Opportunity Knocks

Sitting at exactly 130 games played, and with 67 of those games recorded as victories, the New York Yankees continue to find themselves embroiled in contention for a post-season berth. Thirty games or more prior, this scribe detailed exactly what it might take for these damned Yankees to do just that: contend for the post-season. Well with 32 games left to play, seemingly a game a day for the rest of this month and all of the next, the Yankees can put themselves in position to do something that would be as amazing as the feat they achieved back in 1978, albeit under less strenuous factors and a wholly different landscape considering how teams make the playoffs in this day and age of baseball, a wild-card or two notwithstanding.

Most have already given the Yankees no shot at making the post-season. And most, to this point, are seemingly correct in their position, for the Yankees have given no indication that they will indeed make it in...to this point. Were the season to end to today they would obviously be correct. And, when the season ends and the Yankees do not make it in they would be correct then too as well. And therein lies the issue. To think and believe they will not make the playoffs is right, however stating that sentiment now is wrong. The season though, does not end today. It still allows though, for the proverbial hot streak. And here we go.

For any to pronounce the Yankees as D.O.A. they may be permitted to do so. The fat lady is already humming, and she may not even need to raise her voice any louder in order to do the job. This is all well and good, but consider this at your own peril, or the peril of the Yankees as it were. The circumstances of the 1978 season are in stark contrast to what these Yankees face. Yet, the hill is just as steep. Yet, all a player ever asked for is the opportunity to play another day. And this is what the Yankees have currently, the opportunity to play another day. Hoping for the opportunity to have the opportunity to play another day. For all that they have not done, it still cannot be counted out. For others, not just that 1978 team, have achieved such a feat. Baseball is the ultimate game of averages, is it not? Then let it play out and see what these last 32 games have to offer. The offer of an above average month of productive, winning baseball. The offer of a hot streak. The offer of opportunity. 

70 Chances: To Be or Not To Be

The second game of a four game set versus the Baltimore Orioles, being played tonight, finds the New York Yankees smack dab in the middle of mediocrity. At 46-46, after competing (not sure if you could really call it that) in 92 games of a 162 game season, the Yankees find themselves with 70 games left with which to really finally get, not just their heads out of water, but their whole selves entirely, after being submerged for much of this season.

Last season the Yankees garnered a spot in the playoffs (although some would say a spot in the play-ins) by winning 87 games; enough to qualify for the 2nd wild-card. They subsequently lost to the Houston Astros, but the fact that they had given themselves a chance, albeit miniscule to compete for a title, is something that was not lost to this scribe. Getting in, if even for a little bit, is way better than getting left out. For so many reasons. If those need to be explained to you, then you haven't really been paying attention to that which you have been observing.

More importantly there is a question to be answered. Rather, a few. The main one being do the Yankees give up on a season which has given its fans more ups and downs than the see-saw at the local neighborhood park? (Ugh, I'm getting sick already!) Do they turn the individual attractive pieces of a team which has not performed well collectively into assets for future campaigns, or do the they stay the course and see if those individual pieces turn into more of a collective whole? Although there is no reason to believe so as evidence has not been provided to this point to give assurances to those notions. No matter, it must be stated that in many situations in life, especially in the world of sports that it takes a while for things to change, and then it doesn't. Things and situations that are seemingly dour and morose forever, sometimes suddenly right themselves and become the opposite of what they were to begin with. (Once again, should you feel the need to have this explained or examples pointed out, you truly have not been paying attention to the sport you have been watching or much less the world you are living in).

Such could be the case for the Yankees.
Could such a case be these Yankees? It could. If the Yankees were to win 20 or more games than they lost of the next 70 for a record of say 45-25. They would finish the season with 91 wins. (Four more than last year, mind you.) And potentially make the playoffs depending upon how the landscape of baseball, as it hits its home strectch, around them forms.

Is this a 91 win team? Who knows? Will the Yankees win more than they lose over these last 70 games? Who knows?
This is a question asked of the front-office, to be answered by it's players. They may not know it yet, but rest assured we will when they do.

Warriors! Come Out to Play!

If you are a Golden State Warriors fan, tonight you sit upon the precipice of greatness; all with baited breath, mind you. This season, for all intents and purposes, has been a referendum on the almost incomparable greatness of the Warriors; namely their roster, their chemistry, their spirit, and most importantly their philosophy. A season  in which they have raced themselves at a torrid pace, some would say in an effort to dispel innuendo, speculation, and conjecture regarding the legitimacy of the championship they so now are fervently defending, has led to this penultimate moment: the chance to surpass the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls all-time single regular season total for victories of 72, with the 73 of their own.

