SU stumbled across the Peyton Manning story from the late 1990s while he was at the University of Tennessee over the holiday weekend.  I must admit that I have been a Peyton fan throughout his NFL career – he comes across as a good guy, has his head on straight, gracious when he wins and in defeat.  As the story goes, as a sophomore, he allegedly placed his genitals on a woman trainer’s head who was checking his foot for a stress fracture.  He claims he was mooning a teammate.  The teammate denied it and even wrote Manning a letter to ask him to man up and admit the truth.  This guy ultimately lost his scholarship.  The woman pressed charges and the case was settled.  OK, guys are young and do stupid things.

But then the Mannings (Archie and Peyton) wrote a book together in 2003 and went after this woman again in the book. She was no longer at Tennessee and pressed charges again.  Seems odd that he found the need to bad-mouth her several years later.  Apparently, there is now some new law suit and the legal records have been unsealed.  That’s why this has come up after 17 years.  I have never been one to place any player on a pedestal – you only get disappointed.  Hey, I like A-Rod – what can I say, and I always liked Tiger Woods.  The HGH story was never fully put to bed re Manning and now this.  Some are saying that he might now come back for another couple of years to take the attention off of this story and ensure he has the media focus to defend himself.  Anyway, I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out.  We go after guys like Cam Newton for less offensive things.  Does Manning deserve a pass?  Just a young guy making a mistake?

Don’t know if you saw it last night but ESPN decided to broadcast the Michigan – Ohio State game only using cameras at courtside.  The idea was to give the viewer a sense of the athleticism of the players.  SU says that anyone who has watched their share of kids’ games over the year sitting along the court knows that as they get taller, it becomes harder to see over them.  It’s not a great view.  I watched for about 12 minutes of the game.  Awful.  The ref blocks your view about half the time and you can’t see any of the flow of the offense and lose depth perception.  I mean, didn’t anyone at ESPN test this?  Someone on Twitter joked that they should have switched to the camera angle behind the tall guy sitting in front of you.  For basketball, the traditional view is just fine.  Back to the drawing board.

Finally, too bad Carmelo shot down the latest trade rumors.  It’s only been a year and a half and everyone now sees that the re-signing of Melo by the Knicks was a disaster.  Readers of SU knew this right away.  I think he becomes more and more untradeable as his health deteriorates with his knees.  He will fulfill the length of his deal and it will take that much longer for the Knicks to find a way to become contenders.  It’s their own fault.

SU made an appearance at MSG last night with long-time SU subscriber, J. Levine, to check out your New York Knicks.  I must say the fans do show up every night.  Kurt Rambis made his coaching debut.  The guy’s been around the block with the Lakers and the T’Wolves, and he’s also been an assistant for a number of years.  I am not saying being an NBA coach is the easiest job out there (although with 5 assistant coaches for 12 players, you do certainly have some coverage there).  But to the average fan like SU, there are times when it’s not that hard.

Case in point: in the first half, he benched Porzingis (who is the only player I want to see) mid-way through the 2nd quarter, and let him stew for a while at the end of the bench.  OK, he’s the coach – that’s his prerogative.  Porzingis then burns it up in the 3rd quarter: 14 points scoring every which way.  A couple of 3-pointers, lefty drive, post-ups, spin move for a dunk.  Knicks tie it up after 3 quarters.  But then, he sits Porzingis until there are less than 6 minutes left in the game.

Note to Coach Rambis: the Knicks are offensively challenged.  Porzingis, while a rookie, is one of your 3 players who can score and he is a fan fave.  PUT HIM BACK IN THE GAME.  Let him rest a couple of minutes but what are you doing?  He played 29 minutes in total.  Either Porzingis is now on a 30-minute pitch count per game (which could be true), or Rambis has no feel for the game and who to play.  Very frustrating.

SU is warming up in the bullpen.  Give me 5 assistants and I am there.

Many have emailed SU over the past several weeks complaining about Derek Fisher.  Losing a bunch of close games in a row will help to show you to the door.  At some point, you have to figure that coaching is worth 1 – 2 points per game.  If you ever listened in on a huddle, you knew that Fisher was not the x’s and o’s kind of coach.  Rather, he was more about trying to motivate and push.

The reality is that even with Steve Kerr who they tried to hire last year, the roster does not support a better record.  They run a certain offense in the triangle.  If you watch Golden State, Kerr is not running the triangle there.  They are run and gun with lots of passing, cutting and unselfish play.  In the end, they have a lot of talent – much more than the Knicks.

