Category: sports

Posted on

Sports: Not Such a Wild, Wild Card Weekend

I don’t watch a lot of pro football, but with snow everywhere, I decided to partake of all 6 Wild Card games this past weekend. After watching all 6 playoff games, I still find pro football a bit of a bore when compared with the college game. I am amazed at the low level of play, at the top of the sport. Of the 6 games only two would be called competitive. The Cincinnati-Oakland game although close, could have been considered a cure for insomnia. Cincinnati did everything they could to try and keep their playoff losing streak alive, but Oakland went above and beyond, to make sure that the Bengals would win the game. The other game that had some doubt in it until end, was the Dallas-San Franscisco game. Dak Prescott will time 14 seconds, 3 times a day every day, until the season begins in September. Dallas made all kind of excuses for why they called that play, but the bottom line is this, two shots from the 40-yard line are better than 0 shots. The other 4 games were blowouts with Tampa Bay’s 15-point win very misleading as they were in no danger of losing that game. We are down to 8 teams, and all the home teams are favored. These 4 games will be analyzed to death by numerous networks, so I am not going there. Despite these in depth over the top discussions of these games, I feel there will be three aspects of the games, that will not be discussed, and in my view will decide the games. The three things won’t be discussed because they make the game look bad on various levels, and the powers to be never like to talk about this.

First, is what I call the incompetent plays. In the wild card games, these plays were too numerous to count. In general, I call incompetent plays anything ranging from dropped balls, idiotic penalties, blown coverages, presnap penalties and just very bad plays. The worst of the weekend was Kyler Murray’s under handed heave from his own endzone that gave a touchdown to the L. A. Rams. Speaking of Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield, if they ever want to get a championship ring, they better go up to Canada. They don’t have the physical tools to lead a team to the Super Bowl. You had better come to grips with that, Arizona and Cleveland. You will find these plays in high numbers in just about every game of professional football, more so than in any other professional sport. The team that makes the least of these plays will win the game.

Next, is just plain old-fashioned luck. I have discussed luck when it comes to sports in a previous blog. When a player makes an incompetent play, we are not going put that under the luck heading, because that is in the player’s control to make the catch. Luck is when the ball bounces in the right direction for one team and the wrong direction for the other team. Some fumbles recoveries or lack of recovery are a result of luck. A deflected pass that is intercepted has to be considered lucky. There are other examples of luck but again the team that gets the most breaks so to speak will most likely win the game.

Finally, is the officiating. Even with replay, the NFL by far, have the worst officials. No one, of course, is allowed to say a discouraging word about any of these buffoons. Where they are at their worse, is in calling penalties that don’t happen, and not calling penalties that do happen. What is really sad, is most of their calls are really straight forward. There are no decisions they have to be made in a blink of an eye, like in baseball and basketball. Instant replay bails them out in other aspects of the game, as they miss fumbles, players going out or staying in bounds, and where to spot the friggin ball. Their decisions have a major impact on the result of the game, and sometimes the wrong team wins because of their inadequacies.

How are we going to evaluate all of this, to see if this corresponds to who wins the game? When any of the above happens, we are going award one or two points to the team that benefits. If it is considered a big play resulting directly to a score for the benefitting team then they will be awarded 2 points. For all other plays 1 point will be awarded to the benefitting team. When it comes to presnap penalties, it will be decided if this affected the team’s ability to make a first down. The team with the most points should win the game. I will be watching all 4 Divisional Games and see how this system works with the “top 8” teams in football playing. In my view these are the things that determine who wins and who loses pro football games. I only have 14 seconds to finish this blog, so l think the most important factor in this weekend games will be

Posted on

Sports: Things I Would Like to See Happen, but I Know Won’t

The 4 major professional team sports and the one individual sport, golf, are all looking fairly good right now, with everyone raking in a lot of cash. But the games themselves seemed to be bogged down in non-action, that are long drawn-out events. There are things I would like to see change in each and every one of them. I would like to see some big changes in some sports and some tweaks to other sports. These changes would streamline a lot of the games, and some would make the games more exciting. Some of these things will seem pretty bizarre at first, but at least give them some thought, before you write them off as some deranged old man’s delusions. One thing I am not delusional about is that none of these suggestions are going to happen. There would need to be a lot of desperation in a particular sport, for any of the things I am going to propose to come to pass. Let’s face it, the resistance to real change in any organization is extremely high. I am going to include hockey, which you know I don’t consider a sport, but I have to, in order to make the changes in the game I want. Let us begin.

