There were two big free agent signings in the major winter sports that sent tremors through their respective leagues. The more covered one was LeBron James opting out of his contract with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and signing a 4-year, $154 million deal with the Lakers. Of course, this is not the first time James has put on his walking shoes: the first time, when he left the Cavs for Miami, it was announced on a one-hour ESPN special that made James the most hated player in the game. The fact that he convinced Chris Boch and Dwayne Wade to stay with him, and they won two NBA titles made fans, especially in Cleveland, a city that had not won a title of any kind in over 5 decades angry.
Then, James left Miami to return home to Cleveland. A lot of the old hate dissipated, especially when he brought a title to Ohio. This and his philanthropic efforts in the community returned James to the beloved hometown boy made good pedestal many fans want to put him. However, given another opportunity to opt out of his contract, the Lakers, a shadow of their former glory, led by one of their legends, Magic Johnson, signed James. There is some good young talent on the Lakers, but they are in the same conference with two of the strongest teams in the league – the Golden State Warriors, winners of three of the last 4 championships, and the Houston Rockets, with reigning MVP James Harden. The Warriors denied James those three titles, losing only once. Meanwhile, the Lakers have Lonzo Ball and some other good young talent, but not enough to topple the Warriors or Rockets (or the Celtics or Raptors in the East).
It is obvious that Magic needed to make a big splash and get the famous fannies on seats, get Nicholson back on the first row. For James, it is said that he is about to make “Space Jam 2,” a sequel to the Michael Jordan meets Warner Brothers cartoons hit from 1996. The Laker news wasn’t a big surprise, it was said that James’ kids had been enrolled in school for the Fall in the Los Angeles area. In ESPN reported the other day that LeBron had texted Kevin Durant who left Oklahoma City to win a title with Golden State but who is renegotiating his deal with them with the sticking point being duration. ESPN resident NBA reporter and admitted stereotypical loud, ignorant black man, Stephen A. Smith reported that Durant’s response was “why?” So, James may finish out his career on the coast; he may even get some other good players to join him, but all I think this move will do is further muddy LeBron James’ legacy in the league.
Meanwhile, in a situation much more interesting to me, NHL superstar John Tavares left the New York Islanders, where he had been the captain, the best player, and the face of the franchise to sign a 7-year, $77 million contract with his home team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders have tried almost everything to keep Tavares, moved to Brooklyn from Long Island, then made plans to move back into a new arena. Lots of money spent on complimentary players while leaving plenty in reserve to resign its franchise player. They even signed Stanley Cup winning coach Barry Trotz when he couldn’t come to a contract agreement with the Capitals.
Almost every team in the league salivated at the chance to acquire Tavares, the biggest name to hit free agency since Steven Stamkos, who ended up staying in Tampa. Six teams were granted an audience, including the Leafs, San Jose, Tampa Bay, the Bruins, and the Islanders, but the allure of playing for the team he rooted for while growing up in nearby Missisauga, Ont. Plus joining Austin Matthews as the biggest star pairing since Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin or the Hawks Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
The move immediately leapt the Leafs, the team with the longest current Stanley Cup draught to Stanley Cup favorites despite losing 36 goals in James van Reimsdyk to Philadelphia and Tyler Bozak to St. Louis. Still the loss of those two players is worthwhile with the opportunity to land one of the top 5 players in the whole league and a young man in his prime.
Since I have friends who are lifelong Islander fans, I feel for the Islanders. Since their glory years of the early 1980s when they won four Stanley Cups, the franchise has been known more for mismanagement, bad and fraudulent ownership, and lots of losses. Tavares was the one lone bright spot for the team, and even with him, they missed the playoffs 6 of Tavares’ nine seasons in New York. The talent pool is very dry with the Islanders and short-term prospects don’t look that good.
However, don’t think it’s going to be a cake walk for the Maple Leafs. Already a white-hot hockey market, the pressure to win will be even higher than ever before. Leafs fans are passionate and sell out the Air Canada Centre even when the Leafs aren’t very good. Since acquiring Matthews, the team has made the playoffs each season, but haven’t been able to go deep into the playoffs. The expectations are going to be astronomical, and if they don’t win immediately, the fan base, not as venal as Philadelphia or New York or even Montreal but still very vocal, will be unhappy.
