Tuesday February 3, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4180

let them play what they want to play

I know it doesn't feel like it out there right now, but spring is in the not-too-distant future here in The Land of Pleasant Living.

Late next week, we're going to start seeing temperatures in the 40's during the day. For, maybe, five straight days even!

I'm sure they'll call it "The Big Thaw" or something like that once all the snow and ice starts to melt. It's going to be a mess.

But the calendar just turned to February and this time next month, we'll be one month from Easter and the Masters and flowers might even start thinking about blooming.

We're close, friends. It's not spring yet. We still have another month or so of cold weather. But the hardest part is behind us now, I think.

And don't worry about that silly groundhog and the news he announced yesterday. He's right about as often as the Flyers make the playoffs which -- checks notes for accuracy -- has only happened 3 times in the last 10 years.

In fact, here's a fun bar bet you can win with your buddies this week: Did you know the Flyers have missed the playoffs six years in a row? (Yes, I know it looks like they might make it this year, but you never know. Flyers might Flyers and all.)

Anyway, back to sports. Wait, the Flyers missing the playoffs is sports. It's actually the best thing about sports.

Back to spring. And hope springs eternal.

#DMD reader Phil sent me an e-mail over the weekend and I thought I'd share it -- with Phil's permission -- with the rest of you. There's a chance someone else reading this today might face the same situation either this spring or in the future.

Phil's son attends an area private high school. He's a 10th grader in '25-26.

"Drew, my son is facing a dilemma this spring and I thought I'd see what you think of the situation and provide any guidance if possible. He made his JV baseball team last year and played or started almost all of the games. Last summer, I noticed a slight decrease in his love for baseball. I thought maybe it was just a little bit of burnout and didn't think anything of it. Then, over Christmas, he told me he wants to play rugby (probably JV this season) instead of baseball this spring. The varsity rugby coach has pretty much assured him he will play varsity rugby as a junior and senior. His best friend is a 4-star rugby player who already has a bunch of interest from prominent D1 rugby schools and my oldest son also played rugby in high school but gave it up before trying to play in college. I tried not to let on how crushed I was at the news he is giving up on baseball. I think it's the best sport for him and I hate seeing all of that time wasted over the years with camps and leagues and tournaments. Any ideas on how to steer him back to baseball or at least give him a way to see the bigger picture? Thanks for any help."

First of all, this is an issue that happens all the time in high school sports. A student-athlete goes to his/her school driven to play a sport and then, midway through their four years, pivots and decides to play another sport.

True story: One of the best golfers in my 14 years at Calvert Hall actually came to me via the lacrosse program. I did not bring him to Calvert Hall to play golf. He played a season of JV lacrosse and then abruptly gave that up to turn to golf. And he went on to win the MIAA Individual Championship, played four years of Division 1 golf and is now studying at St. Andrews University in Scotland.

Quite a story for a lacrosse player turned golfer, huh?

So, first things first. It's not weird or odd or uncommon at all for a boy or girl to suddenly say, "I want to play another sport."

The summary of Phil's note to me is pretty simple, as I explained to Phil in my e-mail reply.

This is not about you, the parent. It's about your child. And it's about his/her enjoyment of the sport and their high school years.

Phil's son is not going to be a Major League Baseball player someday. And he's not going to be (I'm guessing) a "major league" rugby player. He's just a kid who is good at sports who prefers rugby over baseball at this point in his life.

So, with that said, just let him play the sport he wants to play and do so knowing it's far more likely he's going to enjoy the sport he wants to play (rugby) over the sport he's moving away from (baseball).

The answer is obvious and easy if you remove yourself (the parent) from the equation.

I mentioned to Phil how I always wanted my son to grow up loving golf and being crazy about it, but he never really got the bug and I was not going to force it on him. He liked video games and soccer more than he liked golf. But something happened to him when he got to watch me play at the U.S. Senior Open in 2021. The "golf light bulb" went off and he was suddenly crazy about golf!

And I didn't have to do anything to force him, push him or prod him into it. Almost out of nowhere, he started getting the golf bug. He wound up on my Calvert Hall team as a junior and senior. Someday down the road, if he continues to improve, he can be a very good amateur player if he so chooses.

Kids discover themselves through sports at various ages and times in their lives.

Phil's son might have discovered he really doesn't love baseball all that much. Maybe Phil loved his son playing it more than Phil's son loved playing it.

And now he has friends who play rugby and he sees the value of maintaining those friendships and how those friends are more important to him than baseball. Maybe he deeply admires his older brother and wants to follow in his footsteps.

The answer to all of this, as painful as it might be given the financial investment(s) you've made as parents, is to let your child figure out along the way what's important to them and what motivates them and what inspires them, sports wise.

We all love watching our children play sports and we do tend to live vicariously through them and their accomplishments. And that's simply human nature.

But in the end, let them decide what sport makes them feel the best about themselves and their growth from youth to adult.

If your son's a baseball player who now wants to play rugby, I'd tell him: "Go be the best rugby player you can be and I can't wait to watch you play."

Before Sunday night, I didn't know much about the musical artist "Jelly Roll". I don't really follow much of today's music if I'm being honest, although I have heard of both Olivia Dean and Lola Young, who were finalists for "Best New Artist of 2025" (Dean actually won).

Anyway, Jelly Roll won an award at Sunday's Grammy's and did something really cool.

No, he didn't go up there scantily-attired with his breasts hanging out.

No, he didn't go up there and drop the f-word and denounce our country and our government.

No, he didn't go up there and stir the pot with inflammatory commentary and inuendo about the President.

Those themes were very "center stage" throughout the awards, of course. Give someone a stage and a microphone and they're apt to say just about anything these days, decency disregarded.

Instead, Jelly Roll went up on stage and........well..........I'll let the video below tell the story.

I don't know much about his music or his life, but the video tells a little bit about his story and how broken he was at one point in the past. I'm definitely a fan now, though. Thank you for speaking the truth.

Monday February 2, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4179

(sad) end of an era

For a lot of people in our reading area -- meaning Baltimore/suburbs mostly -- the Washington Post was probably not much of a daily habit in their lifetime.

But if you're someone who grew up as a fan of the Capitals, for example, the Post was your go-to daily source for information on the "local" NHL team you followed.

Over the years they also had an incredible staff of sportswriters and columnists like Tony Kornheiser, Mike Wilbon, John Feinstein and dozens more.

Today is the day massive staff layoffs go into effect and people start losing their jobs at the Post. When all of the blood is finally mopped off the floor down there, it's expected that roughly 240 positions will be eliminated with roughly 70% of those belonging to writers in the sports, local (metro) and foreign departments.

There has been a rumor floating around D.C. for a few months now that the Post might actually totally scrap their sports department and rely solely on news agency (Associated Press, Reuters) reporting in order to fill the actual pages of the newspaper and their online content.

I was an ardent reader of the Washington Post throughout the 1970's and 1980's when I was a teenager and young adult, but only because of Bob Fachet and his excellent coverage of the Capitals. There was a convenience store on B&A Boulevard next to Glen Burnie High School that carried the Post and on the morning after a game I'd go in there before or after school and hand over my 25 cents to read Fachet's coverage of the game.

I think the lady working at the counter thought I was some kind of pre-Harvard student who was catching up on all of the world's business and financial news.

"Here's my Washington Post friend!" she would announce to anyone near the counter.

I didn't let on that I was only interested in the sports section and that I'd give the page that had the horoscopes on it to my cute friend Rene Miles in an attempt to curry favor with her.

Back then, the Post was the only way to really follow the Caps on a day-to-day basis. Bob Fachet was an outstanding writer and since D.C. didn't have a baseball team back then, the hockey coverage was immense.

I haven't read much of the Post in a decade or more now. Maybe two decades. Heck, maybe three. But I know a good newspaper when I see one. And, despite whatever political leanings it might have, the Post is still a vital part of our local and national media landscape.

And, starting today, it will sadly become "less vital" because, in the end, profit always wins out. And with the advent of AI and other forms of computerized literacy booming these days, there's just not a need for human beings to sit there and pound out stories, make deadlines and pour humanity into a sports game or a family of four who just lost their house to a terrible fire in Silver Spring last week.

I hate it.

As someone who once lost a job in radio to a company "chasing profits", I know what it's like to be part of something that provided a "community service", only to have that enterprise (mostly) be shuttered because of money and a bad decision or two along the way that reduced sales and, ultimately, created the need for mass firings.

But there's a difference between a little radio station that talked about sports and an institution like the Washington Post that, in some ways, helped serve as a voice for our country. It's a newspaper situated in our nation's capital. It has its finger on the pulse of our government, as it should, and if it's being done right, they can represent all sides of the news, political and opinion worlds.

I realize that's a slippery slope. CNN was once a news entity that just delivered the news and could be easily tolerated and accepted by virtually anyone. Now, they've become a bit of a cartoon show, with show hosts in place there to simply rattle cages and make bombastic commentary designed to light a fire under their faithful legion of viewers and readers.

But here's the difference between the Post and CNN -- as an example. They're still able to sell advertising at CNN. Lots of it, in fact. And because of that, profits remain high and the show goes on. And on. And on.

Once the Post started seeing profits dip, they did what every other business does. "Cut costs!"

It's not entirely the Post's fault, of course. Our world has changed. People consume news and content differently these days. Why wait for something to come along tomorrow that tells me about yesterday when I can just read it right now, today, in the moment, on the internet?

I'm just spitballing here, but in my next life, and your next life, there won't be actual "newspapers" any longer. They simply won't exist in their current form. They will, like everything else, be consumed via your cell phone.

What's the one valuable by-product of a place like the Washington Post pivoting with their business model and reducing their writing staff and content?

I hope it serves as a reminder that the few local people who remain are worthy of your time, patronage and support.

Like this place, hopefully.

And other local websites and news agencies who serve to function as a "community voice", whether that's covering the Ravens, Orioles, or that family who is going through a difficult time and needs your help.

I hope we continue to provide the coverage you enjoy. And as I always say, if I write about golf one day and you're not a golfer, come back tomorrow and we'll have something you do enjoy or understand.

The Post no longer being the Post reminds me that my number one mission here is for Drew's Morning Dish as it started on August 25, 2014 to remain Drew's Morning Dish for as long as it possibly can.

As I mentioned last spring, I've been pressured by people far smarter than me about the internet and web-based content sites like this to "keep up with the times", but I've never fully bitten that apple. I've taken a bite here or there, but the #DMD you see today is pretty much the same #DMD you saw 11-plus years ago.

I hope that continues to be a successful business model for me and that you keep enjoying our product.

Sadly, the days of enjoying the Washington Post have come to an end, apparently.

Time marches on. Sometimes with us. Sometimes without us.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

boatraced...at home...by 30

It’s an epic era of futility in Maryland basketball history as they suffered the worst home Big Ten loss ever, getting toyed with by Purdue on Sunday, 93-63.

The Terps have now lost their last 2 games by a total of 73 points. That’s 10 more points than they have scored in any of those 2 games.

Yesterday, their inability to (or decision not to) defend the three-point line did them in, as Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer and Brendan Smith combined to make 9 first half threes in just 12 attempts, enroute to a 49-28 halftime lead.

Those two, alone beat the Terps in the first 20 minutes, 35-29.

I’m not sure if Buzz Williams’ game plan was to protect the interior while giving up the three (to two of the best long-range shooters in the league), but it didn’t work out. The pair of Boilermaker guards, in the initial 20 minutes, dropped 27 points from deep, while Purdue’s interior made 8 of 12 against the Terp frontcourt.

Loyer led all scores with 29 points, and it could have been worse but Purdue called off the dogs early in the second half. Smith dropped 19 to go with his 6 assists.

Andre Mills had his best game as a Terp, pacing them with 18 points, 3 assists, and 6 rebounds. He looked good going hard to the rim and finishing with power. Mills also connected on 2 of 4 three-pointers.

The Terps had 2 starters that barely got into the score book. Myles Rice missed his only shot and had 2 turnovers with 1 rebound. Elija Saunders missed all three of his shots, failed to get a single rebound, turned it over once, and fouled out after 13 minutes of game time.

In the opening minutes of the game, Purdue used what Maryland can’t defend, and what the Terps didn’t defend, to run off a 10-2 start. Inside buckets by each of the Purdue bigs, paired with 2 triples by Fletcher Loyer put the Terps in an early hole.

Maryland couldn’t defend the inside game of the bigger Boilermakers, which made not defending the wide-open looks by Loyer even more unacceptable and inexplicable.

A trio of Terp turnovers then gave Purdue the opportunity to extend their lead and they did just that, gaining a 19-7 advantage with 11:37 left in the first half. The Boilermakers had dropped 3 of 5 threes, led 8-0 in points off turnovers and allowed Maryland to corral just a solo rebound.

After Gicarri Harris made a pair of foul shots, Maryland found themselves down 22-7 and the Terps hadn’t scored in over 5 minutes. The Maryland guard play was awful as the team had now amassed 6 turnovers, no assists, and just 3 made baskets. It also meant that in their last 50 minutes of ball, the Terps had been outscored by 58 points. Make that 61 after Maryland’s Turkson Jr missed a pair of free throws, followed by another Smith 3.

At the under 8-minute timeout, Maryland trailed 27-12. Too much of their offense was ball rotation on the perimeter, but never really moving it fast enough to gain any advantage. When they did get inside, their shots were pull-up, fade-away, short range, off-balance jumpers that missed.

Darius Adams and Solomon Washington did that a lot. I’d rather see them attack the rim, even if the try gets rejected.

The final media timeout of the first half occurred with 2:24 remaining in the half and Purdue at the line, shooting 2, with a 41-22 lead. Loyer and Smith were a combined 7 of 10 from the three-point line, and had yet to commit a turnover.

Maryland was getting pounded on the boards, 16-7, and looked overmatched on both ends of the court. The horn ending the half couldn’t come soon enough.

When the half did end, Purdue led 49-28.

The first 20 minutes not only brought the Terrapin physical inadequacies to the forefront, but also shined a light on their mental game issues too. With Purdue, for the season, shooting almost 40% from the three-point line, you simply can’t allow them to fire off 17 softly contested three-point tries in a half. It’s not smart basketball.

Give credit to Purdue too, they run a ton of plays with continuous motion, but the three-ball is the one thing you can’t give them.

With their 21-point deficit in the first half, the Terps had been outscored by an AVERAGE of over 21 points in each of their last three halves of basketball. That’s probably the most inept consecutive 60 minutes in Terp history.

When Smith hit yet another trifecta in the opening minute of the second half, the game had been secured for the visitors.

Unlike when they quit in the Michigan State game last Sunday, the Terps were still fighting. Even after an unusual 6-point play by the Boilermakers put them up by 24, and a dunk off a Myles Rice turnover made the lead a game best 26 points, Maryland was still trying.

The score was 69-43 with 12:17 left. The Purdue duo of Smith and Loyer were outscoring the entire Terp team by 5, 48-43. The remainder of the game was mop-up time.

Everyone who watches the Terp games can see that they have zero inside threats, and no size to stop teams in the paint. What may not be as evident, is Maryland’s lack of a solid point guard. Someone to assume that roll just isn’t on this roster. They also need a lock-down guard defender.

That guy may turn out to be Mills. He definitely has the body and physicality to defend, and if only he handled the rock a bit more effectively he could get more court time.

On numerous occasions, the Terps were hurt by bad transition defense after a turnover. Easy threes were had by Purdue as Maryland failed to recover in time to stop the easy looks.

Throughout the game, Terrapin ball handlers were able to get inside, but Adams and Washington looked tentative once they penetrated. Only Mills went to the hole with authority.

With the Boilermaker guards lighting up Maryland from the outside, the Purdue bigs weren’t as involved in the offense. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff combined for only 7 shots, hitting 5 of them.

Maryland will next play this Thursday at 8:30 pm against Ohio State at the XFINITY Center.

The Buckeyes are a bubble team at this point of the season and have lost 2 of their last 3 games.

Sunday February 1, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4178

quick hits

I still think the Caps are in for a dogfight in terms of securing an Eastern Conference playoff spot, but if they manage to sneak in and, say, secure a post-season berth by one or two points, they can look back to yesterday's 4-3 OT win over Carolina and say, "That one made a huge difference."

Yes, every win between now and the end of the season has the same 2-point value. But Saturday's game was pretty much a done deal when visiting Carolina went up 3-0 with the Caps forced to use the #3 goaltender because their two full-time starting netminders were unavailable due to injury.

But Washington battled back from that 3-goal second period deficit to tie it and then Justin Sourdif won it for the Caps in overtime. It pretty much looked and felt like an instant classic a Miracle on Ice, if you will.

Some wins are bigger than others along the way. That one, yesterday, was huge for Alex Ovechkin and Company.

Justin Rose has a 6-shot lead heading into today's final round at Torrey Pines. It's golf, so anything can happen, and when Rose's putter doesn't cooperate -- like it didn't on Saturday -- he can give shots back in a hurry. But I assume he'll hold on to win today on Torrey's more difficult South course.

I've had the pleasure of playing both courses out there. The North Course is good, and has some awesome views of the Pacific Ocean, but it's not nearly the tough test of golf that the South Course provides.

I'm not going to rank the best public courses I've ever played, but Torrey Pines South is right up there with Bethpage Black and Pinehurst #2 in my opinion. It's pricey if you're not a San Diego County resident -- I think something like $250 or even $300 now -- but if you're ever out there and you can secure a tee time on the South Course, scoop it up and play the course at least once.

By the way, Rose is going to be a very oft-wagered player at the Masters this year. A two-time playoff loser, I'm guessing lots of folks are going to lean on the golf gods angle when they decide to throw some bucks on Rose to at Augusta National. I wouldn't tell you not to do that, but I just don't know if he can putt well enough to win there.

I'm not going to harp on this too much because you know who you are. But some of you are getting close to a temporary-but-well-deserved sabbatical from #DMD.

As I always say, I realize it's a very small minority of you who like to dirty the water here. One of you, for whatever strange reason, used three different aliases just yesterday to make your variety of points. I don't get that, but whatever. I'm on it nonetheless.

I have no idea why some of you insist on veering off course here and yapping about stuff that is of very little interest to anyone except you and the person you're in conflict with, but please stop the juvenile, bickering amongst one another.

I admittedly didn't follow along here very much from Wednesday through last night because I was away on a trip and intentionally tried to distance myself from "work" except for morning publishing duties. But when I perused the comments last night when I got home from the airport at 11:00 pm, I was less than pleased.

And don't mistake this admonishment for me not wanting you to be here. I very much appreciate you being here. I'm simply asking you to rise above the fray and follow along with what the Ravens ask of you at every home game. Don't be a jerk. That's all I'm asking.

Just please comment on sports and whatever is in that day's edition of #DMD. Oddly enough, in fact, I'm asking you to do what you probably ask of our athletes, musicians and celebrites. You know how it goes when a basketball player speaks up about something they support. "Shut up and dribble," you might say.

"Stick to sports", you might state when a football player speaks out against an agenda item you support.

That's exactly what I'm asking you to do: Stick to sports. And stop fighting with one another over what is basically a nothing burger nothing in the grand scope of your life. Be better. And I mean that. Really, seriously, try to be better. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I have zero enthusiasm at all for the Super Bowl next Sunday. I don't know why. I usually have a rooting interest in some form or fashion, but I can honestly say I couldn't care less who wins.

I'm looking forward to watching the game that way to see if it adds to my enjoyment or takes away from it. If the game is out of hand, like it was by the 3rd quarter last year, I might even call it an early night and head to bed.

Nothing is worse than a Super Bowl that doesn't live up to the hype. You go through all of Sunday getting ready for the big moment and you have to endure all of the pre-game hype and the stoppages and the commercials and then the game falls flat on its face like a bad Beatles album like New Coke.

Just give us a good game. Please. It doesn't matter who wins as long as the game is enjoyable.

I watched the World Series in that same way last October and really enjoyed it. I didn't care if the Dodgers or Blue Jays won. I just wanted to see a good, memorable series.

And we got perhaps the best World Series of my lifetime and it didn't matter to me one bit that the Blue Jays choked away a 3-2 lead and basically lost the title because one of their players tried to slide into home plate instead of just running across the dish with the winning run.

I remember the Freddie Freeman homer in the 30th (?) inning like it was hit by an Oriole.

So maybe next Sunday night will yield the same kind of memorable drama as last October's and I won't care one bit that Seattle leads 20-7 going into the 4th quarter only to see the Patriots rally for a 21-20 win on the last play of the game.

Or it won't bug me at all to see Seattle storm back from a 17-3 halftime deficit and win with two late 4th quarter touchdowns, 34-30.

Just show me good football, a few (6 or 7 maybe? haha) solid commercials, and I'll be more than pleased.

Speaking of the Orioles and the World Series and championships, do you know the Flyers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1975 how many titles a Seattle team has won over the last 47 years? I'm going to tell you. And then, without the aid of our best friend, Google, see if you can figure out which teams won those eight championships.

Ready? The total is EIGHT.

Eight major sports titles have been won by Seattle teams in the last 47 years.

Name those teams and sports.

I'll share the answer with you later today here at #DMD.

I've been fortunate to travel to a lot of different parts of our great country. I'm not sure I've ever met a group of people more friendly than those who live in Florida.

It has to be the sunshine.

"How was your round today?"

"Where are you guys from?

"Your shirt says "FCA", is that Fellowship of Christian Athletes? My son leads a FCA huddle at his college in North Carolina."

"Try the pancakes here, they're fantastic." (as they hold the door open for you at the breakfast restaurant)

Everywhere I went, people were just.........nice.

Maybe it looked like we had "visitor" stamped on our forehead because we weren't sporting a late-January tan, I don't know. But people were just genuinely pleasant in Florida. No horns honking in the intersections. No one butting in front of you at the supermarket. No one barking at you at the airport when it took you an extra few seconds to get your bags checked.

People were just enjoying their lives in Florida and trying to make others around them happy.

I had a pair of golf shoes that were in the October of their lifespan but they're the best shoes I've ever worn, so I took them on the trip with me. At the end of Thursday's round, I gave them to the locker room attendant to "clean up" and acknowledged how much work would be needed to get them looking new again.

"Richard," I said to the man running the locker room. "If you can pull this miracle off and get these things back to life, you're in the lead for Employee of the Month."

"I'm on it right away, sir," he said. I went back in the locker room 40 minutes later and he proudly presented them to me.

They looked absolutely brand new. Almost like I got them off the shelf at the store.

I stored them in my locker and walked over to him with a $20 bill.

"Amazing work," I said as I handed it to him.

A little while later I walked back in. He handed me a small envelope and said, "Sir, I can't take tips here. I'm just happy that I did well for you."

"Please...keep that," I said to him.

"I can't, sir," he reconfirmed. "But I do appreciate it."

I later asked our host if tipping wasn't allowed. I have been at the club before and we were never told tipping was prohibited. Maybe this was a new club policy or something.

"We prefer that our visitors or guests don't tip," he said.

"We want them to have a good time without the worry of tipping."

Florida, man.

Everyone's so nice.

Answer to the Seattle championships question

Seattle has had 8 major sports champions.

1 in the NBA.

1 in the NFL.

2 in Major League Soccer.

4 in the WNBA.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps host reeling purdue today

Something has happened to the Purdue basketball team.

The Boilermakers were sailing along on top of the Big Ten with a perfect 7-0 record. Now, less than two weeks later, they find themselves at 7-3, in a three-way tie for fifth, and two games behind four different teams.

So, what happened?

For one, their schedule got tougher.

Also, their once mighty three-point shooting percentage dropped precipitously. After feasting on some of the lesser Big Ten schools, the Boilermakers sandwiched a 6-point loss at home to 11th ranked Illinois between tight road losses to UCLA and Indiana.

Purdue had been shooting almost 40% from long range as a team. In their recent three losses, they managed just 31%. During those same three games, their opponents hit 43% of their threes, outscoring Purdue on triples by 54 points.

That’s a huge difference and very significant when you’ve only lost those three games by a combined 13 points.

Today at the XFINITY Center, Purdue looks to get back into the win column with their 1 p.m. tussle with the Maryland Terrapins (1-8).

Each team has had ample rest for this game, and both should have a bad taste in their mouth from recent defeats. Purdue has that aforementioned 3 game losing streak irking them, while the Terps have that historic 43-point loss to Michigan State fresh on their minds.

With Purdue owning one the nation’s top offenses (#2 KenPom in offensive efficiency) and the Terps yielding the most points per game in the conference, today’s ou ting looks to be another blowout.

With highly recruited big man, 7-foot Obinna Ekezie Jr. in attendance, let’s hope Maryland gives him some non-NIL money reasons to choose College Park. He’d look really good beside the smooth Terps signee, 6’10” Baba Oladotum. Ekezie is more of an inside guy, while Oladotum’s game draws comparisons to Kevin Durrant. Adding Ekezie would be a huge “get” for coach Buzz Williams as he rebuilds this roster.

Today, the Terps must deal with a Purdue team led by a point guard who many think will be the Big Ten Player of the Year and is also a Naismith Candidate.

Yes, Braden Smith will be a handful for Maryland. He boasts 42% three-point efficiency and his 9 assists per game leads the Big Ten. By comparison, the whole Maryland team only averages 10.6 assists. He’ll control the pace of the game. His stealthy hands get him a couple of steals each time out, but he’ll turn it over about 3 times also.

Smith is Purdue’s leading scorer (15.1 ppg), but in this game, I most fear Trey Kaufman-Renn. The 6’9” senior won’t hurt you from the three-point line, preferring to do his damage on the interior. He’s a solid 56.5% from the floor, using his bulk to create space and get off his shot.

His 13 points per contest is second on the Boilermaker team, as is his 2.7 assists. He's also their top rebounder with 8.3 per-game. Kaufman-Renn is not flashy, has limited range, and is not a great leaper, but he’s solid and consistent. Pencil him in for a 20 piece today. The Terps don’t have a suitable matchup for him.

The other starting big for Purdue is Oscar Cluff. He’s 6’11” and listed at 255. He has more bulk than 255. Cluff was dropping over 17 a game last year with San Diego State.

He gets limited offensive touches on this team, but ranks 5th in minutes played and also 5th in field goal attempts. His value lies in protecting the paint, grabbing rebounds (7.7 a game) and knowing his offensive limitations.

Cluff is fairly stiff with the ball, and doesn’t put it on the floor very well, but he takes shots that he can usually make. That’s how he gets his stellar 74% shooting percentage.

Joining Smith in the backcourt are Fletcher Loyer and C.J Cox. Both shoot over 37% from three, but I think that’s where the comparison ends. Almost 70% of Loyer’s field goal tries come from long range. He’s an average athlete, but like most of his teammates, has a heady floor game.

The Terps need to respect Smith’s outside shot, taking precautions to not let him get set, get hot, and get on a streak. Watch him on curls going to his right.

Cox has the capability to provide pesky on-ball defense. He doesn’t get enough touches to be a dominant scorer, but he does connect on almost 50% of his overall tries.

Purdue will run frequent sets with the purpose of getting an iso on the low blocks. They then run high post screens, with Loyer getting the movement to mostly the right side. If they are in dire need of a bucket, their go-to is a pick and roll with Smith and Kaufman-Renn. It’s very simple basketball, but it’s very effective when you have the Big Ten’s all-time leading assist man in Smith, making the decisions with the ball.

Purdue isn’t as physical as some other Big Ten teams, especially the Michigan State team that clobbered the Terps last week. That fares well for Maryland, but the Boilermakers still possess size that the Terps can’t answer.

Add that size to what may be the nation’s top point guard, and add a handful of very capable role players, and you have a tough task for the Terps.

In past Terp encounters, I’ve been giving the Terrapin guards too much credit for their defensive prowess. Not today, though. Even though the Purdue backcourt doesn’t “WOW” me, they are still a solid bunch with Smith being exceptional.

I still feel that the Maryland guards can score on this bunch of Purdue defenders, but the combo of Smith, Kaufman-Renn and Cuff will control this game.

The books say Purdue wins by 13.5, and I agree that the Boilermakers get a safe win, but the 13.5 could be too much.

It’s another CBS game for Maryland (the CBS schedule makers obviously didn’t know this Terp team before booking them into nationally televised games) and another loss. The game starts at 1:00 pm, and by 3:15 Maryland will have suffered another loss, this time by a final of 82-72.

Saturday January 31, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4177

luck of the irish? let's hope!

People in Baltimore sure do love them some Declan Doyle, huh?

Three weeks ago, 11 people in town knew the guy. Maybe even more like 6 or 7.

See what I did there? If you have a teenager, you know all about it.

But seriously. Before John Harbaugh got fired on January 6, no one in Baltimore knew who Declan Doyle was, let alone did they have an inkling he'd be taking Todd Monken's spot as the Ravens Offensive Coordinator starting with the 2026 season.

Now, it's January 31 and everyone is a Declan Doyle fan. Did you know he's only 29 years old? You do now.

"We slayed the f***ing coaching hires!" someone said on Twitter yesterday afternoon.

"Minter doing what Harrible (sic) could never do - hire a great staff!" was another comment that made me shake my head.

"These coaches are the s**t, ngl," was another offering.

Editor's note: For those that don't know today's lingo, "ngl" represents the phrase, not gonna lie.

Anyway, you get the picture.

Declan Doyle, most recently with the Chicago Bears, is the new offensive coordinator and we are pumped friggin' up about it.

Except...

You know what I'm going to say.

Because it's the same thing I said about Jesse Minter.

I think Doyle is going to be a very good offensive coordinator. Key word in that sentence: "think".

I surely don't know for certain, in the same way I had no idea John Harbaugh would be an 18-year, championship winning, Hall of Fame entering NFL coach way back in 2008 when he was the team's number two choice to replace Brian Billick.

I want Doyle to do well. And I suspect he will do well because I have faith in the Ravens and the vetting they did along the way to narrow it down to the right candidates.

Their initial 1-2 wishlist was Davis Webb and Joe Brady. And I'm not sure what order those two finished in, although I do know if Brady wouldn't have taken the Bills job earlier this week the Ravens were poised to offer him their OC position.

And third on that list was Declan Doyle.

He was ahead of guys like Mike McDaniel, Kliff Kingsbury and Frank Smith, all of whom were quickly pondered and dismissed by the Ravens front office and hiring committee. "None of those guys distinguished themselves as the right fit," a source aligned with the team told me yesterday.

Doyle was always considered a "right fit" if it came to pass he was the next man up on the "available list".

So, while he might not have been the Ravens' premium, 1A choice, he was in the mix as a viable candidate for the last seven days. And to the degree that he has a good background working with the likes of Sean Payton and Ben Johnson, I'm going to assume Doyle will turn out to be a competent offensive coordinator.

There's a big part of me that likes the Doyle hire because it's different and a bit on the edge, if you will. OK, so he's never called his own plays as an offensive coordinator. I get it. Andy Reid never called a play in his life before he took over as the head coach in Philadelphia and I say, two decades later, he turned out just fine.

Everything can't always go by the book in coaching or "managing". Sometimes you have to roll the dice and maybe take a gamble here and there to see if your instincts are right.

The fact that he's 29 and "inexperienced" should be balanced out by the fact that he's 29 and "doesn't have any scar tissue."

There were times when Todd Monken coached scared, in my opinion. "We can't run the ball here. If we go three and out on this series, we're giving the ball right back to the (Chiefs, Bills, Steelers, etc.)"

Doyle won't have those same failures in the back of his mind because he doesn't have any memories. The benefit of youth, I guess.

So while I'll acknowledge the hire might seem like it's a bit of a roll of the dice, I actually respect that part of the process. Let's roll them out and see what we throw.

I have a hunch it will work out for the Ravens and Doyle.

But I'm going to stop far short of proclaiming his hiring a "slam dunk" or a "great get" because I simply don't know if that's the case.

News flash: I would have said the exact same thing had the Ravens hired Webb or Brady. I think they would have been good hires. But I have no way of knowing for sure.

I like everything I've heard from Jesse Minter thus far.

His college and professional pedigree alone suggests he'll be successful with the Ravens.

But would I bet my house he'll lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl in five years or less? I absolutely would not. And that's because I don't think I'd bet my house on anyone or anything when it comes to the Ravens and the NFL.

I mean, if in 2019 I would have said, "I'll bet you a grand the Ravens don't make a Super Bowl before 2026 with Lamar as their quarterback," most ardent Ravens fans would have scooped up that wager.

I understand the enthusiastic nature of sports fans, particularly when it's a situation where fans clamored for the dismissal of the former head coach and, by connection, his offensive and defensive coaching specialists.

People want to be right, as I've mentioned here hundreds of times. It's one of our top societal infections in 2026. We have to be right.

So if you're one of those folks who wanted Harbaugh gone, you simply have to be on board with the Minter hiring.

And if you wanted Harbaugh gone and now you have to be happy with Minter, you're going to also have to approve of Declan Doyle. If you didn't approve of him joining the organization in Baltimore, you'd look pretty foolish.

"You wanted Harbaugh and Monken gone and now you're not happy with Doyle? That's your fault!"

I'm going the other way on these hirings. And I'm quite comfortable with my stance.

I hope they're the right coaches for the various jobs they've been given.

I think we got ourselves two good, young coaches in Minter and Doyle.

I want them to succeed.

My own business model benefits greatly from a championship football team, so it behooves me to root, root, root for Minter and Doyle and any other coaches they bring on to be successful.

But I'm certainly not going to try and buffalo any of you into thinking these hires are 100% going to yield a slam dunk, easy street path to a Super Bowl or two.

No one knows.

People get offended whenever that topic get broached, but it's true. You can rant and rave and talk about how great Jesse Minter is and how much Harbaugh and/or Monken sucked and how Declan Doyle is going to "unlock" Lamar Jackson but you have no real idea at all if any of that is true.

You're just saying it to say it, in part because you have to say it.

I don't have to say it. In fact, I won't say it.

Because I don't know.

But I sure hope those guys are going to be good coaches in the league. It feels to me like they will be. And I trust the Ravens and their football knowledge far more than my knowledge or your knowledge, that's for sure.

If the Ravens think Jesse Minter should be the head coach, I'm good with it.

If they believe Declan Doyle should be the offensive coordinator, I'll sign off on that, too.

Now we get to sit back and see if they were right about those two and any other coaches they bring on.

Friday January 30, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4176

friday stuff

Six months ago I planned a quick 3-day trip to South Florida for some FCA golf-related business. As it turned out, this was the week of the trip.

Little did I know we'd get clobbered with snow in Baltimore three days before I left. Timing is everything, it's been said.

I get down to Florida once or twice a year now. I have a lot of friends with "second homes" in Vero Beach, Tampa Bay and the West Palm area. For a few of them, their place in Florida is eventually going to be their full-time spot and Baltimore will be a fond memory for them.

Every single time I'm in Florida, the exact same thought strikes me: "How does anyone ever get any work done down here?"

I realize a significant portion of the population in Florida are retired people who actually don't have to do anything every day except wake up, make some coffee, take the dog for a walk, play golf or tennis, grab an early dinner, and enjoy an evening cocktail on their porch.

But there are plenty of other people who actually have to work for a living in Florida and the question always looms for me: "How do you ever work here?"

The days are simply too nice. The warm weather is much too inviting. The casual pace of the people too alluring. The golf courses are too plentiful.

How do you sit in an office or in a place of business and get anything done in Florida?

Then again, maybe it gets boring driving around in 86 and mostly sunny every day.

As I said to an older man I met yesterday in a bagel/breakfast place we gathered in, "You don't know what life's all about until you've shoveled 10 inches of snow and ice."

The Jesse Minter press conference went off without a hitch on Thursday, that is, unless you consider the brewing social media controversy about Lamar Jackson and other Ravens veterans not showing up something worth talking about.

Minter was calm, thoughtful and handled the (mostly softball) questions very well. In fairness, he wasn't up there explaining how to do a knee replacement. It's easy for football people to talk about...football.

One interesting note that largely went unnoticed was Minter's admission that it was his former boss and the man he displaced, John Harbaugh, who recommended to Steve Bisciotti that Minter should be the choice to replace him. Harbaugh even went as far as texting Minter and telling him those very words: I think they should hire you.

I realize we're well past complimenting Harbaugh on his personal qualities -- he is the enemy now, after all -- but there aren't many people I know who get canned and then contact the guy who did them dirty and suggest the name of the person that should assume their old position. Classy move by Harbs there.

Back to yesterday's press conference and the percolating story that is pretty close to a nothing-burger.

A number of Ravens rookies and players who stay in the Baltimore area year-round attended the event in Owings Mills. Lamar Jackson did not attend. Neither did Kyle Hamilton or Roquan Smith for that matter. In fact, about 85% of the roster didn't show up.

And now people are bashing Lamar for his lack of "leadership" and "caring".

They're not really picking on Hamilton or Smith. Just Lamar.

In the case of all three, it's a big, fat dose of "who cares?"

Here's the truth no one wants to talk about at parties: Lamar wasn't really all that interested in participating in the head coach search. He helped when asked. He sat in on several interviews. But as a team source said to me, "Lamar liked them all. And he basically said to the committee, 'Hire the guy you think is the best guy for the team.'"

That probably shows more leadership than anything else, in my opinion.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Worry about the team."

A leader thinks "team first". That's what Lamar and other veterans did.

When Steve Bisciotti mentioned earlier this month that he would offer Lamar the opportunity to fly up and sit in on interviews with the coaching finalists, he was doing that mainly as a chess move.

It was the Ravens way of saying, "We're offering you the chance to have a say in who we hire (no power, just a "say", as Bisciotti mentioned) so you can't complain if we hire someone you ultimately don't agree with."

News flash: The Ravens did that exact same thing with Kyle Hamilton and Roquan Smith. They were also allowed to sit in on interviews with the finalists and coordinator candidates.

And news flash #2: The Ravens were never, ever going to ask those three players WHO they wanted. Because they know that's a recipe for disaster if the team hires someone the players didn't all mutually agree upon.

And they also know if they allow "Player A" to vote on the head coach or the coordinator that somewhere down the road, a star player is going to ask for that "right" in his next contract.

So no player -- even Lamar -- was going to ever get to "vote" or "pick" the next coach.

Instead, the team merely said, "Sit in on the interviews and ask whatever questions you want and participate in the interview and give us input if you want. But you don't get a vote in who we hire."

Lamar took part in a few of those, but for the most part he wasn't overly interested. He didn't fly up and spend four days intently going through every single candidate.

And there's nothing wrong with that, just like there's nothing wrong with not flying up to Baltimore to be there for Jesse Minter's press conference.

In fact, there's nothing wrong with anyone not attending.

It was Jesse Minter's day.

Lamar's no more or no less of a "leader" because he wasn't there yesterday.

His relationship with Jesse Minter isn't going to change for better or worse because he wasn't in Baltimore on Thursday.

Maybe he was in Greece. Maybe he was on a cruise. Maybe his favorite Aunt Brenda was having major surgery yesterday in Florida and he wanted to be there.

I have no idea what Lamar was doing yesterday but I know that his absence at the press conference is a nothing burger.

Brooks Koepka made his return to the PGA Tour yesterday and there was other golf-related news this week that impacted the sport when Patrick Reed announced he was giving up his career on the LIV Golf circuit and returning to the PGA Tour.

Koepka returning is a bigger deal than Reed, but the two of them departing LIV after 4 years there tells the story.

LIV Golf offers their best players only ONE thing: Money.

The competition sucks.

There's no value in winning, either individually or as a team.

In general, nobody who follows golf knows anything about what's happening with LIV Golf. I follow everything about golf and I know nothing at all about LIV. I don't know how many times Jon Rahm has won. I don't know if Koepka won once, three times or eight times when he on LIV.

And the players wind up feeling that while they're playing for LIV.

No one cares.

And their ego and brand building can't handle that.

Only one player has gone to LIV and upgraded his personal brand: Bryson DeChambeau.

And that has nothing at all to do with LIV and everything to do with DeChambeau and his use of social media to spike his popularity.

He'd be just as popular -- if not more -- had he just stayed on the PGA Tour from jump street.

That said, Koepka and Reed and nearly everyone else who is still toiling on LIV has discovered the truth: LIV Golf offers nothing at all to them except money.

And money is great. $100 million, $200 million, it's all generational, life changing wealth for guys like Koepka and Reed.

Whatever personal feelings you have about the blood-stained money they deposited from LIV have very little to do with the actual golf itself.

Once you were able to come to terms -- on a personal level -- that you were directly taking money and making a living from people who helped fund and operate the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, the rest of your journey there was cake and ice cream.

Except the golf stunk. And no one knew who you were any longer. And, most importantly, life on the PGA Tour went on without you.

And they missed "real golf" far, far more than they ever thought they would.

That's what happened to both Koepka and Reed.

The money was great. But they missed the golf. They missed competing in real tournaments on TV. They missed being recognized in airports and coffee shops. They missed, in essence, the life they previously had built for themselves before they whored their way to a gazillion dollars from a heinous outfit that used them like a pawn.

And now they're back. And I think that's great.

Golf on the PGA Tour will be better because Koepka and Reed have returned, although the TOUR will likely have to invest in a couple of additional rules officials for any tournament Reed plays in.

The PGA Tour is the only circuit in the world where the best players convene on a weekly basis to play meaningful golf.

A lot of players on LIV are finding that out. Or, in the case of Koepka and Reed, "found" that out.

faith in sports

I had the pleasure of "meeting" Riley Leonard last summer at the FCA national golf camp at Liberty University.

By "meet", I'm talking about virtually, not in person. But he was part of a testimony we showed the 1100 kids who were at the camp and he appeared on stage, via ZOOM, to talk about his faith and his life with Jesus.

What an awesome young man he is.

So I thought I'd share this Sports Spectrum interview with Leonard in today's edition of "Faith in Sports".

He has his act together, that's for sure. I have no idea if he'll ever be a starting, elite quarterback in the NFL but I know he's an elite young man. That's a definite.

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 January 29, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4175

making sense of it

As we've said here on a number of occasions, we're not in the "grading" business with all of these coaching hirings we've seen over the last 2 weeks in the NFL.

The grades will come in a few years when there's been a big enough body of work to at least say, "Yeah, that was a good hire" or "Wow, they really botched that one."

But we'll cave in to the pressure today and have some fun with the hirings. And, yet, try to be serious at the same time. Because every team can play the coulda, shoulda, woulda game at this point.

We'll start with the Cleveland Browns, who yesterday finally got their new coach, and it's a familiar name: Todd Monken.

Why it makes sense -- Monken has been in the AFC North for three years now. Say what you will about him, but few things in life beat experience. And he can now take what he's learned about the three division teams -- including the Ravens -- and use it in his new gig with the Browns. Here's the deal with reaching the playoffs. You almost always have to go at least 3-3 in the division to win the division title. There are some rare occurrences of teams going 2-4 and doing it, but you're looking at mainly a record of 3-3 -- at the worst -- to win the division. So, the Browns now have a guy who at least knows enough about the AFC North to give them a puncher's chance of going 3-3.

Why it doesn't make sense -- Because they're the Browns, mainly. And in the process of gaining Monken, they lost defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. And it would appear they probably could have hired Nathan Scheelhaase of the Rams had their owner not insisted he keep Schwartz on his staff. When Scheelhaase rejected that idea, the Browns pulled away from him because of their loyalty to Schwartz. So they hired Monken -- who likely agreed to keeping Schwartz as part of the hiring process -- and Schwartz left anyway. Browns gonna Browns.

The Tennessee Titans didn't take long to name their next head coach, as they snatched up Robert Saleh from the 49'ers soon after he became available.

Why it makes sense -- Saleh is a strong defensive leader and the Titans have a young, improving defense in Nashville. He is probably far more suited for success with Tennessee than he was in his first coaching go-round with the Jets. He has a demanding presence in the room. I'm not sure the Titans will understand all of his crazy stories (the one about the eagle suffocating other birds is a doozy) but he'll garner respect, which is huge.

Why it doesn't make sense -- It seems like Nashville is the new "hot place to live" in the U.S., and with a new stadium on the horizon down there, the Titans probably could have had their pick of the litter, particularly with an offensive mind to work with QB Cam Ward for the next 5 years. Why did Tennessee jump on Saleh right away? Scheelhaase, Webb, LaFleur, Kubiak were all in the mix to be interviewed and/or hired. Patience, young grasshopper. Patience...

We all know who the New York Giants hired. It didn't take them long to give John Harbaugh a 5-year, $100 million after he was dismissed by the Ravens.

Why it makes sense -- Harbaugh was, by far, the most attractive off-season coaching candidate. Here in Baltimore, people snicker at his clock management or his defenses choking away 10-point fourth quarter leads, but from 35,000 feet, the rest of the league sees something else: winning. In a town where reputation really matters, the Giants went for the jugular right away. Who will help them sell tickets, sponsorships and other forms of revenue-generating material...Harbaugh? Or...Kevin Stefanski? Or Kliff Kingsbury? Or Grant Udinski? Or Brian Flores? Harbaugh was always their guy. He is football. And they are, the New York FOOTBALL Giants as they like to say.

Why it doesn't make sense -- This might be one of the only instances where the hiring of their new guy can't be faulted. I mean, here in Baltimore, we find fault with it, but that's only because we think Harbaugh was the reason why the Ravens couldn't get to the Super Bowl (again). There's no one else the Giants should have hired. Now, they just have to hope they were right.

The Buffalo Bills shook up the entire process this week when they went against popular thought and promoted Joe Brady to run their team.

Why it makes sense -- Brady knows the team. He knows the quarterback. He knows how to generate points. He'll bring a veteran like Schwartz or Wink Martindale to run the defense and he'll never venture over to that side of the office in Buffalo. If the Bills think they're "this close" to the Super Bowl, why blow up the whole thing when you have one of the guys in Brady who has helped you inch closer and closer to the big game for the last four years?

Why it doesn't make sense -- It certainly looks like the Bills didn't know what they wanted in this most recent coaching search. Then again, they're probably still trying to figure out why they fired Sean McDermott in the first place. But they could have easily brought in Denver offensive assistant Davis Webb and thrown caution to the wind by saying, "We're rebooting here with one of the best young minds in the entire NFL. A lot of folks are whispering that Webb is "the next Sean McVay". No one is saying that about Joe Brady. They also co could have waited for Klint Kubiak as well. They tried to hire Mike McDaniel but McDaniel told Buffalo officials "it's too cold" and didn't even bother interviewing. The point? They had a lot of other young, impressive minds to chase and they went with the same old-same old.

The Atlanta Falcons didn't waste any time, like the Tians, immediately going with Kevin Stefanski, the erstwhile coach in Cleveland.

Why it makes sense -- Stefanski is a 2-time Coach of the Year (which, in fairness, is probably a step above making the Pro Bowl these days) and he is a well respected offensive mind who will be asked to get the Falcons to the next level. Whether he can do that with Michael Penix Jr. is the issue he faces right away. "Can Penix Jr. take a team to the Super Bowl?" is the bigger question than "Can Stefanski lead them to the Super Bowl?"

Why it doesn't make sense -- Atlanta is known as one of the more solid, stable franchises in the league with a very well respected owner in Arthur Blank. Why jump in right away and lure Stefanski to the Falcons? Immerse yourself in the search process, bring in guys like Webb, Scheelhaase, LaFleur, Kubiak, etc. and see if one of those doesn't become your version of Baltimore's John Harbaugh or Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin? Stefanski is the guy you hire at the end of the cycle when all your other candidates went elsewhere.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are sorta-kinda like the Ravens. They lead a charmed life for the most part. So somehow, despite themselves, you assume the odd hiring of Mike McCarthy is going to work out for them.

Why it makes sense -- McCarthy is a veteran coach. He will be respected right away. In a league where respect from a younger generation of players is hard to come by, McCarthy won't have to worry about that. From a technical standpoint, there's no telling if MM makes sense for them. But he's not the bumbling idiot that people make him out to be. He'll likely squeeze one more half-decent year out of Aaron Rodgers for old times sake and then the Steelers will be on the lookout for their next franchise quarterback. One of the things about the Steelers coaching job is the most obvious: They're the Steelers. We're not going to call them "America's Team", but you get the point. They love their football in Western PA and McCarthy is the hometown boy made good.

Why it doesn't make sense -- The Steelers -- just from a league history standpoint -- are a job virtually no one would turn down. In that way, it was a more lucrative opening than the Giants or the Ravens. They're the friggin' Steelers. So, with that said, McCarthy's what you settled for? Why not lure Kubiak to Pittsburgh, get him a franchise quarterback in 2027, and roll from there? Or Webb. Or Scheelhaase. Any of the young, offensive guru types. Mike LaFleur even. Bringing in a refurbished 8 cylinder engine in Mike McCarthy was what you do when none of the brand new engines wanted to take your $40 million for 5 years.

The Miami Dolphins jumped in and made one of the surprise hirings of the cycle by bringing in Jeff Hafley, the former OC in Green Bay.

Why it makes sense -- OK, we're nothing if not honest here. This hire makes very little sense other than Hafley has been on the outskirts of being a "hot name" for a couple of years now. So, in an odd way, the reason it makes sense is because no one in Miami cares enough about football to worry about who the coach is. The Dolphins are one of the more nothing-burger franchises in the league. They have beautiful weather down there and a lot of great pop-up smoothie shops, but no one is going there for football.

Why id doesn't make sense -- Oddly, we can't find fault with this hiring either. And it's for all the reasons we listed above. No one cares about the Dolphins in Miami. They could have hired Mike Locksley to coach down there and people would have said, "Hmmmm, OK, just please tell me the games don't interfere with my Sunday pilates class."

And the Baltimore Ravens, of course, got their guy in former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who was target #1 for the Ravens from the start of the search.

Why it makes sense -- Minter is one of the top young defensive minds (age 42) in all of football. To wit, he actually made defense a thing with the always-defenseless L.A. Chargers. That's how good he is. He also has purple in his DNA, having once worked for the team a decade ago under John Harbaugh. There won't be any more double-digit 4th quarter leads squandered on Jesse Minter's watch. That's what this hiring tells you. The Ravens want to win with defense, like the old days. And in fairness, the two teams playing in next week's Super Bowl have the defensive ability to shut teams down. Make no mistake about it, the Ravens think Minter is the next John Harbaugh. 18 years? Well, that might be a stretch. But I'm sure they're thinking "we got our coach for the next decade" or more.

Why it doesn't make sense -- The Ravens could have had their pick of the litter. Virtually any of the candidates would have said "yes" to the idea of coming to Baltimore and working with Lamar and Derrick Henry. Given the roster in Baltimore, an offensive mind seemed like the better fit and there were a lot of them to choose from. They were never going to hire McDaniel. His interview was "all over the place" I was told by more than source. But they had plenty of others to consider, including Klint Kubiak. And they fell in love with Joe Brady, but it was too late in the process. Webb, Scheelhaase, LaFleur...any of those young offensive guru-types would have jumped at the chance to coach in Baltimore. Bring one of those guys in and let Schwartz or another veteran coordinate the defense and off you go. Time will tell if going "defense" over "offense" is the winning tonic in Baltimore.

Wednesday January 28, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4174

who wants a prize?

OK, let's get the low-hanging fruit out of the way first.

Late yesterday afternoon, we learned the news that might very well wind up winning "#Clownshoes Sports Moment of the Year".

"Wait, Drew. It's only January 28." That's probably what you're saying.

It doesn't matter.

I think this year's competition is over.

Bill Belichick was eligible for the NFL Hall of Fame in 2026. The votes were cast in December and announced yesterday. He didn't get in.

You need 80% of the 50 votes to make it into Canton.

Flyers fans, do not rush to your calculators. It's a new year and we're taking on a vow to help you guys whenever we can.

80% of 50 means that 40 people had to vote "yes". 10% of 50 is...5. So 20% of 50 is...10. See how we do that without a calculator?

OK, so as Snoop Dogg once said, "Back to the lecture at hand."

Bill Belichick didn't get 40 votes.

There were, at a minimum, 11 people who got their 2026 Hall of Fame ballot, looked down and saw Bill Belichick's name, and said, "You know what, I gotta think about him a little more...give me another year to mull it over."

So, Belichick was not voted in.

6 Super Bowl victories. A dynasty unlike anything we've seen in the NFL. Like, ever. And he didn't make it into Canton.

Now, his critics are going to point out the obvious:

"He had Tom Brady."

That's correct. He did. And Bill Walsh had Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. So, what's your point?

Here in Baltimore, we have a (someday) Hall of Fame quarterback who, in 8 years, hasn't been able to take the Ravens to the Super Bowl once and folks in town ultimately laid the blame for that on his head coach and offensive coaches.

If coaching matters -- which, I think we all agree, it does -- is there any train of thought that connects Brady's success with the fact he was coached by Belichick? Or is that logic only applied when it's the player-who-makes-the-coach, not the other way around?

Then there's the Spygate and Deflategate controversies, both of which happened under Belichick's watch.

He was penalized for those ordeals.

Spygate led to a $500,000 fine for head coach Belichick and a $250,000 fine for the franchise, plus the loss of a first-round draft pick.

I thought back then the Spygate penalty was overly harsh and I still think that today, but whatevs. They had to make an example out of Belichick. All good.

Deflategate wasn't even Belichick, directly. Tom Brady ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs that were used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts during the 2014 (in '15) AFC Championship Game. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season, while the Patriots were fined $1 million and forfeited two draft selections in 2016.

Belichick gets connected to it because he was the head coach, but really, what person with a working brain thinks Bill Belichick sat around in a dark room at the stadium with Tom Brady and snickered like Beavis and Butthead saying, "Heh, heh, heh, I know what we can do to throw people off...we'll lower the air pressure on the footballs for you, Tom."

Deflategate was such a nothingburger they were Buy One Get One free at Five Guys.

But it would appear those two moments somehow got shoved in Belichick's face yesterday when we learned at least 11 of 50 voters looked at his career and said, "Not good enough for Canton."

And then reporters and media people wonder why fans think they're clueless.

I've seen a lot of folks jumping up and down about Mike Florio's recent take that the Ravens might be interested in dealing Lamar to the Raiders. Folks here think Florio's insane for that take.

I personally don't think Lamar is getting traded. That said, I also see, read and digest Florio's scenario on why it could be a possibility and I say, "Sure, maybe."

I don't think Florio's a media moron for outlining that potential deal.

But I think everyone in America thinks you're a media moron if you had the chance to vote for Bill Belichick for the Hall of Fame and said, "Nahhhh, give me Marshal Yanda instead." (With all due respect to Yanda, of course)

One final note about the Hall of Fame and then I'll find another cloud to bark at.

If you really wanted to do the Hall of Fame (in any sport) right, you'd simly be eligible for the Hall of Fame and if you didn't get voted in, that would be the end of it.

You're either a Hall of Fame player or you're not.

I don't know why Torry Holt hasn't been admitted into the Hall of Fame yet. But I think we're on year 6 or 7 for him (as a finalist) at this point. With all respect to Holt, who would get my vote, I don't see how you can vote for him this year if you didn't vote for him in 2022, 2023 or 2024.

"Well, I had a chance to vote for Holt in 2022 and I didn't...but then I really took a long, hard look at his stats in 2025 and decided, why, yes, he actually IS a Hall of Famer."

Come on, man. Either vote the dude in or don't. And if that means there's a mega-super-class where 8 guys get in, do the Hall of Fame ceremony over two days or something. You can charge two admission prices and double the money you're bringing in. Everyone wins.

I've always thought having someone eligible for 5 or 10 years is stupid.

Look at the list of candidates and simply say, "Hall of Fame...yes or no?"

If it's yes, he gets in. If it's a no, he doesn't. Thanks for playing.

But no matter what format or voting system you use, anyone who didn't vote for Bill Belichick should have their voting privileges immediately removed.

It would be akin to seeing Elton John's name on the music Hall of Fame ballot and saying, "Eh, he was nothing without Bernie Taupin. Make him wait a year or two."

#Clownshoes Moment of the Year. In the books. The prize has already been awarded.

The Ravens continue to look for their next prize, in the form of a new Offensive Coordinator, but yesterday's news that Joe Brady would be taking the head coach gig in Buffalo has changed the landscape of the search in Baltimore.

The Ravens were overly impressed with Brady during their two inteviews with him.

If Jesse Minter didn't take the job in Baltimore, your new head coach would have been Joe Brady.

And they were perfectly willing to give him the Offensive Coordinator spot. But Brady kept them on hold while he talked with the Raiders and Bills.

The Ravens told Brady they would prefer it to be done by today in order to prepare for tomorrow's Jesse Minter press conference and Brady agreed that he'd either have a head coach spot by today or he'd take their offensive coordinator offer in Baltimore.

Brady got the Bills job yesterday and the search continues for the Ravens.

It got a hair more unsettled yesterday when the Broncos fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi. Now, Davis Webb, whom a number of teams covet, has another option to consider. He's a finalist for the Raiders head coach gig, plus there are open OC positions in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Arizona, Cleveland and now, Denver.

And the Browns head coaching vacancy still plays a role in all of this as well. If Nathan Scheelhaase doesn't get the job -- which is looking more unlikely by the hour -- than he's still available for the Ravens, but there's the ongoing thought that Mike LaFleur is going to leave the Rams for the Cardinals and that would open up an OC spot for Scheelhaase under Sean McVay in L.A.

Right now, there are three known candidates for the Ravens OC spot. Lions offensive assistant Scottie Montgomery, Bears offensive assistant Declan Doyle and Ravens offensive assistant Tee Martin, who interviewed for the Lions offensive coordinator spot a few weeks ago but apparently didn't get past the first round.

And I'm not 100% sure Tee Martin is actually a "candidate" in Baltimore. I'm just adding him into the mix because he's still technically with the club and it makes sense they'd at least consider him for the spot.

But the chips are starting to fall and none of them are coming up favorably for the Ravens unless they can somehow land either Webb, Scheelhaase or Doyle.

The first two look improbable. Doyle is still unknown.

My guess is the Ravens are probably secretly interviewing someone from the college ranks. Those names tend to be guarded much more closely than those from the pro ranks. It wouldn't shock me at all to see someone from the game college game surface today as a potential candidate.

It's a little bit like the old "Let's Make A Deal" game show.

There's a prize behind one of the doors that the Ravens really want. There's a prize behind one of the doors they'd accept if they had to. And there's the lesser of the three prizes they'd take, but it's certainly not what they want.

They're getting a prize.

But which one?

I don't want to bore you (any more than I already have this morning) with all of the details about my new role with FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Maryland Golf, but I'm pleased to report my role and the club itself are expanding in 2026.

Some of that expansion can be directly attributed to those of you here who have supported me and the various FCA Maryland Golf endeavors I've presented to you over the last four years.

Any kind of ministry work is hard, but sports ministry is particularly challenging because you're working, generally, with a narrow scope of interest. In my case, it's golf.

You either love FCA, golf, or me. That's how I garner support for the program.

When I appeal to donors, I'm asking them to first take into account the great work FCA does. Then I ask them to take into account the great lessons our junior golfers (and adults!) learn from the sport of golf. And then I ask them to value the work I do in marrying FCA with golf.

Hopefully, I create a "mission-picture" that makes sense and people in my world feel good about donating their time, talent and treasure to my FCA Maryland Golf program.

Sooooooo...

One of my biggest fund-raising projects of the year is upon us. It's a yearly, one-time "ask".

We run a monthly prize drawing with FCA Maryland Golf that looks and feels like a "raffle". You buy a ticket, numbers are drawn, and if your number is pulled, you win a great prize.

Except we do the raffle every month. And we award two monthly prizes. And in almost every case, the winning ticket holder gets a prize that greatly exceeds the $100 cost (one time) to join the FCA Maryland Golf Prize Raffle.

This year, we're giving out FCA Maryland Golf wristbands/bracelets. In the past we've done calendars, cups and key chains. This year, you'll get a FCA Maryland Golf bracelet and on it will be your "raffle number".

At the end of each month, we generate two lucky winners. We e-mail you the video of the raffle drawing so you know it's all legit and you get to follow along all year.

Prizes for 2026 include free golf at area clubs like Eagle's Nest, Hayfields, CC of Maryland and Baltimore CC.

Masters apparel from the 2026 Masters at Augusta National.

New golf clubs including hybrids and putters.

Paintings, artwork and other golf-related keepsakes for your home.

And much, much more.

We're constantly adding to our prize catalog.

We ask for a one-time donation of $100. This money goes directly into my FCA Maryland Golf budget. We use it to host free monthly junior golf clinics, junior tournaments and trips for junior golfers to attend local tournaments (PGA and US Open in 2026) and see professinoal golf up close and personal.

This year, my budget is also going to provide every FCA Maryland Golf junior member (hoping to reach 100 this year) with a book called "How Good Is Good Enough?" by Andy Stanley that gives an incredible testimony into how all of us can get to heaven. Hint: The answer is probably not the one you've been led to believe your entire life.

If you're interested in joining the 2026 FCA Maryland Golf Prize Raffle group, please send along $100 and I'll get your bracelet out to you immediately. In the meantime, though, you'll get a number right away so you can be in our January drawing that will take place this Saturday.

Venmo: @MarylandJuniorGolf

PayPal: 18inarow@gmail.com

If you do buy a bracelet, please be sure and put your address in the "notes" column of Venmo or PayPal so I can mail your bracelet to you. Or e-mail me your address (18inarow@gmail.com).

And yes, in case you're wondering. You can buy more than one for friends and family members! Or you can buy more than one for yourself.

Thank you for your continued support of FCA Maryland Golf!

Tuesday January 27, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4173

sources

They come in a variety of ways.

Some have nothing more than their client's best interests at heart.

Some want to help.

Some want to make sure the story is portrayed the right way. Or, at the very least, presented so their side and agenda gets equal and fair treatment.

Sources are everywhere. You just need to know how to find them or let them find you.

Sometimes, like my buddy Mark Viviano once discovered, they come in taxi cabs.

He unearthed the biggest story in the history of Baltimore sports because he was fortunate enough to jump into a taxi being driven by a man who knew something almost no one else in town knew.

The Browns were moving to Baltimore.

A taxi cab driver gave Viviano the biggest scoop of his career.

Late last week, the agent of one of the coaches who is/was up for the Ravens offensive coordinator job reached out to me. He was following along with the robust social media chatter using the #Ravens hash tag and found me. I never heard of or met the dude in my life, but there he was, in my DM's, spilling details about his client and the Ravens.

That's my version of the taxi cab, I guess. I also know he reached out to at least one other media member in town because that person contacted me to say, "Your name came up in a conversation tonight. The person was asking if you're legit."

I get it. Just like I have to vet agents and contacts who become sources, they have to vet me, too. It works both ways.

And then that agent gave me info on another name in the offensive coach search. Now, I'm the one doing the juggling. Is he telling me that to help me? Or is he telling me that to help me present his client in a different light?

I find myself asking this question all the time whenever I get information or a tip or I'm pressed to share information: "Cui bono?"

"Who benefits?"

I have to figure out why I'm getting the information and what benefit there is to sharing it. Sometimes I get information and I don't see the need to share it. Someone reached out to me recently and mentioned that a certain former Mount Saint Joseph graduate would "love to come home" to serve as the Ravens defensive coordinator.

Well, of course he would. That's the "duh" statement of the day. That's like me saying to an Augusta National member, "You know, I'd sure love to play at your club someday."

Agents are tricky, wise people. They're working every angle to get their client a job and/or more money because that's how they get their 3% "fee".

And they're usually trying to get it done quickly so their client's situation gets put to bed and they can move on to the next situation they're dealing with. Most agents have multiple clients.

Sometimes it's the team who reaches out to me or provides information, although there's admittedly a lot less of that going on these days because they actually don't want or need the media any longer. I was given a Lamar Jackson injury related tip earlier this year but then was quickly (within the next 15 minutes) asked not to run with it because of an extenuating circumstance.

I didn't post what I learned. The tip proved to be accurate. But it's not like I lost anything because I didn't post it.

Sometimes a player comes forward in a discreet way. It depends on what they want and what help you can provide. A former Ravens first round draft pick told me some stuff at a charity golf outing a few summers ago that I could have used, but I wasn't that interested in starting a firestorm so I just let it go.

But players will talk. When they need you.

I think I know a few things about the relationship Todd Monken had with certain players on the team that I've learned over the last few weeks. But I don't know for sure, 100%, that they're true. And, if I'm being honest, I just don't feel like digging at the story to see if it's totally accurate.

I'm pretty sure it's accurate. But......

Monken's gone. It's a new era of Ravens football. Let's just move on. There's nothing to benefit from uncovering a potential story that, in my mind, isn't really all that big of a deal anyway.

I have heard some things about Lamar over the years that I could have "run with", but, again, what's the real benefit in doing that? And even if I could/would go with it, I have to be careful how I present it. So, I usually just look the other way and leave it to someone else to eventually present the story if they so choose (no one has as of yet, so apparently everyone feels the same way as me).

The year a disgruntled Ravens veteran called Josh Bynes a "bench warmer" at Auburn (which he wasn't) during a post-game incident in D.C., do you know how I got that story? I was standing outside of the locker room after that loss to the (then) Redskins, but I was at the wrong door, and overheard it when an equipment guy for the Ravens opened the door to take laundry out to the truck.

I guess the player himself was my source that day. But totally by accident. I deliberated quite a bit about whether I should go on the air the next day and share that story. Was it fair to share something I overheard in the locker room when I wasn't actually in the locker room?

I came up with my answer by consulting a veteran of the Baltimore media (who was no longer covering sports) and asking him what he thought about the situation. "Fair game," he told me.

I still know several/many people who are aligned with the Ravens these days. I only know a couple of people who are associated with the Orioles. I don't really use much of anything those guys and gals ever tell me because I'd never jeopardize our friendship(s), but when they do give me something useful, I always say, "Are you OK if I use this without attributing it to you, obviously?"

I recently had someone involved with the Orioles tell me one of the minority partners of the team "walks around the office like their s**t doesn't stink". I don't know how I'd weave that into any kind of meaningful story and, so, I don't care enough to pursue how, if at all, it impacts what's going on in the front office at The Warehouse.

20 years ago, when I was on the radio, there were a lot of people willing to talk in that Orioles organization because they didn't like what was going on with the team and/or the front office. I know I've shared this story before, but the day the Orioles applied to have "Baltimore" put back on the front of the road jerseys, I got an amazing tip about it from someone there.

"How do you know, for sure, it's true that they're putting "Baltimore" back on the shirts?" I asked. I had been campaigning for that for a year or more on the air. The O's would later call it a "crusade" and used that as a reason why they stopped giving me a media credential.

"Because I know the person here who just put the drawings in a FedEx envelope and sent them to New York," the source told me.

"And this is 100% true? For sure?" I asked.

"One thousand percent true," I was told.

And so, the next day, I went with it on the air and all hell broke loose. The Orioles were outraged. They even put it off for a year, if you remember. They would later say that it was the league who delayed the change while they went through various copyright issues of the script and blah, blah, blah.

But anyway, I got that story from the tap, as it were.

These days, the Framber Valdez-to-the-Orioles rumors are swirling. The "streets" say the Orioles have offered him 3 years and he wants 4 and if the Orioles give him 4, he's coming. I have little to no interest in monitoring that story and chasing it down. If he signs, he signs.

But if I get a source come through who tells me it's done, I'll certainly consider posting it.

I've talked to maybe 20 different people throughout the Ravens coaching firing/hiring ordeal. Many of them I knew already and some of them I didn't. A few of them turned out to be less-than-accurate with their information. I probably won't reach out to them again.

Sources are like 5-foot putts in golf. You're going to make most of them. But some will be off target.

But some have been very helpful along the way. Someone closely associated with John Harbaugh told me he would have seriously considered taking the Browns job if not for New York stepping forward.

Funny the way it is, right? The Browns can't find anyone to take the job right now. But Harbaugh would have taken it had the Giants not surfaced right away.

I could have asked John that myself, of course. And probably would have at some point. But I knew from who I was dealing with that it was true because, in part, I know how John is and how competitive he is.

The only disappointment that Harbaugh has in taking the Giants job is that he likely only gets to play the Ravens once every four years.

He would, for sure, love two cracks at Steve Bisciotti and the Ravens twice a year.

I saw here where someone wondered if my sources aren't simply other media members?

That comment obviously came from someone who has never worked in the media. When you get a tip or a story as a media member, the last thing you're doing is telling a rival or competitor the information you worked hard to generate.

I don't really talk to other people in the media, except maybe for Glenn Clark and some folks in the golf world that I value. I've never been one of those guys to have a "media circle" of friends and contemporaries.

In the end, I'm probably far less inclined to "break news" than I am to be the person who gets the story first and then splashes it out everywhere. I just don't care all that much about what teams do.

They're going to hire who they hire.

And, despite what a lot of people out there in the world believe, the teams and their staffers know more far more about hiring coaches and managers and signing players than we do.

I know that disappoints people at the end of the bar, but it's true. John Harbaugh forgot more about coaching and evaluating football players while he took a leak this morning than you and I will ever know. I don't resent that. It is what it is.

When I go watch a band, I realize every person in the group knows more about music than me. I like how it "sounds" but I sure can't do it myself.

I play golf with people all the time who say, "Wow, how did you hit that shot?" and I shrug and say, "I don't know. I've hit it 500 times in my life. It's pretty easy when you've done it that many times."

We all tend to think we know a lot about stuff because we watch it on TV or read the internet.

Everyone thinks Jesse Minter is going to be a great coach. A lot of that enthusiasm, at least in Baltimore, stems from what Mike Macdonald has done in Seattle.

"You're getting the next Mike Macdonald" people in Los Angeles claim. Maybe. But you're pretty much just saying that because you saw Macdonald go 14-3 this year. You wouldn't have said that this time last January.

People with the Chargers are "talking up" Minter and the Ravens themselves are very high on him, obviously. He was always the favorite to get the job.

But the proof will be in the pudding.

If the Ravens win and go to the Super Bowl with Minter and his staff, that's going to make it a "great hire" and the Ravens might very well have their "Mike Macdonald".

If the Ravens somehow flatline next year and go 9-8, Minter will no longer be the fair-haired boy in town.

I don't need a source to tell me how fickle the fans are in Baltimore.

Monday January 26, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4172

what will the puzzle yield?

This is going to be a wild two weeks in the NFL.

We're interested in how things shake out here in Baltimore because, for the first time in 18 years, we're directly involved in it.

The remaining head coaching openings in Buffalo, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Arizona are all going to shape the landscape of who goes where and into what spot. It's a huge puzzle that is just starting to get assembled.

What pieces fall where?

In addition to the four head coach openings that remain, you also have offensive and defensive coordinator positions still available in places like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Atlanta, where head coaches have been hired but staff rebuilds are underway.

Klint Kubiak appears to have cemented one of those head coach slots last night after Seattle's win over the Rams. If Kubiak wants to leave, he'll have his pick of the lot.

With Kubiak likely to depart, that will open up an offensive coordinator spot in Seattle. They have someone in-house they could approach in Jake Peetz, a heralded offensive assistant, or they could eventually turn to someone like Nathan Scheelhaase from the Rams or Davis Webb from the Broncos.

The problem there is Seattle is playing football for the next two weeks. So it's unlikely guys like Scheelhaase or Webb are going to wait around for an opportunity on Mike Macdonald's staff. So Peetz -- who could have been a target for the Ravens offensive coordinator job -- will probably earn "next man up" honors in Seattle if Kubiak departs for a head coaching gig.

Scheelhaase and Webb are the two scorching-hot commodities right now. Both are expected, at worst, to receive multiple OC offers and it's not out of the question that both of them could jump from offensive assistants right to head coach spots.

Scheelhaase is rumored to be a candidate in Cleveland and Webb has connections to Josh Allen and the Bills.

Both Webb and Scheelhaase were very impressive in their interviews in Baltimore during the head coach search and it's expected that the Ravens will offer at least one of them their offensive coordinator role as early as today.

Then there's Joe Brady of the Bills. He interviewed twice -- so far -- with the Ravens during the head coach search and there are whispers the Ravens would have strongly considered him for the head coach role if Minter would have taken the job in Las Vegas.

If Brady -- who was in Las Vegas yesterday meeting with the Raiders -- doesn't get a head coach gig, could he be the guy who ultimately snags the OC role in Baltimore?

So much of what's going on with the Ravens hinges on what happens in Las Vegas, Seattle and, perhaps, even with the Rams.

If Mike LaFleur, Rams offensive coordinator, takes the vacant Arizona job, that leaves an OC spot open for Scheelhaase to move up and take, as long as he doesn't accept the head coach role in Cleveland or elsewhere.

But if LaFleur leaves and Scheelhaase goes to Cleveland (or anywhere), perhaps that leaves the door open for Davis Webb to take the open OC role with Sean McVay and the Rams.

And that's only if Webb doesn't take the job in Las Vegas or Buffalo.

Get it all?

It's crazy.

And that's only on the offensive side of the ball, which is the Ravens primary concern at this point because of the number of talented people available in this cycle coupled with the fact that they're bringing in a defensive minded coach who will run most of the team's defense anyway.

The Ravens did add a member to their coaching staff yesterday with the hiring of Mike Mickens as the team's defensive backs coach. Mickens was a long time defensive specialist at Notre Dame prior to joining Jesse Minter's staff.

One other interesting development on Sunday was the ongoing saga involving Mike McDaniel.

The former Dolphins head coach still doesn't have a defined role, recently rejecting interview requests in both Buffalo and Cleveland.

Rumors of a "verbal agreement" with the Chargers are still floating out there, but there's been some speculation recently that perhaps McDaniel is still free to sign with any team for any coaching position.

The Ravens interviewed McDaniel for their vacant head coach spot, but a source told me yesterday that interview was far more about getting a feel for McDaniel as perhaps the team's offensive coordinator rather than the head coach spot that Minter eventually accepted.

"Don't rule out McDaniel with the Ravens if somehow things don't work out with the Chargers," I was told yesterday.

McDaniel has expressed an interest in coaching somewhere "warm" and his wife is also from the west coast, so the Chargers' gig makes a lot of sense in that regard. But the Ravens can be very convincing with coaches and coaching prospects when pushed to be convincing.

If McDaniel indeed shook hands with the Chargers and said, "If I don't get a head coaching gig, I'll be your OC" then it's highly unlikely that Minter and the Ravens would play dirty pool and pursue him for the OC spot in Baltimore.

But if there's no handshake or verbal agreement in Los Angeles and McDaniel is indeed "free to choose", there's a thought that the Ravens are going to go after him in the next 24-48 hours.

However...

McDaniel might be 3rd in line behind Webb and Scheelhaase. And then there's Joe Brady, too.

While McDaniel waits to hear about the Las Vegas job, the Ravens are trying to fill their staff and not lose out in the game of musical chairs they're playing with a potential OC.

One final name that hasn't been mentioned much is erstwhile Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who interviewed for the head coach spot in Baltimore but that, like McDaniel, was more about sizing him up as a potential OC in Baltimore.

That head coach interview with the Ravens "wasn't a needle mover", I've been told.

A national report last week indicated Kingsbury is a "favorite" of Lamar Jackson, but another source says nothing at all should be read into that.

"Lamar likes everyone," the source told #DMD. "He's not the kind of guy who is going to speak negatively about anyone. If you asked him if he liked Joe Brady, he'd say yes. If you asked him if he liked Matt Nagy, he'd say yes. If you asked him if he liked Mike LaFleur, he'd say yes and he probably doesn't even know who LaFleur is."

That source tells me Kingsbury, in a perfect world, would love to return to the west coast, where he once coached for the Arizona Cardinals and later at Southern Cal.

"In a game of last man standing, Kliff might be the guy the Ravens have to turn to at the very end," the source says. "But they're hoping to land someone else."

On the defensive side, guys like Anthony Weaver and Jim Schwartz are still available, but it's unknown if they'd be willing to take a "lesser" role in Baltimore to serve as the team's DC.

One new name to add to the candidate list could be Houston Texans defensive line coach Rod Wright, who has been in Houston for three years after one season coaching the defensive side of the ball at the University of Miami and three years at the University of Texas San-Antonio.

"He's ready for a next-step kind of challenge," a source tells #DMD. "And with DeMeco (Ryans) and Matt (Burke) in Houston, he's not going to get that with the Texans."

I didn't have a dog in the hunt yesterday, so I didn't care who won the respective conference championship games.

In a reflective kind of way, it's cool to see a member of John Harbaugh's coaching tree earn his first trip to the Super Bowl. Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks will be favored to beat the Patriots in two weeks in Santa Clara. Sam Darnold also gets his "how ya like me now?" opportunity after being summarily dismissed in Minnesota.

I also love a good coaching redemption story, and Mike Vrabel certainly authored one of them this season. After being fired by the Titans in 2023 and not landing another head coaching job in 2024, Vrabel got to "go back home" and coach the Patriots in 2025. And now, he's headed to the Super Bowl after a three-win playoff run where his offense bested three straight top 10 defenses in the AFC post-season (L.A., Houston and Denver).

This will be a "blah" Super Bowl for me, at least, simply because I don't have any reason to root against either team.

I mean, in the old days we were always rooting against New England because of Belichick and Brady, but I really like Drake Maye and Vrabel, as I noted above, is making good on his career mulligan. If the Patriots win, I'm fine with it. It also means they're less likely to win again next year, which could benefit the Ravens.

And what's there not to like about the Seahawks? They're harmless, basically. If they win, good for them.

In Baltimore, we needed Buffalo to get to the Super Bowl to give us a real reason to get amped up for the game. Rooting against Josh Allen? Easy to do. We here in The Land of Pleasant Living have developed a really weird obsession with Allen of late.

We definitely could have rooted against the Bills.

I never want to see Pittsburgh get there on the off-chance they might actually win, but if the Steelers would have somehow moved through the bracket to Santa Clara, we also would have spent all of our time cheering for the NFC representative in two weeks time.

I'll watch it, I'm sure. At least until halftime, anyway. Then I'll jump back on and watch the second half once Bad Bunny is finished boring us to tears.

But I don't care who wins.

And that makes it a weird Super Bowl for sure.

By winning the American Express Championship yesterday, Scottie Scheffler has now done something that only two other players in the history of golf managed to do. Before his 30th birthday, Scheffler now has 20 career TOUR wins and 4 major championships.

The other two guys to do it? Nicklaus and Tiger.

20 wins on TOUR.

4 major championships.

And he's only 29 years old.

Amazing.

It has been a long time since we even thought about someone approaching Tiger's mark of 15 major championship wins. Only three active players have 5 or more; Mickelson (6), Koepka (5) and McIlroy (5).

But if Scheffler -- looking kind of long range here -- can win four majors before he turns 32, he'll be at 8 major victories at that point and will have a decade to catch up to Tiger.

Woods, remember, went from age 32 to 43 without a major championship. If Scheffler can add four more between 29 and 32, it might not be all that far fetched to think he can piece together a run at Tiger's 15.

If you asked me to bet whether Scheffler gets to 10, I'd say, "I'm not sure..."

If you asked me to bet if he can get to 15, I'd say "No way..."

But if 4 years ago you would have told me you saw the golf script and Scottie Scheffler wins 20 times between February of 2022 and February of 2026 and also wins four major championships, I would have said about that -- "No way..."

Golf hasn't seen anyone play like this since Tiger. It's generational success, now. Scheffler is the best player in the world and with all due respect to Rory, it's really not close.

Sunday January 25, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4171

there's no.....buzz

There was no movement that I'm aware of on the Ravens front from Saturday. They're still trying to get a final group together for offensive and defensive coaching roles, including the coordinator in each of those departments.

My sense from those in the know is the organization is waiting until they see the results of today's conference championship games to put everything into place. The winter storm in the Baltimore/Washington area over the next couple of days could impact in-person interviews as well.

One interesting note I'm discovering is this: There are far fewer people talking about the offensive and defensive coordinator candidates -- to me, at least -- than there were during the head coach search. I was gathering lots of intel during the coaching search. But not so much during the coordinator search.

Unlike the head coaching search, when the Ravens were always zeroed in on Jesse Minter -- and vice versa -- there are a number of guys they'd be willing to hire for one of their two coordinator spots. This part of the process definitely feels like the college draft.

"Well, we want Webb. But if he's not available and Scheelhaase falls to us, we're happy with him, too."

And unlike the draft, you can't "move up" to get the coordinator you want. They're either taking your job or another job, based sometimes on things out of your control. Maybe Davis Webb wants to stay "out west". Perhaps Joe Brady wants to go someplace where it's warm after spending five-plus years in Buffalo.

Scheelhaase is a candidate to land the head coach job in Cleveland, so he might not be available anyway.

My best guess still centers on one of these three eventually winding up in Charm City: Scheelhaase (Rams), Webb (Broncos) or Brady (Bills), with the latter perhaps being the best fit at this point given he has a history of play-calling and scheming while the others would be rookies in that endeavor.

An industry source also told me the team has an interest in Bengals quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe -- a longtime member of the offensive staff in Cincinnati -- but I've yet to hear if he's being interviewed for the open offensive coordinator spot in Baltimore.

On the defensive side, things are up in the air as well. The Ravens plan on interviewing Chiefs' defensive line coach Joe Cullen for the open coordinator spot. A source says Cullen understands his role in Baltimore would not center on game-by-game scheme development and in-game play-calling. Those duties will belong to new head coach Jesse Minter.

The new defensive coordinator's main job in Baltimore will be to handle scheme implementation during meetings and practices, in concert with Minter and other defensive specialists he brings to the Ravens.

So while the buzz in Baltimore has died down a bit over the last day or so, it hasn't died down in College Park,, where the basketball program is closing in on "shambles" territory after getting taken to the woodshed by 43 points in East Lansing yesterday.

Dale Williams does all of the heavy lifting in his game review below. I've intentionally not read or entered his piece yet -- as of 6:09 am on Saturday -- because I don't want to know what he thinks before I tell you what I think.

I think......

And it's important to see that distinction. I don't "know" this. I'm not etching it in stone. I'm not jumping up and down saying, "This is definite..."

But I'm starting to think Maryland hired the wrong basketball coach.

And this is not totally tied into their on-court performance this season. There's more to it than that.

The losing is not helping, that's for sure.

But, pun sorta-kinda intended here, there's no buzz around the team or the program in College Park. And that's not the fault of the basketball fans down there, either.

The school has done very little to co-promote the basketball team. The players are disengaged, which is probably understandable given that most of them are hired-guns who showed up last April and will hang out on Route One for a year before hitting the portal this March and moving on to another school.

A person closely associated with a different athletic team in College Park summed it up like this: "There's no sizzle or interest in the basketball team here. It's almost like they're an afterthought. No one knows the players. And the weird thing is everyone on campus knows all the female basketball players. No one knows the guys. There's no interest on campus when it comes to men's basketball."

That's coming from someone on campus, every day, in the buildings, who has a far, far better feel for Maryland basketball's inner workings than I would ever have.

"The players are insulated," the person in College Park said. "The coach wants it that way. He's insulated too. There's no effort to connect the team and the players with the school. Kevin (Willard) had his issues, but one thing he did well was make sure the students and the basketball team were connected."

Now, a solid recruiting class in 2026 will help the Terps, most likely. Nothing replaces winning.

But the $64,000 question is the obvious one: Can Buzz coach the talented group of recruits and win with them at College Park?

I don't know.

But this first season of Buzz Williams basketball at College Park is a semi-disaster. And that's being kind.

Better players will help. Anyone who has watched the Terps this season knows they're in need of better players. The loss of Pharrel Payne has definitely hurt Maryland, but they wouldn't be all that much better with him in the lineup. One more win? Two, perhaps, at the most?

Maryland decided Buzz Williams was the man to take them to the "next level" after Kevin Willard wrecked the program.

And it's fair to say "give him time". Rome wasn't built in a day.

But there are things about Maryland basketball that have nothing to do with wins and losses that are starting to surface in College Park.

And because we've now moved fully into the "money talks" era of college sports, some things need to improve down there within the next year or two or players will simply get their rewards elsewhere.

I don't really care who wins today in the two NFL playoff games, but just for kicks and giggles, here you go:

New England holds off Denver in a low scoring battle, 17-7. I don't see Denver being able to win this one with Stidham at QB. He'll be involved in a costly turnover of some kind. The Broncos defense will hang in there but New England moves on to the Super Bowl.

Seattle wins a shootout over the Rams, 34-30. I think this one might be "last team with the ball wins". Or, as some folks annoyingly like to say, "an instant classic". In this case, though, it might be a back-and-forth barnburner that bumps up into that instant classic territory.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps get shelled at michigan state

The most descriptive term I can find for the beat-down that the Terps received yesterday is, overwhelmed.

Michigan State was far too big and way too strong for Maryland. They overwhelmed the Terps in a 91-48 win.

Instead of responding in kind, with their own aggressiveness, the Terps put their tails between their legs and took that beating like an abused dog. The Terps were abused.

Actually, that description might be better than “overwhelmed”. Abused. I can’t remember a more embarrassing loss. In my 56 years of following this team, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen a Maryland team play. Overwhelmed. Abused.

I’m not even going to get into who scored what points. Let’s just say that everyone on MSU scored a lot, and all the Terps were disgusting.

The one stat that emphasizes Maryland’s lack of hustle and the total lack of preparation by the coaching staff was fast break points favored MSU, 31-0. That’s effort, or lack thereof. It’s coaching, or lack thereof.

Up 37 points in the second half, Tom Izzo was still mainly playing starters. I guess he wanted to see just how badly he could beat Maryland.

I try to mostly keep personal opinions out of my analysis, but I’ll will say this, my feelings for Tom Izzo run about equal to Drew’s feelings for that Philly hockey team. Izzo gets more calls than Mike Krzyzewsky ever got. Yesterday he didn’t need any of them, but he still got them.

The Terrapin shooting numbers were just awful…again. But that had a lot to do with the intense Spartan defense and the Terrapin lack of a point guard that can get them into an offensive set. The Terrapin lack of ball movement and movement without the ball made it easy for Sparty to get stops.

Maryland is small, but on Saturday in East Lansing they were not tough. They were soft, weak, and played without pride. 31-0 on fast break points clearly points to, “We’re not winning, so I don’t care”. That’s totally unacceptable”. 31-0!!! Maryland didn’t make one bucket.

Going into the first break, the MSU defense looked like it was suffocating the Terps offense. Maryland was 1-5 from the field early on, with their only field goal a short runner in the paint from Elijah Saunders. They trailed 9-4.

Turnovers became an issue for the Terps, and the Spartans used the extra possessions to extend the lead to 14-4. MSU was on an 8-0 run with the Terps turning it over 3 times in a little over 2 minutes.

By the time Coach Williams temporarily stopped the carnage with a timeout, his Terps were down 16-4 and had made just 1 of 7 shots. The errant Maryland shots were all tough, heavily contested, attempts. Maryland hadn’t scored in almost 5 minutes.

The second break came with 11:28 left in the half and Michigan State had more points from the foul line (6) than Maryland had in total (4). In eight and a half minutes of game time, Maryland had just one lone field goal. They were 1 for 11 from the field, 0-7 from the three-point line, and just 2-4 from the foul line.

I won’t list all the team stats, suffice it to say that every one of them was drastically in favor of the Spartans.

Coming out of the 3rd break, Solomon Washington hit a three and Diggy Coit drove inside for a pair of buckets. When Washington hit a tough slasher, Maryland had pulled off a nice 9-2 run.

Coit made the run 11-2 with a mid-range jumper, and when Saunders hit a triple, the Terps had the lead down to 10. However, a questionable shot and a Terp turnover had Sparty on the foul line with a chance to get the lead back to 14 with 6:30 left in the half.

Not only did MSU get 2, but they followed that with a triple and 2 foul shots. A 9-0 run had the lead extended to 19.

The MSU run reached 11 straight and the score stood at 39-18 when Buzz Williams was forced to call another time out. His team was being undressed. The talent level discrepancy was obvious and vast. Fast break points favored MSU 14-0, and second chance points were 10-3 in favor of MSU.

An MSU turnover ended the first half, but it didn’t matter. They had doubled Maryland on the scoreboard at 46-23. The Terps were being totally dominated, physically and on the scoreboard. Fast break points were now 19-0, leaving me to wonder just what Buzz Williams must have been thinking at the intermission. He couldn’t have been happy with his team’s effort.

This game had been decided at the 7-minute mark of the first half when Michigan State started their half-ending 23-5 run. The Terps were simply pushed around and beat up by MSU. You know things were bad when MSU center, Carson Cooper, hit the first three-pointer of his career.

MSU was rubbing salt in the wound by hitting 3 of 4 triples to start the second half. The Terps trailed by 28 points at 15:03. The game had long been over.

So, I’ve been following UMD basketball since the late’ 60’s. There have been a bunch of bad losses in that time, but this embarrassment was the worst I’ve ever seen.

This Maryland team was simply not prepared for Saturday’s game. Yes, Maryland has a non-competitive Big Ten roster, but Buzz Williams did not have his team prepared for what MSU offers.

Being too small is one thing, but not caring enough to get back on defense is another. Getting blanked 31-0 on fast break points should be grounds to terminate a contract. That’s an effort thing. That’s a coaching thing.

I’m not the guy who wants to fire a hitting coach because his team had stopped hitting, I also don’t go right to blaming the coordinator because the offense has looked bad. I tend to look more at the players. Tonight, Buzz Williams needs to look into the mirror and ask himself, “Did I properly prepare my guys?” The answer is an emphatic “No”.

Maryland next plays Purdue at home on Sunday, February 1. They’ll lose that game too, but the Boilermakers don’t offer the same kind of physicality that MSU has. Perhaps the Terps can give a better effort. The effort they gave yesterday was totally unacceptable.

Yes, for sure, the Terps have a roster that’s barely of Big Ten quality, but have some pride. Play hard, and be respectable.

Yesterday they weren’t respectable. They were soft, overwhelmed, and abused. 31-0. I’ve never seen anything like that. Gotta be better, coach!

Saturday January 24, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4170

"risky business?"

Here we are in the Jessie Minter era and everything's just peachy.

"The phones were buzzing in the (Ravens) sales office," I was told by a source. "People are excited."

And well they should be. Hope springs eternal, as the saying goes.

There will be -- and with very good reason -- a lot of enthusiasm and excitment surrounding Jesse Minter over the next seven months. The Ravens, as they should, will go about creating a crafty marketing and sales plan to hopefully generate ticket sales, suite sales and sponsorship sales in connection with their new head coach.

Every team does that. You know the Giants are doing it in New York, for sure. John Harbaugh has already penned his first "letter to the fans" up there, telling them how pumped up he is to be their head coach. Go Big Blue! (the letter read).

But the real hard work in the Jesse Minter era starts now. The Ravens got their guy. And they're thrilled. But he certainly can't do it alone. Minter and the Ravens need to compile a staff and they need to start doing it quickly. Time's a wastin'.

On the surface, you would think assembling a group of coaches would be rather easy in Baltimore. I mean, you have a top 5 quarterback on the offensive side of the ball (Lamar) and a top 5 defensive player (Hamilton) on the other side.

Mixed in with that you have guys like Henry, Andrews, Flowers, Smith, Wiggins and Starks. There's plenty to like if you're a coach looking to potentially work for the Ravens.

But two sources are wondering if the Ravens actually did, in fact, get it right by hiring Minter instead of someone like Klint Kubiak or Kevin Stefanski or Mike McDaniel.

"If there was ever a hiring cycle where it's much better to hire an offensive minded coach than a defensive minded coach, it was this one," offers one source, who has spent two decades involved in the league. "Hiring a defensive guy in this cycle is risky business."

"The Ravens are in a pickle unless they go with Brady, Nagy or Kingsbury," the source continues. "And the truth is that all three of those guys are "B" prospects. But if they don't go with one of those three, their offense is going to be run by a first-time coordinator who has never created a playbook or a scheme and he'll be partnering up with a first-time coach in Jesse. That's not a great combination, especially if you're a franchise that expects to win from day one."

"On the flip side, you would prefer to scratch the slate clean and start with one of the young guys like Webb or Doyle," the source continues. "Scheelhaase is also an option. There will be other names that surface in the next few days, but if you bring one of those three on board you're asking a brand new coach and a brand new offensive coordinator to win 11 or 12 games in the league next season and that's a really tall task."

Another source more closely aligned with the Ravens says the team factored all of that in when they hired Minter earlier this week.

"Joe (Brady) makes the most sense for them and it probably makes the most sense for him, too," the source states. "But if you're the Ravens you're still not sure he's going to be available in a timely fashion. There's still a thought that if he doesn't get the head job in Buffalo that he could stay there as an OC. But the one problem with joining the Ravens as an offensive coordinator is you're not going to get much of the credit if the offense gels and the Ravens have a productive 2026 season. Lamar will get all the credit. You'll just be the guy who called the plays."

For a guy to go from coordinator to head coach, he has to be the reason why his side of the ball jumped," the source explains. "Like Jesse (Minter) did in L.A. He got that Baltimore job because he was the reason why the Chargers defense was excellent this past season."

"For Brady, his path to a head coaching spot is to probably take a lesser job like the OC in Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Las Vegas and see if he can't make an immediate impact there. If he can help one of those offenses work, he has the golden ticket. Getting Lamar and the Ravens offense to perform well isn't going to be valued around the league like getting the offense in Cleveland or Pittsburgh to spike would create value."

To wit, the Ravens do have an interesting puzzle to solve.

There are a number of unemployed defensive coordinators available, but none are overly valued around the league. One candidate, Dennard Wilson interviewed with the Chargers yesterday. The Ravens will interview Chiefs' defensive line coach Joe Cullen this weekend.

Both of those guys have ties to the Ravens organization from prior coaching stints, but there aren't many teams beating down their doors to interview for (current) vacant defensive coordinating jobs.

Even a veteran like Jim Schwartz (still in line for the Browns HC job) might not be a great fit.

"Jesse's bringing his defense to Baltimore," a source says. "There will not be any doubt about that. So the defensive coordinator in Baltimore will basically just do the film work and some self-scouting each week and Jesse will implement the scheme and help with the in-game flow and play calling."

"The Ravens did this backwards," the source continues. "They would have been much better off getting a proven offensive mind as their head coach and then turned their defense over to someone like Jim (Schwartz) or Wink (Martindale) or even Chuck (Pagano) if he's still interested in coordinating for a year or two while they get their feet under them."

One person familiar with the Ravens coaching staff search says the organization is eagerly awaiting the results of this Sunday's two conference championship games.

"There will be meetings on Monday in Baltimore with one or more candidates depending on the games (this weekend)," the person says. "Jesse has an idea of who he wants. But it takes two to tango. And some of the candidates in Baltimore are also desired in other cities as well."

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps take on sparty in east lansing today

A national TV audience awaits the Maryland Terrapins today as they prepare to tangle with the Spartans of Michigan State.

The Breslin Center is a tough place to play, but we can expect an elevated level of craziness for this CBS game at noon.

The linemakers have already said, “Good luck Terps”, having made Maryland an 18-point underdog. So, what does MSU have, and how does Maryland counter?

Sparty has sparred with 5 teams ranked at 14 or higher. They are 3-2 in those games with wins over Arkansas (69-66), Kentucky (83-66), and a 74-58 victory over the Tar Heels of North Carolina.

The losses were to Duke (66-60) and Nebraska (58-56). I was very impressed with what Nebraska did, defensively against MSU. We’ll get into that in a bit.

First, Sparty coach Tom Izzo has always fielded teams that rebound well, especially offensively. This team is no different. They have size and aggressively attack the glass on the offensive end. They are near the top of the Big Ten offensive, defensive, and total rebounds. They have size and use it well around the glass.

Second, MSU teams usually lean on the three-point shot. The 2025-2026 edition of Michigan State basketball isn’t so reliant, but they have two guys that can kill you from long range.

Chasing Jaxon Kohler and Kur Teng off the line is essential for the Terps tonight. Kohler is 6’9” and knocks down a super impressive 46.5% of his threes. Teng, the 6’4” guard, makes almost 38% from the three-point line. Maryland cannot offer help against the MSU bigs down low , leaving those two players open. It’s a sure recipe for disaster.

The third thing the Spartans always do is bring physicality to the court. They have some thick dudes and some GREAT athletes. The Terps have a few “dogs” on their squad too, and they need to flex their muscles today.

I loved how Nebraska went after the Spartans. Every low post entry was double teamed and many baseline drives were met with multiple defenders.

The ‘Huskers also frequently pressured the ball in the half court.

This strategy produced an Izzo-infuriating 21 turnovers. Obviously, the Terps don’t have Nebraska’s personnel, but a similar game plan would be very wise for Buzz Williams and his crew.

Offensively in that game, the ‘Huskers only scored 59 points, so their offense wasn’t the story of the outcome. Nebraska took 37 threes in that game, 65% of their total tries.

When not shooting threes, they had significant success with their movement without the ball. That’s a very active offense, and it’s something Maryland must emulate if they want to get quality looks.

MSU is led offensively by Kohler with 13.3 points per game, and point guard Jeremy Fears. Fears drops 13.2 points and 9.1 assists each game. He’s their catalyst.

The most athletic guy on the court will be MSU’s Coen Carr. This 6’6” 225-pound strong man can flat out get off the floor. If he’s not the most dynamic dunker in college hoops, he’s in the top 3.

Carr is also the guy I leave open if forced to double down low. His 25% three-point rate dictates that you’d rather him shoot from long range as opposed to letting an MSU big operate one-on-one in the paint against a single tiny Terp.

The bulky Carson Cooper mans the paint for Michigan State. He’s just over double digits in points, but Maryland must keep him off the offensive glass. He’s a must double team guy in the paint. If Buzz Williams elects to not double Cooper, Cooper will drop 20 on them.

So, there’s the game plan. Play physically. Double in the paint. Chase Kohler and Teng off the three-point line. Pressure the ball. Tons of motion on offense.

We’ll have to watch and see just which parts of that plan can the Terps actually pull off. The Maryland “D” has to keep the game at a slower pace. They can’t run with MSU.

I’ll give you one more thing that personally I want to see. I’m hoping Solomon Washington checks Kohler, and on offense, takes him to the rack. Washington is too quick for Kohler.

A line of 18 and an over/under at 139.5 suggests the sharps are thinking something around 79-61 should happen. I think the Terps slow the pace, and keep this game closer than many would expect. I’m not sure they can win, but a loss of 75-66 could be a moral victory for the Terps.

