As sports fans, we’re told, even scolded, that we have no standing. Having never been there or done that, we’re in no position to know. Having never played, managed, umpired, etc., we may think we know, but we don’t.
For example, it’s not our job to know the variables of the NFL’s ever-changing, badly named “instant-replay rule.” That’s the job of head coaches and their upstairs assistants who monitor TV monitors.
But we do know that the first lesson the rule repeatedly taught us in its 25 seasons of use and misuse has not changed: After contact by an opponent, the ground can’t cause a fumble.
Early in Sunday night’s Giants-Eagles game, LeSean McCoy ran for 18 yards until upended by Giants defensive back Antrel Rolle. The moment McCoy landed, head and shoulder first, he lost the ball. First down, Eagles.
But soon, Giants coach Tom Coughlin, again on the verge of going to pieces, threw a challenge flag. Why? What did he know that we didn’t?
Nothing, only less. The challenge was a waste of time and a timeout. But what do we know?
Tuesday during Game 3 of the ALCS, the Royals had scored in the bottom of the fourth to make it 1-1. With starter Jeremy Guthrie pitching the fifth for Kansas City, TBS posted, “Guthrie 4.50 ERA In Shutdown Innings.”
There’s a “shutdown innings” stat on how pitchers make out after their team ties the game or takes the lead? This latest absurdity applies to every such inning, context forbidden. Nurse! Hurry!
Two pop-ups and a ground ball later, Guthrie, a statistically proven liability in “shutdown innings,” made one-two-three of the Orioles in the biggest “shutdown inning” of his life. So what was that stat worth?
Better questions: Why was it even entered into TBS’s database? Why was it then chosen to present to a national audience as evidence of must-share insight?
On Fox’s NLCS telecasts, former Mariners infielder Harold Reynolds — he sounds so much like Chris Rock, I’m suspicious — has generously shared his been-there, done-that expertise.
In Game 3, the top of the sixth with the Giants leading 4-2, the Cardinals’ Jon Jay, a fast runner, led off with a walk. Next, Matt Holliday, as Joe Buck aptly described, “chopped” a grounder to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who threw to first for the out as Jay went to second.
“Interesting play, right here by Sandoval, not to go to second base,” Reynolds said during the replay.
Interesting? Why would Sandoval have thrown to second when Jay, as we could see, would have been safe? If we knew that, why didn’t Reynolds? Or did he think that having never played in the bigs, we wouldn’t know better?
Reynolds then made matters worse for himself and an audience that knew better by interpreting Sandoval’s thought process: “Well, with that San Francisco bullpen, you play for outs.”
It was about the bullpen? Sandoval played for the only out he could get! Not only had Reynolds made a short story long, he turned it into a fairy tale.
In Game 4 of the ALCS, bottom fourth, it didn’t matter that the score was 2-1 or that the Royals’ leadoff man just walked: TBS was sticking to its script — the dugout chat it had recorded with Buck Showalter.
Didn’t matter, either, that the Q&A was worthless. Yes, said Showalter, Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez looks sharp. Yes, the O’s are hitting into bad luck. It didn’t even matter that the view of the game was cut in half to show Showalter’s taped replies.
This was another case of TV being Manny: Forget the game, ignore the circumstances, look what we can do!
Wednesday, Fox made fools of Reynolds and us, sticking him with video of Barry Bonds throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
Bonds, MLB’s illegal-drugs-fortified home-run king, looked skeletal compared to his slugging days. Bonds has been bicycling, explained Reynolds. And Bonds was on crutches, the result, explained Reynolds, of hip surgery.
Neither explanation even hinted at anything to do with steroids or any muscle-massing, head-swelling performance-enhancing drugs. And why didn’t Bud Selig’s office blow the whistle before Bonds was so honored?
But seeing how we never had played or coached the game at its highest level, had produced a game telecast at its highest level, or had been a Commissioner at its highest level, we have no standing. We don’t know because we wouldn’t know. And don’t forget it.
Cowherd no ESPN kowtower
WE’RE not supposed to care for Colin Cowherd’s weekday, late-morning ESPN Radio/TV show because he talks national sports, not enough local stuff.
But Cowherd has become a preferred listen. Not that WFAN’s childish, growthless, lift-from-the-newspapers, simplistic reactionaries, Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, provide resistance.
Cowherd mostly offers intelligent takes. You may not always agree with him — I don’t — but his quick-on-his-feet riffs seem sincere and often gutsy in a no-pandering, pop-culture-defiant, common-sense way.
Cowherd, 50, doesn’t trade on aim-for-the-crotch, demographically approved “guy talk.” He’s also disinclined to sip or serve the network Kool-Aid. He’s not branded by the brand, doesn’t turn every topic toward pushing ESPN’s menu. No daily pledges of allegiance to the Fatherland.
He even occasionally demonstrates an admirable appetite for the hand that feeds him. Many of his right-over-wrong positions — he’s an unapologetic high-roader — contradict ESPN’s destructive designs on sports. This week, he suggested MLB’s TV money-first shot-callers have placed The Game in long-term peril.
Cowherd’s ego is evident. He hollers now and then on his own behalf. But, likely as a matter of good faith with listeners, he unilaterally admits to errors, makes fun of himself.
In the most practical sense, Cowherd makes for a thoughtful and engaging car companion and time-killer. Thoughtful and engaging as entertainment? Who knew?
Why would the Mets bother to move in the Citi Field fences? Given ownership’s special, post-Ponzi financial relationship with Bud Selig, MLB could just issue the Mets home run gift certificates.
Next from Steiner Sports, a Derek Jeter Retirement Special: Limited edition, No. 2-embossed breakfast-used napkins, for sale in cloth and paper.
As per the NBA exploring ways to shorten the length of games, reader Stewart Summers asks if the league also will reduce the cost of tickets “and overpriced hot dogs and beer.” No, only the portions will be reduced.
Reader Fred Rosen was disappointed TBS didn’t post a graphic: “Royals have not lost a postseason game in 29 years.”