Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Donald Trump & The One Pitch Media

Posted: March 21, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, baseball, media, politics, Sports
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Before the Corona Virus took sports away from America (other than Dynasty baseball which you should sign up for at once use code USA2 for a free month till March 31st and join my leagues) the biggest scandal in sports was the revelation that the Houston Astros were stealing signs illegally during their 2017 World Series Championship season.

The reason why this matters so much in baseball is that a batter has a fraction of a second to decide to swing at a pitch or not. Knowing what is coming increases the odds of a big clutch hit and decreases the odds of a rally killing out.

This is why it’s so important for pitchers to have more than one effective pitch. The more pitches his has the more different deliveries a batter has to be ready for.

And of course the opposite is also true. If a pitcher only has one pitch. unless he’s hall of fame pitcher Walter Johnson (“You knew what was coming but so what?“) that pitcher isn’t going to last long in the majors as the batters will eat him alive.

These days the media is a lot like that pitcher with only one pitch.

For three years the media has thrown the same “orange man bad” pitch every day without ceasing. Practically every single thing the media has said and done from press conferences, to news reports to town halls has been driven by this message.

Now at the start when people were 1st seeing that pitch it could have some effect but after three years we’re reached the point where the administration in general and President Trump in particular see that pitch coming and can hit it every time (in fact President Trump has been hitting that pitch for quite a while). In fact even republicans in the house and senate have reached the point where they are taking the media’s best pitch and driving it up the middle for a hit.

Even worse for the media than President Trump seeing that pitch coming, the American people are seeing it too. Such was the case yesterday during the update on the Corona Virus from the White House.

Yet the media even now has only one pitch in their arsenal the Orange Man Bad pitch. It was growing old in a time of prosperity and full employment, in a time of national and international crisis this pitch, when contrasted to the substance coming from the White House is easy for President Trump to knock over the wall.

The American people because of the crisis have been watching and listening to the daily updates from the President and his team on this subject. The President and his team have been sober and straight on what they’ve said and done and have spent their time talking substance. When people are looking for information and the only thing in the minds of the press is: “How do I nail Trump?” they not only look petty but come off as completely uninterested in informing a public desperate for info.

Even worse at a time when people’s lives are at risk and their lively hoods are at state the whole “woe is me” bit from elite media plays even worse.

This inept and obsessed media is one of the President’s biggest assets and for all his rhetoric I suspect he wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

Never have a seen a man so lucky in his enemies.

The Patriots Post Tom Brady Expectations Game

Posted: March 19, 2020 by datechguy in nfl, Sports
Tags: , ,

The Tom Brady Era in New England has ended.

Although it was not known at the time the coming of Tom Brady to the New England Patriots was a sports earthquake, much like the coming of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in Baseball or Bill Russell to the Celtics in Basketball or Wayne Gretzky to Edmonton in Hockey.

In all of these cases it was quickly established that the coming of said superstar meant that the franchise in question was now considered the prohibitive favorite to win the championship in their sport.

And with the exception of the Yankees who amazingly thanks to the coming of Lou Gehrig during the Ruth Era and Joe DiMaggio during the Gehrig Era and Mickey Mantle & Yogi Berra during the DiMaggio era in succession kept those high exceptions post Ruth the departure of Brady means a re-evaluation of the expectation for both the Patriots and for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Let’s start with the New England Patriots.

The New England Patriots began playing in 1960 and played with a quarterback other than Tom Brady starting games from that year though the year 2000. They played a 14 game schedule from 1960-1976 and a 16 game schedule since. The Patriots had a winning record in 22 out of those 41 seasons. Of those 22 winning seasons the teams best pre Brady Years in terms of wins were as follows

  • 1964 10-3-1
  • 1976 11-3
  • 1978 11-5
  • 1985 11-5
  • 1986 11-5
  • 1996 11-5

During that period these were the years that they won their division

1963, 1978, 1986, 1996, 1997

During that period these are the years they made the playoffs

1963, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998

Of those playoff years these are the years they won at least one playoff game

1963, 1985,1996,1997

During that period these were the years they made it to the Superbowl or the AFL Championship game pre-superbowl

1963, 1985, 1996

They never won a championship

So as you can see over 41 years the aNew England / Boston Patriots

  • Had a winning record 55% of the time
  • won 11 or more game (10 in a 14 game season) 14.6% of the time
  • won their division 12% of the time
  • made the playoffs 24% of the time
  • won a playoff game 9.7% of the time
  • went to a championship game 7% of the time winning 0%

Tom Brady took over as the Patriots starting QB during the 2001 season and remained the starting QB through the 2019 season. During that 20 year period these are the season where they did NOT win at least 12 games

  • 2001 11-5 (partial Brady Season)
  • 2002 9-7
  • 2005 10-6
  • 2008 11-5 (Brady injured game 1 out for season)
  • 2009 10-6
  • 2018 11-5