Friday January 23, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4169

where do they go from here?

So, it's day one of the Jesse Minter era in Baltimore.

He better get some stuff done today.

I'm kidding.

But only a little bit.

Minter, in concert with Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, will start building a staff quickly in Owings Mills.

He needs an entire staff, of course, but the main, immediate focus will center on the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator positions in Baltimore.

And the first concept to address is whether it matters if the Ravens go "young" or "old" in their search.

By young, we're talking about guys who haven't previously been coordinators and are thought to be next up in the head coaching cycle once they cut their teeth as an Offensive or Defensive coordinator for season or two or three.

Think Mike Macdonald in Baltimore in 2022-2023 as a prime example.

His quick two-year stint with the Ravens in that capacity made him one of the league's "hot names" in the off season leading up to the 2024 season.

The Ravens -- and Minter -- could go in that direction with their Offensive and Defensive coordinator search.

You might have someone like Davis Webb, if he doesn't get hired as a head coach somewhere first, or Nathan Scheelhaase available to join MInter's staff in Baltimore. They're two of the popular "hot young names" floating around.

The same goes for defense. Chris O'Leary (former Chargers defensive backs coach) could fit that bill. And even though Dennard Wilson had one year of coordinating the Titans' defense, the former Ravens defensive backs coach is also one of the names you might hear soon as a Ravens coordinator candidate.

Then there's the "tried and true" candidate list. On the offensive side of the ball, you might be able to pick between Kliff Kingsbury or Joe Brady if neither of them gets hired to be a head coach somewhere. Defensively, there's Anthony Weaver or perhaps Baltimore native Jim Schwartz, although it's looking more like Schwartz is going to draw the short straw and earn the Browns head coaching job.

One interesting dilemma with the Ravens if they go "old" is that they'd have to potentially go back to guys like Kingsbury, Weaver and Brady -- each of whom were interviewed for Minter's job -- and ask them to join the organization in a lesser, albeit still important role.

And the other is the issue of bringing on one of the hot, young names and then potentially having him poached from you once he's successful.

The benefits of hiring someone like Webb or Scheelhaase on offense are two-fold. You're getting a new, energetic fresh mind in your organization and you're also getting someone closer to Lamar Jackson's age that perhaps he can relate to better.

There have been stories bubbling up recently about Jackson's relationship with former offensive coordinator Todd Monken and how some of their differences had nothing to do with "football" per se, but had more to do with the way Monken occasionally addressed and communicated with Lamar and other younger players on offense.

One of Jackson's only true wishes in the head coach search was that the Ravens lean strongly towards a younger coach if possible.

He quickly approved of Jesse Minter when he was able to chat with the new Ravens coach during the interview process.

If someone like Webb or Scheelhaase got the position, the Ravens would also be bringing in someone that would very likely be a "hot name" either next off-season or in 2027 if the Baltimore offense percolates and the team has playoff success.

Therein lies the rub.

How many voices do you want Lamar to be hearing throughout his career?

Greg Roman...Todd Monken...then the next guy for however long that might be...then the guy that follows him. And so on.

Kliff Kingsbury would represent a different, experienced voice. He's only 46. Once upon a time, he was the next "hot thing" before he floundered in Arizona with the Cardinals. But he's still a very well respected offensive mind who helped the Commanders reach the NFC title game in 2024 with Jayden Daniels as his quarterback.

Lamar, according to reports, is fond of Kingsbury and his offensive schemes. The guess here, given both the nature of the position and the proximity of Baltimore to DC, is that Jackson has talked with Daniels over the years about Kingsbury and the Commanders QB has "talked him up" with Lamar. Player-to-player evaluations hold a lot of water in the NFL.

So if it's Kingsbury that Lamar really wants, should he get him?

What if Minter feels, in his gut, that Davis Webb is the right guy for the offense but Lamar has Kingsbury number one on his list followed by Webb and others behind him?

Then there's the pesky little issue of Jackson's contract and the $75 million salary cap figure for 2025 and how does all of that play into this "new era" of Ravens football and the decisions facing the team relative to the offensive coordinator?

What if Lamar stands up on a table in Owings Mills and says, "I want Kliff!!"? What do you do then?

It's fair to point out, quickly, that standing up on the table and demanding things isn't really Lamar's style. He approved of every coaching candidate the Ravens put in front of him over the last couple of weeks. Jackson is a team player, generally, in that regard.

"Just tell me who the coach is and let me go play football and we're cool..."

But this is a sticky situation with Lamar's contract and you might need to do a little give-and-take with him to make sure the numbers work out and everyone's happy at the end of the day.

So if Lamar winks and says, "Sure would like to work with Kliff..." you might have to give him Kliff.

But what if Kingsbury somehow isn't available? Then you have guys like Webb and Scheelhaase to look at, but what if, somehow, they're also not available for whatever reason?

That's why Minter and the Ravens have to act quickly, or at the very least, act quickly once the rules allow for it.

One very interesting name could be a familiar one in Baltimore. And it starts with "H". And, well, it's pretty familiar around these parts.

Jim Harbaugh's son, Jay, is the current special teams coach for the Seahawks. With Minter's departure, the Chargers will need a defensive coordinator. There are some suggestions in L.A. that Jim wouldn't want Jay with him just because of the "too close" angle of that situation, but that Jay Harbaugh, who coached at Oregon State and Michigan before joining Mike Macdonald in Seattle, could be one of the next "up and comer" defensive coordinator candidates in the NFL.

It's a complex scenario, obviously.

Another Harbaugh in Baltimore?

Would Jim be OK with Jay, his son, furthering his career in Baltimore after they summarily dismissed his brother in January?

And would John be OK with "helping the Ravens" by approving of Jay going to the Ravens to work on Jesse Minter's staff?

Someone whispered Jay Harbaugh's name to me in the early days of the coaching search two weeks ago and said, "His name will probably surface...at some point...start learning more about him."

How wild would that be?

Jim Harbaugh played for the Ravens.

John Harbaugh then coached the Ravens.

And then Jay Harbaugh comes in after Harbaugh leaves and there's another Harbaugh with a parking spot at the facility.

I'm not saying it's happening.

That said, a friend of mine back in August told me he thought Indiana was a sleeper team to win the Big Ten and that he thought "they could make some noise in the playoffs" and I said, "Not happening, Mark."

I never discount anything any longer.

As I wrote here earlier in the week, I'm good with the Jesse Minter hire. It's certainly not a surprise, as he was always one of the favorites to get the job. But I also have faith in the process the Ravens have perfected over the years.

Did it hamstring the Ravens a little bit that both the Rams (Shula, Scheelhaase), Seahawks (Kubiak) and Broncos (Webb, Joseph) were all still playing this week and those candidates couldn't be interviewed again? Maybe. But in the end, the Ravens already knew enough about those five guys to know if they were possibly better fits in Baltimore than Minter.

If Minter was always their guy, someone was -- to borrow a boxing phrase -- going to have to knock him out to steal the job from him.

As I wrote last night on Twitter, nearly each of the 20 candidates the Ravens interviewed had some sort of flaw or blemish.

Stefanski had some trailing issues from his days in Cleveland; McDaniel is a mercurial personality far more suited to being a coordinator than a head coach; Saleh was not well prepared for his interview and believed his record should speak for itself.

Those are just three names. Other candidates were interesting to the Ravens as well, but all of them had nicks and small bruises.

But I really didn't hear or read or learn about any flaw or blemish on Jesse Minter.

I'll stop short of calling him "perfect". There was the Michigan sign-stealing scandal when he was on Jim Harbaugh's staff that he was "part of", if you choose to call him "part of" it.

Breaking news: No one cares about that. Sign stealing in football is like sign stealing in baseball. If you're not doing it, you're in the minority.

But in terms of things people in the NFL care about when it comes to coaching and schemes and the potential for being a great, long term coach, Minter has no warts.

And I know the Ravens turned over every stone in the hiring process to determine that Minter was the guy for the job.

There are some people in town who bristle at the idea that it was a "fair and even process" because Minter has a history with the Ravens organization and was always the favorite to land the job.

That might be true.

But if it's true, it's because Minter impressed people when he worked in Baltimore previously and was always considered a "down the road" possibility for the day when John Harbaugh's tenure ended with the Ravens.

I have no idea if Jesse Minter will be a great NFL coach but I'd say all of the applicable signs point to him being successful.

And with that, I'll say the same thing about the offensive and defensive coordinator under Minter.

The Ravens will get those two right as well.

Lamar will help them figure out who is best on the offensive side of the ball and Kyle Hamilton (who, like Lamar, was allowed to give his input on the hiring of Minter and the other coaching candidates) will help them figure out who is best on the defensive side of the ball.

No, Lamar and Hamilton aren't going to "pick" the coordinators. Jesse Minter and Eric DeCosta are ultimately going to do that. But DeCosta (and now Minter) knows the value of player input.

And in the end, whether it's Kingsbury or Webb or Weaver or Wilson -- or any other name -- I'm going to lean in the direction of "The Ravens got this one right."

Once those hirings happen, we'll just wait around until September to see if I'm right.......about the Ravens being right.

faith in sports

This week's edition of "Faith in Sports" centers on a very interesting topic. What happens when you're hesitant to talk about Jesus and share your faith with others?

Two NHL hockey players, Kent Johnson and Owen Power talk about that with former Bears running back Matt Forte in an awesome 6 minute video that you can find below.

This is a short one, but still a very powerful message nonetheless. If you're a believer who is still somewhat hesitant about talking openly about your faith, watch the Johnson/Power video below and rest easy from there.

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

Thursday January 22, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4168

it's minter

Real life got in the way today and I wasn't able to get here to launch the Jesse Minter news in a timely fashion.

At 5:17 pm, while I was finishing up my Calvert Hall golf team's workout at the school, my text notification "dinged" and I looked down at it.

MINTER IS DONE, ANNOUNCEMENT BY 6 PM

A minute or so later, I went to Twitter and typed, for the first time since 2008, a Baltimore Ravens coaching hire.

"I'm hearing the Ravens are going to announce Jesse Minter at 6 pm."

It turned out they announced it a few minutes later, actually.

And with that, the deal was done. A 5-year agreement with Jesse Minter to be only the 4th coach in the three-decade (plus) history of the Baltimore Ravens.

Minter is not new to the organization, of course. He was a Ravens assistant coach before going to the University of Michigan and then on to the Los Angeles Chargers with Jim Harbaugh in 2024 and 2025.

As someone in Owings Mills said to me: "He's eerily similar to John (Harbaugh) in a lot of ways. This is his time, just like 2008 was John's time. He's put in the work to learn the game from both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. He talks and sounds like a Raven. He's tough, unrelenting and is interested in setting high standards that have to be met by everyone within the football department. The fans are going to love him in Baltimore."

The next step for the Ravens will be to assemble a coaching staff under Minter.

Offensive coordinator candidates include three guys who interviewed for the head coach spot; Davis Webb, Joe Brady and Kliff Kingsbury.

L.A. Rams offensive coach Nathan Scheelhaase could also get a look in Baltimore as the team's offensive coordinator, although a team source tells me they expect Scheelhaase to take either the Raiders or Cardinals head coaching job once the Rams' season comes to an end.

---

it's ok to be grateful

We live in a society where EVERYTHING is rated.

I don't know how, exactly, this all came about, but I know it's here.

Get in an Uber or a Lyft vehicle and you'll be asked the question: "How do you rate your experience and your driver?"

It gets better, though.

You, the passenger, also get rated.

And sometime down the road, no pun intended, those two ratings get put to use. You, the passenger, start looking/hoping only for higher-rated drivers and those behind the wheel are mainly only interested in transporting highly rated passengers.

That's just one example.

Order food with one of the food delivery services and you're asked the same thing: How would you rate your experience?

At least in those situations, someone actually had to do something in order to get their rating.

I ordered a coffee and a hot tea yesterday at a local eatery while I was having a quick meeting with someone. The person behind the counter took about 4.5 seconds to wait on me. He handed me two cups and said, "Have a good one."

On the payment screen, it flashed "Tip Amount", which made me laugh. If the company thinks their employee's "service" was worth 75 cents, $1.00 or $1.50, here's a novel concept: You give your employee that extra money for handing me two cups.

But more important than asking me to tip their (stationary) employee was what followed: "How do you rate your dining experience with us?"

I mean, it couldn't have gone much better. Or worse. I asked for two empty cups so I could pour coffee into one and hot water into the other and that's what I got. It was pretty much a flawless, perfect experience.

Everywhere we go, we're asked to rate things.

I paid my family's mortgage a few days ago and yep, sure enough, the survey quickly followed. "Tell us how we did."

I wanted to write a note somewhere that said, "How did you do at collecting my money? Very well."

In sports, the easiest and most obvious laughable "rating" we do is connected to the NFL Draft.

The draft ends on Saturday afternoon and by Sunday morning, experts all over the country are rating every team's draft.

No one has played a game in their life that has mattered yet and here we are, rating the teams for who they picked over the previous three days.

I get it. We live in a content-demanding society where we just need something to read or anything to listen to. We can't sit still or be quiet for, you know, 30 minutes. So we have to read about the ratings our team got for the draft so we can either agree or disagree.

"Man, the Ravens killed that draft. Matt Elam is going to be one helluva NFL player."

OK then.

Without going into great detail because I'm not sure the details are even important, I was able to engage in a conversation with John Harbaugh on Tuesday evening.

When the conversation ended, I was excited to share some of what we discussed, namely, a public declaration of appreciation from John (and his wife, Ingrid) to the football fans of Baltimore after a successful 18-year relationship together.

As a native Baltimorean, I thought it was important for John to thank the fans.

There was a slippery slope to navigate for sure. John, like any player or coach in this day and age, was certainly aware of some widespread disdain for him and/or his continued employment in Baltimore.

Did he like that treatment he received from the fans? I assume he didn't.

But something that was important for John to remember was that the number of people in Baltimore who truly appreciated him for his 18 years of service and are eternally grateful for his role as the team's head coach FAR, FAR, FAR outweighs the number of people who used their voice or keyboard to denigrate him and/or ask for his dismissal.

If you're in your office or at your desk today and the next six people to walk by all say, "Boy, Bill, you sure do suck at your job. I wish the boss would fire you," you're pretty much going to believe you suck and that you probably deserve to be fired.

But if the next 25 people to walk by after that say, "Bill, you're doing great work. We're so happy with you here," you're going to look at those first six people in a different light.

That, to me, is how John Harbaugh should have looked at his time in Baltimore. Six people had pitchforks out for him and 25 people were simply appreciative of everything he did for 18 years and grateful for what he contributed to our community during his time in Baltimore.

Let the six go like water off a duck's back and embrace the 25 who are grateful and appreciative.

That would be my advice, anyway. During times of scrutiny, just remember this: Your critics have critics.

And here's why I bring all of this up today: For the last couple of weeks, there were people in town who bristled at the fact that Harbaugh didn't "thank" the fans after his dismissal on January.

And when he did do that, on Wednesday, those same people all gave him a rating.

"Too late," someone wrote on Twitter when I linked John's thank you to the fans.

"Nope, don't want to hear it now," someone said. "He had his chance to thank us and he didn't."

"LMAO. Now he's thanking us? Go away Harbs!" another Twitter user wrote.

When he didn't thank you, the rating you gave him was "0".

Then he did thank you and the rating was still......."0".

I'm one of those in town that thought John should have thanked the fans in his initial "going away" message on January 6.

But I also didn't let it change or override my opinion on Harbaugh.

It was an emotional few hours after his departure. John was completely caught off-guard by Bisciotti's decision. There were no meetings, no "let's have a chat" or anything like that. He got a phone call and was told, "It's over."

He probably should have waited a day to think through what he wanted to say in the aftermath of his dismissal.

Alas, he heeded a suggestion and got something out right away and it probably wasn't as "complete" as it should have been.

We all do things in life where the next day or the next week or, sometimes, the next year, we say to ourselves, "You know...I probably should have done that one differently."

I've certainly done something that I looked at later and said, "Ummmm, yikes..." Probably this week, in fact. Definitely last week. We all make mistakes.

Mike Elias once upon a time said something about "lift off" and people in town are still reminding him of that two years later.

I think John would love a mulligan on the "going away message" he authored on January 6. Not all of it, mind you. I think he'd like to add some additional commentary to that message, if possible, to be far more "complete" than he was with the original message.

Alas, he doesn't get a mulligan.

But that doesn't change the fact that John Harbaugh loved his 18 years in Baltimore.

He didn't like getting booed and getting trashed on the internet, but who does? Yes, "it comes with the territory." That's the line people use when they want to remind you that everyone deserves bird poop on their head at some point.

Sanitation workers have ugly liquids and other things fall out of garbage bags they're hoisting into the trash trucks at 5:30 am. That stuff also comes with the territory. But they still don't like it.

Everyone and everything gets rated these days.

"Yeah, he thanked us, but he didn't do it on my schedule, so eff him."

"Should have done it the day he got fired."

"Not good enough now."

As someone who wrote here on several occasions that I thought John should have thanked the fans, I'm glad he finally thanked the fans. I don't have anything except fondness and great memories about John Harbaugh over the last 18 years.

I think he did the absolute best that he could while he was here.

I don't think there was ever a morning where Harbaugh woke up and didn't have the best interests of the Baltimore Ravens in his heart and on his mind.

I'm grateful for him and what he did and I don't need to rate what he said or didn't say or when he said it or how long it took for him to say it.

And I'd be thinking this even if I didn't publish his "thank you" here on Wednesday morning.

I'm also here to say, without question, I'm not going to "rate" the Ravens eventual head coach decision.

They'll hire who they're going to hire and they're going to pick the guy they believe in their heart is the best man moving forward.

If it's Jesse Minter, I'm going to say, "That's great. I hope he does well here."

If it's Chris Shula, I'll say the same thing.

If it's Vance Joseph or Davis Webb or anyone else, I'll say the same thing.

I'm not rating the coaching hire.

They're going to get the guy they think is best for what they need.

And I'll be grateful for his service -- however many years that might be -- the same way I am grateful for the service John Harbaugh gave us for 18 years.

With his public "thank you" and the imminent hiring of a new Ravens head coach, let's go ahead and put the final bow on the Ravens coaching career of John Harbaugh.

On we go...

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps lose by 19 at illinois

While all of us here in Maryland anxiously await the impending weekend snow storm, the Maryland Terrapins traveled to Champaign, Illinois on Wednesday night, only to get buried, 89-70, under an avalanche of three-point shots from some unlikely Fighting Illini sources.

Andrej Stojakovic and Jake Davis each connected on 4 triples for an Illinois team that heaved 40 threes against just 22 shots inside the arc.

Stojakovic finished with a career high 30 points and Davis had 12, tying his best effort in a Big Ten game.

Andre Mills led Maryland with 16 points, all in the second half. Diggy Coit forgot to pack his jumper for this trip, finishing 1-8 from the three-point line and 5-15 overall.

The Fighting Illini were just too big for the Terps. It’s not just the measurable things like rebounds (47-31) where Illinois benefits from their size, but it’s the also immeasurable things that make them so hard to play.

They are able to shoot balls over smaller players and also pass the ball over hands that can’t reach as high as needed. All of that was on display last night.

The Terps got off to a flaming hot start. Coit was 3 for 3 as the Terps hit 6 of their first 7 shots.

A flagrant “1” foul gave the Terps a pair of foul shots, the ball, and a great chance to extend their 13-11 lead, which they did just after the first TV break.

Six minutes had been played, and Illinois had forgotten about the paint, shooting 9 of their 12 shots from the three-point line. Stojakovic continued the long-range Illini assault when he hit a 3-ball giving his team a 19-17 advantage.

The second break came at 10:08. The Terps had reclaimed the lead on a Rice three. At this point I was seriously questioning the game plan of Illinois head coach, Brad Underwood.

In what world does a team with a massive size advantage take 13 of their first 17 shots from the three- point line? It made zero sense to me.

If not for the sizeable offensive rebound advantage (5-0), the Fighting Illini would be in a hole. As it was, the Terps were ahead just 20-19.

Both teams had their shots dry up for the next 4 minutes, and the Terps still led 24-22. Illinois was still bombing threes and had just 4 points in the paint.

With 5:14 left in the half, Illinois was on a 9-0 roll even though the nation’s second-best foul shooting team had made just 1 of 4 from the foul line. It was at this point the refs stopped play to review a potential flagrant foul on the Terp’s Collin Metcalf.

Illinois was awarded 2 foul shots and the ball after it was determined that Metcalf threw an elbow to the head. They rolled off four quick points and started to creep away from Maryland.

With 2:38 left in the half, the Illini run was up to 19-2 and the score was now 40-28. Illinois had continued to score, but the Terps scoring had trickled down to just 4 points over the game’s last 6 minutes. Maryland had started red hot, and now were ice cold. They were just 23% from 3 and 35% from the floor.

When the horn ending the first half mercifully sounded, Illinois had an 18-point advantage in three pointers, a 10-rebound advantage (25-15), and were leading 47-30.

Maryland was leading 26-22 with 7:58 left in the half before Illinois stomped on the gas, both offensively and defensively, leaving the turtles in the dust and trailing by that 17-point margin.

With just 4 turnovers, Maryland was protecting the ball, but good looks were hard to come by. The result was 3-15 three-point shooting, with Coit connecting of just 1 of 6.

The Illinis flipped the script to start the second half. They were taking more inside shots, and not hitting their threes. Maryland was steady on both sides, but still trailed by 17 at the first break. Offensive rebounds led to 9 Illinois second chance points.

Even though Maryland wasn’t getting demolished in the paint, the size advantage enjoyed by Illinois was impossible for the Terps to combat. Contested shots, 50/50 balls, and rebounds without boxing out were all luxuries enjoyed by the bigger home team.

The Illinois lead was still creeping. It was 26 points when Zvonimir Ivisic was called for his second flagrant foul. Maryland used that momentum to trim the lead down to 21, 74-53, at the 7:51 break.

The two teams had identical stats from the field and three-point line, but it was the Illini 7-3 bulge from the foul line that allowed them to extend their halftime lead beyond the 17 points at the half.

By this time the outcome had been determined. But I’ll give the undermanned Terps some serious credit, they battled the whole way. There was no quit in this team last night as they played hard, physical, basketball for the duration of the game regardless of the score.

I will never understand an offensive philosophy that places a severe emphasis on long range bombs when you have an enormous advantage in size. Illinois did put up 89 points, so I guess they did the right thing.

The Terps actually scored more points inside than Illinois did. A three-point dominant offense can work when you rebound so many of your missed attempts, but it will prove risky against teams with a more complete roster than that of the Terps.

The going gets even tougher for Maryland as they take on 10th ranked Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday at noon. The game is nationally televised by CBS.

Wednesday January 21, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4167

harbaugh speaks to baltimore

I reached out to former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on Tuesday evening with a personal message and asked him about his relationship with the fans of Baltimore.

His full comment, unedited, is below:

"A full and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of the fans and friends of the Flock who were wonderful for 18 years. We loved every conversation and every moment with every fan. It was always uplifting and we are grateful for their support and enthusiasm. We had so many amazing moments together. We will always love Baltimore and all the people who make it special." John and Ingrid Harbaugh.

Because I know it's human nature for people to be skeptical, the first question will be: "Is this real?"

Yes, it's real. Provided to me directly by John Harbaugh. Those are his words, shared to the fans of Baltimore, through Drew's Morning Dish.

I believe, as I said would likely happen, that John and Ingrid will be taking out an ad in the main Baltimore newspaper sometime soon to offer a more widespread "thank you" than this forum can provide.

Harbaugh was introduced on Tuesday in New York as the new coach of the Giants.

Meanwhile, the Ravens coaching search continues with a new name added to the list of first-round interviews, Broncos special teams coach Darren Rizzi, 55, who makes the third Denver coach (Webb and Joseph were the others) to interview for the vacant Ravens job.

Two candidates the Ravens interviewed in the "first round" will not need further discussion in Baltimore. Robert Saleh will be the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans and reports surfaced late Tuesday evening that Mike McDaniel will be the new offensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Neither of them were considered to be serious contenders for a head coach spot in Baltimore this time around after their initial interview(s).

A source tells #DMD there are at least 7 candidates being considered for "second round interviews", including, among others, Anthony Weaver, Joe Brady and Jesse Minter.

Three potential "second round" candidates who can't be contacted this week because their teams are still playing in the playoffs are: Chris Shula, Davis Webb and Klint Kubiak.

My hunch is perhaps Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile could be the 7th and "other" candidate who has earned a second look in Baltimore.

---

I know we're football, coach and Harbaugh heavy here today, but I can't intentionally disregard the absolute #clownshoes announcement on Tuesday that Carlos Beltran made baseball's Hall of Fame.

Numbers wise, was he good enough? I think so, yes. Beltran was an excellent player. A "Hall of Fame" player? Maybe. I liken him, honestly, to Mike Mussina. It's a worthy debate.

But when you factor in the cheating scandal in Houston that Beltran created, supervised and benefitted from, I can't imagine him gracing the (supposedly) prestigious Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Somehow, the voters lost their minds.

You might as well let them all in at this point. And maybe that's the method behind Beltran's entry. If you're going to let a guy in who created a mechanism to cheat and win as a result of it, you might as well let A-Rod, Ramirez, Bonds, Clemens et al in there as well.

Beltran a Hall of Fame guy......unreal.

	NOTES & COMMENT George McDowell
George McDowell is #DMD's foreign correspondent. His international reports are filed from a hardened outpost just across the U.S. / North Carolina border. He writes on sports topics that interest him that he feels might also interest some segment of the wildly esoteric #DMD readership. George has been a big fan of DF and his various enterprises since the last century, and for several seasons appeared as a weekly guest on his Monday evening radio show, Maryland Golf Live, delivering commentary as The Eccentric Starter.

the main ingredient in a horse race

In 1894, Mark Twain wrote, in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, “It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse-races.”

Will Rogers later refined this wisdom in his talks in which he often said, “A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries.”

---

They were two sixteen-year-old boys on a humid afternoon in early September of 1965. They wore Fedoras and glue-on fake mustaches to make themselves look older than their tender years. The cashier at the gate to Timonium Race Track took their entrance fees and thought, “Hmm, two sixteen-year-olds with Fedoras and fake mustaches.”

At the bar, they ordered beers. The bartender drew them up and thought, “Hmm, two sixteen-year-olds with Fedoras and fake mustaches.”

At the betting window they each bet a couple of daily doubles and put $5 on the eight horse to win the first race. As the cashier took their money and printed their tickets, he thought, “Hmm, two sixteen-year-olds with Fedoras and fake mustaches.”

One of the boys had fake ID that identified him as Edward Haskell, age 21. He applied for a summer job at Bethlehem Steel using that ID in the summer of his junior year of high school. The employment officer, desperate to fill his quota for bodies for low-skill jobs thought, “Hmm, a sixteen-year-old with fake ID. “

Working the graveyard shift at the Point in the tin mill, earning far more than his friends with summer jobs at gas stations and supermarkets, the boy became friends with a supervisor named Whitey and a line operator named Leon. It just so happened that on that particular day at Timonium, the two boys met up with Whitey and Leon on the rail at the finish line after the first race.

After a few minutes of pleasantries, Whitey and Leon then conferred among themselves. Whitey then motioned for the boys to join them as they walked to a spot of relative privacy. “How much money you kids have?” asked Whitey. The boys dissembled, wondering why he wanted to know. Leon said, “Just answer. It’s to your benefit.”

The boys counted their money and, after their losses in the first race, had a total of $28 between them. Whitey then said, “Go bet it all on the four horse to win.”

The boys started to protest and ask questions when Leon said, “Take this with you and bet it for me and Whitey on the four horse to win.” He handed them two hundred-dollar bills.

Long story short, the four horse won by ten lengths, leaving the starting gate as if shot from a cannon and never challenged over the six furlongs of the race. If memory serves, the horse paid five to one, and the boys cashed for about $160.

The boys immediately started handicapping the third race. Whitey shook his head. “Save your money for the fourth race,” he counseled. The boys didn’t argue.

Leon explained that a jockey named Whitman had come down from Charles Town Racetrack to ride two horses on that otherwise unremarkable Thursday afternoon. Both horses were going to win. All the jockeys had agreed to the plan.

The third race came and went and the boys waited for the windows to open for wagering on the fourth race. At Timonium at the time, there would be 20 minutes for betting after the previous race's results had been declared official. That 20 minutes came and went. Then 25 minutes. Then 30. At 35 minutes, the public address system announced:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the fourth race will be run as an exhibition.
There will be no wagering on the race."

So the stewards had learned, albeit one race too late, what the jockeys knew, what the jockeys' friends knew, what two random steelworkers knew, and what two underage kids who'd never been around the block also somehow knew — and the vast majority of the wagering public did not know.

---

There was a segment in Saturday's #DMD touching on apparent irregularities in officiating in some NFL games. From what this amateur viewer who never played the game in an organized league can see, it appears that pass interference could be called almost any time a receiver is closely guarded on a pass play. There seems to be a loose consensus among announcers to brush off technical violations of the rules by saying the referees ought to let the players "play the game." When a receiver goes down, sometimes the contact causing it is excused because the receiver's legs and the defender's "just got tangled up." Other times, it's pass interference. When a defender grabs a receiver, sometimes it's excused by saying "they're just hand fighting." Other times, it's pass interference.

Perhaps it's similar to a highway where the speed limit is 65 mph but police officers don't generally ticket drivers unless they're clocked over 75 mph. However, the difference in this attempted analogy is, speed can be accurately quantified whereas the method and degree of interference on a pass defense cannot.

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it . . . .” Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring). The problem with this is, Justice Stewart may disagree with Drew's Aunt Betty over what is pornographic [or what constitutes pass interference]. And both of them may disagree with Mary Avara.

I wonder if it's reasonable to risk serious money on a game, knowing [only] one (of six onfield and more on the sidelines and "in New York") of the officials is tainted? My own self, I wouldn't – but I wonder what you'd do?

I guess that's my point in this small piece. But I'll close with a couple of interesting facts:

• In December of 2025, the North Carolina Education Lottery took in, after paying off winners, $85 million.
• In the same month, the sports-wagering companies in North Carolina took in, after paying off winners, $81 million.
• Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently unsealed an indictment tied to what may be one of the most widespread gambling-related game-fixing schemes in modern American sports history. 26 people were charged, including more than a dozen current or former NCAA Division I men’s basketball players. 39 players from 17 different college programs were involved across about 29 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Some of the players charged have appeared in games this 2025-26 season.

Wager at your own risk. I have a fedora and fake mustache if you'd like to borrow them.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps face illinois tonight

I would describe Maryland’s chances of winning tonight at #13 ranked Illinois as a “tall task”.

The Fighting Illini are one of the biggest teams in the country in both the category of starters and bench players. They are a solid rebounding team, a decent shooting squad, and play nice defense. "Tall task" may be putting it mildly.

When discussing “big” regarding Illinois, you have to start with the literal twin towers. The Ivisic twins, Tomislav (7’1”) and Zvonimir (7’2”), are big boys who can shoot.

Tomislav has been starting and getting 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Zvonimir has a bit more bounce and is very active (I prefer his game). His numbers are 8 points and 5.2 rebounds each game.

The two twins have almost identical 3-point percentage numbers. Tomislav makes 36.9% and Zvonimir is at 36.8%. Both giants barely play 20 minutes a game and are occasionally on the floor together.

Joining Tomislav in the starting lineup is 6’9”, 255 lb., David Mirkovic. This freshman from Montenegro gets 12 points a game and is his team’s leading rebounder (8.3). His points come more from the offensive flow than from creative moves with the ball.

For a freshman in the Big Ten, he plays with nice poise and has a big upside. He might struggle defensively tonight if he’s being asked to guard someone like the Terps Solomon Washington. Mirkovic lacks quickness and has barely average hops. But he’s big and skilled.

When Illinois needs a bucket, look for them to go to the silky-smooth freshman, Keaton Wagler. At 6’6”, Wagler has the entire offensive package. His selection of floaters, runners, and pull-ups, make a defender want to give him a step. If you do, Wagler will hit you with that 42% three-point shot. With his size and length, he’s a nightmare matchup for Maryland.

He not only tops all Illini scores with 16 points a game, Wagler also dishes out a team high 3.8 assists. With 5.1 each time out, he’s the third leading rebounder on this team.

Adding even more size to this Illinois team is 6’7” guard, Andrej Stojakovic. The oft traveled junior is on his third team in three years. He got almost 18 points a game with Cal last year and gets 13.5 with his current team.

He moves with the ball like a seasoned vet, but can be a bit careless with his passes. Oddly enough, his three-point shot, which was never very accurate, has fallen to just 23.4%. He earns his points by going to the hole.

As a team, the Fightin Illini don’t turn it over much and lead the Big Ten in free throw percentage. They are second in the nation from the foul line with 80.4% and have made 86.8% in their last three games. They don’t get to the line an inordinate number of times (14th in the Big Ten), but they make them count.

With all of their size, it’s understandable why rebounding is a major team strength. Surprisingly, Maryland is right behind them in offensive rebounds, but that may be the result of so many missed Terp threes leading to long rebounds.

KenPom ranks Illinois as the third most efficient offensive team in the country and 21st on defense. They are just a big, solid roster of guys who have numerous offensive weapons. They do lack a crazy athletic 3-man, but they pretty much have everything else.

The Terps will benefit tonight from the absence of Illinois’ Kylan Boswell. He’s a key ballhandler and the Fighting Illini’s toughest defender at the guard position. That’s not nearly enough of an Illinois setback for the Terps to compete tonight.

Maryland will do what they do, dribble penetrate and bomb threes. If they hit 18 triples like they did in the Penn State game, then maybe they stay within 15 points of Illinois. The problem for Maryland will be getting stops.

Illinois has too many ways to hurt a small team like the Terps and won’t have long dry spells. I expect a long night for the group from College Park.

The State Farm Arena in Champaign Illinois will be the scene of this Big Ten battle that starts at 7 p.m. Tune in to the Big Ten Network to view Maryland’s 7th conference loss as Illinois moves to 7-1 with an 86-67 win. Wagler gets 18, the twins combine for 28, and Mirkovic gets 15 as the Illini dominate the glass while dropping Maryland to 1-7 in the conference.

Tuesday January 20, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4166

reading time: 4 minutes

For reasons I don't remember, the late, great Phil Jackman of the (then) Evening Sun covered a Blast vs. Philadelphia Fever game at the old Spectrum in the 1981-82 season.

Our regular Evening Sun beat writer at that time was Gerry Kelly. He must have been ill or covering something else, because I remember my boss, PR Director Mary Kopetskie, bringing me into her office the day before the road game at Philly and explaining to me that Jackman was going to cover the next day's game.

"I'd like you to ride up there with him," she said to me. "He's going up in the afternoon and driving back after the game. He'll pick you up here at the arena at 3:00 pm. I just want you to make sure he gets in the building OK, gets his credential, finds the media lounge and then the locker room afterwards."

The next day, on schedule, Jackman picked me outside of the (then) Civic Center.

I was a 19-year old media relations assistant, scared of my own shadow, so to say I was "in over my head" riding to Philadelphia with Phil Jackman was a massive understatement.

But we had a fun two hour ride up to the City of Brotherly Love. I don't remember much of the discussion points, but I recall being over my anxiety by the time we reached Havre de Grace or thereabouts.

We pulled into the Spectrum parking lot just after 5 pm and Jackman was flagged down by a parking attendant.

"Ten dollars," the guy said.

"Media," Jackman replied.

The matter-of-fact nature of the conversation was immediately tense. Two words from the parking attendant and a one word reply from Jackman.

"Ten dollars to park here," the attendant reaffirmed.

"I'm with the media. Phil Jackman. I think I'm on a list," Phil said.

"Oh, that's over that-a-way," the man said, pointing his light to the right of the Spectrum.

"So do I go through here to get there?" Phil asked.

"No. You turn around and go back out that way and go up to the light and make a left," the guy in the red jacket said.

Jackman then made the cardinal mistake. He shook his head, side to side, as if to say, "This is hard to believe..."

"Look, (emmm efffer), turn this (effing) car around and take it over that way if you want to park it in the media lot. Now you've done gone and pissed me off. Get off my (effing) parking lot!"

I love when people say something like that, claiming to be their property, as in, "Get off my parking lot."

Phil smartly put the car in reverse and started to back out. He didn't say a word. He knew the best thing to do was just give in and go. We were preparing to pull back out onto the main road to go to the other parking lot.

"Is this your first time in Philly?" he asked me.

"Yes," I stated.

"Well, he's actually one of the nice ones up here," Jackman deadpanned.

I'm not saying Chris Gotterup is going to be the next Scottie Scheffler but I am saying he's going to be the next big thing in American golf. And because I'm eager to see that come to fruition, I even laid down a small wager over the weekend that Gotterup will win a major championship in golf this year. If I'm wrong about this, please roll around in September of 2027 and remind me, but I think Gotterup will be on the U.S. Ryder Cup that plays in Ireland next year. He's the real deal.

If you haven't yet been to a Towson University basketball game this season, you should do yourself a favor and check one out at some point. I moseyed over there yesterday to take in Towson's dramatic 59-58 win over Drexel in a game that saw the Tigers recover from a 17-point first half deficit and never once lead in the second half until they hit two foul shots inside of ten seconds left in the game. The refs missed an obvious foul call on the Tigers with 4 seconds remaining to help things turn in favor of the home team. Towson does an excellent job with game promotions and the arena is vibrant and entertaining. A good time was had by all.

Rather than watch the traditional game broadcast of last night's "College" Football Championship, I actually viewed the game on the "Skycast" channel, which features no play-by-play announcer or color analyst. The only information you get during the game is whatever the public address announcer says. And the view of the game, camera-wise, is from behind the play, so you're not seeing the action from the side like you normally do. It was an awesome way to take in the game. I'm glad I opted for that version of Indiana's 27-21 win over Miami.

My number on the Capitals worry meter now sits at "6" -- and rising -- after yesterday's 5-2 loss in Colorado. I know they were without Chychrun for a few games recently and Tom Wilson has missed almost two weeks with an injury as well, but it looks like this current edition of Washington's offense is just not dangerous enough to make any noise come playoff time. I'm hoping they'll snag one of the veteran goal-scorers the Rangers are about to start unloading or another experienced offensive player that's made available at the trade deadline. Without goal-scoring help in the final 20 games of the season, I'm afraid the arena might be empty in May down in D.C.

The Ravens have apparently invited at least two men back for the second wave of interviews in their head coach search; Anthony (Tony) Weaver, most recently the Dolphins' defensive coordinator, and Joe Brady, who was Buffalo's offensive coordinator and part of the staff that was (likely) jettisoned yesterday when the Bills fired Sean McDermott. There are some rumors that Buffalo is potentially interested in giving Brady the head coach position there, but it seems like they would be advising him not to interview elsewhere this week if that were the case. I suspect Jesse Minter will also get a second interview opportunity this week. The other three candidates the Ravens would like to speak with again (Shula, Kubiak and Webb) are unavailable because their teams are playing in conference championship games this Sunday.

Circle back here whenever opportunity calls and tell me I whiffed on this one, but I'm not "feeling it" with Buzz Williams down at College Park. Now, I fully realize he had to put a team together in like 2 weeks down there last April, but there's way more to my assessment than just the playing roster. Something's "off" with Williams. I know he'll get some big-boy recruits next year and we'll revisit this opinion down the road, but I'm just here to say, like I did with Zach Orr in the first three months of his tenure, that I think this task might be above Buzz's paygrade. Oh, and speaking of putting teams together over 2 weeks last spring -- have you seen what they're doing down at Texas A&M this season without Williams and his coaching staff?

Speaking of Towson University, the Tigers' lacrosse season begins at home on February 1st vs. North Carolina. What happened to the idea that lacrosse is a "spring sport"? As I was walking over to the arena yesterday for Towson/Drexel basketball, I couldn't help but notice a huge kid's lacrosse clinic being held on the stadium field. It's January 19 people!!! Lacrosse used to be played in March, April and May. Now it's being played in January (Towson has a scrimmage this comcing weekend) and February. Don't people know what the meaning of "spring sport" is? It's one thing if you're preparing for the spring season in the winter months. My Calvert Hall golf team starts our pre-season fitness program today, in fact, and we'll run that for the next four weeks before (hopefully) hitting the course in mid-February. But actually playing real, "these count in the standings" lacrosse games (or golf matches) on February 1? No thanks.

I'm very pleased to report my Calvert Hall golf team has now raised over $3,000 for the good people at Maryland Special Olympics via the January 28 Polar Bear Plunge. I'm not pleased to report that next Wednesday's expected temperature for the "Plunge" is a robust 32 degrees at 12 noon. But that's why they call is the "Polar Bear" Plunge, right? Anyway, if you're reading this and have donated to the cause to help us raise money, thank you very much. This is an important lesson for my golfers. We sometimes have to "heed the call" to do good work in our community in order to give back for the many benefits our gracious community provides to us.

If you weren't around last week and didn't know about our participation in the Plunge or if donating to the cause was on your to-do-list and you simply didn't get to it, here's the link where you can help: Click here and then press the "donate" button.

We were asking for $20 last week just to make it a nice round number, but you're obviously free to donate less or more. We're just happy to be invited to participate in the event and we're trying to raise as much money as possible for Maryland Special Olympics.

Monday January 19, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4165

whose fault is it anyway?

Remember that game show once upon a time? With Drew Carey and Wayne Brady and others. Good times those were.

As we sat through another day of (mostly) exciting playoff football, there were two more quarterbacks who got added to the Pile of Blame. First, it was Houston's C.J. Stroud in his team's 28-16 loss at New England and then it was Caleb Williams of the Bears, who threw an overtime interception that helped the Rams win in Chicago, 20-17.

You can add Stroud and Williams to the list from Saturday, where supposedly Josh Allen authored "the worst performance ever" by a post-season quarterback, only to be outdone a few hours later by an even-worse Brock Purdy of the 49'ers.

In his playoff opener last Sunday, Justin Herbert got raked over the coals for the egg he laid in New England.

Last Monday night it was Aaron Rodgers who got the "worst-ever" tag.

Lamar Jackson would have earned some sort of playoff scorn except, of course, his team didn't make the post-season this year.

But Jackson earned his wings last January in Buffalo with a pick and a fumble in the loss to the Bills.

It's what we've become in this sports-mad country. Blamers. Fault assigners.

"This happened" so........"this person has to receive blame."

I wish we were better at it, particularly when it comes to football and the Ravens. Alas, I don't think there's a cure for it. It's in our bones now.

Part of what happens is also connected to the "gotcha!" movement. Pretty soon we're gonna need ICE to come in and take care of the "gotcha!" people. It's getting that bad.

We're guilty of it here in Baltimore, just like they're guilty of it in Pittsburgh and Buffalo and Kansas City and every other NFL city.

Last January when Lamar helped the Ravens hand that playoff game to the Bills, Buffalo fans made fun of Jackson's mistakes. It's not like they made them up, of course. They were there for everyone to see, just like it was very obvious to anyone with a brain that Jackson then put into high gear in the 4th quarter and nearly led the Ravens back from the dead except for......that drop by Mark Andrews.

Anyway, Ravens fans bristled at the idea that Jackson got blamed and many of them kept those receipts for just the right occasion.

They almost got to use them back in September when the Ravens bolted out to that huge lead in Buffalo, but even then things went sideways in that bizarre 41-40 loss.

But they got pulled out on Saturday in Buffalo's 33-30 OT defeat in Denver. Josh Allen turned the ball over four times and Ravens fans had an absolute field day with their "gotcha!" moment.

What goes around, comes around.

Or, what comes around, goes around.

One of the two works, I guess.

We're always looking for our moment to say, "How's it feel now, buddy?"

The most interesting thing about "Whose fault is it anyway?" is that nearly every person who plays the game is usually wrong, in some small way, about the blame they're handing out.

Everyone beat up C.J. Stroud yesterday, but didn't point out that on one of his interceptions the Houston offensive lineman got absolutely run over by New England's defensive player, which led to Stroud's arm getting hit and the ball popping up in the air for an easy pick-and-run into the end zone.

"Not Stroud's finest moment," Troy Aikman said on the broadcast.

Stroud? What's he supposed to do, block the other team and throw the ball at the same time? Troy must have taken too many helmet-to-helmet hits in his career.

I can see airheads who just watch the result of the play and go "Stroud sucks" but Aikman? He played the friggin' sport.

There was also a pass that Stroud rifled right into the hands of his receiver, only to have it bounce off of him and go right to a New England player. Another "terrible moment" for C.J. Stroud, apparently.

And then there was last night's Bears loss to the Rams and the overtime situation involving Caleb Williams.

First off, Williams was one of the only reasons why Chicago was even in the position to potentially win in overtime. He made a miraculous throw in the waning seconds of regulation on 4th and 4 to connect on the game-winning touchdown. And then in overtime, on 3rd and 7, he scamperd for a first down to keep the ball in his team's possession.

Moments later, he threw a ball downfield intended for Bears receiver D.J. Moore, but he somehow ran into the wrong area of the field and the throw instead ended up in the arms of L.A.'s Kamren Curl.

And, so, Caleb Williams gets charged with an interception.

A costly one at that.

Except it wasn't really his fault at all. Moore cut off the route. The ball went right where Moore was supposed to be. Except he wasn't there.

But the stats will say "Caleb Williams, interception" and he'll now have to weave his way through that discussion next summer when the Bears gather for training camp.

"When we come back here on SportsCenter, we'll talk with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and hear how he spent his off-season after that overtime interception against the Rams in the Divisional Playoff Game."

And this tepid defense of both Williams and Stroud (and any other quarterback) shouldn't be seen as trying to remove blame from their performances.

Quarterbacks make mistakes. Allen was definitely to blame for carrying the ball like a load of bread in the final 20 seconds of the first half in Denver on Saturday.

Lamar and Mahomes also get the ball knocked out of their hands on occasion as well. It happens more regularly to guys like Allen, Mahomes and Jackson who run frequently throughout the course of 60 minutes.

So, yes, quarterbacks do make fundamental mistakes. They throw "bad balls" here and there. They're not blameless.

But they certainly shouldn't get trash-piled everytime something goes wrong on their watch.

Josh Allen's long throw downfield in overtime that was a-catch-but-wasn't-called-a-catch on Saturday goes in the books as an interception. How on earth is that on Josh Allen's record? But it is what it is. He threw it. The other team (supposedly) caught it. So it's on his record as an interception.

Lamar's throw to Mark Andrews in last January's playoff game was deemed an "incomplete pass". LOL.

"If Jackson made a better throw, Andrews would have caught it," some nutjobs in Buffalo said with delight.

What was Lamar supposed to do, lob it underhanded to the guy?

Anyway, "Whose fault is it anyway?" also gets played with the coaches every Sunday. Every. Freakin'. Week.

The 49'ers weren't even in the locker room on Saturday night after that 41-6 dusting when folks in Charm City were scratching San Fran defensive coordinator Robert Saleh off of their list.

"We don't need that guy in Baltimore. What a terrible performance," someone authored on Twitter.

Chris Shula is rumored to be an early favorite for the Ravens job, but "his defense" gave up a last second hail-Mary-type pass last night to send the game to overtime.

I even playfully injected "Chris Shula's stock just went down" on Twitter to hopefully show people just how dumb it looks to take one play or one game and pin it on a coach.

But there were literally folks in Baltimore who thought the Ravens should scratch Saleh because of that 41-6 loss.

I don't see Saleh or any of the "re-treads" getting the gig in Baltimore, but it won't be because they lost a playoff game.

In the end, if Seattle and Denver wind up meeting in the Super Bowl, either Klint Kubiak or Davis Webb (two other favorites in Baltimore) will end their season with a loss.

If Denver stymies Seattle, 24-10, do we hold a 10-point outing against Kubiak?

What if it's the other way around? Do we hold a 10-point outing against Webb?

The post-season will roll on to Denver and Seattle next weekend, where it's almost a certainty that the losing quarterback will get most of the blame, somehow.

Heck, Buffalo's offense produced 30 points on Saturday and Josh Allen still got the bulk of the blame. What's that tell you?

Someone has to be at fault.

That's what it tells you.

And often times we have no idea who really should be getting the blame.

The National Championship Game in college football will be played tonight and I couldn't care less who wins.

But there's something worse than that.

I don't even care about the game itself.

And I really don't like that.

Then again, I didn't go to Indiana or "The U", so why should I care really? I mean, if you bet the game, you care. I get that. But other than that, who cares?

But I don't even care that the game is being played. I think I'll watch it, but it certainly won't be appointment viewing. If I find something else interesting on at 7 pm, I'm liable to start with that and check in on the football game later.

The game starts at 7:30 pm. It will be on well past 11 pm, you can count on that. I might check in on the hour just to see what's going on and if it's interesting, I'll watch the 4th quarter.

Thanks a lot, NCAA.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

coit's big day lifts terps to rare win

Some history was made at the XFINITY Center yesterday, and some was almost made.

The Terps got their first Big Ten win of the season yesterday when they defeated Penn State, 96-73. It was an incredible first half run that propelled Maryland to a 30-point halftime lead, allowing them to coast to the easy win. We’re talking 34-8 over the last 13 minutes of the half.

The Terps scored an XFINITY Center record 56 points in the first half. Diggy Coit accounted for a whopping 30 of those points. Maryland, the absolute worst three-point shooting team in the Big Ten (under 30%), torched Penn State by making 11 of 17 first half three point tries (65%). Coit, himself, was 6 for 8.

For the game, Coit’s 43 points were also an XFINITY Center record. However, Coit narrowly missed out on a high visibility long-standing record.

The Terrapin record for points in a single game was well within Diggy’s reach after a 3:30 second half explosion of 11 points left him with 43 points and 4:39 left to play. Just a single bucket would have given him the record. He took 2 more three-point attempts in the last 4:15 of the game, missing both.

The Terps, and Coit himself, were not solely focused on having Diggy break Ernie Graham’s 48-year-old record of 44 points. Graham, a Baltimore native, accomplished his record on January 20, 1978. He did it without a three-point line and with only 25 minutes of court time against North Carolina State.

Beside Coit’s historic game, two just other Terps landed in double figures. Darius Adams had 14 and Elijah Saunders had 16. Penn State placed 4 players in double figures, with Kayden Mingo pacing them with 19.

The game was defined mostly by the Terrapin 18 made threes, but the host's 39-21 rebounding advantage was also impactful.

In a game that was full of surprises, there was a big one to start the game.

After a full week of being listed as “out” because of his facial surgery, Kayden Mingo started for Penn State and quickly accounted for 5 of Penn State’s first 7 points and 7 of their first 11. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, Mingo’s early offensive heroics weren’t enough to offset Maryland’s torrid shooting, and the Terps found themselves with a 16-13 lead at the first break.

Diggy Coit had peppered the nets for 11 points himself. The Terps surprisingly hit all of their first 3 triple attempts.

Maryland extended their lead to 7 after Andre Mills and Coit hit back-to-back threes. Penn State was shooting lights out, but they still were in an 8-point hole when Saunders hit yet another three-pointer for his Terps. State’s Freddie Dilione, who was listed as “questionable” all week, made his entrance with about 5 minutes gone in the half. He had 5 points at 10:59, but Maryland was on fire.

The Terps were 77% form the field, including 75% (6-8) from long range. That’s why they had an 28-20 advantage going into the second media break.

The Nittany Lions coach, Mike Rhoades, needed a time out after a couple of driving buckets by Coit and Darious Adams moved the lead to 33-21. Getting into the paint and to the rim had become a common occurrence for the Maryland guards.

One of the most impactful results of penetrating into the paint were the two fouls assessed to the Nittany Lions Ivan Juric. He exited the game after having played only 7 minutes. Having the 7-footer on the bench changed a lot for Penn State.

A severe scoring drought by Penn State met with more red-hot shooting by Maryland to swell the Terp lead to 21, 46-25. Coit now had 25 first-half points. Collectively, Maryland was 9 of 13 shooting three-pointers.

With 2 minutes left in the half, Coit hit another triple, giving him 28 points at that point in the half. He was 6 for 7 from deep and was outscoring the entire Penn State team by 2 points. The Nittany Lions had abandoned any inside play and were mostly shooting threes.

They 2 for 11 on those tries-and had made just 1 of there last 13 field goals. Maryland was finally of the good side of a blow-out. All that remained in question was would Coit break Ernie Grahm’s long standing Terp record of 44 points in one game.

Adams closed out the half with a buzzer-beating three, giving the Terps a highly improbable 30-point lead.

The Nittany Lions had made only 1 field goal in the last 12 minutes of the half and were outscored 31-6 during that time. In that stretch, Maryland connected on 6 of its 11 first half threes. The discrepancy in three-point scoring between the two teams accounted for 27 of the 30-point Terp lead (33-6).

Starting the second half, Penn State quickly trimmed 16 points off the lead in just 6:30. But Maryland couldn't blow a 30-point half-time lead, could they? That 20-4 beginning had the smallish home crowd paying attention.

At the under 12-minute break, Maryland brought out “The General”, Greivis Vasquez, to fire up the crowd and energize his former team. The score was 61-49, which became 61-51 with a Juric dunk.

The Vasquez appearance marked a turning point. Penn State could not trim the lead any further, as Terps offensive rebounds and second chance points began to take their toll on any “instant classic” comeback thoughts that Penn State may have had. It was a Terp three by Andre Mills that stopped the Penn State second half push and a Coit three that sealed the deal.

With 7 minutes left, the lead was back to 19 and those false comeback hopes were officially stymied. Game over. Coit was sitting on 35 points and need just 10 more points to own that single-game scoring record.

Two triples and a pair of foul shots put Coit at 43. Williams was keeping him in the game, and the thinking was that everyone was aware of the record.

However, as noted above, the ball was never pushed to Coit and he got off just 2 shots in the final few minutes.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the role that the three-point shot now has in NCAA basketball.

It’s far too impactful on the result of the game. I’m not particularly an NBA fan, but when I do catch a game, I’m left feeling that the 3 (among other things) has ruined that game.

Offenses don’t work as hard to get a quality look. In college, the top-of-the-key three is a fairly easy shot. I’d love to see it moved back a few feet.

Of the 111 shots taken in yesterday's Maryland game, 63 of them were threes. Of those three, 42% were made (53% by UMD), but in most college games the vast majority of those shots bang off the rim or backboard.

I also would not be put off if the long shot is only worth 2 points when the shot clock gets under 5 seconds.

Lastly, I’d like a rule requiring a shooter to call “bank shot” before a 3 goes in off the glass. OK, the last one was a joke, but I’ve made my point.

It’s an equalizer, and, can be a demoralizer too, when teams play great defense only to give up a three-point “prayer”.

Yesterday, the Terps used 18 of them, accounting for 54 points, to subdue the Nittany Lions. It was an epic performance that’s not likely to be repeated. It’s what this group of Terps needs to do in order to rack up wins in the Big Ten.

They’ll need more of it as they take on 13th ranked Illinois on Wednesday followed by #12 Michigan State and then #5 Purdue. It will be by far, Maryland’s toughest three game stretch of the year.

Sunday January 18, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4164

a very likely finish in denver

OK, so let's get it out of the way right from the start.

Anyone heard any good Robert Saleh jokes lately?

Too soon?

The potential Ravens head coach suddenly became a non-contender for the gig in the eyes of many local football fans after last night's 41-6 drubbing in Seattle. The 49'ers gave up a kick-off return for a TD on the game's opening play and that was pretty much the end of the night for the visitors.

Twitter lit up with folks who hope the Ravens look elsewhere for their next head coach.

"Hopefully that's Selah's (sic) final audition in Baltimore. No thanks," someone opined on Twitter. I always love it when someone follows the whole thing so closely and has a definitive opinion, yet doesn't know how to properly spell the person's name they're trashing.

"LOL, that's the guy the Ravens want for their new head coach? Maybe I should do the hiring," another person said.

To be fair, Saleh's side of the ball didn't give up the game-opening kickoff return for a TD and Saleh wasn't responsible for the play of 49'ers QB Brock Purdy, who made Josh Allen look like Joe Montana earlier in the day.

Purdy was dreadful. So, too, was San Francisco's offense. Saleh's unit wasn't great, either, of course. But the injury-riddled 49'ers were probably privately not that surprised at the way they got boatraced by the Seahawks. It was always going to take a supreme effort to win last night's game.

Oh, and let's also remember that Seattle's pretty good. Like, maybe even very good. If they play the Rams next week, they'll be in for a tussle, but if they're fortunate enough to face the Bears, they'll probably waltz to the Super Bowl.

Saleh, meanwhile, will almost assuredly draw keen interest from the Ravens, despite last night's 35-point 49'ers loss. With one more NFL coaching domino falling last night (Stefanski to Atlanta), Saleh's chances of landing the gig in Baltimore just went up a hair.

A Ravens source tells me Stefanski would have been invited back for a second interview and probably among the final six candidates in Baltimore. "Kevin is very well liked in the building," the source said.

Saleh, meanwhile, is now "fully available" to complete the interview process in Baltimore or other cities. He'll draw a lot of attention this week.

Seattle's offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, was one of the first people to interview in Baltimore for the vacant head coach spot and is expected to be a finalist for the position once the Ravens go from their list of 18 candiates down to the final 4 or 6 men vying for the position in Charm City.

I have a dear friend who always insists that NFL games aren't "on the level" as he likes to say. For a long time, I poo-poo'd that idea and brushed it off by telling him he's crazy.

The more I watch the games, the more I'm not so sure he's crazy.

I'm referring, of course, to the end of the Denver-Buffalo game yesterday, won by the Broncos, 33-30 in overtime.

Everything that could have gone wrong for the Bills went wrong. And almost all of it -- minus one pass from Josh Allen to Dawson Knox that went incomplete -- involved some peculiar stuff from the referees.

I know you're shocked to hear the officials were involved in something peculiar.

Let me say this, first, because I find myself more and more thinking Gene Steratore -- up in the booth -- might be in on the whole thing somehow. He almost always sides with the game officials. I'd love to know what his record is when Jim Nantz says, "Let's go to Gene and see what he has to say about that call..."

I think it's 90% for "I think they got that one right, Jim" and 10% "I think they got that one wrong, Jim." It might even by 95-5.

So, anything Steratore says now, I sort of dismiss that opinion right from jump street.

Anyway, there was a non-call on the Denver defensive back on Buffalo's final drive of regulation, where they had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown. They showed the replay once and Nantz quickly said, "Gene, see anything there?" and Steratore shot back and said, "No, they were both fighting for the ball", which was an interesting way to put it.

The Buffalo receiver was trying to catch the ball but his left arm was being pulled by the Denver defender who was fighting to keep him from catching it. To me, it looked like the same exact play they called pass interference on about about 12 minutes later, yet it wasn't flagged.

Then there's the much-discussed and highly controversial "catch that wasn't a catch" by Brandin Cooks. Line up 50 people who have never seen the play before and let them watch it and say, "Catch or no catch?" and I'm guessing you get 40 that say catch and 10 that say no catch.

Of course, you then watch the replay in slow motion and you see how the ball got stripped from Cooks and you think "Denver ball", but wait, wasn't this the exact same thing that happened to the Ravens with Aaron Rodgers back on December 4 in Baltimore? Didn't Rodgers and the Steelers get to keep the ball because, the game official said, the Pittsburgh QB's knee was on the ground when he collected the deflected ball and therefore he "completed the catch"?

Cooks' knee was clearly on the ground when he had the ball. Sure, it might have been for a split second only, but does his knee touching the ground end the play or not? What a #clownshoes moment for the NFL.

The play was eerily similar to the Isaiah Likely catch that wasn't a catch in Baltimore against the Steelers. That, too, was a catch. Or at least we all thought it was. The whole "football move" thing is/was/should be garbage talk. He caught the football. End of story.

I didn't have a nickel on the game, so I couldn't care less who won. Frankly, from a rooting standpoint, I probably wanted Denver to win because I like Sean Payton. But that was amateur-hour stuff from the refs and replay officials.

The whole thing stunk worse than your Aunt Betty's feet at the mid-July neighborhood softball game.

And then the two pass interference penalties thereafter were both ticky-tack calls. Pass interference "by the letter of the law"? Yes, most likely. Did you call pass interference earlier in the game when that sort of contact was made? No, certainly not.

As I wrote on Twitter after the bizarre ending, the only thing missing in overtime was Mr. Fuji throwing salt in the referee's eyes while Mr. Saito hit Josh Allen with a chair and then pinned him near the end zone.

Because everything has to somehow be molded into a "gotcha!" moment in our world these days, Baltimore football fans took great delight in the "four-turnover" game from Josh Allen in the 33-30 Bills loss to the Broncos yesterday.

It's incredible how things get manipulated to favor whatever agenda it is that you're trying to create.

In Charm City, the ridiculing of Allen is an attempt to take the spotlight away from Lamar Jackson's playoff record.

The reality, of course, is that a quarterback's "playoff record" is probably the absolute dumbest natural statistic ever created.

Lamar Jackson "lost" the home playoff game against the Chiefs because, in part, Zay Flowers fumbled the ball on the goal-line. How on earth is that Lamar's fault? Sure, the Ravens offense only scored 10 points that day. Some of that was on Lamar. He was the quarterback of record.

But to pin that loss on Lamar's record? Dumb.

Josh Allen's offense scored 30 points, on the road, yesterday. One of the four turnovers on the stat sheet, the previously-discussed Brandin Cooks play, wasn't even a real turnover. Allen didn't play safety. How is it "his fault" the Buffalo defense gave up 33 points?

Anyway, this isn't an endorsement of Allen or Jackson. Neither of them need to be praised by me or anyone else. They're both elite, high level quarterbacks. Nearly every team in the NFL would take one of those two as their starting QB for the next 3-5 years.

It's more about reflecting on the way a quarterback is judged in the league.

Why doesn't Dawson Knox get charged with a loss yesterday? How come they don't flash his record in playoff games up on the screen?

What's Zay Flowers' career playoff record? Seems to me it's not very good. Or, at the very least, it should be better than it is given he was a first round draft pick.

You get the point.

These insane "gotcha!" moments created by fans are laughable. Nothing replaces winning in any argument.

To wit, had Buffalo's defense intercepted a Bo Nix pass in overtime and ran it back for a TD, Allen would have been credited, if you will, with a playoff "win". It's beyond bizarre.

At this point in both of their careers, Allen and Lamar are playoff "underachievers" because their teams haven't won games when they were the quarterback.

It just is what it is.

That said, John Elway and Peyton Manning were also both once known as "playoff underachievers" but they eventually turned that around in a big way on their path to the Hall of Fame.

Allen and Lamar will both be in the Hall of Fame someday, you can make book on that.

But for now, they're being judged somewhat unfairly by football fans who want to pin every loss on them, as if they play quarterback and cornerback in the same game.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps host penn state today

Today at noon, the Maryland Terrapins may have their best opportunity this season to win a conference game when they take on the Nittany Lions of Penn State. If Pharrel Payne returns, better chances may emerge. However, without him, an opportunity to finally capture a Big Ten win may never be so ripe.

Penn State, like the Terps, comes into this game with an 0-6 Big Ten record.

Their leading scorer and assist man, freshman guard Kayden Mingo, will miss today’s game after having nose surgery for an injury sustained in practice. His absence would place a huge scoring burden on Freddie Dilione V, if he was healthy.

Dilione left the Nittany Lion’s last game with an ankle sprain. He played just 8 minutes, never returning to the game. His official status is “Game Time Decision”.

If Dilione can’t go, then coach Mike Rhoades is left with three “big” guards in his rotation. Two of them are 6’5”, and the other is 6’8”. When you add in likely starters Ivan Juric (7’0”) and Josh Reed (6’8” 230), this becomes a very big Penn State lineup.

The Nittany Lions have lost 7 of their last 8 games, with the lone victory coming against North Carolina Central. On the surface, the results look awful. However, a deeper dive shows some hope for Penn State fans this afternoon.

Four of the losses came against top 25 teams, with three of the victors ranking in the top 10. Several of those games have been surprisingly close, too. Michigan State (#9 at the time) held off Penn State, 76-72, in a game that the Nittany Lions led by 3 with 4:12 left in the game. Illinois (#20) beat them by just 8, and Penn State also battled a pair of top 5 teams to single digit losses. Michigan beat them 74-72 and Purdue bested the Nittany Lions by only 8 points.

When you are 0-6, you need to find some positives in the losses. The Terps can’t boast of that type of moral victory in their six conference defeats. All six have been double-digit defeats for Buzz Williams and his Maryland team.

With Mingo out and Dilione likely to join him, look for Penn State to capitalize on Maryland’s lack of size. I know it’s a familiar scheme, but having no paint presence leaves a big hole for Maryland on both sides of the court. Today’s benefactor should be Juric.

The Nittany Lion freshman big man, Juric, is not a bean pole. Cruising around at a minimal 250 pounds, he gets up and down the court well. He is more likely to do the pushing, as opposed to being pushed around.

Juric had an impressive 20 points against a very big Michigan team, although his 4 rebounds in that contest were a bit disappointing. I look for him to get a healthy number of touches today. His all-around game is emerging, but he’s just an average defender that blocks very few shots for his size. Juric has just 4 blocks this entire season.

Penn State’s Melih Tunca is 3rd on the Nittany Lion scoring average chart. The 6’5” freshman from Turkey is getting 10 points a game. Dilione’s absence would appear to increase his scoring opportunities, but I’m not so sure he can handle the physicality of some of the Terp guards. The Nittany Lions will need to look in other places to pick up the scoring slack created by injuries.

The offense will need to be supplemented by Eli Rice, Dominick Stewart, and Josh Reed. Rice is a 6’8” guard with a 44% three-point stroke. Almost 66% of his field goal tries come from the three-point line. That stat, and the fact that he gets less than a rebound and a half each night, are testament to his lack of desire to mix it up inside.

Dominick Stewart is the one Nittany Lion who will exceed his per game averages for points and assists. He’s a fairly tough and active 6’5” guard who posts 6.4 points and 1.2 assist per game. Those are not mountainous numbers to achieve, but I think his added minutes will present ample opportunities to post numbers.

Plus, Stewart is one of the few healthy Nittany Lions that looks comfortable creating their own shot.

Josh Reed is another 6’8” starter who, like Rice, has a high percentage of his field goal tries coming from long range. The problem with Reed is, although he makes 48% from the field and 90% from the foul line, his 3 pointers only go in 27% of the time. Both Reed and Rice need to take their act to the paint tonight. If that happens, the Lions leave College Park with their first “W”.

The key, offensively, for Maryland is to drive and dish. I think the Terps' smaller, but quicker backcourt can beat their Penn State counterparts off the dribble. Once inside, they simply need to make good decisions against this Penn State team that, as stated above, doesn’t rim protect very well.

Defensively, there’s not much Maryland can do to win the paint. They just don’t have the horses. However, by mega-pressuring the Penn State guards and making entry passes difficult, they can perhaps encourage Penn State to shoot more threes. Other than Rice, the Nittany Lions are a very poor three-point shooting team.

With the Penn State guard rotation so thin, coach Buzz Williams should encourage his team to push the pace, offensively. Normally, I would not encourage a high-turnover team like Maryland to push the tempo, but Penn State produces the Big Ten’s second most steals. The Terps don’t want to get into a half-court game with Penn State.

Let's also remember that Maryland is the worst shooting team in the conference. They need to create more easy looks. The half court game won’t do it. Pushing the tempo against a small rotation might.

The books like Maryland’s chances today, having posted them as a 2.5-point favorite. It will take an unusual game of shooting threes for the Terps to win here, even if they consistently get into the paint. The Terps are so small, that it’s hard for them to win the inside. They need to hit threes, and normally they don’t.

If Penn State forces the ball inside, and hits the offensive glass, they’ll come away with a road win. I think they do just that and board their bus having defeated Maryland, 77-73, behind big games by Juric, Reed, and Stewart.

Saturday January 17, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4163

don't get old

It probably sounds like the beginning of one of those awesome 1-minute Paul Harvey pieces we heard on the radio back in the good ol' days.

You can hear Harvey and his distinctive, deep voice now.

"Don't Get Old".

I know it's most unavoidable, but trust a guy who knows: Put off getting old as long as you can.

What happens when you get old?

You go to a local breakfast spot, your favorite place, really, and you notice a new, young'ish woman behind the counter.

"Can I help you?" she says. "Yes ma'am, can I get a baco -- " (and then you're cut off).

"I'm not a ma'am, thank you," they say. I look at their name tag and it says, simply, "J", they/them.

I start to repeat my order, "Can I get a bacon and egg on a toasted bagel, please?"

"Do you want any cheese on that?" J says.

When you're old, it takes everything in your body to not say, "No, you doofus, I don't want cheese on that. If I wanted cheese on it, I would have asked for a bacon, egg and CHEESE on a toasted bagel."

"No cheese," I say.

"Anything else on it? Avocado, Tomato?" they ask.

Now, because I'm old, I smile and shake my head just a bit from side to side. "Nothing else. Just bacon and egg."

And then, again, because I'm old, I simply can't resist the temptation. "What is the fascination with avocado anyway? It's the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life."

J is now ready to pounce. "It happens to be VERY good for you. It's a super food."

And, when you're old and aggravated because you just want your sandwich and this is already taking way too long as it is, you then say, "Yeah, well, toothpaste is good for you too. And you don't put that on a breakfast sandwich."

When you're old, you don't think about interjecting into two people's conversation, but when you're a young, mid 20's woman and you think you have the right to eavesdrop and butt in, you say to the old guy in front of you, "She's just trying to help. Give her a break."

And when you're old, you turn around and say to her, "Please don't say 'she'. Thank you."

When you're old, you feel like you're on another planet sometimes. Don't get old.

When you're old and you're on social media and you stumble upon a football thread where someone writes, "I know more about football than Harbaugh and Orr", you immediately click their bio picture to see that they are, maybe 25 years old.

When you're old, age and experience matters. "Hmmmm, this person on Twitter thinks they know more about football than John Harbaugh and Zach Orr. I wonder what their credentials are?" you say to yourself.

And when you're old and you see their picture and you realize they just started shaving about a month ago, you start to realize why our world is collapsing. Because we're surrounded by people who think they know (about anything) but actually have no idea at all.

When you're old, you want to say to that person, "Sir, what exactly are your football credentials? You know, the ones you want to match up against a guy who has been a coach at some level for the last 30 years of his life and a guy who actually played in the NFL before becoming a coach."

But, on the flip side, when you're old, you kind of enjoy seeing other people light them up so you don't have to do it yourself. When you're old, you only have so much energy every day for getting into silly online debates, so you mostly just back away and save yourself for a fight that matters.

For sure, though, as you get older, prepare yourself for the inevitable: "What do you know, old man?" comments from people younger than you. They come at you all the time.

When you get old, little things irritate you. And when you get irritated by those little things, it irritates you even more that those things don't irritate other people.

Did you get that? If not, read it again real quick and you'll pick it up. Especially if you're old and you need to read things twice to make sure you "got it". That's another thing about getting old that stinks. Anyway...

When you're old, people who don't stand up for the national anthem at a sporting event aggravate the snot out of you.

What's worse is the manner in which people who don't stand intentionally show or display that they're not standing by either talking on their cell phone while the anthem is being played/sung or they stretch out like they're at Aunt Betty's House watching Finding Nemo with their cousins on a Friday night.

When you're old, you want to walk over to them and say, "Are those your two children sitting next to you? Do you know why they're learning that it's OK to be disrespectful during the national anthem? Because you're being disrespectful by sitting during the national anthem."

That's how you feel when you're old. You get irritated at little things like that, mostly because you see it as yet another example of the world we live in slowly starting to erode.

But the good news is, because you're old, you also realize those people aren't changing, so you don't say a word. They've decided they're right. And, because of the laws and freedoms they're privileged to have in our country, they are more than free to sit there and be disrespectful. So, when you're old, you just glance over to see how many people aren't standing for the anthem and you just shake your head and continue singing.

When you're old, it bothers you to no end that four teenage boys walk in and stand up right in front of you and 12 other people in the stands to watch a basketball game.

Are they that out of touch with reality to not realize that there are people sitting behind them who now can't see the floor or the game because they've decided to just stand there instead of finding a seat?

And, so, when you're old, you say, politely, "Hey guys, you need to find a seat. You're blocking everyone's view." You say it politely not necessarily because you're old, but moreso because, who knows (?), maybe they just don't realize they're getting in the way.

"We gettin' there hoss, chill," one of them says. When you're old, you remember if you spoke to an old guy like that in 1975, you were probably getting punched in the face. Especially in Glen Burnie.

And when you're old, you realize that probably was the best lesson you could have learned at age 16. Be nice to old people. You never know when they might snap.

When you're old, it really grates on your nerves when people don't hold the door open for someone who is coming in right behind them.

I don't know why that bothers you the older you get, but, if you're young and reading this right now, remember this moment and you'll see for yourself.

I think the kids these days like to call it "spatial awareness". During the holidays, my shopping cart at Target nicked another shopping cart and the woman (I think) said, "Nice spatial awareness."

When you're old, it's really aggravating to get into a spat during the holiday season. Shouldn't there be some kind of "jerk moratorium" from, like, December 15 through December 26?

So, like I was starting to say, not holding the door open for someone gets on your very last nerve the older you get. I mean, as you open the door, you can generally "feel" as if someone's in your midst, close behind. Or, perhaps, you simply take a quick peek over your shoulder as you open the door to see if someone is also entering the store.

When you're old and the person in front of you simply lets the door start to close without regard for you, you feel like you're representing old people everywhere when you say, "I got the door. Thank you."

And when they reel around and give you that look, you feel like it's very "old person-like" to say, "It's all good. I'm sure you didn't see me right behind you."

They go left, you go right, and you just know they're saying, "Effing old people..."

The older you get, the more it aggravates you at the way we spell things in this country. Like, for example, "spatial awareness" in the above commentary.

You're now aware of the "space" around you. Hence, it should be "spacial" awareness. Right? How on earth did someone decide it should be spelled "spatial"? #clownshoes

When you're old, you realize how incredibly difficult -- and kind of stupid -- the English language really is.

How is it possible that "read" and "read" can be pronounced differently? You "read" something or, in past tense, you "read" something.

But how is it, then, that "lead" is pronounced like "leed" but then in past tense, we spell it "led"? When you're old, that makes absolutely zero sense.

"Bear" sounds like "bare" but "fear" sounds like "feer". When you're old, you shake your head and wonder how these kids today ever properly learn the English language.

"Dove" sounds like "duv", "Move" sounds like "mooove" but "Stove" sounds like "stohve". What on earth are we doing here?

When you're old, it drives you nuts when people don't let other cars into the lane when it's more than obvious they're running out of room up ahead.

"Just let them in," you say, because you're old and human, and you realize the person trying to squeeze in up ahead might actually need to get somewhere right now, unlike 75% of the people on the road who are going someplace but under no formal time schedule to get there.

When you're old, it drives you nuts when you let that person in and they don't wave.

Waving used to be pretty much mandatory. Someone lets you in, you wave. It's a rule of the road. It's called "being nice".

When you're old and the person doesn't wave, you wish there was a way to communicate with their car so you could say to them, directly, "Nice wave, there. Next time I won't let you in."

When you're old and someone acts like they don't see the car trying to get into the lane, you also wish you could reach out to them and say, "Nice spatial awareness there, pal. Did you not see that Jeep next to you trying to merge into the lane?"

The older you get, the more you realize 80% of the people driving a car are not worried all that much about actually driving the vehicle. They're fiddling with their phone, playing with with radio, drinking a latte or having a full blown conversation with the person in the passenger seat.

Sometimes, if you're really lucky, you'll come up on a car where the driver is doing all four of those things at the same time. It's both impressive and maddening at the same time. When you're old, occasionally you even wish you were that talented and could multi-task like that.

And when you're old, it drives you absolutely batty to see two cars quite clearly "racing" one another, darting in and out of traffic at reckless speeds, going 90 miles per-hour like they're at Daytona International Speedway, not caring one bit about the safety of the other folks on the highway.

When you're old, it takes everything in your faithful and Christian soul to not hope you see them a mile up ahead pulled over by the State Police.

The older you get, the more aggravating everything becomes.

So, my advice? Don't let it bother you.

Do your best to just let it all roll off your back.

Live to enjoy today.

Oh, and try the avocado.

If nothing else, you'll discover how awful it is.

Good day.

---

Thank you to those of you who donated to our Calvert Hall donation page for the upcoming Polar Bear Plunge to benefit Special Olympics on January 28.

We're hoping to get to $2,500 raised by Sunday, so I'm still here leaning on everyone and anyone I can to help us get there.

By the way, early forecast for January 28: 31 degrees and windy.

Sounds fun, huh?

If you haven't yet donated and would like to help the great people at Special Olympics Maryland, here's the info from yesterday that I'm running here again today.

I'm excited to share with you some great news. My Calvert Hall Golf team has been chosen to represent the school in the upcoming Polar Bear Plunge to benefit Special Olympics of Maryland.

The "plunge" takes place on Wednesday, January 28 at Sandy Point State Park. For those who don't know, the Plunge has developed into one of the biggest one-day charitable events in our great state. The concept is simple: You (meaning, me, and the team) raise money for Special Olympics in exchange for jumping into the ice cold water of the Chesapeake Bay.

Game time water temperature on January 28 is expected to be around 40 degrees.

Here's what I'm asking. Will you give Special Olympics 50 cents per-degree in exchange for me, yes me, and my golf team getting in the 40 degree Chesapeake Bay?

Flyers fans, don't rush for your calculators. I'll do the math.

Will you donate $20 to Special Olympics in exchange for Calvert Hall's golf team participating in this year's Plunge?

Our involvement isn't going to end that day.

I've pledged to Special Olympics that our Calvert Hall golf team will host a day at Top Golf for a group of pre-selected Special Olympics athletes who want to learn more about golf.

This spring, we're going to host a Special Olympics golf clinic for any of their athletes who want to attend.

I want my players to learn more about Special Olympics while they also learn the importance of giving back to those in our community who need help.

Here's the link where you can donate: Click here and then press the "donate" button.

It's a one-time thing. Just help Special Olympics with $20. We're getting in that icy cold water whether it's 35 or 40 degrees, but if you'll help with $20 that would be great.

And I have a special offer: If we can get to $2,000 (right now we're at $1,475 raised as a team), I'll actually go under water. (Plunge rules are you have to get in so the water reaches your knees to officially count.)

On behalf of the great people at Special Olympics Maryland, thank you for your support. I'm honored to have our golf program at Calvert Hall involved in this incredibly worthwhile event.

Friday January 16, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4162

taking the plunge

John Harbaugh is the new head coach of the New York (football) Giants.

It certainly isn't a surprise that the Giants went with Harbaugh. He's probably exactly what they need in this stage of their "return to glory".

The Giants have gone through more head coaches in the last decade (6) than the Beatles had good songs (3? 4?). From McAdoo to Spagnuolo to Shurmer to Judge to Daboll to this year's interim guy, Kafka, it's been a decade long search in the Meadowlands.

But now, as Springsteen once said, somewhere in the swamps of Jersey, they've decided to take the plunge with Harbaugh.

(Oh, and Calvert Hall Golf is also "taking the plunge". More on that below.)

I have no idea if Jaxson Dart is good enough to take the Giants to the promised land, but Harbaugh will give the Giants some stability and structure moving forward.

Personally, I'm bummed Harbaugh didn't get the job in Cleveland. That was the one I wanted him to take. Imagine two annual games against Harbaugh and the Browns and the possibility of the two teams battling it out for a playoff spot or, even better, going up against one another in a post-season game.

Alas, that's not going to happen. But I was sure holding out hope that it might.

In case you haven't heard or researched it, the first meeting between the Ravens and Giants -- barring a pre-season encounter or (gulp) a Super Bowl clash -- will take place in the 2028 regular season in Baltimore.

As the great Bart Scott said once upon a time...can't wait.

The happiest person in Baltimore on Thursday wasn't Harbaugh or his wife, Ingrid, despite the erstwhile Ravens coach reportedly hauling in $100 million over 5 years from the Giants.

The happiest person in town was Steve Bisciotti. He saved $52 million with Harbaugh's decision to join the Giants.

In fact, there's a high probability that Bisciotti and the Ravens will also save money on their next coaching hire. Instead of giving Harbaugh $18 million in 2026, they'll be able to give their new hire somewhere in the $8-$10M range to start with.

Not that Bisciotti is in the business of "saving money" but every little bit helps, right?

I'm probably in the minority on this one, which is perfectly fine, but I'm hoping John goes to New York and does great with the Giants.

I realize that's somewhat unconventional in today's day and age. Most people in our great country are, for reasons I don't know, hard-wired to want the worst for someone instead of the best, particuarly if that person was once closely aligned with them, whether that's an ex-spouse, ex-employee or, in this case, ex-football coach for your favorite team.

To wit, a friend yesterday said to me, "Man, Kevin Willard's killing it up at Villanova, huh?" It took everything in me not to say, "Too bad they didn't go 0-32." Instead, I mumbled "That's awesome. Great school."

But there's a huge difference between Willard and Harbaugh. Willard was in College Park for 15 seconds. The only thing of note he really did was lied to his team during last year's March Madness tournament about staying at Maryland and not leaving for Villanova, only to do that exact thing 24 hours after the Terps were ousted from the Big Dance.

Harbaugh gave us 18 years, and a title, and embedded himself in the community both spiritually and financially in ways a lot of people don't even know.

Editor's note: Now, in fairness, I do enter every hockey season hoping the Flyers go 0-82, but that's acceptable because I never actually liked the Flyers or were closely aligned with them. I'll use that loophole to my advantage.

Anyway -- It just seems like something's happened in our societal soul where we don't someone who was once successful when they with us to be successful without us. It becomes particularly odd when you're the one who told that "someone" that you don't want them around any longer.

I have a friend who is always bitter and flummoxed that his ex-wife's Towson based eatery is doing gangbusters. "You're the one who dumped her," I tell him. "Just be happy for the woman. You know, the mother of your children. Be happy for her and move on. It will be pleasing to your heart if you can do that."

People. We're definitely strange at times, as Jim Morrison once told us.

I'd love to see John go to New York and do well with the Giants. Until that game in Baltimore in 2028, that is. As I told him yesterday during a brief text exchange, "I'll be rooting hard for you every week except when you play the Ravens."

I also hope the Ravens get the right guy with their next, new hire.

I have complete faith that they'll figure out who the best man is for the job.

If that's Robert Saleh, I'm good with it.

If it's Jesse Minter or Klint Kubiak, that's great.

If it's Kliff Kingsbury or Chris Shula or Davis Webb or Kevin Stefanski, I'm going to say, "Love it."

In a Twitter poll I ran last night, I included the name of four potential finalists (that's all the poll would allow). It ended in a dead heat.

33.7% of those who responded want Kubiak. 33.7% want Robert Saleh. 20.2% want Jesse Minter. And 12.5% want Mike McDaniel.

I noticed that total doesn't equal 100% exactly, which I found odd, but anyway, Twitter math, I guess.

Me? I honestly couldn't care less who they hire.

I see people on Twitter saying, "I don't want Mike McDaniel here!" or "Anyone but Kingsbury!" or "The only guy they should even consider is Brian Flores!" and I think to myself, "And you're basing that sentiment on what, exactly?"

It's way easier -- for me, at least -- to just presuppose that the Ravens and their hiring committee will sift through every candidate and come up with the right finalists and then, from there, they'll dig in and eventually give us football fans in town someone great.

They'll get the right guy. They've earned the benefit of the doubt, in my mind.

There's been some local chatter over the last few days about a comment Steve Bisciotti made on Tuesday in reference to Lamar Jackson's involvement in the head coach hiring process.

"He'll have a say," Bisciotti said. "But he won't have any power. I have the power."

Some folks on the internet and on the local FM radio station took umbrage with that commentary from the owner, saying it reeked of an authoritative stance that diminished Lamar's role in the hiring process.

First of all, everyone needs to remember this: What Bisciotti says to the media isn't always exactly the truth.

He certainly wasn't going to sit up there on Tuesday and say, "Yeah, I'm giving Lamar a vote. If he wants Stefanski, that's going to carry a lot of weight with us."

Saying that would be awkward at best and potentially disrespectful to other veterans on the team who might also want some small say in who gets to be the next coach.

So, even if Bisciotti is going to allow Lamar to say, "Here's who I want", I don't think the owner would admit that to the media.

Now, on the other hand, it's more than fine to let Lamar sit in on some portion of the interview with the finalists. In fact, I think it would be unfair to the finalists if they weren't allowed to interview Lamar, too.

I think Jackson should be allowed to meet the finalists.

Frankly, I also think Kyle Hamilton should be allowed to meet with the finalists, too. He's the team's defensive version of Lamar, although not in a spectacular, highlight film kind of way.

If you were going to nominate one offensive player and one defensive player to represent those sides of the ball in the interview process, you'd go with Lamar and Hamilton. So, go with them, I say.

That said, if I'm Bisciotti and DeCosta, I tell them up front that I don't want and can't have their "personal favorite".

"You can ask questions...you can exchange ideas...you can even tell us, "I like what (Kubiak) had to say..."

But if I'm the Ravens, I don't allow Hamilton or Lamar to say, "I want you guys to hire Stefanski."

Or "I want you guys to hire Jesse Minter."

That would potentially cause some friction if the committee decided to go with someone else.

And, with all due respect to those two, they're more than likely going to look at the various candidates through the lens of "How does this guy help me?" more than they're going to say, "How is this guy going to help the Ravens win more games?"

So, yes, let them have a say. I think that's a great idea.

But don't give Lamar or anyone else on the roster the power to think they're going to be a determining factor in who gets the job.

Let the football people pick the coach and let the quarterback do the quarterbacking.

I have faith in both of them to do their jobs well.

---

I'm excited to share with you some great news. My Calvert Hall Golf team has been chosen to represent the school in the upcoming Polar Bear Plunge to benefit Special Olympics of Maryland.

The "plunge" takes place on Wednesday, January 28 at Sandy Point State Park. For those who don't know, the Plunge has developed into one of the biggest one-day charitable events in our great state. The concept is simple: You (meaning, me, and the team) raise money for Special Olympics in exchange for jumping into the ice cold water of the Chesapeake Bay.

Game time water temperature on January 28 is expected to be around 40 degrees.

Here's what I'm asking. Will you give Special Olympics 50 cents per-degree in exchange for me, yes me, and my golf team getting in the 40 degree Chesapeake Bay?

Flyers fans, don't rush for your calculators. I'll do the math.

Will you donate $20 to Special Olympics in exchange for Calvert Hall's golf team participating in this year's Plunge?

Our involvement isn't going to end that day.

I've pledged to Special Olympics that our Calvert Hall golf team will host a day at Top Golf for a group of pre-selected Special Olympics athletes who want to learn more about golf.

This spring, we're going to host a Special Olympics golf clinic for any of their athletes who want to attend.

I want my players to learn more about Special Olympics while they also learn the importance of giving back to those in our community who need help.

Here's the link where you can donate: Click here and then press the "donate" button.

It's a one-time thing. Just help Special Olympics with $20. We're getting in that icy cold water whether it's 35 or 40 degrees, but if you'll help with $20 that would be great.

And I have a special offer: If we can get to $2,000 (right now we're at $1,475 raised as a team), I'll actually go under water. (Plunge rules are you have to get in so the water reaches your knees to officially count.)

On behalf of the great people at Special Olympics Maryland, thank you for your support. I'm honored to have our golf program at Calvert Hall involved in this incredibly worthwhile event.

Oh, and pray for 55 and sunny on January 28, please!

faith in sports

I didn't know much about Adam Wainwright before I saw him on this week's edition of "Sports Spectrum".

But, wow, I'm glad I learned more about him. Wainwright, a 2-time champion with the St. Louis Cardinals, sat down with Matt Forte for a 25-minute interview that is just outstanding.

There's a lot of sports and "life" mixed in the video below, so for those of you who are hesitant to watch because it's "too much religion", you're going to learn a lot more about Wainwright's life in baseball and some other awesome stuff if you'll give this video your attention.

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

Thursday January 15, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4161

stay classy baltimore...and pittsburgh

I got bumped and lumped into a Twitter thread yesterday that dealt with the topic of John Harbaugh not mentioning "the fans" in his going away message last Tuesday evening after he was fired earlier in the day.

In the discourse on Twitter, I reiterated that I thought that was a spur-of-the-moment thing by Harbaugh and one, I'm guessing, that either he regrets now or someday down the road.

It's spilled milk in the grand scheme of things, but I do believe that sometime in the future John will make a more formal "thank you" presentation to the football fans of Baltimore. If not, though, it's not a huge deal. What's done is done.

That said, someone made a funny and valid point yesterday as the back-and-forth continued between several of us on Twitter.

The fans spent the last year saying, "F*** you John Harbaugh!" and now they want him to thank them on his way out."

That didn't come from me. That came from someone else. But I did admit, funny the way it is.

And that quip on Twitter is, I think, precisely why Harbaugh did neglect the fans in his going away message.

I should point out, to be balanced here, that it's quite possible Harbaugh simply forgot to include the fans among his thank you's after he was fired. I doubt very seriously that he had anyone else create the message for him. Based on the content of it alone, it looks like it had John's fingerprints all over it. That said, maybe he hit "send" and then the next day realized (or was told) "Oh, damn, I forgot to thank the fans."

I don't think it happened that way. But I'll at least concede it's possible that his omission of a thank you to the fans was completely unintentional.

That said, there's no doubt at all that there were growing tensions among fans in Baltimore and John Harbaugh. There were, as anyone who was here back then recalls, similar months (years) of tension between Brian Billick and the fan base before he was finally relieved of his duties.

Fan discontent for the head coach is almost always inevitable. It's just part and parcel of the high-profile position. Unless you're Nick Saban or Coach K, you're eventually wearing out your welcome.

Heck, New England won 100 Super Bowls with Bill Belichick and there were people up there who wanted him gone. It's the "American way" on full display. We build you up, we tear you down, and then we wait to see if there's a reclamation story that makes us cry.

They're going through the same situation in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin.

Or, as it stands now, they were going through the same situation with Tomlin.

People up there wanted him out and were extremely vocal about it, just like people here were vocal and viperish about Harbaugh's hopeful departure.

And so, the talk shows in Pittsburgh on Wednesday were filled with joy as people lamented how happy they were to see Tomlin go.

All of that stuff isn't "bad" or "wrong" or "evil" or anything of that nature.

There are people who wanted Harbaugh and Tomlin gone and they were actually "pleasant" about it, if that's possible. They just wanted a coaching change because the time had come for one. I guess you could put me in that camp. And maybe you, even.

I knew John had reached his expiration date. I said at the beginning of the season that he'd be gone if the Ravens didn't make the playoffs. I didn't have to jump up and down and put up signs in my front yard or scream about it on the internet. I just knew. It was time.

I'm not close to the situation in Pittsburgh at all, but I assume Tomlin was in the same boat, just at a different end of it. He didn't have a quarterback like Harbaugh did. But he still had nearly three decades of service time and a bunch of playoff failures on his record and people up there wanted a change.

And then there are people in Baltimore and Pittsburgh who weren't "pleasant" about it.

I don't really get that, myself, but folks get emotionally invested in a sports team and then "I want to be right!" takes over and they're not changing or lowering their anger-level until they get what they want. Sometimes it's a player the masses turn on, like Chris Davis, for example. We rejoiced when he was resigned and then three years later he was being chased out of town with a pitchfork.

In this case, it was the head coach of the football team they wanted out of town.

I'm here to say this: None of that matters.

Whether you were pleasant and reasonable with your wishes or loud, arrogant and mean-spirited -- in both Baltimore and Pittsburgh -- it's all the same.

I really only care about Baltimore here, frankly. They can handle their own affairs up in Pittsburgh.

But Harbaugh's gone and a new day has arrived.

Is it possible -- and I'm just asking the question -- for Baltimore to step up and be classy with regard to his tenure and service to our sports community?

He gave 18 years to us.

Some of them were great years.

Some weren't great.

But the one thing he never did as a football coach was wake up on a Wednesday morning and say, "You know, I think I'll do something today to sabotage or wreck the Ravens franchise."

If you thought he was a great coach, good coach or lousy coach, one thing for certain: That didn't change the standard he tried to apply every single day to the Baltimore Ravens.

You can think his sayings and locker room signs were corny, but there was one thing John Harbaugh loved. Well, two things. He loved coaching the Ravens and he loved Baltimore. I shouldn't even write "loved" as if it's past tense. He'll always love the Ravens and always love Baltimore.

Some folks bristled at his favorite slogan: "Whose got it better than us?"

But he believed that with all of his heart. If you played for the Ravens and you were blessed to play in Balitmore at some point in your career, nobody had it better than you.

I'd offer the same thought to the folks in Pittsburgh about their embattled ex-head coach. Like him or not, Mike Tomlin bled black and gold for 19 years. You cut him open and "Steelers" poured out of his veins.

The same thing happened in Baltimore. He bled purple. And, yes, he got paid $17 million a year to bleed purple. That much is true.

But now that it's over, can the vitriol or sniping subside and the appreciation and gratitude take over?

The American Way.

We built him up. Harbaugh showed up here as a complete unknown and we had no idea what we were getting. He became a sports icon in Baltimore.

We tore him down. At some point, whenever it was, he reached the top of the mountain and started his descent and we were happy to push him down the hill.

It's over.

The reflection period has commenced.

Are we that ruthless and viperish that we're never going to stop for a second and say, "That man gave it everything he had here."?

I hope not.

I'd like to think, as human beings, we're better than that.

Late last Tuesday night, I sent John a quick text.

"Always know this. You have NOTHING at all to be ashamed of. You gave Baltimore 18 years of your life and you represented yourself and your family well."

I included a quick Bible verse and sent it off.

I didn't mention or reference winning or Super Bowls or anything of that nature. I just wanted him to know that I'll always remember him as a great representative of Baltimore.

He shot back a "thumbs up" emoji and that was that. He got the text. Read it. And acknowledged it. That's all I cared about.

I hope he thought about that in the day or two after his firing.

John Harbaugh has nothing to be ashamed of.

Neither does Mike Tomlin.

Baltimore and Pittsburgh better both hope they get two men as equally dedicated to their respective franchises as both Harbugh and Tomlin were in their 18 and 19 years at the helm.

It's great work when you can make $15 million a year doing anything.

But it's not easy work.

The next coaches in Baltimore and Pittsburgh are going to learn all about that once their honeymoon period is over.

dale's maryland/usc recap

Due to a technical issue, Dale Williams' recap of Maryland's 88-71 loss didn't run on Wednesday morning.

For those interested still, you can find it below.

With 15 minutes reaming in last night’s Maryland/USC basketball game, the Terps trailed by just a single point, 53-52.

13 minutes later, Maryland had been outscored 29-14, and suffered another blowout Big Ten loss.

Maryland was in the game for the entire first 25 minutes, but those last 15 were as bad as they can look. The offense fizzled and the defense…well, there was no defense. The final score was 88-71.

Paint points looked like a non-conference game had been played. The final tally was 44-14 in favor of USC.

Assists numbers were 23-6 and offensive rebounds 13-4. Those numbers were also in favor of USC. I’ll give you one more stat, and it’s one I’ve never seen in a major conference game. In the 2nd half, USC’s bench tied all of Maryland’s players 30-30.

USC did all of this with their leading scorer, Chad Baker-Mazara, relegated to a cheerleading role while nursing a neck injury. USC placed 5 players in double figures and were paced by Jordan Marsh’s 20. 17 of those came in the last 15 minutes of the second half.

Diggy Coit was the entire Terp offense, dropping 30 points. After posting 19 in the first 20 minutes, he fell to 11 in the second.

Maryland received a piece of beneficial pre-game news when it was announced that Baker-Mazara would not start because of a neck problem. He did enter the game after the first TV timeout with his team down 9-8.

He immediately hit an off-balance floater in the lane to give his team the small lead, countering the 9 points that the Terps had posted via way of the three-point line. Maryland had hit 2 of 3 from long range and converted three foul shots after Watts was contacted in the act of shooting a three.

As is their MO, Maryland had 5 turnovers in the first 7 minutes of the 1st half and found themselves down 15-9 before Solomon Washington bulled his way to the rim and was fouled. He converted 1 of 2, making the score 15-10.

The scoreboard would read 17-10 at the second media break. The Terps had missed every shot during the second 4-minute segment. USC was pounding the paint, gathering 14 of their 17 points inside. I lost count of their dunks, but at this point it was 3 or 4.

The Terps had yet to make a shot inside the three-point arc. The Trojans had seven players who had made a shot. Maryland had just 2.

Coming out of the break, Maryland was able to hit a pair of shots, but their zone defense was sieve-like, leaving the USC advantage at 7, 22-15. All 5 of the Terps recent points came off the hand of Diggy Coit.

The diminutive Terp guard ran that number to 10 straight points, single handedly bringing his team to with 2 points, 22-20. After Baker-Mazara made 2 foul shots, the teams went into the next-to-last break with the Trojans leading 24-22.

The Terrapin 3-point shooting had reached a lofty 45.5% (5-11) after Saunders hit his second triple of the night. However, back-to-back Maryland turnovers led to 4 quick USC points. It was actually 3 straight turnovers, but the dunk attempt by 7’5” Gabe Dynes was dramatically rejected by Collin Metcalf.

The Terps tied the game at 29 all after Ezra Ausar was whistled for a flagrant 1 foul giving Maryland 2 fouls shots and the ball with a chance to take the lead. They did exactly that when Daruis Adams connected on a driving reverse layup. Maryland now led 31-29 going into the last TV timeout with 3:51 remaining in the half and USC’s Kam Woods going to the line shooting a pair.

At this point Maryland was 50% from the floor (9-18), 45.5% from the three-point stripe (still 5-11) and 8-9 from the foul line. Quite a different story from their recent efforts in the last few games. The free throw line was enabling the Terps to extend their lead to 4. It was still 4, 39-35 with 1:38 left in the half.

Maryland had a chance to guarantee themselves a halftime lead, but Isaiah Watts pushed the tempo instead of holding for the last shot. His layup attempt was rejected, and USC followed with a pair of foul shots. It was a mistake by Watts, but that’s what bad teams do. The halftime score was 42-41 in favor of USC.

