You may remember the objections that LeBron James cited before the NBA started its pandemic slowed 2020-2021 season. James complained about the short time period between the end of the 2019-2020 shortened season, which was prolonged by the fact that the Lakers won the championship and therefore were the last to play. James was against the next season beginning so soon thereafter, because it would give his Lakers limited time to recover from their championship run. In addition, the non-bubble compressed schedule with travel has certainly been unique and extra stressful.
Still, the league was able to produce a solid and meaningful 72-game regular season. James is likely correct that the limited offseason and unusual schedule from last season to this season has thrown off players and led to more injuries. That outcome was probably to be expected. This week, James has come out saying that these problems have helped drive the sheer number of All-Star players who have been injured and unable to play at playoff time – the time they are needed the most. Of course, James saw up close how important Anthony Davis was for the Lakers; James was unable to win the team’s first round series by himself without Davis.
There are All-Star injuries that have and will impact the eventual NBA Champion. The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t the same team with Joel Embiid. Trying his best to playing through a slight tear in his lateral meniscus in his right knee. The 76ers were able to get past Washington in the first round, but the second round series against Atlanta has been hard fought and was even until Philadelphia squandered a 26-point lead in the fourth quarter against budding superstar Trey Young and Atlanta last night to defeat the 76ers and take a 3-games-to-2 lead in their series. Embiid had 37 points, but most of them came in the first quarter. Atlanta can close out their series tomorrow at home.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn suffered two injuries that has led to doubts: first, guard Kyrie Erving suffered a high ankle sprain that kept him out of last night’s game; along with the hamstring injury to superstar James Harden. It looked like the Nets all-star team was in trouble. They may still be, but not on if the third member of the superstar triumvirate, Kevin Durant has anything to say about it. Durant posted a game for the ages Tuesday night finishing with 49 points on 16-of-23 FG shooting and 13-of-16 from the foul line; 17 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, two blocks and four 3-pointers while playing every second. His team needed all 48 of those minutes too, as they were down as many as 17 points in the third quarter and looked like they had run out of steam at times. Durant is the first player in NBA playoff history to tally at least 45 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and he also notched the third-highest field-goal percentage (69.6%) in a 40-point triple-double in the history of the playoffs. The Nets head to Milwaukee for what could potentially be a series-clinching Game 6 tonight.
Utah’s Mike Conley’s absence has been very evident to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz won the first two matches riding on Jordan Clarkson and Donovan Mitchell’s scoring. However, the LA Clippers have had to fight back for a second time from a 0-2 position and now lead the series 3-games-to-2. Utah may be in luck as the Clippers have a big problem of their own. Kawhi Leonard suffered a knee injury in the game Monday and he is expected to miss significant time. The Jazz had the best record in the entire league before the playoffs and now need to beat the Clippers in Los Angeles to force a Game 7 tonight.
Even the conference finals have injuries overshadowing the games. Phoenix, the only team who has already clinched a berth in the next round will be without guard Paul George who is in Covid protocol.
Can we blame all of these injuries on the shortened offseason and compressed season? Sure, I’m certain it has something to do with it, but is it the only cause as LeBron James suggests? I think King James is upset he is sitting at home watching the playoffs for a change.

Joe Paterno was a football coaching legend. He held the all time record for victories in big time college football. Then came the, at first allegations then proven that assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was sexually assaulting young boys in a program Sandusky headed for underprivileged boys. Paterno lost his job, his record for awhile, and shortly thereafter, his life to cancer. Three other Penn State officials still face charges in the scandal. Penn State was penalized by the Big Ten involving loss of scholarships. Many of us thought that this was the nadir of college scandals, but maybe another Big Ten school is saying “hold my beer…”
Stepson of the legendary Bo Schembechler, Matt Schembechler at 10 years-old summoned the courage to tell his new stepfather a horrific, uncomfortable and humiliating truth: during a physical examination he’d been fondled and digitally penetrated by the Michigan team doctor, Robert Anderson. The younger Schembechler held a news conference this week quoted by Yahoo! Sports.
