Slow Sports day in a Busy Week – The Week That Was

Slow Sports day in a Busy Week.  This week gave us a strange day in sports.  We had a day on July 11th where there were not major sports being played.  It does not happen often.  Amazingly it came during an exciting week in sports.  I started this post when I hear someone talking about the most boring week in sports.  They really were wrong about this. There was a lot  going on this week.  Big NFL news.  Wimbledon finals were going on.  If something happens the first time it ever can happen is it really that big a deal?  I don’t think so but people were going on and on about how the mens final ended.  Tennis has its core fans and always will. That is fine.  All it does for me is mess up my morning sports show watching on Sundays during every tennis major.

Home Run Derby

I have heard some people saying that the Home Run Derby needs to be revamped because the second place finisher actually hit more home runs than the first place finisher.  While that is technically true it is not true that he hit more home runs in the final round than the first place finisher,  Saying something goofy like that would be like saying the wrong team won the super bowl because the other team scored more points than the other team in the playoffs.   I am not sure why people can not understand some of the simple things out there.  It happens all the time so it really should not surprise me.

I do think that the All Star Game is a huge waste of time.  The Home Run Derby is actually very interesting.  Unlike the regular game baseball has been really good at switching it up to keep things moving and keep things interesting. Maybe MLB needs to take a cue from what they have done there and use some of that in the regular season.

All Star Game Ratings

The ratings for the MLB All Star game were the worst ratings they have ever had.  I have read or seen several different reasons people think this happened.  From the commissioner saying the game is sound but we just need to tweak a few things.  Another person saying it is because baseball got away from its fundamentals.  I am not completely sure but I think that both of these are way off base.  LOL  see what I did there?  I think it is more because baseball is not keeping up with the times and they are not understanding what people want.

Baseball really needs an overhaul.  The traditionalists heads will explode but they will get over it.  You hear arguments like how will you compare it to the past.  You won’t because you can’t already.  So it really does not matter.  There will never be another 300 win pitcher.  Someone will hit 80 homeruns.  There may never be another .400 batter.  It is just the way things go.  So rather than fight it roll with it.  That is why the Home Run Derby is successful and the All Star Game is not.

NFL Lull before Training Camps

The NFL is part of when kept July 11th from being the most boring day in sports.  Melvin Gordon said he wanted to be traded from the Chargers.  This after we thought it was going to be a super slow and boring day.  This week actually turned out to be pretty interesting for the NFL.  Players wanting trades and talk of the CBA.  We keep hearing that there is a chance they will have an agreement before the start of the season.  Some people are even putting at 50/50 that a deal will be done.    I would put that at a 10/90 the ten being that it will not be done.  It may even be lower than that.

There are several things that are going to be sticking points here. The Franchise and transitional tag are near the top.  Players do not like it and as far as I can tell most of the fans don’t like it that much either.  The risk is really high for the players.  Yes they get one season that is payed very well.  In the case of Kirk Cousins he got two from the tag and that led to a nice payday after those two seasons.  The problem is that these are short term one year contracts that benefit the team and take the player out of free agency.  The other issue is what if  the player gets seriously injured in that season.  It could significantly hurt the players career earning potential.  I have never been a huge fan of the tag and would like to see it go away.  Not sure the owners are going to give this one up easily and the players are going to make this a sticking point.  I do not see them getting this solved before the start of the season.

I am not sure this one is as the tags.  The owners have been putting out there that they would like to go to a season that is longer than 16 games.  I know the owners are looking at the extra money they will make.  Not sure how much that would actually turn into.  Personally I think that the 16 game season is the perfect length.  The only sport we have now that is the right length is the football season.  Every game matters.  Well almost every game.  At least a lot more of the games than in most of the other sports.  If two games were added it would increase the risk potential.  It would probably also end up extending the season by three weeks.  It would either have to start earlier or go later.  I don’t see either of these being goog options.  You don’t want games that count go be starting in the middle of August.  If it too hot and already some of the games have heat issues.  You don’t want to go later since it would push the Super Bowl back.  Really is was great when the Super Bowl was either the end of January or the first week end in February.  Not sure how serious the owners were on that talk.  So we will see.  They might be just throwing this out there so they can toss it away for something else they want.

On the bright side.  With or without the CBA there will be training camps coming up very soon and the first pre season game is only a few weeks away.  Getting the NFL preview post ready.  Looking forward to a great season.

