by John Walters
Dismal Desert December
Phoenix may have had the most glorious weather in the nation yesterday (high 60s, bright, sunny skies) and one of my former students texted me from Iowa to say it had been 36-below earlier in the week. Can you even imagine? The point is, we have plenty to be thankful here in the Sonoran.
But as we listened or watched the fourth quarter of last night’s Cardinals and Suns games (the former ending just before midnight on the East coast, the latter after 1 a.m.), we know both Phoenix franchises would blow their fourth-quarter leads and lose. Both teams lost in overtime, only prolonging the torture.
The Cards gave up a 10-point lead to Tom Brady and the Bucs in Glendale, inexplicably running a toss pitch on 3rd-and-1 from Tampa’s 45 that was fumbled by rookie Keontay Ingram. This with a three-point lead after the 2-minute warning and with running back/battering ram James Conner having picked up chunks of yardage on runs between the tackle. The toss was not to him.
The Cards have now lost 12 of 13 home games beginning with October ’21”s Thursday night loss to Green Bay when they were 7-0 on the season. Their lone home win since then has been against New Orleans. The 4-11 Cards have now lost five in a row and are 1-7 in December the past two seasons. They’ll end this season at San Francisco. That could be both a huge blowout loss and Kliff Kingsbury’s final game as head coach. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady secured his 250th career win, his 45th career come-from-behind win. Did anyone not think this would happen?
The Suns, meanwhile, wasted an 8-point lead with 6 minutes remaining in Denver. Not as bad as the 10-point lead they squandered with 5 minutes left versus the Wizards last Tuesday, but bad. They’ve now lost nine of their past 13, easily their worst stretch since before the bubble summer of ’20. After playing a solid game in the Mile High City, all but four minutes of it minus Devin Booker (reinjured groin), Phoenix fell apart in the final five minutes with a slew of careless turnovers, an ill-advised shot or two, and yes, a criminally bad replay review on a textbook charge violation.
Thanks for listening as we work out our issues.
A Modest Proposal
There are two types of moviegoers: those who love and prattle on and on about In Bruges (2007) and those who have never seen it. So when the we learned that the principals involved with that delightful little film (Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell and writer/director Martin McDonagh) had reunited, we were anxious to see the film before we could even remember how to say it: The Banshees of Inisherin.
We went alone—there were two other humans, also solo, in the theater—and were once again grateful to see such a wonderful film. Someone said, and we agree, that In Bruges is a comedy with dramatic elements while this film is a drama with comic elements. Fair enough. Or maybe it’s the exact reverse. You get the point.
Anyway, it’s now also airing on HBO Max and when/if you see it, you’ll probably be blown away by actor Barry Keoghan, who plays Dominic and should run away with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Following Robert Downey, Jr.’s, advice (“Never go full retard”), Keoghan’s Dominic is charmingly dim-witted and without filter, but then in key moments astounds you, and his acquaintances on this magical Irish island, with refreshing moments of insight, depth and candor. Even courage.
Hope you see the movie. And treat yourself to an Oscar-worthy performance by a young actor on the rise.
Somethin’ Bruin
You do your once-monthly check on the National Hockey League and you learn a couple things: 1) the NHL schedules zero games on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (a practice Messrs. Silver and Goodell should follow… it would have meant at least two fewer losses for Phoenix fans) and 2) the Boston Bruins, who happen to be 27-4-2, are yet to lose this season at home (18-0).
Now, being the most out-of-luck wagerers we know (we took the Raiders in the Immaculate Conception game, our very first bet, against our dad… and also took Western Kentucky minus-2 in the 2014 Bahamas Bowl, when the Hilltoppers were outscored 34-0 in the fourth quarter—and won, 49-48), we are flirting with the idea of taking Boston in their next home game, which is New Year’s Eve versus middling Buffalo. If anyone can break the Bruins’ home win streak, it’s us.
One Way To Mitigate College Football’s Rapid Descent Into Chaos
When you think about it, college football players have gone from being the most unfairly restricted of all professional athletes to the most liberated, in the short span of less than, what, five years? Yes, for decades coaches and schools held all the power. Players were not unpaid (scholarships have value), but they were very poorly paid in relation to the revenue schools made and the salaries head coaches earned.
Too, if a player did not like his situation, he’d have to sit out a full year once he transferred to another school. It was often reported that players were not allowed to transfer to some schools (say, in conference), but that was always false. They could always transfer, they just would not be on scholarship for that absentee year.
Anyway, here’s where we are in 2022. A player can be paid, albeit not directly by the school, and there’s absolutely no “salary cap,” per player or team. Also, a player may transfer and play elsewhere immediately, and he can transfer after every season. The only limit is that the transfer portal begins and ends on August 1 so that wherever you are on August 2, that’s the school you must represent until the next August 1 rolls around. Quarterbacks and erstwhile USC teammates J.T. Daniels and Kedon Slovis are heading to their fourth and third schools, respectively. Jaxson Dart, the QB who replaced them, is on his second. None are at USC.
We’re all for players maximizing their bag, but there’s also the small matter of protecting the product. And yes, college football is a product. There’s also the issue of fostering an environment that combines the impulsiveness and ego of young men and the opportunism and ethically challenged ways of greedy older men. Being able to transfer each season and having a practically unregulated compensation system… well, even NFL free agents and players do not enjoy that freedom. And for a reason: it creates massive instability and encourages bad actors.
Our simple solution: a hard-line on the one-year sit-out rule for EVERY undergraduate transfer. We don’t care if your grandma is sick or if you think you overheard someone calling you the N-word. Deal with it. You may transfer, but you sit out one year. No exceptions. It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s the best of the imperfect solutions.