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“Frank Robinson–Name It-He Did It”

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The words they use, describe who he was. The stats tell you what he accomplished.

Frank Robinson was fierce and fiery, Intense and intimidating. Fanatical and relentless. Menacing and methodical.

He played with a chip on his shoulder and was in a fury all the time.

The Hall of Fame slugger, the firebrand, the manager, the confidante of the Commissioner, has passed away.

The stats stand out in neon lights.

14-time All Star. An MVP in both leagues. A Triple Crown winner. Rookie of the Year. Manager of the Year.

He had 583-career home runs. A (.294) career hitter over is 21-years. 198-times hit by pitch. 11-times he hit 30-homers or more, the pre-steroid era.

Life was never easy for Frank Robinson, a graduate from Oakland McClymonds High. He came from a family of 10-siblings, a family that had no father around.

He travelled the tough lonely road in the 1950s in the Jim Crow minor league south.

If Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and Willy Mays carried the next flag, Frank Robinson was the third link in the chain, and became a bridge to the next group of stars, led by Reggie Jackson.

He raged as s rookie, storming to the front of stardom as a rookie with the Cincinnati Reds, their first great black player in a city that had a history of being a borderline Southern racist city.

Think of that early Reds lineup, Ted Kluzewski, Wally Post Gus Bell, Ed Bailey, home run hitters everywhere, and then add Robinson and his volatile talents.

He crowded the plate, daring pitchers to hit him. They knocked him down, but he’d get up and his a bomb in response. On the bases, he was reckless, barrel sliding guys into left field as they tried to turn double plays.

He battled opposing pitchers. He was a warrior on the field, and in his own clubhouse, once bringing a handgun into Crosley Field to settle a dispute that had racial overtones to it with a Reds teammate.

History will always write about the worst trade of all time, the Cubs-Cardinals swap of Ernie Broglie for Lou Brock.

The Reds-Orioles deal, a 30-year old Robinson for picher Milt Pappas rates right up there as armed robbery.

Robinson drove Baltimore to World Series greatness. The relentless Robison, the ever demanding Earl Weaver, and a loaded pitching staff put the Orioles into the World Series time and again.

As that 2-decade career reached an end, he took the next step in his career, becoming the playing manager of the woeful Cleveland Indians

There was always drama in his career, and so was his opening day heroics, a pinch hit home run in Cleveland in his first game ever as baseball’s first black manager.

What drove him to greatness as an everyday player, did not translate to success, being in the dugout every day leading a team.

Robinson’s in your face approach, ‘why aren’t you as good as I was’ wore his team down. His surly approach with the media became old. Joe Tait, the popular Tribe broadcaster, openly questioned Robinson’s ability to manage the game he starred in, and handle the players too.

Robinson was gone in his third year. But proud as he was, he learned. He became a teacher and a motivator. He managed the Giants, went to the Baltimore, survived an (0-21) start one season, but got them int the playoffs.
He was asked to help transfer the near bankrupt Expos out of Montreal, to Washington DC.

The career record was (1,065-1,176) in three hopeless situations in Cleveland, San Francisco and then Montreal. He brought Baltimore baseball back to life too.

When his time in a uniform was done, he became a trusted advisor to both Bud Selig and Rob Manffed, serving at the pleasure of the Commissioner. He handled baseball discipline, he counseled young players, he advised rookie managers. He pushed hard for more minority interviews for all open MLB positions.

He did everything and anything, using his nearly 50-year’s experience as the manual, how to handle, cope,manage, play the game. His philosophy was simple. “Hear Something-See Something-Do Something’.

He played for keeps. His eyes flashed his never-ending energy. He was a trailblazer.

Frank Robinson was many things, to many people. He did so many things right.

He was a gem of an individual, a unique star in a game of stars, in baseball’s Golden Era.

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“NBA Trading Deadline-Do You Like What You See”

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We knew it was coming. We knew big names would be changing teams. We knew ridiculous prices would be paid.

And what we have now, is a players league, this NBA, where stars dictate contracts, dictate where they will be traded, and likely dictate the style of play teams will operate by.

It is a very different NBA.