Notable 1st half stats were Coit’s 19 points, and USC’s 7-1 advantage in offensive rebounds. Also of interest were Maryland’s 7 turnovers against just 4 assists. That ratio for USC 12 assists to 3 turnovers. The stat sheet would also show that Baker-Mazara logged just 8 minutes of game time.

The Terrapin guards stayed hot to start off the second half. The Trojans countered with offensive rebounds and more paint points.

The second half’s first TV timeout came with 15:38 left in the game. Maryland was up by 4 points, 52-48. Coit had amassed 6 more points, bringing his game high total already to 25.

That Terp lead dissipated quickly. Some questionable Maryland fouls lead to a pair of turnovers, allowing USC to score 8 points in 44 seconds. The Trojans now had the 4-point lead.

The USC gap reached 10, and Buzz Williams had seen enough. He called a timeout with his troops now down 6, 58-52. Those 10 USC points quickly came in just 1:43.

Watts broke the Trojan run with an elbow jumper, but Marsh came back with a triple. Another dunk by Gabe Dynes put the score at 63-56 going into the under 12-minute break. The Maryland 3-point shooting game had dried up (just 1 in half #2) and they couldn’t force a turnover against a USC team that normally turns it over at a rate equal to Maryland.

Coming out of the break, Coit hit a three closing the gap to 63-59. A golden opportunity to reduce the lead to a single possession was wasted when Watts missed the front end of a one-and one. An ensuing layup by Jerry Easter once again had USC up by 6. That’s how it stood going into the under 8 timeout, but Maryland’s Rice was going to the line after drawing Dyne’s 4th foul.

Paint points at this juncture of the game were 38-10. Do I need to say Maryland had the 10?

When Marsh hit his 4th triple of the night, USC had a mildly comfortable 8-point lead. It’s amazing how missed foul shots in tight games always come back to bite you. Watts missed the front end, and the Trojans got a layup. Adams misses 1 of 2 and Marsh hits a triple.

It was another triple, this time by Brownell, that caused Williams to call another timeout. When Cofie drained another three, the now red-hot Trojans led by 14, 78-64.

The Terrapin defense had totally collapsed. In the last 6 minutes, Maryland had made 1 field goal. The game was over at that point.

Coach Williams must be extremely concerned about the trio of collapses that his team has experienced.

They have gone toe to toe with their last three opponents, only to have a run lead to a blowout. Against Indiana, Wilkerson got hot and the Terps quit. I didn’t think they quit against UCLA, but the effort certainly dropped.

Tonight, once USC started to stretch the lead, the Terp effort dropped significantly. They took quick, horrible shots and played uninspired “D”.

It first became noticeable with the missed chances at the foul line. When you are a marginal team (how kind is that?) you can’t give a better team an opening. Maryland did, and USC went in for the kill. It got ugly.

The Terps will be eyeing their first Big Ten win on Sunday when they battle with a Penn State team that also has been blanked in conference play. Gametime is noon in College Park.

Wednesday January 14, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4160

when is it the owner's fault, too?

So yesterday's Happy Hour headline was, as you can see below: Steve speaks...and it's awesome.

And it was awesome to hear from the Ravens owner, for sure.

As I said, and still believe, we (the fans) have missed him and those year-end tell-all gatherings. They're important in a way that maybe even Bisciotti himself didn't realize when he stopped doing them 8 years ago.

But after watching the replay (I know, watching a "replay" of a press conference) and reading the transcript of it (I know...), I've also come to another conclusion.

And this conclusion is different than "it's awesome".

I'm going to file this one under the theme of, "Two things can be true at the same time, even if they seem to contradict each other."

For example, Recovering The Satellites was an amazing album. But it wasn't as amazing as August And Everything After. The Counting Crows hit a grand slam with "August". "Satellites" was just a 2-run homer.

Boston's second album, Don't Look Back, was excellent. But nowhere near as excellent as their debut album which featured amazing song after amazing song.

Ken Griffey was a great baseball player. But he wasn't nearly as good as his son.

So........

Steve Bisciotti was awesome yesterday.

But I'm wondering if he's still an awesome owner.

Has Bisciotti lost his ownership fastball, so to speak?

The reason I'm coming around to that question is pretty obvious after watching yesterday's press conference.

And this has nothing at all to do with the clunky nature by which he actually fired John Harbaugh. The "how" he did it has nothing at all to do with the "why" he did it. And the "why" is the most important part of all.

As in ---- "why" did it take Bisciotti so long to do it when he knew, based on some things he said yesterday, that it was probably long overdue?

For someone who talks a lot -- repeatedly, in case you haven't heard him -- about "building companies" and "hiring people" and everything else that goes along with his wildly successful organization, Aerotek, I found some things odd yesterday about the way it all went down with John Harbaugh.

He called the firing, basically, a "gut instinct". For the record, I see nothing at all wrong with that. Your gut is usually right, a fact you lean on the older you get.

I sat out a starting player on my Calvert Hall Golf team in a key match last year at Rolling Road Golf Club vs. Mount Saint Joseph because I had a gut feeling the course wasn't a good set-up for him and the course might have been a really good set-up for another guy on my team who rarely played at all.

My players probably thought I was crazy. I told them to "trust me", which is easy for me to say since I didn't have to hit any of the shots.

It was totally a gut feel kind of thing. And it turned out I was right. The player who stepped in won 2.5 of 3 available points and hit several big shots down the stretch to help us win a huge match against a very good team.

I bring that memory up just to reinforce that I'm a believer in "gut instincts". It's part of coaching. If that's why Steve ultimately settled on firing Harbaugh, I get it.

While he didn't specifically say it was the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh daily double followed by the fiasco against New England that sealed John's fate, I think it was very clear yesterday that's when the idea of firing John started to percolate.

"I talked to you, what, 3 or 4 weeks ago about it?" he said to general manager Eric DeCosta.

Those two losses to the Bengals and Steelers put Harbaugh in "last straw" territory. And then you had the 24-13 lead against New England evaporate on national television and that was pretty much the beginning of the end for the head coach.

As I reported here the morning after John's dismissal, I was told by a team source that the Ravens would have needed to go on a "dramatic run" to save Harbaugh's job. That obviously didn't happen.

And so the end came on January 6.

But if you listen to what Bisciotti said on Tuesday during the press conference, it seems 2025 wasn't the first time he thought about firing Harbaugh.

"I have some little things that rubbed me the wrong way for a long time, and you put them in the back of your head, and then you get closer, and then you start failing, and then you bring back things that bothered you, and you do it to justify coming to the conclusion that now is the time. I just hope you respect me enough to know that 100%, my instincts told me this was the time. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I did it because I'm in charge of doing it."

Now, that's hardly an open and honest admission that he thought about firing John Harbaugh last year or two years before that or four years ago. But it was cryptic enough -- "I have some little things that rubbed me the wrong way for a long time" -- to tell us that Steve's been, if nothing else, allowing things to fester in regard to John's continued role as the team's head coach.

There was also that 2018 article at ESPN.com where Bisciotti admitted he thought about firing Harbaugh after the Ravens failed to make the playoffs for a third straight year in 2017.

"It was certainly a consideration, but not one that I was inclined to make this year," Bisciotti said at the "State of the Ravens" press conference on February 2, 2018.

So, as far back as 2018, at the very least, Steve Bisciotti thought about firing his head coach.

And, so, while I absolutely applaud him for his honesty yesterday and, like nearly everyone reading this, think the "time was right" to make a change at the head coaching position, I'm also wondering if the owner himself hasn't lost some of his magic over the last decade?

It has seemed for a while, at least to me, that Bisciotti has been less involved. That was my gut instinct. I've written about it here before. He just seemed "less involved".

My instincts were right. Bisciotti confirmed it on Tuesday.

Bisciotti yesterday: "Let me be clear: I am much more interested in the guys, like [president] Sashi [Brown] and [executive vice president and general manager] Eric [DeCosta] and [executive vice president] Ozzie [Newsome], that are working with this guy 70 hours a week, than maybe I was back then (when the team first hired a coach in 2018). I was much more engaged. I was engaged in the NFL. I had risen to the top of the committees in the broadcast committee and digital media committee. Back then, I probably thought my participation was going to – I dreamed of a gold jacket like the [Giants' owners] Mara's and the [Steelers' owners] Rooney's. That kind of dissipated as I realized that I was maybe being untrue to my wife when I told her that when I bought this team, I would treat it like more of a hobby than a business. I think I found myself maybe treating it a lot more like a business, and again, putting family second. So, there was a time in '10, '11, and '12, when I realized that in order to earn a gold jacket as an owner, you better be putting in those 70-hour weeks, and I wasn't willing to do that. So, when I stepped back from that – and I'm very happy I did."

So our eyes and our gut instincts weren't deceiving us. No press conferences since 2018. Fewer road games attended. Very few public comments whatsoever. And then yesterday's commentary about Harbaugh and how "little things rubbed me the wrong way for a long time" and, yet, he didn't do anything about it.

The Ravens need the old Steve Bisciotti back. The one who was engaged. The one who had his finger on the pulse of the organization on a daily basis.

And here's the thing: I think Bisciotti would agree with me that he's lost his fastball. I mean, he already admitted it, basically. If I (or anyone) challenged him and said, "You either need to go back to being a great owner or sell the team," I think he'd say, "You're right."

I think if Steve read this very piece, he'd agree with most of it. It's not hard to figure out. I'm a dummy from Glen Burnie and I see it.

We all have played "the buck stops here" with regard to John Harbaugh.

"The offensive game plan sucks..."

"Harbaugh hired the offensive coordinator."

"There's no pass rush to speak of..."

"Harbaugh hired Zach Orr."

"We didn't run Derrick Henry enough."

"Harbaugh hired the offensive coordinator."

I could go on but you get the point. The buck stops with Harbaugh -- or it did, anyway -- with regard to virtually every part of the team's on-field product.

And a significant portion of the fan base believed Harbaugh was the wrong guy for the job moving forward. Ironically, we all tended to believe Harbaugh lost his fastball along the way.

Did Bisciotti lose his as well?

Why didn't he pull the plug on Harbaugh earlier?

He used the word "love" and "friends" describing his relationship with Harbaugh and used those words multiple times yesterday.

Was the owner guilty of being too close to the coach?

Or just guilty of pulling away and not caring as much?

Those two things can both be true at the same time.

Bisciotti was too loyal to Harbaugh because he "loved" him. And he couldn't see that in part because he wasn't as involved as he probably should have been.

The skinny around town is that Eric DeCosta was too close with Harbaugh. Even Steve himself mentioned that yesterday.

But it's not Eric's fault Steve didn't fire John Harbaugh four years ago when his gut instincts (probably) told him to do it. Or three years ago. Or whenver it was that Bisciotti said to himself, "I don't like where this team is going."

Even yesterday, as he tried to explain the "how" it happened, Bisciotti was a contradiction.

He basically said he made the decision to fire Harbaugh last Monday, 24 hours after the loss to the Steelers.

I don't really believe that.

He also mentioned in the same sentence he had talked to DeCosta about it 3 or 4 weeks prior to that.

And then came the "For a week" line he used when asked if John would have continued to coach had the Ravens beat Pittsburgh in that season finale.

In other words, John was gone no matter if Tyler Loop makes that field goal or misses it.

But, yet, Steve said he made up his mind on Monday night after the loss.

He also said yesterday he spoke with Lamar Jackson about it on Monday and told him he was going to make a change, then ended the call by telling Lamar, "When I hang up from this call, please don't think this decision is ironclad."

It's like the scene from Fast Times At Ridgemont High when Spicoli wrecks Jefferson's car and Jefferson's little brother says, "My brother's gonna s**t. My brother's gonna kill us."

And Spicoli says, "Make up your mind dude...is he gonna s**t or is he gonna kill us?"

Did you decide on Monday or not? Or did you decide after the Patriots game? Or did you decide...oh, never mind.

It's all very confusing.

All of that is eyewash, though. It serves no real purpose, other than to come back to the point about the owner's own dedication to running the franchise to the best of his ability.

Is Bisciotti putting his best foot forward or his low fuel light still on? He basically told us he pulled away, and that's his right.

But the question moving forward is: Will we ever see the old Steve Bisciotti again?

There were a lot of "Steve's the best owner in the NFL" posts and comments on Tuesday. And, yes, I believe Steve Bisciotti has been and is a wonderful owner for the Baltimore Ravens.

But it was very obvious yesterday that the entire episode with Harbaugh wasn't Bisciotti's finest hour.

My hunch is Bisciotti made the decision to fire John after the New England loss and the public and national scrutiny with the way the 4th quarter unfolded told him his instincts weren't "off". Fans booing the team off the field at the end of the night probably only cemented his opinion that "the time was right" for John's tenure to end.

He probably assumed -- as did a lot of Ravens fans -- that they'd go to Green Bay the following Saturday and get roasted by the Packers and that would be the end of the road in terms of making the playoffs. They'd then sleepwalk through a perfunctory loss in Pittsburgh to finish out the campaign at 7-10 and it would be easy and totally acceptable to fire his 18-year head coach after the Ravens flatlined over the last six weeks of the season.

Except it didn't go that way.

Much to his chagrin, probably, the Ravens won in Green Bay and then shoulda, woulda, coulda won the AFC North and made the playoffs if not for that pesky 44-yard field goal that went wide right.

All the sudden, an easy decision became more problematic.

"Am I really going to fire my head coach because a goofy kicker couldn't hit a 44 yard field goal on a wind-free night in Pittsburgh?"

My second hunch is that's why Bisciotti didn't fire John face-to-face. He simply couldn't do it.

As anyone knows who ever broke up with a girl (or a guy), it's way easier to do it on the phone. It went from "John, we went 7-10, bro. I love you, but that sucks," to "I realize you were a missed 44 yard field goal away from taking this team to the playoffs despite your quarterback missing 4 games, but I think I need to let you go and I also realize this does look a little disrespectful given the 1-5 start and the recovery the team made under your watch."

Once he made the decision to fire John, all Bisciotti wanted from there was for it to be easy to do. Neat and tidy. And, as we saw from the clunky way it all unfolded, it was anything but neat and tidy.

While Bisciotti was busy lightly chastising DeCosta and others in the front office for not being able to make a decision on Harbaugh because of their "love" for him, it's apparent he fell victim to the exact same thing himself.

He reminded us several times yesterday how he "built a company" hiring people, which speaks, we think, to his ability to manage the day-to-day happenings of an organization or office.

In the case of the Ravens, I'd submit Bisciotti and his expertise were blinded by his own loyalty to the head coach who, ironically, was blamed loud and often for himself being "too loyal" to his people (players and coaches) at times.

Bisciotti mentioned, a bit tongue in cheek, that the new head coach might get a 6-year window before he'll be pressed to win a Super Bowl.

I'd say the owner should adhere to that same 6-year window. If things don't improve in the next 6 years, perhaps he's a bigger part of the problem than any of us ever realized.

Perhaps the most interesting coaching-related nugget to come out of yesterday's press conference was Bisciotti's declaration that former coaches who had losing records in their first-go-round as a NFL coach will not be automatically disqualified from consideration.

In other words, just because Robert Saleh didn't win with the Jets or Kliff Kingsbury wasn't successful in Arizona or Brian Flores sputtered badly in Miami doesn't mean the Ravens aren't going to give them a thorough examination in this hiring process.

Kevin Stefanski, anyone?

I thought Bisciotti's explanation was perfect. "We're going to take everything into account from that situation they were in. Who was their quarterback? What did their roster look like? It all matters. It's not just about winning and losing."

Interestingly enough, I was in that very spot after my first "coaching gig" in the golf world. I took over a woeful program at John Carroll in 2011. I didn't have one player who could break 80 on my roster. I had, no disrespect intended, a girl on the team who couldn't break 50 for 9 holes if her life depended on it. Nice kid. She actually played a few matches for us and, frankly, wasn't even the worst player on my team.

But the roster was beyond inept, in terms of MIAA golf-caliber players. We went 0-8 my first year and 0-8 my second year in conference play. I did schedule a couple of matches against "C" conference schools just to give us a chance to win "something" in each season (which we did), but in terms of A-Conference competition, we went 0-16 in two seasons.

In 2013, I took over at Calvert Hall and in that first season, we won the championship. It wasn't because of me. It was because we had a great roster of veteran players. All I did was pushed them over the edge.

I'll always owe (then) athletic director Lou Eckerl a debt of gratitude for not holding my two year stint at John Carroll against me.

One year, I was going 0-8 at John Carroll. The next year we were winning the championship at Calvert Hall. I didn't know any more about golf in 2012 than I did in 2013. I just had (much) better players at my disposal.

The same thing might apply to Robert Saleh, who labored though (almost) four seasons with the New York Jets and went 20-36 there.

The same thing might apply to Kliff Kingsbury, who went 28-37-1 with the Arizona Cardinals in four seasons.

Give those two guys (or one of them) Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry and Mark Andrews and Daniel Faalele Zay Flowers and Nate Wiggins and maybe they suddenly go 13-4 and win a bunch of playoff games.

Mike Vrabel just went 13-4 in New England with pretty much the same roster that Jerod Mayo had at his disposal in 2024 and the Patriots went 4-13 under Mayo in 2024.

Who knows, right?

I mean, everyone believes the Baltimore job is the best one that's open this off-season, mostly because of Lamar. If Robert Saleh or Kliff Kingsbury or Kevin Stefanski can't win with Lamar, then what are we even doing here?

Steve Bisciotti is obviously hoping his gut instinct is right and the new coach, no matter who it is or what their previous record might be, will lead the Ravens to the promised land.

I think the time was right to explore what a new head coach can bring to the Ravens. A lot of you reading this believe it as well.

But we don't matter when it comes to being "right or wrong". If it turns out Harbaugh goes to Atlanta or New York or -- gasp -- Cleveland wins a Super Bowl before the new guy does in Baltimore, we'll all gather in the Inner Harbor and feast on humble pie for a day.

Alas, if we're wrong about Harbaugh and the new guy coming, who cares?

Bisciotti, though, can't be wrong on this one. He wasn't wrong on Brian Billick in 2007. He was spot on there.

And he wasn't wrong about Harbaugh in 2008, either, although it's always fair to playfully needle Bisciotti about the fact that Harbaugh wasn't actually his guy back then. He actually wanted Jason Garrett, against the wishes of his internal committee.

But that's just nitpicking. The Ravens/Bisciotti were right about letting Billick go and hiring Harbaugh 18 years ago.

We need them to be right again.

Bisciotti said it himself: Six years.

The clock is ticking.

In more ways than one.

Tuesday January 13, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4159

steve speaks...and it's awesome

The one thing I kept thinking about throughout the hour-long "State of the Ravens" press conference today was how "needed" this was for the football fans of Baltimore.

It took about 45 minutes before someone finally asked the question we wanted to hear.

"Steve, you used to do these every year. Why don't you do them regularly any longer?"

To me, that got the ribbon for best question of the day.

Bisciotti mentioned something about "giving my people the opportunity to share their voice" or something like that. It was code word for, "I didn't really have anything to say. I figured if we didn't make the playoffs someday in the future, you'd want to hear from me."

It was an hour the Ravens deserve to give once a year in exchange for their support.

As for what was said and what wasn't said, Bisciotti said he made the decision to fire John Harbaugh after the loss to the Steelers to close out the regular season, then later took a sip of water and said, "For a week" when someone asked him if John Harbaugh would still be coaching the Ravens if Tyler Loop would have made that game-winning kick.

So the decision to fire Harbaugh came BEFORE the Steelers game.

At least that's what he said. Or......didn't say?

I was told by a source the discussion in Owings Mills included the Ravens needing to go on a "dramatic run", which I reported here the day after Harbaugh's firing.

That adds up with what Bisciotti basically said today. "One win over Pittsburgh and a playoff berth (followed by a probable loss to Houston) wouldn't have changed my mind."

It's very obvious Bisciotti was going to fire John after the New England home loss.

He probably figured they'd flatline in Green Bay and that it would be MUCH easier to fire Harbaugh on the heels of a 7-10 campaign.

Alas, they shellacked the Packers and then took the Steelers to the wire before Loop's faux pas, making it much more difficult to fire his friend of 18 years.

But he let that slip today in an unintentional way when he said, "For a week..."

John was always gone unless the Ravens went on a "dramatic run", which was likely an appearance in the AFC Championship Game at a minimum.

The only other truly interesting nugget (to me) was Bisciotti admitting that "re-tread" veteran coaches who have had failures in other coaching situations are not disqualified from Ravens consideration because of those losing situations.

That makes it clear: Guys like Kevin Stefanski, Mike McDaniel, Robert Saleh and Kliff Kingsbury are very much in play with this Ravens hiring process.

It was also somewhat interesting to hear Bisciotti say he's not at all involved in the "first round" of coaching interviews. He doesn't get involved until the 4-6 finalists are brought in by the committee that includes general manager Eric DeCosta, President Sashi Brown and Ozzie Newsome (role unknown).

---

we know how ya feel, pittsburgh

Later on today, the Ravens will host their (formerly) annual "State of the Team" press conference with Steve Bisciotti and Eric DeCosta at the head table.

It should be an interesting hour, that's for sure.

We'll be back here today with a "Happy Hour" edition of #DMD to give some early, kneejerk reactions to whatever it is we hear from those two today.

And now...let's talk about our friends up in Western Pennsylvania.

Well, that was fun watching the Steelers get dismantled in the 4th quarter last night.

It wasn't quite the men against the boys throughout Monday evening's 30-6 Houston win in Pittsburgh, because Mike Tomlin's defense acquitted themselves well for 50 minutes of their playoff defeat.

But that Houston defense suffocated Aaron Rodgers all night. And when the Texans scored to make it 17-6 midway through the final period, the league's #1 defense pinned their ears back and went crazy from there.

It all led, as we assumed it would, to a Houston victory and an end-of-season downer for the Steelers, who became the first team in NFL history to lose five straight playoff games by double digits with the 24-point defeat.

The Steelers, as we all know, played their Super Bowl last week against the Ravens. That win was all they needed to say, "We had a great season."

They're also taking solace up there -- although some in Charm City consider it good fortune -- in "wrecking the Ravens" and starting the rebuild of the team's coaching staff in the wake of John Harbaugh's firing and the upheaval that goes along with that decision.

"If nothing else we ruined the Ravens," someone posted on Twitter last night as the clock ticked down and the fans in Pittsburgh chanted "Fire Tom-lin, (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap), Fire Tom-lin, (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)".

You take your victories where you can, I guess. I mean, let's be serious for a second. Had the Ravens won that game last Sunday night (and Tomlin been fired) and then got throttled 30-6 at home by Houston, we'd probably be doing the same thing down here, lamenting how, if nothing else, at least we played a role in Tomlin getting the boot.

There are still people that think Nolan Reimold and Robert Andino belong in the Orioles Hall of Fame for what they did to the Boston Red Sox once upon a time. If you're not happy, making other people unhappy as well is oddly comforting.

Anyway, Mike Tomlin quickly deflected any talk about the fan's outrage on Monday night and two of his players, at the very least, jumped to his aid after the season-ending defeat.

"When you don't get it done, words are cheap," Tomlin said. "It's about what you do or you don't do. And so, I appreciate the question, but people talk too much in our business. You either do or you don't."

There's quite a bit to unpack there. He's right, of course, sports is about action and results, not talk and internet fodder. Last night, the Steelers didn't get the result. So here comes the talk.

Aaron Rodgers wasn't shy about endorsing his coach. I saw someone on Twitter (a Baltimore football fan, actually) render an opinion that Rodgers had the "professionalism" to speak up in a positive fashion for Tomlin while Lamar didn't do the same for John Harbaugh after the loss in Pittsburgh, but I don't know that I see it that way.

Rodgers is far more experienced at handling the media than is Lamar. I'm sure Rodgers knew that question was coming and potentially had an answer already laid out. Jackson might not have been expecting that question at all after the game, hence his (honest) response of, "I'm still here thinking about the game we just lost, I'm not really thinking about (Harbaugh) that."

"Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years," Rodgers said. "And more than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don't think about making a change, but there's a lot of pressure that comes from the outside and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But it's not how I would do things and not how the league used to be."

Rodgers even threw in an endorsement for embattled Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who, according to ESPN, is going to receive a contract extension from the organization sometime soon.

"When I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation about whether those guys were on the hot seat," Rodgers stated. "But the way that the league is covered now and the way that there's snap decisions and the validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they're talking about, to me that's an absolute joke. And for either those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we're at as a society and a league, because obviously Matt's done a lot of great things in Green Bay, and we had a lot of success together."

Veteran Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward also spoke up in defense of Tomlin.

"I don't really care about that noise because they don't know what Mike T. puts into this," Heyward said. "They don't know how he goes out of his way to prepare every man. They don't know about the countless nights that man is in there studying film. Coach is going to do so much, players have to play better. And in those critical moments that players are going to step up."

I'm not here to say the way the Steelers (publicly) rushed to the aid of their coach is better than what the Ravens did with Harbaugh.

I'm simply here to point out the differences in the way the two situations played out.

It's interesting.

To me it's interesting, anyway.

#DMD reader Miles e-mailed yesterday with a question worth pondering.

"What's the one thing you're going to remember that doomed the Ravens in 2025 in your opinion? Was it signing Cooper Rush? Not running Derrick Henry against the Patriots in the 4th quarter? Firing Harbaugh?"

I told him I'd answer that here today after I had a few minutes to think about it.

What doomed the Ravens more than anything was probably something none of us can even see, feel, touch, etc. It's not anything they did on the field, even.

I mean, the Ravens had no idea they'd lose Lamar Jackson for four games due to injury.

They had no idea Nnmadi Madubuike would be lost for the season early on with a neck injury.

They didn't know Lamar would brain-fart his way through a terrible home loss to the Bengals and that the defense would get sliced and diced by 42 year old Aaron Rodgers twice in a six week span.

And they didn't know the Patriots would come buzzing in here with only three losses in late December and be the juggernaut they were in that 28-24 win.

No...those things weren't the Ravens "biggest mistake" from 2025.

What doomed the Ravens more than anything was buying into the expectations that were created for them and surrounded them all season.

Because they have Lamar and Henry, everyone just presupposes their offense should be great. It's "expected" of them, no matter the make-up of the offensive line, the schedule the team plays, the injuries that build up, etc.

The same goes for the defensive side of the ball. There's a level of "expectations" that go with having guys like Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey on that side of the ball. Those expecations were certainly not met in 2025.

The question, of course, is where do the expectations come from?

Who sets them? The team? Well, every team sets some kind of expected level of performance at the start of each season. They intend and/or plan on winning every game. Alas, we all know that's not happening and so do the players.

But aside from that...

Where are these expectations coming from?

We all know where. The media. The fans. The internet. The podcasts. The blogs.

It's interesting that Aaron Rodgers mentioned "Twitter experts" because that social media platform has become the hallmark of the world we live in today.

Funny enough, as I thought about this yesterday, Twitter offers two things: Insight. And opinion.

You're either going there to gather in insights or you go there to read other people's opinions or share your own.

The 2025 Ravens will be remembered for failing to meet their expectations. Maybe not the ones they even set themselves. But they heard and read a lot of other people say, "Baltimore should definitely win the Super Bowl" and that set the stage for a catastrophic letdown when it didn't happen that way.

Heck, we bought into the expecations we, ourselves, set for the team. We expected them to win. And when they didn't, we blamed them for not fulfilling the expecations we set for them.

Funny the way it is.

In the end, only one team is going to win it this year.

I think it should be Seattle, for sure.

But, wait, I don't know. New England's looking awfully solid.

That said, there's just something about that Houston defense. It looks a little Ravens 2000'ish, doesn't it?

And then you have the 49'ers and their championship pedigree.

Oh, and I hear that Josh Allen dude in Buffalo is pretty good.

Four of those five teams are going to wind up NOT winning the Super Bowl this year.

All five, I bet, will enter the 2026 season thinking they're going to win it all as well.

It won't work out that way.

The Ravens, of course, are hoping a change in head coach and coordinators is the tonic they'll need in 2026 and beyond. Their expectations are very clear: If we change the coaches, things are going to improve around here.

It's going to be fun to see it unfold.

I just wanted to pass along a note that I attended the viewing of Officer Paul Hoke yesterday in Towson and left a card and a note in the registry from Drew's Morning Dish on behalf of all of you.

"Paul from Towson" -- as we know him here -- will be laid to rest today after passing away on January 2nd.

And for those of you who donated to the charitable fund, please know I'll be making a donation today to "Infinite Legacy", an organ donor organization that Paul's family asked donations be made to in his memory.

Thanks to all of you who donated and thanks to all of you who prayed for Officer Hoke and have been supportive of him and his family during this devastating time for them.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps look for first conference win tonight at usc

At 10:30 pm tonight, the Terrapins of Maryland will attempt to get their first Big Ten win of the 2025-2026 season. Their opponent is the 2-3 USC Trojans.

USC has been hit by a more virulent strain of the injury bug than the one that hit Maryland. The most obvious, and most costly, is the season ending shoulder injury suffered by their top scorer and former Terp, Rodney Rice.

He was dishing out 6 assists and dropping 21 points per game in 6 games (all wins) before his shoulder issue required surgery. He’s out for the season.

At least Rice was able to play a few games, unlike unfortunate 5-star recruit, Alijah Arenas. The son of former NBA standout, Gilbert Arenas, was involved in a horrible car crash the left him trapped in his burning cyber-truck for nearly 10 minutes.

With the help of bystanders, he was able to exit the car, but the smoke inhalation damage required doctors to place him in a medically induced coma. He avoided other injuries, and was released after a 6-day stay in the hospital.

Upon returning to practice this July, Arenas suffered a knee injury that will require 6-8 months of healing time. Whether he returns this season in time to help USC, or if he is redshirted, remains to be seen. His 6’6” frame and ball handling skills could have help this error-prone team.

USC is so lacking of depth, that in their recent OT win at Minnesota, they had 3 players play 40 minutes or more and one who played 37 minutes. That’s why also losing Amarion Dickerson is significant. The 6’7” senior wasn’t stuffing the stat sheet, but he provided 20 minutes of run for USC. A transfer from Robert Morris who averaged 13.3 ppg last season, Dickerson is dealing with a serious hip injury that could keep him out for 3 months.

Filling the scoring void created by Rice’s absence is Chad Baker-Mazara. The 25-year-old lanky lefty is getting 20 points a game. At 6’7” and 172 pounds, he possesses a smooth, slightly unorthodox shooting stroke, but can be careless with the ball. He turns it over 2.4 times each game and is part of the reason that USC is tied with Maryland for most Big Ten turnovers each game (13.3).

Baker-Mazara is an excellent foul shooter (93%) for a team that shoots over 30 freebies a game (most in NCAA hoops). He’ll attract much attention tonight, and Maryland’s Solomon Washington is best suited for the job of checking Baker-Mazara. However, I’m not sure he’ll get the assignment. Solomon’s size might be needed to check other bigger Trojan players.

USC played a HUGE lineup against Minnesota their last time out. Gargantuan. Erza Ausar (6’9”, 253) played 42 of the 45 minutes. Logging 28 minutes was Jacob Cofie. He’s 6’10”, 231. The last of these trees is Gabe Dynes, a developing center from Youngstown State. He played 37 minutes off the bench, going 4 for 4 from the floor, and using his 7’5” frame to grab 6 rebounds.

Despite all of that size, USC is still a middle-of-the-road rebounding team. Their offensive and defensive rebound averages place them 7th in the big Ten, overall. Maryland is 10th, only .3 behind the Trojans.

USC doesn’t do anything noticeably different on offense. They run the same screens that almost every college team has adopted, and they don’t run them all that well (we mentioned the turnovers). If USC decides to play a low-post dominant game tonight, Maryland can’t possibly defend that. The Terps are simply too small.

Much like Oregon, the USC bigs don’t spend much time with their backs to the basket. Both Ausar and Cofie play more perimeter offense, with double high sets fairly frequent. They will pick and roll into a low post set, but it’s not their offensive focus. Tonight, it should be.

With all that size on the floor, does a small and poor shooting Maryland team stand a chance? I’m going to say, “Yes”. Here’s why.

First and foremost are the USC turnovers. Maryland must pressure the ball for 40 minutes. Doing so will certainly reap benefits. The Terp mantra should be, “No easy passes”.

Second, I don’t see the Trojan defenders being super active. They do create turnovers, and we know the Terps can give it away with the best of them, but USC doesn’t feature a swarming defense.

Lastly, this isn’t an exceptionally quick unit stocked with great athletes that can jump out of the gym. The Terp’s 5-wide offense can get to the rim tonight. The question then becomes, can Maryland finish? USC blocks more shots (6) than any team in the Big Ten, but their ability to cover the drive and dish needs improvement.

If Maryland can just manage 33% from the three-point line, then it’s conceivable that they can stay in contact with USC. A five-wide offense can have success against the Trojan height.

As for Buzz Williams' team winning, it would take a confluence of events. The Terps would need to hit shots that they normally miss. USC would have to continue its ballhandling issues, and the Trojans would need to decide against a low post dominant offensive scheme.

I thought the Terps could hang with Iowa (who is now 2-3 in conference), but the Hawkeye guard pressure proved to be too much for Maryland. I also figured that Maryland wasn’t too outclassed by Indiana. Lamar Wilkerson’s 16-point outburst in under 5 minutes proved me wrong again. I’ll risk putting my foot in my mouth one more time. USC is big, but they are average. They also have a home game with Purdue coming up in 4 days.

At some point in time, the Terps guards are going to out-play another team’s backcourt. Tonight may just be that night. I’ve seen opening lines as high as Maryland +9.5. I’m taking those points here.

USC 80, Maryland 75. Tip-Off is 10:30 pm and the game is being shown on Fox Sports 1.

Monday January 12, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4158

overrated and underrated

It's kind of funny how lame the baseball Wild Card round is in contrast to the football Wild Card round.

Baseball has that goofy best-of-3 series where the same team hosts all three games if necessary. That said, it's infinitely better than the idiotic one-game "series" they had before the 3-game idea came along a few years ago.

But for whatever reason, Wild Card baseball playoffs haven't yet caught on from an attendance standpoint. I don't know about TV ratings for those games, but I assume they're "down" from LCS and World Series numbers.

These football Wild Card games, though. En fuego.

Four of the five went right down to the wire and even though last night's Patriots-Chargers clash wasn't very entertaining, it was still a one-score game midway through the 4th quarter before New England pulled away and sent battered Justin Herbert back to Los Angeles without a playoff win in his career, still.

The Rams-Panthers game was insane. The better team won, but Carolina never quit.

The Bears-Packers game was crazy good. A tale of two games and opinions. In Green Bay, they say "we choked". In Chicago, they say "We found a way."

Buffalo took everything the Jaguars threw at them and held on to win in a wild finish. Josh Allen took a beating like Tommy Hearns took from Marvin Hagler, but he hung in there long enough to get the job done.

And the 49'ers did the same thing in Philadelphia, battling their way through injuries to snag a huge win over the defending Super Bowl champs.

I have no idea what's going to happen tonight in Pittsburgh. I have a weird feeling the Steelers might have dodged the "big bullet" last Sunday night and could have their chakras in line tonight against the Texans.

If you go off of who has the better helmets and who has the better defense, Houston should win 27-10 tonight. Alas, Pittsburgh has a weird way of pulling a rabbit out of their hat when there isn't even a rabbit in the room.

Speaking of helmets, uniforms and such, the Chargers definitely won the battle of "the look" over the weekend with their Carolina blue pants, white jerseys and white helmets with yellow face masks. The Rams look -- which color-wise, is similar to the Chargers -- was also awesome on Saturday in Charlotte.

Oh, and is it any surprise that Tom Brady has been doing TV for just two seasons and is already the best color analyst in football?

I don't know what happened to Tony Romo, but his performance in the booth has really slipped this season. It's just cliche after cliche with the former Cowboys QB now.

Cris Collinsworth does a good job as well, but he's still second fiddle to TB12.

Brady absolutely loves football. You can hear it in his voice when something good happens on the field. He is just trying to pass along the best information he can so you enjoy the game as much as he does, I think. He's not trying to come across as the smartest guy in the stadium, even though we know he is.

A quick look at "Philadelphia" last night has people up there saying Nick Sirianni should be fired after the Eagles fell at home to the 49'ers yesterday in their playoff opener.

The Eagles won the Super Bowl last February and they're ready to chase him out of town up there. Don't you just love it?

Hey, look, you know me, I love it when Philadelphia melts down, especially when it's over their hockey team experiencing failure.

But this "fire the coach" stuff is completely out of control. And not just in Baltimore, where it's been part of our landscape for years now.

It's everywhere.

I was watching yesterday's game with someone and we were talking about Sean McDermott and how he might be out in Buffalo if the Bills (would have) lost and he asked me, "When did Baltimore become so nuts?" (Full disclosure, he's not from here so he doesn't fit the typical fan profile).

I had to think about that one. And the answer is, "I'm not sure."

But I think it started in the end days of the Brian Billick era.

Something in us snapped back then.

I mean, no one really liked Matt Cavanaugh, I remember. He took the brunt of the criticism in the early days when I was on the radio. Anytime the Ravens lost, it was pretty much always because Cavanaugh did something wrong.

Since then, it's mostly been coordinators we didn't like.

Oddly, though, at first we liked them all.

Chuck Pagano was great, then he sucked.

Marc Trestman was great, then he sucked.

Wink Martdinale was great, then sucked.

Greg Mattison was great, then he sucked.

Cam Cameron was great, then he sucked.

Dean Pees was great, then he sucked.

I could go on and on, but you know the names. It's inevitable. We're gonna love ya. And then we're not gonna love ya.

But it's not just in Baltimore. I mean, in Philadelphia, there are people who want the head coach fired because they lost a home playoff game yesterday. They're questioning Jalen Hurts, too. One year removed from the Super Bowl and they're wondering if Jalen Hurts "still has it".

If Baltimore fired Lamar Jackson every time he lost a home playoff game.......well, I'll just leave that up without commentary.

This "coaching" thing we're going through with the fans these days is really odd. The minute a team doesn't win a game or has a bad season, the coach (or a coach of some kind) has to be fired.

I had some wacko try to explain to me how fumbling the ball is a coaching "mistake", then in the same paragraph, he also told me the Ravens defensive coaches were to blame for not creating enough forced fumbles in their department.

Wait.

If I'm an offensive player and I fumble, that's a coaching mistake. I should have been "coached up" not to carry the ball in such a way that I might fumble it.

But if I'm a defensive player, it's a coaching mistake if I don't knock the ball out of a guy's hands.

It seems to me it can't be both. Or can it be? Is it possible to fumble the ball and it not be a coaching mistake? I mean, if the defensive players are being coached up to create fumbles and the offensive players are being coached up not to fumble, it seems one of the coaches is going to be doing it wrong. Right?

I'm confused.

The Zay Flowers end zone fumble was Todd Monken's fault but Steve Spagnuolo gets credit for creating it.

But if Flowers would have just held on to the ball, Monken gets the credit for that but Spags gets a demerit because Sneed didn't punch the ball out of Zay's hands. Do I have that figured out?

It's very confusing.

I always go back to the Ravens-Steelers game where Flacco got the ball knocked out of his hands by Polamalu late in the game and Pittsburgh went on to win.

When Polamalu did that, people in Pittsburgh said, "That's why he's going to the Hall of Fame! Dude's a baller!"

In Baltimore, we said, "Friggin' Flacco. You have to protect the ball there, son. Play smart, Joe!" We blamed Flacco.

Had the roles been reversed, we would have been screaming about how great Terrell Suggs is and how much of a nightmare he is to Big Ben and in Pittsburgh they would have been lamenting how Big Ben is prone to the occasional turnover whenever he faces the Ravens because he's afraid of Suggs.

We just see things through our own lens. Period.

Whatever we see, it's generally seen to help us certify that our opinion is the right one.

And that's why, without question, at some point, no matter who the Ravens hire, he'll eventually get roasted by the fan base.

Unless, of course, Klint Kubiak comes to Baltimore and becomes Bill Belichick and wins 4 Super Bowls in 10 years or something crazy like that, Kubiak will be public enemy #1 sometime down the road.

The same goes for Kliff Kingsbury (offensive coordinator) and Tony Weaver (defensive coordinator) or whomever it is that winds up getting those positions, respectively.

You're on borrowed time here, brother. We're gonna love you. And then we're not gonna love you.

Even if you're winning, we're eventually gonna turn on you.

It just is what it is.

Overrated: Going for it on 4th down -- It's the new, chic thing to do in the league. "4th down and 4? We're going for it." "4th and 2 from the 3 yard line? We're not kicking a field goal here. We're going for it." The NFL -- like every other sport -- has developed too much reliance on stats and trends. The name of the game is scoring points. I don't mind going for it around midfield, actually. I think keeping a drive alive is important. But when these coaches eschew an automatic 3 points and then fail to pick up the first down in the red zone, it drives me nuts.

Underrated: Kickers -- I know this is a sore subject here in The Land of Pleasant Living. Or, should we say, jokes about kickers rub us the wrong way? OK, I'll show myself out. Anyway, kickers are the kings. It's amazing how good they actually are. This will sound weird, but if you've never stood on the field and looked at the goalposts or sat directly behind them in the stands, you have no real idea how narrow the goalposts are. The night of Cundiff's miss, I went out on the field at Gillette Stadium and stood in the exact spot where he kicked the ball from in the waning seconds of that AFC Championship Game and, I'm telling you, those posts looked like a thimble. Whatever NFL kickers make, money wise...it should be doubled.

Overrated: The great Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead passed away over the weekend. No, he's not overrated. I'll tell you what's overrated, though. People who, on the day of someone's death, take to the internet to say "Who cares, Grateful Dead sucked anyway." Shouldn't we, as human beings, have some sort of decency-moratorium on when you can poke fun at someone who has passed away? I saw a lot of that over the weekend. And I'm not even remotely close to being a Grateful Dead fan, by the way. Never owned one album. I think "Shakedown Street" is the only Dead song I know when I hear it. Alas, I'm not going to laugh about Bob Weir's death. People, man. Let's be better.

Underrated: You know who was supremely underrated from the world of music? I'll tell you: Boston. Yes, Brad Delp and Tom Scholz. That Boston. The more I listen to their first two albums, the more I realize how freakin' good they were. Their third album, Third Stage, was decent enough as well. But, man, their debut album and the follow-up, Don't Look Back, were freakin' outstanding. Boston...big time underrated.

Overrated: Defensive players who intercept a pass and then run with the ball all the way down to the other end of the field. We know you intercepted it. We're watching the game. Why run down there and jump around like Kevin Bacon in Footloose?

Underrated: Players who do something well and then just flip the ball to the officials. Whether it's a first down or a touchdown, it's heartwarming to just see the guy finish the play and hand the ball to one of the referees. Anytime I see a guy do that, I immediately say, "I'll take him on my team."

Sunday January 11, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4157

if i had two questions

Shortly after the Green Bay Packers coughed up a 4th quarter double-digit lead last night and lost their playoff game to the Bears, I hustled to the internet to see what they were saying in Wisconsin.

It might as well have been Baltimore last Sunday night.

I breathed a quick sigh of relief. Packers fans are as bat-s**t crazy as we are, it turns out.

Matt LaFleur is 76-40-1 in the regular season and his Green Bay team made the playoffs in 6 of his 7 years.

I don't want to say "all he's ever done is win", but in a league where it's VERY hard to win and win consistently, he won 36 more regular season games than he lost as a head coach.

And sometime today or Monday, perhaps, that won't be good enough.

The skinny on the street is that LaFleur's getting canned after yet another bungled 4th quarter in which the Packers couldn't hold on to a lead. Last night's loss wasn't any normal defeat, though. It ended Green Bay's season.

If the Packers stockholder Board of Directors takes note of what the fans in Green Bay are saying and writing and thinking, LaFleur might be dismissed over coffee this morning. They are done with him, much like a significant portion of the fan base in Baltimore was done with John Harbaugh.

Everything "bad" that happened last night was LaFleur's fault. Or so they're saying up there.

The fumble? "Lack of coaching."

The delay of game penalty? "Lack of coaching."

The final three plays that were turned into two plays because the quarterback held on to the ball too long? "Lack of coaching."

I felt a little better about ourselves last night as I surfed Twitter and saw LaFleur getting harangued by the fan base in Green Bay.

I know that's kind of weird, right? But there's some solace in discovering that you're not the only crazy person in the room who wants the coach fired even though some of the stuff "under his control" is actually not under his direct control whatsoever.

In two odd twists of fate, LaFleur's loss last night could pave the way for his brother, Mike, to finally get the head coaching job many think he deserves.

It won't happen in Green Bay, of course. The Packers don't have enough chutzpah to fire one LaFleur and immediately hire another one.

But the Green Bay vacancy -- if it happens, of course, there's no guarantee LaFleur's getting fired -- would open the door for John Harbaugh to take perhaps the most coveted coaching job in the entire NFL. Every coach dreams of working up there, where there's no owner to answer to and the "institutional control" over a coach is a little less imposing.

And if Harbaugh snags that Packers job, that's a gig in New York or Nashville or Miami that opens up for someone like LaFleur. Heck, if you want some real WWE kind of character development, how about Harbaugh replacing Matt LaFleur and then his brother, Mike, whom the Ravens like, coming to Baltimore to replace Harbaugh? Wouldn't that be something?

Anyway, reading the internet last night gave me a warm feeling.

We're not the only raving lunatics who overreact at every bad thing that happens to their football team.

It turns out they're even nuts in Green Bay.

So this Tuesday is the "State of the Ravens" press conference, although it will only feature two people -- Steve Bisciotti and Eric DeCosta -- instead of the four that it would feature once upon a time.

In the "old days" -- back when I regularly attended them -- the owner, general manager, head coach and team president would all be up there fielding questions.

Giving in to common sense, the Ravens know that absolutely no one in the room has a question for or cares to talk with the team's president, Sashi Brown. No one even knows who he is. And there's no coach on board yet to join Bisciotti and DeCosta at the head table.

So it will just be the two of them.

Editor's note: I did receive an invitation to attend Tuesday's event but I am unable to make it due to a prior business obligation that I simply can't -- and don't want to -- move. That said, I'll definitely watch the replay of it and offer "insight and opinion" here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I did get to thinking: What would I ask Bisciotti and DeCosta if I had a question for each of them?

In most of these things, you get one question. Some of the bigger names in the room like Jamison Hensley of ESPN might get two questions, one early and one late. Someone from WBAL -- the team's "media partner" -- might get two questions as well.

They'll do their very best to squeeze the Baltimore Banner and give them no questions. And I'm guessing they'll try hard to "run out of time" before Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic gets to ask one.

It will be interesting to see if Mike Preston of The Baltimore Sun is there. And if he is, does he get a question as well?

You can bet there will be a meeting on Monday to map out exactly how the questions are going to be allowed, who gets to ask them, who gets blacklisted and so on. That's a one million percent guarantee.

Anyway, if I went on Tuesday, I'm not sure I'd even get a question. I'd just be a room-filler. But if I did get a question for each of the men up there, what would I ask?

I'd eschew the "common" questions people are definitely going to ask Bisciotti.

"How hard was it to fire Harbaugh?" (It's gonna get asked, though. We have to hear Steve say it was the most difficult decision he's ever made in his life. "And I've made some tough ones."

"Did you fire him over the phone?" (This one's tricky because it certainly speaks to Steve's character if he did it that way. It's awful if that's how it went down. It's akin to Peter Angelos firing Davey Johnson via fax, which was an all-time bush league move. But it has NO bearing at all on moving forward and what's next for the Ravens, so who cares, really?)

"Is DeCosta's job safe?" (Yeah, he's gonna comment on the guy's job security with him sitting right there next to him. "Everyone here is under constant evaluation, every single day" is about the best you'll get out of Bisciotti with that question.)

No, my question would be different.

I think I'm torn between two questions, really.

Both are question that deal with what comes next.

"Do you still believe that long-term continuity is the best way to handle your top-level executives or is there a train of thought starting to build up that perhaps you need to be willing to make changes more quickly in the future?"

Or......

"How's your gas tank for owning the Ravens? Is it still full? Half full? Is your low fuel light on? You just fired your head coach so it's fair to ask you...are you close to the end of your run as the team's owner?"

I feel like I'd ask the first one above "first". It strikes me that perhaps the biggest lesson Bisciotti learned from the John Harbaugh era is that the era itself went on too long. Now, we have no idea if he'll actually tell the truth on Tuesday, but would Bisciotti admit that maybe it was his own negligence and "misreading of the room" that kept John in charge for a few years too many?

The second question above is one I've been sensing for a while. Just the mere fact that Bisciotti hasn't done one of these post-season press conferences since 2018 should be proof enough that his enthusiasm for ownership has diminished. I'd love to know what his plans are for ownership down the road.

As for DeCosta, I'd take a pass on asking him the obvious questions as well.

"Can you talk about how tough it was on Tuesday to have to tell the staff that John was gone?" (Duh...)

"What responsibility do you take for John's firing given it was your roster he had to work with?" (I'm sure Eric's going to fall on the sword and say it was all his fault, what with the owner right there and all.)

"Is it frustrating to have to deal with Lamar and his mom instead of a legitimate agent when you're talking about a contract restructure for him?" (Of course it is. It's maddening, I'm sure. But he can't say that. He can't say anything except, "I love working with Lamar and his mom".)

I think my question for Eric would be this one: "How will the new coach and what he specifically brings to the table impact the players you go after in free agency and the players you draft in April and will the new coach have minimal input or significant input in those areas?"

This, of course, is a question DeCosta has already heard from the candidates he and the others in the building have interviewed.

"How much power and roster input am I going to have with the Ravens?" Every coach wants to know that.

If, for example, the Ravens hire Klint Kubiak or Mike LaFleur or Joe Brady, will the team's "strategy" change at all because those three are offensive minded guys?

What if it's Jesse Minter or Chris Shula or Tony Weaver? Will the dynamic change to a more defensive minded approach in assembling the roster moving forward?"

I mean, you already have a top 5 quarterback on your roster.

One train of thought could be: "We have enough weapons on offense. At some point Lamar needs to come through for us. We need to beef up the defense."

As opposed to: "We have to continue to give Lamar and the offense everything we can. We're in a shortening window here, maybe another 2-4 years with him. Let's stockpile as much talent as we can on his side of the ball."

I'd love to hear what Eric says about that, if he'd be willing to answer it.

I like the fact the Ravens are holding this event on Tuesday.

It was, once upon a time, a staple of their organization. The Orioles never met with the media en masse like that at the end of their season. And so, at the end of each football season, the Ravens would allow for a 60-minute "open forum" where everyone swallowed truth serum and did their best to tell the truth.

But over time, that event went away.

We all know why. Teams want to control the message, for starters. The mainstream media is no longer important. There was a time when teams wanted coverage in the press.

Now, they get stories about players falling asleep in team meetings and "not connecting with the head coach" and all that other stuff we've been reading. And since the team can't control those stories, they figure the best way around it is to just reduce the amount of "contact" the media can have with the team.

I mean, you get to watch 15 minutes of practice now and then you're ushered off to a dark spot in the Castle to "file your report" and, if you're lucky, maybe get a free slice of pizza.

It's fair to point out those were mostly "Harbaugh rules" that were developed and refined over time. John was petrified that someone would see a jet sweep being run time and time again in practice and would write about it on Twitter or mention it on the radio. So, no one got to watch practice any longer.

Maybe the new coach doesn't care about that stuff. "Let 'em watch, most of them don't know anything about football anyway," the new guy might say.

But all of this points to a sea-change in the way the Ravens have operated since, let's say, 2015 or so.

They used to love bragging about how "open" they were with the media.

That philosophy definitely changed over the last decade.

And so, if nothing else, it's promising to see them hosting Tuesday's press conference.

While we're busy looking forward, it's OK to admit that the past had its good moments as well.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps battle hard but come up short at ucla

Truth be told, and full disclosure. I was doing some charity work last night and my ability to sit, watch, analyze, and write about last night’s Terrapin loss to UCLA was severely compromised.

I was however, able to put eyeballs on close to half of the game (on and off), and I did closely follow the updates and stats.

In a very low scoring contest, UCLA was victorious by 12, 67-55. Much like in the Indiana game, it was another 16-0 run that sealed Maryland’s fate.

Leading by 1, 19-18, with 9:03 left in the first half, the Terps committed a string of turnovers and missed a bunch of shots. This allowed the Bruins to produce that 16-point streak. When the 4-minute carnage was over, UCLA had a lead of 15-points that they would never relinquish.

It was 38-21 at the half and the Terps never really put a scare into UCLA the rest of the way.

While admitting I didn’t see much, I can tell you that I did see a ton of Terrapin rebounds, and a boatload of UMD turnovers also. The game sealing UCLA run that was fueled by Terrapin miscues was just a subset of a first half in which the Terps turned it over 10 times, compared to just a single turnover for UCLA.

First half points-off-turnovers favored the Bruins, 12-0.

We mentioned in the pre-game piece that UCLA has had trouble rebounding the ball, but WOW!!! Maryland had a crazy 20-5 margin in offensive rebounds. However, when you shoot so poorly, those second chance opportunities become wasted.

Maryland was 30% from the field, 18% from 3, and just 60% from the foul line.

Elijah Saunders had a big game for Maryland, netting 17 points and 12 rebounds. Picking off where they left off on Wednesday, Diggy Coit was 2 for 13 and 1 for 8. Isaiah Watts Jr. did manage to make a bucket last night, going 1-6.

UCLA took 15 less shots than the Terps, but made 2 more. We can attribute that to the 33 triples that Maryland took (exactly half of their total attempts), compared to the Bruins who tried 17 triples (exactly one-third of their total attempts).

The parts of the game I did see comprised of the big 1st half UCLA run, and a decent chunk of the beginning of the second. Maryland was clearly out-manned, but I never saw the quit in them that I witnessed on Wednesday in the home loss to Indiana.

They continued to crash the glass and fight, they just have no inside players and they can’t shoot. Pretty simple.

Next up for Maryland on their west coast swing is USC on Tuesday. It’s a late one, 10:30 pm, on FS1.

Saturday January 10, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4156

insight and opinion

Every time Indiana plays someone "new" in college football, I say to myself, "OK, maybe this is the night the bloom falls off of their rose."

And, while I realize Oregon wasn't actually new to them -- Indiana beat them earlier in the season in a Big 10 game -- it was still reasonable to think that last night's game, with the bright lights and a spot in the title game at stake, might be the one where the Hoosiers don't just walk in there and rumble through the Ducks like everyone expected.

They rumbled.

The only reason the final score was 56-22 was because the game had to end. If the game had six quarters instead of four, it would have been 96-42.

We still have one more game remaining to see if Indiana can complete this miracle season and it will be -- here I go, assuming someone can hang with them -- a very tough test for them when they face Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis and a Miami team that is rising at just the right time in the season.

I can't stand college sports these days, but I'm intrigued by the Indiana story. I'll be pulling for them on January 19.

Insight: The Ravens interviewed Kevin Stefanski and Klint Kubiak on Friday. They also added Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady to the interview list and he'll get his shot, presumably, sometime early next week.

Opinion: I have a hunch the Ravens have interviewed at least one other candidate and have kept that one quiet, for whatever reason(s) that might be. I think there's someone out there they really like but would prefer other teams not know either, A) they're interested in him or, B) he's interested in potentially leaving his current position elsewhere. It's just a hunch, but I'm going off of something someone "in the know" said to me and I'm putting 1 and 1 together and it's coming up 2. (Yes, Flyers fans, it's true. 1 plus 1 does equal 2. I swear it does.)

Insight: Brooks Koepka officially applied for reinstatement to the PGA Tour yesterday, making him the first player who skipped out to join LIV five years ago to return and ask for forgiveness and a chance to play on the TOUR again.

Opinion: I don't have a problem with letting Koepka back in, but there's absolutely no way he can return to the TOUR without some sort of penalty for jumping ship to LIV. That message would be an awful one to distribute to the stars -- Rory, Tiger, Xander, Cantlay, Scottie, Day, Scott, Fleetwood, Rose -- on the TOUR who eschewed that dirty Saudi money and stayed the course while charlatans like Brooks, D.J., Rahm, Bryson et al scooped it up and ignored the 3,300 people who died on 9-11. I'm not smart enough to come up with a financial "penalty" that makes sense, but I'm thinking $50 million? Maybe Koepka is allowed to play in 2026 but he can't qualify for the FedEx Cup for a year or two? Maybe half of his 2025 and 2026 earnings have to go to charity? I don't know. But he has to pay a heavy price for returning, that's for sure. Oh, and I actually like Koepka and I'm glad he's back.

Insight: Trae Young reportedly told the Atlanta Hawks, "Trade me to the Wizards", which they did earlier this week.

Opinion: Did Young lose a bet or lose his memory after getting hit in the end with a ball? What basketball player of any degree of talent says, "Trade me to the Wizards"? I hope he enjoys losing.

Insight: The John Harbaugh coaching story percolated again on Friday when a longtime Cleveland media member claims Harbaugh is asking for $20 million in salary, $10 million for his staff, complete control of the roster and a "say" in who becomes the team's GM. Your mileage may vary on whether you think that story is accurate, but that's the report from Tony Grossi in Cleveland. He'a also the guy who single-handedly kept Art Modell out of the Hall of Fame, in case you need to get your blood boiling a little this morning.

Insight: One thing that's weird about football is that the head coach doesn't get to pick his roster. The same goes for baseball. Someone else picks the players and then says to you, "Here they are, good luck with them." Anyway, the first two things on Harbaugh's wish list are eyewash. He's going to get $20 million a year from someone. He was due to make just over $17 million in Baltimore next year so $20 million is what it now costs to get him to coach for your team. The $10 million for staff is fine, too. Two coordinators chew up half of that and the rest is for position coaches. I just don't see a team giving Harbaugh the other two items on his wish list. He can certainly have input on players and the general manager, sure. But I don't see a team giving him full roster authority or the ability to hand pick the team's general manager. But I applaud him for asking nonetheless.

Insight: Earlier this week, the Orioles claimed Jhonkensy Noel off of waivers from the Cleveland Guardians. Two days later, I think it was, the Orioles released him.

Opinion: This one is way above my paygrade, but why on earth would you claim a dude on a Tuesday and release him on a Thursday -- in January? I don't get it. I mean, I think the guy's a lousy hitter so I don't know why you even bothered to pick him up in the first place but, still, why? Did he fail a physical? Did he show up 350 pounds? Did his wife drive around Baltimore County and say, "This place looks a little rundown" the way Jason Garrett's wife summarized Owings Mills back in 2008? I'd love to know why you pick up a player on Tuesday and cut him on Thursday. It seems weird.

Insight: The Ravens are not going to hire a coach until on/about January 27, a source tells me. One thing the organization is potentially worried about is having one or more of their finalists face the scenario where they perhaps have to take another offer before January 27 because they don't want to pass on an opportunity that might not be there for them if they wind up not getting the Ravens job.

Opinion: I still believe when all the dust settles on the 14-18 coaching interviews the Ravens conduct that their final four will include names like Klint Kubiak and Jesse Minter, with perhaps one of the two Rams guys (LaFleur and Shula) sprinkled in there if, for some reason, Kubiak or Minter don't want to wait around until the coach is announced on/around January 27. I also think Stefanski will potentially be a finalist. As I reported here earlier in the week, there are multiple people in the building who really like the former Browns coach. I'm still sticking with Kubiak as my prediction as the guy who eventually gets the job.

Insight: Once the Ravens have hired their head coach, the two coordinator positions will be next on the team's docket. Because lateral moves are tricky, the team will have to hire either a recently fired head coach or coordinator or bring someone in from college, like they did a few years back with Todd Monken.

Opinion: If the Ravens don't hire Tony Weaver and if he doesn't get a head coaching job elsewhere, I would think he's the absolute front runner for the defensive coordinator position in Baltimore. The problem there is if Weaver and his Ravens defense are ultra-successful in 2026, he's almost assured of getting a head coaching position in 2027 and, if you're the Ravens, you're back to searching for a new defensive coordinator again. On the offensive side, I do not believe Mike McDaniel is going to wind up in Baltimore. That's actually 80 percent "insight" and 20 percent "opinion". The tricky thing for the Ravens is they might very well want a guy like Kingsbury to run their offense but would he take the gig after interviewing for the head coaching spot and not getting it? Rex Ryan did that back in 2008, but he was already in the building, remember, and knew the players, schemes and so on. He spent one year with John Harbaugh and then bolted to the Jets.

Insight: I'm told kicker Tyler Loop is fine and showing no permanent damage from the miss in Pittsburgh last Sunday night. "He's already moved on from it and looking ahead to next season. It's over," a Ravens source told me. "He'll be fine."

Opinion: I sorta-kinda believe that because kickers, like golfers and soccer and hockey goaltenders, have to own a very short memory. If you live in the past as a kicker, you're not going to be employed very long. That said, Loop won't "officially" move on from what happened in Pittsburgh until he gets a chance to hit a game-winning kick next season and connects. Then, and only then, will the miss be less visibie in an MRI. And even then, he'll still have to make multiple "big kicks" in order for doctors to declare him "ghost free". I hope Loop will be fine. I just know one kick next season isn't going to erase what happened in that Steelers game. He's going to need several game-winners to get his chakras back in line.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps visit ucla tonight

Are the Maryland Terrapins, who face the UCLA Bruins tonight at 8 pm, catching this Mick Cronin coached team at the very best time, or at the very worst?

Cronin has recently revamped his team. Guys that saw significant minutes in UCLA’s close loss to powerful Gonzaga, are now bench warmers. Their best shooter (48% from 3) and defender, Skyy Clark, is nursing a hamstring injury.

Add to that the fact the Bruins are coming home on the heels of two road conference losses, and this storied blue-blood is leaking oil. Is that good, or bad?

Their coach has stated that their top big man, Xavier Booker, had to be benched because his defense and rebounding were so poor. This 6’11”,245-pound transfer from Michigan State, had 10 points and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes against #5 ranked Arizona. He also posted 12 and 5 against Gonzaga.

Those numbers are not horrible, However, he played just a single minute in the Bruin’s last game versus Wisconsin, an 80-72 loss.

I’ve seen UCLA play several games with him, and I watched the Wisconsin game. I know the coach needs to make a statement about defense, but in my mind, this team is much better with him on the floor. He’d own the paint if he plays and it’s a real bonus for Maryland if he sits.

The Bruins will surely be without Clark, and they will miss him. At 13.5 points a game, he’s their second leading scorer and their top deep threat.

Clark had stops at Louisville and Illinois before finishing out at UCLA. The 6’3” guard can shoot, as evidenced by his 44% career three-point percentage. Weighing in at a powerful 210 pounds, he’s a stout, plus defender. He will be sorely missed tonight.

Remember the name Tyler Bilodeau. 6’9”, 235 pound forward via Oregon State, he is a true inside/outside threat offensively.

He boasts an impressive 41% three-point average and has a body big enough to pound inside. At 18.1 ppg, Bilodeau is the leading scorer for this team. He has a well-rounded offensive repertoire, but needs to improve his defense and rebounding (especially on the offensive glass). He’ll get plenty of looks tonight, and with Maryland’s small lineup, he seems primed for a big game.

The Bruins have dueling offensive enigmas. It’s impossible to explain what’s happened to Donovan Dent and Eric Daily Jr. In the last of Dent’s three seasons at New Mexico, he was a 41% three-point guy. The season before that, he knocked down 37%. This season, the senior 6’2” guard is hitting just 9%. That not a typo, he’s 2 for 22 from beyond the arc.

Daily is a guy I like. He is big (6’8”, 230), athletic, and a solid defender and rebounder. While not a sharpshooter from long range, he did hit a very respectable 38 of his threes during his 33 games (all as a starter) with UCLA last season.

But, oddly, he’ll go into the Maryland game having not made a three in over a month. He was 2-4 against Oregon on December 6th, since then 15 in a row have been errant. In the Wisconsin game, Dailey Jr was 0 for 5, but went 9-12 inside the arc, dropping a team high 18 points.

Daily would look good wearing a Terp uniform. He plays hard and can move up and down the court. Are these shooting woes and good trend for the Terps, or are things bound to average out?

UCLA plays at a deliberate pace (268th in adjusted tempo) but have been very efficient offensively. Their almost 80 points per game belies their deliberate pace, but is accomplished on close to 49% field goal shooting.

If Booker returns to the starting lineup, the Bruin front court is 6’8”, 6’9”, 6’11”. They all can run and are decent athletically. As a unit, they are just too big and capable for the Terps to handle.

I’m not sure, with the roster they have, that a strategy exists that offers the Terps a solid chance at victory tonight. One thing I know that should happen, is Solomon Washington needs to lock down Bilodeau. If that can happen, then an unusually successful night shooting threes could keep Maryland from another blowout. But win? I can’t see it.

UCLA cannot afford to lose this game. I know they have some team challenges right now, but the disparity in talent is too great for Maryland to be victorious in this one.

The way the Bruin schedule shakes out, bad losses (and this would be a VERY bad loss) are a killer to their chances of dancing in March. Before the Terps get their next win, they may have to wait until they return to College Park from the West coast. After UCLA, they’ll tangle with a very capable USC team.

To answer the question I asked at the beginning of this piece, I’m afraid there is never a good time for this roster of Terps to play the Bruins. For tonight, I’ll go with something approaching 82-69 in favor of UCLA.

Gametime is 8 p.m. and the contest can be seen on FOX.

Friday January 9, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4155

interviews and more interviews

We'll get to an overdue edition of Q & A today, but first we'll quickly buzz through what happened with the Ravens on Thursday.

Oh, and before we do that, let me just quickly say here that arrangements for Officer Paul Hoke (known here as Paul from Towson) have been announced and our Drew's Morning Dish donation will be made to Infinite Legacy, per Officer Hoke's family's wish, sometime early next week. I will be attending his service on Sunday at Ruck Funeral Home and will pass along our group condolences via a sympathy card.

Thank you to those who have prayed for Paul's soul and for donating to the Infinite Legacy cause.

Now we'll get to football.

Some of the interview names that are being bandied about are now even more thought provoking with the news that Mike McDaniel was fired as the head coach the Dolphins yesterday.

Mostly because people love a name and have heard of McDaniel before, he was immediately considered a "favorite" to potentially come to Baltimore as the team's offensive coordinator.

There's a long, long way to go before that happens.

First, the team has to hire a head coach. And that looks like it's weeks away from being finalized.

Next, of course, the new head coach and the general manager work in concert to determine the offensive and defensive coordinators.

The Ravens have a number of people on their "potentially interested" head coach list that are involved in playoff games this weekend, so there's going to be a lot of activity next week after six teams are eliminated this weekend and Monday.

For instance, it's nearly a foregone conclusion within the industry that the Ravens are going to seek interviews with the likes of Jesse Minter, Mike LaFleur and Chris Shula. Those three guys might be in their respective off-seasons by Sunday night and could be in Baltimore early next week. Or their teams might win this weekend and the process drags on a bit.

So far, we know of two people who have formally interviewed for the job: Vance Joseph (Denver DC) and Davis Webb (Denver QB coach).

Those two were interviewed via conference call/ZOOM yesterday.

A team source says they were "overly impressed" with Webb, who is only 30 years old.

We also know these names have been confirmed for interviews at some point soon: Klint Kubiak (Seattle OC), Anthony Weaver (Miami DC), Robert Saleh (49'ers DC), Kliff Kingsbury (former Commanders OC), Brian Flores (Vikings DC) and Matt Nagy (Chiefs OC). Of those six, only Kubiak and Weaver have never served as a head coach.

Nagy is reportedly set to interview in Baltimore this Sunday.

McDaniel's firing opened the door for the Harbaugh-to-Miami rumors to kick up dust. Late Thursday morning, national reports circulated that said Harbaugh would put off formally interviewing with teams until next week.

I don't see Miami being interesting to Harbaugh whatsoever. The team stinks, there's almost no real interest or energized fan base down there, they have salary cap issues and their quarterback situation is a cluster-eff.

There are probably only three things appealing about the Dolphins job and two of them matter: They have great helmets, the weather is nice down there and there are tons of smoothie shops. From a football standpoint, the Dolphins job sucks. Harbaugh's getting $51 million over the next three years if he just decides to play golf every day. I can't see any way he'd be coaxed into taking a bad gig in Miami.

One very interesting sidebar to that stuff, though, is this: Is Harbaugh putting off interviews until he sees what happens this weekend with playoff games involving Green Bay and Buffalo? There are rumors that a coaching change in each of those cities could be in the offing if the Packers and/or Bills were to lose their first round games.

Green Bay would be Harbaugh's Grade A, first choice if he had his pick of any team in the league to work for. Buffalo, with a new stadium and a future Hall of Fame quarterback, would also be a nice consolation prize for getting fired on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Ravens are busy getting their list together and bringing people in for what most NFL followers believe will be a "round" of interviews. Some candidates will be eliminated early on, others will return for follow-up meetings.

The guess here is the Ravens will eventually settle on four "finalists", like they did in 2008 when the search came down to Jason Garrett, John Harbaugh, Brian Schottenheimer and Rex Ryan.

I still believe Klint Kubiak is the favorite for the job if the Ravens decide to go "offensive minded" with their new head coach and Jesse Minter will be the favorite if the team gives the role to a "defensive minded" candidate.

One Ravens source said to me on Thursday night, "There will be a sleeper or two in the mix as well."

---

Will asks -- "How will John Harbaugh ultimately be remembered in Baltimore?"

DF says -- "Once recency bias comes and goes and the next coach rolls in and the fan base gets fed up with him in 3-5 years, Harbaugh's "history" in Baltimore will have more clarity and be looked upon much differently than it is right now.

On the day he's inducted into the team's Ring of Honor, whenever that might be, it will be a true celebration for him and what he did over 18 years in Baltimore.

Right now, a significant number of people in town are reveling in his firing because that's human nature. Grave stompers, if you will. But over time, 10, 15, 20 years from now, he'll be remembered as a guy who stood the test of time, won a Super Bowl and was a remarkable ambassador for the organization in the community."

Chris P. asks -- "I have a serious question for your website's Q and A feature but if you don't want to answer it I understand. Have you ever thought of reaching out to your ex-boss and advising him on his fractured relationship with the Ravens? Do you care enough to even try to help him?"

DF says -- "That's not a fish I'm capable of frying. I think the ship has sailed on that one. I've said this a couple of other times when this subject has come up. You never beat a guy who has a barrel full of ink when you only have a pen full.

The Ravens have a barrel full of ink. He has a pen full. They're the Ravens. If anyone thinks writing "open letters" to them and trashing them beyond belief and calling them names and such is going to eventually endear you to them, you're out of your mind.

There's nothing that can be done about it and it can't be repaired. So, the short answer to your question is, "No, I haven't thought about it because there's simply no way I can do anything to help."

J.R. asks -- "What's going on with your Capitals? Are they going to make the playoffs, Drewski?"

DF says -- "It's obviously going to be very tight for the playoffs, but I'll with stick my original prediction that they'll clinch a spot in the last 3 games of the season. As for what's going on with them, I think it's probably more about the fact that the team we saw at the beginning of the season was playing over their head a tick.

They were getting excellent play from Thompson in goal early on, but that was a bit of an outlier. The Thompson we've seen of late is more like the guy you're going to see in the spring when crunch time rolls around. Lindgren is decent as well, but those two are never going to remind anyone of Ken Dryden, that's for sure.

They still need another goal-scorer or two. I don't know what kind of deals they can make at the deadline, but they need more guys putting the puck in the net than Wilson, Ovi, Chychrun and Protas. McMichael's season-long slump and Beauvillier becoming Anthony Mantha 2.0 aren't helping either.

But I'll put value in Carbery figuring out how to pull the right strings in March and April and I think they'll sneak into the post-season."

Keith asks -- "What's your take on Bisciotti's involvement or lack thereof with the Ravens these days? Is he at team headquarters all the time? Is he hands on or hands off?"

DF says -- "Well, he was hands on this week, obviously. I don't think he's as directly involved as he was, say, 15 years ago, but I'm sure he's still in the know with what's going on. When I was on the air every morning and at the facility a lot I would always know if he was in the building because his car would be in front of the Castle.

But I'm not around there any longer, so I have no way of knowing.

That said, he's at all the home games and I'm guessing he still makes most of the away games. It's a billion dollar business. He wants to have his fingerprints on it if the situation calls for it."

Carl asks -- "Still too early for your 2026 baseball predictions? What do you think the Birds will do this season?"

DF says -- "I haven't given it one second of thought. They look like they're an 85 win team at the very least. If Eflin can come back and be decent and if Baz is solid, they could creep up into the low 90's win total, I think."

I just remembered they have a new manager. I totally blanked out on that.

I don't put a whole lot of stock in that, honestly, but maybe he gets them a few more wins somehow. I don't know. I'll say right now they win 87 games. That probably gets them into the playoffs or on the cusp at least. But we all know 87 can become 80 if a few key guys get hurt. And 80 isn't going to get you into the playoffs."

M.C. asks -- "In your mind for next season, what would be considered "failure" for the Ravens with a new head coach and both coordinators being new?"

DF says -- "I think they're going to be expected to win the AFC North for starters. I mean, obviously they need to improve and upgrade certain parts of their roster, but they're going into the season with a top 5 quarterback, top 5 running back, and Andrews and Flowers as receiving threats.

They'll figure out how to do better than Humphrey at cornerback and I'm sure they'll focus on the defensive interior and the edge position via draft and free agency.

I don't see how their expectations are changing much, new coach and all. They will be expected to win the division and/or make the playoffs, for sure. They're going to pay the quarterback 50-plus million. They better make the playoffs."

Conway asks -- "Now that it's all over, I'll ask you a question I've been dying to ask: You always like to categorize a loss as "one of the worst in the Harbaugh era" so what were the 3 worst losses of the Harbaugh era?"

DF says -- "Well, #1 for sure was the AFC Championship Game at home to Kansas City. I mean, they held the Chiefs to 17 points and somehow lost. At home, no less. I realize they weren't blown out and they didn't squander a big lead or anything like that, but they had the Super Bowl on their racquet and couldn't serve the ball in play.

I'm trying really hard not to have recency bias but the 2025 season opening loss in Buffalo has to be #2. They were ahead 15 points with 4 minutes left. And lost. That's like being up by 10 in basketball with a minute left and losing. And that loss really came back to haunt them later on in the season.

As for #3, I'll go with the 49 yard Tyler Boyd TD catch that knocked them out of the playoffs. The Bengals were just playing for the sake of playing and we still couldn't beat them. And that was at home, don't forget. Getting knocked out of the post-season by the Bengals. At home. Yikes, yikes, yikes."

Bill P. asks -- "Of all the things that happened surrounding Harbaugh's firing what is the one best thing you believe will come from it? Moving Harbaugh on? Zach Orr also leaving? Monken? Just wondering what you think."

DF says -- "I have no idea if losing John is going to turn out to be beneficial. Only time will tell on that one. Same with Monken and Orr. Their replacements have to come in and do a good job or else "the swap", as it were, wasn't a good move.

I think the best thing to come from it is there's now an organizational reset -- I call it a "reboot" -- that puts everyone on notice that they need to lock in and do their job better than they've been doing it.

By going in and blowing up the coaching staff, Steve has clearly said, "I'm not happy and I own the team, so you better get this thing fixed. All of you."

It puts the players on notice. Lamar's now on notice. Andrews is on notice. Humphrey's on notice. The kicker is on notice. "You guys need to play better."

It puts DeCosta and his scouting staff on notice. "We need to improve the roster."

It puts the training staff on notice. "Get these guys more fit than they've ever been before."

So that's what I see as the "best thing" about an organizational reboot. Those who survived the purge know they could be next if their area doesn't get cleaned up."

faith in sports

"a fisher of men"

If you have five minutes to spare today, this is an awesome short video with Mets pitcher Nolan McLean.

He touches on a few really interesting parts of his life. The death of his grandfather, the way he was raised, and the path he took to finding his faith.

McLean's 5 minute video is very inspiring. I hope you'll get a chance to watch it.

"I want to be able to teach people, but I also want to grow closer to Jesus myself," he says.

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 January 8, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4154

the white elephant in the room

Day one of the rest of the Ravens life came and went yesterday with only a nugget or two of news coming out of Owings Mills.

And none of it came directly from the team, rather it was reported by various people in town and around the country.

One interesting morsel #DMD learned yesterday was that Steve Bisciotti didn't consult with any players whatsoever before he pulled the plug on John Harbaugh's tenure in Baltimore late Tuesday afternoon.

"No one saw it coming," the source told me. "None of the players knew it was even a possibility. John knew, at least a little, because he and Steve were talking on Monday and Tuesday about where things were headed in the future. But even John thought he was coming back until Steve told him he was making a change."

None of that is really important, of course. Steve owns the team and if he wants to make a change in any department, that's ultimately his call. But it does serve to negate any thought or whispers that Lamar is a locker room divider who stabbed his head caoch in the back behind the scenes. That simply never happened.

Elsewhere yesterday, there are reports that Miami has reached out to Harbaugh, even though they currently have a head coach in place. That one seems odd, but the Dolphins franchise has been floundering for years, so "odd" sort of fits with them at this point.

The New York Giants have, according to reports, officially scheduled an interview with Harbaugh for their vacant head coach slot. I guess "interview" is the formal word, but does John Harbaugh really have go up there and, you know, "interview" for the job?

I mean, are the Giants football folks going to sit in a room with Harbaugh, ask him an hour's worth of questions and then gather privately afterwards and say, "Well, boy, I don't know about that guy. Did you like what he said about cover-two defense?"

If the Giants are bringing Harbaugh to New York, I have to assume it's to offer him the job and hope he doesn't leave town until he takes it.

Anyway, Miami (reportedly) and New York (reportedly) are first up to enter the Harbaugh sweepstakes.

Two other interesting destinations have been floated over the last 24 hours. There are some in the league who think the Green Bay Packers could move on from Matt LaFleur if they lose to the Bears and go one and done in the playoffs.

Every coach in the league would love to work in the set-up they have in Green Bay. There's no formal "owner" of the team up there.

Harbaugh would relish the idea of coaching in that area of the country and the Packers are arguably the heart and soul of the NFL's roster of franchises. Vince Lombardi once coached there, of course. Green Bay is where football is football.

The other interesting destination for Harbaugh would potentially be Cleveland if he could get contractual assurances from Browns owner Jimmy Haslem that Harbaugh will be able to operate there without ownership interference.

There are a lot of captivating things about the Cleveland job. There's one negative, yes. Well, two, actually. They're the Browns and they have the Deshaun Watson contract hanging around their neck.

But there are a lot of positives about the Browns job from Harbaugh's standpoint.

Can you imagine the iconic, "folklore" status John Harbaugh would have if he were the coach of record when the Browns made their first-ever Super Bowl? Not that you would ever want to "own" Cleveland, but you'd own Cleveland if you got them to a Super Bowl.

Joining the Browns would also give Harbaugh two cracks a year at sticking a red hot poker up Bisciotti's rear end.

It would also give him two shots at flicking a booger at Ravens fans who rallied against him over the last couple of years and littered social media and the radio airwaves with criticisms about him and his coaching.

John is, for sure, very competitive. Ask anyone who knows him or anything about the inner workings of Owings Mills. John is ultra, super-duper competitive. "Betcha I can drink this glass of water faster than you..."

There's been some internet snickering about the letter John published on Tuesday in the wake of his dismissal and how that note offered no formal thank you to the fans of Baltimore.

I don't know this. And I haven't been told this by anyone. No source has confirmed this. This is, for sure, just my opinion: The absence of a thank you to the fans was absolutely done intentionally.

I do know this for sure: John was very put-off by the way the fans treated him over the last year or so.

And when I read his going-away note on Tuesday night, I knew right away that omission to the fans was done on purpose.

Personally, I think John will regret that and, somewhere down the road, he'll make amends for that faux pas.

He might take out a full page ad in the Sun later this week, in fact, just to "set the record straight". John is one of the best men I've ever encountered. I'm not talking about "football coach" here. I'm talking about human being stuff. John's one of the best I've ever met.

And I think when the dust settles and he has more clarity than he had on Tuesday, he'll offer a mea culpa to the fans and thank them.

But make no mistake about it, John would love to come back to Baltimore someday -- with any team -- and beat Bisciotti and the Ravens.

He won't get that chance much with the Giants. But he'd get that opportunity twice a year with the Browns.

I think it's certainly a longshot. But John's an Ohio boy, he'd be taking on the supreme challenge of all-time, and he'd get to punch the Ravens in the mouth twice a year (maybe). That's a lure he might have to bite.

And, yes, they appear to have a "quarterback problem" in Cleveland, but here's how he would look at that, I think. Shedeur Sanders is either going to wind up being waaayyyyyy better than everyone thinks (doubtful, but certainly a possibility) and John stumbles into Lamar 2.0 or Sanders stinks and they find another quarterback.

Remember, when Harbaugh came to Baltimore in 2008 they had a quarterback quandary. He inherited Boller (lousy), Troy Smith (lousy) and some kid from Delaware who was totally a shot in the dark (Flacco).

Anyway, the "smart" money is on Harbaugh in New York with the Giants, but if you made me bet it, I think I would take "the field" and give you the Giants on that wager.

As for the Ravens and their coaching search, they have reportedly agreed to interview at least three people thus far; Seattle's Klint Kubiak, Denver's Vance Joseph and Miami's Anthony Weaver.

I believe, as I wrote here yesterday, that Kubiak is Baltimore's #1 choice. That he's also desired by other teams around the league shows just how popular of a candidate he is. My guess is the Ravens will bring him in for an interview, fall in love on the spot, and offer him the job right then and there.

They might even sprinkle in a little "consulting role" for his dad, Gary, to sweeten the pie.

Anthony Weaver has long been a favorite of Eric DeCosta and others in the organization who will have a say in the coaching hire. Weaver will get a head coaching position in the league at some point soon. That's almost guaranteed. If Kubiak winds up elsewhere, somehow, Weaver moves into a "favorite" position.

Former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph will interview via ZOOM today. I don't think the Ravens will ultimately land on a "re-tread" (someone who has previously coached in the league before), but Joseph is getting a formal interview today, so there has to be some sort of interest in him.

I still believe Jesse Minter and Chris Shula will get interview requests from the Ravens. I also believe Mike LaFleur will surface as well. That said, a lot of it depends on how things go with Kubiak and Weaver.

The Ravens will be thorough about this process, for sure. The position is so lucrative ("Hi, would you like to come to Baltimore and coach on a team that has Lamar Jackson?") that anyone who is formally offered the job is almost certainly going to take it.

The question is, will the Ravens offer the job to Kubiak or Weaver before, let's say, they bring in LaFleur, Minter, Shula, etc.?

One name a source mentioned to me yesterday as someone they think the organization "likes" is Kevin Stefanski. He hasn't been formally granted an interview yet and I'm still of the mindset the Ravens aren't going with a re-tread, but Stefanski is a respected unemployed coach around the league.

And now, let's talk about the white elephant in the room.

Whenever a coaching change is made, the owner of the team is essentially saying, "We don't believe this team can win with this coach."

If you didn't think that way, you wouldn't be firing the coach.

Without saying, "We're choosing the players over the coach", that's precisely what you're saying when you fire the coach.

Steve Bisciotti didn't walk into Eric DeCosta on Tuesday and say, "OK, I've figured this out. Here's our problem. Lamar can't take us to the promised land, Humphrey's washed up, Roquan is overrated, Andrews doesn't come through in the clutch and we don't have any pass rush to speak of. So...find us a new quarterback, a new cornerback, a new linebacker, a new tight end and a new defensive end."

Bisciotti walked in and said, "I think the players we have right now are good enough for us to win. But I don't think the coach can take us there."

And so, he changed the coach.

I had a friend a while back that engaged me in a conversation about faith, God and the idea of eternal life and heaven.

"I don't believe it," he said to me.

"You don't believe in what?" I asked. "You don't believe that heaven exists for people who believe that Jesus was the savior of the world and that it's through his His life and His works that we can spend eternity in heaven?"

"Nope," he responded. "I don't believe in it."

"You don't think heaven exists and that Jesus isn't there to welcome you in when your earthly life comes to an end?" I replied.

"No," he said. "I don't believe that."

"And, so, you're going to spend your life here on earth not worrying at all about what happens to you after you die?" I asked him.

"Yes, that's correct," he said.

"Well, you better be right," I told him. "Because if you're not..."

The exact same scenario now confronts Steve Bisciotti and the Ravens.

You better be right.

Because that's the white elephant in the room that only the future can confirm.

Are the players good enough and the coaching wasn't?

That's essentially what you're saying in so many words.

You could have beefed up the offensive and defensive lines over the off-season and given that refurbished, improved product to John Harbaugh in 2026.

You could have drafted or signed a new cornberback to replace Humphrey and figured out what to do at defensive end and given that improved roster to Harbaugh next season.

But you didn't.

You decided the head coach was the problem.

And we all think (at least I think, anyway) that was the right call to make.

But you better be right.

Because if you're not right and Klint Kubiak or Anthony Weaver or Jesse Minter doesn't do what Brian Billick and John Harbaugh were able to do, then it becomes apparent that it's Lamar, Marlon, Roquan, Andrews, Zay, Bateman, Van Noy and so on who just weren't good enough.

When you fire the coach, you're essentially saying to the players, "It's not your fault."

The players all sat back on Tuesday night and posted their goofy emojis on Instagram and laughed and giggled in a group text, probably, because with their coach getting fired the heat was officially off of them for their underachieving 2025 season.

"Yeah, it wasn't us," they're now able to say. "I'm glad the owner figured that out."

Well, he better be right.

We all think he's right.

But he better be right on this one.

He was right about Billick. John Harbaugh came in and turned the franchise around and won a Super Bowl five years later.

We're hoping Bisciotti is right again this time around.

He better be.

Because if he's not right, the owner and the players will be the ones the fans will turn on next.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps get shellacked at home

It happened in the proverbial blink of an eye.

During the early portions of the second half, Indiana's Lamar Wilkerson single handedly turned a tight, 3-point game, into another blowout loss for the Maryland Terrapins.

His 16-point explosion over just 4:45 early in the second half left the Terps in the dust, the fans making a very early exit out of the gym, and allowed his Indiana Hoosiers to coast to a ransacking of “Maryland Pride”.

The final score was 84-66, played before an XFINITY Center crowd that I’d say was only 20% of capacity.

The score was 43-40 when Wilkerson went nuts offensively. Threes, (one from 33 ft) driving layups, foul shots...whatever. He did it and Maryland let him. By the time he had scored 16 straight points for his team, the Terps were in a deep hole and they folded from there.

The Terrapins lost their collective poise during, and after, Wilkersons bombardment.

They jacked too many threes, seemingly trying to counter Wilkerson. At some point, this collection of Maryland players needs to realize that they are a poor shooting team. They need easy looks.

In the first half they went to the rim, and had some success. When they threw up threes early in the shot clock during that clinching run, they look flustered. After the run, it was the defense that looked careless. The Terps got caught looking and were flat-footed numerous times, giving up easy layups and uncontested dunks.

Actually, they looked tired, disinterested, and defeated. They quit!

Wilkerson led all scorers with 24 points. Tayton Conerway added 19 for Indiana. Those totals are not all that out of the ordinary for those guards, but Maryland was embarrassed by Conor Enright. He came in scoring under 4 points a game, and walked out with a season high 16.

Elijah Sauders led the Terps with 16 points followed by Solomon Washington with 14.

The first 4 minutes featured the Terps working inside against an Indiana team that doesn’t have a prominent big man. The strategy was paying dividends early as Maryland forged ahead to an 8-5 lead after almost 5 minutes of play. All the Terp points, and all of their shots, came from inside the paint.

They were 4 of 6 shooting against Indiana’s 2-6. Indiana, true to form was far more interested in long range shots, hoisting 4 threes while connecting just once.

By the 11:52 mark, Maryland’s lead had grown by another bucket, 14-9. Cold Hoosier shooting (3-11) was primarily responsible for the Terps being able to slightly extend the lead. A trio of Terrapin turnovers kept the lead at 5 points.

Of Maryland’s 14 points, two came from the foul line and the others were close range shots. Officially, they were credited with 10 points-in-the-paint, but one shot was made with a foot in the red.

By the midpoint of the opening half, Indiana began to use their back-cut game, getting two layups and it was the Terps who were missing threes (now 0-5). The result was an almost 4-minute Terp scoring draught and an Indiana lead, 17-16, at the 7:42 mark.

Maryland had made just 1 of their last 8 shots, including missing their last 6. Going away from what was working early really hurt the home Terrapins.

The Hoosier lead was extended to 3, their biggest of the game, when play resumed with Conerway hitting pair of foul shots. A couple more free throws, this time by Reed Bailey pushed the advantage to 5, 21-16. Bailey also made another pair, and the lead was 23-16. The Indy run was 12-0 over 4 minutes. The Hoosiers were now 12 for 12 from the foul line.

Maryland finally scored, making a few free throws of their own coming off the hand of Elijah Saunders. The first Terp bucket from the field came on a nifty dribble move from Daruis Adams, who then drilled an elbow jumper on the right side.

Indiana was then able to make a three while the Terps were now 0-8 from long range. That triple from Conerway allowed Indiana to go into the final TV timeout leading 30-26 with exactly 3 minutes left in the half.

Andre Mills finally made the first Terrapin three with 31 seconds left in the half. Coming off a curl with a hand in his face, he cut Maryland’s deficit to 5, 36-31, with a fraction under 18 seconds left in the half. An Indiana turnover ensured the half ended with the 36-31 score.

The story of the first half was poor shooting by both teams, but the difference came from the foul line. Indiana was 2 for 12 (16%) shooting threes, only to be outdone by the Terps 1-9 (11%). The foul line stat read: Indiana 16-16 and Maryland 6-6. Having 16 made foul shots not only put easy foul line points on the board for the Hoosiers, but someone had to be fouling them to put them there. There were 4 different Terps that had collected 2 fouls.

Maryland got off to a 7-3 second half start to get the lead down to a single point. It was a Saunders three that closed the gap. When Conor Enright hit a three, followed by a four-point play by Wilkerson, Indiana had their largest lead at 9, 49-40.

It’s notable that the Terps were allowing Enright to have his way with them. With just 4:05 seconds played in half number 2, Enright had amassed 12 points. He averages less than 4 for a whole game. Indiana was looking like a team that was taking control.

When Wilkerson hit another three, the Hoosiers had clearly taken control. Shoddy Terp defense had allowed 13 points in under three minutes. They were in a 52-40 hole when coach Williams called timeout.

Both teams, at this point, had launched 5 second half three-point attempts. The problem for Maryland was that Indiana had made 4 while the Terps had hit just 1. They were now 2 for 14 for the game. Indiana was near their seson average at 35%.

By 11:04 the game had pretty much gotten out of hand. Wilkerson’s hot hand sealed the Terps fate. In less than 9 second half minutes, he had collected 16 points. The Terps were behind by big numbers and responded by launching threes. Of their 14 second half shots at this point, 8 of those were threes. They made just 1. Maryland can’t play that type of game. they don’t possess those types of shooters. The outcome had been decided.

Maryland simply ran out of gas, both physically and mentally. They looked engaged and energized in the first half, and early in the second. That all went away with the Wilkerson streak. It took the “want to” out of the Terps.

I wasn’t the only one that was disappointed with the second half effort. Coach Williams expressed his dissatisfaction in the post-game interview, and even the team’s broadcast crew mentioned that they looked “gassed”. Shell-shocked may have been more fitting and descriptive.

Maryland can’t shoot. The numbers were 41% from the field, 19% from the three-point line, and a disappointing 65% from the foul line.

Maryland guard, Isaiah Watts, got skunked last night. Injected as starter, he never got started. He missed every shot he took. From the floor, he only took threes. He missed all 7 of those. For good measure, he also bricked both of his foul shots. Ouch!

Diggy Coit, and his 11 points, might look good on the stat sheet. To me, the points didn’t really tell the whole tale. He was 1 of 6 shooting threes, turned it over twice, and dribbles way too much. His +/- wasn’t awful, but I thought the team stalled when he came into the game.

Anyone close to the program knows just how hard it was for Buzz Williams to field a Big Ten caliber team. He started with no players at all. The expectations are not real high, especially when your best player and only decent big man (Pharrel Payne) is out with an injury.

But here is one expectation that the fans rightfully have, the team needs to play hard for 40 minutes. They need to have, as the video board loudly states each game, “Maryland Pride”.

They didn't have it last night.

The Terps head west now for a 2-game trip to UCLA and USC. The Terps will face the Bruins in Los Angeles on Saturday at 8 pm.

Wednesday January 7, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4153

the harbaugh era ends

It was only three weeks ago when we set a new single day "visits record" here at #DMD. I'm quite certain today will blow those numbers out of the water.

You know the old saying: If it bleeds, it leads.

There was blood spilled yesterday in Owings Mills, as we all know by now. John Harbaugh started notifying his coaches and select staff members around 4 pm that he was no longer the head coach.

By shortly after 5 pm, word started to spill out.

The Ravens, I'm told, didn't have a formal mechanism in place to inform the players en masse about their head coach's departure. They all found out the same way you and I found out. From the streets.

The nuts and bolts of Harbaugh's departure are clear, yet some things are still murky.

The wheels were put in motion, I was told yesterday, following the loss to the Patriots on December 21st. Bisciotti was particularly aggravated with that defeat in the team's final regular season home game and was off put by the number of boos in the stands as the team exited the field.

It was the following week where he told people in the front office, "If we don't make some sort of dramatic run with this group of coaches, we're going to have to look at it all very closely."

A lot of people think the Steelers win on Sunday night was the catalyst for yesterday's decision, but it wasn't. The thought of making a change at head coach started with the losses to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in Baltimore and then gained full steam after the defeat to New England.

Even a win over the Steelers and a loss, say, to the Texans would have likely resulted in John's dismissal. Bisciotti had the same feeling a lot of people (us) have had recently: It was just time.

Was John fired or did he and Steve Bisciotti have a mutual understanding that it was simply best for John to start fresh and the Ravens to do the same thing?

That answer is interesting.

For purposes of his employment contract and the stipulated guarantees that go with it, John was fired. Resigning would have negated nearly all of the guaranteed monies he would be owed over the next three years.

A source told me yesterday that John, in concert with his agent, essentially said to Bisciotti, "If you're going to make this decision to let me go, let's get it done and move on."

They were never going to say, "We're leaving" or "We'd like to coach somewhere else" because doing that would have voided the guaranteed money Bisciotti owes the former Ravens coach.

In the end, Harbaugh will likely have his pick of several NFL jobs over the next 7-10 days. Steve will wind up not having to pay the money he owes him. Or at least not all of it.

The record will reflect that John was fired, yes, but the source I spoke with yesterday said he was almost relieved with the way it all unfolded late Tuesday afternoon.

"It was time. John knew that, too. He just wasn't going to quit," the source said.

An hour or two after the firing, as Harbaugh began reaching out to people who were contacting him, the former Ravens coach offered a similar message to all of them: "I'm at peace with it. Don't worry, I'm good."

As I wrote here yesterday, the time had come for John to move on from Baltimore. The results weren't favorable. The expectations weren't being met. And the tension in the team's offices wasn't decreasing. It was increasing.

There doesn't need to be any kind of formal post mortem or autopsy.

Going back to something I wrote here on Tuesday, John Harbaugh leaves Baltimore with nothing to prove at all. He arrived as a nobody and leaves 18 years later on the doorsteps of the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Oh, and he made $200 million while he was at it.

That it ended isn't surprising. It always has to end. It ends for all the greats. It ended for Lombardi and Shula. It ended for Noll and Parcells. It ended for Belichick, even.

Yesterday's "ending" was the best thing that could happen to Harbaugh at this point in his career.

John Harbaugh is a valued head coach in the NFL who will -- if he so chooses -- be working for another team before the end of the month. Maybe even the end of this week.

He needs -- as I wrote here yesterday -- a personal and professional reboot.

And the Ravens do, too.

Let's not forget about the team and the organization.

Everyone wants to blame the head coach because it's the easy, lazy, no-brains-required thing to do.

But there are a lot of hands stirring the pot of food that is the Baltimore Ravens. And that includes the team's Owner, President, General Manager, scouts, position coaches and, most importantly, the players.

Maybe they all need a reboot. In fact, strike the word maybe. They all need a reboot.

Perhaps the next time around, Steve Bisciotti won't be as patient with a floundering team and a floundering coach. I have no idea if Steve learned a lesson or two from this "experience", but maybe in 2029 or 2030, he fires the coach after back to back 8-9 seasons, giving into something -- making changes just for the sake of doing it -- he always claimed he'd never do when Harbaugh was the coach.

Make no mistake about this, though: No matter how it happened, when it happened or whether you think it was "right" to happen, Steve Bisciotti did the best thing for his organization and for John Harbaugh yesterday.

The time has come to start over at 1 Winning Drive.

Now, does that guarantee future success? It obviously does not. Just firing the coach and bringing in someone new guarantees nothing, really. Just ask the Titans, Raiders, or Cardinals, who go through coaches like you go through toothbrushes.

But we'll say it one final time for the folks in the back of the room: This was the only move Steve Bisciotti could make. It was the right move. It had to end. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but there was nothing else to do but change the head coach.

Oh, and because the focus is on the head coach right now, no one is talking about the white elephant sitting in the corner of the room. We'll talk about it here tomorrow. You can file it under "You wanted this, don't forget."

Also, there are rumors swirling about Todd Monken and Lamar Jackson butting heads. That certainly could have been true. Monken's known as a hardline guy and Jackson is well known around the Castle for a "just let me play" kind of attitude that he believes serves him best.

This doesn't really have anything to do with John Harbaugh getting fired. But it's an adjunct to the story because Lamar will almost certainly have some say in the team's next head coach and/or offensive coordinator. Next time around, Jackson won't be able to say, "I don't know that I like the coordinator." He will have helped pick the guy.

The other problem? The Ravens have $150 million tied up in Lamar Jackson. It's dangerous to let players -- any player, that is -- "call the shots" when it comes to offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators and such, but the proof is also in the performance pudding, if you will.

