April 16, 2020
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ONE AND ALL AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR WAY SAFELY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Thank goodness the NFL isn’t in charge of the pandemic response. We are a year and a half removed from the Saints getting robbed of a spot in the Super Bowl and somehow the NFL is further away from preventing a recurrence of that situation.
Everyone is aware that the new rule for pass interference was poorly executed last year. Everyone deserves blame. The coaches misused their challenges. The rule was to correct obvious pass interference that did not need slow motion to see the wrong call was made. Instead, coaches challenged plays that were borderline out of frustration and forced the NFL to uphold most of the rulings early on in the season.
The NFL, especially under Roger Goodell, did as it always does. They established a structure where one person takes a stand and defends it to an absurd degree. Al Riveron sat in New York and was left to hand down his singular judgement without taking into account anyone else’s opinion. And you know it is a terrible system when all former NFL officials (Pereira, Blandino, and Steratore), who want to support you, are constantly disagreeing with your decisions.
By the end of the season, Riveron and the NFL had backed themselves so far into the corner that they botched the end of the San Francisco game at Seattle. I understand that the decision of pass interference might be defensible, but the decision by one person in New York to allow the game to continue without pausing for another look was indefensible. Of course, the fact that decision once again hurt the Saints must also be noted.
At the end of the season, everyone acknowledged that improvements needed to be made. Sean Payton had the idea to take the heat off of one person and make it a team in New York that collaborated over the call. Everyone works better with a good team.
For the second year, there was the suggestion to add an eighth official to the team, an eye in the sky. This idea has been my favorite for a number of reasons. First, we have already seen it work for college football. If the purpose of having replay is to get the call right, then why put the responsibility of the coaches to challenge a play? Second, the official is in the stadium and this allows them to see things that may be missed from TV, especially under two minutes when the challenge is taken away from coaches.
Third, this eye in the sky really helps with player safety issues that the NFL clearly does not actually care about. Don’t believe me? Again, if it was about getting the call right, then every play should be reviewed for targeting like in college. Instead, the NFL has Alvin Kamara leading the league in being targeted and nothing happening.
The solutions appear so simple, yet the rules committee is going in the opposite direction. The pass interference rule is not being renewed. Why? If you read any article it will say because only 24 of 101 calls were overturned. Wait? Only?! That is 25%! Pass interference is the one penalty that can gain a team 50 yards if it is on a deep pass, yet they are just going to go back to the process that didn’t work.
Certainly, the rule and the process could be refined. Just like the rule defining a catch needed to be adjusted after Dez Bryant against the Packers. This time, though, the NFL is just going to drop it.
Without a doubt, every city, state, and country is learning lessons in handling a pandemic. No matter the amount of success or failure, I expect a review and ideas on how to do better. I am glad the NFL isn’t in charge, though. They would put one person in charge and if it didn’t work out, just drop it.
HEY REF
So, what is there to write and/or say when the entire country is on lockdown? I’ve been trying and looking for something but each time I begin to write a few paragraphs it just doesn’t feel right. I could write on how the franchise tag that the Dallas Cowboys put on Dak could turn into a mini war so to speak. Why you may ask? Simply stated owner Jerry Jones expects Dak to “bite the bullet” and accept the decision.
But why would he? If he refuses and holds out under the new CBA between the players and owners all fines cannot be “forgiven”. In the past when star players held out and the team made good on the threat and imposed heavy fines on said players the team could “forgive” the fines then they’d all kiss and make up. But under the new CBA just signed ALL FINES MUST BE PAID! No longer can a team forgive fines. So, what can Dak do? He’s got to decide to either sign the franchise tag and live with that decision or hold out.
With all that’s going on right now in our country I believe that if Dak does hold out he’s signing his death warrant at least in Dallas. Now, owner Jerry Jones could step in and give Dak everything he wants which he’ll probably do because he won’t want to lose him to another team even if he doesn’t play this season. Nobody will win if Dak and Jerry go to war over getting a new and longer deal but careers have been ruined by making a wrong decision.
And on the other end of another QB story it seems the fans in New England want Bill to go because they feel he screwed Tom Brady, which he did. You might’ve remembered when LeBron James left Cleveland for more money and a chance to play for a title many fans burned his jersey. Well, in New England, Patriot fans are buying Brady’s jerseys faster than when he’d won them a Super Bowl. New England fans are buying Brady shirts, etc. much faster than those fans in Florida.
But like I wrote at the very beginning, does any of this make a difference in your world today as the entire planet is at war with this killer of a virus? My answer is “of course not”! None of this is on my radar because some twenty years ago I was fighting a massive infection in my spine that ate nearly 35% of three vertebras. I had no feeling in my legs and was rushed to the hospital where they found my lower spine collapsed. It was touch ‘n go for a long time. I had 4 antibiotics being pumped into my body trying to stop the infection from eating more bone.
