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Fifth Set, a tennis apparel company that provides patented “SweatRoute” technology to keep tennis players dry, comfortable, and at the top of their game, is making its product(s) available to the mass audiences. Serving-up its inaugural collection with men’s shorts, the product is now available exclusively on www.thefifthset.com and retails for $72.00. Shorts are available in three colors and four different sizes. The full product launch is coming off the heels of a successful Kickstarter campaign where the start-up crowdsourced more than $9,000 through pre-orders of the tennis shorts.

“The Fifth Set is a labor of love that solves a real problem that plagued my game for nearly 30 years — wet tennis balls from sweat-drenched pockets, causing a ‘sweat tsunami’ whenever I served,” said Yoni Malchi, The Fifth Set’s CEO and founder, as well as a lifelong tennis player. “After discovering a void in the market for tennis shorts with waterproof, breathable, and accessible pockets, I received a patent on my own design, which is a game-changer for tennis players at every level.”

The Fifth Set’s patented shorts offer three key differentiators:

Sweatproof: Pocket liners are constructed with a waterproof layer and heat-sealed seam. Combined with a water-resistant outer body, the shorts redirect moisture to keep tennis balls fully protected.

Breathable: The body and pocket liners are breathable to promote comfort, as well as quick and agile movement. The pocket liner’s microporous, waterproof layer protects from sweat while keeping the player cool.

Accessible: Pocket openings are unsealed, but stay closed, preventing sweat from seeping in and allowing quick accessibility for frequent use.

“During the pandemic, one of the biggest retail trends that evolved was that consumers have become more demanding for unique, top-quality products that are also function-specific,” said Danielle Malchi, co-founder of The Fifth Set. “With more people focused on fitness than ever before, consumers are seeking truly innovative products to help them reach their personal goals and needs, and we are here to support them in this endeavor.”

The company is based in Parkland, Florida.

TIDBITS: This week, thee NBA staged its (seemingly annual) Mexico Game regular season game, an exciting 120-119 Atlanta Hawks victory over the Orlando Magic in front of 19,986 fans in Mexico City just as the NFL was in between a pair of regular season games in Frankfurt, Germany. (Bet, the New England Patriots’ season ticket holders were happy to dish off a home game).

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the NHL is staging their Global series this week in Sweden.

For the NHL, its an unprecedented event with four NHL Clubs traveling to one European City (Stockholm) to play four regular season games between Nov. 16-19th. The Toronto Maple Leafs will become the 26th NHL franchise to play an international game while the round-robin of games will be the second time that both the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild have traveled abroad to play regular-season games. It’ll be the third such trip for the Ottawa Senators.

NHL Global Series Results (Credit: NHL Morning Skate)

HOME SALE: Former Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdan headed to Portland (along with the injured Robert Williams) in the trade that brought guard Jrue Holiday to the Boston Celtics. In the home transaction, Brogdan gained a slim $125,000 ($4,440,000 to $4,525,000) in the off-market deal which took only a week to close.

PODCAST ANYONE? – Give this a try, if you dare:

BIG EAST: From November 6 to November 10th, the eleven member teams of BIG EAST played 15 games and won all but one of them. DePaul was the lone loser, dropping its opener vs Purdue Fort Wayne, 82-74. All 14 of the others went into the Conference “win column,” including Butler, Marquette, Villanova and Xavier all startings with a 2-0 record.

The annual Gavitt Games begin this week, pitting BIG EAST teams against those of the BIG TEN. The series of contests pitting two of the great college basketball conferences in the land are conducted in memory of the late Dave Gavitt, Basketball Hall of Fame administrator and contributor to the game and the first Commissioner of the Big East Conference.

BILL HANCOCK: Air Force Superintendent Lieutenant General Richard M. Clark will replace the legendary college athletics and Olympic administrator Bill Hancock as the new executive director of the College Football Playoff. Mississippi State President/CFP Board of Managers Chair Mark Keenumnoted, “General Clark’s experience leading the U.S Air Force Academy as a three-star General and also being a four-year letter winner with the U.S Air Force Football team gives him a strong background to excel in this crucial leadership role. I would add that we will surely miss Bill Hancock, but I want to note that Bill has graciously offered to stay on board through January 2025 to help General Clark get ready. Bill will remain at the helm throughout this season, while 2024 will mark a year of transition. Bill has been an outstanding leader for CFP’s first 10 years. Everyone in college football owes Bill a debt of gratitude.”

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov. 5

November 5, 2023 by Terry Lyons

“Good Night, Bad Knight”

By TERRY LYONS

NEW YORK – We’re here on earth for such a short time, it’s hard and it’s wrong to write someone off for eternity just for their shortcomings on earth. But, in the situation of Coach Bobby Knight’s death, I’ll make an exception.

Forever the optimist, this columnist always tries to seek-out the best in any one person, and maybe – in the case of Bobby Knight – it was to seek-out the guy who loved to fish in Montana or hunt in his native Ohio. I hoped to uncover some speck of good in Knight but the only universe of judgement in my playbook was the guy who coached basketball at West Point, Indiana and, after finally being fired at IU, Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Let’s be clear: My opinion on Knight is culled from experience, some firsthand but mostly from live television or well-reported stories from his own players or those who covered him. Knight had an amazing friendship with Indiana sportswriter Bob Hammel, a man who had the Inside Stuff on Knight’s controversial career at IU. His friendship was a rare hit amongst the many media members he berated, often crossing the line of decency of one human being to another.