If Lamar's performance is suffering because he doesn't get along with the offensive coordinator, there's almost no way the organization is going to side with the offensive coordinator. They can fire Todd Monken tomorrow and give him the $2 million they owe him and that's that and no one cares.

They couldn't fire Lamar even if they wanted to. He has a no trade, no cut, pay me everything you owe me contract. It's good great work if you can get it.

And I'm not here to suggest the Ravens should choose Todd Monken over Lamar Jackson. Not at all. I am here, though, to say, "When you give the player all the leverage, there's not much wiggle room there for a difference in opinion."

So who will ultimately be the team's next head coach? There are a number of viable candidates, some of which I heard from sources last night and other names we've yet to hear or read about.

When the team went looking for a new head coach in 2008, no one knew who John Harbaugh was. He was a finalist, along with Brian Schottenheimer, Jason Garrett and Rex Ryan.

Bisciott, the story goes, was adamant that Garrett should get the job.

Others in the organization loved what they heard and "felt" about Harbaugh, but Bisciotti won out and Garrett was offered the position, only to turn it down when his wife got uneasy about living in Baltimore.

The rest, of course, is history.

18 years later, here we are again.

The safe, smart bet is that the Ravens are going to follow the same formula this time around. They'll bring in the hot "fresh faces" like Jesse Minter, Klint Kubiak and Chris Shula for interviews.

They may allow for one "re-tread" interview, if you will, like a Brian Flores or Vance Joseph, but the feeling I'm getting is those guys will lose out to a "Harbaugh'ish" hire, a guy with a great pedigree on one side of the ball who is the up-and-comer that can give the Ravens a long life of stability and consistency.

Two names I heard yesterday will, I think, be finalists.

Klint Kubiak, the Seahawks offensive coordinator and son of former Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak and Mike LaFleur, the offensive coordinator of the Rams and the brother of Packers' head coach Matt LaFleur.

Kubiak is already set to interview with the Raiders, Falcons, Giants and Cardinals. None of those four teams have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. If the Ravens call him in, he's making a beeline to Baltimore. His dad knows the organization and will sing its praises to his son.

Kubiak, I believe, is the front runner for the job if he wants it.

LaFleur is also a hot commodity after a 3-year stint as the Rams offensive mind. That he would come out of the Sean McVay camp is intriguing to everyone in the league.

My hunch is the Ravens are more inclined to go with an offensive minded coach because of Lamar. If they do give thought to a defensive coordinator taking over as their head coach, Minter and Shula will be primary candidates.

But my guess, if you made me pick a guy right now, is Klint Kubiak, assuming the wheels get put in motion quickly enough and he's not swayed to take another job elsewhere this week.

This is, of course, a monumental moment for the Ravens organization.

They can't mess this up.

Once upon a time, it was a monumental moment when Bisciotti fired Brian Billick and they went searching for a new coach.

They picked Harbaugh and that, of course, turned out to be a Hall of Fame decision for him and the organization.

Here it is, 2026, and it's time to do it all over again.

Will they get it right?

They better.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps host indiana tonight

Had I stopped my Indiana analysis 5 minutes into the first game I reviewed, I would have written a piece about how the Terps could handle Indiana tonight.

That went by the wayside when I watched the remaining 35 minutes of that game, and added one other full game. Let’s just say I’ve changed my mind, and here’s why.

While reviewing the Hoosier / Washington game, I saw an Indiana team that was relatively small and shot a ton of early threes. They weren’t getting to the rim and they didn’t impress me as a team that pounded the glass.

I was thinking this might be a friendly matchup for our Payne-less tiny Terps. Then I watched the rest of the game and my feelings somewhat changed.

We can generally discount the 5 threes that Indiana hit to start the game; they won’t do that again all year. Let’s call that an anomaly. I was, however, impressed by the patient offensive sets featuring a multitude of back cuts, and the dribble penetration that the Hoosiers displayed later in the game.

While not their leading scorer, it was Indiana’s Tayton Conerway that really impressed me. This 6’3” senior transfer from Troy showed the ability to get to the rim.

Despite a meager 31% from 3-point range, his overall shooting number is 54%. This is a testament to the short-range shots he creates off the dribble. Conerway only averages a shade over 12 points per game, but he can play defense and is very athletic.

Lamar Wilkerson is the guy who gets the most ink on this team. He’s a 6’6” guard who came over from Sam Houston State. His 19.2 points per game puts him 7th in the Big Ten. He’s not shy and will pull up from anywhere. His impressive 41% from the three point is partnered with a not-so-impressive 45% overall.

On offense, Wilkerson uses his size well, but he’s not a real slasher. His 195 attempts from longe range, vs only 80 shots inside the arc, points to a guy who frequently settles for the shot that requires less energy to get off.

Two other Hoosier starters need to be discussed. We’ll do Tucker DeVries first. Tucker is the son of Darian DeVries, the Indiana head coach. He came to Indiana after redshirting at West Virgina with a shoulder injury.

Prior to his abbreviated action with the Mountaineers, he was a top scorer for Drake. Of all active NCAA players, he is the one who has accumulated the most points. His 119 three-point attempts lead Indiana, and he makes 34.5%.

As expected from a coach’s son, DeVries is a heady player who does a solid job using screens, making cuts, and hitting the open man. At 15.5 points a game, the 6’6” senior is the second leading scorer on this Hoosier team.

There’s one other Indiana starter who plays good minutes, hardly ever scores, but leads the team in assists. Conor Enright came to Indiana from DePaul. He’s hardly an offensive threat (3.8 ppg), but he can handle and dish the ball. With close to 5 assists per game vs only a single turnover, his 5-1 assists to turnover ratio is impressive.

He reminds me of a guy who is a late choice in a pick-up point game at your local “Y”, but this 6’1” guy is as tough and scrappy as they come. Defensively, he’s an in-your-face defender who is not afraid of contact. Enright is like the fly that is constantly buzzing your ear. You keep shooing him away, but he comes right back. He’s a floor general for the Hoosiers and he’s fun to watch.

Sam Alexis comes off the bench more than starts and is the only true post-up guy on this Indiana roster. Before joining the Hoosiers, he was cutting down the nets with NCAA champion Florida last year. Getting just 12 minutes and 4 points each night for the Gators last season, this 6’9” senior could have a big impact on this game.

I’m not sure the Terps have an answer for him down low, and I expect Indiana to frequently isolate him on the low blocks. Look for him to exceed his 7.9-point average.

Maryland’s Pharrell Payne is listed as “Out” on the latest injury report. Without him, Maryland is without a multitude of offensive options. They’ll start a lineup that makes less than 40% of their shots.

They give up more points than anybody in the Big Ten and they are one of only 2 conference teams to have a negative point differential (-2.5, last in the league).

With all that against them, can the Terps possibly contend tonight? For starters, I think the starters for Buzz Williams’ team are more athletic than Indiana’s. The Maryland guards have trouble shooting, but outside of the Hoosier’s Conerway, the Terp backcourt is stronger and quicker. With Indiana having no dominant rim protector, drives to the paint could prove fruitful.

The home court should be meaningful tonight. Indiana played at home on Sunday, then had to travel to the XFINITY Center. The Terps were at home on Friday for their most recent contest. Maryland should be a bit more rested against a team that can push the ball when the opportunity exists. Fresh legs are a huge plus tonight.

Lastly, the schedule maker has not been kind to the Hoosiers. As stated, they played Sunday, then caught a flight to DC. After tonight’s 6:30 game against the Terps, they’ll face #10 Nebraska, #12 Michigan, #19 Iowa, #2 Michigan, Rutgers, then #5 Purdue. That’s a brutal run that just maybe has the Hoosiers looking ahead.

If this game were being played in Assembly Hall, a 20-point Terps loss would be in the cards. But it’s played in College Park and will be much closer.

Indiana’s lack of constant interior pressure, on both ends of the court, keeps Maryland alive in this game. Barring a catastrophic performance from the three-point stripe, the Terps can hang with this Hoosier team.

The books say I’m wrong, having posted Indiana as an early 8-point favorite. I’m inclined to take the points here, expecting a faster game than normal for Maryland. In the end it’s a tough loss in a game they could have won. 77-75, Hoosiers.

Tuesday January 6, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4152

harbaugh out

6:25 pm

I'm still piecing it all together, but apparently "this news" today was in the works for a few weeks.

Steve Bisciotti was upset with the two home losses to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the latter of which kick-started conversations in the building about the "direction of the coaching staff". While it wasn't necessarily directed at John, per se, it was known that this conversation was about a potential massive change in direction.

John knew there was a chance he was going to be part of those changes.

The home loss to New England and the controversial 4th quarter with Derrick Henry was the next big "story" in the building.

At that point, the decision was made. "If the team doesn't go on a dramatic run, we're going to make big changes," a source told me tonight.

I pressed what the phrase "dramatic run" meant. "At least two playoff wins for sure..."

John wasn't fired because the team lost to the Steelers on Sunday night. If they would have won that game but lost to the Texans next Monday night, the same changes were apparently going to be made.

That's what I'm hearing tonight.

5:50 pm

I'm still not 100% sure on "fired" or "mutually agreed to part ways", but I am hearing that there were discussions last week between John and Steve about the coaching staff moving forward into 2026.

John knew prior to Sunday's game in Pittsburgh that he was going to be put into a position to make changes within his staff unless there was a dramatic and unexpected playoff run.

I still don't know what the final straw was, but like I wrote a few minutes ago, my inclination is that John was fired. And Steve's obviously hoping he gets another head coaching job so he's not on the hook for $51 million over the next 3 years.

Still digging on this trying to figure it out.

5:32 pm

I'm trying to confirm the nature of Harbaugh's departure but I'm not having any luck. It's semantics, obviously, but still worth pursuing.

My two contacts haven't answered a text in the last ten minutes, but I'm sure they're dealing with "things" in their own world. I'm not the only person reaching out to them, for sure.

Was he fired? Or did he meet with Bisciotti and "mutually" agree to leave the organization?

My inclination is that he was fired.

But I'm trying to confirm that.

5:20 pm

It's official. John Harbaugh is OUT as the head coach of the Ravens.

At 5:04 pm tonight I received a text from someone. Someone who would know. It read: "John is gone."

I immediately sent a text back: "For sure?"

I didn't get an immediate reply.

I reached out to someone else who would more than likely also be a "first to know" kind of contact and said, "Is John out?"

At 5:15 pm I got a text back from that person: "He's done."

John Harbaugh is no longer the head coach in Baltimore. National reports are saying "fired" and that might very well be true. I can't confirm that part of the story. But I can confirm from two different Ravens-related sources he's no longer the coach.

---

one domino falls

OK, it's starting. Officially.

The Cleveland Browns have asked the Ravens for permission to interview Todd Monken for their vacant head coach position.

Monken -- who once worked for the Browns -- should hang up and immediately either block the Browns number or just send all of their calls to voice mail. I mean, it's the Browns.

Alas, he's going to take the interview and will likely be a viable candidate for the position.

And that domino, if it falls, will be the first one of the off-season for John Harbaugh and the Ravens.

It was probably always going to be Monken who somehow took the fall for the 8-9 regular season and the failure to make the playoffs.

Not that it should be Monken taking the blame. I mean, we all watched the games and saw the defensive unit get dog-walked over and over and over for the last four months. But Monken would be the easiest piece to pick on because he had the most athletic quarterback in football and one of the best three or four running backs in football and couldn't win 10 games with them.

I'm still here on Tuesday, two days after the season ended, saying "everything is still up in the air" with the Ravens.

That's just my take.

I still wouldn't be shocked if the Ravens and John Harbaugh aren't married by this time on Thursday.

It wouldn't shock me at all to see "something" happen with Zach Orr.

Monken leaving on his own accord would make it that much easier for Harbaugh, particularly with veteran offensive mind Kliff Kingsbury now available on the open market after getting the boot in Washington D.C. today.

This much I know to be true: You can't go 8-9 with a future Hall of Fame quarterback and running back and huge money spent on the defensive side of the ball and simply stand pat as if nothing happened.

And since you can't fire the quarterback, the running back and the three or four high dollar "other guys" on the roster, you have to come up with something else to show you're concerned about underachieving.

Monken will be the first domino to fall. If he doesn't get the gig in Cleveland, he'll get the open job in Nashville or Arizona or New York. Or Atlanta, perhaps, an area he knows well from his days at Georgia.

I don't know what they'd do with Orr's position if it eventually opens up. But they'd find someone.

The fans don't want to hear the next part of this, but it's true. Sadly, it's very true.

There's almost no one the team can hire for any coaching position that people will ultimately treasure and be grateful for.

It just doesn't work that way.

The only offensive coordinator the "football community" has ever really liked was Gary Kubiak. That's it. Everyone else turned out to be a turd in the fan's eyes.

The same goes with the defensive coordinator. Everyone loved Rex Ryan. Mike Macdonald was a bum in his first year -- 2022 -- to many people. Remember the Miami and Buffalo home games and the loss at Jacksonville later in the season? People wanted Macdonald gone after 10 weeks.

Macdonald's 2023 campaign was excellent, though, and he was clearly the fair-haired boy when he left for the Seattle job in 2024.

That said, over the last 25 years, the city of Baltimore has liked, semi-officially, three position coaches. Kubiak, Ryan and Macdonald. Everyone else eventually got chewed up and spit out by the faithful.

So, no matter who comes in for Monken or, if Orr is replaced, we're all going to wind up not liking those two dudes, too. It's as certain as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West.

In the meantime, though, let's continue to hash it out and see what comes of it.

---

if i were advising john

Black Monday came and went and a bunch of coaches in the NFL lost their jobs yesterday. John Harbaugh wasn't one of them.

I don't think it's a complete done deal yet that Harbaugh will be back in Baltimore next season, but I'll concede, at the very least, that if Steve Bisciotti had intended to fire John, he would have done it yesterday.

But I still think there's a scenario -- slight as it might be -- where John winds up coaching elsewhere in 2026. Those sort of things take more than a day to marinate and put into action.

The interested owner calls Bisciotti on Monday and says, "Are you doing anything with Harbaugh? Because, if you are, we'd like the chance to talk with him about coming here before the news hits that you're letting him go. Maybe we can work something out where it appears like he's leaving to pursue other opportunities, you know?"

Steve then needs to present that to John and his agent. Maybe that happens today at lunch. Maybe it happened this morning over coffee or last night over a glass of wine.

Bisciotti owes this conversation to Harbaugh.

"John, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay here and keep on keeping-on or do you want to go somewhere else and start fresh?"

If Harbaugh says, "I'm staying to see this through" then he and Bisciotti dig in and have the conversation about getting this thing "fixed" with new coaches, new players and so on.

But my thought is this might be the time where Steve is a little more forceful with that question. "Look, John, I'm not firing you. You know that. But I'm also asking you if you think maybe, just maybe, it's time for you to put a bow on these 18 years in Baltimore and go somewhere else."

Anyway, if I wind up being wrong, so be it. But I've said all along if the Ravens 2025 season went sideways and they didn't make the playoffs that John wouldn't return in 2026. The next few days will tell if I threw a bullseye there or missed the board completely.

That said...

If I were serving as an advisor to John Harbaugh, I would tell him the time has come.

It's time for a new challenge in a new NFL city, wherever that might be.

Moving on from Baltimore really would be the best thing for him at this point in his career. He's young by football coaching standards. He could do what guys like Belichick, Parcells and Reid did and go to a new spot and have additional success with a new franchise.

I make it a habit of trying hard not to tell people what to do with their money. Steve Bisciotti owes Harbaugh $51 million over the next three years. I'm sure of one thing: Steve is not interested in writing John a free check for $51 million.

When he fired Brian Billick, Steve had to fork over $18 million, minus the meager amount ($300,000, I believe, if memory serves me right) Brian made for doing TV each year.

Paying someone $17 million to go away and paying someone $51 million to go away are vastly different, even with 18 years separating the two payments.

I realize Steve is a billionaire. I get it. $51 million to him is probably like $5,000 to you and I. It ain't "nothin'", but it's not going to force him to sell a yacht or give up one of his golf memberships.

Anyway, the whole point of this is I don't think it's incumbent upon Steve to fire John.

If John asked me for advice, I'd tell him the time has come for him to go somewhere else for the final chapter of his coaching career.

No matter what the goofs at the end of the bar think or say, John Harbaugh has absolutely ZERO to prove to anyone in Baltimore. He came here in 2008 and won immediately, continued to win, and despite the up-and-down nature of the entire sport, he consistently put the Ravens in a position to succeed.

Any thought that John can't leave the Ravens because of "unfinished business" in Baltimore is absurd. Sean McDermott has "unfinished business" in Buffalo. He hasn't won jack squat up there. Kyle Shanahan has "unfinished business" in San Francisco. John Harbaugh has nothing to prove to anyone in Baltimore.

There's no reason to debate the merits of how "great" he was, how "lucky" he was, how he owed everything to Ray Lewis and Lamar Jackson and one golden month of quarterbacking from Joseph Vincent Flacco.

You either like John Harbaugh and think he is/was a good coach or you believe that other stuff and think Harbaugh's teams won games despite his coaching acumen or lack thereof. There's really no in between.

Harbaugh is like chinese food. You either like it or you don't. If you're not a chinese food eater, I'm not turning you into one just because I swear to you that the Moo Goo Gai Pan at Joey Chiu's is to die for.

And as someone who has nothing at all to prove here, I'd tell John that what he really needs in his career is the same thing Andy Reid needed when he left Philadelphia and went to Kansas City.

He needs a new start.

A new team.

New players.

New...everything, basically.

It's not about money. Heck, in a weird twist of fate, John would actually benefit from a financial standpoint if he went to the Giants or the Falcons or the Titans. He gets $17 million per-season now in Baltimore? He'd get $20 million per season in those three places.

My urge to John would be to go somewhere new and do what your former boss did when he left Philadelphia for Kansas City. Move on, move up and move forward.

If Harbaugh went to the Giants, Titans or Falcons, all three of those franchises and teams would be better right away. I have no idea what their rise would look like, but Harbaugh's presence alone and the culture he'd build in those three organizations would be worth a few wins a year at the very least.

But all of that is just guess-work. I don't know if those teams would go 11-6 under Harbaugh or 6-11.

That's not really the point.

The point I'd try to get across to John is simple: "You've done all you needed to do in Baltimore."

"Go to a new team and reinvent yourself the way Andy Reid did," I'd suggest to him.

It helped that Reid had a guy named Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, sure. But show me a great, Hall of Fame coach who got to Canton without the aid of a great quarterback with him. I'll be here waiting.

John Harbaugh is a football coach. He'll go in the Hall of Fame someday as a decorated, three-decade head coach no matter if he finishes his career in Baltimore or goes elsewhere.

A football coach can be a football coach anywhere. Well, maybe not from New England to the University of North Carolina, but there's a lot of moving parts to that one. You know what I'm saying, though. If you can coach in Baltimore you can coach in Atlanta or Nashville or Las Vegas.

My message to Harbaugh would be simple: This stint in Baltimore has run its course. Your record speaks for itself. There will always be critics or naysayers. It's the nature of human beings. They build you up just to tear you down.

I don't know if we're an outlier or just another city who does this well, but Baltimore can run their icons out of town in punishing fashion. We did it to Eddie Murray, long before most of you reading this were even born, probably.

We did it to Brian Billick.

We did it to Buck Showalter.

Heck, we even started to do it to Joe Flacco, remember. As the distance between his epic 2012 Super Bowl run grew larger, people in town started to turn on him, even.

And it's happening with John Harbaugh as well.

It's pretty much inevitable that if you're a high profile athlete in Baltimore and your tenure runs a decade or more, you're going to get harangued by a significant percentage of people in town. And that's really not an indictment of the fan base in general. It just is what it is.

Stay here long enough and folks will eventually grow tired of you.

A lot of coaches don't like to "quit", especially when they don't get to go out on their terms. An 8-9 record and another fourth quarter defensive collapse were most certainly not John's expected "terms" in 2025.

But quitting and simply having the understanding that it's time to move on to something new are totally different things.

It's a slippery slope for sure. Coaches generally don't just give up. They're simply not wired that way.

Fans "quit" on the team all the time, from sport to sport, because it's not in their blood. They just buy tickets and watch the games, but they always wake up the next day and go to their place of employment.

Coaches usually don't quit. They're almost always fired before they quit.

But in this case, it seems like moving on to do his own thing is the best, natural move for the embattled Ravens coach. As Schwarzkopf famously once said; "Deal with reality as it is, not as you wish it were."

I'd tell John it's pretty obvious that the time has come to end things in Baltimore. If you want to call that quitting, go ahead and call it quitting. Or just call it what it is: A time for a career reboot.

The reality is the Ravens have failed to play up to the level of their own expectations over the last three years.

In 2023, they went 13-4 and had home ice throughout the playoffs, only to lay an egg at home in the AFC Championship Game.

Last January in Buffalo, they played scatter-brained football throughout the first three quarters before mounting a rally that turned out to be too-little, too-late, punctuated by Mark Andrews' drop of a 2-point conversion. OK, that drop wasn't Harbaugh's fault, but his team, again, failed to rise above the fray in a do-or-die situation in Buffalo.

And then you had the two home losses to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh late in the 2025 regular season, the latter coming after the Ravens had a 10-day break. Frankly, those two defeats were far more telling than losing on Sunday night in the season finale.

In those two games vs. the Bengals and Steelers -- neither of whom were any good, really -- the Ravens were pretty much roasted. At home. Sunday night, in fairness, they were the better team for the most part but lost because their kicker missed a kick he makes 90% of the time (actually, 100% of the time before Sunday night).

I realize they didn't have Lamar for four games in 2025, but they had him for 13 games and still couldn't stack enough victories to win what turned out to be a lousy AFC North.

Now, maybe some of that is on Lamar, sure. He wasn't exactly the next coming of Tom Brady in those home losses to the Bengals and Steelers. But Jackson is not the problem here in Charm City. Not yet, anyway. His time will come -- of this you can be certain -- and he'll eventually be the next guy people want to chase out of town.

At some point, the head coach has to look around when expectations are routinely not met and say, "I don't think it's me. But maybe it is?"

So that's why and how I would tell John it's time to go.

Move on now, John. Move on to something new. Move on to where you're wanted. Move on, almost for the sake of just moving on, because sometimes that's the very best reason to do it in the first place.

Baltimore and the Ravens will survive without John Harbaugh and he, too, will survive without the Ravens and Baltimore.

All good things do come to an end.

If I were advising John, I'd tell him the end has arrived in Baltimore.

Monday January 5, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4151

ravens gonna.......???

So we're not even 24 hours into the off-season and The Land of Pleasant Living is in chaos.

But we knew that.

I mean, it really didn't matter "how" the Ravens lost, but the impact and the post-mortem were certainly going to depend somewhat on the manner in which the improbable "L" occurred in Pittsburgh.

In this case, the main goat was the kicker. But the defense also did their (expected) part by twice coughing up a late fourth quarter lead.

And because, much like our oft-maligned President, there's never an occasion when the head coach doesn't get some of the blame, somehow there are still even people blaming John Harbaugh for the way things unfolded at the end of the game.

But here's the deal. And these are facts, really. It's not so much "the deal" as it is just plain old facts.

Lamar Jackson has played in the NFL for eight seasons now and has never once advanced past the AFC Championship Game. He's only played in one of those, and on that occasion, on that relatively balmy late January day in Baltimore, he and his offense mustered up a grand total of 10 points.

There are always moments of brilliance from Jackson, whether that was the awesome throw to Zay Flowers in that aforemtioned AFC title game for an early touchdown, or the way he engineered the team to a late rally in Buffalo last January. And even though last night wasn't a playoff game, per se, it had all the trappings of one. And he was once again outstanding in the 4th quarter of that loss.

But let's call it like it is. There are four quarters and 60 minutes in those win-or-go-home games and Jackson has never really been "the difference" in them. His outstanding play has been offset by pedestrian play, last night's performance a prime example of that assessment.

He was excellent on the first drive of the game, then mostly vanished until the 4th quarter uprising. He's certainly not the reason why the Ravens lost. But he's also not the reason why they won, either.

And why do I bring him up first? Because he's the quarterback and he makes the most money. It's a quarterback's game. It's been that way for a long time in the NFL. The team whose quarterback plays the best almost always wins.

The Ravens have a problem.

And here it is: Everyone's expendable. Including the head coach and his staff.

You can move on from any of the players and still be 8-9.

You can move on from any of the players and go 12-5 and then lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Quick, name 5 guys on the Jaguars.

They're 12-5 and when/if they get bounced by the Bills next weekend, they're just another team with a bunch of guys who were good when the games mostly mattered but when they had to man-up for the game that REALLY mattered, they couldn't do it.

That's presupposing they lose to the Bills, of course. Then again, you can say the same thing about Buffalo if they lose in Jacksonville, so it works either way.

The Ravens have a problem.

A lot of people in town think their head coach is the problem.

I agree he's a problem. But so are the football players. They aren't good enough in crunch time.

Losing and not being able to finish games out is in their DNA.

Someone jokingly wrote this in the Comments section: Ravens gonna Ravens.

Guess what? The truth hurts.

Lamar gonna Lamar.

Humphrey gonna Humphrey.

I hope this isn't the case or he's in trouble in his career, but Loop gonna Loop?

And Harbaugh gonna Harbaugh.

As it stands right now, you can add "Ravens gonna Ravens" to the variety of Sunday football quips you offer.

These football players employed by the Ravens are very good at what they do. Don't get it twisted. There are only 1,500 or so of them in the entire world who work in the NFL for a living.

But you know what they're not very good at? Winning.

I listen to Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith wax poetic about how they need to "reflect and soul search" and do a deep dive into why this keeps happening, which to some people in town is a veiled swipe at the coach and/or coaching staff.

It's laughable.

You went into Pittsburgh with your roster fully healthy minus Rashod Bateman (and his replacement actually did something in the game) and lost to the Steelers after building leads of 10-0, 17-13 and 24-20.

Had the Ravens won, Marlon Humphrey wasn't going to the internet and praising the coaches. He would have danced around on the team plane and made fun of Patrick Queen and would have said, essentially, "Look at me and how good I am."

I watch the games. All of them.

These players are not winners. Plain and simple.

You can change the coaching staff if you want. And, as I've said here numerous times this year, I think John Harbaugh will not be the coach next season in Baltimore. I don't think he'll be fired. But I do think someone else will be coaching the Ravens in 2026.

But if a new coach comes in, I don't see that serving as the magic elixr to suddenly transorming these guys into winners.

I just don't.

Ravens gonna Ravens.

It's in their DNA unfortunately.

Prove me wrong.

---

an instant kick to the groin

Well, that was an instant classic last night in Pittsburgh. No two ways about it.

It just went the wrong way. Or, way right, as it were.

We won't soon forget the way that one ended. Did the better team lose? Maybe. But, you know, kickers...

So the 26-24 loss, aided by an improbable (wildly) missed 44 yard field goal by Tyler Loop at the buzzer, ends the Ravens season at 8-9 and also moves the Steelers into the post-season as AFC North Champions.

I don't know where you rank the all-time gut-punch losses in the John Harbaugh era, but that one is right up there as a gold medal candidate.

They squandered a 10-0 lead, came back twice in the 4th quarter to take four point leads, then allowed Aaron Rodgers to move the Steelers into the end zone twice before the hosts had their own improbable miss of an extra point that created a 26-24 score with just under a minute remaining in the game.

There's no sense in telling you what happened on that final drive.

Well, Isaiah Likely made a David Tyree-type catch on 4th and 7 to keep the Ravens' season alive. We probably should give that one a mention.

But it all came down to a kick. A 44-yarder. On a calm, wind-free night in the Steel City.

A 44 yarder for a competent NFL kicker is semi-automatic. They're made far, far more than they're missed.

Alas, Loop -- who hadn't missed a kick inside of 50 yards all season -- badly shanked the game-winning effort. And that was the end of the Ravens season.

Loop's missed kick will always be remembered as the reason the Ravens failed to win the AFC North in 2025, but the more discerning review will focus on several other "less dramatic" turn of events.

The Ravens jumped out to a 10-0 lead and were in prime position to dispose of a Steelers team that was more than willing to wilt and go away quietly. But Lamar and the offense were "off" in the opening 30 minutes, for whatever reason.

And even though Mike Tomlin inexplicably eschewed an automatic three points right before halftime, that drive near the end of the first half that was thwarted on the final play of the second quarter by Gilman and Van Noy left an unsettling feeling in your stomach. Maybe, just maybe, the Steelers offense -- as ragged as it was -- was going to percolate in the second half.

Lamar and the Ravens offense sputtered in the third quarter while the Steelers seized all of the momentum. It was 13-10 in the 4th until Zay Flowers slipped behind the Pittsburgh defense to make it 17-13. This looked all too familiar though. Could the Ravens get a defensive stop and put the game away?

They could not.

But even after the Steelers went ahead, it was the Ravens offense that delivered another big blow. Another Lamar-to-Flowers throw made it 24-20. Surely this time, with no timeouts at their disposal, the Steelers wouldn't be able to solve the Baltimore defense.

Wrong. Again.

With two opportunities to close out the game, as we've seen countless times over the last few years, the Ravens simply couldn't do it.

I asked a question here a week or so ago about "winners" and how many of those the Ravens have.

Is Lamar a winner? I don't know. He generally hasn't been a "winner" in Pittsburgh, that's for sure. And if you count last night's game as a de facto playoff game, he certainly hasn't been the next coming of Joe Montana when the Ravens are in "must win" situations throughout his career.

You need winners in sports. Athletes that know how to win.

Do the Ravens have winners?

The answer, on defense at least, is that they don't really have any other than perhaps Kyle Hamilton. And Hamilton was on the field in Buffalo and New England, let's not forget.

Time and time again, both this year and in '24 and '25, the Ravens simply couldn't close. They're like a golfer with a 2-shot lead with four holes to go who can't seal the deal. Or a basketball team with a 4-point lead with a minute left who can't close the game out at the foul line.

It's old hat now, but in a weird, twisted kind of way, it's fascinating to watch from the cheap seats. A team -- or at the very least, a unit -- that lets the moment swallow them up time and time again is tough to take, particularly if your job depends on them.

Lost in the uproar over Loop's missed kick were three things that helped change the outcome and gift the AFC North to the Steelers.

First, The Ravens produced absolutely no pass rush. Yes, Aaron Rodgers made some nice throws. Yes, you still have to respect his abilities, despite the tread wearing thin on his tires. But any quarterback in the league is able to make good throws when they only hit the ground once or twice in 60 minutes.

Whether it's a personnel related issue (DeCosta) or a scheme-centric issue (Orr), the reality is Baltimore's inability to pressure the quarterback was a massive black eye on the 2025 team. Not just last night in Pittsburgh, mind you, but in the other regular season losses to New England, Cincinnati and the Steelers in Baltimore.

2. The loss of Kyle Hamilton to a concussion was huge. That's not to say the outcome wouldn't have been the same. Maybe it would have still been a loss with a completely healthy Hamilton.

But losing him for the bulk of the second half, especially on a night when the Ravens were getting zero pressure on the quarterback, was more than Zach Orr's defense could handle.

Marlon Humphrey's play was again spotty at best. For all the spotlight-soaking he likes to do on the internet, you'd think he's the next coming of Ronnie Lott. Instead, at this point, he's a notch or two better than Corey Ivy.

The same goes for Roquan Smith. He's at times been compared to Ray Lewis. I assume that's because he has two feet and two arms. The comparisons should stop there.

When the Ravens needed two of those guys (Hamilton was out and unable to help) to button up the game in the final five minutes, neither of them could do it. Let's just call it like it is.

3. The last two Pittsburgh drives that resulted in touchdowns were simply inexcusable. Shockingly, they were not referee aided.

How much of that blame goes to Zach Orr is for someone with more football acumen than me to answer. The whole season came down to the Steelers' final drive. Because Pittsburgh didn't have any timeouts, all the Ravens needed was one defensive stop and that would have been the game.

Instead, Rodgers drove them right down the field. And then Chidobe Awuzie bit on a stop-and-go fake by Calvin Austin III and slipped, giving the 4-time NFL MVP an easy throw-and-catch to a wide-open Austin III for the go-ahead TD.

Even though Lamar was pretty lousy for three quarters, the story of the game turned out to be the Ravens inability -- again -- to close the deal when handed the opportunity.

Jackson came through with a virtuoso performance in the 4th quarter to save himself from a few months of scorn, going from the outhouse to the penthouse with some stellar late-game play.

The Baltimore defense, though, took his spot in the outhouse with a horrendous final 15 minutes.

The book closed on Tyler Loop's rookie season with last night's miss, but it wasn't just that kick that came back to haunt the Ravens.

Loop also had a kick-off go out of bounds after the Ravens had taken a 17-13 lead. That gave the Steelers the ball at their own 40 yard line and paved the way for their go-ahead touchdown six plays later.

The Baltimore kicker led the entire NFL with eight kick-offs out of bounds in 2025. The next closest to Loop had 5 kick offs go out of bounds.

That's a problem.

The "gut feeling" is that Loop will be back in '26 as the Ravens kicker. He said all the right things after the game last night, meeting with the media and assuming the blame for the missed (winning) kick.

"We have the one minute rule," he said last night. "When something bad happens, you let it go after one minute. This one might take a little longer than that, but I'll get over it and move on."

We'll see about the "getting over it" part.

I hope he's right.

I felt bad for Chris Boswell when he missed the extra point and I don't even like the Steelers. I have a soft spot for kickers because they have one job to do and when they don't do it, it's almost always simply "their fault".

Loop's performance in 2025 was good. It wasn't great. Let's just say this without trying to stir the pot: Justin Tucker, he isn't.

And so, the $64,000 off-season question will be the obvious one. Will Loop recover from last night's gaffe and turn into a reliable, high quality kicker?

The answer will only come with more kicks and more "win or lose" situations like the one he faced last night.

Scott Hoch missed a 2.5 foot putt to win the 1989 Masters and was never the same after that miss.

Billy Cundiff was definitely never the same kicker after his 32 yard failure in the 2011 AFC Championship Game. It's fair to point out, of course, that Cundiff's miss was only to tie the game, not win it like last night's effort from Loop. But Cundiff never really recovered from that faux pas.

From a team standpoint, it's fair to say the Atlanta Falcons still haven't recovered from squandering a 28-3 third quarter lead in the 2016 Super Bowl. Here we are, ten years later, and they're still stuck in the mud down there.

Only time will tell if Loop has the resolve to put behind him what happened last night in Pittsburgh. As long as he's a Raven, he'll have to go back into that building at least once per-season. Let's hope he can handle the ghosts that will follow him there.

We'll unpack more of Sunday night's loss as the days go this week, but there's one thing for certain. The Ravens, sadly, have "squandering games" in their DNA.

It's no longer a skin rash or even a virus.

Failing to close games out and seal the deal is now in their blood.

It just is.

Three years ago they had a gift trip to the Super Bowl waiting for them and couldn't score 18 points against the Chiefs in Baltimore, with the defense allowing Mahomes to connect with Marquez Valdes-Scantling on 3rd and 9 in the final two minutes to seal the 17-10 AFC Championship Game.

Last year, they stumbled and bumbled their way to a playoff loss in Buffalo, with Lamar and Mark Andrews sharing the goat horns with turnovers and dropped two-point conversions.

And then, in September, a return visit to Western New York provided a glimpse into what we were in store for in 2025, as the Ravens somehow gagged away a 15-point lead with under five minutes remaining and lost at the buzzer on a field goal, 41-40.

Three weeks ago, a 24-13 lead against New England evaporated in less than 10 minutes.

And then, last night, well, you saw it for yourself.

It's a problem. A real, legitimate problem.

That "c-word" in sports is one that makes us all nervous. No one likes to say "choke" or "choking" just like a real golfer never says "shanking" or "shank" or "shanked" out loud.

But the reality is, the Ravens have choking in their DNA. It's not a virus. Those go away. This.....isn't going away.

Sunday January 4, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4150

so, uh, about that "guarantee"

You know, I've been doing some thinking this week.

About tonight's game in Pittsburgh, to be exact.

And......

I know earlier in the week I came in here stomping and yelling about a "guaranteed win" for the Ravens and all.

I guess as the week has gone on, I've started to realize that maybe Pittsburgh isn't going to be quite the roll over I first thought.

I mean, they do have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Old and all, as we saw in Baltimore last month, he can still fling it.

That Gainwell dude is pretty freakin' good.

They're apparently getting one of their wide receivers (Austin III) back, as well as defensive end T.J. Watt.

So, if I may, let me just say this: This game tonight might not be the walk in the par -------

Come on man, who am I kidding?

The Ravens are gonna wipe the floor with the Steelers tonight.

Book it.

Guaranteed.

OK, I know I probably didn't "get you" there. I'm never going to offer a "guarantee" on Monday and then take it back later in the week. That's just not the way you do it.

The Ravens were always winning this game tonight no matter who played at quarterback. But with Lamar Jackson under center, it's even more of a slam dunk.

Ravens 33 - Steelers 16

That's my score call. It's always been my score call, from the very minute Cleveland finished off Pittsburgh last Sunday.

I just don't see how the Steelers are going to score enough points to win.

I know it's a week-to-week league. Last Sunday, Pittsburgh looked pathetic in going touchdown-less against the Browns. Tonight, who knows? They could rack up 30 on the Ravens.

As Aaron Rodgers pointed out on Thursday, "If you look at my career, I almost never put up two stinkers in a row."

But I think there's a MUCH better chance that Pittsburgh scores 16 than they score 30.

I can see Pittsburgh finding the end zone once and getting in the red zone a few other times and needing to kick field goals to reach that 16 point mark.

Even with Mike Tomlin's team registering 16 points, though, there's just no way the Ravens don't score at least 17.

I would be very surprised if the Ravens don't win tonight. If they don't win, a lot of people are going to have to answer for it.

Earlier in the week, during my visit with Glenn Clark Radio, the show host asked the question that has been on everyone's mind over the last couple of weeks.

"If the Ravens don't make the playoffs, is Harbaugh in trouble?"

I've answered that question so much over the last two weeks I feel like I should have just recorded it and played it back for anyone and everyone who asked me recently.

"I don't see Steve firing John no matter what happens. That said, I could see a scenario where John doesn't return because it's part of a mutual decision he makes in concert with Steve." That's basically been my go-to response.

Now, here's what I told Clark this week that I will call an "addendum" to that declaration.

If the Ravens do somehow manage to lose tonight, I could see the "how" it happens having some sort of potential impact on Bisciotti's decision.

Like, if there's some kind of clock management fiasco with 1:30 remaining and the Ravens are up 24-20 but they give Pittsburgh 30 extra seconds somehow and the Steelers win at the buzzer. Or another one of those blown two-score leads in the 4th quarter. Or a sticky situation where Derrick Henry doesn't run the ball enough, blah, blah, blah.

I do think "how" they lose could matter.

But on the whole, I'm sticking with what I've thought all along. John's not getting fired win or lose, but I can see a scenario where a loss might be met with a meeting and the famous "mutually agreed to part ways" announcement, where Harbaugh goes on to coach in Tampa Bay or Las Vegas or Tennessee and Steve doesn't have to fork over $51 million for a guy he no longer employs.

That said, if I'm John, why would I go to one of those three franchises? Two of the three don't have a young, decent quarterback and the one they have in Tennessee is definitely still a coin-flip.

If Steve pops in and says, "Do you still want to do this next year here in Baltimore?", John has 17 million reasons to say, "I sure do."

All of this, I think, will be eye wash by midnight tonight. The Ravens will win to finish 9-8 and Harbs will be back again next year, no matter what happens in the post-season.

The only question remaining after tonight will be: Well, Houston, do we have a problem? (Next weekend)

Thank you to those of who reached out yesterday with condolences for Officer Paul Hoke, affectionately known here at #DMD as "Paul from Towson." He will be sorely missed here and in our community, where he proudly served in the Baltimore County police department for 30 years.

And thank you to those who sent in contributions for our "memorial donation" in Paul's memory. As soon as arrangements and charitable endeavors are announced by the family, we'll put our donation together from "The community at Drew's Morning Dish".

If you're interested in joining me and others in making a contribution to a police-related fund please Venmo or PayPal me whatever amount is feasible for you. I'll suggest we make it simple. If you can see to it to donate $10, I'll match whatever comes in from each of you.

You can Venmo me: Drew-Forrester-1

Or PayPaul: 18inarow@gmail.com

Saturday January 3, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4149

tough morning

It's with profound sadness that I inform all of you here that our friend, Officer Paul Hoke, passed away on Friday after suffering a stroke on New Year's Eve.

We knew him here as "Paul from Towson". He was 49 years old and a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore County police department.

I knew Paul for roughly 15 years.

He was a "P1" listener to my radio show during the old days. Additionally, in a story I might have only shared here one other time since 2014, Paul was the officer I contacted when I received several threatening pieces of mail at the station circa 2012.

He not only sat on Hart Road in an unmarked patrol car for several mornings, he also stationed himself on one of our buses to New England for a Ravens-Patriots playoff game to make sure I was safe.

Officer Hoke was a good man. He was proud to protect and serve his community.

When I started #DMD, he quickly became a regular reader and, later, a fixture in the Comments section. He was passionate about the Orioles, Ravens and Capitals.

I was informed of his New Year's Eve "medical emergency" by a friend of his early yesterday morning. A few hours later, a mutual friend of ours associated with the police department informed me Paul would almost certainly not survive through the end of the day on Friday.

Sadly, I learned of his passing last night while I was at the Maryland-Oregon basketball game in College Park.

If you're interested in joining me in making a contribution to a police-related fund "from his friends at Drew's Morning Dish", please Venmo or PayPal me whatever amount is feasible for you. I'll suggest we make it simple. If you can see to it to donate $10, I'll match whatever comes in from each of you.

Once arrangements are made and donation/charitable wishes are announced, I'll make our contribution in Officer Hoke's memory.

You can Venmo me: Drew-Forrester-1

Or PayPaul: 18inarow@gmail.com

Those of you who are believers in prayer, please say one for Officer Paul Hoke and his family this morning.

I'll let Dale Williams unpack Maryland's 10-point loss to Oregon last night down in College Park. You can find his excellent recap of the game below.

I'm just here to say: This year's Maryland team won't be doing anything in mid-March except going to class (presumably) and watching March Madness on television.

In fact, if Buzz Williams is smart (and I assume he is), the Terps will use a medical redshirt on Pharrel Payne and end his '25-26 campaign right now. There's no sense in Payne returning to the floor. Maryland's either going to win 2 conference games (without him) or 4 conference games (with him). What's the difference?

Oregon nearly got lulled to sleep by Maryland's woeful offense last night before snapping out of it with 10 minutes remaining. I assume the Ducks are going to wind up being a tournament "bubble team", but with their size under the basket they're probably a threat to beat just about anyone on any given night.

The Terps aren't going to beat many teams over the next three months.

That said, you can't hold any of this against Buzz Williams. He took over the program last April after that charlatan Kevin Willard left the program in ruins and had zero basketball players to speak of when he signed his Maryland contract.

This was always going to be a s**tshow season. It's actually a testament to Williams and his staff that the Terps have played the likes of Michigan and Oregon relatively tight, particularly when you realize Payne only played 20 of the 80 minutes against those two teams.

Dale will do the heavy lifting on what happened last night in his column below.

I'm just here to state the obvious: None of this should be a surprise. Maryland stinks. But there are, I think, better days ahead with Buzz Williams at the helm.

Ravens and Steelers tomorrow in Pittsburgh. Who's feeling it?

Apparently not the folks in the Steel City.

Looking to jump in your car tomorrow and head up the Turnpike for the game?

I can get you in for $100 each.

Want a semi-good seat in the lower deck? I'll get that ticket for you for $175.

There are thousands of tickets for sale for tomorrow's game and almost every single one of them is a "reasonable price".

Now, I'm not here slinging mud at the folks in Pittsburgh. The prices would probably be the same in Baltimore. Granted, the December 21 game vs. New England wasn't for all the marbles, but I got a client/friend four tickets in Section 146 for $120 each on the morning of the game.

By that Sunday morning, folks were practically ready to give the tickets away.

The game and the rivalry just don't have the juice any longer.

It also doesn't help that the game is on a Sunday night, either. That definitely stops a lot of folks from Baltimore from making the trip.

But there's just no energy for the game, based mainly on the players involved.

Lamar's not going to say anything even remotely inflammatory about the Steelers. He's not going to walk around the practice facility with a shirt like Terrell Suggs wore once upon a time.

With Suggs, those Steelers games were personal. VERY personal. This isn't a shot at Lamar, but the Ravens/Steelers thing means nothing to him. It's just another game, albeit an important one, that happens to be in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.

And the same goes for the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers doesn't harbor any ill will towards the Ravens. This might be the 4th or 5th time he's played them in 15 years.

Kenneth Gainwell grew up in Mississippi and was 9 years old when Troy Polamalu intercepted Joe Flacco with 4 minutes left in January of 2009 to seal the AFC title for the Steelers. He doesn't know anything about Ravens/Steelers.

So, yes, it's for all the marbles tomorrow night. And there are a lot of us here in The Land of Pleasant Living who would rather eat one of Aunt Betty's toenails than lose to the Steelers on national TV and get eliminated from the playoffs at the same time.

But the players? It's just another game.

Speaking of College Park and Maryland, ESPN's Scott Van Pelt has come under fire over the last two days for his reaction to a short clip of a New Year's Eve celebration as he went on the air just after midnight on Wednesday/Thursday this week.

In case you missed it, Van Pelt reacted to a quick clip of two men kissing in (I think) New York's Time Square after the ball drop at 12 midnight.

Mind you, he didn't actually say anything whatsoever that could have been deemed inappropriate. "What do we got...love in the air..." he said while waving his arms in dramatic fashion.

"Disgusting reaction by SVP!" said someone on X who reposted the video clip of Van Pelt.

"Just say you hate gay men and get it over with!" someone else wrote.

Headlines from news agency said: Van Pelt's awkward moment caught on camera

Van Pelt hasn't offered any sort of public comment on the situation, yet, which is probably a best course of action for him.

But here's the thing that's important to remember: No matter what anyone tries to tell you, it's still OK for you to have a personal preference regarding watching two men kiss. Or two women kiss, for that matter.

It's actually not "awkward" at all if you are turned off by it. And it doesn't make you a bad person if you're not in favor of seeing same-sex couples kiss.

I'm also not in favor of making it awkward for the people engaged in same-sex kissing. If that's their thing, so be it.

But Van Pelt's reaction -- as mild as it was -- was perfectly acceptable.

Frankly, my reaction was similar. I saw it live on CNN and thought, "Well, that's about right." If there was ever a network that would be comfortable airing that, it would be CNN. I mean, their hosts for the evening were two married men. So it's quite normal to that network in an understandable kind of way.

Heck, I got a little itchy during the Ted Lasso scenes in Season 3 where the two women went from loving men and jumping on every soccer player they could to jumping on one another. And that was just a TV show. Maybe it's just me, but I don't need to see that.

These two things can be true: You can be "OK" with same-sex relationships and not OK with seeing public displays of affection from those same-sex couples.

And, in Scott Van Pelt's case, you shouldn't be hung out to dry for what was, to me, a very benign reaction to it.

In fact, you shouldn't be hung out to dry for any "basic" reaction, good or bad. If you don't like seeing two men kiss, you're still allowed to say that in this country and you shouldn't be raked over the coals for it.

It's amazing what offends people in this country today.

Anyway, that's my two cents on Scott Van Pelt getting beat up for basically nothing.

It was a nothing-burger that turned into a something-burger that should have always been what it was...a nothing-burger.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps offense fizzles in home loss to oregon

Playing without their star guard, in a game marked with offensive futility, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Maryland Terrapins 64-54 last night before a half-filled Xfinity Center.

The Ducks didn’t need Jackson Shelstad’s offense last night because the Terps made just 18 of 65 attempts from the field (28%) and were successful on just 7 of a whopping 35 three pointers.

Oregon was led by Takai Simpkins and Nate Bittle, who each tallied 16 points, while Solomon Washington paced Maryland with 17 points.

The Oregon offense, by far, featured more low post sets than in any other game I’ve seen them play. With Maryland being so small, the conversions, once inside, were easy. On the other side of the court, the Terps tried to get inside (especially early in the second half) but the results were frequently not positive.

Altered shots, blocked shots, or kickouts outnumbered the successes. Bittle alone swatted away 5 of them as his Ducks outscored the Terps in the paint, 32-12. A team that scores only 12 points inside, while missing 28 of 35 threes, just can’t win.

Out of the gate, the Terrapins were 1 for 6 shooting before back-to-back buckets, including a three by Solomon Washington, gave Maryland a 7-6 lead at the first media timeout. Both teams were connecting on just 33% of their shots, but the Ducks had 3 less attempts thanks to a trio of early turnovers.

It’s notable that in the early stages of the game, Oregon was showing a willingness to play some low post and attack-the-rim basketball. The Ducks had a 6-0 advantage in paint points at the 11:43 TV timeout. They also had a 15-8 lead, as the Terps failed to make a field goal for 4 minutes and had gone 0 for their last 6 from the field.

Second chance points were absent for either team, with each collecting just a single offensive rebound. The Terps were 1 for 8 from the three-point line at this juncture of the game.

It took a Myles Rice floater at 8:35 to break the Terrapin field goal drought. Most of that scoreless time was done with Oregon resting the 7 foot Bittle. The Terp deficit remained at 7 points, 19-12 at the under 8-minute media timeout.

Once reinserted in the game, Bittle immediately made his presence known with a jumper to push the Duck lead to 9, but Washington added his second triple for Maryland to reduce it to 6. When Diggy Coit hit another Terp 3, Maryland and their fans were back in the game.

By the 3:30 break, Maryland had managed to chisel a couple of points off of the Oregon lead. Coit had 5 points, but a 14-4 Duck advantage with paint points was enabling them to stay ahead. A 20-12 rebounding advantage factored in also.

The halftime score was 34-27, with the visitors ahead and cruising.

The pace quickened starting off the first half, and it appeared to help Maryland. They had 4 buckets on 8 attempts in the first 4:30 of the second half, and 3 of those field goals came in the paint as they beat Oregon downcourt. The score was 41-36 after the under 4-minute timeout.

The Oregon lead swung between 4 and 6 before a pair of foul shots by Maryland’s Andre Mills cut the advantage to just 3. At this point it was very easy to sense just how much Oregon missed their star guard Shelstad. They were having trouble getting a good look and Shelstad is one of the few Ducks that can create his own shot.

With 11:17 left in the game, Maryland’s 13-9 second half run had reduced the lead to three at 43-40. When Elijah Saunders knocked down a Terrapin triple from the right corner, the game was tied at 43. It was the first three made in second half with the teams combining to go 1-13.

Oregon answered with a couple of threes of their own, and the Duck advantage was back to 6, 51-46, with 7:13 left. Those Oregon threes were daggers from extreme long range (25 and 29 ft) knocked down by a player (Jamari Phillips) who, for the season, had made just 2 of 10 three pointers.

Luckily for Maryland, with 6:35 left in the half, the Ducks were a woeful 3 for 8 shooting second half foul shots. The 8-point Oregon lead could have much higher as the Terps struggled to score, making just 1 of their last 8 field goal attempts.

Oregon wasn’t exactly an offensive juggernaut, but they managed to drift ahead 55-45 with 3:57 remaining. The Terps were now just 1 for 10 shooting second half threes.

Coming out of the last TV timeout, Isaiah Watts hit a three and Oregon immediately turned it over. Maryland failed to capitalize though, when Bittle blocked his fifth shot of the game and Oregon retained possession.

A lob pass to Bittle resulted in an easy layup, making the Duck lead 9 points. With just 1:28 remaining and Oregon up 57-48, the fans started to pile out of the Xfinity center making a slight crowd that much smaller.

A glimmer of hope was found with Oregon up 10, after Coit connected on 3 fouls shots, putting the Terps down 7. Maryland went into foul mode, and Oregon was helping them by missing 6 of 10 foul shots with a minute left in the game.

With 57.6 seconds left, Bittle finally made a pair of foul shots. The lead was back to 9, 60-51. Consecutive Terp turnovers resulted in Lin adding a pair of free throws while Simpkins slammed a break-away. The winner had been decided, only the margin of victory remained to be determined. When the Terps called off the dogs, the score was 64-54.

Without Pharrel Payne, the Terps have no inside offense, no lane protecters on “D”, and little hope of besting anybody with some size.

If they don’t hit threes, they can’t win. Last night, 35 of their 65 shots were from long range, and they made just 7.

Three Terps starters, Elijah Saunders, Darius Adams, and Andre Mills, combined to go 5 for 30 from the field. That included their 2 for 15 three-point shooting. That sort of poor shooting from three key players is too much to overcome.

Next up for Maryland is a 6:30 pm home game against Indiana on Wednesday night.

Friday January 2, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4148

lamar clears the air

As we assumed and wrote here earlier in the week, Lamar Jackson will be playing on Sunday in Pittsburgh when the Ravens and Steelers clash for the AFC North title.

Jackson practiced on Wednesday and Thursday, then got behind the microphone yesterday to give his side of the story that surfaced last weekend, where Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston stirred things up with a handful of notes and accusations about the Ravens veteran quarterback.

Among the topics Lamar addressed on Thursday was a note from Preston that indicated Jackson "falls asleep in team meetings".

"Do you think Harbaugh would let me fall asleep in meetings?" Jackson said. "That's crazy. I'm right in the front. It's just noise."

Jackson also confirmed his back injury was "very real" and offered an emphatic "absolutely" when asked if he wanted to continue playing in Baltimore.

As we noted here earlier in the week, Lamar is going to be a Raven as long as he wants to be a Raven. There's that pesky $75 million salary cap hit that the Ravens have to chisel away at over the off-season, and it's expected that Jackson will have do a little "give and take" with the Ravens to help make that happen, but other than that, there's been no indication at all that he wants to leave Baltimore.

Jackson also has a no-trade clause in his contract, so it's not like the Ravens could just ship him off to any team in the league.

Lamar also stated, for the record, his relationship with John Harbaugh remains solid. "I don't know where that noise came from," the quarterback said.

In general, Jackson's commentary about the Preston article can be summed up like this: Almost none of it appeared to be true. At least according to the quarterback.

Now, it's fair to point this out: There was nothing else Lamar could say yesterday. He certainly wasn't going to get up there and fall on the sword and say, "Yeah, I doze off occasionally in meetings. It happens to everyone. I try not to do it but we're getting there pretty early you know?"

He wasn't going to say, "I'm glad you asked about my relationship with John. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Harbs. We just don't see eye-to-eye on stuff."

So while we're all busy pointing out that Lamar basically refuted everything in Preston's column, it's also fair to at least remember there was no other route for him to take yesterday.

That said...as I mentioned here earlier in the week, the Baltimore Sun column was pretty much a nothing-burger. Were there bits of it that might be true? Sure. But on the whole, is Lamar a "bad egg" with terrible personal habits and a Harbaugh-critic who stirs up the locker room with that dissent?

I'm almost 100% certain he is not.

Lamar is a lot of things. He's great, he's sometimes maddening, he's elusive, he's (apparently) injury prone and he's an amazing athlete. One thing I don't think he is, though, is a bad guy in the locker room.

I'm glad he cleared the air yesterday, though. I think it's important for athletes to give their side of the story, particularly when criticism or scrutiny comes their way.

And I'm still here, still using that "guarantee" word that scares a lot of you, and still very much of the mindset there's just no way the Ravens are going to lose on Sunday night.

I don't see how the Steelers can pull it off.

If the Ravens just do what comes naturally to them, which is running the ball and using Lamar's legs to keep the Steelers honest, I think it's a double-digit Baltimore win.

To put a bow on the "Preston story", what's even more amazing than the story itself is how many members of the national media and national "internet expert group" ran with the story as if it were all 100% gospel.

There were a lot of headlines generated and clicks gathered by people who created insane stories like: "Jackson/Harbaugh rift could land QB in Miami".

People read something in the newspaper and just assume it's all true.

Have they not been paying attention for, oh, I don't know, the last 50 years?

I received some sad news today that I wanted to pass along to all of you, as it involves one of our more ardent and enthusiastic supporters here at #DMD.

Our friend Paul in Towson suffered a major stroke on Wednesday of this week and is in serious condition in a Baltimore County hospital.

A friend of his reached out to me with the news and asked that we all pray for Paul, which I will most certainly be doing.

If you're someone inclined to pray and lean on God's mercy during moments like these, please pray for Paul in Towson and ask God to watch over him during this incredibly difficult time.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps host oregon tonight

With the non-conference games in the rearview mirror, the Maryland Terrapins will now focus solely on their Big Ten opponents. Next up is an Oregon Ducks team that currently mimics Maryland’s early season record.

Both teams come into tonight’s 7:30 pm game (you’ll need Peacock to watch it) at the Xfinity Center with an 0-2 Big Ten record, and 7-6 overall. The Terps and Ducks also have identical 34.3% 3-point shooting numbers. In my eyes, that’s where the similarities end.

With the Terp’s Pharrell Payne listed as “Questionable” (upgraded from “Out” yesterday), the Duck’s size advantage could become even more significant. Assuming Baltimore native, and former 5-star recruit, Kwame Evans, plays (game time decision with an ankle), the combo of 6’10” Evans and 7-footer Nate Bittle could dominate for Oregon in the paint.

But that requires the head coach, Dana Altman, to make the decision to force the ball inside offensively. From what I’ve seen, the Oregon bigs don’t spend much time with their backs to the basket. Not going inside would be a big mistake in tonight’s game against the smaller Terps.

Bittle was the Big Ten’s leading shot blocker last season and he’s the top scorer on his team so far this year. He has no issue popping a three, as almost 40% of his shots come from behind the arc. He connects on 36.4% of those attempts while posting 16.1 points-per-game.

He’s easy to spot on the court. Just look for a big, floppy haired guy hanging around the three-point line with a bald spot and hair line that rivals mine.

While Bittle is returning to form from his recent ankle injury, the Duck offense sorely needs point guard, Jackson Shelstad, to return to form. The junior is currently averaging a career worst 39% form the field and just 31% from the three-point line.

Those are not efficient numbers from a guy who, by far, takes the most shots on his team. He’s getting 15.6 points each contest, but he takes a whopping 50% more shots than Bittle. The vast majority of his attempts are from long range.

Shelstad is a dynamic athlete, but doesn’t use those gifts to get to the rim for easy buckets. It's my opinion that the Duck offense runs better when seldom used Wei Lin initiates the sets, but Lin has yet to develop as a scoring threat, making just 15 of his 55 shots from the floor and only 18.5% of his threes.

Much like Bittle, Kwame Evans is another Duck with good size that doesn’t collect points as a post player. Evans is a smooth athlete, but he really struggles when he puts the ball on the floor. His 2.1 turnovers each game is second on the team despite not being a primary ballhandler. If he had a back-to-the-basket game, he could be dangerous against Maryland.

Takai Simkins is the lone Duck that has shown to be proficient from long range. Boasting a solid 43.4 long range shooting percentage, about three quarters of his field goal tries come from beyond the three-point line.

At 12.8 ppg, Simkins is fourth in scoring for Oregon.

With Maryland and Oregon both averaging 34% from the three-point line, and neither team showing the desire or personnel to work the ball inside, this game should come down to which team has the hotter hand from long range. Just like a scratch golfer doesn’t always shoot even par, we can’t expect these two squads to shoot 34% from beyond the arc.

One team is likely to shoot 28% while the other may connect on 38% of their attempts. That’s who wins unless Altman changes up his offensive philosophy and pounds the ball inside.

There is a 5-team tie at the bottom of the Big Ten. Maryland, Oregon, Northwestern, Penn State, and Rutgers all have started 0-2 in the conference.

I don’t expect Oregon to stay there. Altman has a history of producing winning seasons. It’s a streak that has reached 28 consecutive campaigns. He has a brutal 4 game stretch ahead of him after duels with Maryland and Rutgers.

This is a very important game for his Oregon team, and Maryland doesn’t have the horses to hang with the Ducks. The Terps will need to make 3’s all night.

I expect Oregon to give a solid effort and come away winners in a fairly even game. The line opened at UMD -1.5 and quickly moved to Oregon -1.5.

A final outcome of 74-68 sounds about right, with the combo of Bittle and Shelstad being a bit too much for the Terps. Of course, if Payne is in and Evans out, that changes things, dramatically. The action can be seen on Peacock.

faith in sports

With a very real possibility that the Ravens are going to face the Houston Texans in the playoffs, I hate to bring you this piece here today to showcase just how awesome of a guy C.J. Stroud is. But I'm doing it anyway.

I don't want to give away any of the video below so I'll just say, it's a "must watch". Stroud is just an amazing human being.

I want the Ravens to run the table, of course, but my second favorite NFL team is now officially the Houston Texans. If it can't be the Ravens, I hope it's Houston.

Stroud will always give the glory to God first, which is most pleasing to God.

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 January 1, 2026

#DMD

Issue #4147

it's 2026

Well, if you're reading this, you made it all the way to 2026.

Congratulations, you're there.

Now, the question is: What are you going to do with it?

It appears that daycare centers are the new way to go. (Too soon?)

I saw something on a New Year's resolution thread yesterday and I'm stealing it. It's so simple, yet poignant.

It's also not something that's easy to do.

Most of the time, the hard stuff winds up being the best stuff, right?

As I say to my Calvert Hall Golf team at the start of every year, you believe the season goes in one straight line. From the "beginning" of the season (at the bottom left part of the piece of paper) straight to the championship (top right corner of the paper).

When, in reality, the season and your individual performance always winds up looking like the picture you see to the right.

There's ups and downs. Highs and lows. You start off great, then you stink, then you get better, then you hit another lull, then more good play, then another bad patch. It's inevitable. It's the cyclical nature of sports and human performance.

You should be learing learning something about yourself and your team with each win and loss along the way. As the saying goes, "Never a failure if a lesson was learned."

But there's one thing for sure: It's not supposed to be easy.

We went 13-1 in the conference last spring and won the championship for the second time in three years and it was not easy in the least.

Sure, 13-1 "looks" easy, but there were several matches along the way that we "stole" over the final three holes and in the one-loss-and-you're-out nature of the MIAA golf playoffs, all you need is for all six of your guys to have six bad holes at the same time and you're in big trouble.

It was hard work going 13-1 and winning the title. It was not easy at all.

Anyway, back to what I saw yesterday as part of a New Year's resolution thread on the internet.

It sounds simple. You're probably going to read it and say, "Duhhhh, tell me something I didn't already know."

But the challenge isn't in reading it or even understanding it. The challenge isn't to say, "Yeah, I'll give that a go."

The challenge is actually doing it.

Can you actually fulfill the resolution for the next 365 days?

Your resolutionn for 2026 should be this:

Try to be the absolute best you can be, every single day.

I see that as a supreme challenge, because I know I'm not at my best every single day.

But that's not what the resolution asks of you.

It asks you to "try" to be the absolute best you can be...

Like, really try.

Don't fake try.

Don't try for a few hours and then something pops up in your day that derails you and you're "done for the day".

Don't try until things go wrong and then give up.

Start off every day in 2026 and say to yourself, "Today I'm going to try to be the absolute best I can be."

And then you have to really do it.

You have to try. Like, honestly. Because ultimately the only person who is going to know if you're giving it 100% is you. You know.

So of all the stuff I read on the internet yestesrday about 2026 and resolutions and all that jazz, "Try to be the absolute best you can be" every day really stuck out to me.

I'm going to give it a shot for sure.

I hope you do as well.

And I hope your 2026 is everything you want it to be for you and your family.

Just remember this at all times: With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Happy New Year to all.

Go Ravens!

(And Caps)

(And Orioles)

Wednesday December 31, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4146

gimme three steps things

Man, how freakin' good was Lynyrd Skynyrd?

You Got That Right

Free Bird

Simple Man

Tuesday's Gone

What's Your Name?

Don't Ask Me No Questions

Sweet Home Alabama

That Smell

Gimme Three Steps

That's enough for now. You get the picture. Those guys were wwwaaaaayyyy underrated.

In yesterday's edition of #DMD, I posed a hypothetical-but-rooted-in-realism question about 2026. This being the last day of 2025 and all, I'm curious what your three sports wishes would be if, by chance, a genie was willing to grant you any three realistic sports wishes for the coming year.

But there was one condition.

In order for the genie to grant you those three wishes, you have to sign off on the Steelers winning the Super Bowl in the '26 season and '27 season.

I'm sure there are some folks out there who simply refuse to cave in to that sort of quid pro quo. I mean, I have to admit, I'm not sure I'd sign off on my three wishes below if it meant the Flyers winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. In a weird way, I'm OK with selling my soul for two Steelers titles, but not two Flyers titles.

Anyway, I have a bunch of 2026 predictions below that you might enjoy and then I have my three wishes for 2026. Fortunately for all of us, those three wishes aren't going to be granted and the Steelers -- for sure -- aren't winning the Super Bowl next year or in 2027.

2026 --

NCAA men's basketball champion: UConn beats Houston

Masters champion: Tommy Fleetwood

Kentucky Derby champion: Litmus Test

PGA Championship champion: Bryson DeChambeau

Preakness champion: Litmus Test

NHL Stanley Cup champion: Colorado beats Tampa Bay

NBA Finals champion: San Antonio beats NY Knicks

Belmont Stakes champion: Ted Noffey

U.S. Open golf champion: Scottie Scheffler

World Cup soccer champion: England beats Spain

British Open champion: Robert MacIntyre

World Series champion: L.A. Dodgers beat Boston

---

As for my three wishes, as I alluded to yesterday here at #DMD, one is more of a personal desire and the third is probably the most far reaching of the three, frankly, but I'm still holding out hope.

Here's a wish: Tiger wins a PGA Tour event -- This one is a longshot, which is why I'm using the genie. I don't think Tiger's capable of playing a competitive 72 hole event in its entirety, let alone winning it, but I'd trade two Steelers Super Bowl wins if Tiger could win one more PGA Tour event and finish his career with 83 wins, the most ever by one player on the PGA Tour.

I'm not going to be overly greedy and wish for it to be the Masters or the PGA Championship. I don't care if it's the Honda Classic (whatever that thing is called these days) or the Byron Nelson. Just win a tournament. Any tournament.

And, no, a win on the Champions (Senior) Tour does not count towards the 83. Tiger needs one more PGA Tour victory to set the all-time record. And, yes, I know Sam Snead played against a bunch of nobodies back in the old days and some of the fields in his victories had 20 players in them, but 82 wins is 82 wins. Tiger needs one to get to 83.

Here's a wish: Orioles win the World Series -- I'd be hard pressed to choose between #1 and #2 if the genie only gave me ONE wish instead of three, but the O's winning the championship is most certainly my #1 "local" wish, without question. They haven't even been to a World Series since 1983. So just getting there would be a real hoot.

But, man, how cool would it be for the Orioles to win the World Series in 2026? I'd sell off two straight Steelers Super Bowl wins in exchange for the Birds reigning supreme in Major League Baseball.

I'm certainly not anti-Raven (obviously) or anti-football (obviously), but baseball is just...different. I realize there are a lot of you who don't know "how" different baseball can be because you're in your 20's, 30's or 40's and you've never experienced a World Series in your lifetime. Trust me, a baseball season that turns into a championship season is MUCH different than the football team winning the Super Bowl.

We need a World Series in Baltimore. Soon. Maybe it's in 2026?

Here's a wish: College sports figures out a way to not ruin their industry -- This one, I'm guessing, is more impossible than Tiger winning a tournament or the Orioles winning the World Series. There's simply too much greed in college sports for cooler, smarter heads to prevail. Alas, I sure wish it could happen.

There has to be a better way to do it than they're doing it now. The way they're doing it now absolutely sucks. It's garbage.

Transferring around the country year after year is a joke. It has to stop. Or, at the very least, be "tweaked".

Maybe you're allowed to transfer once in your college career unless there's a coaching change at your school...then you're free to transfer (again).

Perhaps I'm not smart enough to what the answer is, but I'm definitely smart enough to tell the way they're doing it right now in college sports is most certainly NOT the answer. I don't know much. But I know that.

The idiotic idea of just paying these guys (and girls) millions of dollars to play for "their school" is already completely out of control, as most coaches and administrators are now figuring out. Giving leverage to 18 year old kids is beyond dumb.

But paying them something (within reason) in exchange for their talents "makes sense". They should be compensated in some way.

Allowing a player to just move around the country -- annually -- from school to school at his or her whim, though, makes beyond zero sense.

No pun intended, but the genie is already out of the bottle on this one. It can't be fixed. College sports, in 2026, will continue to suck. It's beyond repair. But I'd include it on my list of three wishes and concede two titles to the Steelers if, somehow, it were to be repaired for the long term.

---

As 2025 comes to a close and 2026 is ushered in, let me do what my buddy Glenn Clark would say is a "straight shoot", which, of course, is a term used in professional wrestling.

It's when things get "real" in the scripted, theatrical world of wrasslin'.

Thank you to all of you who supported #DMD in 2025, whether that was as a reader, writer, marketing partner, supporter of our various advertisers or some combination thereof.

I never, ever thought we'd still be doing this on December 31, 2025 when we started this venture on August 25, 2014 and welcomed exactly 1,711 visitors to the site on that first day.

But I'm glad we're still doing it.

Like anything else "sports related", the varying opinions here are what makes the site tick. Keep them coming. Just be kind in adding your discourse to the conversation.

All I have ever (mainly) asked of all of you is to be nice to one another here. For the most part, you all do that. Occasionally you lose your way because your feelings get hurt for whatever reason. When it gets a little off track, I come around and remind you to clean it up and you abide. And I appreciate that.

So, thank you for being part of what we do here. I keep writing the word "we", not "I", because I just facilitate the place. You and the others who visit and comment are what "we" do here, together.

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve and let's have a healthy, productive 2026 together.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

God is great.

Tuesday December 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4145

if he's 50, we're all getting old

The greatest golfer of my lifetime turns 50 years old today.

Fifty.

I don't think my own 50th birthday hit me like Tiger Woods turning 50 is hitting me.

Where. On. Earth. Did. The. Time. Go?

Editor's note: I do not consider Jack Nicklaus and his career to be in "my lifetime". I didn't really know, play, watch or follow golf until 1986 or so. And by then, other than that '86 Masters he won when the entire leaderboard collapsed around him down the stretch, Nicklaus was well past his prime.

There are moments in our life when we remember where we were when "it" happened or, at the very least, the news broke that it happened.

Those of you who were old enough to remember JFK's assassination probably know right where you were when Walter Cronkite took off his glasses and broke the news about the President's death.

I remember where I was the night the U.S. beat the Soviet Union at Lake Placid in the 1980 Olympics (yes, I'm aware the game was actually played earlier in the day, but I didn't know that).

I remember where I was on 9-11-01. I'm sure you do as well.

I remember where I was the night the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in Las Vegas in 2018.

I remember a lot of those kind of moments.

And, oddly enough, I remember where I was the day Tiger Woods came back from 5-down through 18 holes to beat Steve Scott in the 1996 U.S. Amateur. (In case you care, I was in the clubhouse at Kings Creek CC in Rehoboth Beach, DE).

Tiger was 20 years old at the time. It was the 3rd and final (consecutive) U.S. Am title in his career and the second time in three years he came back from a deficit of at least 5 holes in the 36-hole final.

I sat in a relaxing, leather chair in the clubhouse at Kings Creek and watched the back nine. I was so captivated by it, my friends went back out to play an "emergency 9" and I shooed them away, saying, "You guys go ahead, I'm staying here to watch this kid play golf."

Tiger was 20 years old when he won that 1996 U.S. Amateur.

The following April, at age 21, he won the Masters by a gazillion shots over a field of overwhelmed professionals.

Golf, as it turned out -- at least in my lifetime -- would never be the same after Tiger won that '97 Masters. He changed the entire sport, both here in the U.S. and all over the world.

And now he's 50 years old.

Yeah, we're getting old, guys.

Because he's turning 50, Woods now has the opportunity nearly ever professional golfer on the PGA Tour absolutely relishes: He can now play the Champions (Senior) Tour.

It became a career gravy train for guys like Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin and, most recently, Bernhard Langer. But they're just four guys who found golf's holy grail once they turned 50. There are probably at least two dozen players -- Bruce Fleisher, Jim Colbert, Allen Doyle, Michael Allen, Jay Sigel among them -- who were far more successful, money wise, playing "senior golf" than under-50 golf.

Woods, of course, doesn't need money.

So why play senior golf?

Because he can?

And because he wants to go out in a way he's proud of?

I had the distinct pleasure of playing a practice round with 2-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen at the 2021 U.S. Senior Open and he couldn't stop speaking favorably about life on the Champions Tour.

"Three round tournaments instead of four," he said, smiling. "No cuts. You only have to play in the pro-am once every three tournaments you sign up for. You get to ride in golf carts except in the majors. The money is still very good. My sponsors are still with me. And we're also not playing every single week like you'd see on the PGA Tour. It's the greatest second wind in any sport."

All of that sounds like something that should be appealing to Woods.

But, of course, there's that pesky little thing called his "injury riddled body".

Tiger is not healthy. And it's very likely he'll never be anywhere close to "healthy" again, golf wise, in this lifetime.

The thing is, though, the Champions Tour could use him. He's still Tiger Woods, even if he's not really Tiger Woods on the course any longer.

If Tiger can get healthy enough to play, say, 4, 5 or 6 "regular" senior events plus a few of their majors (Champions Tour actually has 5 majors, not 4), the senior circuit would get a HUGE shot in the arm, both at the tournament proper and on television, where Woods still moves the needle.

I'm sure he's still thinking about playing on the PGA Tour, if it's possible. Tiger needs one more victory to become the all-time leader in PGA Tour victories.

He'll never play 10, 12 or 15 tournaments in a season again. That ship has left the port. But can he get healthy enough once again to play in, say, four "regular tournaments" and then compete in the majors each year as well?

My bet on that one is a solid "no". But every single one of you reading this -- and me, too -- wrote Tiger off before he came from nowhere to win the 2019 Masters. That was pre-car-crash, of course, and it's worth pointing out Tiger has undergone three different surgeries in the last 28 months.

But Tiger doesn't want to go out like "this".

He knows Phil Mickelson -- albeit healthy -- was nearly 51 years old when he won the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah. And Tiger also knows he can pick and choose some lukewarm fields if he does come back in pursuit of that record setting 83rd career TOUR win.

Even if he never gets back to playing on the PGA Tour, seeing him tee it up on the Champions Tour would be more than enough for this particular golf fan.

I never really had full respect for Lee Trevino's and Hale Irwin's golfing prowess until I saw them on the (then) Senior Tour. It was only then I realized how freakin' great both of those guys really were.

We all saw Tiger at his dominant best. No one could come close to beating him for 15 years.

It would be awesome to see him get healthy enough to give senior golf a shot.

He turns 50 today. The door is open.

The big question: Is Tiger healthy enough to walk through it?

Speaking of "health" and "able to play", one question making the rounds in Charm City on Monday centered on Lamar Jackson and his availability and/or participation in Sunday's season finale vs. Pittsburgh.

"If Lamar doesn't play, that tells you everything you need to know," said one caller on talk radio yesterday. "He does this every time there's the possibility of a contract squabble. He's hurt and he can't play."

"It seems like he's getting soft," another caller said. "We make fun of Burrows (sic) in Baltimore, but Lamar is getting to be just like him."

As someone who has dealt with a back injury or two in my athletic "career", I can say without hesitation they are no fun. And while injuries to legs, arms, feet, shoulders etc. are aggravating and limiting, almost nothing is worse than a back injury. You can't do much of anything when your back isn't right.

Alas, there are folks who think if Lamar doesn't play on Sunday that it's time to turn up the heat on him.

This is a bit of our "theme" in Baltimore, you might know. We get someone in the crosshairs and we don't let go. It happened once upon a time with Brian Billick. And Cam Cameron. It happened a little bit with Chris Davis, too. Actually, it happened a lot with Davis now that I think about it. It's happening right now with John Harbaugh, of course.

And it might be starting to happen with Lamar Jackson, which is sorta-kinda bizarre when you realize what all he's accomplished in his 8-years in the league.

There was that wacky comment from Shannon Sharpe on Monday morning who said, "If I'm the Ravens, I'm going with Huntley as my starter (in Pittsburgh)."

Others around town have echoed that sentiment, as if Jackson suddenly turned into Josh Johnson while Huntley morphed into -- well, Lamar Jackson.

In my mind, the whole topic is a non-starter. Lamar Jackson -- if able to play -- always, yes, always, gives the Ravens a better chance of winning a football game than does Tyler Huntley. Huntley is capable, that's true. Jackson is a game-changer. There's a difference in their abilities that's fairly to easy to decipher if you pay attention.

That said, as I pointed out here last week, it's very fair to point at any player on the Ravens roster, including Jackson, and ask the question that's hard to answer: "Is he a winner?"

The subject with Lamar isn't as much about winning as it is his health and his ability to play when/if he's not 100%.

There are definitely whispers around town -- from fans, mind you -- that Jackson's "injury" vs. New England didn't look all that serious from an impact standpoint.

Those people offering the criticism aren't doctors, obviously. They just play one on TV.

But you know how it goes in today's world. Folks watch the replay a hundred times, from four different angles, and come up with their own analysis of what "really happened".

I mean, there are loons on the internet who think Charlie Kirk didn't actually get shot in the neck, that he somehow detonated something under his shirt that resembled a gun shot and is now living in some remote village in Tahiti...for whatever bizarre reason.

That's what the internet does for you. It makes you think weird things.

One of our own #DMD commenters even jumped in yesterday, writing: Lamar faking another injury so he doesn't have to play in a deciding game and he can roll back to South Florida and say, "Wasn't me, I didn't play."

My guess, personally? I think Lamar will play on Sunday in Pittsburgh. I doubt Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh have to bring him in and say, "This is why we give you $52 million a year...you have to suck it up and play". But that is the truth. Unless you can't walk or throw or breathe, you have to man-up and play on Sunday.

And I think he will.

If he doesn't, the Ravens are still going to win. Tyler Huntley and the weapons he has at his disposal on offense will dwarf what Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers have.

But it's important, I think, for Lamar to be out there on Sunday night earning his money.

As 2025 comes to a close and 2026 arrives, what are your top 3 sports wishes for the coming year? And they have to be realistic, too.

You can't say, for example, I want to be the starting goalie for the Maryland lacrosse team this spring.

Heck, I'll even give you a personal one: I can't say, "I want the Flyers to go the whole season without a win" because, unfortunately, that's just not realstic.

So here's the game: If a genie gave you three realistic wishes and promised to grant them, what would you ask for?

Oh, but there's a catch.

Your three wishes are granted, but in 2027 and 2028, the Steelers win the Super Bowl.

So you get what you want in 2026, but you're signing off on two years of football dominance by yinz up there in dahntahn Pittsburgh.

You can, of course, refuse the three wishes. You can say, "No way I'm letting those creeps up there win two straight Super Bowls."

But if you want to play along -- I'll be publishing my three here tomorrow -- please go ahead and list your three in the Comments section below.

I can definitely think of three things I'd love to see happen in 2026. Funny enough, at least two of the three are potentially realistic and one is a longshot but always possible. The question is, would I take a chance on all three (or some of them) happening without having to sign on the dotted line with the genie or do I just want to guarantee all three will happen and watch Pittsburgh win back-to-back Super Bowls?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Add your three wishes in the Comments section below and check back tomorrow for mine.

Monday December 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4144

be prepared, i'm using the "g" word

When you see me next summer with a shiny new set of Mizuno irons and the latest and greatest metal woods from Taylor Made, you don't even have to ask how I was able to scrounge up enough money to buy them.

I can sum it up in four words: Browns and the under.

As in, Cleveland 13 - Pittsburgh 6 on Sunday, December 28, 2025.

Appreciate you boys out there in Northern Ohio sooooooo much. You have no idea.

In what apparently was one of the sport's worst kept secrets -- Jim Nantz referred to it as a "major upset" -- the Steelers laid an egg the size of Pennsylvania yesterday with their playoff lives on the line. It was as predictable as Cris Collinsworth saying, "This guy right here is a football player" at least twice in last night's SNF broadcast from San Francisco.

"This guy right here is a football player" has become a Collinsworth trademark.

And the Steelers offense -- albeit, wildly shorthanded due to a laughable suspension and injuries to key performers -- sputtering and gagging on the road has become a Mike Tomlin trademark.

Editor's note: I'm probably in the minority here, but that's only because I'm capable of being balanced when it comes to broadcasters. The Tirico-Collinsworth combo is as good as anything the sport offers. Nantz and Romo are solid and Burkhardt and Brady are excellent, but Tirico and Collinsworth both love football so much. The other play-by-play guys enjoy being broadcasters. Tirico loves calling football games. And while Romo and Brady are both savants when it comes to the schemes and play calling stuff, Collinsworth -- drippy cliches and all -- really digs in every week with deep knowledge of the teams he analyzing.

In a weird turn of events, I actually felt bad for Aaron Rodgers yesterday.

Here he was, saddled with the heat of "This is why we brought you to Pittsburgh, take us to the playoffs", and they gave him the cast from Cheers on his side of the ball to get there. He was already basically receiver-less without Metcalf and Austin III, then Pittsburgh's awesome young tight end, Darnell Washington, left the game in Cleveland with a broken arm.

At that point, Rodgers was basically helpless. The old man made a few nice throws in the final minute to get the Steelers into the red zone, but he couldn't get them in from there.

I was never pro or anti Aaron Rodgers in the past. His vaccine position and all was a little weird, I thought, and some of the mysteries of his personal life leaned into the "soap opera" category, but it wasn't like I detested the dude or anything.

Then I watched the Netflix special about the year he spent with the Jets where he tore his achilles on the first series of the season and it totally changed my opinion of him. Rodgers might love the sport of football more than anyone who has ever played the game. He's mercurial and odd, sure. But most high-profile, single position athletes (quarterbacks, goaltenders, pitchers) are a little weird, I'd say.

Anyway, this is all just to say that while I felt absolutely zero sadness at all for the Steelers yesterday -- I even got an extra wedge with my Mizuno order, how can I be sad? -- I did feel a twinge of disappointment for Rodgers. He deserved way better than what he got on Sunday in Cleveland.

OK, so as Bill Burr said during his SNL opening monologue the week of the 2024 presidential election, "Alright, let's get to what you all want to talk about."

You're here to see what I'm going to say about the winner-take-all affair in the Steel City.

The Ravens are going to go to Pittsburgh next Sunday night and clobber the Steelers.

You know it.

I know it.

I think, deep down, the Steelers know it, too. That's why losing yesterday gutted them so badly. They knew that was their one shot.

After watching the Ravens dismantle Green Bay on Saturday night, Pittsburgh knows they can't stop Derrick Henry and the Baltimore offense.

Yes, I'm guaranteeing a win.

I'm not Joe Namath or anything like that, but you can book it now. Guaranteed. The Ravens are going to win.

Now........I'll be the first to admit some of that bravado comes from the fact that I'm fairly certain Lamar Jackson is going to play on Sunday night. But even if he doesn't play, it's still a win. Tyler Huntley, as he showed in Green Bay, is more than capable of handling the duties in Pittsburgh.

There's just no way the Steelers can win on Sunday night.

Their offense is better at home than on the road, yes that's true. But that occurs when they actually have players on that side of that ball.

They have Gainwell, Warren, Freimuth and...........that's it. And Aaron Rodgers, yes. But he can only do so much.

Before you say it: Yes, I've seen the Baltimore defense. It's terrible.

But they're generally terrible when the other team has good offensive weapons they have to contend with, like the Patriots or Packers.

The Ravens defense will pimp and pump their way to a solid performance on Sunday night because the Steelers have......well.....nothing.

Oddly, Baltimore opened as 3-point favorites early last night. I'll scoop that up today like a soft grounder to second base. The Ravens should be more like 5.5 or 6.5 point favorites, at the very least.

I hinted at this here yesterday, but there's an interesting dilemma in the air for Ravens fans next Sunday night.

If Baltimore wins, they make the playoffs.

And if Baltimore wins, John Harbaugh returns in 2026.

Now, you might be in the camp that wanted Harbaugh back as the Ravens head coach no matter what happened in Green Bay and Cleveland.

But there's a large, mouthy contingent in The Land of Pleasant Living who want Harbaugh gone no matter what, the same way there's a loud, mouthy group in Pittsburgh who want Tomlin jettisoned.

I'm not Steve Bisciotti, obviously, but I just don't see any way he cans Harbaugh after the team rallies from a 1-5 start and wins their last two games to squeeze into the playoffs at 9-8.

Oh, and it's looking like the Ravens are going to face Houston in the first round of the playoffs in Baltimore, then potentially head to Denver from there for the Divisional Round.

The Texans and Broncos have both enjoyed very solid seasons, yes. But the Ravens can beat both of those teams.

If the Ravens win a game or two in the post-season, how do you fire the head coach?

Answer: You don't. You won't.

Now, if the Texans come to Baltimore and win that playoff opener, would Harbaugh need to make a change in the offensive or defensive coordinator spot just to show some urgency and disdain for underachieving? Sure. But they don't make $17 million a year like he does.

So, there are certain Ravens "fans" in a tough spot next Sunday.

If your favorite team wins, the head coach is back in 2026.

What a weird start to the new year.

I'm considering putting together a bus trip to Pittsburgh for the game. We would leave Baltimore at 1 pm and return after the game. Ticket, food, drinks, bus ride included. Please e-mail me if you're interested in potentially going. 18inarow@gmail.com

Sunday December 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4143

egg....officially....laid

Not only did the Steelers lose today in Cleveland, but they pretty much also lost next Sunday at home vs. the Ravens.

They're not getting DK Metcalf back and today in that hilarious 13-6 loss to the Browns, they lost their rock star tight end, Darnell Washington to a broken arm.

Without those two next weekend, it's lights out for Pittsburgh.

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of folks, eh?

It's so weird how things worked out for the Ravens over the last couple of weeks. It makes you think they might even be destined for some kind of weird, unthinkable run.

*They go into Cincinnati and encounter a Bengals team that totally threw in the towel.

*Green Bay loses Micah Parsons to a torn achilles and the next week, Jordan Love goes out with a concussion.

*The Lions loses to the Vikings on Christmas Day, which graced the Packers with a playoff spot.

The Steelers T.J. Watt suffers a bizarre lung injury after a medical treatment and misses three games, including the 12/28 game in Cleveland.

*Pittsburgh's DK Metcalf gets (laughably) suspended for the last 2 games of the season and can't play against the Browns on 12/28 or the Ravens on 1/4.

*Without Parsons, the Green Bay defense is totally inept in the 41-24 loss to the Ravens on Saturday.

*Darnell Washington leaves the game in the first half with a broken arm and the Steelers offense sputters badly in losing to the Browns, 13-6.

*The Steelers will now face the Ravens in the winner-take-all game with no #1 wide receiver, no #2 wide receiver and no #1 tight end.

One thing I wrote here today that I'll probably ask for a mulligan on is the idea that all the pressure is on the Steelers next Sunday in the season finale.

It's actually almost all on the Ravens.

Pittsburgh has no offensive players to speak of. They scored 6 points today and will be lucky to record more than 14 next Sunday with what they have at Aaron Rodgers' disposal.

There's no way the Ravens don't go into Pittsburgh next week and smash those guys.

It would, in my mind, be a pretty big upset if the Steelers beat the Ravens.

I'll touch on this more tomorrow and throughout the upcoming week, but Ravens fans everywhere are in quite the quandary next weekend in Pittsburgh.

If the Ravens win, they make the playoffs and host a game in the first round as the AFC North champion.

But..........

If the Ravens win, John Harbaugh almost certainly returns as the team's head coach in 2026, giving the fan base another year to criticize the embattled longtime leader of Baltimore's football team.

Pick your poison.

You want the Ravens to beat the Steelers next Sunday and make the playoffs?

It comes with a price.

---

still (very much) alive

I know you expect an "I told you so" entry in today's edition of #DMD.

The Ravens, as I said they would, beat the Packers last night in convincing fashion, 41-24.

Originally, the thought did cross my mind to rub it in. I'll admit it.

Luckily for you, I'm not that kind of guy. Win with humility, they say.

Despite an inner-voice telling me to do it, I'm not.

Yes, I called that big Ravens win last night.

Once in a while, a blind squirrel finds an acorn, huh?

Understand this, I really do want to remind you that I called that one last night.

Surprisingly, though, I'm not saying "I told you so" once here today.

On we go to the next game...

I wrote here yesterday the game in Green Bay on Saturday night was going to revolve around "heart".

Well, the Packers defense had absolutely no heart at all last night.

And the Ravens defense didn't have much of it, either.

But when the final clock reached 00:00, the Ravens had themselves a much-needed 41-24 win over the Packers that puts an amazing burden on the Steelers today when they visit the Browns in Cleveland.

If Pittsburgh wins this afternoon, the Ravens season ends and the Steelers are AFC North champions.

But if the Browns win today, it's all hands on deck next Sunday for the one-game, winner-take-all showdown in Pittsburgh.

Saturday night was about Derrick Henry, Tyler Huntley and a Baltimore offense that took Green Bay's defense to the woodshed time and time again. Henry finished the night with 216 yards and Huntley looked -- can we say it? -- like Lamar-lite using his legs to keep the Packers honest and making several really nice throws along the way.

A week ago, people in Baltimore cried enough to fill the Jones Falls after Todd Monken failed to use Derrick Henry in the final two drives of the Patriots' 28-24 win over the Ravens.

There was no crying last night, though, as Henry lugged the ball 36 times and battered the Packers for four touchdowns in the 17 point win.

It would be very on-brand for the Steelers to lose today in Cleveland. The Steelers are very capable of going there today and laying an egg, trust me on that.

And just like they did with the Bengals, turning the tables on them in Cincinnati after losing at home, the Ravens could go to the Steel City next week and "steal" the division title.

If it comes to pass that next Sunday's game is for all the marbles, Baltimore will actually be playing with house money in that winner-take-all contest.

All of the pressure next Sunday will be on Pittsburgh. All of it.

And they know their absolute best chance of winning the division is today against the Browns. No matter what they say publicly, the Steelers do NOT want their whole season to come down to a Ravens visit on January 4.

Now, if Mike Tomlin's a smart man, he goes to Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers offensive line and urges them to let Myles Garrett secure the single-season sack record on the first play of today's game.

"Don't make it look obvious," Tomlin might say. "But let him get it right away. Aaron, you know it's coming. Protect the ball. Go down. It's 2nd and 14 and on we go. We have it out of the way and all the air gets let out of Garrett's tires."

That would be the smart thing to do. Garrett won't spend the rest of the game licking his chops for that record-setting sack.

Of course, the Browns have nothing at all to play for today, which is always a challenge, even for a "professional" (?) team where players get paid for playing. If the Steelers jump out to a quick 10-0 or 14-0 lead, Cleveland might do what the Bengals did with the Ravens a couple of weeks ago and just fold up shop for the afternoon.

Alas, I don't see that happening.

If you're looking for a prediction, I'm going to keep saying what I basically said all week. I think the Steelers will choke away this gift-horse this afternoon.

The Pittsburgh offense is due for a clunker.

The Steelers are 1-5-1 in Cleveland since 2018. That's.....not good.

Cleveland wins 19-13.

Go Browns, go.

One of the immediate and obvious reactions from last night's win both on the internet and across the football-loving nation we're in centered on Derrick Henry and his 36 carries in the 41-24 win.

It's amazing to me how people think.

"Should have given Henry the ball 36 times last week," someone wrote on Twitter. "We would have won by 17 and wouldn't have to rely on Cleveland (tomorrow)."

"See what happens when Henry runs with the ball? We win. Only our genius coach didn't know that last week."

I could go on and on but you know the drill. Heck, we have people right here at #DMD saying the same basic stuff.

And for the most part, I'm one of those people, too. I also think Derrick Henry should have carried the ball on the penultimate drive of the game in the loss to New England.

However, I'm also smart enough (two words that are rarely used in Glen Burnie) to know that I have no idea at all what might have happened had Derrick Henry been in the game on that drive. No "real" idea at all.

I think I know. But I don't really know. He might have fumbled on the first carry of the drive. And please don't say "Oh, no, that wouldn't happen, Derrick Henry never fumbles."

So, yes, while I'll agree he should have been in, I also know that sitting around saying "If Derrick Henry would have been in the game against New England we would have won" makes me look like a goof.

It's like the people in Green Bay who have spent the last 10 hours or so saying, "If Jordan Love would have played against the Ravens we would have won going away." Yeah? Does he play defensive line?

When the Steelers lose today to Cleveland, people in Pittsburgh are most certainly going to say, "If we would have had T.J. Watt and DK Metcalf we would have won." Yep, maybe. But you have no way of knowing that for sure, just like we in Baltimore have no idea if Henry would have salted that game away for the Ravens last week.

And it doesn't help that even TV announcers fall victim to remarkably dumb commentary from time to time. And, to be fair, I think Noah Eagle, last night's play-by-play voice, is one of the top young broadcasters in our country. He's going to be around for a long, long time calling big games in a variety of sports.

But he couldn't help himself last night, saying, "Last week against New England, the Ravens didn't use Derrick Henry once in the game's final 12 minutes."

And then his color analyst, Todd Blackledge, brought out his paddle and beat the dead horse some more. "That seems unthinkable to me. 12 minutes and you didn't think to put Derrick Henry in the game?"

News flash: It. Wasn't. Twelve. Minutes.

Will you please stop saying that?

It was a grand total of eight plays in about five minutes of actual "time".

On the penultimate series, the Ravens ran six plays. Two were runs by Keaton Mitchell. The drive fizzled and the Patriots got the ball back, driving 89 yards for the go-ahead, game-winning score.

On the final series, the Ravens ran two plays. Zay Flowers fumbled on the second play and that was that. Ballgame.

I would one gazillion percent agree that not having Derrick Henry touch the ball for 12 total minutes would absolutely be insanely dumb. Unless he was hurt, there's no way he can't get the ball once in 12 minutes.

But that's not what happened.

He didn't get the ball in five minutes. And he didn't get the ball over a 30-second span when the Ravens were not going to run the ball anyway.

Remember, I agree completely that Henry should have been in on that penultimate series. "Agreement" with Keaton Mitchell and the coaches be damned, when it's 24-21 and we need to shut the door, Henry's in and Mitchell's on the bench.

That said, I also want "facts" with my discourse.

It wasn't 12 minutes. Stop saying that. It makes you look as foolish as the coaches who didn't let him see the field on that next-to-last drive against the Patriots.

around the nfl

You talk about a mostly lame week 17 in the NFL. There are a few games that matter and everything else is Dudsville.

Next week might be even worse, especially if the Steelers somehow defy logic and win today in Cleveland.

Alas, if the games count, people can bet on 'em. So here we go, ready to help you win even more money than we helped you win here last week. And the week before that. And, yes, the week before the week before.

Cardinals (3-12) at Bengals (5-10) -- Leading off in the "Who Cares?" Bowl, it's Arizona at Cincinnati. This one sets up to be a real thriller. Something wacky will happen in this one. Burrow will throw for a league record of 600 yards or Chase will set a new NFL mark with 440 yards receiving. Bengals win.

Steelers (9-6) at Browns (3-12) -- You already know what I'm going to say here. Browns win. Steelers offense is due to lay a big egg and what better time to do it than the week they can least afford to do it? Couldn't happen to a nicer team, I say.

Patriots (12-3) at Jets (3-12) -- Can New England finish a perfect 8-0 on the road with a win today in New Jersey. Of course they can. And even though they're missing some key players, that's exactly what will happen. New England wins.

Saints (5-10) at Titans (3-12) -- In the "Why Play This Game?" Bowl, you have two teams just jockeying for draft position, trying their very best to lose and not make it look quite so obvious. New Orleans has actually been decent of late. I'll flip a coin here and.......it's the Titans in the win column.

Jaguars (11-4) at Colts (8-7) -- Indianapolis somehow went from 7-1 and looking like they had something potentially special on their hands to 8-7 and out of the playoffs with two weeks left in the season. It would be on brand for the Jaguars to scarf this one up today, but it's not going to happen. It might be closer than we think, but J'ville wins.

Buccaneers (7-8) at Dolphins (6-9) -- The battle of two teams in Florida that hardly anyone down there cares about. Tampa Bay is still clinging to their playoff dream but they need to win today in beautiful Miami. It won't happen. Dolphins win.

Seahawks (12-3) at Panthers (8-7) -- Wow, Carolina could actually clinch the NFC South today with a win and a Tampa Bay loss. Seattle, meanwhile, is still very much in the hunt for the #1 seed in the NFC. My heart says Carolina in a thriller but my head says otherwise. We're taking Seattle here.

Giants (2-13) at Raiders (2-13) -- In the "Worst Game in League History" Bowl, it's the battle of two teams with, yes, two wins each. Las Vegas wants to lose so badly they told their best defensive player to no longer bother suiting up for the games because he actually -- wait for it -- wants to win. This one might actually end in a tie. But we'll go ahead and say Vegas wins because, you know the old saying, "Vegas always winds up winning".

Eagles (11-4) at Bills (10-5) -- Buffalo needs a miracle to win the AFC East, otherwise they're either going to Baltimore or Jacksonville for their playoff opener in a couple of weeks. Philly is fighting for seeding, still, but other than that they're playing not to get hurt today. Bills win a shootout.

Bears (11-4) at 49'ers (11-4) -- NBC somehow stumbled on to what should be a very entertaining football game. Both teams don't need to win, but they definitely want to win. Playoff seeding is at stake and everyone's trying to figure out a way to avoid playing the Rams in the first round if at all possible. 49'ers win this one tonight.

Saturday December 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4142

give me huntley and let's roll

Here's the way I see tonight's game in Green Bay.

It's a Ravens team that must win with a competent, capable back-up quarterback vs. a Green Bay team that would like to win, but doesn't need to, with their mostly unproven back-up quarterback under center tonight.

One team is starving and hasn't eaten in days and isn't sure when their next meal is coming.

