This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you.
If you haven’t heard, Draymond Green got that multi-game suspension everyone was clamoring for. The NBA is suspending Green for five games over his tussle with Rudy Gobert.
And, to be quite honest, it just doesn’t feel like enough.
Now, I’m not one to clamor for huge, punitive suspensions for players. Suspensions are a significant deal. They’re punishments. They cost players money out of their pockets. Generally, seeing them happen is not a joyful thing at all. So don’t take what I’m saying about Green’s suspension lightly.
But five games just doesn’t feel significant enough. Not for someone with Green’s history here. Looking beyond the incidents that have surfaced this season, it’s not great. There’s a reason folks online can put together a sizzle reel of Green’s fights, after all. He’s done things like this fairly often — especially recently.
It is worth noting that this is the most significant on-court suspension Adam Silver has ever dished out. He suspended Brandon Ingram for four games after he threw a punch at Chris Paul a few years back. Green’s suspension is along those lines. It’s also worth noting that Ben Simmons wasn’t suspended at all for an incident similar to Green’s. So, all in all, this tracks.
But just know if this was one of those David Stern suspensions? Draymond might not see the court again until 2024.
READ MORE: A comprehensive timeline of Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert’s icy relationship
Justice for James Madison
James Madison University deserves to play in a bowl game this season but the NCAA won’t let it.
At 6-0 the Dukes are one of seven undefeated teams left in college football — the others are No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Washington and Liberty. Yet they won’t get a bowl game.
JMU only recently made FCS to FBS jump in 2021, as FTW’s Cory Woodruff explains here. Teams are ineligible for postseason play in the first two years of that transition, according to the NCAA’s bylaws.
But JMU is cooking. So, naturally, it filed a waiver hoping that the NCAA would make an exception. The NCAA did not. James Madison will not see a bowl game this year.
JMU released a statement on the decision:
“We’re obviously disappointed in the outcome of the NCAA’s review of our request for bowl relief. We’re saddened for our university community and, in particular, we’re devastated for our football program, the coaches and student-athletes who have orchestrated an amazing season and earned the opportunity.”
That stinks. Here they are exceeding everybody’s expectations but their own and dominating on the next level. Yet, there’s no reward waiting for them on it. That doesn’t add up. It’s not how sports are supposed to work.
Boooooo NCAA. Be better.
The (pitch) clock is ticking
The pitch clock was already a drastic change (for the better!) in baseball last season. It sped things up and made the game faster — especially earlier in the season. But as players got used to the clock, times jumped up again.
Now MLB wants to fix that. The league is doing it by taking another two ticks off the clock — specifically when runners are on base, per The Athletic.
“Major League Baseball will likely reduce the pitch clock to 18 seconds from 20 with runners on base next year, major-league sources confirmed Wednesday.
The league expects the change would shave an average of roughly five minutes off games.
Regular-season games in 2023 finished at an average of 2 hours, 40 minutes, and MLB’s fan research has identified 2 hours, 30 minutes as an ideal game length. The change is intended to push game times closer to that mark.”
This seems kind of strange to me. I totally understand wanting to make sure the game’s speed remains at a faster pace. But wouldn’t it make more sense to bring some uniformity to it? Having the variation in runners on base and runners off base situations seems like something that could disrupt the player’s flow here.
Regardless, it seems this is coming soon. So prepare yourselves, baseball fans.
Quick hits: Sights from F1 in Las Vegas … Dawn Staley does it again … and more
— Our Prince Grimes has the best moments from the F1 Las Vegas opening ceremony. This is as Vegas as it gets.
— Dawn Staley scooped up No. 2 recruit Joyce Edwards despite her not initially planning on committing anywhere til April. Dawn is a magician, man. Meghan Hall has more.
— Al Horford continues to be public enemy No. 1 in Philly. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.
— Here’s Prince on the fraught relationship between Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert. That beef goes back a long time.
— Christian D’Andrea and the staff have Week 11 NFL picks for you. Feeling great about my Eagles on Monday night.
— This CFB fan arguing that Ohio is better than Alabama has some great points. Cory Woodruff has more.
That’s all, folks. Thanks so much for reading. We hope you enjoyed this. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Til next time, peace.
-Sykes