I would like to see the foot removed from football. At least, 90% of the foot removed from football, anyway. I would eliminate the kickoff and the punt from the game. The start of the game would open from the teams own 30-yard line. They would have to make a first down in 4 downs or less and failure to do so would result in them having to give the ball over on downs, in other words, no punting. Let’s face it, the kick-off and the punt are the 2 most boring plays in today’s football game. Every once in a while, you will see a good return, or a blocked punt, but they are few a far between. The fear of injury has taken these plays out of the game. The best way to eliminate injuries from these plays, is to stop punting, and kicking off. We will still allow field goals, and extra points to be part of the game. Let’s change the timeout rules to 6 a game and not 3 a half. If a team preserves their time outs and scores with let’s say a minute to go, trails by one score, and has 5 timeouts, then the other team gets the ball at their own 30, and they have to make a first down, or the other team will get the ball back around the opponents 35-yard line. By eliminated the punt and kick-off, it puts a whole new light on the game, and trying to protect a lead. The game will become a lot more exciting with no punting. Now, a new way to eliminate ties, which has been a hot subject lately, with the way the NFL season just ended. If a team is trailing by 3 points and there is under 2 minutes to go, they must score a touchdown, no field goal allowed. If a team is trailing by 7 and scores a touchdown with less than 2 minutes to go, then they must go for a 2-point conversion. The only lead that would be vulnerable to a tie would be 6. A team could score a touchdown and then miss the extra point, which would result in a tie. Another way to help end the tie game, would be to continue the game if the score is tied. In other words, no clock would be used if the game is tied late. If a team is around the 50 late in the game the game would just continue until somebody scored. No more kneeling to send a game into overtime. All of these things would just about eliminate the tie game, and there would be no need for the traditional overtime game. Football without the punt or kick-off would be a much better game.

I have written about this before, but in baseball, something has to be done about the foul ball. There is nothing more boring or time consuming, than to see a batter foul off, pitch after pitch after pitch, with pitch counts reaching well over 10, on one batter. I feel the best thing is to simply say 3 fouls and you are out. I also feel that we only need 3 balls for a walk. That would limit all at bats to 7 pitches max. That, and using the pitch clock would speed the game up immensely. The game has slowed down to a snail’s pace. Another idea would be to not allow the batter to step out of the box between pitches. Also, why does the manager have to go out to make a pitching change. Just signal from the dugout and let the guy come in. I think we need to extend the rule to 5 batters that a pitcher must face when he enters the game, unless he gets the last out of the inning. The game needs to speed up, end of story.

Hockey the game I like but the sport I hate, could do one thing to make their game become Americanized. Simply eliminate the offside rule. This would increase goal scoring at an unbelievable rate and let’s face it the American sports fan loves scoring. The more points the merrier. Hockey games that would routinely reach double digits would fill arenas everywhere. What would the NBA look like, if that was a rule, where the player could not go past half court before the ball. It would look a little ridiculous just like hockey does now, with players having to race back out of the zone to get back on side. Let’s see a totally different look to that game on skates.

Pro basketball probably needs the least tinkering with, since it is a fast-paced exciting game already, with plenty of scoring, thanks to the 3-point shot and players that can make them often. The only thing I would suggest is to put in a 4-point line about 10 feet outside the 3-point line. The 4-point shot would make for even more exciting finishes. The only thing I wish about basketball is that the fast break would come back to the game. No one really pushes the ball up the court anymore, like they did in the 60’s, 70’s, and most of the 80’s. It was a thing of beauty, to watch those Celtic and Laker teams, run the break so well. We will probably never see that again.

Finally, we come to my beloved game of golf. There is no question golf needs an enforceable shot clock. The amount of time these players take to figure out a shot is pretty bizarre. This is another sport where the pace of play has slowed even more than baseball. Golf has never been that fast of a game to begin with. Jack Nicklaus was always being criticized for being a slow player, especially over the amount of time he stood over a ball or putt before he hit it. Today’s player, with the way they discuss each shot and look over the putts from every angle, make Jack Nicklaus look like a speed demon. The clock should start when the player reaches his ball and is his turn to hit. On putts the clock should start the second he puts his ball down after he marks it. The time should be set at about 60% of whatever the average time is now to hit a shot or putt. After much complaining, I am sure the players would get use to it. Failure to get the shot off in the proper time would result in a one stroke penalty.

There you have it, the changes I would make in games, that I watch and play. I think the games would be more entertaining with the changes I have suggested and would create a lot more interest in those games. There would be a lot more action rather than inaction. I know none of this will ever happen, but it is nice to dream about games that would be more streamline and entertaining to the fans that pay the big bucks, that contribute heavily to the success of all sports leagues.

Posted on

Sports: The College Football Final 4, Unfortunately not 8

We have a final 4 for the College Football Playoffs. The teams, in order of their ranking, are Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, and Cincinnati. The other 4 teams, that should have a chance at the National Title, are Pittsburgh, the ACC Champ, Baylor, The Big 12 Champ, Utah, the Pac 12 Champ, and Notre Dame. In my view, Notre Dame should be in the final 4. How a team can lose a championship game by 17 points, and it wasn’t even that close, can still have a shot at a National Title, is beyond me. I do not care what you did previously. Getting your face stomp into the ground, should just eliminate you. Georgia is even in the third spot. This is the way I would have ranked the 8 teams, to meet each other, the weekend of Dec 17 and 18. Michigan, Alabama, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgia, Baylor, Pittsburgh, and Utah. Notre Dame and Georgia would have played on Friday night. The noon game on Saturday would be Michigan and Utah, followed by Alabama and Pittsburgh at 4. The finale on Saturday night would be Cincinnati and Baylor. I have it all figured out, except for one thing, the NCAA stupidity. It is a shame that such a great product, does not really have a legitimate playoff system, that can determine a true National Champion.