It took two major surgeries where dead bone in my spine was scooped out and bone grafted from my hip into the void in my spine. So, I’m very aware what it’s like fighting an invisible killer. I just find it hard for me to find anything in the sporting world worth our time right now. After we defeat this pandemic and our lives get back to something we’re used to then we can start getting interested in the world of sports again. I look forward to that day and just hope everyone stays healthy and does what’s best for our entire country!
Till next week… …
FINE IDEAS By Jon Fine
Arrested Development Sports Trivia Question
No one answered this one last week—y’all need to pick up your game--so, we ask this again:
What player had a lot of success in Detroit, finished his baseball career as a pitcher with a Won-Loss record under 500, and is a Hall of Famer?
First Trivia Question From Last Week’s Column: Research tells me that the Detroit Tigers have had 27 people (players or managers) in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Three of these Detroit Tigers Baseball Hall of Famers spent their entire careers exclusively with the Tigers. Name them.…
Answer: Charlie Gehringer (1924-1942… no I never saw him play), Al Kaline (1953-1974) and Alan Trammell (1977-1996), all played their entire careers in Detroit and are in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. (The greatest Tiger of all time—many say the greatest player ever, Ty Cobb, spent the first 22 years of his career (1905-1926) with the Tigers. His last two years were with the Philadelphia Athletics (1927-1928). Hank Greenberg was with the Tigers the first 10 years of his career (1933-1941
3 years in the Military during WWII
1945-1946), before spending the 1947 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.)
Gary From Scottsdale submitted the correct answer to this trivia question
In September 1982, when I came down South to Tallulah Louisiana, I did not know if I was going to find the resurrection of the Civil War or Hee Haw. I found both! I did become the answer to a trivia question… the first ever FM Disc Jockey on the air in Tallulah Louisiana
And, 11 months later, the first ever FM Disc Jockey to be fired in Tallulah Louisiana. Being exposed to alien sounds at the impressionable young age of 21 years old was a traumatic experience. I still go to therapy for the long-term issues created by my sentence to a country music station.
When introducing a popular hit that I thought was named Big Al Downing by the musician Darlene, I speculated about what she had to say about the former Yankees and Dodgers pitcher. First of all, Al Downing wasn’t big.—Perhaps she should have been singing about Sam McDowell or John Hiller. Was Hank Aaron’s 715th home run going to be part of the lyrics, I wondered. About 5 seconds into the song, I realized that I had confused the issue. Big Al Downing was the performer and the song was named Darlene. There was not any reference to a slightly built left handed pitcher yielding one of the most historic home runs in baseball history.
Radio salesperson Dee Copes came in to the station during my show and asked me to play something to get her going on a Monday morning. My selection was borrowed from our sister station, which had a Soul format. Thus, Shining Star, by Earth, Wind and Fire, probably made its first (and only) appearance on a country station. That did not make me a shining star in the mind of program director Bill Johnstone.
Believe it or not, I actually had a following. But, the last following I had was station owner Chris Kimbell following me out of the station to hand me my first radio station pink slip.
In retrospect, it was a Bad Fit.
I sort of share a kinship with Howard Stern. We’re both from New York, have had some on-air hijinks (his degenerate persona was well chronicled in the movie Private Parts) and have not seen eye-to-eye with some of the geniuses that program radio stations. But that is where the comparison ends. I peddle sports books on EBay and produce Denham Springs (Louisiana) HS football radio broadcasts (knock on wood for 2020). He is an internationally known celebrity, has had a movie made (Private Parts) made about him and presently has a daily show on Sirius Radio.
My first reaction when I heard that the Stern had conducted a 2 hour interview with Tom Brady was to conjure up memories of my country music disc jockey days. Bad Fit. I was badly mistaken. Private Parts to Interviewing Smarts? Stern got Brady to open up about a lot of things that would not be unearthed from a conventional interviewer. And, it has been reported that it was Brady who pursued Stern for the interview on Stern’s SeriusXM show.
Both Brady and the Patriots are taking the high road on why this 2 decades relationship has come to an end. Yet, if Brady truly believes he left the Patriots of his own volition, he is deluding himself. Tom Brady would not be leaving the Patriots if he felt wanted. If Bill Belichick felt that the Patriots could play championship caliber football with Brady as the QB, he would have made sure Brady felt wanted. And, Brady would still be playing in New England.
How will Brady do with Tampa Bay? Needless to say, I could fill this column and the next 4 weeks worth of columns with stories of players in all professional sports who hung around too long at the end of their careers, often, with another team… a concept we discussed in last week’s FINE IDEAS. The flip side to this is that Brady (and Drew Brees) have set precedents with their continued stellar play into their early 40’s. So, my answer is a healthy bit of skepticism. What these two legendary players have accomplished late in their careers is remarkable. Yet, Father Time is undefeated in the history of sports.