The incident happened in 1969, and according to Matthew, Bo told him he didn’t want to hear about the incident and even struck the child hard enough to knock him across the kitchen in the family’s Ann Arbor home. “My effort earned me a punch in the chest,” Matt Schembechler said.
Undeterred, Matt said his mother, Millie, had Michigan athletic director Don Canham over to the house to hear the story. Matt described what happened and said Canham went to fire Anderson, only to have Bo step in the way and save Anderson’s job. Anderson would remain the Wolverines’ team doctor until 2003, which spanned 13 Big Ten championships won by Schembechler during a heralded career.
It also resulted in some 850 allegations from former players that Anderson would routinely fondle, abuse and rape them during routine physical therapy and checkups. The allegations against Anderson, who died in 2008, aren’t new. They were so prevalent at the time that Anderson was dubbed “Dr. Anal” by members of the football program. Also not new is the idea that Bo Schembechler, who died in 2006, knew generally of Anderson’s abuse. A recent university-funded report even detailed numerous stories of Bo being directly told. That included one from Daniel Kwiatkowski, an offensive lineman from 1977-79, who on Thursday detailed his own molestation by Anderson and his reporting of it to Schembechler. “Bo said, ‘Toughen up,” Kwiatkowski said. “Bo knew.”
Gilvanni Johnson, a Michigan wide receiver from 1982 to 1986, while fighting back tears. Stated that Anderson’s behavior was so well-known that coaches would threaten trips to see him as a motivational ploy. “Only now do I realize how crazy it was to threaten rape as a way to make players work harder,” Johnson said.
Anderson, Canham, Bo and Millie Schembechler are all dead, so trying to conduct a full investigation into these claims is nearly impossible. However, the breadth of the accusations and the emotional testimony of the men is a fresh stain on the University of Michigan and it’s Hall of Fame coach. It really isn’t fair to penalize the university since everyone involved is dead and none of the current players, administrators, or coaches, with the exception of current Head Coach Jim Harbaugh who says he was never molested. Still, the university should be paying for mental health and support for the athletes molested by Anderson. I’m certain that there will be calls to rename any buildings, fields or other locations named after Bo Schembechler and the removal of any statues, much like Paterno’s statue was removed during the early days of the Sandusky scandal.
Still, one has to ask – why are these coaches who were renowned for helping players become better men have this hole in their conscience concerning their assistant or team doctor? To allow your stepson to be molested and then push the kid and support a molester over a family member is very frightening and sad.

Of all the issues in sports, perhaps the most disgusting are the institutions that have been established to “rule” over their various sports. Setting rules, running tournaments, and most important – negotiating and collect they millions of dollars in TV revenues, rights fees, and ticket money. While the international organizations like the International Olympic Committee and FIFA are scandal plagued and well on the way to dissolution and people going to jail, there is probably no organization that is more hypocritical, greedier, more willing to use the players as pawns for money as the NCAA, and even they may be reaching a new low.
Over the past few years, scandals have come and gone (see the next blog) and the NCAA has been losing in the real court and the court of public opinion as to the players not being able to earn money in student jobs or in less upfront ways. Finally, in many states, athletes have been given the ability to earn money from the sale of jerseys and retain the right to their likenesses, rights that are worth millions of dollars and has gained the NCAA and the schools billions.
Perhaps it is the need for even more money, and the loss of some control, that has spurred the NCAA to try and generate money to replace it. The easiest way would be to milk the sports cow yet again. For decades, there was no formal college football title game, when the “national champion” was a matter of the court of public opinion and the source of sometimes bitter bar arguments. Then came the Bowl Championship – where a group, decided first, which two teams would meet in the Championship Game; to the current four team playoff, with 2 semi-finals and a final game. Still, there wee teams who felt got ignored in the process. Small schools and non “Power” conferences were also left out. The past three years, Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State have been three of the final four teams, leaving 127 teams vying for the final spot (if all things go as they have). Something needed to be done.
So, a committee of the NCAA has come up with a proposal for a 12-team playoff, with six spots reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions and the other six going to at-large selections. A selection committee would still be involved, and the proposed 12-team playoff would not limit how many teams can come from any one conference. The four highest-ranked conference champions would receive first-round byes and teams 5-12 would face each other in four games played on campus sometime during the two-week period following conference championship weekend, typically early December. Quarterfinals would be hosted by bowl games on New Year’s Day unless that is a Sunday, in which case those games will be played Jan. 2 The semifinals would also be hosted by bowl games, as is the case now. The plan calls for no re-seeding of the bracket as teams advance.