The other team just ate on Thursday and, while they could use a nice burger or steak, they also know they're going to Aunt Betty's house in a couple of days and they'll be able to feast on whatever they want at her place.

Which team are you taking in that scenario?

I'm going with the starving team that doesn't know when their next meal is coming.

I just don't see the Ravens losing tonight.

Now, as we know, that might not be good enough to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh would then have to lose to the injury-riddled Browns tomorrow with their own mostly unproven quarterback in Cleveland. So just winning tonight isn't the only thing the Ravens need. But if they lose tonight, their season's over.

I'll take Tyler Huntley over Malik Willis.

Editor's note: And, yes, I'm presupposing Lamar Jackson is not starting tonight, although I would not rule out (unless he doesn't dress for the game) Jackson coming if things go sideways in a desperate "Superman" attempt to save the season. Listing him as "doubtful" yesterday on the injury report was telling, particularly after the snafu the Ravens had with him earlier this season against the Bears.)

Yes, I see this one going favorably for the Ravnes this evening. In fact, I'm not so sure's it going to be close.

It's worth pointing out that Green Bay does have a "little something" left to play for. If they win their last two games (home tonight and at Minnesota next Sunday) and the Bears lose their last two (at San Francisco tomorrow night and home vs. Detroit next Sunday), then Green Bay would win the NFC North.

Winning the division guarantees at least one home game. So, yes, the Packers are still going to be "playing hard" tonight. But in the deep recesses of their brains, Green Bay knows Chicago is probably not losing to the Lions next Sunday, no matter how it goes tonight vs. the Ravens and how the Bears and 49'ers finish tomorrow.

So, with that in mind, the Packers will be operating on, I'd say, about 75% efficiency tonight.

With Malik Willis at quarterback, too. So maybe even nick that 75% down to 65%.

Let's be clear on something: This is 100% a game the Ravens should win.

You hear the word "heart" used in sports all the time. It's hard to quantify exactly what that means, but in general it's used to describe an athlete or a team that just sort of wills its way to victory, overcomes adversity that generally knocks out others, and probably has more ambition than skill but somehow figures out a way to win.

Does that describe "heart" accurately enough?

I have no idea how much heart this 2025 Ravens team has. I really don't.

We saw the Bengals two weeks ago in Cincinnati with their heart on full display in an absolute, must-win game. They had, exactly, zero heart. None. Nada.

We're going to see how much heart the Ravens have tonight.

If they have any heart at all, as a team, as an offense, as a defense, as a coaching staff, they'll figure out a way to fly out of Milwaukee around midnight with a "W" to their credit.

If they don't have any heart, they'll bow out meekly and return home an embarrassed, 9-loss squad, that will go down in the modern-day Ravens record books as perhaps the most disappointing team in franchise history.

Tonight is mainly about heart, as I see it.

Green Bay, man-for-man, just isn't better than what the Ravens offer. In fact, I think it's fair and not-being-a-homer-at-all to say Baltimore's roster is much more talented than Green Bay's.

The Ravens are, talent wise, better at most of the positions on the depth chart.

If Jordan Love were playing tonight, I'd probably feel a little different about this one. Alas, he's not. And I don't see the Ravens letting Malik Willis beat them.

It's been an up and down year for John Harbaugh's team and there have certainly been occasions when we could call their "heart" into question. They've choked away so many leads the folks at the Heimlich Institute have asked the Ravens to appear at their 2026 International Conference as a case study.

But none of that really matters tonight.

The Ravens have to win this game in Green Bay and then face the humiliating reality of actually rooting for the Browns tomorrow.

We stole their team in 1995 and, now, in 2025, we might need them to help us steal the AFC North title.

Funny the way it is.

I don't think this one will be close tonight.

The Ravens have too much on the line to throw up a clunker and the Packers have little to play for, which means once it starts going backwards for them they'll just say, "Put it in neutral and live to play another day."

Huntley will outplay Willis.

Derrick Henry will carry the ball 22 times for 113 yards.

DeAndre Hopkins will catch a touchdown pass.

And the Ravens will actually cruise to a fairly routine, easy win, 34-22.

(By the way, if those three things happen -- Henry, Hopkins and a win by more than -7.5 -- ol' Drewski might be moving up to the high rent district...)

I don't know if the Ravens have any heart, but I'm betting they find some tonight on an evening where they either have it or their season is over.

Ravens win tonight, yes.

And then...we get to watch a game in Cleveland tomorrow.

I haven't really addressed the DK Metcalf thing here at all, but after watching yesterday's fiasco of a "press conference" held by the lunatic that Metcalf struck in Detroit last week, I'll give you my two cents.

Metcalf was wrong.

So was the idiot fan who pretty much planned the whole thing and carried it out.

As I see it, they're both guilty of speeding. Going 69 in a 55 mph zone, as it were.

I'm not sure Metcalf deserves to be suspended for two games.

And I'm definitely sure that moron in Detroit is in the 14th minute of the 15 minutes of fame he wanted.

Oh, and let's not even address the "malicious" nature of the punch that was thrown (according to the lunatic's attorney).

Is your client 8 years old?

He was barely touched. No blood. No loss of teeth. Come on man, you're kidding, right? Stupid of Metcalf to do? Of course. "Malicious"? Yeah, if you think getting tickled with a feather is malicious, sure.

People think they can just wander around and say whatever they want and it all falls under the umbrella of "free speech".

Mike Tyson -- one of the top lunatics in our country -- said it best: "We lost our way in the U.S. when you were no longer afraid of getting punched in the face for something you said to somebody or wrote about somebody without justification."

And, no, I'm not advocating we should be allowed to walk around and punch people.

But Tyson's right. Without the fear of retribution or retaliation, people, like that loon in Detroit, just assume no matter what they do they're not getting punched for it. And if they do get punched, it's PAY DAY time.

As he said walking back to his seat last Sunday in Detroit after that "malicious" attack by Metcalf, "That was the goal, folks."

And after watching that embarrassing press conference yesterday, it was more evident than ever that Metcalf was, only, "as guilty" as that idiot. In the weirdest way possible, that dude's press conference actually made Metcalf's reaction to him seem "fair".

If the guy really wants to make money, he should fight Metcalf in a 3-round bout in Las Vegas.

But we all know he certainly wouldn't do that...

Friday December 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4141

yes, the ravens are disappointed

A lot has been made over the last 48 hours about a column written by Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun in which he wrote about a "rift" between the Ravens, most notably John Harbaugh, and quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Because people on the internet and the national media are incredibly lame, irresponsible, not good readers and, most importantly, always susceptible to biting the hook, there have been a number of stories filed over the last two days that indicate the rift is, in fact, real.

Jackson, Ravens at odds, it reads, with the added disclaimer, "according to the Baltimore Sun."

Harbaugh, Jackson spat could result in trade to Miami, another one read.

Jackson's days in Baltimore might be numbered due to rift with coaches and teammates, it was written.

Exactly none of that stuff is known to be true, of course.

None of it.

Now, would Mike Preston go out of his way to report something that he knows, for sure, is entirely 100% false? I do not believe he would do that.

Full disclaimer, because I think this is fair and "right" of me to point out: I've known Mike for 40 years, roughly. He was the beat writer for the Blast in the mid 1980's when I was the Media Relations Director. He traveled with me (us) on the road for a few years. I saw him often when I was on the radio and he was covering the Ravens. I'm saying all of this simply to point out that I do know Mike and would consider him a "professional friend" in the same way, let's say, I consider Scott Garceau, Keith Mills and Mark Viviano professional friends.

Is there some part of what Mike Preston wrote about Lamar that's accurate? I'm guessing the answer to that is "yes", mainly because I have to assume someone along the way told him some of those stories.

Perhaps Lamar is a bit petulant when things don't go his way at practice. Mike wouldn't know that himself because the Ravens don't allow the media to watch enough practice to learn such things. But someone in the organization or on the team could have slipped that info to Mike along the way.

He has no idea at all if Lamar falls asleep in meetings or stays up late at night. He must get that info elsewhere.

I could tell you a story about the time a certain Ravens player showed up at a radio show we were hosting smelling like he had just been on the front porch with Chris Tucker and Ice Cube in the movie, "Friday", and I would 100% be telling the truth because I was there and I....well....smelled it on him.

I smelled it. I was there. I "knew" about it. I don't think Mike would make up a story about Lamar falling asleep in a team meeting but I also know he wasn't there to observe it himself. Someone tipped him off on that if it's true.

But it could have been a one-time or, maybe, two-time thing. However, when it's written like this "[Lamar] doesn’t need to be up late at night playing video games or falling asleep in team meetings,” it leads one to believe that sort of conduct happens all the time. That's sorta-kinda the way it reads.

Football players have a weird schedule. Unlike baseball players, who basically have a 12 noon to 2 am body clock during their season, football players are like the rest of us who have normal jobs and schedules. They're at the facility at 6:30 am or so and stay there until 4 pm or thereabouts. They have, in that regard, a "typical" work routine.

So, that's to say, it wouldn't be totally out of the ordinary for someone, any one of us, to report to a work meeting at 8:00 am and have a little trouble getting our engine going. Maybe we do doze off for a second or two before a co-worker bumps us and says, "Hey, dude, wake up."

I can't imagine Lamar Jackson does that routinely. I could be wrong. I'm not there. But I don't think that's a habit of his. Has it happened before, though? Quite possibly yes. And if it did, and he was caught by Harbaugh or Todd Monken or another staffer, I'm sure they weren't thrilled with it.

By the way, I can 100% guarantee you that Lamar Jackson is NOT the only Ravens player to ever doze off in a team meeting. Like Ben Affleck said at the construction site at the end of Good Will Hunting, I don't know much, but I know that.

Oh, and sure, maybe Lamar does like to play video games. I have no clue. Perhaps he stays up late occasionally playing them. I have no idea on that, either.

Trying my best not to sound like Colonel Jessup when he was talking about Private Santiago's transfer ("maybe he's an early riser who likes to pack in the morning, maybe he didn't have any friends"), I'll just casually mention: Maybe Lamar doesn't need 8 or 9 hours of sleep, maybe he took a nap earlier in the day and was refreshed at 10 pm when he started playing, maybe he needs the adrenaline rush of video games...

I could be wrong here, but I can't imagine the Ravens would ever feel the need say to Lamar, "You know, you ARE 28 years old now. Maybe you should stop playing video games and start looking at game film instead." They're running a football team, not a day care center.

Often times in sports writing or sports "coverage", people take what a reporter claims and assume it's gospel. That's what has fueled so many of the stories we've been reading over the last two days.

For instance, Preston wrote this: “It’s clear that coach John Harbaugh has become tired of Jackson, even though he builds him up after every game,” the columnist wrote. “He has to, or Jackson will go into his own self-exile.”

It's clear to whom, exactly?

Wouldn't the proper thing to write there be, "It's clear to this journalist and reporter that coach John Harbaugh has become tired of Jackson..."

I mean, that all might be true. Maybe Harbaugh is tired of Jackson. I don't know why, but I'm not naive to the idea that every relationship has its moments of strain and tension, like we saw earlier this week with Steve Kerr and Draymond Green in the NBA.

But again, the question is: Who, exactly is it "clear" to that Harbaugh is tired of Jackson? If it's clear to the reporter, shouldn't he/she point that out and then give some sort of evidence to support their claim?

And yet, that one comment created a plethora of headlines in the media regarding the "rift" or "tension" between the coach and the quarterback.

Did anyone at the New York Post, Yahoo!, USA Today or any other media outlet who "covered" the story not dig into the phraseology of the Preston story and ask, "Who, exactly, is it "clear" to that Harbaugh is tired of Lamar?" And if it's the writer who is claiming it, where is the quote from Harbaugh or some other anecdotal evidence confirming that?

I don't see a rift of any kind, personally. I think John Harbaugh is supremely indebted to Lamar Jackson. He knows his chances of beating the Packers with a healthy Lamar Jackson are much greater than beating the Packers with an ailing Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley playing quarterback instead.

I see no reason why John Harbaugh is upset with Lamar Jackson, other than the fact that he's hurt and might not be able to play this Saturday. But John knows that's certainly NOT Lamar's fault.

But I'm not there every day. So maybe I'm wrong on all of this.

The Ravens are facing a serious quandary with Lamar Jackson, that much is true. You do not have to be a genius to figure that out.

They owe him $50-plus million next season and his cap hit will be an outrageous $75 million. There's beyond zero chance that the Ravens are going to have a $75 million figure on their salary cap for Lamar or any one player.

So, sometime in January or February, Eric DeCosta will make that call that Lamar already knows is coming.

"We need you to sit down with your mother and look at a restructured contract for 2026, 2027 and 2028," DeCosta will say. "We're still going to pay you what we said we were going to pay you. But we're going to need to do it in a different way."

And that will serve the ball into Lamar's court.

He can either return with, "Yeah, I don't like the sound of that. What are my other options?"

Or he can return with, "All good, I knew this was coming. Send it over and we'll figure it out."

I do not think the Ravens want to actively trade Lamar Jackson to Miami or any other team.

That said, there is certainly a conversation to be had about whether trading Lamar in the off-season could be the right, prudent thing to do if you can fleece a team for his services and reboot your organizational depth chart by doing so.

DeCosta would be guilty of career-malpractice if he didn't at least listen to calls from interested teams about Lamar's availability and trade price tag.

But if the deals aren't worthy, he marches on with one of the best 5 quarterbacks in the NFL and he lets the organization's bean counters figure out the best way to pay Lamar over the next three years.

None of that, though, should be considered to read, "Lamar would love to play in Miami."

We all assume he'd be interested in playing in Miami because that's where he's from and that's where he spends a lot of his off-season (in South Florida), but for all I know, Lamar has no interest in going down there and posting a 5-12 record every year and getting bushwacked by the Bills and Patriots twice a year for the next three years.

Lamar could have gone to the Dolphins -- or any NFL team -- three years ago and none of them wanted to pay him, remember? That's how it came to pass that the Ravens wound up winning that game of cat and mouse with their quarterback when he was a restricted free agent.

Jackson wanted his contract fully guaranteed and the Ravens basically said, "Go find a team to do that for you and then come back to us and we'll talk..."

No one did it. And the Ravens wound up winning that little battle, that is if you consider having to give a guy $180 million for no championships (yet) to be "winning".

All of this is meant to say, "Maybe the Dolphins don't want Jackson after all." The writer says, though, "Jackson would love to play in Miami."

Alas, it's also well known that I would have "loved" to have dated Jennifer Garner 25 years ago but she, sadly, didn't want to date me.

Are the Ravens ready to part company with Lamar Jackson?" I have no idea. My yes or no answer to that is "no". It's still a quarterback's league and the best teams are the ones who have their quarterback situation ironed out.

That said, the Edmonton Oilers once upon a time didn't "want" to part company with Wayne Gretzky but it turned out a trade to Los Angeles was the prudent thing for them to do from a business and hockey standpoint at that moment in time.

But I also know assume this: If the Ravens are put in a position of having to deal Jackson this off-season, it will not be because he fell asleep in team meetings or stayed up late at night and played video games.

And it will not be because of some rift or clash with John Harbaugh, Todd Monken or anyone else.

If it comes to pass they look into trading Lamar Jackson, it will be because they feel it's the best thing for their organization moving forward, as painful as that might be.

Personally, I don't see it happening.

But I understand that it's a possibility, particularly given the high-stakes world of the NFL and the salary cap and how fitting 53 guys into that financial puzzle is a (tough) game in and of itself.

Is Eric DeCosta happy with this 2025 campaign to date? He most certainly is not.

Is John Harbaugh happy? Absolutely not.

Todd Monken, Zach Orr? No and no.

No one is "happy" that the team is 7-8 with two games remaining and has a whisker of a chance to make the playoffs.

That said, going back to Lamar, specifically, he doesn't play defense.

He helped the Ravens put up 40 points in Buffalo in the season opener, remember. That one loss, more than any of the other seven, is why they have to win two and have Pittsburgh lose two just to make the playoffs.

Just hold on to a 15-point lead with 4 minutes left and you're 8-7 instead of 7-8.

That's not to say that Lamar has played "great" this year. He has not.

But the onus of the 2025 season is hardly on him and him alone. The Baltimore defense has laid so many eggs in the last four months that Perdue Farms is impressed.

Yes, the Ravens are disappointed.

I'm guessing they're disappointed in Lamar, a little. And Likely. And Henry. And Roquan. And Humphrey.

They're probably disappointed in more players than they're thrilled with, truth be told, but that's sports. Everyone's chakras don't always line up properly at the same time.

But don't mistake "disappointed" for "eager to get rid of". If you do that, you're as bad as the folks out there who cut and paste a story they read in Baltimore and assume it's the complete gospel.

faith in sports

I'm so excited to present this edition of "Faith in Sports" today I just want to get right to it and not write one more word.

It's awesome. College football coaches building their programs around Jesus and faith, not around "getting the best players" or "paying the most money" or "winning the biggest games". No, they start from the beginning, building the program around faith and then those things I wrote above (players, money, winning) all seem to come at some point thereafter.

It's 16 minutes long, but you're probably off and taking it easy today, so you have 16 minutes to spare to make your life better. Right? 16 minutes to make your life better? Why not?

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 December 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4140

glory to the newborn king

I'm amazed every time I hear or read the story of the night Jesus was born.

Angels came upon shepherds who were tending their flock and told them of the birth of a savior.

I enjoy thinking about that moment and what the shepherds must have thought and said to one another.

"Yeah, right, you want us to just wander into town and find this room next to the Inn and there we're going to find a baby who was just born and he's going to be the new King of the world?"

The angels replied, "Yes, that's exactly what you should do. It's God's commandment, in fact."

And so off they went.

Lo and behold, the angels were right.

Jesus had been born hours earlier.

The rest is history.

God sent Jesus into the world to not only show us how to try to live, but he sent him to help us prepare for our eternal life...the one we're going to live after our time on Earth expires.

Jesus is the greatest gift we've all received.

The great San Francisco-based pastor Francis Chan once spoke to a group of non-believers during one of his stops in another part of the country.

"Raise your hand if you don't go to church," he said to those in the room. A bunch of hands shot up. Chan approached one of the men with his hand in the air and said, "Why don't you go to church?"

"I don't know," the man replied. "I never seem to get anything out of it."

"The only thing you're supposed to get out of church is Jesus," Chan said to him. "That's why you go. That's what you're going to get out of it every time. You don't need anything else. Jesus is there. With you. Go to church and that's what you're going to get. Jesus."

I attended 9 o'clock mass last night at IHM and went in with that exact mindset.

"I'm just here tonight to celebrate the birth of Jesus," I said to myself as the pews started to fill.

"I don't have to get anything out of this except I'm here to celebrate a birthday. Jesus was born today to save the world."

And, so, the Christmas holiday is upon us, where we gather with family and friends to exchange gifts, eat and be merry together, and spend valuable time with one another that our hectic, fast-paced world sometimes doesn't allow us to do.

But the best gift of all isn't under your tree and it doesn't come in a box or a bag. It can't really be opened. And, fortunately, it doesn't need to be returned, either.

It's actually "one size fits all".

Your gift is the life Jesus lived for all of us.

The older I get, the more I absorb and make sense of the messages God was providing to us when he sent the angel Gabriel to Mary and Joseph with the news that they were going to be the parents of the most important person ever born into this world.

"You need this," God was saying to the world. "You need someone to show you the way. His light will guide you. Be blessed."

With each passing year, I find I need fewer and fewer material gifts. "I don't need anything, really," is what I usually say to family members who ask me the traditional question: "What do you want for Christmas?"

But this year, I did come up with something I wanted.

"I want more people to learn about the life of Jesus," I've been saying to friends and family members.

To me, that's the best gift we can give ourselves. I have enough socks and golf balls and pullovers and winter hats. I thought about that very thing yesterday as I watched the heartwarming movie, "It's A Wonderful Life" with my family.

What do I really need?

And I can honestly say I don't really need anything. Like, seriously. I don't need a bike. I don't need a new putter. I don't need a new book or a new....anything, honestly.

Isn't that funny? I mean, sure, I could use a million dollars. I'd make great use of that. But, in reality, I'm at the point in my life where I don't need anything. Anything I need, I guess I have by now. Or I had it and realized I didn't really need it after all.

But there's a difference between what I need and what I want.

And what I want is for everyone to just know Jesus.

You don't have to know him all-at-once, either. Take your time. Like any friendship or relationship, it takes a while to really learn about someone.

But for those of you wondering, "What am I going to get out of it?", I have the answer.

You're going to have the best friend you'll ever have in your life.

He'll always be there for you. Always. He laid down His life for you, after all. That, I'm sure you'll agree, is something only a true friend would do.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

And Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating today.

Wednesday December 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4139

be grateful

If you're a #DMD veteran, you know we tend to move into neutral here today and tomorrow to celebrate the Christmas holiday.

We'll be back at full speed here on Friday and, of course, there's that football game in Green Bay on Saturday that we'll be following here, along with the other one in Cleveland on Sunday that might be really important or not important at all to those of us in The Land of Pleasant Living.

While I'm offering you the reminder below as part of a Christmas-themed message, it holds true for my Jewish friends who are celebrating Hanakkuh and anyone else in the #DMD sphere celebrating a religious holiday.

In fact, I should just say, today's message is for everyone. Period. Even if you don't "believe" in Christmas, for whatever reason, the message still applies.

Some of what I'm sharing below is intentionally vague because I'm not in position to share the young man's name to protect the privacy of both him and his family.

I attended a hastily-arranged memorial service yesterday for a 2024 Loyola High School graduate who passed away in his sleep on Monday. I knew the young man through golf. He played several seasons for the Dons and competed against my Calvert Hall team and was also very close friends with two of my players.

Don't let the stuff you read on the internet fool you. Calvert Hall and Loyola are not "bitter rivals".

Sure, there's a football game on Thanksgiving Day that's important and occasionally the game becomes more important than it really should be, but that's not "real life".

To wit, there are a lot of Calvert Hall business owners in town who hire Loyola graduates and there are a lot of Loyola business owners in town who hire Calvert Hall graduates. There's a once-a-year football rivalry and after that, we're back to being friends.

When my Calvert Hall golfer was stricken with a very serious illness earlier this month, one of the first messages of support I received was from the Loyola golf coach.

In matters of real life, Calvert Hall comes to the aid of Loyola and Loyola comes to the aid of Calvert Hall.

My friend who is the head coach at Curley and one of his players also sent notes of concern while my player was ill.

We are, in that regard, all Christian brothers.

So I attended yesterday's service with two of my players and a former player of mine who was close to the Loyola grad and former golf team member.

He was not only a good player, but he was also a gentleman when we played and was always friendly and polite to me when I'd see him at Hunt Valley GC or anywhere else over the summer.

His death is extremely heartbreaking for everyone involved. I offered a word of condolence to his father, saying the only thing I could say in that moment, both as a father myself and someone who saw his son from afar. "Your son was an outstanding young man. He represented you and your family very well. I'm heartbroken for you."

Father Dennis Baker, the President at Loyola, handled a very tough assignment with grace and a wonderful message about being faithful during a time like the one Loyola is enduring this week.

"If there's any solace in this, please understand something," Baker told us. "God is here, with us right now, and he's suffering right along with us. God knows all about suffering. He put his only son on Earth to die on a cross for our sins."

I stood at the back of the Blakefield chapel as people filed in and took in the dozens of young Loyola students who entered. I knew many of them as members of the golf program. Others I didn't know, but they filed in one-by-one and, in them, I saw my own son, who just graduated from high school a year ago.

They were there to show support, like we are were, for the young man's family and for their friend who had passed away.

We had a "Calvert Hall row" in the back of the chapel. Someone tried to lighten the mood with me afterwards, saying, "Did you feel out of place here?", to which I smiled and said, "I brought my passport with me just in case. But, no, I didn't. I think in times like these we all gather to show our respect for someone and it doesn't matter where they went to school or who they played golf for in high school."

As I walked back to my car, I kept thinking about Father Baker's message and the service I had just taken in.

And the two words that kept coming back to me were: Be grateful.

Be grateful that you woke up today.

Be grateful that your children and, maybe, their children woke up today.

I'd recommend you be grateful to God and Jesus Christ for those blessings, but in general, no matter your beliefs, just be grateful.

We're here for a short time. We're in God's hands for the rest of eternity, which is a lot longer than our life-span here on Earth.

Be grateful for what you have.

Be grateful for the air you breathe today.

Be grateful for your family and friends.

There will be gifts and presents under the tree today and tomorrow and the holiday will be a joyous occasion for those celebrating Christmas over the next 48 hours.

Those are all wonderful signs of love and friendship.

But if you're reading this right now, you got the greatest gift of all this morning. You're alive, breathing and you're here to experience another day in your life. Be grateful for it.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve.

God is great indeed.

Tuesday December 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4138

winners ???

I saw a pretty funny meme yesterday. I'd post it here but it's a little too soon.

It was a picture of Roquan, Marlon and Wiggins, each with Santa Claus hats on, in uniform no less.

The headline was: Ravens defense, the gift that keeps on giving. 4th quarter sales happening now!

You're low hanging fruit when you do what the Ravens did on Sunday night. Everyone's going to take a swipe at you, I suppose.

There's so much to unpack from the last 36 hours, I don't know where to start.

I don't see much sense in rehashing the game itself. Often times here I'll do a column called "TheMorningAfterTheMorningAfter" in a veiled reference to Pete Yorn's amazing debut album, "Music For The Morning After", but I don't think I have any new thoughts about what transpired on Sunday night.

You saw it for yourself.

Mistakes, fumbles, a weird quarterback injury, blown coverages, lack of killer instinct, inability to get a defensive hold...and those are just the obvious things.

Then you have the "Derrick Henry decision", which, honestly sorta-kinda pales in comparison to the other things that we saw unfold in front of us. I mean, it's my belief Henry should have been in the game on the penultimate 6-play series, but I'm also smart enough to admit I have no idea what would have happened had he carried the ball twice instead of Keaton Mitchell.

I don't know what using Henry would have done. I think I know. But I don't know for certain.

But I do know what Henry fumbling the ball did.

And I do know what losing Lamar did, although it's fair to point out that Tyler Huntley certainly wasn't awful in the two quarters he played.

I know what the missed 56 yard field goal did.

I know what not being able to stop New England on 4th and 2 with three minutes left did.

I also know what the Zay Flowers fumble did.

Here I am, rehashing the game I said I didn't need to rehash.

Anyway, that's how you lose a game you couldn't really afford to lose. Oh, sure, they all add up. The Buffalo loss on that opening Sunday night was a killer. So was the beatdown the Lions put on the Ravens in Baltimore in late September. Losing those two back-to-back games while Lamar was out with his hamstring issue didn't help.

And then, you had the back-to-back losses to the woeful Bengals and the hot-and-mostly-cold Steelers, the latter of which came with a ten-day break.

Every loss matters. But that this past Sunday night set into motion a weird scenario where the Steelers need to beat the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday -- but ONLY if the Ravens somehow beat the Packers in Green Bay on Saturday.

And Pittsburgh will have to beat the Browns without the use of embattled wide receiver DK Metcalf, who was suspended for two games on Monday as a result of an in-game altercation with a fan in Detroit on Sunday.

Steelers...gonna Steelers. It's certainly not out of the question that the Browns could pinch that game from Pittsburgh on Sunday.

But the Ravens have to do their job on Saturday night and that's far from a sure thing.

Maybe it all swings in Baltimore's favor somehow. It stinks having to do the scoreboard-watching-deal, but that's where we're at right now. If Minnesota somehow upsets Detroit on Thursday, the Lions are out of the post-season and the Packers will be able to put their engine on cruise control Saturday night.

But if the Lions keep their season alive with a win, then Green Bay has to match that win on Saturday vs. Baltimore in order to secure their post-season spot.

And then, even if the Ravens do somehow manage to win on Saturday, they have to sit in front of their TV sets on Sunday and root like the devil for the Browns to upset the Steelers.

Your mileage may vary on how much of a chance the Ravens have, but they do still have a chance, as slim as it might be.

The big question on Monday circulating around town was "why does this keep happening to the Ravens?" What's the cause of it? That's 12, 4th quarter double digit leads that have been blown over the last 5 years. The next worst team in that category? The Bengals and Colts with 7 each.

How on earth do the Ravens have 12 squandered double digit leads in the 4th quarter over the last 5 years?

I'll take a stab at answering that question, but please know I'm going to touch on something that's very delicate in the world of sports.

I'm going to do my best to not be overly harsh. There's no need for it, really. Because you're watching the same games I've been watching. So I know you know what I mean, even if you don't come to the same conclusion.

I'll answer a question -- How on earth do the Ravens have 12 squandered double digit leads in the 4th quarter over the last 5 years? -- with a question. I know that's kind of maddening, but it's the best way to tiptoe into a touchy subject.

How many of the Ravens are winners?

I know that's a vague description. What is, after all, a "winner" in sports?

Define it.

I'm not 100% sure I can, but just like the Supreme Court justice once said, "I don't know that I can define it, but I know it when I see it."

But to me it's fairly simple: A winner is someone who, when then chips are down and you absolutely, 100% need them to come through for you right now, in this moment, they do it. You need this throw made or this catch made or this pass defended or this ball run into the end zone and it gets done.

"Winners" apply to other sports as well.

That Yamamoto kid for the Dodgers? He's a friggin' winner. You just know that. Steph Curry? Winner. Kobe? Winner.

So I'll ask you again. How many of these Ravens are, in your mind, winners?

I'm talking deep down, when you cut them open. We probably think they're all "winners" because they play professional football and they make millions of dollars. In that regard, yes, they're "winning" as Charlie Sheen used to say.

But deep down in their core, when the rubber meets the road, are they really winners?

I don't know the answer. But my guess is not nearly as many as you (and I) probably think are winners.

I mean, some folks are going to say Marlon Humphrey came to Baltimore as a "winner" from his days at Alabama. A counter-point to that might be, "Yeah, well, it's easy to be a winner when your team is ahead 24-0 in the second quarter 8 times in 12 games. Anyone can be a winner in that set-up."

Another counter-point might be that Humphrey hasn't won anything in the NFL.

Is Lamar Jackson a winner?

That might depend on your definition of "winner". He won two MVP awards as a pro. And the Heisman Trophy in college. Those were "wins". But he hasn't won anything with his team in either setting. Is he a winner? I don't know.

And I'm not saying Lamar's a "loser". I'm asking the question: Is he a winner?

Is Mark Andrews a winner? I'm not sure.

There's a saying in sports that coaches "put the players in position to win". In football, I assume that means, primarily, the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.

I don't know about you, but the players "looked in position" to win that game in Buffalo last January. Mark Andrews fumbling the ball away and dropping an easy pass in the end zone wasn't something they practiced. That was on him.

Lamar led the team on an awesome late game drive to almost tie it up. But what about the fumble earlier? One happened...the other was an "almost happened".

Marlon Humphrey getting lit up like a doobie at a Dave Matthews Band concert in Buffalo this past September? I don't think the coaches told him to do that.

Lamar getting the ball knocked out of his hands and fumbling against the Bengals on Thanksgiving Night last month? How was that Todd Monken's fault?

Zay Flowers and Derrick Henry fumbling in crucial situations on Sunday night vs. New England? No one dialed up those plays for them.

I'm just using those examples. There are plenty of others. You can pick out as many as you want.

And it's very fair to point out those players have all enjoyed success in the NFL. They make a lot of money and have career security because they're very good at football.

But are they winners? I mean, really. Deep down. Ask yourself this question: Do you want those guys in your foxhole at the moment of truth?

I think Joe Flacco was a winner. So was Ray Lewis. Anquan Boldin was a winner. Two of those three guys aren't going to the Hall of Fame, either, but I'd take either of them on my team.

But let's stick with this team. The 2025 Ravens. The team that has frittered away what should have been a cakewalk to the division title based on their talent vs. the talent in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Are they winners?

I think Kyle Hamilton is a winner. He might be one of the five best defensive players in all of football.

I think Derrick Henry's a winner, too, although the fumbles and his naked, ringless finger(s) might suggest otherwise.

Kyle Van Noy strikes me as a winner.

That said, all three of those guys can go in the same hopper: Are they winners?

I just don't know.

Patrick Mahomes is a winner. I mean, he's won 3 Super Bowls, which is proof enough, right? But you watch him play and you say, "Dude's a winner."

Oddly enough, Josh Allen hasn't won, yet, and I think he's a winner. Looks like one to me, anyway.

That kid in Chicago, Caleb Williams, looks like he might be a winner as well. He stands in the pocket, gets clobbered, and still manages to make some nice throws. Same for Drake Maye. Time will tell on him, but he sure looks like a winner.

Jared Goff? Not sure he's a winner.

I never thought Russell Wilson was a winner.

Big Ben was a winner. Big time.

I'm just naming quarterbacks.

Myles Garrett looks like a winner to me, he's just sadly employed by one of the biggest loser franchises in all of sports. If he played for the Ravens he'd be featured here like Ray Lewis 2.0.

That Nacua kid in Los Angeles looks like a winner.

Travis Kelce is a winner. You might not like Taylor Swift, but she's not catching footballs for your team. Kelce is a winner.

You get the picture and the idea by now.

Like I said, your mileage may vary on all of this.

But from where I sit, watching what I've watched for the last 3-4 years, the main cast of characters in Baltimore hasn't changed all of that much and the one thing they always seem to do, at the worst possible time, is lose.

A leopard's spots never go away. They just fade a little bit as time goes on.

These guys in Baltimore who have been part of the last few years of losing all have one thing in common. They haven't won when the chips were down.

That's not me saying that just to have something to say.

Tell me -- at least in the Lamar era, because that's all that really matters, Flacco has his ring -- when they've won. Cite for me more instances of winning big moments than losing big moments. Cite them. I'll be here waiting.

It is what it is.

I don't know how or why. I just know they haven't won.

And so it begs the question: Are these guys in Baltimore "winners"? I'm not sure if they are.

This is the no-brainer commentary of the day -- maybe even the week -- but I'll repeat here, now, what I've been saying pretty much all season. If this goes sideways on the Ravens over the last two weeks and they don't win the division and make the playoffs, there's just no way John Harbaugh survives with his job intact.

And please don't storm in here and say something stupid like, "Dude, just accept it. The season's over. John has to go."

The season's not over. Pittsburgh still has to win a football game. If they do that, the season will be over. But until they can win a game -- or, obviously, if the Ravens lose one -- I'm not willing to concede jack-squat.

I played sports and I coach a team now. Nothing's over until the league says "This game you're playing today doesn't matter."

Aaron Rodgers could separate his shoulder on the first series of the game next Sunday and everything suddenly changes. We already saw Jordan Love get his bell rung last Saturday night in Chicago and how that one play could swing things in the Ravens' favor this Saturday in Green Bay.

S**t happens as the bumper sticker says. So while the Ravens still have a chance, there's no sense in trying to bury the players or the coach just yet.

But if..........

If the Ravens fail to make the post-season, John won't be back in 2026.

I've been saying that most of the season. Yes, there's something to be said for "how" it happens, but not really. I mean, you can blame the fumbles in the Bills, Lions, Bengals and Patriots losses. Fair enough. John Harbaugh didn't fumble those balls. Neither did Monken or Orr. In the end, though, a loss is a loss is a loss and the coach gets it on HIS record.

How you lost really doesn't mean anything when you're........losing.

So, John and his staff basically have two games left to pull a rabbit out of their hat and they need to be joined on stage by the Browns, who also have to do something akin to making the Statue of Liberty disappear like David Copperfield supposedly did once upon a time.

Anything less than two Ravens wins and two Pittsburgh losses and I think the Ravens will be in the market for a new head coach for the first time since 2008.

There's absolutely no way Steve Bisciotti can send out season ticket invoices to people and ask them to pony up $200 and $300 per-ticket, per-game for 2026 seats if this edition of the Ravens flatlines and fails to make the playoffs.

You think not playing Derrick Henry in a 6-play series was considered "malpractice"?

Expecting the fan base to honor your decision to keep the coaching staff status quo in the wake of a sub. 500 season (if it happens) would make the Derrick Henry decision look "savvy".

It would be beyond malpractice for Bisciotti and the Ravens to send out those invoices for 2026 season tickets and say, "Ignore what you saw in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and come on back out and support us in 2026. No hard feelings, huh?"

During his Monday press conference, Harbaugh addressed the topic of job security along with the decision to not use Derrick Henry in the 4th quarter of Sunday's loss.

In both cases, John should have just waved the question off and said, "Not answering that. Next..."

There's nothing he can say about his job security that isn't going to infuriate the fan base.

And there's nothing he can say about the Derrick Henry situation that isn't going to infuriate the fan base.

No matter what he says in both instances, he's getting taken to the woodshed by the majority of the fans out there.

I mean, sure, it's "honorable" -- if you will -- to sit up there and face the music and answer the questions honestly. Sure, there's an ethical side of that whole thing that I can appreciate.

Harbaugh could sit up there and mumble and shoo away question after question the way Bill Belichick routinely did in New England. After 18 years in Baltimore, he's probably earned the right to dictate the pace of the press conferences.

But he sits up there and gives the most honest answers he can, as long as doing so isn't jeopardizing his team's chances to win their next game.

So, yes, I commend him for facing the music on Monday and taking those two questions.

Alas, here's the truth: The answers do not matter. Not one bit. It's all window dressing to disguise the one thing that drives everyone crazy -- the losing.

Everyone in New England knew Belichick was a pompus, condescending jerk to the media. No one cared. Because the Patriots were winning.

Anything Harbaugh says these days just grates on everyone's nerves because the Ravens aren't winning. And that's sports.

A lot of stuff gets overlooked and swept under the rug in the name of winning.

There's nothing Harbaugh could have said on Monday that would change anyone's opinion who is a card-carrying-member of the John-Must-Go club.

He told the truth about his job security and people wrecked him for it: "I'm not worried about "keeping" my job. I'm worried about "doing" my job."

That was a great answer. It's from a self-help book somewhere, I'm sure, but still a fair answer.

But everyone hated that answer.

"Dude's clueless. He's about to get fired and doesn't even know it," someone said on Twitter yesterday.

That's really not the point at all. Harbaugh knows getting fired is a possibility. He also knows he gets to collect upwards of $51 million if he gets fired. I'd come across as unconcerned too, I think.

And he told the truth about the Henry decision, too. It was a collective decision made by Monken, Taggart (running backs coach) and Henry.

Henry would get the first series of the 4th quarter. Which he did.

Mitchell would get the second series of the 4th quarter. Which he did.

Harbaugh also told the truth when he said, "In hindsight, we should have had Derrick in there on that series (after New England scored to make it 24-21)." That's right, you should have. But you didn't. Hindsight, baby. It's never wrong.

And even though he said, "Yeah, we should have had Derrick in there," he still got mugged by everyone.

No matter what he said on Monday, he was going to get belt-whipped by the fan base. And rightfully so. His team, for the 12th time in 5 years, couldn't hold on to a double-digit 4th quarter lead. You're the coach. You pull the strings if you want to pull the strings. That's what most people think is the truth.

They can't fire Lamar, Flowers, Henry, Roquan, Marlon, Monken, Orr, Andrews and Faalele.

If they fired all of them, they wouldn't have a team. But they can fire you. You're the only guy in your department.

History will show that John Harbaugh arrived in Baltimore in 2008 as a first-time head coach and went to the AFC Championship Game in his very first season in the league.

One of the things people tend to say when the subject is broached about firing the coach is: "Well, if you fire him, who are going to bring in to take his place and how do you know they'll be better than he was?"

John Harbaugh was better than Brian Billick. It's true. They fired Billick and people said, "Who can you get that's better?" and they got someone that was better.

And here's something you can do for funsies right now. And if you're honest, you're probably going 0-for-6.

Name the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator in Jacksonville and Houston.

Now, name their quarterbacks.

You know those two guys for sure, but I doubt you know the other six I asked you to name.

I'm not here to say that coaching in Jacksonville and Houston is unimportant. I'm sure it matters to those two teams. I'm here to say you don't even know who they are. But they were "found" by those franchises somehow and those two teams are in the championship hunt.

But you do know their quarterbacks. And some other players. Because you see them make plays and win games.

The league is not that hard to figure out.

Hell, Philip Rivers is 44 years old and weighs 260 pounds and hadn't thrown a football in anger in 5 years and he went 23/35 for 277 yards and a 97 quarterback rating for the Colts last night.

If Rivers can do that after playing golf and fishing for 5 years, the Ravens can find a new head coach that's worthwhile.

Now the bad news.

Or the good news.

Your mileage may also vary on this one.

If the Ravens somehow pull a rabbit out of their hat and finish 9-8 and win the AFC North, you're probably going to have Harbs as the head coach in Baltimore again next season.

It would be awesome to steal victory from the jaws of defeat at the hands of the Steelers and advance to the playoffs, where, as we know, anything can happen. Man, wouldn't that be sweet?

But just remember the old saying: Don't wish for it...because you just might get it.

And then what happens from there?

Monday December 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4137

what a day

Just like talk radio, this place really gets bubbling after a Ravens loss.

As of 2:30 pm, we're exactly 201 unique visitors away from the biggest traffic day in the 11 year history of this website.

My guess is we'll reach that by 6 pm tonight, if not sooner.

If When we do break the mark, it will shove "the day after the AFC title game loss to K.C." from the top spot. Now that was a tough morning around here.

It's times like these when I actually should thank Todd Monken for his negligence, right?

Come to think of it, wasn't Monken also in charge for that Kansas City loss in Baltimore?

Maybe I don't want the Ravens to jettison him after all.

Baltimore is scorching mad about what transpired last night.

And rightfully so.

I mean, the Ravens are 7-8 and about to be extinguished from the post-season barring a miraculous turn of events and they could easily be 9-6 if not for blowing big leads in Buffalo and then again last night to the Patriots.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

And while I might be one of the only people around here who thinks Cleveland definitely has a puncher's chance of beating Pittsburgh next Sunday, I also understand that the Ravens have to beat Green Bay first in order to even make that game against the Browns relevant.

But don't forget, Green Bay might not have anything to play for on Saturday if, somehow, the Vikings (without a quarterback) can upset the Lions on Christmas Day in Minnesota. A Vikings win over the Lions secures a post-season spot for the Packers.

Anyway...Baltimore is mad. And I get it.

One of things that's so maddening about last night's loss is you can't really blame any one person in particular. You have to pick your poison.

I mean, sure, a lot of people are beating up on Todd Monken and calling him the goat of the game, but then you also have folks who think it was John Harbaugh's fault that Derrick Henry didn't carry the ball on either of the team's final two offensive series'.

Then you have the aforementioned Henry himself, who was chugging down the field with the Baltimore offense about to make the score 14-0 early in the game when he fumbled the ball and momentum shifted back to the visitors.

There's also Zay Flowers, who had a great night until he fumbled the ball inside of two minutes remaining in the game. People are agitated with him, too.

Zach Orr's getting roasted. So is Marlon Humphrey.

People are also lighting up Mark Andrews for whatever that was he was trying to do right before halftime. I personally think he was trying to flip the ball backwards to Hopkins and his arm got hit and that's what propelled the ball across the field like that. But it's neither here nor there. It was still a goofy thing to try.

Oh, and the field goal kicker hit one from 56 yards that ended up only going 53 yards. That was a head scratcher, too.

No one is to blame.

Because everyone gets the blame.

Harbaugh. Blame.

Monken. Blame.

Orr. Blame.

The players who had a hand (or foot) in it? Blame.

It was a choke job where everyone's fingerprints were smeared all over the evidence.

Don't worry, we'll have more discourse on it here tomorrow. And probably on Wednesday, too.

---

an instant-punch-to-the-gut

I don't know where it ranks.

The Ravens have endured some gut-wrenching home losses in December over the years.

Last night's was an all-timer.

I'm not sure where it ranks.

I mean, it wasn't Tyler Boyd catching that 49 yarder from Andy Dalton.

It wasn't Troy Polamalu knocking the ball out of Joe Flacco's hands and the Steelers winning in Baltimore.

But last night's 28-24 loss to the Patriots and another 4th quarter defensive collapse is right up there with the worst gut-punches the Ravens have suffered in the John Harbaugh era.

And it now means the Steelers just have to win next Sunday in Cleveland and they'll sew up the AFC North.

It also means the Ravens have to win next Saturday in Green Bay just to make that Steelers/Browns game matter at all.

Oh, and Lamar Jackson might be out or limited in Green Bay after taking a knee to the back and missing the second half of last night's fiasco-of-a-loss.

Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.

Everything was going fine last night when the Ravens went ahead 24-13 early in the fourth quarter. All they needed, basically, was a defensive stop and one decent, six minute offensive drive, and the game was in the books.

But like we've seen time and time again, particularly over the last couple of years, that defensive stop proved elusive.

New England scored a touchdown of their own to make it 24-19 and then the Patriots connected on the 2-point conversion to make it 24-21.

You know the rest of the story.

Baltimore couldn't do anything offensively in that next series. For reasons we don't yet know, Keaton Mitchell, NOT Derrick Henry, was the featured running back in that series. Tyler Huntley did manage to produce one first down, but it wasn't enough to sustain the drive.

The irony there, of course, was that Ravens fans clamored for Mitchell to be used in the earlier months of the season and when he wasn't, both John Harbaugh and Todd Monken were roundly criticized for his absence.

Last night, Monken went ahead and used him in that penultimate offensive series and, wouldn't you know it, people were clamoring for someone OTHER than Mitchell to be out there.

Funny the way it is, as Dave Matthews sings.

So, after that 4th quarter drive where Mitchell was used in lieu of Derrick Henry, the Ravens were forced to punt and the Patriots then went 89 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:07 left in the game.

Drake Maye carved up the Baltimore secondary, even surviving a horrendous non-call on Marlon Humphrey that would have expedited the New England scoring drive that eventually gave them the lead.

The Baltimore defense was shredded in the fourth quarter by Maye and his cast of pass catchers. The other team does try too, of course, and credit goes to New England for making some outstanding receptions in traffic and tight spots.

But despite falling behind 28-24, there was still time for John Harbaugh's team.

That is, until Zay Flowers got the ball knocked out of his hand and the Patriots recovered it.

It officially goes down as a "fumble" of course, but no receiver in the league is holding on to that ball when it's punched out from behind in the manner in which it was.

I'm not defending Flowers. I'm crediting the dude who made the play for New England. If Kyle Hamilton would have made that same play for the Ravens to secure the win, we'd be urging the Ravens to build him a statue out near Russell Street.

Sometimes the other guys make a play.

Anyway, the Flowers faux pas turned the tide once and for all.

Game, set, match.

Another win coughed up.

But perhaps the biggest question of the night wasn't "How did the Ravens defense choke away another double-digit 4th quarter lead?"

It was, "Why didn't Derrick Henry touch the ball in the final 12 minutes of the game?"

Now, in fairness -- if that's the right word -- the Baltimore offense only took the field twice after they went ahead 24-13.

In the first series after New England closed the gap to 24-21, the Ravens ran just six plays as we referenced above and it was Mitchell who was the featured back. Henry was on the sideline for all six of the plays. Mitchell carried the ball twice.

And then the final offensive series featured only two plays and Henry wasn't around then, either.

Todd Monken wasn't talking afterwards, so there's no "official" reason why Henry wasn't involved in those eight plays. But the fourth quarter is generally when you expect Henry to flourish the most. Instead of punishing the Patriots defense, Henry watched the Ravens give away another game.

Lamar Jackson being out was a definite game-changer.

Derrick Henry not playing on the final two offensive series' might have changed the outcome, too. There's no guarantee, of course, that the Ravens win with Lamar and Derrick on the field together in the fourth quarter, but I know what happened when they weren't on the field together.

OK, so here's where we'll get out a plate, a fork and serve ourselves a slice of humble pie. The Patriots are good. They are, in fact, very good.

And I'm not here to say they're "very" good because they beat up on the Ravens and their semi-hapless defense and listless secondary. I mean, the Bengals and Steelers also won in Baltimore recently and neither of them are exactly Super Bowl threats.

New England's legit because of the way they won.

A week ago at home vs. Buffalo, they squandered a 21-0 lead and eventually fell victim to a second half Bills comeback.

Last night on the first series of the game, the Ravens punched the Patriots directly in the mouth en-route to a 7-0 lead before half the people in the stadium had even found their seats.

And then it was 24-13 in the 4th quarter.

Oh, and don't forget New England was faced with a 4th and 2 situation with 3:02 left in the game and Maye found Stefon Diggs for a big gain to keep things going for the AFC East leaders.

New England was "this close" to falling into a first place tie with the Bills with two games to play.

Instead, they improved to 7-0 on the road with a spirited 12-minute comeback led by their potential-MVP-quarterback Drake Maye.

Oh, and former University of Maryland star Stefon Diggs had a remarkable night as well. Together with Maye, he gave the Baltimore secondary fits all night.

Marlon Humphrey was roasted like chestnuts on an open fire.

The pass rush that was so promising last Sunday in Cincinnati returned to "pedestrian" last night in the loss to the Patriots.

And then you have the bizarre decision to not play Derrick Henry in the final two offensive series'.

Everything that could have gone wrong for the Ravens went wrong for the Ravens on Sunday, including in the fourth quarter.

It all started earlier in the day when the Steelers pulled off an improbable, referee-aided win over the Lions in Detroit.

That victory for Pittsburgh put the Ravens in the dicey position of needing to win last night to maintain complete control of their own destiny.

Alas, it didn't happen. And now, a Pittsburgh win over the Browns next Sunday will keep the Ravens home in the playoffs.

There's still one corner of the coffin not yet nailed in, though. The Steelers have to go to Cleveland and win, which seems easy, but might be tougher than we think. Shedeur Sanders is actually putting together some competent play. Myles Garrett is a beast. The Browns gave Buffalo all they could handle yesterday.

The Steelers should win in Cleveland next Sunday, yes, but it's far from a done deal. The Browns would love nothing more than to beat Pittsburgh.

Oh, and the Ravens have to win in Green Bay on Saturday to make that Sunday game in Cleveland even matter.

It should be a fun week here in the The Land of Pleasant Living.

Sunday December 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4136

lamar isn't losing to drake maye...right?

I guess there are far worse positions the Ravens could be heading into over the final three games of the 2026 season.

They could be the Chiefs, after all. Or the Bengals. Or the Browns.

For the Ravens, there are many options and paths to the playoffs.

Win their final three games. That will do it.

Lose these next two but then beat Pittsburgh in the season finale. That one works ONLY if the Steelers lose their next two, in Detroit or in Cleveland next weekend.

You get the picture.

There are a variety of paths for the Ravens to take. Winning their last three is the one route they can take where it wouldn't really matter what the Steelers do. In fact, Pittsburgh can lose their next two games and still win the AFC North by winning that season finale against Baltimore.

Someone asked me yesterday who I would rather be, the Ravens or Steelers?

Both teams only have one home game left out of their three remaining games. Baltimore is at home tonight vs. New England. Then they're at Green Bay next Saturday before that January 4 finale in the Steel City.

Oh, and don't look now, but the Ravens game in Green Bay next Saturday just got a wee bit easier with Packers QB Jordan Love likely to miss the game with a concussion he suffered in Saturday night's 22-16 instant classic loss to the Bears in Chicago.

Funny how things work out like that. What was going to be a difficult task in Green Bay just softened up a bit for John Harbaugh's team.

As for tonight, though, the Patriots are no paper-tiger.

Or are they?

New England is 11-3 on the year. They're 5-3 at home and a perfect 6-0 on the road.

You play who you play, obviously, but their schedule hasn't exactly featured a group of games against murderer's row.

Their six away wins are against Tennessee, New Orleans, Miami, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and Buffalo. Of those six, the only team even remotely considered "championship caliber" would be the Bills. And New England just lost to them in Foxborough last Sunday.

11-3 is 11-3, but I'd consider the Patriots version of 11-3 to be a tad watered down. They finish the season at the New York Jets and home vs. Miami, so tonight is a huge opportunity for them. A victory this evening and they're likely going to finish 14-3 and have a shot at the #1 seed in the AFC playoff race.

So this brings us to the playful question I asked in the headline of today's #DMD.

Lamar Jackson isn't going to lose to Drake Maye in his own building on Sunday Night football, right?

Like the Ravens and their inconsisent 7-7 mark, I've had a hard time putting my finger on their game-by-game expectations this year.

I had them beating Buffalo in the season opener and they choked away a 15-point lead with 4 minutes left and lost that one, 41-40.

I said they'd beat Detroit in Baltimore in week three and they got beat. I figured they'd fall in Kansas City and they did.

I said they'd blow Miami out and that's what happened. I didn't think they'd lose to Pittsburgh at home a few weeks ago but that somehow happened.

It's been a weird, weird year for the Ravens. They are what their record says they are, yet they could still be a tough out in the playoffs if they can get that far.

Anytime you have a healthy Lamar Jackson, you can win.

Is he 100% healthy? That's the big question. In last Sunday's 24-0 romp over the Bengals, he looked like "the old Lamar" at certain times, particularly when running with the ball.

A 100% healthy Lamar Jackson doesn't lose at home to Drake Maye.

That's what I think, anyway.

This one tonight goes to the Ravens, 30-13, as the Patriots finally have to face a "real" team on the road and they get exposed a bit on the defensive side of the ball and Maye has a tough time dealing with the Baltimore defense and the raucous crowd.

It's 13-6 Ravens at the half.

Lamar hits Zay Flowers with a 3rd quarter TD to make it 20-6.

A Tyler Loop field goal after a Nate Wiggins interception makes it 23-6.

New England finally gets in the end zone to make it 23-13, but Keaton Mitchell scampers in from 12 yards out in the final six minutes to make it 30-13 and that's all she wrote.

We're on to Green Bay...

Oh, and even though it would be very Lions-like for them to gag away this freebie at home vs. Pittsburgh this afternoon, I don't see that happening. It might be closer than it should be, but Detroit wins 28-20 to drop the Steelers to 8-7.

Now we're on to Green Bay.

A lot of you have checked in with me via Twitter or e-mail regarding the Philadelphia Flyers radio broadcaster suspension, assuming I'd be overjoyed with his unfortunate situation.

In an incredible twist in irony, it's actually the exact opposite.

Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age. (Easy with the jokes there. You might offend me.)

I'm not taking glee in it at all.

In fact, I'm kind of sad for the guy, Tim Saunders, who by all accounts is actually an outstanding play-by-play man for the worst franchise in the history of sports.

The incident occurred last Thursday night during a Flyers-Sabres game. I won't go into what was said. If you're interested, you can easily find it on line.

Saunders fell victim to the same thing nearly everyone who ever spent time on the radio fell victim to at some point in his/her career: the dreaded "hot mic", where you think you're off the air but you're not.

Was it "inappropriate"? Sure.

Is it worth everyone being overly-offended and the guy getting suspended for it? Not hardly.

But we've moved into a period (century?) of society where no one is allowed to say anything even remotely funny any longer without someone getting offended by it.

It was a joke. It's a standard, long-used one-liner by men. It might not be something I'd say or something you'd say, but if you're a man in America, you've either heard the one-liner or used it yourself at some point.

Is it only funny to men? Sure. Did he really expect the female who was in his presence (who, if this matters, didn't actually hear the comment he made) to perform the act he referenced? He did not. It was a joke gone bad.

I have a daughter. You might, too. I get the cosmetic "look" of a joke uttered on the air that might be looked at as demeaning to women. That said, I've seen internet clips of female show hosts on The View poke fun at President Trump for certain things about his body they've "heard through the grapevine".

They say it and then they sit there and laugh and giggle. No one gets suspended or has to apologize to me (men) for that. They thought it was funny. Good for them. Carry on.

Saturday Night Live makes fun of the President every weekend. They almost certainly go "over the top" with regard to him. Personally, I find it all funny. I'm not outraged by it. Some nights their humor hits the mark, some nights it doesn't. But I don't get offended by any of it.

Saunders, of course, was forced to issue an apology and remind us that's not who he really is and how he now sees the "harm" in his hot mic faux pas.

By the way, the apology was warranted, sure. No worries. Apologize and move on. "I apologize for what I said last Thursday. I was trying to be funny. Now, back to the game, where the Flyers trail 5-0 here in the 3rd period."

You don't have to apologize "to anyone I hurt" because no one got hurt.

So, while I take great happiness in any Flyers loss (which, by the way, I have to say, they are a decent team this season, which worries me), I'm not laughing and giggling at the radio guy's misfortune.

He was trying to be funny with his radio partner and it backfired. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have a new motto for our President to utilize: MALOA -- Make America Less Offended Again

around the nfl

We're getting down to the nitty gritty now, where the games on the schedule are either super-duper-important and critical to the playoff race or they mean absolutely nothing at all.

There are some big, big games on this weekend's schedule, starting with last night's instant-classic in Chicago where the Bears trailed 16-6 late and somehow came back to beat the Packers, 22-16 in OT.

They even tried a late onside kick that worked!

So you're saying there's a chance...

On to today's slate of games.

Chargers (10-4) at Cowboys (6-7-1) -- Dallas can no longer make the playoffs, so there's pretty much zero reason for them to try today. The Chargers are still alive in the AFC West and need one more win to secure their trip to the post-season. They'll get that win today in Dallas. Los Angeles beats Dallas.

Chiefs (6-8) at Titans (2-12) -- Ha ha ha ha ha. The Chiefs looked at their schedule back in April and said, "Can't wait for that cupcake game in Tennessee the weekend before Christmas." Yeah, well, how 'bout them Chiefs now? Tennessee wins today. I don't know why they want to win, but they're going to win nonetheless.

Bills (10-4) at Browns (3-11) -- Buffalo should win this one easily, but Myles Garrett could have one of those crazy days and force a couple of turnovers and who knows where things go from there? What am I talking about? This one's over by halftime. Bills win.

Bengals (4-10) at Dolphins (6-8) -- This one should be a real doozy. Neither team is interested in playing. Hopefully the weather's nice in Miami at least. Bengals win.

Buccanneers (7-7) at Panthers (7-7) -- Tampa Bay is definitely one of the hard luck stories of the year. They were rolling until Mike Evans got hurt. Carolina is going to wind up winning this freakin' division somehow. Panthers come out on top today.

Jets (3-11) at Saints (4-10) -- Imagine having a ticket to this one, huh? I checked on StubHub and the person selling the ticket will actually give you $7.00 just for buying it off of him. Saints win a close one. I guess.

Vikings (6-8) at Giants (2-12) -- New York is closing in on that #1 draft pick. Let's hope they don't screw it up today by beating the Vikings. They won't. Minnesota wins this one.

Jaguars (10-4) at Broncos (12-2) -- I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with the Broncos but week-after-week, it never does. Jacksonville really needs this one today. Denver sorta-kinda needs it, but only because they want that #1 seed come playoff time. I'm going with the "other shoe" theory again today. Jaguars win in Denver.

Falcons (5-9) at Cardinals (3-11) -- It seems amazing to write this, but it feels like the Falcons have still not recovered from losing that Super Bowl to New England when they were ahead by 50 points with 10 minutes left in the game. Has Atlanta been any good since then? Meanwhile, the Cardinals haven't been any good since Big Ben hit Holmes in the end zone to steal the Super Bowl from Arizona 15 years ago. I'll take Arizona in this one today, but I don't know why.

Steelers (8-6) at Lions (8-6) -- It's hard to believe Detroit has lost 6 games with their offense and those helmets they wear. But somehow, they are 8-6 and desperately need this one today or their playoff hopes are in big, big trouble. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is hoping to do what they always do on the road with Mike Tomlin as their coach -- kick 4 field goals and score a touchdown somehow to win 19-16. It won't happen. Detroit wins this one.

Raiders (2-12) at Texans (9-5) -- Houston needs this one today and can't afford a toe-stub against the woeful Raiders, who, like the Giants, are trying to figure out a way to look like they're trying hard while actually doing their best not to win so they can get that #1 pick. Have no fear, that win isn't coming today. Texans roll.

Saturday December 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4135

the stove is......hot

OK, so Mike Elias is wheelin' and dealin' in The Land of Pleasant Living.

He somehow convinced the Tampa Bay Rays to make a legitimate trade within the division. Those are like playoff seasons for the Flyers. They don't come along too often.

My e-mail inbox and Twitter DM's lit up with people asking me what I thought of the deal.

I can't believe Elias is that goofy, sending four legitimate, could-be-good-someday prospects for a right handed pitcher with a Sugano-like ERA who gave up 26 homers in 160'ish innings last year. What a buffoon.

Well, we really fleeced those jabronies down there in Tampa Bay. We gave up four guys that might not ever play a full 162-game season in the majors for a 26-year old pitcher with 3 years of service left on his rookie contract.

If you've been around here long enough, you already know what my opinion of the deal is: "Come and see me in three years and I'll evaluate it then."

Trades are just like the draft.

How on earth can you judge the deal -- good, bad, fair, steal, etc. -- until you see everyone perform over a certain, extended period of time?

I mean, Shane Baz might go 17-9 for the Orioles next with a 3.74 ERA and those four dudes Elias shipped down there might have "OK" years in the minor leagues.

Winner of the trade: Orioles.

For now, that is.

Everyone thought -- and rightfully so -- that the Marlins fleeced the Orioles for Norby and Stowers after Trevor Rogers pitched like Charlie Brown in July and August of 2024.

But now...it's a different story.

Time will tell, of course. Rogers might revert back to 2024 Rogers or he might be 2025 Rogers in 2026 and the O's will be smiling all the way to October.

Norby might turn into a real, legitimate every day player in Miami and Stowers could continue to play like an All-Star and the talk will continue about who got the better end of the deal.

The point is, trying to figure out who wins a trade and loses a trade when the trade occurs is pointless.

Shane Baz appears to be a good, competent Major League pitcher. Yes, he gave up a lot of home runs last season. Tampa Bay also played in the equivalent of Calvert Hall's stadium for 81 games in 2025. So, me, personally? I don't put a whole lot of stock in anything Baz did last season. But that's just me.

I know nothing about the four guys we gave up. I mean, sure, they were considered "good prospects" and all, but until they come up and play Major League Baseball and make an impact with the Rays, we're in a judgement-free-zone.

In fact, here's the distorted way I look at the trade.

The Orioles gave up Grayson Rodriguez and four prospects for Shane Baz and Taylor Ward.

That's the "haul" we got in exchange for a brittle, oft-injured pitcher and four dudes who might wind up coaching college baseball in the Sun Belt conference in 5 years.

Now, if Shane Baz stinks it up here for some unforeseen reason and Taylor Ward is playing in New York or Texas or Seattle in 2027, then maybe we made the wrong deal after all. But there's no way to know that.

So, for my money, I like the Baz trade. Prospects-schmostecs. To borrow a line from the great Jay-Z, "You know why they call The Projects a project? 'Cause they're a project."

Give me Baz and let's see him make 30-plus starts next season and the season after that and we'll see what those four guys do in Tampa Bay over the next two years. Then we can talk about "winners and losers".

I like the deal for Shane Baz.

And I don't have to worry for two or three years about having to say I was right or I was wrong.

If everything goes according to plan and the Ravens beat the Patriots tomorrow night and the Steelers lose, as expected, in Detroit tomorrow afternoon, John Harbaugh will be faced with an interesting scenario next week.

If Baltimore beats New England and the Steelers fall to the Lions, the Ravens will not have to win next Sunday's game in Green Bay.

They could lose that game 54-0 to the Packers and it wouldn't matter one bit. And that's even if Pittsburgh goes to Cleveland and wins next Sunday.

It's a fact. If the Ravens beat the Patriots tomorrow and the Steelers lose to the Lions, the Baltimore at Green Bay game means nothing at all.

The AFC North will come down to the last game of the year in Pittsburgh on Sunday, January 4th. If the Ravens win that game, they go to the playoffs. If the Steelers win that game, they go and the Ravens stay home.

So that brings up the question.

How should Harbaugh and the Ravens treat the Green Bay game if it doesn't matter?

Does Lamar play? Bateman? Hamilton? Humphrey?

This is a rare situation indeed. Most times, this sort of dilemma presents itself in the final regular season game when a team that's already qualified for the playoffs faces a game that doesn't matter, post-season wise.

I could be wrong on this, but I don't ever remember the Ravens being in this situation where the penultimate -- next to last -- game potentially didn't matter at all.

And what should Harbaugh do if it's Ravens win/Steelers lose tomorrow? Play Lamar next Sunday in Green Bay? Or sit him out and get him well-oiled and well-rested for the playoff-deciding game in Pittsburgh?

I'll wait until we see how it all transpires tomorrow before I make my call.

I'm glad it's not my decision, though.

The Dodgers "penalty" for winning a second straight World Series was announced yesterday, and it was a staggering, record amount that they owe Major League Baseball for going over the payroll threshold of $241 million in 2025.

Los Angeles has to fork over $169 million in payroll penalties on January 21.

Some teams barely have a $169 million payroll, period.

The Dodgers owe a $169 million penalty after they shelled out $417 million in salaries last season, the highest one-season player payroll amount in league history.

Other teams owing a payroll penalty for their 2025 "over spending" were the Mets ($91M penalty), Yankees ($61M), Phillies ($56M), Blue Jays ($13M), Padres ($7M), Astros ($1.5M), Red Sox ($1.5M) and Rangers ($200,000).

You have to give Major League Baseball credit. They're not permitted to create a salary "cap" because the players won't agree to it, but they are sticking to their guns with regard to the salary threshold penalty. When it was first introduced, most baseball followers figured the penalty would be a "wink-wink" kind of thing, where nothing ever really happens to the offending organization.

Alas, teams are getting penalized and they're having to write massive checks.

That said, credit also goes to the Dodgers, Mets, Blue Jays, Yankees, et al who continue to spend money to try to put the best team they can on the field, no matter the cost.

The small market teams whine about it, of course, but what are the Dodgers supposed to do? Lose on purpose?

You can just hear the chatter behind close doors in the Bronx, can't you? "The only issue with signing someone like Framber Valdez is it means the little guys like Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Florida and the Athletics -- wherever they are -- don't get a chance to sign him because they can't afford him. Maybe we shouldn't sign him after all. You know. to be fair to those teams."

Everyone to a man agrees a salary cap is the only ultimate solution for baseball, but until one gets voted in and implemented, if I'm teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets and so on, I keep spending what I want to spend and win while I can.

If the rules change in the future and teams can "only" spend $250 million or so on players, so be it. The big spenders will just have to deal with that when it comes along.

For now, though, spend away and pay the penalty.

And enjoy your championship parade.

Friday December 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4134

buehrle and......

OK, I do this once a year and will, most likely, continue to do it once a year until I get what I'm after.

No, it's not "wishing the Flyers would go 0-82". I do that multiple times a year.

Once a year, in mid-December, I come around and campaign heavily for Mark Buehrle to be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

The ballots are out now and voters are making their selections and posting them on the internet for all to see. I'm not sure I'd actually go that far, but I'm not at all adverse to openly touting for Buehrle to get to Cooperstown.

He's one of the most underrated pitchers of the modern era.

And yet, he annually gets almost no respect from the voters, who did, once upon a time, have the temerity to send juiced-up, one-dimensional David Ortiz to the Hall of Fame but refuse to give a stalwart left handed pitcher the due he deserves.

Before I even get into the statistics and some incredible career "merit badges" Buehrle earned, let me say this right from the start so it's out on the table and you can digest it and, I'm almost certain, agree with me.

Had Mark Buehrle spent his entire career (or most of it) with the New York Yankees, instead of mostly with the Chicago White Sox, he would have already been in Cooperstown. Deal...done.

Because he wasn't a Yankee, he was already far more in the "extra evidence needed" category than needed. It's true.

Now, here's what he did.

A career record of 214-160.

We've morphed into a time in baseball history when people don't care about pitching wins as much as they do other nerdy stats. Fair enough. Buehrle has some of them, too. But he won 214 games in 15 "complete" seasons (his career was 16 years, but his first year was just a September call up).

Fun fact: Buehrle won 10 or more games in EVERY one of those 15 years. Double-digit wins 15 straight seasons.

His career ERA was 3.81, which, honestly, is probably .61 higher than you would want. If his ERA were 3.20, the voters might be singing a different tune.

Alas, here's what voters also don't want to remember. Buehrle pitched smack dab in the bullseye of the decade-long steroid era in Major League Baseball. And all of that came with the White Sox in the American League.

He spent all but one season (2012) of his entire career in the A.L., which, back then, was by far the more hitter-dominant league.

His strikeout numbers weren't off the charts (averaged about 125 a season), but he also didn't walk anyone (50 walks on average per-season). He was a crafty, control-oriented pitcher who, when on, was impossible to figure out.

The only real statistcal knock on him? He pitched to contact and, therefore, gave up a larger-than-normal amount of base hits. But he managed to turn those base runners into outs, mostly, or he wouldn't have won 214 games.

One reason those base runners didn't crush Buehrle is because almost no one could steal a base off of him. And he had the best pick-off move in modern history. But we'll deal with those things in a few minutes.

Here's another staggering Buehrle stat that mattered back then but no longer matters because baseball has softened over the years.

Mark Buehrle made 30 or more starts in all 15 of his "complete" big league seasons and from 2008 through 2015, he missed exactly five starts.

In eight years, he missed five starts. Grayson Rodriguez used to miss five starts every other month. Buehrle missed -- ready for this? -- nine starts in 15 years of pitching.

Nerdy stats are what they are, but, to me, a guy who was tough enough and game enough to make 30 starts or more over 15 straight years should be in the Hall of Fame no matter his record, ERA and so on.

Every 5th day for 15 seasons, basically, Mark Buehrle took the ball and pitchced.

Oh, and let's end it with this: In those 15 seasons, he threw 200 or more innings in every single of them except his last year in the big leagues when he "only" threw 198.2 innings for the Blue Jays. If not for four more outs, Buehrle would have thrown 200 or more innings in all 15 of his "complete" big league campaigns.

Now we get to the cool stuff about Mark Buehrle that should pave the way to Cooperstown for him.

Go back to my "if he played for the Yankees statement" and remember this: If a New York Yankees pitcher did what I'm going to describe below, would he make the Hall of Fame?

Perfect game.

No-hitter.

World Series champion.

Five All-Star appearances.

4 Gold Gloves.

Finished his career with more pick-offs than stolen bases against.

There's only one pitcher in Major League history who, on three occasions, allowed the minimum number of 27 hitters to record an at-bat in a game.

That would be Mark Buehrle.

He did it in his perfect game, his no hitter, and he once faced the minimum 27 batters in a game where he allowed two base hits but snuffed out those runners on the base paths.

I'm not saying that quirky stat alone should get him into Cooperstown, but that's effectively three "perfect" games, if you will, in terms of 27 up, 27 down.

He never won a Cy Young award, that's true. He was generally a "top 5 guy" in that voting. But what he lacked in dominance he more than made up for in consistency. Every 5th day, with sublime control and pitch location, Buehrle pitched into the 6th or 7th inning and gave his team a chance to win.

We live in an era in sports where "highlights" get the medal and the guy who shows up and works hard gets an "atta boy". I'll take the hard worker in this case and I'd vote him into Cooperstown before anyone you see below.

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame candidates (you can vote for up to 10): Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Braun, Mark Buehrle, Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnacion, Gio Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Matt Kemp, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, Daniel Murphy, Dustin Pedroia, Hunter Pence, Andy Pettitte, Rick Porcello, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Omar Vizquel, David Wright.

Here's my quick snapshot of those names:

Guys that should definitely be in but can't get in because of steroids even though David Ortiz is in and he used steroids: Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte.

Guys that I don't even remember playing in the big leagues and I'm not sure they are even a real name: Daniel Murphy.

Guys who aren't going to get in but I'd never vote for anyway because of what they did to the Orioles in the playoffs: Alex Gordon (2014 with KC), Edwin Encarnacion (2016 with Toronto).

Guys I'd vote for if I had a ballot this year: Buehrle, Hernandez, Pedroia, Vizquel, Utley, Hunter. In that order, specifically. Buehrle would be my slam dunk and Hunter would be my "last guy in".

That's me.

What about you?

(And you better have Buehrle on your list...)

faith in sports

I assume the Ravens aren't going to be in the quarterback market this off-season, so when I say "I'll take that Fernando Mendoza kid on my team!", I realize it won't be in Baltimore.

But I'd take that kid on my team. Every day.

Interestingly enough, when you go back and look at the names of quarterbacks who won the Heisman, not a lot of them wound up being remarkable Hall of Fame-caliber guys in the NFL.

There are a lot more Charlie Wards, Danny Wuerffels and Jason Whites than there are, say, Tom Bradys, Peyton Mannings and Josh Allens, none of whom won the prestigious award.

So, I don't know. Mendoza might wind up being another Gino Torretta or Sam Bradford.

But I know this: I'll take him on my team and roll the dice.

Character matters. So does arm strength, pocket awareness and accuracy. But give me the guy with character, first, because I know I can't teach that to him.

Give this 7-minute video your time today and tell me you wouldn't want this kid on your team or in your organization.

Thursday December 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4133

is there any value in tapping out?

Not to mix professional wrestling with professional football, but, then again, some of these games and officiating displays I see make me wonder if they're not more closely connected than we might all believe.

John Cena retired from the wrestling wrasslin' ring last Saturday night, in Washington D.C. of all places, by doing something he had never done before. He tapped out.

It was a strange way for Cena to go out, particularly in light of the fact that his "career message" to his faithful followers was "Never Give Up".

But last Saturday, Cena did just that.

It was, of course, all part of the act. That he lost in his career finale was a surprise. That he lost and tapped out was a character twist not many folks thought they'd ever see from Cena.

The whole thing led wrestling followers to question how "fair" that conclusion was to Cena after the two-decades of "work" he put in for Vince McMahon and the sport itself.

Some people looked at it like it was poetic justice. Cena tapping out like that was actually exactly what he was doing in real life, as it were. His body was no longer able to withstand the rigors of the profession he was in. So late in 2024, Cena told McMahon and others within WWE that the 2025 "year" would be the end of his run.

So last Saturday night, he tapped out. Done. "I've had enough," he said.

It all happened quickly and quietly. The fans were stunned. There was no chair to the back of the head or salt thrown in his eyes while the ref's back was turned.

Four other wrestlers didn't jump him in the ring and beat him to a bloody mess.

Cena did what he had done a thousand other times. He wrestled, put on a remarkable show, and then quietly tapped the other guy's arm and signaled to the refeee, "I give up."

No fanfare or dramatics. He just tapped out.

I brought this subject up to Glenn Clark yesterday during my weekly visit on his show. The idea, that is, of "tapping out" as a football coach.

It's important for me to point out that no one has leaked this to me or whispered it to me or anything like that. But I watch every press conference that I can, post-game, and try to take in the Monday presser via the internet. I'm obviously not as locked in at Owings Mills as I once was but I do think I can still keep a pretty close eye on what goes on there.

I'm a big believer in body language.

And this is just my opinion.

But it wouldn't shock me to see John Harbaugh tap out at the end of the season if things go sideways over these three weeks.

I don't think he's happy.

With a lot of things.

I mean, he loves coaching. He likes making $17 million a year. There are only 32 jobs like his in the entire world.

That said, I think -- and this is just me opining here -- he probably feels like the aggravation might be outweighing the enjoyment at this point.

He's not naive.

While he might not listen to every radio talk show in town (how can he? he's working from 6 am to 8 pm almost every day), John is no doubt well aware of the discontent a significant portion of the fan base has for him and the job he's done.

And if you've read what I've said here a lot over the last couple of years, I don't think Steve Bisciotti would ever flat out just "fire" John Harbaugh. He'd never embarrass John like that after the service John has given him and the organization.

But that doesn't mean that Steve and John wouldn't have a cup of coffee in mid-January if things spiral downward from here and Steve might say, "John, how do you want this to end for you? Do you want to run this back again and try to make it work or are you at the point where maybe you want to do something else?"

And it wouldn't shock me if John said, "You know...the timing might be right. I'm more agitated than I probably should be with things. I'm getting a little resentful of how I've been treated by the fans. And maybe it is best that I exit gracefully now."

I heard his press conference earlier this week where a media member asked him a perfectly reasonable question about the team's record at home this season.

"Is there a frustration level you and the players are feeling with a 3-5 record at home so far this season?"

John took exception to the word "frustration".

He got irritated with the question in the first place, then bristled his way through a quick answer, then got more agitated and followed up with a longer answer that was laced with a terse, feisty vibe.

It really wasn't worth getting all that mad about. But when you've answered a lot of dumb questions over the last 18 years, at some point your tank hits empty.

I mean, to defend John for a second, if you're 3-5 at home and you're not angry about it or frustrated by it, something's really wrong with you.

That's like asking a guy hitting .210 if he's "frustrated" with his terrible batting average. He better damn well say "Yes, I am."

Now, what we also don't know is the behind-the-scenes stuff with John and the media member who asked the question. Maybe they've had a rough year together. Perhaps there's been one or two other "flare-ups" between them. I don't know.

But the question, while totally reasonable, was also one of those ticky-tack, weird "gotcha!" questions. If you say you're not frustrated, people think you don't care. And if you say you are frustrated, the headline the next day says: "Harbaugh frustrated with Ravens' home record".

The follow-up to that headline is something like, "Yeah, well, if you coached better maybe the team wouldn't be 3-5 at home."

There's no real right answer to the question. Well, there is: "Yes, we're very frustrated." But saying that opens the door for goofy fans to lay another brick on the wall against you.

And John has been answering those kind of questions for a long time, including some, quite honestly, from me when I was on the air.

Sure, I know what you're going to say. I'm saying the same thing that you're thinking: "That's why the coach gets paid $17 million. To answer dumb questions."

And that part very much is true. You can pay me $17 million and ask me anything you want.

At some point, though, your low fuel light comes on. And you either keep driving and it eventually runs out of gas or you stop and fill up your tank.

I wonder if John is willing to refuel at this stage in his career?

Knowing him, he'd get mad at me for even using that word: refuel.

"What's that even mean...refuel?" I can hear him saying it. "We don't refuel around here. We don't believe in that. We're always ready to go. Always. Next question."

He seems irritated and tense in ways I don't remember before this. It could definitely be that I'm reading more into it than is really there, but I'm telling you, I've seen him and been around him and he looks frazzled.

Now, maybe that's what 7-7 does to you when the pre-season expectations were such that most folks assumed you'd be 10-4 after 14 games. As I always say here, nothing good comes from losing. It wears you out.

But let's be fair about something. The venom for Harbaugh around town has definitely moved into the "overboard" stage.

No matter what happens, he gets no credit at all.

The Ravens could win 34-0 (well, they actually DID just win 24-0) and he never gets a morsel of credit.

But as soon as they lose a game, by any score, it's all heaped on him.

Now, because some of you are dopey and can't read, please understand I'm not saying he's above criticism. He most certainly is not. And when the team loses, the coach (and other coaches) most certainly has to be considered "partially responsible" for the loss.

It's just that there's very little balance when it comes to the head coach in town.

Ravens win, it was the players.

Ravens lose, Harbaugh has to go.

I think Mark Turgeon started to feel the same way at Maryland when he was basically chased out of College Park. Now, he tapped out VERY quickly back then. Harbaugh has put up with a lot more grief than did Turgeon.

But Turgeon got fed up with the animosity directed towards him and said, "I don't want to refuel."

After a while, that act -- not getting any or much credit when you win but getting taken to the woodshed when you lose -- gets very tiring if you're the one getting beat up.

I know this is hard for us to do because make-believe is make-believe, but just take your own job and your own emotional response and transpose what coaches go through into your own life.

Imagine your co-workers hammering on you every time something went wrong at the office but when it went right, you got nothing. You'd eventually run out of gas for that sort of thing.

No one told me this or whispered this to me. I'm just telling you what I see and what vibe I get.

If things go sideways for the Ravens over the last three games, don't be surprised if John the football coach goes out the same way John the wrestler went out last Saturday.

"You know what...I've had enough."

Wednesday December 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4132

top 25 athletes of the last 25 years

1. Messi

2. Tiger

3. Tom Brady

4. Phelps

5. LeBron

6. Serena

7. Simone Biles

8. Usain Bolt

9. Cristiano Ronaldo

10. Roger Federer

11. Djokovic

12. Curry

13. Kobe

14. Mahomes

15. Nadal

16. Pujols

17. Ledecky

18. Peyton Manning

19. Floyd Mayweather

20. Marta

21. Sidney Crosby

22. Diana Taurisi

23. Shaq

24. Shohei

25. Ovechkin

For the record, here's who I thought the top 5 were: Messi, Tiger, LeBron, Phelps, Brady. I got the right five, but not in their correct order.

Here's the 6 I didn't get. Mayweather, Marta, Crosby, Taurisi, Shaq and Pujols.

I got the other 19.

I say this with no malice at all intended in the direction of Diana Taurisi, but there's ZERO chance she belongs on the list.

Neither does Shaq.

Shaq is only on there because his "brand" has been extended by his hilarious antics on TBS/TNT basketball shows.

I had Megan Rapinoe WAAAAYYY up on the list and she didn't even make the top 25. She meant FAR more to women's soccer than Diana Taurisi meant to women's basketball. But anyway.

I also had Alex Morgan on the list as perhaps the 2nd most influential women's soccer player in the country. Alas, she didn't make it either.

I had Dirk Nowitzki on the list. That was a flop, too.

I never even considered professional wrestlers, honestly, but I think there's a VERY good argument for someone like John Cena to be on the list above Taurisi or Shaq or, frankly, Sidney Crosby.

Anyway...it was a fun exercise to do and even though I think some of the names are wrong, it's all good.

---

how well do you know your sports?

OK, if you're able to be totally honest and play fair, this will be fun. I think.

We've been blessed in this world to have an incredible array of athletes in the last 25 years. How many of the top 25 can you name?

That's the game.

Now, allow me to explain the (very loose) criteria for these athletes. It's a combination of their sport-success, marketing/endorsement appeal and something called "cultural impact" which, according to the site I obtained this from, says that could range from an age group to a nation/continent or a specific gender group as well.

Let me say this before I initiate the contest with you. Of the 25 on the list, there's not one that is out of place, doesn't belong, or will leave you saying, "Wait, who? I've never heard of them before."

All 25 of them are, relatively, household names. And they must have "made their mark" in the last 25 years.

You're taking their sport-success and marrying it with their marketing/endorsement appeal and mixing in whether they also had some sort of cultural "influence", if you will.

How many of the 25 can you name? Even better, and more fun, is can you get the top 5 in order or top 10 in order?

For kicks and giggles, I did the exercise and got 19 of the 25 right and managed to get the top 5 correct, although not in their right order.

I'll come back for a "Happy Hour" edition today and tell you who I got right and wrong in the Top 25 and, of course, reveal the list to you, in order. Check back at 5 pm and you'll see the list.

In the meantime, post your top 25 below. But one thing. Or two things, actually. First, don't cheat. Don't go to the internet and try to find the list and then just throw it in and say, "Got it!" If you cheat, you're getting coal in your stocking next week. And, two, when you're writing your 25 in below in the Comments section, please do it the way you see below. Do not list them vertically. It takes up too much space. List your 25 like this:

1. Plant 2. Mercury 3. Delp 4. Perry 5. Tyler 6. Lee 7. Springsteen

Thank you. And have fun. Now...let's see how good you are.

To the mailbag we go for a Wednesday edition of Q and A. As always, thanks to all of you who chimed in with questions. If you're interested in sending something in for future use/consideration, my e-mail is: 18inarow@gmail.com

Mitch asks -- "I know you watch a lot of local high school basketball. Any early assessments of the teams and talent level of the MIAA this year?"

DF says -- "I haven't seen everyone play, but I've seen "the big boys" play. Mount Carmel is the best team I've seen thus far. They have "college size" and they are 10 guys deep. Their second-team would beat a lot of the A-Conference teams straight up, I think. You can't teach speed or size, as the saying goes. Mount Carmel has both.

Glenelg Country School is actually very good. They have a kid who is going to be a legit college player for sure. I think he's going to Brown. Spalding is solid as is St. Frances, but they're a tick or two below Mount Carmel, who just beat them by 14 at Glenelg last week.

Mount Saint Joseph seems like they might be a little down this year, but they're always a tough out in the tournament. They play hard and are always very well coached. If their kids would treat the national anthem with respect, that would make me feel better about them.

I haven't seen John Carroll yet but they just beat Spalding by two and haven't yet lost in the conference so they must be decent.

Calvert Hall just lost to St. Joe by two last Friday night, so they're starting to improve. They are home against St. Mary's tonight, which is another team I've yet to see.

Mount Carmel is the team to beat, though. That's for sure."

Doug C. asks -- "Question for your website. Who is the most overrated player in the NFL and who is the most underrated in your opinion? Thanks and Merry Christmas Drew."

DF says -- "Merry Christmas to you as well, Doug. Underrated is hard because I'm going to wind up naming a couple of guys who get lots of attention and accolades but I still think they're incredibly underrated for what they do.

I don't think Myles Garrett gets anywhere near enough attention for just how freakin' good he really is. If he played with the Chiefs or Cowboys, he'd be the MVP of the league. He actually might very well be the most valuable player in all of football. Without him, Cleveland might not ever win a game. And I just don't think people "get" how great that dude is. With almost no help at all.

If it's possible for a league MVP to be underrated, then I think Josh Allen is, in fact, underrated. He might be the best quarterback in all of football now. He has all the things you want. He can throw it, run with it, he's tough, he wins and so on. If the Bills ever win a Super Bowl with him, he's going to the Hall of Fame. He's probably going anyway, but you know what I mean.

Overrated? Eh, I kind of think Jared Goff is overrated. I think Brock Purdy is probably overrated. I definitely believe T.J. Watt is overrated. I think CeeDee Lamb is overrated too. There's four for you."

Mike asks -- "I'm in a golf pool with about 100 other guys and we have to make our picks before January 1 for next year. I need eight names from you. The 2026 four major champion winners and then four guys who have never won a major championship and if they win one this year I get triple points. Thanks Drew and Go Hall! Nice win in the Turkey bowl."

DF says -- "One thing I'm not doing. I'm not giving you Patrick Cantlay. I've been on him for three years now and every year I get nada from him. Zilch. So, no Cantlay this year. That means, of course, he'll probably win 2 of the 4 majors.

You didn't say you needed them attached to their specific major, so the four major champions are Scheffler, Rory, Schauffele and Matsuyama.

Four guys who have never won a major but might win one this year? Those four are easy. Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim and Rickie Fow.......Michael Thorbjornsen. Don't sleep on Thorbjornsen. That kid is a total beast. Baseball grip and all, he's a big timer."

Tarik asks -- "In your honest opinion, what will it take for the Ravens to fire John Harbaugh at the end of the season?"

DF says -- "I guess I'll debate the word "fired" with you on this. Because I don't think the Ravens/Bisciotti are ever going to just flat-out "fire" John Harbaugh. If it came to pass he wasn't the team's head coach next season, it would be some sort of announcement that included the words "mutual parting of the ways" and "resigning to pursue other opportunities (TV, college, etc.).

John has too much organizational goodwill built up to be "dumped" or "fired".

Now, is there a possibility he doesn't return next year? Sure. I would say it all hinges on whether the Ravens make the playoffs. If they make it, he's back. If they somehow don't make it, I'd say it's 50/50 he doesn't return. I mean, how can you miss the playoffs when you have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry on your offense? Someone has to pay the price for that, ultimately."

C.J. asks -- "I heard you talking with Glenn Clark a few weeks ago about Lamar's contract for next year and the cap hit and I'm curious is there any way you think trading him would be a good idea? Thanks Drew and Happy Holidays to you and your family."

DF says -- "I think you know what I'm going to say about trading Lamar. I'll listen to any offer anyone has and give it consideration if it's totally legitimate. So, yes, I'd listen to offers for Lamar.

Five years ago I wouldn't have. But now, as he closes in on a decade in the league, and knowing what I know about how players lose their mojo, I'd listen.

But I surely wouldn't give him away. I'd have to absolutely overly-fleece a team in order to get rid of Lamar. And most importantly, I'd have to know or be almost certain the college QB I'm taking is going to be a stud in the NFL.

I'm not trading Lamar just for the sake of shaking things up. But if I could get three or four picks/players for him that could mold the future of the franchise for the next 10 years, I'd definitely consider it."

Steve in Hunt Valley asks -- "I always enjoy your musical opinions and have discovered a few bands through your website (Pete Yorn, Best Coast, Ra Ra Riot) so I was wondering. Who is your most under-rated band ever?"

DF says -- "I don't know if I can pinpoint my most underrated band EVER, but I'll give you a band that is (was) supremely underrated and a lead singer is wildly, wildly, underrated. Paul Westerberg is amazing. Enjoy one of their songs below."

Tuesday December 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4131

worried? not really

The internet lit up around 11 pm last night after the Steelers roasted the Dolphins, 28-15, to improve to 8-6 on the year.

Yes, it was way better than losing.

But Pittsburgh is still clinging to the AFC North by a thread, and unless something really, really weird transpires over the next two weekends, the entire playoff chase in the division will come down to the game in Pittsburgh on January 4th.

By virtue of their win last night over the mostly-uninterested Dolphins, the Steelers have now narrowed their season down to one game. No matter what they do against Detroit (away) and Cleveland (away), they know if they beat the Ravens in the final game of the campaign, they're the winners of the AFC North.

The Ravens will enter that game, one would assume, at either 8-8 or 9-7. If they somehow lose their next two and they're 7-9 going into that game, then there's no telling what the January 4th game will mean.

But I don't see the Ravens losing their next two. I think they have an excellent chance of winning this Sunday night vs. New England.

I can't pinpoint every game that fits this profile, but I can remember a number of times when a really good team came buzzing into Charm City with a puffed-up record and left with their tail between their legs. There was Detroit one year. Houston. Buffalo. The Titans maybe? San Francisco.

The Ravens almost always win those "showdown games" in Baltimore.

Yes, New England is impressive at 11-3. And they haven't yet lost on the road this season.

But I don't see them coming into Baltimore and winning on Sunday night. I'm not going to spew "Drake Maye isn't coming to Baltimore and beating Lamar Jackson" or anything like that. The Patriots are not paper tigers. But I just don't see New England winning on Sunday night.

Pittsburgh has to go to Detroit and win next Sunday. The Lions being the Lions and all, there's no telling what might happen in that one. Detroit should boatrace the Steelers. But Pittsburgh has a way of dummying-down the game, taking the air out of the ball, and winning 16-13.

When it all comes down to it, the game on January 4th (I assume it will be played on Sunday night?) will decide the AFC North.

That's not the greatest position to be in if you're the Ravens, but it is what it is. It's better than being the Bengals and having nothing to play for over the last three weeks of the season, that's for sure.

Worried? Not really.

Something happened in last night's Steelers/Dolphins game that was borderline comical, and even the generally mild-mannered Troy Aikman pointed it out and called it "ridiculous".

I don't remember the players involved, but it doesn't even matter for purposes of pointing out how idiotic the call was in Pittsburgh last night.

A Steelers receiver (Freimuth I think?) caught the ball and turned upfield, only to be met, immediately, by a punishing tackle from a Dolphins defensive back.

The Dolphins player got to his feet and stood "over" the fallen Steelers player for, maybe, two seconds. He wasn't right over top of him, mind you, he was to his side. He wasn't making body contact or anything of that nature. He was just standing there, like, well, a human being.

And the referee threw a flag for taunting.

15 yards. First down. On we go Steelers.

Here's what I can't figure out.

How on earth is that taunting but the other 54 things we see in a game aren't?

And, look, I'm generally against taunting as it were. I think it's needless. I realize no one cares about sportsmanship, really, in professional sports, but it's just not cool to taunt someone. It's demeaning, if nothing else.

But a guy standing over top of someone he just tackled...doesn't really seem to be any more "taunting" than a dude who catches a pass right in front of me and then drops the ball or spins the ball, does a dance, and then gestures "first down" right in my face.

How have you not taunted me by spinning the ball like a top in front of me after you beat me for a 18 yard reception on 3rd and 16?

How have you not taunted me when I'm the quarterback and you chased me down and tackled me, then danced around like Kevin Bacon in Footloose for 10 seconds?

The entire league is essentially built on taunting one another.

Later on in last night's game, Aaron Rodgers got chased out of the pocket and scurried over to the Dolphins sideline, chased out of bounds in the midst of 10 Miami players gathered around him.

The crowd mic picked up one Miami player saying something akin to, "You're not 28 anymore old man!" and then there was another player saying something that was inaudible and then you heard Rodgers say, "You're still talking s**t and you're down 21-3?"

Now, look, again, I don't think that's taunting personally. But if standing over a dude after a tackle and NOT SAYING ANYTHING TO HIM is taunting, how is ACTUALLY SAYING SOMETHING to an opposing player NOT taunting?

The NFL has gotten so soft over the last 15 years it's amazing.

You're not allowed to tackle the quarterback any longer. We all know that.

Flags are thrown for defensive pass interference or "illegal contact" if a cornerback's finger grazes the receiver's shoulder pads.

And now you're deemed taunting if you stand over someone after you've tackled him? What are you supposed to do, sit down next to him for a second or two and do paper-rock-scissors?

The league is, as Aikman pointed out, ridiculous.

And when someone as milquetoast as the former Cowboys quarterback points out how silly your rules are, on national TV no less, you know you're in trouble.

My longtime friend George posed an interesting tongue-in-cheek question last week here at #DMD. I called him yesterday to talk about it in advance of posting it here this morning.

George wrote: What happens first? Rickie Fowler wins a major championship in golf or Lamar Jackson wins a Super Bowl?

It's actually a very interesting question, primarily because both athletes have the same general profile.

They're very, very good at what they do. They have moments of brilliance in "smaller moments". But in the bigger moments, they never seem to find the promised land.

But which is more likely to happen: Fowler wins a major? Lamar wins a Super Bowl?

Fowler will be 38 years old during the 2026 PGA Tour season. That is certainly not old by professional golf standards and there have been many players who have won majors at 38 or older.

That said, 38 is old when you're competing against 25 year olds who hit it 30 yards past you, don't have any scar tissue at all, and are making so much money already that a 12-footer to make the cut doesn't faze them one iota.

Now, the good news for Fowler: If he qualifies for the majors (which was, at one point in his career, a formality, but no longer is), he gets to play in four of them every year.

And even more good news for the 6-time PGA Tour winner: He has played VERY well in all four of them at some point in his career, with a 2nd (Masters), Tied-3rd (PGA), Tied-2nd (U.S. Open) and Tied-2nd (British Open). Lots of guys can do the coulda, shoulda, woulda thing, but Fowler is a handful of shots away from having one, two, three or even four major victories.

Instead, he has no major wins.

As for Lamar, he only gets one shot every year at winning a Super Bowl.

And he can't do it all by himself.

The good news: Lamar can get to the Super Bowl, have a stinker of a game, but the Ravens defense could have a blinder and hold the (Rams, Lions, Eagles, Packers) to 17 points and win the game 20-17. And, voila!, Lamar gets his Super Bowl.

So, while Fowler would have to play great to win a major championship, Lamar could play "just OK" and still get a ring. Conventional wisdom says the only way the Ravens would win a ring is if Lamar played great, but the Steelers once won a title with Big Ben (and their offense in general) not playing well in a win over Seattle.

But the question George posed was: Who wins their "major" first? Fowler or Lamar?

I joked with George on the phone yesterday and said, "Is 'neither of them' a possible answer?"

Anyway...

Here's how I'll answer the question.

If it were a slam dunk that Fowler would play in all four of the majors every year between now and, say, age 50, I would probably say the answer is him...Rickie Fowler. He'd have 48 more chances to win one. I think, somehow, he'd stumble into a win in the U.S. Open or British Open where length off the tee doesn't matter all that much (Merion, Pebble Beach and/or St. Andrews and Royal Liverpool come to mind).

But without that guarantee, it's not nearly as easy to make this call.

Lamar, barring injury, will get at least 8 more chances, you'd think. I don't know if he'll play much past age 36, but he's got plenty of time and seasons left to churn his way to a Super Bowl. Maybe he's like Peyton Manning, who went almost a decade before he finally got his first ring.

The problem with Lamar is that with each passing year, you assume the tread on his tire diminishes. And what happens when, for example, Derrick Henry retires? Or Zay Flowers bolts for greener pastures via free agency? What happens to the offense at that point?

And we haven't really taken into account his level of play in the post-season and the critical mistakes he's made in season-ending losses. I don't think Lamar is a playoff "choker" or anything like that, but, like Fowler, he hasn't been able to get to the finish line when it's really mattered the most.

Fowler has come very, very close.

Lamar hasn't yet, really. He's made it to one AFC Championship Game thus far, at home no less, and couldn't win.

The answer to George's question...who wins their "title" first?

It's Lamar.

If I knew Fowler was going to play in all four majors every year until he was 50, I'd take him. But without that guarantee, I'm going with the Ravens quarterback.

For a bunch of reasons, I hope I'm right.

Another interesting question came in via e-mail on Sunday from Jeff S. who asked a question about attendance in the Major Arena Soccer League, which the Blast plays in.

"Drew, I was surfing the web and happened to check out the MASL website and saw some of the crowds from the first 2 weeks of the season. 900, 1,200, 1,400. The Blast had 1,500 at their first home game. How do those teams stay in business?"

Well, the easy and quick answer is "I have no idea."

I mean, I don't know what the gross gate receipts are for a crowd of 1,500. Were all 1,500 tickets paid? What was the average ticket price? If they were all paid at average of $20 per-piece, that's a $30,000 gate.

I think most player salaries in that league are in the $3,000 per-month range. Some are probably lower. If you have 20 players on the roster averaging $3,000 a month (and I think that's probably high), that's $60,000 in monthly player payroll.

You haven't paid a coach or a front office member, rented a building, purchased airfare or hotels on the road, or paid for health and worker's comp insurance.

My guess is you're probably talking about $90,000 a month in total expenses, depending on how many home games you have that month. I could be off on that, but the math I just outlined tells me it's in the $90,000 range.

The season is six months long, pretty much. That's $540,000 in expenses.

Let's round it up to $600,000 just for kicks.

Teams play 12 home games. If they do $30,000 per-game, that's only $360,000 in ticket sales receipts. You have 10% admission/amusement tax in most states, so knock $36,000 off of that number.