College Football Top Heavy Problem

This is something that is going to turn into a huge problem for the NCAA.  The way that it has gone with the college football playoff has not helped with their problem.  It seems to be making it worse.  I see this season to be a huge telling point for what is going to happen.  If the Big Ten and Pac 12 are eliminated again the NCAA will have a huge problem.  If the championship game is Alabama and Clemson again that will compound the problem.   There is a very good chance that both of those things could happen again.

I get it those two teams are at a point where they are recruiting better than every one else.  It happens.  They are following the rules and are just beating everyone out of the gate.  The problem is that unless you are a fan of one of those two teams it gets old fast.  Very Fast.  The other problem with cutting out the Big Ten and Pac 12 is that you are cutting out a huge portion of your viewing market.  There will come a point where the people in those markets will just stop watching.

In the five years that we have had the College Football Playoff it has pretty much been predictable from the beginning of the season.

NBA Fall Out

The fall out for the NBA from free agency seems to get pairs.  The West has an abundance.  The East a few.  Some people seem to have a problem with this.  I have no issue with players teaming up.  Teams have been trying to pair players together for years.  Now the players are at a point where they can start to dictate the groupings.  Who better to decide then the players who they want to play will.  I really see no down side here other then the West has more pairs.  It would be nice if they could find a way to even it out.  But cant’ really be too choosy there.  The biggest problem is the amount of games that will not come on till 9 or 10 in the east.

Maybe the The Big Three tournament has something.  Smaller teams of three really good players.  The first team to 50 wins.  A league that does this as best two out of three could have some real staying power.  The games would be super exciting and every point could mean something.  JK something like that would never happen. The NBA is just fine the way it is.  After all the ratings are way up and the interest in the NBA season is ast an all time high.  LOL

Soccer -Foooootball

I think that the U.S. is doing soccer wrong.  The U.S. is putting a lot of emphisis on MLS and a mens league.  I get it.  That is the way we have always done things.  The truth is that at this point the U.S. cannot and will not be able to compete with the European leagues.  They have the same hold on talent that the NHL, NBA and MLB have on talent here.  There are no world leagues that would be able to compete with them any time soon.

The Wide World of Tennis

I am not a huge fan of tennis.  Ok not a fan at all.  I do keep track of what is going on though.  This week was the end of Wimbledon.  It is one of the better tournaments.  Lately it has been dominated by a few players.  On both the Womens and mens side.  This is ok I suppose but gets a little boring for the average watcher. I heard some interesting things this week.  Especially about Serena Williams.  How she is losing it and what is wrong with her.  To all of you saying that.  There is nothing wrong with her.  She is 37 years old playing a young persons game.  She has been able to beat father time for longer than most.  In the end as we all know.  Father time always wins.  There is no on in sports that will be that.  There are some that can withstand the coming a little longer but in the end it gets everyone.   

On the male side it was more of the same.  Big hits big serves not much else.  I guess at least this time it went to a tie breaker.  It still lasted over four hours.  Not for me.  To all those who stuck it out. Bully to you.

On The Tube – TV Not You

After all the good will tha Fear the Walking dead built up last season.  They have given it all back this season.  Pretty sure the B team is back as the writers.  Maybe even teh C team.  The episodes have become very predictable and very corny.  Not sure what they were thinking.  It that really want they think that people want.  They had to get the clue from last season when they had some interesting story lines and the ratings went up.  Rather than take that and run with it.  They went back to the same boring story lines they had done a few seasons ago.

We have started to watch NOS4A2.  We saw some ads for it and thought we would give it a try.  We have been pleasantly surprised with how it has started out .   It is a vampire story but does not follow the usual vampire story line.  It is all based around a young artist that has discovered she has the ability to track the vampire.  In this case the vampire does not suck or crave blood but lives off the souls of his victim. She becomes the savior of the kids and the enemy of the villain.  It will be very interesting to see where this show goes.

And of course the best worst show of the Summer is on now as well.  If you have been following us here you know that we are huge Big Brother fans.  If you have not watched it you can go here to catch up.  The game is about being the last house guest standing by winning competitions and playing a social game.  It is the type of game that shows he worst of who we are.  It is kind of like a train wreck.  You just can’t stop watching.  In a way it is kind of like sports.