Posts Tagged ‘nfl’

The Real Scandal in the Brian Flores Story out of Miami

Posted: February 3, 2022 by datechguy in nfl, Sports
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The Brian Flores suit charging systematic racism against the NFL has been the subject of a lot of talk on sports radio and a lot of beating of breasts.

All of this comes from the so called “Rooney Rule” which requires a minority candidate to be interviewed for any coaching position that opens up. This of course creates tokenism and thanks to the accidental Belichick text that Flores received Flores, who is in my opinion and excellent coach, was called up to interview for the Giants job after it was already given to someone else.

This in itself is not a surprise as when you create a rule that encourages “pro-forma” interviews you are going to get them, but whatever you think of Flores charges of racism his charges include in my opinion a much larger and more significant scandal that everyone seems to be passing over.

One of Flores’ charges is that Miami after a bad start offered him a six figure bonus per game lost to improve their draft prospects. To in effect, THROW GAMES.

Flores being a disciple of Bill Belichick and as I noted, an excellent coach an apparently an honorable man didn’t bite and turned his team around so that after a bad start they finished with a winning record just shy of a playoff birth. Miami played spoiler to the Patriots and only missing the playoffs due to a loss to the #1 seed in the conference in the 2nd to last game of the season. When I and the guys who drive into work with me heard he was fired by Miami we were all shocked but if his charge concerning the bounty for lost game is true then it explains a lot.

Given the expansion of sports betting around the nation I can’t think of anything that could be more damaging to the game of football, not even the woke bullshit, then the idea that teams might be directing coaches to lose. This, and not the race angle, should be the real scandal here and I suspect Flores unwillingness to play ball in throwing games is the real reason why he hasn’t gotten a coaching position that he is eminently qualified for.

But because that scandal would be more damming and if investigated if suspect would be discovered to be more prevalent around the league then anyone wants to admit and has the potential to curb the betting that can draw a lot of extra eyes to the games, it will be downplayed or ignored.

Unexpectedly of course.

Closing thought: Why the leagues don’t see what widespread gambling is going to do to the various leagues is beyond me.

Kyrie gets the last Laugh

Posted: December 18, 2021 by datechguy in covid, nba, Sports, vaccine mandates
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I really cracked up when I read this story:

It’s kind of hard to argue that the unvaccinated Kyrie is a danger to the team when all over the NBA, NHL & NFL games are being delayed and postponed by COVID breakouts among fully vaccinated players but I give yahoo sports credit they give it their best shot:

Players of all levels are testing positive, so what’s the harm in bringing in a healthy body for road games, to help out the overworked Kevin Durant even in a pinch?

The harm, aside from common sense, science and everything believed to be true about teams with championship aspirations, consistent standards and chemistry concerns, seems to open a sliding door that may never be closed again, as Irving will be allowed to play in road games — except for Toronto.

Alas both common sense and science suggests that it’s Kyrie and not those who banned him that were right.

Now this doesn’t change the fact that Kyrie brings the same non-covid baggage that he always carried before there was such a thing as a pandemic and the fact that he almost immediately ended up in the COVID protocols means a delay in the Nets getting him on the floor.

But the bottom line is that Kyrie’s return is a blow to the narrative that has been pushed by the various sports teams in solidarity with the Biden Administration on the vaccine but reality doesn’t care about the narrative and the reality of the cost of cancelled games in cash is starting to have an effect to the point where leagues are reconsidering rewriting the rules concerning COVID protocols.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association continue to discuss changes to their COVID-19 protocols that could ease the burden on vaccinated individuals, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The two sides are working to test vaccinated players less frequently and address player concerns about the number of vaccinated, asymptomatic players who are being forced to miss games because of positive tests.

The real losers in all of this are the players who took the jab and feel like chumps who’ve been played:

The NFLPA has been under pressure in recent weeks from players who are upset because they feel they were effectively forced to get vaccinated (because of the far stricter rules that apply this year to unvaccinated individuals) and as a result of the proliferation of COVID-19 variants are now testing positive and missing games anyway. This has led to player dissatisfaction with other of the league’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies, such as mask wearing and physical distancing in team facilities. 

Now as I’ve said repeatedly I have no problem with people getting the vaccine if they feel the cost benefit analysis works for them and I’m sure there are plenty of players in the all the major sports who took the vaccine and thought it was the right move for them.

Kyrie didn’t think so and in the long run it’s worked out for him, and if nothing else he will always be one up on those who took the vaccine unwillingly to play and now feel like chumps.

Five Cam Newton Release Mac Jones Thoughts

Posted: September 1, 2021 by datechguy in nfl, Sports
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I don’t watch football anymore except for Tom Brady, but the release of Cam Newton is such an interesting story that it deserves a blog post:

  1. This caught a lot of people by surprise in the sense that since Mac Jones was drafted the question has been Cam or Mac, Mac or Cam. This has been the conversation every single day on Boston sports radio and a lot of the consensus has been that it was Cam’s job to lose. Right up until the story broke nobody saw it coming.

