Speaking of Sports.....

I have to say that the football season thus far, both NFL and NCAA, has been nothing short of terrific.  (Caveat: this excludes the prime time games that the NFL has been feeding us on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays.  By and large, THOSE games have been clunkers.)  So much so, that I am going to start this little treatise by going back a week to the Sunday morning game in London between Green Bay and the New York Giants.

The Giants cemented their title as "Surprise Team of the First One-Third of the Season" by handing it to Aaron Rodgers and the Pack that morning (and what exactly is wrong with an NFL game to watch at 9:30 on a Sunday morning??), and they doubled down on it by beating the Ravens this past weekend after Lamar Jackson spit the bit not once, but twice, in the fourth quarter.  The Giants now sit at 5-1, and who saw THAT coming?   

The rise of the Giants also ties in with another unexpected rise, that of their Meadowlands co-tenants, the Jets, who now sit at 4-2 after beating those same Packers at Lambeau Field this past Sunday.  

Come to think of it, perhaps it's the Packers who are the "Surprise Team of the First One-Third of the Season", although not in a good way.

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The best game of this past weekend was the marquis game between the KayCee Chiefs and the Buff Bills headlined by the QB match-up of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.  The Bills won this one 24-20 when Allen hit  tight end Dawson Knox for a touchdown with 1:04 remaining in the game.  This TD pass was preceded by a drive-preserving run for a first down by Allen that included this jaw-dropping move:

Yep, Allen did his best Edwin Moses impression by fully in stride hurdling the Chiefs safety.  Like I said, it was jaw-dropping, and Allen has clearly established himself as perhaps the leading MVP candidate in the League at this point.  The Bills and the Chiefs are also clearly the two best teams, certainly in the AFC, at this point, and we can all only hope that they meet once agin in the Playoffs come January.

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This brings us to the local gridders, the Steelers.  After being handed a 38-3 loss to Allen and the Bills in Week 5, the Steelers had dropped to 1-4, and the season appeared to be headed to the dumper.  Especially with a Week 6 matchup against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in Week 6.  The game appeared to be a hopeless cause for the Steelers in light of the fact that both TJ Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick and their top three cornerbacks were out for the game as well.  Surely Brady would carve them up like a Thanksgiving turkey, right?

Steelers 20 - Buccaneers 18.

This is why you play the games, and games like this are why you follow sports.

The improbable hero was much maligned QB Mitch Trubisky who came into the game for an injured Kenny Pickett, and led the team on a touchdown drive that culminated in a TD by the other offensive hero of the day, Chase Claypool, and another drive that ran out the clock to preserve a two point lead, a drive that featured two no-chance-in-Hell third and long conversions by Trubisky that maintained possession and allowed him to take a knee to end the game.

This still most likely will be a rebuilding year for the Steelers as Pickett, who will probably sit out this week's game against Miami in concussion protocol, develops into the quarterback the Steelers and their fans hope that he will become.  However, they are now 2-4, tied with the Browns and one game behind the 3-3 Bengals and Ravens in the AFC North, and this is the NFL, so you never know, do you?

Anyway, some scenes from a joyous Accrisure Stadium this past Sunday.

The heroes....

And some Heroes with the G.O.A.T.....

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Okay, I've gone on too long to go into the college football scene, but the two games of most interest this past weekend were:

Tennessee 52 - Alabama 49

Michigan 41 - Penn State 17 (and the game wasn't even that close)

Both stunners.

Maybe next week will be the time for The Grandstander to delve into the NCAA doings.

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One final sort-of-football note.

Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft ("billionaire" being perhaps the key word here) married Dr. Dana Blumberg this past weekend.  Dr. Blumberg, you can see, is an attractive blonde and is 34 years younger than Kraft.  Blumberg is a doctor, so presumably she has a great degree of intelligence so maybe this isn't the embodiment of the cliche of Rich Old Goat Marries Hot Much Younger Woman Looking For A Sugar Daddy.

No word in any of the news stories as to whether or not attendants from the Orchids of Asia Health Spa served as bridesmaids.

Super Bowl and Other Sports Thoughts

 Some Sporting Thoughts on a Saturday afternoon.....

Tomorrow, of course, is Super Bowl Sunday.  I have not commented upon the NFL Playoffs in this space, not sure why that is, but over the three weekends of Playoff action, we have been treated to some terrific football, most notably during the weekend of the Divisional Round, which was culminated by that epic win in overtime by the Chiefs over the Bills.  It has now come down to the Cincy Bengals and the LA Rams.  An up-and-coming team that was the worst team in football just two years ago versus an older team that has mortgaged the future in an effort to go all out and win this game this year, a game that is being played in their home stadium.

