Let’s get really low key and talk about the redux of the first two AFL title tilts, cities and years removed taking place in San Diego today.
The Tennessee Titans are visiting the Chargers.
Tennessee was once a franchise known as the Houston Oilers, the team George Blanda led to the first two AFL crowns.
Both title game victories came against the Chargers,the first with the franchise in L.A. the next one, in 1961 in the Chargers’ first season in San Diego.
Curt Gowdy, pictured above was the lead announcer for AFL games.
This week I will actually predict the five loser/loser/underdogs in the five such games involving them vs winners/winners/favorites (for the record, the unimpressive, she shows it during the puzzle segment each week, NPR host, Rachel Martin said “winner” as I typed it).
I will lead with the Browns plus 7 and change, Dallas 19 Cleveland 13.
Next the victims of a burn cover, Dallas bettors benefited with their overtime touchdown vs them, the Eagles, plus 2 and a half, as the Giants will figure out a way to not cover, maybe not win, as 2 and a half point favorites.
Also Jacksonville getting 7 plus points at K.C.
The Rams plus three vs Carolina.
A seemingly woeful 49ers team, plus 4 and a fraction points, vs the Saints.
Throw in the Jets, not a “system” pick, plus four at Miami.
Advice: Do not bet, if you do, bet small especially on my predictions. also likely these underdogs will likely get more points, so wait to make those small bets.
There will be no rants and just one “rave.”
It is for The University of Alabama football program and success, under Nick Saban.
That is why I might watch their tilt in Baton Rouge vs LSU tonight.
I learned from Beano Cook long ago, not to go vs LSU especially at night.
One day I will recall Billy Cannon here.
However how many times will I “lose” vs Alabama.
No prediction, 7 Alabama is the right line. Enjoy, it is worth watching. I will not but will not think little of you if you do. It is Alabama!
Beano Cook, pictured above, would be “raving” about Alabama football but would have warned, “beware at LSU in a night game.”
Back to 1997 but not without pointing out how horrible some of Joe Maddon’s managerial decisions were in the recent World Series.
So Cleveland, denied the title in the bottom of the ninth were up in the top of the 11th and were issued the free pass.
Jim Valvano won a so called miracle title with N.C. state in the ’83 basketball event because he knew if he lost doing the right thing, “he could sleep like a baby” but the wrong way would haunt him.
Of course it must be noted Valvano died of cancer ten years later which I suppose puts it all in perspective?
Hargrove had his best hitter Sandy Alomar Jr. , sadly or maybe not as I have to learn being second is not only no disgrace but quite a feat, a coach on the 2016 Indians and he had Alomar bunt/sacrifice.
NOOO! First of all, Alomar failed to even sacrifice but even if he had, Cleveland would have lost a top left handed hitter, Jim Thome, to an intentional walk. Hargrove lost, without using his not so arguably, best hitter and would have lost Thome if Alomar sacrificed successfully.
In game 7 of the 1997 World Series which was an even more devastating loss for Cleveland than the game 7 loss days ago, Mike Hargrove made one of the worst managerial decisions ever in a truly big game.
Managing the Cleveland team, which had been forced into extra innings, dissipating a (2-0) 7th inning lead and most significantly a (2-1) lead in the bottom of the ninth, Hargrove got the free pass/leadoff walk as Jay Powell walked Matt Williams.
I need not tell you the value nor detriment, depending if your team is at bat or in the field, of a leadoff walk.
What Hargrove did next was inexcusable. I will detail it in my next post.
I will get to Mike Hargrove’s agregious 11th inning/game 7, 1997 World Series decision tomorrow, I promise.
For now, enough venom and even tomorrow it will be an opinion citing facts and vicissitudes, nothing more.
Just as one negative would continue, the other cease, regarding the respective 108 year title drought of the Cubs and the 68 year one the Indians still have, another involving positive results had to have the same outcome, one continuing, the other ending.
As cited here, the winner of the 6 previous ALCS involving the Toronto Blue Jays had gone on to win the subsequent World series all six times. that ended as the Cubs won vs the ALCS winner vs Toronto, the Indians.
However, going in to the World Series, all 4 winners of a Chicago vs Los Angeles area semi-final had prevailed in their sports’ final round/game.
Now it is 5 for 5 with the Chicago win. By the way 4 of the 5 wins in that streak manifested in “Chi” titles, one each by the Cubs, White Sox, Bears and Blackhawks.
Where have you gone Brooks Robinson?!! You know the rest.
Oh Jayson Stark, take advice from Wayne Newton’s song and “slow down,” not just “some,” but a great deal.
Stark, a typical writer going with the “latest is the greatest,” easy route, called the latest game 7, obviously a great game, the greatest game. It is not close to being so.
Other game 7’s had more significant twists and turns, need I cite them (1912, 1924, 1925, certainly 1960, 1997 and 2001) all games in which the eventual winning team, trailed at some point.
Now I am getting mad as the fact the Cubs never trailed in this so called “greatest game,” also serves to illustrate the luck of Joe Maddon.
Having the lead is also called “having the wood,” and if you think about it, much of life and certainly future life is about that. Ostensibly, those with money and a start prosper, those without, minimum struggle. often failing completely. As in baseball, where deficits are overcome, there are exceptions of course.
To the point, the Cubs never trailed, how dare Stark call this tilt better than # 7 in 1960, as just the fact another #7 Mickey Mantle, delivered, albeit in defeat, almost equals the 2016 game.
