The NHL fined the Chicago Blackhawks organization $2 million in October 2021 for its involvement in covering up the sexual assaults of two former players for more than a decade.
A pretty handsome reward less than two years after being found complicit in the sport’s biggest scandal ever, wouldn’t you say?
The Blackhawks winning the draft lottery was always a possibility. Chicago entered Monday with the third-best odds at 11.5 percent, trailing the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson stripped the team down to the bone these last few years, trading away Chicago’s biggest stars and any player of note all for a chance at this moment right here.
The plan worked. And boy, it all kind of sucks, doesn’t it?
On a night that should have been a celebration of the sport’s bright future, hockey fans came away from the event furious at the results. Bedard — a generational hockey talent said to be on the level of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid — is likely to soon call home an organization that covered up sexual assaults en route to three Stanley Cups across six years.
The most frustrating thing? It never should have gotten this far.
Had the NHL shown a shred of competence for once in its existence, the Blackhawks should have had to forfeit their right to draft in the first round for the foreseeable future. After all, the NHL has taken away first-rounders from teams for far less than covering up sexual assaults that were considered “an open secret” within the organization.
It’s completely unacceptable that the NHL’s only punishment against the Blackhawks for covering up sexual assault was a $2 million fine. A fine that the Blackhawks have since recouped — and then some — in ticket revenue just hours after winning the draft lottery. It was unacceptable then, and it’s even more outrageous now.
The NHL already failed Kyle Beach — John Doe 1 in the case — in the decade it took for his story to come to light. Not to mention Brad Aldrich’s other unnamed victims who were allowed to languish as the Blackhawks kept their sexual assault reports private. And now, every cent the Blackhawks make off of Bedard is yet another black stain on the NHL for failing to enact any semblance of a proper punishments on this organization.
Yes, the Blackhawks may have won the draft lottery, but all of hockey has lost once again as a result of the NHL’s incompetence.
The White Sox are a reflection of Jerry Reinsdorf’s ownership
John Fisher had a plan, at least, nefarious as it may have been. The Oakland Athletics’ owner slowly transformed a once proud, successful ball club into a glorified Triple-A team with a specific purpose in mind: Alienate the fanbase, let the stadium fall apart and use the apathy to scam his way into a new city willing to pay for a brand new home. It was transparent through and through.
The Ricketts family had a plan, too, much to the indignation of Cubs fans. After letting the Chicago’s 2016 World Series core unceremoniously disband, the owners focused on “cleaning up” Wrigleyville by spending more on politicians than players, attracting big-name companies to move into the area and turning the old neighborhood ballpark into a year-round destination.
John Angelos may constantly lie to the media who cover the Baltimore Orioles, but it’s a lot easier for fans to stomach when you’re growing one of the more exciting teams in baseball along the way.
Jerry Reinsdorf is just a loser. He has been for decades now. And that works out just fine because when you’re a billionaire like Reinsdorf there are no consequences for your actions. Everything has gone swimmingly for him since purchasing his controlling stake in the White Sox for $19 million in 1981.
Since a charmed run through the 2005 postseason, the White Sox have made the playoffs on just three occasions. They were bounced in the first round each time while winning just one game in all three October appearances.
Here is the list of meaningful front office organizational changes made since that World Series run:
General Manager Kenny Williams was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2012
Assistant General Manager Rick Hahn was promoted to General Manager to replace Williams
This is where it would be worthwhile to summarize the last 20 years of abject ineptitude. Alas, there is no possible way to explain what’s happened to the White Sox under the Reinsdorf-Williams-Hahn regime better than Berto from the West Side did by calling into ESPN 1000 on Wednesday.
This White Sox fan went on one of the most legendary sports fan rants you will ever hear
That doesn’t excuse the White Sox starting 7-19, and in a position to sell, during a year they expected to contend for the American League Central crown despite slashing the payroll by $25 million. But it does inform it.
When a team owner doesn’t demand or invest in a successful product, the front office has no pressure to deliver one. No courage is required to fall on a sword with a collapsable blade.
“It’s the players who play the game, and when they don’t achieve at the level we’ve projected, they certainly bear a level of responsibility for that,” Hahn told reporters this week. “But at the end of the day, the people who put the players on the roster, put them on the field, are the ones who bear the responsibility if that group doesn’t achieve. That’s me.”