I never thought that I would ever find myself rooting for the Bengals, but these are not the Bengals of Marvin Lewis, Pacman Jones, Vontaze Burfict, and the Soul Crushing Interceptions of Andy Dalton.  They are no longer the Cincy Bungles.  Instead, they are now a young and exciting team and are led by second year  QB Joe Burrow, a player who appears to be so good that he could become the next face of the NFL as the decade of the 2020's marches on.   He makes watching a game involving the Bengals Must See TV.

It is the defense of the Rams, led by Pitt's Aaron Donald, that has made them the favorite in tomorrow's game.  Indeed, it is that defense that could allow the Rams to prevail against a Cincy offensive line that is not among the best in the league.  That said, I am counting on the youth and all round brilliance of Burrow to win the Big One tomorrow.

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On the heels of the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady announced that he is retiring.  Twenty-two seasons, ten Super Bowl Appearances, seven Super Bowl championships, and playing with a flair and skill to such a degree that I cannot summon the words to adequately describe.  If you doubt this, go back and watch a replay of the Super Bowl where he led the Patriots back from a 28-3 third quarter deficit to an overtime victory against Atlanta a few years ago.

He is, simply, the greatest quarterback of all time.

My grandfather saw Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb play baseball.  My Dad once saw Babe Ruth play baseball.  I got to see Tom Brady play football.

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The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing have now reached their halfway mark.  

I have yet to watch any of them.  There are a variety of reasons for that...the time difference, the difficulty in knowing which TV/Streaming/Internet platform to find which events, the fact that the Summer games were held just six months ago...all contribute my sense of ennui to one degree or another, although each objection can be overcome relatively easily if the desire was there.  I think that I made my decision to stay away  because of all that we know that goes on in China and with a government that has such a brutal disregard for basic and simple human rights.

I won't preach about it or tell you that YOU are wrong if you are fully into these Games, and I know that what I am doing here half a world away will make not an iota of difference in Chinese government policy, but somehow I feel a little better by not supporting these particular games.

Another reason to avoid these Games is to offer yet another negative vote toward the International Olympic Committee.  In a sporting world that includes FIFA and the NCAA, the IOC could be the dirtiest, most hypocritical, and most corrupt governing body of them all.  

Here's one example:  Because of their cheating by the rampant use of illegal doping agents and performance enhancing drugs, the nation of Russia was banned from participating in the Olympics.  Russian athletes, however, can continue to compete under the banner of the "Russian Olympic Committee", which, of course, is RUSSIA!!!  The IOC can trumpet how hard they come down on drug cheating nations all they want, but, folks, RUSSIA IS STILL COMPETEING IN THE OLYMPICS!  Why else would none other than Vlad Putin himself be in attendance at the Opening Ceremony last week?

Oh, and in the news this week was the reports of drug cheating among athletes from, wait for it.....Russia. Oh, excuse me, the Russian Olympic Committee.

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Baseball.  Major League Baseball.  It's February, the time of the year when Spring Training opens, and hope springs eternal for fans of their favorite teams.   Not so in 2022.  There is a lockout.  A new CBA needs to be negotiated and agreed upon.

Wake me when it's over.  At this point, I could not care less about how several billions of dollars will be apportioned between Owners and Players, especially when I know that the eventual outcome will be yet another middle finger to teams like the Pirates, or, more to the point, to fans and followers of teams like the Pirates.

Whenever they decide to come back and play, I will be in front of my TV watching and I will be at PNC Park for my normal share of ball games.  Baseball and the Pirates, for all of their ills, is too much a part of my sports fan DNA for me to ever walk away.  However, the current stewards of the game should be aware that people like me will someday all be, you know, dead, and there are not enough younger people out there to take our places.  By the middle part of this century, baseball will be what horse racing and boxing are today, just another niche sport that mainstream America just won't care all that much about.

Buccaneers 31 - Chiefs 9, and Other Super Bowl Thoughts

The wailing and moaning began on social media last night about halfway through the Super Bowl...."boring"...."what a lousy game"..."terrible game"....yada yada yada.  You heard it all and probably said something similar yourself.

Well, I have often said, and written in this space, that sporting events do not come with a guarantee.  Some of the games that you watch or attend might be downright lousy, and most of them will be pretty unmemorable.  In a vacuum, Super Bowl LV won by the Bucs yesterday would fall into the latter category.  If it was played in the 1:00 time window on a Sunday afternoon in October, it would be forgotten pretty quickly, but this game was NOT played in a vacuum, and while the outcome was known pretty much by the end of the first half, this game WAS memorable for two reasons:

1. It was the Super Bowl.  I mean, C'MON MAN, and
2. Tom Brady was in it and won it.

Need I elaborate?  His tenth Super Bowl appearance.  His seventh Super Bowl win.  His fifth Super Bowl MVP Award.  And he's FORTY-THREE YEARS OLD!!!!  Will anyone ever even approach such accomplishments in the future?  Maybe, but it won't happen in my lifetime, and I certainly wouldn't bet on it.