Of course, this means more games, which has always been a stain on a reputation of an organization that is supposed to be looking out for the good of the “student-athletes.” You can’t talk about student-athletes while they play so many games, they cannot attend classes or study. In this proposal, the best teams would play 16 games, like an NFL team. There is no reduction in games, the nonconference games remain and the horrid cash grabs that are the conference championship games.
I believe that an expanded playoff is inevitable, but in the end, I don’t think 12 teams will prevail even if it takes effect in 2023 or later. I think that the field will expand to 8 with no byes. They will remain bowl games. However, if the NCAA would like to come up with a plan that allowed players to be students and also reduced the stress, strain and risk of injury to the players, cut the number of nonconference games. Now at 3, cut them to 1 game; give the teams a chance to get in game shape. Or cancel them altogether.
The other idea, that will never happen but should be done is to get rid of the conference championship games. They do nothing more than give the conferences money that they don’t need and devalue the regular season.
I wish that would happen but it won’t unfortunately.

For as long as I’ve been writing sports, I have agreed with Charles Barkley that professional athletes should not be role models. Just because someone can hit or pitch amazingly, or dunk a basketball, or skate doesn’t make them people that kids should emulate. Other than the riches and fame, athletes are like everyone else (and the riches and fame lead to their own problems).
I thought that until now.
With the onset of vaccines to combat the Coronavirus, the world is coming out from under the pandemic restrictions. The State of Illinois is supposed to fully reopen tomorrow, with vaccinated people allowed to no longer wear masks. Unvaccinated people are strongly suggested to continue to wear masks in large crowds or other places where 6’ distance cannot be assured. Baseball has set new protocols for players: teams – players, coaches having reached the 85% level of having received final doses and will be able to relax protocols. These relaxed protocols include dropping the requirements for facemasks in dugouts and bullpens, and loosening restrictions on mobility during road trips.
As of now, 20 teams have reached that threshold – the Chicago Cubs are not among them, making the front office angry, and leading to a guessing game among fans and the media as to who has not been vaccinated. While it’s all speculation, it’s easy to look for clues on social media and in players’ comments as to who is holding out.
Cubs manager David Ross told a group of Chicago reporters this week that it isn’t fair to judge individuals for their personal beliefs. “The hard part in society in general is just negative judgment on people on any level and not knowing the person and where their stance comes from,” Ross said. “It’s something that’s hard for me to get on board with from a thousand-foot view.” Ross continued: “I was in the media up there (in the ESPN booth) judging people and it was my job to talk about what they’re doing. But the personal stuff, until you know someone and have heard their stories, I try to hold back judgment. I just feel like it’s such a bad characteristic.”
Ok, Ross of course is a former player and teammate to most of these guys, so he’s not going to throw them under the bus, but the reporters asked if Ross has any hope the Cubs will reach the threshold before the end of the season, allowing him and his coaches to stop wearing masks in the dugout and players to return to normal gatherings on the road? “I definitely have hope,” Ross said. “The way I look at that is every organization is their own group of people. I don’t know how the Braves do things. We have our group and their decisions and their stances and their personalities, and I respect every one of these guys and go to battle with these guys every single day, no matter their choice of what they do on or off the field. Maybe it’s a problem in some people’s eyes if we don’t get (to the 85% threshold). … But this is the group we have. These are the choices these guys made, and I’m here to win baseball games with these guys. That’s all I have control over.”
Just like the GOPers who are promoting conspiracy theories that the vaccine allows Bill Gates to track you, or the latest one that says that vaccines make people magnetic, some players apparently are just as dumb and gullible. One would think that having had more experience in the world than the average person would make athletes more knowledgeable and want to 1) assure that their teammates and loved ones are less likely to contract the virus, and 2) at least be able to mingle with teammates and opponents on and off the field (but then again, Steve Carlton and Curt Schilling are certifiably right wing nutjobs). One would think that in jobs that require optimum health and for men who are in top condition, they would have at least a financial incentive to remain that way. I guess that many athletes who never got past high school never learned things like science?
