While We’re Waiting for Sports to Return …

There have been rumblings over the long weekend about sports returning – almost. Are the players, managers and owners satisfied – and it’s not only about safety. Have they been offered fair salaries based on a shortened season? Will this year’s leagues games and championships also have asterisks – *2020 incomplete due to coronavirus. But at any rate there’s movement so sports fans can at least watch live games on television.

I’m starting a new series where I rank players on their team on a scale of elite, great, good, average, trash. I will include their current status and what they will become.

In the meantime, some football.

Arizona Cardinals: Kyler Murray. This guy’s is probably the next Lamar Jackson – except a few inches shorter. For a guy who can just barely see over the center, this guy’s Joe Namath with wheels. But, to be good in this league, he needs to be taller. This guy’s scrambling is where he’s going to make his money. Like, c’mon Lamar isn’t known for his “cannon,” he’s known for his jets. Kyler is average right now, but in his prime he’s probably going to be good and great at best.

Atlanta Falcons: You don’t hear “Matt Ryan, what a beast” all that often, well, because he’s not. Ryan only has accuracy, he doesn’t have an arm, and speed, don’t even start. Some 350 lb. linemen run faster than him. Julio doesn’t get thrown to because when he goes on a streak, burning his matchup, Ryan’s “flamethrower” either underthrows poor Julio or check downs to Devonta Freeman. This guy’s average and will be average for the rest of his career.

Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson makes defenders look foolish, nasty jukes, stop and goes, and spins. This man’s a beast. Lamar can’t really throw, but when he does, it’s probably going to be on the money. In Madden, this guy’s a cheat code, it doesn’t matter if you put the whole team as QB Spies. He is elite, and he won’t ever step down from his pedestal, unless he gets really old.

Buffalo Bills: Coming out of college, Josh Allen was projected to be a beast and his main attribute – his strong arm. Coming into his third NFL season, he still has that strong arm, but now he overthrows his receivers, well, his receivers aren’t exactly what normal people call tall. Their tallest receiver is Stefon Diggs, who is six foot. Allen also can’t run, he’s slow, he ran a 4.76 in the 40-yard dash but something happened to his speed. He can get 5 yards off a scramble, averaging 4.6 yards per rush. Allen is average right now, he’s probably be great, but not elite.

Carolina Panthers: They’re kind of tight on QBs right now. Teddy Bridgewater is the starter, not exactly the cream of the crop, pretty much like Matt Ryan but with slightly more wheels. Teddy is going to love Christian McCaffrey, to check down to because his noodle arm isn’t going to be able to hit a man deep down the field. Bridgewater is accurate in between the numbers on the field. Bridgewater is on the fence between average and trash, and he will go beyond that.

Chicago Bears: Mitch Trubisky is so bad. I think that all Bears fans agree with me. This guy doesn’t have an arm, he isn’t accurate and he doesn’t know what passing out of the pocket is. This man may very well be the biggest draft bust. The Bears will never go past 6-10 if they don’t move on from him. He is trash and he maybe will be average in his “prime.”

Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow, the number one overall pick, the man that could do it, scramble, take hits, hit deep bombs and is accurate. Bengals fans think that this man will carry them to the playoffs, and maybe he will, I think he will. But, if he doesn’t, Bengals fans will be sad and depressed. In 2022, Bengal fans will be very sad and depressed, the number of Bengals fans will go down severely. Because, they will move on to be fans of other teams, what did you think I was going to say? Burrow is average and will probably be great if not elite.

Cleveland Browns: Moving on from a potential bust to an average bust. Both were first overall picks, but Baker Mayfield is a bust. He has an average strong arm, he is kind of accurate and he doesn’t really have speed. Baker is fine if the Browns have other good players on the offense and defense, but, do you think the Browns’ GM is trying to do that? NO! Baker is on the fence of average and good, and he may go down to trash or he may redeem himself to be great.

Is it Opening Day Yet?

We want them back, and we’re finally see some sports leagues coming back. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) came back, but I think that’s the last one that should have come back. It’s literally men in boxers fighting each other – social distancing, anyone? This is literally where coronavirus spreads.

Bundesliga came back for a few games and I guess I’m fine with that because soccer isn’t really a contact sport.

Now to the sports that hopefully might come back this summer. I heard that baseball actually might open its stadiums in June for Spring Training but on ESPN’s main page today, they said that there might be a season returning on July 4. However, the MLB needs the cooperation of 27 cities and an undisclosed foreign country. MLB’s plan includes frequent testing, which is responsible, but it’s wasting tests for people that may actually be positive. Right now it’s a double negative, it’s wasting tests but it means that live sports can come back.

I want sports to come back so much that when horses began running around the track and there was a clip of it on TV, my eyes were glued to the TV because it the first glimpse of live sports I had in a few months.

Sports resuming poses a rightfully big concern for some, including star player with the Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout, who with his wife are expecting their first child in August, says that his wife is his biggest concern, because if he gets infected and then that won’t be good for anyone. I understand Trout but I think that with all the precautions that the MLB is taking, players won’t get infected. Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood can’t wait to get back, saying, “It’ll be a good thing for our country and our fans.” I surely agree with Wood because I really want sports back.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred isn’t being the boneheaded clown that he was during the Astros investigation and should be grateful for COVID-19 because it’s diverting attention from Bozo’s great handling of the investigation to the returning of baseball.

National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver has been very weird in bringing the NBA back. Oh, yeah, NBA practice facilities are coming back, did they? No one knows. Silver did say in a May 14 interview that sports could come back in two to four weeks. At this pace, basketball will be coming back in two to four days or two to four months.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell is the only one who’s holding himself well. He told NFL practice facilities to open and some did, some didn’t. Goodell has been handling himself okay, but Bozo’s screw-ups will never be forgotten. Silver has been wishy washy and just plain weird. I think Goodell is handling himself professionally because he took away the pass interference review rule. So what if it’s a low overturn rate, it shuts the coaches and fans up, and so what if the coaches waste a timeout reviewing the call, let them do it. I personally like the rule because it carefully reviews bad calls (or so coaches think) made by the refs.

With all of the jockeying for the right policy and faux starts, I think that the leagues should resume games this Spring with empty stadiums and arenas because, after all, sports is good for the country’s health. Television experience won’t be the same but we all have to make sacrifices at this time.

Remember, you read this here first: Sports are important for America. If sports were meaningless, then the Atlantic Ocean would be a drop of water.