All of this would be infuriating on its own if the White Sox didn’t insist they were Chicago’s “Blue Collar” team. There is no indication from the field to the front office to the owner’s box that anyone involved cares enough to work hard or take meaningful action.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Daryl Van Schouwen published an interview with Williams that was more or less a rehashing of every talking point the Sox have used over the last two decades.
“Accountability around here is not a problem,” Williams said.
He’s absolutely correct. Not only is accountability not a problem — it’s not even a concern. Why would it be when you can over-promise and under-deliver with impunity?
Williams is the second-longest tenured executive in Major League Baseball behind the Yankees’ Brian Cashman, who has 21 postseason appearances, four World Series titles and six pennants. No organization except the White Sox allows someone to run the show for this long without a damn good reason.
The Fishers and the Ricketts and the Angelos have all accepted this truth in their own way and used it to their advantage. Jerry Reinsdorf is 87 years old and has apparently decided even a modicum of subterfuge simply isn’t worth the effort.
There’s no need to field a winning team when a failed one is just as bearable.
LSU and Kim Mulkey aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
On Feb. 13, following LSU’s loss to South Carolina, I wrote, “LSU isn’t a contender.”
Not two months later, I was proven wrong along with a whole bunch of talking heads. [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag], [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and crew did the thing.
I wrote, “LSU looks poised to be a threat in the SEC for several years, it’s just not there yet.”
After that loss, Mulkey acknowledged LSU wasn’t there yet either. She said it was South Carolina and then everyone else.
On Sunday, it was LSU and then everyone else. The Tigers left no doubts, scoring 102 and winning by 17. This is the best team in the country.
When Mulkey was hired in 2021, LSU had only won nine games the year prior, hadn’t won a tournament game since 2014 and hadn’t been to the Final Four since 2008.
There are much longer Final Four droughts than the one LSU just ended, but it was a program in need of revival.
Mulkey, whose demeanor and presence sometimes are sometimes more reminiscent of a revival preacher than a basketball coach, was just the woman to bring LSU back to life.
Mulkey was no stranger to Louisiana or LSU. She grew up in Louisiana and played college ball at Louisiana Tech.
And you know the running joke. Haven’t you heard? Her son played baseball at LSU. If Mulkey didn’t have a game of her own to coach, ESPN was sure to give her screen time in those Alex Box Stadium bleachers.
Mulkey didn’t take the job because it was easy. She could have stayed at Baylor, where she was a top-two seed in the tournament every year for the last 10 years.
A coach approaching 60 didn’t have to jump ship to take on a rebuild. Mulkey knew LSU could be years away from reaching the heights she did at Baylor.
None of that mattered. She wanted to come home. She wanted to bring LSU a championship. It’s what she promised when she first appeared in the PMAC.
And now, it’s a promise delivered.
Mulkey rebuilt LSU at a rapid pace. LSU went from mediocre to national title winner in less than two years and it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.
We haven’t seen the ceiling yet.
This team had nine new players. Most of them will be back and joined by a recruiting class even better than Mulkey’s first two.
LSU is no longer the upstart underdog. It’s a destination that’ll attract the sport’s top talent.
Women’s college basketball is a sport that’s been prone to create dynasties. Star coaches have been able to consolidate talent giving their programs staying power.
That’s the path LSU is on right now.
Maintaining excellence is a whole different ball game, but you get the sense this team is going to remain hungry. Mulkey squads always play like they have something to prove.
But South Carolina is going to be hungry next year too, as is Iowa. The star players that gave LSU a tough time this year will be back for more.
LSU, with all of its flare and style, isn’t going anywhere either.
You might love them, you might hate them, but you’re going to get used to watching them.
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South Carolina, and growing women’s college basketball, is her mountain.
In 1980, N.C. State wanted to hire Morgan Wootten as its next men’s basketball coach. Wootten had built DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland into a powerhouse, winning – at that time – four high school national championships. He’d win another one in 1984, a few years after he turned down the Wolfpack’s offer to jump to the Division I college level. When Wootten declined N.C. State’s overtures, he said, “As far as climbing mountains, they are where you find them.”
