Random Musings August 3-9

Falcons will be tougher, according to the Falcons: On the season premiere of HBO's Hard Knocks, Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith had one resounding message to preach to his players: toughness.  It was the quality the team was perceived to lack most in their 2013 tumble from NFC Championship game runners up to 4-12 washouts.  The solution proposed by Smith: Talk about toughness enough and the players will gain it.  Now, Smith has earned plenty of credibility as an NFL coach through the great start to his Atlanta tenure (missed the playoffs only twice in six seasons; two 13-3 seasons; the aforementioned NFC Championship game appearance) so perhaps there will end up being more to his plan than words.  But watching him give the introductory speech at training camp was almost painful.  There were enough football clichés to make Phil Simms blush and nothing of real substance.  The players seemed to respond by getting into a bunch of fights during practice, believing that this was the path to the toughness being demanded of them.  But all they got was a chiding from a coaching staff that seems unable to communicate what they really want out of the team.  Again, I have faith in Mike Smith, but it's hard to see where this particular initiative is going.

Enough about McIlroy already: Despite respecting his talent and accomplishments as a player, I've long been sick of the media's fetishistic approach to praising Rory McIlroy's golf.   But on Sunday during CBS's coverage of the final round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, I took note of one particularly obnoxious comment by normally on-the-level commentator Jim Nantz on the subject of the World Number 1 ranking.  To paraphrase: Adam Scott(the then World Number 1) has had a fine year, but I think we all know who the real top player is, whatever the computer rankings say(end paraphrase).  McIlroy did in fact gain the Number 1 rank back that weekend by virtue of winning the tournament, but I found Nantz's comment somewhat dumbfounding in its shortsightedness.  McIlroy has been on a tear recently, winning the Open Championship, the Bridgestone, and as of this writing leads the PGA Championship by a stroke.  That's great, and was enough to earn him back the top ranking, which he will hold on to for quite some time if he keeps this up.  But think about Nantz's comment.  Adam Scott became Number 1 through over two years of consistently exceptional play.  He won the 2013 Masters, he seriously contended in at least three other Majors and has been generally excellent on tour events throughout all that time.  McIlroy's most notable achievement over that period was trolling Caroline Wozniacki into a doomed engagement while he pouted and stumbled his way through a mediocre two year period as a golf pariah.  Now he plays well for two weeks and we act like Adam Scott having the Number 1 ranking was some kind of great injustice?  I'm not buying it Nantz.  It's fine to praise McIlroy for his current accomplishments, but let's not belittle other players in doing so.

Good on You LeBron: Going back to Cleveland was definitely a good PR move for Mr. James.  He had already slowly won most of his haters back by winning championships and toning down the petulant douchiness that comes with being a young star professional athlete.  But in particular I found the pep rally he held for his return in his hometown of Akron to be touching.  In a lot of ways, it was still about his ego, celebrating him as an athlete before accomplishing anything real yet.  But it felt like such a nice counterpoint to the pep rally which announced his arrival in Miami four years ago.  The one with the goofy pyrotechnics, the "I want to strangle him" Heat PA announcer, and the infamous promise of eight championships(not held up).  In some ways this was more insulting to our society than The Decision itself was.  The new pep rally was overdone too, but it seemed more significant to me that LeBron had come full circle since that infamous move.  It marked the beginning of an era where a neutral fan can root for him without being a bandwagoning hack.  It's a good thing for the NBA when their most marketable player is no longer Public Enemy Number 1 in the eyes of most of America.  The media didn't cover this pep rally for whatever reason, which is a shame.  Although, I suppose the man doesn't need any more hype now.  It's time to win some games. 

It's Good to be Back(To Football)

The running back takes the handoff, plowing into gap on first down.  There's just one problem: the gap isn't there, the offensive line having failed to get any push against their defensive counterpart.  Second down, Eli Manning looks down the field for his receivers.  Doesn't see anything.  Neither do we at home.  Incomplete.  Last chance.  Manning dumps a short screen the running back; he gains some yards but no first down.  Time to punt.  I turn and say, "Well we've picked up right where we left off haven't we?"

                In my recent life as a born-again sports fan, I've been blessed to root for some pretty solid teams.  It's one of the perks of living in New York.  I've seen some failures (the Jets' recent spirals) and some prolonged failure (the Mets) but these always felt peripheral.  I shuddered at the thought of the fans rooting for shitty teams around the country.  While I probably can't say I identify with the Cleveland Browns fan base (this would be akin to being under house arrest and comparing it to the plight of the Palestinian people) but I've gotten a taste of that terror for about a year courtesy of my own New York Giants.  The same Giants whose recent Super Bowl victories kindled my resurgent sports fandom.  The same New York Giants who these days barely look capable of winning a professional football game. 

                Still, watching them play the Hall of Fame preseason game against the Buffalo Bills made me realize that I kind of enjoy watching the team struggle.  Well, maybe "enjoy" is the wrong word.  But there was a certain comfort to the continuity from last year.  There are no new problems, merely the same old problems which plagued the team's offense last year.  An offensive line that does more harm than good.  A revolving door at running back.  Some of Eli Manning's more questionable throws.  The realization that while Victor Cruz makes for a great number two receiver, he is ill suited to being the offense's first option. 