You would think having an 8-team playoff system could be the main cause of global warming, the way the NCAA talks about it. Come to think of it, if it was the main cause of global warming, then we probably would have 8 teams. With the way the conferences are set up and then having 3 at large berths, this 8-team playoff would just seem to jump right out at you. What a great weekend, of meaningful games, that would be played. Do I think that Pitt, Baylor, and Utah have a legitimate shot of being National Champion? No, I do not, but it would be nice to find out. This playoff formula would make winning a conference title very significant, which now is pretty much meaningless. It would also give a team that has found itself toward the end of season, like Utah, a shot at real glory. The NCAA is only interested in showing that they are a powerful brainless organization, that cares little about the health of the programs they oversee, or the athletes that they rule over. This organization is well known, for punishing student athletes for crimes that were committed by coaches and alumni, when they were not even attending the university. The biggest reason that the 8-game playoff has been nixed in the past, is the too many games argument. This can be easily solved by eliminating the massacre game. Alabama does not have to play Mercer. Michigan does not have to play Western Michigan or Northern Illinois. Cincinnati does not have to play Murray St. Georgia does not have to play Charleston Southern. The big excuse for these games is that the small schools get to share in the big gates that these large stadiums hold. Forget the fact that many of their players could be seriously injured. There is an easy solution. Just give them the money that would have been made on those four mythical games, if 8 teams are in the playoffs. There is also the lure of the big upset, that does happen once in a while. But really, is that enough, not to have a real playoff system.

Despite my disappointment in a sport, I love to watch, I will be watching when the 4-team playoff starts. I won’t be watching much of the other almost 40 meaningless games that are bowl games. There are a few interesting match ups but are any of them worth a career ending injury. ESPN and the NCAA certainly think so. Remember, player protection is their number one priority, besides ratings, money, and forming moronic committees and broadcast teams. Boy, do I feel better.

Posted on

Sports: Only in NCAA College Football

Tonight, starts the Championship weekend in college football, when Oregon plays Utah in the Pac 12 Championship game. There are 4 other Power 5 Championship games and the AAC Championship game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Houston Cougars, which has playoff significance. Before we get to the, only in NCAA football, part of this blog, let’s look at the current playoff standings. The top ten from top to bottom are Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Mississippi, Baylor, and Oregon. Ohio State and Mississippi do not play this weekend and have little or no chance of getting into the top four. Notre Dame does not play either this weekend, but could move into the top four, depending on the outcomes of the championship games. It basically boils down to 8 teams for 4 spots. From here on in we will refer to this happening only in college football, leaving out the NCAA part, even though we know this is all their responsibility.

Only in college football would a major conference champion not have a shot at the national title. There are no Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the top 10 with Pitt being the highest ranked at no.15. There is no scenario that will put either Pitt or Wake Forest in the final four. It is very possible that as many as 3 conference champions will not have a chance at a national championship and remote possibility that only one conference champion will be in the top 4. If Alabama beats Georgia, and all the underdogs win, Alabama will most likely be the only conference champion in. College football really knows how to devalue a conference championship. Even if Oregon would win big against Utah, they have only a very slim chance of getting into the playoffs. At minimum two conference champions will not get in.

When it gets down to playoff time, other sports love the saying, it’s time to win or go home. Only in college football does that saying get changed to win and go home. This could easily happen to the Cincinnati Bearcats. If they have a real nail biter against Houston and win, and Oklahoma State wins big against Baylor, they could easily move up to the fourth spot, and push Cincinnati right out the door. Let’s face it, the pressure on Cincinnati this week is enormous on all fronts. To make the final four would be historic for a non-Power 5 Conference team. Their coach, Luke Fickell is being considered for many top coaching jobs, and there can be no movement on that until Cincinnati is out of playoff contention. It would be one of the great coaching accomplishments of all time, if Cincinnati wins the National Championship. Let’s hope if they win, they’re in, will come true. I am not too sure in the crazy college football world, that this is going to happen. On the other side of the coin, Georgia can lose, and still be in the top 4. I do not even think there is a number they could lose by, that would throw them out of the playoffs, even though I think there should be. If Alabama wins by 21 or more, which is highly unlikely, would that be enough to make the SEC prejudiced committee, remove them from the top 4. My guess is no.

