Sports Babble

April 26:

*NHL: The Minnesota Wild's heartbreaking overtime loss to the Las Vegas Knights in game 4 of their opening round Stanley Cup Playoff series likely sealed their fate. Look for the Knights to win in either 6 or 7 games.

February 21:

*The 4-Nations Hockey Tournament was amazing. So much better than any sport's All-Star games. The intensity was breathtaking! Kudos to all the players on all 4 teams! They all actually cared.

February 19:

*All pro sports All-Star Games have become a joke in recent years. No one wants to get hurt, so no serious effort is put out. The NFL even went to a flag football game format this year. The NBA tried a gimmicky format that was panned by all and resulted in near record low television viewership. The NHL was floundering for ideas, as well. Until this year. The 4-Nations Challenge is a hit. And should be. Intensity and drama were brought back into the game...and the television ratings soared.

January 30:

*Will Liverpool be able to hold off Arsenal for first place in the English Premier Soccer League? What ever happened to Manchester United's glory days?

January 26:

*The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will face off in Super Bowl 59 on Sunday, February 9th. The mayor of Philadelphia can't even spell her own team's nickname. But I am so tired of the Chiefs and the advantage they get from referees that I could puke. Also, no team should, via incessant television commercials, essentially represent one specific insurance company. Normally I'd root for the team from the Heartland over the team whose fans once booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs, but...I just can't. Philly is no real underdog, either. I may not watch at all, especially since the commercials have flagged in quality in recent years. 

January 13:

*About halfway through the English Premier (soccer) League schedule, Liverpool is leading the pack. Are they a shoo-in for the league title...or can Arsenal somehow surpass them?

January 12:

*Ohio State and Notre Dame will play for the college football national championship on January 20th. Two storied programs with classic uniforms. Expect Ohio State to win by 7.

*My prediction for Super Bowl 59 on February 9th in New Orleans? Kansas City 35, Detroit 31.

November 6:

*Oregon the number 1 college football team in the nation? Makes me sick to my stomach, but it is probably the case. The Kansas City Chiefs the best team in the NFL again? Also makes me ill, but also probably true. Although...rooting for the Detroit Lions.

October 27:

*An L.A. Dodger-N.Y. Yankee World Series? As The Babylon Bee put it: "Millions lose their faith in God..."

*Just witnessed the most improbable Hail Mary comeback I think I've ever seen in the NFL. The Washington Commanders beat the Chicago Bears with a 65-yard-in-the-air throw from a quarterback with bruised ribs...as time expired. And the ball was tipped before it was caught in the end zone for a touchdown. 18-15 Commanders. Incredible. Even more incredible is that the Bear's Tyrique Stevenson was taunting the Commander's fans before entering the fray. The ball tipped off his hands into the waiting arms of the Commander's receiver. Idiot is an understatement!

September 13:

*Who is the best team in the NFL? Kansas City? Philadelphia? San Francisco? Detroit? Buffalo? Or, perhaps, a dark horse? 

*There is an enormous gulf between the haves and the have-nots in the WNBA. My pick for the finals? The Minnesota Lynx vs. the New York Liberty.

*College football talk: look for national champion Michigan to have a down year after losing their head coach (Jim Harbaugh, now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers), starting quarterback (J.J. McCarthy, now on the IR list with the Minnesota Vikings), and star running back (Blake Corum, now with the Los Angeles rams). Rumor has it that Nebraska Cornhusker quarterback Dylan Raiola makes around $2 million via the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) program. Amateur?

 

August 14:

*What an Olympics! This (summer) Olympiad featured a remarkably offensive Opening Ceremony, "women" boxers winning gold...though they sported a penis, and a dearth of air-conditioning, tolerable bedding, and meats...forcing some athletes to flee the Village and seek sanctuary elsewhere. Oh, and there was an event or two forcing athletes to swim in the Seine River, which is full of E Coli and other noxious things. Seine? Insane. Like the 33rd Olympiad, the wokest Olympiad ever. 

June 24:

*The Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, the toughest trophy to win in all of sport! I did not think they had a chance after losing games 4, 5, and 6. It was a great game 7. And Tampa Bay has won 3 cups in relatively recent years. Florida: the State of Hockey??!!

June 16:

*How is it that 2 teams, in 2 different leagues, go up 3 games to none in their respective final playoff series......and then get absolutely, completely, utterly destroyed in the 4th and potentially clinching game? The Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, down 3-0 in games, defeated the Boston Celtics by 38 points in their potentially series-deciding game in Dallas......and the NHL's Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 8-1 on home ice in theirs in the same situation! This after scoring 4 goals in the first 3 games combined! Did the Celtics and the Panthers both get supremely overconfident? Did they consciously decide they'd rather try to win their championships on home ice? Or? Incredible.

