Some quick thoughts on sports outside of Coronado. If you combined the best players on the field from the FBS Championship game between Clemson and LSU, after a year or two you would have a very competitive NFL Team. LSU defeated the defending champions from Clemson 42-25 and there were pro prospects competing at nearly every position. And at the most important position in the sport, you would have two top-flight quarterbacks to choose from… An element that has changed in the NBA over the years is how and why players are selected in the annual player draft. As recently as 10 years ago, if a drafted player didn’t show some level of proficiency or upside in their first season, they were released. First round draft picks lingered a little longer, but not much. In an interesting article that ran Jan. 5, 2020, in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Dan Woike from the Los Angeles Times wrote, “The Dallas Mavericks develop undrafted and undervalued players such as Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell. Once they lucked into acquiring Luka Doncic on Draft Day (in 2018), they had a ready-made group of contributors around him. ‘That was the most important thing, live reps at the NBA level,’ said Powell, a 6-foot-10 center from Toronto who prepped at the IMG Academy and played at Stanford. ‘There’s nothing that compares to that in development. To figure out the speed, to figure out the ways you can be successful in this league, you have to spend the time playing. You have to get used to the pace, you have to get used to the reads. And you have to get comfortable with making mistakes.’ With more money available to teams to spend on player development, and 15 roster spots available per team, players have longer to reach their potential… Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes won’t repeat as NFL MVP, that honor will go to Lamar Jackson from the Baltimore Ravens, but when it counts, I’ll take Mahomes… Mahomes and his tight end Travis Kelce are a formidable pair and many think Kelce is currently the best at his position in the NFL. At 6-5, 260 pounds Kelce is almost impossible to defend near the goal line… Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry is one of the best running backs to hit the NFL in years. He reminds me in his style and ability of Hall of Famer Earl Campbell… In its 140-year history, Major League Baseball has looked at sign stealing and cheating with a wink and a nod, but no more. Via the use of technology, the Houston Astros were stealing signs in 2017 on their way to the franchise’s first World Series title. After first being suspended for a year by MLB, Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager AJ Hinch, were fired by the team. In addition the Astros were fined the maximum dollar amount a franchise can be fined, $5 million. Long-term the biggest penalty levied against the franchise is the loss of their first and second round draft picks in both the 2020 and 2021 Baseball Amateur Drafts. It could take the Astros a decade to recover from that portion of their punishment. Waiting for the other shoe to drop is Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora, who was one of the ringleaders of the sign-stealing efforts while playing for the Astros. The Red Sox are under their own investigation for cheating and it appears MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred may be more harsh with Cora than he was with the Astros personnel.