SU saw that Luke Walton’s and Brian Shaw’s names are out there now.  But they need some better players – let’s face it.  At best, they are a .500 team when clicking on all cylinders.  We will see if Kurt Rambis has a different view on playing style and substitution patterns.

Truth be told, SU likes watching Porzingis but that is it.  When he is out, hard to get excited.  It’s not like Phil Jackson passed over any obvious alternative coaching choices.  Tom Thibodeaux is out there but I am sure he has his own way of wanting to run things.

So, what do you think?

Congratulations to P. Bok and B. Davis for their reasonably close Super Bowl predictions:

• Brandon D.: 28 – 17 Denver
• PBok: 21 – 17 Denver

Of course, SU was also in the ballpark at 23 – 21 Denver and having Denver score on defense.  I was hoping that Carolina might go ahead in the 3rd quarter at 14 – 13 and then see if Gary Kubiak would go to Osweiler.  SU is happy for Peyton Manning but he is running on fumes.  How he was not ready to announce his retirement at the end of the game is beyond me.  Just watching the past Super Bowl MVPs limp onto the field one after another should have been enough for him to recognize that he does not want to risk a neck injury in his final season.

SU stumbled across Cam Newton’s press conference after the game.  He had his hoodie over his head and was basically mumbling one word answers to the usual questions.  He finally just got up and walked out as if questions like, “What were you thinking at the end of the game?” were just too tough to handle.  SU says that if you are a leader, you lead in good times and bad.  It’s easy to be the man and yuck it up in the days before the game, or when you are winning, run up and down the sidelines firing up the crowd.  When adversity hits, that’s when we learn about character.  And we learned about his last night.

No doubt he will do better next time and he is of course a great talent.  SU will now wait for William Rhoden of the New York Times to write a column on how the media are too tough on Cam and there was nothing wrong with his post-game stupor.  He will say that Cam is just a fierce competitor and cares so much about winning.  I must say that when he did actually put a series of words together, he made it clear that it wasn’t all on him.  SU was not surprised.

Enough of the hype: let the game begin.  SU has compiled the score predictions from our last post and here they are:

• SU: 23 -21 Denver
• Mark L.: 31 – 20 Carolina
• Shep 44 – 6 Carolina
• Brandon D.: 28 – 17 Denver
• Jeff: 31 – 13 Carolina
• Seth: 27 – 10 Carolina
• PBok: 21 – 17 Denver

There is still time for others to weigh in.  It’s your chance to shine and be admired by thousands of subscribers across the SU intergalactic base.  Or of course you can also be ridiculed for being way, way off.

Want to look smart at your Super Bowl party?  Long-time subscriber J. Levine offers up this Super Bowl triva question for you to throw out to the audience: “Who is the only football player in history to win a college national title, the Heisman Trophy, a Super Bowl and the NFL MVP?”

I could just show you the answer here but that ruins the fun of trivia.  SU has steered clear of putting triva questions on the blog as many of you (but not all) just google the answer.  Bad form.  I will do this: check comment #7 from the last SU blog entry and you will find the answer there.

There has been a steady drip of Carmelo Anthony trade rumors the last week or so.  Today’s story has him going to the Miami Heat.  Surely Phil Jackson wants to move him but given his current health it’s hard to see anyone wanting to take on his salary at 31 years of age.  Truth be told, he has been a good soldier this year and the team is much better with him in there.  But it’s time to start a new era and give Porzingis some touches on offense.  As Derek Fisher calls absolutely no plays, it’s up to the players to get him more involved.

Hey, did the Yankees sign any free agents of note this year?  Did I miss that?  Time to put in some extra padding in the recliner for watching Yankee games in 2016.  Met fans on sports talk radio are already in mid-season form – talking about who is going to be the back-up first-baseman (answer: Wilmer Flores).  SU is ready for baseball.  Pitchers and cathers are days away from reporting.

Enjoy the Super Bowl.

SU is not one to follow the hype leading up to the Super Bowl.  Let’s face it: it’s the silly season where hundreds of media people are grasping at anything to make it a story.  The Cam Newton drama of last week provided some good copy.  SU’s take on Cam: great player and having a great year.  Loves the attention and does everything he can to make sure the camera is on him all the time.  Even when he talks, any attempt to talk about the “team” is forced.  He is much more comfortable saying “me” than “we” (literally).  Does this make him a bad guy?  Is everyone up in arms because he is Black?