Again, I feel for the fans of the Cavaliers and Islanders. In Cleveland, at least they will be spared watching LeBron James’ inevitable decline. For the Islanders, hope that Trotz can get the players to play with a similar chip on their collective shoulders as Las Vegas did last year when everyone expected the expansion team to finish at the bottom of the league, but instead, they ended up playing for the Stanley Cup. That is the only thing that Isles fans have to hold onto, but at least, I haven’t heard of people setting their Tavares sweaters on fire. Yet

With the Stanley Cup awarded, the post season honors distributed, and the draft held, there was one last item on the NHL docket – announce the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2018. The two players announced were shoe-in Hall of Famers – Martin Brodeur, the winningest goalie in NHL History (and losingest as well), winner of 3 Stanley Cups in goal with New Jersey was an absolute lock. In fact, I’m surprised the Hall didn’t follow in the precedent to just induct Brodeur immediately after he retired, like they did Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. No suspense here.
The same can be said for Martin St. Louis. The longtime star of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who helped guide them to their Stanley Cup championship posted 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists), won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP in 2004 and won the Art Ross trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 2004 and 2013. Again, no brainer.
I don’t know why it’s taken so long for the Hall to honor Willie O’Rea, the league’s first black hockey player, who aside from being a living piece of history, has done so much as the league’s ambassador and spokesperson for diversity and inclusion. Russian Alexander Yakushev and Jayna Hefford, who won 4 Olympic Gold Medals for Canada were also announced.
The most controversial choice is not at all controversial to me. Commissioner Gary Bettman will be inducted to the Hall as well. The most hated man in hockey was going to be enshrined someday despite the feelings of the fans. Yes, we all hate Bettman for overseeing three labor stoppages including the loss of the entire 2004-2005 season. He will always be vilified by the fans, who are mostly on the players’ side anyway in these things. Bettman however was as much a shoe-in for the Hall as Brodeur: having been on the job since 1993, he is the longest serving commissioner in league history; and if that wasn’t enough, the NHL has grown from a $400 million business in annual revenues to a $4 billion operation. That means more money to the players despite Bettman’s part in the implementation of a hard salary cap, which has done more to bring parity to the sport than anything. Still, that is incidental to the powers that be; it means much more money in the pockets of the owners.
It was inevitable that Bettman would be inducted, but I question the timing. Unless Bettman is ill, of which there is no indication, the NHL could have waited until after Bettman retires. Fans will never warm to the Sesame Street Count lookalike, but a few years after he retired, the hatred might not be so vicious. After a few years out of power and out of the public spotlight, the fans’ ire would be more muted. Fans last week at the Draft in Dallas barely allowed Bettman a word in edgewise. Even fans in Las Vegas, the newest franchise boo Bettman. It’s almost standard to boo Bettman wherever he goes, but he doesn’t care, he earned $9.5 million for the 2013-2014 season, which is probably much higher now.
Still, one must question the traditional tone deaf NHL. Of course they were going to induct the man who fattened the golden calf. Still, what’s the rush?

For those who aren’t from Chicago or not old enough, the end of the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Championship dynasty was more of a whimper than a bang. GM Jerry Krause, maligned by the players, press, coaches, the fans, basically everyone who wasn’t his boss, Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, felt he didn’t get enough credit for having put together the team that won six NBA titles in eight years. To be honest, Krause was right – he did acquire the complimentary players that allowed Michael Jordan to fully blossom. Unfortunately, he and Reinsdorf wanted to prove that they didn’t need anyone else to build a second championship dynasty. Gone were most of the players: Jordan retired, Scottie Pippen was gone; so was the Zen Master, Coach Phil Jackson for L.A. Of course, the Bulls sucked. Badly. Krause went back to scouting baseball. Reinsdorf still owns the Bulls, and other than one year led by the later oft-injured Derrick Rose, the Bulls have been nowhere near the top of the heap.