For a man who was a bully or tried to act like one, often intimidating an unsuspecting questioner, Knight had very thin skin in terms of accepting criticism. Of the media he once said, “All of us learn to write in the second grade … most of us go on to greater things.” That was in response to the late curmudgeon Andy Rooney’s column criticizing IU for not firing Knight after one of his major transgressions, of which he had many. Most were born of his “my way or else” attitude towards anyone who wasn’t within his inner circle.

Interestingly, there was a memorable time when Knight tried to intimidate a former IU coaching colleague who was jogging in the gymnasium during basketball practice. That fellow coach was Doug Blubaugh, a gold medalist as a welterweight wrestler at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Upon being cursed out and told to leave the gym, Blubaugh pinned Knight up against a wall. Legend has it from firsthand accounts, “In seconds, Blubaugh had wrenched “The General” by the collar and slammed him, sputtering and squirming, against the far wall of Assembly Hall. Calmly, Blubaugh explained he was IU’s wrestling coach and that Knight would never address him that way again.

Knight never challenged him again.

It gets much worse: “I think if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it,” said Knight to Connie Chung of NBC News in an awkward 1988 interview. According to Associated Press, Knight contended the quote was taken out of context, later saying: “The word rape can be used in several ways. One is in something that has gone out of control or over which you have no control. It obviously was in that context that I was using the word.”

I believe, at that point in time, Knight should’ve been fired from IU, never to be within 100 miles of educating the youth of America ever again – at any school …anywhere.

Aside from the boorish behavior, childish rants, one other incident crossed the line and that was Knight’s treatment of Rance Pugmire, a volunteer SID who worked an NCAA tourney as the moderator of press conferences. Let the video tape tell the story for itself, but I must say, as a fellow PR guy, this just burned me up.

Yet, the enablers – enabled. His peers spoke glowingly of him and stepped up to support him back then. All of the same stories of Knight’s “greatness” resurfaced this week on talk radio.

They spoke of Knight with reverence and his place amongst basketball victories, some 902 career victories to go along with three NCAA titles and five trips to the NCAA Final Four. They spoke of his many charitable efforts and contributions. They spoke of his induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame and coaching the 1984 USA men’s basketball team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

To be fair, his accomplishments, his X’s and O’s (replicated by coaches around the world and even in playgrounds by astute players with high basketball IQs, and his contributions to and love of the game are second to none. My friend, Andy Jasner, son of the great Philly basketball writer, Phil Jasner, shared this story:

“Bobby Knight was a polarizing figure,” wrote Andy on Thursday. “You never knew what you were going to get. When I was assigned to write a feature on him as a young reporter, I did what I was taught to do. I did my homework and then tried to set up an interview. Never received a phone call back despite numerous attempts. Then I went after it again using knowledge taught by Phil Jasner. I left a message with a bit of my background about Dad and Coach Chaney. About a week later the phone rings. It’s Coach Knight. He said and I’m paraphrasing — “you got me with Coach Chaney.” “Coach Knight and I talked for about 45 minutes. The interview was maybe 15 minutes. Everyone has their story. This is mine. Before we hung up, he told me to call him anytime. I ran into him years later and he called me by name. Asked if I needed anything. I know he was polarizing. This is my personal memory. RIP,” concluded Andy, finishing up his tribute.

Stories like Andy’s abound and I was so glad he shared his experience.

Then, why do I fall on the critical side of Knight’s fence?

It was his modus operandi that set the coach back and that is the focus of my criticism. Simply put: An examination of Knight’s full body of work makes him a person who should NOT have been anywhere NEAR an institution educating our youth.

My personal interaction with Knight came only once and was in preparation of the ‘84 Olympics, back when the NBA helped ABA/USA by gathering some players to scrimmage against the Olympic team.

With only three years of NBA experience under my belt, I flew from LaGuardia Airport in Queens to Providence for the first of those scrimmages. It was an early Sunday morning when I arrived at the (then) Providence Civic Center to find an empty building with the exception of the late Bill Wall – the executive director of ABA/USA – who was struggling to hang a wrinkled ABA/USA banner on the center court scorer’s table. ABC Sports had the TV rights to game and their tech crew and talent were nowhere to be found.

Within 30 minutes, there were a few more building workers, a few more TV techs – laying wires to their cameras and then a buzz of activity when the men’s Olympic team rolled in. NBA players strolled in as well, all coming from different locations and most driving themselves to the arena. The NBA “All-Stars” all had a New England connection. I can remember Boston College’s Michael Adams and a few others dressing for the game. Most hadn’t touched a basketball since April and Adams’ BC classmate, John Bagley, asked me if I had some sneakers in my bag and what size I wore.

“Eleven and 1/2,” was the reply.

“Oh, I need some 15s,” said Bagley sadly. “But, let me try your shoes on.”

Next thing I knew, Bagley was in the NBA lay-up line with his 15s jammed into my red and white, size 11 1/2 PONY low-cuts.

I threw together our roster and the players grabbed jerseys and we recorded each player’s uniform number as things settled down with some 59:00 on the countdown clock.

All good.

