Sunday November 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4094

purple power in minnesota

I know a few guys who are in Minnesota for today's Vikings/Ravens game and they have a dilemma.

What to wear?

If you wear your normal Ravens garb, won't your purple "Jackson 8" jersey just blend in with the 60,000 Vikings fans wearing their purple as well?

I guess you could have worse problems in your life, huh?

The Ravens have a tough one on their hands today up there, that is if the Vikings team we saw last week in Detroit is the "real" Vikings team. In the NFL, you just never know.

Beat the Lions in Detroit one week.

Lose at home to the Ravens, 40-26, the following week.

The league is super-crazy. As we all know.

Nothing would surprise me in Minnesota today, particularly given this edition of Ravens football we've watched over the first 8 weeks of the season.

They were healthy (mostly) at the start of the season and got battered in the first four weeks.

Then they were banged up (badly) for two weeks and got taken to the woodshed, at home, by Houston and Los Angeles.

Then their health started to improve (finally) and they managed to beat Chicago and hapless Miami, which brings us to today's tilt in Minnesota.

If the Ravens get past this one with a "W" today, they then have 3 easy ones to finish out the month; at Cleveland, home vs. the NY Jets and home vs. Cincinnati. From 1-5 to 7-5, just like that.

But this one today is huge.

So how is Minnesota going to win?

Running the ball is not really their cup of tea. They're 23rd in the NFL in rushing, averaging 99 yards per-game on the ground.

Throwing the ball isn't a whole lot better for them, statistically. They're 25th in the league in passing yards per-game at 192.

Defensively, they're good against the pass (top 10 in several metrics) and not great against the run (low 20's in several metrics).

Nothing about Minnesota stands out as great.

In fairness, nothing about the Ravens stands out as great, either, other than they have one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the entire league and the Vikings have a dude who is barely experienced enough to shave quarterbacking for them today.

I usually just go with the better quarterback in games like this one, where it feels like either team could win.

I don't see Lamar Jackson losing to J.J. McCarthy in a football game.

I realize there's waaaayyyyyyy more to it than that, but in the end, Lamar's touches on the football will be more valuable and productive than will McCarthy's.

That's just the way I "handicap" this game.

Lamar goes 21 of 31 for 255 yards and 2 TD's.

McCarthy goes 17 of 35 for 213 yards and 1 TD.

The Ravens rush for 133 yards, with Derrick Henry getting 104 of them.

The Vikings only rush for 88 yards.

Ravens lead at the half, 13-10.

They're up 23-16 going into the 4th quarter.

And a fourth quarter Lamar to Zay Flowers TD throw helps the Ravens turn back the Vikings in Minnesota, 30-23, as Baltimore improves to 4-5 on the year.

I just don't see J.J. McCarthy going out for a steak dinner in Minneapolis tonight and raising a toast at his table and saying, "Here's to Lamar, heading back home to Baltimore with an L after I kicked his butt today."

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

But Lamar Jackson isn't losing a football game to J.J. McCarthy.

Editor's note: We will have a post-game "Happy Hour" edition here at #DMD today, so stop by sometime around 5 pm for post-game analysis and commentary.

---

Maryland football took a bad one on the chin yesterday, losing 35-20 to Rutgers up in New Jersey. The loss drops the Terps to 4-5 and turns up the heat on Mike Locksley as the season starts to come to a close.

I'm saying this as someone who totally doesn't give a hoot about Maryland football, but I do think it's worth mentioning here.

Everyone (you know what I mean) wants Locksley fired.

I get it. They're 4-5, heading towards another lackluster season as a Big 10 also ran, and folks in the DMV "demand better" than what they're getting from Maryland football.

But those folks are living in fantasy land.

Maryland getting run out of the gym in the Big 10 in football every fall is part of the collateral damage of taking $50-million-plus from the conference every year.

It's just a fact. You're going to stink at football at Maryland.

End of story.

You have a puncher's chance in basketball, as the Terps have showed over the last decade or so, but no real chance in football. You're going to have a season or two every decade where you get the benefit of a favorable Big 10 schedule and you might beat Purdue or Wisconsin or Michigan State when they're having an "off" year.

But when it comes to going up against the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Oregon (now), you're not beating those teams in football if you're Maryland.

And I know what you're going to say: "I don't care about beating Ohio State. I know we can't do that. But we can't be losing to Rutgers in football. We have to beat them at least!"

Really? That's your barometer for Maryland football? Beating Rutgers is a "must" just to offset getting your doors blown off by Ohio State or Indiana or Oregon?

I'm not saying Locksley is doing a great job. I honestly have no idea. I don't follow Maryland enough to know.

But I do know this. I don't care who you bring in to coach Maryland football. They're going, at best, 6-6 every year. Some years they might go 4-8. There might be one or two outliers mixed in where they go 7-5. If they go 8-4 in back-to-back years you should have a parade for the program in downtown D.C.

Maryland football is a complete nothing-burger.

They're going to be a bottom feeder in the Big 10 in football and that's just the way it is.

There's no need to throw $20 million at football players because all you're getting are guys that Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State didn't want.

Just run a nice program, try to win a few games here and there, and catch lightning in a bottle every five years. Lather, rinse and repeat.

If you think Maryland football can ever be a legit powerhouse, you're nuts.

around the nfl

Falcons at Colts (in Germany) -- Atlanta, like they usually are, is one of the harder teams in the league to figure out. Just when you think they're on to something, they lose at home to the Dolphins. Anyway, "what they are" won't really matter today, because the Colts will run them out of the gym, 31-13.

Giants at Bears -- If Chicago's really halfway decent, they'll waltz to a win over the Giants today. But it's hard to say which Chicago team will show up and whether this one of those once-a-month Sundays where the Giants also post and play hard. Bears win a tight one, 23-20, although I wouldn't at all be surprised to see them lose 19-16.

Bills at Dolphins -- If the Dolphins had any heart at all, they'd man up and give Buffalo a game today. Alas, they don't have any and it won't be much of a game. Buffalo rolls to 7-2 on the year with a 36-13 win.

Browns at Jets -- I can't believe they didn't flex this one to Sunday Night on NBC. What a game. I could see it being 4-0 Cleveland, with two Myles Garrett safeties being the only scoring. In all seriousness, though, I see the Jets getting all their chakras in line today and winning quite comfortably, 20-7.

Patriots at Buccaneers -- Now this game, VERY seriously, would be a great one for Sunday Night on NBC. Two of the best teams, record wise, in the AFC and NFC, going at it in Tampa Bay. This one will really tell us something about New England. If they go down there and win.......wow. I think the Bucs are legit, but losing Mike Evans hurts them a lot. We'll go with the road win today, as New England squeaks it out late, 26-24.

Saints at Panthers -- Don't look now, but a Carolina win today and they're 6-4 and actually involved in the NFC playoff picture heading into November. Who would thunk it, right? Panthers 33 - Saints 10.

Jaguars at Texans -- C.J. Stroud is out for Houston, which is huge, and the Jaguars are trying to keep pace with the Colts, which makes for a Jacksonville win today in Texas, 27-14.

Rams at 49'ers -- A big NFC West showdown in San Fran, with the 6-2 Rams taking on the 6-3 49'ers. So, after today, one of these teams will have still have 6 wins and the other -- wait for it -- will have..........7. So, you know, six, seven. Sorry, I just had to get that in there. Rams win this one on the road, 30-27.

Lions at Commanders -- This is just about an absolute "must win" for D.C. today. A loss to the Lions and they're 3-7 and pretty much cooked. Detroit, meanwhile, needs a bounce-back performance in a big way after laying that egg at home against Minnesota last week. This one goes to the Lions, 37-27.

Steelers at Chargers -- The Chargers and Justin Herbert are like Side 2 of Abbey Road.....just OK. One week Herbert is great, the next week not so much. Even though L.A. enters the game 6-3, they're "only" 3-2 at home, which bodes well for Pittsburgh. But the Steelers have problems of their own. Their QB is in his early 50's and their defense is suspect. We'll go with the home team in this one. L.A. holds off Pittsburgh, 29-24.

Eagles at Packers (Monday Night) -- A possible NFC Championship Game preview right here, huh? Green Bay looks to recover from that fiasco of a home loss last Sunday to Carolina while the Eagles would like to show they're more than the real deal with a win at Lambeau Field. We'll take Philly here in a good one, 27-20.

Saturday November 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4093

the weirdest season ever?

OK, let me rattle off these last names for you.

See if you know who I'm talking about. Unless you cheat and look ahead in the column, I'm guessing you don't know.

Coit.

Rice.

Del Pino.

Saunders.

Mills.

Payne.

Turkson.

Metcalf.

There are more but I'll stop there.

I know you're thinking hard about who those folks are. And no, it's not a list of people who think Abbey Road was overrated.

It's this season's Maryland basketball roster.

You don't recognize one name. Neither do I. Neither does anyone in College Park, because they're all brand-spanking-new.

There's not a player on Maryland's '25-26 roster that played here previously.

How weird is that? No freshman becoming promising sophomores. No sophomores who got 6.5 minutes per-game last year making the jump to a starter getting 24 minutes or more this season. No seniors trying to make a last stab at becoming "pro material".

These are all new players.

That's what struck me last night as I watched, on TV, the Terps fall to Georgetown at home, 70-60.

I didn't care about the loss. It is what it is. It's early November. Bugs and kinks need to get worked out.

It's that I didn't know any of the players. Not a one. I've never seen that before, at least not with a team I (casually) follow.

I don't follow Big 10 basketball enough to know who is going to be good and who is going to be great, but I can't imagine Maryland will be any kind of threat to reach double digit wins in the conference. I do (or did last night, at least) see some good stuff from guys like Payne, Coit and Rice, but there's no way to know what they'll do against the likes of Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State and so on.

Last night, they weren't even good enough to beat Georgetown. But, like I wrote above, early days still.

The strangest part of all is not knowing one single player. College sports was, in the past, all about following a kid's time at your school and seeing him grow from a boy to a man over that four-year period.

It was really kind of cool, for someone like me who saw him play high school hoops for Mount Saint Joseph, to watch Jalen Smtih go from a rail-thin kid to an athletic beast-of-a-man over a four year period. The same with JuJu Reese, who played at Saint Frances in Baltimore.

I'm barely a "5" when it comes to Maryland basketball and I enjoyed seeing their progression. That's always been the lure of college sports, I think. You see them as a freshman and wonder what they might be able to develop into down the road and then you see it happen right in front of you over three or four years.

Maybe we'll get that same luxury in College Park with this current crop of guys that Buzz Williams is bringing in, but I highly doubt it.

Those days are mostly gone, unless you're somewhere like Duke or Kansas where kids still actually want to attend school and play because the name on the front of the shirt says "DUKE" or "KANSAS".

Otherwise, kids are just going to the highest bidder from here on in.

Not getting enough minutes? Just transfer.

Coach yells at you too much? Just transfer.

You aren't the central part of the offense? Just transfer.

Don't like the freshmen getting more minutes than you? Just transfer.

There was a time, "way back when", that if you called your Dad with those comments he would have told you to suck it up and get better.

Not getting enough minutes? "You need to play better when you do get in the game and maybe then the coach will have some confidence in you."

Coach yells at you too much? "Oh, please. It ain't nothin' I haven't said to you before. Stop getting your feelings hurt and be a man."

You aren't the central part of the offense? "You're scoring 2.1 points per-game in 9 minutes. How are you supposed to be the central part of the offense with 2 points per-game?"

Don't like the freshmen getting more minutes than you? "Maybe if you practiced better and showed more than the freshmen in practice you'd play over them. You think the coach wants to trot some snot-nosed 18-year old out there to play 18 minutes a game over you, a junior, with three years of experience in the program? Get better, son, and stop making excuses."

That was then.

"Transfer" is now.

That's how Maryland lost most of their players from last season's team. A few matriculated to the pro level, but eight or so just up and hit the road as soon as Kevin Willard pulled his March disappearing act and left for Philadelphia.

Fortunately, though, college sports has the domino effect in full force right now. One player leaving any program opens up an opportunity for someone else and when that player leaves, their departure opens up another spot and so on and so on.

So, people like Buzz Williams build their roster via the transfer portal because it's really the only way a new coach can do it these days.

Oh, and you also have to have a lot of money to wave at the kids who are transferring. They're not coming free of charge any longer, that's for sure.

And that opens up an entirely new issue in college sports.

You get what you pay for.

Last night, at least, those guys in yellow were not only nameless, they didn't provide much return on investment.

Here's hoping there are better days ahead for Buzz Williams.

He seems like a guy who is easy to like.

And that puts him ahead of Kevin Willard already and we're only two games into his first season.

And now, for the good news. It's our debut edition of "Live from Parkville" and I'm excited to have John Rallo join me for almost 40 minutes of great discussion about his upcoming Shogun Fights event on November 15 at Maryland Live! Casino.

I'm the least likely MMA "fan" ever. I never even saw one second of MMA -- live or on TV -- before 2022. Then, in 2022, I attended a fight card as a guest of John's and that was it. I was hooked.

If you've been out to a Shogun event at Maryland Live!, you'll see the Drew's Morning Dish logo in the ring as part of the advertising attached to the cage. I'm an enthusiastic and unabashed sponsor of the great work John does twice a year in hosting a fight card at Maryland Live!.

If you've never seen one of his events in-person, give it a shot. I'm telling you, there's no way I would have ever seen myself sitting ringside watching it live, and now I look forward to every event John hosts. It's a great sport and the athletes you see in the ring are tough as nails.

I hope you enjoy "Live from Parkville" with John Rallo.

Friday November 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4092

remember when?

Something about yesterday got me cruising down memory lane.

Maybe it was just surfing on Twitter and seeing some cool stuff that reminded me of (great) days gone by.

Perhaps it was the whole "I Can't Believe I Saw That" piece I wrote here yesterday and remembering moments like the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team or the Orioles winning the 1983 World Series.

The older you get, the more "Memory Lane" matters.

I've written quite often here about some of my favorite memories from my days growing up in Glen Burnie.

Playing "pond hockey" at both Lake Waterford (Pasadena) and Friendship Park (near the airport) during the winter months in the late 1970's is one of my fondest memories. There were weeks on end back then when the lakes and ponds froze over enough for 12 to 20 guys to get out there and skate and play hockey.

My mom would drop me off at Lake Waterford on a Saturday morning at 10:00 am and come back and get me at 5:00 pm. All we'd do all day is skate, play hockey, eat a lunch we all brought with us, and play more hockey.

Anyone who claims climate-change is a made-up thing is bonkers. It's very real. Just ask anyone in the general Baltimore area. When's the last time you were able to play hockey on a pond in Towson or Pasadena?

But that's neither here nor there. I didn't bring it up to start a debate about climate-change. I brought it up to say, "Those were the days..."

Wiffle ball was another one of those "Memory Lane" things I always look back on fondly, particularly on a scorching summer day.

Putting up a lawn chair behind home plate served as the de facto umpire. If you hit the chair with a pitch, it was a called strike. We had the thin, "normal" wiffle ball bat or we'd sometimes break out the big, thick jumbo bat that could pump balls over a neighbor's house for an automatic home run.

Circa 1983, a group of 12 of us created and then played a sport called "Soc-crosse" every day before Thanksgiving. "Soc-crosse" was simple. You used a lacrosse goalie stick and a size 4 (smaller) soccer ball and you tried to throw or kick the ball into a lacrosse goal. We somehow ended up playing at the Naval Academy for four or five years until the powers-that-be finally came around one year and said we couldn't play there any longer.

But nothing in my youth -- from a game standpoint -- gave me more joy than playing table hockey.

I probably went through four different games in about an 8-year period from age 10 to 18. Once one of the rods underneath broke, the game was pretty much useless. And I played it so much, so often, that breaking the game was almost an annual rite of passage.

In my neighborhood, we had at least 6 kids who played table hockey. We drafted teams, kept scores and stats and treated it pretty much like people treat fantasy sports these days.

About 8 years ago, I purchased a table hockey game and gave it to my son for Christmas, which was pretty much like giving myself the game as well.

We still have it to this day.

I think we have 12 or 14 NHL teams now. I just ordered Seattle and San Jose to add to our group of teams. We switch them out regularly during the holiday season and play table hockey, then the game goes back downstairs until next December.

What about you? Did you and the neighborhood kids develop any unique, memorable games?

"Boy, the way Glenn Steve Miller played.

Songs that made the hit parade.

Guys like us we had it made.

Those were the days..."

Of all the things the NFL has done over the years, the #1 dumbest thing they created was Thursday Night Football.

The games overseas? OK, you can see where that makes a little bit of sense. I mean, it's Sunday over there (and here, albeit 6-8 hours earlier) and those markets are generally rabid for anything American until they get bored with it.

Some of the rule changes the league has made? Again, they sorta-kinda add up. I don't know that I agree with all of them, but you get the good ones with the bad ones and you move on. At least both teams get the ball in overtime in the regular season now. That's a good one.

Adding a playoff team also makes sense. The more the merrier.

But playing football games on Thursday night is dreadful. It always has been. There was a time when the home team won just about every time. Now, it's a little more balanced. But it's not the winning and losing. It's the actual football that's being played.

Boring called and said, "Man, I can't watch any more of this. It's putting me to sleep."

Last night's 10-7 thriller in Denver, won by the Broncos, was worse than 1-0 soccer game. And that's saying something.

I know it always involves money, somehow. I get it. The league whores itself to any network who is willing to put a game on, no matter the hour or the day, and then they say to the players and the teams, "You like that $25 million salary you're getting or that $250 million of TV money we hand you? You'll play when we tell you to play."

But it's awful to watch. It always has been. Occasionally, a good game or two will fall into our lap and we'll conveniently forget about how wretched Thursday football is. But then along comes Denver and Las Vegas and 17 total points and we remember that football players simply aren't built or wired to play on Sunday and then again, on Thursday.

Shoot those Thursday games straight into the sun.

The visit by Maryland's basketball team to Baltimore on Monday night only served to remind me of how much of a bummer it is to not have a big time "major" university in our great city that packs them in for football in the fall and basketball in the winter.

We already covered the meager crowd at the arena in Tuesday's edition of #DMD. I'm not going there again.

I'm talking more about the whole picture of not having a big time school in Baltimore to make the city light up when there's a huge game in town.

And I'm saying that with all due respect to the likes of Towson, Loyola, UMBC, Morgan State and Coppin State. They're all "real" schools with competent athletic programs in various sports. And, yes, every couple of decades something will happen like UMBC beating #1 seed Virginia in hoops or Loyola winning the national championship in men's lacrosse that will put one or two of those schools on the map.

You know what I mean, though.

The biggest "local" big-time school we have is 35 miles down the road and it's far closer to D.C. than it is to Baltimore. And for reasons only they know at the University of Maryland, they pretty much treat Baltimore and the surrounding suburbs like a pariah.

But when they do grace us with their presence, either in football or basketball, it serves to remind me how hollow it is here in the fall and winter without the "University of Baltimore" being a big deal in the same way, say, the University of Louisville or University of Pittsburgh is in those two markets.

It's weird, to me, at least, that Washington D.C. has gone through a couple of football and baseball stadiums and two arenas and the University of Maryland has also gone through two indoor sports facilities in the last 30 years and Baltimore hasn't had a new indoor facility in 62 years.

We don't have a NHL team or NBA team, of course, because Washington D.C. has both of them and would never give up the Baltimore market.

Then again, we don't have an arena for either team to play in, anyway.

We do have a major horse racing facility in Baltimore, but even that's a controversial topic these days.

I'm sorry for rambling on and whining about what we don't have here in Charm City, but it's nights like Monday that remind me we're just a place for schools like Maryland to visit once every other year or so just to appease us and say "We stopped by to say hi...come on down and see when you get the chance."

And now, for the good news. Yes, there's always good news to share here. It's our debut edition of "Live from Parkville" and I'm excited to have John Rallo join me for almost 40 minutes of great discussion about his upcoming Shogun Fights event on November 15 at Maryland Live! Casino.

I'm the least likely MMA "fan" ever. I never even saw one second of MMA -- live or on TV -- before 2022. Then, in 2022, I attended a fight card as a guest of John's and that was it. I was hooked.

If you've been out to a Shogun event at Maryland Live!, you'll see the Drew's Morning Dish logo in the ring as part of the advertising attached to the cage. I'm an enthusiastic and unabashed sponsor of the great work John does twice a year in hosting a fight card at Maryland Live!.

If you've never seen one of his events in-person, give it a shot. I'm telling you, there's no way I would have ever seen myself sitting ringside watching it live, and now I look forward to every event John hosts. It's a great sport and the athletes you see in the ring are tough as nails.

I hope you enjoy "Live from Parkville" with John Rallo.

faith in sports

And you thought that Dodgers/Blue Jays series was good for baseball? It was also good for "Faith in Sports", particularly when you hear these star players talk openly about Jesus and what their faith in God has done for their respective careers.

Take 5 minutes to hear Mookie Betts, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and a bunch of other players speak about their faith during the recent World SEries.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday November 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4091

"wiped out" one month into the season

This one seems like low-hanging fruit, I know.

But if it's dangling there, I'll go ahead and take a swing at it.

I don't do much "following" of the NBA. I mean, I casually look at the scores almost every night just to see who is playing well (never the Wizards) and who isn't playing well (almost always the Wizards), but other than that, I'm not really interested in "The Association".

I'd never consider placing a wager on a NBA game. I just don't follow it enough to have a clue.

Anyway, a headline at ESPN caught my attention yesterday.

Four starters to miss Warriors/Kings game

I fell for it and clicked.

A couple of Golden State players are out with a cold (Curry) and a bad back (Butler). Fair enough. I mean, the "cold" sidelining Curry seems a bit soft, but whatever. You get paid time off in the NBA just like you do if you work at a software company, I guess.

Those two, along with reserve Draymond Green, are "wiped out" after the team's arduous early season schedule, according to their head coach, Steve Kerr.

One month into the campaign and you have guys "wiped out". Yikes.

Later in the article, there was a quote from Kerr that really caught me.

"When all is said and done, of our first 15 games, I think they'll come in 26 days in 10 different cities," Kerr said. "To ask our players to sprint -- full court pressure, either dealing with it or applying it, racing out to the 3-point line, covering 3-point shooters and then playing at this tempo -- is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago."

That one needed to be read again.

So I did. And I broke it down for my own good.

Golden State will play 15 games in 26 days, according to Kerr. I believe him, by the way. I assume he's telling the truth on that note.

Of those 15 games, 10 will come in different cities, he claims.

This time, I checked. The Warriors, thus far, have played in Oakland (home), Los Angeles, Portland, Milwaukee, Indiana and, tonight, Sacramento. Friday they will be in Denver. Starting next week they'll go on a lengthy road trip that will take them to Oklahoma City, San Antonio and elsewhere.

So let's move on to other stuff in his quote.

"To ask our players to sprint -- full court pressure, either dealing with it or applying it, racing out to the 3-point line, covering 3-point shooters and then playing at this tempo -- is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago."

That one got me.

"To ask our players to sprint (otherwise known as "play basketball) is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago."

I'd love to know how sprinting today is different than it was 20 years ago.

I'm guessing Kerr would like a mulligan on that part of his statement.

Today's NBA player has it better than ever before.

They travel exclusively by private plane, built for them and their long frames. They stay in luxurious hotel rooms with beds and bathrooms that are far more spacious than you'd find at your local Hyatt Regency.

Teams, like Golden State, now actually employ what's called a "Performance Staff Leader" who oversees everything about the health of the players, including -- get this -- when they might need to sit out a game or two to accommodate the player's "load management" schedule.

Kerr doubled down on the difficulty of "working" 15 times in 26 days.

"We all know what the real answer to load management is, and that is to shorten the season," Kerr said. "Good luck."

Imagine being the guy that has players say they can't play tonight and tomorrow night because, well, they're tired and don't have the energy or ability to give it their all twice within 28 hours.

And then imagine having to face the media and, with a straight face, defend your players who beg for a night off every few weeks.

Michael Jordan spoke out about load management last week and was critical of players needing an in-season day off "just because".

“Well, it (missing a game for rest) shouldn’t be needed, first and foremost,” Jordan said. “I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was something that I felt like the fans are there that watch me play. I want to impress that guy way up on top who probably worked his butt off to get a ticket or to get money to buy the ticket to see me play."

Jordan went on to comment about instances in his career when injury or health nearly kept him from playing, but he dressed for the game and played nonetheless.

“I was going to find a way to get out there, even if I was a decoy,” the Hall of Fame member said. “Well, once I got out there, you never know how – pushing yourself – you never know what happens, right?"

“Next thing you know, the emotions, the situation, the need of the team. All those things catapulted me to: ‘I’m going to gut this thing out.’”

This isn't to suggest that a player with a legitimate injury should be forced to play and endure pain or create a situation where their season or career could be in danger.

But taking games off because you're tired or weary or concerned about fatigue setting in? It seems like bush-league-meets-clown-shoes to me.

The NBA's official term is "load management".

Others would just call it "soft".

I started a discussion with my buddy Glenn Clark yesterday during my weekly appearance on his show, but is often the case when I'm hanging out with him, we (me, usually) got distracted and branched off to another subject and I never got to make my point.

I asked him where Game 7 of the recent World Series ranks on his all-time list of great sporting events. Because he likes tennis, he mentioned a Federer vs. someone Wimbledon final that, he says, rivaled Game 7. I laughed at that, but then again, Tiger winning the 2019 Masters would be on my list and some folks would scoff at that and say "Come on man, that's golf."

We're five days removed from Game 7 and I still can't get over it. I'm still talking to people about it that I haven't seen since the weekend. I still can't believe how it all ended.

Clark claims it's "recency bias" that boosts the intensity of Game 7. I don't know about that. The Patriots rebounding from a 28-3 second half deficit in the Super Bowl is in the rear view mirror (or if you're Pearl Jam, "rearviewmirror") and I still marvel at that outcome every time it's brought up and use it, even today, when discussing a potential come-from-behind scenario in just about any sport.

"If the Patriots can come back from 28-3 in the Super Bowl, any deficit can be wiped out with enough time left on the clock."

In my own effort to chronicle just where Game 7 goes, I've titled the effort, "I still can't believe I saw that."

I mean, the Dodgers winning the World Series wasn't a surprise in and of itself. It's how they won that is mind-boggling.

Tiger winning the Masters in 2019 wasn't a complete shock given that he had won 14 other majors before then and 4 earlier green jackets as well.

It's the fact that he won another major after 11 years of not winning one and doing so after neck surgeries, back surgeries and a bunch of other surgeries I'm forgetting.

"I still can't believe I saw it" fits perfectly with Tiger's win in 2019.

I can't believe I saw the Patriots come back from 28-3 in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl to win.

I guess I'd say that "I can't believe I saw the Capitals win the Stanley Cup", but that's purely a personal thing. And it wasn't really all that difficult for them, really. They breezed through the Finals in 5 games vs. Las Vegas.

I do think seeing both the Red Sox and Cubs break long, long World Series droughts was very memorable to me, and I didn't have a dog in the hunt in either situation. It was just cool to see it happen, finally.

I remember, very distinctly, being in my living room in Glen Burnie when Notre Dame broke UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974. I remember the Irish were down by a dozen points or so with 4 minutes remaining and somehow scratched their way back into it and won by a point.

That one definitely had a "I can't believe I saw that" feeling to it, as did the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey win over the Soviet Union.

That hockey game is on everyone's list. That is, if you were alive in 1980.

I can't get over the Dodgers and Game 7.

Muncy's homer in the 8th off of Yesavage, who looked unbeatable prior to that pitch.

The Rojas homer in the 9th with one out and Ohtani on deck to, perhaps, make the final out of the World Series or tie the game himself with a dramatic homer of his own.

The Rojas throw to the plate in the bottom of the 9th that barely snagged Kiner-Falefa and preserved a tie game.

The Pages/Hernandez collision in left field with Pages making a miraculous catch to end the bottom of the 9th.

Will Smith hitting the homer in the 11th.

And then Toronto having the bases loaded with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th and Kirk grounding into the game-ending double play.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the 2.2 innings of pitching work from Yamamoto, 24 hours after he threw 96 pitches in Game 6.

I can't believe I saw that.

Alex Ovechkin did something last night I assume most ardent hockey fans never thought they'd see. He scored his 900th career goal in D.C. in the Capitals 6-1 win over St. Louis.

900 goals.

Never done before.

Will someone else come along and surpass him someday? Maybe. But they'll need 50 goals per-season for 18 years to do it. That's a lot of goals.

I've followed the Capitals since their inception in 1974.

For a decade or thereabouts, they were a complete and utter laughingstock. Moribund called and said, "You guys are terrible."

And even though they were a much better franchise in the 80's and 90's, even making a Final in '97-98, they never really had any kind of "brand" within the franchise.

They were just another team, basically.

Along came Ovechkin, though, and everything changed.

And now, at least for the forseeable future, the leading goal scorer in the history of the National Hockey League will be a Washington Capital and only a Washington Capital.

I'll always think of Wayne Gretzky as an Edmonton Oiler, but the reality is there were a lot of milestones in his career that were set while he wore a Kings or Rangers sweater.

Tom Brady will always be remembered as a Patriot, obviously, but he did win a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, which is a feather in his cap but also puts him in the record books as a Buccaneer.

LeBron won multiple rings, which is great, but which of his NBA teams do you see him in when you close your eyes? Miami, Cleveland or the Lakers?

Ovi is a Capital and only a Capital, which is really cool, I think.

I had to laugh at the news that LIV Golf is going to expand to 72 holes for their 2026 season. They sold themselves to all of the charlatans from the PGA Tour on the premise they'd only play 54 hole tournaments and those guys who jumped ship would have "more time for their family".

So much for family time.

The dudes running that enterprise do deserve some credit, though. They're still plugging away, even though LIV still hasn't taken hold, no one watches it on TV (wherever it's aired, which I don't even know) and absolutely no one can tell you who won last week's tournament or how they did it.

It's all been a colossal waste of money, although the Saudis have plenty of it to waste.

Now, the one thing LIV has definitely done is help the standard of living on the PGA Tour. The Schefflers of the world are very thankful that LIV came along four years ago.

But standing on its own merit as a legitimate golf "league"? It's been a massive nothing burger, other than the gazillions they've given people like Charles Howell III, Carlos Ortiz, Tyrrell Hatton, Jason Kokrak and a bunch of other guys who couldn't win on the PGA Tour but have reveled in the free loot they've picked up while playing for LIV.

At some point here soon, they're going to lose one of their "premier" American guys like DeChambeau or Koepka. Whether the PGA Tour accepts them back without penalty is a story for another day. But the guess here is one or both of them will want to return to the PGA Tour when their LIV deal expires in the near future.

But the folks at LIV will roll on, I'm sure, and when DeChambeau or Koepka leaves, they'll just wave too much cash at someone like Finau or Morikawa or Bhatia and they'll take it because, it's found money, basically.

The charm about LIV has always been that the money was basically "free". You never have to win. You don't even need to play well, in fact. All you need to do is wear the team shirt they give you and smack the ball around for 3 days and you get paid.

Well, now you have to do that for 4 days. But you get the picture.

On the PGA Tour, you actually have to play great golf to make a living. Sure, you might get $250,000 for a logo on your hat and the collar of your shirt, but if you play 24 tournaments a year, that $500,000 is shot in travel, airfare, hotels, caddie fees and so on.

You either play great golf on the PGA Tour or you lose those sponsors. And when you lose those sponsors, and your TOUR status, it's back to the Korn Ferry circuit or some other battleground Tour to try and make enough money to still call yourself a "professional golfer".

That's why the PGA Tour was always better than LIV.

And now, with LIV going to 72 holes, they'll have even more pressure to measure up to the PGA Tour.

They'll fail. Like they always have. But lots of players who wouldn't have made $10 million playing golf will make $10 million playing golf. And LIV will "live on" for a few more years until the Saudis finally cave in and give up.

We'll debut our "Live from Parkville" podcast/videocast series here tomorrow with an awesome sit-down with local MMA fight promoter John Rallo, who has another one of his exciting Shogun Fights events scheduled for next Saturday, November 15 at Maryland Live! Casino. John goes in depth with us explaining how he puts fights together and talks about the training that's necessary to go from an amateur to a professional. I had a blast chatting with him and I think you're going to enjoy it as well.

Wednesday November 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4090

you want answers?

A lot of folks around town were bent out of shape with the lack of trade activity by the Ravens yesterday.

They didn't do anything.

That's the bad news.

The good news is they have $14 million of unused cap space to roll over to 2026. So they have that going for them, which is nice.

I don't know what it is about football trades in the middle-of-the-season, but they always seem much more of a crapshoot than baseball trades at the deadline. That might just me "thinking" that and the reality is actually different. But there's something about football trades that just seems weird.

Like, you play 8 games for one team and then go off and play 9 more games with another team. In baseball terms, I suppose it's like playing 90 games with one team and 72 with another. But it just feels odd to trade for someone in the middle of a football season.

Anyway, the Ravens didn't do any trading on Tuesday, so they're going with what they have to finish out the '25 campaign.

They can still sign a free agent or two if they want, but other than Justin Tucker, there's no one else out there that's going to be able to help a team over the last couple of months.

As we referenced yesterday, the Ravens are still in pretty good shape moving forward as long as they follow a fairly simple path over their final 9 games.

Beat Minnesota on the road this Sunday.

Don't lose one of their last four regular season home games.

Go 2-1 in their three division road games.

Getting another veteran or two yesterday might have helped that effort, but what's done is done. This Ravens team, as it's constituted right now, still has a very good shot at making the post-season.

And now, on we go with some Q & A to get us over the hump.

Tom P. asks -- "I know this might be hard but while it's still fresh in your mind, what were the top 5 plays from the World Series that you'll remember? I'm 55 years old and it's the best World Series I've ever seen."

DF says -- "I could give you 15, I think. I mean, the Freddie Freeman homer from Game 3 has to be on the list of Top 5, but there were 10 plays we remember from Game 6 and Game 7 alone. I'm older than 55 and it's definitely the greatest World Series I've seen, too.

OK, so let's go with this:

5. Freeman's homer in Game 3. Even though Toronto was able to bounce back from that punch to the family jewels, it seemed like the kind of game where the winner exhaled and the loser crawled into the fetal position.

4. The Game 6 bottom of the 9th double play that forced Game 7. I'm still not 100% sure Addison Barger was out at 2nd base, but nonetheless, that was an amazing sequence given that Toronto had guys on 2nd and 3rd and were one hit away from either tying the game or winning the World Series.

3. The play at the plate in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 7. Everyone assumes that Kiner-Falefa would have been safe had he just run the play out instead of sliding into home. Either way, the Blue Jays were literally one-half-second away from winning the World Series. It was very similar to the Lee Evans catch/no-catch in New England. One-half-second was the difference between Toronto winning and losing.

2. The Andy Pages catch in left-center field in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7. The fact that Dave Roberts inserted him for defensive purposes earlier in the inning is mind boggling, because Tommy Edman wouldn't have been able to get to that ball and there's certainly a chance given the awkward way he was chasing after the ball that Kike Hernandez wouldn't have caught it. The Pages catch was a title-saving effort.

1. The Miguel Rojas homer in the top of the 9th in Game 7. It would have been one thing if Ohtani, Freeman or Muncy homered in that situation. You would have said, "Sure, I get it." But with one out in the books and only two more remaining, there's just no way you can let Rojas beat you. The Kirk Gibson and Freddie Freeman homers were (are) memorable, but they weren't improbable. Rojas hitting a home run in the most pressure packed moment of his career? Beyond improbable."

Mitch asks -- "Were you at the Calvert Hall soccer playoff game tonight (Monday)? If so, what are your thoughts on the blatant call that led to Gilman's goal that helped them win the game?"

DF says -- "Yes, I was there. I got two other e-mails about the play and the ensuing goal from Monday's game.

To clarify/explain, with five minutes left in a playoff game that Calvert Hall was winning 1-0, a ball, last touched by a Gilman player, clearly went out over the backline and should have been a Calvert Hall goal kick. Instead, the ball was collected by a Gilman player and played into the box where it was knocked out by a Calvert Hall player for a corner kick. Gilman then scored on the corner kick to tie the game at 1-1 and went on to win the game 2-1 in penalty kicks.

Here's the answer: What's done is done. It's a shame a game was impacted by a missed call. I'm sure the officials who blew the call feel terrible now having the luxury of seeing it on replay. It was out by at least two feet. It's one thing if the ball was out by a few inches. But it was out by a couple of feet. Somehow, the line judge and the referee both missed it.

That said, there's no guarantee Calvert Hall wins even if the right call is made. Gilman could have pressed and scored a goal in the game's final 5 minutes to tie it up. Who knows?

But, yes, it was a bad moment for sure. Like I said, I assume the officials feel terrible about it now that they've seen the replay. But that specific play wasn't the sole reason why Calvert Hall lost. The Gilman goalie made 5 or 6 great saves to even keep the game relatively close in the first place.

Here's how I see it. This is much different than a "bad call" where the ref either gives a penalty kick or doesn't give one based on his/her judgement of the infraction. 50% of the people would say "that wasn't a foul" and 50% of the people would say "that was the right call". You'd say that based on which team you were rooting for and how the call impacted your team. We've all been involved in those.

There wasn't really any dispute over this. The ball clearly went out. The refs missed it. It happens. There's not really any controversy associated with the actual call itself. It wasn't "oh come on, it wasn't out" or "yeah, but it was so close it was hard to see with the naked eye". The ball was out by two feet. Everyone stopped playing for a brief second expecting the whistle to be blown. When it wasn't, the Gilman kid put the ball back into play and just continued playing as if nothing happened.

And I'd be saying all of this had Calvert Hall been the benefactor of a bad call. No one wants to see a game impacted by a blatantly missed "easy" call like the ball going out over the end line. To their credit, the refs get that one right about 98% of the time. Monday night was one of the 2%, unfortunately."

Ramey asks -- "What's your Super Bowl pick now that you've seen half of the NFL season play out?"

DF says -- "I guess some of this depends on who gets home ice in the post-season. Indy might be a tough out at home with the way they run the ball, but there's just no way Daniel Jones holds up for the rest of the season. Their QB play will eventually do them in. I really like what we're seeing from Denver, but I also feel like there's something missing in their team. I'm not sure what it is, but they're not yet a "complete" team.

I have no idea what's going on in the NFC. I would have thought Tampa Bay was on the fast track to the Conference title game until the Mike Evans injury. I assumed Detroit was going to be tough to beat, then they just lost to Minnesota at home. I don't know if Philly's defense is good enough.

The Rams and Seahawks are both sneaky good, I think. Sam Darnold is somehow having a MVP caliber season with the Seahawks.

Anyway, I'll go with two teams that have very accomplished quarterbacks, how's that? Right now, I'll take Buffalo vs. Philadelphia."

Andy asks -- "Any thoughts on the Orioles hot stove season and who they might sign for 2026?"

DF says -- "I don't see the real need for any position players. Maybe a 4th outfielder type and a utility infielder since Mateo wasn't offered a new deal. But all in all, I think we're pretty set, that is, until Tyler O'Neill gets hurt in the 10th game and is out until mid-June.

Now, if they want to give Kyle Schwarber a 3 or 4 year deal and bring him to Baltimore to DH and hit 45 homers, I'd be up for that.

Pitching. Pitching. And more pitching. That's what the O's need.

Framber Valdez? Yes, please.

Dylan Cease? Eh, maybe.

Michael King? That would be a good signing, I think.

Zach Eflin? If the price was right, sure.

You have to remember the other 29 teams also want starting pitching. So you're going to have to spend money to lure one of them to Baltimore.

Bullpen arms are plentiful in free agency. Pick four, sign them, and hope three of them work out for you.

Just invest in as much decent-to-very-good pitching as you can and go from there. The rotation already has Bradish, Rogers and Kremer for sure. Throw in Povich and you have four known commodities. There's also Tyler Wells, don't forget.

Add two more starters, at least, and we're rolling."

Dan asks -- "What's your Maryland basketball prediction? Think we'll like Buzz Williams?"

DF says -- "I assume Maryland will be in the vicinity of .500 in the conference. I think they'll be challenged to make the NCAA tournament given the roster turnover, but I certainly wouldn't rule them out of making it to March Madness.

Will we like Buzz Williams? Sure. Right up until the Terps lose at home to someone they shouldn't lose to in mid-January and then the "Buzz can't coach" folks will come out of the woodwork.

Give him a couple of years to get his feet wet in College Park and get the players he wants. I like Maryland's chances of returning to prominence within two or three years."

J.C. asks -- "A couple of days ago, Gary Player said he was the 3rd best player in the history of golf behind Nicklaus and Woods. I'm curious what you think about that and where would you rank Player yourself? Thanks."

DF says -- "Gary was an outstanding player, no pun intended. Anyone who wins the career grand slam is elite and very special. That said, I don't consider him in the top 5, even. You have Jack and Tiger or Tiger and Jack, whichever way you go with that one. Tiger won more tournaments, Jack won more majors. But they're 1-2, no matter the order.

You have to consider Player with the likes of Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and, I'd say, even Lee Trevino. Gary's main argument was connected to Palmer. He contends he was better than "The King" because Arnie never won the PGA and Gary did. I think Watson (39 TOUR wins) was better than Player (24 TOUR wins) but Gary played a much deeper international schedule than did Watson.

If you pressed me for my top five, I'd also include Ben Hogan.

Personally, I'd go Tiger, Jack, Arnold, Hogan and Watson for my top five.

Sorry, Gary."

Joe asks -- "What did you make of the arena being half full for the Maryland - Coppin State game on Monday night? Not a good look."

DF says -- "I think the crowd was announced at 8,000 or so? I saw a bunch of pictures and videos on Twitter and it sure looked like a soft crowd. 8,000 people were there? No chance.

Anyway, whatever the real crowd was, I'd say it was more about the people who did go than the ones who didn't. No one knew the game was being played. The event was marketed poorly. If they got 5,000 or 6,000 to come out for the game (and Towson vs. Loyola afterwards) that's actually a pretty decent night in my opinion.

No one in Baltimore (or Maryland for that matter) knows any of the players on Maryland's team. There's ZERO branding about the program because they have a new coach and 14 new players. That's a tough sell, for sure.

I've long been a champion of Maryland basketball (and football) playing at least one home game every year in Baltimore. But it has to be a "real" game. With all due respect to Coppin State, there's zero draw there. Now, if Maryland played Rutgers or Penn State in Baltimore, you'd get 12,000 people there because of the alums from those two schools in the area and the proximity to both campuses.

Anyway, it was a good idea. And I hope they continue the event on an annual basis. But Maryland playing Coppin State in Baltimore is a nothing-burger. As the attendance on Monday night showed us."

Frank asks -- "Does Toronto going from last to first and coming within a whisker of winning the World Series give you hope for the Orioles?"

DF says -- "Sure. I mean, top-to-bottom our lineup -- if Westburg is healthy -- is as good as Toronto's. Their pitching was in tatters all year and their bullpen was lousy for large stretches of time. But they cobbled everything together at the right time and they got an amazing month out of Trey Yesavage out of nowhere and Shane Bieber stepped in and made a bunch of nice starts for them in August and September.

There's plenty of offensive pop in Baltimore. The Orioles just need Cowser to get it together and keep it together and they need Beavers to be a legit major league hitter and then we're on to something. I know Adley is still a bit of a question mark, but someone has to bat 8th and hit .244.

I realize it's been 40-plus years and there's no real way of knowing when we're going to get our next big chance, but I do think we can look at the Blue Jays in 2025 and say, "If they can do it, why can't we?"

O's in '26!! Has a nice ring to it, huh?"

Tuesday November 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4089

looking for that edge

We opined a few weeks ago here at #DMD that the Ravens were in the beginning stretch of a "Cakewalk Month" of games that would help make up for a tough slate of contests to start the 2025 NFL season.

So far, so good.

They easily disposed of Chicago and Miami, as expected.

They have Cleveland (away) coming up and then they host the Jets and Bengals. That should be three wins, although I'm sure the Joe Flacco visit to Charm City on Thanksgiving night -- if he's still upright at that point -- will be an interesting test.

But there's this game on Sunday in Minnesota...

As we said here a few weeks back, that's the one game in Cakewalk Month that could pose a problem.

It's not a slam-dunk, although it would have been more easy to win if Carson Wentz was still under center. Alas, he's not. So it's potentially a tougher task for John Harbaugh's team, as evidenced by last Sunday's Vikings win in Detroit.

To help their cause, the Ravens added an edge rusher yesterday, acquiring defensive end Dre'Mont Jones from the Titans for either a 5th or 4th round draft pick in 2026.

Jones is having a nice year with the hapless Titans. He has 19 quarterback pressures (7 more than anyone on the current Baltimore roster) and has registered a sack in four straight games. He's not Lawrence Taylor or J.J. Watt, but he's a veteran player who knows how to chase the quarterback.

The good news for the Ravens is they're essentially renting him. He comes to town playing out a one-year contract in 2025 worth $8.5 million.

If he winds up being this year's version of 2020 Yannick Ngakoue, there's nothing ventured-nothing-gained with that move. Ngakoue was a mid-season trade pick-up that year who was supposed to do exactly what the Ravens hope Jones does, except Ngakoue stunk. Hopefully Jones acquits himself better this time around.

The Ravens still have today to make any additional moves. With two straight wins and an easy path to at least 6-6 if not 7-5, even, they're not going to be doing any "selling" today. They're buyers all the way.

It wouldn't be shocking to see them invest in another defensive end. A veteran offensive lineman (guard) wouldn't be surprising, either. In both cases, the Ravens won't be looking to do anything but rent those pieces.

The 1-5 start has certainly put the Ravens in a tight spot. There's very little wiggle room in their remaining schedule, particularly with AFC Wild Card spots going to teams with 4 or 5 losses at season's end.

Unless something wacky happens, Buffalo, New England, Denver, Indianapolis and either Kansas City or Los Angeles will claim 5 of the 7 AFC playoff spots. That leaves the AFC North winner and one other wild card team.

The Chargers and Jaguars both have three losses right now. K.C. has four.

We might take a longer look at their schedule after next week's proverbial "midway point" of the season.

For now, though, let's concede that it's unlikely the Ravens can get in as a Wild Card (even if K.C. and Baltimore finish 10-7, the Chiefs will get the nod thanks to their win over the Ravens back in September).

The Ravens path to the post-season goes through the AFC North title and the Steelers.

Thankfully, Baltimore and Pittsburgh face one another twice in the final two months of the campaign, so the Ravens basically control their own fate in that regard.

Pittsburgh's remaining schedule

at Los Angeles (Chargers)

vs. Cincinnati

at Chicago

vs. Buffalo

at Baltimore

vs. Miami

at Detroit

at Cleveland

vs. Baltimore

Daunting, right?

The Steelers essentially have two games left out of nine that you'd say "that's a win for them". Home vs. Cincinnati and home vs. Miami.

And, look, the Bengals aren't a pushover because they can rack up 40 on you in a hurry. They can also give up 44 just as fast. But Cincy's offense is power-packed.

Pittsburgh's 5-3. They have to scratch and claw just to get to 10 wins. My guess, like they did last Sunday vs. Indy, is that the Steelers will win one of those "swing" games like the one at home vs. Buffalo or this Sunday in L.A. or maybe the game at Chicago in three weeks.

It's those two games against Baltimore that are probably going to make the difference in Pittsburgh either going 10-7 or 11-6. If they go 11-6, that will probably be good enough to win the North. 10-7 might throw them into a tiebreaker situation with Baltimore.

But there's no guarantee that Pittsburgh can win 10 games. They have 5 right now. You tell me where they other 5 wins are coming from. I don't see it.

As for the Ravens...

In addition to this Sunday's game in Minnesota, they basically have four tough games remaining -- at Green Bay, home vs. New England and the two with Pittsburgh.

The two games with Cincinnati are potentially volatile because you never know which Bengals team is showing up.

But all in all, if the Ravens can win this Sunday in Minnesota and then win 3 of those 4 "tough ones", including at least one against the Steelers, that should get them to 11 wins as long as they don't stub their toe against the Bengals or at Cleveland.

There are three schedule "keys" for Baltimore from now until the end of the season.

Don't lose a home game. If they can win out at home, they'll have at least 7 wins and one of those will be against Pittsburgh, which could be huge at season's end.

Beat Minnesota this Sunday. Even those non-conference games are the "best" ones to lose, they still count as a full loss and the Ravens can't afford to lose one they probably should win. A win in Minnesota coupled with those four home wins above gets them to 8 wins.

Go 2-1 on the road in the AFC North at a minimum. If one of those 2 wins is in Pittsburgh, that should clinch it given that they would already have a home win over the Steelers as well. 10 wins with 2 of them against the Steelers would almost definitely clinch the North.

Oh, and let's not forget that going to Green Bay isn't an automatic loss. The Packers just lost at home to Carolina.

I'm doing my best to not be a complete homer here, but I'd MUCH rather be in the Ravens' position than the Steelers' position at this point, even with their records flipped (5-3 vs. 3-5).

Pittsburgh is going to have to fight like the devil just to get to 10 wins.

The Ravens will have to almost collapse to not reach at least 9 wins and 10 or even 11 is still very much in play for John Harbaugh's team.

Oh, and don't forget the other bit of good news associated with a late Ravens run and another AFC title and post-season berth...

John Harbaugh gets another year tacked on to his contract!

So...let's hear it from you.

What are your predictions on Ravens regular season wins and Pittsburgh regular season wins?

Speak now and be heard.

Monday November 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4088

reminders

One of the down sides to work-related travel as a parent is missing out on occasions with your children.

It wasn't a big deal this past Friday because both of my kids are past their Halloween prime, but had they been younger and still in costume-mode, I would have missed out on trick-or-treat with them because I was in Texas on a FCA golf trip.

I did miss last night's Mercy/Maryvale A-Conference soccer final with my daughter, though. Going to that game with her as a spectator would have been fun, despite the result at the end (a 2-1 win in penalty kicks for Maryvale). Alas, I had to watch it on my phone from 30,000 feet while she enjoyed the game with her friends at Calvert Hall.

Editor's note: This goes without saying, but I'll say it nonetheless. These soccer conferences (and leagues) that decide meaningful games on penalty kicks are just not very smart. Figure out a way to decide the outcome by actually playing the sport you asked the players to play all year. One easy way to do it in soccer would be to take two players off the field at the start of the first overtime and play 8 on 8 plus the goalkeeper. If it's not decided after the first overtime, take another player off and play 7 v 7. It will get decided soon enough that way. Penalty kicks is for the birds. Anyway...

My travel in Texas also kept me from enjoying Game 7 of the World Series at home, with my son, on Saturday night. I did watch it unfold with friends, around a fire pit after an amazing steak dinner, but not being able to share it with my son took away an amazing opportunity to present to him some reminders about life.

I got home last night around 9 pm and immediately sat down with him and showed up the final four innings of Game 7.

"You won't believe what happened," I told him. As I watched it again, it was even more amazing than the first time, honestly.

Reminders.

We all need them, no matter our age. But issuing these reminders to our children is really what a parent's role is all about.

We saw "it's never over until it's over" in several ways in the series. The Dodgers went back to Toronto, down 3-2, and facing the challenging prospect of having to win consecutive games away from home against a very good Blue Jays team.

They won Friday's game in rather simple fashion, 3-1, but Saturday's game was an incredible test of fortitude. It looked "over" for L.A. virtually all night, especially after Toronto went ahead, 3-0, but the Dodgers wouldn't give in. It was never over for them. They just stayed in it and kept themselves in the game long enough to eventually come out on top.

We saw "you never know when it's your moment" from journeymen, light-hitting Miguel Rojas in the 9th inning. With Toronto needing just two outs to win the World Series, Rojas stroked a 3-2 pitch into the left field stands to produce one of the more unlikely home runs in World Series history.

There's simply no way to account for the uncanny ability of the Dodgers and Rojas to produce that moment at the very instant it needed to be produced. You just never know when it's your time to shine.

We saw "don't ever let someone tell you 'nobody has done this before'" in an effort to stop you from trying something you've always wanted to try and accomplish. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is living proof of that. It's unheard of in baseball for a pitcher to start a game and throw 100 pitches (actually 96) and then come back the very next night and pitch again.

Relief pitchers can throw 10 or 15 pitches tonight and come back tomorrow, sure, but not starting pitchers. They tax their arm much different than a guy from the bullpen. But just because it hadn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done now. Yamamoto proved that on Saturday night.

We saw "just because it looks bleak, that doesn't mean it ends bleak" when the Dodgers somehow survived moments in Game 6 and Game 7 that looked as if they were too overwhelming to survive. They led Friday's Game 6, 3-1, but the Blue Jays had runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out.

The crowd was going nuts and just one hit was all Toronto needed right then.

Instead, there was that crazy game-ending double play on the scorching liner to Kike Hernandez and the Dodgers were still alive. It looked even worse on Saturday night when the Jays loaded the bases with just one out in the 9th inning, but L.A. lived to play on thanks to that incredible catch by Andy Pages at the wall that sent the game to extra innings.

It looked bleak again in the 11th inning when Toronto had another bases-loaded-with-one-out situation, only to ground into a double play to end the game. Just because it looks bleak, that doesn't mean it ends bleak.

We saw "give everything you have and then give just a little more" from guys like Hernandez (Game 6 final play) and Pages (season-saving catch in Game 7) and Rojas (season-saving catch and throw home in the 9th inning of Game 7). Anything less than perfect effort and perfect execution in those three situations ends L.A.'s championship hopes and the Blue Jays are champions.

Even the final out of Game 7 was incredibly well done by Mookie Betts, who had to do everything right on that double play situation in order to preserve the 5-4 lead and give L.A. the title.

We saw "you have no idea what's going to happen, so rather than worry about it, go be a part of it. Unless you're Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups, sports is the greatest unscripted theater known to man. There's simply no way to know how it's going to end and what will transpire to create the ending.

If you would have told the Dodgers after Game 5 they were going to win the World Series, they very well might have believed you. But if you told them how they were going to win it, they would have said, "No way it unfolds like that." There's just no way to ever calculate or predict what's going to happen. There's always a chance, as thin as it might be, that you can pull a rabbit out of your help at the most opportune time. Play for magic to happen.

We saw "it takes a village" throughout the series, from both teams. The 18-inning thriller last Monday night was the epitome of that phrase, because basically every single player participated in the game in some fashion. Sadly, someone had to lose that night. And then in Game 6 and Game 7 in Toronto, the Dodgers "village effort" included key contributions from the aforementioned Rojas, Pages, (Kike) Hernandez and bullpen arms Wrobleski and Sheehan, who were thrust into critical moments that might have potentially been above their paygrades.

Championships (and successful businesses) aren't won with one person or two people doing all of the heavy lifting. Everyone has to do their part and play a role in some fashion. It takes a village to be successful.

We saw a lot more than that throughout the series.

But those are the things I took with me.

I'd love for you to share what you saw. If it's good, I'll put it on my index cards for future use.