When they got done at the Thursday afternoon deadline, there were 16-trades made, involving big stars, guys about to become free agents, names who would be rental players, a pile of young players, and loads of draft picks.

Once upon a time, draft picks were gold, but not now. Unless it’s a top fivge draft pick in the one and one lottery we see each summer, the draft picks wind up being a crapshoot. More washouts than stars. And second round picks have become nothing more than cannon fodder, here today, likely traded tomorrow.

There was no Anthony Davis trade from New Orleans. He still has a year and a half to go on his contract, and he wants out and off the Pelicans roster. It was thought the Lakers could engineer a deal that would give them two superstars, AD joining LeBron James.

Never happened for a number of reasons. Magic Johnson tried to off load tons of fringe players in five different scenarios. New Orleans said no. Then the Lakers came back with a mammoth offer, 2-first round picks and 8-players, including all their young stars, Kyle Kuzma-Brandon Ingram-Lonzo Ball and more.

The Pelicans had the brass to demand the Lakers put a combined 6-draft picks in the deal, not just the two first round picks. End of talks for now.

New Orleans is trying to set up a bidding war that could happen this summer before the draft, the Lakers on one street corner, the Celtics, with all their assets on the other.

Around the NBA road map, there were fireworks. The dysyfunctional New York Knicks moved star Kristaps Porzingas to the Dallas Mavericks, not liking his attitude, or scared off by his year long rehab from a knee injury. The Knicks moved so many players, they have cap space to get two superstars this summer. But then again, who wants to play for a team owned by Jimmy Dolan?

Memphis, giving up on it roster, sent big center Marc Gasol to Milwaukee. A good Bucks team just got better, but the real reason for the deal, the Bucks trying to load up and win, before they might be forced to trade their star Giannis Antetounkmpro before he becomes a walk free agent.

Milwaukee also added hi scoring Nikola Misotic, meaning they might have the best roster the Bucks have put on the floor since the days of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Marques Johnson, Brian Winters etc.

The 76ers, tired of the injury riddle act of G-Markelle Fultz, gave him away to Orlando, though the Sixers had stunned the world 24-hours prior to the deadline, rolling the dice to bring in the Clippers budding star Tobias Harris, hoping to sign him to a future deal to keep him. The Sixers have 4-stars now, with Tobias joining Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons and Joel Embid

Miami got Ryan Anderson out of hopeless Phoenix.
Houston did a 3-team deal to land Iman Shumpert of the Kings
Lowly Chicago picked up Otto Porter of Washington.
Dallas added Justin Jackson from Sacramento after the huge deal for the Knicks Porzingas.

The Clippers snared young center Ivika Zubac from the Lakers, to go with Wilson Chandler, who came from the Sixers in the Tobias Harris package.

The Lakers picked up 3-point shooters Reggie Bullock and and Mike Muscala in the final 24-hours.

It went on and on till the Thursday afternoon deadline.

End result, two things.

Alot of NBA games are unwatchable. Defense has become optional, that why we have teams scoring 149 points in games this year, or shooting 65% from the floor, or hitting 23-3 pointers in an outing.

And it’s very apparent too, that the star players and their agents are running the teams now, not the NBA boss Adam Silver, the owners like Jeannie Buss or the legendary GMs like Pat Riley, or coaches like Greg Popovich.

So now we have 5-to-8 super power teams, with the payroll and the stars in orbit. And we have another 222-or so teams, with no chance, but a a full season to play games and draw less that sellout crowds, to see substandard basketball.

Oh yes, everyone wants to see the Lakers and Golden State on a Christmas day. What about all those other games, with Utah-Orlando-Detroit and the really rag-tag teams the league has as members.

And what happens if the Lakers, who failed to get Anthony Davis, fail to even make the playoffs, even with LeBron James in the lineup.

Big picture, there are alot more bad NBA teams than there are good players, because the good players all want to wind up in just a couple of NBA cities.

Trade deadline day, pretty exciting. Stars move to new teams, but the game is suffering terribly.

It’s a very different NBA-not necessarily a good one.

And I don’t like what the game has become. The owners can’t like this. The fans shouldn’t either.

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“Aztecs Football-How You Fix It?”

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We saw things we had never seen before at San Diego State, in the football program Rocky Long raised from the ashes.

