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“NFL Asking–What’s a Catch-They Don’t Know”

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NFL instant replay was supposed to solve all this, it hasn’t.

In fact, when it comes to catching a football, is it more confused now than ever.

Thank you technology, multiple angles, slow mo replay, and the subjectiveness of calls.

The NFL will take another whack at figuring out what is a catch this weekend, with a newly written proposal to owners, to simplify, maybe clarify, was represents a pass completion.

Control of the ball, that’s a given.

Two feet on the ground, of course, has always been that way.

But in the last five years, all the addendum items added to the rulebook have made it more confusing, complex, and subject to interpretation, normally bad.

So this week, the newly written wordage will be presented. Players, in control of the football, with two feet in bounds, have to make a football move, involving taking a 3rd step.

Period, exclamation point, end of discussion. If there are questions, then go to the replay.

They are eliminating wording like ‘going to the ground’. Saying goodbye to the theory ‘ball moving in hands;. Ending discussion about ‘ground causing the fumble’.

Football has been reeling with the raging controversy involving the Dez Bryant catch-non catch, and more recently the Jesse James catch-football move-break the plane of the goalie-fumble the ball when he hit the ground.

It is a big, fast game, played by physically big hitting players.

Slow motion instant replay has made the process even more complicated.

They keep adding descriptions to clarify that only complicated it.

Did he maintain control as he went to the ground?
Did the point of the ball touch the ground allowing him to control it?
Did the receiver become a runner?
Did the receiver make a football move?
Did he have possession as he went out of bounds?
Did he retain possession long enough after getting hit?

And as more and more lawyers got involved, it got messier. When they were done a year ago with another re-write, it became as clear as mud on your windshield.

NFL postseason games have had spectacular plays. Julian Edelman’s Super Bowl catch ‘hands under the ball’. The Giants David Tyree pinning the ball to the side of his helmet. Dwight Clark’s ‘the catch’ back in the day with the 49eers.

So now the owners will look at a much shorter rewrite of the rule this weekend in Orlando.

And of course instant replay will be used to clarify what they saw.

But upon ‘further review’ who knows if they can get a complex play, catching a pass, made simple.

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“Stone Cold Silence-No Longer Hot Commodity”

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You are a Lakers fan. You are a basketball fan.

It’s a long, long basketball season, with starts, stops, successes and failures, in this another non-playoff season for the Lakers.

So much anticipation with the arrival of Lonzo Ball, the one and done guard from UCLA.

So much hype, so unfair. And a father who would not keep quiet.

A slow start, a surge by the kid guard, then a shoulder injury, then a sprained knee, and all momentum gone.

LaVar Ball would not shut his mouth, and wore out his welcome, with the Lakers, and then with a fawning media.

The Lakers weren’t handling his kid right. The Lakers players had lost interest in playing for Luke Walton. Lonzo would be gonzo when his contract expired, if the team didn’t draft his brother.

It went on and on.

Add to that, the father took his two younger sons to Lithuania to begin their so-called pro career with the Vyatautus team in the Baltic League.

So now the NBA season is drawing to a close.

Lonzo is struggling again on offense, in a 5-game skid, where he is shooting (23%) from the floor. Add in an awful (17%) from the thee point arc, and you can say he has yet to find any consistency to his game.

His future, of course, he has one with LA, but super stardom will be slow getting here. It will take time.

As for his brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo have both found playing abroad very hard.

The Vyatautas team is (5-20), near worst in the league.

LiAngelo, who defected from UCLA after the incident involving shoplifting in China, is averaging 9-points a game coming off the bench. LaMelo, the high school sensation, who bailed out Chino High, is averaging 5-points a game but has played just 5-games.

And LaVar, the entrepreneur, coaching his sons, has problems back home with his ‘Baller Brand’ business. Just read up on criticism from the Better Business Bureau.

As the Ball basketball team has staggered, both in the NBA and in Lithuania, LaVar has shut up too. No press conferences, or at least nobody stateside in the media, thinks he’s worth writing about.

They talked a good game, but they have not been able to back it up. To quote the always talkative President Trump, when you think all things LaVar Ball, the term ‘fake news’ seems to pop up in your mind.

Hot commodities at the start of the season. Stone cold silence now.

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Gonzo wont

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“Hockey-Life or Death Struggle-Here-There”

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It’s crunch time in hockey, in the NHL and in the AHL, for the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks, and for the San Diego Gulls too.

It has not been an easy for the NHL clubs in LA and Orange County.