Also at stake for the Warriors fan is their opportunity to defend two titles. One being Steph Curry's personal mantelpiece hardware, the MVP award for a season which made him look as if he wasn't even giving it his all last season (another way of saying a player of his caliber being able to find yet another ceiling to reach for). And the second but most important of all, the one which really matters and will make all the dynamic things that Warriors have done, singularly and collectively, pale in comparison, would be to win the Larry O'Brien trophy. Again.

Will all three baskets get filled for the Warriors fan? Without a doubt the MVP will be handed to Curry, quite possibly unanimously. So that's a given. And that same fan would most certainly place their money on the Warriors in tonight's potentially record-breaking contest vs the Memphis Grizzlies, a team who by the way to date had employed 28 different starting lineups (the most in the NBA this season) because well, they have employed 28 different starting lineups.

Once again, the kicker, for said fan, would be the ability if all three things come to fruition to enjoy the type of season that the '95-'96 Bulls fan enjoyed. Your best player (in this case Michael Jordan) winning MVP, your team setting the all-time record for victories  (72), and your team winning it all to punctuate the whole deal.

If this is to be the outcome and the Warriors cement their legacy it goes without mentioning that their fans will be euphoric to no end. It is now we will see if it is all meant to be. And it starts tonight.

One Rule To Rule Them All

When it comes to certain things in life and the approach with respect to how those things are formulated, there is usually one rule. And whatever it is, that rule, once agreed up, supercedes all other rules below it. Everything delineates from that point forward. Take the science of math for instance. Within this science are hard and fastened rules from which all answers and outcomes flow. We know that when you add a negative to a positive you get a negative. Or that  prime numbers are... These are the rules and they govern the empirical process for how things get answered, discovered, or for this particular case, built.

The Dallas Cowboys are facing one such conundrum in the form of a top-five pick (#4 to be exact) in this year's incarnation of the NFL Draft. A team with the potential to compete for the ultimate crown next season, but beset with a myriad of holes to fill in order to make that novelty a reality, the Cowboys are in dire need of creating that one rule for themselves which will supercede all, as they approach the best way to check-off everything on their shopping list.

Should they draft the quarterback they so desperately need as evidenced by last season's debacle? Should they go after the sexy speed rusher at the DE position that has long been a need since they let loose Demarcus Ware a few seasons ago to free-agency as a cap casualty? Or do they address a porous secondary by grabbing a dynamic cover man to A)-Finally get the DB they so desperately need and B)-Possibly select just the best overall talent available in the draft, and at that #4 pick (providing that they do hold onto their current position). Option B obviously serving as the final rule on the list: Drafting the best talent period.

Looking at each scenario based upon each rule for that scenario can and will yield something interesting, no matter the approach. If they decide to go after a quarterback they will choose whomever they feel is the best (or best available) and look for their DE, DB, and WR or RB (they need one of those too) with their subsequent picks. If they decide that an edge rusher is the more pressing concern for the success of defensive-coordinator's Rod Marinelli's defense then they will start there and find their QB and WR later on as well. And finally, if they decide to go with the best player, regardless of need or position, then that is what they will do and the remaining selections which the Cowboys front office will make at that point in time will be evidence of them going in that particular direction, fundamentally speaking. In fact with each approach by the rule that is being adhered to, the evidence of those picks will become to make obvious just which rule the Dallas Cowboys believed in at that time.

So, if Joey Bosa is called you know which rule is in place. If Carson Wentz or Jared Goff are called we know which rule is being employed. And if a player like Jalen Ramsey is selected , a talent which can take care of a few needs in one (best player/DB), then it becomes evident once more just which way the 'Boys are headed. And that is hopefully to the top.

WHERE WE ARE

The beauty of where you are is the ability to look back and see where you were. Only two seasons ago the Cowboys were one Dez Bryant catch away from possibly going to the Super Bowl. One season later they decided against bringing back one-third of their formidable trio of Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, and Bryant when they chose not to re-sign the aforementioned Murray. A decision which may or may not have come back to haunt them in the form of Romo's left shoulder injury suffered in Week 2, on a play which could have involved the sorely missed running back by the possibility of Murray making a block on the defender who subsequently injured Romo, after a botched blocking assignment by Murray's replacement Joseph Randle, or even the remote possibility that if Murray was there that day that they Cowboys call a running play for him, thus avoiding the Romo injury altogether, and although this is pure speculation and conjecture, it still stands as a possible outcome had Murray still been there.

However everything happens for a reason, and the reason stands in this case that although last year may have seemingly been a lost season (for various reasons as previously discussed), it may have provided the answer for the problem that last season created (and for the forseeable future): the need for a quality, starting-caliber quarterback. Romo's absence and his understudies own version of absence, even while competing on the field, point to a glaring weakness which can be strengthened immediately in this spring's NFL Draft. Whether it be any of the two outstanding prospects currently seated at the top tier of the NFL wish list for teams without quarterbacks, Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, the Cowboys must seriously consider taking one of the two with the pick they currently own at the fourth spot.