The one that has now gone to 9-bowl games in a row. Won big road games at Boise, Laramie, Fresno.

Beat Pac 12-teams the last couple of years against Stanford and Arizona State, teams that usually kicked them.

That’s why the destructive end to the Aztecs 2018 season was so stunning.

Five losses in the last 6-games. A beatdown by Ohio in a bowl game in Texas.

Assistant coaches leaving in season. Players getting suspended in season, and filing for the NFL draft.

Rocky Long spent Wednesday talking to the media after a month of evaluating his program, losing key players to injuries, and then seeing his team fall apart.

Brady Hoke is coming back to be the fire and ice to coach the defensive front, after his coaching career took detours from the head job at Michigan, to getting ousted at Oregon-Tennessee and a 1-year stint in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers. He will be a difference maker.

Ron Caragher is elevated from football ops to become passing game coordinator, in what Long portrays as a new ‘spread formation package’.

The Aztecs signed 22-players in the just finished recruiting drive, including bringing in 3-JUCO transfers, and 2-starting graduate student starting offensive lineman from Oregon and BYU.

2019 features a really good home schedule that includes home games with BYU-Nevada-Fresno and Utah State.

Rocky Long had lots to say: his comments

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Things different in recruiting with two signing dates. We signed 22-and that includes the graduate transfers for next years team.

There’s a free agent market out there with the NCAA website and we are monitoring that. After spring football, it might go crazy. We might add a player or two.

Got help with 5-older players transferring in.

Early signing period helped us retain players who might have been signed late by Power 5-schools in the past.

We will have large sophomore and freshman class on the roster.

Going to spread formation, is not shown in our recruiting class. We are running the ball first and throw second. Makes blocking assignments easier…

We will line up tight ends in fullback spots..he will be a fullback at times…..they will show up as can I-formation.

We have lost offensive lineman. and have 4-seniors in defensive lineman-so we needed help there.

We needed experience in our coaching staff, and we hired Brady Hoke and Ron Caragher. They both know what they are doing. Ron brings great experience in formations. Our defensive front is so young, Brady is one of best defensive line coaches ever around.

End of season problems-we have team rules-abide by them-discipline is handed out. Young men make mistakes, 18-to-22 years. We have a standard to live with, if they can’t, then move on.

Hiring former head coaches helps a lot. Former head coaches know what current head coach goes thru. Younger coaches second guess….most time they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Hoke has great experience…how to handle things…think outside the box…when you get the chance to be a position coach again, it’s a lot of fun.

Hoke-Best defensive line coach ever been around…I was with him at Oregon State…and then worked under him at SDSU. He will embrace those kids and have impact on their lives as player and people.

Transfers….if JUCOs have played 2-years they are more mature and more physically developed ready to play than younger players.

We are moving offensive lineman to defensive line, just to build depth there…we lost four defensive lineman., .

QB….Ryan Agnew is our staring QB in spring ball, but there will be open competition when when Jordan Brookshire comes in for spring. We want competition at every position on this team….we might still add another transfer QB who might be a grad student…currently have 5-QBs on roster going into spring.

We will be the most competitive team on the field this year…toughest. too..don’t know how many games

We will have 6-players graduate early and not play this year. We could sign as many as 27 by time this is done.

The Oregon lineman Jacob Capra will be here for spring ball, is on campus. The BYU-tackle, Jacob Jimenez, will be here in summer school.. Capra has 2-years left……Jiminez will have 1-year left.

Hoke-Offered him the job a couple of times in the past, now is the right time…talked to him right before he went to Oregon…..right at end of Tennessee position…and just before he decided to sample the NFL..

Our offseason will be different. How we handled our coaches. How we handle offseason workouts, part of my off season critique..

You’ve seen the commercial….”OK is not OK” it is not, the way we have been. If you don’t want to work the way we do, you can be OK somewhere else. We will challenge them.

There are over 123-things that went wrong last year. You should see my list. . No lockeroom last spring…, no spring game, …injuries to QB-RB-FB-OL-NT……I allowed team to get away from the standards we had set for this program…It was on me.