So, now, you need to sell $250,000 in sponsorships and make at least $50,000 in summer camps to have a puncher's chance of breaking even.

Those numbers, mind you, are calculated based on your franchise averaging 1,500 per-game at $20.00 per-seat.

So, the short'ish answer is, "If you're averaging 1,500 paid tickets per-game at $20 per-seat, you better sell a bunch of corporate sponsorships to make up for the low attendance/revenue totals."

I don't know how the teams are making any money with attendance figures in the 900, 1200 or 1500 range. But they must be, or else they wouldn't be in business, I guess.

That said, it's hard to consider anyone "Major League" who is putting 900 people in a building on a Saturday night.

Monday December 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4130

reading time: 4 minutes

I'm not trying to one-up Phil Jackman, trust me.

It's just that this is a Monday and there's a lot to go over and I can keep you locked in here for the better part of 4 minutes, I think.

Phil Jackman's old piece in The Evening Sun was Reading Time: 2 minutes. And it was always loaded with good stuff from one of my favorite writers I ever had the pleasure of dealing with during my days in the indoor soccer business.

Those were interesting times in terms of the relationship we -- the team, that is -- had with members of the local media. In the heyday of the Blast, say 1982 through 1989, we had writers from every newspaper in town assigned to us 24/7, 7 days a week. They traveled with us on the road and covered every game like it meant something.

I'm trying to remember, if I can, who the beat writers were through that 1989 season. The News American roster for Blast writers included Susan Fornoff, Jeff Gordon, Bernie Miklasz, Lou Cortina and John Hawkins...not in that order.

The Baltimore Sun's group over the years included Lou Hatter, Jim Jackson, Bill Glauber and Mike Preston.

Our Evening Sun beat writers were Gerry Kelly, Sandra McKee, Melody Simmons and Eunetta Boone.

I'm sure I'm missing a couple along the way. Doug Brown was a Baltimore Sun beat writer when we morphed into the Spirit because...well....I'd rather not get into that mess right now. But Doug was a good man who was given the beat late in his career and worked hard to understand indoor soccer on the fly.

In those days, it wasn't odd at all for the beat writers and radio people to join us for dinner on the road. We'd sometimes have 8 or 10 people in the hotel restaurant; me, Kenny Cooper, Jim Pollihan, Art Sinclair, Charley Eckman, the three writers and, if any TV folks were with us, they'd join the group for dinner as well.

That didn't happen regularly, mind you. But it happened several times a season. And, interestingly enough, the writers would NEVER allow the club to pay for the dinner and vice versa. The server would have to create three or four different checks.

And even though we would all occasionally dine together, that never kept any of them from doing their job and criticizing the coach or the players if need be. In fact, Kenny Cooper would always encourage it.

"You have a job to do," he would say. "It's part of the business. We can be friendly until the game kicks off, then you have to write whatever you feel is necessary."

Eckman, of course, would always be the entertainment at dinner. Story after story, laugh after laugh, and, almost always, a line or two with the waitress that would definitely border on inappropriate.

There was that time at a Wichita steak house when Charley ordered a steak and french fries.

"And listen to me, darling," Charley said. "Tell the chef to make those french fries well done. Cook them 5 extra minutes. I want them crisp. Really crisp. Almost burnt. I don't care if you have to sit on them, just make sure they're almost burnt."

The table howled in part laughter and part embarrassment.

20 minutes later when she brought the food out, the young lady serving us made it a point to ask Charley if his fries were cooked to his satisfaction.

"Yes, they're perfect," Eckman said. After a second of silence, he then added, "But they don't taste like you sat on them."

In case you were wondering, we left her a larger-than-usual gratuity that night for having to put up with Charley's antics.

As Archie and Edith said at the beginning of All In The Family -- those were the days.

As much as I was thrilled to see the Ravens post that 24-0 win yesterday, I found it interesting that several (in my opinion) ticky-tack calls that normally would have been called against the Ravens were not called in Cincinnati.

There were two roughing-the-passer calls on Joe Burrow that weren't flagged. And I'm not necessarily saying I thought they were penalties. I'm saying that almost always, both of the late hits would have resulted in a flag thrown against the Ravens in any other game.

There was also a missed face mask on Nate Wiggins on a ball a Bengals receiver failed to haul in. The ref was standing right there, saw it, and just turned and walked away as the ball bounced incomplete at the receiver's feet and he tugged at his own mask in a "that's a penalty" sign.

I definitely got the feeling that maybe, just maybe, the word from the NFL office this week was, "You know, the refs might have put the screws to Baltimore last Sunday. Let's give them a little extra rope today in terms of penalties, OK?"

Not that I mind. I'm just saying, it seemed like we got a few gifts from the zebras yesterday. Finally.

Oh, and speaking of gifts, the Ravens might have received one from the Packers yesterday. Green Bay lost their best receiver, Christian Watson, to a chest injury that required hospitalization in Denver. And defensive end Micah Parsons suffered a serious knee injury in the loss to the Broncos yesterday and is done for the rest of the season.

Green Bay was going to be tough to beat in week 17. They will still present a serious challenge to the Ravens. But it's much easier to beat the Packers if they don't have Watson and Parsons.

The gift of the schedule and when you play someone is important.

The AFC playoff picture is crazy. I mean, there are at least 7 or 8 good-to-very-good teams. I'm still counting the Colts, even though I think it's apparent they're pretty much cooked without a real quarterback over their last three games.

Denver (12-2) is very good. They are on the fast track to securing home field in the AFC playoffs. If they finish as the #1 seed, they only have to win two games to get to the Super Bowl. Could the Ravens be headed out to the Mile High City if they finish 4th and win their playoff opener? Who knows...but I do remember a trip to Denver in the playoffs once that turned out pretty well.

New England (11-3) appears to be very good as well. In a weird twist of scheduling irony, the Patriots have not yet lost a game on the road this season. All three of their losses (Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Buffalo) have come in Foxboro.

I always have the feeling that the Chargers (10-4) are going to flatline once they have to go on the road and play in winter weather somewhere. This season is probably no different. I do think Los Angeles has a decent team. But I just don't see them going to Baltimore or New England and winning in the first round of the post-season.

The team no one really wants to play is Buffalo (10-4). You have one of the best QB's in the world playing for the Bills and they're a very tough out in the playoffs because any kind of weather they encounter -- home or away -- doesn't really impact them. There's still a chance they can win the AFC East, but even if they have to go on the road to start the post-season, they're going to be a very tough out.

I don't know if Jacksonville (10-4) and Houston (9-5) are really all that good, but they're both showing very good form as the season progresses. I think Houston's defense separates them from the Jaguars. Houston's last three games are home vs. Las Vegas (win), at Los Angeles Chargers (?) and home vs. Indianapolis (win). Texans finish 11-6. The Jaguars are at Denver (loss), then home vs. Indianapolis (win) and Tennessee (win). Jacksonville finishes 12-5.

That's six "good/very good teams" right there.

Then you have the AFC North winner, either Pittsburgh or Baltimore, and the only thing they'll have going for them in the playoffs is a home playoff game to get things going. Even though they're both basically mediocre teams, the Steelers or Ravens could cobble something together and give a wild card team fits. Well, maybe not Buffalo. But any other wild card team.

For all the talk about how you need to have an elite quarterback to win in the NFL, the Colts trotted out 44 year old Philip Rivers yesterday and he came within a 55 yard field goal of leading the Colts to an improbable win in Seattle.

Now, Rivers did not win the game. That much is true. 18-16 might as well be 38-6. It's a loss.

But what does it say when Rivers comes out of a 5-year hibernation and is even remotely effective in a NFL game?

Does that tell us more about Rivers? He was, of course, a very good quarterback for a long time.

Does it tell us more about the Seahawks? I mean, they almost let a 44-year old grandfather beat them.

Or does it remind us of the importance of your team's offensive line, perhaps?

Or is the NFL such a week-to-week, "temporary" league that Philip Rivers can come back and play (decently) in a game this week but might stink to high heavens next week?

And last but not least. And I'm asking this question acknowledging Rivers might make the Hall of Fame someday down the road without this Colts experiment.

If Rivers somehow leads Indy to the playoffs -- by winning their last three games -- would that enhance his Hall of Fame candidacy? I mean, a 44-year old guy coming out of a 5-year retirement and going 3-1 to finish out the season...it sure couldn't hurt, right?

The Ravens are very much alive and well in the AFC North playoff chase, no matter what the Steelers do tonight vs. Miami.

Even if the Steelers win, there's a long way to go.

The key for the Ravens is to not lose their next two.

They can lose one of the two and that's fine. But losing both could be problematic if the Steelers somehow manage to win their next three.

Conventional wisdom is Pittsburgh will beat the Dolphins tonight, lose at Detroit next week and then beat the Browns in Cleveland in their penultimate game. That will give them a 9-7 record going into the season finale with the Ravens.

That same wisdom says the Ravens will split their next two and be 8-8 heading into the final game in Pittsburgh.

And if that's the scenario, the Ravens can then win the AFC North by beating the Steelers in the season finale. Both teams will finish 9-8 and the Ravens will win the division based on the tiebreaker.

For as up-and-down the season has been and for the various warts and blemishes the Ravens have displayed during the season, it really does just come down to a 3-game campaign now. A 2-0 or 1-1 record will set up a winner-take-all showdown with the Steelers.

And even though I realize Aaron Rodgers won their "series opener" in Baltimore last weekend, I don't see Lamar losing to Rodgers again. I realize saying Pittsburgh was "lucky" seems like a cheap way out of explaining what happened, but those calls and the fortunate bounces Pittsburgh got in the game in Baltimore will not be duplicated next time out.

If that game in Pittsburgh does wind up deciding the division -- which, I'd say, is a 90% certainty right now -- I'll take the Ravens over the Steelers every single time.

Which Ravens team is the one most representative of their capabilities? The one we saw against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh? Or the one we saw yesterday in Cincinnati?

That's the $64,000 question. Which Ravens team (of those three games) is the "real" Ravens?

I think it's the one we saw yesterday.

Pittsburgh can't stop the run. And they can't run the ball. The Ravens won't lose to them again if the division is on the line.

You can make book on that.

It feels like it's kind of inevitable that the NFL is going to move an 18-game schedule at some point in the next 5 seasons.

It's also probably safe to assume that every team will play at least one game outside of the U.S. in each regular season.

And, someday, my guess is there will be NFL football on Friday and Saturday, regularly, even though the league has said for a long time they don't want to compete with high school (Friday) and college (Saturday) games.

Heck, I could see a "Wednesday Night Game of the Week" as well. The NFL doesn't care when the games are played. They know you're going to watch.

So -- I totally realize that injuries are "part of the game". Sometimes you get them in July, sometimes you get them in September and sometimes they come in December, like they did yesterday for the Rams (Adams), Packers (Watson, Parsons) and Chiefs (Mahomes).

But given the expanded schedule to 18 games and games being played perhaps on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, would the NFL ever consider going to a 22 week "season" (with 18 games) where every team gets two bye-weeks and you're automatically off the week after an international game and a Wednesday/Thursday night game?

And by doing that, would there be fewer injuries?

I mean, the NFL can't possibly be worried about "watering down their product" by making the season longer. They've essentially made the league a 12-month season as it is. As soon as the Super Bowl is over, free agency begins shortly thereafter. Then there's the draft, the mini-camps and the training camps start in late July.

They could start the season whenever they want and people are going to attend the games and watch on TV. Start in late August or early September. And run the regular season through the middle of January and finish the playoffs and Super Bowl by the end of February.

If you're going to play 18 games, how about at least giving the players four weeks of "down time" in their somewhere? If you're really concerned about player injuries, it seems like the natural thing to do.

If you play on a Sunday, you could use an off-week thereafter, play the following Wednesday, play the next Thursday, then have another off-week until the following Sunday or Monday, when you would play again. That effectively becomes 2 games in 4 weeks, not counting that first Sunday you played. And then you'd still have two more "byes" elsewhere in the season.

I'm just spitballing here, but extending the season seems like a no-brainer.

I hate seeing guys get hurt, particularly in non-contact situations like we saw yesterday from Adams and Parsons. I have no way of knowing if extending the season would help with injuries, but I'm quite certain the players would like some more time to rest and recover throughout the season.

I don't see a downside to a September through January regular season, with playoffs ending in late February. The league could get rid of those silly "OTA's" in May and just have a mini-camp for the drafted players and then a full on training camp in late July like they do now.

I realize NFL clubs like any kind of formal team activity in the spring/summer because it allows them to keep the players under their thumb, but at some point, those guys need some time to recover.

All of this, of course, would have to be part of the collective bargaining agreement. The players would get more time off in the season and a little less time off in the off-season. I'm not sure which they would prefer, but I think from a player safety standpoint, the league should push for an 18-game schedule in a 22-week season.

meet ravens wr tez walker tonight!

For the 15th consecutive year (I can't believe it), Glenn Clark and I are teaming up to help the great people at Helping Up Mission in downtown Baltimore.

And, once again, our buddy Steve Pavlosky at Chick fil-A Nottingham Square is stepping up to help us do that.

Tonight, Monday, December 15, Glenn and I will be at the Chick fil-A restaurant in Nottingham Square (White Marsh area) on Campbell Boulevard, along with special guest Tez Walker of the Baltimore Ravens.

Anyone bringing a new or gently used coat or jacket (or any form of winter apparel, really) to the event can meet Walker and you'll also get a free Chick fil-A sandwich in exchange for your support.

Everyone has a gently worn coat they no longer wear for whatever reason. Maybe even two of them. If that's the case in your house, please throw it in a bag and bring it out to Chick fil-A tonight, December 15.

Glenn and I -- and Tez Walker -- will be there from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Please come on out and say hi.

Sunday December 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4129

bengals always gonna bengals

How on earth did that Cincinnati Bengals team come to Baltimore on Thanksgiving night and stuff the Ravens?

That, today, might have been one of the most heartless, gutless offensive "efforts" I've ever seen from a real NFL team.

It was so awful Cooper Rush was laughing at Joe Burrow's performance.

As I wrote here earlier today, Lamar was either going to have a remarkable day or a horrible day. There would be no in-between, was my guess.

And while it might not have been "remarkable", it was certainly much better than most people assumed it would be given the horrendous weather conditions in Cincinnati.

A report grade for Lamar today? B-plus would be fair. And if you wanted to split hairs and give him an A minus (he did miss a wide open Zay Flowers in the end zone at one point) for the day, I wouldn't quibble with your grading formula.

The Baltimore defense was great. Burrow and the Cincinnati offense were not.

And the Bengals defense hung in there for the better part of two quarters before they caved in at the end of the first half and that was the ballgame.

Once it got to 17-0 in the third quarter I headed out to shovel snow. I knew the game was done.

And, so, the Ravens are still very much alive in the AFC North, as hard as that is to believe. And they've also eliminated Cincinnati in the progress. Now it's just Baltimore and Pittsburgh vying for the division title.

The good news for the Ravens? They can still go 10-7. And that would be good enough to win the division.

Actually, the Ravens could still win the division at 8-9 or 9-8.

The bad news? The Ravens have New England coming to Baltimore next Sunday night coming off a loss to the Bills today in Foxboro.

As I wrote here last week after the game, and again throughout the week, anyone who quit on the Ravens (that would be...most of you) hasn't paid attention to the league this year. Or any other year, for that matter.

There's no telling what might happen. Just like the Ravens did in 2012 when they caught fire in December, who knows what might transpire in the last three games and then again throughout January?

Heck, I saw Rory McIlroy win the Masters last April. If that can happen, anything can happen.

New England won't be a cakewalk next Sunday night, though.

You'll see no guarantees or "no way the Patriots are coming here and winning" quips from me this week. The Bengals are awful. New England hasn't lost a road game all season. There's a huge difference between those two teams.

Oh, and one final thing to throw in there.

If the Ravens want to prosper in January, they have two reasons to win next Sunday night. First, it helps them in their quest to win the division. Second, it could help push Buffalo to the top of the AFC East. And if the Ravens happen to win the AFC North, they'd likely play the wild card team with the best record in the first round of the post-season.

Guess who that would probably be? The team that finishes 2nd in the AFC East.

I don't know about you. But I'm not interested in seeing Josh Allen and the Bills come to Baltimore.

But there's a lot of football left between now and then.

As a famous future Hall of Fame coach used to say: "We're on to.........New England."

---

spectacular or awful

I don't see any way around this one today in Cincinnati.

Lamar Jackson will be one of two things.

He'll be spectacular, almost shockingly so given the weather they're expected to encounter out there today.

Or he's going to be awful.

I doubt we'll see some sort of middle-the-road, some-good-some-bad performance from the Ravens quarterback.

He's either going to light it up or have a disastrous day.

The weather, admittedly, does not favor Lamar. Game time temps are expected to be around 10 degrees with a wind chill of minus two or thereabouts.

There was even a rumor early last evening that the league was considering moving the game to Monday but I don't see any update on that this morning at 6:30 am as I create today's edition of #DMD so I assume it's "game on".

It's going to be nasty in Cincinnati today.

And, as we've seen here in Baltimore and elsewhere on occasion, Lamar gets bundled up on the sidelines when it's 50 degrees, let alone with it's 10 with a wind chill of minus 2.

The good news? Cincinnati is pretty much out of the playoff race and they also have to endure the outrageous conditions today. At least the Ravens have something to play for today. The Bengals have very little to play for, although that sliver of hope that they win out and finish 8-9 and somehow get into the post-season is all they have going for them.

And while Lamar definitely doesn't like playing frigid conditions, I'm guessing Joe Burrow isn't exactly a fan of it, either. I mean, you have to be a complete lunatic to actually like 10 degrees with a minus-2 degree "real feel".

That said, Burrow had a remarkable day in the snow and cold in Buffalo last Sunday. He was on fire for 50 minutes, then threw a couple of fourth quarter picks that changed the game. But for three-plus quarters last week, Burrow played great in the wintry Western New York weather.

I just don't see Lamar doing anything except being remarkably and surprisingly outstanding today or being woefully bad.

It's just not his kind of weather, although there have been instances in the past where he's played well in terrible, cold conditions. And, like I've said, it's not like everyone else is great in 10 degree weather and Lamar is the outlier. No one loves playing in it.

And yet, as fate would have it, the Ravens season is sorta-kinda on the line today. They can still get in if they lose this afternoon, but they'd have to win out (most likely) in order to do so.

But wait...there's actually a way the Ravens can finish 7-10 and win the division. I know you're laughing. So am I. But it could happen. Quite easily in fact.

If the Steelers lose their last four and the Ravens lose their next three but beat Pittsburgh in the series finale, the Ravens would win the AFC North at 7-10.

So, yes, conventional wisdom says the Ravens almost have to win today, but not necessarily. Pittsburgh has Miami (home), Detroit (away), Cleveland (away) and Baltimore (home). The Steelers could lose all four of those. Their game with Miami this Monday night is the big one because that gives them 8 wins and means the Ravens have to win at least two of their last four to have a shot at the playoffs.

I don't see John Harbaugh's team winning today, yet a piece of me definitely feels like "Bengals gonna Bengals" also has a high probability of happening.

I can see a scenario where Cincinnati is up 12-6 going into the 4th quarter and they have the ball on the Ravens 10 yard line with 7 minutes left, about to salt the game way, and they fumble the ball and the Ravens recover.

Lamar drives the team 90 yards, aided by some mysterious penalty flags, and the Ravens hit the end zone with one minute left and kick the extra point to go up 13-12.

The defense then holds on in the final 60 seconds and that's that. A win out of nowhere.

Alas, that's what I could see happening because "Bengals gonna Bengals" is always on the bingo card.

Instead, sadly, what I think is more likely to happen is a 19-13 Bengals win. I just don't have any faith in Lamar to deliver a quality performance today given the weather conditions.

I would soooooo like to be wrong on that today. I would really enjoy seeing Jackson have a good day in that weather and figure out a way to lead the Ravens to a much needed win.

But I'm guessing Burrow handles the weather a little better than Lamar in this one and the Cincinnati receivers make the difference in the 6-point victory.

Please let me be wrong.

Due to a prior engagement, Dale Williams was unable to provide a recap of last night's Maryland loss to Michigan. I'm not even going to try to do what Dale does here, but I'll give you what I saw in the 101-83 defeat.

Maryland hung tough for a while and then a much deeper, talented roster took over in the second half. Does that just about some it up?

However...

If Maryland gets any kind of night at Pharrel Payne, the game is much closer and, perhaps, might have been been there for the taking down the stretch.

Payne was forced to leave the game with 4 minutes and change left in the first half after scoring 7 points in the opening 15 minutes. He was a big reason why Maryland was able to actually lead at the intermission, 50-45. But Payne's apparent knee injury signaled the end of his night and, for the most part, ended the Terps' chances of winning at the same time.

David "Diggy" Coit led the Terps with 31, but he was the only starter in double digits. Myles Rice had 15 off the bench for the Terps.

Michigan countered with four players in double figures, including a team-high 29 from Yaxel Lendenborg. The Wolverines improved to 10-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play while the Terps fell to 6-5 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten.

Maryland's 5-point halftime lead was surprisingly refreshing. Defense was not the name of the game in the opening 20 minutes as the team's combined for 95 points.

But without Payne, the already-much-smaller Terps were in deep trouble in the second half. To their credit, the Terps kept it close for a little while. They actually built a 9-point lead early in the final 20 minutes and were up by one, 63-62, with 14 minutes remainining in the game.

The Wolverines then showed why they're the top team in the country, outscoring Maryland 39-20, to pull away and win with ease.

Maryland's next game is December 20 at Virginia.

around the nfl

Browns (3-10) at Bears (9-4) -- Other than Myles Garrett going for the sack record, there's pretty much nothing to watch here. Bears will win and continue their hunt for the playoffs. Cleveland will start thinking about who they're going to take with the 3rd pick in the draft. Oh, wait, that's right. Never mind.

Chargers (9-4) at Chiefs (6-7) -- I would make a "Chiefs, 6, 7" joke here, but I don't get it myself. My kids would laugh and say, "Come on Dad, you're too old for that." I know this: Kansas City never thought they would be in a "almost definitely have to win situation" on December 14 vs. L.A. But they are. Alas, they'll figure out a way to pull out a win in this win and stay alive in the playoff hunt, while the Chargers fall to 9-5.

Bills (9-4) at Patriots (11-2) -- I do believe that New England's "for real". I don't think you get to 11-2 being a paper tiger, although didn't the Steelers start a season 10-0 one year and then lose like 70-20 at home to Cleveland in the playoffs? Anyway, this is a big game for Buffalo for several reasons. A loss today and New England clinches the East. A loss by the Bills also still puts their playoff hopes in jeopardy, although it would take a weird series of events for Buffalo to not make it. We're going with the team who has the better quarterback this afternoon. Bills win in a close one.

Commanders (3-10) at Giants (2-11) -- Ha ha ha. This one should be flexed...to next season. What a dismal, boring game. Imagine your boss coming to you on Wednesday and saying, "Hey Mike, I have four great seats at the 50 for you and your family on Sunday vs. the Commanders. Have a great time." At least you'd get to see a NY win. Giants take this one.

Raiders (2-11) at Eagles (8-5) -- The Eagles get a cupcake today. They better take full advantage of it. I know Las Vegas stinks, but a Pete Carroll team will always fight. Philly wins, but it probably won't be a laugher.

Jets (3-10) at Jaguars (9-4) -- There's no way Jacksonville scarfs this one up, right? I mean, they have a Homecoming game and they're in the playoff race and all they have to do is beat the lowly Jets and they move to 10-4. No way the Jaguars botch this one, right? I agree. Jacksonville wins it easily.

Cardinals (3-10) at Texans (8-5) -- I'm writing almost the identical thing about the Texans as I did the Jaguars. Houston gets gifted a Homecoming game today. They're not losing to Arizona. Are they? Nope. Houston wins this one.

Packers (9-3-1) at Broncos (11-2) -- This is the week I think we finally see Denver start to crack a little. Granted, it's a home game for them, but I think the Packers are starting to pick up steam and this trip to the Mile High City comes at a good time for them. If Green Bay is as good as they think they are, they'll win this one. And we're taking them, on the road. Packers beat Denver.

Lions (8-5) at Rams (10-3) -- Jared Goff returns to his old stomping grounds (well, I'm not actually sure he ever played for the Rams in SoFi) and Matt Stafford faces his old team. It should be a doozy. Take the over. And take the Rams, too. Last team with the ball wins and that will be Stafford and L.A. on a late touchdown.

Panthers (7-6) at Saints (3-10) -- Carolina somehow now finds themselves in the catbird's seat after Tampa Bay's improbable home loss to Atlanta on Thursday. A Carolina win today and they're starting to look like they might win the NFC South. They face the Bucs in two of their last three games, too. Unfortunately, we'll call a New Orleans upset today. Saints win it late to spoil Carolina's day.

Titans (2-11) at 49'ers (9-4) -- Tennessee came up with the improbable win at Cleveland last week but that's the Browns. They're not going to San Francisco and winning. 49'ers win this one easily.

Colts (8-5) at Seahawks (10-3) -- Gotta give the Colts credit for trying, at least. I guess Brett Favre wasn't available. Or Trent Dilfer. So they went with Philip Rivers. It doesn't really matter. They could bring Johnny Unitas back and they're not winning in Seattle. Seahawks win.

Vikings (6-8) at Cowboys (6-6-1) -- This is a big one for both teams. The best Minnesota can do is 9-8 and the best Dallas can do is 10-6-1. The loser tonight is pretty much cooked for the post-season. And the loser will be......Minnesota. Dallas wins easily.

Dolphins (6-7) at Steelers (7-6) on Monday Night -- Boy, I'd love to call a Miami win here and be right about it. And I do think the Dolphins have a chance in this one. The Steelers are terrible. If the Dolphins can run the ball with any efficiency at all, they can beat the Steelers. T.J. Watt being out certainly doesn't help Pittsburgh's cause. Oh what the heck, let's go ahead and do it. Dolphins win this one by a field goal. I'm not really betting ON Miami as much as I'm betting AGAINST the Steelers. They stink.

Saturday December 13, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4128

it's hard to lead a quiet life at michigan

The Sherrone Moore story is crazy.

It's terrible. It's tragic. It's life-changing for him and his family and that of the woman he was involved with in his office. It's a bad story in a lot of ways.

And I'm not even talking about or considering Michigan football, which, honestly, is way down on the list of "important" things when it comes to his story.

But there should also be a consideration to the young men in the program. They, too, are being impacted by the behavior of Moore and, if the story is accurate, his former personal assistant.

Moore woke up on Wednesday morning as the head coach of the Michigan football program making $5 million a year. As jobs go in college sports, he had, by my estimation, one of the top 10 positions in the entire nation. He was the head coach of Michigan football.

There's Duke basketball. There's Alabama football. You have Ohio State football. Maybe Texas football, given how nuts people are down there for college pigskin. That's four jobs. Michigan isn't far behind those. The world was Moore's oyster when he woke up on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday night was a different story. He spent that night in jail after learning of his dismissal from Michigan and breaking into the home of his (now) estranged girlfriend and threatening her with a knife.

Moore was released on bond yesterday in Ann Arbor.

It's a shocking story to those of us on the outside but, apparently, not such a shocking story at the school.

According to reports published yesterday, the university suspected the two football employees of an inappropriate relationship as early as last summer and "warned them" of their suspicions, which apparently wasn't enough for the two of them to end their tryst.

If what we're now reading is indeed true, "everyone" (not everyone, really, but lots and lots of people) knew something was going on between Moore and his assistant but people just carried on with their day and let it continue to blossom.

Inappropriate inter-office relationships happen all the time. The difference, of course, is that those relationships aren't part of the 24/7 news cycle and they're not on ESPN and Twitter and the whole world doesn't know about it.

Some of those inappropriate relationships involve married men and women and some of them don't, but there are also lots of companies in our country who don't have hard-and-fast contracted rules about those kinds of relationships between employees.

Michigan had a hard-and-fast rule. To their credit, they deemed their policy to be "zero-tolerance". Surprisingly, it was even zero-tolerance for someone as popular and valuable as the football coach.

And that's how it came to pass that Coach Moore became ex-Coach Moore. The school was provided proof of the relationship and they fired him immediately, per the terms of his contract.

During our weekly FCA huddle at Calvert Hall this week, I talked to the student-athletes in attendance about Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, where he implores them to "lead a quiet life".

(11) and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, (12) so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

I talked with our young men about what that verse means in their world.

What is a quiet life?

In 2025, it's almost impossible to be "quiet" if you're an athlete or a coach or someone involved in a high profile occupation where you're constantly striving for the spotlight.

I told the guys on Thursday about a recent scenario I encountered with a local high school basketball team. After a recent win, I happened to see a number of players on their team posting videos and comments about their play in the win.

Almost every kid had a quick clip of himself doing something special in the game. A dunk, a pass, etc. They all pretty much said the same thing without exactly saying it. "Look at me and what I did tonight."

One of them did actually just come out and say it, "Clowned fools tonight. 20/8. Shut yer mouth boyzzzzz."

Others listed how many points they scored with smiley face emojis.

A few nights later, that same team lost. Guess what I saw on the internet that night?

You know...

Nothing.

They sure were leading a "quiet life" that night. But a few nights before when they won, they weren't leading a quiet life.

I don't know that team's head coach at all, so I have no idea if he picked up on it and saw the same things I saw over those two distinctly different nights. If he did, though, I wonder if he said something to his young men about it?

"You love being in the spotlight when you win. But you all disappeared when you lost."

On Thursday in the FCA huddle, I gave the student-athletes an informal assignment for next week's get-together.

"Show me a time in the Bible when Jesus said, 'Look at me and how great I am.'"

I will admit I haven't read every single page of the Bible. I've read a lot of it. I read it in some, way, shape or form every day through an app on my phone that sends me scripture at 5 am and 5 pm. But I certainly haven't opened it up to page one and read it front to back the way, say, you and I might read "Catcher in the Rye".

But I don't think I've ever seen a passage in the Bible where Jesus wants the spotlight and says to people, "Look at me and what I'm doing."

In fact, I think you're going to find more instances where Jesus did the exact opposite. On nearly every occasion he healed someone, he immediately said to that person and anyone who witnessed the miracle, "Go on now...but don't tell anyone about this."

When faced with the potential of being crucified by Pontius Pilate, what did Jesus say in response to Pilate when he was asked, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus said: "Is that what you say?"

When given the opportunity to say, "You're damn right I am. I'm the Messiah, my man. I'm God's son. I run this whole world. You don't. I do", Jesus instead said, "If you think I am."

Paul would later, long after the death of Jesus, write about the ambitious goal of living a quiet life.

Sherrone Moore couldn't do it.

Maybe you and I can't do it, either. You and I are guilty of saying, "Here's something great that happened to me today!" but we're not as quick to say, "Here's something wrong (or bad) I did today."

Pastor Tim Keller, a nationally known minister of outstanding work, likes to say, "We spend most of our lives trying to even the score with ourselves; sins committed vs. good deeds done. Most of the time we're going to come up short. We just can't stop sinning. And that's why there's a God in heaven."

How true that is. We just can't be perfect. Far from it, in fact. I think most of us try hard, but we fall short.

When you successfully accomplish a task at work, it's human nature to say, "Hey, look what I did!" You're doing that in some ways to help not only yourself, but your family, too.

You're not a bad person for doing it. It's what we do when things go well. We want and need, even, someone around us to say "Well done, my friend."

And when someone doesn't tell us we were great, we then take to the airwaves ourselves and tell everyone we are.

That's the theme behind the basketball scenario I described to the student-athletes at the FCA huddle on Thursday.

When those hoopsters played well, they spent an hour on their phone or computer crafting TikTok and Instagram posts telling all of their buddies how great they were. They certainly weren't "quiet" about it.

But when they lost, they didn't bother mentioning that.

And that sort of imbalance, I believe, leads young athletes down a bad path, because all they do is bathe themselves in glory and self-adulation when they win or play well and then when the bad stuff comes along -- which it will -- they don't know how to handle it.

The easiest thing to do right now is for people in the media to crush Sherrone Moore. He's the lowest of low-hanging-fruit, based on the story that is starting to come out of Ann Arbor.

And of this you can almost be certain. We probably only know about 50% of what really was going on with him. This is the 50% we discovered when his former assistant reported their conduct to the school last Wednesday.

There's more, most likely. Not that we need anything else.

I was at a holiday party last night where one of the central iced-tea-cooler discussions was Moore and the story out of Michigan.

A central theme involved his salary.

"Dude's making $5 million and couldn't keep his hands out of the cookie jar," someone said.

"$5 million a year to coach kids playing football and blew it all up over some girl on the side," someone else chimed in.

A woman in the area overheard the conversation and laid some of the blame at the foot of the personal assistant who was involved with Moore.

"She knew what she was doing was wrong," the woman said. "She knew that man was married and had children. She should be getting raked over the coals too."

"If you gave me $5 million and told me I had to walk the straight and narrow, you can bet I could do it," a guy said.

It's always easy when it's not you.

But it wasn't easy for Sherrone Moore and his personal assistant. For whatever reason, it wasn't easy for them.

They couldn't just lead a quiet life. People throughout the university suspected them of having a relationship throughout 2025, so it certainly wasn't "quiet".

You can interpret Paul's suggestion in Thessalonians in a number of ways.

"Make it your ambition to live a quiet life..." is a very open-ended commentary.

My personal take: I think what Paul is saying is "Put your head down, do your work without the need for adoration, help others when you can, thank God, and stay humble."

Your assessment of the verse might be different and that's fine.

For the sake of him and his family, I wish someone could have sat down with Sherrone Moore and showed him Thessaloanians to help him learn the importance of a quiet life.

From this point forward, his life will be anything but quiet.

I'll pray for Coach Moore at church tomorrow. I'll pray for his family. I'll pray for the young lady he was involved with.

I'll pray that all of them can figure out a way to heed Paul's words and live a quiet life.

---

For the 15th consecutive year (I can't believe it), Glenn Clark and I are teaming up to help the great people at Helping Up Mission in downtown Baltimore.

And, once again, our buddy Steve Pavlosky at Chick fil-A Nottingham Square is stepping up to help us do that.

This Monday night, December 15, Glenn and I will be at the Chick fil-A restaurant in Nottingham Square (White Marsh area) on Campbell Boulevard, along with special guest Tez Walker of the Baltimore Ravens.

Anyone bringing a new or gently used coat or jacket (or any form of winter apparel, really) to the event can meet Walker and you'll also get a free Chick fil-A sandwich in exchange for your support.

Everyone has a gently worn coat they no longer wear for whatever reason. Maybe even two of them. If that's the case in your house, please throw it in a bag and bring it out to Chick fil-A this Monday, December 15.

Glenn and I -- and Tez Walker -- will be there from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Please come on out and say hi.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 9th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review all games in the 2023-2024 season.

terps host #1 ranked michigan tonight

I’m trying to create a reference that accurately depicts just how good the Michigan Wolverines have looked this year.

I’ll use Gonzaga, the team that punished the Terps by 39 points earlier this season.

That’s the same 'Zags who beat Alabama by 10 (yes, the same Alabama group that beat the Terps by 33). Gonzaga also beat #18 Kentucky by 35 and #23 Creighton by 27. The ‘Zags must be pretty good, right? KenPom has them as the third best team in all of college hoops.

The day after Gonzaga beat Maryland 100-61, Michigan smoked them 101-61. Coach Buzz Williams is having nightmares about Michigan's trip into College Park tonight.

The Wolverines, ranked #1, are a really big team. Their frontcourt goes 6’9”, 6’9”, and 7’3”. The twin 6’9” ers are thick too, going 240 and 250 pounds. They will dominate the paint in tonight’s matchup with the Terps and they help Michigan lead the Big Ten in rebounding with 46.6 per game. As big as they are, it’s the little guy who makes this team go.

Point guard, Elliot Cadeau, is the catalyst of the Wolverine scoring machine. The 6’1” former Tar Heel starter is getting a team leading 5.7 assists per game while tossing in 9.4 points each contest. I love his on-ball defense when he stops penetration with his body while his arms are straight up in the air.

While starting every game for North Carolina last year, Cadeau hit 33% of his threes. This year he’s close to 40%. He does, at times, get a bit careless with the ball, but not enough to counter all the good that he does.

Let’s get back to these Wolverine “bigs”. My favorite is Yaxel Lendeborg. At 240 pounds, he moves like a much smaller player. His all-round numbers are fantastic. He posts a team-leading 15 points per game and is second on the team with a 7.1 rebounding average and an assist total of 3.1.

Lendeborg, a UAB transfer, shoots 57% from the floor, 82% from the line, and 36.4% from the three-point arc. Not flashy at all, just rock solid.

Also standing at 6’9” is Morez Johnson. Perhaps you remember him and his 250-pound frame from his stint at Illinois last season. His game is more focused around the basket, and that’s where he gets almost all of his 13.4 points each game. He also grabs 6.7 rebounds each game while shooting 68% from the floor and 78% from the foul line.

The biggest of the bigs is Aday Mara, the UCLA transfer. His game is still developing, but he’s no stiff. Mara grabs a team-leading 9 rebounds each night, while playing just 22 minutes a game. He’s a good rim protector and blocks almost 3 shots per game.

Michigan has blown out so many opponents this year that head coach, Dusty May, has had the luxury of playing 9 guys 13 minutes or more. Nobody on this squad averages more than 27 minutes per game as Michigan has an average margin of victory of 28 points a game. They have accomplished this, and their 9-0 record against a top 10 hardest schedule in the country.

If Buzz Williams is looking for a something that might give him some hope, maybe it’s the fact the Wolverines have played only a single true away game, and that was a close (67-63) win against TCU. Although, since that game on 11/14, not one Michigan opponent has come within 20 points of them.

Kevin Willard’s Villanova team was the most recent victim. For those wondering, the three former Terp players that followed Willard to ‘Nova tallied 47 minutes in that game, going 1 for 5 from the field while committing 7 fouls and 4 turnovers.

Botton line here, Maryland is so undermanned that I can’t see how they can compete. The paint will be owned by Michigan, and the Terps don’t shoot well enough from the outside to counter. Michigan plays at a fast pace, taking under 15 seconds to get off a shot, and they will pressure Maryland for 40 minutes. The good news for Maryland is that they only see the Wolverines one time this year.

The early line was Terps +20, but dropped to 19.5 with most of the action going to the Terps.

With Maryland giving up the most points in the Big Ten, and Michigan scoring most, the final score will be whatever Coach May wants it to be. I won’t even try to put out a potential final score, but I will say to watch the in-game line. If it gets too high, Terp starters playing against Michigan reserves might be able to get a cover.

It’s an 8 p.m. start and covered by FOX.

Friday December 12, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4127

friday stuff

I'm a sucker for a good story, particularly when it involves a team I enjoy supporting.

Lost in the wacky Ravens season that was 2012, people forget the team slumped in November and December and had to rally just to finish 10-6 and win the division.

From there, they put together an improbable playoff run capped by a heroic performance from Joe Flacco (and Anquan Boldin) en-route to the Super Bowl title.

But make no mistake about it, the Ravens, that year, were far from a juggernaut. They got hot at the right time and went on one of those epic runs that you see quite often from teams in the world of sports.

It was a great story. Well, if you're from Baltimore and a Ravens fan, that is.

I've certainly had my ups-and-downs with the Orioles over my lifetime in Baltimore. Most of you reading this who were born in the 1960's 1970's or 1980's have probably had the same kind of relationship with the team.

You love them. But there are times when you can't stand them.

I have no idea how many home games I've been to in my life. I know I attended 42 of their home games at Memorial Stadium in 1982 because I vowed before the season started to attend at least half of them and I did just that by going to all three games of that Brewers series that brutally ended their '82 campaign.

I think the most games I attended in one-season thereafter was probably 25.

There was a time, 10 years ago or so, where I was a mini-plan holder for four straight seasons. My son was growing up and he was getting into baseball and, well, a ballgame with your 10 year old son or daughter is pretty hard to beat.

If you made me guess and I had to come within 25 games on either side of the right number to win a prize, I'd guess I've seen 550 Orioles home games between Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards.

I've seen, I think, 29 Orioles road games in my life. Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Anaheim, Kansas City, Minnesota and Atlanta are the stadiums I've been in to see the orange and black play.

I've been waiting since 1983 -- like the rest of you -- to see the World Series return to Charm City. Hope springs eternal, as they say, so every April for the last (gazillion) years, we've all thought, "Hey, who knows, maybe this will be our year."

But in the deep recesses of our brain, knowing what we know about the Orioles, we always also know the truth. The Orioles aren't going to the World Series. They're just not. And my own personal take on it is simple: They haven't deserved to go.

Say what you will about the Dodgers and the $350 million (ish) they spend on players, but when you dedicate that kind of money to player payroll -- even if you have it to spend -- there's something that says you deserve good fortune.

People used to beat up on the Yankees and Red Sox for their player budgets, but they were going out of their way to try to win. They deserved it, when they did win.

The Orioles, let's get this straight, have never really wanted to win. At least since 2000 or so. They've "hoped" they could win and they'd "like" to win, but they've never really wanted to win.

And because they haven't wanted to win, they haven't deserved to win.

I could be wrong on this. Like, completely wrong.

But I'm buying stock in the 2026 Orioles.

I still they need a starting pitcher. I'm thinking it might very well wind up being Framber Valdez. And wouldn't that be something?

If they get Valdez and add, say, Eflin in on a 1-year or 2-year deal, all the sudden their rotation looks OK after all.

Trevor Rogers.

Kyle Bradish.

Framber Valdez.

Dean Kremer.

Kremer suddenly is your 4th starter which is pretty much where he belongs.

Then you have some other guys vying for 5th spot, 6th spot, etc.

You throw in Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward from an offensive standpoint. And with the guys you have coming back...

This could be a legit Oriole team we're going to see in 2026.

I'm holding out hope the Valdez thing works out. If he's in Baltimore, they are off and running. Even without him, the O's are still in decent shape, but adding Valdez would make the off-season a slam dunk Shaquille O'Neal would be envious of.

For once, finally, it looks like the Orioles really want to win.

I can't believe I'm seeing it.

But it's certainly awesome to witness.

Well, Todd Bowles just signed his walking papers last night in Tampa Bay. I rushed to the internet this morning to see what the betting line is for Bowles returning as the Buccaneers head coach next season but I couldn't find one.

If you do find that wager available to you, take the "no" side of it. He's gone.

Bowles committed the cardinal sin of coaching last night in the aftermath of the Bucs crumbling at home in a crucial game and losing to Atlanta, 29-28. He blamed the players.

And Bowles didn't just drop a hint or two or offer a cryptic comment in his post-game press conference that could be interpreted several different ways.

He didn't say afterwards: "Well, players make plays. It's that simple. The team that has more of those guys usually wins."

Bowles went the other way.

"You don't make excuses," the Bucs coach said in an expletive-laden reaction. "You got to f---ing care enough where the s--- hurts. It's got to f---ing mean something to you. It's more than a job. It's your f---ing livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can't sugarcoat that s---."

Don't worry, there's more.

"At this point you've seen everything in the season," Bowles said. "The coaches have done everything they can do. This is a player-driven team in the last four or five weeks. You've got to execute, and they've got to hold each other accountable. As a coach, you can sit there until you're blue in the face. Until they start holding each other accountable and doing the little things right -- and that's not everybody, you know, we're talking about a small, select few. But the small, select few is what's getting us beat. And until that happens, it's not going to get right."

Bowles might as well clean out his desk today and save himself the trouble in January.

He's the captain of a rudderless ship at this point. And throwing the blame on the players like that is almost 100% going to get him canned.

Bowles won't get fired because he should get fired. I have no idea, in other words, if he's the problem or not.

He's going to get fired because the Bucs are spiraling out of the lead in the NFC South and are going to wind up losing the division to Carolina, whom the play twice in the last 3 weeks of the season.

Despite the fact that the Bucs have been ravaged with injuries and even taking into account that he might be right about the players on his team being responsible for their second-half-of-the-season collapse, it doesn't matter now. He's openly blamed the players and he'll pay the price for that in January.

To his credit, Baker Mayfield tried to deflect the Bowles outburst after last night's game by taking the blame himself.

"This one is going to haunt me. It falls on my shoulders," Mayfield said. "It's not the defense's fault. It's my fault."

That, of course, is something a quarterback would say. And, frankly, based on Mayfield's performance last night, it probably should shoulder a lot of the blame.

But those comments from Bowles will tear through the Bucs locker room like wildfire, particularly the part where Bowles said "The coaches have done everything they can do."

It's a tough league.

But it gets much tougher when you blame the players.

They won't take kindly to that in Tampa Bay. And unless there's a miracle-like finish to their season, they'll be looking for a new coach in January.

faith in sports

His Ohio State Buckeyes might have just lost to Indiana last week in surprising fashion, but that makes Luke Montgomery's story all the more interesting to follow.

In a recent episode with the awesome sports ministry group, Sports Spectrum, Montgomery talks about what it's like to play under the spotlight in Columbus, Ohio and outlines how his faith works for him in the good times and the occasional down times at Ohio State.

This is a top 10 edition of Sports Spectrum that I've ever seen. Ohio State has something special going on, both on and off the field.

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 December 11, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4126

a total no-brainer

The best thing about the Pete Alonso signing in Baltimore is that there's no real downside. None. Not a one.

OK, sure, he could wind up having a "down year" in 2026. Something like 24 homers, 88 RBI, .234 average. I don't see that happening. I'd bet the "over" in all three areas.

But it's sports and you can never predict exactly what someone will do in their new home.

Ask the Blue Jays and Anthony Santander. No one knew he'd have an awful year in 2025. He got hurt and underperformed and, at least for one season, the former O's star got the better end of the bargain.

That said, a "down year" can happen to any player at any time and it's rarely predictable.

I think Alonso is actually a better signing than if the O's would have landed Kyle Schwarber. So I'll bet on Pete Alonso. I see nothing at all to be pessimistic about when it comes his signing.

The money? I couldn't care less. Baseball players get paid. Well, almost all of them get "overpaid" if you ask me, but they get what they get because that's what the sport and the market says they should get.

But $155 million for five years of Pete Alonso is a great value to me. And Lord knows the O's have hoarded enough of our money over the years that it won't hurt them one bit to shell out $30 million a year for a baseball player.

Alonso's arrival also shows other players, both this off-season and next winter and beyond, that the Orioles will fork over big money to the right free agent.

Ozzie Newsome had that famous line as the Ravens GM: Right player, right price.

Pete Alonso is a nice addition to the Orioles. It frees the Birds up to do something with either Ryan Mountcastle or Coby Mayo if they can include one of those guys in a deal for some pitching.

Mountcastle is like, well, a Beatles album. Very little value. Mayo, though, might fetch something a little more meaningful in a trade, particularly if he's packaged with another player or two. We'll see about that.

But for now, the O's got themselves a guy who plays every day, does his job, and produces at a consistent level.

Other than saying something silly like, "What if he has a bad year?", there's no reason to be negative about his signing at all.

For once, the Orioles were the bride and not the bridesmaid.

An actual, real, bonafide, coveted free agent was proposed to by the Orioles and he said, "Yes, I'll marry you!"

When's opening day again?

To just wrap up the gift and put a bow on the Notre Dame story from yesterday, here we are 24 hours later and I still haven't found anyone who can give me one benefit to The Fighting Irish refusing to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

That, in fact, could be the only benefit. They don't have to play in something called "The Pop-Tarts Bowl". It's hard to say (or write) with a straight face.

I've looked here in the Comments section, I've read the internet, I've talked casually with friends and others that know of the story and I've asked everyone the same thing.

Tell me the benefit to Notre Dame not playing.

No one can do it.

I actually came up with the only even remotely plausible answer and even that doesn't really hold water: Someone could get hurt.

Yes, if someone got hurt playing in a (relatively) meaningless bowl game, that would be terrible for him.

Alas, that same player could also get hurt playing in a playoff game.

So the "injury excuse" is super flimsy.

There is not a single benefit to Notre Dame withdrawing from the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Well, other than they get to flex their muscles and say, "We're Notre Dame and we're not playing."

It's a stain on the school, the athletic department, the football program and the players who voted against playing in the bowl game.

Lamar Jackson didn't practice on Wednesday, missing a mid-week practice session for the fifth straight week. There were quips and comments about Jackon's absence on the internet and on the radio yesterday once word started to circulate that Jackson didn't practice.

"$60 million (sic) a year and won't practice," a caller said on the radio yesterday.

I laughed at that one.

"Won't practice" means he could practice but elected not to practice.

That's a bold statement to make when you have no idea what you're talking about, which the caller definitely didn't.

John Harbaugh, of course, gave no information at all, other than to say it was a "rest day".

Harbaugh can't really speak much on injury issues. Even if he wanted to, which he doesn't, there are certain things you can say about injuries and certain things you can't.

For example, the NHL can no longer tell people what's wrong with their hockey players. It's either "upper body injury" or "lower body injury". It's kind of dumb, but it's also very much whatever.

As for Lamar, there's no telling why he really missed practice, but I'm sure he was on the property and doing something football-related. He might not have been running around on the field, but he wasn't at Chipotle for lunch followed by a movie at the local theater.

At this point, I couldn't care less if Lamar practices or not. I want to see him play well on Sunday. And, sure, maybe missing practice contributes to him not playing well, but I can't imagine missing one day of practice on a Wednesday in his 8th season in the league will lead to him stinking it up vs. the Bengals on Sunday.

Would it be nice if he weren't hobbled or hurt and was "all in" every day, all season?

Of course.

But that ship sailed after he got hurt in the 4th game of the season at Kansas City.

He hasn't been 100% healthy since then. And, I'm guessing, he won't be healthy for the final four games, either.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying this: If the Ravens lose this Sunday and then again on December 21 vs. New England, I'm guessing Jackson won't play in the last two games.

If you're 6-9 with two games left, why would you play if you're hurting and not 100%?

I hope we don't get to that point. I'd like to see a win in Cincinnati to keep things interesting, especially knowing Pittsburgh is definitely a good bet to stub their toe against either Miami, Detroit or Cleveland in the next three weeks. Heck, I'd say it's even money that the Steelers lose two of those three, somehow.

So the Ravens just have to keep their head above water. A win in Cincinnati and they're still alive. And if Lamar has to miss practice on Wednesday in order to be as healthy as he can be for Sunday's game vs. the Bengals, that's fine by me.

For the 15th consecutive year (I can't believe it), Glenn Clark and I are teaming up to help the great people at Helping Up Mission in downtown Baltimore.

And, once again, our buddy Steve Pavlosky at Chick fil-A Nottingham Square is stepping up to help us do that.

Next Monday night, Glenn and I will be at the Chick fil-A restaurant in Nottingham Square (White Marsh area) on Campbell Boulevard, along with special guest Tez Walker of the Baltimore Ravens.

Anyone bringing a new or gently used coat or jacket (or any form of winter apparel, really) to the event can meet Walker and you'll also get a free Chick fil-A sandwich in exchange for your support.

Everyone has a gently worn coat they no longer wear for whatever reason. Maybe even two of them. If that's the case in your house, please throw it in a bag and bring it out to Chick fil-A next Monday, December 15.

Glenn and I -- and Tez Walker -- will be there from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Please come on out and say hi.

Wednesday December 10, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4125

o's sign alonso

What planet are we on?

In the span of 13 days, the Ravens lost to the hapless Bengals, at home, and then got beat by a one-armed fossil QB and a Steelers team that ran the ball for 30 yards all day. And the Orioles signed Pete Alonso.

The first two are sorta-kinda understandable.

I mean, the Ravens (apparently) just aren't that good.

So, even though it's the Bengals (terrible) and Steelers (terrible), if we're also borderline terrible, that all adds up.

But the Orioles signing Pete Alonso? What on earth?

No more "confederate money" in The Land of Pleasant Living, apparently.

I heard some clown on the radio a few minutes ago say, "We still have never signed a player for more than $200 million. Shows you we're not willing to play with the big boys."

That's like going to see Snoop Dogg in concert and saying, "The show totally sucked" because he didn't sing "Murder Was The Case".

Who cares that the Orioles haven't shelled out a $200 million salary before? Exactly no one. Well, no one with a brain, at least.

Pete Alonso is an outstanding signing.

He's 31.

He plays every day.

He hits for power.

His average is fine.

He gets on base.

He's what the Orioles need. He's Ryan Mountcastle with a MAJOR twist. He's actually really good.

This is a nice, nice day for the Orioles organization.

One of the more coveted free agent bats chose Baltimore.

Read that again...

One of the more coveted free agent bats CHOSE Baltimore.

Ain't the beer cold?

---

what's the benefit to not fighting?

The older I get, the less reactionary I've become and the more curious I tend to be.

That probably sounds a little bit like the darts scene from Ted Lasso, but it's true. I tend not to be so judgemental right away. And instead, curiousity takes over.

So when I heard Notre Dame was eschewing the offer for a college bowl game, I got curious.

The Irish (wait...we're still allowed to call them the Fighting Irish? who knew?) told the world last weekend they were not going to accept any bowl offer in response to their rejection from the College Football Playoff. Based on who got in to the 12-team field, it would appear Notre Dame was the proverbial "first team out".

James Madison was in. Notre Dame was out.

Tulane was in. Notre Dame was out.

Miami was in. Notre Dame was out.

I don't follow college football anywhere closely enough to know why those three things happened. I have no idea if Notre Dame got ripped off or not. I just don't know.

But what I do know is Notre Dame picked up their ball and went home last Sunday when they announced they weren't going to participate in a bowl game.

And so.......I'm asking the question.

"What's the benefit?"

The players we apparently the ones that got together and quit on their season. Where's the school and the athletic department to bring them together and say, "Eh, yeah, that's not how we do things here at this reputable institution. We're not going to pick up our ball and go home because you guys didn't get your way."

Where's the adult in the room to say to the kids -- who, admittedly, just might up and quit the team all together if they don't get their way -- "We're going to play a football game because that's what we earned?"

It's amazing that no one with some stones stepped up in South Bend and said, "We're not going out like this. Like we're a spoiled 9 year old who didn't get the Play Station they wanted for Christmas."

I'm going to stop short of calling Notre Dame what they are: Entitled.

You know, as in, "We're Notre Dame. No one tells us no. We're not happy that we didn't achieve what we wanted so we're going to quit."

So I'll stop short of calling them entitled and just ask the question.

What's the benefit to Notre Dame not playing?

We know what the benefits are to be playing in a bowl game. Your school (and conference) gets money. Your football players, particularly the underclassmen, gain valuable experience. Your coaches do as well. There's television exposure, which potentially helps with recruiting.

There are other benefits, too, some of which are merely cosmetic, like family members get to travel to a (presumably) nice winter destination to spend a few days celebrating their son's athletic success.

So we know the benefits.

What, though, is the benefit to not playing?

Other than being a bad-ass and telling the country, "We're not playing in a bowl game because we didn't get our way", what good does it do Notre Dame to thumb their nose at a bowl game?

Plenty of people defended the Fighting Irish, including outspoken football voice Robert Griffin III, who never met a fumble he didn't like in his career.

"I don't blame Notre Dame one bit for deciding not to play in a Bowl Game when they should have been playing for a chance to win the National Championship in the College Football Playoff," Griffin wrote on Twitter.

Sounds like a guy on the Notre Dame payroll. Even though he isn't.

Opinion aside -- and Notre Dame apparently was good enough to win a few games in the tournament -- Griffin doesn't bother to answer the question I'm proposing.

What's in it for Notre Dame to turn down a bowl game?

What's the benefit?

And then, finally, we get to the most important part of the whole story.

What message are you sending to the players on the team when you pick up your ball and go home because things didn't go your way?

That is, sadly, the message we've knitted into the fabric of our society over the last few decades.

"You don't like the way this turned out? Just go ahead and quit." Or protest. Or sit in the street. Or do damage to someone's property. Or, in severe cases, cause harm to another human being.

When we don't get our way, we always have to come up with some kind of response that shows everyone just how angry we are about it.

"We're not getting the opportunity to play in the playoff, boys. We can man up and go out and represent ourselves with class and dignity one more time this season and beat the pants off of (Virginia? Vanderbilt?) or we can quit. Which would you rather do?"

Notre Dame decided the best thing to do was quit.

Shame on them. Double shame on them, really. It's a cowardly reaction to not getting their way.

And the question still floats in the frigid air in South Bend.

What's the benefit to quitting?

What message does it send and what value are you creating for the players who have given their all to the program?

It's an awful way to go out.

And the irony, I guess, is this: In the end, Notre Dame decided they weren't the "Fighting" Irish after all.

Tuesday December 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4124

"doesn't this just wear you out?"

#DMD reader Marcus sent me an e-mail on Monday that both piqued my interest and made me reflect a little bit on my own days in the indoor soccer business.

He's one of many in town who are frustrated with the Ravens and their current 6-7 record and what, if anything, is going to come of it all when the season ends.

"I've been a Ravens PSL holder since 2004," Marcus wrote to me yesterday. "I've been there through the good and the bad. I've always considered myself a fan's fan. I'm right there with the Ravens when the times are good and I'll stick with them when the times aren't good. But these last two seasons have taken a lot out of me as a fan. And this season has really taken its toll on me. I find myself being one of those Negative Nancy types who complains and yells about coaching and game plan tactics and everything else and it has really taken a lot of my enjoyment out of being a Ravens fan. I'm asking you, doesn't this just wear you out? Year after year, losing, making excuses, coming up short. How come it bothers us but it doesn't bother Steve Bisciotti enough for him to do something about it? If we all watch the games and we know Harbaugh is passed (sic) his prime, doesn't Bisciotti see that also? It's just so frustrating because we've been watching the same old crap for years now and nothing ever gets done about it. Talk me off the ledge Drew! Please! -- Longtime reader and former listener, Marcus C., Owings Mills"

Talk radio was loaded with unhappy customers on Monday. I get it, callers who wait around and talk on the radio make up an incredibly small part of a (rabid) fan base and it's inherently human nature for most people to complain just to hear themselves talk. And the Ravens are low-hanging fruit these days with a 6-7 record and two consecutive home losses.

I also know this:

No one calling into a radio show or going to their keyboard and typing a social media message or authoring a message board post knows as much about the Baltimore Ravens as any member of the team's coaching staff or front office.

We all watch the football games every Sunday. And we see what we see, usually aligned with our own agenda.

I had friends who used to be huge Joe Flacco fans. When Flacco had a great game, they were the first ones to say he had a great game. When he didn't have a great game, it was because the offensive line sucked, the receivers couldn't catch a cold or the offensive coordinator stymied Flacco with his play calls.

I also witnessed the exact opposite. Friends who didn't think Flacco was any good at all. And when he had a bad game, they were there to say, "I told you he stinks". And when he had a good game, it was always because the other team's defense was lousy or the Ravens defense generated two turnovers or something else along those lines.

You generally see things that are going to support your agenda or your opinion because you don't want to be wrong.

But the reality is you don't really know at all what's going on during the other six days of the week. You ONLY know what's happening on Sunday. And even then, there's a big difference between what you really know and what you think you know.

Keaton Mitchell is a prime example of this. He didn't play earlier in the season. He was recovering, remember, from a knee injury suffered last season. For whatever reason, he wasn't used hardly at all until the mid-way part of the 2025 campaign.

Every time Mitchell breaks loose for a decent run, maniacs take to the internet with the same general theme: "Too bad he spent the first half of the year in Harbaugh's doghouse. We could have used him in September and October. But Harbaugh didn't want to play him."

I have no idea why Keaton Mitchell didn't play earlier in the season.

But I definitely, with 1 million percent certainty, know this: If John Harbaugh and the rest of the coaches thought Keaton Mitchell could help them win a football game in September or October, he would have played.

John Harbaugh, Todd Monken and every coach in that organization would NEVER wake up on a Sunday morning and say, "You know what I think we should do today? We should sit out Keaton Mitchell and hope that doing that makes it harder for us to win this game today. If we're lucky, maybe we'll actually lose."

I don't know much about the Ravens because I'm not there 7 days a week but I know they're going to use any player they can if they think that guy can help them win.

This is not an attempt to serve as a blanket endorsement of every personnel move the Ravens make. They have made a lot of mistakes in the draft over the last 5 years. But that's the nature of the draft itself. You're never going to hit on all of the picks you make. You're just not. But "personnel" evaluations and evaluating what the coaches do with the personnel are two totally different things.

Remember this...every team in the league, including the Ravens, once, passed on Lamar Jackson in the draft in 2018. Every single team in the first round had a card in their hand and could have written "Lamar Jackson" on it but they didn't.

To that end, remember that every team in the league had 4 chances to take Shedeur Sanders last April and they all said, "No thanks."

He threw for 364 yards last Sunday with a bunch of bum receivers at his disposal. I have no idea if Sanders will ever be a legit #1 quarterback in the league but 31 general managers did make that bet last April.

In what would turn out to be my final season with the Spirit (nee Blast) indoor soccer team, we were poised to build on a promising 1996-97 season by returning a number of key veteran players in '97-98 and, I thought, might have had the makings of a championship caliber team.

That all ended with one phone call in late June.

Because it's old, old news and I still have loyalty and respect for the team's owner back then, I don't want to say much about exactly what transpired other than this: In late June he called me and told me we were going to have to make some serious financial changes to our operating budget for the '97-98 season. One of the main areas would be in the player payroll department.

"You can spend $250,000 on players, no more than that," he told me.

The year before, we had spent roughly $480,000 on player salaries, which probably put us about 3rd or 4th in the 12-team league in terms of salaries. Dropping us down to $250,000 would put us near the bottom of the league in player payroll.

What could I do? I didn't have a choice, unless I wanted to clean out my office and quit. And I wasn't going to do that.

We made the necessary changes to the payroll. We let some veteran players go, we sold a few off to help with our new operating budget (down roughly 60% across the board from the year before) and we went heavy with the college draft and tried our best to put together a competitive roster under the new constraints I was handed.

There were, quite actually, only four people who knew what was going on with the team. The owner, me, the head coach and the assistant coach. I dropped enough hints to my front office staff that they could surmise something was going on with the amount of money that was available to us to run the franchise. But, I'm proud to say, we made every payroll, both staff and players, in that '97-98 season.

That said...the fan base lashed out at me big time for what they considered "management malpractice". The internet was in its infancy back then, but the soccer message boards anilihated me for letting certain players leave, selling players off and basically fielding what looked like a "JV team".

But I couldn't -- and wouldn't -- go to the media and say, "Let me tell you what's going on with the organization so you can help protect me and let the fans know I'm not a complete stooge."

The fans thought they knew what was going on. "The general manager doesn't know what he's doing."

I totally understand what it looked like, trust me. To the outsider, the fans, the people who watched the games every week, it looked like I had no idea how to build a roster.

What they didn't know was I was working with $230,000 less than I had the year before.

Even more importantly, they didn't know "why" I was working with $230,000 less.

We watch the Ravens play and, to us, we can't figure out why certain guys play and others don't. Like, the hot-button-guy these days is Daniel Faalele, the much-maligned offensive lineman who seemingly has bad-game-after-bad-game and yet keeps on playing nonetheless.

Harbaugh went out of his way yesterday to semi-defend him, which, of course infuriated the fan base even more.

But you know what I'm going to say about all of that: What Harbaugh says to the media is, in no way, what he might say to his coaches or Eric DeCosta.

For all we know, he might have called DeCosta on Sunday night and said, "We have to improve in that spot next year. We've gone with Faalele long enough and it's not working."

Harbaugh, of course, has other players who could fill in for Faalele right now, including Emery Jones and Andrew Vorhees. Why wait until next year to remedy the Faalele experiment when you have replacements who can do it now? Again, as I wrote above, I have to assume if Harbaugh and Monken thought Jones or Vorhees would definitely outplay Daniel Faalele, one or both of those guys would be in there, playing.

If you believe John Harbaugh or any NFL coach would intentionally not play a player they thought could help them win, you're just not very smart. I'm sorry to be that blunt, but it's true. All these coaches want to do is win. Period.

Now, let me get back to that e-mail from Marcus.

He's right.

It does wear you out. The whole thing is tiring. The expectations, the losing, the whining, the finger pointing, the personal attacks. It's all extremely fatiguing.

This, for those who've been around, is precisely what baseball fans in Baltimore have dealt with for the last 25 years or thereabouts.

Other than a handful of fun, memorable seasons and a Delmon Young bases loaded double at Oriole Park, all we've pretty much done around here since 2000 is gripe about the baseball team.

"Just wait until Angelos finally goes away. It will all change then," everyone said, over and over and over.

Yeah, well, guess what?

Not so much. Not yet, anyway.

We're still here, still griping, still complaining, still finger pointing and still doing our best Judge Smails impersonation: "Weeellllll....we're waiting."

We watch 162 games every year and we wonder why the manager played that guy, brought in that pitcher, didn't bunt, failed to hit-and-run and so on and so on.

But all we know is what we see. What we don't see is, as Paul Harvey would always say, "the rest of the story".

I'm not invested in the Ravens, financially, the way Marcus and some of you reading this are. And therein lies one of the issues when it comes to complaining about the team(s).

You don't have to buy the tickets. No one is forcing you to do it. You buy the tickets because you want to buy them.

So, maybe I see it differently because I don't buy Ravens tickets. Perhaps if I shelled out $500 every other Sunday for two tickets and parking, I'd be going crazy too.

I might be just like Marcus, bouncing off the walls because of Harbaugh, DeCosta, Lamar, Humphrey and so on.

But even if I did buy tickets, I'd know the other piece of this: The only thing I see are the games. I'm not at practice, I'm not in the locker room and I'm not in the building.

I'm not saying the Ravens are doing it right. I'm not making excuses for them. They're 6-7. Their record speaks for itself. There's not a player on the team, including the $52 million quarterback, who is blameless. There's not a coach who doesn't own a piece of their season to date.

But Lamar Jackson knows more about quarterbacking than me, you and everyone else you know.

John Harbaugh knows more about coaching football than me, you and everyone else you know.

I could name every player and every coach, but I won't. They all know more than us. They just do.

That doesn't mean you're not entitled to your opinion. You can howl at the moon about coaching, quarterbacking, offensive schemes, defensive calls and everything else you see on Sunday.

This isn't meant to tell you not to care or not to express your frustration when the team lays consecutive eggs at home to the Bengals and the Steelers.

But you should always remember that however much you care...the coach, the quarterback, the general manager and every player cares about 100 times more than you do.

We (all of us) know about 10% of what's really going on. The other 90% is reserved for the people who are actually involved in doing it.

---

I initially wanted to do a deep-dive into Notre Dame's decision to not play in a bowl game after they got snubbed in the College Football playoff.

That was my plan for today.

Then the Ravens lost to the Steelers, the refs botched a couple of big calls, and people around town spent all day Monday laying waste to the head coach, the quarterback and the league.

But I'll get to Notre Dame tomorrow, maybe, and go through why dodging a bowl game is a bad look for them.

And I'm not going to make an argument for/against them actually "deserving" to be in.

I'm simply talking about the concept of being so entitled that you say, "If you did X to us, we're going to do Y to you."

I'll deal with it later.

Thanks a lot, Ravens.

Monday December 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4123

no matter what the quitters think...

I'll get to the good stuff in a minute or two. Hang in there.

Those of you who have quit on the Ravens will get a reality check.

But for starters, let's beat up on John Harbaugh and the Ravens for a little bit.

They deserve it.

Everyone deserves a bit of a bruising, actually.

The general manager who built the team and drafted some stiffs guys to play offensive line and defensive line and then overpaid some others to play in the defensive secondary.

The coach who hired the coordinators. If your offensive coordinator can't get the best athlete in the league to the promised land, who ultimately gets the blame, the coordinator or the guy that hired him in the first place?

The players who are supposed to earn their (magnificent) salaries by utilizing their (extraordinary) talents. You know, the ones who pontificate on their podcast about how "s**ts gonna be different this week, bet" and then lay an egg...again.

Everyone needs to get roasted a bit for what has transpired over the last two home games.

The Ravens lost at home to a 3-8 Cincinnati team that was missing one of their best receivers and featured a historically inept defense.

And then yesterday, they fell to a pedestrian Pittsburgh team that employed a one-dimensional offense and a defense that couldn't stop the run if their life depended on it.

In both losses, the Ravens' $52 million quarterback turned the ball over and, yesterday at least, inexplicably missed a wide open receiver in the end zone with the game on the line in the final three minutes.

A lot of people are going to point to Lamar's injury earlier in the season that helped pave the way to a 1-5 start.

But Lamar was healthy in week one when they lost at Buffalo.

And he was healthy when they lost to the Lions in week three.

And he was (mostly) healthy when they fell to the Chiefs in Kansas City in week number four.

Players play hurt all the time. Patrick Mahomes was running around last night like a Civil War soldier with bullet holes in both legs, but he was out there giving it his all. Aaron Rodgers played yesterday's game with his left arm in a cast from fingers to elbow.

Lamar was supposed to be the reason this thing got turned around. Well, that and a cupcake schedule.

As we know, though, the Ravens went from 1-5 to 6-5 and were poised to move to 7-5 and then, 8-5, by just taking care of business at home against a 3-8 Bengals team and a 6-6 Steelers squad that was just aching to get beat 27-6 and limp home to Pittsburgh to finish out the season by losing 2 of their last 4 and finishing 8-9.

Somehow, though, with their offense and defense almost entirely healthy, the Ravens gagged away those two home games.

People are going to bring up the referees in the Pittsburgh game. Fair enough. We'll have that conversation. But the refs didn't impact that Bengals fiasco.

When the Ravens needed to beat two lukewarm teams, in Baltimore no less, they couldn't do it.

Those are the facts.

And if this spirals out of control over the last four games and the Ravens fail to make the post-season, changes will be in the wind in The Land of Pleasant Living.

You can make book on that.

I realize Twitter is supposed to be a cesspool of misery-loves-company, so perhaps it's my fault I read the crazy stuff people post and then say, "Why are you that crazy?"

It's like that scene from Hangover 2 where Stu's soon-to-be father-in-law calls him the equivalent of "soft, warm rice". Phil (Bradley Cooper) approaches Stu at the elevator and says, "He's your father-in-law...he's supposed to hate you."

I should apply the same theory to Twitter, I guess. "It's the internet, it's supposed to be filled with nut jobs."

The facts of the case are simple.

The Ravens are 6-7. They have 4 games remaining in the regular season.

The Steelers, after yesterday's improbable win in Baltimore, are now 7-6. They, too, have 4 games left on their schedule.

The division title is FAR from a done deal. Like miles and miles away from being decided.

And yet, all you see from supposed Ravens "fans" is doom, gloom and quitting.

"Season's over..."

"Lose out and get a better draft pick..."

"6-11 here we come...."

"No chance we're winning the division now..."

Quitters.

There's nothing worse than people who quit when there's still lots of time left to turn things around.

The Ravens might not be good enough to win 3 or 4 of their last four games. That much is true.

Although the Bengals are just about kaput for the season, they're going to cling to the very outside chance that both the Ravens and Steelers might not reach 9 wins. And perhaps Cincy finishes 8-9 and somehow wins the division.

So, next Sunday will be a challenge for Baltimore, even if Tee Higgins misses the game for the Bengals.

Then it's New England in the home finale. The Patriots might still need to win that game to secure the AFC East or stay in the hunt for the #1 seed in the playoffs.

Green Bay looms after that and the Packers almost assuredly will need to win that game either to stay on top in the NFC North or secure a playoff spot at the very least.

And then it's off to Pittsburgh for the regular season finale on the first weekend in January.

I don't know what the Ravens are going to do in those four games, but I know I've seen enough of the NFL this year to know that anything can happen.

I also know this: If you have Lamar Jackson at quarterback, you can win any football game. He can beat you pretty much by himself if some things fall favorably for him and the Baltimore defense.

So, if Lamar's still playing and still healthy, I'm always giving the Ravens a puncher's chance.

And in a weird twist of fate, the Ravens actually still control their own fate. If they win their last four games, they'll win the AFC North based on their record vs. common opponents with Pittsburgh.

So, yes, it's an uphill climb. But there's still a chance.

I'm not quitting on them. All John Harbaugh's team needs is a win next week in Cincinnati and everything is still alive.

Pittsburgh can win the division with 10 victories as long as one of their last three wins comes against Baltimore in the season finale. They face the Dolphins (home), Lions (away), Browns (away) and Ravens (home). Did you see anything in the Steelers yesterday that tells you they're an absolute lock to win 2 or 3 of those games? I sure didn't.

Mike Tomlin's team could easily lose 2 or 3 of those games. It would be very Steelers-like to lay an egg at home next Monday night vs. Miami. And then they're going to Detroit, where the Lions will definitely need to win. And you just know the Browns would love to play the role of spoiler in Cleveland. It could all come down to that regular season finale against the Ravens in Pittsburgh.

The Ravens have their own work to do, as we pointed out above. Their road is very difficult now that they've lost to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in back-to-back home games. Their margin for error is narrow, indeed.

But if it does come down to that one game in Pittsburgh to end the season, I'm cool with that.

What I'm not cool with is quitting.

You can quit on them if you want. A lot of you already have, in fact. But I'm not.

Everyone spent hours on Twitter last night moaning about the officiating and the three calls that impacted the Ravens loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Bellyaching just for the sake of bellyaching doesn't do any good. The game is over. The calls can't be changed. Even if the NFL somehow comes out this week and says, "OK, maybe we screwed up in Baltimore on Sunday," nothing is going to change, record wise.

I think we all know the call on Travis Jones on the field goal attempt was horrible. Frankly, of the three "bad" calls, that one was probably the absolute worst of them all.

If that's a field goal instead of a touchdown, it stands to reason the Ravens would have kicked a field goal late in the 4th quarter to go ahead, 25-23, instead of needing a touchdown to take the lead, either 28-27, 29-27 or 30-27.

The interception-that-got-overturned on the ball Rodgers caught? I can see where that call was fairly overturned. Again, that call, by itself, didn't cost the Ravens the game.

And no matter what you think about the Likely call, the reality is even if Baltimore would have scored the TD there, Pittsburgh would have had 2.5 minutes left to go down field and score to either tie the game or re-take the lead.

It's one thing if the Likely play occurs on the final throw of the game. Then you could easily say "that play cost the Ravens the game".

Alas, it happened with 2:43 remaining.

And the Ravens still had chances after that to score a TD, don't forget. That 4th down throw (which was actually intended for Hopkins, not Andrews) should have been made by Lamar...to a wide open Isaiah Likely in the left corner of the end zone. But it wasn't.

So, sure, the earlier Likely play was pivotal. But the Ravens still had the game on their racquet and their $52 million quarterback failed to deliver the ball to a wide open receiver in the end zone.

All that said, the way Ravens defense was playing, even if they did score a TD to go ahead, it was even-money, maybe better, that the Steelers were going to plod their way down the field and take the lead in those final two minutes anyway.

Bad calls?

Two of them were, probably.

But you know what the bumper sticker says: S**t happens.

Whether it was bad officiating, plain old bad luck, or missed receivers in the end zone, the reality is the Ravens didn't do enough in the game to overcome their various misfortunes.

You make your own luck, the Irish say.

Sunday December 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4122

well...that was interesting

There's not much to say.

You saw the game.

The Ravens let a depleted, underwhelming Pittsburgh Steelers squad beat them today. In Baltimore, no less.

Yes, there will be a lot of discussion about the Isaiah Likely TD that was ruled an incompletion. That one, I'd say, was very questionable.

But in the end, the Ravens still had two chances to finish the game with a late touchdown and they couldn't get in the end zone.

Final score: 27-22, Steelers

I didn't see it coming.

I figured our young, mobile quarterback would be able to handle their old, wobbly future Hall of Fame quarterback.

As Fonzie used to say......."I was wrrooon........"

Yep, I was wrrooon...

But you have to give the Steelers credit. They were crushed with injuries during the game -- to key people -- and still figured out a way to gut it out. The other team tries, too.

Make no mistake about it. This was one of the worst regular season losses in Lamar's career.

He lost to Aaron Rodgers.

And the Ravens lost to a Steelers team that can't run the ball for jack.

How do you lose to an offense like Pittsburgh's that can barely throw the ball and can't run it at all?

Just a terrible, terrible loss.

Now -- the silver lining.

With the Bengals losing today to fall to 4-9, they're virtually eliminated from the playoffs.

Their only hope is they win out and finish 8-9 and the Ravens and Steelers both finish 8-9.

And even then, I have no idea what that means for the Bengals.

But next Sunday's game in Cincinnati just got a smidgen easier for the Ravens. Had Cincy won today.......holy cow.

Pittsburgh still has a tough stretch of games remaining. They're home vs. Miami, at Detroit, at Cleveland and home vs. Baltimore.

Their best case scenario is 9-8. No way they win 3 of those 4 to finish 10-7. It just can't happen.

The Ravens have to go to Cincy, then they host New England before finishing the campaign with games at Green Bay and at Pittsburgh.

Three wins in their last four will put the Ravens at 9-8.

There's a lot of football left, but this one today, was a back breaker, potentially.

Lamar Jackson lost to Aaron Rodgers.

I can't believe it.

---

rodgers vs. lamar means advantage.....ravens?

OK, so this one today should be pretty easy to figure out.

Beat up, old, archaic Aaron Rodgers isn't coming in to Baltimore and outplaying Lamar Jackson. Right? Right??

I know Jackson hasn't been himself for three weeks now, but today's the day he breaks out of this slump and leads the Ravens to what should be an easy win over Pittsburgh.

Yes?

Please tell me I'm right.

Aaron Rodgers isn't coming to Baltimore and leading this inept Steelers offense past the Ravens in their own barn. I just can't see that happening.

And I'm not even sure the "real" Lamar will be back today. Maybe it's 80% Lamar. Maybe it's the Lamar who "only" fumbles once. But even that level of play from #8 should be good enough to turn back the Steelers.

There's just no way the Ravens cough up this game to Pittsburgh today. If they do lose, it won't be the final nail in their coffin, but the guy with the hammer will, at the very least, be driving the first nail in one of the corners.

It's a weird, weird game this afternoon, because both teams are 6-6 and the losing side will be in big trouble in terms of their playoff hopes.

And to make it even more weird, the Ravens and Steelers are both going to do a little bit of scoreboard watching today as well, hoping that Buffalo turns back Cincinnati and pretty much eliminates the Bengals from playoff competition.

Imagine having to root for the Bills if you're the Ravens. Yuck.

But before we get to the game result, let's talk about the story no one in town really wants to bring up.

There's ZERO juice for today's game.

I know it's been a dull rivalry for a while now, but this game, today, is the first Ravens-Steelers game in Baltimore that I ever remember featuring mid-week ticket sales ads to fill the seats.

Yes, the Ravens were advertising "available tickets" this week.

And if you've checked the secondary ticket market over the last few days, you're no doubt astounded at the prices. $175 for a really good lower deck seat. $100 for good upper level seats. $225 for a midfield seat just below the club level...aka "the best seat in the house".

People are selling their tickets and losing money on them. It's one thing if you own season tickets and you don't feel like going to a home game in November or December that features a NFC opponent. It's understandable, for example, if it's the Browns in town in December -- like it was last year -- and you can snag a lower level ticket on the secondary market for $27 each -- like I did last year -- because no one cares about the Browns.

This, today, is a Ravens-Steelers game, in Baltimore, in December, with the division title being heavily impacted by the result.

And there are not only thousands of seats available for discount prices, the Ravens themselves couldn't even peddle all of them on the open market.

What has happened to this rivalry?

It might be different if, say, both teams were 9-3 instead of 6-6. I'll give that theory some credence.

Alas, the Ravens are "just OK" and the Steelers aren't much better. Rodgers vs. the Ravens has no marquee value at all. Mike Tomlin never says anything noteworthy during Ravens week. The game is just a game now. There's nothing about it that's even remotely interesting, other than it's a big game. But it could be against Jacksonville or Las Vegas and you'd never know the difference, "sizzle wise".

When I saw the ads plastered all over the internet this week, that's when it hit me.

"The Ravens are having trouble selling out the stadium against the Steelers."

They even (conveniently?) scheduled the team's biggest in-season promotion for this weekend in hopes that the 2000 Super Bowl team reunion would help spike interest in the game.

Just a guess here, but it hasn't really helped all that much.

There was a time when Ravens vs. Steelers was the game of the year. Nothing mattered nearly as much. It jammed up radio talk show lines starting on Monday morning and they stayed active through Friday evening.

Tickets were impossible to get unless you were willing to fork over big money.

And then I saw this message on Twitter early Saturday evening.

Pretty sad I have 4 tickets to Ravens / Steelers for the division and can’t get anyone to buy them LOL. Sad fan base we have lately.

The rivalry as we once knew it -- is dead.

The good news for the Ravens? At least they're not going to lose today.

Lamar will bounce back with a much better game. And his receivers will hold on to the ball. And Derrick Henry will bust through the Pittsburgh defensive interior like Andy Dufresne on a rainy night.

Jackson throws 3 TD's and Henry runs for one of his own. The Ravens lead 17-6 at the half and are never really threatened in the final minutes as they improve to 7-6 with a 30-13 win over the Steelers.

around the nfl

Man, there are some terrible, unimportant games today.

But there are some good ones on the docket, too, and the afternoon slate and Sunday Night Football tilt are well worth watching.

Let's get to the games...

Seahawks (9-3) at Falcons (4-8) -- Seattle's on a roll and the Falcons are mysteriously bad. One week Atlanta looks OK and the next week they're lousy. The Seahawks are the real deal. They'll win easily today in Atlanta.

Bengals (4-8) at Bills (8-4) -- It's hard to believe the Bengals defense is as good and as opportunistic as they were against the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. Every fiber in my body thinks Cincy could pull off the upset today because it's just the way they seem to play. But the bet here is Cincy's defense reverts back to the one that was lousy earlier in the year and Buffalo wins this one.

Titans (1-11) at Browns (3-9) -- The "Who Cares?" Bowl moves to the Land of Cleve. Browns won't Browns today. Cleveland wins.

Commanders (3-9) at Vikings (4-8) -- Another drab game between two teams who will be watching from home in January. Jayden Daniels might return for D.C. If so, that helps. Come to think of it, D.C. wins either way. We'll take Washington to win in this one.

Dolphins (5-7) at Jets (3-9) -- Miami needs to win today to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. The Jets have nothing to play for except pride and not losing to a coach who wears capri pants and and drinks espresso during the games. But wait...they're the Jets. They're not winning this game. Miami wins.

Saints (2-10) at Buccaneers (7-5) -- Tampa Bay's hanging on for dear life in the NFC South and they get what should be a complete layup today vs. New Orleans. It won't be a cakewalk, but we'll take the Bucs to come out on top in this one.

Colts (8-4) at Jaguars (8-4) -- I'll just keep saying the same thing I've been saying for two months. "Daniel Jones isn't going to win any big games for Indianapolis." This is a big game today. And Jacksonville's going to win.

Broncos (10-2) at Raiders (2-10) -- This one has upset written all over it, especially after Denver pulled out that miracle win in D.C. last Sunday night. Market correction has to play a factor here at some point for the Broncos. It won't be today. Denver wins in Las Vegas.

Bears (9-3) at Packers (8-3-1) -- Who would have thought this game, on December 7, would be for the NFC North lead? Chicago keeps proving week after week they're "real". But going to Green Bay and winning? That would be a deal-sealer for me. Alas, it won't happen. Packers win a good one.

Rams (9-3) at Cardinals (3-9) -- Rams. End of story. L.A. wins this one easy.

Texans (7-5) at Chiefs (6-6) -- This is almost a wild card playoff game because the winner will have the tiebreaker in the wild card chase, if it should get that far. I'm a believer in that Houston defense. I'm not sure why I think the Texans are going to win, but I'm taking Houston in an upset.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review Maryland Big Ten games in the 2025-2026 season.

terps lay an egg in iowa city

The Maryland Terrapins guards got exposed yesterday, both offensively and defensively, leading to an 83-64 blow-out Iowa victory.

The Terps had more turnovers (18) than field goals (17). You don’t win many games when your assist to turnover ratio is 7 to 18. The final score in no way depicted the magnitude of the Iowa win. It could hve been much worse.

The Hawkeyes put pressure on the Terp ballhandlers, and Maryland was either too young or not talented enough to respond favorably.

Take Maryland's bad guard play, poor foul shooting, the inability to guard ball screens and pick-n-rolls, and combine it with the visitors' refusal to guard the three-point line (Iowa hit 7 of there first 8 triple tries), and you get what we used to call a “laugher”.

Bennett Stirtz coasted to 25 points before he became a pass-first distributor. It’s my belief he could have had close to 40 if he continued to shoot.

Pharrel Payne led Maryland with 17 points. Iowa put him on the foul line numerous times, but he only connected on half of his 18 tries and turned the ball over a team high 5 times. Payne drew a ton of attention down low, which is easy to do with the Maryland perimeter game being lackluster (6 for 20).

Shoddy defensive work put Maryland in an 11-7 hole going into the first media timeout. Iowa hit 4 of their first 6 shots including nailing a perfect 2 for 2 from the three-point line. Shortly after the media timeout, another pair of threes for Iowa forced Buzz Williams to call a timeout of his own with his team now down 21-9 at the 12:50 mark. It happened quickly.

At 10:10, Maryland looked panicked. Iowa, at that point, was 5 for 5 from behind the three-point line, and had yet to commit a turnover. The Terps had handed the ball over 4 times, giving the Hawkeyes every opportunity to blow them out. Iowa took advantage of it, growing their led to 17 at 30-13.

A few Terp threes fueled a mini run which saw Maryland down 33-21 at the under 8-minute timeout. Bennett Stirtz already had poured in 11 points for Iowa.

Maryland failed to further chip away at the Hawkeye lead as turnovers were leading to easy run-outs by Iowa. The score stood at 41-28 with 3:43 left in the half. Fast break points favored Iowa 10-0, points off turnovers were 9-1, and the turnover number read 7 for Maryland to just 2 for Iowa. Combine that with Iowa’s 8 for 12 long range shooting (the Terps were 3 for 6), and the 13-point difference becomes easily understood.

When the first half ended, Iowa was firmly in control, 44-30. One word could describe the Terrapin effort in the first 20 minutes: “poor”.

Their defense of the three-point line was poor. Their transition defense was poor. Likewise, their ball-handling (9 turnovers), offense (just 30 points) and foul shooting (7 of 12) were all poor. They gave up 44 first half points to a team that only scored 52 in a whole game against Michigan State.

It didn’t take long for Iowa to turn the rest of the game into garbage time. 1 for 6 Terrapin shooting, along with 3 turnovers and 4 fouls helped Iowa run out to a 12-2 second half start. The 14-point halftime deficit was now an embarrassing 24-point gap. Game over.

The Terps, at that point, had 12 total turnovers and just 11 made shots. This wasn’t a conference elite that was hammering Maryland, remember. It was Iowa.

No need to detail the happenings after Iowa blew away Maryland early in the second half, but I will note that with 11:14 left in the game, the Terps had twice as many second half turnovers (6) and they had made baskets (3). The Terp guard play was horrible, on both ends of the court. I seriously misjudged that in my game preview on Saturday.

Despite the game being live on a Saturday night, the three Terp freshman guards, (Darius Adams, Andre Mills, and Guillermo Del Pino) were certainly not Ready for Prime Time Players. They looked a little lost and, well, they looked like freshmen on the Big Ten road for the first time. They’ll get better, but it’s still going to be a long Big Ten season.

Maryland has a whole week to prepare for next Saturday when they will take on the mighty Michigan Wolverines in the XFINITY Center for an 8 pm game broadcast by Fox. The Terps have lost by 39 points to the #12 ranked team, by 33 to the #8 ranked team, and were just taken to the woodshed by unranked Iowa.

Michigan is ranked 3rd in the country and beat #21 Auburn by 30. They smoked #12 Gonzaga by 40. Their game yesterday against Rutgers was a 41-point ambush. Look out, Terps.

Saturday December 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4121

what is an expert, after all?

My old buddy Charley Eckman used to say, "An expert is a guy from out of town."

What he meant by that, of course, was that a guy from out-of-town had no bias (or "she" had no bias) and wasn't pre-conditioned to lean one way or the other when it comes to their opinion on something.

It's easier, Eckman thought, for someone not close to the situation to see it for what it was.

Charley was very smart when it came to sports. He was the man who said when it came to "secondary" sports like hockey and soccer, "No one in this country will ever care about pro hockey or pro soccer until they can bet on it."

I don't know if that panned out to be exactly true, but it's certainly worth pointing out that every sport in America has gained in popularity since you could watch the game live or on TV and bet on what was going to happen next using your cell phone to do so.

I don't follow MLS soccer enough to know how many people actually wager on their games. I know people do bet on NHL hockey, but, again, I don't know that hockey's popularity has swelled because wagering now takes place.

But Charley's point was obvious. Follow the money. The more money spent on it, the more interest there is. I agree with that.

So, while "Chas" was smart about sports, I don't know that I agree about the "out of town guy is an expert" theory.

I think you can be an expert about the Ravens, for example, and be a guy that grew up in Baltimore and has lived here throughout their existence.

I consider someone like Stan "The Fan" Charles an expert on the Orioles and he's a Baltimore native through and through, with a brief stop in North Carolina for a few years in (I think) the 90's.

I'm certainly not an expert on the current edition of the Baltimore Blast. I stopped following the franchise closely well over 15 years or so years ago. But I'm most certainly an expert on the "original" Baltimore Blast of 1980-1992. I don't want to sound like it a know-it-all when I write this, but there's no one in Baltimore, or anywhere, who knows more about those 13 years of Blast soccer than me.

At least once a year, if not more, someone will make my acquaintance and learn I was involved with the Blast and then say, "My brother played for them in the early years" or "My college roommate got a try-out with them in 1982" and I'll always counter with, "Oh? That's cool. What's their name?"

And inevitably they give me a name and I immediately say to myself, "Nope..."

That happens all the time. I usually don't tell them the truth. "No, sorry. Your brother never played for the Blast." I just smile and go, "Those were great days."

It's weird how our brain works. If you asked me what I had for breakfast last Thursday I'd have no idea.

But I can remember a game in Phoenix in the 1983-84 season when we won in overtime on a Pat Ercoli goal that was set up by Juan Carlos Michia beating his guy along the boards and playing a perfect indoor soccer carom to Ercoli in the box and he buried it for the sudden death game-winner.

I can actually see the play, in my brain, like I was watching the highlight of it on television. There are lots of other OT goals I remember, both for and against, during my Blast days.

I remember Andy Chapman collecting a pass at the top of the box in Wichita and scoring the game-winner in OT the year we brought him over from Cleveland to Baltimore (1986).

I remember Kai Haaskivi sending the series back to Cleveland in the 1985-86 playoffs with a Game 4 OT winner in Baltimore where he played the ball off the boards to himself and then scored.

I'd go on but I won't.

You can be from around here and be an expert on stuff, no matter what Charley said.

I listen and read Ken McCusick's work on the Ravens (both tactical stuff and salary cap info) and I know, for sure, he's an expert. Frankly, I'm kind of amazed the Ravens haven't hired him. He's that good.

Anyway...I bring all of that up today to tell you. We have an expert in our midst. He's back.

As you'll see below, Dale Williams has returned as our Maryland basketball reporter and resident Terps hoops "expert". I'm beyond thrilled to have him back after a one-year hiatus.

If you've been around here for a while, you know what you're going to get with Dale's extensive Terps coverage. He'll be breaking down both teams, their strengths, weaknesses, and how each team should attack the other.

His Maryland-Iowa preview is below, as the Terps kick off the Big Ten portion of their schedule with a road trip to Iowa City at 4 pm today.

I'll put Dale's basketball knowledge up against anyone's. And I'll put his historical Terps knowledge up against anyone except, maybe, for Bob Haynie, who somehow knows more about Maryland basketball than Maryland basketball knows about themselves.

I used to joke around with Bob when we worked together that if the Maryland sports information folks were stumped on a career milestone or some other question about Terps basketball that they would just call Haynie and ask him. He'd certainly know.

Anyway, Dale's back, he's an expert on Maryland hoops, and you'll definitely enjoy reading his work throughout the upcoming college basketball season.

That's really all I wanted to say.

As expected yesterday, the U.S. men's soccer team got (mostly) a cakewalk when the World Cup groups were drawn in advance of next summer's tournament here in the U.S. (with a smattering of games in Canada and Mexico).

There is one small note, though, about the U.S. grouping that includes Paraguay and Australia. They will play the winner of a 4-team playoff that includes favored Turkey (I know it's not spelled that way any longer but I'm still spelling it that way).

Turkey could be an interesting addition to the group if they happen to get in. Slovokia is also in the playoff foursome and could also be a reputable opponent if they are the one team that advances out of that four-team playoff. The other teams, Kosovo and Romania, will likely not be much trouble for Turkey or Slovokia.

But with Paraguay and Australia, the U.S. drew two opponents that should give the Americans a relatively easy path to the knockout stage of the competition. Australia does play a distinctively "aggressive" style that has occasionally given the U.S. and other nations trouble, but that shouldn't be enough to cause problems next summer.

I know the whole thing is supposedly "random" and the powers-that-be at FIFA do a great job of creating "pods" that distinguish the rankings of all 48 teams, but how do you explain the Argentina draw (Algeria, Austria and Jordan) vs. what England received (Croatia, Ghana and Panama)?

It's also important to remember that because the field was expanded from 32 to 48 teams, there will be eight (8) third place teams who advance to the knockout stage as well. So, essentially, all fourth place teams in the 12 groups will be eliminated, but only 4 of the 12 third place teams will go home.

So the "group of death" theory, which was critical when only two teams from each of the 8 groups made it, is now somewhat easier to navigate given that eight 3rd place teams also advance.

The other two host nations in North America learned their group fate yesterday. Mexico will face lower-ranked teams in South Africa, South Korea and a yet-to-be-determined European team.

Canada faces a potentially tough path, as they will face Qatar, but also higher-ranked Switzerland and potentially Italy, which will be in a playoff involving Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales and Northern Ireland. Canada's group will be VERY difficult if Italy or Wales winds up winning that four-team playoff.

The Americans, barring some sort of bizarre chain of events, will advance out of group play for sure. A win over Paraguay in their opening game will get them started in that direction.

The World Cup runs from June 11 through July 19, 2026.

I got a funny, but-not-funny e-mail from Tony yesterday who is outraged at John Harbaugh for "dodging the media" when it comes to Lamar Jackson's practice schedule and ankle injury.

"This is why everyone in town hates him," Tony wrote to me. "I know you love the guy, but you're the only one. Not being willing to be honest about Lamar is just one of the tricks up his sleeve he loves to use and no one in the media calls him out on it. It's disgusting."

To be fair to Tony, there are other people in Baltimore who think along the same lines as him. I heard a couple of radio callers chime in yesterday lamenting how Harbaugh is never "honest" with the media.

I don't even know why I'm addressing this here today. But I will. And my answer is the same today as it was 10 years ago, 5 years ago and earlier this year. I guess some people just need a refresher course.

When it comes to preparing for a game and trying to figure out who is healthy and who isn't and who might play and who might not play, John Harbaugh doesn't have to tell "us" anything.

In fact, I'd actually think less of Harbaugh -- or any coach -- who stands up on Wednesday or Thursday of game-week and tells the media who is hurt, who isn't playing and so on.

There are definitely things you can point out about Harbaugh that are "negative" in nature, coaching wise. Contrary to what Tony said, I don't "love" John Harbaugh. I respect the career he's put together in Baltimore, for sure. And I think, like most coaches, he's settled into a routine in Baltimore that has both its good points and bad points.

That said, one of Harbaugh's "positives" is that he doesn't tell the media anything he doesn't have to tell them. And, sometimes, he'll even not tell them things he's supposed to tell them. I'm OK with that when it comes to trying to win a football game.

I don't see the reasoning behind making coaches tell the media who is hurt, who isn't hurt, who is playing, who isn't playing, other than the league says you have to do that. And we all know why the league is so hell-bent on getting accurate injury reports. Gambling.

John Harbaugh -- or any coach -- shouldn't give one you-know-what about helping someone decide if they're betting ON or AGAINST the Ravens tomorrow. It's no one's business. He's trying to win a football game. And the less information he gives up, the better chances he has of winning.

You can not like John Harbaugh for a lot of things.

But one of those things most certainly be how guarded and secretive -- and occasionally, even deceptive -- he is about player injuries.

You wanna know who is playing for my team against you on Sunday? Go fly a kite. You'll find out on Sunday when the warm-ups start.

	dale williams aims the terps spotlight
DALE WILLIAMS returns for his 10th season of covering all things Maryland men's basketball for #DMD. Terps Spotlight will preview and review Maryland Big Ten games in the 2025-2026 season.

The University of Maryland Men’s Basketball team had only 3 coaches over a span of 42 years. When current skipper, Buzz Williams, took the reins this season, he became the 4th coach in what we’ll call 5 campaigns. Let’s leave Danny Manning out of this mess. But Buzz did, in fact, inherit a mess.

He literally did not have a team. As in, nobody! Graduation and the transfer portal left Williams with just 1 bench player when he took over last April.

He filled his roster with a handful of freshmen, and a bunch of transfers. Northeastern, Indiana, Virginia, and Washington State all chipped in with a player a piece. Kansas added 2 players to the Terps squad, while 4 players who would have joined Williams at College Station (2 transfers, 2 freshmen) now make their home in College Park.

The fact that coach Williams was able to put together, with such short notice, a team that can compete at all is commendable, but don’t expect much from this collection of Terps.

They are lacking in many areas, as pointed out by 39 and 32 point losses to Gonzaga and Alabama, respectively. The Gonzaga team that torched Maryland, 100-61, got routed by 40 when they played Michigan the next night. The Wolverines (who are the best team I’ve seen so far this season) come to the XFINITY Center a week from today.

The Terps will rely heavily on the A&M transfer, Pharrel Payne. At 6’9” and 250, Payne is nimble, fluid and strong. He pounds the paint, but has limited range outside of that.

The former Minnesota Golden Gopher leads UMD in points (18.9) and rebounds (6.8). Connecting on 64% of his field goal tries, he’s super-efficient. Terp fans will love his energy. His high shooting percentage isn’t enough to keep the Terps out of the bottom spot in the Big Ten, unfortunately. The other Terps only make 37%, putting the team average at a dismal 41%.