With a few minutes to myself, I strolled down the Civic Center corridor to pay a visit to my St. John’s University bud, Chris Mullin, who had earned a spot on the ‘84 Olympic team. Mo was getting dressed and he perked up with that great Brooklyn accent upon seeing a friendly face. I wished him well, made note we’d see each other another time or three on the road to Los Angeles.

It was time to leave the locker, giving some respect to our “opponents,” but upon exit, I bumped into the head coach of the United States’ team – yes, Bobby Knight. I extended a hand, which he shook as I introduced myself, stating, “I’m here from the NBA league office and will be helping out with our players.” Straight, short and to the point. “If I can do anything to help you guys, please let me know.”

Knight nodded and said rather politely, “Well, if we need any help from you, we’re in big trouble.”

I laughed out loud, didn’t say another word but did the best pivot move he’d ever seen – the kind ARMY cadets do in drills – as I walked out of the locker – never to utter another word nor be in the same room with the great Bobby Knight ever again. That said, I never held a grudge but DID thoroughly enjoy a 1999 NCAA second round tournament game when my Johnnies drilled Knight’s No. 19 Hoosiers by 25 points – (St. John’s 86, Indiana 61).

Payback’s a bitch.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: One minute Boston College football fans were calling for the firing of head coach Jeff Hafley, the next they’re making plans for a Bowl Game or even a longshot at the ACC Conference Championship game … The various investment funds originating in Saudi Arabia have, to date, invested in LIV Golf, Formula 1, Premier League club Newcastle United, and Mixed Martial Arts. … According to Front Office Sports, “Saudi Arabia just secured the 2034 FIFA World Cup — but its aggressive ambition to be involved in as much of professional sports as possible shows no sign of slowing.” … That includes the sports of cricket and involvement with the ATP and WTA along with ownership of at least two major tennis tournaments. … Boston-based DraftKings (NYSE: DKNG) banked $790 million in revenue for the quarter, a 57% jump compared to third-quarter 2022. The increase due to strong customer retention and growth, the company said. … Boston Common Golf players Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Tyrrell Hatton will join Boston Common Golf President & CEO Mark Lev (a former Celtics front office man) for a press conference this Monday to share details of their new venture. … ESPN will televise the 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show on Baseball Tonight Sunday, November 5, from 7:30-8:30pm EST. The show will emanate from ESPN’s Bristol studios. Karl Ravech will host the telecast with analyst Doug Glanville. … There’s been no reputable confirmation on the rumor the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament home basketball courts were built in Chernobyl.

NBA ZONE: As promised as the NBA’s In-Season Tournament began Friday, here’s one viewpoint of how the 2023-24 NBA Regular Season will shape-up. (Look for my In-Season tourney predictions but the 2024 NBA Playoff Predictions will await another week or two).

EASTERN Conference: It’s a 1 and 1-A race between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, and Celtics backers are simply thrilled Nick Nurse (former Toronto head coach) is with Philadelphia and newbie Adrian Griffin (sans asst. Terry Stotts) is heading-up the Buckaroos.

The race for the Cs and Bucks will be determined on which team indoctrinates its new star acquisition the best, the quickest and stays the healthiest.

As of November 1, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his merry band of assistants (including the surprising but brilliant employment of Jeff Van Gundy to the staff, has newcomers Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis indoctrinated to the Celtics’ offense and the shares of the Celtics’ way have been fully purchased and deposited for safety. Meanwhile, Milwaukee is maxed-out on potential league MVP and man for all seasons Giannis Antetokounmpo and former Portland Trail Blazer great Damian Lillard, both banking 45.6m for their efforts.

That leads us to insert the 2023-24 list of highest team salaries in the NBA, according to HoopsHype (USA Today), before we survey other grounds in the league – East and West:

TOP TEN NBA TEAM SALARIES for 2023-24:

Golden State Warriors = $208,923,886
Los Angeles Clippers = $198,182,527
Phoenix Suns = $187,933,275
Milwaukee Bucks = $185,264,014
Boston Celtics = $185,232,476
Miami Heat = $181,726,509
Denver Nuggets = $179,569,508
Philadelphia 76ers = $171,559,536
New Orleans Pelicans = $169,909,579
Los Angeles Lakers = $168,238,712

Quick Notes: Please take note that the “large market” New York Knicks (14), Brooklyn Nets (18) and Chicago Bulls (13) are not amongst the Top Ten. Also note, the acquisition of James Harden took the LA Clippers to No. 2, behind only the Golden State Warriors who are paying Steph Curry a cool $51,915,615, Klay Thompson $43,219,440 and newly acquired guard Chris Paul $30,800,000. … And, I still can’t believe there’s a team in the NBA named the Pelicans.

Back to the League-wide look: The Philadelphia 76ers remain the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 pick by consensus. Joel Embiid is the reigning league MVP and a force to be reckoned with, but the 76ers’ depth remains iffy. Oft-injured and divisive guard James Harden was banished to the LA Clippers, stating 76ers coach Doc Rivers had him “on a leash” but the fact he doesn’t need to play or run a system, because “he is a system,” were parting shots and spoke volumes of Harden’s new place in the NBA.

The East’s next-best team is either the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat or the New York Knicks. Only the Heat can be considered dangerous and contenders. ‘Nuff said?

WESTERN Conference: The NBA’s West is a party of one – the Denver Nuggets, the defending champions who are quite likely to repeat as long as center Nikola Jokic remains healthy.