This is the reason that I have come up with the Two Jerrys Award, given to franchises who win, and then do something incredibly stupid to muck it up. I don’t give it every year, and I generally don’t give it to teams who are forced to make dumb moves as a result of a salary cap or expansion draft. These are changes that are required by the leagues – it doesn’t make the moves often stupid, but if the owners/GMs had their way, they would have done something different.
It is time to issue the award again – this time to Washington Capital owner Ted Leonsis and SVP and GM Brian MacLellan who could have avoided a mess but just couldn’t do it. Just 12 days after winning the team’s first Stanley Cup in its 43 year history, they hardballed coach Barry Trotz in contract negotiations and this week, Trotz resigned.
Trotz led the team to an outstanding record for his four years in charge: 205-89-34 for an over 62% win percentage and two President’s Cup Trophies for the team with the most points in the regular season. Unfortunately, the Capitals were in the same division/conference as the Pittsburgh Penguins who knocked them out of the playoffs the previous two years on their way to championships. With Trotz in the last year of his contract, this was a make or break season for the veteran coach. Playing well but not at the top of the division standings, as the season approached the end, broadcasters and pundits openly discussed the chasm in offers between the two parties. Trotz was said to be making comments that his days in Washington were numbered.
Then, as the playoffs started, the Caps caught fire. They marched through all comers including their arch-rival Penguins and defeated the upstart Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals. Superstar Alex Ovechkin, the 800 pound gorilla off his shoulders and who hasn’t drawn a sober breath since winning, has been the feel good sports story of the month. Loads of pictures of him drinking out of the Cup; drunk with the Cup; in bed with the Cup. He’s been a big kid and since he can no longer be considered the greatest scorer ever without winning a title, it’s been nice to see him enjoying himself. I had read several articles about them focused on repeating (which every team does, but it’s very difficult, especially in hockey).
The team will have to try and win without Trotz, the man who knew he had to get Ovechkin and his mates to play better defense (Ovechkin had one season with 50 goals scored but was a -35, meaning he had been on the ice for 85 opponent scores). On top of this, the stories I read and a broadcast piece that I think was on HBO showed that this is a class man. He has a child with Down’s Syndrome and is raising his with his wife. He is respected throughout the league, and one would think that after winning the Stanley Cup, the Capitals would do anything to keep him. However, Leonsis, the man who hired Michael Jordan to come run the Wizards to disastrous results, is letting Trotz go. I have no doubt that teams are lining up to sign Trotz, and honestly, I hope he does well (unless of course, he ends up back in the Blackhawks division).
So, lets hear it for Leonsis and MacLellan – idiots who think they know better.

Today, the 2018 World Cup Soccer Tournament begins in Russia. The World Cup is one of the most popular sporting events on the planet, especially since, outside of the U.S., futbol is the most popular sport in the world. Buying into that Fox spent a boatload of money (I heard $400 million) for the rights to the event. Big ratings, right? Well, there’s a major problem – the U.S. Men’s team did not qualify for the World Cup this year.
Unlike the women’s team, which is a worldwide powerhouse, the men’s team has never achieved greatness. In fact, the team made it to third place once in 10 appearances, and that was in 1930. So, at least for Fox, the American audience, particularly in light of a perceived isolationist bent in Trump supporters, could make this problematic for the network financially. (Of course, we are talking about Rupert Murdoch here, anytime he loses money can be considered a joyful day.)
I tip my hat to their marketing plan however. The network has teamed with a genetics company to push the Cup as following the country of your ancestry. Don’t know exactly what that is? Here – take a swab of the inside of your cheek, send it off and for $100, you can find out who you should be rooting for. I have not seen any television commercials for the World Cup, but I have heard the radio spots dozens of times, pushing whether you should root for Mexico or Argentina or Brazil.