It is apparent now that Dawn Staley’s mountain is in women’s college basketball.
A week ago, before Temple University hired Adam Fisher as its new men’s basketball coach, there was a whole lot of folks on Twitter clamoring for Temple to hire Staley.
That notion is not totally absurd; just a bit misguided.
She has turned the University of South Carolina into one of women’s college basketball’s capitals. After leading the Gamecocks to a pair of national titles – and perhaps a third this weekend – the South Carolina brand is on par with UConn, Tennessee, Stanford and Notre Dame as a perennial power in the sport that wins titles and produces standout players.
But before Staley coached at South Carolina, she was the women’s basketball coach at Temple. She’s also a Philadelphia native.
And so, stuff like this was said when the Temple men’s job opened up:
If Temple really wants to win basketball games it should turn the keys over to a Philly native who is a proven winner.
During a press conference on Thursday at American Airlines Arena in Dallas ahead of the Final Four, Staley set the record straight. She was asked about people suggesting her as the next head coach of the Temple men.
“No thoughts,” Staley said. “I don’t want to coach in the men’s game.”
She also added, with a soft laugh, “It’s cold up there too.”
Climates aside, let’s be clear: Dawn Staley can coach men or women, at any level, and be successful.
Let’s also be transparent about this: Being the head coach of the Temple men’s basketball team is a job that is beneath Dawn Staley. At South Carolina, Staley has a program that produces WNBA MVPs and competes for national championships. And South Carolina values her, giving her a seven-year extension in 2021 worth $22.4 million, making her one of the highest-paid women’s coaches in the country. Even if Staley was interested, Temple can’t afford her.
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And let’s also be crystal about this: Staley’s eyes are not wandering toward other mountains. Being the best coach in women’s college basketball, and growing the sport, is the challenge that she has taken on. And some day – if we aren’t already doing so – we’re going to mention her name in the same breath as Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt and C. Vivian Stringer as the greatest coaches this game has ever seen.
“Coach is a legend. That’s just what she is,” said South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston, who will likely be the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft. “For us to be coached by her, it’s something truly special.”
People often suggested that Auriemma, Summitt and Stringer should coach men, too. They never did. When Summitt was once asked why, she said, “I wouldn’t want people to think I looked at the men’s game as a step up.”
Staley is making the same point here. She most certainly could coach the Temple men, or the 76ers, or Kentucky or whoever. And she most certainly would win a lot of games. Men or women, teenagers or adults, it’s basketball. And Staley knows basketball.
But she knows she doesn’t want to coach men. And that is perfectly fine. Choosing not to coach men does not diminish her accomplishments – 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven SEC titles, five Final Fours, three Coach of the Year awards, one Olympic gold medal.
Again, one more time for the folks in the back: Staley does not need to coach men to be great.
That people keep suggesting Staley should take a men’s coaching job says that they believe she would be successful at it. Doesn’t that already say enough?
This weekend, the average price for a ticket to the women’s Final Four is $97 higher than the men’s. Viewership for the women’s Elite Eight games was up 43 percent this year from last season. Viewers have consumed 4.7 billion minutes of the NCAA women’s tournament this year – the most ever on record.
And Staley and her undefeated Gamecocks are a big reason why.
“As far as using my voice, I think I’ve been asked a lot more questions because of our success,” Staley said. “I think the platform has gotten bigger because of our success.”
What is it about March Madness that gets fans hooked?
Every year in March, millions of fans are glued to their televisions and find themselves rooting for teams they have never heard of. Rooting for those teams as if they had followed them their whole lives.
This year, there were 20,056,273 brackets made on ESPN despite a 1-in-120 billion chance of a perfect bracket. What is it about March Madness that gets fans hooked?
The truth is that we all love an underdog story. People pull for Cinderella every tournament as they hope and pray the clock doesn’t strike midnight for those schools. Let me throw some teams at you: [autotag]Lehigh[/autotag], [autotag]Saint Peter’s[/autotag], [autotag]Oral Roberts[/autotag], [autotag]Florida Gulf Coast[/autotag], [autotag]UMBC[/autotag], and this year [autotag]Princeton[/autotag] and [autotag]Fairleigh Dickinson[/autotag].