Brady has reportedly gotten trademarks for Tampa Brady and Tompa Bay. Huh? Somehow, I don’t think the line outside Wal Mart for these promotional items will match those for toilet paper. Well, maybe Brady and Brees might want to collaborate on trademarks for the Wheeze Bowl, for their two regular season matchups (New Orleans vs Tampa Bay) in 2020 (knock on wood). Then again, maybe the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies, the Wheeze Kids (a derivation of the 1950 Whizz Kids Phillies team nickname) might contest this. But, I digress.
I was privileged to be in attendance when Belichick, Brady, the Pats defense and Adam Vinatieri helped win the Patriots first Super Bowl, defeating the Los Angeles Rams 20-17, in New Orleans in 2002 (2001 season). One of the most enduring memories I have took place after the game. With the post- 9/11 protections in place, buses escorted fans/press people from the SuperDome exits and dropped them off outside a perimeter that had been established around the Dome (like the Patriots Defense, which established a metaphorical perimeter around the 20 yard line, not allowing the Rams to reach the Red Zone until the 4th quarter?). I was on a bus with a bunch of delirious Patriots fans. What chant did they break out in unison? “Yankees Suck. Yankees Suck.”
No ML Baseball this week. So, watching the baseball movie, Fever Pitch, had to suffice. One of the funniest scenes was when a bunch of 2004 Red Sox fans were commiserating about the trials and tribulations of the Red Sox star-crossed history. A consensus was established that No No Nanette was an awful play. Legend has it that the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919 so that their owner, Harry Frazee, had the funds to produce the Broadway play No No Nanette. I’m not sure if Red Sox fans actually think ill will of or even boycott the modern production of No No Nanette. Maybe, they had, but do not anymore, since the Curse of the Bambino was broken in 2004, and the BoSox have won 3 more World Series since—2007, 2013 and 2018. And, maybe, the “Yankees Suck” chant, has been silenced as well? Fat chance on that one.
For what it’s worth, an internet search of Boston Red Sox and No No Nanette indicates that history has gotten this fable wrong. It was actually My Fair Lady that was financed by the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919! Red Sox Nation—Get Your Facts straight!
Hey. Have You Happened To See the Most Beautiful Girl In The World? The greatest country music song ever!
Singer Charley Pride, a former Negro League Player, used to, at times, practice with the Texas Rangers (Baseball team, not Chuck Norris). But, you’d have known that if you had been listening to my morning drive country music show WayWayBackInTheDay on KBYO FM, Tallulah La… Shining Star For You To See, What Your Life Can Truly Be.
Thurman Thomas was a terrific running back at Oklahoma State. His backup, Barry Sanders, who followed Thomas as the starting running back for the Cowboys, was even better.
Oklahoma State Football Coach Mike Gundy’s recent comments about his players and coronavirus were astonishing. “…
They are 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 years old and they are healthy and they have the ability to fight this virus off. If that is true, then we sequester them, and continue because we need to run money through the state of Oklahoma… … ” The last time we heard from Gundy in such an enlightened state, was in 2007, and his “
I am a 40 year old man… ” tirade.
So, how does Mike Gundy’s foolishness tie in with Thomas and Sanders? Yes, Mike Gundy was the qb at OSU when these 2 were running roughshod over opponents in the late 80s. But, this is just an aside.
Gundy’s predecessor at Stillwater was the quacky Les Miles. So, it looks to me Oklahoma State has raised the Goofball level of its football coach exponentially from the amusing/bemusing Miles to the dangerous crackpot Gundy. Sort of like Sanders succeeding Thomas and taking things to a whole new level.
Gundy has issued an apology. But by saying that he was “… aware that comments made from my press conference have offended some… ”, Gundy shows that he still doesn’t get it.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who is 100% certain there will be football in 2020, is another coach who needs a reality check.
ASK JON:
Hello Jon... Just a note about your new column (Fine Ideas)--cleverly titled, well written, nostalgic, and informative. For some reason, until now, I thought you had only matriculated through, maybe, the eighth grade. But anyone who can write like that was clearly a Phi Beta Pappa (as my old line coach used to call it). Well done!
Jim Denham Springs LA
Jon’s Response. I actually graduated college in 2 terms
Carter’s and Reagan’s. Thanks for the kind (and accurate) words about FINE IDEAS.
Nice newsletter article about Kaline. I’ve a similar anecdote about Gordie Howe when he was with the Wings in the fifties. The GM always gave him a blank cheque every year and told him to write his own salary. Every year he wrote $5000. They knew he was too modest and not at all greedy. Wonder what it was about Detroit.
SHAWN UK
Jon’s Response Love the spelling of cheque. Me thinks you are in Canada, not Kentucky! UK stands for University of Kentucky, doesn’t it? Ehhhh? I’m assigning Joe Mannix to the case…
You are right about Howe, who many feel never had salaries commensurate with his worth to the Detroit Red Wings franchise. Whereas Kaline’s nickname was Mr Tiger, Howe is known as Mr. Hockey.
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