Black Eye, a Black Mark on the NFL

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The NFL is all about speed-skill and physicality.
 
For once the NFL cannot run away from what it is dealing with.  This time there are no shifty moves, nor stylish explanations out of what the league is dealing with.  In a league of big hits, the NFL has a black eye.
 
The sage of domestic abuse will not likely go away.  And now maybe it is about to develop into a feeding frenzy.
 
Women, afraid of their men, afraid of a stigma, may now start to standup and say “I was abused too.”
 
It’s bad, what Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy did.  It’s bad how the league and respective clubs have handled this.  And now it seems to be on the brink of a growing epidemic, with lawyers calling press conferences, bringing more women front and center.
 
It is also bad, that the NFL and Union have rules, that do allow due process to take place, while players are allowed to play in some cases.  And in others, players get put on an exempt list, don’t play nor practice, but still collect their paycheck.
 
Aghast at the storylines that are spreading with Adrian Peterson; offended by Ray Rice and how his case was handled; wondering the outcome of the Greg Hardy vicious beating trial coming up, it never seems to end.
 
And now you have idiots like Ray McDonald of the 49ers and Arizona’s Jon Dwyer, arrested, after the new domestic rules were put into place, you wonder, if anyone pays attention or cares.
 
Granted, we are talking about just 5-players out of 1800 on active rosters, but we are talking serious incidents.
 
Maybe if corporate sponsors start leaving the NFL, things will change.  The TV networks love to cover the stories, love their games, and those TV ratings, so I doubt they will raise a hand, make a statement, or create a showdown issue.
 
But when you realize Greg Hardy will get 710,000 per week from now till his November trial; Peterson will get 690,000 a weekend, till his case is adjudicated, you wonder if anything will ever change.
 
The NFL marches on, players get paid, even when they don’t play, more victims show up.  And there will be games this coming weekend-regardless..  Ain’t America great.

Dodgers 1st Place and With Problems

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Happenings here and there in the baseball world in Southern California.

 

That pressure seems to be getting to everyone at Dodgers Stadium. It’s crunch time and there are problems in every corner of the dugout and clubhouse.

With two weeks left in the season, the Blue have issues.  They are now down to two healthy reliable ace pitchers, the Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, and his running mate Zack Grienke.

The third starter Hyun Jin-Ryu is ailing again, this time with shoulder inflammation, triggering a cortisone shot.  The 4th starter Dan Haren is up and down, and the other starter Roberto Hernandez is staggering.

Add to that, a group of setup, relievers, shakey at best, and now maybe an overworked Kenley Janzen as a closer.

The everyday lineup has issues.  Shortstop Hanley Ramirez has had five different injuries, and is no longer the feared productive bat he used to be.  Big money outfielder Andre Eithier is having a substandard season.

Aside from Adrian Gonzalez, the rock in the lineup, and the now healthy Matt Kemp, there is no consistency, and that’s with a team still in first place.

And then there is the Wild Horse, Yasiel Puig, staggering thru a summer long slump, that has seen him hit around .200 with no homers since early August.

He continues to make wild throws from the outfield, still has baserunning problems, and has some on going personality clash problems with fellow teammates.

Don Mattingly has had to deal with issue after issue over the last four years in LA. Injuries, the McCourt bankruptcy, his own in game decisions, Puig, and the expectation from ownership, fans, and the media.

The standings say first place, but body language, storylines, and rumors paint a very different picture.

You cannot control injuries, but they better fix all the other issues, or the Dodgers post season may be short and the offseason then stormy.

Tony Gwynn Jr.

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It had to feel different.  He had to feel butterflies.  There must have been an ache.  Of course there will forever be sadness.
 
The son returned to San Diego, the town that adored his father, and last night, our hearts had to go out to Tony Gwynn Jr. as the Phillies came to town to meet the Padres in a meaningless game between two underachieving teams.
 
In a quiet moment, Anthony Gwynn-Junior-went outside Petco Park to take a long look at the beautiful Hall of Fame statue erected to his “Pops” by the Padres years ago.
 
It has been a hard year, not the Phillies wretched season.  A tough year dealing with the reality, that Cancer would strike out his father.  The son was strong as iron trying to help the family thru the saddest of times, when the deadly disease came back a second time, then a third time.
 
It’s been a hard baseball year too for the always smiling kid, a .sub 200 batting average, a career slipping away as he gets to age 30.  An outright release, a move back to Lehigh Valley-AAA in the International League, then a recall on September lst when rosters were expanded.
 
The father was a magician at bat.  The son, a glove man, a base stealer, with a batting average hovering around .230.  Tony spent his entire career as a Padres.  Anthony has gone from Milwaukee, home to San Diego, on to Dodgers Stadium, off to Philadelphia to ply his trade.
 
As tough as this has been, there is so much respect for what the son has had to deal with.
 
Major league players, stopped the game, the first game Anthony came back from the funeral.  The Houston catcher went out to the mound, stood there, and signaled his teammates to come up to the top of the dugout, to give T-Junior a standing ovation.  The stadium erupted and they stood too, in a moment of salute to the young man over the passing of his old man.
 