Considering their abysmal 1-11 record during Romo's absence, defense and special teams notwithstanding, this was the season of the absent and missed quarterback for the Cowboys. That said, the Cowboys ought not be absent of mind and miss out on the opportunity to draft their next Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman. Heck even, their next Tony Romo. Romo like his idol Favre, could tutor another Cal stud in Goff, similar to the way Favre did for Aaron Rodgers, and we all know how that worked out. The Cowboys owe it to themselves to get the most important position on the field filled. A position which showed and proved to them to be the flash-point for everything they did (and did not do) last season. If the Cowboys are looking forward to something in this year's draft, they need only to look backward at last season.

DIRK DID DALLAS

A bit disappointed about the recent remarks expressed by the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the topic of Dirk Nowitzki's career. Abdul-Jabbar went on record the other night at a function at George Mason University when asked if there was another NBA player who may have had a shot in their repertoire as indefensible as the sky-hook shot that he employed on his way to establishing himself as the greatest scorer in NBA history, and possibly the most accomplished basketball player of all-time on every level (high school and college included, although Bill Russell could make an argument). "You asked about Dirk Nowitzki," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Dirk Nowitzki's shot is very hard to block, but I don't think that he was able to have a dominant career because he couldn't do other things. If he could have shot like that and rebounded and played defense and blocked shots, then he would have been all-around, and he would have gotten more credit. He was like a one-trick pony."

It seems Abdul-Jabbar gave a response which included more than assessment of Nowitzki's difficult to defend shot, his patented one-legged fadeaway, which a reporter suggested in comparison to Abdul-Jabbar's sky-hook. And that's okay. If you know anything about the man who has owned two names throughout one lifetime, distinguished in their own right to the point they hold their own weight respectively, Alcindor and Jabbar, then you are not shocked by this comprehensive reply, but rather his opinion of a player who many consider as one of the greatest of all time. A player who in my estimation was the greatest mismatch in the Association anytime he stepped on the court. It's not that I have a problem with Abdul-Jabbar critiquing Nowitzki's game, and taking it to task for that matter. Rather it is the notion that he seems to not appreciate the approach that the 2nd greatest international player (behind Tim Duncan) and the greatest European player of all time (behind no one) took to land just five spots behind him on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Nowitzki admittedly offers that he could never compare, and for that matter, should never be compared to the player most consider to be the greatest player of all time.

But that is not what this is about, as far as Abdul-Jabbar's criticism in concerned. Nor is it about the court of public opinion possibly misconstruing or taking out of context exactly what Abdul-Jabbar's comments where intended to incite, whether positive or negative, whether truthful or untrue, and whether fair or unfair. This is to clarify the distinction between a "one trick pony" and the man who holds claim to all the accolades mentioned in support of his stellar career. Never forget that Nowitzki was often the focal point on many a 50-win Dallas Mavericks team, throughout his 17 year NBA career. Ok, check that, he has always been his team's focal point during his heyday (which seemingly appears to be ending more painlessly than Kobe Bryant's 19 year career), especially when Steve Nash took his budding MVP-type talents to Phoenix. He led his Mavericks to a championship in 2011 over the Miami Heat, besting the newly minted "Big Three" triumvirate of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, a team who many a team lay prostrate before until their defeat at the hands of Nowitzki, and his own "Big Three", Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, and Jason Terry. They may have been more like the posse of The Three Musketeers with a D'Artagnan of their own to lead the way, but they knew how to get the ball in his hands of Nowitzki in Game 4 of those same 2011 NBA Finals, when he led them to a series-tying victory that led the Mavericks out of the jaws of a 3-1 deficit they surely would have found difficult to surmount. Clutch would not begin to describe the assortment of highlights in this man's canon.

Dirk Nowitzki deserves better than to be mentioned as the one trick pony that most who follow the NBA would find misleading a moniker. He may not have been as multi-dimensional as the person who called him that or even some others whom he looms above on the career-scoring list. Lesser players have been called worse, and they should, however, this is not a statement that should be associated with this player, much less his body of work.

THINGS WE LEARNED FROM SUPER BOWL 50: Peyton's Place

Leading up to Super Bowl 50, there was an innocuous stat which related something to the fact that the team wearing the white version of their uniform had won an alarming percentage of the games versus the team wearing colored uniforms in the last dozen or so Super Bowls. There also was the awareness that if Peyton Manning won this championship battle against the mighty Carolina Panthers he would then have the right to claim the sole spot at the top of the heap as the quarterback with the most wins of all time. An even 200 on the left side of the ledger. The ultimate referendum for his case as arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. Oh, and by the way, he would also be the first quarterback, ever, to win a Super Bowl for two different teams. It's not that those things mattered. It's just that they were some things to consider, heading into the big game.