After the Nuggets, there’s a significant drop to the No. 2 club, probably the Phoenix Suns but possibly the LA Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors or LA Lakers. Everyone outside of the Rockies has flaws the size of boulders, not diamonds.

The Sacramento Kings could improve (again) and would be a nice surprise for the Western Conference finals.

TIDBITS: Let’s take a quick look at the new NBA “In-Season” Tournament and predictions for the right to play for the first NBA Cup.

West: Group A:

Phoenix Suns*
L.A. Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Utah Jazz
Portland Trail Blazers

West: Group B

Denver Nuggets*
LA Clippers**
Dallas Mavericks
New Orleans Pelicans
Houston Rockets

West: Group C

Sacramento Kings*
Golden State Warriors
San Antonio Spurs
MinnesotaTimberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder

East: Group A

Philadelphia 76ers*
Cleveland Cavaliers
Atlanta Hawks
Indiana Pacers
Detroit Pistons

East: Group B

Milwaukee Bucks*
Miami Heat**
New York Knicks
Washington Wizards
Charlotte Hornets

East: Group C

Boston Celtics*
Brooklyn Nets
Toronto Raptors
Orlando Magic
Chicago Bulls

West Quarterfinals: Denver v. LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns v. Sacramento Kings

East Quarterfinals: Boston Celtics v. Miami Heat and Milwaukee v. Philadelphia

On to Las Vegas:

Semis: Denver v. Sacramento and Boston v. Milwaukee

Finals: Denver over Boston

MVP: Nikola Jokic

QUARTERLY REPORT: MORE REALLY BAD INVESTMENTS: A look at some bad investments made in the past few months. This follows a previous list of doozies.

Platelet-Poor Plasma Co.
The Whole Seven and a Half Yards Co.
Mike Pence University
Theranos II
Chernobyl Mike’s Sub Shop
Cryptocurrency Exchange FIX
You Can NOT Be Sirius XM Radio (Investors should’ve known when every channel was DJ’d by John McEnroe)
Actual Intelligence

*All of the companies above seem to be solid investments as time goes by, as WWYI explores all and lists its batch of sure-fire hits at the market. Please note: “The investments and services offered by us may not be suitable for all investors. If you have any doubts as to the merits of an investment, you should seek advice from an independent financial advisor.”

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Oct 29

October 29, 2023 by Digital Sports Desk

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – When the NBA tipped-off the 2023-24 regular season earlier this week while MLB’s Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks became unlikely World Series foes and the Boston Bruins began their NHL season at 6-0 before falling to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 in overtime, and the NFL hit “Week 8” of a promising season to come, we all looked forward to Sunday, October 29th when all four major sports will be in action of the same day. It’s come to be known as “Sports Equinox.”

If you’d like, you can toss-in the English Premier League and the MLS for a five sport equinox with a tip of the cap to the PGA Tour which is smartly taking a weekend off before returning with the World Wide Technology championship in Los Cabos, Mexico from November 2-5.

Add-in some weekly college football and you have what many believe is the best week of the year for sports fans.

Great? Only great if you prefer a World Series between such unlikely participants Arizona and Texas instead of a Fall Classic with 100-win teams like Atlanta Braves and LA Dodgers vs upstart and extremely likable Baltimore Orioles.

The NFL and NHL are knee-deep in highly competitive and unpredictable seasons ahead. Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francesco 49ers look good in the NFC while the Kansas City Chiefs look like the team to beat in the AFC. But, don’t be surprised if you’re watching the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jags or Baltimore Ravens rep the AFC this February.

Similarly, the NBA of 2023-24 will be rush to the finish for talented teams that can stay healthy and peak on the 1st of May. In the East, the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics are getting the most favorable look by Las Vegas oddsmakers while the West is still in the hands of the Denver Nuggets for most observers.

And, they’ll run the first ever “In-Season” tournament to get the ball rolling. It should be interesting as it makes early season game count even more than usual. This columnist likes the idea a lot and loves the NBA promo just as much. If you haven’t seen the spot, it’s entitled, “The Heist” and it’s a take-off of a Sopranos episode meeting Ocean’s 11. I only wish they’d have put some of the players in team uniform and had a cameo by team mascots Rocky or The Coyote. The theme will repeat in additional spots as the In-Season Tournament progresses. Give it a look, knowing the tournament’s finale will be in Sin City:

The full cast of “The Heist” includes:

The Mastermind: Michael Imperioli (“Goodfellas,” “The Sopranos”)
The Heavy: Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers)
The Sly Guy: DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls)
The Ice Man: Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks)
The Lookouts: Julius Randle (New York Knicks) and Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers)
The Vet: Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors)
The Inside Man: Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers)

WWYI will do a more in-depth look at the NBA in the next week or two. Preseason predictions are often quite inaccurate, so this columnist will await the 10-game mark of the regular season to make some enlightened observations and predictions.

For the others?

MLB World Series: Texas is up 1-0 as of column creation, so Texas 4-games-to-1
NFL: KC Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers – 27-21.
NHL: Las Vegas Knights over the Boston Bruins – 4-games-to-2

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: With the start of each pro season, WWYI usually runs Team Valuations calculated by our friends at Sportico, but since my company subscription ran-out a few weeks back, we’ll look to the old standard of Forbes for NBA Team Valuations of 2023-24.