These are the seasons during the Brady years that the Patriots did NOT win their division or make the playoffs

2002, 2008

These are the seasons during the Brady years that the Patriots dd NOT win a playoff game

2002,2008,2009,2010, 2019

These are the seasons during the Brady years that the Patriots did NOT go to the Superbowl

2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,2012,2013, 2015, 2019

So lets sum up during the Tom Brady Years

  • Had a winning record 100% of the time
  • The Patriots won at least 12 games 70% of the time
  • The Patriots won their division & made the playoffs 90% of the time
  • The Patriots won at LEAST one playoff game 70% of the time
  • The Patriots went to the Superbowl 50% of the time
  • The Patriots WON the superbowl 30% of the time (67% of the times they went)

Or to put it another way, the best New England/Boston Patriots seasons in their pre-Brady years would be considered failures during the Brady years and their three appearances in the Superbowl/Championship would all be rated at best disappointments in the Brady era.

Now the Tom Brady Era has officially ended which means that unless Jarrett Stidham or any quarterback that they draft this season turns into the 2nd coming of Lou Gehrig logically our expectations for Patriots should return to a pre-Brady level to wit.

Any year that the New England Patriots post Brady:

  • Have a winning record: should be considered OK
  • Win 11 games: should be considered a success
  • Win their division: should be considered a big success
  • Make the playoffs: should considered a huge success.
  • Win a playoff game: should be considered an spectacular success
  • Go to the Superbowl: should be considered an extraordinary success
  • Win a Superbowl: should be considered a Miracle

Now there are those who consider that a fair amount of Tom Brady’s success in general and the Patriots success in particular should be given to Coach Bill Belichick who some consider the greatest coach in Football history. For those of you who consider this the case let’s make a slight adjustment.

Any year the New England Patriots Under Belichick post Brady

  • Win a Superbowl, it’s an extraordinary success
  • Go to the Superbowl it’s a spectacular success
  • Win a playoff game it’s a Huge success
  • Make the playoffs, it’s a big success
  • Win their division, it’s a success
  • Win at least 11 games, it’s an OK season
  • Win less than 11 games…fire the bum!

These are reasonable expectations. I suspect that Patriots fans after two decades of winning will not be as generous as me with their expectations.

Two Brady Possibilities one more Time

Posted: March 11, 2020 by datechguy in nfl, Sports
Tags:

The official start to the free agent season in the NFL is my wife’s birthday and it can’t come soon enough for me because the All Brady all the time on Boston Sports talk radio has reach Bloomberg Ad level status

This comes at a time when the Bruins are ruling the NHL the Celtics have taken a sad (but newsworthy turn) and the Red Sox rotation has reached a point where the best way to describe this season’s potential is to paraphrase Sgt Mulcahy from the Classic John Wayne movie Ft. Apachie when he was asked to judge some rotgut wiskey that was being smuggled to the Indians. Well sir, it’s better than no baseball at all.

All these developments are newsworthy and talk worthy but it’s Brady Brady Brady to the point where one thinks this is his way to soften the blow when he leaves since we’ll all be saying thank God THAT’S over.

But for those of you still wondering on this subject let’s make a few points

  1. While everybody has been saying how Brady wants to play three more years people are forgetting that Bill Belichick also doesn’t have a lot of years left coaching presuming that he was serious about not wanting to coach deep into his 70’s. Brady might have three seasons left in him but Bill likely has no more than five and may only need four to pass Don Shula on the all time list
  2. Belichick knows the road to the Superbowl leads through Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. No matter how you crunch the numbers there is no available Quarterback more likely to beat Patrick Mahomes in a playoff game in KC than the one guy who did it just two years ago: Tom Brady
  3. Tom Brady is very rich, his wife is very rich and he will remain very rich if it retired tomorrow. The idea that 3-5 million is going to make a huge difference in what he decides to do at this point is simply silly.
  4. Tom Brady’s wife has been wanting him to retire for years. (I suspect his absence from non-mandatory sessions was part of a compromise with her to keep playing.) He is not going to go anywhere that doesn’t have an airtight offensive line.
  5. Please stop pretending it’s a crisis because Brady hasn’t signed before Free Agency. It is seven days to free agency, Tom Brady has never been a free agent. After waiting all this time do you really think he’s going to wait till one or two days before free agency beings and THEN sign with the Pats. That’s simply absurd. He is going to see what the offers are 1st.
  6. Tom Brady not only has nothing to prove, but is apparently STILL pissed off at being passed up till the 6th round by every team out there. I would not be surprised if he pulled a Rocky Marciano on the guys who offered him back money to come back and let those teams offer him big bucks and then sign with the Pats saying: “Hey if you really wanted me you should have drafted me when you had the chance”.
  7. There is only one wildcard in this entire process. Does Brady want to challenge himself by trying to win a Superbowl elsewhere?