I've also said this before:  Those of us alive today never had the chance to see Babe Ruth play baseball, but we HAVE gotten the chance to see Tom Brady play football.  Appreciate it, because we will never see his like again.

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Patrick Mahomes remains the most exciting player in football today, but there is no denying that he had a bad day, a very bad day, yesterday.  It happens.  It is almost inconceivable that the Bucs could have kept the high powered Mahomes and all of his weapons out of the end zone for the entire game, but it happened.  Makes me think that Eric Fisher, the Chiefs all-pro offensive lineman who got hurt in the AFC Championship Game and missed the game yesterday, might well have been the MVP of the entire NFL this season if his absence yesterday made THAT much of a difference. It also makes me think that every NFL coaching staff will be studying those game films from yesterday when they prepare to face Kansas City next year.

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No offense to The Weeknd, who is undoubtedly a talented and dynamic performer and entertainer, this is nothing against him, so I am not shouting at clouds here, but I do believe that Super Bowl Halftime shows have now passed me by.  Like the Grammy Awards, they have become a generational thing.  Nothing wrong with that.  My parents didn't "get" The Beatles or the Rolling Stones either.  It happens.  Time marches.

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I also didn't pay much attention to the commercials this year either.  The only ones that stick with me are (1) the Bruce Springsteen spot for Jeep, and (2) the Michael B. Jordan as Alexa spot. 

That's it.  That's the list.

Football, Coaching Decisions, and the Final GPR

 This scene from earlier this season will 

be repeated on Super Bowl Sunday

The NFL's Conference Championship games served to produce a Super Bowl match-up made in Heaven, 43 year old Tom Brady against Young Gun Patrick Mahomes.  The greatest quarterback of all time against the greatest quarterback in the NFL today.  It was problematic from the outset that an NFL season would be completed in 2020, and that it will culminate in this head-to-head contest has to be beyond the wildest dreams of Roger Goodell and the Punjabs who run the NFL, not to mention those of us who watch and follow the game.

Simply put, there really are no words left to describe Tom Brady and his accomplishments, so I won't even try.  Simply remarkable.

Nor will I go into trying to summarize the two games yesterday.  If you follow the game, you already know.  However, I simply have to comment on the two pivotal coaching moments in the NFC game.

First, with :20 remaining in the first half, the Bucs are facing fourth and four at midfield and send out the punt team to end the half and head into the locker room up 14-10.  After a time out, Bruce Arians says "screw that", Brady hooks up on  short pass to get the first down, then, with :08 remaining, Brady hits a bomb down the sideline for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead.  On Facebook I commented, "I wonder if the Packers will ever be able to recover from that dagger that Brady just plunged into them."

Next, with 2:06 remaining, the Packers trailing by eight points, 31-23, it is fourth and goal on the Bucs' eight yard line.  With presumptive MVP Aaron Rodgers at QB, only eight yards away from a chance to tie the game and go into overtime, HC Matt LeFleur elects to kick a field goal. And we all thought that Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash made the dumbest coaching move of the year in Game Six of the World Series.  Granted, Green Bay had all three time outs remaining, plus the two minute warning, but they were also putting the ball back into the hands of Tom F. Brady.  Did anyone in the world possibly think that Brady wasn't going to be able to bleed the clock and end that game?  Congrats on losing by only five points instead of eight, Coach.

It's going to be a long, long time until LeFleur lives that one down.

This leads us to the final Grandstander Power Rankings of the season.

1. Chiefs
2. Buccaneers

These should probably be labeled 1 and 1a, only because Tom Brady is at the helm of the Bucs.  At this point, I lean towards the Chiefs over the Bucs in the Super Bowl, but in the end, when it's time to put actual coin of the realm on the line, will you be able to actually bring yourself to bet against Tom Brady? We shall see.

The GPR and Other NFL Reflections

The Grandstander Power Rankings following the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs....

1. Packers
2. Chiefs
3. Bucs
4. Bills

• The Chiefs fall to Number Two due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of Patrick Mahomes.
• The Packers looked unbeatable after thoroughly dismantling the Rams.
• The Browns won the opening coin toss, and deferred, thus putting the ball into Patrick Mahomes' hands to start the game.  Why in God's name would a team do that?  (Mahomes proceeded to  lead the Chiefs on an a TD drive to begin the game.)
• A case can be made for anyone of of these teams being ranked in any order.  From a field of fourteen, the NFL ends up with the four best teams, I think.  They are most certainly the four best teams that started out in the Playoffs.