Fun offseason, Rashad Penny been here. Players on San Diego Fleet have stopped by too. Great to have these guys. DJ Pumphrey and Calvin Munson got Super Bowl rings the last two years, and they are here working out and hanging with our guys.

We had lack of learning experience with spread passing games, and that’s why Ron Caragher hiring is important. His expertise with Jeff Horton history, make us better.

We have no egos on this coaching staff starting this year. They don’t compete to pound the chest the hardest. Our staff is not like that.

I will control the defense and continue to call all defensive plays.

OT-Zach Thomas won’t practice this spring-everyone else should practice.

We have 6-players leaving early who are graduating-won’t play next season-moving on with life after college…..Gerhardt….Chaney….Jeff Clay….Binkley….Moore…Ron Smith….each finished academic work early-good for them.

I am invigorated now, and believe having Brady Hoke and Ron Caragher on board makes a big difference.

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“Pro Football Returns to San Diego”

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It’s surely not the NFL. Definitely not the Chargers.

But it is a roster full of players with dreams.

Here comes the Alliance for American Football and the San Diego Fleet.

They open their season next weekend in San Antonio.

Coaches with NFL and college heritage. Mike Martz, architect of the Greatest Show on turf, with the Rams, heads up the San Diego Fleet. Steve Spurrier is running a franchise. So is Mike Riley. As is Mike Singletary.

They have stocked their coaching staffs with name veteran coaches, with worlds of experience, all of them becoming teachers.

The rosters are really different. It’s not the old USFL, that had the likes of Herschel Walker or Marcus Dupree or Jim Kelly.

The NFL allows each team to have an off season roster of 90-players each. That’s more than 2880 players tied up by the NFL.

What’s left behind are the likes of QB-Mike Bercovicci, the ex Arizona State quarterback, who spent a couple of years in NFL camps, who starts for the Fleet..

It’s a landing spot for an ex-Aztecs tight end Gavin Escobar, who played for three years before injuries over took him., or an aspiring Kam Kelly or Eric Pickens, both former SDSU starts.

It’s going to be home to small college running back from places like Azuza Pacific, Slippery Rock and the likes.

It’s undersized defensive lineman, who are (5’10-295 pounds)….or linebackers and DBs from places like Appalachian State or Western Michigan.

The Fleet, like the other 7-AAF teams, are crash coursing players over a 4-week period to get them ready for this weekends openers on CBS.

You may ask, who are these guys? Not a lot of household names for sure, but more than anything, an opportunity.

Maybe they uncover a quarterback who winds up on a roster. In an NFL that has lots of small college skill guys receivers, kick returners, and cornerbacks, maybe some gems surface this spring from the AAF.

Maybe these players get their doors opened for them in the CFL, because coaches know coaches, and they can help place them.

1-thing for certain, people like Mike Martz, are mad-men when it comes to offense. Expect big point production, big passing plays, and wide open games.

Their first day of workouts, in the rain, featured big TD bombs to former Stanford star Francis Owusu, Kam Kelly, and an 80-yad bomb to Brian Brown from Richmond. That coupled with Aztecs tight end Gavin Escobar, and former SDSU star Kam Kelly, switched to wide receiver, leads you to believe they are going to throw the ball, move the ball, score points.

Their top running back Bishop Sankey, the ex Washington Huskies star, is out for at least s4-weeks with a knee injury. Who knows about his backups. And no one knows about the defense.

Remember history too of other upstart leagues. The USFL, for all its mistakes, delivered a ton of players to the NFL, led by Reggie White, and included the popular Chargers running back Gary Anderson, linebacker Gary Plummer and pass rusher Lee Williams.

And NFL Europe brought 8-quarterbacks to the NFL, led by the Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, and four others who wound up playing in Super Bowls, like Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme and more..

So never say never about how good the league might be, or at least the individual talent that plays on Saturday and Sunday starting next weekend..

Only time will tell whether they will draw fans in San Diego. Only this weekend will tell us what kind of team they have put together in such a short offseason.

Pro football returns to the city, as we await to see how good it is, and who might become a star. They’ve got the right leaders. Now we see if they have the right players, and if the fans will follow.

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“Last Second Thoughts-Super Bowl”

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Spraying spots all over the field in my post Super Bowl-autopsy.

