Getting the band back together

 

Soccer in Europe is not dissimilar from baseball in many ways. It's not salary capped, which means teams with bigger pockets tend to reach greater success. It's a system that exasperates itself, but every once in a while, a team will reach a perfect apex to overcome their financial means and exceed expectations. Think Leicester City in the Premier League, or Ajax reaching the Europa Cup finals.

The biggest strategy to getting over the hump for many teams is developing their young players, and hoping a bumper crop crop emerges at the same time. It worked for the Padres and Blue Jays this year, and was the reason the Royals were a World Series team in the past century.

It's tough for upstarts to break through, either in an individual league, or in the continental competitions. Rosenborg has no problem in the Norwegian domestic league. They generally win most years, and when they don't, they lose out to Molde, this year's reigning champion. This season, one of those surprise upstarts, Bodø/Glimt is in the driver's seat.

After struggling at the beginning of the season, Rosenborg made some changes in the transfer window, and have surged back up the table. Rosenborg has taken a completely different tact, and while it has been effective domestically, it remains to be seen if it will work on the international stage. They have brought back several players who departed to bigger clubs in years past: Per Ciljan Skjelbred came back from Germany, Markus Henriksen came from England and Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson returned from Bulgaria. 

All three serve as a still young, still capable spine to a team that should be much better than their domestic counterparts. In their younger days, they also played on teams that made group stage runs in the Europa League. Now older and wiser, what might their expectations be?

The strategy has worked so far for RBK, but the vision is for greater things. If it works, expect it to be replicated. 

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When does the next season start?

 

We are already a few weeks into the season for the English Premier league and it's national affiliates. This is after they restarted after suspending play when Coronavirus first spiked in Europe and finished the 2019-20 season. As American sports figure out how 2021 is going to look, there are some important differences to consider when next season doesn't seem very normal either for certain sports.

First, even though England is a mess compared to much of western Europe, they have a much better handle on the pandemic than the United States does. Second, soccer players play all the time as it is. There are international competitions, domestic tournaments and club cup competions on top of the regular season, so a turnaround of just a couple of months, and a compacted schedule aren't challenging issues to overcome for soccer players.

Baseball and football won't really see their 2021 season affected. I think at this point, most leagues are comfortable with the efficacy of frequent testing and self imposed quarantining, especially when traveling. Most cynically, I think the low frequency of serious complications among athletes has rendered the disease an acceptable risk for most top brass. Expect MLB and the NFL to have games as scheduled in 2021, with or without fans.

The NBA and NHL could be a little bit hairier. First, these sports traditionally have offseasons that stretch from June to October, and those generally tend to be pretty hard breaks. They have long seasons that can be grueling, and the unions in those respective sports are going to demand that they receive the same leave they would in a typical year. I suspect there will be a compromise, particularly in the NBA, which will try to realign with the college game as much as possible. Even then, I don't see the Association back before the new year. February would give them the same break.

The NHL could be in a real pickle. Canada didn't want the Blue Jays crossing the International Border because of virus concerns, and the limited capacity for quarantining and testing in a baseball season. This has been circumvented by MLS with their three Canadian teams because of a longer lead between games. The NBA can have Toronto play in Buffalo, like the Blue Jays, and they might defuse the situation. The NHL has 7 teams that play in Canada, on an 82 game schedule. If they come back in January or February, it seems likely that the pandemic will be at it's worst worldwide, with the epicenter right here in the USA. 

Getting hockey teams back and forth across a border closed to everyone else seems like a pretty unlikely scenario, given all the aforementioned limits to testing and quarantines. They can't play a full season in a bubble. It would probably be safest to move the other two dozen teams to Canada for the year, but that doesn't seem particularly likely. If I had to guess, the 2020-21 NHL season is in peril. 

At least we will have soccer as a replacement game with a lot of international players, low scores and nets, right? 

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Now here is a wild idea

Source: The ACC will propose that ever single team in Division 1 will make the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) September 9, 2020

You know, there is a lot to like about this proposition. The main thing is that an extended, single elimination tournament would be intense. There would be a lot of basketball, and most basketball fans would enjoy it, but networks would probably enjoy it more. 

The TV windfall would be the top reason I would expect that the ACC of all conferences would suggest this. Most of that conference makes the tournament in a given year anyways, so this seems like an olive branch to the mid-majors and lower conferences in a year that is going to be supremely weird, especially at the start.

Most teams are already looking at the prospect of abandoning their non-conference schedule, so perhaps this was an idea to allow some smaller programs to recoup losses without putting the burden of support directly on major conference schools, who are hurting just as bad (see: The University of Minnesota cutting a handful of sports).

