Posted on August 2nd, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Can Tim Tebow play?
Most observers, including yours truly, have concluded that the answer is “no” if the question refers to quarterback in the NFL. Maybe, with a capital MAYBE, Tebow could squeeze onto a roster as a short-yardage specialist. But his prospects as a hybrid H-back, fullback or tight end aren’t that great, either.
I wish that wasn’t the case, because the league would be more pleasant with Tebow dispensing joy and sunshine. Unfortunately, listening to his diehard defenders will have to suffice as an added-value proposition.
Before the Broncos moved up to draft Paxton Lynch in April, more than 10,000 fans signed a petition asking the team to bring Tebow back to Denver. There are still supporters who swear he got a raw deal in after leading the Broncos to the playoffs and a wild-card victory in 2011.
Broncos general manager John Elway opted to take his chances on recovering-from-neck-surgery Peyton Manning instead of single-wing-throwback Tebow, who subsequently failed to stick after one season (eight passes and 32 rushes) with the Jets and training-camp stints with the Patriots and Eagles. There’s no question that Elway made the right move, though Tebow’s true believers insist their hero’s style would’ve worked if given the chance.
Despite the dismal numbers in Tebow’s 35-game NFL career – a completion rate of 48 percent with 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions – his fans think there’s a place for him. The headline on an Internet article last weekend read “Eight NFL quarterbacks worse than Tim Tebow,” listing players such as Nick Foles, Geno Smith, Matt Cassel and Brian Hoyer.
Considering the league’s never-ending search for players under center, does Tebow have football left in him if a team calls?
“I mean I think for me, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Tebow responded on “The Doug Gottlieb Show” on CBS Sports Radio last week, simultaneously not ruling out a comeback in that hypothetical scenario.
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Posted on July 26th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Once again, it’s time to check off some items on my “TIDU List” – Things I Don’t Understand:
*HOW THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE IS ALREADY A DUMP.
According to the Australian delegation, the athletes’ housing in Rio is swell … aside from “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring.” The Aussies were scheduled to move in on Sunday but deemed their accommodations unfit for occupancy. Rio mayor Eduardo Paes wants to assist: “I almost feel like putting a kangaroo to jump up and down in front of their building,” he said.
Not even “Baghdad Bob” could help Brazil’s public relations.
*WHY CHRIS SALE DOESN’T OPEN UP A TAILORING SHOP.
If you’ve seen the Chicago White Sox’s 1976 throwback jerseys, you understand Sale’s urge to mutilate them. The ace was scratched from Saturday’s start and suspended, reportedly for cutting the spread-collared tops. GM Rick Hahn charged Sale with violating team rules, insubordination and destroying team equipment. “There is a correct and incorrect way to express concerns about team rules and organizational expectations,” Hahn said.
True. You can’t become Edward Scissorhands whenever you like.
*HOW HALL OF FAME VOTERS HANDLE SUSPECTED PED USERS.
Mike Piazza was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday, one year after Craig Biggio. Piazza was drafted in the 62nd round with the 1,390th pick, ahead of only five other players. Biggio hit 14 homers between the ages of 24 and 26 but had seven 20-homer campaigns starting at age 27. Both have denied steroids accusations. There is no proof of guilt or innocence.
Sounds like the majority of players from the Steroids Era.
*WHY OTHER SPORTS WON’T FOLLOW THE NBA’S LEAD.
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Posted on July 21st, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA team owners say they want to avoid the creation of “super teams.” They want franchises like Oklahoma City to keep their homegrown stars like Kevin Durant. They want great players distributed instead of clustered like in Golden State.
I want a new basement, a four-year full ride for my youngest child and a large lump-sum payment via direct deposit.
In my case, as with the league, the emphasis is on what we “want,” which has nothing to do with what we actually “need.”
I can survive with the basement as is, cobble together funds for Sequoia’s college education and make do with my current income. Likewise, the NBA will continue to thrive with star-studded teams, outposts that are less desirable than others and clear-cut heavy favorites such as the Warriors.
“Just be absolutely clear, I do not think that’s ideal from the league standpoint,” Silver told reporters last week about Durant joining Golden State.
Here’s what’s not ideal from many players’ standpoint: Spending their entire career in places like Oklahoma City, Sacramento or Milwaukee.