It’s been a hard season for our AHL team, too, and with mere days left in the season, all three teams are in scramble mode for wins, and fighting for their playoff lives.

The Kings, with a big money payroll, came flying out of the gate, then got players hurt, and stopped scoring. It has been a struggle,to score goals, but they are finding a resolve to stay in the fight.

The sun comes up this morning with the Kings in a 3-way tie for 6th place in the NHL Western Conference race, where 8-teams get to postseason. The Kings are at 86-points, tied with Colorado and the Ducks. 1-of them won’t make postseason.

Jeff Carter, out all season, with a severed calf muscle, has scored 8-goals in two weeks since his return, taking the burden off Anzi Kopitar, who has carried the team most of the year. They need offense to help a worn-out goalie Jon Quick.

The Ducks are in the hunt thanks to the emergence of Rikard Rakell, approaching stardom, with a near 40-type goal season. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are not what they were in years gone by, but that group with Jakub Silfverberg, has made Anaheim viable.

That the Ducks are in the race is a credit to an organization that survived a horrible injury siege coming out of camp. At one point, 5-defenseman and 5-forwards were out of the lineup with significant injuries. Ryan Kesler, coming off hip surgery, is back, but is not the same player.

So many injuries on the blue line, and yet the team has found the resolve to cope with key back end guys out for extended time. A banged up John Gibson in goal could have been a problem were it not for some strong outings from veteran Ryan Miller.

In San Diego, the Gulls have put together three quality years of AHL hockey. Coaching in the American League may be the toughest job in the world. Give Dallas Eakins credit for holding his team together, preaching team philosophy, and developing players.

Callups can kill a minor league team, as can injuries. And worse than that, having too many kids in a league that contains high draft picks, Euros, and some veteran players.

Scoring goals as been a struggle for the Gulls, but thanks to superb goaltending by veteran Reto Berra and young college net minder Kevin Boyle, the Gulls are still in a tie for 2nd place in their Pacific division. But there is a bunch, where only 4-teams here get to AHL postseason in a jam packed 30-team league.

It’s been hard for a wide variety of the kid forwards. Quebec League rookie Giovanni Fiore has 17-goals, an accomplishment for a young rookie. But the non-production of other young players has hurt Eakins firepower units.

College and junior players Mitch Hults (8G), Jules Nattiness (4G), Alex Dotsie (3G) and Austin Ortega (2G) have been overwhelmed with the level of AHL competition.

Hurting San Diego was the decision of the parent teams to deal away Eric Fehr (17G), the leading scorer, and Spencer Abbott (20Pts-17-Games) earlier in the season, robbing the Gulls of older experience.

Kalle Kossila and Kevin Roy have 23-goals between them, but neither is viewed as a sniper, more grinder. They need goals from somebody who can threaten a team nightly. It has not happened.

So we roll into the homestretch, with all 3-teams desperately needing wins to get to
postseason.

The Kings-Ducks could make it, but one could fall out of the race. The Gulls should make it, but their ability to go deep in the playoffs will be directly related to the Ducks leaving players here, or sending more help in.

You can feel the pressure with every game they play at the Staples Center, Honda Center and Valley View Casino Center. It’s almost desperation time, as March turns to April.

These teams are in playoff mode already, and the playoffs have not even begun.

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College Hoops-What Did You Expect”

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We had 10 different teams ranked number 1-during the season in the college basketball polls. No clear cut favorite out there heading into the tourney. So why would you be surprised.

Now a bunch of highly seeded teams are gone as we took a 68-team field down to net weekend’s Sweet 16. Stunners, shockers, I told you so games too.

VIRGINIA…It’s like someone in the family died, when the top ranked Cavaliers fell in its first round game, the top team losing to a 16th seed. This has to be worse than UVA loss to Chaminade, an NAIA team, back in the Ralph Sampson era. UMBC, who, Maryland-Baltimore County, not the Maryland Terrapins, hit 12-3’s in the win. In NCAA history, the 16th seed had a record (0-135) vs top seeds. The mourning in Charlottesville won’t end any time soon.

MARYLAND-BALTIMORE COUNTY….A story book weekend for sure, the shocking win over the top seed in the tourney, and then scaring the daylights out of their next opponent, because the wheels came off the carriage. But as the twitter fans went wild on social media, we will remember UMBC…”U Might Be-Cindarella”. It was fun wasn’t it to see.

MICHIGAN STATE…Syracuse, re-emerging from NCAA sanctions, zone defensed Michigan State out of the tourney. Tom Izzo’s team fell apart, going (8-for-37) from the three point arc. Goodbye high ranking.

