Congratulations to the NFL for getting this season to the Super Bowl. Let’s admit it – that wasn’t a given back in September. Interesting games yesterday – SU’s take:

• SU still does not understand Green Bay’s logic late in the 4th quarter to not go for the touchdown there and settle for the field goal. You have Aaron Rodgers at QB who is having an MVP season. You are not guaranteed to get the ball back again, and even if you do, you may have to go 60 – 70 yards with about 30 seconds and no timeouts. SU says the better play is try for the touchdown on 4th down, and if you don’t make it, you still have 3 timeouts, the 2-minute warning and the Bucs inside the 10-yard line. SU would question if the analytics guide even says you kick the field goal there. Rodgers did not exactly support the coach in his post-game comments.
• While Brady had 3 interceptions in the 2nd half, SU felt that most of them were equivalent to a punt on 3rd down. None were deep inside Tampa Bay territory. As Brady was on the SU fantasy team this year, I must say that I have been rooting for him in the playoffs. It’s a great story – you have to admit it whether you like him or not.
• Kansas City will be tough to beat in the Super Bowl but Tampa Bay’s defense has played progressively better each round of the playoffs. They are well coached. Should be a competitive game. SU says the “home field” in Tampa is overblown as in most Super Bowls, the crowd is made up of business partners and not the locals. At a reduced level, not sure it’s a factor but makes for a nice story.

The Yankees are making a bid for an all-recovery starting rotation in 2021. You have Severino coming back from Tommy John surgery, this new guy from the Pirates who has had Tommy John twice, and Kluber who has a different arm problem. Cashman is rolling the dice as he has some youngsters waiting in the wings to pick up the slack if anyone falters physically. I mean, that never happens with the Yankees right? Paging James Paxton.

What is going on in the NBA? You can never watch a game with a full line-up available. SU is not clear if it’s a case of resting your stars or COVID exposure. I watch the Miami Heat games and they always have 2-3 starters out every game. Just strange.

SU was bummed to see Michigan shut down all sports for 2 weeks due to COVID. They are a projected #1 seed in the NCAAs and tremendously fun to watch. Juwan Howard is making a name for himself as a coach and the NBA will be going after him in a couple of years for sure. They don’t have the best players but they are as unselfish of a team that you will ever see. They all buy into the system – make the extra pass – and play tough defense.

The men’s and women’s tennis tours are quarantining in Australia. Pretty tough. 4 weeks in their hotels with no practice time on the courts. Players are worried about injury once they emerge and the tournament starts. The players are getting abused in the Australian media for complaining but SU gets it.

Recent home Neflix/Amazon viewing:

1. Bridgerton – on Netflix. SU says OK – got better towards the end
2. Night Manager – that was really good. One season.
3. Tiger Woods documentary on HBO – part 1 was good, part 2 was enough already. Too much on the women although I guess there were so many, you needed the time to cover them all.
4. Big Sky (ABC) – started out well – got a little too contrived for me

Per usual, feel free to share other selections with the intergalactic subscriber base.

The anxiety level of Yankee fans has been on the rise for weeks now as the stand-off with DJ LeMahieu extended into 2021. Finally, we get word of the 6-year, $90 million contract that seems reasonable to SU although 6 years is a long time. On a normal team with normal contracts, you would say, no problem, once LeMahieu hits 35 or 36 years old, we will slide him into the DH spot. But NO – that will be occupied by Giancarlo Stanton who is signed for the next 27 years, and is already in the DH role at 30 years old. Anyway, the Yankees did what was necessary for 2021 and beyond and locked up their best and most versatile player.

Then, last night we learned about the signing of former Indians’ pitcher, Corey Kluber, to a 1-year deal. He is coming back from injury and this is a bit of a gamble. Apparently, he has looked good throwing to other teams and $11 million by baseball pitching standards is not a payroll breaker for the Yankees. But SU does wonder how durable he will be on a team with a bad track record for these types of pitchers (see Paxton). If he can regain some of his past form, he can be a stud. However, it does appear that signing Kluber means we say good bye to Tanaka which would be too bad. I mean, will Kluber be that much better than Tanaka for one year? Hard to see that. The Yankees have some youngsters ready to make their move and I am fine with letting them fill in the open spots for the start of the season.

There is still time to sign Didi Gregorius. No indication that they will do that but as written here many times before, they sure need a left-handed bat in the line-up.

So, Urban Meyer does make the move to the NFL after all. SU had predicted this for many years although I am surprised it took this long. I don’t like him but he is an excellent coach and I think he will be successful in Jacksonville. Smart move by the Jaguars.

