A Happy New Year to the SU intergalactic subscriber base!

SU knows that the NFL is the pre-eminent professional sports league, and by far the most popular of the pro sports leagues in the US. But for SU, when it comes to what are really fun and memorable games, you cannot beat college football. 

Yesterday (and early this morning up to 1 am for those of you keeping score at home), we were treated to 2 epic games. Note to ESPN: these are 4-hour games. Maybe start the Rose Bowl an hour earlier? Michigan – Alabama was a true slugfest with the Big Ten, for a change, playing a physical game on defense against a powerhouse SEC team. Michigan’s defense won the game for them, the offense held its own and special teams tried to give it away. SU must admit that extra points were incredibly stressful the entire 2nd half and the punts? Whoa.

At the end of regulation, Harbaugh put in his sure hands punt returner after a huge muffed punt in the 1st half led to an Alabama touchdown. But he decided trying to catch it inside the 5-yard line was a good idea at that point. Crazy. But that is why SU loves college football. It’s the dumb plays made by youngsters on the big stage. These are not professionals and they are doing their best under pressure. It makes it unpredictable and so much fun. Now, truth be told, it was more “fun” that Jake Thaw somehow recovered his muff on the 1-yard line vs. losing the game in the last minute.

A few comments on the Rose Bowl:

1. The game was played on grass and no doubt there is some moisture on the grass late in the afternoon and early evening in Pasadena. The centers and long snappers had some issues and SU believes the grass was a factor. In overtime, there is no way that Michigan would have attempted a field goal under any circumstances. It would have been touchdown or bust.
2. Alabama made some good adjustments at half time and pretty much stopped throwing the ball down the field in the 2nd half. It was all quarterback runs and short passes from there on out. SU says Jalen Milroe is overrated as a passer and that was exposed last night. He is a dynamic runner though and on that 4th down play in OT, you knew he was going to keep it. You win or lose with your best player. Luckily, Michigan was thinking that way as well.
3. SU was happy that Michigan, finally, unveiled some more creative plays on offense vs. what they show in the regular season. Their execution on some was not there but credit them for trying. Putting players in motion on most plays also helped to throw off Alabama in the secondary as they struggled to figure out who to cover.
4. There is satisfaction in watching Nick Saban get pissed off on the sideline.
5. In a sport where technology is available, SU has to laugh at how referees spot the ball on the field after a play. It is so haphazard. On one play, the ref just dropped the ball on the ground while signaling for a timeout as it rolled away several yards. He went over, picked it up and just put it down in the vicinity of where it was. And ruling where the runner goes out of bounds on the sideline? It’s plus/minus one yard on many plays.
6. The refs let ’em play last night. Very few penalties and that was enjoyable. Sure, they missed a few plays but it was nice not see so many flags thrown.

The Sugar Bowl game was wild. Washington has an amazing offense and an amazingly bad pass defense. They were hurt late in the game when their top running back was hurt on a 3rd down run that would have run the clock down to about 15 seconds. That allowed Texas to mount one more wild drive to the red zone. If the running back did not get hurt, that does not happen. Bad luck for them and now he is likely out for the championship game.

A Michigan – Washington finals is actually an all-Big Ten final going forward. And these two teams play each other in Seattle later this year. Good stuff. While the SEC is still the best conference, the additions of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington to the Blue Bloods of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State put these two conferences on an even plane now I think.

Next Monday will be Michigan’s defense trying to stop Washington’s high flying offense. They failed miserably last season in a very similar situation vs. TCU. Very similar. But you have to figure they learned some things from that experience.

For Michigan, still unclear if Harbaugh returns next season as there will be NFL slots opening up, and he may still have the itch. JJ McCarthy may also opt out for the draft although next year’s draft has fewer top QBs in it, and he should probably stay one more year. He has his moments but also has his other moments.

Finally, a year from now, we will only be in the quarterfinals of the college football playoffs. The finals are slated for January 20th. But the 12-team format will be great. Perhaps players will actually opt in to play vs. sitting the bowl games out? Btw, given the number of injuries in football, SU has no issues with that.

Yankee fans were just assuming that Yamamoto was going to end up in pinstripes. After all, this is New York, championship history, Hideki Matsui serving as ambassador, Judge and Cole to lure him in. Now, it turns out that Hal capped the Yankees’ bid at $300 million as he did not want to go higher than Cole’s deal and well, enough is enough. Reports are that Steve Cohen actually matched the Dodgers’ offer value ($325 million over 12 years) that included the Dodgers posting a $50 million payment to the Japanese team. Yamamoto gets a $50 million sign-on bonus.