Thru the heartache, he found a special love from so many people around baseball.
 
Anthony Gwynn back home for a four game series.  A game to be played for sure.  But a night to think kind thoughts of the kid, like father-like son, not as a hitter, but as a classy individual.

Bolts Beat Up The Best

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I don’t know what was worse…the sweltering heat from the 112-degrees on the field…or the heat generated by Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers in the Bolts 30-21 win over the Seattle Seahawks yesterday.
 
Yes, those Seahawks.  The Legion of Boom.  The ones with the Super Bowl trophy.
 
It was a complete victory.  Rivers’ offense owned the game.  They wouldn’t let Seattle QB-Russell Wilson get his guys on the field.  And Rivers would not let his own leaky defense have to do too much either.
 
The stat sheet was painted all Powder Blue & Bolt Gold.
 
San Diego had an amazing 75-40-edge in plays…..had 42 minutes time of possession to just 18 for the visitors.  At one point Rivers offense had converted 10-of-13 on third downs.  Mike McCoy’s men had 17-plays of 10-yards or more against the champs, who looked like chumps, getting beat on mismatches all over the field.
 
And when Wilson did get the ball, he was under siege. The pass rush chased him around.  Melvin Ingram-Dwight Freeney and friends had 2-sacks,4-tackles for losses and 10-pressures against a QB that likes to move the pocket and run.
 
It was vintage Antonio Gates, with those 3TD catches and 7-receptions in all.  And while Seattle couldn’t cover the tight end, they didn’t cover either his slot receiver teammate Eddie Royal, who added 7-more receptions.
 
The Chargers were so hot, they even survived five penalties to their offensive line, that at first seemed to slow drives down, but in reality, kept the Seattle defense on the field even longer.
 
Loudmouth Richard Sherman was not heard from yesterday, but was seen chasing open receivers when he was not falling down.  The beast of a running back Marshawn Lynch had few carries and little impact.  And the fleet footed Percy Harvin scored a tainted TD on a 51-yard run, then fumbled, and did nothing the rest of the day.
 
So go figure.  San Diego loses to Arizona, whom you’d think they could beat, and then beats Seattle, whom most people thought would win.  The Seahawks had nine days to prepare for this, while the Chargers had just five.  Seattle walked in and acted like this would be a walk-over victory.  Instead they got trampled.
 
San Diego may have paid a price, with the knee injury to Ryan Mathews.  They paid a salute to fallen center Nick Hardwick, his season and career likely over, with Rivers wearing #61 on the back of his helmet, because he wanted Hardwick’s presence in that huddle at all times.
 
The Lightning Bolt and Heat Stroke, Seattle never recovered.  And this win is a signal, this offense may be as good as Denver’s, and we know there are still two meetings coming between those teams before this season is over.

Some good may come out of NFL bad times

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Maybe something good comes out of all this, which seems very bad right now.
 
The NFL is not unlike all the other sports.  It takes something catastrophic for them to do something to make situations better.
 
The Ray Rice knockout punch of his wife, accompanied by slaps, curses and spits, has been horrific to watch on video, now knowing actual violence of the blow he delivered.
 
It has led to a nationwide uproar involving everyone; the NFL, owners, players, fans, the networks, women’s organizations and now Congress.  It will lead to stronger sanctions going forward for anyone who hits a woman or child.
 
It’s no different than the crisis involving concussions, suicides, Alzheimer’s and Dementia.  It led to significant rule changes, suspensions, fines, and the bitter lawsuit that is till out there, but the NFL will be better in treatment of its players..
 
It took a steroid scandal that spilled PED juice all over the most sacred record book in the Hall of Fame, which led to outrage, that led to Congressional hearings, that brought us now to every type of drug testing there is in baseball.
 
It was the Kansas City and Pittsburgh drug trials that brought us testing and sanctions, in the first step to clean up the sports from cocaine, marijuana, LSD and amphetamines.
 
The tragic death of Tony Gwynn, the affliction of Curt Shilling, will be next up in the battle against tobacco in baseball.   
 
It took horrific head injuries in the NHL to get them to make significant rule changes, first on fighting, then on helmets, then on open ice and along the board hits, to make the games safer and faster.
 
In pro basketball, violence and fights spilling into the stands, and equipment changes, led to a cut down on cheap shots, player protection on flagrant fouls and better equipment.
 
In auto racing, the tragedy of the instant death of Indy car driver Dan Wheldon in his airborne car, and the snap of the neck head on crash that killed Dale Earnhardt, brought about constant upgrades in safer equipment, from helmets, to neck restraints, to walls, to aerodynamics, to slower cars, to make the sport better.
 
And while the rage will carry on against Roger Goodell, what he knew, when he knew it, and how he acted upon it, the NFL will come out of this Ray Rice black eye crisis better, if not by the experience, but by a new standard of conduct. 
 
More than anything, it takes an incident, in any of these sports, to make people step back, take notice, and make changes.