Only in college football could not playing to make the playoffs be a good thing. Notre Dame, who refuses to join a football conference, does not need to have many things go right for them to make the playoffs. If Alabama loses that may be all that is needed. If Cincinnati and Oklahoma State do not look good winning, and again you could only write something like this when discussing college football, this would only solidify their position. The final four would then be Georgia Michigan Notre Dame and the toss up would be between Oklahoma State and Cincinnati, instead of Notre Dame being in the toss up equation. All Notre Dame is going to do this weekend, is to watch football just like I am. Unless there is total chaos, Notre Dame chances of playing for a title should be as remote as the other teams not playing this weekend.

Only in college football would people wonder, what is going to happen if there is total chaos. In any other sport, Iowa, Baylor, Oregon and Pitt/Wake Forest would be in the playoffs and playing for a national title if they won this weekend. The only team that might sneak in, would be Oregon, with other three teams having no chance at all. If that scenario happens then Alabama might lose and still get in, with the way the committee thinks. The above results are very unlikely to happen, but if by some chance it does, the four teams that do get in, will only get in, because it can only happen in college football. It’s a shame, because college football is one of the most entertaining team sports to watch. it is much more fun to watch than the pro game. It is a shame that the NCAA does nothing to help it out and makes a mockery of the playoff system. It is a sad commentary when the best thing you can say about the college football playoff system is that it is better than nothing. Despite that, I will enjoy the games this weekend, with a secret hope for chaos, just to see what happens in the goofy world of committee football.

Posted on

Sports: Wild and Crazy

Well, I thought my next sports blog would be about the horrible officiating that is going on in sports today, and what are some of the solutions. However, it has been a wild and crazy week in sports, both on and off the field. In baseball, the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers have become major players in the free agent market, while the Yankees and Dodgers just sit on their hands. Two major college football programs had their football coaches leave within just a few days of each other. The college football playoffs came into focus this week with the committee possibly having a rough session this Sunday. Who cares what they say tonight? Pro football is showing what mediocrity is all about. Finally, at 12 midnight tonight baseball may have a lockout. A lot of head shaking things, going on right now, in the world of sports.

Let’s take a look at baseball first, since they may have the first work stoppage since 1994. The free agent market is in a frenzy, since it is very possible all signings and deals, will be frozen, if there is a lockout. The free agent activity is not surprising, but what is surprising, is who, and who is not participating. The Yankees and Dodgers, the two richest teams out there, are laying low at this point, and have not had any significant signings. They may be thinking, that a new agreement may be more harmful to them than other teams, so they are taking a wait see attitude, until the new agreement is made. It may not be made tonight, but it will be made. There is no sense going through all the issues, but it will be interesting to see how many changes there will really be. The possibilities include, expanded playoffs, lowering the luxury tax, establishing a minimal payroll, eligibility for free agency, universal DH, and where extra money is being distributed, among other things. Obviously, not all teams were thinking like the Dodgers and the Yankees. The Mets were heavy into free agent signings, but that was not surprising. However, the Texas Rangers signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for over 500 million dollars, and the Detroit Tigers signed Javier Baez for 6 years and 145 million. Wow! Wonder how that is going to turn out? Meanwhile, if there is a lockout, there are lots of free agents, that are going to have to wait for their big pay day. Even though I think there probably will be a lock out, I do not think it will be a long one. It should be over by the first of the year. Baseball is as financially sound as it has ever been, and it would be hard to believe that either side would take the risk of a long labor dispute. You never know though, each side has a general dislike of one another, and you don’t know how petty these men can be. A strike by millionaires is always interesting.

In the last few days both Oklahoma and Notre Dame fired their head coaches. That’s what Notre Dame and Oklahoma wish they could say. They have said that many times in the past. No, this time the head coaches left on their own. There is no question, Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU is the bigger shocker of the two. Let’s face it, nobody leaves Notre Dame, unless they are quitting coaching. I am sure the real reason will never be known, but up to a point, it has to do something with the pressure of being the head coach of Notre Dame. Not that there is not pressure in any big-time college head coaching job, but Notre Dame is definitely unique. No matter how you slice it, even though Kelly is making more money, the LSU job is a less prestigious job. Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma is not quite as shocking, and you would say his move is at least unilateral. He is taking over a program with lots of problems, and not a great track record over the last 5 years. Maybe the move to the SEC has him thinking, that Oklahoma will not do all that well, but the move is not until 2025. For whatever reason, two major college football powers lost their head coaches, and they could do nothing about it. What’s even worse for Notre Dame, is they could make the College Football Playoffs without their current head coach. This Sunday the decision will be made by the buffoons of the committee to pick the final four teams for the College Football Playoff. This committee has always been fortunate in the past. When the 4th pick has been controversial, the 4th pick has gone on to win the National Title. The conference Championship games have usually gone as predicted. Wouldn’t it be nice to see total chaos this coming weekend, and to see the committee really have to make some hard decisions, to come up with the four teams. All I can say is, I will really be rooting for the underdog this weekend, and can’t wait for Sunday. This would be a great scenario. Georgia, Iowa, Utah, Houston, and Baylor all win. Do you think that would move up expanded playoffs? Who’s in?