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Posted on July 19th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Aside from the flock of lawyers clocking copious billable hours, perhaps no one was more disappointed than I when quarterback Tom Brady ended his epic battle against Roger Goodell. Although the NFL commissioner always holds the upper hand in these slugfests with players, he often exits with marks and bruises.
Watching him absorb punishment adds to the NFL’s entertainment value. Yucks are about the only thing Goodell is good for. Brady’s decision to forgo a Supreme Court appeal in Deflategate deprives us of more at the commish’s expense.
The NFL’s “case” isn’t any less laughable just because the future Hall-of-Famer decided enough is enough. Brady’s reluctance acceptance of a four-game suspension is still based on junk science, nebulous findings and a power-crazed NFL lifer whose toolkit contains a hammer and nothing else.
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Posted on July 14th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
There’s a universe of difference between Isiah Crowell’s recent action and the action four Minnesota Lynx players, as stark as the contrast between death and life.
The Cleveland Browns halfback posted a despicable graphic that depicts the brutal killing of a police officer. The WNBA ballers wore T-shirts that read “Change starts with us. Justice & accountability” on the front, and “Black Lives Matter” on the back, along with the names of two African-American men killed by police last week and the Dallas Police Department emblem.
Despite the wide gulf between Crowell’s since-deleted Instagram post and the players’ attire, four off-duty police officers working the Lynx game at Target Center were outraged by the latter. They found the message to be so offensive, they walked off the job Saturday night.
Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the union that represents Minneapolis’ rank-and-file officers, praised the officers for quitting. “I commend them for it,” he told the Star Tribune. “Rushing to judgement before the facts are in is unwarranted and reckless.”
I might counter that abandoning your post over philosophical disagreements is unwarranted and reckless, especially in light of T-shirts but even in egregious examples such as a drawing of a police officer’s throat being cut.
Crowell’s graphic is indefensible and reprehensible, repugnant and irresponsible. The image is terribly disturbing, with blood gushing from the wound, and it can’t be condemned enough, OK?
That said, we enter a dangerous, slippery slope if police officers refuse to do their job based on one individual’s behavior. The president of Cleveland’s police union put that threat on the table unless Crowell goes to Dallas, donates to the slain officers’ families and issues a heartfelt apology.
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Posted on July 6th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
We can debate the merits of fan balloting for the MLB All-Star Game, whether popularity or merit should determine which players get the nod.
We can argue about the appropriateness of mandating a representative from every team, which requires the snubbing of several worthwhile candidates.
And we can fuss over the format and participants in the Home Run Derby, boosted by new rules but still struggling to draw some of baseball’s biggest names.
Or we can sit back and enjoy the Mid-Summer Classic for what it is, still the best pickup game among the four major team sports.
The contest will always hold a special place in my heart because my first child was born during an All-Star Game. I remember watching on a hospital TV – of course, with the sound all the way down – as my wife’s contractions came closer and closer together. That was 20 years ago, but I remember like it was yesterday.
The same goes for the first All-Star Game I ever attended, on assignment for USA Today Baseball Weekly. Then-Boston Red Sox rookie Nomar Garciaparra had agreed to do a first-person diary for us, as-told-to yours truly. It was hard to tell which first-timer’s eyes were wider, his or mine.
Unfortunately, I won’t be in attendance next Tuesday when the All-Star Game is held in San Diego, where the weather and fish tacos make it one of America’s best cities. But seven Cubs – nearly one-third of the roster – will be there, including the entire infield.
In a year when the city of Cleveland ended its long championship drought, the Cubs are baseball’s feel-good story, threatening to end their 107-year streak of futility. They own MLB’s best record, the NL’s top vote-getter (first baseman Anthony Rizzo) and baseball’s coolest manager this side of Dusty Baker (Joe Maddon).
That’s no excuse for Cubs fans voting in shortstop Addison Russell, making Chicago only the second team to have all four starting infielders. But that can happen when your team hasn’t won since 1908 but is the current odds-on favorite in Las Vegas.
The 1963 St. Louis Cardinals – featuring first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, third baseman Ken Boyer and shortstop Dick Groat – are the only other team to have all four starters around the horn. “It’s pretty impressive because as a kid, I was blown away by that,” Maddon told reporters. “Any 9-year-old seeing this Cubs infield go, I’d like to believe they felt exactly as I felt in 1963.”
