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.

I must admit that I do not get caught up in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting.  It’s good material for sports talk radio debates (or in the case of Mike Francesa sports talk radio monologues) but the whole voting process is a little inexact and there has always been a considerable amount of judgment applied in the individual voting.  Griffey was a no-brainer – one of the top players in his era and would have likely shattered all the records if his body had held up.  The perception is that he was “clean” along the lines of Derek Jeter.

Mike Piazza was the top offensive catcher and statistically, you can’t argue whether he belongs.  There have always been whispers about PED use with him – see “backne” issues and his elusive and vague answers about whether he ever used them.  I mean hitting 450-foot homeruns to the opposite field flat-footed with no stride is unusual.  But as is the case with most of these guys, there is no smoking gun.

It does seem like players such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are starting to pick up more votes now from the baseball writers.  Again, there are no clear guidelines on whether suspected PED users should get in or not.  Neither of them failed a drug test and while there are lots of stories out there, nothing has officially “stuck.”  From SU’s standpoint, I would keep them out but I believe over time, we will start to see these players admitted to the HOF.

SU believes that Derek Jeter can now play a valuable role here through his Players’ Tribune web site.  Let the players sign on to a letter of admission on the Players’ Tribune site, in their own words, and as a group confess to what they did.  Once and for all, case closed.  Pick a date when it’s published and get them all to sign.

A question for the intergalactic SU fan base: If Bonds and Clemens eventually get in, will we ever see A-Rod in there?  His numbers are as good or better than anyone’s for his position.  He was certainly much clumsier about his cheating.  From my perspective, in terms of who did what, he falls in the same category as Bonds and Clemens and for that matter, David Ortiz.  No clear factual evidence but lots of circumstantial evidence.  The question becomes where do you draw the line?

SU actually watched a good part of last night’s Knick games.  Truth be told, the TV was on during that time but I slept through a good portion of the 1st half.  I mean it’s not that compelling.  But in the first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, the ball was moving all over the place, Melo was actually driving and dishing (repeat: Melo was actually driving and dishing) and they had 8 assists in 5 minutes!  The lead ballooned to 15 points and they were in control until early in the 4th quarter.

Then, the offense switched back to isolation play.  And for the final 4 minutes, it stuck in Melo’s hands.  Even Clyde Frazier took time out from his “swishing and dishing” nonsense to comment on how the ball was no longer moving.  It was back to isolation offense similar to what we have seen for the past 5 years since Anthony was traded to the Knicks.  SU kept looking for Mike Woodson – surely he must have left the LA Clippers bench for a game and wanted to see his isolation offense in all its glory again in NY.  The Knicks hung on in the last couple of minutes as Calderon made a couple of plays with and without the ball.

SU asks these questions:

• Did Melo decide to no longer share the ball on his own?
• Did Derek Fisher decide to revert to an isolation type offense?
• Do questions 1 and 2 even matter?

While it’s a players’ league, you need the coach to have his players carry out what he wants.  Either Fisher can’t control Anthony in those situations or he is exercising poor judgment and moving away from what got him the lead.  Either way, it’s wrong.

SU is a simple guy and asks this question: Aren’t there analytics that show offensive efficiency when the ball moves on offense vs. isolation style of play?   Isn’t this a no-brainer?  I know isolation play makes coaching offense so much easier but it cannot be the most productive and efficient style of play.  In a world of data analytics, what is the answer?

Those of us that closely follow the sports world know that all coaches and managers eventually get fired.  Sure, there are some exceptions where guys go out on top – see John Wooden, Dean Smith, Red Aurebach.  But in more recent times, this is the exception.  Even Joe Torre with his remarkable run with the Yankees went out after the 2007 season when he lost in the playoffs.

Tom Coughlin had a great run with the Giants for 12 years.  He won two Super Bowls and clearly cared about winning and losing.  But the reality is that ownership allowed him some extra years to turn things around and he failed to get the team back to the playoffs or even have a winning record.  It’s funny though: this year’s team may have been his least talented group but he had them in position to win a number of games late in the 4th quarter.  The problem was that his coaching contributed to a number of those losses.  So it goes.  He was allowed to resign and will be remembered as one of the Giants’ best coaches in their history.

SU does not understand how General Manager Jerry Reese is still there.  He has put together a really bad roster for several years now.  Other than Eli Manning and Beckham, none of their other players likely starts for most NFL teams.  I will be surprised if he makes it through but the Giants’ ownership is pretty loyal to its staff and he just may.

No doubt Ray Handley is chomping at the bit for another shot at the helm.  There are lots of good young assistants who deserve a shot at a top position.  SU hopes that the Giants at least retain McAdoo as the offensive coordinator given how Eli Manning has thrived in his system this season.

Meanwhile, the Jets laid a major egg on Sunday and Ryan Fitzpatrick reverted to form.  You have to figure he will be brought back next season given his strong overall numbers for the season and how few good quarterbacks are around now in the NFL.  Surely you don’t want to rely on Geno Smith for next season.

SU went back into the archives to check on the preseason Super Bowl prediction.  It was Green Bay over Denver.  OK, you say, Green Bay has no shot but Denver is the #1 seed and could make a run with a rejuevenated Peyton Manning.  I also saw that Sports Illustrated had the Baltimore Ravens winning it all.  Nuff said.  It’s  all a crapshoot.

Anyone care to make a Super Bowl match-up forecast?