Then there is the NFL. Could it be any worse? Let me count the ways. In the NFC there are only 6 teams above .500. In the AFC no team has won more than 8 games. This past weekend there were 15 games and in 5 of them no team scored more than 21 points. The king of parody Pete Rozelle must be smiling down from above on this NFL season. In this case, parody can be synonymous with mediocrity. The NFL has always been this way to some degree. There have been teams make the playoffs with below .500 records or just at .500. But this year the league is turning it into an art form. Every team can beat any other team every week with the exciting score of 17 to 15. Well almost every team, there is the Detroit Lions, who lost another yawner 16-14 on Thanksgiving Day. Pro football has deteriorated into a comedy of errors. False start and holding is the most used words on any Pro Football telecast. That’s the hard part of football, everybody has to be on the same page. It is truly a team sport. It seems to rarely happen in Pro ball any more. Players run one way, the quarterback thinks he is stopping. When a team scores it is because of blown coverage. Thank God, or nobody would be scoring at all. The funny thing is, I don’t see any solution to this problem of boring football. It seems like it is just too ingrained in the sport. The players are mediocre, the officials are mediocre, and the coaches are mediocre. The best thing the NFL could do is go on strike. The only good thing I see in this, the NFL could be a cure for insomnia. A draft, salary cap, and a schedule based on the previous season record, the perfect socialistic league, SFL. No wonder they are thinking of playing more games in Europe.

Posted on

Golf: New Putting Philosophy

Any time you have a period of good scoring, putting always has to be an integral part of it. I have done many putting methods, and have battled the putting yips. One of the most unusual methods I did, was allowing my body to move during the stroke, when one of the basic fundamentals of putting, is to keep your body, dead still. This method worked extremely well, and helped bring me out of a slump, that had been going on for over a year, in 2017. I eventually went back to a more conventional method, once the move the body method, seemed to be no longer giving me, the desired results. My putting philosophy has always been rooted in two principles. First, it is not the putter, it is the puttee. I rarely switch putters, and when I do, it is to a similar putter. I have a Ping Anser Dalehead putter, that was made in the late 1960’s. When I did switch, it was to a regular Ping Anser, made in the same time period. I was usually desperate, when I made the switch, after weeks of very poor putting. My second principle was to stick with a particular method of putting during the round. I have changed this philosophy based on an experience that I had about 6 weeks ago. I always liked wrist putting and decided to go to the wrist pop stroke one day and it worked beautifully on a day that I was playing in a group skins. However the next time I played, under a less pressure situation, I yipped miserably, and went back to the arm and shoulder method, around the 7th hole and putted much better the rest of the round. This all led to a new putting philosophy.

I now change putters often, when I consider my putting just mediocre. The second putter is a putter made by Tour Edge, which is similar to the Ping Dalehead but is a little bigger and slightly heavier. I go back and forth between the two putters. Over the last 12 rounds the longest I have putted with the same putter is 3 rounds. I am not saying that I would not putt longer, but I only putt with the same putter when I consider that I have had a good to excellent day putting. I also, can use two different putting methods during the round, based solely on results, and sometimes just a sense of what I should do. My one method is the modern arm and shoulder stroke, that is used by the vast majority of players today. I use a normal width square stance. My second method is a wristy pop stroke, with a slightly open narrow stance. It seems that this stroke works best on greens that are a bit faster and on downhill putts, but that is not in stone. I always start the round with the wrist pop stroke. I continue with this method until I feel I have made a really bad stroke or had a yip. Then I will go to the arm and shoulder stroke, possibly for the rest of the round but there can be exceptions. If I feel that I have yipped with that method or made a bad stroke I will go back to the wrist stroke. I could use the same method for the entire round if the results are good. To help explain this better, let me go through my round of last Sunday, where I shot a nice 75. I started with the wrist stroke and canned about a 25 foot putt for birdie on the very first hole. I continued with the wrist stroke for the entire front nine, making 2 nice par saves from about 6 to 8 feet. I yipped one putt in on the 7th hole from about 6 feet and was ready to change, but on the 8th hole, I had a very downhill 20 footer, for birdie. I like the wrist stroke on downhill putts, and almost made the putt. However on 9. I had a nice 12 foot birdie putt, and made a really bad stroke. On 10, I went to the arm and shoulder method, and even though I 3 putted the 10th hole, it was from about 70 feet. Both putts were good and the strokes were good, with a bad read on the second putt causing the miss. On 11 I missed a 10 footer for par, but it was also a good stroke. I then made 10 to 12 foot putts, on the next 2 holes to save par, with the arm and shoulder method. I used it on the next 3 holes, including making a 2 foot birdie putt on a par 3, that I did not yip. Then on 17, I had this 10 footer for par, with a slight left to right break, that was slightly downhill. I just had the feeling that I should use the wrist stroke. This isn’t a fairytale, so even though I hit a very good putt, it broke just a little more than I thought and burned the left edge. On the 18th hole I had about a 50 foot putt for birdie, and with the arm and shoulder method I canned that bugger to end a very good day on the greens.