May 17:

*How can two apparently evenly matched teams alternate blowing each other out? That is what has transpired in the Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves second round NBA playoff series. The teams have won by margins of 26, 27, 15, and 45! What the hell?! How can this happen? This would be like the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers of the NFL alternating winning games by the same margins. Or the top two teams in the English Premier Soccer (Football) League taking turns beating each other on the order of 5-nil. Preposterous! Who wins game 7? I, for one, don't know.

May 7:

*What happened to the once lowly Minnesota Timberwolves? Exceptional defense and great depth are putting them in position to challenge for the NBA title. They have won their first 6 playoff games by an average of 15 points! Almost unprecedented! Minnesota and the Boston Celtics in the final?

*What a great 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby! A three horse nose-to-nose-to-nose photo finish!

March 28:

*Are the Minnesota Vikings going to get Justin Jefferson signed or what?

*The Minnesota Twins' awesome young infielder Royce Lewis almost made it through the season opener without getting injured and missing time. Almost. Unbelievable. The Twins are a different team with him in the lineup. He only played 58 of 162 games last season. 

*My picks for the college hockey frozen four: Boston U., Denver, North Dakota, and Boston C. Boston U. and Boston C. for the national championship? Beans!

*In the NBA, Denver is the favorite coming out of the Western Conference, but-- guess who-- the Boston Celtics, have to be favored to win it all at this point. 

*The NHL? Boston is also one of the favorites. What is in the water in Beantown? The sports gods should throw sports markets like Buffalo and Minnesota a bone!

Feb. 21:

*MLB spring training is under way. which club will buy a pennant this year? The Dodgers? Yankees? Braves? Astros?

Feb. 12:

*The Kansas City Chiefs did it again. They have won three Super Bowls in five years. They have been to the AFC Championship game an incredible six consecutive years. Mindboggling. Patrick Mahomes is the consummate competitor. Travis Kelce is crazy, but highly effective. Coach Andy Reid I like. Taylor Swift not so much, LOL. Somebody else next year? Please?!

Jan. 16:

*How is it possible for a supposedly professional football team to look as inept and uninterested as did both the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday? Disgraceful. People should be fired. And not just coaches or GMs. 

Dec. 30:

*The Timberwolves are the best team in the NBA? Could it be? Are they ice-skating in hell?

*The Kansas City Chiefs should stop focusing on making State Farm Insurance commercials and obsessing over Taylor Swift...and start focusing on being better at football.

*College football is dying. The transfer portal and NIL will soon erase any residual loyalty fans-- and alumni-- have. The most important stat to know before bowl games is how many players have transferred out-- and are sitting out to prepare for the NFL draft. Sad.

*For what it's worth, I'll take the underdogs in the two college football play-off games on Jan. 1. Alabama plus 1 and Washington plus 4 1/2.

Dec. 12:

*A member of a Power Five conference, Florida State went undefeated (13-0), winning the ACC championship game with their third-string quarterback at the helm...and still did not make the college football play-off. Georgia is 48-1 in its last 49 games...and didn't make the playoff. They face each other in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30th. Interesting. 

*There are too many dropped passes, too many inept offenses, too many non-contact injuries, and too many stupid penalties in today's NFL. It can be hard to watch at times. The league needs to bring back longer preseasons, more intense practices with pads and contact, and maybe even the fourth pre-season game. 

*The Minnesota Timberwolves the number one team in the NBA?! Can it last?

*Shohei Ohtani will now be the world's highest paid athlete, garnering a stupefying $700 million contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yet, $680 million of that will apparently be deferred until at least 2034. Stunning on both levels. 

Nov. 29:

*Coaching is not for everyone. Two more got fired recently. The Carolina Panthers of the NFL sent Frank Reich packing after their 1-10 start, and the NHL's Minnesota Wild pink-slipped Dean Evason after the team only won 5 of its first 19 games. And the carousel moves inexorably on. 

*Sports Illustrated, a formerly excellent magazine that featured top writers, recently published articles by fake, AI-generated writers. The writing was on the wall after the sports journal started putting fake women on the covers of its once iconic Swimsuit Edition. Now, it appears the writing is fake, as well. 