All these things are possibilities, but you know what the most important truth is? Just this:

We don’t know what’s going to happen and we won’t know until it happens.

So let’s all chill.

Red Sox Unarmed, Celtics Addition by Subtraction, Bruins Butch, Brady as Batman vs Mutant Leader?, a Definition away from 1st place Plus Great Team Results Under the (Sports) Fedora

Posted: February 29, 2020 by datechguy in baseball, nba, nfl, nhl, Sports, under the fedora

Looking at the Red Sox Roster, while even without Mookie Betts the offense looks imposing, if you look at the Rotation of Sale, Rodriguez, Eovaldi and Velazquez as 1-4 I don’t see innings eaters among them. Particularly since Sale will start the season on the DL

Last season the bullpen was devastated by the lack of starting depth, I see no sign that this is going to be abated this year. Furthermore one or two injuries will turn this team into the 1929 Cubs of my greatest teams Dynasty league. Near the top in runs scored but even higher in runs allowed.

Well it won’t be boring anyways

The Boston Celtics continue to roll their .707 winning percentage is 4th best in the NBA just behind the surprising Toronto Raptors who have not let the loss of Leonard hurt them, the Lakers who lead the west with a .786 percentage and the Bucks who are blowing everyone away at 50-8.

It seems the biggest addition to the development of this Celtics team has been the removal of Kyrie Irving who went to Brooklyn and is now out for the year. It’s worth noting that Brooklyn this season is 4 games under .500 with Irving in the lineup and one game under without him.

It will be a tough slog to get by Milwaukee in the playoffs but Celtics with a talented team minus Kyrie has a much better chance than they did last year with him.

The Boston Bruins seem to remain the poor child of the Boston sports world despite having the most points in the NHL with a five point lead over their nearest rival.

With St. Louis leading the pack in the west there is a real potential for a Stanley Cup rematch which given how last years seven games when should be a source of a lot more excitement around here, particularly when you consider that they were the only Boston team to make it to the finals last year.

There’s still a lot of Hockey to play but I really think they deserve a lot more attention around here, but I suspect until Brady gets signed that attention is going to be lacking.

Speaking of Tom Brady when it comes to the Brady sweepstakes I’m burned out. There seems to be no other topic on sports radio so lets put it simply and repeat the obvious.

Not counting the pats unless a team is a QB away from a superbowl run over the next two year signing Brady for the 30+ Million makes no sense for them and risking one’s reputation going to a lesser team makes no sense for him. I can see Jerry Jones going all in because it’s his nature and I can further see Vrabel deciding he’s like to win one more ring with Brady but other than those two there is no logical place for him to go.

New England remains the best fit both in terms of comfort, fan support and the system. Remember they were only one defensive stop vs Miami away from a 1st round bye last year. This team for all it’s weaknesses is Brady’s best chance at ring #7

The only logical reason for Brady to leave is if he wants to challenge himself and frankly given Brady’s nature that might be a factor, it’s like Batman getting out of the Tank in the Dark Knight to take on the leader of the Mutants. I suspect that decision would prove just as unwise.

On Tuesday I was at Happy Jacks for lunch and they had some kind of skiing on the Olympic Channel on the set where first they go down hill for a bit and then have to climb this other hill to get to the finish line.

The best women’s time ran about 2:28. Then the started with the men, even the fifth place man was finishing better then the best women’s time.

It hit me that all that fellow has to do is declare himself a woman and he’s got gold. Perhaps Elizabeth Warren or someone from the British Labor party can explain how that would be fair to all those women who busted their asses to get their chance for Gold.

Finally My Dynasty online Greatest Teams League will just about done by the time you read this and our division winners have been determined. The 1970 Orioles win the AL East finishing 6-8 games ahead of the 1939 Yankees pending the only unplayed AL series left the O’s 4 games against the 50-100 1934 Detroit Tigers. They will meet the 1954 Indians who needed just one win in their four game series vs the 1973 A’s to clinch and got it courtesy of a 6 hit shutout by Early Wynn. It will be a battle of great starting staffs

In the NL the Brooklyn Dodgers are at 100-50 clinching the NL East against the hard luck 1957 Braves whose 90 wins would have won both the AL or NL west. Brooklyn will finish with four games against their playoff opponents the 1962 San Francisco Giants who have two left vs Pittsburgh before those final four at home vs Brooklyn but with an 11 game lead have plenty of a lead to spare. The only question is will this be a battle of the benches or will the stars come out to shine.

My next all time league will have 24 teams 2 wildcards and will feature all the division winners plus the 24 Senators and the 57 Brewers facing 18 differerent teams including the 2009 Yanks, the 2013 Redsox, the 2016 cubs and last years World Series Champs the 2019 Nationals.

Would be happy to have you jump in and join us.

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