All the way back to my Sportswriters on TV days, I have claimed that soccer will never take as big a hold in the U.S. as in the rest of the world. Back in the 1990s when the show was on, I got lots of feedback that I was wrong – there were more kids and high school soccer teams than ever – the sports was growing. Now however, I have kids and while there are still quite a few options to play as children, soccer teams/leagues don’t overwhelmingly outnumber baseball or hockey or figure skating or many other sports. My comment stemmed basically on the fact that American kids have many, many other possible outlets than soccer, and many of the other outlets are firmly gripped in history or tradition. Baseball goes back to the 1860s; football nearly that far; this is the 100th anniversary of the NHL. Plus, in many countries, kids play soccer because it is inexpensive to play, but in America, basketball is the big game for poor kids. In addition, to too many kids, basketball is seen as a way out of poverty; the professional soccer league in North America certainly isn’t as popular as the other sports and the players in general don’t get rich as in the other sports leagues. Add to that concerns over brain injury in sports, CTE is a concern for soccer with all of the headers players make. Women are especially susceptible to this type of injury.
So, while I feel good in my prediction being correct, the question remains, why can’t the U.S. Men do better in the World Cup? The women have won 3 World Cups, four Olympic gold medals, seven CONCACAF Gold Cups and ten Algarve Cups. Are U.S. men inferior? Ridiculous. Is it coaching? Is it mismanagement of the team, the rosters, the coaches? Is there too much politics in U.S. Men’s Soccer? I think that maybe all of these reasons are in part the problem. The most basic problem I think is that in America, the best athletes go into other sports and soccer has never gained more than a small foothold in the national consciousness (except for immigrants from other countries that have rich histories in the sport).
What will be interesting to note is what the ratings will be for the World Cup without a U.S. team to root for? Plus, the games in Russia will be live from midnight to around sunup in the U.S. time zones. I admit to never being much of a soccer fan, so I will probably pay very little attention. Fox certainly hopes that the rest of the country isn’t like me.

For every 1,000 things that the current resident of the White House does wrong, there’s one thing that he does that, usually by accident, is almost secretly a good thing. Instead of letting the issue die, Trump pushed NFL Owners to demand that players stand for the National Anthem. For anyone who has been living on Mars for the past few weeks, the NFL has basically capitulated to Trump’s desire to crush public displays against mass incarceration, violence and murder of people of color by the police. Players on the field must stand for the anthem or the team could be penalized or fined. Players who do not want to stand, can stay in the locker room. (Of course, the easiest way to throw a monkey wrench into that would be for every team to take a knee before the first game.)
This week, Trump rescinded the invitation for the NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles to come to the White House, because they didn’t want a scene from the black players. The Eagles were the only team who didn’t have one player take a knee all season, although many Eagle players are politically active. So, there was a “patriotism” event on the White House lawn supposedly for Philadelphia fans, but looked suspiciously like White House junior staffers (and one man even took a knee).
Of course, the two major winter sports are coming to the end of their seasons. The predominantly African-American NBA Finalists, the superstars from the Cleveland Cavaliers (LeBron James) and the Golden State Warriors (Steph Curry) have already said that neither team would be making the visit to the White House. Many humorists have already commented that since the Washington Capitals have won the Stanley Cup, Trump would be happy to host them since they have two Russian stars: Alex Ovechkin (who is also captain) and Evgeny Kuznetsov. However, the Capitals one black player, Devante Smith-Pelly has already said that he would skip the visit.
Here’s where a bad thing could turn into a good thing. First, the team Presidential visit was always a photo op for the President. There’s no reason for the champions to go to the White House. There’s a few jokes, the President is given a jersey with the President’s name on the back, and it’s over. When Obama was president, a few athletes said they wouldn’t go, and some made it into a political statement like Boston goalie Tim Thomas. His stance appeared to be, at least in part, racially motivated. Now, with the divisive Orange as the temporary resident, many black, women and ethnic players don’t want to go, and who would blame them? So, getting rid of the visit wouldn’t really bother anyone.
However, there is also a growing call for eliminating the anthem before games. It’s bogus patriotism, played, especially by the NFL for money that the Defense Department was paying them. If you need to force patriotism, it’s not exactly freedom, now is it?
Trump is going to have (hopefully) his own comeuppance. Maybe he’ll take the national anthem and the presidential sports team visit with him.

Why is it that some of the most talented people in the world, can be complete jerks? Actually, I guess there are as many jerks among the talented as in the regular populace, just the talented get more press.