Young Nats fans probably feel some kind of way about Bryce Harper, making his third career All-Star game and fourth appearance overall in his five seasons as a major-leaguer. He leads a quartet of Nationals players, including MVP candidate Daniel Murphy, Cy Young candidate Stephen Strasburg and slugging catcher Wilson Ramos, tying Washington with Miami for second-most NL representatives.
Murphy fell 88 votes short of starting at second base. He was beaten out by Chicago’s Ben Zobrist, the Nats’ first choice during the offseason before they “settled” for Murphy. Through Tuesday, the former Mets player merely led the NL in batting average and hits while ranking among the top three in total bases, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging.
“The guys that are headed there, I think they deserve to be headed there,” Baker told reporters. “I would have liked to have seen Max Scherzer make it and I would have liked to have seen Danny Espinosa. But Danny came on kind of late for the voting. I’m sure he’s on the radar in people’s minds for next year.”
Espinosa is coming off a week like none other (for an All-Star or even a Hall of Famer), batting .423 with 17 RBI and five home runs – including homers from both sides of the plate in separate games. He led the Nats in four-baggers through Tuesday, edging out Harper, 18-17.
Harper is one of the faces of baseball, among the game’s most marketable stars. He’s tied for 13th in home runs but has no desire to hit some big flies during the Home Run Derby in San Diego. That’s a huge disappointment to baseball officials and many fans, but the contest simply isn’t his thing at this point.
“I just don’t want to, plain and simple,” he told reporters. I just want to enjoy my time, sit on the side and watch it a little bit. I enjoyed watching [Todd] Frazier win it last year, and I just don’t feel like doing it.”
I don’t blame him, especially if he fears the contest might mess up his swing afterward. Better for him to relax and take it easy outside of the contest itself. That’s enough.
Unlike versions in the NBA (no defense), NFL (no tackling) and NHL (3-on-3), baseball’s All-Star Game bears the closest resemblance to the regular product. We can haggle over who’s in it, how they’re selected and which ancillary events surround the main event.
It’s still crazy that home field in the World Series rides on the outcome. But we can just sit back, enjoy and prepare for the second half of the season.
The All-Star break remains a breath of fresh air.
Posted on July 4th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Timing isn’t everything in life. But it certainly helps. Getting in at the start of, say, Google or Amazon, is much different from getting in now.
Part of timing is dumb luck; another part is strategic thinking. Choosing to enter one field versus another, for instance, education versus engineering, is also a choice between divergent levels of expected income.
Put it all together – being in the right place/industry at the right time – and you have NBA free agency 2016.
The spending spree that rocked sports since Friday is a simple case of economics and market forces. The reaction from many observers is also a simple matter: They’re angry, envious and bitter because NBA players struck it rich instead of them.
I wish it was me, too, but I don’t begrudge the players for enjoying their windfall. They put themselves in position and they’re reaping the benefits. I couldn’t be happier for them.
Do they deserve it? Absolutely.
Are they overpaid? Perhaps, but not to the same degree as CEOs and team owners.
Players are the labor, the talent, the attraction. Always remember that no matter how big a player’s paycheck, the person who signs the check has a bigger bank account. That’s why the outrage against NBA free-agent spending makes no sense … unless you believe management should keep most of the money that players bring in.
ESPN/TNT didn’t agree to a nine-year, $24 billion TV deal to watch Mark Cuban, James Dolan and other owners sit in courtside seats. The networks are dishing out that loot for the rights to broadcast nightly exploits by LeBron James, Steph Curry, et al.
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Posted on June 27th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Serena Williams turns 35 in September, which is hard enough to believe by itself. But part of her birthday celebration could include the modern record for major championships if she wins the U.S. Open earlier that month.
Williams can tie Steffi’ Graf’s mark (22 majors) with a victory at Wimbledon, which begins Monday. Last year, when she left the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Croquet Club as champion for the sixth time, she could have pulled even with Graf AND pulled off a calendar Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. It seemed like a fait accompli until a shocking upset knocked her out in the semifinals.
She hasn’t been the same since.