Kobe Bryant had a throwback game for the ages the other night, scoring a game high 38, at the feeble age of 38, to lead his Los Angeles Lakers to a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He, like Manning, is approaching almost two decades playing the respective sport in which they have  dominated. He, like Manning, is on the precipice of calling it a career, with Manning yet to officially sign-off on the notion the he is all but washed up. It brought to mind a certain sentiment entering Super Bowl 50. Could Manning, at the geriatric age of 39, win one for his own personal Gipper? Could he dig in deep to that bag of tools and find the right piece for the job one more time for one more game? Could we see a rendition of a renaissance similar to the one Bryant had drawn only days earlier? The odds seemed unlikely, and judging by the sub-200 yards of total offense that the Denver Broncos generated (the lowest ever for a Super Bowl winning team mind you) for the entire game, that moment most certainly never came to pass. 

It didn't need to. And most importantly it didn't have to. Manning has spent the better part of his career being the focal point of his team's attack. Even in Indianapolis, during the heyday of the Colt's version of the Dallas Cowboys Triplets, it was he who took the brunt of the blame when a team he had once again positioned to get into the playoffs faltered, whether by his efforts or lack thereof. Throughout his career he was the quarterback every scout, coach, and fan knew he could and would be coming out of the University of  Tennessee: the ultimate franchise quarterback. The guy who could win three or four games in a season on his own, for the same team he was guiding perennially to ten-plus wins in a season every year, when it was just part of the expectations that were placed upon him. His naysayers would always mention that he could not even compare to his brother Eli, because he had won two Super Bowls with the Giants. Now that Peyton has won two Super Bowls, for two different teams and won 200 games, the first quarterback ever to hold this distinction (he can now cross those two things off of his NFL bucket list), there is no way (as of right now) that you can compare baby brother to big bro. This was never Eli's cross to bear, rather it was Peyton's really. It became his reality. Every season. And, most often, he would fulfill those expectations. Not that this is a referendum on the middlingness of one Eli Manning, although he has won two Super Bowls he has also anchored teams that have missed the playoffs entirely in multiple seasons. A disparaging remark which could never be made about Peyton (at least when he was healthy). Much is made about the futile efforts of Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills in their four forays into the "big game." However, not enough credit and appreciation is given for the sustained success of taking care of business in the regular season, and giving one's team a shot at contending for a title almost every year of one's career. This, as of now, is the definition of the difference between Peyton Manning and Eli Manning's respective careers. But this is not that time, nor that place...

So then, it was not necessary for Peyton to have a stellar game. The type of game that he's produced before. He has had those types of games before and still his teams would let him down. This victory in Super Bowl 50, which may have brought an end to this particular part of his career arc, would prove, just as the pitcher who pitches great and loses, or better yet, pitches poorly and wins, that which we all knew. That he has justly deserved a 2nd Super Bowl win for some time now. So it was that he relied on the strength of this 2015 version of the Denver Broncos. A team who, just two Super Bowls ago, fell prey to the type of defense they employed against the Panthers on Sunday night. The type of defense that makes you feel their hits. Years, even eras, later.

Another general sentiment amongst this scribe leading up to this game was the possibility that this current version of Orange Crush could be one for the ages. Would we be talking about them in the same manner that we do championship winning defenses like the 1985 Chicago Bears or the 2000 Baltimore Ravens? Judging by the expression on the up-till-that-point seemingly invincible Cam Newton's face it was definitely a defense for the ages. One of the Panthers players, okay it was Brandon Marshall, was overheard in winning locker room after the game saying something to the effect of how proud he was to play for the team that had the "best defense ever" to win a Super Bowl, with a face so serious Mike Singletary might have blinked. And for a moment the statement deserved some serious consideration. Yes, they may not be the '85 Bears, or even the '00 Ravens for the matter, but who they are are the 2016 Super Bowl champion Broncos, a team with a defense who's arguably had to deal with the most complex and explosive offenses the NFL has seen to date. And that is not even including the team that they recently defeated in the Panthers, who, although they may have been the highest scoring team in the NFL, with the greatest point differential; admittedly the benefactor of a solid defense and special teams who did much to aid the offense through scores off turnovers and favorable field position for the offense to capitalize upon, but rather the victories over the vanquished potent attacks of offenses led by the multiple-championship winning talents of Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady in their run through the playoffs just to have the opportunity to play in the big game and do all that has been described. So yes, in an era where quarterbacks and offenses are having their way week in week out during the course of an NFL season, we may just have to consider their place in the pantheon of all-time greatest defenses.

Peyton's got his place, and the 2016 Bronco's defense does too.