Sunday November 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4087

"ya gotta knock him out"

Sports broadcasters, particularly ones involved in bringing big moments into our homes, can occasionally go a little overboard with their "call" at the conclusion of significant event.

We've used a lot of them over the years, depending on what particular sport you're playing or watching.

In golf, for example, we'll use "Expect anything different?" when playing amongst friends, which was Dan Hicks' line back in 2008 when Tiger made the 12-foot birdie at the 72nd hole to snatch the U.S. Open away from Rocco Mediate. I have no idea how or when Hicks thought of that particular line, but I don't think it was knee-jerk, spur of the moment stuff.

Broadcasters have admitted they occasionally go through their notes and say, "What will be my final commentary on this one tonight?" if it goes a certain way. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. Creating the scene is part of broadcasting.

"Do you believe in miracles!!??" was the famous Al Michaels line from the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey win over the Soviet Union and that one, I'm guessing, is the most iconic game-ending description of our lifetime. I have to assume that Michaels, at some point during the day and/or as the game unfolded, thought to himself, "What will I say at the end of this thing if the U.S. somehow wins this game?"

There are lots more we could bring to you. A number of them are from Jim Nantz ("The return...to glory" was his famous description of Tiger winning the '19 Masters) because he's called more championship games and big sporting events than anyone alive.

Last night, though, FOX broadcaster Joe Davis delivered what might have been the most epic title-clinching comment ever, because it somehow put a bow on one of the most incredible weeks of sports we've seen in...well...ever. Like, ever.

Alejandro Kirk's grounder found the glove of Mookie Betts, who shuffled a few steps to his left, stepped on the bag and fired a throw to first to complete the game-ending double play. By baseball standards, it was a fairly routine play. But with the Jays poised to tie the game if Betts doesn't finish off the play with a throw to first, it was everything but routine.

And the call from Joe Davis wasn't routine, either. Not by a longshot.

As the Betts throw reached the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman, Davis delivered a championship call that summed it all up:

"To beat the champ, you gotta knock him out."

We will be using that one on the 18th hole at Eagle's Nest for a long time to come, you can bet that.

And it might even sneak its way to a Calvert Hall Golf meeting or two down the road.

It's the little things about sports that we love. And as someone who has been involved in broadcasting and has seen my fair share of incredible finishes and championship moments, I am always amazed at the skillset of guys like Nantz, Hicks, Kevin Harlan and Ian Eagle who can weave stories and thoughts into a variety of sports.

I won't forget that line from Joe Davis to end Game 7, because it totally summed up what transpired over the last week and what took place in Toronto in Game 6 and Game 7, where the Dodgers simply refused to go away.

To beat the champ, you gotta knock him out. And the Blue Jays couldn't do it.

"Heart" is an incredibly difficult thing to quantify in sports because it's simply not something you can see with the naked eye.

The Blue Jays had a ton of heart. Don't let it be said they didn't just because they lost the final two games at home like our beloved Orioles had a habit of doing in the 1970's. Toronto had boatloads of heart.

But Los Angeles had more. Way more, even, if that's possible.

The Dodgers simply refused to lose.

They went with four starting pitchers and just two guys out of the bullpen last night in Game 7, mainly because manager Dave Roberts knew that was far better than trusting the game to his beleaguered staff of relievers.

Shohei Ohtani got the start on three days rest, then later it was Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell, and, for the coup de grace, in what will be remembered as one of the greatest nights of baseball ever, Yoshinobu Yamamoto came in after throwing 96 pitches on Friday and shut down Toronto for 2.2 innings.

As I said to a group of guys gathered to watch the game in suburban Houston last night, "Pitchers don't do that."

Yamamoto did, though.

In a sport where arms are treated like an 8-year old with a paper cut, Yamamoto delivered three epic performances in the series, picking up the win in 3 of the 4 L.A. victories and delivering virtuoso performances along the way.

It's probably fair to say he didn't have his absolute best stuff last night, but who would after throwing almost 100 pitches 24 hours earlier? But when he needed to throw a pitch -- just one, great pitch -- to induce Kirk into hitting a grounder for a double play, he was able to do it.

"Great pitching always beats great hitting," they say in baseball.

And indeed it does.

But heart matters, too.

It's just harder to see and define than great pitching.

You saw heart in the top of the 8th when Max Muncy finally solved Toronto's own incredible post-season story, Trey Yesavage, with a solo homer to cut Toronto's lead to 4-3.

And you saw it on full display in the 9th when veteran journeyman Miguel Rojas, the #9 hitter, shocked the Toronto faithful who were gathered to celebrate a title that was just 2 outs away, with a line-drive-homer to left field with one out to knot the score at 4-4.

Will Smith delivered the knockout blow -- more powerful than a slap in the face, for sure -- in the 11th inning with a homer that gave Yamamoto the chance to seal the deal in the bottom half of the frame.

The Dodgers simply weren't going to lose unless the Jays could knock them out.

It was incredible, raw theater on display. And that it happened in Toronto was even more compelling, because snatching momentum from a team playing at home is incredibly difficult to do.

But Los Angeles wouldn't let the Blue Jays steal their status.

And Toronto found out what Joe Davis told us -- to beat the champ, you gotta knock him out. And the Dodgers wouldn't go down for the count.

around the nfl

Bears (4-3) at Bengals (3-5) -- This one sets up to be a pretty intriguing game because Chicago appears to be somewhat legitimate despite the egg they laid in Baltimore last Sunday and the Bengals are starting to see some offensive production under Joe Flacco, despite the shocking way they lost to the Jets a week ago. Bengals by 8, 34-26.

Vikings (3-4) at Lions (5-2) -- This one could be REALLY ugly if the Lions decide to pile on. Minnesota stinks, as the Ravens will discover next Sunday. Detroit 48-17.

Panthers (4-4) at Packers (5-1-1-) -- Green Bay's offense looked pretty good on Sunday night in their win over Pittsburgh, but Carolina is starting to piece together an improved team. The Pack wins this one, but it's a little closer than expected, 30-22.

Chargers (5-3) at Titans (1-7) -- Nothing surprises you when it comes to the NFL, and since it's the Chargers, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them stub their toe in Nashville today. Alas, L.A. will steal one on the road at the end, 26-23.

Falcons (3-4) at Patriots (6-2) -- New England is starting to percolate and the Falcons, as we saw last week in losing to the Dolphins, can't figure out if they're good or bad. They'll be bad today. Patriots 31-Atlanta 16.

49'ers (5-3) at Giants (2-6) -- You have to throw one upset or two into the mix every week because it's the NFL and you never know what's going to happen. This will be one of our upsets today. New York wins it 24-21.

Colts (7-1) at Steelers (4-3) -- This feels like one of those season-defining games for Pittsburgh. A loss today and now they're starting to spiral. A win and they're 5-3 and all is well with the world. Meanwhile, the Colts are in cruise control and a win today would be huge in their quest to get home ice in the post-season. We'll go with Indy here, 30-26.

Broncos (6-2) at Texans (3-4) -- Here's our upset today, and only a modest one at that given that Houston is playing at home. Bo Nix is the real deal and Denver's good, but it's the Texans turn to shine this afternoon with a 22-17 win.

Jaguars (4-3) at Raiders (2-5) -- Jacksonville can't lose this one today if they have any hope of sneaking into the playoffs as an AFC wild card team. The Raiders are, well, just awful. Jaguars might not be great, but they're not losing this one. J'ville pulls away in the 4th quarter to win 24-13.

Saints (1-7) at Rams (5-2) -- Los Angeles 38 - New Orleans 10. Next.

Chiefs (5-3) at Bills (5-2) -- "Game of the Day" material in Buffalo, where the two big boys meet up for an early November showdown. Buffalo figures out a way, 33-30.

Seahawks (5-2) at Commanders (3-5) -- D.C. is almost in a "must win" situation tonight if they still harbor hopes of making the post-season. Seattle needs to win to keep pace with the Rams and 49'ers. We'll go with Seattle here in a good, 24-20.

Saturday November 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4086

one for all the marbles

Ask and ye shall receive.

My friend Pat and I must have said it 20 times yesterday during a round day of golf in Houston.

"I hope the Dodgers win tonight so we get a Game 7 on Saturday."

That's really all we both wanted given that the team we care about -- in Baltimore -- didn't play a meaningful game of baseball in 2025. We've been reduced to just hoping for entertainment value in this World Series.

Tonight will be entertaining. We have ourselves a Game 7.

How it all unfolded last night was bizarre. The game itself was actually rather boring. L.A. went up 3-0 thanks in large part to Mookie Betts actually making a rare contribution in this Fall Classic with a 2-run single and the Jays managed to scratch out their own run off of previously untouchable Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

It was pretty much just a boring 3-1 baseball game thereafter, one you probably would have left an inning or two early if, say, it was in mid-July on a Wednesday night instead of late October on a Friday night with the world championship at stake.

In the 9th inning, bowing to Halloween, maybe, things got really weird.

The Jays put the first two runners on with a hit-by-pitch and an Addison Barger double and had second and third with nobody out. Surely this was it. It was either going to be 3-3 and we were headed to extra frames or Toronto was going to put a capper on this amazing 2025 campaign by improbably scoring three runs in the bottom of the 9th at home to win the title.

And then Dave Roberts made the decision of a lifetime that might very well turn out to snag the Dodgers their second straight championship ring.

Roberts went to the bullpen and summoned Tyler Glasnow to replace Roki Sasaki, who had been good for L.A. but was clearly rattled by the two baserunners he allowed to lead off the bottom half of the inning.

Glasnow is a starter, of course. And a good one at that. But Roberts eschewed the wisdom of going to a reliever in the 9th and instead turned to a guy, he said, "could miss bats". Hoping for a strikeout or two to quell Toronto's momentum, Roberts sat and watched it all unfold with the rest of us.

On Glasnow's first pitch, Ernie Clement, one of Toronto's hottest hitters in the series, meekly popped out to second. One part of the mission was accomplished.

What followed was why we watch baseball. Yes, heartbreaking for Toronto fans, but thrilling nonetheless.

Andres Gimenez ripped a ball into left field. If it gets down, one run scores for sure and two was a possibility depending on how Dodgers' left fielder Kike Hernandez plays the ball. If, somehow, Hernandez misplays the scorching liner and it gets past him, there's no telling what might have unfolded.

Hernandez raced in and was able to snag the ball on the run at hip-high level, then, while still running, throw a strike to second base.

Because L.A. second baseman Miguel Rojas was paying attention back in spring training when they practiced things, he sprinted over to second as Hernandez was racing in to field the Gimenez liner. And that's how the game ended.

Rojas collected the throw from Hernandez and Barger was doubled off the bag, arriving just a second too late as the Dodgers lived to play another (final) day.

Of all the things you could have scripted, that one was perhaps a moment you might not have thought of yourself.

And now, thankfully, we don't have to debate about the definition of "deciding game". We have one tonight in Toronto.

Oh, and just to add another dose of drama to the whole thing, here's who is pitching.

Shohei Ohtani for the Dodgers.

Max Scherzer for the Blue Jays.

Two future Hall of Fame members at different parts of their careers get the ball in what many people think is one of the best World Series competitions of this century.

Ohtani was the Game 4 loser, one night after L.A. won that 18-inning marathon on Freddie Freeman's homer.

Scherzer is looking to crown an already illustrious career with one more gritty, relentless performance.

"Game 7 in hockey is the best of them all," my friend Pat said last night as we watched the Dodgers modestly celebrate their win. "But Game 7 in baseball is pretty close behind."

Then he added this in, which is also true: "Game 7 in basketball is blah. You never know if both teams are actually going to try the whole time. It feels like a regular season game."

"But Game 7 in baseball is awesome," he said.

Indeed it is. And we have one tonight, in Toronto, for all the marbles.

I see where my friend George chimed in below with some wisdom about avoiding parlay wagers in the world of sports gambling.

This coming from a guy who used to work in the gambling industry -- both legally and illegally I think! -- and knows all too well about the thrill of victory and agony of defeat.

George, George, George. He knows better than anyone how thrilling it is to say "Tom Wilson and John Carlson are scoring for Washington tonight" and to have it hit. He also knows if I put $5 on that and win $34 in return that I've enjoyed that $5 expenditure more than I would had I spent that $5 on coffee.

I'm not discounting the merits of investing in IRA accounts and other beneficial programs, although I'm also not certain any of that money will actually be available to anyone in 50 years. But that's another story for another day.

Sports gambling, when handled with care, is a nothing-burger. People spend money on "goofy stuff" all the time. Some of it provides an immediate return, like a nice heaping of chicken lo mein or a double espresso.

That you can't "win" on parlay wagers is a complete fallacy. Sure you can. Your odds of winning decrease over what you might see by just naming one goal scorer or one home run hitter or one touchdown scorer, but that's part of the fun.

I have a friend who quite honestly bets $12 every single day on "something" in the form of four, $3.00 parlays. He picks a sport or two and just figures out what two things he thinks might happen in that game. On Thursday night, for example, he had Lamar throwing two TD's and Derrick Henry gaining over 100 yards on the ground. He said he made $12.90 in return for a total "take" of $15.90 since he got his three dollars back.

I asked him a month or so ago where he stood for the year and he said, "Up a few hundred bucks, maybe $400 if I really went back and looked at it."

Worst case, if he lost every bet, he'd be out $84.00 a week and roughly $4,000 for the year. I'd never suggest to anyone that losing $4,000 in a year would be wise. But you're also not going winless all year, either, which is part of the fun, I guess.

George will contend you should just take that $12.00 a day and invest it, which, oddly enough, is also pretty much legalized gambling in that you're hoping the companies you invest in eventually provide a profitable return. But it's likely more "dependable" than sports gambling, even if there's no enjoyment in it.

So.......all that said, I'll give you some rock-solid winners today in the NHL. Here are your goal-scorers for November 1.

Zacha (Bos), Bennett (Fla), Thompson (Buf), Suzuki (Mon), Tippett (Phi), Boldy (Min), Kempe (L.A.), Draisaitl (Edm).

And because we love BIG hits, let's go with these two guys to score two goals in their respective games tonight: Caufield (Montreal) and Conner (Winnipeg).

The Caps are on the road, which makes them wildly unpredictable. If you're looking for one longshot-of-longshots, go with this goal-scoring parlay and reap the benefits if they both happen to score: McMichael and Chychrun.

Oh, and in honor of George, if you're going to play Keno today somewhere, go with my favorite three numbers: 11, 21 and 55. Those three hit for me ALL THE TIME!

Friday October 31, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4085

it never hurts to play a cupcake

We were somewhere over Tennessee, I think, when the Ravens fell behind 3-0 early in last night's 28-6 waltz over Miami.

"If they lose tonight, Harbaugh should have to stay down there in Miami and never come home," the guy next to me said.

He was going to Houston for work, I was going to play golf. And we both had the Ravens game on thanks to the free wi-fi Southwest had to provide everyone as a gesture of kindness after our flight left 35 minutes late because of their idiotic decision to make people pay money to check their bags.

As a side note, I've often wondered what it must have been like to be in that meeting room when Southwest pulled the trigger on perhaps the dumbest move in the history of business.

"Hey, here's a thought," someone might have said. "Let's see if there's any way we can wreck our company with one stupid decision. Like, is that even possible? All of this brand goodwill we've built over the last 30 years or so. Is it possible that we can do just one thing, make one change, and we can throw it all away?"

Someone else leans in and smiles.

"You know, we could start charging for bags like all of the other idiots do. I mean, if we did that, I'm pretty sure that would damage our business in ways we don't even know."

A nerd sitting in the corner who doesn't even know why he got invited to the meeting and is already afraid to speak up raises his hand.

"Yes, Sebastian?" someone says.

"Well, here's one thing maybe you haven't thought of. If we decide to charge people for bags, then I assume a lot more people are going to take their bag on the plane to avoid the fees. And when that happens, there will eventually be no room for those bags. And that will cause people to stand in the aisle and ask the flight attendants for help. And when 10 or 20 people do that, it will force us to take their bags off the plane and put them underneath, which will cause massive delays all over the place. Our on time rating will be shot, people will be aggravated beyond belief and the airports will be jammed with disgruntled customers who miss flights and connections because of our decision to start charging for bags."

There was silence at the table for three seconds.

"Damn, Sebastian," someone says. "I knew there was a reason we invited you to this meeting. That's precisely what I wanted to hear. Let's start charging for bags in 2025. I think Sebastian's right. That move has the chance to really wreck our company."

And, so, that's what Southwest did.

In an unprecedented move, much like Patrick Dempsey once upon a time in the great movie "Can't Buy Me Love", Southwest went from totally chic to totally geek. They somehow got people to not like them, almost overnight.

At some point soon, I'm thinking maybe early 2026, they'll do a Friday news dump and announce they're rescinding their idiotic bag policy, much like the knuckleheads did at Cracker Barrel recently when they changed their mind midstream about a change to their iconic logo because morons in a board room somewhere thought people were offended by an old man in overalls sitting on a chair with his arm on a barrel.

There will come a point in the near future where Southwest will swallow their pride and realize not charging people for bags and having a fairly seamless boarding process that resulted in an incredibly accurate on-time-departure-schedule was one of the main reasons why people patronized their business.

The sooner they walk back this insane bag policy and just say, like Cracker Barrel did, "we screwed up", the better off they'll be.

Or, they can keep giving away free wi-fi and feeding their passengers complimentary booze on the flight to appease them this time around. Only when their customers go somewhere else for the air transportation needs will they really feel the impact. And those days, they are a comin'.

Meanwhile, back to my buddy who sat next to me on the way to Houston.

"They're not losing tonight," I said to him. I hoped that would end the conversation. I'm not one of those people who doesn't like talking to strangers -- I mean, I did it every morning for 12 years, after all -- but there are times when I'm on a flight where I just want to read whatever it is I've brought with me and enjoy a little down time.

But when my new friend saw me watching the game, he had to chime in with his Harbaugh comment.

"If they lose tonight, Harbaugh should have to stay down there in Miami and never come home."

He didn't say "If they lose tonight, Lamar should have to stay down there..."

Or, "If they lose tonight, Roquan should have to stay down there..."

Or, Zach Orr stays. Or Todd Monken stays.

What if Tyler Loop misses three field goals, improbably, and the Ravens lose 20-19? Shouldn't Loop be the one to "stay down there?"

Anyway, I figured if I just gave him the, "Dude, relax, they're not losing to the freakin' Dolphins," he might go back to his own phone and his own enjoyment of the game.

But when I did that, he shot back with this gem.

"Well, nobody thought they were losing to the Texans either."

Like an idiot, I took the bait.

"They didn't have a football team that day and they had Charlie Brown playing at quarterback," I said.

He looked at me for a second to figure out who Charlie Brown was, then realized he was losing valuable time in the argument, so he just rolled on.

"Doesn't matter, we gave them that game with terrible coaching from Harbaugh."

I picked up the sports devotional book I was breezing through and opened it up back to the page I was on, hoping he might take the hint that I would rather read PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman's story about how he uses the book of Daniel in the Bible to prepare himself for a round of competitive golf than argue with him about the merits of John Harbaugh's coaching acumen in a game where 80% of the team's best players weren't availble on that given Sunday.

Sadly...hint not taken.

"And they're already behind 3-0 in this game," he said.

Fortunately, he went back to what he was doing and I did as well. A few minutes later it was 7-3, then 14-3, and that was pretty much the end of the game as far as "suspense" goes.

As we asserted here yesterday at #DMD, it was never going to be all that close. And kudos to the Ravens and Lamar and, can you believe it?, Harbaugh for making sure it wasn't close.

When I see games like last night unfold, I almost always think the same thing.

Or the same two things:

1) How on earth can you be that bad when there's a salary cap in the league and everyone pretty much has to pay their players the same amount of money?

2) What must it be like to be a fan of that team and know you're going to watch a 4-13 product all year and that none of the games your team plays will even matter?

I know what you're thinking. "Drew, we were number two in Baltimore for 12 years with the Orioles. The season was over on May 10 every year for a decade or so."

That's correct. And remember what that was like?

I realize very few people really care about the Dolphins in Miami, as last night's purple takeover in the stadium indicated. But, still, if you're a fan of that team, you have to be appalled at what you're forced to endure every Sunday.

Bush league called the Dolphins administrative office last night just after 11:00 pm and said, "Man, you guys are just awful." That's how bad they are.

Anyway, for one night at least, the Harbaugh haters got the same rag shoved down their throat that stifled Private Santiago and caused two Marines to be put on trial and be defended by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore.

My buddy next to me on the flight was probably enjoying a late cocktail in his Houston hotel when the Ravens finished off their 28-6 win over the Dolphins, aggravated because the team won, which is always weird to me.

As we were collecting our things and leaving the plane last night, I bid him farewell and, knowing I had an easy escape awaiting, said, "Have a great time in Houston. See you back in Baltimore...in the playoffs."

He laughed. So did another guy who apparently figured out what I was saying.

"We have a long way to go for that to happen," my new friend said.

"We'll be 7-5 by the end of November and rolling," I remarked as I hustled off, trying my best to get in the last word.

"Not if Harbaugh has anything to do with it!" he stated.

I gave him a thumbs-up and walked quickly off the plane.

Another hater handled.

This could be a deciding game tonight in Toronto, as the Blue Jays host the Dodgers in Game 6, which actually isn't a deciding game if the visitors win and force Game 7.

Confused? You must be a Beatles Flyers fan in that case.

The Blue Jays need a win tonight or tomorrow to shock the world. In one of the more insane character flips in recent sports history, this Toronto baseball team is actually VERY easy to like and appreciate.

They entered the playoffs -- at least to us here in The Land of Pleasant Living -- as a heel (bad guy) and have quickly transformed themselves into a team that's not only easy to like, but one that you actually appreciate for the way they play the game.

We'll see what the Dodgers are made of tonight, won't we? They didn't show us much of anything in Game 4 or Game 5, which is how they got themselves in this bind, but if they somehow win the final two games in Toronto, that will speak volumes about their character for sure.

The pitching match-up definitely favors L.A., as they're sending Yamamoto to the mound while the Jays counter with Gausman. But Yamamoto can't keep doing what he's been doing in this post-season, can he? No way he can continue to dominate hitters like he has in the last three weeks. Right?

We'll see tonight.

I'm selfishly hoping for a L.A. win tonight to force a deciding Game 7. Now that...would be awesome.

We had a decent night on Thursday, giving you three goal-scorers and a 2-goal guy (Vilardi) from our NHL picks. Hopefully you had a few of them yourself.

Kaprisov (top 5 player in the league), Geekie (always seems to score, just get him on the right night), Connor (one of the most underrated guys in the NHL) and Vilardi (benefits from teams focusing on his teammates, Connor and Scheifele) are guys you can lean on just about every night, like I did on Thursday.

If Draisaitl would have connected just once last night for Edmonton, I would have enjoyed a (more) profitable evening.

Friday nights are usually lean, schedule wise, in the NHL and tonight is no different. There are only three games and only the Caps-Islanders game is one I'm overly interested in.

But let's give you six goal-scorers tonight from those three games nonetheless: Barbashev and Dorofeyev from Las Vegas, Larkin from Detroit (who did NOT score for them last night in Los Angeles, which makes him very inviting tonight), Wilson and Dubois from Washington and Anders Lee from the Islanders.

As always, wager within your means. $5.00 here and there is fine.

faith in sports

One of the things we impress upon our young juniors in the FCA Maryland Golf program is the idea of having a "relationship" with Jesus, not just reading the Bible and understanding what he was all about. But actually having a relationship with Him.

Golden Tate, who attended Notre Dame and had an impressive NFL career with Detroit, was a recent guest on the awesome series, "Sports Spectrum", and talked exactly about that very subject in the short video you'll see below.

Tate rolls through some of his favorite passages and connects them with how those Bible verses helped him navigate his way through both college and professional football.

It's only four minutes long, so I hope you have the opportunity to check it out below.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment every Friday.

Thursday October 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4084

can't afford a toe stub tonight

There's just no way the Ravens can lose this game tonight.

I realize the Falcons probably thought the same thing last Sunday when the hapless Dolphins shuffled into Atlanta for a homecoming game, but the Falcons don't have Lamar Jackson at quarterback.

The Ravens aren't going down there tonight and squandering this powderpuff game. As long as Lamar's healthy, this one's a "W" for the purple birds.

As Jackson told the media this week, there's no margin for error for this team. They can't cough up the automatic wins like Miami, the Jets, the Browns, Bengals, etc.

They have a few tough games remaining, yes, but the schedule is Charmin soft for the most part for the remainder of the season. With solid play and smidgen of good fortune here and there, the Ravens might be an 11-6 team when the dust settles in early January.

Miami doesn't really do anything all that well.

They rank 23rd in the league in running the football and 26th in passing the ball. In general, those are the only two ways a team can score any points. The Dolphins aren't dangerous in either way.

On defense, Miami stinks in both areas as well. They can't stop the run (28th in the league) and aren't very good at stopping the pass, either (19th).

It all adds up to what should be a Ravens romp tonight.

Other than uniforms -- and, in fairness, nearly every team in the league beats the Ravens and their dreadful "kit" -- the Dolphins don't have an edge over the Ravens in any category.

The one blessing tonight is that the Dolphins can lose the game by 27 and be home in bed by 12:30 am. If it were a road game, they wouldn't return to South Florida until 2 or 3 in the morning at the earliest.

If they played this game 15 times, the Ravens win 13 of them.

Is there a chance that tonight could be "one of the two"? Could the Ravens lose tonight? Well, sure. But they're not losing to this scrub Dolphins team.

Tonight's one of the 13, not one of the two. Lamar runs for a touchdown, throws for two others, Derrick Henry piles up 129 yards on the ground, and John Harbaugh's team rolls over a minor-league'ish Miami squad, 33-15.

It's on to Minnesota on November 9.

Toronto's up 3-2 now and heading home to presumably polish off the Dodgers on Friday night. Their 6-1 win last night in Los Angeles puts them on a cusp of one of the more unlikely World Series titles in recent memory.

It's been interesting these last two nights to see the bully get punched in the mouth and take his books and lunch box home with him while the other kids laugh as he slithers away. Make no mistake about it, Toronto manned up in Game 4 and Game 5 and the Dodgers wilted on both of those occasions.

Not only could Toronto possibly dispose of this all-world Dodgers roster, but you also have to keep in mind they lost the first two games of the ALCS to Seattle in Toronto and trailed in that series, 3-2, before winning the final two games back home to advance to the World Series.

Nothing has been easy for Toronto. But here they are, one win away.

And how have they done it? Mostly with pitching, particularly in Los Angeles, where their starters and relievers have been excellent overall.

Rookie Trey Yesavage, who spent almost all of the season in Toronto's minor league system before making his debut on September 15, mowed down 12 L.A. hitters on Wednesday night. The kid who made $57,000 to start his 2025 season went toe-to-toe facing dudes making $20 million, $30 million and $60 million. And he got the best of them. All night long.

"Good pitching always beats good hitting" the saying goes.

The Blue Jays are proving that old adage to be very true in this series.

L.A.'s lineup is pretty stout top to bottom -- well, Mookie Betts, not so much -- but they've been held in check in Southern California. It took them 18 innings to score 6 runs in Game 3, they scored twice in Game 4 and then once last night in the Game 5 loss.

Good pitching has definitely silenced good hitting in this series.

And now, all the Blue Jays need is one more game where their pitching outlasts those L.A. bats and they'll have a world title.

The Governor of Louisiana stuck in his nose into LSU athletics yesterday and the result was a bizarre power-flex from someone who should be worried about other things.

Yes, I get it. It's called Louisiana State University, so Governor Jeff Landry assumes the LSU football coach situation falls under his purview. Alas, he's not the Athletic Director. Or the school President, even.

Jeff Landry is merely the Governor of Louisiana. He should stick to matters of real importance.

Instead, he's like the rest of the great unwashed, bellyaching about the football team losing games and firing their coach and owing him a gazillion dollars over the next few years.

"Maybe we'll let President Trump pick the next head coach," Landry said. "He loves winners. You know, I'm not going to be picking the next coach, but I can promise you we're gonna pick a coach and we're gonna make sure that that coach is successful. We're gonna make sure that he's compensated properly, and we're gonna put metrics on it because I'm tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill."

You have to love these grandstanding politicians.

When the Tigers were winning games, he was in the suite, hanging out with LSU officials, drinking $100 bottles of Silver Oak, eating $44 shrimp cocktails and doing it all on the tab of those taxpayers he gleefully represents.

But now that LSU has expurgated Brian Kelly, Governor Landry wants those same taxpayers to know he's looking out for their best interests.

He won't even let the Athletic Director of the school pick the next football coach. That's how much of a lunatic the governor is.

I can tell you right now Scott Woodward (athletic director) is not selecting our next coach," Landry told reporters during a news conference at the state capitol in Baton Rouge.

That's good stuff. You're going to tell the LSU Athletic Director he can't hire his own football coach because....you're the Governor and you run everything in the state? OK, then.

Imagine Wes Moore trying to do something like that with the Maryland basketball coach search last March.

"Let me step in here and make sure this gets done right so Maryland basketball returns to prominence..."

We would have laughed at that guy more than we already do here in The Land of (Overly Taxed) Pleasant Living.

Just like they're probably laughing at Governor Landry down there in the Bayou.

We didn't get one goal-scorer in last night's Columbus-Toronto game, let alone all three that we needed. So, what do we do?

We hop right back into with 8 guys we think we'll score tonight. You can do what we do, which is play all 8 on one card in the very unlikely event they hit and we miss out on a chance for big bucks because we were afraid to put down $3.00 on a lottery ticket.

And you can mix and match these 8 in twos and threes and hope you get a winner that way, as well. Your bets can be of any amount, of course, as long as you're capable of handling the losses if they come your way. Always wager within your means, I'm saying.

In general, we try to lean more heavily on guys playing at home, which you'll see below.

If you throw $3.00 or $5.00 on these parlays and they hit, you'll get a nice little return on your investment.

Our eight goal-scorers for tonight: Tage Thompson (Buff), Morgan Geekie (Bos), Tim Stutzle (Ott), Dylan Cozens (Ott), Jake Guentzel (Tam), Leon Draisaitl (Edm), Kirill Kaprisov (Minn), Kyle Connor (Winnipeg).

Also, once in a while we'll take a guy a smidge off the radar screen for a "two goal bet" in the same game. He has to score twice in the game for your wager to hit. Tonight, we'll take these two: Gabriel Vilardi (Winnipeg) and Jake Neighbours (St. Louis).

Wednesday October 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4083

now it's actually a series

Well, the Blue Jays took that colossal punch to the family jewels on Monday night/Tuesday morning and rebounded like -- can we say it? -- champions with a 6-2 win last night in Game 4 in L.A.

The series is now tied at 2-2 but Toronto has effectively turned it into a best-of-3, with the guarantee of at least one home game back in Canada on Friday night and a possible 7th game on Saturday.

Most folks assumed Toronto would be the ones to say "No Mas" after that 18-inning heartbreaker in Game 3. Instead it was the Dodgers who offered very little push back, even with Shohei Ohtani on the mound.

And the Blue Jays have suddenly snagged the momentum in what is likely going to morph into one of the best World Series' we've seen this century. You can just feel this one taking on an "instant classic" kind of theme.

I don't want to coat last night's result with too much hyperbole, but that was one of the all-time great, gritty playoff wins by a team that was without one of their best players (George Springer) and facing an L.A. lineup that was just foaming at the mouth to face the fatigued Toronto bullpen.

I still assume the Dodgers will figure out a way to win 2 of the last 3, but my respect level for the Blue Jays has gone way up over the last couple of nights. They're the real deal.

And I can't even believe I'm writing this, but the Jays are actually kind of easy to like. They play hard, fair baseball and they do it with joy.

I don't care one way or the other who wins, so I'm good either way. I'd love to see a Game 7, though. And from there, whatever happens, happens.

So as the stories continue to circulate about the "toys and games" controversy in the Ravens organization, we now learn it was actually Lamar Jackson who authorized the removal of the ping-pong table, basketball hoop and video games from the locker room at 1 Winning Drive.

It turns out it wasn't John Harbaugh or any member of the coaching staff who removed the games.

I wonder how long the line is out at Owings Mills?

You know, the line of people in town who hammered Harbaugh for removing the games when that story was published by the Baltimore Sun a couple of weeks ago. All lined up to apologize. Right?

It's interesting how people reacted around town yesterday when word started to spread it was Lamar who pulled the games in wake of the team's 1-5 start.

"That's what a real leader does," a caller said on 105.7.

"Lamar stepping up and doing the right thing," someone else stated.

What's weird is you didn't hear or read that same commentary when it was thought that Harbaugh and his staff were the ones who had the games removed.

My opinion on the whole thing hasn't changed no matter who pulled the games.

I said from the beginning I thought the whole story was odd.

If toys and games really "mattered", wouldn't they have mattered when the team was winning also?

You mean, we're supposed to believe they mattered when they were winning, suddenly became a distraction when the Ravens started losing, and now without the toys and games the team can actually win again?

I just don't see the logic in it.

Now, I do understand the thinking behind "getting back to work" and "focusing on the task at hand". I would just assume coming into the facility an hour earlier to look at more game film or working out in the fitness room for 30 more minutes per-day would do the trick.

I didn't realize playing less ping-pong was the magic elixr.

But I do applaud Jackson for standing up and doing "something", particularly in light of the fact that it was his injury that essentially helped cultivate losses four and five.

I just never really thought the toys and games story was all that significant. It seemed odd from the start, but the folks at the Sun who were writing the story were looking for the magic bullet and, in their quest to pin 1-5 on Harbaugh, Monken and Orr, they got themselves a juicy nugget about a power coaching ploy that backfired.

Except it, A) didn't really backfire and, B) wasn't something Harbaugh and his coaching staff were involved in.

Other than those two facts, the Sun did a real bang-up job with that story. (That's sarcasm)

Better late than never was the theme I experienced last night from the world of the National Hockey League.

As I mentioned here a few weeks back, one of the more entertaining ways to legally wager on hockey is to just wager on goal scorers. You don't care about the final score of the game, the total goals scored, or anything else. Just pick goal scorers.

And in the NHL, every team has two or three big names (some have more) who are going to score, on average, every other game. And the best part is, if you follow the league closely enough, you know, for example, if David Pastrnak in Boston goes two games in a row without a goal that "tonight" will be the night he gets in the scoring column. The same with Draisaitl in Edmonton or Larkin in Detroit or Kaprisov in Minnesota.

Anyway, I had several 3-way parlays last night of just goal scorers. One of them was the dynamic trio of Kyrou in St. Louis, Hertl in Las Vegas and Kucherov in Tampa Bay. I threw a very small amount on those three to all score at least once and, if they did, I'd return enough to take you and a buddy to Bulle Rock for 18 holes and lunch afterwards.

I watched Game 4 of the World Series, but kept a side eye on the hockey world, checking the box scores several times throughout the night as the Blue Jays pulled away with their 4-run 7th inning.

With five minutes left in the Blues-Detroit game, Kyrou was scoreless.

With one minute left in the Lightning-Predators game, Kucherov was scoreless.

With one minute left in the Golden Knights-Hurricanes game, Hertl was scoreless.

Oh well, I've spent $5 on a cup of coffee before that actually cost the store about 20 cents. In other words, you can always look back on an expenditure and say, "I've done dumber things with my money."

That's always my philosophy.

I looked down at my phone and saw that Kyrou scored a late goal -- maybe 4 minutes left? -- for the Blues.

"Hmmm," I said to myself. "That's one down."

I popped over to the Lightning box score and, wow, Kucherov scored into the empty net with 50 seconds remaining in the game.

"No way this is going to happen. Right?" I said after seeing Kucherov's empty net tally.

And, yes, God is indeed great, because there was "Hertl" in the boxscore a few seconds later for the Vegas Golden Knights, scoring in the final minute into an empty net for the late 3-way parlay hit.

In about four minutes, I went from having no one scoring in that parlay to having all 3 guys hit. That one offsets the bad beat from a few weeks back. And the bad beat from last weekend. And the bad beat I'll incur next week and next month, probably.

There's only one game tonight in the NHL. Toronto at Columbus. How about Nylander (TOR), Marchenko (COL) and a little bit off the radar screen, Coyle (COL) for our 3-way play for tonight.

Tuesday October 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4082

o's get comfortable

At 3:03 am as I write this, Freddie Freeman just put an end to the instant-classic of all instant-classics with a dramatic home run in the bottom of the 18th inning to give the Dodgers a 6-5 win over Toronto in Game 3 of the World Series.

I was so angry that the game went to 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 innings -- and equally irritated that I couldn't/wouldn't just give up and go to bed -- that I was actually almost miffed that Freeman ended it in the 18th. At that point, I sorta-kinda wanted to see the thing go 22 innings just to see who would eventually pitch for both teams.

I kept saying to myself, "OK, if the Dodgers don't score here, I'm definitely going to bed."

But then L.A. would trot out a relief pitcher who had "3 run inning" written all over him and I figured I'd stay up to see how Toronto would go ahead and then, eventually either win the game or give up a grand slam to Will Smith or Max Muncy to lose.

None of that ever happened, though. It was 5-5 after 9 innings and it stayed that way until the 18th.

And then, with both teams preparing to throw either a field player or a starting pitcher they wouldn't otherwise ever think to use, Freeman launched a homer that finally left the park after three previous close calls by L.A. hitters an hour or two before.

Baseball, man. When you get to watch post-season contests like that one last night, it replaces soccer as "the beautiful game".

Clayton Kershaw came into the game in the top of the 12th with the bases loaded, making what it is likely the final appearance of his storied career, and actually threw ball four that would have plated Toronto's go-ahead run, except Nathan Lukes grounded out to end the potential uprising and on we went for another 2 hours.

Oh, and Shohei Ohtani came to the plate 9 times in the game got on base all 9 times. He had 2 homers, 2 doubles, a walk (on his own) and was intentionally walked 4 other times in the game.

Toronto is probably going to walk him every time he gets to the plate in non-run-producing situations from here on in. It's kind of bush league, but they're trying to win a World Series, I guess.

So there's another game tonight and, as fate would have hit, Ohtani is pitching for the Dodgers. Nothing can top last night's theatrics, unless he throws a no-hitter or hits a walk off grand slam in the 20th inning.

They call the World Series the "Fall Classic".

Last night (or, this morning?) was a "Fall Instant Classic" that will be remembered for a long, long time.

The Orioles made some news yesterday and in the end, Mike Elias did what almost everyone assumed he would when it came to the hiring of a new manager.

He went with "easy".

Several times yesterday during our FCA golf tournament at Eagle's Nest, a participant in the event asked me what I thought of the news that the O's were going to hire Craig Albernaz as the team's new skipper. I used the same word with each of them who asked.

"He's a comfortable hire for them," I said.

Comfortable fits Albernaz perfectly.

"Do you think he'll do well?" several of them asked.

"I have no idea," I repeated to them.

Here's the dirty little secret no one at baseball parties wants to talk about downstairs around the dimly lit bar.

The role of manager in Major League Baseball has essentially become eye wash over the last decade. It really doesn't matter any longer who manages the team, because the general manager and the "baseball people" think they know more than the guy in the dugout.

As the great Bruce Hornsby once said, "That's just the way it is."

Truthfully, I'm pretty sure Mike Elias probably thinks he could manage the team if push came to shove and he had to do it.

Craig Albernaz will manage the Orioles, yes. But he's basically only going to move the chess pieces. He won't actually make the chess moves. Those will be whispered to him. His hands might pick up the pieces and move them, but he's certainly not the one contemplating the moves and figuring out what to do next.

Your mileage may vary on whether or not that's good for baseball. But no matter what you think, the new way in baseball is for the nerds and analytics folks to make most of the game-day decisions and the manager then sits in the dugout and moves the rook forward three spaces when he's told that's the best next move.

The Bruce Bochy's and Buck Showalter's of the world are no longer really appealing to new-age baseball people because Bochy is probably one of those guys who says to the front office folks, "You keep playing with your computers and I'll run the baseball team."

I think Craig Albernaz will be fine in the same way Brandon Hyde was once upon a time "fine" and Tony Mansolino was "fine" while managing the O's to an above .500 record in his 119 game-stint last season.

Those other two were basically led around by the hand by Elias and his gang in the computer room and Albernaz will get the same treatment.

And this is not just an Orioles problem, either. It's the new thing in baseball. The general manager and their hired guns like to think they know more about baseball than everyone else.

Most people agree that analytics and statistics and their evolving role in baseball have helped the game in some way. It's not like the sport has been ruined because we suddenly know that guy shouldn't bat against left handed pitchers who primarily throw off-speed pitches.

Data helps every business, including sports.

What's different, though, or at the very least, hard to accept, is when the human brain gets replaced by a few pieces of paper stapled together and left on the manager's desk at 2:00 pm every day.

"Here's your lineup for tonight's game..." are the six words every manager dreads, but expects to hear on a daily basis these days.

You can bet Craig Albernaz better get ready to hear them.

He might be the manager, but he's not going to do a whole of managing.

And because of that, I don't think much of anything about Albernaz getting the chance to run the ballclub next year.

He'll do as well as the players allow him to do.

His impact on the actual games will be neglible at best.

But that's the way the front office wants it.

They wanted "comfortable" and that's what they got with Albernaz.

John Harbaugh is such an easy target these days that you can take almost anything afflicting the Ravens and turn it on him.

"Todd Monken is getting raked over the coals by Ravens players in the media."

"Harbaugh hired him. Why doesn't he fire him?"

"Zach Orr is out of his element."

"That's what the Ravens get for letting Harbaugh hire Orr."

Ravens lose 44-10 to Houston despite having 6 starters out due to injury.

"Harbaugh just stood there on the sideline like a deer in the headlights."

So, no matter what the Ravens do -- even when they win -- it's always Harbaugh.

All of this brings us to last weekend's bizarre set of circumstances involving Lamar Jackson.

I've seen a lot of people blaming Harbaugh directly and calling him nefarious and a cheater and other bad things.

Harbaugh might be a lot of things. He might be an egghead at times when it comes to game management. He might be too loyal to some of his underachieving staffers. He might occasionally be distinctly vapid when discussing player injuries and such.

But there's zero reason for John Harbaugh to stand up and lie about Lamar Jackson.

If Harbaugh and the Ravens are guilty of anything last Friday, it was in not being completely forthcoming about the fact that Lamar still hadn't told the team he was definitely going to play on Sunday.

According to someone I spoke with at the Ravens, the only thing Lamar said to the team's training staff, officially, last Friday, was "It feels good."

They took that as a sign he was going to play on Sunday.

When it was decided on Saturday that Jackson wouldn't play, the story then shifted from Lamar to the Ravens and their announcement that he had practiced on Friday.

And when Harbaugh called it "an honest mistake" in the post-game press conference on Sunday, no one wanted to believe that, either.

"There goes Harbaugh, throwing the trainers and the PR staff under the bus," people said on the internet.

It really was that, though. The trainers and PR folks failed to uphold the integrity of the injury posting rules the NFL mandates each team follows during the season. Harbaugh merely passed along the information they gave him.

But it makes no sense at all that Harbaugh and/or the Ravens were actually trying to cheat. I mean, you would never get away with it in today's NFL. There's no NFL coach who would say, "I'll tell the media he's playing on Friday and then on Sunday when he doesn't dress, we'll just say, "Oops, yeah, we forgot to mention that Lamar isn't playing today."

People love to grasp at straws in situations like this.

The Ravens screwed up, by the way. No two ways about it. And if they're punished for it, so be it. Those rules about announcing player injuries are in place for a reason.

But it just doesn't make any sense at all that John Harbaugh stood up there and lied -- as people contend he did -- because there was no way he was ever going to get away with it in the end. And he knew that, too.

Monday October 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4081

name another sport where...

Given the big Ravens win on Sunday and this incredible fall weather we're experiencing here in The Land of Pleasant Living, I'm hopeful today's entry catches you an in extra-special and extra-giving mood.

If not, that's OK too.

As I've learned in my four years helping run FCA Maryland Golf, if you don't ask, no one knows you're in need.

Today is our biggest golf-themed fundraiser of the year for FCA Maryland Golf. We do a number of fund-raising events throughout the course of the year, but the only one that's right here in Baltimore and is connected directly to golf is our annual "Flag Tournament" that is held every October at Eagle's Nest CC.

The concept of today's outing (with 70 players participating) is to play 36 holes of golf (plus a 9 hole putting contest) and focus mainly on hitting your ball within the flag on every hole. Points are awarded instead of strokes added to your score and it's a fun, awesome day of golf. We'll start at 7:30 am this morning and end around 5:00 pm tonight.

Everyone playing in the event has contributed either directly to FCA Maryland or a special friend within FCA. We have roughly a dozen people playing in today's event who have named FCA Maryland Golf as their benefactor.

I'd like to give you a very brief overview of what we've done at FCA Maryland Golf in 2025.

We started the program in 2022 based off of this unique theme: There's no sport except golf where you can actively participate and play the sport and, yet, at the same time, share a conversation with your teammates/opponents about your faith. You can't line up across from a left tackle in football and say, "Man, God sure is great, isn't He?"

You can't dribble downcourt and talk about The Apostle Paul with the guy guarding you.

I could go on but you get the picture. Golf is the only sport where you can talk about your faith with the people you're playing with while you're actually playing.

That's why and how we started FCA Maryland Golf. Now, let me tell you how we're doing in our 4th year.

The most important thing of all: We had 67 registered junior members of FCA Maryland Golf in 2025. Our club has boys and girls ages 8-18 participating in our monthly free clinic series and this past summer, we had a total of 256 total participants in our 8-tournament schedule.

At each tournament, we not only conduct an 18-hole regulation golf tournament, but we also provide each participant with a commemmorative FCA Maryland Golf gift and we encourage them with a 3-minute pre-golf testimonial on the first tee.

Our free monthly golf clinic includes 60 minutes of golf instruction followed by a 10-minute devotion that walks our participants through a story from the Bible or some other related Christian theme that they can take home with them.

We have also developed an "Adult" division of FCA Maryland Golf, which mainly includes taking adults of all golf skill levels to various places around the country for golf and fellowship, all designed to bring them closer to their faith and to better acquaint them with what we do at FCA Maryland Golf.

In 2025 alone, we've visited Coral Ridge CC and Quail Valley GC in Florida, Moselem Springs in Pennsylvania, Plainfield CC in New Jersey, Bandon Dunes Resort, Country Club of York, Latrobe CC in Pennsylvania. Last Friday we were blessed to spend a day at Hidden Creek CC, a remarkable facility in Egg Harbor, New Jersey.

Later on this month we'll be visiting Houston, Texas and next month we're heading to Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina with another group of FCA adults.

Last July, FCA Maryland Golf ran the 4-day national FCA golf camp at Liberty University.

Clinics, tournaments, adult fellowship trips and anything else we do at FCA Maryland Golf costs money, obviously. Today's tournament at Eagle's Nest is an opportunity for us to raise funds that are necessary for us to continue doing the work we do to help lead every athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the last four years with FCA Maryland Golf. We've gone from having zero junior golfers and zero adults in the program to having shared our platformm, clinic sessions and tournament series with roughly 800 different junior golfers and their parents since 2022.

We're growing like crazy! Next year we're hoping to double our camper numbers at Liberty University and we're exploring the possibility of adding four more events to our summer tournament series. We're the only local junior golf program in the state that also focuses on faith as part of our golf "curriculum".

Many of you reading this have been part of our program, either through your generosity in previous years or by participating in one of our adult trips or having your son or daughter attend one or more of our clinics or tournaments.

I can't say thank you enough for your support! We're doing our best to make an impact.

If you're playing today at Eagle's Nest, I look forward to seeing you out there. God has graced us with awesome weather today!

If you can't make it out to play but would like to support what we do at FCA Maryland Golf, specifically, this donation link will take you right to our page and all of our donation (tax deductible) goes to our 2025-2026 budget! Your donation will help us continue to run our free clinics, improve and enhance our tournament schedule, and allow FCA Maryland Golf to continue adding staff and programs to our already blossoming program.

If you'd like to donate to FCA Maryland Golf, just click here

And thank you for your support, whether it's in the past, present or sometime in the future!

There's not much to say about yesterday's Ravens win over Chicago that hasn't been said already, either here in "Happy Hour" early Sunday evening or by (some of our) astute football fans in the Comments section below.

The Ravens needed a win yesterday and they got it. The final score was 30-16 but it wouldn't have mattered if the score was 13-10 or 7-6. A win is a win, especially when you're 1-5.

That Tyler Huntley "earned the win" as the starting quarterback was good to see. Huntley is very well liked in Owings Mills, both in the locker room and with the coaches and front office members. Sunday's win over Chicago was popular with a lot of people who believe in "Snoop".

We're all assuming Lamar is going to play on Thursday night in Miami. But if he doesn't, Huntley should be able to go down there and navigate his way around the Dolphins. I actually like that Miami beat Atlanta yesterday. I can't see them winning two games in a row.

There is a bubbling issue in Owings Mills, though, and it does involve Lamar, although there's no reason to worry about it until 2026.

The Ravens are going to need to re-structure Lamar's contract before next season or give him $74 million, a cap number that would make it almost impossible to field a capable team in 2026.

There's no telling how it gets done. Will it get messy again like it did a few years ago when Jackson signed his landmark deal with the Ravens? Will he play hardball with the club knowing the Ravens are a 5 or 6 win team, tops, without him? There's no way to know what's going to happen in the upcoming off-season other than the obvious: The Ravens simply can't pay Lamar $74 million next season.

Back to 2025 for a second, a win over Miami on Thursday night and the Ravens are starting to see a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel.

A win against the Dolphins puts John Harbaugh's team at 3-5.

They then play Minnesota and Cleveland on the road, host the Jets and then Cincinnati comes to town on Thanksgiving Night.

That soft stretch should get them to 7-5.

Then it gets a little more difficult, with Pittsburgh in Baltimore, the Bengals in Cincinnati and the Patriots in Baltimore four days before Christmas.

Even one toe stub there has the Ravens at 9-6 with two weeks remaining.

They finish with Green Bay on the road and the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

It's going to be close.

The remaining schedule "feels" like there are probably only three possibilities: 9-8, 10-7 or 11-6.

An 11-6 record will get them into the post-season and likely will be good enough to win the division.

10-7 will probably be good enough for a spot in the playoffs as long as one of those earlier AFC losses (Kansas City, Buffalo, Houston) doesn't somehow come back to haunt them via the tiebreaker.

Depending on how things shake out in the AFC North and AFC East, that home game vs. the Patriots on December 21 could be a quasi-playoff-game.

A final record of 9-8 will probably not be good enough to make the post-season.

One thing for sure. The Ravens can't afford to lose games against AFC opponents. I'm not saying a loss to the Vikings in two weeks would be something giggle about, but if you're going to lose a game sometime between now and Christmas, the one in Minnesota would be the one to drop.

The Ravens simply can't lose any of the conference freebies like Thursday's encounter in Miami, the home game with the Jets, or the three remaining games against the Browns (1) and Bengals (2).

Lamar's expected return on Thursday night will give the Ravens a shot in the arm. So will their soft schedule over the next month.

All of this anticipation was heightened by yesterday's win over Chicago. If "Snoop" Huntley doesn't get the job done on Sunday vs. the Bears, none of this chatter about the schedule would have mattered.

Now, go down to Miami and get that job done and on we go.

Seven years isn't a long time. In terms of our life, seven years goes by in a flash.

The Middle Atlantic Amateur golf tournament is, perhaps, the most prestigious amateur event in our region. The state amateur is a huge tournament, but it's only for players within the state of Maryland. The Middle Atlantic Amateur is comprised of the best players in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, D.C. and North Carolina.

I was fortunate to play in 7 Middle Atlantic amateur tournaments. They are almost always played at a top-level club in the region, such as Columbia CC, Chevy Chase, Congressional, etc.

My last brush with the Middle Atlantic Amateur wasn't as a player. It was as a caddie. The year was 2018.

I was looping for a friend of mine who was playing in the event at Lakewood CC. We went down there on a Monday for a practice round. The event was set to start on Thursday.

As we rolled up to the 10th hole after playing the front nine, someone was standing there on the tee. A single. Just hanging out by hismelf.

"I'm Michael," he said, sticking out his hand. "Mind if I play the back nine with you guys? The shop said you were a twosome."

No one in the group objected and Michael played the incoming nine holes with us.

He would go on to win that tournament in 2018. He had, as we later learned, won the year before, in 2017. He would also go on to win the Middle Atlantic Amateur in 2019 as well.

"Michael" is Michael Brennan. He won on the PGA Tour yesterday, in his first-ever professional start on the TOUR, the Bank of Utah Championship.

Brennan was fully exempt ont

Seven years ago, he was lugging his own bag at Lakewood CC over near Washington D.C. and yesterday I watched him win on the PGA Tour.

Golf is a crazy sport. People get really good, really quick.

Yes, the "real" PGA Tour season is over and these events are part of the "Fall season" that basically bridges the TOUR into the new year.

But the Bank of Utah Championship is a legitimate PGA Tour stop.

Brennan doesn't get a Masters invite with yesterday's win, but he earned a spot in the PGA Championship and the RBC Heritage by virtue of his win. Oh, and the field Brennan beat yesterday had former Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup members (Homa and Horschel) and major champions like Jason Day and Francesco Molinari.

Brennan is from Leesburg, Virginia. He was a standout at Wake Forest before turning professional three years ago. It didn't take him long to win on the PGA Tour. One start, in fact.

Seven years ago, I watched him shots at Lakewood CC and thought, "Man, if this kid can't make money playing golf, no one can."

Turns out he can make money. A lot of it, in fact. And he's going to win more on the PGA Tour, too. You can "bank" on that.

Sunday October 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4080

a win is a win

Assuming the Ravens go into Miami and win on Thursday night, this game today was potentially a season-changer for the Ravens.

Lose to the Bears and you're 1-6 and you're pretty much cooked.

But if you beat Chicago and then beat Miami on Cupcake Night, you're 3-5 and you have your chakras back in line and, realistically, only three difficult games remain on the calendar (Pittsburgh x 2 and Green Bay in Baltimore).

At 3-5, it's not all that out-of-this-world to think you can finish 11-6 and still win the AFC North. In fact, that's pretty much a guarantee. If the Ravens finish 11-6, they're almost a lock to win the North. 10-7 could even do it if two of Pittsbugh's seven losses come against Baltimore.

So, today was a good win. "A win is a win" they say. And that's correct.

It was interesting to read the Chicago fan base whining about the missed OPI and face mask on DeAndre Hopkins in the 4th quarter. Yes, that was a blown non-call. Yes, it came at a pivotal time in the game.

But were those Bears fans watching the play a few minutes before when Humphrey clearly stripped the ball from the Chicago receiver and they somehow ruled it a catch and gave Chicago the ball even though he didn't have possession of it at the end of the play?

So, the way I see it, the Bears got a gift-call and so did the Ravens. It all evens out in the end.