Now there are thoughts that Williams is succumbing to Father Time and Mother Age, the vaunted tag team that’s undefeated against top athletes and everyone else. The 0-for-3 streak in majors – she also lost in the French Open final this month and the Australian Open final in January – has exposed her vincibility and encouraged her competitors. Is her tenure as the world’s No. 1 player coming to an end?
“I think it’s just a matter of time, honestly,” Garbine Muguruza told reporters prior to beating Williams in the French. “There is a lot of players out there fighting for it, and Serena eventually is going to, you know, go a little bit down because she’s like forever there. So we’ll see.”
We haven’t seen Williams win lately, but we’ve seen a lot of her otherwise.
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Posted on June 20th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
I was among the presumed majority of NBA fans rooting for Golden State to defend its title. The Warriors were a breathtaking treat all season, a delight to behold, and I wanted them to cap their historic 73 wins with a championship.
It didn’t matter that LeBron James’ legacy would’ve been collateral damage, dropping him to 2-5 in NBA Finals and giving his haters more ammunition to blast his standing as an all-time great.
Fortunately for James and northeast Ohio, he didn’t let that happen. Instead, he turned in an unprecedented performance, becoming the only player in Finals history to lead both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
He had a triple-double Sunday in the Game 7 clincher (27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists), to cap his 41-point outings in the other win-or-go-home scenarios. Only the heartless weren’t touched when he fell to his knees and cried after delivering the city’s first championship since 1964.
Despite my rooting interest, I’m happy for James and happy for Cleveland, even though Cavs fans and despicable team owner Dan Gilbert don’t deserve him. Their response was deplorable when James exercised his right to leave via free agency. His willingness to return says a lot more about him than their willingness to re-embrace him says about them.
“That don’t matter,” James said after Game 7, asked about those who burned his jerseys and trashed his name when he took his talents to South Beach. “That’s yesterday’s newspaper. I don’t think anybody’s reading yesterday’s newspaper. They’ll be reading tomorrow and that I’m coming home. I’m coming home with what I said I was going to do.”
He didn’t anoint himself “The Chosen One,” but he’s not shy in proclaiming himself the world’s best player. No one can argue after his utter destruction of Golden State and its baby-faced sharpshooter Steph Curry, who fired blanks when the Warriors needed him most.
The notion that Curry has surpassed James as the league’s top talent? James squashed that thought as derisively as the two swats on Curry and as emphatically as the chase-down block on Andre Iguodala.
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Posted on June 20th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
LeBron James isn’t an Alpha, a Kappa, an Omega or a Sigma. But his tale of rising and falling and rising yet again, reads like a classic Greek drama that fraternity brothers might study in college.
The plot twists have been numerous and surprising. As a work of fiction they would strain our suspension of disbelief. In real life his story stretches the limits of credulity. It’s as unbelievable as Cleveland winning the city’s first championship since 1964.
That was 20 years before “The Chosen One” was born in Akron, Ohio, about 40 minutes away. No one knew he was predestined to lead his hometown Cavaliers to their first NBA championship, but we’re all witnesses after Sunday’s thrilling Game 7 victory against the Golden State Warriors.
James had to cement his legacy over three consecutive games to pull the Cavaliers from a 3-1 deficit. He quick-dried it, too, polishing off the defending champs with a triple-double in the clincher (27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists), to complement a pair of 41-point efforts in the prior win-or-go-home games.
In the process, Cleveland became the first team to rally from 3-1 in the NBA Finals. James led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, another unprecedented feat. He won his third Finals MVP trophy and caused everyone to slow down on thinking that Golden State’s Stephon Curry has replaced him as the league’s best player.
If King James indeed had lost the crown during the regular season, he wrested it back with an overwhelming performance against the baby-faced sharpshooter who fired blanks when the Warriors could ill afford them. LeBron asserted his dominance over Curry, over Golden State and over the entire league in emphatic fashion. He swatted shots, knocked down jumpers, bulled to the basket, snatched rebounds, passed to open teammates and served as a general menace on both ends of the court.
“He’s such a force physically, so powerful,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Game 7. “I thought he brought more force to the last three games than he did in the first four. But he’s one of the greatest players of all time and obviously was the key to the turnaround and had a great series.”
So here’s James, back on top, this time bringing his forlorn city with him.
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