NORTH CAROLINA…Roy Williams has had lots of success in college basketball, never as bad a loss as he got this weekend, losing by a record 25-points, the worst all time beating a Williams team has ever suffered. Texas A&M saw to that beating.

CINCINNATI…Started like a house afire, a (10-0) burst to start. They burned to the ground by the end, going without a basket for (5:35) at the finish, in blowing a 22-point lead to Nevada.

XAVIER…Another top seed heading home with a loss, and out of the postseason. Up 12, the Muskies failed to play the full 40-minutes and lost.

WEST VIRGINIA….Bob Huggins plays a firehouse style of basketball, racing up and down the floor, on offense and defense. They smoked in-state partner Marshall in a blowout win. So much for Marshall telling everyone they deserve more respect in state and from people in Morgantown.

LOYOLA…Who? The Ramblers are going to the Sweet 16 after two upset wins the first weekend. The 95-year old nun, who travels with the team, is beloved by the players, and her prayers must be getting to the right Man.

ARIZONA…Life is not getting any easier for Wildcats coach Sean Miller. In the aftermath of the Adidas Slush fund mess, his Wildcats get taken out by Buffalo. He loses two of his top players, who announce for the draft, right after the loss. And the week the scandal broke, two top recruits deecommitted for other teams. And now a whole off season is ahead for the reeling Cats.

PURDUE…The Boilermakers are still alive, but they don’t have their 7’2 center Issac Haas any longer, gone with a fractured elbow.

GONAZAGA…Mark Few’s guys are still playing, and playing well. The guards are making a difference right now, with the limited size they have upfront.

NEVADA..Eric Muscleman’s team sure looks different right now than the team the Aztecs beat twice in a week a the end of the season. The bench is limited, the starters play lots of minutes, but the Wolfpack are headed to the Sweet 16 where they face Loyola next weekend.

UCLA…Steve Alford still has his job despite another painful post season loss. He does return solid starters, and adds more in recruiting. You wonder if the China syndrome had never happened, if they might still be playing.

DUKE-KANSAS….Two of the number one seeds are still there, but the Blue Devils have the best big men in the country, left in this tourney.

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“March Madness-Maddening Loss”

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Lousy loss, lousy game, the SDSU version of ‘1-and-Done’.

It was over in a flash, this NCAA tournament game.

San Diego State taken out by the University of Houston in their game in the NCAA regionals in Wichita..

Done in by what we expected. Houston’s physical guards, beat the daylights out of the State when they had the ball. There was no rhythm to the Aztecs offense, very little point production, and too much reliance on limited big men.

What worked before, the end of season, and MWC tourney wins, did not work this time.

The Cougars won (67-65) in what was described as a ‘rock fight’. Really ugly, a bit bloody, more of a game of grind, that a game of must-see basketball.

UH’s outstanding guard Robert Gray, who reminded me of Jason Kidd, put on a 39-point scoring show in the win. Long jumpers, short open shots, driving layups to the hoop. And at the other end, he leaned all over the Aztecs guards, picking up fouls, but picking them off when State tried to get into their offense.

SDSU trailed by as many as 13. They valiantly tried to fight back, taking the ball inside, hardly ever scoring, but getting UH in foul trouble.

But SDSU failed badly at the free throw line, had very little outside shooting, and were running uphill all night. They got mugged in the alley, and just could not hold up to the physicality of the UH roster. Their will got them back into the game, but when it counted, talent, Houston’s talent, got them the win.

The numbers do not lie. So no post game bonus points for the ‘good old college try’.

At one point, SDSU missed 10-three point shots in a row. They missed 14-free throws in the game. In one long stretch they had 3-baskets in a 16-possession sequence.

The three Aztecs guards, Devon Watson-Trey Kell and Jeremy Hensley went a combined (9-for-29) shooting The team hit just 4-3 point baskets, and when it was most important, they were (2-14) on treys for much of the game.

So they come home, season completed. Yes a tourney game, but it was a tourney loss.

They say goodbye to Kell and Malik Pope, but do return 9-players next season, and will add recruits and a transfer to the equation.

Good season, not a great season, and a season ending disappointment. Next year should be better with the experience some of the young players got. But a sad ending for a good kid like Kell.

But this is not what we have come to expect when we think SDSU hoops. We used to talk about Sweet 16-games. Today we have to talk about season ending games.

Like I said, an SDSU version of ‘1-and-done’. Disappointing.

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