So yes, athletes are private citizens who have the right to do with their bodies as they wish, but as the rest of the population moves forward and teams and other businesses refuse to serve the non-vaccinated, how long before the conservative voices shout out “discrimination?” (They are already trotted out the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during World War II.)
Don’t athletes have an obligation to the world at large?

I meant to get to this story weeks ago, right after the first day of the 2021 NFL Draft but it fell through the cracks until now. I have always wondered and I know other people have too because they have told me – why does it take so long for NFL teams to make a draft selection, especially when they’re on the clock and know exactly who they are going to select? One would think that teams might be listening to offers from other teams to trade the pick, but what if that’s not the case?
One team finally broke the NFL’s code of silence this year – the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags of course, had the number one pick in the whole draft, and for weeks, it was no secret that Jacksonville and new Head Coach Urban Meyer were going to pick Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. Despite some April Fools’ type stories in the media, Lawrence was the guy.
Unfortunately, ESPN and the NFL Network have time to kill and each team has up to 15 minutes in the first round to make their pick. Of course, if a team takes too long, the team following can make a pick and run it up to the Commissioner first, but that never really happens. Anyway, the Jaguars were ready from the start to make their pick, but according to people in the Jacksonville camp, the league forced them to wait seven minutes before they made their selection. Of course, this is far from being the first issue that the league has had with Meyer, beginning with hiring and then resignation of former University of Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle.
We know that there needs to be time for Mel Kiper, Jr. and the other talking heads to opine on the players and the possibilities of players that may be chosen, but for a program that is going to run for 4 hours the first 2 nights and 6+ hours on Saturday, don’t you think you could trim the show by 30-45 minutes if teams just made their choices expeditiously?
Just askin’…

With so many franchises in the major sports, it would seem that it is almost as hard to be horrible for a long time as it is to win. Lightning strikes all over the place and broken clocks are right twice a day no matter what.
OK – enough clichés. It really doesn’t take much to be the owner or a franchise that sucks for decades. All it takes is excessive penny-pinching, indifference, shortsightedness, hubris, stupidity, mismanagement or some combination of all of the above. Long championship draughts were common place, especially in baseball: the White Sox went 88 years between World Series Championships, the Red Sox went 86 years; and the all time holder is the Chicago Cubs at 108. The current title holder in this dubious category in baseball are the Cleveland Indians who haven’t won in 73 years. Expansion has led to quite a few franchises who have never won in the shorter histories: the Texas Rangers come to mind and there are others.
The NHL is older than the NBA or even the NFL, so one would expect the holder of “The Futility Award” would reside with one of the Original Six teams. My Blackhawks went 49 years between Cups (in great part due to the cheap, inept owner “Dollar” Bill Wirtz); the Bruins took a “measly” 39 years. Despite their 24 titles, the Montreal Canadiens have now gone 28 seasons without a Stanley Cup. The all-time record had been 54 years between titles for the New York Rangers who finally won in 1994 (and has been 27 years since they won the one time). Now however, there’s a team that had broken the Rangers’ record – the Toronto Maple Leafs (who’s one time owner Harold Ballard made Wirtz look like George Steinbrenner), and no team has done so in such a disheartening fashion.
The Leafs were the number 1 seed in the Canadian division of the NHL this year which was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and barriers between people traveling between the U.S. and Canada. Toronto had the leading goal scorer in all of the league – Austin Matthews with 41 goals. Unfortunately, the Leafs also brought with them a record not just of failure to win Cups, but failure to win the first round of the playoffs. The Leafs had not won a first round series since 2004 against Ottawa. It had been believed that the Leafs greatest first round choke was game 7 against the Bruins in 2013. Behind by three goals late in the third period, Boston pulled goalie Tuuka Rask and scored two goals in 31 seconds sending the game to overtime, where Patrice Bergeron scored at 6:05 of OT to send the blue shirts to the golf course.