A few words about Tom Brady.  He (and a very strong TB defense) won that game over the Saints on Sunday, and he is going to his FOURTEENTH Conference Championship Game on Sunday.  There really are no words to describe all that he has accomplished.

Nobody living today, I am confident in saying, ever saw Babe Ruth play baseball, but we are all getting the chance to see Tom Brady do things that can only be described as Ruthian, football-wise.  You may not have to like him, but you have to like seeing what he has done and continues to do on a football field.

Oh, and if you don't like him, look  up the video of him talking with Drew Brees and his kids on the field of the Super Dome long after the game ended on Sunday.  Might change your mind, if even only a little bit.

(At this point, I was going to write something about the news that the NFL this week welcomed into its Head Coaching ranks none other than Urban Meyer.  Have decided to defer that unpleasant topic to another day.)

Now it is on to what might be my very favorite day of the year on the sports calendar  - NFL Conference Championship Sunday.

An old school AFL Match-up between the Bills and Chiefs with two dynamic young quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.  A Packers-Bucs Match-up with two dynamic old quarterbacks,  Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.  Like I said earleir, I don't think that the NFL could have scripted it any better.

Predictions will come later in the week.

Sports Update?

Yep, that's a question mark in the headline because, really, we all know that there are no sports to speak of currently.  So this will really be me, more or less, cleaning out some shirt pocket notes.

There was one live event this past Sunday, and that was "The Match 2"  featuring the teams of Tiger Woods/Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson/Tom Brady.

I watched and enjoyed it immensely and here are some of the reasons why.

• The Match raised $20 million for COVID19 relief efforts.

• It was played, for the most part, in miserable weather and these four multi-millionaire athletes soldiered on for the cause, so good for them. (Major League Baseball, take note.)
• All but Brady wore shorts.
• Manning and Brady, purportedly to be single digit handicappers, were spraying the ball over the course.  In my Tuesday round of Retiree Golf this week, I hit more fairways off the tee than Tom Brady did on Sunday (albeit I hit it a LOT shorter).  It's fun to see great athletes humbled.
• Tom Brady never used a driver.
• No caddies.  They drove their own carts, used range finders, cleaned their own clubs, and pulled their own pins.  I mean, TIGER WOODS was pulling the pins on the greens.  He probably hasn't had to do that since he was ten years old.
• Tiger Woods didn't miss a fairway all day.
• Tom Brady called Peyton Manning "Paydirt."  Great nickname.
• And of course, Brady holing out from 100+ yards in the fairway after hacking it all over the place. And splitting his pants.
• Justin Thomas as an on course commentator.
• Charles Barkley.
• And of course the constant realization that the game played by the likes of Woods and Mickelson is way, way, way different than the game played by high level amateurs like the two QB's, let alone the game played by hackers like you and me.

News reports a few days after the event had Mickelson speculating about continuing the format of The Match with different celebrity guests.   Names like Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, Tony Romo, and Patrick Mahomes were being floated by Lefty.  To that, I say be careful what you wish for.  Keep trotting the golden goose out there, and soon The Match will be just another dunk contest, home run derby, or outdoor NHL game.  Plus, how long will it be before the "celebrities" will C and D Listers like Ryan Seachrist and whoever it is that won the last season of The Bachelor?

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While Woods, Mickelson, Manning, and Brady were slogging it through the downpours in Florida on Sunday, MLB and the MLBPA continued their pissing contest over money when and if some form of a Major League Baseball season is to be played.  You know the story: "Billionaires vs. Millionaires" fighting over  moola while 100,000 Americans have died and tens of millions are out of work because of a global pandemic.

Rather then me go on and on about the horrible optics of this whole thing, I strongly recommend that you read Jason Mackey's lengthy piece that appeared in the Op-Ed section of Sunday's Post-Gazette:

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/insight/2020/05/24/Home-run-or-strikeout-Baseball-s-return-to-play-negotiations-could-have-long-term-effect-on-the-game/stories/202005240045?fbclid=IwAR0a6H23SNIh1nX-uYMp0PlULzgYG4YIG1oHGBVb06uQc0_rJw1_MgYhAbY

It not only outlines the issues of these specific negations, but also lists why baseball, the sport, is declining in following among younger people.  The best line in the article is quote that says of MLB and its Players that "it's almost like they're asking people to not follow their sport."

As it is, I say that it is less than 25% probable that there will be a baseball season in 2020.  Hope I'm wrong.

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Football.  I have watched two episodes of "America's Game" on the NFL Network highlighting the 1975 and 1978 seasons of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The show on the 1979 season awaits me on my DVR.  I don't like to be one of those guys who wallow in nostalgia, but man it sure is fun watching those shows.   Those teams were GOOD!!!

Of Tigers and Patriots

Despite my comment in my previous post, I have watched some television over the last few days.