Only time will tell if these things that I am doing will become a permanent part of my game. It has been a pretty good stretch of golf to say the least, and that always feels good. Pulling straight down, and I can not overemphasize the word straight here, has had a major impact on my over all ball striking, and short game. The fact that I have been using this method for the last 12 rounds, is remarkable, in and of itself. I should be back in the saddle, so to speak, this coming Wednesday, and will see if my game continues to thrive, with my new vision added in there, for good measure. I will continue to update as the year comes to an end.

Posted on

Golf: Maybe Sam Snead Was Right After All.

Before I get to the subject of today’s blog, and the resurgence of my golf game, after a very frustrating season, I must take personal moment. This past Tuesday I had cataract surgery on my left eye. My left eye is my only good eye, with my right eye only seeing fuzzy images, that for some unknown reason, is not correctable. Needless to say, I was pretty uptight about the procedure, even though I have a great surgeon, and this is a pretty routine procedure. I am happy to report that 3 days post op, everything is fine, and my vision is better than its been in 3 to 4 years. I am cleared to play golf, this coming Wednesday, and can not wait to see, if I can see a ball land on the green. Before the surgery, I could not see the ball on the green from a 100 yards. I still have to take it easy for a few more days, but it seems that I am not going to have any complications. Complications from this surgery are rare, but there is no solace in 1000 to 1 odds, if you are that one. Now, on to the surprising turn around in my game.

I have broken 80 for 12 consecutive rounds. I have had two 79’s, three 78’s, one 77, four 75’s and two 74’s. There have been three things, that have been the key factors in my improved play. First, I have tried to get into a more balanced position at address. I like to feel that my weight is evenly distributed over my feet, and I make sure that there is no pressure on the balls of my feet. This is nothing new, you do not want to get your weight falling forward to your toes. I am just more aware of my feet at address. By doing this I am getting a little closer to the ball. The biggest factor is the new way, that I start the downswing. The traditional way of starting the downswing, is by making sure the lower body initiates the movement, with a turning of the left hip, and a distinct shift to the left foot. However, back in the fifties, Sam Snead and few other pros, wrote about initiating the downswing by pulling down with the left hand. In fact, Snead even went so far as to write, that you should pull down with the last two fingers of the left hand. This type of instruction was often ridiculed by other well known instructors of that era, and in the future. Tommy Armour in his book wrote, “Chick Evans, years ago, when he was an excellent player, described the feeling as that of pulling a bell cord. That’s the way Sam Snead describes it. Confidentially, I think that all the bell cords Chick and Sam pulled Sunday morning wouldn’t disturb many sleepers”. There were many others who criticized this advise over the years, because they felt that starting the downswing with the hands, would cause the average golfer to over use his hands, and bring the clubhead into the hitting position too fast for the body to catch up, resulting in many pulled or sliced shots. In fact, this criticism caused Snead to change his downswing advise to a turning of the hips, in some of his later instructional writings. Well Sam old boy, I am afraid you may have been right after all. Now, many times the way a swing feels, may not be what is actually happening. What was not emphasized enough, by the pros that advocated the pulling of the left hand in initiating the downswing, is that the feeling should be one of pulling straight down from the top. By pulling straight down, rather than feeling that the hands are moving toward the ball, will automatically push the hips forward, and start the turning and weight shifting process. I have utilized this straight down pulling action from the top for all of my shots, including, bunker shots, short pitches, and even chip shots. The easiest way I know how to describe it, is you get to the top of the swing, and pull the left hand straight down to the ground. Once I started doing this, many positive things started to happen.

My swing became more balanced, all the way to the end. My short game improved dramatically, and I had very few yipped chips, and short pitches. My bunker game slump came to an end. I began to work the ball much better, especially moving the ball from left to right, in a controlled manner. All of this resulted in improved ball striking, and better scores. Naturally, you are not going to see improvement in your scores unless you are making putts, and that is the final change I made. This will be the subject of tomorrow’s blog. I have made some philosophical changes in my putting and it does seem to be working. You will find out tomorrow, how I am now succeeding on the greens. I do not know how long any of this is going to last, but for right now it feels really good. Oh, and by the way, I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW.

Posted on

Sports: The World Series

The World Series starts tomorrow in Houston, with the Astros taking on the Atlanta Braves. Thank God, the Braves were able to beat the L. A. Dodgers, or what a World Series that would have been. I was already to write about the series between the highest payroll team vs. the cheaters. Who would you want to win that one, like nobody. Even with the one feel good story, of Dusty Baker, having the chance to cap off a great managerial career, with his first World Series Championship, is not enough to keep one from hoping, that the Astros get destroyed. Atlanta is an easy team to root for, with all the things, that they have had to overcome, to get to the World Series. By playing the Astros, they will have a vast majority of baseball fans pulling for them. Houston will be favored, and has the home field advantage, but Atlanta definitely has what it takes, to pull off one more upset. What does Atlanta have to do in order to win the series. This is by far one of the easiest series to analyze.