SU notes that since I wrote about the NY Knicks, they have lost every game. I will go back to not commenting on them. Now, as for the Brooklyn Nets, SU is very disappointed. I was starting to watch them and you could see the role players emerging as the season unfolded. Now, they lose LeVert and Jarrett Allen, draft picks and other players. And Kyrie Irving is acting nuttier than usual this season. He’s a great one-on-one player but so high maintenance. SU does not see how this line up will work and I hate watching James Harden. Unwatchable. But I will keep an eye on LeVert in Indiana.

SU is still admittedly a bit shaken this Friday morning after watching the developments from Wednesday in Washington. It was quite a spectacle watching the “very fine people” inside the Capitol wearing their Auschwitz sweatshirts and 6MWE (“6 Million Wasn’t Enough”) shirts. Thank goodness for social media and video. And to think some thought the big problem in the country was NFL players kneeling for the National Anthem? Looks like we have bigger problems.

SU knows that the subscriber base does not want me to veer into this area (#sticktosports) but you wonder if once we get past COVID will we see even more security at sports events in the future? If a player speaks out about some issue (and you can expect to see a lot more of that going forward as the stars in particular are feeling empowered to do just that), will there be more mobs like we saw in Washington forcing their way into a stadium or an arena? If the goal is to be noticed, a televised sports event is certainly a likely target. Just a sad time in our country.

On a more positive note, SU loves the move by the Mets yesterday to trade for Lindor and Carrasco from the Indians. I am not familiar with the players that the Mets gave up but with Lindor being a free agent after 2021, it probably was not a lot. Lindor is still young and signing him to a long-term deal makes a lot of sense. He is also a charismatic guy and he will love NY and NY will love him. SU is a Yankee fan, of course, but the Mets are the hot team in MLB going into this coming season, and they are certainly the more interesting team in NY. I mean, they even have left-handed hitters in the line up. What a concept!

Lots of excitement about your New York Knicks! Full disclosure, I have not watched a full game yet this year but what I have seen is a team that plays hard and gets after it on defense. They are a very likeable team and there is no superstar that you have to cater to for shots each game. SU is going to start tuning in for sure.

Time for NFL predictions. This weekend’s games are interesting as home field no longer means anything with no fans in the stands. Normally, you would expect the favorites to win these games in the first round with probably one upset. SU says keep an eye on the Ravens-Titans game. Both are high scoring and SU feels like the winner will go on a playoff run and make it to the Super Bowl which means beating KC along the way. In the NFC, Green Bay has been dominant and if they can get some cold weather in Green Bay over the next few weeks, that is a big advantage even with no fans in the stands. SU likes Tampa Bay – my pick to make it to the Super Bowl in their home stadium.

Of course, just getting these games played in a pandemic may be seen as a win for the NFL at this point. Anyone have some interesting Super Bowl predictions that go beyond KC vs. Green Bay which is the consensus pick at this point?

Full disclosure: SU watched the Michigan – Northwestern basketball game last night and then The Night Manager on Netflix afterwards (very good, by the way. Enjoying this show a lot). I was following the score of the Eagles – WFT game but did not turn it on. I did watch the Giants – Dallas game that afternoon in its entirety.

I know A LOT of people are pissed off this morning that the Eagles pulled the starting QB and put in the never-used 3rd stringer in the 4th quarter of a close game. Apparently, this guy was horrible and that was the game.

SU says that you need to take care of business and not rely on others on the last game of the season. This happens all the time in baseball when you need a team to lose and the opponent ends up resting their regulars and starting some minor leaguer in their MLB debut. Same thing in the NBA. You need some other team to lose and they are playing the Lakers on the last game of the year. But the Lakers rest LeBron and Davis and that is that. Is it fair? Probably not. The Giants were 6-10 and should have beaten the Eagles in Philly except they mistakenly threw a pass to Evan Engram (as in All Pro Engram which is beyond me) to clinch the game in the final minutes, and of course, he dropped it.

Now, NBC put this game on Sunday night figuring the Eagles might actually try their hardest right until the end. If they had known that Pederson was going to do this, they may have swapped out for another game. It was a bad look for the NFL for sure. The Eagles ended up with the #6 pick in the draft vs. #9 by losing.

The Giants should be super motivated to play the Eagles next season. Of course, they should have been super motivated this year and won that first game. But coaches have long memories and those games next season should be fun and interesting.

OK, Giant fans, let’s hear from you. Are you outraged? Was this a travesty? The floor is open.