This loss is as bad. Facing their “arch-nemesis” Montreal Canadiens, the Maple Leafs took a 3 games to 1 lead. Most people thought it was over. Then former Vezina Cup and MVP winner Carey Price once again showed what he can do in a short series. Two consecutive OT victories to tie the series and suddenly the pressure was on the home team Maple Leafs.
Toronto dropped a 3-1 decision in Game 7 of the North Division semifinals to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night on home ice, in the first playoff meeting between the rivals in 42 years. The Leafs played a tentative, nervous Game 7. Montreal had scored the game-winning goal in two straight overtimes off of Leaf turnovers. Last night Toronto looked determined not to make another costly mistake, but that can last for only so long. The first two Montreal goals in Game 7 were the result of two Toronto errors. Leafs winger Mitch Marner’s turnover led to a Brendan Gallagher chance the other way, and the Canadiens forward beat goalie Jack Campbell to open the scoring and basically end the game with Price playing so well.
The history is amazing. They have eight straight losses in series-clinching games. And they’ve lost a winner-take-all game in four straight postseasons: three Game 7s and a Game 5 in the qualifying round last summer against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, the streak stands at 54 years and counting. The Leafs cannot win a Stanley Cup until 2022, 55 years since their 1967 championship. (The memes have been brutal, and pretty funny.)
It’s wait ‘til next year again for Toronto but at least they have 53 years before they catch the Cubs…

Over the past few years, more and more attention has been given to mental health issues, among people and also among athletes. Just living in the 21st Century has stresses and add pandemics, delusional people and politicians, and simple decency and compassion, and it’s a wonder we’re not all taking anti-depressants. (For the record, I have been in therapy and taking medication for over 20 years now. I live a better internal life than I ever did before.)
Over the past few years, more athletes have come forward with mental issues from depression to bipolar syndrome and more. Former Chicago Bear wide receiver Brandon Marshall has been outspoken since his diagnosis. Vegas goalie Robin Lenher has been very open with his issues. Even Bruce Springsteen goes to therapy. One would think that this is more commonplace and less newsworthy than ever before. Unfortunately, the stigma of needing help remains.
That said, maybe we should have seen the problems that the number two ranked women’s tennis player in the world, Naomi Osaka, has been having. Ms. Osaka at first stated that she would not participate in press conferences at the French Open, a move that outraged the tennis power structure. She was fined $15,000 for her refusal. Of course, when you have earned millions in prize money at the tender age of 23, $15.000 is a pittance, but the story that she was upset by the press’ questions especially the same questions over and over at first caused comments that other athletes sit at press conferences. It was plain to see that there was a deeper issue here.
This week, Ms. Osaka withdrew from the French Open, announcing Monday on social media that she will “take some time away from the court” one day after she was fined and threatened with harsher sanctions for skipping her mandatory media obligations. Osaka, in a statement, said she “never wanted to be a distraction” and that her withdrawal is “the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being.”
Ms. Osaka, 23, also revealed that she has experienced depression and anxiety since winning her first major at the 2018 US Open and explained that speaking to the media often makes her nervous. She apologized to any media members she had impacted with her decision. “I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media,” she said. “I get really nervous and find it stressful to always try and engage and give [the media] the best answers I can.”
For the most part, people have been supportive of Ms. Osaka which is the right thing to do. I have to wonder how much her background has to do with the way she is treated and does not help her mental state. As the daughter of a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, she has been very outspoken in her support of the Black Lives Matter Movement, while also being officially Japanese, even though she has lived in the United States since she was 3 years old. Many members of the press have rightly commended Ms. Osaka for her stance, because it can’t be easy to be biracial on the tour. One thing that runs through many of the athletes is feeling alone, even in a team sport with lots of teammates. Of course, professional tennis is the ultimate individual sport. You are all alone out there. Add the ethnic and racial undertones, it cannot be easy for her. I am empathetic of course because my daughters and Chinese and African-American. Ms. Osaka has said that she feels more Japanese than American and I can understand that also.
Like most people, I wish nothing but the best for this young woman. Whether she picks up a tennis racket ever again or continues to be one of the top players in the world is irrelevant. I hope she takes all the time that she needs. I hope that if she does come back, compromise can be made to give the press what they need and provide some space for all players.