02/26/24 That’s not a “portal.” It’s the Twilight Zone. Chances for improvement? Almost “NIL.”
College football’s rosy cheeks are flush with money. The game’s family looks healthy. But the appearance hides a systemic—and life-threatening—illness. The sport has never been more popular or more lucrative. Media contracts continue to inflate and expand, with no signs of bursting. Coaches have become corporations, complete with CEO-size compensation packages. Players enjoy freedom from […]
02/21/24 It could be worse, I guess…
I’da been just fine with the CFP staying with a four-team format. I thought it played out exactly the way it should have this past season. I maintain the Committee got the four teams right and seeded them in the proper order. The Committee’s charge was to identify the four best teams at the time […]
02/16/24 This is why we can’t have nice things.
I’m angry. We are a gun-worshiping culture that has perfected the perverse art of taking the beautiful and making it ugly. We take our kids to a wonderful Super Bowl championship parade and this happens. And then we wonder why so many of them struggle. We are a sick, gun-worshiping culture. Guns are our god. […]
02/13/24 Yeah, the NFL is really struggling, isn’t it?
I’m OK that Andy Reid and Travis Kelce are apparently OK with Sunday’s sideline scene. I don’t have a right not to be OK with it. It’s their thing. It’s their relationship. It’s their team. And it’s pretty obvious their team is doing just fine. It’s just not my place to publicly criticize them. But […]
02/12/24 MVC? Most Valuable Coach? Spags
We all know that football is a 60-minute game. Unless of course it becomes a 74-minute and 57-second game. Super Bowl LVIII almost extended into a second 15-minute overtime period, until the Kansas City Chiefs made sure it didn’t. So, it took a while. But when it finally ended with the ball in the hands […]
02/11/24 Final “pre-flight” check
It’s less than eight hours until kickoff of SB LVIII. Picking against Patrick, Andy and the Chiefs can be foolish. (I was living proof of that last year.) But I’m taking the 49ers. Here’s why: The SF offense is the best and the most versatile in the NFL. That attack can pull and stretch a […]
02/07/24 Queso….who gonna win?
The League—or as Mel Kiper Jr. pronounces it—the “:Lig”—better hope no 49er pops a hammy on that “soft” practice field. I wouldn’t want to piss off Kyle Shanahan. That guy can give you the Death Stare. It’s Wednesday, meaning it’s back-to-work day in Super Bowl Week. Which team is going to have a fight at […]
02/06/24 The ‘Niners have not forgotten.
Four years are an eternity in the NFL. Rosters and coaching staffs can turn over like tables at IHOP. Still, there are plenty of holdovers from the Chiefs-Niners Super Bowl matchup four years ago in Miami. The Chiefs remember that game as the start of their amazing SB run. The Niners are still smarting from […]
02/05/24 You coulda got big odds in…Vegas.
Who’da thought we’d ever see a Super Bowl in Vegas? There was a not-too-distant time when you could have gotten long odds on that in…Vegas. I’m no prude. Nor am I naïve. But I admit that this All-Out-Love-Fest between the NFL and the gambling industry makes me squirm. But then, I think, ”What could possibly […]
02-02-24 Brock may be just Purdy enough.
And you think Taylor Swift is polarizing? As we approach Super Bowl week, TS has nothing on BP. BP. Yes. Brock Purdy. Hard to believe, but the former “Mr. Irrelevant”—as much as I despise that term—has somehow divided football folks into two separate, distinct and vocal camps. There’s Pro-Purdy. And there’s Anti-Purdy. Gee, the gentleman […]