Oh, and even if Hopkins is called for OPI and/or a face mask there, there's certainly no guarantee that Chicago was going to go all the way down the field and get into the end zone there. Did you see how they handled the final 1:20 of the game? The Keystone Cops called and said, "You guys look confused on offense".

I'm a little confused why so many people around town are outraged by the Ravens and the whole "Lamar is going to play" scandal that broke on Friday.

As I wrote here this morning, I have no idea what really happened. Clearly something got fouled up. Maybe the Ravens/John Harbaugh were trying to throw a curveball at the Bears by saying "Lamar practiced in full" which would indicate he was set to play against them.

Bill Belichick held a Masters degree in fudging his way around the injury report. He used to just list 30 or 35 guys every week with anything that was bothering them.

Unless you gamble on the games -- interestingly enough, even for the guys who were crying about the scandal, the Ravens covered easily today -- why would you care at all what the Ravens do with their injury report? I couldn't care less.

And if they get fined $250,000 or $500,000 and lose a 3rd round draft pick, so be it. What's that saying these days -- FAFO?

I don't care if they get fined or lose a draft pick. I'm sure they care. But I'm not sure why fans care.

I do think Harbaugh owes a full explanation on Monday, though, just to clear the air and, if possible, exonerate either himself or someone else who was responsible for the original publication of the information on Lamar's status.

I'm sure it will come up tomorrow. "What happened on Friday?" It's then up to Harbs whether he answers truthfully or tries to weasel his way around it.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. People in town who don't like Harbaugh and want him out will crush him no matter what he says on Monday.

Final note of the day, I had a friend that I trust very much with attendance numbers and such who said there were 10,000 empty seats in the stadium today.

That's a lot of people saying "no thanks" on a Chamber of Commerce October afternoon. I get it, the Bears were in town and they're about as interesting as Side 2 of Abbey Road. But, still. 10,000 no-shows? Lame.

---

ravens in "have-to-win" territory today

No, it's not "must-win" time today in Baltimore when the Ravens host the Bears.

But it is one step away from that scenario.

It's "have-to-win" territory the Ravens find themselves in. Their season isn't over if they lose, which is why it's not "must win" today, but it's really close to being over if they lose.

Yesterday's unsettling news about Lamar Jackson's absence makes the game all the more challenging.

For starters, Lamar eats NFC teams for lunch, particularly at home. Sure, the Lions came in to Baltimore and beat him earlier this season, but that was a rarity. Jackson typically leaves with a "W" whenever he faces an NFC team.

Coupled with Lamar's absence is the necessary inclusion of Tyler Huntley (or Cooper Rush) to start today's game against the Bears, which certainly diminishes Baltimore's chances of winning. Now, it is the Bears we're talking about, so there's still a good chance the Ravens can win, but what would have been a 34-17 Baltimore win with Lamar is now, maybe, a 4-point nailbiter with Huntley at the helm.

Alas, most of the folks around town aren't nearly as concerned about Lamar not playing as they are confused as to why he isn't playing and how it all unfolded on Friday and Saturday.

Gamblers are furious, too, but let's not worry about them for the purposes of this exercise. I'm not trying to be disrespectful when I write this, but no one in Baltimore cares about gambling more than they care about the impact Lamar's absence is going to have on the result of the game.

Some dude in Atlanta who scooped up the Ravens at (-6.5) when it was announced Lamar was returning on Friday isn't anyone's concern in Balitmore. Who cares about that guy? What we all care about is Lamar not playing today and whether that means we're 1-6 sometime around 4:15 pm this afternoon.

I've tried to piece it all together and it makes no sense at all.

For starters, there's no reason whatsoever for the Ravens to intentionally manipulate Lamar's status in some kind of weird effort to impact the gambling part of the game.

Now, did they potentially try to mislead the Bears into thinking that Lamar might play? Maybe. I'm actually in the minority on that one. I like the chicanery aspect of it. But I'm also not betting on the game, it's fair to point out.

I've always thought the injury report was stupid anyway. Why should any team be forced to tell the team they're playing who they're going to play or not play in the game? We all know the answer: because of gambling. But I've always contended the league making the teams disclose their roster in advance of the game is idiotic.

"You'll find out if Lamar is playing when we take the field for warm-up on Sunday." That's how it should be. Anyway, I digress.

I saw some people on the internet yesterday toss around the idea -- and compare the Ravens to what's going on in the NBA -- that the Ravens need to be investigated for "moving the line".

Yes, the league is going to investigate what exactly transpired because the Ravens apparently violated a league rule about posting the status of active and inactive players on their daily "injury report", but it's not like the Ravens themselves are gambling on the games. I mean, some people say stupid stuff and then some people say, "The Ravens might be gambling on the games themselves."

Anyone who thinks the Ravens themselves are gambling on their own games is stupid. I'm sorry if that stung a little, but it's true.

What I don't understand is the "how" it happened part.

I mean, did the organization just not know the nuance of the rule between a player practicing with the scout team and a player practicing with the full team?

Here's the league rule about filing practice time:

The NFL injury report policy states: A player who participates in individual drills, but for medical reasons doesn't take his normal repetitions during the team portion of practice and is assigned to the scout team should be listed as 'limited participation.' Participation on the scout team, no matter how extensive, by a player whose normal repetitions would be with the starter but for his medical condition, would not alter the player's proper designation as 'limited participation.'

So, Lamar practiced "fully" on Friday but didn't practice with the "real team". Instead he took snaps with the scout team. And that mandated his status should have been designated as "limited". Thereafter, the Ravens could have ruled him out. And should have ruled him out.

It's very confusing.

I assume John Harbaugh was there, on site, and involved with practice on Friday. He saw and knew Lamar wasn't with the first team. He also knew (I'm guessing) that Lamar wasn't going to play on Sunday, unless he was all set to play leading up to Friday's practice and then tweaked his hamstring to the point where he couldn't play today vs. the Bears.

But if Lamar was all set to go and play on Sunday when the team practiced on Friday, why wouldn't you have Lamar practicing with the first team instead of the scout team?

I just don't get it.

Someone needs to be blamed for this faux pas, I'm just not sure who.

Whatever the case, the Ravens are playing the Bears today with their season sorta-kinda on the line and Lamar isn't playing. That's the only story that really matters at this point.

I said this on Glenn Clark Radio last Wednesday and I'm sadly reporting here this morning that I was right. "Lamar isn't playing hurt. If he can't be 100% against Chicago, he's not playing."

This has not been a secret around Owings Mills. It's widely known. Lamar doesn't play hurt or nicked up. He's either 100% and he plays or he's not 100% and he doesn't play.

Your mileage may vary on someone who makes $52 million saying, "I'm gonna sit this one out today...you boys go get 'em." Most of the great unwashed who watch the games and follow the NFL scoff at that sort of position by a star player. We want our football players to be tough and fight though hamstring pulls and knee bruises and shoulder sprains.

Lamar only plays when he's 100%. I have no idea what his percentage-of-health is right now, but it's not 100%. So, he's sitting this one out today.

We'll have to see if he's ready to go by Wednesday when the team leaves for Miami and the Thursday night game against the Dolphins.

The bet around town is that Lamar will be fired up and ready to play in his old stomping grounds in South Florida.

That's assuming, of course, that he's 100%.

As for today's game vs. the Bears, it's going to come down to defense and how much of it the Ravens have in going up against a Chicago offense that can run the football very well.

The Bears are 8th in the NFL in rushing-yards-per-game at 129.3. The Ravens are 26th in the NFL in rushing-yards-allowed-per-game at 134.3.

That's not a good combination.

The Baltimore defense against the pass isn't much better, ranking 28th out of 32 teams while allowing 246.5 yards per-game in 2025.

But Chicago has their own issues on defense. They can't stop the run, either. They rank 28th in the league, allowing 137.7 yards per-game.

So, without Lamar, it probably becomes the Derrick Henry and Justice Hill show today. If those two can combine for 150 or more yards on the ground, the Ravens chances of winning greatly expand. That will allow Huntley to play on a marginal role in the offense, which is what Todd Monken probably prefers.

I don't see the Ravens coming up short in this one, even without Lamar. I just don't think Chicago is good enough to overcome their own flaws and take advantage of Baltimore's weaknesses at the same time.

When Houston came to town a few weeks ago and blasted the Ravens, there was no Lamar and the Baltimore defense was in shambles, missing several key performers. With those players back and healthy today, Chicago isn't going to do to the Ravens what the Texans did to the Ravens.

There might not even be 44 total points scored today, let alone 44 by the visiting team like we saw from the Texans. The Ravens defense will show up today and be the story of the game.

It's not pretty and there are a couple of anxious second half moments, but the Ravens do enough to win this one today, 23-16.

Derrick Henry rushes for 126 yards and Huntley throws a TD pass to Zay Flowers early in the 4th quarter that gives Baltimore some breathing room. Chicago gets a late TD to make it a one-score game but the Ravens hang on from there to win and improve to 2-5.

On to Miami.

around the nfl

Dolphins (1-6) at Falcons (3-3) -- There's no way Atlanta loses this cupcake game, right? I mean, Miami is probably due for a win sometime (let's hope it's not this coming Thursday night), but it won't come today against a pretty decent Falcons team. Atlanta rolls fairly easily, 33-19.

Jets (0-7) at Bengals (3-4) -- Don't look now, but Joe Flacco could get the Bengals back to .500 today with a win over the hapless Jets. It would be very Bengals-like for Cincinnati to throw a shoe here today and lose, but I don't see any way New York can contain the receiving corps of the Bengals. In New Jersey, this might be close. In Cincy, it won't be. Bengals in a laugher, 34-10.

Browns (2-5) at Patriots (5-2) -- Same thing as above. In Cleveland, this might be a close game that the Browns could potentially steal. In New England, it's likely not happening for them. The Patriots are close to being a "legit" team it would appear. Let's see how they handle being the heavy favorite today. New England wins 24-9.

Giants (2-5) at Eagles (5-2) -- Have the Giants recovered from last week's collapse in Denver? How could they? Anyway, the Eagles get a Giants team in Philly today that's 0-4 on the road this season. Make that 0-5, as Philadelphia wins 27-21.

Bills (4-2) at Panthers (4-3) -- This is measuring stick game for the Panthers. Are they good enough to give the Bills a fight today in Charlotte? And Buffalo can't really afford a toe-stub in this one, not with the Patriots getting a cupcake game at home vs. Cleveland. Buffalo wins this one, but it's fairly close, 30-20.

49'ers (5-2) at Texans (2-4) -- We're going to buy a little stock in Houston being capable enough to win this one at home today against a 49'ers squad that's done very well to be 5-2 considering their injury list through the first 7 weeks of the season. A San Fran win today wouldn't be a shock, but we'll take Houston, 26-23.

Buccaneers (5-2) at Saints (1-6) -- Divisional games are always tough, even when one team is 1-6 and steamrolling in the direction of a 3 or 4 win season. Every week there's an upset in the league that reminds us all of that famous adage ("on any given Sunday"). Today's the day for the Saints to prove that theory to be true. New Orleans pulls off the shocker in overtime, 20-17.

Cowboys (3-3-1) at Broncos (5-2) -- How much more magic does Denver have this season or did they use it all up last Sunday vs. the Giants? We like Denver, mind you, but it feels like the football gods might intervene today. "We giveth...and we taketh away." Dallas goes on the road and wins this one, 33-24.

Titans (1-6) at Colts (6-1) -- This is probably the mismatch of the day. There's just no real scenario that you can create to suggest Tennessee could surprise Indianapolis. Colts cruise, 30-10.

Packers (4-1-1) at Steelers (4-2) -- Did you hear the news? Aaron Rodgers once played for the Packers and he's facing his old team tonight in Pittsburgh. You should probably tune in. Sadly, for A-Rod, it's not going to go so well. Pittsburgh falls at home to Green Bay, 27-22. Sorry, Aaron. But not sorry.

Commanders (3-4) at Chiefs (4-3) on Monday Night -- I thought D.C. was going to be really good this season. Alas, I was wrong on that one. Kansas City is just now starting to find their stride. Chiefs win this one, 27-20.

Saturday October 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4079

reading time: 3 minutes

As I watched the Capitals polish off a nice, tidy 5-1 win over Columbus on the road last night, I thought back to my old buddy Phil Jackman, who was the original author of "Reading Time" during his days with the Sunpapers.

We were watching a Caps playoff game together when he deadpanned an opinion on a young Alex Ovechkin.

"He scores a lot when he's on the ice," Jackman said. "Unfortunately, so does the other team."

Most great goal-scorers are afflicted with a similar trait, at least early in their career when they still think the only thing that matters is how many goals they can rack up.

Basketball sharp-shooters are similar in nature. There's that famous story of Phil Jackson bringing two basketballs to practice one day and handing one to Michael Jordan and one to someone else on the team.

"Why are we using two basketballs?" Jordan asked. "Some sort of new drill?"

"No," Jackson said. "Not a drill. There's one ball for you and then one for the other players on the court so they get to touch it once in a while."

Code word: You never like to give anyone else the ball or the glory.

"Franchise" players are all sorta-kinda built that way. They think if they don't win the game for their team then their team can't win the game. In some ways, that statement might be a tad true. But the secret is to mix in some of the other guys (gals) on occasion to let them be part of it, too.

Ovechkin scored career goal #899 last night for the Capitals in that 5-1 win over the Blue Jackets.

In his career, in the regular season, Ovi is +66, which means he's been on the ice for 66 more even strength goals that the Caps have scored vs. opposing teams have scored.

I have no idea what that says about a guy who has scored 899 goals. Actually, power play goals (326) don't count in plus/minus stats, so his +66 number is skewed a little more favorably when you realize we're talking about 500-plus goals instead of 899.

But as I watched the Caps last night, I realized my old buddy Phil Jackman was pretty much correct in his early assessment of Ovechkin. He does score a lot and the other team does, too, when he's on the ice. He's played 21 years in the NHL, so his annual plus/minus is somewhere around +3 for the season.

Interestingly enough, Ovi has only experienced two "minus" seasons in his career and both were -1 ('20-21 and '23-24). But there have been a number of +1 and +2 campaigs throughout his previous 20 years.

So, yeah, Phil, you were........................right. Mostly.

It might not wind up being an "instant" classic series, but last night's Toronto win in Game 1 of the World Series at least gives us a small indication that perhaps the "Fall Classic" is going to be interesting and worth keeping up on.

Blake Snell was rolling along with a 2-0 lead and it looked like we were in store for an easy 6-1 Dodgers win.

Before the next Liberty Mutual commercial rolled around, it was 11-2 in favor of the Blue Jays.

Toronto reeled off 9 runs in the 6th inning to break open a nailbiter, eventually winning 11-4 after Shohei Ohtani hit a late 2-run homer for L.A.

I've been asking everyone the same question. Is there a better chance the Blue Jays win ZERO games or TWO games in the series? In fairness, most people I asked that question of said "two games", but a few said "they're going to get swept".

There's not going to be a sweep this year. That is, unless somehow it's the Dodgers who wind up winning zero games.

Going into the series, everyone assumed it would be Toronto's flimsy starting pitching that would do them in against the heavily favored defending champions.

But for one night, at least, it was the Dodgers' shaky bullpen that wore the goat horns.

Snell, who has been the best pitcher in the post-season in either league, wasn't great on Friday night. He was good. Maybe even bumping up next to very good at times, but he couldn't hold that early 2-0 lead and eventually surrendered a 2-run homer to Daulton Varsho that tied the game at 2-2.

In the sixth inning, Toronto finally chased Snell out of the game and then the floodgates opened, puncuated by a grand slam from pinch-hitter Addison Barger.

Blue Jays win Game 1, 11-4.

If you're a fan of a World Series actually resembling a World Series, you're potentially going to get that in the next week. Toronto, dicey pitching rotation and all, looks like their offense might just be starting to get their chakras in line at just the right time.

The aftermath of the longform article on the Ravens that circulated in the Baltimore Sun last week should remind us all that while unnamed and anonymous sources are, indeed, often times valuable and necessary in the media, nothing ever beats being able to directly attach someone's name to the story.

If someone's not willing to put their name with the story, how is the reader supposed to be able to judge its authenticity?

We all know, in general, why people would rather remain anonymous in circumstances where they yield information they probably shouldn't be disclosing. In most cases, they're fearful of retribution of some kind.

Those 25 sources within the Ravens organization who were supposedly interviewed all likely felt that fear. "If I put my name next to this, I might lose playing time."

"If I put my name next to this, I might lose my job."

My guess is The Baltimore Sun probably made anonymity part of the agreement. "Can I talk to you about what's going on with the team? We're not going to use your name. You have our word. You'll just be listed as an anonymous source."

That kind of offering immediately gives people reason to feel comfortable. They didn't even have to ask for anonymity. It was given to them as part of the agreement to speak "off the record".

But I often wonder, what's in it for the person giving away that "off the record" information?

Like, did anyone who gave away information about the Ravens to a Baltimore Sun reporter really believe their words were going to create change in the organization, either now or later?

And when the newspaper got the juicy details, did they even bother to double and triple check them?

Someone told the newspaper the story about getting the games and toys removed from the locker room. That person might have simply said, "Yeah, they took our basketball hoop and ping pong table away" and the reporter assumed "they" was Harbaugh and/or his coaching staff.

I don't know how that kind of colossal mistake was made in the article. As I wrote here previously, of all the things that were presented as fact in the article, the one that didn't add up to me was the "toys and games" part of it.

It just didn't make sense to me that John Harbaugh would instruct someone to go into the locker room and remove those things as "punishment" for a season off the rails. Are coaches capable of doing goofy things to shake their team out of the doldrums? Of course.

But messing with a team's locker room and disrupting their chemistry off the field isn't something I feel like Harbaugh would do.

As it turned out, there were (unnamed) veteran players who ordered the stuff be removed from the locker room. I still don't know that I see the wisdom in that, either, but if nothing else it shows there are players in the team who are searching for answers in the wake of the dismal 1-5 start.

I don't know how the Baltimore Sun screwed that one up.

That's a triple bogey on the 17th hole with a 2 shot lead.

You just can't make that mistake.

The NBA is still reeling in the aftermath of Thursday's FBI crackdown on alleged gambling crimes involving Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat forward Terry Rozier.

A lot of people are starting to look more closely at games involving in those two people over the last few years and coming up with some very puzzling and "interested" clips from games and coaching moments.

There are dozens of video snippets of Rozier throwing the ball to the other team, bricking off balance shots he had no business taking, and reaching for his hamstring and asking to come out of the game, only to play the very next night.

It turns out it was all right there in front of us. That is, if you even watch the NBA.

The general feeling around the sports world yesterday was "there are more arrests to come" in the NBA. While I can't speak to that, I will say that anyone who is currently involved in any kind of nefarious gambling behavior, in any sport, will probably be on high alert for quite a while.

Oh, and here's something interesting that just got announced this week.

NCAA athletes can now legally wager on professional sports, effective November 1.

They still can't wager on college sports. But they can now participate in legal gambling on professional sports.

You can only imagine the quid-pro-quo that we're going to see moving forward.

"You help us with your college game and we'll give you a tip on a pro game..."

It's kind of amazing to me how the world of college sports has been wrecked over the last 20 years. Or 30 years.

There was a time when Texas played Notre Dame on a Saturday afternoon in college football and you tuned in to hear Keith Jackson and watch "amateur" athletes play for their school. And if that quarterback at Notre Dame was a sophomore, he was going to be their quarterback the next year as a junior and then two years later as a senior.

I realize college football/college sports has probably fallen short of "being pure" for a long time, but there was a point in my lifetime where it certainly gave off the appearance of purity. Amateur athletes, playing for their love of the game and doing their best to represent their school.

Now they're getting paid and they're allowed to gamble on professional sports and somehow the NCAA doesn't see that as a potentially problematic down the road.

Weird times, man.

Friday October 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4078

wanna bet?

I don't know how it took that long for one of the sports leagues to have a real, live betting controversy that is right there for us in living color.

There was Pete Rose, in baseball, but we didn't actually know or see it unfold in real time.

This NBA betting scandal that broke yesterday just happened. As in, within the last two seasons. At least one player was faking injuries, throwing the ball to the wrong team and, in general, giving off the appearance one would give off when they were trying to hurt their team instead of helping it.

34 people were arrested by the FBI yesterday, including Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier.

This isn't a story researched and authored by ESPN.com or Sports Illustrated. This was an FBI investigation that took place over multiple years and involved more than two dozen people.

We always knew this kind of story was a possibility once legalized sports gambling became widespread.

In what amounted to a sports version of "insider trading", Rozier was reportedly working with high ranking people in the gambling world to impact mostly prop bets by faking injuries and intentionally missing plays or shots in an effort to maintain certain levels of production.

Billups was allegedly involved in a similar way, apparently tipping off a conglomerate of big bettors that certain Trailblazers players were going to miss a game in March of 2023.

Early last night, another report surfaced that former NBA player Damon Jones was one of the others arrested after it was learned he passed on privileged information about a game that LeBron James was going to miss due to an injury. James was not involved in the scenario or mentioned in the indictment.

One other element of the gambling arrests yesterday involved high-stakes poker games where Billups and others used sophisticated, undetectable equipment to help them win millions of dollars from unsuspecting players.

Some folks on the internet yesterday opined this story is "just the tip of the iceberg" but I would think it's sort of the exact opposite.

If there were others involved, they would have been nailed with the first 34 who were arrested on Thursday.

But that doesn't make yesterday's story any less impactful or mind boggling.

People outside of the NBA were handed direct knowledge of events that were going to transpire in the games and could then use that knowledge to have a better chance of winning money while gambling on said games.

There's nothing worse in sports than the games not being on the up and up.

I mean, if the teams take the field, court, ice, etc. and you aren't sure the teams are playing "even", why watch, attend or follow it?

The games that were involved definitely constituted a very, very small percentage of the NBA schedule, but how many other instances have taken place and never followed up on or discovered?

That's obviously the question everyone has now.

OK, so who else and how many?

Every sport has positions within their respective games that one player can very directly influence. As we saw in baseball this past season, certain pitchers can lead off innings with intentional pitches and/or intentional walks in an effort to help gamblers cash in on wagers they place.

Hockey might be the hardest one simply because the action is fast and reactionary, but goaltenders could certainly give up a couple of soft ones early. Or late.

Basketball seems like the easiest of them all because every player gets his hands on the ball 20 or more times each half. If your point total for the game is, say, 11.5, once you get to 6 or 8, it's time to start missing shots, turning the ball over or not working hard enough to get through that screen for a pass from a teammate.

That's pretty much what Rozier was suspected of doing. He'd get 7 points early on to throw everyone off his trail, then suffer an injury a few minutes before the end of the first quarter and not return for the rest of the night.

His point totals, rebound totals, assist totals, etc., all hit their "under" target number. Voila, easy money.

I have to believe others besides Rozier were in on a similar act. It's one thing if you're LeBron or Harden and you're making $50 million. What's $50 grand to you? You make $500,000 per-game, almost.

But to a non-star "only" making a million a year, if he can pick up 3 or 4 envelopes a season with 50 grand in there...well, that's worth considering.

Yes, a guy on a million bucks a season might not be big enough to warrant prop bet gambles, but he's on the team plane, in the locker room and sits next to the guy who has the stomach flu and might not play tonight or the guy who got overserved last night at the team hotel and is still wobbly just before game time the next day.

I hope golf never gets tangled up in anything gambling related, but it might be the easiest of all sports to manipulate given the volatility of the game on a daily basis. I mean, a PGA Tour player can play great today and poorly tomorrow and no one would ever bat an eye.

Any professional player can shoot 34 on the front nine and 40 on the back nine. All it requires are a few missed putts and a couple of skanky approach shots from the middle of the fairway.

"That's golf," people would say.

And they'd be right. Which is why it would be hard to figure out if something wasn't on the up and up in the world of professional golf.

When you look back at the clips of Rozier that were floating around on social media yesterday, it's very easy to say, "Oh, wow, look at that. He didn't even try to disguise that he was throwing it to the other team. He just threw it right to the guy." But in the moment, you just thought Rozier didn't see the opposing player duck in behind his teammate and then break into the open space to collect the "errant" pass from Rozier.

You see it all now, after the fact, and you think, "He wasn't doing a good job of hiding it."

But no one thought anything about it when it happened a couple of years ago.

So, now, when you watch your next NBA game, tell me you're not going to pay closer attention to the turnovers, the injuries, the bad halves of basketball and the various prop bet totals.

If it was happening back then you have to assume it's still happening now.

Maybe yesterday's news stifled everyone for a little while, who knows. But it's hard to believe that other forms of gambling "assistance" aren't taking place in the league, even today.

I mean, if it were as easy as guys like Billups and Rozier were making it, you really think they're the only two current players/coaches involved?

It's starting to bother me that I like Aaron Rodgers now. I wrote here a month or so back about finding a new level of respect for him after watching the Netflix special about his first season in New York when he tore his achilles in the opening minutes of his debut with the Jets back in 2023.

And now I have to hear him talk about this week's game involving his new team, the Steelers, and his former longtime employer, the Packers.

Rodgers was asked this week about his feelings leading up to the visit by the Packers. Rather than bash his ex-team and throw shade their way for parting company with him, Rodgers went the other way. Completely.

"I was there for 18 years," Rodgers said of his time in Green Bay. "Regardless of when I hang it up, that's the bulk of my career. I'll retire a Packer and see what happens after that. I've got a lot of love for the organization and my time there. The media has asked this week if I'm treating it like a revenge game or whatever. What do I got to be avenging here? They made me a ton of money. I grew up there, spent some of the best years of my life there. I've got nothing but love for the organization."

I really wish Rodgers would have trashed them and said some disrespectful things so we could all pile on and call him out for it.

But we can't.

Everything he said about the Packers was perfect.

It's hard to change mid-stream on an opposing athlete you've never really cared for.

Occasionally you'll have to eat a little crow when they come over to your side, like what happened once upon time with Kordell Stewart or maybe even Deion Sanders. We weren't card carrying members of their fan clubs until they started wearing purple. All the sudden we changed our tune.

But when you, as a fan, don't like a player, it's hard to wind up appreciating him down the road if he's always on some other team, as is the case with Rodgers.

That said, I like this version of Aaron Rodgers.

Older. Wiser. Apparently a little more philosophical in his 40's.

I won't like him when he faces the Ravens twice this season, but other than that, I'm developing a fondness for him in the twilight of his career.

Aaron Rodgers...one of the good guys? It just can't be.

It's Game 1 of the World Series tonight in Toronto. As I wrote here back when the playoffs started, I truly don't have a horse in this race. I don't care who wins or loses.

The first two games are huge. If Toronto wins two of them, they're in great shape. Like, beyond great shape. If they split the series that's probably not good. If they lose both, they won't play another game in Toronto in 2025.

I can easily see L.A. winning the first one in a blowout, stealing the second in extra innings, then winning Game 3 and 4 in L.A. and that's all she wrote. A 4-game sweep would not surprise me at all.

But I actually think it goes five games. And maybe even six. In fact, I'll say there's a better chance Toronto wins two than zero games in the series.

L.A. wins Game 1, 3, 4 and 6, back in Toronto.

I wouldn't mind being wrong. I can think of reasons why it would be awesome for the Blue Jays to win.

I just don't see Toronto's flimsy pitching being able to contain the L.A. offense. It just can't happen.

faith in sports

It's very rare I'll link a video here at #DMD that's more than 8 or 10 minutes old. In the four years we've been doing "Faith in Sports", I think it's probably happened maybe 5 times?

I do my best to always provide short videos that can be watched, say, over a cup of coffee or bowl of cereal.

That won't happen today.

This one is 30 minutes long. But you're going love it.

If you haven't heard O's 2nd baseman Jackson Holliday talk about his faith, now's your opportunity. He's joined by his brother, Ethan, and the two of them share stories about growing as the son of a professional ball player and how it shaped their views on the life they both lead now as professional ball players.

Holliday is one of several Orioles who is deeply connected to his faith. I thought you'd enjoy learning more about him in this video today. I know I have a new opinion of him.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" section here every Friday.

Thursday October 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4077

caveat emptor

I know that very few people actually "buy" the newspaper any longer.

I used to purchase it every day in Little Italy when it was 25 cents. There was a newspaper box adjacent to Iggy's, where I'd stop a few times a week for a morning coffee when I was in the soccer business and heading to the Arena.

I think I even still tried to grab one every day when it was 50 cents circa 2002.

The Bel-Loc Diner had a newspaper box in front of the restaurant and some mornings before the radio show I'd zip by for a coffee with Mr. Bill and grab the paper out of the box before making the short trip over to Providence Road.

But while none of us buy the paper any longer, we have to "buy" what's in there. Or not.

Caveat emptor, as they say.

John Harbaugh told us yesterday that at least one part of the recent longform article in The Baltimore Sun was inaccurate. As I said yesterday on Glenn Clark Radio -- and this was before we heard Harbaugh's commentary about the locker room situation -- the only part of the entire Sun story that was even remotely interesting to me was the part about the games, hoop and ping pong table being taken out of the locker room after the loss to Kansas City.

None of the other stuff mattered to me. Players lashing out at coaches? Unnamed players at that? Yawwwwnnnnnnnnnn. Of course they're going to lash out. The team's 1-5 and they certainly don't want the blame thrown their way.

So I wasn't really moved at all, as I wrote here on Tuesday, by all the whining and complaining that went on in the article.

But the locker room story? That interested me because I didn't really understand the idea behind it. You're trying to send what message, exactly, to the players?

Anyway, Harbaugh said on Wednesday the story was inaccurate. Yes, those items were removed. But not by him. Or at his direction, even. Apparently some veteran players had them removed after the Kansas City loss.

I'm not here to defend Harbaugh.

I have no idea what's true and what isn't true.

But the whole "the coaches removed the toys and games from the locker room" tidbit never did make sense. I mean, you're linking your team's future success to a ping pong table that's no longer available to the players? What if you keep losing? What do you remove next, the urinals?

Likewise, I'm not sure what benefit the players themselves see in removing the toys and games, but at the very least, it is their locker room and they have a better grip on the pulse and vibe in there than would Harbaugh and other coaches. In the NFL, it's extremely rare for a member of the coaching staff to go into the team's main locker room before or after practice.

Coaches will be in the same area of the locker room as the players on game day, but almost never before or after practice at the team's facility.

If a few veteran players wanted the games out of the locker room, so be it. That said, why wouldn't a veteran player be OK with being quoted in the article?

"I was one of the ones who wanted the ping pong tables removed," said Ravens defensive player (XXXX). "It just started to feel like maybe things were a little too loose throughout the week, so a bunch of us decided to get the games and toys out of there for a while and see what that does for our energy level at practice."

If you or I read that quote from a named player, I think we'd probably say, "Eh, good for them. They're trying to be leaders, at least."

But not attributing that to someone and then trying to pawn it off as a coaching mandate in an effort to portray the team as dysfunctinonal? That looks a little bush league on the part of The Baltimore Sun, if I'm being honest.

All that said, I have no idea who to believe.

I know the Ravens are in the business of winning football games and protecting their brand.

I know The Sun is in the business of selling newspapers and improving their brand.

So...there's that.

Caveat emptor.

One other interesting story from my 80 minutes with Glenn Clark yesterday was the revelation that he "hates" what the Dodgers have done to Major League Baseball while I, in turn, love it.

And this is not a "good cop/bad cop" routine, either. I think Glenn and I have done enough radio together now that shtick like that is no longer all that appealing to us.

He doesn't like the Dodgers or Major League Baseball for allowing them to become the Dodgers, and I think it's awesome to have a team that good, that consistent and, potentially, that unbeatable over a two or three year period.

Maybe it's because they're out West and we sorta-kinda try to follow them regularly here on the East Coast, but even then we are pretty much removed from what they do on a daily basis.

As I said to Glenn yesterday, if you simply swapped the two rosters -- the Dodgers entire team gets shifted to New York and the Yankees all go en masse to L.A. -- I think we might feel differently about the Yankees being the dominant franchise with a payroll in the $350 million range.

When it's a West Coast team, I just don't feel the same bad juju for them as I would if it were the Yankees -- or Red Sox, even -- shelling out $350 million and winning back-to-back titles (if that even happens, of course).

Glenn's question to me was, "Have the Dodgers ruined baseball?"

I didn't hesitate: "Not at all."

But Clark insists they have. At least in his eyes.

I just don't see how a team being really good for four or five years in a row "ruins" the sport. If anything, it creates a little more of an us-against-them mentality that permeates throughout the league.

It's not exactly professional wrestling because the outcome isn't predetermined in baseball, but having a stand-alone dominant team that wins year after year after year smells a little bit like wrestling when they have a guy that everyone hates but no one can beat.

The Dodgers are an interesting case study when it comes to that wrestling comparison.

Are they a baby face (good guy)?

Or a heel (bad guy)?

Glenn thinks they're a bad guy.

I think they're a good guy.

I mean, if you have something against Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez, that might say something about your tolerance for decency and humanity.

How can you not like those four guys?

It's not their fault that the Dodgers pay them an incredible amount of money to work there.

Now, if you want to be frustrated with Major League Baseball for creating a league of haves and have nots, I get that. I think we all know a salary cap of some kind is very necessary in baseball.

But I don't see how the Dodgers have ruined baseball.

If anything, people are motivated to see if Toronto -- in this case, "the little guy" -- can knock them off their lofty perch.

I don't see anything wrong with baseball having a heel and a baby face within the same team, practically. John Cena has recently perfected that dual-role in wrestling, in fact.

Some folks see the Dodgers as everything that's "good" about baseball. The organization wants to win, they pay big salaries to the game's best players, and they do it obstensibly to reward and satiate their fan base. Nothing wrong with that, as long as it's within the rules, right?

I mean, let's be honest. Don't we wish the Orioles did that for us?

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

The stage is now set for the World Series, as the Dodgers will travel to Toronto for the first 2 games of the series starting Friday night, then the series goes to LA for games 3, 4, & 5, and back to Toronto for games 6 & 7 if necessary.

The Dodgers have continued to look like a juggernaut this postseason after having a clean sweep against the Brewers in the NLCS, which they made look easy.

This is the Dodgers team everyone was expecting to see all season, where every analyst had these guys penciled in to win over 110 games and be the World Series champions back in Spring Training. We haven’t seen this version of the Dodgers for most of the year, mainly due to the laundry list of injuries they had to their pitching staff.

The Dodgers are just about fully healthy now and have dominated every opponent in the playoffs, only losing one game so far which was to the Phillies back in the NLDS.

This is the best team in the playoffs top to bottom, with a lineup consisting of future Hall of Famers to a pitching staff with multiple Cy Young awards. It’s the Dodgers World Series to lose.

The Blue Jays have really surprised me this postseason. I was expecting them to be eliminated at just about every stop they’ve had so far.

I expected the Yankees to knock them out, but they didn't. And when the Blue Jays went down 2-0 in the series to the Mariners, surely their time was done.

The last chance was Game 7 of the ALCS where they were down by 2 in the bottom of the 7th, when George Springer hit a 3 run shot to give the Blue Jays the lead, a homer that will never be forgotten in Toronto, or Seattle unfortunately. I will give credit to the Blue Jays, they’re a resilient club and won’t go down without a fight.

George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have been the heart and soul for this team. Guerrero Jr. has tied the Blue Jays postseason home run record with 6 this year, and Springer passed Bernie Williams and is now tied for 3rd all time for postseason homers at 23 with Kyle Schwarber, as both sit 6 homers away from the all time leader Manny Ramirez.

The starting rotation has made Toronto fans hold their breath many times this postseason, but for the most part the starters have prevailed. Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage have stepped up big time this postseason and have given quality innings throughout this playoff run.

This World Series will undoubtedly be this pitching staff’s biggest test, can they deliver against the best lineup in baseball? Can they shutdown arguably the best player of all time, or at least in this generation, Shohei Ohtani?

Pitching will no doubt play a huge factor in this series.

The Blue Jays offense will need to be productive for Toronto to have any chance. We just saw the Dodgers absolutely shut down one of the best offenses in baseball in the NLCS and they are more than capable of doing the same thing to Toronto. A lot of weight will be on Guererro Jr and Springer, and they will need to continue swinging the bats the way they did in the ALCS for the World Series trophy to return to Toronto for the first time since 1993.

As for predictions, I said before I’ve been against Toronto every series they’ve played in this postseason, and I as much as I would like to see the Dodgers get eliminated, I can’t get behind rooting for our division rivals.

And speaking of home runs in Toronto that will never be forgotten, us Oriole fans still remember Edwin Encarnacion’s game winning homer against Ubaldo Jimenez to eliminate us from the playoffs back in 2016.

I’ll take the Dodgers to be back to back champions, winning the series 4-1 and Shohei Ohtani winning World Series MVP. It’s a chalky pick, but from what we’ve seen so far from the Dodgers this fits the trend.

What are everyone’s thoughts about this postseason and who do you have winning the World Series and MVP? Is there any chance this series potentially sees a game 7?

Players of the Week --

Pitcher: Shohei Ohtani’s game 4 performance might have been the greatest postseason game by any player in baseball history. In case you missed it, Ohtani was the starting pitcher in game 4 of the NLCS and pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 2 hits and 3 walks with 10 strikeouts.

He also batted this game as the DH and went 3 for 3 with 3 homers and a walk. I don’t know if we’ll ever see something like this from a player not named Shohei Ohtani again. After the Dodgers won game 4 and advanced to the World Series, Ohtani was named the NLCS MVP.

Position Player: George Springer, the game 7 hero, has had a terrific postseason so far and was a huge factor throughout the ALCS. Springer hit 3 homers, 3 doubles, and 7 RBI in the ALCS.

There was a scare for Springer in game 5 in Seattle where he was hit by a pitch in his knee and looked to be in a lot of pain. Springer did play games 6 & 7 as the DH, and it’ll be interesting to see if he remains the DH moving forward as Bo Bichette was added to the World Series roster and is coming off a knee injury and hasn’t played this postseason.

Rookie: Roki Sasaki has settled in nicely as the closer for the Dodgers, who started the season as a starter and moved to the bullpen for depth. Sasaki has pitched 8 innings this postseason with 3 saves and a 1.13 ERA. Sasaki did have a hiccup in game 1 of the NLCS, but in his 2 appearances after, he’s been solid only allowing 1 hit through 2 innings.

Wednesday October 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4076

begin the day with a friendly voice...

It was only a matter of time before RUSH caved in and added a bunch of new tour dates. The only question was whether they'd make their way to Washington D.C. or Philadelphia sometime next year on their "50 Something" North American journey.

The answer, thankfully, is "yes".

October 25, 2026, Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.

I'm still going to Cleveland in July, but I also get a "home game" a few months later in D.C. Tickets go on sale next week.

As the great Bart Scott said once upon a time..."Can't wait!"

#DMD reader Bart sent me this interesting gambling question yesterday and asked me to take a stab at a 5-way parlay he wants to play. According to him, if you bet $100 on this and all five pieces of it hit, you win $34,400. You can play any side of the five questions. The wager has to be placed by 12:59 pm this Sunday.

I've spent $100 on far worse things in my life, that's for sure.

Here are the five elements of the wager.

Kansas City or Philadelphia makes the Super Bowl

The Jets over/under win total is 2.5

The Ravens win the AFC North

Two of these three teams make the playoffs; Indianapolis, Washington, Minnesota

One of the two teams hosting their conference championship game loses at home

So, I'm trying to figure out how to give Bart the winning 5-way parlay.

I'm going to say "yes" to K.C. or Philly making it to the Super Bowl. One of those two will be there.

I'll take the over 2.5 on the Jets. They'll figure out a way to win 3 games somehow.

I will say "no" to the Ravens winning the AFC North. I think Lamar's injury status is too risky to assume they'll win the division. If he returns and he's healthy for the rest of the season, they can win the division. But right now, I'd have to say "no" to that one.

"No" to the Indy, D.C., Minnesota playoff question. Indy makes it but D.C. and Minnesota do not.

And I'll say "yes" to at least one of the conference championship hosts losing at home. That's how K.C. or Philly winds up going to the Super Bowl. They win on the road in the conference championship game.

So there you go Bart. There's my "help" if you will. Good luck.

On the local baseball front, I'm hearing more and more that the O's brass feels like Ryan Flaherty would be a good fit for the Orioles in 2026.

I'm not here to say I'm "scooping" anyone with this news. Flaherty's name has been tossed around for months now. But I'm hearing the organization is apparently very serious about him as a candidate, despite the fact he has no formal managering experience whatsoever.

Flaherty has served as a bench coach with the Cubs, which is sorta-kinda like being an assistant manager, I guess.

The new thing in Major League Baseball is to hire fresh faces who understand the ever-changing complexion of statistically-heavy front office operations.

I'm not here to say it's the wrong way to do it. I'm just here to say it's the "new way".

The Angels' hiring of Kurt Suzuki yesterday is very "Flaherty-like". Suzuki spent three years as a special assistant in the Angels organization but in terms of managing a big league team, you're as experienced as Suzuki.

Flaherty is also a potential candidate in San Diego, so the Birds might have to deal with that situation if they don't act quickly. The Padres are also set to interview Albert Pujols sometime this week.

But the word starting to percolate on the streets is Flaherty can have the job in Baltimore if he wants it.

I guess he might face the ultimate question.

Baltimore in the spring and summer...

Or San Diego in the spring and summer...

On second thought, let's hope Flaherty doesn't ask himself that question.

Speaking of RUSH, there's a song on their amazing album "Hemispheres" called, The Trees.

I've tweaked the lyrics a bit to fit the Ravens and their 2025 plight. After you read the lyrics, click the video below and sing along to yourself.

And I'm no Neil Peart when it comes to song writing. But I gave it more effort than the Ravens gave against the Texans a couple of weeks ago.

There is unrest in the Castle, there is trouble with the team

For the rookies want more spotlight, but the coach ignores their pleas

The trouble with the rookies, and they're quite convinced they're right

They say the vets are just too greedy

And they won't put up a fight

But the vets can't help their feelings

If they like how much they're paid

And they ask why Rush and Huntley

Can't just throw a simple fade?

There is trouble with the Ravens

And the fans they all have fled

As the rookies scream "we're blameless!"

And their title hopes are dead

So the defense promised better

And the offense followed suit

They say "the coaches are so stupid

And they all deserve the boot"

Now there's no more room for losing

As the schedule moves along

And the players are all kept busy

Without hoops, games, and songs

Tuesday October 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4075

sources say.......

The Baltimore Sun unloaded a lengthy, somewhat (mostly?) scathing longform story about the Ravens and their early season woes yesterday.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it "turned the Ravens world upside down", but it was filled with a lot of unnamed people criticizing virtually every department within the organization in one way, shape or form.

In the crosshairs mostly were the expected villains, Todd Monken, Zach Orr and John Harbaugh. Monken in particular was roughed up by the unnamed sources who provided insight to the Sun writer(s).

There were some interesting tidbits in the story, but it was mainly just a beef session from players and staffers who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

I'm not sure what would motivate someone in the organization -- player, staffer, coach, etc. -- to cave in and leak stuff to the media in the middle of the season. There's no way someone who does that can expect it to help the team get better over the last 11 games. Right?

But what's done is done. The story was published. It really wasn't all that terrible in my opinion. A lot of folks around town reacted like it was a steamy "tell all" but without any names associated with the complaints and observations, I just don't see it as being all that damning.

You know what you're getting anytime someone is allowed to be added to a story as an "unnamed source". If they're guaranteed anonymity, they're going to chirp. Loudly.

One veteran player mentioned that the Buffalo loss on opening night totally derailed the team's vibe moving forward. I get it. That was an awful loss for sure.

Bad loss and all, though, if you're a professional player don't you know how to put that one in the rear view mirror and move on? Would you rather lose 37-6 and get your doors blown off or lose 41-40 on a wacky last five minutes where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong?

I agree it was a terrible loss but I'm not really buying the whole "that loss rocked us so bad we couldn't come back from it" stuff. What are you, 12 years old?

There was also reference to the loss at Kansas City and how the coaching staff reacted afterwards by removing "distractions" in the locker room like a ping pong table, cornhole boards and various video games.

I think removing those things is kind of goofy, myself, but I also understand the message being laid out by taking them out of the locker room: "Let's get back to work and save play-time for after the season."

If you lost to the Texans at home and blamed that loss on not being able to play ping pong before the game, I'm not sure I want you on the team any longer. Sorry. Not sorry.

Overall, though, I'm not here to dissect what was said, what was hinted at and what was positioned as "truth" by the sources.

I think the Baltimore Sun likely did a thorough job of compiling as much information as they could in an effort to make the biggest bang they could with the story.

I don't think they made anything up. They probably got five or six players to talk off the record, then maybe got one or two coaches to chat about the season as well.

I'm not so sure they actually had 25 people talk about it with them, but even if it was 20...or 15...what's the difference? They found people in the organization willing to spill the beans and they went with it.

I saw a couple of people on Twitter yesterday chastise the paper and its writers for a "hatchet job".

To me, a hatchet job is a story that's undeserved. Was the story mostly one-sided? Sure. I think the paper's goal was to portray the team and organization as being in "disarray" and the more dissenting voices and comments they could get, the better.

But I don't think it necessarily constituted a "hatchet job". The team is 1-5. They pay their quarterback $52 million a year. They spend a gazillion dollars on their defense. Nearly everyone with a football brain didn't think the Ravens would lose 5 games all year, let alone 5 games before Halloween.

When you're 1-5 and have the players the Ravens have, scrutiny is expected.

So, I'll push back on the whole "hatchet job" accusation. Maybe its semantics, but a hatchet job in journalism is almost always borderline "unfair" and I didn't get that sense when I read the piece.

But what the story did indicate, no matter if you believe the sources or not, is a picture of a team that is totally out of whack six games into the season. We're not post-season where reflections are normal. We're not 12 games into a 3-9 season. We're six weeks in.

And as I wrote on Twitter yesterday after reading the piece, here's the one thing I can say for sure: Nothing good (in 2025) will come out of that article.

The only thing that article will do in 2025 is create more problems. More locker room whispers and finger pointing. More "us against the coaches" And, I'm guessing, it will probably all lead to more losing.

Maybe John Harbaugh will gather the team today and use the article as fuel for one of his patented "us vs. them" speeches where he lashes out at The Sun for trying to break his team apart. He's good at that.

If I'm wagering on it, though, I don't think Harbaugh can "fix" whatever is ailing his team enough that players leaked information to the newspaper in town six games into the season. There's something very wrong with that.

But there's a chance the contents of the story will potentially help the team next season. Perhaps someone in a position of authority will put stock in the article and say, "We need to make some changes..."

And maybe those changes will help. Maybe they won't.

It's always worth noting that while people cry and whine about the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and head coach, there's always a possibility that those people aren't the problem.

But maybe they are. And maybe yesterday's piece in the Sun leads to some changes in the coaching staff that eventually helps the team get back on the winning track.

I just don't see that impact happening in 2025 if what we read yesterday is true.

I reached out to two of my Ravens sources last night and merely asked both of them, "What's the reaction to the story in the Sun?" and they each seemed relatively unconcerned.

One of them said, "It was their answer to the Justin Tucker story by the Banner. They've been waiting to make some noise and this was their chance. You're an easy target when you're 1-5."

The other source said: "We heard they were sniffing around, trying to get players to speak off the record. You can always find a guy or two who isn't happy if you look hard enough. We're just trying to win a football game on Sunday."

Some people bristle at "unnamed sources" when they're in journalism pieces. I'm not one of those people. I understand the value of having people give you important information "off the record".

When I had that story about the Orioles putting "Baltimore" back on the road uniforms, I wasn't able to disclose who gave me that information but I knew I had the right information because the person who told me was also the person who put the mock up drawings of the new uniforms in a Fed Ex envelope and sent them to the league office in New York.

All I said back then was, "A source tells me it's official. The Orioles are putting Baltimore back on the road uniforms." I was right. The team didn't like that I broke the story and actually held off announcing it for six more months, but I knew they were doing it and they knew that I knew they were doing it. They just didn't know how I knew.

So I get the whole "unnamed sources" thing and players or staffers speaking "off the record".

That said, I'd put about 30% stock in what you read yesterday.

In other words, there's another 70% of the story out there that the Sun didn't tackle, probably because it would have created a conflict with the 30% they did write.

You're telling me the defensive players themselves don't deserve some of the blame for the 1-5 start? You mean to tell me Zach Orr is directly responsible, all on his own, for the collapse against the Bills and the defensive disasters against Kansas City, Detroit and Houston?

I don't buy that.

The offense under Lamar wasn't terrible. They haven't been good without Lamar, but we all knew that was going to happen. But with Lamar, the offense was good enough.

But somehow Todd Monken's the problem? And the only problem? OK then.

I have no idea what taking away a ping pong table does to your attitude, but I would say this: If I'm making $10 million a year and you take away the Asteroids machine or the cornhole boards, I'm a pretty big pansy if I let that stuff rattle me enough to take away from my performance on the field.

"You guys gave up 440 yards today and allowed 38 points...what happened?"

"Man, I don't know. We're just in a funk. You know, ever since they stopped letting us play ping pong after practice, we haven't been the same team."

But when you're 1-5 and things are spiraling out of control, a ping pong table being removed from the locker room adds to the controversy. So it becomes a "thing" even if it's not a thing, really.

I understand why The Sun published the story yesterday. They're a media entity, not a promotional platform for the team.

The team is 1-5 and the newspaper tried to find out why.

Frankly, I don't think we learned a whole lot in the article.

People are frustrated with the coaches. Wow, that's a shock.

They're certainly not going to point the finger at themselves, that's for sure.

"What's the problem with the team?"

"Well, I'm probably part of the issue. I'm not playing very well."

Like you'd ever see that, right?

So, on they go, perhaps even facing the Bears without Lamar Jackson under center this Sunday. If that's the case, and it's Rush or Huntley at the helm, 1-5 might become 1-6.

And you wouldn't need a source or unnamed player to tell you that 1-6 is a bad place to find yourself when you're only playing 17 games.

game 7 lived up to the hype

Remember the old days on ABC's Wide World of Sports?

The guy on the ski slope.

"The thrill of victory...and the agony...of defeat."

If you didn't feel a little gutted for the Mariners last night, you don't have a heart. Their entire night collapsed in about 5 minutes in the bottom of the 7th inning.

But you also had to feel warm and fuzzy for the Blue Jays, winning at home like that, 4-3, in dramatic fashion.

When you don't have a dog in the hunt and you get to watch Game 7, all you're really hoping for is something worth staying up for.

I didn't want to see a 9-3 blowout or 7-0 snoozer.

I wanted to see the last inning matter.

And that it did, as Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman was left with very little wiggle room after the Blue Jays squandered a first-and-third-with-nobody-out situation in the bottom of the 8th.

Hoffman got the first two guys out in the 9th and then faced Seattle star Julio Rodriguez with the whole World Series trip on the line. Hoffman knew if Rodriguez somehow got on base that Cal Raleigh would stroll to the plate next.

"I'm not afraid to say it," Hoffman told reporters after the game. "My entire goal in that inning was 1-2-3 so I didn't have to deal with Cal. No one wants to face him with the game on the line. Once I got the first two, it was just me and Julio."

Hoffman ran the count on J-Rod to 3 and 2 before getting him to chase a pitch down and away that would have been ball four.

"It got away from me a little bit," said Hoffman, "but he was swinging the whole way and fortunately I got that one past him."

In the end, Seattle has no one to blame but themselves, really. They won the first two games of the ALCS in Toronto and headed home needing only to win 2 of 3 in the Pacific Northwest. Instead, they lost two straight before winning Game 5.

After getting whacked in Game 6, the Mariners came out spirited in Game 7 and eventually led 3-1 heading into the 7th inning. All they needed was 9 outs without allowing two or more runs.

They couldn't get them.

George Springer's 3-run home run in the 7th inning was the difference, sending the Toronto crowd into a frenzy and the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993.

Monday October 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4074

imagine having the giants or the under

I don't remember the exact game or anything like that, but I very vividly recall sitting at a Monday press conference with John Harbaugh at the podium and someone asked him why Joe Flacco was still in the game the day before when the Ravens were up 31-6 with six minutes left in the contest.

"Well, there's still a lot of football left," Harbaugh explained.

Everyone in the media center rolled their eyes.

Someone pressed John that day and he bristled at the notion that the game was over and leaving Flacco in was an injury risk.

"Crazy things can happen," he told us. "They score, we turn it over, they score again, we turn it over, they score again...next thing you know you have a fight on your hands."

We all giggled under our breath while Harbs tried to rationalize leaving his quarterback in a game where they led by 25 points with six minutes left.

There have been other instances of a similar nature in Harbaugh's tenure, many of them involving Lamar Jackson in a Baltimore blowout where a lot of people watching the game are saying, "Why is Lamar still in there when we're up by 27 points with six minutes to play?"

I've probably been one of those people on more than one occasion.

But I don't think I'll be saying that any longer.

Not after yesterday's instant classic in Denver.

The Giants were ahead 26-8 with just over 5 minutes left in the game.

They lost, 33-32.

And that's after they actually trailed 30-26 and went ahead 32-30 with 37 seconds remaining in the contest.

And we think the Ravens collapsed in that season opener in Buffalo? That was amateur night compared to what the Giants authored yesterday in Denver.

It was such an instant classic that instant classic called and said, "OK, now I'm even impressed."

Game result aside for a second, another angle involved, of course, wagering. I can't wait to hear what Scott Van Pelt has to say about this game on his "Bad Beats" segment following Monday Night Football.

Imagine if you took the underdog Giants on the moneyline (meaning they have to win straight up) and think about the agony you would have experienced if, say, you had some sort of 3-team parlay that only required a NY Giants win to cash.

The betting line for the game's point total was 40.5 (in places it dropped to 39.5 early Sunday).

The score was 19-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

If you had the "under", you probably felt pretty good about things.

I mean, sure, three touchdowns in one quarter wasn't impossible. But Denver's offense was completely stifled for the first 45 minutes of the game and the Giants were just trying to drag the game out and get on the plane and go home a winner.

If you had the "under", all you wanted was for the offensive units to continue to sputter. You needed two failed offensive series' from Denver and a couple of "take the air out of the ball" series' from the Giants and that would be the end of it. Even if either Denver or the Giants scored a touchdown, you were fine. Two touchdowns, even, was still going to make you a winner.

Denver scored early in the 4th quarter to make it 19-8.

Then the Giants bounced right back to score another TD to make it 26-8.

With 5:13 remaining, Denver scored a TD to blow up the total, trailing 26-16.

It got crazy from there. The Broncos eventually went ahead 30-26 before the Giants scored what they thought was the game-winning TD with 37 seconds remaining.

But Denver marched right down the field and Will Lutz hit a field goal at the buzzer to finalize the scoring at 33-32.

Oh, and the Giants kicker? He missed two extra points in the game. If he makes both of those, New York wins 34-33.

What a league.

What a game.

If you had Denver on the moneyline and the over, you're skipping to work today like a 10-year old who just an "A" in Math.