The shock value of having a 320+ team tournament, and the cynical motivation of welcoming everyone into the fold distract from an important feature of college basketball. Unlike in college football, from the outset, every team has a chance to get into the Big Dance, and ultimately win the championship, no matter how unrealistic that might be. 

Win your conference tournament, you make the Big Dance. Not only that, the small teams get a moment in the sun when they win those conference tournaments, which they would be likely to lose if they are wiped out in the 2nd round by a team like Wake Forest in an enormous tournament.

It sounds good, but an all teams tournament should only be used as a break glass measure. It takes away too much from every team in college basketball, and would otherwise only provide a brief, cheap thrill and would serve primarily as fan service. Still, with as strange as this year has been, and the accommodations that have been needed across the board, how can anything be ruled out?

Michael Pineda is the anchor the Twins need

 The Twins started their season white hot, but experienced some tribulations as injuries mounted and the team started to regress. The team fell on hard times just before the trade deadline and not only lost their grasp on first in the central, but on the  2nd spot as well.

Despite crossing the trade deadline in the midst of their longest losing streak in two seasons, the Twins held pat, flying somewhat in the face of what Thad Levine and Derick Falvey have done through their previous trade deadlines.

This was largely because of the work the team has done in previous deadlines and offseasons. There was a slew of players that were on sidelines, injured or suspended, most of whom were added by the illustrias front office pairing. Byron Buxton was drafted by Terry Ryan, but everyone else that has come rushing back to the fold has been a Falvine addition.

Josh Donaldson, Rich Hill and Michael Pineda was an impressive haul for the Twins at the deadline, but they had, of course, already been members of the organization. Donaldson and Hill were new additions this year, but Pineda might have been the biggest key to the Twins recent turn around.

Pineda was one of the top three starters the Twins had, along with Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi. Pineda offered stability last season, and grew stronger in recovery from Tommy John surgery. He had durable starts with good results that not only put the Twins in a position to win the games he started, but also saving the bullpen to work in games that didn’t have as effective starts.

Now, after finishing a suspension, Pineda is back to his old tricks, wherein those tricks are “effective starts that give the rest of the staff a break”. After tonight, he’s had 2 2020 starts, and has a sub 3.00 ERA. Today, he threw 103 pitches to get through 7 innings. It’s nice to have an ace at the top of the rotation, but it’s important to have a workhorse in the middle of the rotation too.

Michael Pineda is that workhorse, and he is back. The return to form has been largely a function of the rest of the team playing like they should be, but Pineda starting every fifth game will ensure they don’t get into a funk like they did in August.

 

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Eurovision isn't terrible!

One recent trend I have noticed with comedies is that they have leaned heavily on Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell, either through their appearance or their benefactory, and almost universally, they are lazy, crass or feature Nick Swardson (both). I expected Eurovision Song Contest, the Story of Fire Saga to be more of the same. 

It featured all of the things that augured potential bad news. It had Will Ferrell. It had Will Ferrell in spandex. It had many different people from different countries with different accents. And you know what? It didn't really lean hard into any of those potentially lazy, homophobic, xenophobic crutches. The closest we got to homophobia was a meta joke about how homophobic the Russian government was. 

The movie doesn't lean on Ferrell and his physical comedy. It doesn't lean on his Icelandic character's homeland as a punchline. It doesn't even lean on any of the competing nations or stereotypes about those countries to get many cheap jokes.

There is a very good reason for this, actually. Will Ferrell's wife is Swedish, and she introduced him to the real Eurovision contest, which he likes. This movie was meant to be about the main characters, Lars and Sigrit, underdogs trying to compete in this grand event, rather than a parody of the event itself.

Since this was a character study, rather than a nonsensical farce, care was taken in fleshing out the cast. Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan brought character to their Icelandic roles, rather than caricature. Dan Stevens made his Russian antagonist more than his superficial stereotype as he appeared at the beginning of the movie, and made him almost sympathetic by the end of the movie. 

One of the surest signs that the movie was an homage and not a satire was the wide range of cameos of previous contestants and winners of Eurovision. Because it was an homage, and rightly featured the tapestry of humanity that has appeared in the contest, the only goofy people could be Ferrell (and to a lesser degree McAdams') characters. 

Since a measure of respect was given by Ferrell and company, the movie needed to concentrate on being clever, if a little weird at times, and didn't need to devolve into the tired tropes that Netflix comedies have been emitting. Maybe it's not the best movie that Ferrell has ever made, but it sure is a heck of a lot better than it threatened to be. 