SU is not mad at Steinbrenner not getting him. The Yankees really wanted him and made a competitive offer. SU has read about Yamamoto’s training regimen, focus on flexibility, throwing all the time, etc. and maybe he is truly a freak and will never have arm issues. Ever. But it sure seems like every pitcher that throws 99 mph has arm issues at some point and a 12-year deal may not end well.

For the Yankees, it’s a gut punch for sure. They are at a crossroads and they are not strong in their starting pitching. Carlos Rodon needs to be good and it certainly is not clear that he is. What’s a team to do? SU says here is a novel idea: grow your own. Stop relying on the free agent market. There are enough deep pocket owners now that the Yankees (or Mets) certainly cannot expect to outbid other teams for any free agent. The Giants, Phillies, Blue Jays and probably others were all in the mix here. It’s actually good for baseball that there are owners out there who can compete for the big contracts.

SU’s expectations for the Yankees in 2024 are modest at best in the competitive AL East. Soto is a nice addition but they traded some of their top pitching prospects over the past year, and their starters are never healthy (see Cortes, Rodon). No doubt, there is a plan B which will involve overpaying for Jordan Montgomery but look for some quick signings coming.

The Dodgers will have all the pressure on them in 2024, and they always seem to have the best regular season record and then fall short in the playoffs. Something to root for in 2024 as they are the new Evil Empire.

Should Hal have gone higher on his contract offer? Do the Mets have an image problem? The board is open.

On its face value, a 10-year, $700 million contract for a professional sports athlete does seem to be over the top. I know some of the money is back-loaded to help the Dodgers more effectively recruit and sign other players so they can field a competitive team. Ohtani is 29 years old so by the standards of other recent deals, age 39 is not so bad for the back end of one of these long-term deals.

SU says that if you break it down, you can make the case that $40 million for his hitting for 10 years is along the lines of Aaron Judge’s deal and actually that seems fair then. That leaves $300 million and 10 years for his role as a starting pitcher. Now, will he make it 10 years still pitching? Hard to say but he could transition into a closer role at some point later in his career. Plus he put fans in the seats – especially in LA and certainly on the road.

Ohtani is a freak in that he plays 2 positions very well – at an elite level. Maybe this isn’t so crazy?

Those were the words of Brian Cashman a couple of days ago talking about Juan Soto and what he could mean to the Yankees’ lineup. SU says: where have we heard that before? Ahhhhhh yes, it was Giancarlo Stanton who was a “generational talent.”

SU is trying to get excited about the Yankees’ trade for Juan Soto for many of the guys who actually started games for the Yankees in the 2023 season and were pretty good at it plus their top pitching prospect, Thorpe. I get it: the offense sucked in 2023 and they had to do something. They traded for Verdugo who SU does not like (I mean a Red Sox?) and who strikes me as a Josh Donaldson type personality in the clubhouse (not a good thing). In reading up on Soto, apparently he is a sub-par outfielder and a sub-par baserunner. He is left-handed though (Yay!) and this lineup is desperate for that.

Judge will now be the every day centerfielder at least until Jasson Dominguez is healthy and shows he can claim that spot in the outfield. No doubt, there are now too many outfielders but you know at least one will always be on the Injured List in 2024.

The word is that of course, the Yankees will sign Soto long-term even though Scott Boras is his agent and that Soto turned down a $440 million contract a couple of years ago. You have to figure the asking price will be $500 million+ for Soto covering until he is 45 years old. And if the Yankees reel in Yamamoto, who is expected to get $300 million, SU does not see how the math works for Soto long-term. SU also predicts today that Steve Cohen at the Mets will outbid Hal for Soto in free agency next off-season just because he can.

So, basically, it’s 2024 World Championship or bust. SU checked the roster and it looks like the Yankees are counting on Cortes to rebound (could be) and Rodon to pitch like his baseball card (can he really pitch in New York?). It feels like they are banking on Yamamoto or perhaps will sign Jordan Montgomery.

SU gives Cashman and Hal credit for doing something. As I have said in the past, I prefer the Atlanta Braves’ approach of signing your top prospects at an early age for multiple years but truth be told, we have not yet seen prospects who are deserving. Pereria and Peraza need to show more. Boone has already said LeMahieu is the starting 3rd baseman but SU says Peraza can stake his claim to that spot as DJ is on the downside of his career at this point. Pereria is the odd man out right now.

2023 took a lot of out SU with the Yankees. I stopped caring. Why am I still not excited for 2024 with the addition of Soto? Was this a good trade? I think it was a fair trade to be honest and I will root for Michael King to do well – he’s a good guy and very talented.

What do you all think?