You haven't been able to swing a metaphorical dead cat on social media this last few days with hitting a reference to the recently dropped Netflix seven episode documentary series, "Tiger King."  I watched one episode on Saturday, four yesterday, and finished with the final two this morning.

It was compelling in a train wreck sort of fashion, watching the collection of whacky, strange, bizarre, and criminal oddballs who make up this true story of the world of collectors and exhibitors of wild and exotic animals.  (More tigers are privately owned in America today than exist in the wild, according to this series.)  Animal abuse, the black market in owning and selling these creatures, the mysterious disappearance of one of the player's (wealthy) husband, and murder-for-hire are all part and parcel of this one.  It is tabloid television at its Best, or Worst, depending on your point of view.

And, oh yeah, they've set the table for a follow-up to this one, and given the buzz surrounding "Tiger King", I expect that we shall see the sequel in late 2021 or early 2022.

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While going through the TV remote yesterday, I discovered that Fox was showing a replay if the telecast of Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.  I landed upon this at the precise time when Atlanta scored late in the third quarter to go up 28-3 on the Pats.  There were under three minutes to play in the quarter, and, even knowing how the game played out, I could not tear myself away from watching this.  Besides, don't we all need a Joe Buck Fix during this time of No Sports in the World?

You all remember what happened.  The Pats scored a TD, missed the extra point, made a field goal, then scored a TD, made the two point conversion, then with less than a minute remaining, scored another TD and made another two point conversion (all of which concluded a 91 yard drive with a little over two minutes left in the game) to send the game into overtime, which the Patriots won on a seven play drive that ended thusly:

James White scores on OT

Patriots 34 - Falcons 28

And all of this played out with the Falcons giving one of the supreme choke jobs in the history of sports.  And how much fun was it watching Arthur Blank, who left the owner's box to celebrate, prematurely as it turned out, on the sidelines with his team?  As my pal Tim remarked, "All three pieces of Arthur Blank's $3,000 suit looked depressed."

Regardless of how you might feel about the Patriots, Bill Belichick, or Tom Brady, watching how New England, and especially Brady, took control of this game and won a game that they surely should have lost was, if you really admire and love great football, a joy to see.  

And we have another chance to do something similar here in Pittsburgh tomorrow (Tuesday) night when AT&T Sports will be showing the complete television broadcast of Game Seven of the 1960 World Series, Pirates vs. Yankees.

Reflections on Isolation, Week 1

Random thoughts after a surreal week......

As readers know, I love a good cliche, especially when writing about sports, but I generally eschew them, or try to, in normal conversation, but I am going to use one here.  New Normal.  Don't like that one, but it is one that Marilyn and I have been faced with on more than one occasion of late, and this past week of isolation, quasi-quarentining, and social distancing (the latest new buzzword)  has been surreal to say the least.

Hey, we're retired, so it's not like we have a job to go to, or classes to attend, or kids to raise, so what else are we going to do all day, right?  However, when you are, if not ordered to do so, then strongly advised to stay home and do nothing, you find that it's HARD HAVING NOTHING TO DO!!!

So far, this has been our week....I have finished two books and have started on a third, Marilyn has read at least that many, we are halfway through a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle (pictures to follow upon completion), and have brought out the board games (Parcheesi and Poker's Wild so far).  Lots of naps, never a bad thing, but strangely enough, not a lot of television watching.  I did watch a 1971 Lt. Columbo TV movie called "Ransom for a Dead Man" (Lee Grant was the special guest killer.  Man, she was pretty!), and on Monday I watch four episodes of "Family Guy" on TBS.  "Family Guy" is rude, lewd, juvenile, and totally tasteless, but,  God help me, I can't help but laugh uproariously every time I watch it.  I'm not proud of that, but there you are.

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Sports are gone.  No  sports to watch.  While I didn't often plant myself in front of the tube and watch four solid hours of sports every night (with some exceptions, of course), it's remarkable how much you miss by not being able to watch a couple of innings of a baseball game, or a half hour or so of a basketball or hockey game, or spend a Sunday afternoon watching a golf tournament.  Life's pleasures are often taken for granted, and we are certainly missing those sporting pleasures now.

I did watch, and you read about it here a few days ago, a DVD of the complete telecast of the Steelers win in Super Bowl XIII in 1979.  That was fun, and there are five other of those games that I can watch at some point in the days ahead.

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There are two sports in the news.  One is the National Football League, so far unaffected by COVID-19 postponements.  The NFL "year" began this past week with a splash of free agent signings.  The biggest of which was the severance of the twenty year connection between Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and his signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  It is almost inconceivable to imagine Brady in anything but a Patriots uniform, and the odds are that this second act will not end well for him.  True, an aged Peyton Manning left Indy for Denver, and took the Broncos to two Super Bowls, winning one of them, but the odds are that the many tropes posted in the last week (Willie Mays as a Met, Johnny Unitas as a Charger, Franco Harris as a Seahawk, the list goes on) will be the more likely end for Brady, the G.O.A.T.  