Which bring us to Terrell Owens; he has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame but this week he told the Hall of Fame Committee that he will not attend the ceremony. He would rather celebrate with friends and family (of course, he could have just brought the friends and family with his to Canton, like everyone else does). His entire career, TO was undoubtedly one of the great receivers, but he made more headlines with his antics:
In 2000, while playing for the 49ers, Owens ran to the center of the field at Texas Stadium to plant an imaginary flow on the Cowboys’ star. Another attempt to do that got him tackled by one of the Cowboys.
In 2001, Owens accused then 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci of protecting friend Dick Jauron after the 49ers blew a 19-point lead and lost to Jauron’s Bears in OT.
In 2004, in a Playboy interview, Owens hinted that ex-teammate, quarterback Jeff Garcia was gay.
The list goes on and on.
There had been considerable discussion in the past about whether wide receivers, except for the very best, deserved HoF consideration. This is why there are many fewer receivers in the Hall than the other positions. That attitude seems to have gone away (finally) leading to a lot of great receivers getting their due.
Owens certainly belongs – he was one of the best receivers of his era and his persona, as aggravating as it was, did captivate the NFL audience. One would think, glory hound and attention whore that he is, the HoF induction ceremony would be the perfect place to get in front of the cameras again. Often, players make Hall of Fame speeches that impact their legacy. The one major time I remember this happening was not in football but in baseball. Ryne Sandberg, to some, a controversial selection and a person known to be shy (honestly, when I was working at Wrigley while he was playing, I thought that Sandberg wasn’t just shy, I thought he was a bit dim). Sandberg got up on the rostrum and gave one of the great Hall of Fame speeches, addressing PEDs among other things.
I don’t think Owens is capable of giving such a speech; in fact, I think it would turn into a brag-fest and perhaps, a chance to blast the owners, coaches, front office people and players whom he either dislikes/disrespects, or those he think did him wrong. Owens’ speech could have been a cringe-worthy event memorialized on YouTube forever. It could have been stirring, but I doubt it.
So, Terrell Owens skipping out on his own Hall of Fame induction saves us the agony, and that’s fine

Always a bridesmaid never a bride seemed to be the situation for the Washington Capitals, who have been a power in their division and in the Eastern Conference for years, but always came up short in the playoffs. With goal scoring wizard Alex Ovechkin, mush was expected, but hockey purists (myself included) thought of Ovi as one dimensional. Just 4 seasons ago, Ovechkin had his usual 50+ goals, but he had a -35 Plus/Minus (for those who don’t know, a player gets a plus every time they’re on the ice for their team’s goal and a minus for every time they were on the ice for an opponents’ tally). It was amazing that one player could score over 50 goals by himself and still have been on the ice for 85 opposing scores.
As a one dimensional player, I was alright with him never having been on a Cup winning team although not a player a rooted against in the playoffs like Phil Kessel or Rick Nash. Unlike other seasons, there were a lot of very strong teams in the league – the Capitals did not win the Presidents’ Trophy this season for being the team with the most points in the regular season. They were just another one of many very good teams, but I and most others thought the Caps would lose in the playoffs again, especially since they played their nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs again this season.
Ovi has since found a better two-way game, he has lots of star help like Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie and a top flight goalie in Braden Holtby, and last night, the Washington Capitals won their first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history, defeating the upstart, expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights in five games. The 2017-18 Capitals showed somethings that previous teams lacked – grit, toughness, determination. Add to that, a Cup for Coach Barry Trots, known as one of the truly great people in the game, and all of the stars aligned for the Capitals.
(And once again vindicated me – I have long said that Marc-Andre Fluery is a great regular season goaltender, but not a very good playoff one. He won a Cup with Pittsburgh as the number 1 net minder back in 2009, but while being a solid cog in the Penguin Cup Championship teams the past two seasons, he was replaced as the number 1 goalie by Matt Murray. Fluery is reportedly a great teammate and person, and he was great in goal this season and the early rounds of the playoffs for Vegas but to my mind, he isn’t a great Cup goaltender.)
So, I’m happy for Ovi; I’m happy for the other players, the City of Washington D.C. Enjoy everyone – you deserve it.