SU is in a reflective mood today as we come up on Thanksgiving. Let me preface this by saying that I don’t care about your politics – you are entitled to support whomever you like. This is America. You can shout it from the treetops. Have at it.

But SU is thinking about how coaches and athletes deal with losing under the most stressful circumstances and with the world watching. SU asks this question: “What do Isiah Thomas and Ille Nastase have in common?” Answer: both were classless losers. We all remember when Isiah walked off the court in the playoff against Michael Jordan and the Bulls when Chicago was finally able to overcome the Pistons. He couldn’t even wait until the final buzzer – just took his teammates down the side of the court and into the locker room with the game going on and did not congratulate the Bulls and Jordan on a hard-fought series win. Jordan never forgot that – and neither did many fans. It’s a stain on his legacy.

Back in the 1970s, Nastase played an early rounds match at Forest Hills at the US Open against Hans Pohman from Germany. SU and long-time subscriber, J. Levine, were in the stands to witness it. Nastase was in all his glory – acting out, yelling and cursing at the umpire and the linesmen. Pohman was some journeyman player – never heard of him. Pohman won and at the net, instead of shaking hands, Nastase spat at him. And mind you, Pohman had done nothing but win. He was not acting out in any way. Classless.

The point is this. People are watching. Kids are watching. They watch our athletes, coaches, leaders. How people act when they lose makes an impression and if you are in the spotlight, others will emulate you. There are some who do it right. If you follow men’s tennis, and the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, they have played some epic 5-set, 5-hour+ matches and at the end, they congratulate the other on the victory. SU has always thought that this was great – no matter how competitive you are, you lose — or win — with dignity. You know others are watching. You say the right things at the awards ceremony. It’s not that hard to do. At the end of Stanley Cup playoff series, no matter how many fights there were, the teams line up to shake hands and show respect. Golf takes it to the maximum – no showing the other players up, no spiking the ball. At the 18th hole, you take off your hat and shake hands.

In this era of social media and over-the-top celebrations, SU knows that times have changed. The bat flip on a home run, the celebration of making a first down, the trash talk. But in the end, the coaches shake hands and the players (generally) tip their caps. And yes, there are endings where the game hinged on a bad call (see Big Ten officials every week) or a missed ball or strike call, but you accept the result and move on. As a coach, you set the tone for your team longer term and mourn the loss and move on. You do that because it’s the right thing to do and you want to set the example. And others will remember that too.

And that’s why – along with a thousand other reasons – the last 3 weeks have been so awful and stressful. There will be no concession speech, no graceful exit, no “do the right thing.” Instead we get the leader of the free world spitting over the net at the 80 million people who didn’t vote for him. And others are watching – kids, other current and future losers who will view this as normal behavior and acceptable in all kinds of situations.

The world is watching. Do better. Be better.

Happy Thanksgiving.

What to make of Robinson Cano? He is a long-time SU fave who was already caught once using PEDs while with the Seattle Mariners. Now it appears that his bounce back season in 2020 was aided once again by PEDs and he is suspended for all of 2021 thereby forfeiting his $24 million salary. He is 38 years old and the $24 million a year were guaranteed for both 2021 and 2022 from the Mets. Knucklehead. Of course, this is actually good news for the Mets who do not have to overpay him for 2021 and they can free up that money to hire a free agent or two.

Long-time subscriber, J. Levine, wonders if the Mets will now be the top contender for the Yankees in the chase for DJ LeMahieu? Cano is a 2nd baseman and LeMahieu can slide in there nicely for the Mets. SU would have to agree and if you are LeMahieu, you don’t have a long-term allegiance with the Yankees. Take the most money someone is offering. The Mets are an up and coming team and have an owner with deep pockets. This is something to keep an eye on as the Yankees can ill-afford to lose LeMahieu who was their best player for the past 2 seasons.

Tennis fans should check out the ATP Men’s finals in London this week with a round robin format on the Tennis Channel. Join the 9 other viewers globally who are enjoying some great matches from the top players (minus Federer).

SU checked out the NBA draft last night. Either I did not follow the season closely last year or I just don’t know who most of these players are being drafted. And I watch a lot of games. Could be the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.

The big game this weekend in college football is….. Northwestern vs. Wisconsin! The winner will be in control of the Big Ten West. Pat Fitzgerald is really one of the great college football coaches – almost always fields a contender despite the difficulty of competing for talent with other Big Ten teams.

This just in: the Yankees have announced that they are challenging the results of the Divisional series with Tampa Bay on the grounds that there were no fans in the stands to witness the result. They are summoning all of the sports writers to Yankee Stadium to change their stories of what happened in game 5. Ok, that’s just crazy… couldn’t happen in the USA.

Finally, the word is to watch what happens in early December in MLB with teams that decide to let their restricted free agents just walk. There may be a flood of free agents out there and teams who will not have the money to pay them. SU says you may have a ton of players sign 1-year deals for 2021. A chance for smart GMs to pick up some top talent. Should be fun to watch and give us some big shifts in rosters for at least a season or two.

And finally, finally, congrats to Km Ng who is the new GM for the Florida Marlins. Props to Derek Jeter – good for him – and for her.

I know, long time no speak. To be honest, just not that much going on in the world of sports lately. But a few thoughts today:

1. The NY Giants are actually not a bad team. They are generally in every game and lately have shown signs of life in the awful, awful NFL East Division. They play hard and seem to make the best of a roster that is not as talented as basically every team that they play. SU appreciates the effort.
2. Watching the Masters in November was definitely different. Going into Saturday, they had all of the top players clustered together at the top of the leader board. Very cool. Too bad Dustin Johnson ran away with it in the end but great to see a tournament where the stars rise to the top.
3. Yankee fans are waiting nervously for the team to re-sign LeMahieu. This should be the only off-season free agent that is mission critical. There is no one else that is so badly needed. SU says 4 years, $100 million should do the trick.
4. The articles about the Yankees trading Stanton are just fiction. He has a no trade. It’s A-Rod II at a theatre near you for the next 8 years. Just an awful signing that will hamstring the team for years to come – especially with the pandemic and the absence of ticket, food and beverage revenues for 2021 (most likely). The Yankees will hold tight in the free agent market other than LeMahieu.
5. The Mets are set up. Cohen is the only owner with money to spend on free agents and he won’t be competing with anyone. He just needs to spend wisely. SU says the Mets are the main story for 2021.
6. James Harden wants to come to Brooklyn. The Nets would need to trade their youngsters to make that happen – especially Caris LeVert. DO NOT DO THIS. If you want to move Kyrie Irving, by all means do that. But Harden, while a great player, is a ball stopper. SU does not want to watch this.
7. Michigan needs to cut the cord with Jim Harbaugh. Not worth the money and the team visibly quit on Saturday night. SU has never seen that in a college football game. They stopped competing on defense. He has lost the team and it’s time to move on.
8. Anxiously waiting for college hoops to begin. Just not sure how that works in a non-bubble setting. The NBA pulled it off but every player was in the bubble. SU says it’s hard to see how this works in basketball but happy to be proven wrong as I am a big college basketball fan.

Anyone on your baseball free agency wish list? For me, it’s Didi Gregorius making a return to the Bronx for 2 years to play shortstop. I have seen enough of Gleyber Torres and he is better suited at 2nd base. I definitely would steer clear of Lindor from the Indians. The Yankees need pitching and more contact hitters.

Gary Sanchez is rumored to be on the trading block but I believe that is just to motivate him to get better. He is playing winter ball now. I say the Yankees give him one final year to revert back to hitting to the opposite field. However, happy to see him traded if it happens.

The floor is open. What’s on your sports mind these days?