NFL Questions

     We are now in the “Dawg Days of August.” The baseball pennant race is narrowing down and heating up in certain parts of the country, but in a lot of other areas of the country people are starting to get ready for football season. The atrocity known as the NFL Preseason has started. The regular season starts in less in than 4 weeks. Many people are starting to gear up for their fantasy football drafts (myself included).  As for any other season, there are many questions we have heading into the season. Let’s ask and see how many can truly be answered.

    The easiest question is will the Cleveland Browns be any better this year than the past 2 years combined? My simple answer is yes! They have had a whole bunch of new additions via the draft, free agency, and trade acquisitions. The added a stable veteran quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, as well as a potential franchise changer in Baker Mayfield. No matter who they go with here, I believe they are set up for years to come at this position. As well, they added Jarvis Landry to their receiving core. They can have a great receiving core if Josh Gordon can stay on the field. How often can a team add a running back still in his prime? That’s what happened with the signing of Carlos Hyde. The defense seems to be growing well together. I say the Browns easily have anywhere from 4-7 wins this season. I will not be shocked if Broadway Baker is starting by the end of the season.

    The next question comes from worst to best. As much as I hate to say it (I am a Giants fan), the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Eagles, do have a slight quarterback situation on their hands. Before he got injured, Carson Wentz was having a MVP-caliber season. When he got hurt, Nick Foles came in to replace and won every single game he was supposed to for them. He won the Super Bowl MVP with some spectacular play. The Eagles started off hot with Wentz, but who’s to say they would have won, let alone made it to, the Super Bowl. The question is when Wentz is ready and if Foles is playing hot, do you start Wentz or Foles?

    I remember 2 months leading up to the draft, the question was “What are the Giants going to do?” Don La Greca got so upset at Bill Pollian that day, he went on a rant and broke the mic! Check it out when you get a chance it’s hilarious! The reason he was so upset was because he did not want the Giants to take Barkley, but to pick a replacement for Eli Manning. There is an argument to both sides of the spectrum.  On the one hand, Eli is getting older and you want someone young to learn behind him because he will not play forever. On the other hand, if you put the right cast around Eli than you maybe able to squeeze another Super Bowl run out of him. The Giants went with the later and picked Sequon Barkley. They also drafted a top notch guard in Wil Hernandez, as well as signing Nate Solder. The question is will this good team on paper translate to a playoff run?

   Here is question number 4. When the Jets traded up in the draft to number 3, everyone praised their efforts, rightfully so. They were determined to pick a franchise quarterback. Which quarterback to be picked as all determined by the Browns and Giants. . and then Sam Darnold fell into their lap and they stole him and ran all the way to the bank. Now the Jets have 3 quarterbacks on their rosters. Truthfully, Teddy Bridgewater is the most expandable, but my question is why should you start Josh McCown? He is worse than Ryan Fitztragic and he had an OK season last year. It’s not like Sam Darnold is learning from Kurt Warner like Eli did, he’s learning from Josh McCown!! Why is McCown still around? If I were the Jets, I’d rather pick up Sam Bradford or Case Keenum. The main question is what week will Sam Darnold take over the starting quarterback position?

   Last year, the Eagles, the Rams, and Jaguars all took that elite jump from non-playoff team to playoff team. Two of them made it to their respective conference championship, one even winning the Super Bowl. My last question of the night is which team(s) are this years Eagles, Rams, and Jaguars? Will it be the Colts? The Raiders? The old saying “Patience is a virtue” will have to wait out until Week 17. Let the fun begin!!

Greatest Athletes

   While listening to the Humpty, Canty, and Rothenberg Show a couple of weeks back, something they talked about clicked in my head. They were talking about how Serena Williams is such a great athlete, possibly one of the greatest of all time. Personally, I do not follow tennis but I could certainly agree with them. On a previous post I’ve written, years ago, I wrote an article about “What makes an Athlete?” Here my question is more, “If you had to choose a top 10 greatest Athletes of All Time, of any sport, who would be on this list?” All day I was thinking of who I would put on the list and not in any particular order.

     As much as I am not into hockey, if Wayne Gretzky was not on my list of top 10 athletes of all time I would be that stupid. The great one just had it all. He was able to score and maintain greatness through different decades and generations of players. He is the all-time goals leader for a reason.

   Michael Jordan helped to transcend the sport of basketball. Every year he played, he only got better. The competition he played against was by far some of the greatest competition of all time, whether it was the Bad Boys Pistons, the 90’s Knicks and Heat team just to name some. When all aspects of your game are elevated, it truly shows how good of a player you can be. Not only was MJ clutch on the end of games, but he also knew how to defend the ball and make the ball handlers sweat.

    Muhammed Ali showed me really how great an athlete can be. He beat a bigger and better Sonny Liston in 1964 held the World Heavyweight Title for quite some time. Then his boxing license was suspended for 3 years due to his unwillingness to be drafted in the army. To come back after 3 years at beat the likes of Joe Frazier 2 times and George Foreman shows someone’s true athleticism. A lay off like that makes you think that the body is used to inactivity, not Ali.

   You may think I am crazy here, but I think that both Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are better athletes than Babe Ruth. “ATHLETES” not “Baseball players.” I would actually put both of them in my top 10 athletes of all time. They both played the position in baseball that probably requires the most athleticism, centerfield, for quite a long time. You have to cover so much ground and put your body in so much pain. Willie Mays was able to defend centerfield like he was out in the wild. Last I heard, Mickey Mantle was the one hitting baseballs outside of the stadium, not Babe Ruth.  Home run bashing is not an easy feat, it takes a lot more strength to hit home runs.

    Serena Williams is up here as well. First and foremost, for anyone that knows me I DO NOT think golfers are athletes. On the other hand, even though I do not follow tennis, I do believe tennis players are athletes. If Serena wins Wimbledon, it will be her 24^th major. She is doing this run less than a year after giving birth. She even won a major WHILE SHE WAS PREGNANT. If that is not athletic and freaky, then I don’t get that. She has to be up there. 

  These are just some of my top 10 athletes of all time. You may disagree with me, but to dispute the validity of even some of these athletes as the greatest of all time is crazy. Over the course of time, things may change, but let’s not forget that these athletes work hard to get where they are just like the working class. There is no reason to not celebrate their greatness.