Major League Baseball crowned ...

November 8th 2022

I’ve always believed that winning a championship involves great timing and a little bit of luck. No matter what sport it is, when your team is there at the end and you’re playing for all the marbles, the champion will be the team with either the hot goalie making every save, the top quarterback making every pass, the toughest closing pitcher fanning every batter. To win a championship you need to marshal every facet of your game, every player playing his or her part and playing it to the best of their ability. It’s the coach’s and manager’s job to bring the team along during the season so that they’ll be playing their absolute best at just the right time. Then, with a little bit of luck provided by the sports Gods, you’ll end up on top above every other team that is probably on most days as good as your team, but the Gods gave you that edge to become the crowned champion.

We witnessed a championship this past week. We also witnessed some games that felt like championships, where possible future champions were made, where past champions were defeated. It was a week filled with excitement and heartbreak, victory and defeat. It was a week like no other, at least so far this year. Can it possibly get any better? Let’s hope so!

Major League Baseball crowned its champion for 2022. The Houston Astros. They defeated a strong Philadelphia Phillies team in 6 games and to me it really didn’t seem like much of a challenge for Houston. Sure, The Phillies made it interesting for one or two games when their hitters got hot, but in the end Houston was hotter, a lot hotter in both hitting and pitching. Defensively Houston was rock solid, and they say defense wins championships right? If the starting pitchers for The Astros wavered a bit, the closers had their backs. The pitching was just crazy good. What’s more important, Houston was able to jump out to a big lead early in just about every game giving the closing pitchers a cushion to work with. Philadelphia was just never able to catch up. Hats off to Dusty Baker who after spending decades in baseball won his first World Series. 72 years doesn’t look so old after all does it? Remember Phillies fans, there’s no crying in baseball. Thanks for the memories!

It wasn’t Championship Week in College Football, but it sure felt like it. I actually had two TV’s going simultaneously there was so much action. I even had the radio going in the bathroom so I wouldn’t miss anything. It was a week of firsts , both surprises and disappointments.

I can’t remember when Alabama had 2 losses before thanksgiving. It might have been before the internet era, or around the 1960’s, I’m not sure. Their game against a tough and gritty LSU team was your typical “One For The Ages” SEC match up where they lost 32-31. Another 1 point loss, but a loss none the less. LSU’s decision to go for a 2 point conversion was a gutsy call by Head Coach Brian Kelly. I think it threw Alabama off as they are used to most teams playing in survival mode against them instead of actually trying to beat them. LSU played like champions, but still own two losses.

Speaking of Champions, the Georgia vs.Tennessee game was billed as the biggest game of the year in the week leading up to it but ended up being pretty one sided. It was never even close. The 27-13 victory for The Georgia Bulldogs was not indicative of the thrashing they gave Tennessee on both sides of the ball. For Tennessee it was a rude awakening in a great year that was supposed to be a rebuilding period anyhow. However, they could be one of the one loss teams that have a chance in the College Football Playoffs.

I think a lot of fans were shocked and surprised to see Clemson selected as one of the top teams by the Football Playoffs Selection Committee. That shock and surprise was validated when they were handed a resounding defeat by an unranked but surging strongly Notre Dame team in South Bend. A 35-14 victory is not a close game and is a manifestation of how much Clemson is consistently over rated. The ACC is not exactly a tough conference. Notre Dame for its part looks like it may be on track to finish the season strong after a shaky start of the year where they were once ranked 5th in the nation. I’d like to see the wins keep coming for The Irish.

There’s not a lot of talk about Michigan who are undefeated. It’s like The Wolverines are out there, watching and waiting for a chance to attack. Ohio State(or should I say The Ohio State), also undefeated, looked pretty poor against a 1-7 Northwestern team in the cold, pouring rain. (Remember when I mentioned that weather would start to play it’s part)? Both of these teams play each other the Saturday of Thanksgiving week. Both have games between now and then, as does Georgia, Tennessee, TCU(still undefeated), Oregon and UCLA and all the rest, so there’s still a lot of football to play folks. It’s not over yet. The Fat Lady has not sung. The present line up for the College Football Playoffs is Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia and TCU(?). Expect this to change, maybe.

The NFL was crazy this weekend. It was nuts. There was so much excitement, so many upsets, so many in game story lines it was hard to keep up with it all. Let’s start with the happy stories then work our way down to the sad ones.

Apparently The New York Jets are back. Being something of a die hard Miami Dolphins fan I refuse to recognize this, however they looked pretty darn good against the team everyone says is the best in the league, The Buffalo Bills. But then, Miami handed The Bills a huge back breaking, soul crushing loss in week 1, so go figure. The last game of the season for both The Dolphins and The Jets is in Miami so that might prove to be a pretty hot ticket. There’s a lot of football left to play Jets fans so don’t get your hopes up too high, Zack Wilson is not Broadway Joe Namath.

There were some great come back games this weekend. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes staged a great one against The Tennessee Titans on Sunday night proving once again that they are never down and out and they continue to be a contender no matter what the circumstances. Not to be outdone, Tom Brady and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drove 66 yards in 44 seconds with no time outs to beat last year’s Super Bowl Champions The LA Rams. Tom Brady still has it folks and anyone who doubted his ability should do a double take. There are some great quarterbacks playing in the league right now. Each has his own unique qualities, but no one and I mean absolutely no one can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat like Tom Brady. The guy will just not quit.

I continue to be impressed with The Seattle Seahawks out west. They win consistently at home and on the road(this past weekend against Arizona) which is the mark of a great team. Solid QB play from NFL journeyman Geno Smith has helped as well. If they can stay healthy and continue playing well they could prove to be a viable contender come playoff time perhaps even for The Super Bowl. Additionally, The Minnesota Vikings are the most overlooked one loss team in The League. The national sports media gives more air time to Arron Roger’s failures then Minnesota’s victories. Pay attention sports fans, The Vikings are for real.

Now for some of the sad stories. Get out the tissues people it’s time to face reality.

I hate to kick a man when he’s down unless of course if it’s Arron Rogers but he and The Packers looked pretty pathetic this Sunday. A very visible loss to The Detroit Lions is a clear indicator that it may be time for some difficult decisions in Green Bay. Whatever they decide the present state of affairs is just not working. In my opinion it’s time to move on. It’s getting embarrassing. Their season is effectively over. End of story.

The present Head Coach of The Las Vegas Raiders is Josh Daniels who is in his first year. For years he was Bill Belichick’s protege in New England. Apparently nothing rubbed off on him and his coaching abilities because the Raiders are in the gutter. They are 2-6 and own the basement of the AFC West. Someone once said that money won’t buy you happiness. I suppose it can’t buy you a coach either

Speaking of money ill spent, what the heck is going on with the Denver Broncos and the 240 million dollar contract they gave Russell Wilson? They’re at 3-5 and fading fast. If you haven’t noticed, The Denver fan base and the national sports media have chewed up The Broncos QB like a Black Vulture on a high Sierra road kill. It looks like Seattle had a good reason to off load him. Another “Let’s wait and see”.

With all of this in mind, let’s not forget that other league s are in full swing. Hopefully I’ll start having the time to write about each of them. The NBA and The NHL are rocking. We have 2 weeks until World Cup Soccer in Qatar and we’re staring down the beginning of the NCAA basketball season.

Lots of sports in many venues my friends! Stay tuned and make your picks!

Kev