These teams are a combined 15-15 in the NCAA Tournament since 2010. That doesn’t sound bad, but since 2010, there have been 868 tournament games in total. These seven teams make up only 0.03% of games in that time. The closest any of these teams have gotten to a national championship was Saint Peter’s, who went all the way to the Elite Eight last year. Princeton has a chance to tie that feat if it can beat Creighton this week.
What is it about the March Madness format that makes it so special? Why doesn’t that format work in other sports? I think it’s because the games are one-offs. The format doesn’t work in baseball and softball because the underdogs have to win a three-game series. It doesn’t work in football because there is too much parity.
Farleigh Dickinson, by any measure you look at, is objectively one of the worst teams in the country.
They are ranked 301st by the NET Rating, 299th by Ken Pomeroy's Ratings, 307th by the Sagarin Ratings, & 285th by the RPI
And they just became the second #16 seed to upset a #1
This would be like lining Akron up against Georgia in college football. It wouldn’t work even in a one-off. It would be a cupcake game. They would lose by at least 28.
The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. The “one shining moment” that endures the test of time. You may not know who these teams are when they enter the tournament, but you’ll never forget their magical run in March.
That is the beauty of March Madness.
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The NBA gave Brooks a slap on the wrist when he should have been suspended.
The NBA fined Dillon Brooks $35,000 Friday for pushing a camera person to the ground while chasing a loose ball in Wednesday’s game against the Heat.
It was a slap on the wrist for a player who deserved much more as an habitual line-stepper.
The push wasn’t incredibly hard, nor did it appear to happen with the intent to injure. If it was any other player, there was enough reasonable doubt to think it wasn’t intentional at all. But everything we know about Brooks removes that doubt.
Even the NBA knows he did it on purpose. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been a punishment. In a statement, the league called the incident an “unsportsmanlike act of shoving a camera person.”
Dillon Brooks was fined $35k for “the unsportsmanlike act of shoving a camera person on the sideline after pursuing a loose ball,” the NBA announced. pic.twitter.com/dPFLnzFFcc
Just look at the follow-through on the push and the casual walkaway. Whether he wanted to hurt the guy or not, injury was possible. Brooks should’ve been suspended a game at least. Maybe more.
A $35,000 fine to someone with a base salary of $11.4 million is a drop in the bucket. Brooks makes about $139,000 a game, according to figures from Spotrac. This fine is equivalent to suspending him for a single quarter.
I’m not a fan of punishment for the sake of it, but a suspension would’ve made clear this won’t be tolerated. When Dennis Rodman kicked a camera person in 1997, he was suspended 11 games and fined $25,000. The NBA didn’t send that message this time, which is a shame because nobody deserves the indignity of being pushed on their back for no reason. Especially not the very camera people who help broadcast the game and its players to the masses.
Matt McMahon’s first year at LSU is done. Where do the Tigers go from here?
The NCAA Tournament is set to begin soon, and LSU won’t be in it.
That’s different from these last few years. With [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag], aside from the COVID year, LSU fans got used to watching basketball in March.
The Tigers have made the last three NCAA Tournaments.
LSU never made a special run at a Final Four, though there was a Sweet 16 appearance. But after several years of struggles, the tournament appearances were enough to satisfy LSU fans in an ever improving SEC.
There was even an SEC title throw in there too.
Stars from those teams have now found success in the NBA, whether it be [autotag]Naz Reid[/autotag] or [autotag]Cam Thomas[/autotag].
LSU finished dead last in the SEC this year. Wade was let go a year ago after LSU received a notice of allegations and in the wake of it, LSU basketball has tripped, stumbled and fallen.
Several players from Wade’s team transferred out. At one point, LSU was without any scholarship player on the roster. LSU hired [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] from Murray State and he recouped some of the losses. Most notably, he convinced guard [autotag]Adam Miller[/autotag] to return.
McMahon brought a number of his players from a good Murray State team too, along with a couple of blue-chip recruits.
Things didn’t look that bad anymore. The team wasn’t overflowing with talent but it had experienced players who had won at a high level. LSU started 5-0 and moved to 12-1. LSU finished off December with a win over No. 9 ranked Arkansas.