But if you had the Giants and the under........yikes.

We're getting the best that sports has to offer tonight when Toronto and Seattle meet in Game 7 of the American League Championship series.

There's nothing quite like a Game 7, particularly when it's the decisive game of the series.

Make no mistake about it, tonight's game is the decisive one in the American League Championship Series. The winner earns the privilege of losing to the Dodgers in four or five games in the World Series.

If you're going strictly off of pitching, Seattle has the edge tonight, as they send George Kirby to the mound. Shane Bieber -- who was really good a while back and is now fighting through a career-second-wind -- gets the start for Toronto.

The energy and momentum are with Toronto for sure. They have won 3 of the last 4 games to reach the point of Game 7 tonight. When they were trailing in the series 2-0, I'm sure this was their much-discussed goal. Get it to a Game 7 at home.

I use a similar theory in golf when my players are competing in a match play tournament. If they're trailing two or three down early in the match, I tell them to work hard at getting the match to 17 tee where they still have a chance to tie or win. If you eventually make it to 17 tee, anything can happen from there.

The Blue Jays were in big trouble when they lost those first two at home. BIG trouble.

But their bats came alive in Seattle and even a Game 5 loss didn't set them back. They rebounded nicely on Sunday night to force Game 7 this evening at 8 pm.

I never thought I'd root for a Toronto team to make the World Series, but I do have a bit of a soft spot for this Blue Jays squad. And it has nothing at all to do with them or baseball, even.

The Maple Leafs are, and always will be, the #1 sports attraction in Toronto. Hockey reigns supreme over baseball, football and basketball up there.

And the Maple Leafs, despite a lot of very talented teams over the last five decades, haven't won the Stanley Cup in the modern era of the NHL. Their last title was in 1967, which marked the end of the "Original Six" era as it was known.

Over the last decade, Toronto has been a pre-season favorite (among favorites) several times but haven't been able to get the job done in the playoffs.

In a quirk of the baseball/hockey schedule, Seattle was in Toronto on Sunday for a hockey game on the same day as Game 6. Seattle won that one, 4-3 in overtime.

The Mariners have never been to the World Series, so a win for them tonight will be particularly meaningful.

I don't care who wins, but I'm leaning in the direction of the Blue Jays if you told me I have to lean in one direction. Toronto sports fans have been tortured for a long time by the Maple Leafs and a Blue Jays World Series appearance would help stitch up some wounds.

That said, they'll get blistered by the Dodgers in the World Series.

But so will Seattle.

Let's hope Game 7 lives up to the billing.

"what happened?" - the summary

#DMD reader Daniel reached out with some commentary on Sunday about my recent three-part series on the life and times of the MISL and asked me for a summary sometime this week.

Ask and ye shall receive.

First off, it's important to remember this. Indoor soccer is still going. There is still a league and the Blast is alive and plays in that league.

Every year, still, I go to a game (now at the arena on the campus of Towson University) and marvel at the fact that it's (2025) and the sport of indoor soccer hasn't missed ONE YEAR since 1980. That's 45 years of continuous play. The owners I mentioned in the earlier pieces here deserve most of the credit. They kept the franchise alive along the way.

Now, is indoor soccer as big now as it once was? It is not. But some cities are doing decent numbers, attendance wise. In most cities, attendance figures are similar to that of minor league baseball or minor league hockey. Fair enough. You draw what you can draw.

And the reality about minor league sports is this: No one draws a bigger than average crowd unless they're giving something away or hosting some kind of special promotional night. Take a look at the Hershey Bears schedule as Exhibit A. They have to give something away to fill their arena, but they do it often and they do it quite well. Good for them.

Anyway, the summary of the MISL's demise is simple.

The league caught lightning in a bottle with a product that was fast, furious and entertaining. Attendance figures skyrocketed in a number of cities, which led to players wanting more money. And, so, when the owner in Cleveland or Baltimore or St. Louis coughed up bigger contracts to top players, the top players in places like Minnesota, New Jersey, Buffalo and Denver wanted big money as well even though their team's attendance figures were low.

Those teams eventually went out of business and were replaced by newer franchises in places like Tacoma, Dallas, Long Island and Los Angeles. Some of those franchises worked out, some didn't. The cycle continued. Tatu was a star in Dallas and Preki was a star in Tacoma and those two teams drew record crowds. Long Island and Los Angeles flopped.

By the time the owners got a hold of themselves and realized shelling out 1 million or 1.5 million for soccer players wasn't business-smart, the damage had been done. They lowered the salary cap to $950,000. Then $750,000 a couple of years later. By then, players were looking elsewhere for work when their employer that once paid them $70,000 was now offering them $50,000 to do the same job.

The players were NOT to blame. They only asked for and accepted what the industry and market provided to them in those days.

But player salaries ultimately started the demise of the MISL. Teams simply couldn't sell enough tickets or enough sponsorships to keep up with the cost of salaries, travel and front office staff.

Sunday October 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4073

could the jets go 0-17?

Losing at home to the Panthers today dropped the New York Football (barely) Jets to 0-7 on the year.

It's hard to win them all, for sure, but almost equally as hard to lose them all. I mean, at some point on some Sunday soon, the Jets' chakras will be in line and their opponents will be off line, right?

Can they go 0-17? Of course. They've lost 7 so far. No reason why they can't lose 10 more in a row. But will they?

Here's what they face going forward.

October 26 at Cincinnati -- Bengals always have the chance to Bengals, of course, but this one feels like 0-8 is pretty much a done deal.

November 9 vs. Cleveland -- OK, circle this one on your calendar. This represents perhaps New York's best chance to win a game over the last two months of the season.

November 13 at New England -- They're not going to New England and winning on a Thursday night. Right?

November 23 at Baltimore -- Ravens by 24.

November 30 vs. Atlanta -- It wouldn't be out of the question that Atlanta goes up there and lays an egg, but if the Jets are somehow 0-11 when this one rolls around, the heat is going to start mounting on New York to get a win.

December 7 vs. Miami -- Here's their 2nd best chance -- after Cleveland on November 9 -- to win a game this season. Miami will probably have 3 wins by the time they come north in December. It might be 22 degrees at kick-off. This one smells like a win for the Jets.

December 14 at Jacksonville -- The Jags are capable of just about anything, so it wouldn't be a total shock if they gag this one away to the Jets, but all things being equal, this is another New York loss.

December 21 at New Orleans -- If they're somehow 0-15 when they roll into New Orleans, they might have to flex this one just so we all get to watch the two worst teams in the league battle it out for the #1 pick in the draft. The Jets could win this game. But they could also lose it.

December 28 vs. New England -- The guess here is the Patriots might need to win this game to make the playoffs, so the Jets will get New England's best effort.

January 4 vs. Buffalo -- The only hope here for the Jets is that Buffalo has their playoff spot locked up and starts a hack at QB and sits 6 other starters. Other than that, there's no chance they win this one.

Let's do the odds:

Odds the Jets go 0-17 -- 5%

Odds they start at least 0-10 before winning their first game -- 20%

Odds they actually wind up winning 3 games out of their last 10, somehow -- 25%

---

look around today and soak it in

We have a couple of important rites of passages here at #DMD that I think most of you quite enjoy.

Celebrating the day the Flyers get eliminated from the playoffs or get ousted in the playoffs every March or April is one of them. It happens on an annual basis. They haven't been good since Obama was President. We love the annual "Flyers are done" issue here every spring.

And then there's today's entry, which I've written every year since the website commenced in 2014.

The Ravens have played every week of the current NFL season, starting back on Sunday, September 7 against Buffalo. They've played on Sunday or Monday for six straight weeks.

They will not, though, play today. The Ravens are enjoying their bye week before resuming their season next Sunday at home against the Chicago Bears.

So we're here today, as we do every year, to remind you to look around this afternoon and see and feel what it's like to not have a football game to worry about this week.

There's a method behind this madness, which we'll get to in a little while. But throughout this morning and this afternoon, we'd ask you give special intention to what it feels like to not have a football game in Baltimore today (or tomorrow).

What you feel and experience today is what we dealt with here in The Land of Pleasant Living from 1984 through 1995. Every. Single. Weekend.

Go out to a department store or local breakfast spot. You won't see anyone sporting their Ravens gear in anticipation of this afternoon's game.

Check your phone this morning (which, of course, you didn't have back in the 1980's). You're not getting any tailgating invites or offers to "stop by and watch the game out on the deck with us".

Read the preview of the games today in our piece below. We break down all of the NFL contests today but there's no mention of "Baltimore" anywhere.

At 1 pm, breeze through the channels to see who is playing on your TV this afternoon. It won't be a Baltimore team.

All of this is exactly what it was like from 1984-1996. We didn't have football.

Yes, yes, yes, I know there was a CFL team -- the Stallions -- milling around for a few years, but no one was even thinking about adopting them as Baltimore's team in the wake of the Colts leaving for Indianapolis.

They were the "other girl" you dated in high school after the hot cheerleader cast you aside. You hung out with her because it was the best you could do in the moment, but in no way, shape or form was she better than the cheerleader.

Our cheerleader moved out in March of 1984, without warning, and left the biggest hole this city and state has ever felt.

Sure, the Redskins were less than one hour away and the local TV affiliate tried to jam them down our throat every weekend, but in those days, Washington was Washington and Baltimore was Baltimore when it came to football. It's pretty much still that way, although you do see a lot more D.C. football fans in Baltimore in 2025 than you did, say, in 1995.

Take it in today while you're out doing yardwork or getting in 9 holes later this afternoon or watching your kids play soccer somewhere.

You might even hear a radio on in your midst with someone following whatever NFL game there is that interests them. But they won't be listening to the Ravens.

These days, on any given Sunday in Baltimore, people wear their purple gear to church. I'm almost willing to bet no one at Immaculate Heart of Mary will be wearing something purple at 10 am mass today. That's what it was like from 1984-1996 around here.

I was knee-deep in working for the indoor soccer team from 1984 through 1996, so the move of the Colts to Indy didn't rip me apart like it did to so many other folks in these parts. My mom and dad both cried, in front of me, on that March morning when the early newscasts showed the Mayflower vans rolling out of Owings Mills and heading west.

The Colts were gone.

And never coming back.

I've often wonderered this about people "my age" and a little older. It's a simple question.

Have you completely and fully accepted the Ravens as Baltimore's team? This isn't something for 30 year olds and 40 year olds to answer because they don't know anything about Mike Curtis or Raymond Berry or Roger Carr or Lydell Mitchell.

But for anyone born in the 1960's or early 1970's, have you fully connected with the Ravens or is there still a small piece of your heart clinging to the Colts?

There are no wrong answers.

I'm just asking.

Today is exactly what it was like for those 12 years here in Baltimore.

Everyone else had their team and we didn't have anything.

We raked leaves, played golf, watched our kids play sports and went grocery shopping in preparation for the week ahead and didn't care at all who won or lost in the NFL on that particular Sunday.

Now, today, we'll "care" a little who wins or loses the other games, sure, but you get the point.

So why do I bring this up today -- and once a year -- here at #DMD?

Just to remind some of you that there was a period of time when we didn't have a team.

We didn't have a coach to berate or a GM to crush or a quarterback to rake over the coals.

There are lots of people out there who don't understand because they're 25, 35 or 45 and the Colts leaving Baltimore in 1984 didn't impact them in the least.

But if you're one of those folks born, say, before 1975, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Would you rather have a boneheaded coach, GM or quarterback or not have a team at all?

Would you rather your team labor through a difficult 8-9 season and miss the playoffs or not have a team at all?

Would you rather your team stub its toe, again, in the post-season and come up short or not have a team at all?

I know my answer because I know what it was like to not have a team at all for 12 years.

Look around today and feel it.

This, today, is what we had once upon a time and it was way worse than losing at home to the Texans and Rams.

around the nfl

We're back to help get you through another Sunday (and Monday) of NFL football, hoping we can duplicate last week's run of success.

L.A. Rams (4-2) vs. Jaguars (4-2) -- This one's in London, where it feels like the NFL is starting to prep us for an England based team at some point in the not so distant future. You can feel it in the air. I wasn't overly impressed with the Rams last week in Baltimore, but they might have been overlooking Baltimore a bit. Still, I'll go with the Jaguars today, 27-24.

Saints (1-5) at Bears (3-2) -- Lots of survivor pools are probably on the line today with this one. Everyone is on Chicago, I'm guessing. And why not? Even though anything can happen and all, I don't see New Orleans winning this one. That said, if it were my survivor pool, I wouldn't risk it wagering ON the Bears. Just sayin'. Chicago wins a close one 21-19.

Dolphins (1-5) at Browns (1-5) -- This one has Game of the Week written all over it, huh? Anyway it ends in a 6-6 tie? We'll go with defense in this one and assume the Browns do just enough to win a thriller, 16-13.

Patriots (4-2) at Titans (1-5) -- It feels like there's zero chance Mike Vrabel goes back to Nashville and loses today, right? The Titans are lousy and the Pats seem to be on the uptick in 2025. A huge part of me wants to call Tennessee in an upset here, but the Vrabel factor can't be ignored. New England wins 27-16.

Raiders (2-4) at Chiefs (3-3) -- This one suddenly becomes a "half-a-must-win" for the Chiefs, who can't afford to lose any games where they're the favorite. The Raiders stink, but they've historically been a pain in the butt for Kansas City at Arrowhead. We'll go with K.C. in this one, 33-17.

Eagles (4-2) at Vikings (3-2) -- Philly lost two straight and then had their bye week, so you know they're chomping at the bit for this one in Minnesota. I can't see the Eagles stubbing their toe here. Philly wins 34-23.

Panthers (3-3) at Jets (0-6) -- It feels strange to type (3-3) next to the Panthers but it doesn't feel at all weird typing (0-6) next to the Jets. This game, today, represents one of the only 3 or 4 games remaining where New York can honestly say "we have a chance this afternoon". I think the tide turns in their favor in the Meadowlands. Jets win 17-16.

Giants (2-4) at Broncos (4-2) -- Both of these teams are better than advertised, I think. Denver is actually close to being "really good" and the Giants are close to being "decent". I can't see NY winning this one today, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if they pulled out one of those strange 13-12 wins where both offenses just flatline. Anyway, we'll call it Denver 22 - Giants 17, officially.

Colts (5-1) at Chargers (4-2) -- Who would have thought that week 7 of the NFL would have had the Colts vs. Chargers as the "Game of the Week"?? Alas, that's what it is. Indy's nice early season run stalls today as the Chargers win in OT, 27-24.

Packers (3-1-1) at Cardinals (2-4) -- The Cardinals are such a weird team that they could win today and no one would bat an eye. They lose when they shouldn't and win when they're shouldn't. So it stands to reason they'll shock Green Bay today. But I'm going with what makes the most sense. Packers 32-Cardinals 22.

Commanders (3-3) at Cowboys (2-3-1) -- We're simply going with the better team in this one and we think it's D.C., particularly with Diggs out for Dallas. Washington wins a good one, 29-24.

Falcons (3-2) at 49'ers (4-2) -- It's hard to say whether Atlanta is actually any good or not, but it sure feels like their defense is legit and we know they can run the ball. San Francisco is good when they want to be good, and I assume tonight will be one of those games where they turn it on late and win a close one, 24-20.

Buccaneers (5-1) at Lions (4-2) on Monday Night -- Something has to give on Monday evening in Detroit. The Lions are undefeated at home (2-0) and the Bucs haven't lost on the road (3-0). This one should be a great game. Detroit kicks a field goal at the buzzer to win, 30-28.

Texans (2-3) at Seahawks (4-2) on Monday Night -- Can't see the 'Hawks losing at home here. We'll go with Seattle, 31-17.

Saturday October 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4072

"what happened?" 3.0

Someone in the Comments section asked about player salaries of the top players in the MISL.

These are all top of mind, to the best of my knowledge kind of guesses, but I think they're fairly accurate.

I know in Baltimore the largest contract we ever handed out was to Stan Stamenkovic at $130,000 annually. At one point I think a rumor circulated that the Blast paid him $150K per season but we did not.

When we traded for Mike Stankovic (from Wichita, after he left us as a free agent two years earlier), he was making $120,000 and we inherited that deal, but by no means did we negotiate that contract with him. We had to pick up the last half season of it, though.

I seem to recall Scott Manning getting up near the $90,000 per-year range, as did Bruce Savage. Dave MacWilliams was also somewhere in the $85K per-season range as well.

I remember Paul Kitson signing with the Los Angeles Lazers as a free agent after he departed Baltimore and he got something like $125,000 annually from them. "Kitty" was one of my top 3 favorites of all time, but he wasn't worth $125K at that point in his career. L.A. was just trying to compile the best team they could with the hope that winning the whole thing out there would make people in Southern California.

They signed guys like Kitson, Chico Borja, Michael Collins, Batata, Don Ebert, David Brcic and other high-profile, highly paid players but never won much of anything out there.

San Diego reportedly paid Steve Zungul $250,000 and Branko Segota $200,000 per-season. Back then, that franchise pretty much did whatever they wanted to do, salary wise.

I think Tatu's top salary with Dallas was $150,000. He was the biggest drawing card in the league during his prime, even bigger than Stamenkovic.

We tried to sign Preki once, but he wanted $175,000 per-season and we told him no. I think he eventually made $100,000 with Tacoma and roughly the same amount with St. Louis as his indoor career came to an end.

Speaking of "drawing cards", there was once a team in the league who wanted to sign a big-name U.S. National Team player to their roster but he wanted $8,000 a game to play for them. In late November, with 10 games already ticked off the schedule, the league held a conference call among all the teams where the owner and GM of the team looking to sign the national team player asked us all to pay $4,000 of the $8,000 if he played against us in our building.

"Why should we pay all $8,000 for him to play in your building so you can sell tickets and make all the money?" the owner asked on the conference call.

"Maybe because you want to win the game?" a fellow owner shot back.

Anyway, as you would expect, the idea was quickly shot down and that player, who wasn't worth anywhere near $8,000 per-game ON THE FIELD, wound up not signing with the team anyway.

I also had an interesting financial "situation" with a player I wanted to sign who had a bit of a name in the Baltimore area as an outdoor player. He had never played indoor soccer in his life.

"He wants $3,000 per-game," his brother said to me, acting as his agent.

"We're not giving him $3,000 per-game," I replied. "There's no way I'm sending a contract to the league for a player who has never played a minute of indoor soccer in his life and telling them I'm paying that guy $60,000 for the last 20 games of the season."

"Well, let's do this then," the brother said.

"Pay him $1,000 a game and give him the other $40,000 in four payments of $10,000 each."

"OK, let me reprhase that," I said. "I'm not paying your brother $60,000 to play 20 games for us."

"How much will you pay him?" he asked.

"$18,000 for the rest of the season," I said. There were roughly three and a half months of the season remaining. And since the contract wasn't guaranteed, I could cut him if he flopped.

"This is embarassing," the brother said. "He's the biggest name in Baltimore soccer."

"No he's not," I shot back. "Not even close. And I don't care if he's a big name or not...he's NEVER PLAYED INDOOR SOCCER!"

The brother left in a huff and that was that.

The next morning, Kenny Cooper called me. "XXXX is here with all of his gear and said he is supposed to start practicing with us today."

I called the brother.

"Why is your brother at our practice facility?" I asked him.

"We're taking your offer," he replied. "Did he call you and tell you?"

"No, he didn't," I replied.

"Well, he was supposed to do that," his brother said, hanging up the phone a second later.

I went down to the facility with the contract for our new player.

He didn't even read it. He just signed it, slipped on his shoes and went out to practice with his new team.

As expected, he was nothing more than an OK indoor player. Nice enough guy and all, but just not very good at indoor soccer.

---

masterpiece

Are you allowed to steal someone else's nickname in sports and use it for yourself?

If so, move over Reggie Jackson, there's a new Mr. October in town. His name is Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani produced a game for the ages last night in sending the Dodgers back to the World Series, getting the start in Game 4 vs. Milwaukee and striking out 10 Brewers along the way in a 5-1 win.

Wait, you get to be "Mr. October" just for that?

No, you get to be "Mr. October" when you homer three times in the same game when you had 10 strikeouts in six innings.

Ohtani produced three dingers on Friday night, including a ball that cleared the entire stadium, and actually had more home runs (3) than hits allowed on the mound (2).

Max Muncy wasn't lost for words after the game. "That's the single best performance in the history of baseball. I don't care what anyone says. Obviously, I don't know what happened a hundred years ago, but that's the single best performance I've ever seen in my life."

Don't look now, but L.A. is steam rolling in October and has lost just once in 10 post-season games this month.

"They're going to be tough to beat no matter what, but they're going to be really tough in a 7-game series with Shohei getting the ball at least twice," Milwaukee's Christian Yelich said in the dejected Milwaukee locker room on Friday night. "There isn't much to say. You saw it. He couldn't be stopped at the plate or on the mound tonight."

3 home runs at the plate and 10 strikeouts in six innings of shutout work on the mound. It's the kind of thing you assume Babe Ruth could have done, but perhaps no one else.

Those of you reading this never got to see Babe Ruth play baseball.

Hopefully you're taking advantage of getting to see Ohtani play these days.

A few years ago in Baltimore, I took my (then) 15-year old son to see Shohei pitch for the Angels at a May game in Baltimore. Although his performance on the mound that night wasn't anything like we saw on Friday evening vs. Milwaukee, he did strike out a batter with a pitch that was clocked at 100 mph. Later in that game, he hit a mammoth 450-foot home run off of Grayson Rodriguez.

"Remember this night," I said to my son. "Over the rest of your life, I don't know that you'll ever see again what you saw tonight. You saw a guy throw a pitch 100 mph and in the same game, hit a 450 foot home run. There just aren't people alive who can do that in a Major League Baseball game. And you got to see it."

There also aren't men alive who can do what Ohtani did last night. There are numerous pitchers who have the capability of striking out 10 batters in six innings of work. And there are numerous MLB batters who have the ability to hit three home runs in the same game.

But there's only one guy who can do both of them on the same night, in the same game.

He's the new "Mr. October".

I hope you're watching him.

"what happened?"

We're back with "What Happened to the MISL?" part 2 today, taking a small look at how ownership in the league played a role in both the massive growth of the league but also, in the end, helped contribute to its demise.

I had the pleasure of working for all three ownership groups of the original Blast franchise; Bernie Rodin, a real estate and retirement facility specialist from Fort Lee, New Jersey, Nathan Scherr and his group of partners from Baltimore, and Ed Hale, a trucking and shipping stalwart from Baltimore.

Scherr was also a real estate developer who gained fame as the owner of Aloma's Ruler, who won the Preakness in 1982. He brought along a number of influential business leaders in Baltimore to help him buy the team from Rodin in 1984 and fund the operational costs.

Hale purchased the club from Scherr's group in 1989.

All three of those men were different in their approach to the sport and to the franchise they owned. Rodin was involved almost purely as a business interest. He was the original owner of the franchise in Houston that moved to Baltimore. He thought the league had a chance to become the country's 4th biggest sport, surpassing the NHL at the time.

Scherr and his group were "white knights", if you will, after Rodin continued to suffer financial losses that made owning the team a concern for him. The Baltimore-based group that took over in 1984 weren't really interested in making a huge profit on their purchase, but they also didn't want to lose money on it, either.

Hale became the first of three owners to dive into league operational matters. He was active in league meetings, was part of the Expansion Committee and, in general, was one of the more visible owners in the league.

When the Blast and MISL ceased operations in 1992, Hunt Valley software developer Bill Stealey was the owner of the NPSL franchise in Baltimore known as the Spirit.

Rodin was, at his core, a marketing guy who understood the value of creating supply and demand.

He would call the office regularly to talk about upcoming ticket sales numbers and we would routinely send him copies of the local newspapers in town so he could see the press coverage we were getting for the team in Baltimore.

On game days, it was very rare that he wasn't in his seats in Section 110 of the arena. He'd make the 2.5 hour drive down from Fort Lee, his limousine pulling in almost always exactly one hour before kick-off. When Bernie and his family were in the building, the vibe was definitely different.

I remember one Monday, Bernie called the office very early, before 9 am, and I answered the phone.

"Look up the ticket numbers for the two home games this week for me, please," he said to me on the phone. I went to the computer and our TicketCenter (which later became TicketMaster) account and wrote them down.

"We are sold out for Friday," I told him. "On Sunday, we still have about 1,300 seats left in the obstructed view area facing the stage."

"OK," he said. "Take this down for me and give it to Peggy (our marketing and advertising staffer) as soon as she comes in. Make sure this gets done for me."

"Yes sir, Mr. Rodin," I replied, of course.

"I want to spend $10,000 on the radio this week that says Friday night's game is sold out but we still have tickets left for Sunday's home game. Make sure those ads run starting on Tuesday or Wednesday and run them all week."

Wanting to be a dutiful and competent employee, I did the quick math. "I'll do that, sir, but you do know those 1,300 seats are all three dollars each, right? If we spend ten thousand dollars on the radio and sell those, we're only making $3,900 back on the tickets."

"Kid, listen to me very clearly," Rodin said into the phone, his voice rising with aggravation. "Never tell a millionaire how to spend his money when he wants to spend it on something you will benefit from. Got it?"

"Yes sir," I said as the phone clicked in my ear.

I gave the note to Peggy when she got into the office and we spent the ten grand and sold out the game.

Bernie's point, of course, was that selling out the game and having no tickets available was more important than the ten grand it cost to sell the last $3,900 worth of seats.

There were other owners in the league who had similar marketing abilities.

In Cleveland, the Force figured out the seats that were hardest to sell in the beautiful Richfield Coliseum were in the corners. If they had a crowd of 12,000 or so, the 6,000 unsold seats would all be in the corners of the arenas and would stand out like a sore thumb.

So Bart Wolstein, the team's owner, came up with a plan to sell those. If you bought them 72 hours in advance of the game, he'd sell you two corner tickets for the price of one. So for $12.00, you'd actually get two tickets. But you had to buy them in advance. You could never buy them on the day of the game or the day before the game.

The ploy worked like a charm and the Force started drawing massive crowds to most of their high-profile, weekend home games.

The St. Louis Steamers would allow any youth soccer player into the arena for just $5.00 if they were wearing their team uniform.

But as the league grew in stature and starting reaching the zenith of its exposure, ownership around the league became fractured.

There were several well-to-do owners who wanted to pay their players whatever they thought was best for their team and franchise.

Some owners bristled at rising player salaries because they were losing a lot of money due to small attendance numbers and meager sponsorship revenue.

This was similar in nature to what we saw happen with the Cleveland Browns and the Deshaun Watson case a few years ago. League owners had done a nice job (perhaps illegally?) of not allowing any players to be presented with a fully-guaranteed contract. But the Browns came along and said "We don't care what the league wants...this is what we think is best for us in Cleveland."

The MISL went through something very similar. Some teams thought $6,000 or $7,000 a month was the top salary a player should make and others thought $10,000 a month was fair.

In San Diego, their owner was shelling out $100,000 deals like they were ice cream cones.

The New Jersey Rockets owner thought it was unfair that he had to pay his top player $100,000 and was drawing 2,000 per-game while the Baltimore owner was paying his top player $100,000 and drawing 12,000 per-game.

A lot of owners complained about player salaries, which were going up by 10 and 20 percent every season, it seemed. In Baltimore in 1983, we had at least six players making $80,000 or more. The salaries were going up because the players knew they had the league in a vice. They were the reason why teams were drawing 10,000, 12,000 and 15,000 fans per-game.

In the mid 1980's, as teams started to fall by the way side, it finally became apparent that the league had to do something about the rising salaries, so they instituted a salary cap of $950,000 per-team.

That was all set to work until the San Diego franchise circumvented it by giving their players free cars, housing allowances, bonus payments and so on.

Cleveland came along and did the same thing.

The league became the Wild Wild West.

The "haves" rolled on and the "have nots" dropped out of the league.

Dr. Jerry Buss, who owned the L.A. team, gathered the owners at a meeting in the summer and said he was going to leave the league if they continued to play in the winter months.

His biggest contention was arena dates. In L.A., the Lakers and Kings played their home games in the same building as his soccer team, the Lazers. The soccer team got Wednesday nights all year and drew meager crowds of 1,500 or so.

"If we can't play on a Friday or Saturday night in L.A., we can't make it," he told the owners. "If we move to the summer, all of us can have our pick of any arena dates we want. You can play every Friday or Saturday night at home."

The owners thought he was crazy.

They voted him down emphatically.

One year later, the team in Los Angeles was gone.

Buss estimated he lost $7 million on indoor soccer in those days.

As the mid 1980's moved into the late 1980's, crowds continued to diminish and the salary cap was collectively bargained to $750,000.

Players who were once making $80,000 were now making $60,000 or less.

They weren't happy with the way business was going, of course.

"It's not our fault you can't sell more tickets or sponsorships," they would often say.

The tension the salary-cap fight had on the league was a "final straw" type of deal. The league hung on for a couple of more years, but by the time it ended in 1992, the owner-player relationship was in tatters.

It certainly wasn't the fault of the players that the league grew too fast and gave in too quickly to rising salary demands, but owners who wanted to win at all costs created an unlevel playing field throughout the late 1980's that spiraled out of control.

Friday October 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4071

"what happened to the misl?"

You know the proverbial saying, "If I had a dollar for every time..."

Well, mine is definitely, "If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, 'What happened to the MISL?', I'd be a rich man."

OK, I wouldn't exactly be rich from that one question. But I'd have enough money to buy a nice set of new irons or a driver and a 3-wood.

"What happened to the MISL?"

I've thought a lot about those five words over the years.

The Blast went from averaging 5,000 or so to 8,000 and then, almost overnight, a Blast ticket became one of the hottest items in town in 1983. We sold out games no matter the night of the week or the opponent.

Friday night vs. Cleveland? Sold out.

Sunday afternoon vs. St. Louis? Sold out.

Tuesday night vs. Wichita? Sold out.

For a three-year period, a Blast ticket was red-hot.

For those who might not know, I worked for the Blast indoor soccer team from 1981 through 1992, then stayed with the franchise when we joined a new league (after the MISL folded) and were renamed the Spirit because of some legal issues with regard to the player's union and the old MISL.

The Blast first came to Baltimore in 1980. I saw my first Blast game in December of that year -- as a fan -- and they won 6-5 over Buffalo that night. I think I saw 4 or 5 other games that season.

I got my job with the Blast through the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland, where I was a student in 1981. My first role was a "Public Relations Assistant" and my pay was $210 a week. I remember it all very well.

I stayed in the Public/Media Relations department throughout my tenure with the team, although I eventually moved up to an Assistant General Manager position in the early 1990's.

By the time the Blast ended in 1992 and the Spirit ended in 1998, I was the general manager for those organizations.

I used to laugh and say, "When I started working for the team I was the guy who would go over to Hopkins Plaza at lunchtime and grab pizzas for the staff and when I finished working for the team 17 years later, I was the guy who would go over to Hopkins Plaza at lunchtime and grab pizzas for the staff."

I loved working for the Blast. I grew to not like the league and the politics and that kind of stuff, but I loved the Blast organization immensely.

People who ask "What happened to the MISL?" know most of the basic details of the league. There were a lot of failed teams in sports-rich cities like Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York (Long Island) and Houston. But there were some incredible success stories in places like Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City and, yes, Baltimore.

In the real 5-year heyday of the league, which was from 1982 through 1987, crowds in places like Cleveland, Kansas City and even Tacoma, Washington were in the 18,000 range or more. Kansas City could have drawn more than 13,000 but that's all Kemper Arena could hold for indoor soccer. Baltimore could have drawn more than 12,506 people but we couldn't put any more folks in the seats.

The franchises who drew the big crowds all had three things in common, as I recall. They had a very solid season ticket base, they thrived on group sales, and they were (mostly) the only winter game in town and were able to secure lucrative weekend home dates in their arena(s).

So what happened? How did a league drawing crowds of 12,000 to 18,000 per-game suddenly go down the tubes?

In some ways I can only speak for what happened to us in Baltimore, but in other ways I can offer league-wide commentary because I lived it and was there for some of the decisions.

As I wrote here yesterday, we encountered a unique paradox in Baltimore that other teams in various MISL cities also faced. We lived by the youth soccer group sales ticket and we died by the youth soccer group sales ticket.

Soccer, as a participation sport, really didn't take off in this country until the 1970's. The NASL helped create that interest in the youth game, but that was mainly outdoor soccer. But as indoor started to take off, cities all over North America started to see an increase in facilities that were turned into indoor soccer fields.

At one point in Baltimore in the mid 1980's, there were three facilities up and running and jam packed with games every night of the week.

Once upon a time, a large majority of those soccer playing youth could only see action on Saturday morning/afternoon or Sunday morning/afternoon with their outdoor team. With the Blast, we'd routinely sell 5,000 or more group tickets to our home games in the early 1980's and a large portion of those went to youth soccer programs.

We had 4,000 season tickets at our zenith in 1983-84 and would then sell 5,000 group seats and a couple of thousand pre-sale and walk-up tickets to get to our magic number of 12,000.

But that intentional push to bring in youth soccer players only worked for a few years. Suddenly, outdoor teams that were buying 40 or 50 tickets to a home game couldn't attend a game in the future because they were playing in an indoor tournament themselves that weekend or had a game at 6 pm on the Saturday night of a Blast home game.

The very sport the Blast helped create in Baltimore -- indoor soccer -- was suddenly becoming the reason why people wouldn't attend a home game. It wasn't that they disliked watching indoor soccer. It's that they discovered they enjoyed playing it much more than watching it.

Our group sales numbers started to diminish. It was slight at first. We went from averaging 5,000 or so group tickets per-game down to 4,000. And then a year or so later, we started averaging 3,500 per-game. Then it dipped down to 3,000. And our crowds dwindled from the 12,000 per-game range down to 9,000 or thereabouts.

The same thing happened in Cleveland and St. Louis, where indoor soccer facilities started popping up everywhere. I seem to recall St. Louis had, at one point, six of them up and running in their city.

You're talking hundreds of kids, every day and night, playing games in each of those buildings. If there were games at 5 pm, 6 pm, 7 pm and 8 pm on a Saturday, for example, that's 200 or so youth soccer players who couldn't attend a game that night. Multiply that by the six buildings and you're talking about 2,000 or more tickets not being sold because not only could the kids not attend the game, neither could the parents.

Youth soccer made the early days of the MISL because teams were only filling 30% or so of their buildings with season tickets.

The majority of the rest of the seats were being peddled to groups, and 80% of the group sales were youth soccer connected tickets.

When those spectactors switched to participants, we didn't have any other significant group to fill those seats en masse. It wasn't like it went from 5,000 per-game to 500 per-game. But on the whole, when we were once doing 100,000 or more of group tickets per-season, that number dipped to 50,000 or 60,000 and we didn't find "new bodies" to put into those empty seats.

We also started to see a decline in season tickets circa 1986 or so because the "novelty" of the event had worn off and a lot of the more successful business people in town who made it a point to be seen at the games took a "been there, done that" approach.

It wasn't catastrophic or anything like that. We didn't go from 4,000 season tickets to 1,000 overnight.

But, for example, Boogie Weinglass and his folks at Merry Go Round once had 8 season tickets. They then dropped 4 of those.

Town and Country Apartments had 12 season tickets. They went down to 8.

Mr. Nobody, Richard Sammis, had 8 and went to 4.

This happened over a 3 or 4 year period, mind you, but we lost 500 season tickets a year and, eventually, weren't able to replace them.

Some of that might have been tied to the soccer "playing" explosion as well. Fewer employees were available on the weekends to use the tickets, so eventually the businesses who purchased them said, "We will just buy less of them this season."

As is the case with every sport, television was the main pursuit of the MISL during its infancy.

Getting the game out to the masses via television was critical, particularly for a league that was fairly unknown in the southeast and cities like Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta and throughout Florida.

Individual teams had their own TV affiliates, which helped promote the product in their own city. But the league itself was hungry for a TV deal of some kind.

Along came USA Network in the early 1980's, who dipped their toe in the indoor soccer water by airing a few games here and there plus the league's showcase in-season product, the All-Star Game.

The MISL then made its major mistake circa 1984 when USA offered to air a "Game of the Week" on Friday night, but didn't want to pay the league any money for the product they were airing.

USA offered to cover all production costs (roughly $12,000 or so per-game back then) and vowed to air the games on Friday night in prime time. This, of course, was pretty much right at the outset of cable television. No one really knew what it was going to become in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

The owners were pretty much split. Some of them wanted the network to pay the league a per-game rights fee and then the network would make up their payment by selling advertising. Some of the owners saw the value in having the games on national television every Friday night.

In the end, the owners voted "no" to USA Network's proposal.

That, as it turned out, was a death-knell kind of mistake.

The league had some games on CBS in the 1984, 1985 and 1986 playoffs, but they were only "one off" broadcasts and CBS, much like USA Network had offered, didn't pay the league any money for those games. The league was just over-the-moon excited to be on national television on a Saturday afternoon.

Not taking that deal with USA Network in 1983 was a big mistake.

The league would have had 18-22 games aired live every Friday night from those jam packed arenas in Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, Baltimore , etc. Sure, initially, the only thing the MISL would have generated from those games was exposure. But had they played their cards right and had USA Network gone on to do well in the advertising sales end, the MISL would have been in a position of power to ask for (and likely receive) a lucrative rights fee deal from the network. Instead, USA Network went away and the league got nothing.

In Baltimore, we made a very similar mistake with Home Team Sports.

"HTS", as we called it back then, came to us in 1984 and offered us a similar deal to the USA Network proposal. They'd air 12 or so of our home games and 4 or so away games (it cost more to do away games than home games because you can put broadcast lines in the building once for the home games and they can stay there all season) and, while we wouldn't receive any direct money from them, we had the ability to sell a few minutes of advertising in each broadcast and keep whatever we were able to sell.

Home Team Sports wanted to make us a big deal, like they were doing for the Capitals and Bullets back in the mid 1980's.

We could have had a Blast home game on almost every week, if not every other week, and it wouldn't have cost us a dime. Now, is there an argument that some people might have wanted to stay home rather than go to the game live and in person? Sure, maybe. But the game was still on fire at that point and people who could get their hands on a Blast ticket in 1984 or 1985 weren't going to pass on the opportunity to go to the game.

A lot of people stay home these days to watch the Orioles on TV instead of going to the stadium to watch it live, but they're not drawing 44,000 a game and filling the stadium, either.

The Blast had the chance to air home games with huge 12,000-plus crowds and spotlight for the viewers how entertaining and fun a Blast game was in the 1980's.

And remember, this was the 1980's when a lot of households still hadn't made the switch to cable TV. It wasn't like it is now, where every home on your street has cable TV.

We could have made our product look even more "big time" by having games on television virtually every week.

Instead, there was a thought that people might just stay home and no longer come to the games if we put them on TV.

We (ownership) turned down the HTS proposal and I always thought that was a mistake on our part.

Tomorrow here at #DMD, we look at ownership-related impact to the league's growth and downfall and the way certain franchises in the MISL treated the product and their business.

faith in sports

Beating up on college athletics and greedy college athletes is a favorite pasttime of many people these days, but that's mainly because we don't get to hear the stories from "the other side".

Faith is also playing a huge role in college sports, but the media is largely inclined not to publicize it.

If you watch the video below and become a fan of Ohio State football, I'm right there with you.

It's so awesome and empowering to watch videos like the one below from a TV station who covered an event at Ohio State University led in large part by the players on the football team.

The video is 4 minutes long. Would you like to see the news that not a lot of media people in this country are willing to share? Check out the video below and you'll see Ohio State football in a different light.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electric for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday October 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4070

an "expert" opinion

I don't know how or why this happened, exactly, but it's been an issue in our country for, oh, I don't know, at least a decade now.

We have a lot of people roaming around claiming to be an "expert" at whatever it is they're doing and they're not an expert as it turns out.

We saw it very recently with the murder of Charlie Kirk.

"He wasn't shot from the roof, he was shot from behind the curtain where he was sitting. Look at the "poof" of his shirt when the bullet hit him and the angle of entry combined with the sound of the gun we heard" and blah, blah, blah.

Then another expert hops into the conversation and starts talking about planes flying overheard jamming people's cell phones that threw off every phone's timing so that the video that was actually captured on cell phones was not the real moment of the shooting, but was instead a movie scene that was later broadcasted on TV for a week showing the political activist getting gunned down in broad daylight.

I'm not bringing that up to engage anyone in the whole Charlie Kirk incident. I don't want that here. I'm bringing it up to briefly touch on the subject of "experts" and how many people in the country suddenly become forensics and law enforcements professionals despite having roughly zero experience in those fields.

Closer to home, we see "experts" every day in the world of sports.

Tears For Fears once had a legendary hit, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".

In sports, that song would be "Everybody Thinks They're An Offensive Coordinator".

Just go to the internet -- which, by the way, has quickly replaced money as the root of all evil -- after any game involving any team in the NFL and the web is jam-packed with people who think they know about football than the people who are actually in football and do it for a living.

Everyone's an expert on going for it on 4th down or running more bubble screens or using the tush push.

And these are just regular people, remember. It's you and me, basically. Never threw a football in their life that really mattered.

But they suddenly know more than Todd Monken. And it's only because they have a platform. They get a buddy, throw together a "set" behind them with a few lights and a logo for Paul's Tire and Auto, and suddenly they're the voice of reason.

And then they yell and scream about how bad that play call was, how the defensive coordinator can't scheme correctly and how the general manager has no clue what he's doing.

That guy -- or those people on the show, male or female -- has never worked one second of their life in football, most likely. But they're telling you they know more than Mike Macdonald in Seattle or Sean McVay in Los Angeles or, here in our world, Zach Orr in Baltimore.

Experts.

They're everywhere.

But they're really not.

I don't know if I'm an expert on anything except these three items: The Major Indoor Soccer League, Bruce Springsteen and the history of the Masters.

I know, that's really something to brag about, huh?

I guess I'm also an expert on Calvert Hall Golf from 2013 through 2025 because I've run the program, but I'm not much on the history of the program prior to 2013.

But in my life, all of my 62 years, I can honestly say I'm an expert on only three things: the MISL (1978-1992), Springsteen and his music and the history of the Masters golf tournament.

I've been married 21 years to an awesome wife and I'm not an expert on being a husband.

I have two wonderful children but I'm not an expert on being a parent.

I've gone to over one thousand live sporting events in my life, but I'm not an expert on baseball, football, hockey or basketball.

I've seen 125'ish live concerts in my life but I'm not an expert on how to play the guitar or the drums.

I was on the radio for a dozen years but wasn't an expert about the radio.

I've owned a sports website for eleven years and in no way am I an expert on everything-internet.

It's hard to be an expert at anything.

But I can tell you about the MISL, that's for sure.

I can tell you why it worked and I can tell you why it failed and, oddly enough, the very reason why it flourished also contributed to its demise.

I can tell you the smart things we did back in the 1980's and I can tell you the mistakes we made now that hindsight has helped us see more clearly.

I can tell you the moment everything started to crumble. I can tell you how we could have saved it, potentially, but failed to do so.

I can tell you which owners in the league were good for the game and which ones helped the sport lose its way.

Some of what I'll say might even reek of "illegal", just like some of what has happened in the NFL over the last 10-15 years has brushed right up against the edge of "illegal" right in plain view of everyone.

The MISL could have been a contender, as the saying goes.

We were right there for about five or six years.

But there were too many mistakes. Too many bad decisions. Too many owners thinking about their franchise, only, and not enough about the other partners/teams in the league.

Someone here yesterday asked about the Blast and our 56 straight sellouts and when it ended. I have a lot of stories about those sellouts and how we made them happen and, ultimately, how it came to pass that they stopped happening.

I'm going to take the day to gather my complete thoughts on this subject and come back here tomorrow ready give you the gospel, as it were.

If you weren't in Baltimore back in the 1980's, the tale of the Blast and the MISL probably won't interest you. No worries, stop by on Saturday and we'll have something that you'll enjoy reading.

In the meantime, if you ever want me to come out to your monthly men's group meeting and talk about the songs on Springsteen's "The Rising" album or give you incredible stories from the Masters and Augusta National Club, I can do that for you.

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

What a wild finish we had last weekend in the divisional series between the Mariners and Tigers on Friday night.

A series that was tight needed a 15 inning game 5 to determine who would be advancing to the ALCS where the Blue Jays await. After Leo Rivas had a RBI single for the Mariners to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th, both teams had opportunities to score leading up to the bottom of the 15th inning however, the pitching on both sides were able to get out of jams.

Jorge Polanco was the hero in this series for the Mariners, who hit the game winning RBI single in the bottom of the 15th inning, which is the longest winner take all game by innings in postseason history, driving in JP Crawford to send the Mariners to the ALCS for the first time since 2001.

Earlier in this series, Polanco had a huge game 2 for the Mariners as he hit 2 homers off of Tarik Skubal in the Mariners 3-2 victory.

I do feel bad for the Tigers in this series and would have been happy seeing them advance as well. I give the Tigers a lot of credit for how they played in the postseason and the adversity they faced with losing the AL Central to the Guardians and rallying backto defeat the Guardians in game 3 of the Wildcard and making it to game 5 of the ALDS.

In the other game 5 elimination game, over on the National League side of the bracket, it was the Cubs vs Mariners turn to determine who would be advancing to the NLCS to earn the right to play the Dodgers.

Both teams in this series optioned to use a bullpen arm to start the 1st inning and rolled out a starter in the 2nd inning.

I thought this was an interesting move to see however, in most of the games in the series, a lot of runs were being scored in the 1st, so maybe the idea there is since this is the only part of the game where you’re guaranteed to face each other’s 1-3 hitters, you put in a top bullpen arm to try and get out of the 1st allowing no runs, instead of waiting until the 7th or 8th inning where damage may have already been done earlier in the game?

This didn’t quite work out as planned as William Contreras started the party with a solo shot in the bottom of the 1st, giving the Brew Crew an early lead. The cubs shortly answered with a Seiya Suzuki solo shot to tie things up in the 2nd.

After that, the Brewers pitching staff took over and silenced the Cubs, only allowing 3 more hits for the rest of the ballgame. The Brewers tacked on additional runs in the 4th and 7th innings, as the Brewers defeated they division rivals and advanced to the NLCS for the first time since 2017.

Another series that could have gone either way, but I was personally pulling for the small market team, the Brewers, and I think most of America was too.

Although losing is part of this game, and is most prevalent in baseball compared to almost any other sport, you do feel for the Tigers and Cubs. Making it all the way to game 5 and losing close games where the game just didn’t go your way.

In my life I haven’t seen much success from the Orioles, but I think the most disappointed I’ve felt after being knocked out of the playoffs was back in 2014 after they were swept by the Royals, who went on to win the World Series that season. Although it’s been a while, you don’t forget that feeling, and when you do win, I imagine it makes it that much better.

To help the Cubs and Tigers fans, I would like to share a short quote that I recently came across from The Green Fields of the Mind, written by A. Bartlett Giamatti, the 7th commissioner in baseball.

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Summer is gone, and the season ends.”

Moving on to the Championship series’, there will be no remorse seeing the Dodgers and Blue Jays eliminated from the Fall Classic this year.

In the ALCS, the Mariners are letting the good times roll and have taken a 2-0 lead after winning back to back road games. The Mariners bats were on fire in game 2 as they defeated the Blue Jays 10-3. The lingering issue for the Blue Jays in these playoffs has been lack of depth in the starting rotation and that is now catching up to them. They were able to get away with it in the ALDS against the Yankees, but the Mariners are not letting them off the hook.

The Mariners will now have 3 straight home games, only needing 2 of 3 to wrap this series up and put a bow on it. With the Blue Jays winning last night and forcing at least five games, they'll likely get to see the Mariners ace, Bryan Woo, who hasn’t pitched this postseason.

On the National League side, the Dodgers have been in full control of the series. The Dodgers pitching has dominated the Brewers, with Blake Snell starting game 1 and going 8 innings and allowing no runs, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto throwing a complete game and allowing 1 run.

The starting pitching from the Dodgers might be too much for this Brewers offense. They’re starting to drift away from their small ball approach and struggling to put a ball in play and get guys on base. The Brewers struck out 11 times in game 1 and had 2 hits followed by striking out 7 times with 3 hits.

The Dodgers pitching has completely shut down the Brewers thus far. There was a point in the 9th inning of game 1 where the Brewers built a rally and had the bases loaded down 1 run, but 2nd Baseman Brice Turang struck out which ended the game. That loss seemed to take all the wind out of their sails and killed their momentum. It’s going to be very difficult now for the Brewers to bounce back in this series as they now travel on the road to LA for 3 straight games.

Players of the Week:

Pitcher: The pitcher of the week is a tossup between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell, both for the Dodgers, but I think Yamamoto gets the nod here after his complete game gem in game 2.

Yamamoto’s final stat line for the night was 9 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. The only run Yamamoto gave up was leadoff solo shot from Jackson Chourio. After that, it was all Yamamoto.

Yamamoto has been excellent so far in the playoffs, and having a pitcher of his caliber, who I think is a Cy Young caliber starter, is a huge advantage, especially having him as the 2nd man in the starting rotation. Yamamoto’s complete game is the 1st in the postseason since 2017, when Justin Verlander pitched a complete game for the Astros against the Yankees.

Position Player: Kike Hernandez has gotten off to a hot start for the Dodgers in the NLCS, batting .571 with 2 doubles and a walk, while also scoring twice. Kike is an interesting player and has been part of a lot of Dodger playoff runs.

What’s interesting is he doesn’t seem to come alive until the playoffs, almost like he becomes a different player. The Dodgers already have a loaded offense led by Ohtani, Freeman, and Betts, but they now have a player with a hot bat making this offense even more dangerous.

Rookie: Jacob Misiorowski has given manager Pat Murphy and the Milwaukee Brewers 7 quality innings in the playoffs thus far, but last Saturday in game 5 against the Cubs, Misiorowski delivered 4 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 3.

The Brewers and manager Pat Murphy have a lot of trust in this rookie, especially turning to him to relieve the opener who started game 5. I really enjoy watching Misiorowski pitch, he shows a lot of emotion when he’s on the field which sparks the team and fans. Regardless of what happens to the Brewers this October, Misiorowski will play a huge part for this club in the coming seasons.

Wednesday October 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4069

in your lifetime...

Steve in Hunt Valley is a #DMD regular. One of the good guys, I'll say. He was a longtime listener of mine "in the old days" and has been a P1 #DMD guy since August 25, 2014.

We've met several times along the way. He went on a couple of Ravens trips when I helped out with those during my radio days, later went on a couple of Springsteen concert trips with my group at #DMD, and a few years ago he journeyed with us up to Philadelphia to watch the great Jeff Lynne and "ELO".

We're pretty close to the same age, I think. Steve might have me by a year or two.

Over the weekend he sent me a great e-mail asking me to pick just one of the things you're going to see below and "turn it into a reality". It was a cool exercise for a lifelong Baltimore sports fan.

There are five sports events below. Your job is to sift through all five, give them each your consideration, then pick one that actually happens. It's all make believe, obviously, but if you could turn one from fantasy to reality, which one would it be?

#1 - The Blast becomes the Blast again, the MISL becomes the MISL again, and it's indoor soccer in 1984 all over again

DF: This one was a doozy to open with. I mean, the hey-day of the Blast was amazing. We sold out the building 56 straight nights in Baltimore. And those were real, legitimate "sell outs". We never, ever "papered the house" with free tickets. Heck, I worked there and I got two tickets per-game and that was it.

Cleveland was drawing 18,000 a game. So was St. Louis. Kansas City was packing 13,000 into Kemper Arena. San Diego drew great crowds. It was an incredible run for the Major Indoor Soccer League.

In Baltimore, the Civic Center/Baltimore Arena was truly "the place to be seen". Anyone who was anyone had season tickets and was in the building for our home games.

Maybe it was because I was 21 years old and everything in my life was still new and exciting, but that was a crazy time to be involved with the Blast and indoor soccer. For a while there, the Blast were as much of a household name as were the Orioles and Colts.

#2 - The Orioles suddenly put it all together where they rise to the top of the American League for three years in a row, making a World Series in '26 but losing, making another ALCS in '27 but losing, then finally winning the World Series in '28. Sadly, during that time, the Ravens take an incredible dive and finish 5-12, 4-13 and 5-12 over the next three years.

DF: This one hits really close to home because I'm now at the point where I'm starting to say stuff like, "If I can just see ("this happen") before I die, I'll be a happy man." I'm sounding like those old Cubs and Red Sox fans who went their entire lives without seeing a baseball title.

I've seen the Ravens win. I've seen them win a lot, actually. Since 1983, I have a few Orioles highlights and that's really it. And none of them were life-changing or something you'll always hold on to, memory wise. Like, it was awesome to get to the ALCS in 2014, but getting swept by K.C. kind of dampened the whole thing, in my opinion.

I watch these baseball playoffs and get insanely jealous. I watch the World Series every year and just daydream that I'll get to experience that again, sometime soon.

To me, there are few things in sports better than baseball in October. Put on a hoodie and head to the ballpark.

#3 - One of the local golf courses in Baltimore gets a 5-year deal to host a PGA Tour event and in the first one, they give you a spot in the tournament and you get to play.

DF: I'd love to see Baltimore get a PGA Tour event. That would be awesome. I would, however, much prefer my spot in the field go to someone else who is far more competitive than I am at 62 years of age.

But, yes, getting a TOUR event here in Baltimore for the next five years would be awesome. You can see how much the local golf community supports the BMW Championship when it comes to Caves Valley. Everyone wants to be there.

Selfishly, I'd love to see the event land at someplace like Greystone or Pine Ridge, where the course could be stretched out long enough to perhaps give the PGA Tour players a bit of a test. Greystone can play quite long when it's played all the way back. Pine Ridge is pretty land-locked, distance wise. TOUR players would have wedges into every non-par-3 hole on the entire course, which means something like 30 under would win the event.

But, overall, I'd love to see the PGA Tour set up shop in Baltimore, somewhere, anywhere, for the next 5 years.

#4 -- Baltimore builds a new 20,000 seat state of the arena on the site of the current White Marsh Mall and the Wizards move from D.C. to Baltimore.

DF: A new arena? Really? Finally! How cool would it be to have an arena where that mall is right now?

I'd rather have a hockey team than a basketball team, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. Can we call them the Baltimore "Bullets" again or is that probably a bad fit for our great city?

It's kind of amazing to think about it. The downtown arena has been around for 60-plus years. Some major cities have built TWO arenas in the last 60 years. We haven't built ONE.

Just think about what we could do with a new arena. Sports, concerts, college events. How great would that be?

#5 -- The Ravens win the Super Bowl in 2026 and John Harbaugh announces his retirement. Sadly, the O's woes continue and they finish in last place in '26 and '27 before getting back to .500 in 2028.

DF: So we're swapping a Ravens Super Bowl for three bad seasons of Orioles baseball? I want the Ravens to win and all, and I'd love to see Lamar get his ring, but I've seen enough bad baseball.