The world anxiously awaits the decision of the Committee for determining the college football playoff Final Four teams. If ever there was a year screaming for the 12-team format, well, this was it. SU asks going forward, will there still be Conference championship games? I mean, how many games to these student-athletes (earning millions in NILs) need to play if there will be extra playoff rounds?

And, then, what is the purpose of the conference championship games? Suppose Michigan and Ohio State meet in the last game next year. If they finish 1/2 in the Big Ten, do they then play each other again the following week? And if they both make the playoffs, is it possible they play a 3rd time at some point in the same season? Does anyone really want to see that??

Here is the way SU sees it for this year. Btw, I apologize in advance if FOX cuts in for a commercial break while I write this. FOX has made watching college football truly painful. I know it’s all about the money but at some point, it’s stupid. And, of course, they cut away for a dramatic and important video review of a fumble. Do better.

Washington and Michigan are #1 and #2. The PAC-12 Conference was the best conference this year and you can make the case that Washington had the most wins against top teams like Arizona, USC, Oregon, etc. Both are undefeated. SU believes that the Committee will make Michigan #1 but I would have no problem with Washington in that slot.

What is interesting this year is the number of undefeated teams. It feels like there are more than usual. Florida State won the ACC and while they are down their starting quarterback, they are still undefeated. Let’s assume they get their second string QB back now for January 1st, are they deserving to be in?

The SEC teams will say that the SEC is the best conference and it would be a farce if one of those teams was not included. Note to reader: they were not the best conference this year. Georgia’s best win this year was over Missouri (meh) while Alabama lost to Texas (at home), barely won over Auburn and had some other close games against mediocre teams. But they beat Georgia and Nick Saban is making his claim to be included.

Texas won the Big 12 and beat Alabama. Their only loss was to Oklahoma. They are deserving this year. Let’s assume they are in and let’s assume Georgia has to be out now as they lost the head-to-head to Alabama. That leaves Alabama vs. Florida State.

Supposedly, the Committee can include “best available players” in its decision. They could use that to disqualify Florida State as they lost their starting quarterback. But SU asks this question: if Alabama’s quarterback was injured last night, would the Committee count them out for that same reason? Or if Georgia had won last night but lost its QB, would they be disqualified even with an undefeated record?

For college football it’s a win-win as this creates a lot of buzz, controversy and conversation for the next month. Some school will be pissed off – that is clear. Again, next year it doesn’t matter as there will be 12 teams in. We get one more year of this.

For SU, after sleeping on this, I do think it should be Michigan, Washington, Texas and Florida State. I don’t see how you don’t allow the winner of one of the Power Five conferences into the playoffs with a perfect record. They beat everyone on the schedule. Nick Saban will say he has no motivation to play top teams out of the conference (Texas for this year), and should not be penalized for that. He’s right on that point but Alabama has always played those teams. They just happened to lose this one – and at home. Feels like that home loss here should make a difference.

The floor is open: what do you think?

Brian Cashman coming across a bit defensively yesterday at his media conference. For SU, life-long Yankee fan, having had to endure a listless season of under-performance, lack of intensity, complacency and excuses, I am on the brink (sort of) of not caring anymore going into next season. The Yankees need to win me back over with some moves or at least a plan for how they will get there. I am 100% on board with a rebuild if that is what it takes. Of course, I would prefer a few actually good free agent signings, the Japanese pitcher and jettisoning Stanton and eating some salary in the process. But not my call.

SU was not asked to conduct the audit that is ongoing but these might be helpful stats for the Yankee brass to think about:

1, Average: .225 (ranked 29th out of 30 MLB Clubs)

2. Hits: 1,122 (29th)

3. OPS: .699 (26th)

4. RBIs: 611 (25th)

5. Runs: 634 (26th)

6. HRs: 209 (8th)

7. 2Bs: 198 (30th)

8. 3Bs: 13 (27th)

9. ABs: 4,986 (30th)

SU has done the research and looked it up by going on Chat GPT. This is not “f****** good. Do better and bring me back into the fold. Make the case.

Asking for a friend: assuming the story is true that Ohio State and Rutgers shared Michigan’s signals with Purdue before the Big Ten Championship game last year, is that poor sportsmanship in the eyes of the Big Ten?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38843207/michigan-says-rutgers-ohio-state-purdue-shared-signs

Again, SU says that Michigan should be penalized by the NCAA for on site videotaping of other teams’ signals. Case closed. But as I am sure we will continue to learn in the days ahead that stealing signals is a sport unto itself in college football, is it poor sportsmanship for teams to share one team’s signals with another team that they are about to face? Or is that just business as usual in the Big Ten and other power conferences where teams do each other favors? Perhaps Ohio State and Rutgers were motivated given their knowledge of what Michigan was doing to them? Could very well be. SU does not know what is common practice among teams. It sounds like the sharing of teams’ signals goes on all over the place.