It's Friday, please enjoy these adorable Rhinos

Well, this week sure has been a year.
This past week has seen the entire country go completely off the rails Before we get to the adorable animals, I want to pass on a couple of messages.
1) It's ok to be upset. We're all affected by the shutdown created by the spread of novel coronavirus. Sure, some of us are inconvenienced, working at home, perhaps with little ones adding to our local stress, while others are completely out of work with everyone locked in their homes. This is nominally a sports blog, and there are no sports. There really isn't much for diversion anywhere. So no matter what level of pain this is causing you, whether you are annoyed by the 58th consecutive episode of Daniel Tiger, or you have a loved one in the hospital, it's ok to feel pain. Everyone's life is different now than it was before, and we all need to adjust, even if the changes are relatively minor, and forced changes stink.
2) It will be ok. This is not the first pandemic in that's ever occurred, and it will likely not be as deadly as many of the worst through history. The world bounced back every time, and this time, we have the advantage of forewarning and advanced medicine. Despite many failings of leadership, most of these suspensions of society are the results of local action, based on good communication from medical professionals. This networking will only be a benefit going forward. More lessons will be learned, and society will emerge better from the lessons learned. It won't be the last pandemic, probably, but we will withstand the next one even better thanks to the lessons we will learn from Covid-19.
For most of us, we will be able to bounce back quickly, and we need to be ready to do so, because we will have a lot of work to do.
Now, the rhinos.

Blackburn better than they've been

Back in 2011, the Blackburn Rovers were bad enough that they were relegated to the Championship, the second tier of English soccer. I'm a Rovers fan, as you probably know by now, and upon their demotion, other fans assured me that they would be be promoted soon enough.
It took until 2017, but they were indeed promoted. Unfortunately, they had been relegated to League One the year before, and were only back in the Championship. Sometimes, this momentum can lead to a quick rise to the Premier League, but it was not in 2018.
Now, though, the Rovers are only a few points out of the playoffs. For a refresher, the Championship sends the top two teams into the Premier League, and the next 4 teams participate in a single elimination playoff for the final spot. this season, they sit in 8th place, only 4 points out of the final playoff spot, which is closer than they've been since they dropped.
They've had some good players on the squad in that time, such as Phil Jones, who has been a stalwart for Manchester United for some time now, former striker Jordan Rhodes, and most recently midfielder Bradley Dack, who has anchored the team since 2017.
Well, he's anchored the team until this year, but has missed substantial time of late, leaving the squad without a proven superstar. Adam Armstrong, the leading scorer and TransferMarkt's suggested most valuable player on the roster, is still there, but he isn't necessarily a player that one would latch on to as the great hope for the future.
But here they are, in contention. One problem the team has had since the dawning of the 2010s was a quick trigger ownership group, who cycled through managers like dirty socks, even after spending too much time with Steve Kean, the first manager they hired after sacking Sam Allardyce. Now, Tony Mowbray has been in charge since 2017, and has shaped the team, tactically and with personal, in the image he wants. the team is in the position because of their stability.
I've always lamented the impatience of sports. Too many teams try to completely overhaul things without giving them a chance, unless there is immediate success. Give a quarterback a couple of years, let a prospect play in the major leagues for a while before you deliver the assessment. And let your coach lead the team for more than a minute. Blackburn is the latest team to learn this lesson.

The 2019-20 College basketball Belt

A few years ago, my friend and I kicked around an idea. What if there was a championship belt, like in boxing or wrestling, for college basketball? You maintain the belt until you were defeated. Ultimately, because of conference tournaments, the belt would always go to the winner of the Big Dance anyway, but it would be interesting to see who held it along the way. This year, so far, it is definitely taking some interesting journeys.
It started with last year's champions, the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA started strong, going undefeated until the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They drew the team they defeated to reach the Final Four last year, the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue won the game and the belt, the first time I can remember them having it.
You might think that's why I am resurrecting this bit. Alas, it is not. In fact, in embarrassing fashion, the Boilermakers lost the Belt very soon thereafter, losing their first conference road game to Nebraska, and successfully defending the Belt one time, against Northwestern.
As if it wasn't strange enough that the Belt was in Lincoln, Nebraska, it was just as strange that the Big Ten set their schedule the way they did. There were a pair of conference games before Christmas, followed by the resumption of non-conference play, so the Belt didn't stay in the Big Ten. No, Nebraska isn't very good this year, and they lost their next game... to North Dakota.
Yes, the Belt went from Virginia to North Dakota. As you might imagine, UND wasn't done with their non-con schedule either, and they didn't successfully defend their title for even one game, giving it up to Oregon State the very next game. Also not a place anyone would expect the Belt to go, but it's already reached the nadir.
The Beavers didn't keep the Belt in their first defense, either, but they did ensure that it would stay in the Pac 12 for the rest of the regular season. Utah holds the belt now, and it looks like it is on it's way back to a more deserving team. The next game to defend the Belt will be against #4 Oregon.