NEW ENGLAND…The Patriots won because they out-schemed the Rams….They kept adjusting their defensive formations as the play-clock ticked down ….Once the coaches mike turned off with (:15) left, the Pats changed up again causing Jared Goff lots of problems….He had no help from Sean McVay from the sidelines.

PATRIOTS PRESSURE….Not really mentioned much on Sunday but the Pats defensive front beat the crap out of the Rams offensive line. Stunts, twists, gap blitzes, zone blitzes, Goff must have thought there were 13-men on the field on defense.

SECONDARY STARS….the Pats went to zone coverage with each of their DBs patrolling a different part of the secondary. They had never shown that look all season long, but the Rams saw something similar in their regular season game against Detroit. The Pats saw that video. The Rams, they never made the correction.

BIG BOY FOOTBALL….Tom Brady had lots of problems with Wade Philips defense in the first half. Was it zone, was it man, that’s why he struggled. He was jumpy-tentative in the pocket, got hit, got pressured in an erratic opening half. Then New England went to its jumbo package, two tight ends, running back, fullback and one wide receiver. But they spread that formation out, destroying the Rams ability to pressure and cover at the same time. Second half for Brady, no hits, no pressure….five big chunk plays on offense that spelled the difference in the game.

PANIC CITY….The accumulation of hits on Goff led to the critical turnover in the game. He took 4-sacks, 12-hits, 6-pressures, and there 7-tackles for loss. He took so much punishment, that he threw one up for grabs down on the goal line that was a drive killing Stephon Gilmour pick. The Rams first 8-possesions over 3-quarters, they had 3-first downs.

TURNOVER CITY…Interesting stat after the game. For the season Goff threw 1-pick against man coverage. Against zone packages, he finishes the year with 11-interceptions. Belicheck and his analytics people knew this, how come Sean McVay and his staff didn’t.

O LINE BEATDOWN….That’s what happened in front of Goff. The Rams could not handle the edge speed of Dont’a Hightower, and missed blocks time and time again in the 2nd half, when the Patriots stunted, used twists,and scrapes and delayed blitzes. Goff became a punching bag in the final two quarters.

GURLEY MIA…There were no running lanes for Rams RB-Todd Gurley up inside, and the Pats did a tremendous job holding the edge,never letting him get wide. End result, no play action for Goff to use to setup deeper pass plays. New England used a 6-man front at times, then also played press coverage too on receivers. It stymied the Rams run game.

BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE….Marcus Peters-Aqib Talib, it’s on you….Brady picked on them. Peters gave up 6-receptions…Talib three….and LB-David Littleton was beaten four times in coverages. That’s 13-completions against the best the Rams had back there. 5-of-the 6 biggest pass plays came against the best the Rams had to offer in the secondary.

THE REFS….They let them play. There was alot of hand checking down the field, but they didn’t throw flags on anyone. The one pass inteference penalty,a hit on Edelman, called on the Rams, was a hard tackle, but not a helmet hit , just a bang-bang play.

EDELMAN EXCEPTIONAL…..He was fast, he was quick, he found open holes, he had 10-catches adn 141-yards worth of big plays. The headlines read “PED-to-MVP’, a big unfair. he did serve a four game suspension to start the season for using a supplement while recovering from knee surgery that wiped out his 2017-season. But either side of that incident, he has been a big game guy in the biggest Patriots games for years.

GRONK GOES WILD…..He made big catches, he made punishing blocks in the run game, his size caused matchup problems, whether he was the primary receiver or the decoy. The Rams are still looking for ways to cover him..

MC VAY AFTERMATH….The Rams coach was upset, is still upset. He stood there unprepared to help his quarterback. Teacher Belicheck schools the student McVay. Old guard-Brady outgunned new breed Goff. Old school football…defense-sure tackling-adjustments got the Patriots the win. He said he was numb with how bad his team played.

THE FUTURE….The Rams QB will grow, that coaching staff will grow, but the reality is, over the final 7-games of the season, playoff included, they were not the dynamic-dangerous team they were earlier in the year….The Patriots just keep doing it. Look at what they did to the Chargers offense, the Chiefs big plays, you had to believe they’d do it again, and they did to the Rams offense.

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