It’s late fall…. clouds are very prevalent  making it hard to see clearly. So too in sports…it’s CLOUDY in StL for many of our teams. Let’s take a look at sports around the StL area (which is under heavy clouds)

….It was very CLOUDY for Mizzou football yesterday. Alabama’s offense sputtered at times and Mizzou played their best defense of the game. Bama held a 13-0 halftime lead.  Alabama’s defense shut down Mizzou. Part of it may have been the departure of QB Brady Cook suffered an injury to his hand in the 2nd quarter. There should be no doubt….not only is he the leader…he’s a very good QB. For his backup MU was forced to use their 3rd string QB (who is in his 3rd different school). His very 1st pass was intercepted for a TD and …he played like a 3rd stringer ….but no excuses! Bama outgained Mizzou 486-239 for the game. Those stats clearly show that Bama was better..just much better than the Tigers. Any aspirations of reaching the NCAA-Final 12 Football playoffs seem to be gone.

….the Cardinals continue rebuilding across their entire system. It seems very Cloudy and it’s hard to see exactly which the direction the Cards are heading.  The Cardinals have brought in 2 New hitting coaches–Brant Brown and former Cardinals– Jon Jay.  They’ll be working in the MLB level for Oliver Marmol’s major league staff . Meanwhile Willie McGee will move out of the dugout and into a special assistant role that will involve minor league instruction & evaluation. Coaches can improve a player but ultimately, the player has the ability & skills to succeed …or he doesn’t.

…Brown & Jay will have to eradicate the difficulty that the Cardinal batters experience when they faced 4 seam fastballs (they rise). The Cardinals batted .202 against the 4-seam fastballs in 2024. I might add, most of them were chest high (which is now called a ball) yet the Cards swung at them. Often…for strike 3!!

…Ya know…it just seems to me that the Cardinals have never been the same since Tony LaRussa left the Cardinals. He was very strong-willed, an excellent evaluator, knew how to “form a team”. He always formed his own staff. It was HIS team!! LaRussa was the best manager of modern history from my view. His 2,284 wins trail only Connie Mack, who was from a totally different era. He & Mack are the only 2 managers to manager/coach in over 5000 games!  There was none…or very little…looking through the CLOUDS for Tony. In Tony’s finished with a record of 2,884-2,499— that’s over 31 seasons of managing in the MLB! Tony piled up some heavy stats..  He Won three World Series titles in 1989, 2006, and 2011; Won 6 league championships; Won 13 division titles

La Russa managed teams for over 30 years, including the White Sox, Athletics, and Cardinals. Just listen to tone in the voice of Jim Edmonds (Cardinal announcer & former player under Tony) when he discusses Tony LaRussa. He still respects him!

…The Cardinals management seems to be struggling to be looking through the CLOUDS TO find the right “mix”. Firing the ‘s record was ntire coaching staff but keeping the same manager is hard to understand. It tells me that Marmol DIDN’T pick his staff… management Did it! That is a bit controversial in itself. Cardinal fans seem split about Marmol—some want him gone…others want to keep him. Ultimately, it’s ownership’s call. I land on the side of “bring in an experienced manager “with MLB success in his background”. He doesn’t have to be a former Cardinal!! It occurs to me that the Cards are trying to “cut corners” in payroll with the inexperienced manager at the helm. You do “get what you pay for” in life.

…It’s CLOUDY when one looks at the status of Division 1- College Football. These “amateurs” are now paid directly now just the entire cost of their education, housing, food, etc, etc. It seems that the idea of working towards a “degree” doesn’t even cross any one’s mind. I suppose that none of these NFL teams informed all these “gotta get” to the NFL players that only around 1.6% of NCAA football players, including those from Division 1, ever make it to the NFL. Now granted the % would seem to be higher for these “early out” players. Further the average a length of an NFL career is 3.5 years.

….making a living at the professional level is very, very CLOUDY. The average length of a MLB player’s career is 2.7 years!! In the NBA player it’s 4.5 years; the NHL 5.0 years; in the MLS (soccer) the average career is 8 years. To put your hopes into becoming a professional athlete is a very CLOUDY, CLOUDY position.

….In the past decade or so, I notice so many parents & players who are playing sports to “pay for college” or reach the professional level. It’s so sad to me.  Playing a sport to learn about life (success/failure) and trying to win for your team seems to have been shoved aside for these extremely high aspirations.

….It’s very early in the season for the Blues, so the future is CLOUDY. But, one has to be excited about the way in this early part of the season that the Blues have fought back from deficits during these early 2024-25 games. Clearly, the Blues have upgraded the speed of their defensemen. Robert Thomas & Jordan Kyrou should be in the prime years of their career. Sooo….the Blues are playing at a faster pace. Further, the Blues have already displayed the ability to “come back” from deficits in games. This is a very valuable asset, that we seldom saw in past years. The injury to Thomas will sideline him for a long period of time (6 weeks is the guess) and CLOUD up the Blues offense.

…Phillip Broberg, a young player wasn’t expected to contribute so early in the season but his play clearly earned him a spot as he’s demonstrated speed, skill, some scoring ability & toughness. The Blues are sending the Oilers their 2025 second-round draft pick for Broberg as compensation for the unmatched offer sheets.

…StL CITY’s results have  been CLOUDY but not have taken a positive turn, with a 5W-5L-4D record across league and Leagues Cup competition since the start of July. It almost certainly won’t be enough to push them into the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, though, with STL’s elimination from that race looming as early as this weekend. “It was one of these windows where we had no choice, because simply through injuries. So we didn’t really want to be that active,” said GM Pfannenstiel. “Sometimes it forces you to make decisions. And I think, to be fair, maybe it was in the long term a good thing because we had to strengthen the squad. “We still kept the core together, but it was necessary to make the changes.”

….With half a dozen new acquisitions and a handful of promotions from their MLS NEXT Pro second team, the de facto equivalent of half a new starting XI arrived in The Lou. The club also parted company with head coach Bradley Carnell at the start of July, naming technical director John Hackworth the interim boss in his stead.

….Basically still in pre-season, The Billikens played 2 exhibition games against familiar schools-Maryville & Rockhurst. It won’t clear up all the CLOUDS about the top 8 players but it does often shed light on which substitutes will be able to contribute with a distinct purpose (defense, rebounding, zone buster, etc). In addition, the players face real opponents rather than just their teammates so that HC Josh Schertz will be able to get a better evaluation on his players (especially the substitutes).

….Well, the ideas are getting CLOUDY for me….sooo, now its your turn to respond. Just put it directly on my Facebook page. Thanks for your time & read!    Bob