We can always LOOK BACKWARD on decisions made …sometimes LOOKING FORWARD after those decisions is useful. Take a look…
…wrapping up the recent Bowl game Season, LOOKING BACKWARD, the SEC was very proud of having 13 teams in Bowl Games. 13 of 16 total teams is strong. However, maybe the Conference should reconsider. The SEC finished the bowl season with a mediocre 8-7 record. Some losses were surprising… Navy beat Oklahoma; Michigan with an 8-5 record upended #11 Alabama 19-11; #2 Georgia fell to Notre Dame 23-10.
LOOKING FORWARD….…Ohio State & ND were the 2 best teams. Ohio State’s speed was the difference. It seemed like the NCAA Football Tournament went well in its inaugural year.
…LOOKING BACKWARD–the epitome of sacrificing losses for money in non-conference games is Mississippi Valley State Mens Basketball. They haven’t won a nonconference basketball game in 18 YEARS!!! They’ll go & get their brains beat in anyplace, anytime just for the money! Nov. 22, 2006..that was the date of MVSU’s last nonconference road win. Since then, the Delta Devils have lost a galling 190 such games in a row. Why do they do it? Plain & Simple–To stay afloat financially as a program. They compete in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They are 2-17 overall and 0-6 in conference. Then, LOOKING FORWARD….I don’t know how they continue to find players. Apparently, they (the school) can’t raise enough money to bring in competitive players. I don’t mean competitive towards a national championship… I mean competitive in getting close to .500 for the season.
…LOOKING BACKWARD…just a year ago, the Cardinals were touting their new Catcher, Willson Contreras as one of the best hitting catchers. Not just for this year but among all active catchers. He was just the 17th player in Cubs history to have four 20 home run seasons. Since his rookie season in 2016, only J.T. Realmuto has done better from an offensive standpoint. As a Cub catcher, he was 2nd in on-base%, 3rd in HR, extra base hits & RBI’s. LOOKING FORWARD….now…he’s going to be a 1b! There will be a significant drop-off @ 1b defensively. He simply hasn’t played their often and his skills won’t be close to the defensive skills of Paul Goldschmidt. He hasn’t played there since 2019, he’s played a total of 11 games @ 1b (starting just 4 of them). Sooo…despite his best efforts & practice to compare him to Paul Goldschmidt @ 1b is a joke. A talented 1b saves many throws in the dirt & off target. I predict he’ll be traded by August 1 as both, HE and the Cardinals, will be unhappy with the situation.
….LOOKING BACKWARD… The NCAA adopted the 12 team football playoff this year. It was a booming success. The payouts were strong– $4 million for each of the 12 teams that makes the College Football Playoff; $4 million more for each of the 8 teams that makes the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
Plus an additional $6 million for each of the 4 teams that makes the College Football Playoff Semifinals
$6 m for each of the 2 teams that makes the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Additionally, each team who participates in the College Football Playoff receives $3 million to cover expenses for each round. Additionally, each conference receives $300,000 for each of its schools whose football team meets the NCAA’s APR for participation in a postseason football game. Each independent institution also receives $300,000 if its football team meets the same standard.
LOOKING FORWARD…. I see the NCAA expanding to 16 teams (no 1st round byes) next year. Too much Money left on the table!
…LOOKING BACKWARD….many High school coaches are “good” coaches but there are just a few who are really special. Dan Rolfes (Incarnate Word Academy) is one of those special coaches. He began his coaching career @ Rosary HS (where I also had coached Girls Basketball) with a 42-11 record. He moved to IWA. Now, he’s piled up an incredible 483-69 record and reached 13 Final Fours, winning 8 state championships (2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018). The eight titles are a girls basketball record in the MSHSAA postseason tournament era that began in 1973. LOOKING FORWARD…would he ever consider a college position? It seems like the next logical step for a coach of his caliber.
