While We're Young Ideas

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

By TERRY LYONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whew!

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

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

The outside looking in are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will Monday be a day of rest?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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