A guy like Brady deserves the right to call his own shots as to when and how to end his career, so good luck to him.

Also, we shall now get to see how great a coach Bill Belichick is without Tom Brady as his quarterback. If I had to bet, I would bet that Belichick will prosper more than will Brady in the years ahead, but we shall see.

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In the other sport in the news, the money grubbers at that comprise the International Olympic Committee are continuing to insist that, despite a worldwide pandemic, the Tokyo Summer Games will go on as scheduled come July 24.   Today I read that the USA Swimming, the governing body of that sport in the United States, has called for a postponement of the games.  That appears to be the first significant fissure in the dam that is the IOC, so, again, we shall see.  As my pal Matthew stated in a Facebook post the other day, he often has a hard time deciding who he hates more, the NCAA, the IOC, or FIFA.  Today, the IOC is in the lead.

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I close this post with a picture of a statue of Winston Churchill that stands in Parliament Square in London.  I took this photo when we visited that city last year.  Why am I doing this?  Well, I just finished Erik Larson's terrific new book, "The Splendid and The Vile" (reviewed on this Blog earlier in the week), that detailed Churchill's first year as Prime Minister, a year when Great Britain was at war with Hitler's Germany, and the city of London and all of Britain was being bombed on a nightly basis by the Luftwaffe.  To read how British citizens lived through and survived that horror, and to read that one of the reasons that they were able to come through all of that was the extraordinary leadership of Winston Churchill, offers a large dose of inspiration and perspective.  It did for me, anyway.

Stay well, Loyal Readers.

NFL Quarterbacks in Transition 2020

The news that was leaked yesterday concerning the announcement that Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be formally announcing his retirement tomorrow, prompted me to sit and offer some comments that have been bubbling in my cranium (to use a Myron Cope-ism) for sometime now, and that is that the 2019 NFL season and post-season may be looked back upon at some future date as the year where an  "Old Guard" of outstanding and even Hall of Fame worthy cast of NFL quarterbacks gave way to a new wave of quarterbacks who will dominate the League for the next decade or so.

Let's begin with the three QB's who were drafted within the first eleven picks of the 2004 NFL Draft.

Eli Manning  Manning pretty much began showing signs of being washed up in the 2018 season.  The Giants drafted a QB in the first round last year, and Manning was benched early in this season.  His retirement comes as no surprise.  He was not the quarterback that his brother was, but he is a two time Super Bowl MVP, so his enshrinement in Canton is virtually assured.

Phillip Rivers  Rivers had a great season in 2018, and his Chargers made the playoffs, but his numbers were off this year, the team wasn't any good, and Rivers is an unrestricted free agent who undoubtedly will be playing with another team next year.  He might be able to help a good team who really needs a QB, but he is near the end of a good career.

Ben Roethlisberger  Big Ben left the second game of 2019 with an elbow injury that required surgery, and he was lost for the season.  He plans on coming back in 2020 for a 17th season.  In 2018, he was easily the best of his draft class counterparts, but in 2020, he will be 38 years old, will be coming off of major elbow surgery, and he will not have played in an actual game since September, 2019.  the Steelers and their fans can hope that he will be as good as ever, but there are no guarantees.

Before I continue with this little essay, let me offer this Fun Fact.  In addition Eli, Phillip, and Ben, fourteen (14!!) other quarterbacks were drafted by NFL teams in 2004.  The most notable name among them was Matt Schaub, and two other recognizable names were J.P. Losman and and Luke McKown.  After that, you get names like Jeff Smoker, Casey Bramlet, and Bradlee Van Pelt.  None of them are going to Canton unless they buy an admission ticket.

Let's look at a few other guys:

Tom Brady  He is undoubtedly the greatest quarterback of all time, but this year he began to show some slippage.  Part of that can be attributed to the fact that his surrounding cast wasn't as good as it had been in the past.  He did lead the Patriots to a division title, but in the Playoff game against the Titans, he looked just like a 42 year old guy who just may have reached the end of the line.  His last pass in that game was an interception thrown from his own end zone that was returned for a touchdown.  He is now a free agent, and he says he wants to keep playing.  Can he help a good team that just needs an experienced quarterback as a final piece of their puzzle?  Probably he could, but it seems almost unthinkable that we would see Tom Brady in another uniform next year.  The picture of Willie Mays as a New York Met comes to mind.  Not that I love or even like the Patriots or Brady, but I hope that this doesn't happen.

Drew Brees  Like Brady, Brees had a good year, but he also looked like a 40 year old guy in the Saints playoff loss to the Vikings.  He says that he is "undecided" about coming back next year.