That said, it's also likely the Orioles are going to be bad anyway. So why not take the Ravens title and be thrilled about it?

So...which one would I turn into a reality?

All of them are awesome.

In the end, it really comes down to #2 and #4. It's either the Orioles winning the World Series in 2028 or the "new" arena going up at the White Marsh Mall and Baltimore getting an NBA team in the process.

I guess if I had the ability to make one of those happen, I'd choose #4, the new arena.

The Orioles success could be fleeting. 3 years of good baseball, followed by who-knows-how-many bad years of baseball? With a new arena, you know it's going to be up and useful for two or three decades, if not more.

And while I'm not a NBA fan, per se, having an NBA team in Baltimore would be really cool.

Oh, and maybe Springsteen or RUSH plays in Baltimore a time or two in the next few years as well.

So, I'd go with #4, myself.

What about you? Use the Comments section below and tell the world which one you'd choose.

Last week during my appearance on Glenn Clark Radio, I talked a bit with former Ravens tight end (and my all-time favorite player/person in the organization) Dan Wilcox about player podcasts and other media appearances during the season.

"I don't like it," Wilcox said during the conversation.

It was refreshing to hear an ex-player say that, because, I, too, don't think it's a smart idea to have your players making regular public commentary about their teammates and other players in the NFL during the season.

Yes, the players get interviewed regularly during the season, either after a game or during "media availability" on Wednesday. But those are controlled environments with team PR people hovering around to make sure nothing gets asked that's too serious or threatening.

I'm talking more about podcasts where the players themselves are creating the content.

Marlon Humphrey is probably the biggest offender within this year's Ravens team. He co-hosts a weekly podcast during the season.

I don't understand why the team even allows it in the first place.

Well, wait, I do understand it. The Players Association has the final say, really, and I'm sure they're not going to give up a revenue-generating possibility for their client(s).

So, the onus goes back on the players, basically. How important is a podcast to Marlon Humphrey? I have absolutely no idea what kind of money Humphrey generates from the podcast, but let's pretend like, somehow, he makes $500 per-week via YouTube and/or other online broadcast portals.

Are you telling me Humphrey thinks $8,000 is more important than whatever potential conflicts he might create within his own team when he makes public commentary about their performance in the most recent game?

My friend Bryan offered this on Monday night when we were discussing the Ravens and I agree: "There's just something wrong...somewhere."

I'm not sure any of us know what it is. But something is off with this Ravens team.

And I'm not suggesting that Marlon Humphrey doing a weekly in-season podcast is the problem within the team. But I am saying that podcasts like that one -- particularly when the host is a key, integral piece of the team -- don't do any good, really, and could wind up hurting the team in the end.

Chemistry and morale in the locker room, in any sport, are huge components of success. There's no Chilton manual at the library for it. It's not something you can buy or rent. It just "happens".

Like Eminem said in Love The Way You Lie, "It's so insane 'cause when it's going good, it's going great, I'm Superman with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane."

When you have great chemistry, your team is Superman with the wind at his back.

I just don't know how good the chemistry can be when you have a player or players, plural, publicly evaluating the performance of other guys on the team.

Oh, and then there's the other part of it. What happens when the guy doing the yapping on his podcast isn't pulling his weight, performance wise, on the field?

It's all kind of a mess, if you ask me.

Tuesday October 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4068

good news, bad news

So, by the time I got into the Ticketmaster website yesterday just after 12 noon, I was number 79,050 "in line" for RUSH tickets.

I assumed that meant I wasn't ever going to get all the way down to zero. I didn't feel like doing the quick math, but it seemed impossible. My only hope is that people would get tired of waiting and drop off.

And that they did.

I made it to 47,000 and some change before the box appeared on my screen -- "only limited tickets remain for all shows" -- which was their way of saying, "Sorry, you're not getting tickets."

The bad news? I didn't get the opportunity to purchase RUSH tickets yesterday.

The good news? A friend of mine somehow did. He started off at 22,000'ish and eventually made it all the way through and was able to purchase four tickets to the Cleveland show in late July. So it looks like I'll get to spend a couple of days in beautiful Cleve-land next summer.

I realize we're in 2025 and all and you can't camp out for tickets these days, but man, those were some fun times laying out overnight in front of Hecht Company circa 1981, huh?

That's how I got 10th row tickets to see Van Halen on the Fair Warning tour. Back then no one was worried about getting robbed or beat up when you slept overnight on the sidewalk at the Mall. Everyone liked one another in those days. Or, at the very least, tolerated each other for the good of humanity.

Oh, and that Fair Warning show was scorching hot. David Lee Roth could still halfway hold a note in 1981 and the band was on fire. As a side note, I always thought Fair Warning was their most underrated album.

If you're going to Cleveland next summer to see RUSH, let me know and maybe we'll have a milkshake or something before the show.

Good News -- John Harbaugh said yesterday that Lamar Jackson is on schedule to return to the field on October 26 when the Ravens host the Bears. I think we all knew and expected to hear that, but you know how it goes with the Ravens and player injuries, right? It goes from "Lamar will be out week-to-week with a hamstring injury" to "Lamar hurt his back while he was rehabbing his hamstring and he'll probably miss another two or three games." Alas, all is well. Lamar will be back on October 19 and the Ravens actually have a chance to win that day.

Bad News -- Pat Ricard hasn't played one minute of football this season and it would appear his return to the field isn't imminent. Even worse, Harbaugh was "concerningly-cryptic" yesterday when someone asked about Ricard and the calf injury and whether Harbaugh expected to see him on the field when they face the Bears on the October 26. "I'm not sure on that one. You'll have to ask Patrick. It's up to him at this point." That is one million percent code word for, "We think he should have already played but he hasn't, so we're kinda done with the whole thing." Not cool.

Good news -- Tiger Woods says he's going to play in TGL this winter and the indoor golf schedule that was released has his Jupiter Links squad pushed back as far as possible to allow Woods to recover from his recent back surgery. The first match of the 2026 campaign actually takes place on December 28 when Atlanta takes on New York in a match televised on ABC instead of The Golf Channel. I went into the 2025 inaugural TGL as a complete skeptic, but the whole thing grew on me as the season carried on. It was good "winter TV viewing" for those of us in cold-climate parts of the country, I thought.

Bad news -- I assume this latest back surgery is as close to "final straw" material as you can get in terms of Tiger's competitive career. I'm not talking about being competitive any longer. Those days are done. I'm talking about just having him hanging around 5 or 6 TOUR events a year, playing in them, maybe making a cut or two and, in general, just still being part of the sport that he helped build over the last 30 years. I spent a couple of days on a golf trip recently with a FCA donor who is also a member at Medalist in South Florida (where Woods plays at home), and he says Tiger can still "play golf" as well as anyone alive. He has two problems. He can't play on back-to-back days and he can't walk the course. When it comes to just hitting golf shots and scoring, he's still as good as ever. But that's only when he can ride in a cart and only when he doesn't have to do it again tomorrow.

Good news -- Kaprizov, Boldy (MIN) and Fiala (LA) all scored last night in the Minnesota-Los Angeles NHL game. I'd go as far as saying that was actually great news. If you know what I mean.

Bad news -- MacKinnon (COL), Couturier (PHI), Larkin (DET) and Reekie (BOS) all scored goals last night. But Point (TAM) did not score a goal. If Point scores last night, ol' Uncle Drew is buying all of you a three-piece suit from Korvettes in Glen Burnie. With a matching pocket handkerchief, even. Bad news is you'll still have to wear what you're wearing.

Good news -- The Ravens should be in pretty good shape to take on the Bears in Baltimore on October 26. They'll have some healthy pieces back in the lineup and, you know the old saying, "you can't lose 'em all".

Bad news -- Chicago beat the Commanders last night, 25-24, and actually looked fairly competent in doing so. More bad news? Chicago can run the football. Like, really well. And unless the Ravens use this bye week to upgrade their defensive line or three or four defensive players on the current roster suddenly get their chakras in line, that contest vs. Chicago might not be quite the Homecoming Game I thought it would be when the schedule was released last April.

Good news -- If you're someone who still pokes holes in your Cito Gaston voodoo doll because of that thing that happened in Baltimore 30 years ago, keep on doing what you're doing because it's working. The Blue Jays got thrashed yesterday, at home again, 10-3 by Seattle, and now trail 2-0 in the American League Championship Series with the teams heading back to the Pacific Northwest for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Bad news -- There might not be much drama in this one. Seattle's pitching is just too good and the Blue Jays pitching staff is pretty much in tatters. A best of 7 that ends in four or five games is fun for no one except the team that wins the four games. When you don't have a dog in the hunt, which I don't in that series, all you really want to see are some Game 7 dramatics or a series that has some incredible finishes along the way. As it stands now, all we might get out of this Mariners-Blue Jays series is a "deciding Game 4".

Good news -- The Orioles are apparently not going to hire a baseball "re-tread" as their next manager. It's not going to be Joe Maddon or Buck Showalter or someone of that ilk. Why do I say that? Well, because if they were going to hire one of those two, they would have done it right away.

Bad news -- You might be getting Rocco Baldelli. So there's that.

Good news -- Navy is now 6-0 in college football, coming off of a thrilling, instant-classic 32-31 win at Temple last Saturday. The Midshipmen are having a great campaign and are in position, perhaps, to play in a reasonably important non-playoff bowl game in December or January. Oh, and from the "great news" file, the Army-Navy game is in Baltimore on December 13.

Bad news -- If you want tickets to the Army-Navy game, it's going to cost you a month's mortgage pretty much. Ticket prices for that one are through the roof. I had no idea 70,000 were that eager to see Army and Navy play football. On a side note and completely unrelated to Good News/Bad News, why is it called Army-Navy and not Navy-Army? It's definitely weird to say "Navy-Army". It just doesn't roll off the tongue the right way, does it? So strange.

Good news -- For the first time in quite a few years, maybe even this decade, there are absolutely no "sure things" in the NFL this season. It's most certainly not a done deal that Kansas City or Buffalo are going to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and there's no telling who it might wind up being in the NFC as well. It could be Denver vs. Seattle at this point. Or Tampa Bay vs. Indianapolis. Like, seriously, who knows?

Bad news -- Boy, if there was ever a year gift-wrapped for the Ravens to make it to the Super Bowl, this, apparently, is it. No one in the AFC is overly dominant. If they could have navigated through those first 6 games at something like 4-2 or even 3-3, the world would be their oyster for the final 11 games of the campaign. They played the 2nd toughest schedule in the entire league in weeks 1-6 and now they play the 27th toughest schedule from now until the end of the season. Only four other teams have ever started the season at 1-5 and made the playoffs. But, you know, maybe there's still a chance...

Good news -- There's a full slate of NHL games tonight for those of you interested in, you know, paying close attention to who scores goals. I'm particularly interested in Draisatl (EDM), Nylander (TOR), Ovechkin (WASH), Caufield (MON) and Eichel (VEG).

Bad news -- One of those five won't score. You just have to leave out the right one. It's hard to do.

Monday October 13, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4067

minor league

I was all set to submit this morning's edition of #DMD last night and give myself a morning off.

I couldn't do it.

I needed a night to rest-and-recover from watching that debacle on Sunday in Baltimore.

Abraham Lincoln used the 24 hour rule when addressing something uncomfortable during his days as the President. He'd write a letter to someone and then leave it on his desk for a day. If he still felt the same way 24 hours later, he'd send off the letter.

I'm not quite 24 hours post-Ravens-loss, but at the very least it's about 12 hours later.

The funny thing, I guess, is I'm not really changing much of anything I wrote yesterday. So, the 24 hour rule worked, even 12 hours later, because I'm OK with what I originally compiled last night in the wake of the Ravens 17-3 loss to the Rams.

Two words sum up the day: Minor league

The Baltimore defense wasn't "horrible" per se, but the Rams conspired to make it look better than it actually was by missing chip-shot field goals, eschewing chip shot field goals and turning the ball over.

Everything else about the game was horrible. It was all very minor league looking.

Coaching, scheming, etc. - Minor League.

Offense - Minor League.

Performance from supposed professional players making a great living playing football - Minor League.

It was dreadful all the way around.

The Rams, believe it or not, were actually ripe for the taking yesterday. If the Ravens get any kind of quarterback play and if Todd Monken is awake throughout all four quarters, the Ravens might have actually won that game.

Instead, only an early Tyler Loop field goal kept Baltimore from getting shut out at home.

If ever a team needed their bye week, it's the Ravens. Lamar Jackson will be rested and ready to go against the Bears in two weeks. Without Lamar, the Ravens have about an 8% chance of winning. With Lamar, they have a 58% chance of winning.

They need their bye and they need Lamar. I'm not suggesting that's going to fix anything or everything. But without Lamar they're finishing 4-13 this season. With him, and with any kind of reasonable performance from the defense (I know...good luck with that), they might get themselves back in the vicinity of .500 by season's end.

And that's only if everything goes perfect for them over the last three months of the season.

Today will be a significant day in Ravens history.

If they're going to make any kind of radical, climate-changing moves with the coaching staff, they will almost assuredly come today.

The most popular thought is that Zach Orr either loses his job completely or somehow suffers an embarrassing in-season demotion of sorts, where Chuck Pagano assumes in-game play calling duties and schematic decisions and Orr is shuttled to "linebackers coach" or some other non-descript position.

It would be very Ravens like for the club to simply promote Pagano and downshift Orr into another role rather than just outright firing him.

Firing people isn't what the Ravens do.

That said, desperate times call for desperate measures and 1-5, even though two of those losses came without Lamar, is most certainly approaching "desperate times".

Since 1970, only four teams have started the season at 1-5 and gone on to make the playoffs. So, while it can be done, it wouldn't appear that the Ravens are in prime position to be the fifth team to make it.

Orr, as fate would have it, oversaw his club's best defensive performance of the last month on Sunday vs. the Rams. Another 40-17 loss would have almost guaranteed his departure. But giving up only 17 points to what was essentially the #2 offense in the league at least gives him hope that parking spot is still at the facility when he arrives this morning.

Sunday's coaching goat wasn't Orr, though. It was Todd Monken. The fiasco near the end of the first half was almost a fireable offense in and of itself.

But Monken will never be judged, fully, for anything that happens when Lamar Jackson isn't the quarterback.

So I can't see anything happening to him today.

That said, I'll go back to the "desperate times" edict I referenced above.

Nothing that happens over there today would totally shock me. Any move, any decision, any firing or staff disruption would not shock me at all.

This is 1-5, yes, but it's also another season of mounting frustration to take into consideration.

At some point, the fabled "straw that broke the camel's back" has to be picked up and placed, right? The only question is, which straw will it be?

It wasn't the listless offensive performance against the Chiefs in the 2023 AFC title game.

It wasn't last January's loss to the Bills in the playoffs.

It wasn't the thrashing at home to the Lions a few weeks ago.

Was yesterday's minor league performance the last straw?

I don't know.

There's also one other thing worth looking at as the Ravens move into the bye week at 1-5: roster compilation.

Who put the team together?

Everyone's quick to single out Eric DeCosta, which is ultimately fair because he's the general manager and likely has the final say in personnel matters.

But the organization also has pro scouts and college scouts who do the grunt work in providing the data and their opinions on who to bring in and who to ignore.

DeCosta, we assume, is the guy who brought in Cooper Rush to serve as a back-up in the event something happened to Lamar Jackson. And while it stands to reason that you're not winning games without Lamar, the 49'ers, for example, won a big divisional road game without Brock Purdy.

The Commanders won a game without Jayden Daniels.

Those are small sample sizes, obviously, and it's true more back-up QB's lose than win, but these last two performances from Cooper Rush were so minor league that minor league called and said "this is bad stuff".

Who decided Cooper Rush was the back-up and gave him $12 million?

Who decided to draft Malaki Starks in the first round, particularly after using your first round pick on another defensive back (Wiggins) the year before?

Now, it's true, DeCosta and his staff also quickly scooped up Derrick Henry in 2024 when most people around the league were hinting that maybe he was on his last legs.

DeCosta and his staff also saw something in Kyle Van Noy that no other teams were seeing.

There's some balance that needs to be applied in this situation just to be completely fair, if nothing else.

But the roster make-up of the Ravens and the salary cap factors that go along with those decisions is concerning to say the least.

Oh, and Lamar's contract (with a cap hit of $74.5M next season) is going to need to be massively restructured in 2026 or they won't have any money to spend on any football players other than him and about five or six other guys.

Jackson's position improves every time they play someone other than him and look like football's version of the Bad News Bears.

I saw someone reference this last night on the internet and while I'm certainly not a subscriber to conspiracy theories, this one is not totally off the wall. When Jackson doesn't play, his price tag only goes up, not down. Knowing he's due for a contract re-work, why on earth would Lamar return to a 1-5 team when he could probably prove his value more by not playing and allowing Rush and Huntley to produce a 3-14 or 4-13 season between them?

I don't think Lamar is that kind of guy. But there's some logic there that can't be ignored.

I also saw someone in the national media yesterday opine that now might be the time for a complete organizational "re-boot" that starts with the GM, filters down to the head coach, and even extends to the overly expensive future Hall of Fame quarterback.

"Just clean them all out," in other words.

I don't see where getting rid of Lamar Jackson can be construed as a "benefit" or "wise move" at all. If you do eventually bring in a new GM or new head coach, getting someone of any value to say "yes" to a Ravens employment offer gets much easier when you remind them they're inheriting Lamar as their starting quarterback.

But I also understand the idea of "starting over", as painful as that might be.

Oh, and don't look now, but it's a virtual guarantee Lamar isn't going to want to stick around for a "re-boot", even if it means he gets his $70 million a year but he's getting his rear-end handed to him every Sunday for the next year or two.

Desperate times.

The Ravens have the better part of two weeks to get this thing back on track.

I think it goes without saying but I'll say it anyway. Assuming Lamar plays, that Bears home game is a 94% "must win" situation for the Ravens. Not for their 2025 record, per se. But for jobs to be retained over the final 10 games of the season.

If the Ravens get a two-week span to prepare for the Bears, at home, and can't produce a win there, that's the tell-all of tell-alls.

That would be the final straw.

around the nfl in 2 minutes

Broncos 13 - Jets 11 -- And English folks thought 1-1 soccer games were boring. This was a complete snoozer from start to finish. The only good thing about it? It didn't end in a tie.

Colts 31 - Cardinals 27 -- As soon as it was announced that Jacoby Brissett was starting in place of Kyler Murray for Arizona, you knew the Cardinals were going to benefit from his return to Indianapolis. Alas, it didn't help, but the final score was much closer than most people expected. Don't look now, but Indy is 5-1.

Chargers 29 - Miami 27 -- If the Chargers wore those uniforms they wore in Miami every game, they'd never lose. Justin Herbert's late game heroics and a last second field goal lifted L.A. to a fairly big win over the Dolphins.

Patriots 25 - New Orleans 19 -- There's always a team, every year, who starts to blossom out of nowhere. Last year it was sorta-kinda Denver with rookie Bo Nix at QB. This year's team is going to be New England. The Patriots are now 4-2 after beating up on hapless New Orleans.

Steelers 23 - Browns 9 -- Cleveland hasn't won a regular season game in Pittsburgh in two decades now. The Steelers are 4-1, but it's a very tepid 4-1. They're not very good. Two of their 4 wins are against the Jets and Browns.

Panthers 30 - Cowboys 27 -- Cowboys gonna Cowboys, right? They somehow gave up 30 points to the Carolina Panthers. Then again, so did Atlanta earlier in the season. Maybe Carolina is better than we think. If so, it's about time.

Seahawks 20 - Jaguars 12 -- Both of these teams are candidate for "Weirdest Squad of the Year". Jacksonville beats K.C., then loses to Seattle. Seahawks are winning games with Sam Darnold of all people. It's a strange, strange league.

Raiders 20 - Titans 10 -- The only question when you look at these two teams is this one: How on earth did Tennessee win a game? Vegas wins, but only because they played the Titans. It's going to be a long season for both of these franchises.

Packers 27 - Bengals 18 -- The Joe Flacco era in Cincinnati starts with a loss, as Green Bay drops the Bengals to 2-4 on the year. One thing for sure: If Joe's still around when Thanksgiving rolls around, that game with the Ravens will be fun.

Buccaneers 30 - 49'ers 19 -- Take a look at Tampa Bay's schedule. There are a couple of varsity games left, but not many. They're 5-1 now and can limp to the finish line at 13-4 or 14-3, maybe. If the Eagles keep struggling and Detroit drops a couple they shouldn't along the way, the NFC is going to go through Tampa Bay in January.

Chiefs 30 - Lions 17 -- It wasn't quite a "must win" situation for Kansas City last night, but it was close. They're now 3-3 and have played the meatiest part of their schedule already. Detroit falls to 4-2 but is still the class of the NFC North.

Sunday October 12, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4066

today we don't love l.a.

I will admit, when Freddie Freeman hit the walk-off grand slam last year to beat the Yankees in a World Series game in Los Angeles, the immediate blaring of "I Love L.A." by Randy Newman as he rounded the bases was an incredibly moving moment.

I mean, he wasn't even at third base yet and there was Freeman, arms in the air, swaying them back and forth to Newman's awesome tune.

It doesn't hurt that Chavez Ravine is the best baseball stadium on the planet, either. That, along with Freeman's personal issues with his child last summer, and then that game-winning grand salami against the Yankees. It was just a "wow!" moment I won't forget.

But.....

I don't really want to love L.A. today here in Baltimore.

In fact, today we don't love L.A. Do we?

The Rams are in town to drive the first nail (or is it the second nail?) into the Ravens 2025 coffin. A Los Angeles win today drops Baltimore to 1-5. And while a loss won't mark the end of their season or anything, it will give John Harbaugh's team very little wiggle room over the last 11 games of the regular season.

As we noted here yesterday, the potential arrival of wet weather during the morning hours and then sticking around throughout the game might help the Ravens calm down an otherwise potent L.A. offense. On the flip side, the wet weather could also hinder a Ravens offense that will be without Lamar Jackson for a second straight week.

There's no way of knowing exactly how the weather is going to impact the game, but the thought here is bad weather helps Baltimore more than it helps Los Angeles.

Someone in the Comments section referenced the Giants shocker over the Eagles on Thursday night. And while I always subscribe to the "anything can happen" theory, I don't think there's much of a real comparison between that Thursday game and this one today in Baltimore.

This Ravens team is really hurting defensively. And that's saying something, because they were already lousy on defense before they lost several key players to injury and before trading away Odafe Oweh this week.

There's a chance the Ravens can score some points today as long as Cooper Rush doesn't give the ball to the other team two or three times. If Derrick Henry has a big day of 100-plus yards and the Baltimore offense can control the clock a little bit -- well, then, who knows, right?

The challenge will be in stopping the Rams when they have the ball.

Look, I didn't see 44-10 coming last week against Houston. I thought, even without Lamar and the injured players, that the Ravens wouldn't roll over quite that easily.

So I'm back this week to say --------- the very same thing.

I just don't see them getting roasted for a second straight week at home. Will the Ravens win? I don't see that.

But will it still be a one-score game in the 4th quarter? Yes, at some point in the final 15 minutes, I think it will be.

I think it's 24-20 Rams heading into the 4th quarter and then L.A. connects on a field goal to make it 27-20. The Ravens somehow tie the game with 5 minutes remaining at 27-27.

But Los Angeles puts together an impressive final drive and gets the ball all the way down to the Baltimore 12 yard line, settling for a 30 yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining to pull out a 30-27 victory over the Ravens.

I'm going with my intuition today which says the Ravens won't get clobbered for a second straight week in their own building. There has to be some degree or real pride in that locker room that won't allow for a second consecutive thrashing at home.

I hope I'm wrong about the final score. I'd love to see the Ravens pull this one off today. But more than anything, I think we all just want to see some fight in them today, that's all.

As long as the Ravens don't just roll over and let the Rams have their way with them, I think most of us can handle just a "simple" defeat to a healthier, better team.

Last night's deciding Game 5 in the NLDS wasn't quite as thrilling as Friday's instant classic in Seattle, where the Mariners eliminated Detroit in the longest deciding game ever in MLB history, but it was still a good one nonetheless.

Instant classic in Milwaukee on Saturday evening? Eh, I wouldn't go that far. But the Brewers' 3-1 win over Chicago was still a good one to watch, with pitching again dominating the landscape as both teams combined for just ten hits on the night.

Here's a fun fact that might win you a free adult beverage someday down the road: Name the only 3-1 playoff baseball game to ever have all four runs scored via a solo home run.

October 11, 2025 in Milwaukee. Three solos for the Brew Crew and a solo shot for the Cubs.

What would also make that game much more memorable would have been, let's say, if you had Contreras, Vaughn and Turang all having at least 2 total bases and 1 RBI each in the game. Man, if you would have had that 3-way parlay for, say $25, and it would have hit. You would definitely remember that game, right?

Playoff baseball is something else.

So are those deciding Game 5's.

We got two good ones, one in each league.

And tonight is Game 1 of the ALCS between the Mariners and Blue Jays.

Well, we can probably start using "Terps gonna Terps" around here if you're so inclined. Yesterday was yet another heartbreaking home loss by Maryland, this time to Nebraska, 34-31.

Maryland led in the second half, 31-24, then went into another fourth quarter tailspin, losing at home yet again after giving up a bunch of points in the final 15 minutes.

Last week the Terps fell at home in wild fashion to Washington, giving up 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Yesterday the 'Huskers scored 10 points in the final quarter to win.

Terps gonna Terps.

All of those good vibes after that road win at Wisconsin have been completely wiped away by the two home losses.

When's men's basketball start again? Soon, hopefully.

nfl week six, around the horn

Broncos (3-2) at Jets (0-4) -- This one's in England, which is kind of fitting. The weather over there in London is probably drab and dreary, just like the Jets. These international games are super-weird, but it feels like Denver should roll in this one. We'll go Broncos by 13 in a 30-17 final.

Cardinals (2-3) at Colts (4-1) -- The Cardinals are definitely the Cardinals again this season. They win a couple they shouldn't and then lose a few they shouldn't. Indianapolis, meanwhile, looks like the real deal. Colts win easy today, 34-24.

Chargers (3-2) at Dolphins (1-4) -- If L.A. has anything under the hood at all, they go into Miami and win this game today. The Dolphins are terrible. That said, I'm not sure the Chargers are legit, either. But they have to win this one today, right? L.A. 23 - Miami 19.

Patriots (3-2) at Saints (1-4) -- Geez, this one has "Game of the Week" written all over it, huh? That said, New England is starting to give off the appearance they might be a semi-real-deal this year. Can they get to 9 wins and possibly make the post-season? A win today would certainly go a long way in helping them do that. Patriots 26 - Saints 16

Browns (1-4) at Steelers (3-1) -- This is precisely the kind of game the modern-day Steelers figure out a way to lose. Cleveland comes in, terrible, no quarterback, and so on, yet somehow wins. Alas, I think Aaron Rodgers is too good, even in the December of his career, to let that happen. It will be close until the 4th quarter, but Pittsburgh pulls away and wins 33-19.

Cowboys (2-2-1) at Panthers (2-3) -- I don't know about this one. I can honestly see this going either way. Dallas isn't very good and I think Carolina is getting better. We'll go with the home team on a last second FG, 22-20.

Seahawks (3-2) at Jaguars (4-1) -- Something has to give in this one. I think Seattle's pretty good and I'm not sure Jacksonville is as good as they've looked. But beating K.C., albeit at home, must mean they're better than advertised and, so, we'll roll with them for one more week. Jags win in an instant classic, 34-31.

Titans (1-4) at Raiders (1-4) -- Can't believe they didn't flex this one to Sunday Night. This definitely could win the award for least watched NFL game of 2025. I can't see the Raiders coughing up an automatic win. Then again, I didn't see the Cardinals doing that last week, either. Las Vegas 26 - Tennessee 21.

Bengals (2-3) at Packers (2-1-1) -- There's no way Joe Flacco goes into Green Bay and wins in his Bengals debut, right? Green Bay wouldn't let that happen. I don't see how Cincy can keep the Packers from scoring. And this is Joe Flacco in the December of his career. And that Joe isn't all that good. Packers win 31-23.

49'ers (4-1) at Buccaneers (4-1) -- OK, now we have a "real" game here for everyone to enjoy. If the injury-riddled 49'ers go into Tampa Bay and win, that's very impressive. It's not going to happen, though. Bucs win this one on a last second FG, 27-24.

Lions (4-1) at Chiefs (2-3) -- Could K.C. actually fall to 2-4? Sure could. If Detroit goes into the home of Patrick Mahomes and leaves with a win, we'd have to annoint them "best team in the NFL" at this point, right? I just can't see the Chiefs losing and falling to 2-4. But this Lions team is really good. We'll go with Detroit, a little bit against our judgement, 30-26.

Bills (4-1) at Falcons (2-2) -- A good one for Monday Night Football. Buffalo looking to bounce back from what was a pretty embarrassing loss to New England and Atlanta trying to show they're for real. Bills aren't losing two straight. Buffalo wins 31-20.

Bears (2-2) at Commanders (3-2) -- A Monday night thriller in DC? The Bears return to the scene of their disaster a year ago, where they had the game won until the last second Hail Mary throw that beat them. Chicago's better than they were a season ago, but they're not going into Washington and beating this Commanders squad. D.C. wins easily 29-13.

Saturday October 11, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4065

can we say...instant clas --

I saw the headline this morning, after getting a whole 5 hours of freakin' sleep, and had to laugh.

Those creeps at ESPN.com had the audacity to make it one of their featured headlines.

Mariners reach ALCS after Game 5 instant classic win over Tigers

It wasn't "instant", you dummies.

The game took 15 innings to complete. I started watching it at 8 pm and was still awake at 1 am. There was certainly nothing "instant" about that.

Alas, I understand the definition of "instant classic" and that one, I suppose, met the criteria.

I thought for sure, without question, poor Jack Flaherty was going to wind up being the goat for the Tigers when he came in to pitch the 13th inning. But Flaherty battled his way through two innings, doing his Mark Fidrych impersonation along the way, talking to himself after every pitch and looking completely scared to death to be out there.

Seattle won the game off of former Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle, who loaded the bases and then had Jorge Polanco at 3 and 2 when he delivered the pitch that would end the longest deciding game in Major League Baseball playoff history. Polanco ripped a single into right field and that was that -- an instant classic had been delivered.

Both teams had gobs of chance earlier in the extra frames. Detroit had the bases loaded once and couldn't do anything with it. They had a runner on second with no one out and couldn't push a go-ahead run across. The Mariners had runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out two times and couldn't score.

The game had everything you could want, except for runs scored.

Tarik Skubal fanned 13 Seattle batters and was his usual fierce, dominant self. He allowed one run.

George Kirby was almost as good for the Mariners. He only struck out six Detroit hitters, but kept Seattle in the game long enough for the A.L. West champs to eventually reach just their 4th ALCS ever and first since 2001.

Playoff baseball is amazing sometimes. It's not quite as good as the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it can get right up there and cuddle next to it some nights.

A couple of instant classics every October always remind us why it's painful to not have your team in the post-season.

So it's official now, the Ravens will be without Lamar Jackson tomorrow when they take on the Rams in soggy Baltimore.

Maybe the rain that's supposed to reach the area late in the afternoon will pop in a few hours earlier and slow things down for the Rams and their offense. If you're trying to come up with a way the Ravens can upset Los Angeles, I assume "it pours the rain and no one can hold on to the ball" is one of your ways.

I don't think it's going to matter.

Sure, logic says if it's raining that should slow things down. But you're talking about the #2 ranked passing offense in all of football coming to town. I don't think they're suddenly going to become the New York Jets if it's wet in Baltimore on Sunday.

L.A.'s rushing offense is ranked 21st in the NFL, which is right about where Houston was ranked when they came to town last week and roasted the Baltimore defense for 44 points.

Against the run, L.A. is 10th in the league, allowing roughly 93 yards per-game.

Nothing about Sunday's game is setting up well for the Ravens and their injury-riddled team. It looks like Kyle Hamilton will be back, which will certainly help a little bit, but I'm sure Sean McVay is working hard to figure out a way to keep his offense out of Hamilton's vision.

Under normal conditions, I think you'd be looking at another 40-20 loss tomorrow.

I'm clinging to anything I can, though, to create a scenario where the Ravens make a game of it. I'll go with rainy, crappy weather limiting with the Rams can do offensively and the Ravens somehow being able to run the ball well in a 20-13 shocking upset in Charm City.

That's a wild, out-of-the-box dream, of course. I don't think the Ravens are winning the game 20-13. I just can't see a way around what appears to be a thrashing tomorrow in Baltimore.

The only plan for tomorrow is "Don't get any new injuries, get Lamar and other key players healthy over the bye week, come back strong and beat the Bears and Dolphins, then see where things stand when you're 3-5 at the trade deadline".

I don't see any other way to deal with it.

Take your "L" like a man, regroup, and move on to the Bears in two weeks.

The Baltimore-Washington sports scene lost a good man yesterday when Craig Heist passed away.

Heist, a Kenwood High School graduate, has served in a number of media-related capacities over the last three decades, working mainly in Washington D.C. but regularly covering the Baltimore teams as part of his duties for various wire service networks, ESPN, MLB Network and the NFL Network.

Craig was 66 years old when he died in his sleep on Thursday night.

Everyone in Baltimore (and D.C.) media has a Craig Heist story or two to share. Some have a lot of more of them depending on the length of time you spent around him. He was opinionated, as most media folks tend to be, and he wasn't afraid to tell you that your side of the story was the wrong one if that's what he thought.

But he was also a champion of anyone who was getting into the broadcasting/media industry and would always go out of his way to welcome the new guy or gal into the press box. That was probably one of his best attributes. He wanted people to be comfortable and not feel out of place.

Heist could go into any press box or media setting and fit in seamlessly. If he didn't know you when his pressbox seat was next to yours, he knew you by the time the game ended.

He was not a fan of our "Free The Birds" campaign at the old radio station.

By complete happenstance, we got onto an elevator together at the baseball stadium a month or so before the infamous protest game against the Tigers.

"What are you guys doing?" he said to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What are you guys doing with this Free The Birds bulls**t?," Heist asked me. "All you're going to do is get Peter to hate you guys more than he already does."

Some folks would have tiptoed around the question a little more delicately but not Craig. I liked that about him. Direct and to the point.

We chatted for a minute or two when we got off the elevator. He thought we were doing the wrong thing but he never treated me any differently because of that.

Five years later at a Ravens game, we again just happened to be at a pre-game dining table together when a third party media person started poking fun at the owner of the radio station where I was working.

I took up for the owner and ruffled a feather or two along the way with the other guy at the table but I didn't care.

When he left in a huff, Heist said to me, "Good for you. I don't really like your boss, either, so you put us both in our place there."

I didn't see much of Craig Heist over the last decade or so, but I managed to bump into him at a Capitals game a few years ago and he was as friendly as ever. It was like we were old, fast friends.

Craig Heist will be missed.

Here's one final piece of clean-up-duty for golfers out there who also happen to be fans of "The King", Arnold Palmer.

You are doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't get up to Latrobe CC sometime in the future to play the course and enjoy a meal or two at the club.

I got a much better feel for the course itself yesterday on our final day of the trip. I wouldn't call the course "spectacular", but I would say it's incredibly memorable and has a number of holes you won't soon forget.

And I can say this for sure: If you can post a good score at Latrobe CC, you can post a good score just about anywhere.

I say this all the time about a golf course. You know it's special when you can play it once and remember, very distinctly, some or all of the holes.

I can take you through the entire course at Latrobe CC and I only played it twice. Nearly every hole has something about it that's easy to remember.

As I wrote here yesterday, Latrobe CC is a private club, but you can play and dine there if you purchase one of their "Stay and Play" packages, which gets you golf and lodging in one of the three homes Palmer lived in at various points of his life adjacent to the golf course.

Latrobe is roughly 3 hours plus-a-little from Baltimore. On the way out there or on the way home, you can stop at the 9-11 memorial in Shanksville, PA, which is about 30 minutes south of Latrobe.

We went from 2025 to 1975 in a flash once we arrived at Latrobe CC on Thursday. Thousands of pictures of Arnold at various points in his life are all over the place. His trophies and medals are in glass cases. Many of the staff members at the club have been there for decades and all knew "Mr. Palmer" (that's what everyone calls him, even now) and have a story or two of their own to tell about The King.

If you're a golfer and you're a fan of golf history and the career of one of the all-time greats of the sport, get yourself up to Latrobe CC sometime in the future. It's a "must do" trip.

Friday October 10, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4064

philly wants a mulligan

You can't lose 'em all unless you lose on opening night. Am I right?

1 down and 81 to go up there in Philadelphia.

The Flyers dropped their '25-26 opener, 2-1, in Florida on Thursday evening, sparking a wild celebration in nearly every other NHL city. Everyone wants to see the Flyers lose.

Sports wise, it wasn't a great day in The City of Brotherly Love yesterday.

The Eagles got thumped by the Giants, of all teams, 34-17. That's two straight losses now for the defending champs.

And the Phillies were eliminated from the playoffs in 11 innings by the Dodgers, 2-1, in Los Angeles.

The NBA season hasn't started yet, so the 76'ers couldn't complete that snazzy four-pack of Philly losses on Thursday.

That said, I don't really care what the Eagles or Phillies do.

But seeing the Flyers lose on opening night and knowing there's a chance, slim as it might be, that they go 0-82-0 this season is more than enough for me.

Speaking of Pennsylvania, I checked one off of my bucket list yesterday when I teed it up at the home of Arnold Palmer, Latrobe CC, about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh.

We're heading back out this morning for one more round on Arnie's famed layout, then driving home to Charm City after lunch.

My group is staying in two homes that Arnold lived in during various points of his life growing up in Latrobe. It's like you're actually living in 1975 again. Both homes are in their original condition and most of the furniture and decor reflects a 1970's look.

If you're around my age and grew up in the 1970's, it definitely feels like you've slipped back in time 50 years. You can just imagine Sunday family dinners in the Palmer house followed by 9 holes of golf later in the day.

There are hundreds of pictures of Arnold on the walls as well as books and other literature describing his incredible career and life at Latrobe CC.

Palmer holds the course record at Latrobe at 60. Having played it once, now, I can only marvel at that score. The course is very tight, the greens are super small and you have to "golf your ball", as they say, just to have a chance to make 12 pars, let alone 12 birdies.

While Latrobe CC is private, it's also available to the general public via a "Stay and Play" package that you can purchase. Those available dates are limited, obviously, since there are only three houses on the property you can stay in, but if you and your golfing friends want an incredible golf experience that's a short drive from Baltimore, give Latrobe CC a chance to impress you.

Oh, and here's a fun fact. It's not pronounced Luh-trobe. It's apparently pronounced Lay-trobe. At least that's what our server at dinner told us last night. I had no idea. I've always heard it pronounced Luh-trobe. Anyway, if you want to sound like you know what you're talking about, call it Lay-trobe Country Club.

One of the constant discussions amongst all of us from Baltimore on the golf trip has been the Ravens and what happens to them if this 1-4 start tailspins into something 2-6 or 3-5 at the trade deadline (November 4).

I'm still of the mindset that you don't even think about that question until after the Dolphins game on Thursday, October 30.

But in football -- or any sport, really -- you have to at least be thinking ahead a little bit to what you might want to do if things go sideways in a hurry.

According to Spotrac, among the Ravens unrestricted free agents at the end of the season are Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Tyler Linderbaum, DeAndre Hopkins, Travis Jones, Kyle Van Noy and Tylan Wallace.

If those names are accurate, I think I'm fairly safe in saying all seven of them can move on if the Ravens are 2-6 at the deadline. At that point, I'd say the playoffs are an incredible longshot. At 3-5, you might have to think about it a little more.

Now, looking at 2026 and beyond, I can say, for sure, the Ravens are going to want to figure out a way to keep Likely and Linderbaum if that's possible. Wallace has been useful along the way as a reasonably priced receiver and special teams guy, so he might be a player you'd like to keep as long as someone doesn't offer him something goofy and drive up his asking price.

There's also the other train of thought, which is to make "everyone" available (except obviously Lamar and Derrick Henry) and see if you can bilk a playoff-chasing team out of something good at the deadline.

Those deals are easier said than done because the salary cap has to be considered, but in the end the Ravens would be wise to just send out a blanket e-mail and say "Make us an offer on everyone..."

Now, do I want to get rid of Zay Flowers or Rashod Bateman? Not really. They're keepers. But if you're going to play at the $500 a hand table, you have to be willing to take a gamble or two.

All of this obviously hinges somewhat on the result from this Sunday's home game with the Rams and then the Bears (October 26) and Dolphins game four days later. I'm going to assume Lamar isn't playing this Sunday and that Los Angeles is going to win by the same general score we saw last Sunday in Baltimore.

But if Lamar's healthy and ready to go, 100%, by the Chicago game, that should be a win for the Ravens, lousy defense and all. The Dolphins game on the 30th might be a challenge because it's Thursday night, on the road, but Lamar generally mans-up for those trips to South Florida.

There will be a huge difference between 2-6 and 3-5 heading into the trade deadline.

You never give up on a season until the "hay is in the barn" as someone in town likes to say, but you also have to be proactive and realistic at the same time and, occasionally, that might mean punting on the current season with the intention of helping yourself in the following season (or two).

That might mean Mark Andrews and DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Jones have to finish out the 2025 season in different uniforms than the purple one they'll be wearing this Sunday.

faith in sports

Sometimes we watch sports and forget the simple fact that the athletes we're seeing are human beings.

The things they do, athletically, are sometimes so mind boggling that it's easy to forget they're just like us.

They make mistakes. They say things they shouldn't. They do things they're ashamed of. They're mortal, just like everyone else God created.

But that's also why it's so great to see athletes at the professional and college level share their faith and testimony with the rest of "the great unwashed". It reminds us they are like the rest of us. They're looking for fellowship and faith and security.

That's why the 11 minute video below is so awesome.

It's a snapshot of men and women we otherwise consider to be "different", because of their extraordinary athleticism, not being different at all. They're praying just like us, asking for God's wisdom just like us and trying to connect their faith to their life just like us.

The video below is so awesome. I hope it helps you start your Friday off on the right track.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment here every Friday.

Thursday October 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4063

(a lot of) you guys are nuts

Yes, you read that headline correctly.

A lot of you guys are nuts.

But that's OK. Seriously, it's very much OK.

If you're one of those soapbox-weirdos who claims you're not going to try and obtain a ticket to see RUSH next year because "RUSH isn't RUSH if Neil's not on the drum kit", I totally applaud you. And I'm happy. Very......happy.

With you authoring your silly boycott, that's one less person I have to fight with when the tickets go on sale. So, by all means, stay away. Far, far away.

Moreover, if you're someone who wasn't a RUSH fan in their heyday and you don't "get it" and blah, blah, blah, now is definitely not the time for you to suddenly start listening to A Farewell to Kings or Hemispheres or Moving Pictures. Trust me, if you didn't like Geddy, Alex and Neil in 1995, you're not going to like them in 2025.

Is "YYZ" going to sound different without Neil playing the drums? For sure. Will "Red Barchetta" be the same with a new drummer back there? No, it will not be the same.

That's why you should stay away. You've already decided it's not going to be as good as the original. So just save your hard-earned dough.

Now, let's settle a couple of things about the RUSH tour.

It's going to be amazing. Ten years later, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, back together, on stage, playing the music a lot of us grew up with once upon a time.

I saw some nitwit on the internet announce he wasn't going to the show because "Geddy and Alex looked really old" during the YouTube announcement of their tour plans. "Two old men trying to sing and play music," he wrote. "I think I'll pass."

Ummmmm, news flash there dopey: You're also 10 years older today than you were in 2015 when Geddy and Alex stepped away after Neil Peart's death.

Another loon remarked he wasn't going because he hated to see the two band members "sell out" and chase the money.

If you're goofy enough to think that Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are doing it "for the money" or in some way are desperately "in need of money", you need to stop day-drinking. You can't handle your booze.

Neither of them are broke. Far from it, in fact. Geddy already joked earlier this week during an interview that he and Alex have a claim to fame in that both of them "still have the first dollar we ever made". They're both more than fine when it comes to money, with reported net worth of approximately $45 million each.

And that's not to be confused with the fact that they are going to get paid next year and deserve to get paid, handsomely, for this recently announced 2026 tour.

They don't need the money. They might not even want the money. But they're certainly not going to do a national tour free of charge, nor should they.

Four years ago, a regional golf organization approached me to help them upgrade their junior golf program.

We met over dinner in Little Italy and they lauded my (very) modest amateur golf career and my (very) modest success with the Calvert Hall golf program.

They bought a nice bottle of wine and did their best to impress me.

"You're exactly the guy we need to get this program to the next level," they said. "You check all of the boxes for us."

"I'd love to be a part of it," I said. "Make me an offer and let's figure out how to get me involved."

I didn't "need" their money, per se. I wasn't even running around looking for another "gig" to keep me busy. They approached me, after all. But I wasn't doing it free of charge, either.

In the end, they wanted me to work cheaply and I felt I was way more valuable than that so it never happened. It wasn't about the money, but money did matter because, I thought, my value to them was worth something.

If you called me tomorrow and said, "I'm a 15 handicap and I'd like to learn how to shoot in the 70's, will you teach me?", I most certainly would do that. But it wouldn't be free. You'd have to fork over something to Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, the FCA junior program I help run or the Calvert Hall golf program I coach.

I don't "need" your $150. But my time's worth something and as long as you're willing to donate to one of the causes that's near and dear to my heart, I'm good.

On the flip side, all of you have, I'm sure, either donated your time, talent or treasure to something you believe in during your life. I worked a one-week golf camp last summer at Liberty University and didn't get a nickel for it. That was my call. The organization hosting the event (FCA) has done enough for me that I needed to do something for them.

Money plays a weird part in our lives because we need it, yet we don't really need nearly as much as we think we do.

This isn't about me, per se. You might have a similar story or two from your life. A rival company wanted to pry you away at one point and you entertained it because you had a family to support and mortgages and bills to pay.

We've all gone through something "money driven" in our lives. Sometimes it's not really about the money and sometimes it is.

In almost every case where money comes into play, it's generally because the person receiving it or asking for it has, in fact, "earned it".

The two remaining members of RUSH definitely deserve their good fortune. Whatever they get next year from the tour, they most certainly have earned it.

Oasis just went through the same thing after 15 years of fighting and bickering with one another. At some point, they wanted to be musicians again. But they weren't going to do it free of charge. Why should the two Gallagher brothers pack 80,000 seat stadiums and not get paid?

And because at one point in their respective lives they teamed up to produce some amazing music that was enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, they capitalized on that past success with their summer of 2025 tour.

Were they sellouts for taking upwards of $11 million per stadium show? Not at all. They got what they got because that's what their market allowed for and that's what they earned.

I have no idea what RUSH will get per-indoor-arena-show next year but I have to assume it's somewhere around $2 million per-night.

They should get that. They're RUSH, one of the greatest bands in the modern history of music.

But it's not about the money. Even if it were, who cares? Lamar Jackson gets $52 million a year. You know why? Because he's Lamar Jackson. He didn't "settle" for $20 million annually. He took what he got because that's what he deserved.

RUSH is going back out to play music because it's in their DNA.

My guess? They're touring again out of a mixture of boredom, joy, friendship, paying homage to an old friend and, mainly, settling a score they left unfinished when their best buddy passed away a decade ago.

There was an interview 15 years ago or so when Bruce Springsteen turned 60 in which CBS broadcaster Ed Bradley threw this question at the Boss: "You're 60 now. You've been doing this for a long, long time. And yet you just announced a 14-month, 260 night tour where you and the band will travel all over the world again to play your music. So the obvious question is...why are you still doing it?"

Springsteen was quick with the answer because, no doubt, he'd asked himself that very same question at age 50, 55 and, now, 60.

"What the f**k else am I going to do?" he said.

When you listen to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson talk about why they're doing the 50-Something tour, what jumps out at you is the very same theme that Springsteen told to Ed Bradley.

The two founding members of RUSH have realized that playing music and making music -- their music -- is what they do. It's how they got to be what they became, which is "BFF's" as Geddy says with a laugh.

Geddy has said when Neil passed away, they didn't think they could go back on stage without him. But time is the great healer. And a year or so ago, they both realized not only could they do it, they actually wanted to do it.

A lot of people have opined they're doing it for Neil. That's really not the case. At least not the way I see it. They're doing it for themselves.

Sure, they're going to honor Neil on the tour and in each show, but they're going back out there to finish the business they started 50 years ago.

Neil's untimely passing meant RUSH didn't get to go out on their terms.

There aren't many things in life worse than that, in my opinion. When you've poured your heart into something and it's abruptly stripped from you, the worst thing about it is you didn't get to decide how it all came to a close.

I'm going to be there, by hook or by crook, to see at least one of those shows.

That Neil Peart isn't there will take some getting used to, and it might feel weird for a song or three, but just like when Brian Johnson stepped in for Bon Scott in AC/DC, the bet here is it won't take long for "new RUSH" to settle in and sound great.

You're talking about Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, remember.

Two of the greatest musicians God ever gifted to us.

My hunch is they're going to be awesome, like they were the 22 times I've seen them in my life.

And I'm going to be there. Somehow.

But by all means, I think you should stay home and miss the show. I agree with your stand that it won't be worth seeing.

There's no need to jam up the ticket sale phone lines. Just stay home and save your $100 for a rainy day. Please.

---

This will undoubtedly come across like I'm chirping at the WNBA again, but I'm not. I'm digging at the goofs who run ESPN's website.

Throughout Wednesday evening, ESPN.com's "top live story" was the WNBA Finals between (I'm not sure) and (I couldn't tell you). I do know it was Game 3. I think.

Meanwhile, at the same time they were showing the WNBA score as their "top live story" (known in the newspaper world as "above the fold"), the Cubs and Brewers were locked in a playoff thriller, followed an hour later by the Blue Jays and Yankees in New York.

In what world -- other than Bizarro-Land -- would anyone think to give a WNBA game more preferential treatment than a playoff baseball game?

And, again, this is NOT solely about the WNBA. If the folks at ESPN.com would have featured the Capitals/Bruins season-opener ahead of the Blue Jays/Yankees Game 4, I would have said that decision, as well, was idiotic.

But at least a Capitals/Bruins feature would have been (somewhat) understandable given that people in the U.S. actually know what the Boston and Washington hockey teams are called.

Take 100 people randomly selected and ask how many consider themselves "sports fans".

Let's pretend it's 81.

Tell the other 19 to leave and then take the 81 sports fans and say, "Name three hockey players."

One of the three they name will almost certainly be Alex Ovechkin.

Ask those same 81 people to name three teams in the WNBA. Or three players.

Somehow, the folks at ESPN.com don't do that mythical exercise when they're deciding what to cover, where to place it, etc.

But the fascination with the WNBA is what I can't understand. And that's not to say the WNBA should be ignored. It's a sport, it deserves coverage.

That said, on the same night the Blue Jays and Yankees are playing a playoff baseball game, a WNBA game -- playoff, Finals, or not -- has zero business being featured more prominently than what was going on last night in the Bronx.

Even this morning, at just after 5:00 am, the "above the fold" feature is the WNBA Game 3. ESPN.com is trying to tell you the WNBA game was more important than the Blue Jays/Yankees game or Phillies/Dodgers game.

It's beyond strange to me.

The whole thing seems like someone might be trolling.

Speaking of that Blue Jays - Yankees series, they weren't playing "New York, New York" after last night's 5-2 thrashing that ended the Bronx Bombers' season.

Toronto coughed up a 6-1 lead on Tuesday night in losing Game 3.

That didn't happen last night, though. They went up 4-1 in the 7th, tacked on a run in the 8th, then wiggled out of a dangerous bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the 8th inning.

New York produced a mild 9th inning rally but no one was ever worried that Aaron Boone's team might pull a rabbit out of their hat for a second straight night.

New York started Cam Schlittler, who mowed down the Red Sox in the 3rd and final game of the Wild Card series. He wasn't terrible last night, by any means, but he wasn't able to wheel-and-deal with the Jays the way he did with Boston last weekend.

Toronto went with the "bullpen game" to get the job done, as their injury riddled starting rotation wasn't able to step up in Game 4.

It didn't matter.

The New York bats were quiet and the Toronto bats were lively.

The result? The Jays are headed to the American League Championship Series, where they will face the winner of the Detroit/Seattle Game 5 showdown.

The Yankees? They're heading to the golf course. If they need advice on how to book tee times, the Flyers can help them out.

And don't look now, but the Blue Jays are starting to look like a team of destiny.

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

We’re starting to get deep into October baseball as the divisional series' are nearing an end as we prepare for the Championship Series in the American and National Leagues.

One thing that has surprised me in the Divisional Series in both leagues is how well the teams with a first round bye have played so far.

The Brewers look good thus far and are now up 2-1 on the Cubs, while Toronto looked strong in winning their series against the Yankees.

The Mariners have played well against the Tigers after dropping game 1. They rebounded nicely, earning a win against Tarik Skubal in game 2 and capitalizing on a crucial error in game 3 to win that game and take a 2-1 lead.

But the Tigers bounced back to win Game 4, setting up a 5th and decisive game back in Seattle.

I had little faith in this Blue Jays team given they would be out 2 of their best starting pitchers as well as Bo Bichette, the Blue Jays star shortstop, but they dominated the Yankees in the first 2 games.

Starting pitching was going to be an issue for the Blue Jays. They were fortunate and got phenomenal starts from Kevin Gassman and rookie Trey Yesavage in games 1 & 2. Shane Bieber started game 3 and is still not fully built up as he had Tommy John surgery last year and made his 1st appearance this season in late August.

Bichette will have a good chance of returning in the ALCS as he’s considered day to day with a knee injury. Jose Berrios, the Blue Jays number 3 starter, will not be available this postseason which is a big loss.

As for the Phillies, it looked like they were done for this year as the Dodgers headed home for last night's Game 3 up 2-0.

Los Angeles mixed timely hitting with some incredible play in the field to win those first two games in Philly.

The defense the Dodgers showed in the 9th inning in game 2 was unbelievable. The Phillies were down by 3 when Nick Castellanos hit a 2 RBI double to bring the Phillies within 1 run, then the next batter attempted a bunt down the 3rd base line where the 3rd baseman charged in and the shortstop, Mookie Betts, beat the Phillies baserunner, Nick Castellanos, in a footrace to 3rd base and got there in time to tag Castellanos out.

Later on in the inning, Freddie Freeman made a great pick at 1st base from a throw by 2nd baseman Tommy Edman that short hopped him, which ended the ballgame.

This Dodgers team looks like the best team in the postseason in my opinion. With Clayton Kershaw set to retire at the end of the season, this feels similar to when the Ravens and Ray Lewis had his “last ride.”

This is Kershaw’s last ride, and the Dodgers are playing arguably their best baseball here in October.

Philadelphia did get back into the series last night, though, with a resounding 8-2 win to trim L.A.'s lead to 2-1.

