It’s that time of the year…Santa is leaving gifts for the NAUGHTY & NICE professional athletes.  Some have retired so Santa will “catch up” with them this year 😊

….Lets start with the smaller gifts…receiving a gift of Increasing HOPE was Mizzou football Coach Eli Drinkwitz. Drinkwitz has turned the Tiger program around into a winning program.  HC Drink posted a 9-3 record this year. This has landed his club in Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn against Iowa. While some, like me, wish that he played a more challenging non-league schedule. However, Winning multiple games against any level team seems to be the current recipe for success.  Coach Drink’s SEC conference record in each of  his 5 years @ Columbia are: 5-5, 3-5, 3-5, 6-2, 5-3. Sooo…the last 2 years have been over .500…that’s encouraging. Pls forget about all those wins over cupcakes prior to SEC action. Who really cares about them? Wouldn’t you love to see Mizzou playing Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, K-State, Iowa, Iowa St (all of our border states) in non-league games each year?

…Staying in Columbia, MO…another gift for the NICE is directed towards Men’s Basketball Coach Dennis Gates. His mild court demeanor is refreshing. It’s easy to see that the players are responding to him. His 25-10 record @ MU in his 1^st season @ MU earned him the USA Today -SEC Coach of the year. Those 25 wins in the SEC put him in a Hallowed group of coaches with 25 wins. It was fifth-most in league history – trailing only Tubby Smith, John Calipari, Eddie Sutton and Trent Johnson!! After a “down” year last year as Tigers went 8-24, Coach Gates hit the recruiting trail hard. Currently, NCAA Basketball rosters seem to  go  through major transformation each year. Some new players transfer in or come in as Frosh. Other players depart for more NIL money, or lack of playing time, or …whatever. There isn’t any “building for the future” program any longer. It’s this year, this season, this team.

Coach Gates has seemed to  have adapted to the ever-changing landscape of collegiate basketball.

…I can’t determine if the next gift is naughty or nice. It seems that St Marys grad, Kevin Coleman is breaking new ground. The terrific Wide Receiver was a thrill to watch in HS. He led the Dragons to their 1^st ever State Football Championship in 2023 in a Class 3 Title win over ST Pius X 56-0! The Following year, w/o any increase in enrollment, SM was moved up to Class 4. Again, SM(12-2) romped to a state title with their 2^nd win over ST. Dominic (8-6). Coleman a leader on the 2023 team has played college football. Coleman played for Deion Sanders @ Jackson State in 2022. He had 33 catches for 510

Yards for 3 touchdowns.  In 2023, Coleman played for Louisville(11 starts, 26 receptions for 362 yards and 2 TD’s). Then, in 2024, Coleman was wearing a Mississippi State Uniform.  He hauled in 74 passes, 932 yards, 6 TD’s. Now… Coleman is transferring to Mizzou for his Senior year.  I’m assuming that his NIL money increased each transfer. It seems to me that Coleman has learned to “play the transfer game” to its fullest. I can’t decide if that NAUGHTY OR NICE 😊

…Moving to the the other side of the tree  (with the larger gifts)….Being named as the NICEST AND BEST Cardinal ever is Stan Musial. Stan was viewed as the nicest guy in the league by many, probably most,  observers. Now Stan played long before many of you readers were even born. I was lucky enough to see Stan play. yes…I actually saw him play in action at Busch!! He had a very peculiar stance. He was in deep crouch, far off the plate. He’d take his stride forward & toward the plate. He could turn his hips in a hurry on the inside pitch!  Let me bring you up to speed for the player commonly referred to as the BEST Cardinal ever. He played his entire career as a Cardinal Look at his stats…3,630 hits (all Cardinals hits), 24x-All Star, 3x-MVP, 7x-Batting Champion. He was on 3 World Series Championship teams! WAR wasn’t even a stat in his days.  But… tabulating it after his retirement as a Cardinal, his WAR, was 128.6 for his career. To give you idea of how unbelievable that is….Albert Pujols WAR for his career was 88.7!  In 2024, the MLB WAR leaders were Aaron Judge–10.8, followed by Bobby Witt Jr.-9.4, and Shohei Ohtani with 9.2 His career OPS (calculated after he retired) was .976! Stan has passed away in January 2013 but his tremendous skill, kindness (he often signed autographs for fans before the game). He NEVER argued with umpires. His batting numbers could have been EVEN Higher. He missed a full year and part of another year early in his career due to Military Service during WWII.  Stan gets to choose any gift that wants…he’s the best!!