SU says get over it.  If Odell Beckham Jr. was here for the Giants, it would be no different.  There are a ton of players out there who are about themselves first and love the spotlight.  The NFL culture promotes this type of behavior and many step up to fill that role.  I choose not to listen to it and frankly, I don’t like it.  SU says act like you’ve been there before when you score a touchdown.  Low key is cool to me, not jumping into the stands and running up and down the sidelines by the stands drawing attention to yourself.  I am sure the Panther fans love him and a lot of others hate him.  It shouldn’t be a race issue – it’s the NFL culture.  Hey, if Donald Trump was an NFL player, don’t you think he would be doing the same thing?  Time to move on.

As for the game, SU says Denver will win 23 – 21.  They need to keep the score down as Peyton Manning can only have so much scotchtape applied to his body and still be able to throw the ball.  Denver will score once on defense in this game, and will win on a late field goal.  SU also predicts that Brock Osweiler will play a key role in the 2nd half and will play the last quarter and a half.  Manning will either be injured or ineffective and Osweiler will make the difference in the 2nd half and down the stretch.

A couple of other thoughts today:

• SU is a big Novak Djokovic fan and what he did last year and now in winning the Australian Open is really over the top.  This is the golden era of men’s tennis with so many great players.  For him to be dominating the game as he is now puts him in the conversation of Greatest of All Time.  SU will enjoy his run.
• SU caught the Michigan – Penn State day-night doubleheader at MSG on Saturday for basketball and hockey.  This was a great day and reinforces why I like college sports more than the pros.  It’s just a better atmosphere.  What could be more fun that spending a day watching games?  SU was joined by many members of the SU intergalactic subscriber base including L. Levine, B. Levine, S. Levine, S. Fink, J. Silver, J. Zaro, A. Cohen, A. Rosenberg, K. Rosenzweig, E. and M. Rifkin, and S. Taylor and his wife.  Truly a who’s who at the Garden.
• Finally, bad news for Yankee fans as Greg Byrd goes down with shoulder surgery and will miss the season.  True, he would have spent much of the year in the minors anyway but SU likes the young guys and will now have to watch the older version of the Yankees slog through another boring season.

OK, time for you all to step up with your Super Bowl score predictions and be counted.  SU will give props to whoever comes the closest come Monday.  Time to weigh in!

So, here is a question for the Super Bowl.  All signs appear to indicate that Peyton Manning will be calling it quits after the Super Bowl.  Let’s face it: he is running on fumes at this point and has become a “game manager” type of QB vs. a real game changer.  We all saw what happened a couple of years ago in the Meadowlands against Seattle and he was coming off a strong year back then.

Let’s suppose this year’s Super Bowl is reasonably close in the 3rd quarter but Manning is really struggling.  Does Gary Kubiak give him the hook and bring in the QB of the future in Brock Osweiler?  Or does he say that Manning has earned the chance to go out on his terms and maybe there is still some magic left in that arm?

SU says that very few NFL players ride off into the sunset.  It just rarely works out that way.  Actually, John Elway walked away after a championship (I believe) but the more typical scenario is watching players with diminished skills tail off (Brett Favre, Dan Marino).  Peyton says all the right things and is a team guy first.  But he has a lot of pride and will want to finish what he started.  It may become a moot point if the game is a blowout in Carolina’s favor.  We all know many Super Bowls go that way and no one is hotter than Cam Newton and the Panthers.  SU says you need to win the game and Kubiak needs to make sure Osweiler is ready to relieve.  He can’t worry about the 2nd guessing and it may be that a more mobile, faster and agile QB is needed to give the Broncos a chance.

What say you?

SU was very surprised to see this announcement today from WFAN’s Mike Francesa as reported on yahoo.com:

“Popular sports talk radio personality Mike Francesa is set to depart New York’s WFAN at the end of next year.

“I’m not saying I’m leaving the business. I’m leaving Monday to Friday, five and a half hours, F-A-N,” Francesa told Katie Nolan on “Garbage Time.” “I am not saying I’m not going to work again. I’m not saying I’m not going to do anything ever again. What I’m saying is, that part of my life, at the end of ’17, that is ending.”

His departure will mark the end of a 30-year run with WFAN, which he joined in 1987, the station’s inaugural year of operations.

In September, the relationship Francesa had with Fox Sports 1 to simulcast his radio show ended after barely a year, during which the host later said, “I take all the blame, it’s my fault, I made the mistake and it was my error in judgement, no one else’s.” Francesa was referring to his decision to move the show from YES Network to Fox Sports 1, which he described as “trying to put a square peg in a round hole.”