Team, State, Current Value, 1-year change in value (%), debt/value (%), revenue, income

1. Golden State Warriors CA $7.7b 10 14 $765 M $79 M

2. New York Knicks, NY $6.6b 8 4 $504 M $169 M

3. Los Angeles Lakers, CA $6.4b 8 1 $516 M $159 M

4. Boston Celtics, MA $4.7b 18 4 $443 M $88 M

5. Los Angeles Clippers, CA $4.65b 19 2 $425 M $-12 M

6. Chicago Bulls, IL $4.6b 12 4 $372 M $115 M

7. Dallas Mavericks, TX $4.5b 36 3 $429 M $83 M

8. Houston Rockets, TX $4.4b 38 5 $381 M $125 M

9. Philadelphia 76ers, PA $4.3b 37 3 $371 M $120 M

10. Toronto Raptors, 🇨🇦 $4.1b 32 5 $305 M $75 M

NFL FUTURE FANS: A new kids’ game, Future Fans, was born when one of those iconic sports moments happened but for a young Dad watching the game with his young child, there was no one there to really share it with. The specific game was the 2022 AFC Championship game and the Cincinnati Bengals were about to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl in 33 years. Mike Schroder, a lifelong Bengals fan, watched nervously alone, wishing his then five-year-old daughter would watch with him.

Mike had spent countless hours trying to teach her about football and she knew the players and the fight song, but he couldn’t get her to watch the game. In that moment, he wondered whether there was a better way to get her engaged as a fan, and what that might mean for their future relationship together.

Mike (Schroder) sought out his friend Michael (Gold) and a small business was built on the belief that shared experiences in sports creates and sustains lifelong bonds. Michael (Gold) saw the power of his friend’s idea, reflecting on the central role of sports in the relationships in his life – going to Cincinnati Reds games as a kid with his grandmother, Ohio State college football games with his dad, and now Columbus Crew soccer games with his own kids.

Together, Michael and Mike set out to teach kids the rules of sports in ways they could understand – through stories, games and toys. They built Future Fans with the knowledge that life for parents of youngsters is quite busy – but win or lose, participation as a player or viewer in sports provides an opportunity to spend time together, and maybe, all week long talk about the next big game. Sports adds a bond between people over a shared passion – the experience of life as a true fan. Future Fans exists so everyone can experience a lifetime of great moments with their favorite teams, and enjoy the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat – together.

To get a Future Fans game for yourself or a friend or family member, visit: AMAZON

TIDBITS: The NBA on TNT and its emmy award winning wrap-around show enjoyed its debut this week, and was certainly beyond “mid-season form.” … Amongst the revelry and chaos, Charles Barkley made his viewpoint known when he commented, “Golden State is the fourth-best team in California,” placing the Warriors behind an unnamed order of the Los Angeles Clippers, LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

Later on as the “Inside the NBA” stars were enjoying local cuisine, the producers had a little surprise – especially for Shaquille O’Neal and Barkley.

Shaq: “Chuck, if you put him around your neck, I’ll give you 100,000 dollars.”

The BIG NOON (Big 12) game on FOX on Saturday ended at 4:30 (ET). Good game, but a rain (and some lightning) delay from 1:08pm (ET) to 2:02pm (ET). Kansas upset OK, 38-33, to snap an 18-game losing streak. … Saturday, in the FOX studio show before the Clemson vs N.C. State, Steve Smith Jr. said that “N.C. State was a basketball school.” After N.C. State upset Clemson, 24-17, Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren told the game announcers of CW Network, to tell Steve Smith “he can kiss my ass.” … On Friday night, with the Miami Heat in town to take on the Celtics in Boston’s home opener Celtics all-stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown told guard Derrick White that he had to be more aggressive this season. White responded and was trending on “X,” the artist formerly known as Twitter, all day Saturday after posting a 28 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and five 3-pointers made line vs the Heat. Celtics opponents can expect – at least – four players to score in double figures, maybe six players. Tatum, Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and toss in Jrue Holiday and Al Horford for the six-some.

WEMBY & WILT: Much was said this week over San Antonio Spurs rookie first overall selection Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut when he finished with 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting (0-for-6 from deep), 12 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in the Spurs’ 126-122 overtime victory. … Without any doubt, he’ll be fabulous. … But consider this, Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA rookie debut on October 29, 1959 showed a final (hand-written) boxscore of 43 points, 28 rebounds. … Keep in mind, the NBA didn’t track blocked shot until the 1973-74 season. Can you imagine?

While We’re Young (Ideas) continues to grow and is enjoying a whopping, grand, incredible 73% “open rate,” as of last Sunday. FYI (for those not in the business of PR or e-Newsletters, the norm of 27.9% is considered quite good.

LPGA – BOSTON: While the PGA Tour has taken a pass on the Boston market the last few years, the LPGA and Fenway Sports Group are planning a tournament at TPC Boston for 2024.

In a formal announcement this week, which included Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy on the dais, the LPGA Tour and FM Global named TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., as host golf course for the 2024 FM Global Championship. From Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, the newly created tournament will feature a field of 144 players competing for a $3.5 million purse, the largest prize fund on the LPGA Tour outside of the majors and Tour Championship.