The one team that can knock out the Dodgers is the Brewers. The Brewers came out of the gates red hot and are playing as if they’re trying to prove a point. The Brew Crew haven’t advanced in the Postseason since 2018, and have made 5 appearances since then.

We’ve talked about how good this Brewers team can play and that when they’re playing well, they can go on long winning streaks like they did multiple times in the regular season.

Their offense, when hot, is like a buzzsaw that will clear anything in its path. Even with the Dodgers elite starting rotation, if the Brewers are hot, look out.

Players of the Week --

Pitcher: In Game 3 of the ALDS vs. Detroit, Logan Gilbert threw six innings, allowing just one run on 4 hits, issuing 0 walks, and striking out 7. This was a huge win for the Mariners, going up 2-1 in a best 3 out of 5 series is a whole lot better than going down 1-2.

This game was also delayed several hours due to weather in Detroit, which makes this even more impressive that Gilbert was able to stay locked in and ready as I’m sure he was overcome with emotions and adrenaline in anticipation of his start, all of this while also pitching on the road in a playoff game.

Position Player: Jackson Chourio has had the hottest bat for the Brewers thus far in their postseason run, batting .714 with 5 hits, 1 double, 1 homer, and 6 RBI with a 2.000 OPS. Although there are a few players on the Brewers that are tearing it up on offense, getting contributions in your lineup like this from a 21 year old, 2nd year player is unbelievable. Everyone needs to contribute in the lineup to make it far in October, not just the star players, although Chourio is looking the part.

Rookie: One of the rookies we highlighted to keep an eye out for this past week, Trey Yesavage, pitched a gem in game 2 against the Yankees. While the Blue Jays were able to get to Max Fried, the Yankees ace, Yesagave pitched 5.1 innings of shutout baseball with 11 strikeouts and 1 walk. The Blue Jays desperately needed Yesavage to step up in this series, and he answered the bell.

With what we’ve seen in the rotation that’s behind Yesavage, which is Shane Bieber that’s not fully worked up and then the bullpen, this takes a lot of pressure off the Blue Jays. After Yesavage made his debut on Sept 14th, I originally thought that the Blue Jays needed to have him on the Postseason roster in the bullpen to help out, but he has now solidified himself in Toronto's postseason rotation.

Wednesday October 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4062

reading time: 3 minutes

Alan's e-mail came in shortly after the Ravens traded Odafe Oweh to the Chargers on Tuesday afternoon.

"This franchise is the worst," he wrote. "It went from 'Fire the Coach' on Monday to 'Fire Sale' on Tuesday. They're giving up on the season and it's not even Halloween yet!"

I shot Alan a quick e-mail reply and told him to "relax", basically.

No one with a brain thinks John Harbaugh is getting fired. Not unless Steve Bisciotti wins $51 million in the lottery.

And I don't see the Ravens "giving up" on the season. They're 1-4, not 1-11.

My analysis? I don't think the Oweh trade is, no pun intended, a big deal. And, contrary to Alan's assessment, trading Oweh doesn't constitute a "fire sale" five games into the season.

The Ravens weren't getting any production out of Oweh. Did they give up on him? Maybe. I mean, when your job is to sack the quarterback and you don't have any sacks, what good are you?

And the Ravens really need some help in the secondary, in case 41, 38, 37 and 44 points allowed didn't tell you that.

If Kyle Hamilton's injury is concerning, Tuesday's deal really makes sense. And even if it's not concerning and Hamilton's back this week or after the bye, the acquisition of Alohi Gilman checks off a necessary box.

I look at the trade on Tuesday as an attempt by Eric DeCosta to get the defense back on track. Gilman's not the next coming of Ronnie Lott or Deion Sanders, obviously, but it stands to reason his presence in the secondary is going to help more than Oweh was helping off the edge.

Now, if they somehow flatline over the next four or five games and the Ravens are, say, 2-6 or 3-5 when the trade deadline rolls around on November 4, I could see DeCosta moving some of the team's veteran pieces who are set to become free agents at the end of the season.

Maybe then we can call it a "fire sale".

But I don't see yesterday's trade as a panic move in any way at all.

They're trying to get better, quickly, that's all.

The Ravens gave up on a guy who wasn't really pulling his weight and the Chargers sorta-kinda did the same thing. They have some depth at the safety position in Los Angeles. It's an edge rusher they need. Maybe a change of scenery helps Oweh, who knows?

And maybe Alohi Gilman is, for now, what the Ravens need in an attempt to stop giving up 40-burgers every Sunday.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was fined $250,000 by the NFL for accidentally giving the finger to football fans in New Jersey last Sunday.

Jones was apparently not giving Jets fans the middle finger. He was "accidentally" giving it to Cowboys fans.

"It was definitely unintentional," Jones said yesterday. "I meant to give a thumbs up but the wrong finger went up. We had a large group of Cowboys fans right in front of us and emotions were running high after our last touchdown of the game and in my attempt to celebrate the score with them I threw up the wrong finger."

I know you're laughing.

But there's no punch line.

Jones was serious. "That was inadvertently done. I'm not kidding," he told reporters on Tuesday. "If you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental. But it got straightened around pretty quick. I had a chance to look at it. It got straightened out pretty quick, but the intention was 'thumbs up,' and basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down excited."

Don't you hate it when your middle finger just decides to jump up out of nowhere and show itself to a bunch of people? It's very awkward.

Jones should be fined another $50,000 for making up that story. Maybe even $100,000. What a buffoon.

Hockey officially started last night with three games, but since the Capitals campaign kicks-off tonight at home vs. Boston, I figured I'd acknowledge that we're underway with another NHL season and we'll have hockey to watch from now until next June.

How will our Caps fare in '25-26? I'm glad you're asking.

I wrote here last week I don't seem the duplicating last year's surprising season, but I also don't think they're going to struggle to make the playoffs like some hockey analysts are suggesting.

I worry about their goaltending more than anything else. I just don't see Thompson and/or Lindgren (or any combination of the two) being good enough to win 16 high pressure games in April, May and June.

The other thing that's concerning is Washington's depth. If they somehow get the injury bug to 3 or 4 key pieces, they could be in trouble.

As for the greatest goal scorer in the history of the league, Alex Ovechkin is most certainly in the December of his career and could be in line for one of those 26-goal campaigns where everyone says at the same time, "He's run out of gas..."

But I don't see him going out quite like that. I'm going to call this a 34-goal campaign for The Great 8. Injuries notwithstanding, I think chances are better he finishes in the 40's than in the 20's.

Washington will make the playoffs in Ovi's final (maybe?) season but bow out quickly to Tampa Bay.

Here are my quick-hit divisional and conference predictions.

Atlantic Division -- It's a two team battle between Tampa Bay and Toronto. I think the Barkov loss is too much for Florida to absorb. We'll go with the Lightning to finish first by 10 points.

Metropolitan Division -- It feels like Carolina's the class of the division but if the Devils stay healthy, I like them to give the 'Canes a push. Carolina finishes on top by 8 points or so.

Central Division -- I'll take a flyer on the Stars in this division even though I know most everyone else is leaning heavily towards Colorado. I wouldn't be shocked if Minnesota sniffs around, too. Let's take Dallas in a thriller, winning the division by 3 points on the final weekend of the season.

Pacific Division -- Everyone's all over Las Vegas in the Pacific and why not? Edmonton still has the big guns and the pedigree, but it's the Golden Knights who come through in the end to win the division by 8 points.

Eastern Conference Finals -- Carolina beats Tampa Bay, 4-games-to-2.

Western Conference Finals -- Las Vegas beats Minnesota, 4-games-to-1

Stanley Cup Finals -- Carolina beats Las Vegas, 4-games-to-2.

Has there ever been a league that garners more undeserving attention than the WNBA? Like, ever?

The Aces and Mercury are playing in the WNBA Finals. You knew that, did you? Sure you did.

OK, smart guy, well tell me this then:

What division do those two teams play in, respectively?

What city do each of those teams hail from?

Name two players from each team.

Or one player from each team, even.

Heck, name two players in the entire league not named Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

You're VERY lucky that Google is both quick and accurate. That's the only way you know the answers to any of those questions.

I've never seen a league that literally EVERYONE ignores get so much media coverage. It's unreal how ESPN and ESPN.com follows the WNBA.

There was a point a couple of nights ago on ESPN.com when the finals of the WNBA was "higher on the page" than the baseball playoffs.

I realize they're the promotional arm of the league and all, but holy #clownshoes that was a bad look for ESPN.

Give it up for the Yankees. That was a nice rebound last night in Game 3 against Toronto.

Everyone who thought it was over when they were down 6-1 last night was wrong.

Despite that win, though, New York is still facing elimination tonight in Game 4.

Don't look now, by the way, but Toronto's on a heater. Could this be their year?

Yes, I know it's tough to root for them. But I'd rather it be Toronto than New York. Right?

Let's remember that ex-Oriole Anthony Santander is a Blue Jay.

Even though he labored through an injury prone season, you have to feel good for our old friend.

Every player deserves a shot at a ring at some point in his baseball career, right?

I don't know openly root for Toronto, but if they win it all, that's fine by me.

Shane Bieber seems like a good man. So maybe we can root for him.

The Blue Jays are trying to do something the Maple Leafs haven't been able to do since 1967.

How weird would it be if the Jays in win it all in '25 and the Leafs win it all in '26?

Everyone in Toronto would probably faint if that happened.

Before all of that celebrating, though, the Jays have to win one more game vs. New York first.

Even if they make it to the World Series, they still have to win four games there, too.

So, let's not crown Toronto just yet, huh?

Time will tell if this is the year of the Blue Jay.

One final quick note from the site owner: Two rules about #DMD and they're pretty simple. You're not coming here and making a blasphemous comment about God, Jesus or religion in general. When you do, you're out. And we're not using "sh*tty language" if you get my drift. Let's please refrain from using foul language. "Crap" is OK. "S**t" is not OK. We good? Thank you.

Tuesday October 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4061

accountability...to who?

Several of you posted a comment below about the Ravens and "accountability" and e-mail notes from Dean and Will on the same subject led me down this road today.

I'll tackle the topic and hope to tackle it better, say, than Malaki Starks.

Too soon?

Low blow?

I'm sorry. This losing is getting the best of me.

Before we start, might I take a second to note that all is well with the world, despite Sunday's 44-10 thumping at the hands of the Texans.

Why is everything OK?

Because Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson - two-thirds of RUSH - will be touring next summer with a female drummer from Germany in an ode to the great, late Neil Peart.

When Neil died almost a decade ago, most people assumed RUSH would cease to exist. And, without Neil, RUSH as we know it is done.

But Geddy and Alex are back and I'll be doing my best to get tickets to the show at Madison Square Garden next July.

God is great, indeed.

Now, on a sports-related note, the subject of accountability is an interesting one in this day and age.

Before we start, it should be stressed to the highest point that the subject of "accountability" is not a Ravens-only issue. Every team in every league faces the same dilemma during their season.

Let's not pretend, for example, like the Orioles don't have the same responsibility as the Ravens. Or that the Capitals and Nationals don't have the same responsibility for accountability as the Commanders and Wizards.

Every team needs to be accountable. That much is true.

But to whom are they accountable? And for what reason?

I should also stress this: Please do not read what I've submitted below and think in any way I'm suggesting to you that the Ravens don't have a responsibility to their fan base to try and improve. They very much do.

The Ravens are in a pickle these days and they have to figure out how to get back on track. That's their responsibility, yes.

I'm addressing the issue of accountability today. You know what I mean. "Who is not only responsible for the mess but who is willing to talk about it and analyze it publicly?"

It's here where I'm going to point out the first non-negotiable element of this so-called demand for accountability from the Ravens.

This can't be argued. Here goes: The times have changed.

This is not 1985 any longer. Or 1995. Or 2005.

The internet has changed everything. In fact, if you think through your world -- what your own life revolves around on a daily basis -- as it stands today, in 2025, nearly every single thing in your life is somehow connected to the internet.

Everything's different today because of the internet.

And so, one of the things the Ravens have to deal with in 2025 that no sports team dealt with in 1985 or 1995 is the mere fact that news as we knew it back then no longer exists.

You can't enter this discussion and say, "Yeah, well, back in 2005, they did it this way." That way is probably dead. Sorry, but not sorry. The times have changed.

It used to be that the game was played at 1:00 pm and ended at 4:00 pm and the story ran in tomorrow's newspaper. As in, 12 hours later.

Now, the game ends at 4:00 pm and people are opining on it at 4:02 pm. Full game stories come out at 4:20 pm. By the time the clock strikes 8 pm, there are podcasts after podcasts breaking down the game from earlier in the day, crushing players who performed poorly and blasting coaches who didn't call the right plays at the right time.

So when the game ends and the coach and players walk into a room and the microphones are sitting there in front of them, their ability to be "accountable" is almost non-existent.

"What happened on that play in the 4th quarter when the other team threw the touchdown pass?"

Harbaugh: "I'm not sure. You saw the replay probably 15 times. I haven't seen the game film yet. Once I do see it, I'll sit down with the players involved and we'll figure out where the breakdown was."

"Why do you keep playing Jaire Alexander when we all can tell he's washed up?"

Harbaugh: "Because I didn't have another warm body to play today. Is that what you want me to say?"

"Can you talk about how devastating this loss is to your team?"

Harbaugh: "Actually, I'd prefer not to talk about it being "devastating" if you don't mind. I can't go into the locker room and act devastated or crushed or anything like that. I have to go back in there and pick those guys up and promise to stick with them and work hard next week to try and get better. But thanks for that great question."

What, exactly, did you want John Harbaugh to say to the media after Sunday's loss to the Texans?

"Well, the truth is we probably can't win any games if Lamar is injured and can't play."

"Yeah, well, honestly, we figured we'd get a lot better performance out of Cooper Rush today. We sure didn't see him laying an egg like that."

"Eric and Ozzie and the rest of the scouts really liked what they saw out of Mike Green last spring, which is why we drafted him, but so far he's been a complete bust for us."

"Look, I hate giving up 40 points a game like anyone else, but for the nuts and bolts of the defensive game plan, you have to go talk with Zach Orr about that. He knows how pissed off I am with his unit's play. But it's his defense. He built it. Go talk to him."

Is that what you want or expect?

Is that, you know, "accountability"?

I hate to be blunt about this but I don't have the energy to carefully wordsmith it so you don't get your feelings hurt. So here it is. If you think John Harbaugh -- or any coach, in any sport, in any league -- is going to get up there 15 minutes after the game ends and put his players, coaches and front office members into a wood chipper and chop them up, you're a moron.

No offense intended. And if I had an easier, softer way to put it, I would. But I don't. You're a moron if you think a head coach is going to publicly name and blast his players and "hold them accountable" to the media after a game.

And here's the dirty little secret that none of these teams want to talk about at parties, but it's 100% true. In general, the coaches, players and the club's media relations professionals don't particularly care for about 90% of the media in their town.

The real truth? No b.s. allowed? Sure, here it is. The only media folks they really care for are the ones that work with/for the team.

As an example, the Ravens think very highly of WBAL TV's Gerry Sandusky. And rightfully so. Gerry's a fine man. And he's been part of the club's radio broadcast team for two decades now. So they like him. And well they should.

Deep down, he's probably one of three or four media folks in Baltimore the team truly likes. The rest of them? Well, the club acts like they like them, but they really don't.

That's the truth.

So when someone suggests that the club be "accountable", the Ravens initial reaction is probably to say, privately, "Accountable to you? Why? So you can crap all over us again on the radio or on your podcast or on your website?"

I have no idea what the beef is between the guy I formerly worked for and the Ravens, but I suspect it has something to do with a media credential fight that has been ongoing for several years now.

Here's the raw truth that's hard to take if you're the person who lost your media credential or is otherwise "out of favor" with a professional or college team: No one cares except you.

I experienced losing my Orioles media credential once upon a time and guess what? No one cared. Except me. My listeners didn't really care.

Major League Baseball didn't care. I appealed to them and they basically ignored me. No one in the Orioles organization cared. The Professional Baseball Writers Association didn't care.

It took me a while to realize all of that. It's like the scene from A Bronx Tale.

"Nobody cares..."

And I'm not saying that to suggest that someone should care. Not at all. People just aren't worried about other people's grievances.

So if this "demand for accountability" is rooted in losing your credential or press box privileges, you might as well just go outside and howl at the moon. The moon doesn't care and neither does the team.

I've said this several times here and it always bears repeating. The guy (or person) with a pen full of ink is never, ever going to beat the guy with a barrel full of ink.

If you have the pen full of ink and you want to "take the team to task" or "hold them accountable" or "demand answers", you can do that 7 days a week if you so choose. But when you only have a pen full of ink and you're doing that, the team is going to flick you away like a sweat bee buzzing around your snowball on a hot August day.

What answers could you possibly want from John Harbaugh and the Ravens?

"Are you planning on firing Zach Orr?"

Harbaugh: "No."

"Why not?"

Harbaugh: Because I don't want to do that."

"Don't you think he's the reason why the defense is so terrible?"

Harbaugh: "No, I do not think that at all."

There's your three answers.

Are you happy now, as No Doubt once sang on their awesome album, Tragic Kingdom?

You wanted answers.

You demanded them, in fact.

There they are.

The Ravens do have a responsibility for accountability by the way. I can't believe it took me this long into the piece to bring this up.

They need to make winning their only priority. They're responsible for one thing: Trying to win.

Being nice to the media? Absolutely not a priorty. It would be nice, sure. But not a priority.

Being upstanding members of the community. Nope, NOT a priority. Again, it would be nice if every single player in the organization was a decent, upstanding, church-going man, but that's just not the way it goes in any line of work, in any profession, anywhere in the country.

People who work in financial planning do dumb things and get arrested for them.

People who work in the medical field do dumb things and find themselves on the news.

People in all walks of life and professions do dumb things.

Everyone's a sinner, after all. Football players, lawyers, doctors, plumbers. All in the same boat.

Being an upstanding member of the community would be a plus, yes. But an even bigger plus would be, simply, excelling at football.

Being great role models for the boys and girls who look up to them? Sorry, not a priority. Novel concept, yes. Something the team hopes they have in their locker room? Of course. But a priority over winning? No, not even close.

The Ravens need to be accountable to winning. That's it. Nothing more.

That's ultimately how they're judged.

If they go 4-13 this year and John stands up in January and says what I have written below, everyone in the city would laugh him out of town:

"OK, look, we were 4-13 but no players got arrested this season, we did 74 charitable promotional appearances during our season, and Lamar and Derrick Henry went the entire season and never once did they turn down an autograph request. I know our record was terrible, but we were accountable and responsible to the important things in our locker room."

Now, if you did those things and you went 14-3? Different story.

Nothing replaces winning. And the Ravens know that, by the way. Contrary to what some airhead geniuses in town might otherwise believe, the Ravens know that winning is all that matters in the end and that's really all they care about anyway.

If they were "accountable" to the media -- whatever that means -- and went 5-12, who would care?

This all might have been different in 1980 or 1990 or 2000.

Before the internet and before "hot takes", "every goof has a forum" and "armchair coaches and GM's", the team might have felt a responsibility to use the media in a proactive manner to keep everyone informed on what was happening within the team.

In the "old days", the media would actually be both friendly and professional with the teams and the coaches and the players.

I can remember, quite distinctly circa 1983, going out to dinner on the road with Kenny Cooper (Blast) and having Bill Glauber (Morning Sun), Bernie Miklasz (News American) and Gerry Kelly (Evening Sun) with us and sharing a great night together, but always being able to draw the line when it came to "coverage" vs. "friendship".

I could be wrong on this, but I can't see John Harbaugh and a couple of Ravens PR folks going to dinner with the Baltimore Sun beat writer or lead columnist in Cleveland the night before a game with the Browns. The times have changed.

Everything has changed.

People who think these teams and their coaches and players "owe it to the fans" to tell them what's going on in their team are insane. Heck, the players themselves are having podcasts IN THE SEASON to tell the fans what they want to hear. Why should the team do it when the safety or the wide receiver or the linebacker is already doing it?

In a lot of instances, the fans themselves are hosting podcasts and fancy shows throughout the week to showcase how much they know about football. And nearly all of those shows are rooted in "I know more about football than the team does".

Accountability.

The word sounds good and all, but no one can really define exactly what they're looking for in the end.

"I want the team to answer tough questions."

Sure thing...

Like what?

"Hey, how come you guys called that quarterback sneak on 4th and 2? It didn't work. And that play was one of the reasons why you lost. Why did you call that play?"

Harbaugh: "Man, that's one tough question there. You know, we called that play BECAUSE WE THOUGHT IT WOULD F***ING WORK. And it didn't work. So, on we go."

"Well, you guys just got your asses handed to you 44-10 at home by Houston. Do you realize how upset the fans are with your team right now? Do you have any idea at all how embarrassing of a performance that was? Are you ashamed of yourselves?"

Harbaugh: "Damn, another tough question. I don't know if I can handle all of these tough questions. The fans should be upset. We just lost by 34 points. We're upset too. And we're embarrassed, yes. But we have to play again next Sunday. The league is forcing us to, unfortunately."

"One of your players left the locker room today and didn't face the media afterwards. What kind of accountability are you teaching them where that's an acceptable practice?"

Harbaugh: "Oh, yeah, him. I heard about that. You're talking about the player whose 8-year old daughter fell off of her bike earlier today and broke her leg and has to get emergency surgery at 6 pm? That player? Yeah, I told him he could leave right after the game ended today. I'm sorry. We forgot to clear that with you and the rest of the media first."

None of those questions, by the way, have anything to do, really, with the only thing that concerns the Ravens: winning.

They called a play. It didn't work. It happens. They lost. The game's over. They owe it to themselves to do a deep dive into why they lost and how they're going to fix it, but all they owe the fans is their promise that they're going to try and get better next week.

They don't need to tell you "how" they're going to get better. That's their own business. They don't need to open their playbook to everyone or tell their fans which free agents around the league they're pursuing.

If you're a fan of the team and you don't like their way of doing business, you have the greatest luxury in the world. You can stop giving them your money and buying tickets for their games.

You don't have to do a thing to support the Ravens or the Orioles or your team of choice.

That's the best thing about it.

You expect "accountability" from them and you don't get what you want? Don't buy a ticket. Don't watch it on TV. You've done your part at that point.

But howling at the moon about the coach or players being "accountable" is laughable. Lamar Jackson makes $52 million whether you think he's a great quarterback or a choke artist. John Harbaugh makes $17 million annually and it doesn't matter at all if you like him or can't stand him. They're not worried about what you or I think, nor should they be, frankly.

If they win, we'll leave them alone. Most of the time.

Even now, when the Ravens manage to win a game or have a great season, it's always "in spite of Harbaugh" or "in spite of Orr" or "in spite of Greg Roman".

People are never fully satisfied with a win unless it takes place in a manner in which they can say, "I knew I was right."

And then, when they don't win, that's the moment we expect to get our pound of flesh.

"I told you they weren't any good. We need some tough questions to be answered."

Here's a hot take: When you actually have a tough question that makes sense, maybe they'll take a minute to answer it.

Monday October 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4060

how 'bout those yankees?

The Ravens getting shellacked spoiled an otherwise beautiful day in The Land of (Very) Pleasant Living, particularly when I saw the Yankees getting boatraced by the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the American League Divisional Series.

Final from Toronto: 13-7 in favor of the Jays.

I'm looking for a silver lining here, guys. Relax, will ya?

Alas, there was no silver lining from M&T Bank Stadium. A 44-10 loss to the Texans contained nothing, really, to feel good about.

OK, maybe the weather around here over the last week or so has been worth feeling good about. We call them "Chamber of Commerce" days when they're this good. Blue skies, warm temps, maybe a slight breeze. Close your eyes and you're in San Diego for about 300 of their 365 days on the calendar.

But while the weather was solid, the hometown football was anything but. They got buzz-sawed by a Houston team that came in foaming at the mouth with the Ravens ravaged by injuries.

I mean, it's one thing if the shorthanded Ravens fall 24-20 but Cooper Rush is decent and the patchwork defense actually mans-up and makes a game of it.

It's one thing if the Ravens are down 17-3, battle hard to tie it at 17-17, fall behind 31-17, fight back to make it 31-27, then have a last minute drive stall out at midfield.

Those two scenarios would have been completely acceptable given how many starters were missing from the Ravens lineup.

44-10 is really not acceptable. In any way.

I know the Ravens were missing a lot of key pieces. I get it. They were behind the eight ball from the beginning of the game when they were without Lamar, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton and Roquan Smith.

If you were ranking the 10 best players on the Ravens, your list would 100%, without question, include those five guys. Frankly, other than Derrick Henry being sandwiched in there somewhere, those five guys might actually be the five most important players on the Baltimore roster.

So, a loss in and of itself isn't really a shock. The 49'ers might be able to beat a team or two without Brock Purdy and I guess there's a chance the Bengals might stumble into a win or two down the road with Jake Browning under center. But the Ravens aren't beating anyone if Lamar isn't their quarterback.

It would help matters if Roquan, Marlon and Kyle get back soon. I think. Those three were also part of the defense that gave up 41 to Buffalo, 38 to Detroit and 37 to Kansas City.

But the team you saw yesterday in Baltimore wouldn't win more than two additional games this season, I don't think. That's not intended to be hyperbole.

If Lamar somehow doesn't return and those defensive injuries are sustained for any length of time, we might be looking at a 4 or 5 win season in Charm City.

Now...I don't think that's going to happen. That's why the previous sentence starts with the word "if".

Having a healthy Lamar back for Chicago (October 26) and beyond would be a big help. If the defensive starters return for Chicago or the game at Miami, there will still be time to get the season straightened out.

But let's be honest about this. It's not looking good right now no matter if Stan White, Mike Curtis and Ray Lewis get healthy -- and young -- and return to the playing field.

This is starting to have the look of a "lost season" in Charm City.

We've seen this one before, of course. The Ravens lose a few games early, get nicked up with injuries, lose a couple of more, pick up more injuries, and, BAM!, suddenly you're scuffling just to reach the .500 mark.

I hope that's not how this one plays out, but it's sure starting to look that way, particularly if Lamar never gets back to 100%.

As for the 44-10 loss specifically, I'm not sure what can be said or written about it that adds any kind of wisdom or "hot take" to the pile of them we saw on Sunday.

I asked for 5-word summaries on Twitter because I wasn't able to watch the game live due to a prior obligation to my FCA Maryland Golf junior program.

@kalucas86 summed it up with these 5 words: Turned it off at halftime

@joshuaramd11094 said: The day the window closed

@jbutta321 said: Team has quit. Fire Harbaugh

@paulvalleIII said: Worst game of Harbaugh era

That's enough, right?

All of those were pertinent in their own way.

I mean, I'm not generally a "turn it off at halftime" kind of guy, but I'm not here to judge anyone who did that yesterday. If you bailed when it was 24-3, I get it.

I don't know that their window is actually "closed" for the entirety of the Lamar tenure but I'll agree it might have started closing yesterday for the 2025 season. I'm still not ready to write off 2025 all together, but I'd say my hands are on the window and starting to pull it shut if they lose to the Rams next Sunday.

I have no idea if the team has "quit". That's a very strong statement. I think there's a huge difference between "quitting" and "not being anywhere close to good enough". I'm not in the locker room. I don't know the players. I don't know that they quit on Sunday vs. Houston.

That said, when I watched the replay last night, I can definitely say there were times in the 3rd and 4th quarter when the guys they had in the game looked listless. Maybe that's because they were losing 34-10.

As for "Fire Harbaugh", they just gave him a 3-year contract extension last March. I can't imagine Steve Bisciotti is ready to write John a free check for $51 million.

So, you can say "Fire Harbaugh", but it's just not in Steve's DNA to write free checks for that kind of money.

I don't know what constitutes "worst game of Harbaugh's era", but I'd suggest the fiasco in Buffalo on opening night was FAR WORSE than whatever it was we had to watch yesterday. They played that game in Buffalo with their entire team (minus Ricard and Likely) intact and were ahead by 15 points with 4 minutes remaining.

That loss to the Bills was HORRENDOUS. The loss to Houston was explainable.

But we're splitting hairs here when we start chipping away at "worst loss ever" discussions.

If anyone thinks yesterday's loss was on John Harbaugh, Todd Monken or Zach Orr, you should check yourself in somewhere for a thorough examination.

I'm all for dissecting coaching decisions and the like. But yesterday wasn't about coaching. It was about personnel and not having a real quarterback.

Oh, and as I pointed out here yesterday morning, Houston's defense is pretty good. They're decent against the run and the pass. They've now allowed 61 points in 5 games. That's pretty good, in case you don't know.

And none of this is to exonerate Harbaugh, Monken or Orr for anything that happened in the first four weeks of the season. Evaluations of those three in those four games are perfectly acceptable. But yesterday wasn't a day where we should be picking on the coaches. That's my take, anyway.

A friend of mine from out-of-state, Jason, reached out to me yesterday with some words of consolation after the final whistle blew in Baltimore.

He's a Buccaneers fan, so he has plenty to be happy about these days. His Bucs went into Seattle and beat Vince Lombardi Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks yesterday, 38-35.

"Cheer up Drewski," he wrote. "Can't win every season."

"Don't worry, we're never cheering up here unless we win the Super Bowl!" I shot back.

We exchanged a few other pleasantries, but it was that quick back-and-forth that stuck with me.

"Can't win every season," he wrote.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Probably the same thing I was thinking. "We" haven't won since 2012.

But to him, a guy who is a lifelong Bucs fan, he considers what the Ravens have done in the Harbaugh/Lamar era to be "winning".

A significant number of folks in the Ravens fan base don't classify losing in the AFC title game or in the 2nd round to Buffalo as "winning".

Then I thought about what I wrote back to him.

"Don't worry, we're never cheering up here unless we win the Super Bowl!"

And that is true, for the most part. Anything short of winning the Super Bowl in 2025 will be met with the same stuff we heard in 2024, 2023, 2022, etc.

"Fire the coach."

"Fire the coordinator(s)."

"Fire someone...anyone...just please make someone the scapegoat!"

The only way we don't hear or read any of that is if the Ravens somehow stumble into another Super Bowl title. And, unless they pull the rabbit-of-all-rabbits out of their hat over the last 12 weeks of the season, the only stumbling the Ravens will do is at a New Year's Eve party when they're 6-10 and about to lose 30-9 to the Steelers in the final game of the campaign in Pittsburgh.

So we know what's coming again. It's coming in November, December and January, for sure.

"Fire the coach."

"Fire the coordinator(s)."

"Please fire SOMEONE..."

We're never happy here unless we're winning the whole thing. In any sport. Sometimes this place should be called "The Land of (Un)Pleasant Living."

all the quirky stats you want to know

Vikings 21 - Browns 17 -- Cleveland went 3-for-3 on 4th down, ran 6 more offensive plays and had the ball more (time wise) than Minnesota. And still lost. Browns gonna Browns.

Colts 40 - Raiders 6 -- The Colts outgained the Raiders by 21 yards on the day. 21 yards. Total. 317 (Indy) to 296 (Vegas). The Colts had 24 first down and the Raiders had 22. And Indianapolis won the game by 34 points. How does that happen?

Saints 26 - Giants 14 -- The Giants did what the Browns did. They had the ball more than New Orleans. They had more first downs (by 5) than New Orleans. And they outgained them, too. Everything went the Giants way except they lost.

Commanders 27 - Chargers 10 -- L.A. ran 10 more offensive plays than Washington but generated 53 fewer yards than the Commanders. That seems almost impossible. Oh, and remember when I said Seattle running 9 offensive series' was one of the lowest totals ever? D.C. had 8 offensive series' on Sunday in their win over L.A.

Cowboys 37 - NY Jets 22 -- It happened again in New Jersey. The Jets had the ball for 34 minutes and had more first downs than Dallas, but somehow lost the game. By 15 points.

Broncos 21 - Eagles 17 -- The defending champs were up 17-3 in this one and couldn't hold off the Broncos, who got a big day from J.K. Dobbins in the victory. Dobbins (79 yards) actually outrushed the entire Philly team (45 total rushing yards), including Saquon Barkley.

Panthers 27 - Dolphins 24 -- Miami had 19 rushing yards. Not in each quarter. For the whole game. 19 yards rushing on 14 carries. In 60 minutes. Futility called Miami after the game and laughed at their running attack.

Buccaneers 38 - Seahawks 35 -- Seattle had a grand total of 9 offensive drives in this one. That's one of the lowest totals you'll ever find in a NFL game. Tampa Bay did a masterful job of holding onto the ball on offense and milking the clock. The Bucs had the ball for 33 minutes and won the game at the buzzer on a field goal.

Titans 22 - Cardinals 21 -- Some nutjob for the Cardinals dropped the ball on the goal line when he was running untouched into the end zone and Arizona wound up losing the game by one point. Imagine being that goofy that you can't just run into the end zone with the ball in your hands. Instead, you're so caught up in "what can I do to get aura?" that you drop the ball before you reach the end zone and it's ruled a fumble and a touchdback. Unreal. And some people bet on these NFL games and take teams like Arizona to win outright. You know?

Lions 37 - Bengals 24 -- Jared Goff only threw FOUR incomplete passes in this game. In 60 minutes of football, he threw four incomplete passes. Cooper Rush threw four incompletions in two minutes with the Ravens on Sunday (I think).

Patriots 23 - Bills 20 -- More odd things happened in Buffalo, where the Bills had the ball for about 9 more minutes than New England but somehow lost. New England's rookie kicker hit a 52 yarder with 20 seconds left for the win. There are no more undfeated teams in the NFL, in case you didn't know.

Sunday October 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4059

it turns out we DO have a problem and it's houston

I know the final score but I don't really know "how" it all went down.

I was running our FCA Maryland Golf Junior Tour Championship this weekend and didn't get to see today's nailbiter live. So I'm watching the replay of it right now.

The nerve of the Ravens to schedule a game on the weekend of our most important event of the year, huh?

Anyway, that first Houston offensive series was impressive. For them, I mean.

Already knowing the final score makes it easier to watch this game and look for some obvious flaws and holes in the offense and defense.

But here's the reality. The Ravens aren't the Ravens without Lamar Jackson.

I saw some airhead on ESPN's website today opine something like, "I can't believe how bad the Ravens are this season."

What a dope.

They were bad today because they were missing their quarterback and four or five other players that mattered, you buffoon.

I have no idea if the Ravens would have won today's game with Lamar and Ronnie and Roquan and Marlon in the lineup, but I know they wouldn't have lost 44-10. As Ben Affleck said at the end of Good Will Hunting, I don't know much, but I know that.

People blabbering about how bad the Ravens are seem to cast aside the fact that they didn't have a quarterback in the game today.

Ask the Bengals how it's going without Joe Burrow when you get a chance.

Now, that doesn't mean that we can't watch today's game -- as I'm doing right now -- and be critical of those guys who did suit up and play. They're getting paid, too. We expect a varsity performance from them as well.

But for anyone to think the Ravens are "terrible" because they got shellacked at home by Houston, 44-10, you're just babbling for the sake of babbling.

I'll return to the game now and see who, if anyone, actually looks like they're trying for the team in purple. It's now 10-3 and getting worse by the minute.

The only blessing from today's game?

Houston's helmets are epic.

This edition of "Happy Hour" was contributed by Drew Forrester.

---

"houston, we don't have a problem"

I'm trying my best not to be nervous about the game today in Baltimore.

This is precisely why you have roster depth and back-ups, after all. They practice diligently for weeks on end, hoping they might get to perform on the big stage at some point during the season. And when their time comes, they're eager to step up and prove themselves.

That all sounds well and good, right?

I mean, Mac Jones stepped in for Brock Purdy on Thursday night in L.A. and looked like, well, Brock Purdy actually. The 49'ers didn't really miss a beat in stunning the Rams, 26-23 in OT.

If Mac Jones can do that, why can't Cooper Rush do it today against the Texans?

He has a boatload of talented receives and tight ends at his disposal. Sure, I know the Baltimore offensive line is "just OK", but there's still optimism in the air that Rush can look like a quality back-up this afternoon.

Houston's defense isn't chopped liver, either, and they've actually played two quality offensive teams (Rams and Bucs) and held both of them to under 21 points. They also lost to Jacksonville, 17-10, before shutting out hapless Tennessee last week.

In four games thus far, the Texans have surrendered just 51 points. I know they the best helmets in the league, but it appears as if they might also have one of the better defensive units in the league, too.

Houston is 12th against the run (allowing 102 yards per game) and 6th against the pass (178 yards per game).

I haven't even really gone through their offensive numbers yet, but defensively, they appear to be fairly stout in both major departments.

OK, so now I'm getting nervous about today's game.

Running the ball, Houston is 23rd overall with just 100 yards per-game on the ground. In "normal" years, I'd claim that as a Ravens moral victory before the opening kick-off except Zach Orr's defense isn't very strong against the run so far this season. If Baltimore can hold Houston to under 110 yards rushing today, that bodes well for them.

Their passing offense is also 23rd overall, averaging just 185 yards per-game in the air.

Just look at their four games and you know everything about Houston: 14-9 (L), 20-19 (L), 17-10 (L), 26-0 (W)

If the Texans would have scored just 21 points in all four of their games, they'd be rolling into Charm City at 4-0 instead of 1-3. Their offense stinks, in other words.

But today presents a unique opportunity for the visitors, because this Ravens team is ravaged with injuries and completely there for the taking. If you ever wanted to come to Baltimore and play a 1-3 Ravens team, today's that day.

So what happens?

Something has to give. The Texans offense is going up against a shorthanded Baltimore defense. Can the Ravens back-ups come through with a solid performance and hold Houston off for four quarters?

Can the Baltimore offense, with their back-up QB but mostly everyone else healthy, solve what is apparently becoming a pretty solid Texans defense?

I'm most certainly not feeling entirely confident as I write this, but I think the Ravens will do just enough today to sneak out of there way a win. It might come down to the foot of Tyler Loop, but a win is a win is a win, as they say.

Rush will have a good day at quarterback, going 21/33 for 211 yards and two TD's (Andrews and Flowers). Derrick Henry will run for 107 yards himself on 26 carries.

It won't be pretty, but a late Tyler Loop field goal gives the Ravens a 23-20 win.

If I would have told you Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 at the plate and struck out four times in last night's series opener in Philadelphia, what would you have assumed the outcome to be?

Wait...

On top of that, Ohtani also got the start on the mound and gave up 3 runs in the 2nd inning to fall behind, 3-0.

Now go ahead and guess the outcome.

7-1 Philly?

6-0 Philly?

9-3 Philly?

No, no and no.

Try, 5-3 in favor of Los Angeles.

Ohtani did indeed strike out four times and he was the starting pitcher who got nicked for 3 runs in the second inning, but he turned it around from there -- at least on the mound -- and was the winner in the Game 1 victory over Philadelphia. The Dodgers' 5-3 win puts them just two wins away from another trip to the National League Championship Series.

There is something magical about these Dodgers teams of the last few years, that's for sure. It's always someone different every night.

On Saturday, it was Teoscar Hernandez with a 3-run homer in the 7th inning to give L.A. a 5-3 lead.

If it's not him next time, it will be Freddie Freeman. And if it's not Freeman, it will be Ohtani. And if it's not Ohtani, it will be Mookie Betts.

L.A. has a lot of ways to beat you.

I saw a lot of "Maryland gonna Maryland" quips on the internet yesterday after the Terps somehow blew a 20-0 lead and lost to visiting Washington, 24-20.

I didn't see one second of the game. I was running a junior golf tournament on Saturday and was only able to follow the game via the internet.

When it was 20-0 in favor of the Terps I saw a lot of "LOL" and "game over" tweets. Not so fast, there, Poncho.

You need to wait until the game is pretty much over for those kind of messages.

Alas, when it was 20-0 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, I'm sure "Terps Nation" felt pretty good about finishing that one off.

Except Washington stormed back with three fourth quarter touchdowns to win, 24-20.

People were irate, calling for Mike Locksley's head after the loss. It always works that way. I didn't see any "give Locks 3 more years!" tweets when they were up 20-0. But I saw a lot of "Fire Locks" tweets after the game.

Like I said, I didn't see one second of it, so it's hard for me to offer any kind of real opinion on it. So, I haven't.

Other than to say, of course, you just can't go around blowing 20-0 home leads against a middle-of-the-road team like Washington and expect people to take you seriously.

around the nfl

Vikings (2-2) at Browns (1-3) -- This one's in England, where the hope is there's more scoring from these offenses than you'd see in a Premier League soccer game. Minnesota has been "over there" for two weeks now, having lost to Pittsburgh last Sunday. Cleveland, meanwhile, is trying to prove they can lose just about anywhere. And they will. Vikings win late, 24-21

Raiders (1-3) at Colts (3-1) -- This is one of those weird games where the Raiders somehow sneak up and beat the Colts, who look like they might actually be pretty decent this sesason. Just when you're ready to sell all of your Raiders stock they show up...and totally redeem themselves. I don't know why I'm doing this, but I am. Raiders 26 - Colts 23 in OT

Giants (1-3) at Saints (0-4) -- The league actually tried to flex this game to Antarctica but they couldn't get the stadium ready in time. This could be one of the worst games of the decade. Maybe it ends 0-0. The New York defense isn't terrible, which should be enough, I think, to get them a win today in The Big Easy. Giants 19 - Saints 17 on a last second field goal

Cowboys (1-2-1) at Jets (0-4) -- There's no way Dallas goes into New Jersey and loses this one, right? It just can't happen. They just hung 40 up on the Packers last Sunday night. Cowboys roll to an easy 33-20 win

Broncos (2-2) at Eagles (4-0) -- Denver's tough early season schedule continues with a trip to the home of the defending champions. I saw one national NFL writer opine we could be seeing a Super Bowl preview today in Philly. I didn't realize Buffalo dropped out of the AFC. Anyway, I don't see Denver winning this one, but it will be somewhat close until the Eagles score late. Philly wins 30-22.

Dolphins (1-3) at Panthers (1-3) -- Another snoozer. There was an ad in the Charlotte paper where someone said they'll pay YOU $8.00 a ticket if you'll sit in there seats today. It's that bad down there. Fortunately, the Dolphins are in town, which means Carolina might actually win another game. Panthers 20 - Dolphins 16

Buccaneers (3-1) at Seahawks (3-1) -- Ohhhh, this could be a good one. Are the Bucs legit? More pressing...are the Seahawks legit? I'm going with Seattle by a field goal in this one but certainly wouldn't be shocked to see Tampa Bay pull one out late. Seahawks in an "instant classic", 30-27.

Titans (0-4) at Cardinals (2-2) -- This will be one of those games where Arizona feasts on an unworthy opponent and everyone will say, "Hmmmm, is Arizona for real?" They're going to win today, yes, but we're still not sure if the Cards are legit. Arizona cruises, of course, beating up on the hapless Titans, 32-17.

Lions (3-1) at Bengals (2-2) -- Under normal circumstances, this would be a doozy of a game. Alas, Cincinnati stinks, so I'm not expecting much from them this afternoon. Lions roll past the Bengals with a second half surge, 34-20.

Commanders (2-2) at L.A. Chargers (3-1) -- I feel like this is precisely the kind of game the Commanders win and exactly the kind of game Justin Herbert loses. He should win and the Commanders should lose, which can only mean the obvious. Commanders kick a last second field goal to win in L.A., 29-26

Patriots (1-3) at Bills (4-0) -- I guess everyone has to play on national TV at some point, but why have New England playing on a Sunday night? If they were wearing the old Pat the Patriot helmets this evening, I could understand it. This one's a done deal before it's even kicked off. Bills 27 - Patriots 19

Saturday October 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4058

maga, mada, it's all the same

We have a problem here in this country.

It's not new. But it's a problem that we haven't either, A) taken seriously enough or, B) haven't been able to figure out a solution for it.

Heckling.

Now, in some sections of society, we replace the word "heckling" with "bullying", a word we use in association with young adults for the most part.

Heckling and bullying aren't exactly the same, but they're brothers. Blood brothers. Related. In the same family.

It's also fair to point out this problem exists elsewhere in the world. We just happen to be the worst of the worst when it comes to heckling and bullying our athletes and celebrities.

Cam Schlittler of the Yankees is the latest athlete to speak about it after his sensational start on Thursday night in Game 3 of the Wild Card series vs. Boston. The harrassment he faced was all online, but it was overboard and out-of-line nonetheless.

Internet trolls lashed out at Schlitter's family, including his mother, during and after the game because the Boston area native shut down his boyhood team and ended their season.

"When you're attacking someone's mother," Schlittler said. "It needs to be toned down."

We saw a weekend of heckling and bullying last week at the Ryder Cup, where a small percentage of lunatics spoiled what was otherwise intended to be three days of great international golf by laying waste to a few European players every chance they got.

People will say anything they want when they feel protected from push back. Those at the Ryder Cup -- outside the ropes -- had a layer of spectators around them that made it all that much easier to heckle and taunt the golfers.

I was at a local high school soccer game a couple of weeks ago at Calvert Hall and a parent of the visiting team spent most of the night down by the field absolutely berating the game official. Every single call was wrong. Every call was met with some sort of tirade from this parent. It was, in a word, awful.

Finally, 10 minutes into the second half, the sideline official stopped the game and went out to the game official in the middle of the field. The game official came over to the fence and basically said, "Say anything else and you're gone."

The person pitched a fit, of course, citing their "right to be here" and "I haven't used foul language one time" and, predictably, the next call that went against their team was met with more yelling and screaming.

Finally, a sane fan of the visiting team came down from the stands and admonished the lunatic on everyone else's behalf. Then those two got into it. It was like a scene from a movie. All of this at a high school soccer game, remember.

This wasn't a World Cup qualifier. It was a high school soccer game. And worst of all, the poor young man who had to watch/listen to his parent screaming at the ref all game had to be mortified.

The two kinds of heckling we've addressed here are different in nature. One happens live and in person and the other happens on the internet, generally under the cloak of anonymity.

I'm not sure which one is worse.

The "live" heckling is awful because it potentially interferes with someone's performance in the moment.

The internet trolling and heckling is terrible because it's even more ferocious and damaging given that the person authoring it is totally unknown.

Cam Schlitter's family didn't get to enjoy the game on Thursday because they were being harrassed. And now, when Schlittler starts against Toronto in the ALDS, I'm sure the trolls will be on his mind, maybe only a little bit, in the days leading up to his appearance.

Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland didn't deserve to be treated like that at Bethpage Black. They didn't do anything at all to instigate the harrassment they received. They were targeted because they played for the other team and each had something that was easy to single out from a heckling standpoint.

We also know the biggest reason why people at the Ryder Cup went overboard with heckling was due to alcohol consumption. Very few sane people who are clear of mind are going to engage in that kind of embarrassing behavior.

McIlroy and Lowry both lashed out in response on several occasions during the three days. They reached their boiling point and couldn't take it anymore. Having heard some of the things people said to Hatton on the back nine on Sunday at Oakmont CC during the U.S. Open in June, I can say I was actually impressed with him for keeping his cool and not engaging the folks who were chiding him.

And let's also remind everyone that small, basic kinds of heckling have always been anticipated and accepted at sporting events in our country.

College basketball teams give out newspapers (yes, they still make those) to their students at the games and when the opposing team gets introduced, the kids turn their backs to the arena floor and act like they're reading the paper instead of paying attention to the players on the other team.

The famous "you can do that" chant after a foul in soccer or basketball is fine.

It's when you cross the line into "personal" that it's wrong.

No matter the level of sports, youth, amateur, high school, college or professional, crossing the line with your heckling of athletes is wrong.

No, just because you bought a ticket it doesn't mean you can be an a**hole the entire time.

People seem to believe that to be true, of course. "I paid $150 for that ticket, I can do whatever I want..."

No, my guy, you can't.

Even though you paid $150, you still have to be a decent human being.

In fact, there's a thought we should adopt a new sports slogan in our country, maybe complete with hats (not red) and tee shirts and all.

MADA.

Make A**holes Decent Again.

Think it can catch on?

The news no one wanted to hear came out of Owings Mills yesterday. Lamar Jackson will miss tomorrow's home game against the Houston Texans with a hamstring injury.

This should not impact the final outcome of the game, though.

Cooper Rush, despite what he showed last Sunday in Kansas City, is fully capable of scoring enough points to put away the Texans.

Now, yes, the Baltimore defense is banged up, too. That could be an issue. But it's the Texans we're talking about here, not the Bills or Chargers or some other AFC team that can points on the board with regularity.

If the Ravens can't sneak past Houston tomorrow with a patched-together lineup, I'd very surprised.

The hope, of course, is that by resting Lamar tomorrow he'll be available to play against the Rams on October 12. That's a game where no Lamar and a beat-up-defense could spell trouble for John Harbaugh's team.

Tomorrow is one of those "win any way you can" kind of games. If it's 13-12 or 17-16 or 44-41, who cares?

In fact, in a weird way, tomorrow's game without Lamar and other key defensive players is almost a blessing in disguise, because fans of the football team will probably all only focus on one thing against Houston: did we win?

Did we win?

That's the only thing that will matter tomorrow. Play calling, 4th down decisions and all that other stuff will go on the back burner for a week.

If the Ravens win tomorrow, nothing else matters, really.

Friday October 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4057

start spreading the news

Ever since Cito Gaston left Mike Mussina in the bullpen, most of us here in The Land of Pleasant Living haven't been able to cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Then there was Buck Showalter's famous extra-innings nap in the 2016 Wild Card game and Edwin Encarnacion running around the bases with his arm stuck to his side. That didn't help the anti-Toronto-feeling we all had, either.

But now?

We're gonna need to suck it up and root for the Blue Jays, I guess.

They're playing the Yankees next.

As I opined here throughout the week, the best case/worst case scenario in the Yankees/Red Sox series came to roost last night when New York blanked Boston, 4-0, to advance to the American League Divisional Series.

Best case: One of our rivals from the A.L. East had to lose. Alas, it turned out to be the Red Sox who went home. Maybe Alex Cora needs to bring more trash cans on the road with him next season.

Worst case: One of those clubs moves on for the right to get to the ALCS and it happens to be the Yankees. Cam Schlittler was the story of last night's game with 12 strikeouts in 8 innings of work. If it helps soothe you (us), it appears that Schlittler is a decent kid who has not yet been poisoned by wearing the pinstripes. Time will tell, I suppose.

Oh, but there's even more "worst case" news now.

We're going to have to endure either the Blue Jays or Yankees in the American League Championship Series. One of those two squads is moving on to eventually face the Detroit/Seattle winner in the other series.

But then we have another taste of "best case", because either the Mariners or Tigers are going to play for the right to be in the World Series. Seattle has NEVER been to the Fall Classic and Detroit hasn't been there since 2012 when they were swept by the Giants.

I'll be rooting hard for either Detroit or Seattle once it all shakes out in the ALDS and we see who moves on and who goes home.

These next two weeks are going to present massive challenges for the Ravens, although the task gets easier, of course, if Lamar Jackson is somehow able to play this Sunday despite a nagging hamstring injury.

Without Lamar, the game becomes something close to a toss-up, even though the Texans stink.

If Jackson can play, even at 70%, the Ravens should be able to do enough to squeak past Houston at home.

But these next two games are vitally important.

The Rams got beat last night by a vastly-shorthanded 49'ers team, in L.A. no less, and now enjoy an early-season bye week before coming to Baltimore on October 12.

I think the Ravens would be able to tolerate a split of these next two and a 2-4 recod. They have the Bears and Dolphins after that Rams game, which should get them back to level at 4-4.

However, if they drop both of them? 1-5 is a tough way to go. I'm not saying it would be impossible to rebound from that, especially with a pretty soft schedule over the final two and a half months, but you also have to remember you'd be banking on almost everything going perfectly for them during that span.

Could you really expect an 11-game stretch where no one gets injured?

So Sunday's game in Baltimore is crucial.

"Must win" territory?

No, not that extreme.

But if were playing "horse" and the word was "must" instead, Sunday's game would be worth M and U.

Houston was always one of those homecoming games when you looked at the schedule last summer and started figuring out where the Ravens were virtually guaranteed to win and where they might stub their toe.

Sunday, October 5 was never thought of as a potential "toe stub" game. It was always, always, always a win.

And it needs to be on Sunday, still, no matter who plays or doesn't play for John Harbaugh's team.

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

It’s been a long season with ups and downs for many clubs, but we have now officially arrived to October baseball. The Postseason opened up with some great matchups, with 3 of the 4 Wildcard series needing a game 3 to determine who advanced to the next round.

The Dodgers have punched their ticket to the Divisional Series, where they will face the Philadelphia Phillies in a best of 5. The Dodgers looked unbelievable against the Reds in all phases of the game.

They were favored to win the series by a landslide, and they took care of business in two quick games. Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Teoscar Hernandez were the main contributors for the Dodgers on offense, while 2 time Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto solidified the pitching, each having fantastic starts.

This is a much different looking Dodgers team from what we’ve seen about a month ago. The lingering issue is still the bullpen, who did give up some garbage time runs to the Reds in both games of the Wildcard round.

Those runs didn’t seem to matter since the Dodgers offense put up 10 runs in game 1 and 8 in game 2. But this could be a big issue in the next round against the Phillies.

The Phillies have a much deeper lineup and more talent on their club than the Reds, and a bullpen giving up 2 or 3 runs late in the game will cost the Dodgers a ballgame.

Since the Dodgers have a very deep rotation after getting some pitchers back from the injured list, I would expect Clayton Kershaw to get moved to the bullpen as a long reliever or a set up man.

L.A. has already moved their highly ranked international starting pitching prospect Roki Sasaki to the bullpen for depth, for example. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kershaw joined him.

There really is nothing like playoff baseball, the overall play from the players and the electric crowds just seems to reach another level.

The pitching in all of these series’ has been unbelievable, and falling behind by a run at times feels like you’re down 5.

The matchups also couldn’t have been drawn up better, especially in the American League with the classic Red Sox - Yankees rivalry, and the Tigers - Guardians, where the Guardians just took the AL Central from the Tigers in the season's final week.

This Postseason also feels like that it can really be anyone’s year.

We didn’t see one team win 100 games this season. The rosters all seem to be relatively even, outside of the Dodgers and Phillies who will face each other starting this weekend. The Reds were already a cinderella story going into the playoffs, but they were by far the weakest team in the Postseason and had a slim chance of upsetting the Dodgers.

The Yankees - Red Sox series in my opinion was the biggest series in the Wildcard round, and I think the Yankees (who won last night) will cruise past the Blue Jays in the upcoming ALDS.

The Blue Jays will be without 2 of their starting pitchers, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt, but the real kicker is their star shortstop, Bo Bichette, might not be available due to a knee injury.

Toronto's starting rotation is already an average rotation, so losing your potential game 2 and game 3 starters is a huge problem.

The other series to keep an eye on is the Dodgers - Phillies, where I believe the winner of this series will be advancing to the World Series and winning it all. The way the Dodgers just played against the Reds is a reminder that these guys are the defending champions, and they looked the part.