…Turning around, it was time for the NAUGHEST StL professional athlete. It’s Conrad Dobler!  He played as an offensive lineman for the St Louis Football Cardinals. We called them the “Big Red”. They had been the Chicago Cardinals prior to their move to the “Lou” in 1960. As an offensive lineman, 

He once made SI’s cover as the dirtiest player in pro football. He felt it was his job to protect the QB—no matter what!! He said,”I see defensive linemen jump to knock a pass down, “When that happened near me, I’d smack ’em in the solar plexus, and that got their hands down real quick. Many players are concerned about players getting hurt, Dobler could care less is they were injured! He wasn’t hesitant about treating ALL defensive linemen alike. He didn’t treat the “stars” any differently.  He punched Mean Joe Greene, he kicked Merlin Olsen in the head, he bit, he gouged, and once, he spit on a downed and injured opponent– the Eagles’ Bill Bradley. For this NAUGHTY award, Dobler receives a Ted Drewes sundae that’s been sitting under a sun light for an hour or 2!  Hope he likes Sundae Soup😊

….The Lou has been w/o NBA basketball since 1968 but most STL sports fans still know some of the

“big” names of the NBA.  Tim Duncan is a highly recognizable player for years in the NBA and clearly belongs on the NICE side of the court.  He’s been in the NBA since the 1997-98 season & has been a part of 5 championship teams while Duncan averages 19.0 ppg & 10.8 rebounds. In addition to being a genuine “good guy”, he has personally accepted salaries below his super star status so that his team could sign other talented players. Further for his community, he’s established the Tim Duncan Foundation. He’s active himself in several of the projects of his Foundation some of which goes towards research for Prostrate & Breast Cancer. Tim will receive a golden basketball for all of his generosity, kindness & good will.

… NAUGHTY Kelvin Sampson is to scummy college coaches what Muhammad Ali was to boxing: the greatest. Sampson had already “earned” Oklahoma 3-year probation for recruiting violations when he took over as the head coach of Indiana. In addition to several other violations, it was found that Sampson made over 550 illegal calls to 17 different recruits and had broken five major rules. 

….On the side of the NICEST & BEST is Franciso Lindor.  Lindor has been in the MLB for 10 years (6 w/Cleveland; 4 with the Mets. He’s been on 6 playoff teams! Sooo, he’s a good player & he’s a charitable person. In 2022, following Hurricane Fiona’s devastation to his homeland, Lindor donated $50,000 to aid Puerto Rican communities. In 2021, he donated $1m to his alma mater-  Montverde Academy. But…he’s not just throwing big donations to charitable causes, he’s getting his own hands dirty.  Lindor has joined beach cleanups in his homeland of Puerto Rico, which is a passion for his wife & family.

…When considering raunchy Men’s collegiate basketball coaches, there is a long list of well-known, NAUGHTY, coaches on it. Well known for their winning not for the ethics. It was tough to choose just 1 sooo…he’s a few—John Calipari–The Final Four berths he earned while coaching UMass were vacated when it was learned Marcus Camby had illegally received payments. 2) As coach @ Memphis Univ,  there, Calipari would have an entire season voided after violations surfaced that Derrick Rose (his star player) had cheated on his SAT’s and that Rose’s brother had travel expenses paid for by the school. Nonetheless he was hired by Kentucky because he wins games, he still has the NCAA investigating him over Eric Bledsoe’s academic fraud. 

…I’m sure that all of you will receive NICE gifts this year. I’m always grateful for your GIFT of time that you give me each week. It’s fun and a challenge for me to write for each of you.  Keep spreading the word (that’s your gift to me!) … Merry Christmas!  Bob