The last time the LPGA played in Greater Boston/Mass was 20 years ago and the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open, held at Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, Mass. It was won by Meg Mallon.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Oct 22nd

October 22, 2023 by Terry Lyons

By TERRY LYONS, Editor in Chief of Digital Sports Desk

FOXBORO – The Dog Day Afternoons of the NFL season are fast upon us. The anticipation of early September pro football and the heat of the Summer of 2023 are long gone. They’re in the rearview, optimism be damned, as 38% of the 2023 NFL regular season is in the books. In their place, reality has set in for the New England Patriots’ and the cruel dose of reality is accompanied by a 1-5 record, a last place position in the AFC East, a three-game losing streak and a (-80) score differential in the six games gone by.

In Week Seven, the Buffalo Bills travel to New England while the NFL schedule-makers provide the Patriots with a road trip to play the Miami Dolphins in Week Eight. New England’s one-and-five record of the morning of October 22 can easily be one-and-seven by the time All Saints Day rolls around and the only Saint you’ll need to know is St. Jude – the patron saint of lost causes as it’s ugly and it could get really ugly.

New England Coach Bill Belichick, waxing reminiscent like his famous, “On to Cincinnati” monotone retort of late September, 2014, had only a “We’re getting ready for Buffalo” message for the media and fans of the Patriots.

Belichick delivered his plan this week in much the same manner as he did when his 2-2 Patriots team of 2014 went on to Cincinnati and won seven straight and 10 of 11 games en route to a Super Bowl win over Seattle that February, his fourth of six Super Bowl titles in the 21st Century.

Except, this season, the “We’re getting ready for Buffalo” isn’t flying with the fans in Foxboro, nor Fitchburg, nor Fall River. It’s not flying in Falmouth (Mass. or Maine) and it’s not flying with fans or players anywhere near the six States encompassing New England. Rumors of Belichick’s future are flying in every direction – mostly South – and they include a report from Monday Morning QB’s Albert Breer that stated Patriots team owner Robert Kraft has been in discussion of what a “post Belichick” world would look like “for a while,” (as in weeks/months or years) he wrote.

The Dog Days will do that to coaches in the NFL, but never before to Belichick, certainly since he took over the Patriots in late January of 2000.

The Dog Days also wreak havoc on NFL players from coast-to-coast. Let us count the ways as we peruse NFL Injury Reports leading up to Sunday, Oct. 22nd.

The Buffalo Bills have been decimated by injuries decimating their defense, including defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (torn pectoral muscle), cornerback Tre’Davious White (Achilles’)-out for season, and defensive tackle Ed Oliverruled out of the game this weekend because of a toe injury. The Buffalo Bills are also missing RB Damien Harris – neck, on the injured reserve list, and leaving the rushing duties to RB James Cook.

ALSO OUT – are QB Jimmy Garoppolo – back injury (LV Raiders), QB DeShawn Watson – strained right rotor cuff (Cleveland Browns), QB Justin Fields – thumb injury (Chicago Bears).

Injured with game-time decisions to play or not to play are the SF 49ers duo of RB Christian McCaffrey – oblique and WR Deebo Samuels – shoulder. Listed as questionable is NY Giants QB Daniel Jones – neck; New England RB Rhamondre Stevenson – ankle remains questionable on a lengthy Patriots injury listing; GB Packers RB Aaron Jones – hamstring; and Seattle Seahawks WR DK Metcalf – hip.

Meanwhile, injured RB David Montgomery -ribs (Detroit Lions); RB Kyren Williams – ankle, (LA Rams); TE Pat Freiermuth – hamstring (Pittsburgh Steelers) are doubtful.

Let’s not overlook the big-name injuries earlier this season, including NY Jets QB Aaron Rodgers (Achilles’ – out for season), Cleveland Browns RB Nick Chubb (severe knee – out for season), NY Giants RB Saquon Barkley (knee – questionable after missing a month), LA Rams WR Cooper Kupp – (returned last week after missing six weeks with hamstring injury), and Cincy Bengals QB Joe Burrow (calf) has been nursing his injury all season and just getting into form in mid-October.

What does it all mean?

Injuries are a huge part of the NFL season and each club has the “next man up” mentality to replace its fallen soldiers. Often, the opportunity supplied to a reserve or practice player is enough motivation to fill the hole admirably, but more frequently on offense rather than defense. The injuries to the defensive unit of the Buffalo Bills might’ve side-tracked a Super Bowl season. In the Bills’ AFC, Kansas City remains the favorite while the Miami Dolphins continue to impress. In the NFC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Detroit all stand at 5-1 and will all will fight-it-out for the right to represent their conference come February. May the healthiest team advance.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The World Golf Hall of Fame recently announced that NBA All-Star and champion Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will receive The Charlie Sifford Award presented by Southern Company, which honors recipients for their spirit in advancing diversity in golf. Curry receive the award on June 10, 2024, at the World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony presented by CME Group held during the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in the Village of Pinehurst – not far from Curry’s alma mater – Davidson College in North Carolina. The Charlie Sifford Award was created in 2021 to honor an individual who personifies Sifford’s groundbreaking achievements through perseverance, confidence, respect, and adaptability.

MOST MARKETABLE ATHLETES: SportsPro, a sports marketing e-News and event company with a decidedly European tone, named its 50 most marketable athletes of 2023. Not surprisingly, Lionel Messi – the great Argentine striker who “wowed” the MLS crowds backing the Inter Miami CF club this year.