The Pirates overcame a (7-4) deficit as late as the 8th inning, the Yankees overcame a (4-0) and then (9-7) deficit, the latter in the top of the ninth inning, when Mantle somehow made it back to first base, enabling the tying run to score.
Earlier in that frame, Mantle at least twice the player as any in the recent tilt, save Ben Zobrist, whom even “modern” Stark does not recognize as the “absolute ringer” he is–i.e. doing it when it matters, not compiling almost meaningless statistics, delivered a big single.
You think that is all, that is not even close, to being true!
The Pirates’ Hal Smith hit what is arguably baseball’s most important home run, a 2 out three run home run that transformed a one run Pirates’ deficit, into a two run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Even Stark recognized that the Series ended with the Pirates winning on Bill Mazeroski’s lead off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, one of just two times the series ended on a home run, one of just 6 times a 7th game ended with the winning team, by definition the home team, winning it, while at bat.
The Cubs’ win was not while at bat, not their fault, but also in a game in which they never trailed. It is not even close to many of the 7th games cited above, especially the one in 1960.
Finally years from now when people hear or watch, you think Joe Buck can rival Bob Prince or Mel Allen? Worse, you think Dan Schulman can compare with Chuck Thompson or Jack Quinlan?!!
I once gave Bob Costas an audio tape of game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Years later, on the day of the fine show airing the Allen/Prince broadcast of that game, hosted by Costas, whose love for baseball of course shines through doing such things, making it almost tragic he has called but two and a half W.S., juxtaposed with 19 by Buck and now 6 by Schulman, Mr. Costas happened to return a recent call, I made to him.
I reminded him of that ’60 tape and with true passion and honesty, I listened as Costas, as is the case with me, he knows great broadcasting and unlike me, fighting for and getting the opportunity, showed he is a great broadcaster, call Jack Quinlan one of the greatest broadcasters ever. Amen to that!
For many reasons, and you zealot Cubs’ fans will soon enough realize the “is that all there is aspect” of the Cubs finally winning it all, I am not thrilled the Cubs won.
Largely, it is the ridiculous hype and the fact once Joe Maddon made ridiculous managerial decisions in a series triumph vs a Terry Francona managed team and this time unlike after the 2008 ALCS, it manifested in a Maddon title, his first tying him with that “overblown parody of himself” (Mr. Cosell’s words), over rated, similarly named John Madden.
However, some solace can be taken by evoking Jack Quinlan and Ernie Banks pictured above. At least Banks lived a full life and was a great player, at a time with better players, specifically in the National League which was the first to overcome not only the ban of black players (only in ‘America” indeed) but also employ enough to HELP (certainly white players such as Stan Musial, Ken Boyer, Ron Santo, there is a Cub to remember, Don Drysdale and many others were a vital part) make it a great league.
Mr. Quinlan’s life was cut short in an auto accident before the 1965 season. It was during spring training in Arizona, maybe the Cubs played the Indians that day, the next day, probably at least that week. He was a brilliant announcer. I am good, but will never get the chance. Many others, lucky enough to get the chance, are a disgrace to that privilege.
The Chicago Cubs’ 7 game triumph road/home win/loss configuration is the third in World Series history.
The World Series of 1968, 1979 and now 2016 are the only series where the winners in the 7 games followed this pattern: home, road, road, road, home, road and road.
What is more relevant perhaps is that 5 road team wins in seven games has to be at least tied for the most in a World Series. I am not sure, however.
In addition to the ’68 Detroit Tigers and 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates who simulated the great Dr. Martin Luther King, and “overcame,” the ’93 and ’77 Series followed the same pattern through 5 games.
However, with home run dramatics, the ’77 Yankees with 3 by Reggie Jackson and a forgotten key one by Chris Chambliss and the ’93 Blue Jays on Joe Carter’s W.S. ending home run broke the pattern and won it all at home in game 6.
Two extra inning, 7th game World Series losses for the Cleveland Indians in the last 20 W.S. (how many times in the 108 years sans a title did the Cubs suffer that way or with any tough loss with a chance to “title”–the answer is zero) but they are the Cubs, so they got the hype.
Their horrors were in the LCS, the Indians are in the World Series and while not quite the Red Sox in quantity or horror of coming close pain, they are getting close.
I despise the tragic human fact that we like to blame, inordinately blame others.
Yet while I have heard disproportionate blame placed on Earnest Byner, Jose Mesa and opponents John Elway and Michael Jordan for greatness vs Cleveland teams, it is time to cite the horrible decision Mike Hargrove, the Indians’ manager made in game 7 of the ’97 W.S., which was an even tougher loss for Cleveland, than the one last night.
I will do so in a post in the near future, say tomorrow.
Meanwhile is it “safe” to say, (just realized the painful coincidence as a tooth is yielding pain), that Joe Maddon often criticized here, proved my point that he is over rated.
He is so lucky that he won as the media, more “attack mode” than me, would have done so if his Cubs lost. They won, so he is vindicated. What hypocritical garbage!
Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier pictured above from the film “Marathon Man.”
Thankfully it is over but Fox and Joe Buck have already started their Super Bowl hype.
Buck need not correct the mistakes he makes, as his position is secure and as much as I do not like him, they would only get someone worse to replace him.
While it was good that neither Harold Reynolds nor Erin Andrews were involved in the Fox coverage, and that Tom Verducci was relegated to “sideline” work, over analyzing John Smoltz was close to unbearable.
Memo to Mr. Smoltz: “irregardless” is not a word in the English language!
P.S. Even the Fox camera work, usually good was no bargain.
Andy B Sports 