Following the Arkansas win, fans celebrated McMahon’s quick turnaround. The group had gelled fast, and LSU was going to compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
In the next game, the Tigers put up a fight on the road at Kentucky. Not a win, but more evidence the program was trending up and worthy of conference-wide attention.
Then it started to crumble. LSU lost by seven on the road to a Texas A&M team that turned out to be pretty good. Still not the end of the world. Then LSU lost again, to a Florida team that frankly, wasn’t that good.
LSU then lost again and again and again. A team that was 12-1 was 12-15 and any hope for postseason play had long disappeared.
You could chalk that 12-1 start up to mostly weak opponents. But Arkansas is No. 19 in KenPom, and the Tigers beat a Wake Forest team that won 19 games.
LSU’s lone loss in that stretch was by two points to a Kansas State team that’s 23-9. It really doesn’t make sense. But that’s how Year 1s are sometimes. This was a team with a new coach at a new place that’s never played together before.
This season is now in the rearview mirror. I don’t want to get caught up on diagnosing every issue.
Where does LSU go from here?
There’s sure to be plenty of turnover again. [autotag]KJ Williams[/autotag], LSU’s best player, will be gone. He was responsible for so much of LSU’s production this year.
Replacing him in a normal situation will be tough. Replacing him in a rebuild, even tougher.
Murray State transfer KJ Williams is the one dude LSU has who could play for anybody.
Dude is 6-10, 245, shot 41% from 3 this year, averaged 17.4 points, 7.6 boards. Has 10 points on 3-4 FG, 2-3 3s, 2-2 FT in the first 14 minutes tonight.
McMahon was hired as a developmental guy. [autotag]Scott Woodward[/autotag] didn’t turn to the proven Power Five winner like he did with football and baseball. With McMahon, Woodward’s playing the long game and the contract McMahon received reflects that.
McMahon signed three four-stars last cycle: [autotag]Tyrell Ward[/autotag], [autotag]Jalen Reed[/autotag] and [autotag]Shawn Phillips[/autotag]. That’s LSU’s future core. It’s pivotal that McMahon holds on to them.
If they leave, that’s when I’d start questioning if McMahon is right for this rebuild.
The pieces for improvement are here. You just have to believe McMahon is a guy capable of developing at LSU like he did at Murray State.
You don’t need elite recruiting classes to win in college basketball. Teams have made runs strictly on developing players.
McMahon added a slew of transfers last year and getting their veteran presence back would be nice, but LSU needs to mine talent in the portal, especially at the guard position.
LSU has a couple of top 200 recruits on their way in. [autotag]Corey Chest[/autotag] and [autotag]Mike Williams[/autotag]. Based on how McMahon treated the freshmen this year, don’t expect a ton from them next year.
It’s too early to make big declarations on what the roster could look like. This is still a program in flux, and in this era, anything can happen.
This offseason, even more so than last, is critically important for McMahon and staff. Last year was excusable. Finishing last in the SEC again next year won’t be.
This is the new SEC. It doesn’t matter if you’re a football school. Athletic departments with money are expected to be relevant in basketball.
Fans want to see this program competing for conference titles once again.
A match play major for men and women makes perfect sense for the good of the game, on so many levels.
Golfweek recently reported the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play won’t return to Austin, Texas, after this year because of sponsorship issues. While it’s a shame to watch the Tour’s one match-play event drop off the schedule, it presents a golden opportunity for the USGA, PGA of America, R&A or some other body to step in with a better product than the steady barrage of stroke-play events served up week after week.
Why match play? It’s the best format for golf at all levels. It reduces stress for beginners, increases the fun factor and lowers a barrier to entry for the game. For avid golfers, match play speeds up the game and elevates camaraderie. For pro golf, various match-play formats increase strategy and heighten personalities. For course setup, match play allows for more unique hole locations and tee placement. And for daily course maintenance, it eases the burden on unrealistic and unsustainable practices in the interest of fairness.
In Scotland – where the modern game was invented – and much of the rest of the world, match play rules the day. Many club golfers typically play hole-by-hole matches, be they various two-player formats or other team events, instead of individual stroke-play events with aggregate scoring totals deciding a winner. In the Home of Golf, stroke play is frequently the oddity, not the default.