These are the 2 most talented teams in the Postseason and are more than capable of making a run and winning the World Series. What can stop these clubs? It really depends on how this young Milwaukee Brewers team plays in the NLDS.

We’ve seen the Brewers get hot and go on 10+ game winning streaks multiple times this season. If we get that version of the Brewers, then all bets are off.

On the American League side, it feels like the Mariners year to advance to the World Series with what Cal Raleigh accomplished this season and also winning their division, which ended a 24 year drought.

The Mariners are very streaky, so it’ll ultimately be up to their starting pitching to hold this team up, which it has all season, and Cal Raleigh to be Cal Raleigh and lead the offense.

Players of the Week --

Pitcher: Tarik Skubal was dominant for the Tigers in game 1 against the Guardians, going 7.2 innings and allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 14 strikeouts. Skubal’s strikeouts tie a Tigers postseason record for most in a playoff game which was set by Joe Coleman back in 1972.

Skubal was one strikeout shy of tying the MLB Postseason record that Gerritt Cole set back in 2019 when he struck out 15 batters against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Position Player: Mookie Betts of the Dodgers has gotten off to red hot start in the postseason, batting .667 with 6 hits and 3 RBI. Mookie had a 4 hit game in game 2 of the Wildcard Series with 3 RBI and 3 doubles. Mookie had a bit of a down year compared to what he’s done throughout his career.

This was great to see for him and the Dodgers need him not only as a contributor, but as a leader in their clubhouse.

Rookie: Cam Schlittler of the Yankees was incredible last night in Game 3 against Boston, going 8 full innings and striking out 12 to set a new rookie for a rookie pitcher in the post-season. He'll get at least one start for New York in the Toronto series and and if New York can make it to the ALCS and World Series, expect Aaron Boone to figure out a way for his rookie right hander to be available for at least two starts in each of those rounds if possible.

Here are three other rookies to watch in the playoffs:

1. Trey Yesavage - Reliever for Toronto

The 20th overall pick from the 2024 draft will be playing a significant role for Toronto this postseason. His last appearance saw him starting on the bump on game 161, where he threw 5 scoreless innings and set up Toronto to clinch the AL East for the first time in a decade.

2. Isaac Collins - Outfielder for Milwaukee

Collins had himself a great rookie season and enters October as a crucial piece of the Brewers lineup. Collins batted .263 with 9 homers and 54 RBI with 16 stolen bases, while also playing fantastic defense. Collins led all left fielders in Outs Above Average.

3. Jacob Misiorowski - Starter for Milwaukee

Jacob enters October baseball with a lot of uncertainty as he hasn’t been officially named to the Brewers playoff roster. He has a great arsenal and has a fastball that is consistently above 100 MPH. Misiorowski is the 5th man in the Brewers rotation and most likely won’t be used as a starter however, he could get moved to the bullpen and come in as a long reliever.

faith in sports

In my role as a huddle leader for FCA at Calvert Hall, I'm constantly looking for ways to enlighten the student-athletes who come in every Thursday morning at 7:30 am to explore their faith journey and assemble with other young men of their ilk to learn more about living a faithful life.

Several times a year, I find myself turning to the man you see below to help me reach the young men in the classroom in front of me.

Inky Johnson is, in a word, amazing.

He's truly a gift from God.

If you don't know his story, it's pretty simple. He was injured, permanently, in a college football game while playing for Tenneseee.

He took that injury and not only lived with it, but he made it part of his calling.

Inky is now one of the most sought after public speakers in the entire country, and his message is always rooted in God, faith and spiritual awareness.

One of his latest testimonies can be found below. It's "next up" on my docket to show the young men at Calvert Hall when we next convene for the FCA huddle every Thursday.

If Inky compiled a "greatest hits" edition of his best work, this would be on it.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment here every Friday.

Thursday October 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4056

thursday answers

I don't know about you, but I've had a tough time the last two nights watching this Yankees/Red Sox series.

Both games have been awesome.

There's just something about playoff baseball in October, I swear.

I'm not sure it would be the same if, for example, the games were in late August or early September. I don't know what it is about the fall -- and maybe it's just connected to the awesome October weather we generally experience in The Land of Pleasant Living -- but fall baseball is amazing.

I talked about this a little bit yesterday during my weekly appearance on Glenn Clark Radio.

It's great when your team is playing in October.

But it stinks when your baseball team wasn't good enough to get into the post-season and you not only have to watch other teams play, but you then have to rely on your football team to get you through the upcoming winter months.

Baseball season in Baltimore ended on Sunday, for example, and all we have left now are the Ravens. And maybe that's why this slugglish 1-3 start they're enduring is harder to take than normal. Because we know if things go sideways for John Harbaugh's team, we're left with a pretty long next five months.

I realize the Reds got to play two post-season games before getting booted by the Dodgers last night, but imagine what they're going to go through in Cincinnati now that baseball is over for the year. The Bengals aren't going to win 6 games this season with Burrow out and the rest of their team being pretty much hapless.

It's going to be a long winter out there in Cincinnati.

Back to the Yankees and Red Sox.

Here's the good news. One of them is getting eliminated tonight.

The bad news? One of them will be three wins away from an appearance in the league championship series.

I don't have a dog in the hunt as far at that series goes, so I really don't care what happens tonight. I sorta-kinda want Boston to win but I don't really know why. I guess I feel like the Yankees were just there last year, so let's see someone new if at all possible.

But either way, it doesn't matter. At least one of them is going to feel the "agony of defeat" tonight and that's good enough for me for a while.

Now let's get to the mailbox and answer some questions that came in last week and this week.

Joe T. asks -- "Who do you think are the MVP winners in the A.L. and N.L. this season?"

DF says -- "It has to be Raleigh and Ohtani, right? The Mariners absolutely DO NOT win the A.L. West with Raleigh just having an "OK" season. I mean, he got them there this year. Period. The same for Ohtani. His average was down a tick but everything else was what you'd expect from him PLUS he came back and pitched in 2025 and was awesome, again.

Now, if you want me to go rogue on you, I'll toss this one in your direction. There's probably an argument that Skubal and Skenes are actually the Most Valuable Player(s) in their respective leagues.

There's beyond zero chance that the Tigers make the playoffs without Skubal. They barely made the post-season with him and his 13-6 record, 2.21 ERA, 241 strikeouts, and 0.89 WHIP, all while leading the American League in ERA+ (187) and FIP (2.45) and the majors in WHIP. Imagine the season they have without Tarik Skubal on their roster.

Skenes is a little different because the Pirates were awful, again. But that dude's numbers were outrageous.

He started 32 games for Pittsburgh in 2025. His record was 10-10. His ERA was 1.97. His WHIP was 0.95.

Ready for this? He allowed 3 or more earned runs six times in 32 starts. Six times!!

Oh, and I need to mention he walked 42 guys. All season. 42.

Like I said, he's a bit of a different story than Skubal because the Pirates were horrendous, but Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball and, arguably, the best "player" in the sport as well.

But for the traditional MVP vote, mine goes to Raleigh (A.L.) and Ohtani (N.L.), with Kyle Schwarber right on his heels. And if you want to make an argument for Schwarber, I probably won't fight you on it.

Creston asks -- "I know you've written you think Tiger Woods will be the next U.S. captain for the Ryder Cup but who do you think will be the Europe team captain the next time? Will they give it to Luke Donald one more time?"

DF says -- "Good question. The Europeans do have a history of repeat captains. Tony Jacklin did it four straight times and Bernard Gallacher did it three times in a row, including two successive LOSING Ryder Cups ('91 and '93). So there's a precedent in place for Luke Donald to captain their team a 3rd straight time.

I have no idea how Luke Donald will look at it. He could say to himself, "I could be an iconic captain in the history of European golf who won 3 times in a row." Or, he might be thinking, "Maybe I should leave well enough alone. I'd hate to scar my Ryder Cup profile by being the first captain to lose at home since 1993."

The European team has a similar problem than the U.S. has. Namely, they're low on potential candidates to be the captain if Donald says no thanks. All the LIV guys are, you presume, off the table as candidates, which means Westwood, Poulter, Kaymer, Garcia and McDowell are probably NOT going to get asked to serve as a captain. That said, the European team did take two LIV guys this time around (Rahm and Hatton), so maybe they're softening their stance on LIV guys.

It wouldn't completely shock me to see either McGinley or Darren Clark serve another term. They both did it once before, successfully, and both would be natural fits in Ireland.

That said, I think Luke Donald will do it one more time. The temptation to be a once-in-a-lifetime triple winner will be too inviting to pass up."

Jeff Mrozek asks -- "Have the Ravens wasted Lamar's best years in your opinion? It's starting to feel that way to me."

DF says -- "It's funny you say that, because I was talking to a friend of mine, Pat, a couple of days ago about this very subject. It's kind of hard to believe this, but Lamar is probably at Labor Day on his career calendar.

People forget he joined the league in 2018.

I hate when people say "He's no spring chicken" because you can say that about anyone who is above age 30 in professional team sports, but Lamar will be 29 this January and is starting to put a lot of miles on his wheels.

He has time, still. Don't get me wrong. But he doesn't have 7 or 8 years left. He probably has 3 "Lamar years" remaining and then maybe a year or two where he's clearly wearing down but he's still good enough to get the job done as long as the unit protecting him is really strong.

So, the answer to your question is, "No, they absolutely have NOT wasted his best years." Not yet, anyway.

Remember, Elway didn't win his Super Bowl until late in his career. Peyton Manning was probably in the September of his career calendar when he finally won his first one, too.

Lamar might not win his until 2027 or 2028, who knows?

But they haven't wasted his best years. They still have time to get greatness out of him."

Bart asks -- "Hey Drew, what's your early prognosis on the Capitals this season? Hockey's right around the corner. Go Caps!"

DF says -- "It's hard to say. I feel like last year was a strange season in that the Ovechkin goal-scoring chase definitely helped the team's overall level of play. Without that to feed off of this year, I don't know what they'll produce.

I don't see them reaching 111 points again and I doubt they win the division. But I think they'll make the playoffs. If Leonard and Protas both break through and have big years -- similar to what McMichael did last season -- they could definitely win a series or two in the playoffs.

Winning more than two playoff rounds is a very ambitious ask, though. I don't see that happening.

Their biggest weakness, to me, is still in their goaltending department. Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are both good. Neither, though, are great. And more than anything else I see that as their biggest achilles heel.

Summary: 96 points and one playoff series win before they get eliminated.

Oh, and I agree, it's great to have hockey back and Go Caps! indeed.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles season in review, part two

Even in a losing year, the Orioles found some promise for next year.

Trevor Rogers’ season was the headliner, an ace’s act compressed into eighteen starts. Every fifth day looked different with him on the mound; the tempo settled, the defense breathed, and the dugout played with the confidence that one run might be enough.

If he carries anything close to that form over to 2026 the O’s will have a true Ace. Kyle Bradish returned late in the season and flashed some of his All-Star form. Those two could form a strong pairing at the top of the 2026 rotation if they can stay healthy and replicate their success.

The path back to relevance is straightforward if not simple. Looking ahead to 2026, the O’s undoubtedly need another top-of-the-rotation arm to stand next to Rogers and Bradish.

Dean Kremer provides a solid mid-rotation presence, but after that there are a lot of question marks. Grayson Rodriguez is supposed to be ready for Spring Training, but the front office should look at that as a luxury, not a guarantee.

Tyler Wells made a late return but is tough to rely on given his injury history. Cade Povich and Brandon Young have shown glimpses of promise but as of yet don’t look like anything more than back of the rotation filler.

The Orioles could look to bring back Zach Eflin on a prove-it contract after injuries derailed his season. Tomoyuki Sugano was competent enough to sign to a similar contract as a rotation depth piece, though that depends on how his market develops.

The front office will need to add at least one back end starter to ensure the team can survive the inevitable arm injuries that haunt modern day rotations.

From an offensive perspective, the team is going to have to rely on their young stars and prospects to improve their performance if they want to return to the success of 2023 and 2024.

The core stars like Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg and Jackson Holliday need to play like stars in 2026 and between Colton Cowser, Dylan Beavers, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo and Heston Kjerstad, several need to take a leap to being productive major leaguers.

It couldn’t hurt to add a veteran bat on a short term contract, but with Tyler O’Neill likely to opt-in to his player option, there may not be much flexibility to add to the lineup.

The other major question hanging over the offseason is the need to sign a permanent manager.

The front office will need to find someone with the right balance of playoff experience and ability to connect and develop young talent. The job should be enticing to the right type of candidate. There are not many organizations with the type of talent the Orioles possess.

It remains to be seen whether this front office and ownership are truly willing to spend the money required to compete in this division and the insider sentiment on that could sway potential candidates this offseason.

Player of the Season --

Given the plethora of injuries and underperformance, there weren’t many serious candidates for this award. In the end there were only two real options and the choice became obvious down the stretch.

While Gunnar Henderson had a down year by his standards, he was still far and away the most productive batter/fielder on the team. Though his home run power mysteriously disappeared (more on that below), Gunnar still delivered a 5.4 bWAR season, with a .274 average and a 121 OPS+ (21% better than league average), while playing decent defensively at the most important spot in the infield.

Gunnar was the clear leader of the offense, but the Player of the Year was the emergent ace of the staff, Trevor Rogers.

Despite playing just over half the season, Rogers had the biggest impact. In just 18 starts he led the team with 5.5 bWAR, posting a 1.81 ERA and going 9-3. His stretch of starts surrendering two runs or less was not just outstanding for this team, but put him in the conversation with some of the greatest Orioles and pitchers of all-time.

After struggling mightily when he joined the team in 2024, Rogers revamped his repertoire, restored his velocity and harnessed exceptional control to produce a career best season. The major question is whether he can reproduce this next season.

The underlying numbers suggest his success is no fluke, but Rogers will need to maintain his focus and stay one step ahead as the league adjusts to his new found success.

Question of the Season -- Where did Gunnar Henderson’s power go?

After 37 home runs and a .248 ISO in 2024, Gunnar Henderson closed 2025 with just 17 homers. The raw thunder never disappeared, his top-end exit velocity remained elite and his average exit speed barely budged.

The drop lived in how the ball came off the bat and which pitches he chose to attack. Gunnar’s barrel rate slipped a few ticks from the 2023-24 band into the high-single digits, and his fly-ball share fell while grounders and pop-ups crept up.

That profile — fewer balls struck in the ideal launch window and a few more either topped or skied — will turn 400-foot flies into doubles off the wall and warning-track outs into routine catches.

At the same time, Henderson grew more aggressive overall, trimming strikeouts but expanding the zone. More balls in play are helpful only if they’re the right balls in play, but too many of his added swings came on borderline or breaking pitches just off the plate, the kind that produce flares and rollovers rather than back-spun missiles.

There’s also the simplest ingredient in any power year: variance. Henderson’s 2024 home-run- to-fly-ball rate was unsustainably high for almost anyone and 2025 snapped back toward league norms. Fold together the slightly flatter average launch, a touch more chase, fewer barrels, and more normal HR/FB luck and you land on a season that looks like a power outage without signaling any erosion in physical ability.

The correction is tactical, not existential. Despite the down year, Gunnar improved his strikeout rate in 2025 and still maintained a solid walk rate, so the plate discipline is still there.

He should be able to adjust his swing decisions to reclaim advantageous counts, resist the just-off breakers that invite weak contact, and nudge his contact window back toward the 10-12-degree sweet spot he lived in during his best stretches.

If he keeps the strikeout gains while reclaiming loft on selectively attacked pitches, the 25-30 homer version of Gunnar can quickly return. At twenty-four, with the bat speed and strength still evident, this reads as a calibration year rather than a new ceiling.

Wednesday October 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4055

oh, yeah, about the orioles

The Ravens getting shellacked on Sunday and the U.S. nearly mounting a wild comeback in the Ryder Cup pushed the Orioles to the back burner here at #DMD for a couple of days.

The O's, of course, are used to the "back-burner-treatment". Just look at their attendance numbers for 2025.

But we do owe the Birds a post-mortem of sorts for their 75-87 campaign. We can't, and won't, just let them slip away without reviewing what happened in 2025, what we learned from Monday's press conference in Baltimore, and what lies ahead for our orange-feathered-friends in 2026.

It almost seems like piling on to beat them up too much over what transpired in 2025.

They got crushed with injuries from start to finish, pretty much, and were not able to rebound from a terrible first 50 games to the season.

Folks probably don't realize what happened, but here are the numbers in a nutshell:

First 50 games: 17-33

Next 112 games: 58-54

58-54 isn't "great", obviously, but it's also not terrible. 17-33 was terrible. 58-54 was a nice rebound thereafter.

So when people ask me, "What happened to the Orioles this season?", that's always my first response.

"They got off to a terrible start and couldn't recover from it."

That's one of the reasons why a bad loss in April or a 5-game losing streak in May isn't something to ignore. Baseball being what it is and all, folks tend to easily dismiss a loss because there's almost always a game within the next 24 hours.

By the time the Birds fired Brandon Hyde and tried to reboot their season, it was simply too late.

Could they have played those last 112 games, say, at something like 70-42 and made the playoffs? Well, sure, they could have. But given what they were up against, injury wise, that was a pipe dream.

Mike Elias took a lot of heat throughout the season for some of his off-season additions and it's fair to point out he definitely whiffed a time or two (or four) last winter.

Tyler O'Neill homered on opening day in Toronto and that was pretty much the last time we saw him make any kind of real contribution in 2025. He made the Anthony Santander signing in Toronto look good.

Worst of all, O'Neill will be back in 2026 to once again play in 40 games, enjoy four stints on the Injured List, and remind everyone that injury prone athletes generally stay -- wait for it -- injury prone.

Elias gave Charlie Morton $15 million and the veteran right hander lost six straight starts to open the campaign before at least leveling off into a tradeable commodity at the deadline. Not exactly a glowing endorsement for him, but at least Elias didn't have to cut him in late May and pay him for sitting around all summer and doing nothing.

Relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge came in as a free agent and was hurt before the season even got started. He was eventually shipped out at the trade deadline to the Cubs where, in a weird twist of fate, he'll actually start tomorrow's Game 2 against the Padres in one of those always exciting "bullpen games" that baseball is somehow proud of these days.

Gary Sanchez was effectively swapped for James McCann as the back-up catcher, primarily -- one would assume -- because the O's didn't want to pay McCann a legitimate Major League salary. Instead, they got Sanchez for the "paltry" contract sum of $8.5 million and then he played a whopping 29 games before calling it a day year.

$8.5 million for 29 days of work. Who wouldn't take that, eh?

So those three moves by Elias weren't exactly "Executive of the Year" qualifiers.

But he did go out and get Tomoyuki Sugano, who started out looking like he might be a real find for Elias, but finished the year as just another 35-year old arm.

Sugano was durable. He made 30 starts.

He also allowed a lot of home runs (33) and developed a habit of giving up runs in the first couple of innings .

In the end, he was an average'ish pitcher. Sugano finished the year at 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA.

He was, if this means anything, more of contributor than O'Neill, Kittredge and Sanchez...combined.

Elias also took a gamble on journeyman Ramon Laureano, and all he did was take the mid-sesason lead for the team's MVP award before being traded to San Diego at the deadline. The (then) GM took some stick for the Laureano signing, but he got that one right.

By the time Elias torched the team in late July, all that was left for him to do was to somehow salvage the '25 campaign by making some potentially productive deadline-deals that laid the groundwork for successful campaigns in '26, '27 and '28, perhaps.

There were a few other bright spots for the O's. Randy Morgan will cover them in his excellent "Season in Review" below. Bradish, Wells, and, of course, Trevor Rogers were all great stories in '25, even if the first two didn't materialize until September.

Jeremiah Jackson had a nice September. He might be a 'keeper as a role player off the bench.

But the one piece remaining that needs to be finalized is the managerial spot in 2026.

Perhaps I'm reading the room wrong.

And if I am, I'll stand up and say so down the road.

But unless Mike Elias and Katie Griggs have completely lost their minds, Tony Mansolino is apparently their choice to return as full-time manager next season.

I say "apparently" because there's simply no way a Major League Baseball team would allow an interim manager to be a focal point of a review/preview press conference like the Orioles held on Monday.

If Mansolino isn't going to be the manager, he had no reason at all to be there on Monday. And if the Orioles honestly, in their heart, don't know if he is or isn't going to be the manager, that's the clubhouse leader for "Clown Shoes Moment of the Year".

He's been your guy since mid-May.

You saw him operate for 100-plus games.

He's either your manager or he's not.

If you're waiting around to see if someone comes along that's better, than you clearly don't have confidence that your interim guy is the right man for the job on a full-time basis.

It was beyond bizarre to see Mansolino in the room on Monday, but it would have made sense if, in fact, he's going to be the team's skipper in 2026.

If he winds up not being the manager and you let him stand up on Monday, September 29 and speak about the team and the roster and the 2026 season, you've just authored one of the more bizarre moments in Orioles history.

Oh, and speaking of bizarre, Elias did briefly touch on what transpired with his "promotion" to team President last spring and the ongoing search for a new general manager.

I'll present his full quote without further comment and you figure out what he was trying to say on Monday.

“It does provide us the ability to utilize the general manager title in a way that many, many other organizations and a growing number of other organizations are starting to utilize it to beef up the throughput, but also the talent in the front office. And it's something that we have begun to consider and explore. But obviously it's got to be the right person, the right fit, for the Orioles, for the org, for the whole situation and it may not happen imminently, but that is a pathway that's available to us and it's something that we may be interested in doing. It may be this offseason, it may not be.”

When asked what new duties the GM might have that he, for instance, didn't have, Elias continued.

“I think the answer to that very much depends on who it is. I think what's very clear to me is there's a lot of work in baseball operations now running these departments on a day-to-day basis. It's a ton of work. We have a relatively small baseball operations department still, and we have room to grow and we're also very interested in outside perspectives and outside talent. So that can come in different profiles and backgrounds and job duties and it's something that I think we would tailor depending on who the person is. But there's certainly room for more high-level contributions to our department."

The only way Elias could have said less would have been by speaking longer.

It was all so bizarre on Monday.

The season itself was strange, too, what with the players getting the manager fired and the club wallowing through a mediocre campaign after two straight years of playoff baseball.

But having the interim manager appear before the media not knowing if he is actually going to remain employed was the oddest moment of them all.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles season in review

Season Record: 75-87

AL East Standing: 5th

Player of the Season: Trevor Rogers

The Orioles dug themselves a deep hole to start the 2025 season and were never able to recover as injuries piled up and many key contributors were dealt at the trade deadline.

The Birds opened 12-18 across March and April, with run prevention setting the tone in all the wrong ways. The early staff ERA ballooned to the worst in the American League and the lineup compounded matters by going quiet in big moments; a league-worst OPS with runners in scoring position in April captured how tight and disjointed everything felt.

By the time the calendar flipped to May, the O’s were already chasing the pack and straining to keep a lineup intact.

May made the hole deeper. The club dismissed Brandon Hyde on May 17 with the O’s at 15-28, and the injuries kept stacking. The bullpen frayed under the workload, blowing leads and wearing a 6+ ERA for the month while the offense managed barely more than three and a half runs per game.

It wasn’t for lack of individual effort so much as the cumulative effect of missing bats and a relief corps that never found a dependable bridge.

Under new manager Tony Mansolino, the O’s showed some life in June, going 16-11 with a two- week heater from the starters that looked like the club everyone expected.

The team rode that competence into a 13-12 July, flirting with relevance as the deadline neared, but the reality of the standings and the injury list guided the front office toward a sell-off at the deadline, attempting to turn short-term pieces into future value.

Predictably, August exposed the soft spots created by the roster churn. The staff regressed, and the young bats showed some growing pains during an 11-17 month that quelled any hopes of a miraculous stretch run.

Freed from pressure and buoyed by a magnificent run from Trevor Rogers and the return of Kyle Bradish, September brought a different energy. The Birds went 14-11, authored a delirious near-no-hit comeback win over the Dodgers, and generally looked like a team that had exhaled.

They closed at 75-87, their first losing season since 2022, but saw signs of promise from the rotation and at least got some experience for several young players who could be pivotal in 2026.

The numbers underlined the story. Offensively the O’s landed in the bottom quarter of the league, scoring 675 runs (24th) with a team OPS+ of 96 (4% below league average, tied for 20th).

A decent home-run total of 189 (tied for 12th) kept them afloat at times, but the broader shape of the offense, long slumps, too many empty at-bats against lefties, and the absence of a steady middle-of-the-order drumbeat ultimately undid them.

Pitching followed a similar arc. The staff’s 4.60 ERA and 1.37 WHIP reflected far too many baserunners, and a rotation that opened in disarray and put the bullpen in a daily grind it couldn’t survive. The team finished with an 88 ERA+, 12% below league average, good for 28th in the league.

There were isolated corrections in June and July when the group held its shape, but with the season-ending injury to Felix Bautista, the relief unit never established a sturdy late- inning ladder.

The staff surrendered 785 runs (25th) and had a 2.58 strikeout-to-walk ratio (21st). The failure to adequately replace Corbin Burnes in the offseason, combined with both expected and unexpected injuries doomed the staff from the beginning.

Injuries weren’t the only reason for the O’s downfall in 2025, but they were a constant, distorting everything from April forward. The rotation never had its intended spine: Grayson Rodriguez didn’t throw a pitch, Kyle Bradish didn’t debut until late August, Tyler Wells arrived in September, and Zach Eflin’s start-stop season ended in surgery.

The bullpen churned through options while Félix Bautista’s comeback stalled in mid-summer.

Around the diamond, the outfield was a daily puzzle, starting with Colton Cowser’s broken thumb in week one, then Tyler O’Neill’s shoulder in mid-May, Ramón Laureano’s ankle in late May, Cedric Mullins’s hamstring not long after.

Jordan Westburg’s extended absence hollowed the infield, Ryan Mountcastle’s injury sapped momentum just as he looked ready to carry a week, and the catching group took hits across the organization, eventually forcing top prospect Samuel Basallo into action.

Like Basallo, several other promising prospects got their chance due to the injuries and departures at the trade deadline. Unfortunately the returns were not all that O’s and their fans had hoped.

Coby Mayo finished with a .687 OPS over 85 games, though he did seem to find his power stroke in the last few weeks of the season. After crushing AAA pitching the team will hope this was just a young player adjusting to the level of major league pitching and Mayo can take it up another level next season.

Despite some exhilarating clutch homers, Samuel Basallo largely failed to live up to early expectations at the plate, managing just a .165 batting average. A slow start is understandable as one of the youngest players in the majors, but the Orioles will need Basallo to figure things out fast if he is to be an everyday bat in 2026.

After a strong start to the season, Jackson Holliday tapered off down the stretch, finishing with a subpar .690 OPS, though he amazingly managed to tie for the team lead in home runs with just 17.

The two prospects who did impress, and potentially earned their way into the 2026 lineup, were Dylan Beavers and Jeremiah Jackson. Beavers was a highly touted prospect who finished with a .775 OPS (120 OPS+) while playing serviceable defense in the outfield. Jackson proved a valuable utility player while matching Beavers with a .775 OPS and delivering in some clutch moments.

The offseason acquisitions were about as uneven as the prospect call ups for the Orioles this season. O’Neill was brought in to add right-handed thump and never got untracked spending most of his time on the injured list. Charlie Morton’s veteran stabilizer role never materialized after a rough April and a detour to the IL.

Tomoyuki Sugano took his turns and, for stretches, gave the club what it needed, though the home-run bug kept him nearer league average than a frontline starter. Andrew Kittredge and Gary Sánchez couldn’t stay on the field long enough to matter.

The unheralded Ramon Laureano ended up being the steal of the winter. Laureano’s spring pickup injected early juice before heading off as part of the trade package to the Padres. He finished with the second highest WAR on the team despite leaving at the deadline.

In sum, the O’s tried to color around the margins and found out the canvas needed bolder strokes, especially after Corbin Burnes departed and the bullpen lacked proven leverage arms. Even in a losing year, the Orioles found some promise for next year.

Tomorrow here at #DMD, Randy looks at what lies ahead for the O's in 2026 and examines the big question of 2025; What happened to Gunnar's power?

Tuesday September 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4054

fowler for captain?

I've read the reports over the last 24 hours that mention Rickie Fowler could be a candidate to be the U.S. captain in 2027 when the Ryder Cup shifts to Adare Manor in Ireland.

I noted someone here in the Comments section asked me about it as well.

My opinion on it?

I think I'd rather have Rickie captaining in the event than playing in the event. How's that for dodging the question?

On a serious note, I have no idea at all if Fowler would make for a good captain in the same way no one in Europe knew Luke Donald would be a good (great?) captain prior to his first go-round in 2023.

In fairness, they are actually fairly similar in professional profile. Neither of them ever won a major championship. Both of them were winners on the PGA Tour, but not someone who struck fear in the heart(s) of their fellow competitor(s). Fowler won "over there" and Donald won "over here", if that matters or means anything at all.

But I have zero idea if Fowler would be a good captain in the same way I have no idea if two other first-timers I mentioned in today's piece, Stewart Cink and Billy Andrade, would be quality captains.

I'm sure people will say, "What's Rickie Fowler done to deserve to be the captain?" The answer is the same one given when Luke Donald was named captain of his team. "Nothing, really. But is that the point?"

Do you know what Steve Stricker did in order to a candidate and eventually be selected to lead the team at Whistling Straits in 2021?

Nothing. He was from Wisconsin. That's why he got selected.

Do you know what Keegan Bradley did to get selected in 2025?

Nothing. He simply got overlooked by Zach Johnson in 2023 and the PGA of America gave him a "make good" by giving him the reins at Bethpage Black.

There's no litmus test for the process of being a captain.

Fowler is well liked by his fellow peers, but so, too, was Zach Johnson and his squad got boat-raced in Rome two years ago.

Hal Sutton was not really all that popular amongst fellow TOUR members but he got the captain's nod nonetheless in 2004. Stricker was a favorite of everyone and he led the U.S. to a resounding win at Whistling Straits.

But does anyone really think Stricker was the reason why the U.S. dominated that particular edition of the Ryder Cup?

I don't.

Just like I don't really think Keegan Bradley was the only reason why the Americans lost this time around.

And while I think Luke Donald did some interesting things as captain in 2025 (different shampoo, better bed linens, history-themed practice gear), I highly doubt Tommy Fleetwood played the best golf of his life because Donald replaced the sheets and blankets at their team hotel with expensive bedding flown in from Italy.

Rory said the "new shampoo" smelled great. Good for him. But that's not why he putted the way he did on Friday and Saturday, trust me.

I know how it works. When the team wins in the Ryder Cup, the captain was great. When the team loses, the captain was lousy.

I think "the process" is what costs the Americans more than anything else. I think the Europeans are somehow way beyond us when it comes to putting together their pairings and teams for both of the team events in the Ryder Cup. They have certain things they look for in shaping their alternate shot pairings and certain things they look for in putting together their better-ball teams.

Eduardo Molinari, a European Vice Captain, talked about this at length on a golf podcast earlier today. The European team runs their players through "simulation matches" using their driving statistics and iron play statistics based on the layout of each hole and configure their teams somewhat from what that data tells them.

In contrast, somehow the U.S. had Russell Henley teeing off on the odd holes on Friday morning in alternate shot. They got about halfway into the match when Scottie Scheffler apparently said, "We did this wrong...tomorrow I'll tee off on the odds." And that he did.

Anyway, if Rickie Fowler's the captain of the team, he still needs 12 players to play lights out golf in 2027. He can get new shampoo and better pajamas and waterfall sound machines for their hotel rooms, but if the guys don't play great golf, none of that stuff matters.

The same goes for Stewart Cink, Tiger Woods or whomever it is that runs the squad. But the devil is in the details, as they say, and no matter who the captain is, the hope here is they use every possible angle to come up with a plan to win on the road for the first time since 1993.

Would I be against Fowler being the captain? Not at all.

It can be Tiger or Cink or Fowler or Justin Leonard -- the guy Brandel Chamblee is pushing on the Golf Channel -- and it doesn't really matter to me.

I think more focus should be put on the selection process of the team itself and then the pairings and the way partners are put together for the actual matches.

Oh, and making more putts would help as well.

---

digging in for the long haul

Monday came and went and no one lost their job at 1 Winning Drive.

Maybe Todd Monken was put on some kind of unofficial notice? I mean, it's not often that John Harbaugh very directly criticizes one of his coaches the way he laid waste to Monken on Monday in the aftermath of some puzzling offensive play-calling decisions in the loss at Kansas City.

For a long time now, folks around town have been bellyaching about Harbaugh and how he "never holds anyone accountable".

Well, he held Monken accountable on Monday. But he didn't relieve him of his duties.

He also didn't send Zach Orr packing, which I thought was a little bit of a surprise. I suspected Monday would be the day Harbaugh delivered the news that Orr was no longer the team's defensive coordinator.

The big news, of course, centered on Nnamdi Madubuike being lost for the season with an unspecified neck injury. It sounds like it could be career-threatening, too, which isn't good for both the player and the team.

But the bigger news was that there wasn't any bigger news, if that makes sense.

Harbaugh and his staff are digging in for the long haul.

They'll have to win the next two games, at least, without a pair of their better defensive players. Both Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith will likely miss the Oct. 5 game vs. Houston and the October 12 contest vs. Los Angeles.

With all due respect to the Texans, the Ravens should still be OK this Sunday even without Humphrey and Smith. As long as Lamar is 100%, he and Derrick Henry should be enough to pull out a win.

But the Rams on October 12? That one could be a bit of a struggle if those two defensive players are still missing.

Either way, though, Harbaugh is pretty much doing what he always does when times get tough. He's doubling down on his staff and the decisions he's made in giving people like Monken and Orr significant roles in the National Football League.

This much is true, we know. If Harbaugh would have stood up yesterday and announced the firing of Orr, one of the immediate reactions around town would have been, "We've been telling you to fire that guy for a year. You finally listened."

The same goes with Monken. If John fires him mid-stream, folks would have reacted with something like, "That's what you get for hiring a guy right out of college football."

In some ways, Harbaugh's in no-man's land with this one.

By staying with those two, he's definitely risking more of the same-old-same-old. And if the injuries continue to pile up, it's only going to get worse.

And if he cans one or both of them now and things don't get better, what's that ultimately say?

It will say that the only guy left who hasn't been fired yet is the head coach.

This is, by my most logical conclusion, John's final few months as Ravens head coach. The only way that doesn't happen is if, somehow, they can withstand this run of injuries and almost miraculously hang on to go 10-7 or 11-6 and make the playoffs against all odds. If that happens, John might get another year.

But at this point, I don't see that happening. Those injuries on Sunday -- which no one can predict, of course -- are the beginning of the end as far as 2025 goes. If they lose one or two more key starters over the next couple of weeks, it's all but a done deal.

As I've said here numerous times, Steve Bisciotti is never going to summarily dismiss and embarrass Harbaugh the way he did with Brian Billick back in 2007. He may go to John and say, "It pains me to say this...it's over", but publicly he'll never tear John apart and drag him through the mud.

The season will end with the Ravens slogging their way through an injury-riddled 8-9 campaign and the press release in January will be carefully worded to exonerate Harbaugh and praise him to the moon for the two decades of work he put in with the organization.

I don't see John wiggling his way out of this one unless they're somehow able to survive this rugged start and get back into the post-season.

That said, he's not giving in, as evidenced by Monday's press conference in which everyone kept their jobs and it was, by most accounts, "business as usual".

Like him or not, you have to give Harbaugh credit. He almost never gives up on someone he faithfully hired and kept around, despite circumstances that apparently call for a change in direction.

If you believe that loyalty is a great trait, you have to admire John for that, even if nothing else about him is to your liking.

ryder cup closure

The European Ryder Cup team is still partying and dancing, I think, as I post this at 7:00 am on Tuesday morning.

And who can blame them? They were mistreated and harangued by a small pack of rabid American "golf fans" for the better part of three days.

I don't know many people who wouldn't want to rub it in after winning under the circumstances the Europeans were confronted with at Bethpage Black.

The questions that linger in the aftermath of the U.S. loss are the obvious and usual ones.

What went wrong?

Who gets the blame?

Can it be fixed?

What was the story with the crowd being out of control?

What about "the envelope rule"? Is it fair? Does it need to be changed?

And a few others I'll answer here as well.

What went wrong? -- In simple terms, what went wrong was easy to decipher: Putting. The Europeans putted out of their mind on Saturday and Sunday while piling up a wild 11.5 - 4.5 lead. The Americans didn't putt poorly on those two days, but they also didn't make nearly enough putts to offset their European counterparts. Only two players (Young and Scheffler) were ranked among the top 10 in strokes-gained-putting after the first four team matches.

But in a deeper-dive on what went wrong, it seems to me like the U.S. pairings were simply "off". While the Europeans seem to build their teams based somewhat on "strength teamed with strength", the Americans tend to go with "A player and B player". The Scheffler/Henley pairing was a good example of that.

Why not team Scheffler up with Bryson starting right out of the gate on Thursday and keep them intact? If you ranked the top six American players heading into the event (just your "gut" ranking, not done on points or anything like that), your top 6 would have been Scheffler, DeChambeau, Cantlay, Schauffele, Spaun and Thomas. Why not pair those six together in some way to give yourself a great chance at securing points in those three matches at the very least?

Instead, they gave Henley to Scheffler on Friday morning (and again on Saturday) and left Spaun on the bench while Morikawa and English beat it around like two guys in the B Flight not once, but twice.

Speaking of Scheffler, the media went after him hard about his winless first two days, completely forgetting, of course, that his first four matches were TEAM competitions where both players had to play well and contribute. The idea that a player gets a "loss" in an alternate shot event is kind of stupid. Both players only hit half the shots.

When Scheffler hits it 315 off the tee at the 2nd hole and Henley skanks it over the green and the Americans lose that hole, do both players get equal blame there? They do. But they shouldn't.

When you play Rory and Lowry in a 2-man event, you have to beat BOTH of them. If you're playing with a stiff who isn't helping you, you're going to get steamrolled by those two (as an example), even if you make 6 birdies...because they're going to make 8 or 9 and beat you.

Lots of folks tried to pile on Scheffler. His "data" was actually fine. It wasn't quite what it was in the regular season and playoffs, but he still featured solid numbers tee-to-green and in putting. He just needed a better partner to help offset the quality of golf the Europeans threw his way. He's the best player in the world, yes. But he's not beating two guys at once. No one is.

Who gets the blame? -- The captain is always going to get his fair share of grief and I think there are some situations where Keegan has to take the criticism fair and square.

Setting up the course with very little rough was a bad move from the start and he wound up acknowledging that after Sunday's result was official.

In an ideal, but radically different scenario, Keegan would have asked the PGA of America to set-up the course like it was a U.S. Open layout and made par a good score.

High rough, narrow fairways, fast greens. Par is your friend.

If you go back over time and look at how and why the Europeans have dominated the Ryder Cup, one thing always stands out: They make way more putts.

So why not avoid making the event a birdie-fest at Bethpage?

There were also little things about the course itself that helped the Europeans. For instance, the majority of the greens they putt on the European Tour are poa annua grass. And while a lot of the European guys also have status on the PGA Tour, they still play a number of events on "their tour" throughout the year.

The Americans, meanwhile, play almost no golf at all overseas and, in fact, play most of their warm weather golf on bermuda grass and greens. The Europeans have long been known for being "average" chippers on bermuda grass for whatever reason. But the greens at Bethpage were poa annua and soft, which gave the European squad a comfort they might not have had on bermuda greens and fairways.

I don't think Keegan Bradley was a bad captain. I think he was put in an awful position by the PGA of America, who essentially shocked him with a mid-morning call and asked him to be the captain with no warning or advance notice whatsoever. He was drinking from the fire hose from the start. And the players, if you believe them (and I do), lauded his role as captain in the aftermath of the loss.

Players never want to take the blame. So, like Mickelson did to Watson once upon a time, if the players even remotely thought Keegan was the reason they didn't win, there would have been 2 or 3 "sources say" stories floating around on Monday about how poorly prepared Bradley was or how he flubbed up two or three things.

I think the players LOVED playing for him. They just didn't win.

Why was the crowd so obnoxious? -- The easy answer would be "New York sports fan and booze, married with a passion for helping the home team win". I mean, 98% of the people who were causing an ugly scene at Bethpage Black were over-served. Maybe even 99% of them.

Make no mistake about it. The behavior of the people who berated McIlroy and Lowry, just to name two, was completely unacceptable. And no matter what anyone says, Rory and Lowry didn't "ask for it", particularly while they were actually trying to play golf.

If you want to chide them while they're on the first tee or walking down the fairway, that's one thing. As long as it's not deeply personal, it's fair game.

But you can't yell and scream while the guy is trying to make a golf swing. There's ZERO reason for that and a player, as McIlroy did to a throng of derelicts on Saturday, has every right to respond accordingly.

The first tee emcee who helped engineer the "F-you-Rory" chant on Saturday morning was rightfully removed from her role and forced to apologize. There's no place at the event for that, period.

Collin Morikawa probably didn't help matters on Tuesday when he essentially begged for "chaos on the first tee" in his press conference.

This also should be pointed out. Fan behavior at the Ryder Cup has been "questionable" for a long time now, not just at Bethpage Black.

And no matter what airheads-with-an-agenda think, the behavior of the fans at Bethpage Black had absolutely ZERO to do with President Trump and "MAGA".

The people at the event who were guilty of horrendous behavior were drunk and out of hand but no one did any kind of formal study to learn their political alignment.

Can we please stop trying to make everything in this country a "gotcha!" moment?

Oh, and one last thing about the crowd's behavior on Friday and Saturday. It actually probably helped the European team, truth be told.

First, it likely motivated them just a wee bit more to play even harder. As if the U.S. needed that.

And it probably also embarrassed the American players who witnessed it.

What about the envelope rule? -- The guess here is they'll probably figure out a way to tweak/alter the envelope rule for 2027. I see the value in having it if someone gets hurt off the course, like Steve Pate did in 1991 when he was unable to play due to a car accident on Saturday night. It wasn't his fault he couldn't play, after all.

But the Hovland thing was different. He basically pulled out of the event. Now, sure, the Americans got a half-point as did the European side, but it seems a little unfair for the European team to benefit from a player injury.

I do think they'll change something about the rule, through.

My personal solution? Here's what I'd do. If a player can't play in the Singles event, the captain of the other team can sit anyone on his team he so chooses. So, in this case, Bradley could have sat Morikawa for example and allowed Harris English to play Tyrrell Hatton.

Or...use the envelope idea. That's fine. Except instead of both players getting a half-point, the captain of the "other team" (the one who didn't have a player sit out) gets to pick one match of his choice that counts for two points instead of one. In this, for example, Bradley could have said, "We'll go with Bryson vs. Fitzpatrick" and if Bryson wins, the U.S. gets two points. Now, if Europe were to win that match, they'd also get 2 points. But this would be a way to give the team who didn't have a player sit out some small amount of control over the match they want to count for double points.

One thing for sure. The half-point-for-both-players thing is a rule that needs to be tweaked somehow.

Who is the next U.S. captain? -- I do think the PGA of America and their "task force" will strongly consider giving Keegan another run in Ireland in 2027. It probably wouldn't have happened had the Americans lost 18-10 or 19-9 at Bethpage Black. But the way they played on Sunday gave merit to the idea that Bradley should return again.

If not Keegan, then who?

Well, Tiger's the obvious answer. I don't know if the PGA of America is still upset with him about the 2025 captaincy. If they are, maybe they've ruled him out, period. But if they're still "cool" with Tiger, I'd say it's 50/50 they go with him in Ireland.

Stewart Cink will probably get some run. He's in his 50's now and pretty much removed from the regular PGA Tour for the most part. And he won a British Open, so there's a connection, somewhat, to European golf and all.

It's interesting how the Europeans just go for the "best guy" available and plug him in no matter what he won in his career. Paul McGinley was a terrific captain and he never won jack-squat. Luke Donald was a great player for a half-a-decade but he never won a major championship. The idea that a Ryder Cup captain has to have a decorated career is kind of silly.

You want three off-the-radar screens for a U.S. captain? Billy Andrade (63 in 2027), Paul Azinger (former winning captain) and Brad Faxon (66 in 2027, former "best putter in the world").

Andrade was a very popular player on the PGA Tour during his day and remains a steadfast ambassador for the sport, having won the Payne Stewart Award two years ago. He would keep things loose in Ireland.

Azinger deserved a second chance after he won as a captain in 2008, but he rubbed some folks in the PGA of America the wrong way once upon a time. He would be the perfect guy to go over there and try to win on the road for the first time since 1993. No disrespect here, but Azinger was never fond of the Europeans who made up the Ryder Cup team(s) he played against. Turn him loose in 2027.

Faxon could, if nothing else, lend his putting expertise to the team. Like Andrade, he was a very popular -- and successful -- player during his career.

In the end, the role is going to once again be offered to Tiger. If he doesn't take it, my guess is Stewart Cink is option #2.

Should the players be paid to play? -- The Europeans did a nice job of exploiting that story last week, but the reality is the U.S. players all intend to donate their $200,000 stipend and their $300,000 charitable donation to one or more charities of their choice.

So, in that regard, they're not really getting paid.

But the question is, "Should the players be paid to play?". And that's a tricky one based on how much money the PGA of America brings in for the event.

The answer, in my opinion, is "No, they should not be paid. They should, however, receive a lump sum of money they can donate to charity, as they've all done for the better part of the last 25 years. I see real value in that. But flat-out paying a player to play in the Ryder Cup? That's a hard no.

Can it be fixed? -- Yes and no. The only thing that fixes it is winning. Period. So we won't know for two years if it's "fixed" or not. But the one thing the U.S. has to continue to evaluate is the process by which the team is picked.

My own opinion is this: Nothing that happened last year matters. Not when it comes to the Ryder Cup. Collin Morikawa is a perfect example of that. He played well enough in 2024 -- albeit without winning -- to garner enough points to stay relevant in 2025. Phooey on that.

My plan would be simple: Points from this year are all that matter. We're taking the top 10. We start counting points in January.

Majors and The Players count double, as they do now. Fed Ex Cup events count 1.5 times more than a regular event. If you don't make the Fed Ex Cup playoffs, we probably don't want you anyway. Sorry, not sorry.

We'll add two captain's picks and that's that.

I don't know that we've "fixed" the Ryder Cup. But our goal is to have the 12 players playing the best this season.

Monday September 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4053

did they give up?

You can say a lot of things about the Ravens 37-20 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday.

Their offense lacked imagination after the opening drive of the game, where they gloriously danced down the field en-route to a quick 7-0 lead.

Defensively, it was more of what we've seen over the first month of the season. No real pass rush to speak of, poor tackling, coverage mistakes and...most important of all...37 points allowed.

In case you're unaware, that's 3 of 4 games where the opposition scored 37 or more points.

And for once -- or at least one of the rare times in the last three years -- Lamar Jackson wasn't Lamar Jackson. He was, in a word, "bad".

And when Lamar's bad, the Ravens aren't beating anyone.

It was, in total, another lousy performance by the Ravens, who are now 1-3.

But this one looked different. At least to me.

It looked like the Ravens might have given up once the score ballooned to 27-13 in favor of Kansas City early in the third quarter.

The injuries started to mount, too. Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith hit the blue tent, as did Lamar. Jackson was eventually replaced by Cooper Rush, which wasn't an upgrade, as you can imagine.

Some folks on the internet proposed that Lamar might have "pulled himself" from the game, effectively saying, "No sense in me being in there when we're losing 30-13."

I can't speak to that. Only Lamar can. My guess is he probably did feel "something" in his hamstring and didn't see the benefit of stressing it given the score and the impending result. If he made that kind of decision, I'm good with it.

Others who watched the game saw the same thing I saw. A team looking tired. Uninspired. Defeated. And pretty much just going through the motions over the final 25 minutes or so.

Losing is acceptable. I mean, to some people who are nuts, losing isn't acceptable. But losing is part of sports. It happens.

But jaking it and not really putting forth a professional effort? That's not acceptable.

I'll stop short of saying the Ravens fit that profile in the second half of yesterday's game. Once someone quits during a game, it's hard to look them in the eye again. But they were close to having that look.

I wrote here last week that if the Ravens defense got torched again for 35 or more points in Kansas City that I thought Zach Orr's job could be in jeopardy.

Well, they gave up 37.

And I'm still here, saying the same thing this week that I did last week.

At some point, there's going to be a final straw. Maybe it's yesterday's performance and sometime this afternoon John Harbaugh will tell us how disappointed he is about making this change and how great of a man Zach Orr is and how it's a tough business and sometimes you have to make tough decisions.

Maybe it comes next week when the Ravens shockingly fall to visiting Houston, 28-23.

Editor's note: As long as Lamar is healthy, I don't see that happening next Sunday.

I don't know if Zach Orr's getting fired today or tomorrow, but I do know the Baltimore defense isn't getting any better.

Yes, they've had some key injuries to guys like Madubuike and Van Noy. I get it. But the defense isn't giving the Ravens a chance to win.

At some point, Orr's going to be held accountable for that.

I don't see Todd Monken getting any better, either.

You have (arguably) a top 3 quarterback in all of football, (arguably) a top 3 running back in all of football and a plethora of wide receivers and tight ends to work with and we're not really seeing anyhing "new and improved".

What we see is very predictable.

The offense will be really good against the patsies of the league like the Browns, Texans, Jets and so on.

But when it comes to beating quality units like Detroit, Buffalo and Kansas City, it just doesn't happen.

If you think Zach Orr deserves to be nicked for the woes of the defense, don't we have to give Todd Monken a slap or two for the offense fizzling?

And if players on the team are jaking it and not really giving it their all, doesn't that fall under John Harbaugh?

I think so.

I mean, if they're not going to play for the head coach, who are they going to play for?

This is messy situation for sure.

The schedule does turn favorably for the Ravens. Truth of the matter, we all knew the first four games of the season were going to be tough. It wouldn't be totally unreasonable for the Ravens to have a 2-2 record at this point.

So they're 1-3 instead of 2-2. That in and of itself isn't a huge deal.

It's the way they're losing that's especially bothersome.

There was a sign or two of "I don't care" when I watched the game yesterday.

And that doesn't bode well for the future of Harbaugh, Monken or Orr, in my opinion.

don't let the result fool you

Much was made on Sunday night about the spirited effort the American team showed in the Singles portion of yesterday's Ryder Cup, taking what was an embarrassing blowout and almost turning into one of the most instant-classics-of-all-instant-classics.

And it was an impressive rebound, I'll give them that. That Europe only outright won just a single match on Sunday was amazing.

If Russell Henley buries that 10 footer at 18, there's no telling what happens from there. I don't think Lowry makes his birdie putt and I'm not sure Hatton and MacIntyre hang on in their matches.

Alas, Henley somehow left a 10-footer short and that was that.

But don't let the (almost) historic performance by the U.S. fool you. They are clueless these days when it comes to putting together a winning Ryder Cup culture.

The U.S. hasn't won on the road since 1993 at the Belfry.

Europe has now won FOUR times on foreign soil since then: 1995, 2004, 2012 and 2025.

Here's where it starts and stops with the U.S. and this should be the very first thing they examine about the way they go about treating the Ryder Cup.

The best player of the last 40 years and perhaps in the history of the sport said "no thanks" when he was offered the role of being the captain of the U.S. team in 2025.

It was all set for Tiger Woods to captain the team. He thought about it for a year and abruptly said, "You know what, I'm good."

Imagine, if you will, Lee Westwood or Ian Poulter or Sergio Garcia or Justin Rose turning down the European Ryder Cup captaincy.

If you went to each of those four right now and said, "Here's the trade, you get to captain the team but you can never again play in a golf tournament", all four of them would say, "Where do I sign?"

Justin Rose reportedly turned down $100 million from LIV in order to stay "eligible" to play on the 2023 and 2025 European Ryder Cup teams.

That's how much the Ryder Cup means to guys like Rose.

Tiger got the chance to captain the team and said, "I think I have my daughter's soccer game to attend that weekend."

I'm not blaming Tiger for yesterday's loss.

I'm merely saying any full investigation into why the Americans don't have "it" should start right there.

The best player we've ever seen said "No thanks" when they asked him to be the captain.

We can go on from there.

Because Keegan Bradley was supposed to make the team in 2023 and was usurped by three of Zach Johnson's friends (Spieth, Thomas, Fowler), the PGA of America -- probably as saddened by the rest of us who watched the Netflix show and saw the disappointment in Keegan's face -- called him up on a Thursday in June of 2024 and said "Great news! You're the next captain."

That's not to suggest Bradley wasn't a good captain. I think he was, despite the loss and a couple of blunders in course set-up and pairings decisions. We'll get to those later in this week in our Ryder Cup post-mortem.

But Bradley actually wanted to play in the event more than anything else. He'd done it once before and was enthralled with the thought of standing on that 18th green yesterday with a chance to do what Shane Lowry did.

And, sure, Bradley could have picked himself for this year's team when all the dust settled and he was inside the top 12 in points.

But playing and running the team just don't fit together.

So Bradley did what was best, he thought, for the team. He overlooked himself and just stuck with the captaincy.

You can blame that whole sequence on Tiger for giving the captaincy back 16 months out or you can blame the PGA of America for not having a better back-up plan. Either works for me.

Then, once Bradley made his way to Bethpage Black in early 2025 to start scouting out the course layout, he got the lowdown from the PGA about course set-up possibilities.

"Man, these par 3's are going to be tough," Bradley probably said. "200, 210, 190, 215. I can't wait to torture those Europeans."

Except the PGA said, "Oh, well, we can't make them that long because we have hospitality tents and spectator seating to put in right behind the tee box. You know, atmosphere and all."

"So you mean we have to play some of the par 3's at 160 or 170 yards? Those are wedge yardages for these players," Bradley probably asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But think of all that money that we're going to make for charity, Keegan," they replied.

And, so, that's why everyone nearly drove the first green and that's how the Europeans played the first four holes like a Nicklaus-Woods doppelganger for three days.

Or, at least, that's one of the reasons why. That the Europeans are better putters than the Americans was also a reason.

There's also something about the word "pride" that keeps coming up every time the Ryder Cup rolls around.

The Europeans want to win it for the players who blazed the trail before them.

Hearing Rory talk about McGinley and Rahm talk about Seve and Jose Maria and hearing Rose talk about Faldo and Westwood tells you a story about why they so desperately want to win.

Tell me the last time you heard Sam Burns or Collin Morikawa or Justin Thomas mention Lee Trevino, Larry Nelson, Fred Couples, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.

Speaking of Woods and Mickelson, they were, without question, the two best players in the world from 1997 through 2014.

They played on eight Ryder Cup teams together. Eight.

Their record? 1-7.

They were, together, part of one winning Ryder Cup team.

Neither of them played "up" at the Ryder Cup. Did they have a moment or two for their personal highlight reel? Of course. But most of their Ryder Cup memories are of losing.

If they even remember the Ryder Cup, that is.

So the starting point for figuring out why the U.S. doesn't win enough Ryder Cup matches starts and stops with the issue of the captaincy and why our best players seemingly don't care all that much about the event itself.

