Week 14 GPR and Other Sports Thoughts

The Grandstander Power Rankings for Week 14 of the NFL:

1. Ravens
2. 49'ers
3. Saints
4. Chiefs

Knocking at the door.....Bills, Packers, Patriots, Seahawks, Steelers, Vikings.

No change at the top; Niners jump two slots; Seahawks fall out; Chiefs are back; Steelers now knocking at the door.

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Speaking of the Steelers, we are destined to have nothing but anxiety-ridden experiences watching this team perform this season. No such thing as an "easy win."  I'm not sure what mirrors Duck Hodges is using in piloting this team to where they currently sit: 8-5 and in a playoff position.  The defense being played by this team is reminiscent of great Steelers teams of the past fifty years, and T.J Watt, if not the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is easily the team's Most Valuable Player.

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The CFP semi-finals will be LSU-Oklahoma and Ohio State-Clemson.  The dual between Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts will be fun to watch, and I'm not sure how to go in picking that second match-up.  Should be terrific game, and based upon the scare that Wisconsin put into the Buckeyes on Saturday, the smart pick just might be Clemson, but I'll be rooting for Ohio State (and who thought that I would have ever said that about the school the gave us Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, and Urban Meyer?) for three reasons: (1) My niece Frances and nephew Brian are students at Ohio State, (2) who outside the state of South Carolina isn't getting tired of Clemson in the CFP every year?, and (3) I would love, love, LOVE to see Dabo Swinney get punched in the mouth, figuratively speaking, of course.

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The "Modern Era Committee" elected Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I have written about how Miller belongs in the HOF so often in the past that I'm not going to restate it all once more other than to say "It's about effin time."  As for Simmons,  he was for sure a good ballplayer, but nothing about him ever screamed "Hall of Fame" as I watched him play over the years, and you know that it wasn't his stint as Pirates GM back in the day that got him into Cooperstown.

Of local interest was the fact that Dave Parker once again fell short of getting elected, and the vote wasn't even close.  Twelve of sixteen were needed, and the Cobra only received seven votes.  Proponents said that Parker is Hall-worthy because for a "period of time", he was the best player in the game. True, but should a four or five season stretch of brilliance (and Parker was undeniably brilliant during that time) over a 19 year career qualify you for the HOF?  It is a point that is fun to debate.  I also remember how Parker acted when his time in Pittsburgh was coming to an end.  He let himself get fat, out of shape, and his recalcitrance with the media and the fan base left a sour taste in the mouths  of most everyone in Pittsburgh, and I remember THAT aspect of Parker every bit as much as I remember his MVP type seasons with the team.

To his credit, Parker has worked to make himself once again a part of the Pirates family and heritage over the years, and that has helped to make the bitter ending here recede quite a bit.  It would have been nice if he had made it, and, face it, there are guys in the HOF who are less deserving than Parker (like, say, Ted Simmons), but c'est la vie.

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The Pitt Panther football team is headed for the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit against Eastern Michigan on December 26.  Good luck to them there.  The big question is, will those  precious fifteen extra practice sessions they get from playing in bowl and that coaches love so much help propel them beyond another seven win season in 2020?

H2P.

Three New Hall of Famers

It was announced today that the "Expansion Era Committee" of Baseball Hall of Fame electors has elected Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, and Bobby Cox to the Hall of Fame.  All enter as managers, although you could make a semi-reasonable argument that Torre belongs there as a player as well.   

LaRussa endorsed a statement released by writers George Will and Buzz Bissinger that the "Hall of Fame" is now worthy of it's name now that he, LaRussa, has been formally enshrined.

I made that last part up, but expect the "LaRussa-Is-A-Genius" columns to spew forth from columnists across the land in the days ahead.

Actually, I have no problem with any of these three going into the hallowed Hall in Cooperstown, and I am sure that the Hall itself is tickled to death to have at least three guys who are still alive at the induction ceremony next summer, considering what happened there this past summer ( http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2013/07/baseball-hall-of-fame-induction-day.html ).  The BBWA result, where it is expected that Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and possibly Frank Thomas, will be announced next month, so it should make for a great Induction Weekend in Cooperstown in July.

Of course, perhaps the bigger story is that Marvin Miller has once again been denied entry to the HOF.  You needed 12 of 16 votes to gain entry, and I believe that at least four of the electors are "management" representatives, so I am guessing that at least one or more players on the committee voted against Miller's entry as well.  Dumbfounding, positively dumbfounding.

And, of course, for a most zealous segment of baseball fandom, anger and anguish still prevails over the fact that Gil Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame!

To Absent Friends: Marvin Miller

Marvin Miller, the first Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Union, died today at the age of 95.  Few men, and certainly no executive, cast a bigger shadow upon Major League Baseball than did Marvin Miller.  That he is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame is a supreme injustice, and proof that even decades after his retirement, he continues to rankle the baseball establishment.

I will not recount the historic contributions of Marvin Miller.  If you are a baseball fan, you already know them, and you know his place in history.  As an obit I just read on Yahoo! Sports just put it, if you were to draw up a list of the most influential people in baseball history, and if after five names your list does NOT include Marvin Miller, then you need to start your list over again.

At the SABR Convention I attended in Cincinnati a few years back, Miller was the Keynote Speaker, and it was fascinating to hear him.  Well in his eighties and long retired at the time, Miller still retained all of the passion that he brought to the job when he first took it in 1966.  Every player in MLB should wear some sort of patch on their uniforms in 2013 in tribute to Miller, but I doubt that the Lords of the Realm will allow it to happen.

RIP Marvin Miller.