The Houston Astros have played 10 post seasons games. There has been only one game, where they did not score at least 5 runs, and in that game they scored 3. There were 7 games that they got 10 or more hits. Contrast that with the Braves who in 10 games, only scored 5 or more runs 4 times with 3 of those games being 5 on the number. They only got double digit hits in 4 games. The Astro lineup has been hitting throughout the playoffs. The simple key to this World Series, will the Astros keep on hitting. As was proven in the post season, hitting can quickly come and go. This post season has been highlighted by teams crushing the ball for one or two games, and then seeing their bats go south, for the next game or two. The only consistent hitting team, up to this point, is those cheatin Houston Astros. The Atlanta bullpen has been superb, but will it run out of gas, the way Tampa Bays did, in last years World Series. The Braves hitting has been up and down all year, but should be able to have a good DH in Jorge Soler, who does seem to be hot right now. From a statistical point of view the matchup is very even except in one area. Defensive efficiency rating, The Astros were .713, the Braves .708, a dead heat. In OPS+ the Astros were 2nd in all of baseball with 113, while the Braves were 96 which placed them 15th, giving a big edge to the Astros. In ERA+ both teams are exactly the same at 114. It is those Astros bats at the basic statistical level, that make them the favorite to win it all. During the regular season, the Astros had one stretch of 7 games where they did not score more than 4 runs per game, and once they were shut out 2 games in a row. It will boil down to how long the Astros can keep on hitting, and whether or not Atlanta can stretch the series to go 6 to 7 games, which will increase the chances, of the Astros bats, cooling off. Let’s hope the Braves can do it, to make things right in the world again. Well, I don’t know if that will make everything right in the world, but I would like to see it happen, anyway.

Posted on

Sports: Baseball, The Final Four

After a long season, we are down to the final four teams in baseball. Three of the four were there last year, after the biggest playoff, in baseball history. The new team to the party is the Boston Red Sox, who upset the Tampa Bay Rays in 4 games, to play the losers of last year’s championship final, the Houston Astro’s. The National League final will be a rematch, between the L. A. Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, with only difference being, the Braves will have the home field for 4 of a possible 7 games. We all know what happened in the division series, with the 5th game of the Dodger-Giant series being marred by a horrible check swing call. The first base umpire wasn’t the only one to have a bad night, as the home plate umpire made some very bad balls and strikes calls, that probably affected the outcome of game. Umpiring over the last 5 years, has deteriorated to the point of being barely competent. If the umpires ever go on strike again, the scabs will be an improvement. Last nights home plate umpire, should be the poster child for the electronic strike zone. Enough about the past, let’s get to the future.

There is no doubt that the most hated team in all of sports, at the moment, is the Houston Astro’s. The fact that the fans cheer, when a Houston player gets hit by a pitch, leaves no doubt. Even getting Dusty Baker his first World Series Championship, to put a big exclamation point, on a long and illustrious managerial career, won’t be enough to quell the venom that every fan base feels against the Astro’s. Of course on the other side, you have Alex Cora, the manager of the Red Sox, the supposed brains of the sign stealing method that the Astro’s used. No matter who wins this series, the National League representative will have the overall fan base behind them, even if it is the Dodgers. There is no doubt, that at the moment Houston is swinging the bat better than any of the other 3 teams. If they can continue to do so, then I see no stopping them from getting into the World Series. But hitting can disappear faster than a magicians assistant and if by some pitching magic, the Red Sox can hold the Astro’s to 4 runs or under per game then they may have a fighting chance.

In the National League Championship Series unless the bats of both teams wake up, then runs are going to be hard to come by. All of these games should be close, hard fought games. The Dodgers will be the favorites, but what is interesting about the Braves is, that this is their 4th consecutive year in the playoffs, and they have improved their performance in each of the 3 previous years. The only way they can improve their performance this year, is by going to the World Series. There is no doubt that this is a playoff hardened team. To have gotten this far as been amazing, since they lost Ron Acuna Jr. to injury, and Marcell Orzuna to legal problems, for most of the season. As stated before, they will have the home field for this series, but will that be enough. This time it will depend on the Dodger bats. Will they remain asleep, or will the Dodger offense start to wake up, and score a slew of runs. Only time will tell. I am looking forward to a great week of baseball. Now, if we can only find some competent umpires.