Andrew Luck  After missing all of 2017, Luck came back in '18 with a terrific season, but after yet another injury, he retired right before the start of the 2019 season at the age of 29.

Cam Newton  At the age of 30, one time league MVP was benched this year by the Panthers and will be playing elsewhere in 2020.

Aaron Rodgers  Maybe not fair to lump Rodgers into this category, because he had a very good season and led the Packers to a playoff win against Seattle, but he had a very bad first half against the 49'ers in the NFC title game, and his facial expressions and body language showed every bit of his 36 years.

On the other end of the spectrum were whole raft of exciting and young quarterbacks who appear to be ready to take over the NFL.  Leading the way are Patrick Mahomes, last season's MVP and probably the best and most exciting player in the NFL right now, Lamar Jackson, the presumptive MVP this season and deservedly so, and Deshaun Watson.  Maybe even throw in Baker Mayfield  into this mix if he can survive the mess that is the Cleveland Browns.  Then there a some guys like Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan, Jarrod Goff, and Carson Wentz, who have been around for awhile and could be factors for years to come in the NFL.

And finally, looming out there is LSU's Joe Burrow whom the Bengals, presumably, will take with the overall Number One selection in this year's Draft.

Yep, the guard is changing at the most important position in the NFL, and 2019 maybe seen as the year that this change took place.

Before I leave, let me speak as a partisan Pittsburgh Steelers fan for a moment.  If you've been paying attention, you know that the Steelers will be going into 2020 with a sure fire Hall of Famer at QB, but one who is 38 years old, and they will be in a division that will be requiring them to play two games a year for the next decade or so against teams led by Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield.   This is not a hopeful sign.  Maybe Mason Rudolph will one day be the guy who will be the equal to these three Central Division rivals, but 2019 showed that he is still very much a work in progress.  There is also the very real possibility that the well demonstrated ineptness of the Bengals and the Browns could nullify the skills of Burrow and Mayfield.  In any event, the Steelers, who are aging in other areas as well as at quarterback, appear to have their work cut out for them in the next few seasons.

Wild Card Weekend and Revised GCR

The NFL kicked off the Playoffs for the 2019 season this past weekend with two of the four games being decided in overtime, and the one game that didn't go into OT saw the Tennessee Titans send the defending champ Patriots packing from the post season.  Can't get much more exciting than that, can you?  

The weekend saw three guys playing quarterback who were over the age of forty.  Raise your hand if would have predicted that the one from that trio who would play the best would be Josh McCown.   Alas, Tom Brady and Drew Brees looked like over forty year old guys playing quarterback in the NFL.  Brady's last play was an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and Brees' last play was fumble that was lost and, essentially, ended the game for the Saints.

One of the most interesting things that took place was Titans coach Mike Vrabel's use of taking delay of game and false start penalties as a way to bleed the clock as the 5:00 minute mark of the fourth quarter approached.  Full disclosure:  I was unaware of the intricacies involved insofar as when the clock stops and when it keeps running at these points in a game, so I learned something.  Anyway, watching Bill Belichick's head nearly explode as Vrabel took advantage of these rules was great fun.  It should be noted that Vrabel both played for and coached under Coach Bill in New England, so he probably learned such tricks at the foot of the Master himself, and he used it to hoist Belichick on his own petard.  Like I said, how fun was that?

Much has been speculated that this might have been the Last Hurrah for Tom Brady, if not in the NFL completely, then perhaps as a New England Patriot.  Whatever the next step for Tom Brady will be will certainly be a noteworthy topic over which to navel gaze, and I will wait until we know precisely what that is before, uh, gazing at my navel over it.

If you went by the Grandstander Confidence Rankings to make your bets last week, you would have lost three of the four wild card games.  Like I said at the time, if that is what you did, you did so at your own risk.  In any event, here is the revised GCR as the NFL heads into Round Two.....

1. Ravens
2. Chiefs
3. 49'ers (up from #4 last week)
4. Packers (up from #5;  has there ever been a team with a "quieter" 12-3 record?)
5. Seahawks (up from #6)
6. Texans (up from #10)
7. Vikings (up from #9)
8. Titans (up from #11)

The match-ups for this round:

• Titans @ Ravens
• Texans @ Chiefs
• Vikings @ 49'ers
• Seahawks @ Packers

Will provide further thoughts and predictions later in the week.

Patriots Win

The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3, to win the Super Bowl last night, and in the twelve or so hours since the game ended, it has become de rigueur for sportswriters, commentators, and people on various forms of social media to try to out-snark each other in proclaiming how AWFUL and BORING and LOUSY the low scoring game was.  Even people who have spent a season decrying how out-of-control offense had gotten in the NFL and how defense has been legislated out of the game (yeah, that's you, Michael Wilbon) are trashing this game.