                Thinking back on last year, I wonder how we were able to score at all, let alone win seven games.  In points per game, our offense was the fifth worst in the league, scoring less than half of what brother Peyton's Denver unit scored in the same year.  The Giants lost their first six games of the year, but rallied to win seven out of their last nine.  They did this with grit, determination, and lots and lots of field goals.  Some were close games, some were not so close games, all were ugly games. 

                The scarce scoring that did go on doesn't really stick out in my memory.  I imagine they must have snuck these drives in the middle of the game when I was in the bathroom or distracted or walking out in frustration.  The openings in particular were brutal: This probably isn't true but it feels like every game opened with a three-and-out.  I can say with certainty that this preseason game started as such. 

                Late in the first quarter, the first team offense got going, running the ball well and eventually scoring.  Then the commentators jumped in and reminded us that the Bills had already taken their first team defense off the field.  That took the buzz off the touchdown just a bit, making it feel like the kind of cheap trick that seemed to fuel their second half winning run from last year.

                And at the end, without ever looking sharp or good, they won.  The second half didn't feature much scoring (the final score was 17-13) and was generally overshadowed by interviews with the latest class of Hall of Fame inductees.  Even they were overshadowed by an emotional video on Bills legend Jim Kelly and his fight against cancer.  I couldn't help but wondering whether or not Kelly, 20 years retired and cancer-stricken to the degree where his short term survival is in question, would've outperformed the dynamic duo of backup quarterbacks Ryan Nassib and Jeff Tuel.  Nassib(Giants) and Tuel(Bills) spent most of the second and third quarters trading mind-boggling throws, each seemingly trying to one-up the other in poor decision making. 

                We shouldn't read too much into this game.  It's the preseason, and this game in particular was a week before the preseason proper.  There was a lot of rust to shake off.  Still, I can't quite shake the feeling that our next preseason tilt will open with yet another three-and-out.  And I'm weirdly OK with that. 

Here they come: Liverpool vs. Manchester City

The popularity of soccer is perfectly healthy in the US, if you look at it a certain way.  Forget the World Cup ratings, you know a sport can sustain itself when glorified exhibition games featuring teams from across the ocean can fill up stadiums with engaged, screaming fans.  On Saturday, the University of Michigan's hallowed football arena hosted the most attended soccer game ever held in the US between Manchester United and Real Madrid. 

                I myself had the pleasure of attending a similar friendly at Yankee Stadium between Liverpool FC and Manchester City last Wednesday.  That crowd may not have matched the one in Michigan by numbers but based on my experience they more than matched them in intensity.  Manchester City, relatively new to success, hasn't really attracted a huge devoted following as of yet.  Liverpool fans made up for that, bringing but a small fraction of the passion routine to matches played in their home stadium that still filled the air.  I can guarantee that there was more excitement from the fans, and a higher level of effort from the players, then you will see at any NFL preseason game this August. 

                Stadium staff made a nice touch by playing unofficial-but-ubiquitous Liverpool theme song "You'll Never Walk Alone" before the match, a song whose lyrics everyone seemed to know except for me.  I had to make do sort of mumbling and following everyone's lead.  But the greatest passion was reserved for the club's captain and local legend Steven Gerrard.  He may be as beloved in Liverpool as Yankees legend Derek Jeter is in New York, but a more fitting analogy may be to past Yankee captain Don Mattingly.

                 Mattingly, like Gerrard, is one of the best and most iconic players ever to suit up for his team but tragically failed to win the World Series for the team that can hardly ever do anything but win the World Series.  Liverpool have won the second most English top division titles after Manchester United, but have thus far failed to do so during Gerrard's storied career.  They came close this year, as close as they've been in more than 25 years.  But an untimely slip (not a slip in play, a literal slip-and-fall) from Gerrard himself cost Liverpool a match against Chelsea which would have all but sealed the title.  A blown three goal lead against middling Crystal Palace and it was gone.  The title was taken by their opponent at Yankees Stadium, Manchester City, and their offensive centerpiece and dental assault extraordinaire Luis Suarez was bought by Barcelona.

                Suarez was the best player in English football last season; despite employing talented young attackers Daniel Sturridge and Rasheed Sterling, replacing Suarez's production won't be easy.  That being said, there were positive signs from Liverpool's offense: they frequently created good attacking chances and scored two well-executed goals in the second half.  They offset this somewhat by allowing two incredibly sloppy goals in the same half, one of which came courtesy of another bad slip by Gerrard.  That didn't matter to the faithful though.  He got the biggest cheer of the night when he was subbed out later in the match.

                Of course, some of that excitement probably owes itself to the fleeting nature of the event.  These fans are mostly British ex-patriots taking a rare opportunity to see the team they love in person, like an old high school friend who lives halfway across the country in adulthood.  Others are the children of such ex-patriots, never quite knowing the full measure of Liverpool fandom but experiencing some part of it by attending this friendly. 

                "Oh wait, that's me." I thought to myself as I made these observations at the stadium.  My dad, with whom I attended the game, is originally from Scotland, a place with its own distinct soccer culture but which holds deep ties to English clubs like Liverpool.  Liverpool's premiere striker during their great dynasties of the 70s and 80s was Kenny Dalglish, a fixture on the Scottish national team who had cut his teeth playing for my dad's hometown Glasgow Celtic club during his early years.  Dalglish retired from the game years before I was born, and my dad had lived in the States for years even before that.  But I still felt a connection that day, something that US-based soccer can't yet generate.  Interest is not the same thing as a culture built around the game.  Still need to learn those damn song lyrics though.