Almost Foobaw Season Again

Your top 10 stories heading into the opening week of the NFL season:

1. San Diego is trying to screw their #1 draft pick out of money they're eventually going to have to pay him anyway because of the slotting system. To assist in this, they've enlisted their former star running back, who once upon a time held out from San Diego to get more money. Apparently, the weather out there is too nice for irony.

The unfairness of Olympic swimming

I have never been a big fan of the Olympics, probably because there are so many sports there that really aren't, like those weird trick snowboarding events in the winter, or synchronized swimming in the summer.  Not to mention the figure skating.  But a lot of the events also seem a little unfair.

Jeansborono

Yes, I know that Wrangler Jeans have a long history in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Yes, the idea of "Jeansboro" sounds gloriously goofy.

Yes, there was a contest and everything.

But.

When you make your baseball uniform pants look like jeans, you go someplace very, very silly.

I'm sorry, Greensboro Grasshoppers. You have a lovely stadium. Your stadium personnel are very pleasant and helpful. It was a pleasure to watch one of your games. But please, never take the field looking like a beer-league softball team again. For all of our sakes.

Big XII Expansion Preview

The Big 12 conference (or as they like to call it, The Big XII, because Latin and stuff) is currently looking to expand. As part of the process, they invited roughly 20 - the number keeps changing - schools to participate in the interview and talent show portions of the competition this past weekend, including what appeared to be the entirety of the AAC.

Tim Tebow Wants To Play Baseball

So Tim Tebow wants to play baseball.

I mean, I'm sure he does. It's a great game. Lots of fun.

But.

USA! USA! USA! (a.k.a. how we are dominating the 2016 Olympics)

As of this writing, the US leads the medal count at 27, including 10 gold, 8 silver, and 9 bronze, thanks in no small part to Michael Phelps, who has already given us 3 gold.  Our closest rival (China) is in distant second place with only 17 medals.

How do we continue to dominate the Olympics?  Well, a couple of reasons, but really it is all about the Benjamins (Tubmans?).  US corporations pour money into this stuff, resulting in better training facilities for our athletes, better coaches, and superior medicine (witness the trending conversation regarding those odd purple marks on Michael Phelps' back, which are a result of cupping - a treatment to help get the blood flowing again after swimming).

Hall Of Fame Game Canceled

The first NFL preseason game of the year is the Hall of Fame game, which follows on the heels of the Hall of Fame inductions, is generally played with all the intensity of two mimes pretending to wrestle, and is considered a big deal only because it means "football is back" - as if football ever actually went away.

Lessons of the MLB Trade Deadline

In no particular order:

• Be very careful who you put on your limited no-trade clause list. Jonathon Lucroy got to veto his trade to Cleveland, so the Brewers turned around and dealt him to Texas. I'm guessing the cool banks of the Cuyahoga are going to start to look pretty good around the fourth or fifth time Lucroy has to strap on catchers' gear in the August Texas heat. 

A Tale of the Killer

So.

I'm at a baseball game. Minor league, 'cause that's what we've got around here, and I'm not complaining. I'm wearing a replica Twins jersey for no reason other than I like my replica Twins jersey and it's white, meaning I'll roast slightly less in the afternoon Carolina sun.

Great Moments In Sports Talk Radio, Conspicuous Consumption Division

Scanning the dial the other night - yes, I still do that - I came across a standard "best of/worst of" segment. Everybody does these. They're the radio equivalent of a bunt against the shift, easily available if not terribly exciting.

Dignity For Sale

Before we go any further with this, let us be clear: This is probably the dumbest baseball story of the year. White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who by any metric is having a stellar season and is his team's best player, went so ballistic over the discomfort offered by the White Sox's utterly ridiculous Veeck-era throwback uniforms that he apparently cut his up with scissors rather than wear it, then got into a fight in the clubhouse.

On the NBA Summer League, and Perceptions Thereof

One of the great joys of being an obsessive sports fan is reading the coverage of the minutiae. Take, for example, the NBA summer leagues, in all their various guises, and the media coverage thereof.

The Bill Belicheat of Baseball

You may not know who Chris Correa is, but you can bet he's a Deflatriots fan...

Formerly scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals, Correa was sentenced earlier today to 46 months in jail, and was also ordered to pay $279K in restitution for computer hacking against the Houston Astros.  But he said he was sorry!

Our Final Word on DeflateGate

The official, final Sportsthodoxy position on DeflateGate:

1. Read this before you say anything. Because context is important. 

All Star Game Roster Logic

There are people who want the rosters of the MLB All-Star Game to consist of the hottest players from this season. Their logic is that they want to see the players who are playing the best, and that what matters for this year's game is what the player has done this year. It's not a lifetime achievement award, they argue - what Troy Tulowitzki did last year or the year before shouldn't outweigh the fact that he's playing like a tire fire right now.

On Buying Baseball Cards

Every year I buy 1 (one) pack of baseball cards. This is in part a nod to the collecting mania I had when I was a kid - not as an investor but as someone who genuinely loved baseball cards to play with and flip with friends and whatever - and in part annual ritual that has become part of my annual routine.

Brother, can you spare $29K? Weird sports memorabilia from eBay

I wish I was rich, because who wouldn't want to buy a bobblehead from the 1800s of an unknown jockey?  That's right, dear readers, this treasure can be yours for the low, low sum of only 29 thousand dollars.  Only $29 thousand, you say?  Wow, where do I sign?  I want that!

Last NBA Draft Thoughts - Post-Draft Analysis

In no particular order

• It's kind of sad that the Sixers were regarded as having "won" the draft by dint of A)not doing any of the egregiously stupid things they were rumored to be doing and B)simply taking the best player available when their pick came up. This got them better players at 24 and 26 than they might have expected, thanks to a run starting around pick 13 on "Who the hell did they just draft?" guys, but after years of bad draft luck, it's about time something went the Sixers' way. They didn't screw up. That counts as progress.

About that Alabama thing

So this week in sports, we heard that the DA is not going to prosecute the 2 Alabama players who were arrested on drug charges and for illegal gun possession.  There was a lot of outrage in many circles over this, especially from the sports media.  My thoughts are as follows:

Things We Will See Today At The NBA Draft

In no particular order:

1. The Philadelphia 76ers will take Ben Simmons #1 overall.
2. The Los Angeles Lakers will take Brandon Ingram #2 overall.
3. The national media will gush over the Lakers' choice and talk about how this means "the Lakers are back", never mind that you generally have to be kind of awful to get the #2 pick and one guy ain't gonna fix that.