I agree that this one might not have been as exciting as that Steelers 27-23 win over Arizona ten years ago, or the Pats come from behind overtime win over Atlanta two years ago, or last year's 41-33 Eagles win over New England, but when you consider what was at stake - the Super Bowl Championship! - there is some value in a low scoring game, when a 3-0 lead, which NE held at halftime and deep into the third quarter, could be wiped out and overcome on the very next play of the game (which didn't actually happen, but it could have).

Context is everything.  I will grant you that if that game yesterday was played at 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon in early October, it would have been written off as a desultory and boring game, but if you cannot find tension and value in  game like that when the league championship is at stake, well, then you're just looking for something to bitch and moan about.  You probably shouldn't be a sports fan at all then.

I have written much about the Belichick/Brady/Patriots Dynasty in the lead up to this game, so I won't belabor it in this post.  Simply stated: 18 seasons, 9 Super Bowl appearances, 6 Super Bowl Championships.  Greatest of all time, and we will ever see anything like it again, certainly not in my lifetime.  It is becoming part of the narrative that last night's Super Bowl win was the "last shot" for this particular Pats' dynasty.  Maybe so, but raise your hand if you would be willing to bet a lot of money on Coach Bill and the Golden Boy NOT being in the hunt for the Super Bowl next year. Anybody?  Didn't think so.

Why I Am Rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowl Tomorrow

Yeah, yeah, I know it can be viewed as treasonous and a mortal sin to root for the Patriots, but I am going to be doing so tomorrow as they take on the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.  Here's why:

1. Three weeks ago in Las Vegas I place a $15 bet on the Pats to win the Super Bowl and three and a half to one.  So there's that.
2. History has it's eyes on them.  What the Pats have done over the last eighteen season has been undeniably historic.  Nine Super Bowls in eighteen seasons.  We'll never see this again, certainly not in my lifetime, so I will always, in most instances, root for historical greatness.
3. Tom Brady.  Yes, he can be smug and annoying, and yes, the officials always seem to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is also the greatest quarterback who ever played the game.  After tomorrow, he will have played in NINE SUPER BOWLS.  No other player - ever - has appeared in more than six.  This is historical greatness that must be appreciated and burnished.
4. If New England should lose tomorrow, Brady's record in the games will fall to 5-4 and there will be people who will say something like, "well, he's barely over .500 in those games, so he's no big deal."  A Brady/Pats win will cut off such patently ridiculous statements at the pass.
5. Bill Belichick.  As Brady is to quarterbacks, Belichick is to coaches.  He's the best there is and ever was.  Yes, he's crusty, arrogant, a poor loser, and a public relations man's nightmare, but there is something about him that appeals to me (and yes, I have gotten as PO'd over and at him over the years as many of you have).  I like his single-mindedness, and his penchant for sending a metaphorical middle finger at authority, especially the Suits in the NFL offices on Park Avenue.  For example, earlier in the season, Coach Bill appeared on the sidelines in his rumpled Patriots blue hoodie when every other coach, assistant coach (including the Pats' staff), and player was wearing those mandated military-style olive drab hoodies.  And if you tell me that you DIDN'T love seeing Bill hurl that Microsoft Tablet to the ground during the Chiefs game last week, I just don't believe you.  I mean, who among us HASN'T wanted to do something exactly like that at one time or another.
6. And how about that story that Bill Cowher told this week of Belichick's offer to help him, Cowher, and the Steelers out in preparing for the Broncos in the 2005 AFC Championship game, after Belichick's Pats had lost to Denver in the previous round of the Playoffs.  You gotta love him for that, right?
7. My cousin Janice Spencer lives in Maine and is a big Patriots fan, and she was a really good sport when the Steelers beat the Patriots in December, posing with a Terrible Towel on Facebook, so I am rooting for the Pats for her sake, too.
8. I don't really care that a sixth Super Bowl win will tie the Patriots with the Steelers for most Lombardi Trophies. Neither my civic nor sports fandom self-worth will be diminished by such a fact.  Also, nothing that the Patriots do, or any other team, for that matter, lessens the accomplishments of the Steelers over the years.  Let's all get a grip here.

Of course, the main thing I am hoping for is an entertaining and competitive game.  And if the Rams should win, that's okay by me, too, my fifteen buck wager aside, for a couple of reasons.  One, I would be happy for Pitt's Aaron Donald to get a Super Bowl ring, and two, I'd never feel bad to see Bob Kraft and his stuffed blue-shirt-with-a-white-collar come up on the short end, and if that conflicts with my History Has It's Eyes On You themes spelled out above, well, being a sports fan doesn't always have to be accompanied by perfect logic.

Enjoy the game tomorrow, everyone!