A Happy Hanukkah to all. The Final Four are set for college football and SU has no complaints with these selections. Is Ohio State better than some or all of these teams? Probably, but they earned their way out of the games. Michigan State had a bunch of close wins including the improbable one over Michigan but they did beat the two finalists from last year’s football championship series (Oregon and Ohio State). SU sees Alabama winning it all although they are not the usual powerhouse on offense that we have seen in past years. Long-time SU subscriber T. Potter passed along this interesting note over the weekend: “Texas (5-7) has more top 15 wins this season than Ohio State, Alabama, Iowa and North Carolina — combined.” Of course, they also lost to some horrible teams along the way but certainly an oddity in this unusual season.
The Giants found a new and refreshing way to lose yesterday. Tom Coughlin clearly has zero confidence in his defense and went for the touchdown in the 4th quarter already up by 10 points. Surely, 13 points is a big enough lead against a Ryan Fitzpatrick-led offense, right? But he put up nearly 400 yards passing yesterday and the Giants collapsed yet again. Their offensive line is in shambles and at this point, they are not even close to a playoff caliber team. I don’t think Coughlin is coaching his normal way this year given how bad the defense is. He will likely go but GM Jerry Reese should be right behind him as he has done nothing with this roster for 3 years now.
The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to excel on offense and they will be a scary match-up in the playoffs in the AFC. The Pats are missing all of their skill players and at some point, you just can’t continue to plug in players even as good as Brady is. They have now lost the top seed and won’t have the championship game in Foxboro. The Bengals will likely have that game but Dalton is no world beater. Carolina is rolling towards a perfect season but SU is not sold on Cam Newton. Plus he is throwing to Ted Ginn who must hold the all-time record for dropped passes.
Baseball’s winter meetings are starting in Nashville and there continue to be all kinds of rumors about Andrew Miller being traded by the Yankees. SU does not understand this. Their margin for error was so small last year in winning 87 games. They were as perfect as you could be between Betances and Miller. If you deal Miller, his replacement won’t put up those types of numbers. Given the absence of any other moves at least to date, this will be another dismal year in the Bronx. It appears that Hal and Cashman are aiming for 2017 when a lot of money comes off the books. Til then, the Yankees will be “must-not see tv” for another year. And to long-time subscriber Evan’s point from Friday, in a free market system, the fans will stay away in 2016 and the YES Network ratings will tumble even further. SU agrees that they can charge what they want for tickets and hot dogs but the Yankees have reached a critical point now.
Brian Cashman continues to speak very bluntly and SU loved this comment from yesterday. Asked about Ellsbury’s benching in the Wild Card game, Cashman said “He had earned not playing that game. Compared to the other options we had … he just played the worst out of the crew we had, so, it’s why he didn’t play.” Exactly.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Alabama is definitely on a mission. However the other teams appear to be just as hungry. It should be a great Final Four playoff. If the Yankees have to wait for another year to obtain some key high impact players so be it… BUT they should add one this year and definitely keep Miller. That short porch in right field is exactly why he is our Closer. Mo actually pitched better against lefties but that was so atypical for a right handed pitcher. We aren’t that far away from 90 wins. A solid Starter and a solid hitter will get us there. The only reason why I might give Ellsbury another chance is because my gut tells me a 2nd year player with his credentials will bounce back assuming he remain healthy.
The Giants____________ nothing much to say when both your lines suck…and your linebackers suck too.
I agree about Miller. Plus, you have him locked up for 3 more years at $9 million a year which is a steal given his performance. The Yankee starters are all fragile. Tanaka is a tendon ready to blow any day, CC has knee and alcohol issues, Pineda always has some issue that keeps him on the DL for a month or two and Eovaldi had issues at the end of the year. Nova is coming off Tommy John although it sounds like he will be traded soon. Lots of health related question marks. Btw, Ellsbury is entering his 3rd year with the Yankees. And he never stays healthy for a full year. Their only silver lining is that the AL East as currently configured is heading into a down year like the NFC East.
How about the show that McCaffrey kid for Stanford put on the other day? Would have been exciting to see what that team could have done in the playoff and see him running around. Does he kick field goals too? I really think the story these days is how good this Golden State team has been. What they are doing on the offensive end and moving without the ball is amazing. They can’t keep track of where Curry is on the floor, and when they finally find him the ball is already on its way to the rim. Quite an accomplishment – and without their coach.
I saw that Stephen A. Smith went on a rant last week saying that neither Luke Walton and not even Steve Kerr deserve the credit for how Golden State is playing. Rather, the credit should go to Mark Jackson. Really? From where I sit, the Warriors started playing much smarter and more freely on offense once Kerr took over. Just another reason for me not to like Stephen A. Last I checked no team has hired Jackson to coach again and why is that if he is such a great coach? It’s because he is a loose canon when it comes to internal team dynamics with the front office. Kerr and now Walton deserve a lot of credit. After all, as we know, it just ain’t that easy.