But where does the NCAA draw the line on this then? Or the Big Ten Commissioner?

The Mets got a great hire for their new manager in Carlos Mendoza. Good for them. He is highly regarded in MLB. Meanwhile, Hal Steinbrenner met with the media today and everyone he talked to said that he had to retain Aaron Boone. SU predicted this long ago. But… he did speak with Nick Swisher and he said that the Yankees should bunt more so look for that in 2024! No doubt Giancarlo Stanton is working on that now in his backyard. I know I am excited for next season!

SU will be daring and will wade into this mess with Michigan and the NCAA and the Big Ten. Here is SU’s take:

1. Michigan violated the NCAA rule about in-stadium videotaping of another team’s signals. Guilty as charged and when the NCAA completes its investigation, they will penalize Michigan. That will take months as the NCAA moves quite slowly – on everything.
2. The Big Ten Commissioner is about to announce its punishment of Michigan separately as he met with the Big Ten football coaches and they were up in arms about stealing signs in person. Rumor has it that Harbaugh gets a 2-game suspension on violating the sportsmanship policy of the Big Ten. Michigan is threatening to file an injunction in court that the Big Ten has to wait for the NCAA to finish its investigation first. We will see how this plays out this week.
3. There is now a new report from the Associated Press that last season, Big Ten assistant coaches were sharing notes on Michigan play signal calling. Basically passing around information, notes, etc. to help one another when they played Michigan last season. Here is the link to that story: https://apnews.com/article/michigan-sign-stealing-452b6a83bb0d0a3707f633af72fe92ac
4. SU asks if that is also a violation of the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy? Is it appropriate for other schools to share information about a single school based on information they have learned in other games? True, they did not collect that information “in-person” at another stadium (so we assume).

Truth be told, as I wrote a couple of weeks ago, SU is much more consumed with what is going on in Israel than this stuff. From what I have read, the large college football programs are obsessed with ensuring that their signals cannot be deciphered, and are also obsessed about decoding their opponents’ signs. I assume they have not done it in person like Michigan did but it is possible that they have but have not been caught.

But that does not matter here. SU’s point is that if they are that obsessed with this and let’s say they play Michigan, and apparently everyone knew Michigan had been doing this for the past 2 years, would you not change up your signals when you play Michigan? It seems that it was common knowledge among many that this was going on. If you are a big-time program, surely you don’t go into the game with your regular signals. However, SU admits I am not an expert on this by any means. I don’t know how much of an advantage this gives you as so many plays involve audibles at the line of scrimmage.

Bottom line: wrong is wrong. According to the rules, you are not allowed to video another team’s signals in another stadium. Michigan will be penalized for that by the NCAA. The Big Ten in their rush to judgment and action needs to decide if this other sharing of information by multiple Big Ten teams is serious or if that is allowed and not “unsportsmanlike.” Does the NCAA or Big Ten look into that? Do teams in other conferences also do that? No doubt more will come out in the weeks to come. Going forward, it’s all an easy fix: use the NFL style helmets.

As some know, SU is a big Djokovic fan – despite his vaccine beliefs and some other things. He is a great champion and is still excelling at 36 years old. This past weekend, he beat Gregor Dimitrov in the finals at the Paris Tournament. Dimitrov had an amazing week and had not been in the finals of a Masters 1000 level tournament in 6 years. He was distraught after losing the finals as you will see in the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QgM69932Gs. Watch what Djokovic did as he was being interviewed on the court.

Class move IMHO. He is always gracious to the opponent – win or lose. Deserves some credit here.

Pro sports is officially dead in New York. How can that be? Watching the Jets and Giants is truly torturous. Thank goodness for the Red Zone Channel. The Knicks will be competitive this year but is their roster much better than last season? Are they getting past Milwaukee or Boston in the playoffs? SU does not follow hockey as closely and perhaps the Rangers will make a run this year or the Devils. The Yankees and Mets have deep pockets but need to build better from within. The New York teams are collectively driving fans to Netflix.

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. SU has been totally immersed in what is going on in Israel, and quite frankly the developments in the sports world are all pretty trivial in comparison of course.

No doubt the higher ups at MLB and FOX could not have been too pleased to see Arizona take out the Phillies in game 7 last night. I mean the ratings for this World Series are going to be epically low.

