November 1st

November 1st 2022

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s how the saying goes, right? Never was this more true then in the present world of sports. There were many ups and downs this week. The names and the faces may have changed but the general story lines remained the same. There was a lot of drama both on and off the field and I like to keep my writing focused on the field of play. I’ll let someone else worry about the rest of the world, we’re here because we love sports and that’s what I’ll focus on.

Several professional leagues began their season this past week including the NBA and the NHL. For us this means a more diverse and crowded nightly televised schedule of competitive combat. Both leagues have long seasons. It’s presently fall, when they finish up it will be summer. I’ll probably give them more and more notice around late spring so do the math. Between now and then we have The World Series, The World Cup, The College Football Playoffs and Championship, The NFL Playoffs and The Super Bowl and the crown jewel of all sporting events “March Madness”, the college basketball tournament of 64 which takes place in the month of March, and a little bit of April.

Someone once said in the sports world that the NFL owns a day of the week, that day being Sunday (figuratively speaking of course). If this is true, then college basketball owns the entire month of March. The college basketball season starts this week, or at least the teams are allowed to start practicing. The pre season polls have been published naming a list of the usual suspects and Blue Bloods. Kentucky, Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas are all in the mix. Much like college football it’s a nation wide collegiate competition of interstate and intrastate rivals, trash talking, heated grudges that go back to the time of your grandpa, rivalries that have split up more families then The American Civil War. In short, college basketball is a very, very big deal. Anyone who has watched the movie “Hoosiers” with Gene Hackman and has spent a winter in the mid west knows this. I’m not going to dive into it too far this week, I’m going to wait for the weather to get really cold, the field houses and arenas to get really packed with rabid fans in the student sections. I’ll let it build like a storm on the horizon, like something you almost fear, then in March we’ll be able to unleash our own NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge. Stay tuned!

Getting back to the present state of affairs, let’s talk about some of those ups and downs I mentioned.

The NBA had a boat load of Downs to start their season. The Lakers started out 0-4 and being a die-hard Celtics fan, I couldn’t care less. The Brookline Nets are a dumpster fire even with a roster packed with some of the highest paid players ( and biggest whiners) in the league. Instead of talking about the game and maybe how the Nets can improve, Kyrie Irving has taken it upon himself to become some sort of revolutionary free thinking social guru. Put down the phone Kyrie. The texting can wait. Just play the game your paid to play. Like I mentioned, it’s a long season, they’ll be alot of this. Go Celtics!

Everyone pretty much agrees that the Packers are floundering. They’ve lost 4 in a row. Arron Rogers couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn and no, I don’t think it’s because his recievers aren’t trying. If the Packers are floundering , then The Raiders have sunk. They’re terrible this year under their new head coach Josh Daniels. I had high hopes for both these teams at the start of the season and boy was I wrong. At least they have some great company as Detroit, Carolina, Houston and The Pittsburgh Steelers all are staring at end of season records right now that will be hard to come back from. Several teams have work to do to save their season including the Dolphins(5-3) and the Jets(5-3), as well as Atlanta and San Francisco(both 4-4). A smattering of other teams may be able to save their season with some miracle games, but for now it looks like The Eagles(7-0), The Chiefs(5-2), The Bills(6-1) and The Vikings(6-1) are the teams to beat. And no, I have not forgotten about the Ravens, The Titans and The Cowboys it’s just that I have little faith in any of the teams. Too much inconsistency, and that includes The Bengals as well who unfortunately got crushed by a revitalized Cleveland Browns team on Monday night. Remember what I mentioned several weeks ago about no team making the playoffs that start at 0-2? I may have once again been prophetic.

In closing out the NFL, allow me to mention my current favorite team, The Seattle Seahawks. They are presently 5-3 in a very competitive division. They get better every week. What’s more, they’re players are staying healthy. The most apparent reason for their success however is the offloading of Russell Wilson(and his massive contract) to The Denver Broncos and the signing of Geno Smith at Quarterback. Geno is playing lights out football. After 10 years in the league he’s come into his own in a franchise that has a reputation for success. The draft picks that Seattle acquired in the Russell Wilson trade will I think enable them to become a serious contender for the next five years. Definitely a team to watch. The Seahawks are definitely on the Up side of just about everything right now and they’re a lot of fun to watch! Sorry Denver, maybe next year.

The college football train is steaming ahead with all engines at full throttle. It’s going to be hard to stop the heavy weights like Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Clemson. These three or four sound familiar? Tennessee is chewing up SEC teams like a hungry tiger at a road kill feast. However, this week they get to take a bite out of the Georgia Bull Dogs so we’ll see how that digests. Alabama goes under the crazy night lights of LSU who are making their own mark in the running for The College Football Playoffs. They don’t call it Death Valley for nothing. I know because I’ve been there. Last but not least, several teams such as TCU (undefeated but ignored) Oregon, UCLA and USC are waiting in the wings for the scraps of whatever is left over from the feeding frenzy. It remains to be seen how much respect teams from the west coast will recieve. Another “wait and see” but it won’t be long now I feel.

In short, there’s a lot of trash talking in college football right now.

Players, coaches and fans are getting a bit cocky, but it doesn’t carry any weight unless you win. Teams have had enough time and practice to get it right. It’s time to put up or shut up. Fish or cut bait as they say. The only two teams that have been able to talk the talk and walk the walk have been Georgia and Tennessee. At this point, Alabama and LSU are up in the air. Clemson is another “Also Ran” as far as I’m concerned. A ridiculously weak ACC schedule has them in a position to be crushed once again in the College Football Playoffs. Bring a roll of paper towels to wipe up the blood because it’s gonna get ugly.

Until next week sports book fans!

Kev