  1. There is some speculation that Newton was released as a favor to him once he had lost the QB competition to Jones (which wasn’t clear to the public two days ago) because being released now gives him a chance at a starting position in another organization. Any other season this would not likely be possible but with two weeks before opening day this is something that a team could actually consider.

  1. The release of Newton brings two different conflicting woke dynamics into play here. Cam was the first black “starting” quarterback in the history of the Boston/New England Patriots franchise (Jacoby Brissette started two games during Tom Brady’s “Deflategate” suspension). So you would think that there might be a bit of the race card pushback on this move, particular as it’s a “Boston” Team. However Cam was also “unvaccinated” and right now among those who are woke the decision not to get the COVID vaccine by a very public figure who has a large fanbase is considered almost as beyond the pale as voting Trump. It’s no accident that I’ve heard sports folk talk about Cam’s vaccinated status concerning this move but I’ve not heard a word concerning race although in fairness there is not an “ineligible” list based on race.

  1. While Cam’s shortcomings were a standard feature of sports talk radio last year locally, nationally there was little or no such discussion concerning Cam Newton’s performance or lack thereof. There was further (and listening to the radio yesterday) still a whole plethora of people who all had excuses for his leading the Patriots to their 1st losing season since before Tom Brady took over the team. The speed at which a team decides to pick up Newton or if he is picked up at all will tell us if this was just pundits being pundits or if front offices and GM’s around the league were part of that willful blindness that seems to engulf folks on the subject of Newton and the Patriots

  1. It would seem to me that one of the deciding factors here would be Jones similarity to the Brady style which is the offense that the Patriots Josh McDaniels has had success with. Expect to see a lot of this over the next decades as a generation of kids who watched Tom Brady play and pretended to be him or dreamed of being him over the last twenty years reach the college and pro-level. It remains to be seen of any of said kids can come anywhere close to being him but it’s worth noting what Newton’s departure means in terms of age and experience among AFC East starting QB’s

Five Reasons why signing Tebow Makes Sense but signing Kaepernick doesn’t

Posted: May 13, 2021 by datechguy in American Success Stories, culture, nfl, Sports
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The left is having a hissy fit over the Jacksonville Jaguars signing of 33 years old Tim Tebow when the 33 year old Colin Kaepernick does not have an NFL job (not that he actually wants one but I digress). For those who have to deal with such people here are five quick reasons why signing Tebow makes much more sense than signing Kaepernick.

  1. Tebow is in professional sports shape.

While Kaepernick’s last game in the NFL was in 2016 and Tebow’s in 2012 Tebow has spent the last three years playing minor league ball in the Mets system rising to the AAA level before deciding to leave baseball this year. Thus the 33 year old Tebow not only is in playing shape while Kaepernick is not but he’s had three years of the routine of playing and being in shape to play daily.

2. Tebow’s most recent NFL Stats are better than Kaepernick’s

In his last two seasons as a starter Colin Kaepernick went 3-16 with no playoff appearances and was benched for lack of success

In his last two seasons as a starter Tim Tebow went 8-6 including a victory in the 1st round of the playoffs and oddly was benched despite his success.

3. Tebow is coming back as a TE,

Over the years teams that weren’t impressed with Tebow as a QB were still impressed with him as an athlete and were open to signing him at another position (Remember Julian Edelman was a QB in college) over the years Tebow steadfastly refused wanting to play QB. Tebow finally being willing to accept this fact is a big part of his being signed.

Meanwhile advocates for Kaepernick not only insist that he be a QB but also suggest that anything other than a starting QB (with a salary for a starting QB) would be beneath him. I have no idea if Kaepernick is interested in another position (WR?) but he’s not made any indication that he’d be willing to try one.

4. A Christian Brother to help Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville

Tebow brings a unique advantage to Jacksonville who just drafted Trevor Lawrence with the 1st pick.

Lawrence is very publicly a devout Christian in a society that is not kind to Christianity. Tebow is a very public Christian who has taken the slings and arrows for it. Tebow’s signing give Lawrence not only a Christian Brother in the clubhouse to confide in but a Christian brother who was a 1st round QB with direct experience in how to handle what the NFL will throw at him. Furthermore the attention that Tebow catches might lighten the load of the same on Lawrence.

Colin Kaepernick could not do this for Jacksonville and it’s very likely that for any team that he signed he would be more a distraction than an asset.

5. Tebow brings fans, Kaepernick chases them away.

Finally everyone forgets that the primary job of a sports franchise is to sell tickets, merchandise and eyeballs. Tim Tebow will not only draw fans but draw good publicity.

With a fan base already sick of “woke” sports Colin Kaepernick would chase fans away from the game and keep those who were thinking of coming back away.

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