Congrats to fairly long-time SU subscriber, J. Levine (no relation), who is one of the new baseball data analytics gurus at the Diamondbacks. Clearly, he has had an immediate impact on the team’s fortunes. SU has enjoyed watching Arizona: they put the ball in play. What a concept! They don’t have any big name/big contract players, they run the bases, catch the ball and seem to be athletic. Very anti-Yankee like I must say. Texas is a fun team to watch: high octane offense, 3 ex-Yankee pitchers in their starting rotation and of course, Aroldis Chapman to make things exciting in the 8th inning. He may have set a record with hitting a batter with a 104 mph fastball the other night. At this point in his career, it has to be scary facing him as Chapman has no idea where his pitches are going.

SU has to say that after watching Yankee games for much of the season, it is refreshing to see teams play the right way. The Phillies had a great run but in the end, they were too reliant on the home run, and when those stopped, they could not recover.

We are nearing the half-way point of the NFL season. SU cannot recall a season where so many teams were either bad or just mediocre. There are few top tier teams in either Conference. Probably the Chiefs and Eagles qualify and the Dolphins are trying to get there. Beyond that, not so much. Now, that can make for an exciting playoff picture where a lot of teams can win it all. That is the positive for sure.

The NBA season has kicked off. SU is back on the Knicks’ bandwagon for this season. I like having 3 ex-Villanova players on the roster who will all play important minutes. They come with high basketball IQs. SU has once again purchased the NBA Season Pass so I can watch every game, every night (if I wanted to, of course). Per usual, SU will keep an eye on the ex-Michigan players. If you do fantasy hoops, you have to get Jordan Poole on your team. Now that he is on the Wizards, he will lead the League in shots per minute. He is fun to watch and can put up some big points when he is on. He can also do a John Starks 2 for 17 when he is not but he surely does not lack confidence. SU also has its eye on Orlando – a lot of young players and they are ready to emerge this year.

SU is keeping an eye on the Michigan video scandal. I do find it a little odd how the NCAA, which takes months and months to do any investigation and impose penalties, is leaking information to the media. Or, and more likely, it’s the teams that they have been speaking to whose games have been videotaped that are leaking information. Either way, it’s a bad look for a team that is having a great season so far – against bad competition. What happened to the Big Ten? You have Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and I suppose, Maryland. And then a lot of bad teams.

The PAC-12, soon to be the no more conference, has some very fun teams to watch. Washington, Oregon and USC can all light it up, and Oregon State is actually pretty decent as well along with Utah. SU is looking forward to next year with the expanded 12-team playoff format. That will be really good as the bowl games have become mostly irrelevant the last few years. A good move by the powers that be. I mean, it’s not about education for these players (unfortunately) or for the schools. It’s about more money and this will help that cause.

Finally, Yankee fans await the results of the “audit” that Hal has commissioned of the team’s operations. SU says no one is leaving. Aaron Boone will be back as will Cashman. Stanton is untradeable – don’t get your hopes up there. Keep an eye on Soto in San Diego and a possible trade for many of the Yankee prospects and Michael King. He is young, left-handed and in his prime. He even seems athletic which I know does not fit the team profile but the auditors may have uncovered something. Who knows?

Let’s face it: the Giants are really under-performing this season given what were more hopeful expectations coming off of last season. Now, the truth may be that they over-achieved last year and the start to this season should not even be a surprise. The injury to Saquon Barkley is a big factor but truth be told, he had to earn every yard last year running behind a less than stellar offensive line.

And the offensive line is what is killing the Giants this year (along with special teams which I guess we take for granted on other teams). Daniel Jones has no time back there. 10 sacks last night is a number you never see in the NFL – not even in college. He was running for his life all night long. The pick-6 at the goal line was a huge mistake but SU can forgive him for not being at his sharpest as he was suffering from PTSD from all the hits before that. Jones is not a top tier NFL quarterback but he’s a good athlete, can run and takes his share of hits going for a few extra yards. SU says it’s easy to criticize him but definitely not all his fault. No quarterback in the NFL was going to shine last night behind that offensive line.

This Sunday will be a good test vs. a Miami defense that is not top tier. But the season is going to head south very quickly with Buffalo on the schedule to follow.

The Jets meanwhile showed some fight on Sunday night to give their fans some hope. Zach Wilson definitely looked a lot better – at least for one game.

SU will be checking in on the MLB playoffs starting today. I have to say that the Wild Card format is fun and fair to the team with the better records. A Baltimore – Atlanta World Series would be fun this year. However, SU says don’t be surprised if neither team gets there. Funny things happen in October.

While Aaron Boone’s job is no doubt reasonably safe, SU says keep an eye on Don Mattingly. He is the bench coach for the Blue Jays but if Hal wanted to make a move and have the fan base fully behind him, Donnie Baseball is a good choice. Yankee royalty.