October 20, 2022
FINE IDEAS
By Jon Fine, owner, ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides on EBay
producer, Denham Springs HS Football Radio/Internet Broadcasts
The NBA season has started. College Football and the NFL are going strong. The Baseball World Champion (AL Pennant winner) is about to be determined. So many things to write about. Only one column. Since this Pulitzer Prizeian (sic) piece emanates from the Deep South, we will discuss football and throw in the other 2 sports as a gratuitous concession to the 3 people that follow MLB and the NBA in these parts.
The best quarterback in Cincinnati Bengals history? If there is no minimum usage required, it is a 2-man race.
Greg Cook came out of the University of Cincinnati, where he had a record setting career, and was selected in the 1969 AFL Draft as the fifth overall pick. In his rookie season, he got off to a great 3 game start, while suffering what was then diagnosed as shoulder problems. Modern science calls it a rotator cuff tear, more of a malady with MLB pitchers than NFL quarterbacks. He sat out 3 games, came back, played through excruciating pain, and ended up the AFL Rookie of The Year. The next 3 seasons, he underwent an ill-fated rehab process, attempted a comeback with the Bengals in 1973, where it was apparent that he could no longer play football. And retired. What could have been.
Joe Burrow’s exploits have been well-chronicled. Most, if not all Who Dey’s have called him the Bengals GOAT quarterback. And, again, if one can be named such after playing 2+ seasons in professional football, I would grudgingly go with Burrow over Cook. But it would be 1A and 1B. And, if I still had a sports call-in show in Louisiana, I’d probably antagonize the 5 LSU fans I hadn’t previously alienated.
If there is a time requirement element considered as an important factor, Burrow and Cook would be in my list of finalists, which would include Boomer Esiason and Andy Daulton. The best Bengals quarterback I’ve seen play would be Kenny Anderson.
LSU fans of a certain age might remember another Greg Cook as a starter on the Tigers 1980-81 Final Four team. And a similarly named Kenny Anderson was a freshman star on the 1988-89 Georgia Tech team that also advanced to the NCAA semi-Finals, defeating LSU (and its freshman star Shaquille O’Neal) in the second round of that Big Dance.
Glad to see Eli Apple making, perhaps, his first contribution to the Saints. The former Saints player, now a cornerback with the Bengals, was on the wrong end of several Andy Daulton completed passes in last Sunday’s 30-26 Cincinnati victory over the New Orleans Saints
Wonder what Bengals receiver Tee Higgins thought of Joe Burrow wearing fellow Bengals WR Jamar Chase’s LSU uniform to the game. Higgins was a star receiver on Clemson’s team that fell to LSU in the 2019 national championship game at the Superdome
Chase caught 7 passes for 132 yards, with 2 touchdowns, including the winning score last Sunday. The Saints, missing star CB Marshon Lattimore, employed Apple-like DB coverage on Chase
So, I guess that now, the Death Valley Nickname name belongs to LSU (with their 2019 national championship win over Clemson)… with the Who Dey’s chant now winning over the Who Dat’s. This meaningful analysis is for Pedro Martinez-like “Who’s Your Daddy” documentation purposes.
I’m not sure if the Sports Illustrated Curse still exists (if it ever did), but is there now a FINE IDEAS curse? After I touted Aaron Judge as the rightful winner of the AL MVP award in a prior column, he has gone into Mario Mendoza mode. There is still time left—3 to 11 more games remain in the Yankees post-season—but, at this juncture, Judge is the leading qualifier for the Barry Bonds Award—a great regular season, followed by a post-season plummet. Judge, a class act, has no business being in the same sentence as the classless Bonds (where is our editor when I need him/her?) and made an incredible catch on Wednesday night. And he does have 2 playoff home runs. And, although there is no indication that he has used steroids (Bonds was the poster-boy for Baseball’s Steroids Era), the numbers speak for themselves. We can only hope that the FINE IDEAS column can now precipitate a Reverse Curse and Judge can make a 180 turn on his 2022 post-season. At present 180 would be an improvement on his.167 average
The MVP does not include post-season play.
Great to see that NBA analyst Charles Barkley was in mid-season form on opening night, when he stated that the Lakers needed to part ways with controversial guard Russell Westbrook. The reason? Barkley opined that Westbrook lacked passion for the game. This, after ½ of 1 game of the 2021-22 NBA season being played (Golden State vs Los Angeles). Barkley’s reasoning was that Westbrook was being made as a scape-goat for last year’s desultory Lakers campaign, and the firing of then coach Frank Vogel.
Now, I’m not a big fan of Westbrook. He would be better served to be playing in one-on-one games than a 5 person NBA unit. Incredible skills. The ability to parlay those gifts into a consistent, quality team player, not so much. This is a big reason why he is on his 4th team in 5 seasons. Some say he is a “mal-content”. Others say he is “misunderstood”. The ones in the misunderstood category now have Barkley as its President. Sort of like the LIV Golf fans claim they are not getting a fair shake. It would have been an amazing sociological construct to see Barkley on LIV telecasts, where he had been rumored to be heading.
Not to be outdone, color commentator Reggie Miller, channeling his Inner-Chuck (?) on this broadcast, said that the fight between Warriors teammates Draymond Green and Jordan Poole was no big deal. This happens all the time in the NBA said Miller. But, he said that this phenomena happens only on good teams. Bad teams don’t have these tussles, because their players are so apathetic, they have no inclination to go to battle with their own teammates.
I enjoy the TBS/TNT coverage of the NBA, with its cast of characters, including Barkley and Miller. Yet, Barkley, is often outrageous, with some of his rants unencumbered by facts. What can you say about a guy who claims he was misquoted in his own autobiography? When Barkley talks about defense and championship teams, it brings up an all-time great sports quote delivered by former Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, who had a love/hate relationship with manager Earl Weaver. Palmer said that the only thing Weaver knew about pitching is that he could not hit it. So, to steal from Palmer, the only thing Barkley knows about defense is he could not play it. And, the only think he knows about championships is that he never won one. Barkley’s first quote of real questionable merit came during his NBA career, when he said he was not a role model… Wonder what Barkley would have said on LIV broadcasts, given that Barkley knows one thing about golf.
I’ll conclude my assessment of Barkley, by channeling my inner Yogi Berra… Again, I like Barkley. I just disagree with a lot of what he says.
Special thanks to Gary, a FINE IDEAS recipient from Scottsdale, for his Feedback. We ask you to give us your thoughts on this column and will print all intelligible responses.
Your input is greatly appreciated and could help me improve this Pulitzer Prizeian (sic) effort, and be a nice addition to this column. Email: FineSports@aol.com. THANKS
FINE IDEAS FEEDBACK
Awesome column again this week. Love the analysis. Tua going back in the second half of the Sunday game was irresponsible, playing him 4 days later was unforgivable.
If the NFL had a forfeit policy for playing an ineligible player, that would put an end to this. Certainly would create controversy but would help protect players.
Gary
Scottsdale
Go Jackets!