Shooting is an issue for this group of Terrapins. They are also the bottom of the Big Ten barrel when it comes to three-point shooting percentage. Their offensive efficiency rating isn’t very good (122nd in all of D1 ball) and they turn it over way too much (13.4) considering they play at a fairly slow pace.

When it comes to tempo, Maryland will be the hare today, and their opponent is the tortoise. At 4 pm, Maryland will engage in their first Big Ten battle when they match up with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Hawkeyes play a very deliberate game and are 359th in possessions per 40 minutes. They capitalize by making 51.4% of their field goal tries and 37.3% of their 3’s.

Bennett Stirtz is Iowa’s “leader”. He’s certainly their scoring leader with 18.0 points a game, but he’s also their floor general. Almost everything that Iowa does, offensively, goes through him. His team leading 5.3 assists per contest confirms his place as the most important cog in the Iowa offense.

Besides Stirtz, first year Iowa coach Ben McCollum has what I’ll call…just guys. They have pieces, but nothing that jumps out at you. What does jump out is that McCollum was at Drake last year, and this season Iowa has 6 of his former players joining him in Iowa City.

Inside, Iowa will come at you with Cooper Koch (6’8” 220) and Cam Manyawu (6’9” 250). Both are capable players, but neither causes a coach to change a game plan in an attempt to neutralize their offensive game. Add in forward Alvaro Folgueiras, and you have another big who won’t dominate the paint. In fact, Folgueiras and Koch are just as likely to shoot a three as they are a deuce.

Iowa presents an interesting match-up for the Terps. Both teams struggle to score inside. Maryland’s Payne is by far the best offensive option, for either team, on the low blocks.

Iowa has guards with good size, but Terp guards all play with hustle and grit. The addition of Solomon Washington greatly helps Maryland defensively and on the boards. After being hobbled by an ankle injury, the A&M transfer will be making just his 2nd start this year. He’s a physically gifted defensive minded senior who will see good minutes as the starting 3-man.

At this young juncture of the season, it’s tough to get a solid handle on a game featuring 2 new coaches, both with “make-shift” rosters still figuring out how to play with each other. I’ve seen all the Terp games, but only one with Washington playing. The only Iowa game I’ve studied is their blowout loss to Michigan State in East Lansing. I did watch it twice.

That being said, I’ll take a stab at this thing.

Iowa is physical, but not exceedingly athletic. They have little size, and struggle to get points in the paint with their bigs. As a Terp fan, I am a bit concerned about the Hawkeye long range shooting. Therein lies the key for Buzz Williams and the Terps.

Defensively, Maryland needs to focus on guarding the three-point line. Letting Iowa get comfortable outside of the arc will be a major mistake. Maryland is so small inside, that most Big Ten teams will dominate them around the basket. Iowa is not one of those teams. The Hawkeyes top 4 bigs may be a tad better than Maryland’s top 4 bigs, but nobody on the Iowa side can handle Payne.

I like the fact that the Terps played on the road at Marquette, and also faced high caliber teams in Gonzaga and Alabama. I also think that UMD having so many guys that have played in major conference road games is a huge plus.

But is it enough to pull off the huge upset? I’ll say, “Maybe”.

The match-ups are fairly even. The Terp legion of guards (freshman Darius Adams and Andre Mills, along with senior David Coit and junior Myles Rice) shouldn’t get embarrassed by their Hawkeye counterparts.

The wildcard for Maryland is 6’8” forward Elijah Saunders. He’ll need to add some solid interior play to his perimeter offensive game. If he makes a solid contribution, things could be interesting in Iowa City today.

I may be more inclined to expect a Terp win when these two teams run it back at College Park in February. But this isn’t the XFINITY Center and home teams in Big Ten games always seem to go to the foul line and win games.

An opening line of 13.5, with the Terps being the road dog, seemed a bit aggressive. That’s a ton of points in what should be a low scoring game against a team that has the more dominant low post player.

If Maryland can keep Iowa from success at the three-point line, then this game stays close. If not, well, it could be trouble for Maryland. A Hawkeye win, 68-62 would not be surprising to me. The game can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Friday December 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4120

whatever happened to...

Watching bits and pieces of last night's Detroit/Dallas Thursday night thriller got me to thinking.

Whatever happened to...

Hold tight on that for a second, actually.

Before I get into that, it's important to note that last night the Dallas kicker nailed a 63 yard field goal. Why is that important to note? Because that was the record for 43 years for the longest kick in NFL history.

And what about it?

Brandon Aubrey of the Cowboys has now made 3 field goals of 63 yards or longer in his brief career. In addition to last night's 63-yarder, he also has successful kicks from 64 and 65 yards.

Erstwhile Ravens kicker Justin Tucker (66 yards) held the record for four years before Cam Little of Jacksonville nailed a 67 yarder this season.

There have been exactly 14 kicks made of 63 yards or more in the history of the NFL and that kid from Dallas owns three of them.

I'd go as far as saying "no way anyone kicks a 70 yarder in a game", but someone, somewhere, as 9 more feet in them. If Cam Little can make one from 67, someone else can make one from 70. Right?

I mean, I'm sure no one ever thought they'd see a golfer hit a ball 400 yards off a tee, but that happens regularly now in the Long Drive competitions we see on television.

Someone will hit a 70 yard field goal someday. My money is on the guy from Dallas.

Now we get to "whatever happened to".

Whatever happened to the fake punt?

And the "coffin corner" punt?

I know what you're thinking. Isn't there anything more exciting to toss around today than punting?

Nope.

Those two issues bug me to no end.

I know what one piece of the "fake punt" logic is -- you can probably only use it once a season, so you better pick the right time and place and it better work, too.

But as I watched last night's game -- where they were actually only three punts that I can remember -- it dawned on me that no one fake punts any longer and no one kicks for the "coffin corner" any longer.

The coffin corner punt was a huge thing in the 70's and 80's. I don't understand why teams just punt the ball straight down the field these days. It's not like there's a penalty for kicking it out of bounds.

I remember asking Brian Billick that very question circa 2005 at a Ravens press conference and his response was baffling.

"Why don't more teams punt the ball into the corner?"

"Because coffin corner punts are harder to do successfully than it looks to those of us watching on TV," Billick said.

Huh?

Isn't that what practice is for?

I mean, the team practices three or four days a week during the season, sometimes for as long as four hours. What on earth is the punter doing during those 12 to 16 hours?

He can't practice coffin corner punts for 30 minutes every day?

Anyway, there was only one punt last night that could have been aimed for the corner and it was basically sent downfield and the punt return "specialist" caught it at the 9 yard line and that was that.

As for the fake punt, the Ravens used to employ that trick once a year, at least, when Sam Koch was on the team. Koch could actually throw a great ball. And he was VERY adept at going through the process that made it look like he was kicking right up until he turned his shoulders, settled his feet, and threw a strike to someone for a first down.

He finished his career an incredible 7-for-8 passing (87.5%) for 82 yards in fake punt situations and also had a fake punt touchdown run (which, honestly, I don't remember).

I mean, if those numbers aren't good enough to convince coaches fake punts are worth it, what else do you need?

There's one other "whatever happened to?" thing on my mind.

Whatever happened to...the hidden ball trick in baseball?

I see so many opportunities to use it during Major League games and no one even tries to pull it off any longer.

Is it just that it's too cheap of a cheap shot to use it on a professional baseball player?

Almost an unwritten rule of sorts...

Like, "Look, we're not going to waste one another's time trying to pull this off and make someone look awful in the process."

If that's the rule of thumb these days in Major League Baseball, I'd probably sign off on that.

"We're just not using the hidden ball trick to get you out."

You're basically saying, "If we can't get you out in a traditional, respectful way, we're not going to embarrass you with chicanery."

But I'm telling you, the hidden ball trick would still work in a game. I see it all the time. A guy gets to first base after beating out a slow roller and he's busy tying his shoes or taking off his various pieces of protective gear and the first base coach is busy handing it off to the bat boy and neither of them are paying attention at all to what is transpiring around them.

The ball stays in the first baseman's glove or he fake throws to the pitcher and, BAM!, tag applied and out recorded.

It's a cheap out, though. And maybe Major League ballplayers just don't believe in the sanctity of that stuff. I get it, if so.

#DMD reader Ramey sent me a question earlier this week that took me a couple of days to ponder and fully digest. I love these kind of questions because they are rooted in reality.

"Drew, which of these three would you choose to do for $100,000? Make a 10-foot putt in golf, make a free throw in basketball, or throw a strike in bowling (ten pins)?"

The obvious and easiest answer is: "If you're a good golfer, you'd take the putt. If you're a good basketball player, you'd take the free throw. If you're a good bowler, you'd take the strike."

But Ramey added one more sentence to his question.

"And once you do one of those successfully, you can either keep the $100,000 or you can make one of the other two (one chance only) and you'd receive $1 million."

Now...it just got interesting.

Of course, the first thing you have to do is make the first one of those three.

Then you can consider whether you're just taking the $100,000 or going for the million bucks.

I definitely know what I would do.

I'd take the 10-foot putt (although I will point out there are varying degrees of difficulty with a ten foot putt that don't exist with a foul shot or bowling a strike).

And if I make that 10-footer, I'm keeping my $100,000 and heading home.

There's no way I'd risk $100,000 on making a free throw or bowling a strike.

Now, if you forced me to choose one of the others to try after I made the putt, I'd go free throw first and then bowling a strike next.

But I'm here to say, for sure, if I make the 10-foot putt I'm collecting my $100,000 and that's that.

What about you?

So...the hockey gods taketh. And occasionally they giveth.

I have lamented here from time to time about bad beats in the world of "sports wagering". I've never done the research to prove this theory true, but I believe most folks who gamble on sports collect more "bad beats" than they do "good fortune".

And by "good fortune", I'm basically talking about a bad beat in reverse. Like, for instance, if you had the Dolphins (-3.5) last week in that game vs. New Orleans. You got bailed out by an improbable sequence at the end of the game where Miami scored a two point safety, ahead by two points, because they intercepted a two-point conversion and returned it all the way down into their opponent's end zone.

Anyway...

I've written here on occasion about my penchant for picking hockey goal scorers and lumping them together in 2-way, 3-way or 4-way parlays.

Some nights I'll throw in $3.00 a game and play it three or four ways. If you hit on the 2-way, you might get $15 back on a $3.00 bet. If you hit on a 3-way, you might get $25 or $30 back. And if you hit on a 4-way, you could win $50 or $75, depending on the goal scorers.

You can also bet more, obviously, and win more if those plays hit. I just do it for fun, mostly. $10 or $20 here and there.

I tend to toggle back and forth from $3 per wager to $5 per wager depending on my mood. I look at it like I could buy a $3.00 cup of coffee or I could play a hockey parlay.

I've had a lot of success thus far in the hockey season. I don't know why, other than I follow who scores and who doesn't score very closely on a nightly basis.

One thing I almost always do is just pick top goal scorers. I've rattled off these names before. Draisaitl in Edmonton, Larkin in Detroit, Panarin in New York, Horvat with the Islanders, Reinhardt in Florida, Geekie or Pastrnak in Boston, Ovechkin with the Caps, Kucherov or Hagel with Tampa Bay, Kaprisov in Minnesota.

Anyway, I had a Kaprisov-Hagel parlay last night that failed to connect because Kaprisov didn't score in Minnesota's 4-1 loss.

I had a Horvat, Geekie, Reinhardt 3-way pick that failed to hit because Reinhardt was held without a goal in Florida's loss.

And I had a Draisaitl, Larkin, Kucherov and Panarin 4-way pick...that didn't look good going into the final minute of the Rangers/Ottawa game because Panarin hadn't tallied.

Draisaitl had a goal for Edmonton, Larkin had a goal for Detroit and Kucherov had a goal for Tampa Bay. But nothing from Panarin as the clock ticked down.

But with 44 seconds left, Panarin scored into an empty net.

Weird how that worked...I missed on the 2-way and the 3-way but hit the 4-way.

And all because of a last minute empty net goal.

I'm sure a bad beat is just around the corner for me sometime soon.

With that said, let me try to give you four guys to sprinkle around tonight in whatever combination(s) you'd like and hope the hockey gods smile down upon you.

We'll take two home players and two road players tonight: Mercer (New Jersey), Thompson (Buffalo), Connor (Winnipeg) and Wilson (Washington). If you're looking for one extra play that could be profitable, let's go with Kyle Connor to score 2+ goals for the Jets tonight at home vs. Buffalo.

faith in sports

Today's edition of "Faith in Sports" is hot off the presses. Like, scorching hot. It was just released yesterday.

The guest is Alex Call of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his journey both in baseball and faith is really awesome to take in.

He toiled in the minor leagues before getting the call up to the Dodgers and talks with Matt Forte of Sports Spectrum about having faith in his own abilities and faith in God to guide him through the tough times.

Alex Call was a bit of an unknown with the Dodgers last season, but if you'll settle in and check out today's edition of "Faith in Sports", you'll learn more about him and, I think, you might even become a bit of a fan of his.

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 December 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4119

andrews over likely?

I wouldn't call Wednesday's Ravens news "earth shattering" or anything like that, but it appears as if the organization is, in fact, choosing Mark Andrews over Isaiah Likely.

Talk radio lit up with opinions on Wednesday. A lot of them were pro-Likely, which is particularly odd given the recency bias of his massive faux pas last Thursday night vs. the Bengals.

If anything, I figured people would want him run out of town after that goal-line fumble.

The Andrews vs. Likely debate is interesting.

Andrews is 30 years old. He signed a 3-year contract extension yesterday that will keep him away from free agency this spring. The 2026 campaign will be his 9th in the NFL.

Likely will be 26 next season. He was a 4th round draft pick in 2022.

Now, it's certainly fair to point out that Mark Andrews, while probably not a Hall of Fame tight end, would almost certainly get into the Hall of Very Good. He'll be a Ravens Ring of Honor inductee sometime in the future.

General Manager Eric DeCosta called him an "All Time Raven" yesterday, which is a very fair description of the talented tight end.

Likely has had his moments, for sure, but an "All Time Raven" and Ring of Honor selection is probably not in the cards for him.

Folks here in The Land of Pleasant Living are quick to point out that disparity in Andrews' numbers in the regular season vs. his numbers in the playoffs. For whatever reason, they're not the same.

The Buffalo game last January might have been an outlier or "one of those games" that every professional has once or twice in his career, but it's hard to sweep that one under the rug when you're evaluating a long-term deal in the NFL.

So if the Ravens are, in fact, choosing Andrews long term over Likely long term, that one seems a bit puzzling. It's not weird because you're going with Andrews. It's weird because you're going with Andrews and, potentially, parting company with Likely after this season.

You can't continue to fit them both in the team's depth chart and salary cap?

Perhaps there's more to the Likely story than we can see for ourselves. We're not at practice. We're not in the locker room. All we see is 60 minutes of football every Sunday.

The Ravens know their personnel better than anyone.

Let's get some Q & A Mailbag questions out of the way and tackle a few interesting questions that #DMD readers have sent my way over the last week or two.

Ryan G. asks -- "Hey Drew, I'm curious who you think should be the PGA Tour Player of the Year? Scottie or Rory? It seems like it might be too close to call. Also, do you put any stock in what Rory did on the European Tour and in Dubai at the end of their season? I'm just curious if you think that should factor in? Thank you. Love the Morning Dish!"

DF says -- "Thanks, Ryan, the Morning Dish loves you, too. I agree this one "looks" pretty close. Really close. Rory won The Players and the Masters. Scottie won the PGA and the British Open, plus one of the Fed Ex Cup events (at Caves Valley). He also led the FedEx Cup standings all year until Fleetwood beat him at the TOUR Championship.

To answer your last question first, I don't put any stock at all in what Rory did on the European Tour. But I do put some stock in what he did during the Ryder Cup. That was an event played here, on U.S. soil, in what was a de facto PGA Tour team event, even though it wasn't officially recorded as one.

That said, I'm giving the award to Scheffler if I have a vote.

He won 6 times overall, including the two majors and The Memorial, which is a 3/4 major in terms of the field. He entered 20 tournaments and finished in the top 10 in ------ wait for this -------- 17 times!

Rory won 3 times, including the Masters.

Sorry, this one actually isn't as close as people think.

I realize a win's a win and all, but I'd take a couple of points off of Rory's win at Augusta just because he had to go to a playoff to do it. Making a mess of that 18th hole on Sunday was a shocker. But he did manage to pull it together and win on the first playoff hole vs. Justin Rose.

Anyway, fair question, but it's not close. Scheffler all the way. He won 2 of the 4 majors. Case closed."

Greg asks -- "OK, it's December 1st. (On the day I received the e-mail). I always reach out to you with this pool that I'm in with a bunch of people at work. Pick your Super Bowl teams and the winner right now and pick a team currently not leading their division to go to the Super Bowl in each conference. Last year you gave me Philly vs. K.C.!! I need you to hit the jackpot again for me. Thanks, Drew."

DF says -- "Well, this one is going to be tough. There are probably about 8 teams that might make the Super Bowl. Let me start with the other one first.

Buffalo in the AFC (currently in 2nd place) and Seattle in the NFC (currently in 2nd place). I like both of those teams, and, more importantly, if they advance to their conference championship game, there's a possibility they'll each face a division foe (New England and the Rams) and that would make it easier for both of them to win.

Now...for the actual Super Bowl prediction.

I'm going to go with Buffalo vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

I just feel like Buffalo has to get there at some point and this is the one year where the field in the AFC is kinda lukewarm in terms of teams who have bonafide playoff success.

Right now, it stands to reason that the Bills might have to play the Ravens in the first round. They can obviously win that game.

Then, depending on where other teams finish, they might have to go to Denver or New England in the second round. They can win in both of those places as well.

Anyway, I'm just putting stock in Buffalo eventually having "their year".

As for the Rams, I think their offense is too tough to stop. I'm sure they'd prefer to play out west as long as they can, so getting that #1 seed would be a big help to them. But I'll take them either way to get to the Super Bowl vs. Buffalo."

Art B. asks -- "Who are your top 3 MVP candidates in the NFL this season with one month remaining?"

DF says -- "Man, I don't know. I can't stand the MVP awards. People put waaaayyyyy too much stock in them. They almost always just go to the quarterback of the best team, which is reasonable, but also entirely too predictable.

The funny thing is...the absolute most VALUABLE player in the whole league is Myles Garrett. Without him, the Browns have NOTHING on defense. Like, the Bengals would laugh at the Cleveland defense if they didn't have Myles Garrett. No one in the NFL means more to their team than Garrett does to the Browns.

Alas, he's not winning the MVP award.

I don't even have the stats in front of me. Mainly because I don't want them to help or hinder my argument. I just want to tell you who I think the three most "important" guys are. Without Matthew Stafford, the Rams are completely cooked. He's in my top 3 for sure.

I guess you have to put Drake Maye in the conversation in New England. I mean, they're 11-2. I know their schedule has been powder-puffy, but he's really developing into a legit quarterback. And quickly.

I overheard on the Monday night broadcast earlier this week he has something like 22 touchdowns and 5 or 6 interceptions. (I know I could look it up, "officially", but I don't want to impact my opinion that he's an MVP candidate).

And because I like to throw big, sweeping curve balls, here's one out of left for you. Jaxon Smith-Njigba from Seattle. He's having a monster year. And they're not a Super Bowl contender because of Sam Darnold, that's for sure. But Smith-Njigba is quickly staring to assert himself as one of the best receivers in the league.

There's my three. Well, four, if you count Garrett. Stafford, Maye and Smith-Njigba. In that order."

Rich asks -- "What do you think about the O's signing Kyle Schwarber? Any chance it happens?"

DF says -- "Sure, there's a chance. I'd take him in a heartbeat. You know what you're going to get, for starters. And you have to imagine he's going to pound balls out into the flag court by the Warehouse.

He'll hit .240, have 45 homers, strike out 200 times and walk 100 times. One other good thing about him...he always plays. I think he's gone four straight years pretty much playing every game.

I have no idea what he'll cost and I don't care, really. Pay the guy if you want to have a legit, feared hitter who will hit a homer every fourth game. Power hitters are what they are. They hit a lot of homers and they strike out a lot. Go get him."

Jason asks -- "Looking way ahead, but do you see anyone the Caps might be wise to get at the trade deadline this season? I think they're only a couple of added veterans away from making a run at another Cup."

DF says -- "Well, some of this answer depends on what these teams are doing, record wise, as the deadline approaches. Artemi Panarin is a free agent at the end of the season. If the Rangers are still stinking it up in early March, I'm sure they'll deal Panarin.

I know Mike Matheson has been pretty clear that he really wants to stay in Montreal, but if he's available for a rental at the deadline, the Caps could look to beef up their backline by adding him.

But the guy I would love to see them get -- even if it's short term -- is Jack Roslovic in Edmonton. And I could see them getting him at the deadline and then signing him in the off-season.

Oh, and I have ZERO idea what any of those guys would do to the Caps, salary cap wise. I could be talking out of my wazzoo when it comes to adding those guys from a salary cap standpoint. A "capologist" I am not. But I am often a Cap-apologist. Pun intended."

R.C. asks -- "Any thoughts on the upcoming World Cup draw for the U.S.? Predictions?"

DF says -- "I know it's "random" and all, but I'm guessing the U.S. will get a favorable draw. They'll get one tough team in their group of four and two "others".

Official prediction: U.S., Croatia, Tunisia and Cape Verde.

I could also see another U.S.-Iran grouping instead of Croatia being in there. And it "feels" like New Zealand could be a U.S. opponent as well.

I'll give you two teams the U.S. might face in group play that I'd prefer they avoid; South Korea and Australia. I'd much rather see them elsewhere than in the U.S. foursome.

One thing for sure. If the U.S. doesn't advance out of their group, it will be a complete failure. Playing at home should almost guarantee you a trip to the final eight. But that's a tall task for the Americans."

Mickey asks -- "Hey DF, what was the best golf course you played in 2025? I just got back from playing The Ocean Course at Kiawah and it was incredible. What a great experience!"

DF says -- "The Ocean Course is awesome, that's for sure. Those last three holes are as good as it gets. Glad you got to experience it and had a good time.

I don't know how you calculate/interpret "best course". Do you mean "hardest" or "best layout" or "most fun"? I don't know if I even know how to rank them, honestly.

I played Ballyhack down in Roanoke back in late June and it was remarkable. VERY memorable. And difficult.

I had the privilege of playing Latrobe CC in October. The greens had just been punched, so the golf itself was just so-so, but the venue and everything about it was amazing. I'd go back there in a heartbeat.

But the best course I played all year was Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes. Bandon Trails would be a close second, by a whisker. Those two courses were out-of-this-world good."

Kyle asks -- Hi Drew, switching gears from sports and hoping you can answer this in DMD for me. I'm 40 and a late to the party Springsteen fan. I really just started listening to his music a few years ago. I always knew he was but never really got into him until I heard some of his music in the Obama years and then got more in tune with him right after Covid. I know you're a huge fan. What do you think is his most under-rated album and what are five under-rated songs of his in your opinion?"

DF says -- "Better late than never, Kyle. Welcome to the club. Geez, the underrated album question is a tough one. Born in the USA was a commercial success and produced several of his most well known songs (even though I'm not big fans of those songs, personally) like Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark and Born in the USA. But I think that album as a whole is very underrated.

"Magic", released in 2007, is probably the answer to your question, though. It's the album with the best "unknown songs" in his catalog. Girls In Their Summer Clothes, Your Own Worst Enemy, I'll Work For Your Love and Long Walk Home are amazing.

Heck, I can give you five of Bruce's most underrated songs EVER just from those two albums. Downbound Train, Bobby Jean and I'm Goin' Down from Born in the USA and I'll Work For Your Love and Long Walk Home from Magic. There's your five. For your viewing and listening pleasure, I'll give you one of them below."

Wednesday December 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4118

"i like our chances"

When in doubt, always turn things over to an erudite.

That's what I did on Monday of this week when I asked Mason, a Mathematics major at UMBC who is focusing on something called "Statistical Sciences", to help me figure out what's going to happen with the AFC playoff picture.

Mason is a Ravens fan. He's from the Eastern Shore originally.

I asked him to take a look at the remaining schedules of the prominent AFC teams and then asked him to assess their percentage chance of winning their division and making the playoffs as one of the three wild card teams.

Math isn't my thing. That's why Mason is here. And even though I did ask him "how" he came up with his assessments, it went over my head.

"I take into account the variance on their play at home and away," he explained to me. "And I also factor in their record against their remaining oppnents and any common opponents they played this season. I also looked a bit into their statistical rankings against the teams they play."

Mason noted that all of his assessments were done assuming the teams in question remained healthy at quarterback. "When a team loses their starting quarterback, the percentages for success can drop anywhere from 20% to 70% depending on who it is and what their remaining schedule looks like," he said. "Look at Cincinnati. Without Joe Burrow they only won 1 game and lost 8."

Let's start first with the AFC North. The schedules remaining for the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals are listed below.

Baltimore (6-6) -- vs. Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, vs. New England, at Green Bay, at Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh (6-6) -- at Baltimore, vs. Miami, at Detroit, at Cleveland, vs. Baltimore

Cincinnati (4-8) -- at Buffalo, vs. Baltimore, at Miami, vs. Arizona, vs. Cleveland

"The Ravens have a 55% chance of winning the division," Mason says. "I believe their final record will be 9-8. Pittsburgh has a 35% chance of winning the division. I believe their final record will be 8-9. And Cincinnati has a 10% chance of winning the division. Their final record will be 7-10."

I asked Mason what he liked specifically about the Ravens. "Lamar is much better than Aaron Rodgers and the Ravens offense is far more efficient in both the run game and passing game. I like our chances."

Elsewhere in the AFC, Mason indicates the Patriots (11-2) are 92% to win the AFC East and the Broncos are 81% to win the AFC West. He believes Indianapolis is a 39% favorite to win the AFC South at 11-6, edging out Jacksonville at 35%

Once Mason told me the results of his AFC North pick, I then asked him to switch gears, somehow, and input the Steelers as division champions and include the Ravens in the wild card chase. Here's how he sees the AFC playoff picture in that regard.

Buffalo (8-4) -- vs. Cincinnati, at New England, at Cleveland, vs. Philadelphia, vs. NY Jets

Indianapolis (8-4) -- at Jacksonville, at Seattle, vs. San Francisco, vs. Jacksonville, at Houston

Jacksonville (8-4) -- vs. Indianapolis, vs. NY Jets, at Denver, at Indianapolis, vs. Tennessee

Houston (7-5) -- at Kansas City, vs. Arizona, vs. Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, vs. Indianapolis

L.A. Chargers (8-4) -- vs. Philadelphia, at Kansas City, at Dallas, vs. Houston, at Denver

Kansas City (6-6) -- vs. Houston, vs. L.A. Chargers, at Tennessee, vs. Denver, at Las Vegas

And he's including the Ravens at 6-6 with their schedule as well.

So with that, let's move on to the wild card race.

Here's what Mason's math work tells us.

Buffalo finishes 11-6 and is a wild card team. "87% chance the Bills get in the playoffs."

Jacksonville finishes 10-7 and is a wild card team. "70% chance the Jaguars get in."

L.A. Chargers finish 11-6 and are also a wild card team. "74% chance the Chargers get in."

For kicks and giggles, I asked Mason to assess the Ravens chances of losing the AFC North and making the playoffs as a wild card team.

"10 percent chance the Ravens can make it as a wild card," he wrote to me. "They would have to get to 10 wins to even have a shot and then need someone like Houston to not finish 10-7 also. For starters, I think Houston has a fair chance of going 10-7 and I also don't see the Ravens going 4-1 to finish the season."

For what it's worth, I think most of Mason's work checks out. And I'm not even a "Statistical Sciences" math wizard at UMBC.

I will say, though, that I have Jacksonville winning the AFC South and Houston making it as the final AFC wild card team, with Indianapolis "out" of the playoffs entirely.

But I see Buffalo and the Chargers both doing enough to secure the other wild card spots.

I also agree on the Ravens winning the AFC North. My guess is the Ravens host Buffalo in the first round of the playoffs.

For the first time since his 11th (?) surgery to repair an ailing back, Tiger Woods made a public appearance on Tuesday to discuss what lies ahead for him in 2026.

Woods limped into the media center at The Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, an event he helps run to benefit his foundation in Southern California.

His once powerful strut has been replaced by a slow stroll that can only be described as "painful looking".

But that didn't stop members of the media from asking him the only question that mattered.

It wasn't "How proud of you of the foundation you've built that's poured millions of dollars back into Southern California over the last 25 years?"

It was: "Do you plan on returning to competitive golf at some point in 2026?"

For golf nerds like me, there was one other interesting question thrown at Tiger. "What's the status of his potential captaincy of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in Ireland in 2027?"

Woods fielded that one easily. With a smile, he said, "I haven't heard anything about it, so I don't know."

Tiger was offered the 2025 captaincy, remember, and pulled a fast one on the PGA of America 17 months out when he said, "On second thought, no thanks."

The logic says, despite his 4 PGA Championships, that the organization who helps run professional golf in America didn't take too kindly to being squeezed like that. So, maybe Tiger won't be hearing from this time around after all.

But Ryder Cup aside, the only thing anyone else wanted to know was about Tiger's playing status for 2026.

That's the only question anyone cared to hear him answer.

There were other reasonable questions about the PGA Tour and the business side of it that Tiger helps oversee and his son Charlie's ongoing college recruiting (the bet here, by the way, is Florida State), and Tiger answered those with his usual expert charm and wordsmithing, but all anyone wants to really know is whether or not Tiger plans on playing next year.

And we got the answer we knew we'd get: "I'm not sure."

Woods wants to play, of course. He "plans" on playing. He just doesn't know where, when or how many tournaments he'll get to tee it up in before his next injury ends another season of chasing the white ball.

But Tiger will be back. At least that's how it came across.

Could it be a mixture of the PGA Tour and the Champions (Senior) Tour? Yes, perhaps. Woods turns 50 on December 30 and there's no doubt the TOUR would love, love, love to have him play in as many of the senior-circuit events as possible. They've been waiting for this for a decade or more, of course.

But the slow, limpy gait through the media center told the real story yesterday.

Tiger's days are done.

Oh, sure, he might -- and likely will -- play again in 2026. The PGA Tour and Champions Tour are light years different in terms of, well, everything. The senior circuit features shorter courses, three-day-events instead of four, and players are permitted to ride in golf carts in every event except the major championships.

But Woods won't give in and play on the Champions Tour just yet.

There's still a fish to fry on the big tour. He needs one more official win there, somehow, to become the all-time leading winner with 83 titles.

Sadly, he won't get there.

He might play in 2026, yes. But there's no way Woods can compete out there any longer. He probably knows that deep down in places he doesn't want to talk about at high school soccer games. He just doesn't want to say it to the media in the Bahamas.

Starting with Curtis Strange all the way back in 1995, people have doubted Tiger Woods.

When he told folks in Southern California he was going to win 19 majors and surpass Jack Nicklaus, they laughed and said, "Sure you are, kid."

When he circled Sam Snead's career record of 82 wins on the TOUR and said, "I'll reach that total someday", people giggled and said, "You go on and do that, kid. Go get 'em."

When he became the most famous international athlete in the world in his early 20's and changed the sport of golf at the same time, people said "This won't last."

He didn't get to 19 career majors. But everything else he could have accomplished, he did.

But yesterday's walk through the Bahamas media center tells us it has to come an end.

We knew that already. Or, at least, those of us who have paid attention have known it. We've known it for four years now, at least.

It's hard seeing it in front of you, though.

Yesterday, we saw it.

But that Curtis Strange interview once upon a time. Always worth a laugh.

Strange, trying to play the role of PGA Tour water-carrier, basically smirked at Tiger when, on the morning of his professional debut, the rookie had the nerve to say, "I came here to win."

He didn't win that week.

But he won more times (18) in three years ('98, '99, '00) than Strange did (17) in 25 years.

How's that smirk doing these days, Curtis?

Tuesday December 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4117

it starts with...the parents

Eleven years into the life of #DMD and it stands to reason we might have covered today's topic once before. I really don't know.

But we're always getting new readers and visitors along the way, so even if I tackled this subject say, five years ago, it's worth delving into again today.

I noted in the Comments section yesterday some insightful discourse on the subject of high school athletes and their migration to the college level and how all of that occasionally happens in some unscrupulous ways.

I know what you're thinking, first of all.

"Insightful discourse"?

Yes, even here at #DMD, some of you are capable of it. Well done, my friends.

Most of the time when a discussion ensues about the impact an amateur sports circuit has on a youth/junior athlete, it almost always connects to basketball more than any other sport.

Football is involved as well.

To some degree, I assume baseball is, too.

In fact, you can sum it all up by saying "team sports" comprises most of the friction that takes place at the high school level.

I'm not saying individual sports like golf, swimming and track and field don't have their issues, because they do, but those sports are blessed to be "score" or "timing" featured when it comes to who plays and who doesn't.

My son was a swimmer at Calvert Hall. He knew very well where he ranked among his teammates. He never had to come home and complain about not getting to swim in the 100 or 200, which were the popular "sprint" races in swimming and the ones that attracted college coaches the most.

The reason my son never complained? He never beat his teammates in practice. They'd swim a 100 in 1:01:32 and he'd swim it in 1:10:43. And that happened all the time.

In swimming, you'd never come home after practice and say, "Yeah, I know he beat me today in the qualifier, but if I got in the actual meet and swam against (McDonogh, Gilman, etc.), I'd definitely swim better than him."

That's what is great about swimming. It's an awesome sport. EVERYTHING in swimming is a race. If your time beat my time, you're a better swimmer than me...today.

I was blessed in that my son knew his role and knew his talent level when it came to swimming. He eventually settled in as Calvert Hall's swimmer in the 500 (20 laps) and enjoyed his time on the team immensely. But I never had to worry about fielding complaints from him about "playing time" because the clock decided who played in his sport.

Golf is the same way. "What did you shoot?" That's the only question and only answer that matters in golf.

Track and Field is the same. "How fast did you run?" "How far did you jump?" "How many feet did you throw it?"

That's not to say you can't have "active" parents in swimming, golf or track and field. But the "flare ups" in those sports are generally far fewer than team sports.

If a player on my Calvert Hall team goes out over four, 9-hole qualifying rounds and shoots 37, 38, 38 and 36, he's playing over the young man who, on those same days, shoots 40, 39, 38, 41.

It is what it is. "Golf is a scoring sport" I tell every young man who sits in the room at Calvert Hall in their first very "golf meeting".

But those team sports are definitely different. And they're rife with tension and irritation based almost exclusively on one thing: playing time.

"My son/daughter should be playing more."

"My son/daughter should be playing ahead of (him/her)."

"The coach just doesn't like my son/daughter, it's that simple."

Conflicts over playing time and roles within the team are inevitable in team sports. Parents will always support their child. And that's understandable. Coaches will almost always be making decisions based on what they think gives their team the best chance to win.

Sometimes, those two issues (parents wanting the best for their child vs. coaches wanting to win) butt heads.

I'm not here to say that organizations like the AAU and Pop Warner Football and Little League Baseball and Club Soccer are blameless. They certainly have their warts and blemishes. They're all in business to be in business.

When we started our FCA "club golf" program, one of my stipulations for involvement was that we would not ever go the standard route of charging a young boy or girl $2,000 or $3,000 to be part of our team. I know the dangers in that and I know what that looks like, cosmetically, if you will.

We charge $100 to each participant and basically wind up spending all $100 of that on them throughout the summer on tournament gifts, food and snacks at our tournaments and a season-ending holiday party. But we're also not running FCA Maryland Golf to "make money", either.

We run FCA Maryland Golf to give junior golfers a platform to improve their competitive golf talents and introduce them to the incredible organization that is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "Golf and God", as it were, or, maybe, "God and Golf".

Either way, I don't have to be worried about any conflict of interest when it comes to a parent shelling out thousands and thousands of dollars for a junior golfer to play over the summer with FCA.

But it doesn't work that way elsewhere. AAU basketball, for example, is big, big business.

However...

AAU basketball isn't the "real" problem. It might be part of the problem, sure. There are a lot of spokes in the wheel and AAU (or any kind of organized, for-profit league) is just one of them.

The parents are the first part of the problem. It starts...with the parents.

I watch a lot of high school sports, obviously. I go to a lot of games at Calvert Hall and I also make my way over to other area high schools because I have friends with boys (and girls) who play high school sports.

I recently saw a high school basketball game in which one team's "star player" had 18 points in 32 minutes of action. He probably only played 24 of the 32 minutes because he picked up two needless fouls right near the end of the half after he and the other team's best player got chippy with one another.

The player I'm referencing scored 18. But "his man" scored 24. He also turned the ball over 4 or 5 times. After his team lost a close game, I overheard who I assumed was his father holding court with other parents, lamenting how his son wasn't used the right way, didn't get the ball down the stretch when he should have, didn't have a coach who "knows how to use him" and so on and so on.

It took everything I had to not go up to him and say, "What planet are you on? Were you watching the same game everyone else here just watched?"

Contrary to popular belief, his son might have been the reason why his team lost that game. Or, at the very least, he was a contributing factor for sure. He turned the ball over with 40 seconds to go in a 3-point game. He stepped out of bounds when pressured with the ball in his hands with 11 seconds to go in a 2-point game. Twice in the final 40 seconds, this kid had the ball and had the chance to change the outcome of the game and couldn't do it.

And yet, there was his father (?) essentially blaming the coach afterwards because his son didn't come through in the clutch.

The reality: My son didn't make the difference tonight. He's still a very good basketball player. But tonight he made mistakes that hurt his team.

Instead, that father undoubtedly got into the car afterwards and likely said the same things to his son that he told onlookers and other parents in the lobby of the gymnasium.

"You guys scored 50 points in the game and you had 18 of them. I don't know what else the coach wants from you. If they used you the right way, you would have scored 30 and you guys would have won."

Nothing good comes from that conversation because it shifts the onus of responsibility away from the player and puts it directly to the coach, who, as we all know, didn't double dribble, didn't turn the ball over, didn't pick up two stupid fouls because he lost emotional control and didn't take two ill-advised shots with 3 minutes left in a one-score game.

The kid then gets on his phone when he eventually settles in at home and repeats the same stuff to his friends who check in and say, "Damn, you guys lost? What happened dawg?"

"Our coach sucks..." is probably the first message that goes out. And it spirals from there.

The oddest thing about parent-behavior in team sports like basketball, soccer and football is that a significant number of the fathers of high school athletes probably all coached at the "youth level" at some point when their son was 6, 8 or 10 years old.

They know, firsthand, what it's like to coach the unpredictable and mercurial youth/junior athlete. And yet, they forget those days when it comes to their son.

I'm incredibly blessed at Calvert Hall to coach a sport where the numbers and the scores basically dictate playing time. Sure, there are occasions when the margins are thin and I have to make a call on who plays and who doesn't and often times that's more about the golf course we're playing than anything else.

Over the last several years, I've sat out certain high-quality players on my team when we play at Rolling Road because I know the quirky nature of that course isn't a good fit for their game, their shot shape, and so on. I explained that to them and, fortunately, we've won those matches when I've used a "different" line-up.

It's all in the way it's communicated to the player. It's not a conversation that needs to be had with the parent(s). It's between the coach and the player. But, again, golf is a fairly easy sport to coach from a "playing time" standpoint because the score is all that matters.

I'm also blessed -- over all 13 of my years coaching golf there -- to have supportive and understanding "team parents". I can count on one hand how many flare-ups I've had in 13 years. Some coaches have that many flare ups every week.

That doesn't mean everything is perfect.

I once had a parent of a player who didn't make my team say to me, "It's really a shame you're allowing a few missed putts over 3 days to be the difference between him making your team and not making your team."

I said, "In 1998, one missed putt from 3 feet on the 16th hole of the qualifier kept me from playing in the Kemper Open. You have to make putts in order to play."

The reality she didn't want to face was that her son wasn't a very good putter under pressure. I assume he wasn't confessing that to her at home and she wasn't there at practice to watch it all unfold in person, but her son wasn't a very good putter in those days. That doesn't make him a bad kid or a bad golfer. He's actually a competent golfer. He's just not a good putter. And when it comes to securing a spot on the team, all that matters are the scores.

So, yes, club and high-level amateur sports are one of the reasons why high school athletes are "out of whack" occasionally.

But it almost always starts with the parents.

If you can't have an honest assessment of your child, you're doing them a disservice.

And, frankly, I'd say there's a high probability that one of the first "honest conversations" a kid ever has with an adult about his or her athletic prowess is with their high school coach.

High school coaches are the ones tasked with being honest. The AAU coach is definitely telling you what you want to hear. So is the Pop Warner coach.

"Your son/daughter can definitely play Division I basketball in a few years..."

"Your son/daughter can definitely play Division I soccer in a few years..."

"Your son could be an NFL player someday..."

Then the high school coach comes along and has to say, "You're actually not that good...yet." And then it's suddenly a coaching problem.

"We have to find you the right school with the right coach," is almost always the next response.

Instead of..."Your coach played at a pretty high level of basketball/soccer/football. You need to lean in and listen to what he/she has to say and get better."

The coach always wants your child to play well. What value is there for the coach to have your son or daughter stink it up in the next game?

Do you think there's ever been a coach who woke up on a Friday morning and said, "You know what I think I'll do tonight? I think I'll see if I can somehow get Jimmy or Joanie to play poorly so we lose."

I think I've shared this story here before.

My Calvert Hall team was playing at the Naval Academy against Spalding a long time ago. One of my top players was having a terrible day, out of nowhere. After the 6th hole, I walked with him to the 7th tee and asked him what was going on with his golf.

"I'm really, really nervous," he said to me. "The Virginia coach is here to watch (Spalding player) and I'm probably trying to impress him a little too much. I'd love to play for him at Virginia."

I stopped him in his tracks right there on the cart path.

"OK, that's understandable now. There's nothing to be nervous about," I said. "You're not going to Virginia to play college golf, no matter if you shoot 3 under on these last 6 holes or 3 over on these last 6 holes. I'm sorry to break that to you...but you're not playing golf at the University of Virginia."

He lost the last six, predictably, but not because he was nervous. He lost because Spalding's player was much better at golf.

The next day, his mother reached out to me and accused me of "breaking my son's spirit during the match".

"How dare you tell him where he's capable of playing or not playing," she said.

"You should have told him to go out there and play great and that you'd talk to the Virginia coach for him to see if you could get him a tryout on the team."

I wanted to say to her, "Does he also play baseball? Because, you know, the Yankees are looking for another starting pitcher next season."

Virginia was (and still is) one of the best 20 golf schools in the entire country. The player from Spalding who the coach came to watch that day didn't even wind up going there. The best of the best of the best go to Virginia. My player, that year, was capable of playing college golf and did go on to do so. But he was NEVER going to Virginia to play golf.

The first time he heard that was from me. His mother didn't know any better. His father didn't know any better. When he announced to them he might want to go to Virginia and play golf there, they nodded and said, "Charlottesville is a beautiful little town. You'd love it there."

So when I told him he wasn't going to Virginia to play golf, suddenly I was the bad guy.

That's what happens with AAU and Pop Warner and other high level amateur sports circuits.

A kid tells his parents that his coach told him he could be a star in college and, suddenly, he wants to play for Bill Self at Kansas and the dad says, "You know, if you play at Kansas you have a great shot at making it to the NBA."

Instead of saying...

"Slow down a little bit there, Richie. You're averaging 8 points per-game in high school and so far, the only schools interested in you are Lycoming, Franklin and Marshall and Elizabethtown."

It all starts with the parents.

If they're grounded, the odds are their kids will be, too.

If they're not aware of what's really going on, the chaos begins right there.

Monday December 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4116

it's a crazy league

My friend had a 3-team parlay yesterday that went like this:

Buffalo minus 3.5 vs. Pittsburgh.

L.A. Chargers minus 8.5 vs. Las Vegas.

Miami minus 3.5 vs. New Orleans.

The first two, which were actually after the Miami/New Orleans game, were always going to be easy-peasy. Buffalo was going to romp over Pittsburgh (and did) and the Chargers were going to boatrace the Raiders (which they did).

Why he chose the Miami-New Orleans game as the third spoke in that wheel I have no idea. "New Orleans is terrible, especially on the road," he reasoned.

Miami was 4-7 going into the game. I agree New Orleans is terrible. But Miami isn't much above terrible themselves. Anyway...

Things looked just fine at halftime. Miami led 16-0 and the Saints looked, well, worse than terrible. But New Orleans got interested in the second half and started to creep back into the game.

Late in the 4th quarter, the Dolphins led 19-11. The score being what it was and all, it was quite obvious what the Saints would do if, somehow, they could score a touchdown late in the game. They would go for two points.

My friend had two hopes: One, New Orleans didn't score. The final of 19-11 would give him the first leg of the parlay. Or, two, the Saints score a TD, get the 2-point conversion, and then Miami wins in OT with a touchdown to cover the 3.5 points.

As it turned out, the one thing he didn't consider happened.

New Orleans scored a TD with 1:17 remaining to make it 19-17. If you had New Orleans plus the 3.5 points, you were beyond ecstatic. In reality, you probably wanted them to miss the 2-point conversion, try the onsides kick, have Miami recover it and run out the clock for the 19-17 win.

That's how it would have gone probably 70% of the time.

29% of the time, the Saints connect on the 2-point conversion and it's 19-19 with 1:17 left and Miami has a chance to go down the field and try to win the game.

1% of the time, Miami intercepts the 2-point conversion try and runs it all the way back for a 2-point "safety" (?) to make the score 21-17.

The 1% happened.

Miami intercepted the 2-point try and ran it back. The Dolphins won the game, 21-17, and covered the 3.5 points.

If you had the Saints, you just got a buy one/get one free ticket into the Bad Beat Hall of Fame. Enjoy your visit.

If you had the Dolphins..........you're welcome.

The AFC playoff race is going to be a wild one. We covered the AFC South in yesterday's edition of "Happy Hour". Three of the four teams have a legitimate shot at the division title and all three also have serious wild card hopes.

All four divisions are still up for grabs. New England (10-2) and Denver (10-2) have two game leads, while Baltimore and Pittsburgh (both 6-6) are deadlocked in the North.

It's looking more and more like the three wild card teams are going to need at least 10 wins. And there's an outside chance it could take 11 wins if the Chargers hang on out west and both Jacksonville and Indianapolis finish 11-6, which isn't a complete impossibility.

The worst Buffalo is going to finish is (likely) 11-6.

The Chargers might very well also finish 11-6. They do have a tough schedule, with three difficult road games ahead (at K.C., at Dallas, at Denver) but if they win just one of those and win their two home games (vs. Philly and Houston) they will be at 11-6.

The Ravens are more than likely going to finish with at least 7 losses. They're 6-6 now. And the way it looks, they're losing at least one more game, if not more, between now and the end of the regular season.

It could still work out that 10-7 somehow snags a wild card spot, but it seems unlikely that would benefit the Ravens given they have three losses against potential wild card teams (K.C., Buffalo and Houston).

There are lots of moving parts to the whole thing, but at least for the Ravens, it's looking more and more like division title or bust.

If John Harbaugh's team does manage to win the AFC North -- which, they easily should given how lousy Pittsburgh is -- they're going to host the wild card team with the best record in their playoff opener. That will likely be Buffalo, the Chargers or the 2nd place team in the AFC South race.

You really don't want to face the Bills.

And the Chargers always seem to do something dumb in the playoffs, but they have a good quarterback and a decent defense.

If you had your pick, I guess you'd want to see one of the AFC South teams in Baltimore for the playoffs.

We'll go through the team-by-team schedules and such here tomorrow.

Everyone plays everyone, basically, particularly in the AFC South.

In the AFC North, the Ravens and Steelers play twice. In addition, Baltimore still has to play in Cincinnati and the Steelers still have to play in Cleveland.

If the Bengals lose in Buffalo next Sunday, the Ravens visit to Cincy on December 14 will mean nothing to Joe Burrow and Company. Cleveland is already eliminated, so their game with the Steelers in the penultimate game of the season will be for pride and nothing else.

It wouldn't be a surprise at all to see both Baltimore and Pittsburgh needing to win the regular season finale in Pittsburgh on the final weekend of the season to make the playoffs. The winner of that game wins the division and plays on. The loser is eliminated and goes home to watch the playoffs, the way the Philadelphia Flyers do every April.

We'll know more after we see next Sunday's result in Baltimore.

You can poke holes in the Ravens and their on-again/off-again 2025 campaign all you want, but there's just no way they should lose at home to the Steelers next Sunday.

Yes, I realize the Bengals and their 32nd ranked defense just punched the Ravens in the mouth on Thursday night. I saw it. I also know it's highly unlikely that can happen two weeks in a row. And Pittsburgh's offense is about one-fifth as good as Cincinnati's.

The Steelers are a bad football team. How on earth they have 6 wins is beyond me.

Their quarterback is washed up.

They can't really run the ball well.

Their defensive line is abysmal.

Their secondary is a liability.

They do have a really good kicker. So they have that going for them...which is nice.

But they have very little "real" quality in Pittsburgh. If the Ravens let this edition of the Steelers come into Baltimore next Sunday and beat them, then John Harbaugh's squad doesn't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Derrick Henry should easily pile up 130 yards on the ground next Sunday and if Lamar has even his "B" game -- which, admittedly, he hasn't had in three weeks -- the Ravens should roast the Steelers. My hunch is the final score looks a lot like the one we saw yesterday between the Bills and Steelers.

I can't see the Steelers scoring more than 13 points next Sunday.

All the Ravens need are two touchdowns and they win.

We'll talk more about the game throughout the upcoming week, but there's no way the Ravens can allow that ragged Pittsburgh team to come into Baltimore and win.

OK, so what happened with Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss (and LSU) over the weekend is a complete joke. There's no way it should be allowed.

I realize you're asking for an honor-among-thieves situation to exist in college sports, but there's just no way LSU should be allowed to hire -- or even pursue -- a coach who is still "in season".

Maryland basketball fans saw the same thing unfold last March when Kevin Willard was telling people on a Saturday that he wasn't leaving College Park and then, on Sunday, he was -- wait for it -- leaving College Park.

Willard, we now know, was talking to Villanova during the season and, most certainly, while the Terps were competing in the NCAA tournament. Who gets the most blame? The coach or the school?

Sure, Willard's a charlatan. So is Kiffin.

But the real goat horns in this thing are worn by LSU.

And the NCAA.

There has to be some kind of rule that prohibits a school from hiring an "active" coach away from his team while they're still playing.

Bowl games and post-season games still count. The kids are still playing in them. The schools are still getting money in exchange for their participation in them. The "season" is still going on.

In the case of Ole Miss, they're going to be in the College Football Playoff, it would appear. So, they now have to play in that competition without their head coach.

It's fair to point out that Kiffin won't be coaching at Ole Miss in the playoff because Ole Miss said so. Kiffin, in his defense, wanted to finish out the season.

I guess that's noble of him, even if he sorta-kinda knew Ole Miss was going to tell him to go fly a kite.

None of this would have happened, though, had LSU not come calling while Kiffin was still coaching the Rebels.

It's bad enough you have players peddling themselves like Daisy or Destiny on The Block in downtown Baltimore.

Now you have schools dangling big money carrots in front of coaches during the middle of their season.

And you wonder why players will jump from school to school for an extra $5,000 and a new Nespresso machine?

The whole thing is an outrage.

College sports is the worst, man.

Sunday November 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4115

afc is gonna be a dogfight

Here comes Houston.

The Texans pulled off a huge win today in Indianapolis to move to 7-5 on the year. Indianapolis fell to 8-4 and they're now in a tie for first place with Jacksonville, who made easy work of the Titans to up their record to 8-4.

The AFC South is going to be crazy.

Is it possible that all three teams could finish 10-7? Maybe.

Indianapolis (8-4) -- at Jacksonville, at Seattle, vs. San Francisco, vs. Jacksonville, at Houston

Jacksonville (8-4) -- vs. Indianapolis, vs. NY Jets, at Denver, at Indianapolis, vs. Tennessee

Houston (7-5) -- at Kansas City, vs. Arizona, vs. Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, vs. Indianapolis

For as good as Indy has been for 12 games, they're in a tough spot with five games left. They could lose all five "on the trot" as they say in England (that means, lose five straight). Daniel Jones, Daniel Jones, Daniel Jones. The Colts aren't winning anything of substance with him at quarterback, I'm guessing.

Jacksonville might be actually in the best spot of all three. They have 3 of their last 5 at home and they pretty much control their own fate with two games against Indianapolis.

Houston helped themselves BIG TIME today. They have two (hopeful) automatic wins in home games vs. Arizona and Las Vegas.

That gets them to 9 wins. Now the Texans just need a win at Kansas City, at L.A. or home vs. Indy and they get to 10 wins. And if they beat the Colts in that finale to get to 10-7, that might create a massive logjam with both Jacksonville and Indy.

Teams like Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore and Pittsburgh might need to get to 10 wins just to have a shot at the wild card (if they don't win the division, obviously).

The Ravens, sadly, will lose the wild card tiebreaker vs. Buffalo, Kansas City OR Houston because of head-to-head losses to those three.

The Chargers are also involved at 7-4. They should be 8-4 if they handle Las Vegas today. They'll be in the hunt for a 10-win season and maybe even 11.

There are only three wild card spots available, remember.

It's going to be a slugfest to see who gets those three.

---

who knows?

It's all really "who knows?" when you think about it.

Can the Ravens rebound from that disastrous performance on Thursday night and still make some noise in the playoffs?

Who knows?

They have to get into the playoffs first. And their remaining schedule is filled with important games. They should beat Pittsburgh twice.

A visit to Cincinnati still looms as well. You know the old saying, "Bengals gonna Bengals", but they sure didn't "Bengals" on Thursday night. In fact, it was the Ravens who "Bengaled" on Thanksgiving.

But a 2-1 record in those 3 games is paramount for Baltimore. 3-0 would virtually sew up the AFC North.

Who knows?

The Steelers host Buffalo today. The Bills need that one just as much as Pittsburgh does. Buffalo is facing the reality of losing their grasp on the AFC East title unless they right the ship in December. Pittsburgh could move ahead of Baltimore if they pull off the upset this afternoon.

Who knows?

The Orioles made their second move to bolster their bullpen on Saturday with the signing of right hander Ryan Helsley to a 2-year deal worth $28 million.

Helsley does have a player opt-out after one year, a move that didn't work too well with Tyler O'Neill last winter.

With Felix Bautista expected to miss at least the first four months of the 2026 season, Helsley will step in as the O's closer, a position he has handled well for most of his 7-year MLB career. He split the 2025 campaign between St. Louis and the New York Mets.

Helsley seems like a solid pick-up for Mike Elias. Despite a terrible brief stint with the Mets, Hesley is a strike-thrower with more strikeouts (377) than career innings pitched (319). It seems like a nice marriage in Baltimore.

Who knows?

The whole American League vs. National League thing doesn't really matter much any longer since there's so much interleague play, but Helsley's detractors will point out he's never pitched in the American League. He'll be tasked with closing games in Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and he'll need to shut down last season's World Series champion, runner-up, Toronto. Those won't be easy nights.

#DMD opined here back on November 12, in our "Hot Stove" primer, that Helsley was a guy the Birds should zero in on.

The relief pitcher the O's should get: Ryan Helsley

The relief pitcher the O's already got: Andrew Kittredge

The relief pitcher the O's should get: Pete Fairbanks

The relief pitcher the O's will probably get: Tommy Kahnle

Interestingly enough, they did snag Helsley. So now they just need to get Pete Fairbanks, but it's likely he's going to sign with a team that will promise him the closer role.

There's still room for the O's to improve their beleaguered bullpen, particularly in light of the puzzling contract tender to Yennier Cano last week. They need another legit arm or two, at the very least.

But so far, at least, the Birds have enjoyed a nice off-season. The Ward-for-GrayRod deal is one of those "wait and see" things, but that's more about Grayson Rodriguez than Taylor Ward. If Rodriguez blossoms into the pitcher everyone thought he might in Baltimore, Elias will get roasted for that one. But the Kittredge and Helsley signings come with very little downside unless they somehow both stink it up in their respective roles.

Who knows?

The University of Maryland ended their football season with a 38-28 loss to Michigan State on Saturday. After a promising start to their '25 campaign, the Terps bottomed out to a 4-8 overall mark and were losers of their last 8 games.

From 4-0 to 4-8.

And, yet, the school continues to support embattled head coach Mike Locksley.

Why?

Who knows?

Here in Bawlmer, there's a significant portion of the Ravens fan base who wants John Harbaugh gone. And all the Ravens have pretty much ever done under Harbaugh is........win.

In College Park, all Maryland has ever done under Locksley is (mostly) lose.

According to internet records, he's 34-44 at Maryland since 2019.

He makes $4 million, if that matters.

And while Maryland throws gobs of money at student-athletes in various sports, they somehow hang on to Locksley despite the team's subpar performance on the football field.

It's hard to explain, unless the easy answer is the one no one wants to confront in College Park: They just don't care all that much about the football program.

Who knows?

How can you go to donors and ask for $2.5 million to give to some fresh-faced kid from Lynchburg, Virginia who can run a 4.3 forty when you hang on to a coach who would need to 8-4 in each of the next three seasons just to be a career .500 coach in College Park?

It's a puzzle that the Maryland athletic department doesn't appear interested in solving.

They're going to put money into the program. That much appears to be true. They're out there, scouting for players, giving away big lumps of cash to the guys who can't make it in Columbus, Eugene, Happy Valley or Ann Arbor.

But will those players who do choose Maryland have a successful run in College Park with Locksley at the helm?

Who knows?

We will have a "Happy Hour" edition of #DMD today for those interested in some late afternoon commentary.

around the nfl

The Ravens are off today but there are a bunch of meaningful, important games on the slate. Let's get right to them.

49'ers (8-4) at Browns (3-8) -- You never know what you're going to get in Cleveland because their defense can have a shutdown day. And with Shedeur Sanders making his home debut this afternoon, there's another "X" factor to consider. We've considered it. Game winner: 49'ers

Jaguars (7-4) at Titans (1-10) -- This is one of those freebies that Jacksonville routinely coughs up out of nowhere. Tennessee hasn't won a game at home all year. Are they really going to go the entire campaign and not win in their own barn? Is Jacksonville the real deal or a paper tiger? We're going with the real deal today. Game winner: Jaguars

Texans (6-5) at Colts (8-3) -- Indianapolis could pretty much end Houston's division title hopes today. And a Colts win and Jags loss would also be huge. But if Indy loses this one and Houston moves to 7-5 with a win, the AFC South is wide open. We're going with the home team here. Game winner: Colts

Saints (2-9) at Dolphins (4-7) -- I can't imagine the Dolphins really think they're still in the playoff hunt, but a win for them today will at least give them reason to try for the next week or two. New Orleans isn't going to Miami and winning today, right? Right. Game winner: Dolphins

Falcons (4-7) at Jets (2-9) -- Why on earth would anyone go out of their way to get in their car, pay $50 to park, and sit in the stadium and watch this game today? Tickets are "buy 1 get 10 free". This is a top 5 all-time worst game ever. And it will be a bad memory for Atlanta, too. Game winner: Jets

Cardinals (3-8) at Buccaneers (6-5) -- If Tampa Bay wants to win the AFC South, this is a game they can't lose today. It's a freebie. But the Cardinals are always the Cardinals, if nothing else, which means they win when they shouldn't and lose when they shouldn't. Arizona has no business going to Tampa Bay and winning today. None at all. Game winner: Cardinals

Rams (9-2) at Panthers (6-6) -- This could actually be one of those "Game of the Day" possibilities. Both teams need to win, both offenses can put up points, and Carolina is getting better every week. The Rams need a win to keep Seattle and San Fran at bay. Carolina still has playoff aspirations. We smell a home upset. Game winner: Panthers

Vikings (4-7) at Seahawks (8-3) -- Sam Darnold goes up against his old team today and, as fate would have it, can pretty much eliminate Minnesota from the playoffs with a win over the Vikings. Seattle's 8-3 record is legit. They are a good team. Game winner: Seahawks

Bills (7-4) at Steelers (6-5) -- This one is why the Steelers signed Aaron Rodgers. They need a football game today. A loss doesn't end their season by any means but a win will go a long way in Pittsburgh's quest for the playoffs. Buffalo, meanwhile, is in the rare position of needing a win in late November. If you're a Ravens fan, you're pulling hard for Buffalo in this one, but a win for the Bills also increases the odds that they'll wind up in Baltimore facing the Ravens in the playoff opener. Game winner: Bills

Raiders (2-9) at Chargers (7-4) -- You just never know what the Chargers are going to do, but we think we know what they're going to do today. But that's more about the Raiders. Game winner: Chargers

Broncos (9-2) at Commanders (3-8) -- There's zero motivation for D.C. in this one, other than playing out the string and trying not to get embarrassed on national TV. Denver, meanwhile, needs a win to stay in the hunt for the #1 seed in the AFC and to stay comfortably ahead in the West over L.A. and Kansas City. Game winner: Denver

Saturday November 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4114

a lot of questions loom

We're going to be doing the "should they?" game around here a lot over the next few months if this 2025 Ravens season somehow circles the drain and they don't make the playoffs or they squeak in and then lay an egg at home against (L.A., Buffalo, K.C., Houston) in the first round of the post-season.

You know...the "should they?" game.

Should they fire Eric DeCosta? After all, he constructed the roster.

Should they fire John Harbaugh? He's the coach of the team.

Should they fire Todd Monken or Zach Orr? They're the coordinators on the respective sides of the ball.

And.........

Perhaps the most polarizing topic of them all.

Should they re-work Lamar's contract or part ways with him at the end of the season?

It seems almost insane to part company with a 2-time MVP quarterback who still has gas left in the tank. Ask the Titans how that worked out for them when they thought Derrick Henry had lost his value. He's not a quarterback, of course, but Tennessee wildly misjudged his career calendar a couple of years ago.

But if the Ravens miss the playoffs or sputter and lose in the first round, again, those questions above will all be asked.

And the only one that will create fights in the street will be the one centering on #8.

If Eric DeCosta goes, there will be chatter among Ravens fans, but it won't create any kind of mass discontent. He's the GM of the team. With all due respect, no one pays to see him play.

The same goes for John Harbaugh. He certainly has his supporters in town, but an equal or heavier number of detractors, too. And if he were to be relieved of his duties, I don't think the Ravens suddenly lose 12,500 season ticket holders.

Monken and Orr are eye-wash. They might be good at their job -- some weeks, very good, and some weeks, not so good, as it goes -- but neither of them will create a firestorm of push-back if they're not back in 2026. Coordinators on either side of the ball are generally there for one reason and one reason only -- to prepare for their next stop as a head coach somewhere.

But Lamar...........

Now his departure would most certainly create a problem.

And I'm not here today to pick sides and tell you what the Ravens should or shouldn't do. Not yet, at least.

I'm here to say if the Ravens wind up missing out on the post-season or they lose on the first weekend of the playoffs there will be, most certainly, a lot of people considering the "should they?" question.

Jackson will be 29 years old next sesason.

The 2026 campaign will mark his 9th year in the league.

If things go sideways in 2025, he will have played 8 seasons in the NFL without a Super Bowl and will, still, not have a January with more than one playoff victory to his credit.

Oh, and the most important thing of all: He's due to rake in $51 million next season but, more importantly, his cap hit on the roster will be $74.25 million.

The 2026 full NFL salary cap number won't be known until next spring, but it was/is $280 million and some change this season. Even if it goes up to $290 million in 2026, Lamar's $74.5 will represent roughly 25% of the team'S salary cap.

There's almost no way the Ravens can have a $74.5 million cap hit. Something has to give.

Now, in this day and age of the NFL, teams work their way around cap hits like Jackson's all the time. He knew when he signed his 5-year, $260 million contract in April of 2023 that the deal was really only for three years.

At the time he signed it, all he was concerned with was the amount of fully guaranteed money he'd receive. Remember, this was in the aftermath of the Deshaun Watson fiasco in Cleveland and, suddenly, everyone who was anyone in the NFL wanted their contracts "guaranteed".

Lamar lost that fight, but still stuck the Ravens with a nice, hefty 5-year bill and a 2026 salary cap hit of $74.5 million.

Sometime this spring, DeCosta will have to make that call to Lamar's mom.

"We need to sit down and re-work Lamar's contract."

Now, here on the doorstep of early December, we have no idea how that conversation will go because we have no idea what's in store for the Ravens in December and January.

If they somehow put it all together and get to the Super Bowl, Lamar will have the hammer.

If they spiral downward from here and experience post-season failure once again, Lamar's value changes.

And the question will loom...

"Should they part company with Lamar and initiate, for lack of a better term, an organizational reboot of sorts?"

It's a fair question.

Your answer might be a quick, snap-of-the-fingers "yes" or you might go the other way and immediately say "no".

I think the answer is much deeper than "just Lamar".

We have a lot of fish to fry between now and the day the Ravens have to make that call with Jackson, but I think the answer lies with whatever decision(s) Steve Bisciotti makes with Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh moving forward.

Some general managers and coaches aren't going anywhere without the authority to pick their own roster, including the quarterback.

Some won't go to an organization without an elite quarterback already in place.

If DeCosta goes, would the new person want Lamar already there, in place, or would he/she look at the salary cap implications and the bulging salary without a Super Bowl in return and say, "Let's get (three?) first round picks for Lamar and a bunch of other stuff and draw our own name in the concrete."

The same for a head coach. In most cases, the new head coach comes along with a new, young, star-in-the-making quarterback. They usually come in as a tandem, the way, say, John Harbaugh came in with Joe Flacco back in 2008.

Would the timing be right for the Ravens to part company with Lamar if they fizzle again in January?

As some of you noted over the last couple of days, that decision would attach itself to other organizational issues that also need addressing; a revamped offensive and defensive line, for starters, and a front office dedication to more of an "in the treches" value applied to the roster.

There was always a complaint -- and a legitimate one -- that the Ravens never gave Flacco any real weapons. The same can't be said for Lamar, though. They've spent a number of first round and high draft picks on receivers over the last eight years. Sure, they haven't given him Jerry Rice or Randy Moss, but they have certainly made a definite effort to upgrade the receivers Lamar has at his disposal.

But, as of now, Jackson hasn't delivered anything of real value other than two MVP awards and a shocking home loss to Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game a couple of years ago.

And as we know, no one cares about MVP awards and conference championship losses. It's like losing to the heavyweight champion in a 12-round title fight where you lost almost every round but avoided being knocked out.

"At least I finished the fight," you tell people.

But you still lost.

If Lamar and the Ravens don't turn this around and make some noise in January, the question is going to loom, maybe for the first time ever.

"Should they part company with Lamar and start over?"

It's a tough question and, yet, a fair one as well.

No one gets younger.

No one gets faster as they get older.

And no one's price goes down while they're still going up.

The Ravens aren't going to "cut a deal" with Lamar next spring and he's not playing in 2026 for less money than he was already scheduled to make ($51 million) unless there are other guarantees associated with a salary reduction.

For Eric DeCosta, the issue will be simple. Move Lamar on now and start a roster-revamping or saddle up with Lamar for another three years and trust that the guy you're going to give $200 million or more to in that time will get you to the promised land.

Should they?????

That will be the big question around here next spring unless something very positive happens in January.

Friday November 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4113

hey, at least one bird won yesterday

Well, I didn't have the Ravens laying the egg-of-all-eggs on my Thanksgiving Bingo! card, did you?

Wow.

Fortunately, at least in my household, I did have Calvert Hall beating Loyola in the annual Turkey Bowl on my card. So at least one bird won on Thursday, right?

Calvert Hall snapped a 2-game losing streak in the big game with a 28-24 win yesterday at chilly Johnny Unitas Stadium on the campus of Towson University. The crew from Charles Street loves to chirp after a win in the traditional turkey day game so.....well.....the streets will be quiet for a year now, which will be very nice indeed.

Congrats to Calvert Hall Ty Ward on his first Turkey Bowl win. As I said to him yesterday via text afterwards: "You can't win every Turkey Bowl you coach in unless you win the first one."

Great stuff.

Downtown last night........not so great stuff. The Ravens were roasted by the Bengals, 32-14.

That was a total fiasco. On both sides of the ball, really.

Yes, the Ravens defense stiffened a few times in the red zone and held the Bengals to field goals or the final score, seriously, might have been 48-14. But on the whole, it wasn't a great night on defense as Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase abused the Baltimore secondary and the Bengals run game -- who even knew they had one? -- piled up 128 yards on the ground.

The Baltimore offense, though, was a complete disaster.

Yes, there was a called back TD on the Zay Flowers penalty and Isaiah Likely turned a game-changing (?) touchdown into a fumble out of the end zone, but there was far more to be critical of than proud of when it came to the offensive performance of Lamar Jackson and his gang last night.

Editor's note: It often amazes me at the what the officials call and then don't call when it comes to pass interference. The play on Flowers was so soft Richard Simmons and Liberace both rolled over in their graves. It's football, you know. A "man's sport" as it were. Those kinds of calls drive me nuts. You're really going to call that? OK then.

Lamar Jackson authored yet another stinker and this one, unlike the last two, cost his team dearly.

The irony is Jackson's legs actually looked good last night, as he skipped out of the pocket on several occasions and extended plays using his trademark speed and agility. But his arm and passing game? It stunk worse than Aunt Betty's feet last night after she had been on them all day helping with Thanksgiving dinner.

Jackson finished the night 17/32 for 246 yards and a 65.6 passer rating.

Yes, the Flowers and Likely plays tarnished his stats. But it was his turnovers that helped spell the difference in the outcome, on a night when the Ravens couldn't afford a toe stub.

Lamar fumbled the ball twice and threw a 4th quarter interception and was lucky to not have two other throws picked off as well. It just wasn't a great night for him.

It was, however, a big night for his counterpart from Cincinnati. Joe Burrow made his return after missing 9 games and, while he wasn't overly sharp in the red zone, he was able to pick apart the Baltimore defense using Chase and a couple of other receivers we've never heard of, frankly.

If you really appreciate sports and, in particular, the quarterback position in football, it's hard not to like Burrow. He's a gutsy kid who has definitely been injury prone in his NFL career. But when he plays, he's a difference maker.

When asked before the game why he's coming back to play in late November with his team at 3-8 and (seemingly) out of the playoff picture, he gave an all-time great quote: "Because we get paid a lot of money to play a kid's game. And I want to be out here with my guys."

I'll take that kind of guy on my team any day.

We've written here several times that the Ravens have very little room for error when it comes to rebounding from their horrific 1-5 start and making the post-season.

To their credit, they went 5-0 in the cupcake portion of their schedule to go from 1-5 to 6-5. But last night's loss sends them back to Earth with a resounding thud. They now have Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, New England, at Green Bay and at Pittsburgh remaining on their schedule. The best they can do is 11-6.

They can likely absorb one more loss, maybe even two, as long as they sweep the Steelers. Sweeping Pittsburgh would virtually guarantee the Ravens the division unless the Steelers -- currently 6-5 -- lose twice to Baltimore but win their other four games to end the campaign at 10-7.

What's more concerning than last night's loss is "how" the Ravens lost the game.

Cincinnati has players on scholarship, too. And their quarterback and wide receiver duo -- when both are healthy and/or not suspended -- is as good as any 1-2 combination in the league. The Bengals almost always wind up Bengaling, somehow, but it's a quarterback-driven league and their guy can beat you if you're not careful.

So, losing to Cincinnati isn't the greatest embarrassment in the world.

But getting punched in the mouth by the Bengals' defense? Now that is an embarrassment.

It's hard to rank home losses in the John Harbaugh era, but that one last night, was quite a doozy. Thursday night, prime time, Thanksgiving, division rival with a 3-8 record...feel free to pile on with more kindling for the fire if you want.

That was a bad, bad loss.

And it turns the December 7 visit by the Steelers into virtually a "must win" for Baltimore. You know what I'm going to say. It's never "must win" until a loss in that game ends your season. But it's one of those games you can't afford to lose based on the schedule that lies ahead.

Lamar Jackson has to figure something out.

And so, too, does Todd Monken.

Losing at home to the Bengals should keep them awake for a couple of nights, at the very least.

Thursday November 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4112

does bengal taste like...chicken?

While we all stuff ourselves with turkey and the assorted foods that accompany our Thanksgiving meal, the Ravens will be looking to feast on a different animal tonight. A bengal tiger will make up the team's "meal of choice" on this traditional day of giving thanks that officially ushers in the holiday season here in the U.S.

The Ravens and Bengals have not yet clashed in 2025. Cincy's team is very easy to figure out. They have a good offense and a historically inept defense.

Cincinnati could be getting a nice shot in the arm tonight with the return of quarterback Joe Burrow. How effective he can be after missing more than two months of action remains to be seen, but if his chakras are in line there's no doubt Burrow is a threat to have a big game in the air.

The Bengals will be without two prominent players, one on offense and one on defense. Wide receiver Tee Higgins (concussion) will not be available, which certainly puts a dent in Burrow's arsenal. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson (hip) will also miss the game, which severely diminishes Cincinnati's already feeble defense.

Cincinnati was probably never winning even with those two guys in the lineup. But without them, the Bengals have virtually no chance of pulling off the upset tonight.

The Ravens have an injury issue of their own, but it appears Lamar Jackson (knee, hamstring, toe, something else) is going to play and, hopefully, range closer to 100% in health than he has in recent weeks. Rashod Bateman (ankle) is returning to the lineup afer missing a couple of games, so that helps Jackson and his offensive options.

This one shouldn't be close, but it's an AFC North game, on Thanksgiving night, in front of a national TV audience and the Bengals, at 3-8, are down to their last breath in terms of making the playoffs.

A win tonight and Cincinnati can still cling to the fading dream of reaching the post-season in the AFC.

A loss and their turkey is cooked, no pun intended.

Under normal circumstances, this game would be somewhat close to a toss up. Burrow has enjoyed some very productive days against the Baltimore defense and Ja'Marr Chase has lit up Marlon Humphrey on numerous occasions.

But these aren't "normal" days.

Burrow is just returning after a long layoff and without Higgins to compliment Chase, the Ravens should be able to contain the talented wide receiver.

And that Bengals defense is beyond awful.

The Ravens struggled to score points in Cleveland two weeks ago and again last Sunday at home vs. the hapless Jets.

They shouldn't have any trouble scoring tonight.

Not that "scoring points" matters in terms of cosmetic value, because a win is a win no matter the score. But if the Ravens don't pile up at least 30 points tonight, something's "off".

Lamar's injury notwitstanding, Baltimore's relatively healthy on offense. That should translate to a 100-yard night for Derrick Henry and Jackson -- who now throws the ball far more than he runs with it -- should be in the 275-300 yard range in the air.

Mark Andrews and Rashod Bateman are your touchdown recipients tonight, for those of you who enjoy that sort of "thing" for entertainment purposes.

I can see the Ravens employing some kind of trick play inside the ten yard line that results in, say, Pat Ricard throwing a TD pass to Andrews or another tight end, or something like that.

The Ravens can't afford a toe-stub tonight. Getting to 7-5 with Pittsburgh hosting Buffalo this Sunday and (likely) falling to 6-6 will be huge for John Harbaugh's team. This is a "should win" game. Anything less than a victory is a monumental upset given how bad the Bengals are defensively.

It's a slow first quarter, with the Ravens leading 7-3. It's 17-10 at the half in favor of Baltimore.

The Ravens extend their lead to 24-10 and then, later in the third quarter, to 27-10.

But Cincinnati rallies with a TD to make it 27-17 and then they hit a field goal with 7 minutes left to make it 27-20.

With the crowd starting to get antsy, Lamar drives the Ravens down the field and hits Bateman for a touchdown that finalizes the scoring.

The Ravens improve to 7-5 and end Cincy's season in the process with a 34-20 victory.

---

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope this is a great day for you with your family and friends gathered to celebrate the holiday together.

My blessings are far, far too many to count.

I have a good friend that has this great response when I see him and offer the casual, "How are you?" -- He always says, "Better than I deserve."

I often feel the same way.

Whatever good things I'm experiencing are probably more than I deserve.

But God is good.

And, so, I'll gather with my wife and two awesome children for a great meal together. Just the four of us. Eating food, giving thanks and enjoying the day and evening together.

Please continue to pray for our Calvert Hall golfer, Brooks Manning, who remains hospitalized with a serious illness and will not be home for Thanksgiving today.

The staff at Hopkins will have an afternoon Thanksgiving meal for all of the patients and their families today, so the Mannings will get to celebrate together, albeit in a place they weren't prepared for when all of this unfolded with Brooks two weeks ago.

Brooks and his doctors/specialists still need your prayers. Please ask God to shine his merciful light on them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Go Hall!

Wednesday November 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4111

thanksgiving overrated/underrated

We'll slow it down here just a hair over the next few days, as we tend to do at Thanksgiving, and take a minute to pause, enjoy the holiday, catch our breath and reflect on the great things we have in our (respective) lives.

Don't worry, we're still going to be around. We'll have our Ravens-Bengals preview here tomorrow. It's just that we like to take a step back over Thanksgiving and Christmas to enjoy the days leading up to and surrounding the holidays.

#DMD reader Tim D came up with a cool idea earlier this week and I thought I'd dive in and make it part of today's edition.

"What's overrated and underrated about Thanksgiving?" he asked.

It fits the moment and occasion, so here goes.

Football -- Underrated* - but with an asterisk. In terms of general "football on Thanksgiving", it's supremely underrated because, here in Baltimore, we have the Thanksgiving day tradition of Calvert Hall vs. Loyola (10 am, Towson University).

But the asterisk gets applied when we look at the NFL. I honestly think three games is too many. One of them almost always gets lost in the wash, usually either the early game or the one late in the afternoon. The NFL is nothing if not overbearing most of the time and Thanksgiving Day is no different. A game at 4:30 pm and then one at 8:00 pm would be more than fine.

For the record, in case you don't know, here's tomorrow's schedule in addition to the 8:20pm game in Baltimore vs. Cincinnati.

1 pm, Green Bay at Detroit

4:30 pm, Kansas City at Dallas

Thankfully, those are both decent games. And we have a vested rooting interest in the 4:30 pm contest (go Cowboys!) and the one at 8:20 pm features our own team.

But three NFL games is, in my opinion, one too many.

Oh......and Go Hall! We already took care of the Dons in basketball last night. So there's that.

Turkey -- Underrated - One of the best foods you can have as long as it's cooked properly. Turkey that is too dry is lousy. But a good, moist, well prepared turkey is really hard to beat. Maybe a filet or New York Strip on the grill in the summer can top it, but not much else beats turkey made the right way.

Cranberry sauce -- Overrated - What's weird about this is I really like cranberry juice, probably as much or more than I like orange juice or apple juice. I love cranberry juice. But cranberry just sitting out on a plate, accompanying "real" food? Yikes, no thanks.

Biscuits -- Underrated - Again, a little bit like the turkey, you have to put someone in charge of the biscuits (or whatever bread you're having) to make sure they don't get overcooked and "too done". But, man, any kind of warm bread to go with turkey and the other Thanksgiving foods is like sitting on a packed Southwest flight and having no one sit in the middle seat when you're on the aisle or against the window. Nothing beats a good, warm biscuit on Thanksgiving Day.

Boxed wine -- Overrated - If Uncle Ted or Aunt Louise shows up tomorrow and says, "I brought the wine!" and plops down a box of "Burgandy" wine, please do the right thing and announce to the crowd gathered at the house that you just happened to bring over three nice bottles of cabernet and that you'll "save the wine Uncle Ted brought over for a special occasion down the road". Do not, under any circumstances, drink wine from a box with a spout. It's dehumanizing, frankly. Take your own wine. Be a good sport and go out today and spend $50 on three decent bottles of wine and take it to the dinner.

Dressing/stuffing -- Underrated - This actually might be the most underrated part of the meal IF IT IS PREPARED CORRECTLY. Likewise, if it's done poorly, it's awful and a detriment to the meal. But an awesome dressing/stuffing is an incredible compliment to turkey, potatoes, gravy and so on.

And because I like all of you, here is an incredible dressing/stuffing recipe you can use tomorrow to be a hero at Thanksgiving dinner.

Trust me, you'll be the star of the show if you use this: Click here and thank me later.

Potatoes -- Underrated! - I give this one an exclamation point because I think potatoes (almost always mashed at Thanksgiving but your family might be different) make the whole meal. Disclaimer: You have to employ the right kind of gravy on them. There's something about well prepared mashed potatoes that can't be beat. However many helpings you think you need, you can always eat one more. And the best part about potatoes is they're always amazing as left-overs.

Ham -- Overrated - Under any normal circumstance, I'm a ham enthusiast. I love it on sandwiches. I can even eat it at breakfast. But just not on Thanksgiving. And funny enough, preparing ham is much easier than preparing turkey. I'm just not a fan of ham on Thanksgiving Day. It's turkey's day to shine.

Vegetables -- Underrated! - This also gets an exclamation point. And the more, the merrier. Green beans, corn, spinach, whatever it is, keep 'em coming. Heck, you can even throw peas and carrots in there and I'm more than good. Vegetables are awesome.

Post-meal nap -- Underrated!! - Yeah, this one gets two exclamation points. Just make sure you do your part to help with the meal clean-up first. You don't want to start the holiday season in the doghouse because you collapsed on the couch after eating and left the dish cleaning to the girls. Do your part. Then nap for a few hours afterwards so you can stay up to watch the Ravens feast on the Bengals in prime-time.

Your favorite football team...winning -- Underrated!!! - This one gets the only three exclamation prize. Nothing beats having your favorite football team winning that, ummmm, traditional game. If you know, you know. Go Hall!

So, what are your underrated and overrated thoughts about Thanksgiving? And do any of you have any special "things" you do on Thanksgiving to help usher in the day and start the holiday season? Football in the back yard? Ice skating somewhere? Board games with family members after dinner? Please share them in the Comments section below.

Tuesday November 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4110

quick tuesday hits

The "play Tyler Huntley" chatter picked up a little bit of steam on Monday in the wake of another lackluster performance from Lamar on Sunday that everyone believes was somehow injury related.

I didn't listen to very much talk radio yesterday, but in the 30 minutes I did manage to catch, I heard two different callers ask for Huntley to play over Jackson.

I saw a handful of Twitter commenters say the same thing.

The common theme was "play Huntley and give Lamar two full weeks off" before the Ravens host the Steelers on December 6 in Baltimore in what will amount to game one of a best-of-two series with the Steelers that could decide the AFC North title.

I'm not anti-Tyler Huntley. I think he's a "capable" back-up, which is to say, if you have to play him in a pinch, it's not an automatic loss.

But in no way, shape or form do I want to play Huntley over Lamar on Thursday night against the Bengals.

I have no way of knowing what Jackson is, percentage wise, right now, but even if he's at 75% of his normal capabilities, 75% of Lamar is better than 100% Huntley. I'm not trying to be harsh. That's just the way I see it.

Lamar Jackson is a 2-time league MVP who is still one of the most feared players in the entire league.

Tyler Huntley is a younger version of Tyrod Taylor.

Give me Lamar on Thursday night. Every time.

Now, if something happens early on and Lamar is clearly struggling and his 75% dips down, to, say, 50%, you always have Huntley there waiting in the wings. And that's fine.

But starting Huntley over Lamar? Not in my world.

And he'll have 10 days to rest and recover before that Steelers game, remember. It's time to man-up and play AFC North football.

I know in our society these days we're not allowed to tell athletes this because it's a little too old school, but tell Lamar to rub some dirt on it and get out there Thursday night and kick some Cincinnati tail.

You can rest your sore hamstring or knee in February.

Maryland got a nice pick-me-up last night with the return of Pharrel Payne and the Terps responded with a good win over UNLV, 74-64. Payne finished the night with a team-high 20 points.

Ten days ago, it looked like Payne not walk for a year after he took a crazy fall in Maryland's win at Marquette. When I saw the video of Payne's injury, I said to the guys I was with in Pinehurst, "Holy crap, that dude might not play the rest of the season."

Everyone that saw Payne get taken away on a stretcher that day pretty much assumed the same thing: "Maryland's season is over without him."

It turns out, Payne is playing and Maryland's season is alive and well.

I only saw the first ten minutes of last night's game, so this opinion I'm going to share is more just a general one and not necessarily connected to last night's win, where they came back from a 3-point halftime deficit to beat the Runnin' Rebels.

I think Maryland is going to be much better than people think.

They're going to play the role of the "hunter" this year, it would appear, not the "hunted". No one in the Big Ten thinks Maryland is going to be any good. And, often times, that's when you play your best as a team...in any sport.

Give me the "hunter" over the "hunted" any day, in my own coaching world. I'd much rather be an underdog than a wild favorite.

I think this Maryland team has something. And by that, I mean, has "something".

Maybe it's Buzz Williams, who took over for Mr. Malcontent last April and had to quickly assemble a team for the '25-26 campaign.

Maybe it's the fact that all of these players are new in College Park. There's something about getting together for that first season and proving people wrong.

And maybe (or, most definitely) the Terps have read the various stories, press clippings and internet reports that have them as a bottom-tier team in the Big Ten. Perhaps that's motivating them in a unique way.

And, hey, look, maybe the Terps will be a bottom feeder in the conference. Who knows? There's a big difference between playing Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois and playing Mount Saint Mary's and UNLV. I get that.

But there's something about this Maryland team I like. I believe they're going to be a fun bunch to watch and maybe, just maybe, better than advertised on paper.

On a night when I needed Alex Ovechkin to score a goal for, let's say, "personal reasons", he failed to put a puck in the net last night in the Caps' 5-1 win over visiting Columbus.

Dang it. I needed one from The Great Eight last night after both Tom Wilson and Jacob Chychrun scored. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

#DMD reader "Frank" chimed in with an interesting question last weekend after Ovi's hat trick in Montreal.

"Can Ovi get to 1,000 goals?"

The short, almost-guaranteed answer, is "no, he can't".

He would need 90'ish goals to reach that figure. There's just no way he has three years of hockey left at 30 goals-per-season.

I assume Ovechkin is going to play this season and then announce over the summer that the '26-27 season will be his final year in the NHL. That said, I thought he would have announced the same thing last summer and that '25-26 would be his final campaign. So who knows?

But there's just no way Ovi has 90 goals left in him. I could see him getting to 930 at the end of this season, but 70 more over two yeras? I can't see it.

The Caps, meanwhile, continue along with their win-one, lose-win season to date, rebounding from Saturday's home loss to Tampa Bay with a nice victory over Columbus last night.

I think that's pretty much what we're going to see from them all year. They're a .500 hockey team, basically, who can win a few in a row and lose a few in a row right after that. They don't do anything particularly well, overall, but they're also not overly terrible at anything, either.

They do need more goal scoring, that's for sure. Whether they can get guys like McMichael, Strome and Protas to step up and provide more offense or if they have to somehow create some trades to do it, the Caps need more goals.

Their defense is OK and their goaltending is OK. Neither of those departments are "solid", though.

The Caps are just a decent team in a league with a bunch of decent teams. The question is...can they be better than "decent" next April?

A number of you have e-mailed me with thoughts and comments about my Calvert Hall golfer, Brooks Manning, who has been hospitalized for the last 12 days battling a serious illness.

On behalf of the Manning family, thank you for your concern and your prayers.

The short summary of Brooks is this: He is undergoing a blood plasma transfusion process over the next week that will hopefully yield some positive results and get him back on track to recovery. Doctors are still not exactly sure what it is ailing him, but they believe these procedures might give them answers.

He's a strong young man and has been incredibly courageous throughout the process and the 3-week ordeal that actually started right around Halloween.

Please continue to pray for Brooks.

Monday November 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4109

can the ravens win with lamar playing like this?

Just like we told you when the Ravens staggered off to a 1-5 start, don't hit the panic button just yet.

The schedule gods have delivered their 5-week bonus and, voila!, the Ravens are now 6-5 after yesterday's 23-10 win over the Jets.

It should be a pretty simple stroll to the division title from here for the purple birds.

Pittsburgh's the only relevant team remaining in the AFC North and they have, at best, 3 more wins in them. And that's if something really good comes their way. They probably have a better chance of going 8-9 than they do going, say, 10-7.

The Ravens might lose once more, twice if something wacky happens, but they are a virtual lock to win the division at this point unless they somehow derail against a couple of weaker teams in the Bengals and Steelers.

That said, let me fire a warning shot.

This really shouldn't come as any surprise, so spare me the "Duh, tell us something we didn't know" commentary.

I'm not sure the Ravens are good enough to make any noise in January.

Lamar has now authored two straight stinkers.

The offensive line is still lousy and will get blistered if they face a team with a decent defensive interior and solid edge rushers.

A team that can both run and throw the ball, even if they're just "good" in both departments, will create issues for the Baltimore defense.

The vibe is just not all that breezy, in my mind, which is weird given the 5-game winning streak and the rise from 1-5 to 6-5.

Now, before I continue to play Debbie Downer, let me say this as well: Maybe this is the way the Ravens are actually supposed to win in the playoffs. With their defense stepping up and the offense just hanging in there, putting a few good drives together and scoring enough points to win.

All of these years of trying to have Lamar do it all hasn't yielded much playoff success.

Maybe this is the year when the Ravens do it the other way.

But now I'll go back to the "Downer" theme.

It feels like the offense -- and Lamar, specifically -- are running on low fuel.

There's a lot of speculation that Jackson is injured and not playing at 100%. He's dodged those questions as best he can, but you don't have to be Jon Gruden to watch the games and see Lamar isn't Lamar, particularly when running with the ball.

Can the Ravens win meaningful games in January with Lamar at, say, the 70% he's playing at right now? It doesn't feel that he could, but that's why I bring up the defensive effort we've been seeing from John Harbaugh's team of late.

Maybe 70% Lamar and a 110% effort from the defense is the tonic.

But I doubt it.

In order to beat some combination of Buffalo, Kansas City, Jacksonville, New England, Denver and Indianapolis in the playoffs, they'll need vintage Lamar. And vintage Derrick Henry. And vintage Mark Andrews. Everything will have to go right for them. And that's IF Lamar is 100%.

And he's not 100%, which is a huge concern.

Conventional wisdom says they'll beat up on Cincinnati this Thursday night. The Bengals are 3-8 and done for 2025. Most of the guys are playing just not get to hurt in the final month of the season.

But the Bengals have just enough spite to try and be a pain in the rear end on Thursday night in Baltimore.

They might give up the week after next. And there's a half a chance they don't win any games in December, even.

Thursday night, though? They might actually try. It's Thanksgiving Night. National TV. If that doesn't fire you up, nothing much will.

And there's just enough friction in the rivalry to prod Cincinnati into actually manning-up and trying to beat the Ravens just for the sake of doing it.

So I'm not ready to call Thursday night an automatic win for the Ravens, the way we all knew they were going to beat up on Cleveland and the Jets in successive weeks.

I think Thursday night could be a doozy of a game. Maybe even an "instant classic" as the (overused by many) saying goes.

And I'm worried that 100% of Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase can beat 70% of Lamar Jackson and his receiver-of-the-day. If a fully-healthy-Lamar was on the field Thursday night, I wouldn't be concerned in the least.

But this Lamar we've seen for the last two weeks? Not going to be good enough, I'm afraid.

The turnaround is quick, obviously. Jackson has three days to recover from whatever is ailing him, whether that's his hamstring, ankle or some cominbation of the two.

I saw someone on Twitter last night start the "Play Tyler Huntley" campaign, saying "8's hobbling around like he's 60 years old."

Number 1, I know what it's like to hobble around at age 60. I don't think Lamar looks quite that bad.

Number 2, I don't think I'm agreeable with that opinion unless Lamar winds up being unable to walk, but based on what we've seen in the last two weeks, I'd at least make sure Huntley's hands are warm on Thursday night.

Yet another Ravens fan claimed on Twitter that Lamar looks "football old", which I thought was an interesting term I hadn't heard before.

Sure, he's been in the league for 8 seasons. But I can't imagine Jackson is running out of gas, physically. He's never really had a "major" injury, other than that mysterious thing with his hip a few years ago and, well, no one really knows what that was all about.

I think Jackson has plenty of gas left. I'm not buying the "football old" theory at this point. Sorry.

But this I will admit: One more lower body injury of some kind to Jackson this season and Huntley might very well become an important part of the 2025 campaign after all.

---

OK, so we're not quite to the point of using ESPN.com's "Playoff Machine", but here's how things look in the AFC. For the Ravens, their quest is pretty simple. Just win the AFC North and they won't have to worry about fighting with K.C., Houston, Jacksonville and Buffalo for one of those wild card spots.

Pittsburgh (6-5) -- vs. Buffalo, at Baltimore, vs. Miami, at Detroit, at Cleveland, vs. Baltimore

Buffalo (7-4) -- at Pittsburgh, vs. Cincinnati, at New England, at Cleveland, vs. Philadelphia, vs. NY Jets

Jacksonville (7-4) -- at Tennessee, vs. Indianapolis, vs. NY Jets, at Denver, at Indianapolis, vs. Tennessee

Houston (6-5) -- at Indianapolis, at Kansas City, vs. Arizona, vs. Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, vs. Indianapolis

L.A. Chargers (7-4) -- vs. Las Vegas, vs. Philadelphia, at Kansas City, at Dallas, vs. Houston, at Denver

Kansas City (6-5) -- at Dallas, vs. Houston, vs. L.A. Chargers, at Tennessee, vs. Denver, at Las Vegas

Pittsburgh's just about done. It's possible they only win one more game this season. Two is probably their max. They have about a 10% chance of reaching 10 wins at this point. Just like your holiday turkey, the Steelers are.........cooked.

Buffalo has at least 3 wins left, maybe even 4. They're in good shape as long as they don't do something dumb or Josh Allen gets hurt.

Jacksonville is in a nice spot now, with two cupcakes left against Tennessee and a home game vs. the Jets. They should hit the 10-win mark with their schedule.

Houston scored that nice win over Buffalo on Thursday night and they do have two W's in hand vs. Arizona and Las Vegas, but they're going to need to reach at least 9 wins, if not 10, to get into the playoffs. That looks unlikely.

The Chargers have a fight on their hands to reach 10 wins. 9 might be the best they can do.

Kansas City should be able to get to 9 wins and quite possibly 10 depending on what they do at Dallas this Thursday. Their Thanksgiving Day tilt with the Cowboys will probably decide if they win 9 and have to bite their nails or win 10 and cruise into the playoffs.

a look at sunday's nfl action

Bears 31 - Steelers 28 -- Unless they flatline, completely, Chicago's going to the playoffs. They could even still win the division if the Lions stumble a hair. Meanwhile, you can play Dandy Don's favorite song for the Steelers. "Turn out theeeeee liiighhhttts...the parteeeee's overrrrrrrr." Such a shame to see Pittsburgh circle the drain, huh?

Chiefs 23 - Colts 20 OT -- Tip your hat to Patrick Mahomes. Go ahead, as tough as it is to do. He's the best "winner" in the league since Tom Brady. The dude is a total dawg. K.C. trailed in this one 20-9 and were about to fall under .500 until they came back to win. Some dude from K.C. caught a 3rd and 8 pass between his legs that looked like David Tyree, sorta-kinda. The Colts are good. They just couldn't finish yesterday.

Patriots 26 - Bengals 20 -- You could have won a nice bet at the beginning of the season if you would have laid a few quid on the Patriots becoming the first team in the league to reach 10 wins. It wasn't a great day for either quarterback yesterday in Cincinnati, but this New England team looks legit with Drake Maye at the helm.

Lions 33 - Giants 27 OT -- I don't know what to say about the Lions. My opinion of them changes about 4 or 5 times per-game. I go from "these dudes could make some noise in January" to "they're losing 44-30 in the first round to someone" at least once per half. If you go to overtime at home against the Giants...that's probably not a good predictor of future success.

Packers 23 - Vikings 6 -- Man, Minnesota stinks. We saw that firsthand a few weeks ago when the Ravens were up there, but it's more apparent with each passing week they're lousy and that McCarthy kid is a scrub. Green Bay still looks a bit like a paper tiger to me, but if they make the playoffs, they could beat someone like Tampa Bay or Detroit, perhaps.

Seahawks 30 - Titans 24 -- How on earth did the Titans win a game this season? Quick, do you remember who they beat? No cheating, no Googling, no looking it up. Betcha don't know who they beat. (I don't know, either, so don't feel bad).

Browns 24 - Raiders 10 -- This should get Las Vegas relegated to the 2nd division of the NFL. You lose at home, to Cleveland, to Shedeur Sanders, by two touchdowns? You can't stay up in the first division any longer. Sorry, Raiders. We gotta send you down.

Jaguars 27 - Cardinals 24 -- I'm still not sold on Jacksonville at all, but they're 7-4 and this was one of those "coin flip games" where they easily lose and ding their playoff hopes. Instead, they win and stay firmly in the post-season race.

Cowboys 24 - Eagles 21 -- It must be hard for Philly to take any game seriously when they know 9 wins will easily claim the NFC East. Let's see if the Cowboys can handle the Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day. That's a big game for both teams.

Falcons 24 - Saints 10 --A win is a win for Atlanta. Losing continues for New Orleans. What else is there to say about this one?

Rams 34 - Buccaneers 7 -- I feel really bad for Tampa Bay. They're now 6-5 and have virtually ZERO chance of winning a playoff game, yet they have to keep playing hard because they could still win the NFC South. If Mayfield (shoulder) is out for any extended period of time, though, Tampa Bay will have to fight with Carolina for the division crown.

The Titans' lone win of the season came against the Cardinals in Arizona, 22-21, on October 5.

Sunday November 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4108

go ahead lamar, guarantee it

Once upon a time, many years ago, a New York Jets quarterback guaranteed a win over a Baltimore football team.

And wouldn't you know it, much to our chagrin here in The Land of Pleasant Living, Joe Namath was right. He guaranteed a victory for the Jets in Super Bowl III and it came to fruition with a 16-7 win.

Now, there was a difference in that game and the one the Jets face today against a different Baltimore football team.

