Hail, hail the gang wear’s here!
There are times — many — when I want to shake NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by the shoulders and scream, “Wake up! For $40 million a year, show some guts! You’re league is running — sprinting — backwards!”
The NFL continues to sink lower by more and more former, future and current players arrested for domestic assaults, 3 a.m. street hassles, DWIs (with no or suspended licenses) and guns. Seems that carrying a gun, a 9 or 40 mm bullet in the chamber, is now so common as to be unremarkable.
The Jets lately have been at or near the top of arrests, eight since the spring of 2017. And that doesn’t include those — Isaiah Crowell, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, Brandon Marshall — the Jets signed despite their criminal records. Nevermind GM Mike Maccagnan’s televised pledge that he’ll only sign vets of good character.
The Jets’ big offseason signing, running back Le’Veon Bell, now has a public, social media rap-requisite beef with Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen over Allen’s put-down of Bell’s new rap album.
Bell raps as “Juice” and his words loaded with semi-literate, rap-standard odes to himself — boasts that he’s the biggest, baddest, slickest, show-me-the-money dude on the planet. His lyrics, marinated in insane self-entitlement, include shots at his ex-team, the Steelers, sprinkled with rap-essential incivilities — N-words, vulgarities, women-trashing sexual profanities.
But by now Michigan State must be accustomed to manufacturing such student-athletes in preparation as NFL and NBA professionals.
Bell became persona non grata in Pittsburgh for sitting out last season in a contract dispute. This, despite his NFL suspension in 2015 after a 1:30 a.m. DUI/drug possession arrest with then teammate LaGarrette Blount.
Blount is/was a talented fellow who became annually expendable as a “bad risk.” That began during his college days at Oregon, where he was twice suspended, once for sucker-punching an opponent.
Now we arrive at last week, when the Jets — creating a hip, club-like scene — introduced their new uniforms. What a shock! One that’s completely black, as in gang-neutral, gang-approved black. The Jets apparently were among the last to get the word or orders.
Even prior to the bash, Jets CEO Chris Johnson, brother of Woody, proudly, foolishly announced the new uniforms are “pretty bad-ass.”
Yeah, if teams are loaded with bad-ass players, they may as well wear matching ensembles.
Or was this a matter of marketing research? Did the Jets learn from televised and photographed perp walks that too few arrests were being made of those wearing Jets green-and-white jerseys and hoodies? Is it time ESPN’s NFL draft coverage included “Probability of Arrest” percentages?
And new coach Adam Gase wants the Jets to play “with swagger,” as if swagger creates wins rather than flags, ejections, suspensions, losses.
Given Goodell’s relentless pandering to what’s diminishing the sport — of expendable, dangerous cheap-shot artist and off-field trouble-magnet, defensive tackle Michael Bennett, Goodell said he “represents the best of the NFL, a leader on his team and his community” — he has displayed all the courageous leadership of Neville Chamberlain.
Next season, who knows? Perhaps Goodell will encourage players to wear their street names on the backs of their jerseys — provided they’re black jerseys.
SNY overlooks ‘juiced’ swings in blaming juiced balls
Where would we be without TV’s help?
Would we even guess that line drives are hit harder than high fly balls if not now informed of “exit velocities”?
This year’s CBS/Turner coverage of the NCAA Tournament shattered last year’s record for distracting, needless, unwanted stats displayed during and slightly over live play.
Producers believe we thirst to know there have been five lead changes and each team’s rebounding totals?
Thursday on SNY during Mets-Braves, Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, who earlier this season pointed to hitting — putting the ball in play — being lost to strikeouts as epidemic, theorized why so many home runs have been hit. They suggested the ball is juiced.
But a significant part of the answer was playing out right in front of them — and us: On a 2-2 pitch, Robinson Cano, with a man on and one out, struck out with a violent swing, trying to hit a home run rather than make contact.
Thursday, during CBS-on-ESPN’s Masters coverage, Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo wondered at length why Brooks Koepka, who last year won two majors and was then tied for the lead, receives minimal attention.
Really? As long as Tiger Woods plays, everyone who deserves attention will be shorted by TV. Thursday’s sudden, sustained focus on Koepka arrived after Woods finished his round.
Friday, though four back, Woods was the only one shown leaving the course during a weather delay.
Now that the NCAA Tournament has concluded and all those student-athletes have scurried back to campus to catch up on the classwork they missed, we salute CBS’ Final Four and championship director Bob Fishman.
Working his 37th Tournament, Fishman did what he does: He made sure you had the best seat in the house. He made common sense, for nine hours over two days, common.
No formula shoots from Fishman. If he sees pressure on the ball after a field goal, he isn’t cutting to a close-up of the scorer, bench, crowd or all three; he’s staying on the floor. Slam-dunk off a great pass? He’ll call for a “hero shot” of the passer.
Must he provide friends ’n’ family shots in service to viewers who don’t usually watch basketball? Yes. But he does so quickly and selectively, no risk to live play.
He shoots as sports fans at the game naturally would choose to watch. Radical, I know.
Don’t know what was in Fishman’s bone marrow transplant 27 years ago, but he’s good with it. Same goes for us.
Roberts bets his name gambling
WFAN’s Evan Roberts is the latest to enthusiastically sell his name, position and reputation to a sports gambling operation. Yep, when he bets games, he bets with FanDuel! Last week he even announced the act-now entry code is “EVAN.”
Two years ago, Roberts’ partner, Joe Benigno, personally endorsed “fantasy” gambling operation Draft-Kings. When an inside-payoff scandal hit DraftKings and FanDuel, Benigno explained, “You know, I’m illiterate, basically, with this stuff. I want nothing to do with it.”
Historians often note that World War II victory in the Pacific and Europe was significantly aided by U.S. generals who, unlike German and Japanese generals, encouraged field commanders to improvise, to alter, even abandon, plans based on changing, here-and-now front-line circumstances.
In other words, today’s MLB managers would have lost the war.
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