The ruling bodies that conduct top-tier professional tournaments would be well-served to look to Scotland for what could make our game better.
Unfortunately, we often take our cues from pro golf on TV. Whether it be scoring format, equipment, clothing, pre-shot routine or most importantly course conditioning, pro golf on TV has a trickle-down effect, especially in the United States. TV producers prefer stroke play events because they are, barring bad weather, typically guaranteed to end at a predetermined time to complete a broadcast window. Stroke play usually makes for a tidy product without the risk of a lopsided match ending early, leaving an hour or more of dead air on a Sunday afternoon. But this reliance on stroke play has an unhealthy impact on the game. The loss of the Dell Technologies Match Play after this year offers up a perfect opportunity for event organizers to embrace professional match play events on an even grander scale.
Match play already presents some of the most compelling golf on TV, just not at most pro events. The U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur plus the men’s and women’s NCAA Championship finals deliver more drama and emotion than most PGA Tour events, albeit to smaller viewing audiences.
We need look no further than the Ryder Cup, one of the most-anticipated events every two years. The passion exhibited is unique in pro golf, with teams of players from the United States and Europe squaring off in various match-play formats. It brings out the players’ personalities and often spotlights their strengths and frailties.
Imagine combining the benefits of match-play formats in a major championship. This isn’t exactly a new idea, as the PGA Championship was contested as match play until 1958. But aside from one annual PGA Tour event in recent years, the format has been cast aside for elite pros.
Now is the time for a resurgence with the advent of the Men’s & Women’s U.S. Open Match Play Championship. It would be modeled after the U.S. Amateur and open to pros and amateurs alike – just like the U.S. Open. The event would immediately become more popular than the FedEx Cup Playoffs with fans and would serve as a match-play lead-in to the biennial Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup events. Not only would this be a win for fans, it could help solve the USGA’s venue challenges.
The USGA has locked in many of the U.S. Open sites for both men and women for the next 20-plus years at a handful of venues including Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pinehurst No. 2, Oakmont, Shinnecock, Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, Riviera, Oakland Hills, Winged Foot and Merion. Each is an amazing course with great architecture and tradition. And by repeating venues, the USGA has made the business of conducting championships easier in terms of scheduling, logistics and course setup.
However, the law of unintended consequences is that by locking in these venues, they have locked out others.
No. 5 green at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, Southern Hills in Oklahoma, Inverness in Ohio and other clubs have been great hosts before and have invested to conduct more championships. They are largely locked out of the U.S. Open schedule.
Municipal venues such as Bethpage Black in New York, Torrey Pines in California and Chambers Bay in Washington (my biased choice for future U.S. Opens and Match Play events, as I helped design the site of the 2015 U.S. Open) are also shut out. And what about any new course that comes along that might be worthy to host a national championship?
Creating The U.S. Open Match Play not only opens the door to all of these venues, but many, many more.
One of the great things about the U.S. Open is it was always the toughest test in golf. The winning score historically was usually around par. But that means there are only a couple dozen venues capable of hosting the event, and even then we see the USGA changing a course from par 72 to par 70, narrowing fairways, growing rough, speeding up greens and more, all in effort to protect par.
But with match play, par doesn’t matter. All of a sudden, venues such as Chicago Golf Club, National Golf Links of America in New York or Pacific Dunes in Oregon become viable candidates on the golf course side (there are still many other factors to consider).
Creating this championship would allow the USGA to match the venue to the event better. While Oakmont and Shinnecock work well for stroke play, venues such as Los Angeles Country Club (site of this year’s U.S. Open) or Merion (site of the 2030 Open) are far better suited for match play. It would also allow the USGA to better spread out events geographically. And instead of having the U.S. Open at Pinehurst three times in nine years, the resort could host two U.S. Opens and a U.S. Open Match Play.
This same idea holds true for the women’s game. The women actually have a wider range of great venue options because a course doesn’t need to approach 8,000 yards long. A best-case scenario would be finding a way for men and women to actually compete together on the same course, as in the major championships in tennis.
If the USGA doesn’t want to charge through the door the PGA Tour has opened, I hope the PGA of America, R&A or some other group will. More match play on great venues around the world is good for golf. All of golf.