Here’s the Top 20:

Lionel Messi, soccer, MLS Miami
Lebron James, NBA, LA Lakers
Alex Morgan, USWNT
Giannis Antetokounpo, NBA, Milwaukee Bucks
Megan Rapinoe, USWNT (recently retired)
Mikaela Shiffren, USA Alpine Ski Team
Lewis Hamilton, F-1 motorsports, British/Mercedes
Simone Biles, USA Gymnastics
Kylian Mbappe, soccer, PSG France
Max Verstrappen, F-1, Belgium/Dutch, Red Bull
Novak Djokovic, tennis, Serbia
Coco Gauff, tennis, USA
Stephen Curry, NBA, Golden State Warriors
Naomi Osaka, tennis, Japan
Lucy Bronze, soccer, Britain, FC Barcelona
Robert Lewandowski, soccer, Poland, FC Barcelona
Leah Williamson, soccer, Britain, Arsenal
Aryna Sabalenka, tennis Belarussia
Angel Reese, USA, college basketball, LSU
Alphonso Davies, soccer, Ghana/Canada, Bayern Munich

Some Notes Worth Considering: Eight of the Top 20 were soccer players, marketable worldwide but limited in a great degree in the USA; Three of the Top 13 were NBA players; Angel Reese is the lone American basketball player; A total of “Zero” NFL, MLB, NHL nor PGA Tour players are in Top 20 and you had to dig to No. 29 for golfer Rory McIlroy and to No. 35 to come up with KC Chiefs TE Travis Kelce (and, no, he was not pictured with pop star Taylor Swift) and the Top 50 revealed no MLB nor NHL players.

SILVER SCREEN: Two motion pictures featuring endurance sports will entertain us from now through the Christmas holidays. Starring Annette Bening and Jodi Foster, NYAD dives into the story of Diana Nyad and her triumphs, friendships, and her will to dig deep into the human spirit. The movie is available via Netflix. … With a promotional lift in Boston via The Head of the Charles Regatta, another spectacular endurance story, entitled, “The Boys in the Boat” is an inspirational drama based on The New York Times’ No. 1 best selling non-fiction novel written by Daniel James Brown in 2013. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the ‘36 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The movie reflects the true story of a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world as Nazi Germany surfaces beneath the Olympic flame. The movie rights were once owned by the Weinstein Group, but with Harvey Weinstein serving a life sentence behind bars, the rights were eventually acquired by Lantern Entertainment of Dallas who chose Clooney to direct. You heard it here first, watch NYAD on Netflix and find time to head to a movie theatre near you to see “The Boys in the Boat.” … Get the “Inside Look.”

Then, maybe, head out to Las Vegas and catch U2 performing at The Sphere where Van den Berg is filling-in for Larry Mullen, Jr. while the longtime U2 drummer, 61, recovers from undisclosed surgery with plans to return to the band. The price of a floor ticket for U2 is averaging $956.

TIDBITS: Former Celtics champion and basketball HOFer Kevin Garnett’s Big Ticket Sports is planning a joint-venture with Pro League Network to create str33t, a new 3×3 pro streetball-style basketball league. Str33t’s first series is expected to launch in early 2024, ahead of the Paris Games, which marks the second Olympics 3×3 basketball will be contested as an Olympic sport. … The league and USA Basketball’s efforts toward the Paris Olympics are not connected.

BREAKING GOOD? – Breaking is the only sport making its debut at Paris 2024. At the Paris 2024 Games, the breaking competition will comprise two events – one for men and one for women – where 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will go face to face in solo battles. Athletes will use a combination of moves and improvise to the beat of the DJ’s tracks. Breaking made its Youth Olympic debut at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. … Sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding were also selected by the IOC as demonstration sports for the 2024 Olympic Games.

PITINO EXHIBITION “W”in DOUBLE OT: St. John’s defeated Rutgers, 89-78, in double-overtime of the charity exhibition game, the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund at the V Foundation. … St. John’s Nahiem Alleyne buried a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to force double-overtime. He led all scorers with 19 points on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena. It was new coach Rick Pitino’s first game as St John’s head coach, but the “W” won’t count in the record books.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | October 15

October 15, 2023 by Digital Sports Desk

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Basket-Fy Yourself

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief for Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – There’s a saying, maybe call it words of advice: “Stick with what you know best.” Or, in the immortal words of Ignaz Bernstwin (1836-1909), “Do what you know best, if you’re a runner – run. If you’re a bell – ring.

That’s what we’ll do today as this reporter knows the sport of basketball the best and we’ll look at it in three segments.

First, the WNBA: The league has enjoyed, perhaps, its best season since former WNBA President Val Ackerman tossed-up a ceremonial tip-off between Lisa Leslie of the LA Sparks and Kim Hampton of the NY Liberty to start in the inaugural season in the Summer of 1997.

Embed from Getty Images

How quickly those 26 years flew past sports fans, proving the league is here to stay.

The season began with the return of All-Star Brittney Griner who was unlawfully detained in Russia and eventually released in a prisoner exchanged in a State Department led effort to bring Griner home after an airport search uncovered vaping cartridges with less than a gram of hash oil, purchased legally in Arizona but illegal in Russia where she was traveling from playing overseas at her UMMC Ekaterinburg club located in Russia’s fourth largest city situated in Perm Provence. Griner was exchanged for an arms dealer, Viktor Bout, who had served 10 years of a 25-year Federal sentence in the USA.

Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm won the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game MVP after an impressive 31-point performance.