…..LOOKING BACKWARD… We all knew that the NIL money was going to skyrocket. There, seemingly, are no controls, no limitations, no public notifications. Go out and buy the best player that you can afford. LOOKING FORWARD…After just 1 year, take a look… Former Tulane standout quarterback Darian Mensah has reportedly received a NIL deal from Duke University that would unofficially make him the highest-paid player in college football, John Talty and Chris Hummer of CBS Sports reported.
Mensah, the No. 5 ranked signal-caller in On3’s transfer portal rankings, has reportedly signed a deal worth $8 million over two seasons to play for the Blue Devils. Yes…I said EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS! He just completed his redshirt freshman season at Tulane and has three years of eligibility remaining. This is just the start!! Even he doesn’t make a a professional team, Eight mil should be enough to “live on” for his life!!
….LOOKING BACKWARD… a couple years ago, the Cardinals had Albert Pujols assisting them. He had a “liking” for Juan Yepez’s swing. He ended up in Washington this year. He batted .283 with a OPS of .764 (which is higher than any Cardinal batted last year!). How did he slip away with a team that really struggled at the plate? If he can’t field, we now have the DH spot. LOOKING FORWARD…. I’m assuming that there wasn’t any “off the field” issues with Yepez. If Albert ever DOES assist the Cardinals again (which I doubt), maybe the Cards should listen to his suggestions.
LOOKING FORWARD….the batting leaders on the Cardinals roster is changing. In 2024, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, & Masyn Winn all had an OPS higher than Nolan Arenado! Maybe he should look in the mirror….the current Arenado is NOT the same player that arrived in the Lou a couple years ago! Btw…after his refusal to be traded, I have no doubts that the Cardinal fans will express their displeasure with him (boos) night after night. For a guy who seems to wear his emotions nightly, he’ll be wishing that he HAD moved on!!
…LOOKING BACKWARD…. the newest HOF’ers elected this year were–Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia & Billy Wagner. It’s a blend of a hitter, starting pitcher & a relief hurler. Suzuki was a “shoo in”. He had over 3000 hits. What’s really makes it amazing is that he didn’t reach the MLB until he was 27 years old! Like most highly talented players, he stayed 2 years too long. His 2018 & 2019 seasons when he was 45 & 46 years old, were pathetic but it doesn’t tarnish his long-time, year after year production.
…. CC Sabathia has some special numbers, really special! He’s one of just 15 pitchers in Major League history to notch at least 250 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. Further, Sabathia is only the 3rd left-handed pitcher to accomplish the feat, he joins other Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson. That’s some “really special” level of pitching!
….Billy Wagner, a closer (there haven’t been too many closers inducted…yet!) has some impressive stats. He ranks #1 all-time among pitchers with at least 900 innings in opponents’ batting average (.187), strikeouts per nine innings (11.92) and hits per nine innings (5.99) and second in WHIP (0.997) and opponents’ OPS .558. To put Wagner’s career numbers in perspective, among pitchers with at least 900 innings since the live-ball era began in 1920, he ranks: #2–in ERA behind only Rivera’s 2.21;
#1 in strikeouts per nine innings; #1 in lowest batting average allowed (.187); #2 in lowest OPS allowed to Rivera’s .555. Sooo…some say that Wagner was arguably the hardest pitcher to hit in MLB history.
…Being a relief pitcher had its own hurdles. It wasn’t a smooth ride for Wagner to the HOF doors. Wagner received only 10.2 percent of the vote in his 2nd year on the ballot in 2017. He then made sizable jumps in each of his next seven years. He is the only candidate in the modern election era (post 1967) to receive fewer than 15 percent of the vote in three separate BBWAA elections before eventually earning a spot in Cooperstown!
…LOOKING FORWARD…. The ice has been broken, there will likely be a deluge of relief pitchers knocking on the HOF door shortly!
…LOOKING BACKWARD….Thanks for your read of this Buzz LOOKING FORWARD…Hoping that you’ll return next week for another read AND that you spread the word 😊 Thanks! Bob
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