Posted on

Sports: Pirates, The Season is Over

The Pirate season came to a merciful end yesterday, with a 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The Pirates failed to get a series sweep the entire year, which marks the first time in baseball history, that a team went the season, failing to do so. We all know that this team was bad, despite what the shills in the broadcast booth say. Here are a few of things that the shills said in order to get you to believe, that there was something positive about the way the Pirates played baseball. The Pirates have improved their defense greatly. Well, if you improve from 30th, which is dead last, to 24th in the defensive efficiency stat, that is an improvement, but is that really significant. The Pirates are still in the bottom third, when it comes to fielding. They actually declined, from last years short season, when they were 15th. In the booth, they rave about Kevin Newman’s fielding. He is not that great a fielder. In all the comprehensive defensive stats, when it comes to shortstops, he is just in the middle of the pack. The idea, that the Pirates have major league players on their team, is another example of trying to hoodwink the fans. Let’s take a look at that claim from a statistical point of view, without the shill bias. There are statistics that give you an overview of a player’s value. Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an overall value stat of a player. It includes all facets of a players game, which includes, batting, fielding, and baserunning, and the volume of playing time. A major league player should have a WAR of 2.0 to be considered a big league player and a contributor to the team. The other two stats that tell you if you are an average major league player is is ERA+ for starting pitchers and OPS+ for batters. This rates the overall performance of a pitcher and a batter with 100 being an average major league player. Being an average major league player means you are pretty damn good. Just ask the Pirates, who have very few. So who are these elite Pirates?

Starting at the top of course, is Bryan Reynolds, with a WAR of 6.0 and an OPS+ of 146. These are all star quality numbers. He is a good fielding center fielder but not an elite fielder, that the shills would have you believe. However, he is a top 20 major league player. . Next is Jacob Stallings with a WAR of 3.0. He is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, and is a solid contender for a gold glove. His OPS+ is 92 which is below league average, but his defense more than makes up for this. Some people feel, that he will be the next to go in the Pirate rebuild, but I hope that is not true. His value behind the plate will only magnify, by mentoring both the young pitching staff, and the young catchers that will be coming up. Next on the list, is Ke’Bryan Hayes with a WAR of 2.4. His defense at 3rd is second to none, and you have to hope that his hitting decline was due to the injured wrist, that never quite healed, which led to a very disappointing OPS+ of 89. Even with that defense, his hitting has to improve next year. The last major leaguer the Pirates have is relief pitcher David Bednar with a WAR of 2.1 and an ERA+ of 190. He was about as solid as a pitcher could be, coming out of the bullpen. His FIP was 2.69 and WHIP under 1. That is the end of the list. Now, as stated previously WAR is a volume stat, and there were some Pirates, who did perform at an above average major league level, but did not get enough playing time to get that high of a WAR number, or were just really bad in one area of the game, which caused them to have a WAR under 2. So who should, or could, be on the team next year and contribute to a successful season.

First, let’s get out of the way, the list, that if this regime is serious, should not be on the team next season, for various reasons: Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman, Colin Moran,(even if the NL goes to a DH), Michael Perez, Wilmer Difo, and Phillip Evans. I don’t know if anybody in the starting rotation, should be back, but somebody has to pitch. I suppose you have to give Mitch Keller, one more chance. The two late season acquisitions, Bryce Wilson and Dillon Peters, might be worth a second look. There is always hope, that J. T. Brubaker, might find his previous form. There were some young spot starters, that showed some potential, but everyone of them at some point, got rocked. In a nutshell, the starting rotation is just plain pathetic. In the bullpen, there were two, that did perform at an above average level, with a decent volume of work. Chris Stratton and Chasen Shreve each had ERA+ over the 100 mark at 116 and 132, respectively. Are there any other Pirates that deserve another look? Not many, but here is the list. Anthony Alford, because he did look better the second time around, compared to that awful way he started the season. He wound up with a .4 WAR and an OPS+ of 94. Compare that, with the shill’s favorite player, Kevin Newman’s WAR of .7 and an OPS+ of, are you ready, 56, ouch. Then there is Yoshi Tsutsugo, who as a Pirate had an OPS+ of 136, but he was a major liability in the field. If the NL goes to the DH, then he is a keeper. Even if they don’t, just put him at first base to replace the stoic Moran ,who is just horrible in the field. That just about rounds it out, so the Pirates have lots of places to fill.

I know, that most of what I am going to write in this paragraph is not going to happen, but some of it might, depending on what happens with the new collective bargaining agreement. I am not going into any details, but how rookies are perceived for their first year of service, and when free agent eligibility happens, could change the basic philosophy of major league teams. On opening day, the shortstop and second basemen for the Pirates should be named Cruz and Castro. Brian Reynolds should be flanked by at least one new outfielder, if not two. The starting rotation should have at least 2 new members and both should be 24 years or younger. Even if the results are not perfect, let’s hope we see an influx of new talent come up to the major league level, right at the start of the season. Let’s hope that this bodes well for the future, because it is essentially, here now. Hopefully, the Pirate fans will not have to endure another season like this, where the team plays just bad baseball, and never wins more than 3 games in a row. This great city deserves so much more.