Game 3 of the WNBA Finals will tiup-off at 3pm (ET) today in New York with the Las Vegas Aces leading the New York Liberty 2-games-to-0 in their best-of-five series. The WNBA Finals feature a match-up of two super teams in league history. Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum have proven too much for the Liberty during their stay in Vegas as Hall of Famer Becky Hammon guides her Aces. No team has ever come back to win a series from an 0-2 deficit.

While overall WNBA viewership is up 27% over last season, the Sunday games in this series are going up against NFL regular season and MLB Postseason telecasts. An uphill climb for a league that concluded its season on Labor Day weekend back when Val Ackerman tossed the ball.

Next Up, the Collegians: Yes, it’s been written in these pages before, but each year, a favorite day for all College Basketball fans is the day their Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook arrives in the mailbox. It happened just last week, and this column was teased with a quick look at the great Chris Dortch’s predictions for the 2023-24 BIG EAST Conference.

This week, we’ll take a good look at the Blue Ribbon predictions for the Top 25 in College ball and maybe – just maybe – the patented preseason NCAA bracket will be back for the most ridiculous attempt at a preview.

The College Basketball Blue Ribbon Preseason Top 25:

Kansas
Purdue’
UConn
Marquette
Michigan State
Tennessee
Duke
Arkansas
Creighton
Baylor
Kentucky
Houston
Gonzaga
Florida Atlantic
Arizona
North Carolina
Texas A&M
Texas
Alabama
Mississippi State
USC
Miami
Colorado
Villanova
San Diego State

No major surprises were installed in those selections, except for the fact of an ever-increasing shift of dominance from the former East Coast powerhouses, like Syracuse, Georgetown, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Providence, and St. John’s, to the Midwest and South.

Blue Ribbon named Purdue’s 7-4 Senior center Zach Edey the preseason Player of the Year and Kansas senior center – 7-1 Hunter Dickinson Newcomer of the Year. Dickinson is not exactly a “newcomer,” as he played three years at Michigan but entered the college basketball transfer portal for his senior season and chose Kansas over Villanova, Kentucky, Maryland and Georgetown.

Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard (r) and The Freak

Saving the best for last, here’s a little look at the pros:

NBA SEASON OF 2023-24: Training camps for the NBA began on September 27 (for teams traveling outside of North America) and October 3 (for the entire league) and the NBA Preseason began October 5 in Abu Dhabi with a pair of Minnesota Timberwolves’ wins over the Dallas Mavericks. (BTW, Dallas went on to lose another game as they stayed in Europe and fell victim to Real Madrid, 127-123 on October 10).

The big change in the NBA schedule of 2023-24 is the incorporation of an “In-Season” tournament which tips-off November 3 and concludes with a December 7 & 9 semis and championship in Las Vegas.

Looking towards the regular season, the talk of the league is Damian Lillard’s summertime trade from Portland to the Milwaukee Bucks and how he’ll fit in with All-Star bigman Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the talented Bucks roster. Keep in mind, Bucks NBA Finals champion coach Mike Budenholzer was fired May 4 of this year and replaced by Toronto assistant Adrian Griffin.

Milwaukee is the team to beat in the East while Denver remains the front runner out West. Next week, we’ll look at the individual divisional ladders and make some predictions for the 2024 NBA Playoffs. While contemplating the NBA, this columnist will take a crack at the impossible —> predicting the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff contenders and winners.

TID-BIT: Keeping up with the Basketball Jones theme, please examine the ESPN list of Top 100 players in the NBA. For a limitation of space on this missive, here’s the ESPN Top 10, in descending order:

No. 10: Anthony Davis, LA Lakers

No. 9: LeBron James, LA Lakers

No. 8: Shea Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC Thunder

No. 7: Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns

No. 6: Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

No. 5: Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors

No. 4: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks

No. 3: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers (last year’s MVP)

No. 2: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

No. 1: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Thoughts: Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns is missing from the Top 10, although to ESPN’s credit, he clocks in at No. 11. Personally, with Kevin Durant’s lack of lateral defensive ability (and lack of desire to play any D), the obvious move is to switch Booker with Durant. … At the top of heap, there’s no reason not to list Denver’s Nikola Jokic at No. 1 and The Greek Freak at No. 2. Jokic and the Nuggets are defending champions and he was the MVP of The NBA Finals. That deserves a No. 1 position. … NBA fans and fans of the 76ers might be wary of Joel Embiid’s progress and conditioning for the 2023-24 NBA season. Just sayin’ … New 76ers coach Nick Nursestressed running and conditioning in his first training camp with his club. Undoubtedly Embiid will be a focal point to examine as Nurse plays an up tempo, move-the-ball, FAST game. … Meanwhile, Sixers 10-time all-star guard James Hardenremains at odds with Philadelphia GM Daryl Morey. Harden is on the Sixers’ books for a cool $35.6m this year and – although he is trying to force a trade – there aren’t any takers at that inflated number. The 76ers are also paying Embiid ($47.6m) and Tobias Harris a cool $39.2m per year. There’s a have and have not on the team payroll in Philly.

TL's Sunday Sports Notes

While We’re Young (Ideas) – On Baseball Free Agency

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Giving Thanks in 2023

While We’re Young (Ideas) Looks at Boston Common Golf

“Good Night, Bad Knight”

While We’re Young (Ideas) on the Sports Equinox