That Jets team in the 1968 season was actually good. They finished 11-3 in the regular season. Yes, they were huge underdogs to the Colts in Super Bowl III, but it's not like the Jets were chopped liver that year. They just weren't good enough to beat the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Until they did, that is. And Joe Willie guaranteed it. It probably still remains the greatest pre-game guarantee in sports history.

Lamar Jackson could do the very same thing this week if he so choose.

There's chopped liver and then there's the 2025 edition of the New York Jets. Chopped liver called the Jets front office this week and said, "You guys are giving us a bad name."

This is going to be a clobberin' down at the football stadium today.

New York's only hope -- and it's incredibly faint -- is that the football gods decide to give Tyrod Taylor a career merit badge today and grant him a win over one of his former teams. That's about the only way the Jets have a prayer this afternoon.

And I just don't think the football gods care enough about Taylor and/or the Jets to go out of their way to create an upset in Baltimore this afternoon.

Today's game will be out of hand by halftime.

I realize it wouldn't be prudent for Lamar to pop off in the media and guarantee a win or anything like that. There's no real value in doing that, particularly against this Jets team that's already going to lose no matter what Lamar says to the media.

Save that guarantee for something important, like a home playoff game against the Bills. OK, maybe not.

But you get my point. If you're going to do something outlandish like "guarantee a win", do it when it creates the biggest stir and gets the other team to think, "Maybe this dude is on to something. Maybe he's right. We can't beat the Ravens."

If Lamar or any other Raven would have come out this week and said, "I'm telling you right here, right now, there's no way we're losing this week against the Jets," people would have laughed and said, "Going out on a limb there, aren't you big boy?"

Now, if Joe Burrow or Ja'Marr Chase says that this Tuesday in advance of Thursday's game in Baltimore, that sort of proclamation will garner a lot of press coverage and internet chatter.

Alas, those two aren't doing that, either. The Bengals are the Bengals and do a lot of "Bengals stuff", but even they're not dumb enough to guarantee a win in Baltimore with that defense they have in Cincinnati.

Either way, guarantee or not, the Ravens are waltzing to a Homecoming win over the Jets today.

We occasionally talk all the time here about "the worst loss in Harbaugh's tenure" and there have been a few of those here and there over the last 5 years. A home OT loss to the Bears, a home loss to the Raiders, a home loss or two to the Browns, etc. You know it when you see it. There are losses and then there are terrible losses that boggle the mind.

Make no mistake about it. If the Ravens lose to the Jets today, it will be, without question, the worst loss in John Harbaugh's coaching career in Baltimore.

But it won't happen.

Lamar will have a field day.

He'll throw for 264 yards on the lousy Jets defense and toss TD passes to Andrews, Kolar and even Pat Ricard gets in the act in the 4th quarter when he gets one thrown his way.

Derrick Henry will run for 112 yards and rumble into the end zone once himself.

And Nate Wiggins will snag an interception and run that one in for a TD of his own.

A couple of Tyler Loop field goals add to the celebration.

Ravens lead 14-0 after the first quarter.

It's 21-3 at the half.

The Jets somehow score a touchdown in the 3rd quarter -- probably aided by luck, mostly -- but the Ravens tack on ten points of their own to lead 31-10 heading into the fourth quarter.

One more Baltimore TD in the final 15 minutes ends the scoring at 38-10.

You can guarantee this one today.

On to the Bengals we go.

Paul McCartney really knows his music. And why shouldn't he? I mean, he's the former lead singer of a popular music group from the 1960's.

I don't know how you rank "all-time bands" in the history of music, but I'll concede the Beatles are a top 50 band. McCartney followed up his Beatles career with a successful solo run as well.

So when McCartney was recently interviewed for an article about the "greatest bands ever", he showed up in a tee-shirt that said it all.

McCartney spent 35 minutes talking about the band he admired. He spoke glowingly about the men who made the music. He said, "No one has made music like these guys."

And, so, we were keenly excited about what McCartney had to say given, A) his status as one of the great musical talents ever and, B) his willingness to openly discuss the band.

McCartney, as you can see by the photo to the right, was speaking about the Canadian band, RUSH.

You know, a lot of you here have been trying to tell me for a long time that Paul McCartney really knows his music.

And, son of a gun, you guys were right.

"RUSH is the best ever," McCartney told the "Music for the Future" podcast.

All this time I thought you guys were crazy for loving McCartney so much. Turns out, he really knows what he's talking about.

On a much more serious and personal note, I'd like to thank all of you for the e-mails, comments and social media notes regarding my Calvert Hall golfer, Brooks Manning.

He continues to be hospitalized but.......your prayers are working. Doctors and specialists are working diligently to get his condition figured out and we're hoping more clarity will come along today or tomorrow.

Keep praying for Brooks! God hears your cries.

Thank you to those who have showed concern for him and prayed for him.

around the nfl

Steelers at Bears -- Pittsburgh will probably win this game because the Bears aren't ready for prime time, but there's something about Chicago that's intriguing. And the Steelers offense is lousy. We'll go against the grain here and call it 19-17 Bears.

Colts at Chiefs -- This is a huge game for the 5-5 Chiefs. They almost have to win today. Indy is cruising in the AFC South but they won't cruise today. K.C.'s not losing at home. 28-24, Chiefs in a thriller.

Patriots at Bengals -- No matter if Burrow plays or not, Cincy's not winning this game. Not unless they can score 36 points, that is. New England's too good to lose this game. Patriots 35-Bengals 27.

Giants at Lions -- I really, really wanna pick New York here. It just "feels" like the kind of game the Lions cough up once a year, even when they're good. Alas, the Giants can't win this game. Lions win easily, 31-19.

Vikings at Packers -- This is the same kind of game as the one above. It feels like this Green Bay team is ripe for a Vikings upset today, but that McCarthy kid stinks at quarterback. He can't go into Green Bay and win. Right? Packers win a tight one, 23-20.

Seahawks at Titans -- Seattle 30 - Tennessee 13. Next game, please. No commentary needed.

Browns at Raiders -- A pair of 2-8 teams slugging it out in Sin City. Can't believe they didn't move this one to NBC tonight. What a snoozer this will be. Raiders win, I guess. Las Vegas 22 - Cleveland 20.

Jaguars at Cardinals -- This is where Jacksonville stubs their toe. They're 6-4 and firmly in the AFC playoff picture and they go out to Arizona and lose to the hapless red birds. Arizona 31 - Jacksonville 30 on a last second field goal.

Eagles at Cowboys -- The Cowboys really, really need this one. Philly could finish 9-8 and win the NFC East, so they don't need it nearly as much. But Dallas has a habit of losing these games they need. Eagles 28 - Cowboys 24.

Falcons at Saints -- Another barnburner of a game down in New Orleans. The coin is in the air. And.....it's tails. Falcons win 26-23 over the Saints.

Buccaneers at Rams -- We end the day with what should be a good game out in Los Angeles. Tampa Bay needs this one in the worst way and the Rams do as well with Seattle breathing down their neck. For some weird reason, we like Tampa Bay to pull this one out. It's just one of those feelings you get. Buccaneers 27 - Rams 21.

Saturday November 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4107

i survived a day without sports

For the first time in I don't know how long, I paid zero attention to sports on Friday.

I mean, ZERO.

I was loosely "involved" in sports a bit, but didn't check ESPN.com once on Friday for scores, updates, signings, trades or anything else.

My Calvert Hall Golf team had a fitness screening yesterday after school and I attended that with the trainer we're using for our pre-season training program. That's about as close to "sports" as I got on Friday.

I was intending to go to Indian Creek HS to see the Cardinals play basketball -- won by Calvert Hall, 90-56 -- but I didn't make it down there. I was out of energy by 6 pm when it was time to leave.

So, you might be wondering, why would a guy like me who follows sports practically 24/7 and owns and publishes a sports website not follow sports?

It's a fair question.

The reason: real life.

One of our Calvert Hall golfers is very sick. He's been in the hospital since Sunday and will likely be there another five days while doctors and specialists continue to work around the clock to figure out what's going on with him.

I can't share much more than that here, but it's a serious situation that has his family, friends and everyone at Calvert Hall very concerned.

We had a 6 pm online prayer for him last night that was liked and/or followed by over 700 people through our social media channels. Just the thought of that alone empowers me, personally. To know that last night, at 6 pm, God heard the same message from at least 700 people, asking for His healing mercy on our player, Brooks Manning. That is just awe inspiring.

Brooks is a senior captain of our team. He has been a 3-year varsity golfer, a 2 time MIAA champion, an All-Conference player and, last year, was the MIAA "Golfer of the Year" after a remarkable junior season. He is headed to Salisbury University to continue his golf career next fall.

We're all praying for him and for the doctors and specialists who are treating his condition.

You can do that as well, if you so choose. No matter what school you attended or what school your son attended or attends, please take a minute today to pray for this young man from Calvert Hall.

Matthew 19:26 -- With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Any prayers you have for Brooks would be appreciated.

So, now, you know why I didn't follow sports on Friday.

It just wasn't important.

The Orioles non-tendering Albert Suarez.....who cares?

The Wizards losing to Toronto to fall to 1-14......who cares?

Rashod Bateman missing the Jets game tomorrow.......who cares?

Andrew Novak leading the PGA Tour event in Georgia.....who cares?

I didn't find out about any of that stuff until this morning when I got up and starting look back at a Friday where sports didn't matter at all.

I do have some other non-sports-related news that I will share here tomorrow at #DMD. I'm going to do my part to become a more well-rounded music fan by posting a picture of Paul McCartney here and sharing some of Sir Paul's music wisdom. I hope you'll come around for that tomorrow.

Friday November 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4106

giving a 16 year old kid "millions"?

Maryland got their (big) man on Wednesday of this week when 16-year old high school sensation Baba Oladotun announced he will play his college basketball in College Park.

How much did it cost the Terps to land the 6'10", Silver Spring, Maryland native?

"Millions, plural," a College Park source told me yesterday. "Not one million. Or two million. Millions. A lot of money."

Such is the current landscape in college athletics, particularly in the male-dominated "major" sports like football and basketball.

There are women getting NIL money in college hoops, yes, but they're getting peanuts compared to what the men are getting.

A 5-star football player can rake in $2 million or more per-season.

If you're a 5-star point guard or center in men's basketball, you might get $3 million or more per-season.

Imagine giving a 16-year old kid $3 million or $4 million to play 32 games of basketball.

It's kind of hilarious.

It's one thing if you're an NFL team and you have to fork over $30 million to your first round draft pick.

If you draft the QB from Michigan or Ohio State, for example, you can at least rest comfortably knowing you're giving him $30 million but he played in front of 100,000 people and handled the heat with relative ease. He's battle tested if nothing else.

Sure, the jump from the college ranks to the pros is huge, as many a draft pick has found out, but there's at least some tangible evidence to suggest that drafting someone in the first round, second round, etc. will eventually provide a decent return on your investment.

This kid from Silver Spring just runs roughshod over everyone he faces because he's 6'10" at an age where virtually everyone else he goes up against is somewhere around 6'3".

And I'm in no way suggesting Maryland was wrong for getting him. He might very well become a wildly dominant college basketball player. Who knows how far Maryland is going to go with Baba running the show?

The Terps are merely playing the game they're being forced to play. It's either hand over a few million to a kid who doesn't shave yet or go 4-14 in the conference and have the stands be empty.

So, I'm not suggesting that Maryland should take the high road and not jump in with both feet first.

What I'm saying, though, is "millions" is a lot to give to someone who has never played a game that mattered in his entire life.

It's not a "Maryland question", but rather a question for all of the schools.

Why not give the best players $150,000? Or $250,000? That's still sky-high for someone who hasn't really done anything of note, but it's better than giving an unproven commodity $3 million or more.

We all know the answer to the question: "Why not give the best players $150,000 or $250,000?"

Because, at some point, one school is going to want to win more than another school, and they'll give him $500,000 or $750,000 if he is eventually the difference between them winning the Weedeater Bowl or advancing past the first round of the playoffs.

And because that kid gets $500,000, the next kid who comes along who is marginally better than the half-million-dollar guy will get $750,000 or $850,000. And the cycle starts there and continues on.

Eventually, Maryland wants their guy so badly they'll give him "millions" to play basketball for a season or two until he either transfers somewhere else for $8 million or just goes into the NBA.

Here's the biggest problem with college sports in a nutshell. They went from 0 mph to 100 mph in, oh, about 5 seconds.

1980 -- a few kids on the team get a grand or two shoved into their hand by a booster when they're walking to the bathroom at the local diner. "You just keep on winning football games for us now, you hear?"

1990 -- a handful of kids actually demand and get, maybe ten grand, which is conveniently placed in an offshore account somewhere and, wow!, wouldn't you know it, that kid and his parents have access to that account.

2000 -- the top players in the country might squeeze $50,000 out of the schools and whatever free sneakers and athletic gear they want from the schools that are the most desperate to win with the caveat of "don't say a word about this to anyone, you hear?"

2010 -- the best players might still be getting $50,000, but schools are starting to rake in more and more money with the advent of regional, conference-heavy networks that pour millions of dollars into the athletic department's coffers.

2020 -- anyone making a Power 5 roster is thinking about and smelling money and not afraid to ask for it, but, still, most of the "real cash" is only going to the top players and it's still somewhere in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.

2025 -- schools are paying top players $3 million to play for them and dudes who were once upon a time middle of the road players are getting $100,000 per-season.

From "3 grand a month and a gift card to eat at the BBQ place whenever you want in 2020" to $2 million per-season in 2025. Almost overnight. It's insane.

The reality about "college" is this, though. It's been a bit of a ruse for a long time. Nothing really adds up squarely in college.

The tuitions are out of control. Kids are being asked to pay $60,000, $70,000 and $80,000 to get a degree and the general value of that degree is largely the same as it would be if, say, they attended a $30,000 year school.

And the tuition? No one really has to pay all of it. It's just a benchmark the schools use to coax people into thinking "we're better than that other school because we charge $67,000 and they charge $52,000."

I have a friend who has a child that got accepted to Brown University recently. I asked him what the tuition was at Brown.

"$71,000 for the school, another $25,000 for housing and food," he said, choking back tears.

"$71,000 for one year of school?" I asked.

"Yeah, but no one pays that," he replied. "We'll get about $35,000 of help if my kid winds up going there. There might be a few hundred full pays but that's only because they can afford it. The rest of the people get help from the school."

That kind of trickery funnels down to athletics, too, of course.

There's always been some chicanery going on when it comes to getting the best players to play for your school as opposed to your rival.

But most of it was done under the table and in dark rooms at parties somewhere on the outskirts of town.

Now, you have to give a 16-year old kid who probably still has his learner's permit "millions" of dollars just to get him to say "yes" and obligate himself to play basketball at your school for (pick one), one, two or three years.

These colleges have lost their minds. All of them.

faith in sports

In today's edition of #DMD, we're giving you the full length interview with Atlanta Falcons punter Bradley Pinion, who joined the guys at Sports Spectrum for an incredible 40 minute sitdown recently.

The best part of it all is it's kind of a 4-segment interview, so you can actually listen to it in short periods when you have the time, if you can't do all 40 minutes of it at once.

I love the stuff Sports Spectrum publishes, but this is one of their best interviews. Matt Forte gets into the subject of faith and testimony right away with Pinion. The opening 10 minutes is mostly about his journey to accept the Lord and how he surrounds himself with Jesus throughout his work day with the Falcons.

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

Thursday November 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4105

fleeced?

OK, you know what?

I've changed my mind on the Rodriguez-for-Ward trade.

I think the O's got completely fleeced.

There's no way they can give up a pitcher under control for ---------

I can't do it. I can't try to pull this off. I don't think the O's got fleeced at all.

I still think the deal is fine.

And that's only because I don't see Rodriguez ever being a 30-starts-per-season kind of pitcher. I won't call him "soft". That would be unfair. For all I know, he might be very tough. What he is, though, is injury prone.

Taylor Ward has his warts, like a significant number of Major League hitters do, but he's going to play every day (if you want him to) and he's going to hit you 20-plus homers and wield a reasonably competent bat four or five times a game.

During my weekly stint on Glenn Clark Radio yesterday, that's pretty much how I took the side of Ward and the Orioles in the deal that was announced on Tuesday evening.

Ward's going to play. Or, at the very least, his history says he'll play.

Rodriguez is a coin flip. Heads he'll make 8 starts, get hurt, miss two months, make 5 more starts, get hurt again and that's it for the season. Tails he makes 26 starts, misses a few weeks, and then makes 2 more to finish with 28 for the year.

Clark made an interesting observation about the deal. While he's concerned about giving up on a young player under team control for four more years, he contends Gray-Rod must be damaged goods if Ward was the only piece the Birds could get in exchange for the (once) talented right hander.

I see that logic. Wouldn't a healthy, hard-throwing, young right handed pitcher fetch more than a veteran outfielder with one year left on his deal who strikes out a lot? That doesn't seem like a terrible "take" from Clark or anyone else with the same mindset.

My guess is Mike Elias simply had enough of waiting around for Rodriguez to bloom into the pitcher everyone thought he might become and figured "addition by subtraction" by moving him on and bringing in Ward, who will at least see the field 5 or 6 times a week.

And as I told Clark, I'll take a good field player over a good pitcher any day of the week. Yes, I know you need pitching. I get that. But, again, you're talking about a pitcher who is "good" and no more than that -- and is only good if he's actually healthy enough to pitch.

Ward might only be "good", too, but he's good for 155 games.

I don't think Tuesday's trade suddenly makes the Birds a World Series threat or anything like that.

But I'm still of the mindset the O's got the better end of the deal. For now, at least.

The Steve Kerr/NBA story that circulated here yesterday brought up some interesting dialogue in the Comments section.

For once, some of you guys (gals) talked a little NBA here.

Some of it even made sense.

The main point of Steve Kerr's argument -- the players are "playing" too much and at too frenetic of a pace, thereby causing a larger number of injuries than usual -- didn't really get discussed much here.

What did make the rounds, though, was a discussion about the value of owners and the value of players and which of the two parties makes the league(s) successful.

I was far more focused on Kerr complaining that professional basketball players are being forced to -- wait for it -- play basketball and earn their living. It would be akin to me complaining about being up at (checks clock) 5:07 am to write, code and publish #DMD this morning.

I own a sports website. I create content. That's my job. Why complain?

Now, there's a physicality that accompanies basketball that I don't have as a sports "writer". I get that. But that's also why those guys are "athletes" and that's why the team has trainers and that's why they fly on private planes and, best of all, that's why they make $10 million or $20 million a year as opposed to me using coupons from Money Mailer for new gutters on my house.

Spare me the misery of playing four games in seven nights, coach. Tell your boys to toughen up a little and stretch for an extra 15 minutes before the game.

As Charley Eckman would say (and probably your grandfather, too), "Rub some dirt on it."

All that said, to go back to what most of you opined on yesterday, I don't think there's any debate about the most obvious point of them all: People who pay money for tickets and invest their time by watching the game(s) on TV aren't interested in watching the owners perform. They're interested in watching the players. That much is true.

I don't think the players are expendable. Not in the least. You have to have players to have a league. No one would pay top dollar to watch G-League basketball once they've seen the real NBA product. There's a massive difference in skill levels.

But I do think this about athletes in the four major sports: They're almost all overpaid. Every single one of them. In every league.

They're not playing baseball for $1 million, $5 million or $40 million because that's what that their occupation "merits". They're making that because that's what the business model yields.

I have a friend whose son is battling a serious illness right now and he's being tended to by some of the top doctors and neurologists in the area. Who should make $5 million? The doctor saving lives or the baseball player hitting .257?

But that's a story for another day.

Baseball players making $10 million would play for $5 million or $2.5 million if that's all that was available.

Are you telling me, for example, that if Major League Baseball went out of business tomorrow -- and I mean, out of business, no more games, no more teams, no more leagues -- that Mike Trout wouldn't play for $25 million if a new Major League Baseball circulated and the new owners said, "$25 million is the most we'll pay a player"?

Would Trout say, "I used to make $40 million in the old league. I refuse to play for $25 million." ??

I doubt it.

And maybe he's a bad example, because he's made enough money already that he doesn't need any more cash.

So let's pretend it's a guy who makes $10 million per-season and the "new league" comes along with a max offer of $6 million per-season. Is that player really going to refuse the $6 million? Of course not.

Basketball players are the same way. You're making $40 million per-season. The owners want to lower your salary to $25 million. Are you really turning down $25 million?

The players get what they get today because that's how it works. Their salaries and contractual terms are all connected to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

But the owners just keep paying more and more money and then they sit down and effectively say, "We'll let the fans pay the extra money. Just raise the ticket prices by $4.00 across the board next year."

The owners don't pay that kind of money to reward their friends. They pay that money because they want to win. Period.

That's why everyone went bats**t crazy in the NFL when the Browns forked over $230 million for Deshaun Watson. You start giving average dudes like that $230 million and you're in deep doo-doo.

"But we want to win!" Jimmy Haslem, Browns owner, probably quietly told his friends after the deal.

The problem? The Browns gave the wrong amount of money to the wrong guy. They were never winning with that guy at quarterback.

But Watson got paid and, at the same time, also reset the quarterback market for guys like Lamar, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and so on.

I like to see the players get their fair share. The key word there? "Fair". But then someone in the world of economics would roll in with the famous line: "You get whatever you can get".

It's just that sometimes they need to be reminded they're getting that "fair share" because the franchise has an owner who is bankrolling the whole thing until such a time as the team runs on its own.

The owners deserve to make whatever they can because they're the entrepreneur who "assumed the risk" upon buying the company. That's why the owner of any business usually drives a better car and has a better house than the folks who work for him or her.

And that's the way it should be. If you want to drive a better car and have a better house, you be the entrepreneur and start your own company someday in the future. Easy game.

But the biggest problem in sports is this. And the owners know it: There is no end to increasing salaries and team payrolls unless they can collectively bargain their way to it. The salaries in your line of work don't skyrocket every year or two or three, but they do in sports and the owners know it and they know they can't do anything about it unless they do something drastic.

Meanwhile, you'll be watching some of the baseball playoffs next year on NBC Peacock at $7.99 a month, so you better get ready to help pay the freight even more than you already do.

Wednesday November 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4104

"it's all too much" doesn't apply to #dmd

Big news came through just before midnight on Tuesday evening as the O's shipped frustrating starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the L.A. Angels for outfielder Taylor Ward.

From 2024 to 2025, Ward slashed .237/.320/.450 with 61 home runs and 178 RBIs for the Angels.

He played mainly in left field for the Angels but came up as a catcher and infielder after being drafted in the first round back in 2015.

Ward is a legitimate big league ball player. Unlike Tyler O'Neill, last winter's free agent outfield splash, Ward actually plays in the games. In 2025, he appeared in 157 of L.A.'s 162 games.

The departure of Gray-Rod is a clear sign the Orioles reached the "give up stage" with the oft-injured right hander. Once figured to be a mainstay at the top of the team's rotation, he couldn't stay healthy long enough to show what he could potentially do as a starter.

But his departure also puts additional pressure on Mike Elias to beef up the team's rotation for 2026.

Ward's arrival could mean the Birds are planning to package either Colton Cowser or Dylan Beavers in a hot stove trade for pitching. Or, even more practical, Elias just assumes O'Neill will only play 50 games in 2026 and he needs three or four veteran outfielders to complete the '26 campaign.

It's fair to point out that Ward is in the final year of a contract and will eventually be a "rental" for the O's in 2026. Rodriguez is under team control for four more years.

Time will tell if this was the right move for the O's, but the clock had run out on having patience for Rodriguez. Getting Ward in return for him, at least for one season, seems like a win for the Birds.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was back at it again yesterday, complaining that the NBA's arduous playing and travel schedule has contributed to more soft tissue injuries than ever before.

"It's all too much," Kerr told reporters on Tuesday. "Games, travel, fewer off days, more games. The players can't handle the increased demands and workload and the stats bear that out."

I don't even know what to say.

Sometimes, in situations like these, I feel like you're better off not saying anything because virtually any reply you give that isn't just a thumbs-up-agreement will be looked at as cold and callous.

Like, if you said, for example, "Oh, please. You're making $25 million running around on a basketball court for 48 minutes a few nights a week. Cry me a river." That kind of commentary might be deemed harsh.

Kerr contends players are simply suffering from the strains of more games and fewer offer days, then in the same breath he accepts that any change to the schedule is nearly impossible because of..........money.

"The tricky part is all the constituents would have to agree to take less revenue," Kerr said. "In 2025 in America, good luck in any industry. Imagine some big company saying, 'You know what, we're not as concerned about our stock price. We're actually concerned with employing people and giving people a stable job and making our product better.' That's not happening. You know that."

Kerr, I'm sure, would argue that the league should reduce the number of games but keep paying players the same amount of money they make now with an 82-game schedule.

The owners, I'm also certain, would be happy to shorten the season to, say 76 games (from 82) as long as the players would accept a 6-game pay slash. Heck, truth be told, only about 60 of the NBA games really matter for most teams.

To wit, the season is almost 20% complete, games wise, and already there are eight teams who won't even remotely threaten 30 wins this sesason. They might not even come close to 25 wins.

Washington (1-12), Indiana (1-13), Brooklyn (2-12), New Orleans (2-12), Sacramento (3-11) and Dallas (4-11) are all finished for the year and we haven't even reached Thanksgiving.

If you asked those six owners if they want the season to be 82 games or 62 games -- along with a 20-game salary slash across the board -- I'm pretty sure they'd say "slash". But then, they'd probably be getting less revenue and less TV money, which is sorta-kinda what Kerr was trying to say.

Would the players play for $10 million per-season instead of $15 million per-season if it meant playing 6 or 8 fewer games? I have no idea, but that's the concept they'd have to embrace.

In the meantime, nothing is changing in the immediate future and NBA players are going to have to continue to suffer along with playing 3 or 4 games per-week and raking in $20 million, $30 million or $40 million for six months of (hard?) work.

I feel terrible for them.

One thing we won't complain about here is taking too many questions from you all, which brings us around to another "Mailbag" entry here at #DMD today.

If you have a question for a future Q&A here, send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to get it in: 18inarow@gmail.com

Bart asks -- "Do you think Harbaugh's job is safe for 2026 now that the Ravens have turned things around or does he still have to make the playoffs to return next season?"

DF says -- "Fair question. Unless something really wacky happens, they're going to finish at least 9-8, if not 10-7. 10-7 would put them right in the thick of the playoff race. Heck, 9-8 could be enough to win the AFC North the way the Steelers are playing.

I said earlier in the season that I assume Harbaugh is safe unless they completely derail and go 5-12 or 6-11. But that's not going to happen. So, yes, John will be back (if he wants to be back) for another year of fun in 2026.

Steve's not firing John because a few hundred airheads in town think John is clueless."

John L. asks -- "What percentage chances do you give that the Orioles sign a front line, big name starting pitcher?"

DF says -- "I assume you're talking about Valdez or Cease, the two biggest names who will be peddling themselves this winter.

I'd say the chances of landing one of those two, specifically, are 20%. I mean, if you're one of those two guys, wouldn't you rather go to the Dodgers or Yankees? Baltimore isn't exactly a prime landing spot for a free agent.

But it's a money game, too, and if the Orioles offer Valdez $200 million for 6 years, they might just get him.

Now, it's fair to point out the Orioles have never paid a baseball player $200 million or more. It would certainly be new territory for them. But they also know they're not getting Valdez or Cease on the cheap.

I think they'll sign a veteran pitcher or two. I'd say overall there's a 75% chance they'll land someone decent (other than Valdez/Cease) because they do have the money to spend and they know they have to improve their rotation.

I've said since mid-September the guy I'd center on would be ex-Padres pitcher Michael King. If they don't get Valdez or Cease and they get King, I'd be fine with that."

Mitch asks -- "Hey DF, settle a friendly tailgate bet for us. Right now, Super Bowl on the line, one drive to go 80 yards and win, who are your top 3 quarterbacks in the NFL to get your offense into the end zone?"

DF says -- "Do you mean with a competent offensive line and legitimate wide receivers? Or do you mean with their current team and offense as it presently lines up?

In general, I'd say this: Mahomes, Allen and Stafford.

If you're asking about specific 2025 offenses, I'd probably go Allen, whomever is QB'ing the Bengals, and Stafford.

It seems weird to not have Lamar and the Ravens offense in there, but there's nothing at all, historically, to suggest that a Ravens offense under Lamar can put up points in the playoffs/Super Bowl.

That said, Baltimore's current offense -- last Sunday's sluggish effort and sub-par performance from Lamar notwithstanding -- is as good as any in the league. The right side of the o-line isn't very good, we all know that. But you have a top running back, top quarterback and some incredibly reliable wide receivers and tight ends.

The proof will be in the pudding in January. Can the Ravens finally break the post-season hex and get to the Super Bowl with Lamar under center? We'll see about that."

Steve G. asks -- "Any thoughts on the PGA Tour season for 2026 and who might break out and have a big year (other than Scottie and Rory, obviously)?"

DF says -- "I'm not going to pick Cantlay. I'll say that right away. I'm done picking him to finally break through with a major championship or two.

I have three "weird feelings" about the 2026 season.

First, I think Adam Scott is going to win something big. Maybe even another major championship.

It seems kind of crazy that someone with a golf swing as good as Scott's will only win one major in his 30-year career. I know he's getting older, but he can still win.

I also think a college player will be in the last three groups at the U.S. Open with a chance to win. I don't know who that will be because there are 20 great players still in school who could fit that bill, but these kids are so good now it's crazy not to think one of them could hang around at the U.S. Open.

But the answer to your question is: Keegan Bradley.

Whether that's a repayment by the golf gods for the way his players laid an egg on Friday and Saturday at the Ryder Cup or just a "career year" for a very underrated player, I think Bradley is poised to have a huge year in 2026.

He's quietly been one of the best ball strikers on the PGA Tour over the last few seasons. I think he puts it all together in 2026 and has a great year with a few wins and perhaps even a major."

R.C. asks -- "Why do you think it is that Baltimore only has one sports talk radio station?"

DF says -- "Advertising dollars, mainly. I just don't think there are enough dollars to go around for an all-sports station to survive and thrive.

Several stations in town have the signal and bandwidth to compete in the "all sports" category, but they've found politics and current events to be much easier from a sales standpoint.

Political radio is an easy sell these days. Just pick which side you're on and align yourself with sponsors of the same political alignment. You won't get the other half of the advertising money out there because it's going to "the other guy", but you can survive with just one side of the political world supporting you.

There are plenty of talented people in Baltimore to fill the airwaves. I watch a bunch of different videocasts/podcasts every week and there are a number of "amateurs" operating out of their basement or living room who create very good content and know their stuff.

But the question is...will a company spend $25,000 a year sponsoring their show and/or their radio station? Anyone can sit in their basement and do great content. But it has no value if it can't be sold to an advertising partner.

I think competition is good. It's a shame there aren't two or three all-sports stations in town. Alas, I think we're a one-station-all-sports city for the long haul."

Mike S. asks -- "If you would, please include this in your Q&A column in the future. You and I share similar music tastes so I'm interested in your over rated or under rated take on these five bands. Genesis, Dire Straits, REM, The Eagles and The Police. Thanks, Drew."

DF says -- "This is easy. None of them are overrated. No way.

Genesis was amazing. "And Then There Were Three" is a top 20 album of my lifetime.

Dire Straits were also outstanding. They might have been the least accomplished, commercially, of the five bands you gave me, but they were awesome.

REM was the best of the five you listed. "Lifes Rich Pageant" and "Out of Time" were amazing albums. So was "Automatic for the People". REM's best 12 songs are as good as any bands best 12 songs. Just an unreal band and sound.

I was a little late to the party on The Eagles, but I've really grown to appreciate them over the last 10 years. I mean, "Hotel California" is on everyone's top 20 album list. But they had other solid albums in addition to that one.

And The Police were absolutely fantastic. They just kept putting out great album after great album. Not one of their five albums was a stinker. They were all great. Beyond great. Incredibly talented musicians. Arguably the second best three-man-band behind, of course, Rush."

Tuesday November 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4103

to confront or not to confront

The Draymond Green story from last weekend in New Orleans is probably the most interesting thing to happen in the "Association" over the last 7 days.

I guess some people would argue that and say it's the ongoing gambling investigation that has now centered on two employees of the Los Angeles Lakers, but that's a down-the-road story that I'm sure we'll eventually have to tackle here at #DMD.

For now, the Draymond Green incident is "current news". It just happened. And the league today announced they will not fine Green for interacting with an overzealous fan who got under the Golden State veteran's skin during the recent game with the Pelicans.

The league offically called it a "warning" to Green. It came as a result of a fan under the basket repeatedly calling Green "Angel Reese" because he had significant rebounding stats but no scoring totals in the game.

Green "let it go the first couple of times because it was funny", but then approached the fan and got in his face after the chanting continued into the second quarter.

There was no physical contact between the two, but the situation was escalating until Golden State players and game officials stepped in between the two men.

Golden State head coach Steve Kerr didn't seem too worried about it.

"As long as it doesn't escalate, it's fine for a player to go over and have a discussion," Kerr said. "It would have been nice if security had gotten there a little bit earlier."

Is it "fine" for a player to approach and physically encounter a fan?

And.......

Is it "fine" for a fan to berate and antagonize a player and expect no sort of repercussion from that incident?

Quite the slippery slope, eh?

In terms of Green, if he was willing to laugh it off and accept it the first time or three, what's the difference? I mean, I get it, sometimes you can only take so much trolling before it lights your fire, but if the "Angel Reese" comment was that irritating, wouldn't it have been irritating at the jump instead of 20 minutes later?

That said, you can't go to a sporting event and believe you have carte blanche to just say or do whatever you want. I mean, you can believe that to be true if you want, but the real world actually doesn't work that way.

There's that famous 4-letter acronym kids are using these days -- FAFO.

If you do mess around long enough, you eventually do find out that maybe you overstepped the line.

Fortunately, Green backed out of the situation and order was restored.

I assume someone got to the mouthy guy and got him to also participate in the peace treaty. The rest of the game carried on without incident.

But today, the NBA came down on Green with a "warning", which probably has about the same impact as getting a warning for going 76 in a 55 mph zone.

"Yeah, thanks, I'll be more careful next time..."

But if you had to choose sides and put one person in the wrong, here, who would it be?

Green, with the rabbit ears?

Or the mouthy fan who wanted a response and got one, but looked like a jerk in the meantime?

If you pressed me to push one of the two buttons, I'd push "the fan is wrong" button. Go to the game, cheer for your team, jeer the other team if you want, but do so with a morsel of decency for the mere fact that they're human beings.

Draymond Green didn't do anything to that dude except haul in several rebounds and fail to score a point.

And for that, he got berated, which is part of the business.

But at some point, call off the dogs and move on to another player who is 3-for-his-last-11 or just missed four straight foul shots.

Or............

FAFO.

---

your first look at the rest of the season

OK, as we saw on Sunday in Cleveland, where the Ravens escaped with a lucky well-earned but uncomfortable victory over the Browns, all it takes is one shaky day on offense and a few turnovers and any game can potentially be lost.

The Ravens have a homecoming game against the Jets this Sunday that should get them to 6-5. From there, it's going to be an interesting race for either the AFC North title or a wild card playoff spot.

For John Harbaugh's team, it's not only a race to either 12-5, 11-6 or 10-7, but they have to keep an eye on about six other teams in the AFC.

The other three divisions are about 80% locked up. New England (9-2) is rolling in the East, Indianapolis (8-2) is cruising in the South and Denver (9-2) is rolling along nicely in the West.

For purposes of this content here today, we're going to assume those three teams hold on and win their respective divisions.

Even if they don't, somehow, all three of them are then likely to snag Wild Card playoff spots with 11 wins. But for now, let's just play along as if New England, Indy and Denver are your three division winners.

Here's how the rest of the AFC shapes up over the final two months of the season.

Pittsburgh (6-4) -- at Chicago, vs. Buffalo, at Baltimore, vs. Miami, at Detroit, at Cleveland, vs. Baltimore

Buffalo (7-3) -- at Houston, at Pittsburgh, vs. Cincinnati, at New England, at Cleveland, vs. Philadelphia, vs. NY Jets

Jacksonville (6-4) -- at Arizona, at Tennessee, vs. Indianapolis, vs. NY Jets, at Denver, at Indianapolis, vs. Tennessee

Houston (5-5) -- vs. Buffalo, at Indianapolis, at Kansas City, vs. Arizona, vs. Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, vs. Indianapolis

L.A. Chargers (7-4) -- vs. Las Vegas, vs. Philadelphia, at Kansas City, at Dallas, vs. Houston, at Denver

Kansas City (5-5) -- vs. Indianapolis, at Dallas, vs. Houston, vs. L.A. Chargers, at Tennessee, vs. Denver, at Las Vegas

OK, so what do you see at first blush from those schedules?

Here are the things I see:

Houston has the toughest road in my opinion. They have 5 wins and need to go 5-2 in their last 7 to get to 10-7. Where are they getting 5 wins out of that schedule they're going to face? They're out.

Jacksonville has 6 wins and there are 4 games on their schedule they should win to get to 10; at Arizona, at Tennessee, vs. the Jets and vs. Tennessee. That said, they're the Jaguars. They'll lose at least one of those they shouldn't and they'll have to beat Indy in the final game to finish 10-7. If they don't, they'll end the season at 9-8.

Kansas City has 5 wins and they only have 3 lay-ups remaining. Houston, at Tennessee, at Las Vegas. And that only gets them to 8. So they have to win those 3 and then at least 2 of these games; vs. Indy, at Dallas, vs. LAC, vs. Denver. They'll figure out a way to finish 10-7, I'm guessing.

Buffalo will figure out a way to get to at least 11 wins. At the very worst, they're going to finish 10-7. But I think 11-6 is more likely for them and 12-5 certainly isn't out of the question.

The Chargers are going to be hard pressed to win 10 games, even though they have 7 wins right now. I'll give them the Vegas game in L.A. next weekend. That's 8. But where are the other two wins coming from? Best case for them is definitely 10-7 and that's if they pull a rabbit out of their hat against Kansas City or Denver on the road.

And that leaves us with Pittsburgh...

They have 6 wins now. They'll need at least 11 to win the division and one of those has to come against the Ravens at the very least. There's about a 10% chance they can go 5-2 with that schedule they're facing. So 11-6 is out.

Can they go 10-7? They have to win 4 of 7. Here's who they AREN'T beating. Buffalo (home), Ravens (away), Detroit (away). So they have to sweep those other 4 games; at Chicago, home vs. Miami, at Cleveland and home vs. Baltimore.

They're not winning those 4 games.

Pittsburgh's going to finish 9-8 unless they beat Buffalo or Detroit. And they have to win in Chicago this weekend just to get/keep the ball rolling. And that's not a guarantee, either.

The Ravens, of course, have their work cut out for themselves as well, but their schedule is VERY favorable as long as they don't goof up and lose one of the easy games against the Jets or Bengals (twice). But even then, that's only 8 wins. They still need two more against either Pittsburgh (twice), Green Bay or New England.

When it's all said and done, the Ravens will finish 10-7, I think. It seems that asking them to go 6-1 over their last seven games with their inefficient offensive line and lack of pressure on the opposing quarterback is just too ambitious.

Buffalo and Kansas City are going to make it to at least 10 wins, if not 11.

There's one playoff spot left, basically between the 2nd place AFC North team, Jacksonville and the Chargers.

As long as one of those two teams doesn't get to 11 wins, the 2nd place AFC North team (Baltimore or Pittsburgh) has a definite chance of snagging that other post-season berth.

Winning football games on your own and not relying on the other teams to do your dirty work is always a good recipe.

For the Ravens, the recipe is simple. 11 wins will virtually guarantee them the division title. 10 wins will probably give them at least a 75% chance of making the playoffs, assuming that 10 wins doesn't also give them the division. With Pittsburgh destined for 9-8 or 10-7, who knows what the AFC North division winner might finish with, record wise?

It could also come down to the tiebreaker scenario(s) if the best the Ravens can do is 10-7.

The Ravens should be gunning for an 11-6 finish (or 12-5, obviously).

That record will leave almost nothing at all to chance.

Anything less than 11-6 leaves room for missing the post-season in Charm City.

---

The University of Maryland doubled down on head coach Mike Locksley last week and also pledged to give him more money to spend on on football players in the wake of another less-than-stellar season in College Park.

That's the new way of fixing a problem in college sports.

"Just throw more money at them."

In fairness to Maryland, they're not the only school who has assumed that posture these days.

Virginia Tech just hired James Franklin, the erstwhile head coach of Penn State, and also threw in the obligatory line of "The athletic department is prepared to provide Coach Franklin with the financial support he needs to bring the best student-athletes to Blacksburg to help create a winning culture at Virginia Tech."

It's the newest, best way to deal with losing. Just hit the boosters and donors up for more cash with the promise that "this kid is going to really be something special here".

If only throwing more money at the problem worked, right?

I mean, it probably did help schools 30 years ago when some of the schools were cheating a little and some were cheating a lot and some were just doing whatever they wanted.

The schools that cheated a lot always won and the schools that cheated a little or hardly at all didn't win as much.

Now, when everyone can back up the Brinks truck for a starry-eyed high school kid out of Johnson City, Tennessee or White Fish Bay, Wisconsin, the landscape has changed.

He's going where the winning happens, I'm guessing.

I hope Maryland turns the tide and gets things moving in a positive direction down there. I really do. I've lamented here quite often about how sad it is that our "market" doesn't have a big time college football program to love on every fall.

But Maryland is and will always be #20 on some kid's "wish list" when it comes to a level playing field and evaluating offers from various schools.

"Let's see, I can get $2 million from Ohio State, Clemson, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, UCLA, Oregon and.........Maryland."

Nervously taps his fingers on the desk while his parents eagerly await his decision...

"You know what? I think I'm going to Maryland!"

I'll believe it when I see it.

We will have an edition of "Happy Hour" here later this afternoon at #DMD.

Monday November 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4102

it's perfectly ok to admit it

It's always hard for people to admit they were "lucky" when something falls their way.

I've never quite understood that.

Yesterday at Pinehurst #7, for example, I hit a tee ball on the par 5 8th hole that was too close to the treeline that borders the right side of the fairway. About 200 yards off the tee, the ball plowed into a tall pine with that distinctive "clack!" sound and then there was a second of anticipation.

The ball was either going right, out of bounds, or left, into the fairway.

It banged perfectly off the tee, went left, caught a nice slope on the right side of the hole and rolled out another 50 yards or so, leaving me 220 into the hole.

"What a great bounce!" one of my playing partners said.

"Better to be lucky than good looking," I announced to the other three, using a familiar golf phrase that's put into play for times like that one.

I went on to make a routine par on the hole, taking full advantage of the luck I received when the ball hit the tree a few minutes prior.

I surely would have preferred good luck (fairway) to bad luck (out of bounds) there. There would never be a moment where I would write down a "5" on the card, erase it, and say, "You know what, give me a 7 there. I really did deserve a double-bogey after cutting the corner too close on my drive and hitting that tree."

Good luck over bad luck. Every single time.

So.......with that said.

The Ravens were lucky yesterday.

It's a win. It counts. They beat the Browns, 23-16. A win is a win is a win.

But they were very lucky.

It's rare in the NFL when you win a game that you don't truly deserve to win. Usually, like in yesterday's case, the team that coughs up the football three or four times in the game will almost always lose.

I don't have the energy or ability to look this one up, but I bet the win percentage for a team that turns the ball over three times (and, really, it was four times if you count that goof jumping offsides on the punt as a turnover, which it basically was) in a game to be less than 10% in the history of the league.

90% of the time, a team that turns the ball over in excess of three times in 60 minutes will lose that game. (That's just a guess, again, it could be 5% or 20% for all I know).

But not yesterday.

I have no idea if Dillon Gabriel would have done enough to lead the Browns to a win yesterday, but the Ravens were very lucky he had to leave the game at halftime. Not because he was doing anything great. I think he might have been 7 of 10 in 30 minutes of action.

The Ravens were lucky because Gabriel left and Shedeur Sanders took his spot. Cooper Rush Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip would have done better than Sanders.

Maybe the Ravens still win if Gabriel plays the second half. But there was zero chance Shedeur Sanders was leading Cleveland to a win.

The "Hurricane" play that resulted in a Mark Andrews touchdown? Outstanding play call, obviously. Terrific execution on the field by all involved. Todd Monken haters had to get up and poop in the middle of the night because they ate four slices of humble pie after that sequence in the 4th quarter of the win.

But it's a "one and done" play, now. It can't be used again. I'm not suggesting it was the wrong time to do it. If that's what you think you had to do to win the game, so be it. But, man, that one would have come in very handy on the 40 yard line against the Chiefs in the playoffs in January, don't you think?

More good luck for the Ravens, though. They pulled out a once-a-year play and it actually worked. Awesome stuff luck.

There were other elements of luck in the game that were really more "rub of the green" (to borrow a golf term...look it up if you don't know what it means) that also fell in favor of the Ravens.

There were several first-half pass interference calls not called against Baltimore. Yes, that was also pass interference on Tylan Wallace late in the game. I agree with that. But in the first half, it looked like Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier were the officials.

That fourth quarter punt where the refs said the dude stepped on the end line and moved the ball from the one to the twenty yard line?

Man, I don't know about that one. I think the replay gods must have owed us one from a review last year and yesterday was the one they decided to give us as repayment.

John Harbaugh's team got the benefit of one inch and some really good luck on that one.

Defensively yesterday, the Ravens were solid. But, again, they were playing an offense that might only score 21 points on the University of Maryland.

Offensively, the Ravens were a bore.

There were two big plays in the game. The long run by Derrick Henry to set up another field goal after the Baltimore red zone offense fizzled (again). And the long throw and run to Zay Flowers that set up the first Ravens TD of the game in the second quarter.

Other than that -- and the fake tush-push game-winner -- the Ravens offense was flatter than flat.

Now, it's fair to point out that Cleveland's defense is legit and Myles Garrett is a complete beast. It also helps that Garrett was dealing with turnstiles on the Baltimore offensive line. He feasted with a fork in each hand yesterday.

But if the Ravens play virtually any other team in football yesterday, given the mistakes they made, they lose.

Just as we thought a month ago, Baltimore has reeled off four straight wins to get back to 5-5. And, just like we said back then, they'll take care of the next two at home to get to 7-5.

But from 7-5, they're in a tight spot thereafter, because it's VERY possible a 10-7 record won't get them into the playoffs if one of those two additional losses comes at the hands of the Steelers.

Three teams that have already played and defeated the Ravens are possibly going to finish 10-7 or better; Kansas City, Buffalo and, believe it or not, Houston. The Chargers could also be a 10-7 team. So, too, could the Jaguars. The Ravens don't play either of them, though.

The Ravens can afford one more loss for sure. That wouldn't be a back breaker.

But if they go 10-7 (and don't win the division, obviously), they might miss out on the playoffs.

They'll need more luck along the way, I'm guessing.

Good luck, that is. Not bad luck.

Yesterday was about as lucky as a team can get. But better to be 5-5 than 4-6.

The Ravens hit that tree on the 8th hole yesterday and still managed to make a par.

Good luck is always better than bad luck.

Sunday November 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4101

"come on man, we're not losing to the browns"

While putting on the massive putting green at Pinehurst on a Chamber of Commerce afternoon yesterday, I befriended a foursome from, of all places, Cleveland.

We did the golf small talk first. You know, "What course did you guys play today? How'd you like #2? Were the greens fast? Where are you playing tomorrow?"

Then it shifted to the question you almost always ask a stranger at Pinehurst.

"Where are you guys from?" one of them asked me.

"We're all from Baltimore," I said, motioning to the 8 of us who were engaged in a late day putting contest.

"Ohhhhhhhh, we can't be friends tomorrow," one of them said, laughing.

"We're from Cleveland," one of the other guys deadpanned.

And so, we spent the next few minutes chatting about today's game in Cleveland.

"You guys are coming in cocky," one of them said. "Don't take us lightly."

"Is Lamar playing or does he still have that fake hamstring injury?" one said while he took down a cup of beer in three big gulps.

The others laughed at that poke at Jackson, who missed three games earlier in the season with a hamstring injury.

I don't really care when people say dumb stuff about "Baltimore athletes". If you think Lamar faked that injury, I don't really care at all. You're not going to get me to engage with you when I know you're wrong and all you're trying to do is troll.

I feel the same way about people who (still) bring up Ray Lewis and "murder". It used to aggravate the snot out of me when people would say, "Yeah, and Ray Lewis murdered a guy and got away with it," but now I just don't care.

If you want to be an idiot and think Ray Lewis actually took out a knife and stabbed a guy, then just continue being an idiot.

So when the guy made the Lamar quip, the "old Drew" probably would have jabbed back with something snippy about Deshaun Watson.

The "new Drew" just doesn't have enough energy to argue with some goof about Lamar faking an injury. It's ludicrous to even consider, let alone actually speak into existence.

As the Cleveland foursome got ready to start the putting contest they were involved in, one of the guys who hadn't said a word finally chimed in.

"We're better than our record shows and you guys are worse than your record shows," he said.

And that's when I decided to put an end to the conversation.

"You guys aren't beating the Ravens tomorrow (today)," I said. "You couldn't even beat the freakin' Jets last week."

"You'll see," the guy sniped back. "You guys really aren't that good."

"Come on, man. We're not losing to the Browns," I shot back.

As we both plodded our way around the putting green, I could hear them chirping about the back-and-forth we had a few minutes earlier.

I felt kind of bad for those four guys, actually. I mean, they were all in their 20's and definitely Browns "fans" and ardent followers of the NFL. And for the better part of two decades now, they've been saddled with horrendous football after horrendous football.

We've been so blessed in Baltimore compared to what they've had to deal with in Northern Ohio.

Those four will be rooting for a last place (ish) football team for the next fives, probably. They're never any good, really. They might have a year once or twice a decade where they're actually overly competent, but those campaigns are very rare indeed.

And today, as I'm sure you'll agree, should be another rear-end-kicking for the Browns. There's just no way they can score enough points to offset what the Ravens will manage over the course of 60 minutes.

The only way Cleveland wins today is if they somehow totally squash Lamar and Derrick Henry and they squeak out two touchdowns and a field goal of their own and the Ravens lose, 17-16.

I'm not seeing it that way. I don't see any way the Ravens lose today. But if they were to somehow lose, it would be because Cleveland's defense puts up a virtuoso performance both stopping the run and the pass and I don't see that taking place.

This one "feels" like another fairly convincing win for Baltimore, in a similar way to the fashion in which they disposed of Minnesota last Sunday.

It might be 13-10 Ravens at the half or 13-6 or something like that.

But, barring an injury to Lamar, he's going to slice and dice through the Cleveland defense with his legs and his arm.

Jackson throws 2 TD's and finishes the day with 277 yards in the air.

Henry runs for a TD and hits the 100-yard mark in the 4th quarter on his way to a 119 yard afternoon carrying the ball.

The Ravens defense accounts for two turnovers on the afternoon.

Tyler Loop goes 3-for-3 in field goal attempts.

The Ravens win comfortably, 30-13, to finally get back to that elusive .500 mark at 5-5.

around the nfl

Commanders (3-7) at Dolphins (3-7) in Spain -- Another one of those international games that very few of us actually pay attention to in the U.S. This is the "Who Cares?" bowl. I mean, both of these teams are D-O-N-E. We'll go with Washington in a thriller, 22-20.

Panthers (5-5) at Falcons (3-6) -- The Falcons are, I think, officially the "weirdest" team in the league in 2025. The Panthers might not be far behind, actually. I'm trying to figure out who is going to win and I think have it down. Follow along. Atlanta should win this game. But because they should win the game, that means Carolina is probably going to win. And, yet, it's one of those things where you think Carolina is going to win so you really SHOULD pick Atlanta so you don't cough up an easy win when the Falcons are victorious. Got it? Atlanta wins this one, 20-17.

Buccaneers (6-3) at Bills (6-3) -- Tampa Bay was hot-to-trot until Mike Evans got hurt. That was a season-zapper for them, I'm afraid. Buffalo is now looking up at New England in a big way and this almost becomes a "must win" game for them. We'll take Buffalo here, 30-22.

Texans (4-5) at Titans (1-8) -- I just don't think Tennessee is going to keep losing every week. At some point, their chakras will be in line. And I think that's this week. The Titans sneak out a 21-20 win.

Bears (6-3) at Vikings (4-5) -- I can't believe I'm writing this, but the Bears are within a grasp of a playoff spot at the season's halfway point. This is a huge game for them today, as it would not only give 7 wins but it would really set Minnesota back. But if the Vikings win, they have 5 losses and Chicago would then have 4. Minnesota can't be as bad as they looked last week against the Ravens, but I'm going with Chicago here, 26-23.

Packers (5-3-1) at Giants (2-8) -- Coach gets fired earlier in the week, team always responds on Sunday for the new guy. Right? Right. New York stuns Green Bay with a 24-17 win. Packers are in trouble.

Bengals (3-6) at Steelers (5-4) -- Both of these teams are in need of a win in a big way today. The Bengals season would almost be over with a loss and the Steelers have to win out at home and still a game or two on the road to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh can not afford to lose today. And they won't. Steelers 30 - Bengals 27.

Chargers (7-3) at Jaguars (5-4) -- That second half choke job in Houston last week must still be eating at Jacksonville, right? I mean, that was a historical fourth quarter collapse. The Chargers are fighting with K.C. and Denver in the AFC West. This is a game that Los Angeles should win. Alas, they won't. Jacksonville 24 - Los Angeles 23.

Seahawks (7-2) at Rams (7-2) -- Which of these teams is "really the real deal"? I think they're both good. But I'm taking L.A. even though they're prone to the occasional home divisional loss. Los Angeles wins this one 23-16.

49'ers (6-4) at Cardinals (3-6) -- Arizona can't afford to lose this one. San Franciso can't, either. But they're both going in different directions. San Francisco still harbors hopes of winning the division. Arizona would like to finish at 10-7 or 9-8 and see where their post-season chips fall. 49'ers win this one in OT, 24-21.

Chiefs (5-4) at Broncos (8-2) -- Denver's 5-0 at home this season. If they just win out at home, that will give them a minimum of 11 wins on the season and a sure-thing playoff spot. Kansas City needs this one today if they really believe they can win the division and have a home playoff game. It "feels" like the tide is turning in the West and it's now Denver's division to lose, but the Chiefs aren't going to give up their top perch that easily. Kansas City wins in a shootout, 36-30.

Lions (6-3) at Eagles (7-2) -- I think Philly's a paper tiger. And I think Detroit has what it takes to be the best team in the NFC. Detroit goes in there today and thumps their chest a little bit. Lions 31 - Eagles 21.

Cowboys (3-5-1) at Raiders (2-7) -- Man, I bet you can't wait to stay up until 11:15 pm on Monday night to see who wins this one, eh? What a complete dud. Dallas wins 27 - 19.

Saturday November 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4100

the pledge and rob fahey

If you were a listener to my radio show circa 2010, you saw the headline above and immediately knew what I was referencing.

If you didn't listen, you're probably thinking "what pledge and who is Rob Fahey?"

"The pledge" was the Pledge of Allegiance.

"Rob Fahey" was the lead singer of a local band called "The Ravyns" who gave us the hit song, "Raised on the Radio", which gained international fame as part of the soundtrack to the incredibly funny movie, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High".

Rob is still alive and well here in The Land of Pleasant Living and still gets out and sings and plays the guitar on occasion. I'm endeavoring to catch up with him for an edition of "Live from Parkville" sometime soon.

Why do I bring those two things up?

For no reason in particular, other than a trip down memory lane.

Several of the men on this trip I'm on down in Pinehurst, NC weren't in Baltimore 15 years ago and didn't know of my show. A few guys on the trip were in the area and were listeners.

Yesterday, one of them asked, "Why did you start your show every day with the Pledge of Allegiance and Raised on the Radio?

"Wait," one of them said. "You said the Pledge of Allegiance on the radio? And no one gave you grief for that?"

It's true that these days people are skittish about reciting the Pledge, which seems kind of weird since, well, you know, you're actually IN the United States. But folks over the last two or three decades have turned away from "praising" our country, the flag and the Pledge, which is bizzarro-world stuff to me, but......anyway.

"I never asked anyone if I could do it," I told a couple of the guys yesterday. "I just started doing it and figured it was OK. I mean, if you can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance..." I left the rest of that comment lingering in the air.

For those that don't remember, one of the things some of the nut jobs opposed about the Pledge was the use of "under God" in the contents.

So, if you were a listener and remember this, I would say, "one nation" and then always take a brief pause at that moment and raise my voice a level of two and say..."UNDER GOD"...and then move on and finish reciting the Pledge.

It was definitely my way of saying to folks, "Not only am I going to proudly recite the Pledge, I'm also going to VERY boldly say "Under God" and go on from there."

Here's a pull-back-the-curtain slice of truth from that moment.

The show started every morning at 6:04 am. I would play "Raised on the Radio" at the start of every show. At 6:07:47, the song would end and I would open the microphone.

"Alright, what a way to start the morning. Let's get started like we always do. Gentlemen, remove your hats and please stand for the Pledge."

And I would take off my hat and stand in the studio, put my right hand over my heart and say the Pledge.

Then I would sit back down and go to work.

On almost every morning I did that, I would always wonder: "I'd love to know how many other men listening to the show right now took off their hat and/or stood up and put their hand over their heart while saying the Pledge just now?"

It never dawned on me at all that anyone within station management would have objected to me reciting the Pledge. But, again, I never asked for permission. I just did it.

I also have wondered in the last 11 years what I would have done had the owner or the station general manager called me in after the show one morning and said, "Yo, man, you can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance on the air."

I think that would have been a draw-a-line-in-the-sand kind of moment for me. But, fortunately and thankfully, that never happened.

I used "Raised on the Radio" every single morning as well.

I love that song.

It was -- pulling back the curtain again -- an ode to my mother, who passed away in 1987 when I was 24 years old.

My mom and I would listen to the radio together all the time when I was a kid. Back in those days, WCAO (AM 600) was the "hot station" for music, believe it or not. We would sit at the kitchen table together and take in Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every Saturday or Sunday and debate where "Philadelphia Freedom" or "Rocky Mountain High" belonged in this week's countdown.

We listened to Orioles and Colts games together on the radio.

As I got older, I became addicted to listening to hockey games on the radio. Mostly the Capitals with Ron Weber on WTOP, but I would also listen to the french broadcast of Canadiens' games and the Boston station that carried Bruins hockey came in loud and clear on my radio in Glen Burnie.

I grew up with the radio. I was, very accurately, raised on the radio.

I love that song by The Ravyns.

And I started every show with it in memory of my mother and to also piece together, hopefully, the local angle of the radio show I was doing. The Ravyns, a Baltimore band, creating a massive international hit, kicking off a Baltimore radio show every morning. How could you not think that was a perfect fit?

Again, like the Pledge, I didn't ask to use the song. I just played it and hoped it was acceptable to use.

Years later, of course, when I met Rob Fahey, I said, "I don't know how much I owe you guys for playing this every morning for 7 years...probably like two million dollars or soemthing" and he laughed and said, "We were honored that you did that."

That meant a lot to me. That Fahey and his band were "honored" to have me use their song as my show opener was precisely the feeling I wanted for them. I could have played anything. But that song was a perfect fit for me, personally, and the show itself.

I explained all of that to some of the guys on the golf trip yesterday and they loved it.

"I don't think many radio shows would say the Pledge these days," one of them said. "And that's sad..."

That's true, of course. Caving in to the pressures of advertising alignments, a radio host would likely get an e-mail right away from the GM that reads: "(Insert company here) has reached out to us about you saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. You know, they're a very valuable sponsor. We can't afford to have (insert company here) them at odds with us."

I was fortunate in that I never got that e-mail.

The Pledge was a critical piece of the start to my show.

So was Raised on the Radio.

Without those two things, I don't think the show would have been the same. At least not for me.

Thanks to all of you who listened back then. And thanks for reading this today and allowing me to stroll down memory lane.

"Those were the days..."

Friday November 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4099

"here we are, back in the 1970's"

Every once in a while, you travel to some other part of the country -- or the world, even -- and you quickly realize "this place is different".

I'm not talking about the climate or the topography or the general "look" of it. I'm talking about the way of life. The people you encounter while you're there. Just, in general, "the vibe" the place gives us off.

I've found a place that's incredibly unique. When I tell you where, you probably won't be surprised, given that it's in the southern part of our country, where times are definitely different than what we experience in our part of the world.

I've been here before, mind you. This isn't my first rodeo, as the saying goes. But every single time I visit Pinehurst, North Carolina, it reminds me of what life was like back in the 1970's.

I'm in Pinehurst for a long weekend with a group of donors from Maryland FCA Golf. We make this pilgrimage from Baltimore every year or thereabouts. Last year we came down in late October. This year it's mid-November.

Yesterday we teed it up at my favorite course in the Pinehurst area, Southern Pines. It's the best layout I've ever played in this area of the Sandhills, including the famed Pinehurst #2. Today we're being graced with a visit to a top 100 course in the country, Forest Creek CC. We'll finish up playing Pinehurst #9 and #3 over the weekend.

If you love golf, this place is the mecca.

But it's about more than golf here. It's about the way you get treated when you're at Pinehurst.

Every single time I visit I say the same thing: "I'd move down here in heartbeat."

I say that knowing it's highly unlikely I'm moving down here at any point, heartbeat or well planned out over time. My "life" is in Baltimore and that's where I'll stay.

But in my next life, the one God will hopefully grant me, I'm asking Him to assign me to Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Everyone here is, in a word, nice.

No one cares if you're wearing a Trump 47 hat or Newsom '28 hat. You still get served with a smile and a friendly, "What can I get you men to eat this morning?"

There's no whining about what political side of the fence you lean on. No one cares -- or even knows -- if you're from Pinehurst, Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, or Los Angeles. They are just happy to see you and be in your presence.

You can be white, black, green or blue. They don't care here.

You go to the golf course, they're friendly. You got to the supermarket to get coffee, they're friendly. You go out for a burger and a beer in downtown Pinehurst, they're friendly.

If our government wanted to create a 30-minute TV special entitled, "How We Should All Treat One Another", they'd film it in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

My mom grew up in a small town in western, North Carolina called Lenoir. My parents went to a very small college in Banner Elk, North Carolina called Lees McRae. That's where they met.

I've been to North Carolina a lot in my life, mostly in the 1960's and 1970's when I was a kid and we'd annually make the (then) 10-hour drive to Lenoir to visit my mom's family every summer.

People were always "extra nice" back then, circa 1975. I never quite grasped it as a kid, because I wasn't really overwhelmed with thinking about "adult life" at age 12. I was just riding a bike with my cousin and eating orange push-up ice creams from the general store across from my grandparent's house in Lenoir.

But I remember it all very fondly. Everywhere I went, people were nice.

Then we went back to Glen Burnie, and it was different. Or, actually, the same as it was when we left.

I've been to Pinehurst for golf probably 12 times in my adult life. My Calvert Hall golf team frequented Pinehurst for our spring trip for several years until it became a little too cost prohibitive after Covid came and went and golf as a travel "thing" exploded.

Every single time I visit Pinehurst, I'm blown away by how people treat one another there (here).

I don't think anyone here has locked the front door to their house in 50 years. "Locksmith" is probably not a great line of work in Pinehurst.

I probably haven't done it justice in the small amount of time I've taken here this morning to explain it all to you. Most days here we write about sports, sports and more sports. There are some very rare occasions when "real life" gets the lede here and grabs the spotlight for a day.

I'm personally used to having "nice people" surround me in my real life back home in The Land of Pleasant Living. I really only get around to three different places. My life's pretty boring. I'm either at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Calvert Hall or Eagle's Nest Country Club with my FCA Maryland Golf folks.

I'm surrounded by "nice" at those three places.

But I also get out and experience other parts of our county and state and we also travel to other parts of the country. And it's not always the same warm-and-fuzzy feeling.

If you want to see how "the rest of the nation" operates, try flying on an airplane sometime soon. That's your real slice of Americana right there. Airports and airplanes expose human beings for what they've (mostly) become, for whatever reason.

In the book of Timothy, 2:3 goes like this: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. (2) People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, (4) treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — (5) having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

I just took a Baltimore to Houston flight (and back) two weekends ago and I can say, without question, I saw about eight of those examples while I was involved in air travel.

Abusive - I saw that with someone who didn't get their way with a seat assignment and took it out on the Southwest employee.

Disobedient to their parents - I saw a teenage boy lash out at his mom because she was using a charging port to charge her phone when he wanted to use that port to charge his video game.

Ungrateful, without self control, brutal, rash -- I saw all of those things within about 5 minutes after we landed in Houston when people in the back of the plane wouldn't wait their turn to get up and exit the aircraft in an orderly fashion.

I haven't experienced any of that stuff in Pinehurst.

Now, is it Utopia in Pinehurst? Of course not. There are flaws here, I'm sure. If you don't like pine needles or deer, you're in trouble.

But, man, the way people treat one another here is the exact same way I was treated in Lenoir in 1975 and it's the way I'm always treated any time I visit Pinehurst.

It feels like 1975 again.

Everyone's nice.

Wouldn't it be cool if someone visiting Baltimore from Pinehurst wrote the exact same thing about us someday down the road?

faith in sports

The NBA has had its fair share of "interesting" coaches over the years.

Phil Jackson.

Chuck Daly.

Gregg Popovich.

Chauncey Billups.

It's probably too soon for Billups to be on that list, huh?

But you get the point. The NBA has had some very colorful characters in the head coach department, going all the way back to the late, great Charles (Charley) Markwood Eckman.

Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics is a devout Christian who is completely unafraid of sharing his faith.

Once upon a time, when a distinguished couple from England were in attendance at a game in Boston, a reporter asked Mazzulla, "How did it feel to be playing in front of the Royal Family tonight?"

To which Mazzulla replied: "Jesus, Joseph and Mary were here? I didn't know that. That's the only "royal family" I'm familiar with."

In the video below, you'll learn more about Mazzulla and his faith and how he handles the rigors of everyday life in the NBA with his Bible never far away.

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 November 13, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4098

carrying the mail

We have so much left-over, unread, and unanswered mail here at #DMD that it's almost like a government shutdown or something.

But we're going to stay the course and answer it here today. Or some of it, at least.

Before I do that, Glenn Clark and I had an interesting discussion yesterday during my (mostly) weekly visit to his outstanding daily internet "radio" show. The discussion centered on one of our favorite topics: The Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame.

Now, it's always fair to remember and point out that a large number of musical acts who are in the RRHOF aren't actually "Rock-n-Roll". I don't know what that definition is, really, but I know, for example, that rap giant Snoop Dog is eligible for selection next year and, well, I don't know of anyone who thinks or considers Calvin Broadus Jr. to be "Rock-n-Roll".

On (another) side note, I often wonder what his career path would have been had he simply stuck with Calvin Broadus as his musical/stage name, like, you know Barry White was "Barry White".

Somehow, "Gin and Juice" wouldn't have had the same impact if "Calvin Broadus" would have been the man-behind-the-song.

But, anyway...

Recent inductees last weekend included some incredibly deserving people. Warren Zevon, Joe Cocker and Soundgarden made it to Cleveland, which, under normal circumstances, wouldn't be anything to write home about.

Of those three, Zevon and Cocker were pretty much slam dunks while Soundgarden was an interesting pick given their weird history of shuffling guys in and out of the band, a 13-year hiatus, and, sadly, the death of their founder and lead singer, Chris Cornell.

I'm jaded on the Soundgarden topic because I was a HUGE fan of their music and Cornell in particular. Clark called him "the best male vocalist of his generation", which is probably a valid, albeit debatable, point. Cornell's voice was a gift from God.

In fact, I imagine God heard him sing "Black Hole Sun" or "Burden in My Hand" and said to the angels: "If only you could sing like that, huh?"

Whether Soundgarden was worthy or not is up for discussion. But there's no doubt Cornell should be in, so it was good to see his band get their due last weekend.

Next year's list of potential inductees includes several slam dunks: Coldplay, Alicia Keys, No Doubt, INXS, Oasis, Styx and Billy Idol are 7 of the 8 who should get in. If those bands don't make it, you might as well just bolt the doors shut on the museum in Cleveland.

Mason asks -- "Any thoughts on the Capitals one month into the season?"

DF says -- "About what I think we knew we'd get. They didn't really add much of anything in the off-season, at least not offensively, although it's fair to point out the late-season acquisition of Anthony Beauviller a year ago is a little bit like getting a new guy in the organization.

I still say their goaltending is a soft spot. I don't think Logan Thompson and/or Charlie Lindgren can win 16 games in April, May and June. Somewhere along the way, they have to get better in the net.

They're going to have to fight hard to make the playoffs, I think. I predicted in my pre-season NHL piece that the Caps would make it in the final week of the regular season. I'll stand by that for now. But it's going to be nip and tuck the whole way, I think.

They're not getting anything from McMichael so far in '25-26. I thought he was going to be a mainstay in their offense, but so far he's been a dud this season. Strome has 5 goals, which puts him on a 25 goal (or so) pace, but they need more from him, too. A trade deadline forward or two would help if their cap situation allows for it at that point.

The one small silver lining, I guess, is that they are really no longer depending totally on Alex Ovechkin for their success. I mean, he's still a contributor and all, but in the past when he missed time with an injury you figured they were in deep doo-doo. Now, if he gets hurt, they'll carry on OK without him.

Ovi is on the 17th green of his career. One more hole to go. It's been amazing to watch him for 20-plus years, but the sun is setting on his great career."

J.C. asks -- "I'm part of a group of 8 guys going to Pebble Beach over the long Thanksgiving weekend and I'm just wondering what advice you'd give me as a first-timer there. Thanks!"

DF says -- "Leave one of your credit cards at home so you don't max it out there. It's expensive. But you probably already know that given that you likely had to put down a deposit of one night and one round of golf and that's going to run you in the $1,000 range if you're sharing a room with someone.

I assume you're playing the three courses there; Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Spanish Bay. All three have something unique to offer. Pebble Beach offers the best "experience". Spyglass is the best "course", layout wise. And Spanish Bay will likely be in the best condition of the three.

I say this all the time when someone asks me about Pebble Beach. "Not many things in life live up to the hype. For whatever reason, us humans tend to build things up, up and up and then, when we see it in reality, it's a bit of a letdown." Sort of like the Beatles, some would say.

Pebble Beach is the exact opposite.

I can't hype it up enough. Whatever I say about it, your experience will beat the hype.

I would say the same thing about Bandon Dunes. It exceeded the hype in a big way.

However great you think Pebble Beach and the other two courses are going to be, they will be better.

But it is very expensive. Coffee is $5.00. Oatmeal is $12.00. A cheeseburger is $25. A glass of wine is $20 plus. A beer is $12 plus. Bring plenty of golf balls because a sleeve of those costs you $18. Nothing is cheap. But you're going to love it. I'm jealous."

Jason C. asks -- "For your next Mailbag column: Any advance scouting reports on next summer's U.S. World Cup hopes?"

DF says -- "I'll be totally honest. The lack of the traditional qualifying process for the American team (the U.S. is "in" automatically in '26 as the host country) has really kept me in the dark a little bit on who some of the new guys are we might be counting on next summer.

Maybe our resident soccer guru Randy Morgan will come along with a preview after the New Year.

Sadly, I'm guessing the U.S. has the same basic goal as every other World Cup I've seen in my life. Make it out of the group stage and win at least one game in the knockout round. That would be huge. Anything above one win in the knockout round is a supremely successful World Cup for any nation not named Brazil, France, Argentina or England.

When there's been a need for qualifying I have followed those games very closely and would have had a much more detailed answer for you on this question. Alas, I haven't really watched any of the "friendly" match-ups over the last 11 months because...why would you?"

Scott M. asks -- "On weeks like last week when the Chargers play the Steelers, do you think the Harbaugh brothers talk? Does Jim pick up the phone and say, "What do you think about Pittsburgh?" Or does John pick up the phone in a couple of weeks when the Ravens play the Steelers and call Jim and ask him how they attacked certain things that the Steelers did in the game in L.A.?"

DF says -- "Great question! I would say they are a unique situation, yes. In nearly every other case, I can't imagine Coach "A" would call Coach "B" and say, "Hey, just wondering how you guys attacked "Team C" since we're playing them this week and you guys just played them."

The biggest reason they wouldn't call would be the obvious one. Every game in the league is on TV and, I assume, every team's All 22 video footage of every home game is available via a league-wide "game tape access system". There'd be no need to talk with Jim Harbaugh about the Chargers-Steelers game because you can get that All-22 tape in 30 seconds.

That said...

I do think John might call Jim, or at the very least text him, and say something like, "You guys did a nice job on Metcalf on Sunday night. What did you do special to slow him down?"

Jim, of course, might say to John. "Look, bro, you're in the playoff race with me at this point. Fend for yourself on that one."

But I would assume those two guys do share information with each other. Blood, remember, is thicker than than water. And who has it better than the Harbaugh brothers, right? Great question!"

If you've never heard the late, great Chris Cornell cover the amazing song, "Nothing Compares 2 U", you're in for a treat today.

Wednesday November 12, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4097

halfway there, who can win and who can't?

Because the NFL is absolutely dumb and instists on the murky, statistically awkward 17-game campaign, we're left with never actually having a "halfway point" of the regular season.

So, it's like somewhere around 8 or 9 games.

The Ravens are 4-5. They're just a smidgen past the proverbial "halfway point". I certainly didn't think they'd be 4-5 at this stage of the season, but I also didn't know they'd do the following:

Somehow blow a 15-point lead in the final 4-plus minutes of the season opener in Buffalo.

Get run out of the gym at home by the Lions.

Lose two straight home games to the Texans and the Rams because Lamar Jackson and a handful of other key players were missing from those two contests.

I figured, given their schedule, that 6-3 or 7-2 after 9 games was a far more likely scenario.

Instead, they're 4-5, but look rosy moving forward thanks to a large group of cupcakes coming their way over the final 8 games of the season.

"Here come the Ravens", national sports guy Skip Bayless tweeted out on Sunday afteroon after Baltimore's dismissal of the Vikings in Minnesota.

I agree. Here they come.

As for the rest of the NFL, here's who can win and who can't win and how everything's going to unfold over the last two months of the season.

Buckle up. It's going to be fun.

Definitely have what it takes to win the Super Bowl --

1. Detroit (6-3)

That wacky, stunning home loss to the Vikings aside, everything has pretty much gone according to plan for the Lions. Their offense is very good. Their defense is decent enough. They might have to beat you 35-30, but they can do that every week. If defense indeed does win championships, that might eventually wind up being their downfall. But if you're considering the team with the best offense has the best chance to win it all, they probably rank higher than Kansas City.

2. Los Angeles Rams (7-2)

They have their chakras in line in L.A. this season. If they keep their (brittle) wide receivers healthy, they will be VERY tough to eliminate in the post-season. They really only have two "signature" wins this year; home vs. Indianapolis and at San Francisco last weekend. But they're 7-2 and in a great spot to finish 13-4 or 12-5 at the very worst. They have two games left with Seattle and a game remaining at home vs. Detroit. They won't lose any of their other cupcake games. Watch out for the Rams if they get the #1 seed.

3. Kansas City (5-4)

They remain the cat's meow in the AFC, despite the fact they're in 3rd place right now in the division. They're still the team to beat...and not because they have a great team. But because they have winning in their DNA. And because, quite honestly, they haven't really always had the "best team" over the last few years, but they still figure out a way to put it all together when the money is on the line in January.

And that's it. At least to me. Those three teams DEFINITELY have what it takes to win the Super Bowl.

Have a good chance to make the Super Bowl if things fall into place for them --

1. Buffalo (6-3)

Until someone like New England or Baltimore beats them in the post-season, it's always going to wind up being Buffalo vs. K.C. for all the marbles in the AFC. It does look like the gap has narrowed between the Bills and Patriots, but New England still has to prove it, on the field, in games against Buffalo.

2. Indianapolis (8-2)

It just seems highly unlikely that they can win the AFC with Daniel Jones at QB. If they had any other competent veteran -- even a beat up, old, Joe Flacco or Aaron Rodgers -- under center, you could make an argument that perhaps they can go to the Super Bowl with all of the rest of their pieces flowing the way they have so far in 2025. I just don't think Daniel Jones can get it done when it matters.

3. Denver (8-2)

There's something keenly interesting about this team, but also something very concerning. One week their offense is good, the next week it's not. One week their defense is good, the next week it's not. It does look like Bo Nix is the real deal at QB, but it feels like they're still a big time weapon or two away from being able to win one or two post-season road games. Now, if they somehow keep up this level of play and get home ice in the playoffs, that could be a game-changer. You only have to win twice and both are in Denver? They could do that.

4. New England (8-2)

The win over Tampa Bay last Sunday was very convincing. I have always said this about teams: "The ones that think they're really good are often more dangerous than the teams who actually ARE really good." I think this fits New England perfectly. They definitely think they're really good. You can see it in the way they play and the way they carry themselves. Their head coach most certainly thinks he's better than everyone else. Whether they have enough this year to get it done remains to be seen, but it definitely appears as if they're 8-2 start is NOT a fluke.

5. Philadelphia (7-2)

They're a little bit like Kansas City, just not quite as good. They're still the team to beat in the NFC until someone (Detroit?) beats them, but they do lead a bit of a charmed life, as we saw on Monday night in Green Bay. They have the offensive weapons, but it seems like they're missing a spark plug somewhere. Defensively, you never really know what you're getting. But if Detroit gets the #1 seed and stubs their toe again, like last January, Philly could definitely be back in the big game again, almost by accident.

6. Seattle (7-2)

I'm not ready to buy any stock in the Seahawks, but if they go into L.A. this Sunday and beat the Rams, I'll be calling my local stock broker. I just don't think Sam Darnold can get Seattle to the Super Bowl. It's really that simple. But I'll give them their due. They're 7-2 and I don't think that's a fluke. That said, they still have a long way to go.

7. Baltimore (4-5)

They are probably the "sleeping giant" of the AFC, but they have such little wiggle room that they literally can't afford a hiccup or a loss to the wrong team (Pittsburgh) at the wrong time. If the Ravens wind up snagging the AFC North and avoid a Buffalo visit in the playoff opener, they might very well be on their way to something good. They also have to stay healthy at three key spots, QB, RB and in the defensive secondary. Make no mistake about it, though, the Ravens have the goods to make a run if they can win the division.

Need a lot to go right for them to make it to the Super Bowl --

1. Los Angeles Chargers (6-3)

It's just too tough of a road for them because there's almost no chance they're going to play a home game and that means they have to win three straight on the road in the playoffs and they're just not capable of doing that. And despite Justin Herbert being a solid regular season quarterback, there's really no proof at all he can do it in January when every throw is cruciai.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3)

If they wouldn't have lost Mike Evans, they would definitely have been in the category above. Instead, they look like a team that's going to have to fight hard to win the division and will then lose out to one of the "good" wild card teams from the NFC West.

3. San Francisco 49'ers (6-4)

It's really tough to judge these guys given how banged up they've been, but they do have road wins at Seattle and Los Angeles this season, which is quite a feat. They're similar to the L.A. Chargers in that you just can't see them winning three straight road games in January to get to the Super Bowl. They really need to win the division to have a shot at the Super Bowl. And that's just not going to happen with both Seattle and the Rams sitting at 7-2 while they're at 6-4.

4. Green Bay Packers (5-3-1)

Their stock has really dropped off of late and Monday night's loss to the Eagles was incredibly disturbing. Jordan Love is struggling. Their offense is middle-of-the-pack at best. But they might get the benefit of playing the same Eagles team in the first round of the playoffs or maybe they draw Tampa Bay. And they could potentially win either of those games. But, like a lot of teams, it seems unlikely they can go win, win, win -- on the road -- in the playoffs.

And that's it.

There are three teams that can definitely get to the Super Bowl and win it.

There are seven teams who have the goods to get there, but they'll need to beat one or two of the top three teams to do it amd they could also lose in the first round.

And there are four teams who need to pretty much pull a rabbit out of their hat to get to the Super Bowl.

That's 14 of the 32 teams with anywhere from real to decent "chances" to get to the Super Bowl at the halfway point of the season.

I assume the league loves it that way.

---

it's signing time

The Hot Stove season is starting to warm up in baseball and the always fun rumors of "who might land in Baltimore" have already started with Kyle Tucker's name surfacing as a possible candidate to be pursued by the Orioles.

It's likely the O's are going to at least "consider" (their favorite word) a first baseman, one additional outfielder (they've already signed someone, remember) and at least two veteran starting pitchers and two relievers.

Here's a fun little game. You can play along and insert your own names. You'll probably hit on a few of them.

The first baseman the O's should get: Pete Alonso

The first baseman they O's will probably get: Ty France

The outfielder the O's should get: Cody Bellinger

The outfielder the O's already got: Leody Tavares

The outfielder the O's should get: Kyle Tucker

The outfielder the O's will probably get: Max Kepler

The starting pitcher the O's should get: Framber Valdez

The starting pitcher the O's will probably get: Walker Buehler

The starting pitcher the O's should get: Michael King

The starting pitcher the O's will probably get: Erick Fedde

The relief pitcher the O's should get: Ryan Helsley

The relief pitcher the O's already got: Andrew Kittredge

The relief pitcher the O's should get: Pete Fairbanks

The relief pitcher the O's will probably get: Tommy Kahnle

Tuesday November 11, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4096

tuckered "out" -- or "in" ?

#DMD reader Brian P. sent me this earlier today.

"Justin Tucker is eligible to sign with any team in the NFL. If you were a GM, would you take him on?"

I think the short answer is as easy as a 32 30-yard field goal.

"Yes".

Editor's note: I originally typed in as easy as a "32 yard field goal". Then I remembered New England and Billy Cundiff and...well...I changed it to 30 yard field goal.

I would sign Justin Tucker if I were an NFL GM and my team needed a place kicker.

Some of you might be wondering why someone who once said "Ray Rice will never play in the league again" (and I was right) would still think it reasonable to employ Justin Tucker.

Fair question.

I also think you know the answer to that one.

Ray Rice's mistake was on video.

Irrefutable.

Can't be denied, shunned or otherwise overlooked.

It was there for all of us to see.

All we have to go on with Justin Tucker are words.

Do I think Justin Tucker was guilty of inappropriate behavior with massage therapists in Baltimore?

If you press me to answer "yes" or "no", I'd certainly go with "yes".

But I'm also fair enough to know the distinction between what Ray Rice did and what Justin Tucker allegedly did.

We know what Ray Rice did. We saw it. We don't really know what Justin Tucker did. We just "think" we know.

Alas, given those distinctions and given the fact that the NFL handed him a 10-week suspension and said, "He's now a free agent", I'd certainly take a chance on him.

That is, if I needed a place kicker.

We're not nominating Tucker for "Man of the Year" by re-employing him, remember.

We're just signing him to kick a football.

Assuming he can still do that with the same general level of excellence as before, it would make sense to give him a chance.

---

go back to the white card on tuesday

Some of you are old enough to remember the white card that your Dad brought home from work during football season, circa 1975.

Those were truly the best of days, right?

My Dad brought home the white card every Tuesday. They were passed around like jelly beans in the car sales business back then. You could fill out as many as you want, as long as you had the $5, $10 or $20 to put down for each one you played.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's very simple.

"The white card" had all of the NFL games listed, with point spreads, and roughly 25 college games with their associated point spreads.

You simply used a ballpoint pen and circled your pick for that game. You could, if I remember correctly, pick as few as three games. You had to play a minimum of three. You could pick five, ten, etc. But there was a catch. You had to get them all right.

On the back of the card was the "point value" of each wagering level.

If you picked three games and got them all correct, you earned 20 "points", per $5 wager. (The "points" were dollars...)

If you picked four games and got them all correct, you earned 50 points. And so on.

The best part about it all? No one knew where the white cards came from, no one knew where the money went, and no one knew who gave you the money if, somehow, you managed to win.

You just did your business through the person who gave you the white card in the first place.

Those were definitely the best of days, even if the odds were crazy.

The money at stake wasn't enough to make someone fit you for cement shoes. And the guys who were actually doing the playing, on the field, court, ice, etc., had no way of knowing who wagered on who and how much was riding on the game.

These days, a minute after a guy misses a field goal that would have covered the spread, he's getting death threats and nasty things written about his wife on the internet.

The white card was the best. It was harmless fun. Oh, sure, there was actually a bookmaker or two in the basement of a house in Highlandtown who was stashing thousands of dollars of cash away every week, but they were also taking the risk and, if caught, facing time in jail because of their entreprenurial spirit.

Best of all, if you took the Colts minus 3.5 and they lost to the Broncos, you didn't spend all night on Sunday looking back at the key plays to figure out if the Colts were laying down on purpose so they didn't cover the 3.5.

You'd just get another white card the next week and try again.

These days, or at least moving forward, you're always going to be suspicious when you see a pitcher throw a ball in the dirt or a point guard mysteriously pass the ball to the other team.

The story out of Cleveland with those two idiotic pitchers is beyond comprehension.

And you just know there are others out there who were arm-twisted into doing the same thing. We just don't know who they are. Yet.

There were definitely other NBA players on the take, too. Their names will surface at some point soon.

You can bet -- no pun intended -- that it's already rampant in college sports as well. Those guys have zero conscience when it comes to collecting cash money. They'd lose a game on purpose for $250 in cash, a pair of round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the U.S., and a new Nespresso machine.

I enjoy only two types of sports wagering. I bet on golfers and hockey players. And I do so in very modest sums and on a sporadic basis only.

I'd never, ever bet on a college game of any kind. I trust those kids about far as I could throw them.

I'd never lay a wager on a NBA game. Heck, I watch a game in mid-January between Sacramento and, say, Phoenix, and it looks to me like none of the players on the court are actually trying.

I'm starting to look at baseball the same way. I mean, when you have pitchers under federal indictment for intentionally not trying to perform to the best of their abilities, why would you wager on it?

And the NFL is certainly not above gambling controversies. Look, I'm not suggesting anything was nefarious in Green Bay last night, but did you watch that fiasco in the first half? It looked like both teams had the first half under. And just didn't tell the other guy.

It would be different if last night's game was the Jets and Browns and it was 0-0 and one of the quarterbacks had 12 yards in passing through two quarters. You'd say, "Eh, yeah, that sounds about right."

But it was, arguably, two of the best teams in the NFC stinking up the joint. I don't think anything was suspect. But how do you know any more?

It goes without saying, but I'll say it nonetheless. "Sports" deserves this mess. I mean, professional and college sports richy deserve this muddied world they've created by french-kissing all of their online gambling partners and their casinos in every big city in America.

I get it. The reason baseball players are now making $30 million or more is because FanDuel ponies up big bucks every season to be "the official online wagering partner" of MLB. (I don't know if that's actually true, by the way. But I'm sure if they aren't this year, they will be next year.)

The reason NFL owners get $250 million in TV revenue every year is because DraftKings forks over $100 million to the networks so they can bilk the country out of $900 million or whatever insane amount of money it is they collect during football season from folks who took the Bills minus 8.5 in Miami on Sunday.

The various leagues need gambling in sports.

But only because of the money.

It's either take FanDuel's marketing money and attach your league to gambling or charge the fans $500 for a nosebleed seat at the next home game so you give Lamar Jackson his $50 million.

People have always been interested in the NFL more than any other sport because of wagering.

It really is that simple.

No one in the country cared one iota about the Browns and Jets game on Sunday. Even the people in New York and Cleveland didn't care, really.

But a lot of people cared what the final score was of that game. Some dude in Hickory, North Carolina cared if the Jets covered. So did a guy in Boise, Idaho. It really is the dirty little secret of the NFL. Without gambling, interest in the league would drop off by 75%.

Fantasy sports hasn't helped, either. That's a mini-version of gambling, obviously.

When you don't care who wins or loses but you only care if your wager hits, that's when the sports loses its true value.

College football and basketball is closing in on that scenario, too.

The transfer portal, coupled with wagering, will render the actual outcome of future college football games pretty much useless. I mean, if you're an Ohio State or Texas A&M fan, the games and results still matter. For about 12 teams a year, the scores count and the game are important.

But if you're a Maryland fan or a North Carolina fan or a Kentucky fan, all you'll really care about is whether they can cover the spread next week.

"Sports" has done this all to themselves.

They wanted the gambling money. And they got it.

But what they also got was the idea that some of this stuff isn't really on the up and up.

It's greed at the highest level. You're making $1 million, $5 million, $10 million or $20 million running around in gym shorts and a jersey playing basketball for a living and you still have to cheat.

Tell me you won't wonder "what's up with that?" next April when Tyler Wells comes in to pitch in the top of the 9th against the Red Sox and spikes one a foot short of home plate on his first pitch.

We all will wonder.

---

It's another one of those "it goes without saying" moments, but it has to be said.

If the Ravens somehow don't follow through and win the AFC North -- barring an injury to Lamar, obviously -- it will have to be deemed a pretty significant collapse given who they face over the rest of the season.

Because it's the NFL, you can lose any game. But the only games the Ravens really have a chance to lose are the games vs. Cincinnati (because the Bengals can score a ton of points), the home game vs. New England, and the away game at Green Bay.

And the Packers, as we saw last night vs. Philly in that 10-7 loss, are really looking more and more like a paper tiger. That game is not nearly the worry it was back in September.

I think we've now seen enough of the Steelers to know they're done. That Ravens visit to Pittsburgh to end the season probably won't mean anything to them. They'll be 7-9 by then or maybe 8-8, somehow, but the three teams in the West are going to snag two of the wild card spots and either Buffalo or New England will get the other one. None of those five teams are going to finish with 8 losses.

It's over in Pittsburgh. And I just can't see the Ravens losing either game to those scrubs.

This whole thing is on a giant silver platter for the Ravens.

They really should go 11-6 at the worst. And with a couple of things falling their way from here unti January, it's not out of the question that they might run the table and go 12-5.

The Harbaugh haters have to be shaking their heads over that one.

At 1-5, the anti-Harbaugh-club assumed they were finally going to get what they wanted...a Harbaugh dismissal.

Now, it looks like Harbs is going to wind up once again being the toast of the town after leading the Ravens back from a 1-5 record to another division title.

What a charmed life he leads.

Monday November 10, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4095

five quick points (half as many as...)

OK, it's Monday so I don't want to overload anyone with a touch too much information.

I just have five points for you today.

Or.......

Half as many points as the Steelers scored in 60 minutes last night in their 25-10 loss in L.A. to the Chargers.

You didn't like when that L.A. team won in baseball last weekend, but you sure liked that the L.A. team in the AFC won in football last night, huh?

Funny the way it is.

Point #1, the Steelers are also done -- I wrote here last week at #DMD, "Tell me how Pittsburgh is going to get to 10 wins." Go ahead and look at their schedule and tell me how they win 5 more games to get to 10.

I still don't see how they can manage to reach that number. As crazy as it sounds, the Steelers only hope to get to 10 wins is to beat the Ravens twice and finish 10-7 along with Baltimore.

And Pittsburgh isn't good enough to beat the Ravens twice. Frankly, the Ravens have a better chance of sweeping the two games from the Steelers than Pittsburgh has of winning one of the two vs. Baltimore.

They'll scrape together a win or two along the way because it's the NFL and someone wins and someone loses, but the Steelers are pretty much kaput for 2025. If they win 9 games, I'll be very surprised.

Point #2, A-Rod is done -- You could tell in his commentary after the game and just the way he looked that Aaron Rodgers knows he's cooked. He has way too much pride to walk away right now, in the middle of the season, so he'll stick it out for their last 8 games, but Rodgers is washed.

It happens quickly to professional athletes, even the super-great ones like Rodgers, who missed three or four throws last night in L.A. he NEVER would have missed while in Green Bay a few years back. Great today, just OK tomorrow.

And in the NFL, when you're "just OK" at quarterback, you look like Rodgers looked last night.

His mobility is a "5" now instead of the "7" or even "8" it once was. He can no longer extend plays like he once could.

His touch on the ball is now a "6" instead of the "9" it once during his zenith in Green Bay. Last night, at least twice, he had wide open receivers and needed only to put just enough weight and air on the throw to make the connection and he just couldn't do it.

I could go on, but there's no need. Even Rodgers knows the truth, as his words and body language told you last night. He's done.

Point #3, the road to the Super Bowl is wide open -- It's almost impossible to tell who is going to play in Santa Clara in February. You could pick your proverbial final four right now and I'd happily take the "not happening" part of that bet and I'm pretty sure I'd win that wager. There's just no team standing out these days as unbeatable.

New England is looking great in the AFC, but.....really? Are the Patriots really a threat to go to the Super Bowl?

Indianapolis can run the ball all afternoon, but Daniel Jones really going to take a football team to the championship game?

Kansas City and Buffalo have the pedigree and the DNA for winning, but neither has hit on all cylinders yet this season.

The Bills and Chiefs both beat the Ravens. The Bills beat the Chiefs. The Chiefs beat the Lions. The Jaguars beat the Chiefs. And then yesterday, Miami beat the Bills. Like, how on earth does that happen?

In the NFC, there's Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit and...well...pick another team and throw them in there, too. Someone else has to make the playoffs. Maybe it's San Francisco? Maybe it's the Bears. Who knows? But no one in the NFC is really standing out, either.

This is a way of hinting at...if the Ravens just get their chakras in line and keep them that way, John Harbaugh's team has as good of a chance as anyone of sneaking into the AFC title game. And if they get that far, anything can happen.

And if the Ravens do get to the Super Bowl, you know they're winning based on how Lamar feasts on NFC teams.

Point #4, The Ravens are going to host one of the AFC West teams in the playoffs -- I'd say this is almost a done deal, that one of either Kansas City, Denver or the Chargers will come to Baltimore for the playoff opener.

The Ravens will very likely be the #4 seed in the post-season and take on the Wild Card team with the best record, which will likely be a 12-5 or 11-6 K.C., Denver or Chargers squad.

I don't see how the Ravens can snag the #3 seed unless something really wacky happens. They'd have to run the table and finish 12-5 and need some other stuff to happen. So #4 it is.

The Ravens could also entertain Buffalo in that first round if the Bills finish #5, but the bet here is that one of the West teams is the #5 at 12-5 and Buffalo finishes at 11-6.

After starting 1-5, the Ravens will take anything, of course. But having the Chargers or even Broncos come to Baltimore for a playoff opener would be awesome. You'd rather it not be Kansas City, for obvious reasons, but time will tell who wins the West and who finishes 2nd and 3rd.

Here's one thing that's becoming crystal clear: The Ravens might very well be the team no one wants to play in January. Who woulda thunk it, right?

Point #5, the halftime interviews with coaches are the absolute worst -- Last night, at halftime in Los Angeles, Melissa Stark asked Mike Tomlin the two worst back-to-back questions in the history of questions. And, yet, neither of them were "dumb" or "out of place" in the least.

"How are you going to get your offense unlocked?" was one of them.

Pittsburgh had scored just three points in 30 minutes of play. Stark asked the only question that mattered at that point to the head coach. Tomlin, of course, said nothing in his 12-second response.

"Look, we have a lot of confidence in our quarterback and our schemes. We just need to take a look at what's working and what isn't working and get those things sorted out at halftime so we can come back out here and put some points on the board in the second half."

Tomlin, of course, had no idea what he needed to do to get the Steelers to score more than the 3 points they already had. If he knew how to get that done, he would have told his players how to do it in the first half.

She later cornered Jim Harbaugh and asked him about holding the Steelers off in the second half and Harbaugh gave her the same "footbally" answer about having confidence in his players and "doing the same things we've been doing" and so on and so on.

I totally understand why the networks do what they do at halftime. I mean, Melissa Stark has to do something to earn her $750,000 salary. She can't just stand down there on the sideline and look gorgeous all night. So, three or four times a quarter, Mike Tirico has to say to her, "This Steelers offense is really struggling, let's go down to Melissa Stark and see if she's hearing anying from their sideline."

"Well, Mike, they're obviously very frustrated down here with the way they've played in the first half. Rodgers, in particular, is very upset with himself. He just had a very animated conversation with the team's offensive line during that last break, so we'll see if that gets the offense going the next time they get the ball. Back up to you guys."

And Tirico, of course, has to praise her for that diligent reporting, "Great stuff, there, Melissa, thank you so much."

The halftime questions aren't her fault. That's why NBC pays the NFL a gazillion-dollars to broadcast the games. They want access to the head coaches. The head coaches know it's coming. And they hate it.

It's dreadful to see everyone involved who hates the whole thing have to do it anyway.

Sunday November 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #4094

that's pretty much 6-5 now

OK, so that one is over with and the Ravens have moved to 4-5.

It wasn't pretty, obviously. In fact, there's six minutes left in the game as I write this and I'm heading to the driving range to work with a few of my CHC players.

It's 27-13 as I write this. Even if Minnesota scores a touchdown along the way, I can't see them scoring twice to tie the game.

I assume the Ravens finished off the win. If not, I'll be back later with the autopsy and a mea culpa.

In fairness, our $52 million QB and his offense weren't really all that good for 45 minutes, either. Four field goals were all they had to show for their work throughout most of the first three quarters.

But the Vikings kept giving the Ravens the ball and you know what they say about the turnover battle in the NFL. The team that gives it away the most almost always loses.

So with this win to get to 4-5, that's basically 6-5 if you go ahead and join me and put the cart before the horse and give the Ravens the win in Cleveland next Sunday and the win at home over the Jets on November 23. The Ravens aren't losing those two games to a pair of bottom feeders.

Then you have the Bengals and (presumably) Joe Flacco in Baltimore on Thanksgiving night. I assume the Ravens are going to win that, too. It might be 54-52, but they'll win that one.

The NFL is the craziest of all the sports leagues and it's not even close.

The Dolphins looked like hot garbage ten days against the Ravens, then beat the pants off the Bills today.

The Vikings went into Detroit last Sunday and shocked the Lions, then looked like Maryland's football team today against the Ravens.

The NFL is just nuts. You never know from week to week what's going to happen.

That said, I do know what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks with the Ravens.

Win over Cleveland.

Win over the Jets.

Back above .500 at 6-5. And from there, it's a sprint to the finish line and an effort to win the AFC North.

---

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.