Nov. 10:

*What the Minnesota Vikings Joshua Dobbs did last Sunday was truly miraculous. He was effectively the team's 4th-string quarterback, having been obtained in a trade from the Arizona Cardinals just 5 days earlier. He was thrust into the game against the Atlanta Falcons early on, after the club's starting quarterback was knocked out. He hadn't taken a single snap with the first team in practice and had never taken one from his center, Garrett Bradbury. The squad's best offensive lineman-- Christian Darrisaw-- was out injured...as was Justin Jefferson, the Viking's superstar wide receiver. On top of all that, the team's number two receiver was hurt during the game, as was one of its top running backs. Dobbs, who literally didn't even know many of his new teammates' names, led the team to a come from behind victory with seconds left...and to the most points it has scored all season. Incredible. It's anyone's guess if he can be effective long-term, but that performance was something to behold. He studied aerospace engineering in college, and "externed" with NASA. He has subsequently been dubbed "Passtronaut." The Vikings take on the New Orleans Saints this Sunday. 

Nov. 2:

*Congratulations to the World Series champion Texas Rangers! A wild-card team, they got hot at the right time and won it all.

*Losing Kirk Cousins is a devastating blow to the Minnesota Vikings. The more so because their offensive line and defense were just starting to gel. I think picking up Joshua Dobbs was a good move. Predict he will start within 2 weeks. 

*RIP Coach Bobby Knight. Like Trump, he could be "mean" and/or controversial. He also won at a nearly unprecedented pace. More importantly, he turned young men into confident, effective achievers and leaders. Wish we had more, not less, of that.

Oct. 23:

*So, some of the lights went out in Seattle's "Climate Pledge Arena" during a recent Kraken-Rangers NHL game. The building uses only renewable energy sources and has numerous solar panels. Is it often sunny in Seattle? And most games are played at night. LOL. The arena bills itself as the wokest on Earth. Good luck with that. Hopefully it won't biodegrade or compost itself before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in April. LOL.

*Michigan State University is apologizing after an image of Adolf Hitler appeared on a Spartan Stadium video board Saturday night prior to its game against the University of Michigan. A large image of the Nazi leader appeared on the stadium's largest scoreboard alongside a trivia question answer about his birthplace. Unfortunate in any case, even more so given the timing.

*Anyone else noticed the caliber of play in the NFL isn't what it used to be even a few short years ago?

Oct. 15:

*Referees threatened to flag Colorado's Travis Hunter for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for falling to both knees and praying after scoring a touchdown against Stanford. Hunter had just missed several weeks with a lacerated liver. Yet refs allow all sorts of ridiculous, grandiose "look at me and how great I am" types of post-touchdown celebrations every game, every week. This was unwarranted and disgusting.

*It's an all-Texas American League Championship Series in Major League Baseball. The Houston Astros, facing the Texas Rangers, are making their seventh consecutive appearance in the ALCS. Truly incredible.

Oct. 10:

*The NHL opens its season tonight. Yay! Let's Play Hockey!

Oct. 2:

*Neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox are in this year's Major League Baseball playoffs. However, the World Champion will likely be very familiar. Expect the Houston Astros to defeat the Baltimore Orioles for the American League pennant and the Atlanta Braves to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League crown. Bet on the Braves to win it all. Again. 

*Is anyone else getting sick of Taylor Swift being one of the major focuses of Kansas City Chiefs' NFL football games of late? Network cameras constantly cut to her in skyboxes, etc. Sure, she's cute, but enough already.

Sept. 26:

*"Coach Prime" and his Colorado Buffaloes are finding the going a bit tougher now that they are facing top-shelf opposition. After losing 42-6 to Oregon, they face mighty USC this Saturday. Perhaps an ego check for Coach "Prime" will be in order. 

*Starting in 2024, college football will be dominated by the SEC and Big 10- 14- 18. How many of the 12 teams vying for the National Championship via the College Football Playoff will be from those conferences? 6? 7? 8? More? Will this be good for college football?

Sept. 25:

*Both the Vikings and Chargers head coaches should have been fired after their last game. Brandon Staley actually went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 24-yard-line with under two minutes left and the Vikings trailing by 4...with no time outs remaining. Unconscionable. Kevin O'Connell wasted 20+ seconds off the clock by not having his quarterback spike (clock) the ball with less than 50 seconds left in the game. Nor did he have two calls ready. And his players seemed to have no sense of urgency whatsoever. Inexcusable.

*It's sad to see what's happened to the New York Jets after Aaron Rodgers went down for the season after only four plays. The team has a Super Bowl caliber defense, but no viable quarterback to lead them. They have to have their eyes on a better option than Trevor Siemian. 

*Now that the Minnesota Twins actually have two solid starting pitchers, can they break their major league record 18-game postseason losing streak? They won't have to face the damn Yankees this year, so maybe there's a chance. Their odds would be better if Royce Lewis were to return from his injury. 

Archives:

(From 2016--)

*My Proposed New Vikings Stadium Street Names:

*Terzian Terrace

*Oh-and-Four Street

*Hail Mary Road

*Bountygate Avenue

*Whizzonater Way

*Love Boat Boulevard