From the category of “When Will People Learn” comes this  news flash this morning:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14464136/stephen-drew-washington-nationals-agree-one-year-deal

How is this possible?  If he hit .220 last season, Drew may have been able to get an $8 million contract plus incentives.  He must be kicking himself now.  SU says if he hits .160 this year, some team will come back with the 3-year long-term deal next sesason.  The bar for Stephen Drew is just lower than it is for anyone else.  Buyer beware.

SU caught last night’s UConn women’s basketball game vs. Maryland at MSG with long-time subscriber M. Levine.  It’s important to periodically see how basketball is supposed to be played by watching a true team in action.  Every player touches the ball on each possession.  There are back door cuts, high/low plays to score underneath and full-court pressing defense.  Sure, they turned it over a lot last night but this is the game that I like to watch.  No isolation plays, no jab stepping for 15 seconds, no walking the ball up the court and no dogging it getting back on defense.  Yes, fans, there is still real basketball being played out there – in Golden State, San Antonio, Michigan (see John Beilein’s style of play) and a few other places.  There is hope.

SU thought this was an interesting perspective on the Chapman trade and how a suspension helps the Yankees in multiple ways.  Worth a few minutes to check it out here:

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2015/12/why_a_lengthy_suspension_for_aroldis_chapman_could.html#incart_most-readsports

As always, SU has its finger on the pulse of the sports world.  This just in from Jack Curry of the YES Network on Twitter:

The Yankees are looking at a trade of four prospects for Arondis Chapman.  Supposedly, none of their top prospects would be included in the deal nor would Andrew Miller or Dellen Betances.  That would be an impressive 7 – 9th inning trio.

The guy has issues certainly with the recent domestic violence charges.  But he does throw 100 mph.

Good move for the Yankees???

I don’t know about you but I find it hard to make it through a full NFL game these days.  The TV ratings are still strong and the NFL is still the #1 professional sports league by a wide margin.  But SU has issues with the quality of the product:

• Quarterback play: there are traditionally about 15 QBs who are top tier.  If you play Fantasty Football, you know there are a few elite guys like Brady and Aaron Rodgers and then another 10 or so that consistently put up big numbers.  But it seems like the performance level drops off dramatically after that and you are left with a lot of Charlie Whitehurst level QBs who struggle to just complete a pass.  Once injuries set in (see Tony Romo), the number drops to about 10 – 11 and some games become just unwatchable.
• Injuries: we are at the point where pre-season predictions are silly in the NFL as injuries play a huge part in determining team success.  Sure, you can have depth and that helps but increasingly it feels like it’s the luck of the draw whether you have the right guys standing come playoff time.  It’s true that teams like the Patriots are there year after year but others come and go based on the health of a few key players.
• 3rd Down Success: SU does not believe that it was so hard to make a 3rd and 7 first down 30-40 years ago.  Now, it’s cause for celebration when a team can complete a pass and will actually throw it past the 1st down marker.  The blitzes and pass rushers with their intricate schemes make it that difficult.
• Celebrations: enough already.  You get a sack and even if your team is down 35-3, it’s a reason to dance wildy.  Same for a tackle, breaking up a pass and making a first down.  SU says act like you’ve been there before.  Hey, score a touchdown and have at it.  But at some point, it’s just silly and just constant attempts by playes to draw attention to themselves.

SU admits that I am also starting to feel this way about NBA games.  Perhaps I am just getting old or deep down I’m old school and don’t appreciate all the dancing and preening.  I am curious if anyone else feels this way.

The Peyton Manning HGH story is out there and he was quick to react.  Naturally, we are all skeptical of players who deny the story so vehemently given the track record of those who have come before them (see A-Rod).  For me, Peyton falls in the Derek Jeter category when it comes to drug usage – just can’t be right?  On the other hand, I am long past the point of being shocked by any story and time will tell if this story has legs.  If his wife used it, that’s her business – it’s not illegal if prescribed for the right reasons.  And no doubt MLB will be investigating its players that have been mentioned in the story.

So, what the hell was going on with Odell Beckham Jr. yesterday?  He totally lost it and just could not regain his composure for an entire game.  At some point, you are hurting your team and someone needs to take you aside and set you straight.  SU says that 5 years ago, Tom Coughlin is that guy and he is riding the bench – must game or no must game.  Surprisingly, he let it go and even after the game, he sure didn’t sound like Tom Coughlin to me.  I guess he sees the hand-writing on the wall and the finish line is in sight.  Beckham is his best player and he just doesn’t want to bring the hammer down on him.  In past years, there would have been some senior citizen on the roster who had the respect of the team who could have taken care of this.  But other than JPP, hard to put a finger on who that might be this year.

He will surely get suspended for a game and that just hurts the Giants’ playoff chances even more.  As a fan, you like the fight and the passion but it’s misplaced.  Coaches at every level have pulled guys off the court or field for the last 2,000 years when they start acting this way.  SU doesn’t feel there will be any long-term effects.  Beckham is a smart guy and he knows his brand will suffer if he keeps letting defenders get under his skin.  He will make the adjustment and move on.

The Giants lost in predictable fashion.  No pass rush means having to blitz all the time and they still couldn’t get to Newton.  Oh well, only a couple more weeks of torture from this year’s group.  The Jets meanwhile still have a pulse and find ways to win.  You have to give Bowles a lot of credit in his first year as coach.  Rex may be on the way out after just one year up in Buffalo.