{"id":1138,"date":"2019-11-15T21:15:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T03:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/?p=1138"},"modified":"2019-11-24T13:57:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T19:57:30","slug":"roys-ramble-november-15-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/roys-ramble-november-15-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy’s Ramble, November 15, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A terrible week for the NFL comes to an end with one of the\nugliest incidents anyone has ever seen in the league. They can only hope that\nSunday\u2019s games do something to take the spotlight off of the the\nBrowns-Steelers debacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Browns-Steelers<\/strong>\u2014This is obviously the headline\nstory of the week.  One of the most\nvicious incidents ever seen in an NFL game overshadowed an otherwise boring\nfootball game.  Probably the only person\nhappy about the ending was Browns DB Demarious Randall.   Randall was ejected\u2014something hard to\naccomplish in the NFL\u2014for a helmet to helmet hit which was really not even\nclose to being a reasonable football play. \nHis hit would be the talk of the NFL world if not for Myles Garrett and\nhis helmet swing.  Roger Goodell and the\nNFL came out with a strong and prompt message. \nThe prompt part might have been the most surprising given how slow the\nNFL usually moves, but the league could not let last night\u2019s incident go\nunpunished into a full slate of games this weekend.  The quick suspensions are just the easy ones\nand you can anticipate that there will be a lot more fallout as the NFL fully\nlooks into the incident.  Mason Rudolph\nis unlikely to go without punishment either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston Astros<\/strong>\u2014The Astros were also\nbeneficiaries of Myles Garrett\u2019s actions. Their electronic sign stealing will\nstill be a huge story as it is unlikely that they are the only team using\ntechnology to steal signs.  As the\nanalytics craze hits everything else, it is almost funny that the teams do not\nwant anyone stealing signs.  The process\nof stealing signs has been going on for over 100 years, but the \u201cspirit\u201d of the\ngame apparently draws the line here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Play Western New York<\/strong>\u2014I am excited to\nbe presenting Saturday for a group of sports organizations funded by Project\nPlay of Western New York.  We are\nexpecting over 75 leaders representing 50+ organizations to participate in the\nworkshop and break out sessions aimed at building the capacity of their\norganizations.  As with many\norganizations, the challenge is how to balance all of the requirements of\nrunning a youth sports organization.  \nTypically the Founder takes on an enormous burden both financially and\nin time.   As we sit with organizations\nwe try to help them identify the best way to make their organization\nsustainable so that if they get hit by that bus, the organization will be able\nto carry on its important mission and all of the hard-work from the Founder\nwill not go to waste. One of my favorite parts of this process is the smaller\ngroup sessions which allow the participants to ask the questions with which\nthey need the most help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin Kaepernick<\/strong>\u2014In another of the NFL\u2019s struggles, the workout set up for Colin Kaepernick on Saturday has received wide-spread criticism.  The reason is that it does not fit in the NFL\u2019s usual timeframe for working out players (Tuesday).  The league did not give Kaepernick much advance notice and many sources have reported that they gave the teams no notice at all prior to the media announcement.  The bottom line is many feel this is a CYA move by the league.  Kaepernick feels he has been blackballed by the league and a victim of systematic discrimination.  However, some former players close to the league have told me that Kaepernick was not even trying to get workouts, was not in shape, and was not training and practicing in any fashion which would make the NFL teams take him seriously. Remember, this is a small community and people know what is going on.  If Kaepernick was training and preparing for workouts, word would easily have gotten back to the NFL teams.  It will be interesting to follow what happens at Saturday\u2019s workout.  Maybe the NFL should give a compensatory to pick to the team who dares to sign him.  It will be interesting to follow what happens on Saturday and it will probably merit its own article early next week so check back here. UPDATE: 11-18-19 Plenty of Blame To Go Around in Kaepernick and NFL Fiasco<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiserv Forum\/Giannis<\/strong>\u2014I had my first chance to\nsee Fiserv Forum and watch Giannis live. \nHis athleticism is even more impressive in person than in HDTV.   For my personal taste, there are still too\nmany side shows at NBA games because I like the focus on the game and the\ncompetition but the crowd for the most part seemed much more engaged by the\nentertainment during the timeouts. \nFiserv lived up to its billing with an impressive array of food\nselections and nicely redeveloped area though somewhat inexplicably, several of\nthe bar\/restaurants would not serve food or have anything other than bar\nservice. Really? You didn\u2019t see the game schedule? Or you didn\u2019t expect people\nto come by after the game when you are 200 feet from the exit?  Puzzling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia vs. Alabama<\/strong>\u2014Does someone want to explain to me how Georgia is ranked ahead of Alabama?  As you can read in my post about \u201cWhy an 8-team Playoff Will Save College Football<\/a><\/em>\u201d, the criteria are so questionable that nobody knows the real requirements.  Georgia lost at home to South Carolina.  South Carolina is currently 4-5.   Alabama lost at home to #1 LSU.  LSU is undefeated.   Granted Georgia has a couple good wins (Notre Dame and Florida).  However, you can only play who is on your schedule.  I hate the concept of punishing teams for schedules which are either set a decade in advance (for non-conference games) or are out of their control (set by the conference).  Alabama is still likely to get into the playoff if LSU beat Georgia.  So the Tide will now have to cheer for their rivals because there is almost no way Bama gets in if LSU loses to Georgia because you are hard pressed to see how Bama would be picked ahead of the team that beat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n