The Commanders had telegraphed the move, indicating they were planning to press forward with second-year signal-caller Sam Howell out of North Carolina, who only appeared in one game in 2022 as a rookie. That or they were going to address the position elsewhere this offseason.
Washington acquired Wentz last offseason in a deal with the Indianapolis Colts in which it traded a hefty draft haul that included a second and third-rounder in 2022 and a conditional third in 2023. But due to a combination of injuries and benchings, Wentz only appeared in eight games with seven starts, going 2-5 with an 11 to 9 touchdown-to-interception ratio and an 80.2 quarterback rating.
Following a year of diminishing play and injuries that continue to rack up season after season, many are questioning if Wentz’s time as a starter in the NFL is a thing of the past — whether he pursues a backup opportunity somewhere or, as others have speculated, chooses to walk away.
It’s a trajectory not many saw coming after his NFL career got off to a red-hot start. Wentz had typical struggles as a rookie as the No. 2 overall pick out of FCS powerhouse North Dakota State in 2016 for Philadelphia. He’d get on an MVP pace before injury ended his second season in 2017, which resulted in a Super Bowl win for the Eagles led by backup Nick Foles.
Wentz returned the following year and delivered moderate production over the next two seasons. However, his play fell off considerably in 2020, resulting in his benching and — ultimately — a trade to the Colts for a third and first-round pick.
At times, that was a marriage that seemed to be working.
Wentz delivered arguably his most prolific campaign since his MVP-candidate season. But the season was marred by a loss to a previously 2-14 Jacksonville team in Week 18 which cost Indy a playoff spot (and likely cost Wentz a chance to return to the team in 2022).
Now Wentz is a free agent and will potentially play for his fourth team in as many years. If he wants to, it will be an option. He’s younger than several starting quarterbacks in the NFL and certainly still talented enough to occupy a roster spot.
Exactly what Wentz’s future holds is unclear at this point, and it’s always possible he can start again someday. But whatever happens, his future likely won’t include him occupying the title of a franchise quarterback.
There was some great MLB news Monday for those of us who value our sleep and would rather not stay up until 2 a.m. on a weekday to see how a meaningless regular season game in June will end.
The league is making its controversial “ghost runner” extra-innings rule permanent in 2023 and beyond, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported, meaning each inning after the ninth will start with a runner on second base — as they have the last three years.
MLB implemented this rule as part of its pandemic precautions in 2020, and it’s worked in keeping marathon games to a minimal — just seven games since have gone as long as 13 innings. Traditional baseball fans hate it, because they like sitting through boring 18-inning games on muggy summer days, but that might be the only con to a rule with several benefits.
Breaking: MLB’s Joint Competition Committee has voted unanimously to make the extra inning rule permanent for all regular season games moving forward. (2023 and beyond). A runner will be placed at second base at the start of every extra inning. Story coming at espn
Aside from keeping games from going on for five hours, the rule keeps bullpen arms fresher — especially necessary in an era where starting pitchers go fewer innings. The benefits for players extend further when you think about rest and recovery.
Then, there’s the fan perspective. The increased potential for runs scored at the start of an inning adds drama and excitement, and the continued expansion of sports betting means more and more people have a stake in games. The quicker they can get a resolution, the more likely they are to come back.
MLB is in the unenviable position of trying to appeal to these newer audiences while also keeping core fans satisfied. And the gap between those two seem to be bigger in baseball than any other sport. Bridging that divide sometimes that means ticking off existing fans who may threaten to stop watching when they don’t like something, but MLB knows those people aren’t going anywhere.
If this rule was that much of a non-starter, people would have stopped watching by now. If a fan was going to stick around for a game with one run scored between innings 10 and 20, they’ll stick around for a game with three runs scored between 10 and 12.
It doesn’t work the other way around, though. I would know. I’m the type of fan MLB should be targeting. I represent a segment of sports fan they don’t already have. I enjoy baseball, but I’ll flip the channel FAST. I also may have the occasional bet on a game. I can still be won over. This is a step in the right direction.
Save the quarter-day long games for the postseason when the games matter and the tension is real. Cut the length of regular season games and let us get on with our regularly scheduled programs.