Francesa’s relationship with the brass at CBS Radio, owner of WFAN, has been similarly embattled, saying in April that his relationship with the network has “never been worse.” He told Nolan that the fraying tensions led to a discussion about a pre-emptive exit from his contract that never materialized.  “They never offered me a reasonable way out,” the ex-“Mike and the Mad Dog” co-host said.”

While he is arrogant, pompous and dismissive (maybe he should run for President?), SU has learned to enjoy Francesa over the years.  No one, and I mean no one, can talk in triplicate the way Big Mike can whether it’s asking a question in the same way 3 times or cutting off a caller and saying the same thing again and again and again.  This is true art form.  I will miss him.  Could a reunion with Mad Dog be in the offing for 2018?  SU says he is more likely to cut back on the hours and do more feature types of things.  End of an era.

Perhaps Michael Kay on ESPN Radio will use this as an opportunity to jettison Don La Greca and go back to his original format where he was the sole talker.  He has become umlistenable with his co-hosts.  He now has 2 years to fix it.

The NBA season has reached the mid-way point, college football is behind us, we are down to the final four for the NFL playoffs and pitchers and catchers report in just a few weeks.  It’s time for SU to change its mindset and gear up for the next few months.  A few thoughts this morning:

• The NFL got its dream match-up between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Following this year’s playoffs really hammers home just how violent football is and how hard it is to keep your play-makers on the field.  A lot of a team’s success comes down to injuries – plain and simple.  You can have depth but at some point you do need to have good players to put out there.  Look at Green Bay.  Aaron Rodgers showed his greatness by keeping the Packers in the game with 3rd string receivers and a truly remarkable Hail Mary pass.  I like the way Green Bay keeps its receivers in the field of play and then has them back into the end zone for the jump ball.  It’s almost like boxing out in basketball – gives you a better shot of pulling these down.
• SU believes that Carson Palmer is the type of player who is always going to throw that one (or sometimes two) dumb pass in a huge spot.  He’s had a great year but you just can’t count on him.  Cam Newton is ready to take that next step.  Good Conference finals for the NFL.  Rare to see the top 4 teams advance.
• This is a great year for college hoops.  There are no dominant teams and the tournament should be wide open.  Given the departure of players to the NBA after their freshman year, it makes it tough for the top schools to meld their teams until late in the season.  There is no way to know just how good Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, etc will be come March at this point.  SU says that makes the sport that much more interesting and fun to follow.
• The Australian Open is underway and there are fresh reports of match fixing coming from the BBC involving players in the top 50 of the men’s game.  No names have been mentioned but there is lots of buzz Down Under.  SU can’t picture any of the top players being involved but if you are a fringe player and someone offers you $100k, it has to be tempting.  We know cheating and game fixing are rampant in soccer.  We should not be naive that it can’t happen in other sports.  And no, Peyton Manning and his wife have not been mentioned in this latest story.
• Finally, Cespedes is still out there, Met fans.  It’s time for ownership to swoop in with a 3-year deal that overpays for him.  SU says stay away from the 7-year, $200 million type contract but go for 3 years at $75 million and take your chances.

SU has claimed a spot on the Knicks’ bandwagon.  Actually, there was plenty of room – didn’t have to climb over anyone.  I tuned in Sunday night as well as Friday.  There is an entirely different vibe this year.  Porzingis and Afflalo have made a huge difference in being unselfish and playing in the flow of the offense.  Robin Lopez does what he does – and will not stray from that.  The bench guys bring energy.  And, in a departure from my normal hating on Melo, he is playing very differently.

On Sunday night, he was bounding, driving and dishing and — wait for it — playing defense.  Announcer Mike Breen said that Melo was actually a good defender – something we all knew for the last 13 years but never got to see.  Something has clicked in his head and he is now willing to spend energy on defense as well.  Funny: I thought that was part of the $24 million contract but I guess that was optional.  The NBA: gotta love it.  Playing defense is optional but appreciated.  In any event, he is now playing both ends and you can see it has a big impact on his teammates.

Much of this will depend on the health  of Porzingis.  But for now, SU will enjoy it.  He is fun to watch and shows some new aspect of his game each night.  This is an interesting team.  There, I said it.

SU’s preseason Super Bowl prediction of Green Bay over Denver is still in play as Aaron Rodgers appears to have found the magic again.  No doubt getting engaged to Olivia Munn has also provided a spark.  Vegas likes Arizona but SU doesn’t see it.  Plus where is the love for Carolina?  Carson Palmer has a little Ryan Fitzpatrick in him – a turnover waiting to happen in a big spot.  Should be a good match up this weekend in the desert.