The two best players for the Americans this past weekend were a pair of relatively non-descript guys who treated it like a "honor" to play for their country; J.J. Spaun and Cameron Young.

And the one guy who actually does really care, the one American the Europeans would all take on their team -- Bryson DeChambeau -- also showed some grit.

He might be weird and camera-loving, but that kid is a player. And Bryson "gets" the Ryder Cup.

Perhaps that's the tonic for future teams. Just pick 10 guys who see the value in playing for their country. I know that's hyperbole, but it might unlock a fascinating approach to just say, "We're going with Spaun, McNealy, Hoge, McCarthy, Hossler, Bhatia, Chappell, etc. and see if those guys can win."

In other words, add guys who would give their left arm to otherwise qualify for the event and say, "Keep your arm and help us win."

In the end, Europe is sooooooooo far ahead of the Americans when it comes to the Ryder Cup it's not even funny.

They know it. And so do the U.S. players.

The problem? We don't know how to fix it.

We chose our captain this time around based on a 30-second Netflix clip and a 2023 captain who picked his friends for the team.

And that was only after the best American golfer of the last half-century turned down the job because he "had a lot on his plate."

Look no further than that sequence for an explanation on why we can't get the Ryder Cup figured out in the U.S.

Sunday September 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4052

it's (98%) over

For two days, everything the U.S. Ryder Cup team has done has been wrong.

Oh, sure, they've hit some good shots along the way. Made a few putts here and there. Heck, they've even (somehow) managed to win 4.5 points out of the 16 that have been available thus far.

But it's all gone wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

The Americans trail 11.5 to 4.5 entering today's Singles competition. If Europe reaches 14 points, they retain the cup as the defending champion.

Both captains went with their best players first in Singles, so we're going to see some great match-ups in today's competition, including Scheffler vs. McIlroy and Justin Rose vs. Cameron Young.

Sure, it's technically not over, but make no mistake about it, this would require a miracle of 28-3 in the Super Bowl proportions in order for the U.S. to come back and win.

Everything the European squad has done has been right.

Nearly everything the Americans have done has been wrong.

Setting the course up like it was Mount Pleasant was a nice thought, but it backfired. No rough, slower greens, short par 3's. The Europeans ate it up for two days.

The rain that softened the course mid-week hasn't helped, either. The Europeans love that soft "army" shot where they take spin off their wedges. The Americans can't stop spinning the ball off the green with their wedges.

The fans? Completely embarrassing. Their conduct on Saturday, haranguing McIlroy and Lowry for the better part of 4 hours, was disgraceful.

At some point, not only does the antagonizing behavior of the fans actually fire up the European team, it also embarrasses the devil out of the Americans.

No one wants to win that way. Or lose that way, in this case.

At one point on Saturday, Rory said to one group of drunk Americans the same thing we all wanted to say: "Guys, shut the f*** up." And then he stuffed a wedge to 4 feet to win the hole.

There's nothing worse than a bad drunk. Bethpage Black was filled to the brim with them yesterday and most of them were wearing red, white and blue.

The pairings? None of them worked, really. At least not for the U.S. There have been some moments of brightness, and the golf was "better" on Saturday afternoon even though the 3-1 losing score didn't reflect it, but the pairings have been weird since Thursday.

Not playing Scheffler and Burns together at least once seemed backwards. Wasn't that a primary reason why Burns was added to the team in the first place, to pair up with Scottie?

Trotting Morikawa and English back out there on Saturday was a massive gamble. They were lousy on Friday in the morning foursomes and no one expected much of them on Saturday, either. And, well, they didn't deliver anything of note in losing for the second consecutive day.

Bryson DeChambeau has played all four matches thus far and played with a different partner in each of them. It seems weird that Captain Bradley can't find someone to pair up with Bryson that turns into a long-term fixture.

He might be quirky and sometimes act a bit like a 13-year old, but the dude can play golf and he has a heart for the patriotic side of the event that others apparently don't.

Scottie Scheffler is 0-4 thus far, but his golf has improved with each passing event. He just keeps running into a European boilermaker along the way. He hasn't played like the best player in the world, but he also hasn't had much help.

Ben Griffin was one of the top birdie makers on the TOUR in 2024 and won a two-man event in New Orleans as well, yet he's only played once, albeit poorly. Again, if you're going to pick a guy to fill out the 12-man team, shouldn't he play more than once in four matches?

The U.S. has really only had three players who have stepped up; Patrick Cantlay, J.J. Spaun and Cameron Young. Justin Thomas has been decent, but not much more than that. Everyone else has been, no pun intended, sub-par.

Almost every player on the European side except for Hojgaard and Aberg has played wildly out of their mind. When you get virtuoso performances from 10 of 12 players, you're gonna win. And you're probably gonna win easily.

There were also some weird strategical decisions from the U.S. team on Friday that didn't make sense. Having Henley and Bryson both tee off on the odd numbered holes made no sense at all. Bradley apparently figured that out on Saturday and had Henley play the evens, but by then the results didn't really matter.

Captain Keegan will wind up getting most of the heat when the dust settles on the event later this afternoon. Just like Luke Donald is going to get massive credit for the (apparent) European win, Bradley is going to get roasted for the (apparent) American loss.

Bradley did pick six of the players, after all. As we mentioned, one of his picks, Ben Griffin, played one of the four team matches and that was it. Two of his other picks, Burns and Morikawa, have both putted like 10 handicaps.

But the truth is, the European team was always going to win this edition of the Ryder Cup. It's just that no one saw it being this lopsided.

I called it 15-13 Europe. The American side might not even get to double digits, point wise. I didn't see this kind of loss happening.

But the reality is, what has happened at Bethpage is most certainly not the fault of Keegan Bradley.

While it's true that nothing has really gone right for Captain Keegan, his decisions, or the team itself, the bottom line is the European squad has dominated every single facet of the competition for two day.

They've made about 2 miles of putts, mainly, but they've also hit some sublime wedge shots on the short holes like #1, #2, #16 and #18.

And just as critical as the great golf they've played is the culture of team golf they've created with the European squad.

There's a huge difference between the American team and the European team. What, exactly, is that difference? It's hard to say.

For starters, they seem to genuinely like one another. I think the U.S. players "know" one another.

If you asked DeChambeau to describe his relationship with Scottie, Bryson would say, "Me and Scottie? We're cool..."

If you asked Justin Rose to describe his relationship with Tommy Fleetwood, Rose would say: "That's my guy, right there. Tommy Fleets is my man."

Once upon a time, Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart said, "I can't define pornography...but I know it when I see it."

I feel the same way about what the European Ryder Cup team has that the U.S. team simply doesn't have.

"I don't know what it is...but I know it when I see it."

The European squad has "it".

Whatever "it" is, the Americans don't have nearly enough of it to beat this European squad.

This has been a epic throttling.

Let's hope Captain Tiger Woods can get this turned around in Ireland in 2027, huh?

ravens vs. chiefs today

Barring a tie today, one of the teams in Kansas City is going to start their 2025 season at 1-3.

As I detailed here this week, even if the Ravens drop today's encounter with the Chiefs, their road to the AFC North title is still relatively smooth.

They might be 1-3 after today's game, but by the time they play 12 games, they'll be 8-4 and cruising along nicely.

But this afternoon's battle with the Chiefs is a great opportunity to get back on track. Last Monday's loss to the Lions is still fresh on everyone's mind at 1 Winning Drive. Particularly, you'd assume, it's still very much on Zach Orr's mind.

Make no mistake about it, though: This Chiefs team isn't the Chiefs team of 2023 or 2024. They're 1-2 for a reason. They're good...but they might not be great.

The Ravens will be without Nmadi Madubuike for today's game after he was placed on injured reserve yesterday with a neck injury.

Kansas City hasn't been adept at running the ball this season, but with Madubuike on the Baltimore defense, things could potentially open up for K.C.'s running game today.

I could be wrong here, and if so I'll be around afterwards to take the heat, but I don't see the Ravens producing a second straight stinker-performance. It's just not in their DNA.

And I feel like the Chiefs are in the beginning stages of a slight downturn in their championship-level play of the last decade.

As I said here earlier this week, if the Ravens defense does yield one of those 400-yard, 35 point performances, I think Zach Orr's job could be in jeopardy. I hope that doesn't happen. I like him. But how much confidence would you have in your defense moving forward if they allow 35 points (or more) for the 3rd time in 4 games?

I don't see it happening, though.

Lamar outduels Mahomes and the Baltimore defense makes a big stop late as the Ravens pull out a 30-28 win.

Likely is back and he catches a TD. So, too, does Rashod Bateman.

Derrick Henry holds on to the ball and runs for 129 yards and a touchdown in the 4th quarter.

And the Ravens get a much needed win in Kansas City.

around the nfl

Minnesota at Pittsburgh (in Ireland) -- I can't stand these international games. I saw something this week where Roger Goodell said it won't be long before every team plays one international game every year. #Clownshoes. In Ireland today, Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers get past Minnesota in a thriller (not really), 23-22.

Washington at Atlanta -- I don't know what to think of the Falcons. I had them penciled in to whip up on the Panthers last Sunday and they got boat-raced, 30-0. So, because I don't know what to think of them, I should go ahead and assume they're going to beat the Commanders today, right? Wrong. D.C. wins 24-21.

New Orleans at Buffalo -- OK, so every survivor pool in America has Buffalo today, right? Of course they do. And for good reason. 37-17 in favor of the Bills.

Cleveland at Detroit -- This is precisely the kind of game Cleveland wins when it has no business at all winning. And it's the kind of game Detroit loses six days after punching the Ravens in the mouth in Baltimore. I'm buying it all. Browns 26 - Lions 24 on a last second field goal.

Carolina at New England -- I can't believe they didn't flex this one to Sunday Night. Talk about a "non-instant-classic", huh? How about we go with Carolina to go into Foxborough and win for the second straight week? Panthers 17 - Patriots 14.

L.A. Chargers at NY Giants -- I thought the New York defense was going to be really good this season and might even bail the Giants out several times during the season. And maybe they still wil do that. But it won't be today. Chargers 34 - Giants 17.

Philadelphia at Tampa Bay -- If not for Ravens/Chiefs, this would be "Game of the Day" material. Philly got their big win in Kansas City two weeks ago and then pulled that rabbit out of their hat last Sunday vs. the Rams. We're going with the Buccaneers here, 27-16.

Tennessee at Houston -- Another game that should have been flexed. To Tuesday at 12 noon. Houston wins, but only because someone has to win. Texans prevail in a thriller, 23-20 in OT.

Indianapolis at L.A. Rams -- If Indy goes out there and wins today, then I'll move them into my "real deal" pile of teams. Despite that crazy loss in Philly last week, I like the team the Rams have put together. Los Angeles wins this one, 30-20.

Jacksonville at San Francisco -- We'll go with the 49'ers here, but we have a weird suspicion Jacksonville might hang around in this one and could be in the game when the 2 minute warning hits in the 4th quarter. We'll go 31-27, 49'ers.

Chicago at Las Vegas -- Do they really have to play this game? Neither team is going to come anywhere close to winning their division. We'll take the Bears to pull out a rare road win in this one, 24-19.

Green Bay at Dallas -- The return of Micah Parsons is all anyone is talking about. With or without Parsons, Green Bay should win this game. The Cowboys are a weird team, though. They're going to lose 2 or 3 they have no business losing and they're going to 2 or 3 they shouldn't win. Tonight might be one of those nights. On second though, no it won't be: Green Bay wins 27-23.

Saturday September 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4051

don't panic, just make more putts

One hour after his U.S. team got out of the showers at Bethpage Black and started thinking about Saturday's golf and how they are going to erase a 5.5 - 2.5 deficit, Keegan Bradley provided the game-plan to the media.

"We're not going to panic," the American captain said. "We have a game plan and we're sticking with it. We knew this wasn't going to be easy. This is not the time to panic."

He's right.

It's "only" a 3-point lead for the European team and a mere 28% of the Ryder Cup has been played.

Why panic?

When it comes to the Ryder Cup, the only way you might "panic" is by tearing apart all the pairings and possibilities you had put together in the months and weeks leading up to the event and, instead, mix and match based mainly on gut feelings and intuition.

One look at Saturday morning's foursomes lineup tells us Bradley and his team of Vice Captains most certainly didn't panic.

They might wish they had if things don't improve. But they are sticking with their plan nonetheless.

The most controversial decision is sending the pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English back out there this morning. They were not very effective in Friday morning's alternate shot loss to "Fleetwood Mac", losing 5&4 to Europe's powerhouse team of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

After sitting out Friday afternoon, the two will be back in action in this morning's foursomes event, taking on the same duo of McIlroy and Fleetwood in the second match out.

Pairings in Ryder Cup golf are just like play calls in football. The ones that work were great and the ones that didn't work shouldn't have been considered in the first place.

The Cameron Young/Justin Thomas pairing on Friday afternoon was awesome. We know that after watching them roughouse Hovland and Hojgaard, 6&5.

But had they lost, people would be saying, "Well, that was a bad pairing."

That's definitely what folks were saying about Morikawa/English after Friday morning's foursomes.

It turns out, though, it was a bad pairing. Morikawa hasn't played championship golf in two years or so. He hasn't won a tournament since October of 2023. And English, despite his fine play in the major championships in 2025, is probably not the guy you want anchoring a Ryder Cup pairing.

This isn't armchair-captain-time, either. If you recall back in August as the days closed in on Keegan Bradley's picks, I contended that Morikawa should be left off the team and his spot assumed by someone like Maverick McNealy or Lucas Glover.

Nothing about Morikawa's 2025 season told me he'd be ready to step up this week. Maybe he goes out there this morning and lights it up with English. If so, I'd be thrilled.

But anything less than a full point from the Morikawa/English pairing will put Bradley's decision to play them again directly in the crosshairs.

The question started being asked late in the morning on Friday as the Europeans ran out to that early 3-1 lead after the foursomes competition.

"Why is Europe better than "us" at this Ryder Cup event?"

It almost always comes down to the same thing.

You can look it up.

1995 at Oak Hill.

1997 at Valderrama.

2012 at Medinah.

2023 in Italy.

It always happens.

Putting.

That's the difference. Always.

The Europeans make almost everything they look at and the Americans miss more than they should.

That's how it shook out on Friday.

Europe putted great. The Americans putted OK.

The result was a 5.5 - 2.5 margin after day one.

Thirty years ago it was Seve and Jose Maria making putt after putt.

Then it was Westwood and Faldo.

Eventually, Poulter, Kaymer and Rose came along and they putted like demons every other year when the Ryder Cup was held.

These days, it's Rahm, Fleetwood and Rory doing the trick.

The European team seemingly always makes the big putts.

The Americans make some of their big ones. But not nearly as many as their foes from across the pond.

It was the same way on Friday.

And that's why the Americans trail by three points heading into today's play.

The Americans are not out of this yet. And they could certainly come back to win this edition of the Ryder Cup. I really do think that's possible.

But if they don't...

A lot is going to be made of the course set-up and some of the puzzling decisions made by Keegan Bradley and his staff of vice captains.

Bradley authorized Bethpage Black to be "de-clawed", if you will, taking the rough from its normal length of 4 inches and chopping it down to a very playable 2 inches throughout the golf course.

The greens were also slowed down a tick, to where they're running right around "11" for the competition. For comparison sake, Augusta National and yearly U.S. Open venues generally range in green speeds from 12 to 14.

The Americans essentially turned Bethpage Black into a course you'd find week in and week out on the European Tour. Nice layout, not much rough, "fair" greens in both speed and undulation.

If left alone and playing difficult, Bethpage Black would have been an awesome place to hold this Ryder Cup. But the American braintrust decided they needed to make the course easier...for reasons only they know.

The first hole of the competition yesterday morning was proof-positive that no rough on the course wasn't going to offer the U.S. any kind of formal advantage.

Jon Rahm's tee-shot on the first went significantly right, eventually coming to rest in the rough some 50 yards from the hole. Under normal conditions, with 4 or 5 inches of rough there, Tyrrell Hatton, who had the second shot, would have needed to play out sideways and avoid the greenside bunker.

Instead, with no rough down the right side of #1, Hatton flipped a wedge to 25 feet. The U.S. did win that hole because Bryson DeChambeau made a 15-foot putt, but the point of bringing that up still has merit. Growing the rough and making the course harder than usual would have been a huge benefit to the team who hit it the straightest off the tee and from the fairway into the green.

Oh, and speaking of that first hole, no one can figure out why DeChambeau teed off on number one yesterday when it was very evident his best driving holes were the even numbered holes at Bethpage.

Was that decision made to have DeChambeau send the crowd into a frenzy on the first hole? If so, that worked. People were fired up after he almost drove the green and then made the birdie putt a few minutes later.

But there are 17 other holes. Why take the driver out of Bryson's hands on the even numbered holes in exchange for one moment on the first hole of the entire competition?

More than anything, though, not letting Bethpage Black's teeth show for this event is the weirdest decision made by the U.S. team. That one......just didn't seem smart from the start. And it still doesn't.

So what happens this morning and later this afternoon? I think the U.S. claws back in this event by virtue of winning the foursomes 2.5 to 1.5 and then capturing the fourball by the same score this afternoon.

It will be 8.5 to 7.5 when the sun sets on Long Island just before 7 pm tonight.

Cameron Young will continue to be the star for the U.S. side. He'll be on the winning side of both of his matches, first with DeChambeau this morning and then with J.T. in the afternoon four-ball.

Patrick Cantlay will continue to look like the American version of Seve in these team events. He'll win this morning with Schauffele and again in the afternoon with Schauffele as well.

Cantlay is, by far, the American side's most interesting player. He's not nearly the player Seve was, overall, but his appeal in these teams events is similar in that he seemingly plays "up" when it comes to the Ryder Cup and you get the best from him for whatever reason.

Whereas guys like Tiger and Phil were never able to duplicate their individual success in a team competition like the Ryder Cup, Cantlay is the opposite. If you just flew in from Pluto and watched the Ryder Cup and saw Cantlay perform, you'd think he was the #1 player in the world.

Speaking of the #1 player in the world, it doesn't all come down to Scheffler today and tomorrow, but he has to get going if the American side is going to win.

He didn't play horrible in either session yesterday, but he didn't play like Scottie, either. His putter, in particular, was not very accommodating until late in the second round on Friday and by then, it was too late.

If the Ryder Cup ends on Sunday and Scheffler only has one point to show for his work over the three days, there's almost no way the Americans win the event. Scheffler needs at a bare minimum 2.5 points if not 3 over the last three matches.

Friday September 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4050

It's 12:35 pm as I write this. A little early for a "Happy Hour", right?

But it's Friday. And it's 5 o'clock somewhere (or 5:35 pm somewhere) as the saying goes.

Almost everything Keegan Bradley put into place on Friday morning in the alternate shot session backfired.

Only Cantlay and Schauffele scraping out a full point without their best stuff saved the American squad in the Ryder Cup.

Europe won 3 of the 4 matches and all three of their wins were on cruise-control on the back nine.

We wrote here earlier in the week to expect a Justin Thomas / Bryson DeChambeau pairing on Friday in an effort to get the partisan crowd into the match right away.

It happened. And it worked. For about...20 minutes.

We also wrote here that it would be puzzling to have DeChambeau play the odd numbered holes in the alternate shot format because that would take the driver out of his hand on the even numbered holes, which featured a handful of "draw tee shots" that favored DeChambeau over Justin Thomas.

Alas, they went with Bryson at the first hole (which meant he had to tee off on ALL of the odd numbered holes) and he did his job there, hitting the tee shot to within 20 yards of the green. Justin Thomas chipped that ball to within about 15 feet and Bryson rolled in the birdie putt to give Captain Bradley exactly what he wanted.

But that was about the only time Keegan smiled while watching their match. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton whipped the American duo thereafter.

We also opined here this morning that Scheffler/Henley would come down to the play of Russell Henley, who is on-again, off-again with the driver but generally very reliable with the putter.

True to form, Henley didn't drive the ball well. But he also putted like Stevie Wonder. And he and Scheffler were drummed by Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick, who finally got a win in foursomes after losing four straight times.

The third match looked like a drubbing -- and it was -- but only because Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood shot a better ball 30 (5 under) on the front nine. Morikawa and English didn't play "great", but they also didn't play terrible, either. They just got taken to the woodshed by "Fleetwood-Mac".

That left it up to Schauffele and Cantlay to stem the tide and beat "Rabbit Ears" Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland.

And that they did, although the golf from both sides was less than stellar. Cantlay hit a great drive at 18 and "X" followed with a nice wedge from 115 to sew up the final hole and win, 2-up, after Mac and Hov made a mess of 18.

The afternoon session will be huge.

The U.S. needs at least 2 points to feel comfortable with the day one result. A 4-2 deficit after day one wouldn't be horrible after falling behind 3-1 in the morning.

The first pairing of Scheffler and J.J. Spaun seems solid. They're taking on Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka. We'll take Scheffler and Spaun in that one, 4 and 3.

DeChambeau and Ben Griffin make up the 2nd pairing against Justin Rose and Sepp Straka. Playing in front of his buddy, President Trump, we're going to guess that "B and B" win this one, 3 and 1.

Cam Young and Justin Thomas make up the third pairing and this is the one most people are questioning. Thomas was lousy in the morning session with DeChambeau. They're facing Aberg and rookie Rasmus Hojgaard. We're taking the Americans in this one as well, 1-up.

And in the final match, it's Cantlay and Sam Burns vs. Rory and Shane Lowry. Just like in the AM when the Americans had to win the final match to avoid getting blanked, the same will go for the Europeans and "Team Irish" will win this one easily, 4 and 3.

We'll be tied at 4-4 after day one and...as they say...the game is on!

---

the wait is over

The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team might not have taken the exact shape I thought it would two years ago when they got drubbed in Italy, but that's all water under the bridge now.

I expected we'd see, among others, Wyndham Clark, Akshay Bhatia, Jordan Spieth and Keegan Bradley on the team.

Instead we got Griffin, Spaun, Henley and English on the squad.

As you read this on Friday morning, the first session of perhaps the most-anticipated Ryder Cup ever is underway from one of the best courses in our great nation, Bethpage Black.

So, yes, the American roster isn't as stealth as I'd hoped, but if you're going to go into this event with a somewhat raw, inexperienced "Cup" lineup, you'd want to be playing at home, not away.

Collin Morikawa begged for "chaos" in his press conference earlier this week.

"I just want the fans to bring as much energy and passion as they can on Friday," he said. "I want to experience chaos on that first tee."

"Chaos" will be one word that gets bandied about over the next three days. The fans -- at least the American ones, anyway -- are going to go out of their way to help make a difference in this Ryder Cup.

As I wrote here last Saturday at #DMD: New York, booze, sports and the U.S. vs. another country/continent. What could go wrong?

I just hope the golf is the main story and the energy and behavior of the fans is the subplot.

A lot of what happens with the American fan base will depend on today's outcome of the eight matches. If the Americans get behind early and the European side takes control, the crowd might not have the opportunity "ramp it up".

But if the U.S. snags an early lead of, say, 2.5 to 1.5 after the morning foursomes and then takes a few early leads in the afternoon fourball session, the crowd might just push the U.S. to greater heights.

So what happens this morning? We're glad you asked:

Match #1, Hatton and Rahm (EUR) vs. Thomas and DeChambeau -- This is not a surprise pairing at all. Hatton and Rahm have formed a rock solid team in their brief Cup history together and Thomas and DeChambeau are the two patriots of the American squad. They're being sent out there first for a very specific reason. To get the crowd into it right away.

The only puzzling aspect of this match is why -- if the stories that circulated last night are true -- the Americans would have DeChambeau tee off on the odd holes when he is one of the rare guys on the U.S. side who can navigate the "draw" holes off the tee, most of which are even numbered.

Match prediction: The Europeans lead 1-up going to 18 but they make a sloppy bogey at the final hole and DeChambeau makes a nervy 6-foot par putt at 18 to get a big half point for the American guys. Match ends in a tie.

Match #2, Aberg and Fitzpatrick (EUR) vs. Scheffler and Henley -- As long as Henley drives the ball well, this one should work favorably for the American side. Aberg and Fitz were both just OK in 2025 and their pairing in the morning session here seems a little odd.

That said, Henley is the "X factor" here. If he holds up his end of the bargain, all will be well. But if he's off and he negates Scheffler's excellence, the Americans could be in trouble.

Match prediction: Henley steps up and plays well and the U.S. secures a 3 & 1 victory when Scheffler makes a big putt at the 16th hole to help secure the full point for Keegan Bradley's team.

Match #3, McIlroy and Fleetwood (EUR) vs. Morikawa and English -- This is definitely a "stats match" for the American side. Their data and detailed shot information must tell them that the pairing of Morikawa and English is a sneaky good one. We already know how good "Fleetwood-Mac" can be.

Match prediction: Data or not, the U.S. isn't going to be able to overcome the excellent tee-to-green game of Fleetwood and Rory. The Europeans win this one rather comfortably, 3 and 2.

Match #4, MacIntyre and Hovland (EUR) vs. Cantlay and Schauffele -- It's a shame the pairings in the 3rd and 4th matches didn't get flipped. We'd have a doozy between McIlroy/Fleetwood and Cantlay/Schauffele.

Instead, we have what you'd think is going to be a mismatch, with perhaps the best two-man team in the whole event (Cantlay and Schauffele) playing in the final group of the morning, looking to play clean-up for Keegan Bradley's team.

Match prediction: The U.S. squad falls behind early, 2 down, but rallies on the back nine to take a 1-up lead with 3 holes to play. Europe wins the 16th hole and then both teams miss putts they should make at 17 and 18 and the match ends in a tie.

Results after morning foursomes: Europe 2 - USA 2

As long as things are fairly close after the morning matches, expect the American eight in the afternoon fourball matches to exclude Morikawa, English, Henley and Thomas.

The anticipated U.S. pairings in the afternoon might look like this:

Scheffler and Burns

Spaun and DeChambeau

Griffin and Young

Cantlay and Schauffele

---

The Orioles 2025 home schedule ended yesterday and the attendance numbers after 81 games told us what we already knew all along.

Fewer people in Baltimore and "the market" care about the team these days.

The Orioles experienced the worst attendance drop-off in the entire American League, bringing in 477,000 fewer fans in 2025 as they did in 2024.

An average of 22,336 fans attended the O's 81 home games, more than a 5,000 per-game "hit" from their '24 numbers, when they averaged just over 28,000 fans per-game.

That's a lot of money down the drain when 5,000 people times 81 games times an average ticket price of $36.00 stop coming through the turnstiles.

It's actually more than a lot of money.

It's roughly $14.5 million.

Or basically what they gave Charlie Morton to come to Baltimore last off-season.

There are factors, of course, that can't be denied when it comes to the Orioles and their attendance.

Losing is a big factor.

The team was never really any good from jump street in 2025. It's not like they were great for three months and had a dozen really nice crowds because people in the market wanted to see good, winning baseball.

They were bad all year.

Their home schedule wasn't all that attractive, either. The only real draw other than their A.L. East rivals was the Dodgers and the Birds smartly planned the Cal Ripken festivities that weekend to ensure the crowds would be huge.

No one is getting excited about seeing the Reds, Pirates, Rockies or Marlins.

And then there's just the general apathy that has surrounded the baseball team over the last (XXXXX) amount of years. They "only" drew 28,000 fans per-game in '24 when they were making a 2nd consecutive playoff appearance and there were 10,000 empty seats (give or take) at the two home playoff games vs. Kansas City last October.

People that lost interest in the team and organization once upon a time have been very slow to come back.

New fans are showing up. But not enough of them.

To their credit, the Birds have created new seating areas in the ballpark designed to heighten interest in attending a game and being part of the "party" at Camden Yards.

They're not ignoring their attendance woes, that's for sure.

But they're hurting at the gate.

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

You don’t need September baseball to be dramatic — but it sure has delivered this week.

Cal Raleigh made the biggest splash, hitting his 60th home run in a 9–2 Mariners win to clinch the AL West. In doing so he became just the seventh player ever to reach the 60‐homer mark and the first catcher in MLB history to do it.

Seattle’s division title also ends a 24‐year drought, which was the longest active drought in baseball. And it’s a career defining moment for Raleigh, whose power surge has rewritten the record books.

Not to be outdone, Aaron Judge quietly piled up more history. He cracked 50 homers this season, joining an elite club and adding another chapter to his legacy. His power numbers, in the context of a tight AL East, gives the Yankees real hope this weekend.

It’ll be interesting to see who is the 2025 American League MVP after this season, both Judge and Raleigh are worthy of the award.

Cal Raleigh remains the betting favorite at -200 odds, and that’s who we predicted would be the MVP a little over a month ago.

AL contenders need to be cautious of this Mariners team in the playoffs. Their momentum is undeniable, and the emotional high of a division trophy will carry extra weight heading into the Postseason.

If there’s one thing baseball offers that no other sport replicates, it’s the slow-burn collapse. The Detroit Tigers may take that crown this week: after leading the AL Central by as much as 15.5 games, they now trail the Guardians with four games left.

We talked about this Tigers team last week as we previewed some of the top World Series contenders in the American League, the conclusion was that they just didn’t do enough at the deadline to make improvements to their roster.

They had a great first half of the season, but reality is starting to set in for the Tigers here in the last weekend of the season. The Tigers don’t have a solid starter outside of Tarik Skubal, and the bullpen is overtaxed. The Tigers are looking like they’ll be a first round exit, with absolutely no momentum heading into the playoffs.

Blowing a 15.5 game lead in your division is an absolute gut punch. The Tigers still have some time left to take their division back from the Guardians this weekend.

Quietly, the Arizona Diamondbacks are making a move in the NL.

Outfielder Corbin Carroll continued to flash superstar potential, joining the elusive 30 HR / 30 SB club and also added 11 triples to the campaign. Carroll’s power-speed combo is almost unheard of in today’s game, and he’s become the centerpiece of Arizona’s late season push.

The D-backs are now just 1 game out of wild card spot, and their schedule plus an emerging bullpen with a 3.21 ERA in the 2nd half, gives them a legitimate shot to return to the postseason after just missing out last year.

The Reds are right in the mix for the last NL Wildcard spot and are just half a game behind the New York Mets, who have nearly thrown this season away over the past month.

The Reds have a solid young pitching staff and a dominant back end of their bullpen which can carry them if they were to make the postseason. The offense is a little below average, but if the pitching is on, that is enough to keep them in games.

The Reds have a tough weekend in front of them as they will face the Milwaukee Brewers on the road, who have the best record in baseball.

There will surely be a lot of scoreboard watching across the league as we wind down to game 162, as the Reds travel to Milwaukee, the Diamondbacks face the Padres in San Diego, and the Mets head south to Miami to take on the Marlins.

I doubt the Marlins are going to roll over and let the Mets off easy this weekend, the Marlins would love nothing more than to play spoiler to their division rivals and knock them out of playoff contention.

Players of the Week --

Pitcher: Hunter Greene of the Cincinnati Reds has been getting hot in the last month of the season, allowing 7 runs over 24.2 innings in September.

He pitched a gem last Thursday, a 9 inning shutout where he only allowed 1 hit and 1 run, with 9 strikeouts. Greene has been nearly untouchable in his last 2 home starts, earning 2 wins, allowing 2 hits, and 21 strikeouts.

He’s the only pitcher in modern era baseball, which goes back to 1901, to have those marks or better over a 2 start span at home. We most likely won’t see Greene have another regular season start this season as he just pitched yesterday, but the Reds have a solid top of the rotation young arm in Hunter Greene.

Position Player: Juan Soto has been the only nice thing for the Mets recently, and he had a very impressive week batting .409 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, 4 runs, and 4 stolen bases. His bat has slowly been getting better in the 2nd half, as he’s hit 20 homers and stolen 25 bases since the All Star break. We’re starting to see the Juan Soto we’re used to.

That brings this season average up to .267 with 43 home runs and 105 RBI. Soto also has been very active on the bases this season with 36 steals, which is up from 7 last season. The Mets are leaning hard on Soto for this late playoff push, will he be able to carry this team across the finish line?

Rookie: Drake Baldwin has been a great surprise for the Atlanta Braves in a season where there hasn’t been many great things to take away from. Baldwin batted .360 with 3 homers and 9 RBI, and improves his season stat line to .274 with 19 home runs and 79 RBI.

He will likely finish 2nd place for the NL Rookie of the Year race behind Cade Horton of the Chicago Cubs, who has 11 wins this season and an ERA below 3. Drake Baldwin was called up early on this season due to an injury to the Braves All Star catcher, Sean Murphy, and he took the opportunity and ran away with it.

Baldwin will be a centerpiece of this lineup next season, and this Braves team will be contenders again. Everything that could have gone wrong for the Braves happened, losing all 5 starting pitchers for a majority of the season and free agent acquisition Jurikson Profar being suspended for half the season for PEDs. The majority of the team will be back next season, and they will be a team to look out for in 2026.

Games of the Week --

Friday, September 26th: Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers (Zack Littell vs Quinn Priester)

This is it for the Cincinnati Reds, it all comes down to this weekend. They have an opportunity to do something special and make the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Nobody expected the Reds to be in this spot in the last weekend of the regular season. They will face one of the Brewers best starters in Quinn Priester, who is 13-2 this season with a 3.25 ERA.

Saturday, September 27th: Texas Rangers vs Cleveland Guardians (Merrill Kelly vs Logan Allen)

The Guardians have the ability to write their own destiny this weekend, if they can win 2 out of 3, they are the 2025 AL Central division champions. The Rangers played themselves out of playoff contention this week as they went 0-6 and are 1-9 in their last 10 games, but they too will look to play spoiler and rain on the Guardians parade.

The Rangers will have Merrill Kelly starting who was acquired at the trade deadline, and is a solid starter with a 12-9 record and 3.52 ERA.

Sunday, September 28th: New York Mets vs Miami Marlins (No scheduled Starters Announced)

I always think back to game 162 to when Robert Andino and the Orioles knocked the Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs back in 2011. I wonder if we could see something like that happen here against the Mets on Sunday?

The Reds and Diamondbacks will be watching this game very closely, especially if the Mets still have a lead for the last Wildcard spot. Regardless, when the dust settles on Sunday, there will be some very happy and disappointed fans.

faith in sports

Webb Simpson is a major champion on the PGA Tour and a Vice Captain on this year's Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black.

Simpson is also a long-time leader of the group of TOUR players who participate in a weekly Bible study throughout the golf season.

In today's edition of "Faith in Sports", we'll hear from Simpson on his career journey and how his faith helped ground him and lead him into his position as one of the best golfers in the world.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and "Faith in Sports" here every Friday.

Thursday September 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4049

thursday odds and ends

Blue Jays gonna Blue Jays.

Is that really a thing in baseball?

I mean, in football we have "Browns gonna Browns" for sure.

And in hockey, it's "Flyers gonna Flyers". Much to my delight.

I've never heard of "Blue Jays gonna Blue Jays", but here they are, after losing again last night, now in a 4-day fight with the Yankees for the A.L. East crown.

Two weeks ago the division looked like a done deal. Heck, on September 17 the Blue Jays held a five-game lead.

But Toronto suddenly stopped winning. And now, after losing again last night to the visiting Red Sox, the blue birds are 90-68, which is also the record the Yankees own.

The good news for the Jays? They do own the tiebreaker, having gone 8-5 against New York this season.

The bad news? They are in dire need of a win they can't seem to find. They face Boston again tonight in Toronto and then finish the season hosting Tampa Bay.

The Yankees host the White Sox one more time in the Bronx, then the Orioles go into New York for the final weekend of the season.

New York probably has to win out to steal the division from Toronto.

The Jays, inconsistent as they might be, are likely going to finish the year going 3-1 in their final four games.

But who knows? Maybe the O's steal a game or two from New York up in the Big Apple this weekend and play spoiler. That would be cool.

If Toronto somehow collapses and doesn't win the division, they'll have no one to blame but themselves.

As we chronicled here yesterday, it's very possible the Tigers are going to cough up the A.L. Central to the Cleveland Guardians in an epic final month collapse.

And it's even a possibility that the Tigers might miss out on the playoffs entirely.

The Guardians are now 1-game up in the Central after last night's 5-1 win over the Tigers. Detroit has blown a 10-game lead in less than a month.

Cleveland owns the tiebreaker in the division as well, so all they need to do is finish with the same record as the Tigers and they capture the Central.

And the Tigers head to Boston this weekend for what might likely be a 3-game "playoff series" of its own, with the winner advancing to the real post-season and the loser going home for the winter.

Baseball is a crazy sport, man.

In some ways, the season marries with what we see in games throughout the season.

Jim Palmer always says it -- "You have to get 27 outs. Not 25. Not 26. You have to get 27."

Sometimes that 27th out is very hard to come by.

Baseball's 162-game campaign is long. And tiring. And filled with ebbs and flows and highs and lows.

You have to get through all 162 of them.

Not 150. Or 155. All 162 of them.

The Tigers were one of the best teams in baseball for the first 120 games.

But now? They can't beat anyone.

They can't get that proverbial 27th out.

This being 2025 and all, that means 1975 was........50 years ago.

Just for kicks, here's a quick look at 1975 and things that either happened or were prevalent back then.

In 1975, the two most popular names for newborn babies were Michael (boy) and Jennifer (girl). Did you know that? I didn't.

In 1975, the price of gas was 53 cents a gallon. I know you're laughing at that one. You could fill up your 10 gallon gas tank for just over 5 bucks. I wasn't driving in 1975. So I didn't really know that fact.

The top grossing movie in 1975 was................what? I don't want to give it away. Without the aid of Google, ChatGPT or any other internet-assistance, what was the top grossing movie in 1975? I'll share it in the Comments section at 12 noon today. (I didn't know, either.)

In 1975, the top rated TV show was "All In The Family". It was really funny back then. 50 years later? Yeah, probably not that funny these days.

The top song in 1975 was "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tenille. I remember that song, but I wouldn't have guessed it was the #1 song of the year.

Oh, and the NHL Stanley Cup winner was the Philadelphia Flyers.

Yep, in 1975, the Flyers were the hockey champions of the NHL.

Fun fact: I actually knew that 1975 was the year the Flyers won the Stanley Cup because -- wait for it -- they haven't won a title since then!

50 years!

The Flyers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1975.

Time flies...

We're now two days away from the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black and the first double-bogey of the event was made yesterday by U.S. captain Keegan Bradley and the folks from the PGA of America who proof read his speech from the opening ceremonies on Wednesday.

"I first fell in love with the Ryder Cup in 1999 when I was there, at 12 years of age, on my dad's shoulders, watching Justin Rose make that incredible putt to help the U.S. come back to win that Ryder Cup at Brookline," Bradley said.

Except it was Justin Leonard, not just Justin Rose, who made that putt.

Leonard is an American. Rose, of course, is an Englishman who didn't play in 1999 but will play this weekend for the European squad.

There's no telling how many people got their eyes on that opening speech, but it had to be "several". How did no one pick up on that MASSIVE miscue, as innocent of a mistake as it might have been?

Let's hope the U.S. recovers from their captain's double bogey by the time Friday rolls around.

The four (per-team) pairings for tomorrow morning's foursomes event will be announced today at 4 pm.

The Europeans are expected to send out McIlroy/Fleetwood and Aberg/Hovland at the very least.

Two American pairings that seem etched in stone are Scheffler/Henley and Cantlay/Schauffele.

A DeChambeau/Thomas alternate shot (foursomes) combo also seems likely. DeChambeau is the one U.S. player who can be counted on to hit "draw" tee-shots if necessary, which will come in handy on a half-dozen holes at Bethpage.

The golf course has been put together to (hopefully) benefit the Americans. The fairways are wide and the course is relatively soft, with rain in the forecast keeping it that way over the weekend.

The rough is basically non-existent, just 2 inches in most places, and the greens are expected to be at "major championship speed", another effort designed to throw off the Europeans, who typically play most of their golf over there on slower greens.

I've said for a while now I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about the chances for Keegan Bradley's team.

I don't think "we" are deep enough, top to bottom.

The Europeans have one player who is totally unfamiliar with this event -- Rasmus Hojgaard.

The Americans have six players who are unfamiliar with this event.

I hope I'm wrong. I really do. I don't want to see Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood shooting champagne over everyone around 6 pm on Sunday night.

But I'm calling it 15-13 Europe when the dust settles on this Ryder Cup.

I really want to be wrong.

Wednesday September 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4048

There was a horrific, horrible accident in Bel Air last week that claimed the life of a local teenage girl and severely injured the male driver of the vehicle as well.

There are several local restaurants and establishments in the Harford / Baltimore county areas holding fundraisers this week to support the families of those two.

If you get the opportunity, please participate. My family will be stopping out at Conrad's in Parkville to do our very small part.

Conrad's, The Local and Fallston Barrel House are three places who are holding fundraisers.

If you know of others and would like to promote them, please add them in the Comments section.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

This edition of "Happy Hour" was submitted by Drew Forrester.

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o's minor league player of the week

It’s time to highlight the O’s farm system a little bit and announce our DMD Orioles’ Minor League Player of the Week.

The 2025 Minor League season has come to a close for the Orioles’ affiliates with none of them making their respective playoffs, but we have one final selection for Minor League Player of the Week. The final honor of the year belongs to AAA Norfolk Tides RHP Levi Wells.

This marks the first selection for Wells, 24 (just turned 23 two days ago), who was the Orioles’ 4 th round selection of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Texas State University. He is currently ranked as the 22nd best prospect in the O’s system per MLB Pipeline.

Wells capped off his 2025 season in style by earning the win against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins) thanks to tossing six shutout innings. Over those six innings of work, Wells allowed just one hit while striking out three, though he did allow four walks. He was pretty efficient in the start as well, needing just 75 pitches to complete the six scoreless frames.

After being promoted to AAA in late August, his most recent start was his most successful out of the five he was able to get in at the highest Minor League level, but he showed very respectable in his first taste of AAA. Over his five starts with the Tides, he posted a 4.71 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 21 innings pitched. He held opponents to a .233 batting average, but his biggest issue was walks, having surrendered 13 in those 21 innings.

Wells will likely begin the year at the AAA level next season and obviously getting this experience at the end of the year will greatly benefit him.

He will look to cut down the walks for sure, but the hope is that he can produce the type of numbers that he did in AA this year that earned him the promotion at the end of the season. Over 20 games (16 starts) with Chesapeake before his promotion, he posted an impressive 3.12 ERA with 80 strikeouts over 75 innings pitched.

He will be one of several prospects next year to keep an eye on as the big-league club will look to rebound and get back to a playoff caliber team.

On a personal note, I hope you enjoyed our DMD Minor League Player of the Week Happy Hour series this year and hope you read some names here that will become much more familiar to O’s fans as they progress.

This edition of "Happy Hour" was submitted by Josh Michael.

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oh...that seat is hot

I very intentionally did not listen to any sports talk radio yesterday.

For starters, I was swamped from dawn to dusk with my own real life duties and had very little time to myself in the car to listen in the first place.

But I also just didn't want to tune in and hear the same old stuff that you hear after every loss.

"We drafted the wrong people."

"The coach sucks."

"The defensive (or offensive, depending on the way the Ravens lost) coordinator has no clue what he's doing."

"The officials stole the game from us."

After every loss, one or more of those reasons come in fast and furious on the talk shows in town.

I'm sure it was generally like that for most of Tuesday in The Land of Pleasant Living.

Everyone has to blame someone or some "thing" in the wake of a loss. That's just the way it is, as Bruce Hornsby once said.

It's also like that at 1 Winning Drive, except the Ravens don't "blame" as much as they look at the loss from the inside-out, trying to put together their own list of reasons why Monday night happened.

The defense getting shredded for two drives of 90-plus-yards was probably the most discussed situation at The Castle yesterday.

Derrick Henry's fumbling woes were rehashed, I'm sure.

The Baltimore secondary getting picked apart by Jared Goff of all people...that was concerning, too.

Harbaugh and his staff went through it all with a fine-toothed comb on Tuesday.

Let's look at reality for a second. Despite what you might have heard yesterday (or today), the Ravens season is far from over.

They're 1-2.

They are in Kansas City this Sunday for a tough one and then, gracefully, the schedule softens tremendously for them.

Texans (home) -- win

Rams (home) -- toss up

Bears (home) -- win

Dolphins (away) -- win

Vikings (away) -- toss up

Browns (away) -- win

Jets (home) -- win

Bengals (home) -- win

Even if they lose this Sunday in K.C. -- and there's no guarantee of that -- by the time November is here and gone, the Ravens will likely be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-4 and in great position to secure yet another playoff berth and additional year on John Harbaugh's contract.

I'm sure you love that.

Those "win" predictions, by the way, are in place assuming Lamar Jackson stays healthy throughout the duration of the next two months.

If Lamar's healthy, 8-4 or even 9-3 is very reasonable.

If he gets hurt, all bets are off.

Even with a shoddy defense or one that is run-stop-lousy, they're still almost assuredly beating Houston, Chicago, the Jets and Cincinnati in Baltimore.

They never lose to Miami with Lamar at the helm and they'll figure out a way to snag a tight road win in Cleveland. They might win those two games 30-24, but they'll win them.

So, don't let this 1-2 start drag you down. The league is filled with patsies like the Texans, Browns and Jets and the Ravens get to feast on all three of them soon.

That said......

If the Ravens go to K.C. this Sunday and the Chiefs somehow put up a 40-burger on Zach Orr's defense, I'm not sure he gets to see that Texans game in Baltimore on October 5.

That will be 3 of 4 games where his defense got roasted. It's one thing to give up 28 points per-game. In the NFL, that's a lot of scoring. It's another thing, entirely, to give up 41, 38 and, let's say 42, if the Chiefs can do that to the Baltimore defense.

Firing someone in the middle (or in this case, early part) of the season is risky business indeed.

But the Ravens might not have a choice if the result on Sunday is something like a 42-33 Kansas City win.

How much longer can you go with your offense churning out yards and points like they're going out of style but you can't win a game because your defense is getting pummeled week after week?

I totally understand that Madubuike's absence is huge, particularly for a team that was already somewhat suspect in the run-stopping department.

And not having Kyle Van Noy in there hurts, too.

But the lack of pass rush and inside presence goes beyond those two guys, for sure. There are problem spots everywhere on the defensive side of the ball.

Oh, and it is fair to point out -- as some have here and elsewhere -- that the Ravens continued investment in defensive backs has been balanced out by the team's lack of dedication to improving the pass rush and the defensive interior.

Nate Wiggins and Malaki Starks are Exhibit A and B.

They were the two most recent first-round draft picks.

Fine football players, yes.

They apparently "play like a Raven", which is why the team felt they were first-round worthy in the '24 and '25 draft(s).

But they don't chase the quarterback and they don't plug up the trenches, two areas where the Ravens have become particularly vulnerable over the last two years.

And if the Chiefs take advantage of those two issues this Sunday and pile up yards and points in the same way the Bills and Lions did, the Ravens might have to make a tough call to Zach Orr on Monday morning, cupcake schedule and all.

Why?

Because all it takes is a toe stub against someone unexpected, like Miami or the Bears or even the Bengals, without Burrow, and 8-4 suddenly becomes 6-6 and suddenly the playoffs aren't a sure-thing any longer.

And can you risk that if you're Eric DeCosta?

As we chronicle here often, firing people "willy nilly" because you've lost a game or three isn't always a guarantee that things will improve. But it's the "way" these losses are piling up that has to be concering to DeCosta and Harbaugh.

What if the Texans come into town and catch lightning in a bottle because C.J. Stroud has all day to throw and it turns into an improbable 30-24 win for Houston?

When you're 1-3, playing the "what if?" game is what you do.

Is Zach Orr the problem with the defense?

I don't think he's the problem. I think they don't have quality personnel up the middle or on the edge more than anything else.

But you can't fire five or six players mid-stream.

You've spent a boatload of money on Marlon and Roquan. They're the nuts and bolts of the defense.

Orr would have to be the scapegoat.

That's all assuming the Ravens go into K.C. and get boat-raced again. If they lose 20-17 because Lamar fumbles the ball twice in the second half or Andrews/Flowers/Bateman drops a sure-fire TD with 2 minutes to go, the story changes.

But if it's a 35-or-more afternoon for the K.C. offense on Sunday, Orr's potentially in trouble on Monday.

The devil is in the details, as the saying goes.

The Ravens need a win on Sunday, yes.

But more than that, they need a really solid defensive performance.

At least for Zach Orr's case, that is.

That's just how I see it.

I'm just "spitballing" about Orr's possible departure, as the saying goes, but I'm reading the room and the tea leaves and I'm seeing that something would have to change in order to make sure that 1-3 doesn't spiral into something crazy like 4-6 or 5-7.

And Orr would be the convenient depature.

these baseball playoff races...

There's going to be some very meaningful baseball played all over the country over these last five days of the 2025 season.

The A.L. East, A.L. Central and N.L. West are up for grabs.

The A.L. West is almost there for the Seattle Mariners. But not clinched...yet.

And the Wild Card spots? Crazy scenarios exist.

The Blue Jays' once seemingly safe 6.5 game lead over the Yankees just two weeks ago is now down to just one game after they lost at home to Boston last night and the Yankees beat the White Sox in New York.

Toronto has two more games at home vs. Boston and the Yankees have two more with the White Sox and then the Blue Jays finish up at home vs. Tampa Bay while the Yankees host the Orioles over the weekend in the Bronx.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Boston (4 games behind Toronto, with 71 losses) hosts Detroit this weekend for three games.

The Tigers were once up by 12 games in the A.L. Central and they are now tied with Cleveland (72 losses for both) with 5 games to play. Detroit and Cleveland play tonight and tomorrow in Northern Ohio.

The Guardians finish the season with three home games against the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers don't have the (E) next to their name yet because they have 78 losses but it would take a miracle for Texas to make it into the post-seasson.

Seattle is up 4 games on Houston. The Astros have 73 losses. They're in the Wild Card battle with Boston and the Detroit/Cleveland loser.

One of these teams isn't going to make it: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston.

At one point in mid-August, Detroit and Houston were pretty much locks for the post-season.

Now, it's getting tight.

We'll see what happens in the National League tonight and go through their playoff possibilities tomorrow here at #DMD.

Tuesday September 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4047

battered

Now that, last night, was a thorough rear-end-kicking by Detroit.

It was 38-30 when the final whistle blew, but the damage inflicted on the Ravens went far beyond an 8-point margin of victory.

It wasn't quite Hagler vs. Hearns, but at times it reminded you of that epic-but-short fight once upon a time.

The Lions came into Baltimore and punched the Ravens in the mouth. The Ravens countered with a punch or two of their own, but the meaner, tougher fighter prevailed last night.

Football is a lot of things, but it's mostly about being tough.

The Ravens -- as are most teams and athletes -- are excellent front-runners. They're great at posing for the camera, dancing in the end zone, hosting podcasts and posting on social media when they're winning.

When they're losing...not so much.

The Lions were tough on Monday night. Like, really tough. They won the battle of the trenches in the same way the Eagles did last December in Baltimore.

Last night's game looked a lot like that Philadelphia win a season ago. The tougher team prevailed.

When the Ravens play league patsies like the Browns, they flex their muscles and look like the real deal.

Twice this season they've played a varsity team and twice, now, their defense has been embarrassingly soft.

They're going to play a bunch of other soft teams this season and because they have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, they'll win those games 34-13 and all will seem well with the world.

But the two games against Buffalo and Detroit can't be swept under the rug.

There were telling, unsettling signs in both of those losses.

The Ravens were soft.

That kind of loss last night, at home, hasn't happened much to Lamar Jackson in his career. But he got outplayed on Monday evening.

A quarterback analyst I am not, but from the cheap seats it looked like Lamar held on to the ball too long, for starters, and was seemingly somewhat afraid to run with the ball when given the opportunity.

Not that it mattered, but on the failed two point conversion in the game's final minute, Lamar could have run the ball into the end zone on the first try (penalties on both teams created a second attempt) but elected to throw the ball into traffic instead.

There were other occasions where it looked like "tuck and run" was the solution and Jackson instead put the ball way and was enveloped by Detroit defenders.

Lamar can't win every game for the Ravens, that much is true.

At some point, the rest of the team has to do their fair share. But it's also true that the Ravens probably aren't winning a game against a quality opponent when Lamar stinks it up like he did last night.

Mistakes, lack of toughness and the inability to stop the Lions on 4th down were the telltale signs last night.

It's one thing if Kansas City or Philadelphia or Buffalo did that to John Harbaugh's team in Baltimore. If that happened, you'd shrug and say, "Yeah, those guys are pretty good."

But the Ravens lost to the Lions. At home. And were bloodied in the process.

That was like watching Charlie Brown throw for three TD's and kick three field goals against you. You can't lose to Charlie Brown.

The Ravens did, though.

The game was in the balance in the fourth quarter. And then Derrick Henry fumbled and that was that.

Henry suddenly has 2025 butter-fingers.

He's fumbled in all three games this season and two of them came in the fourth quarter with the game there for the taking.

But if Henry's mistake was a crucial part of the final score, the Lions offense and their success on 4th down was the real difference in the result.

Give Lions head coach Dan Campbell credit. On three separate occasions he gambled on 4th down and his offense came through for him in each of those moments.

The final 4th and 2 decision from midfield with roughly two minutes remaining was the biggest moment of the night for his offense.

If Henry's fumble was when it went all wrong for the Ravens, Goff's throw on 4th and 2 was the moment the Lions won the game. They'd score a touchdown shortly thereafter that proved to be the decisive score because Detroit went into that always-stupid "prevent" defense and allowed a late TD with 29 seconds left to end the scoring at 38-30.

Make no mistake about it: Jared Goff thoroughly outplayed Lamar Jackson on Monday night.

I certainly didn't think I'd be writing that at 12:10 am as I watched an entertaining episode of "Bad Beats" on ESPN.

It was true, though. Jared Goff was a stud on Monday night and Lamar was mostly a dud.

It's very fair to point out that the Lions defense also outplayed the Ravens defense by leaps and bounds. While the Lions offense sliced and diced their way up and down the field, the Ravens defense folded up like a cheap suit.

It was a battering, as the headline above reads.

The Ravens were run out of the gym.

I sure didn't see that one coming.

No one on ESPN's pre-game coverage did, either. It was 6 for the Ravens, 0 for the Lions when they did their "game picks" prior to kick-off.

No one gave Detroit much of a chance.

The Lions impressed a lot of people on Monday night.

Including themselves, I bet.

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If you have a junior golfer in the family, please bring him/her out to Pine Ridge tonight for our final free clinic of the year, hosted by the Maryland Fellowship of Christian Athletes golf program.

We'll be at the Pine Ridge range from 6 pm to 7:30 pm tonight. We meet on the far left side of the range. The clinic is free. Just bring your clubs and we'll do the rest!

We started out '25 clinic series back in April and tonight's the final one of the year. Please come on out and help us celebrate another awesome season of FCA Maryland Golf.