MLB – From The Middle Blog

Browns: Beat Colts after 4 BAD calls on Colts really late in the game 1.Apparently a forward shovel pass is now ruled a lateral pass and is not subject to the usual fumble rule or interception rule. 2. A pass that is out of the back of the end zone is catchable pass. 3. According to the Refs if on a TD drive if you get the Ball to the white goal line but not over it is a TD. This one I don’t know the rule. 4. If your hand slides ever so slightly on the receiver with out causing any alteration to the receivers stride or anything THAT is now PASS INTERFERNCE!!! Football is not football any more. Give me the times when players like Dick Butkus was playing. I remember him saying, “I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to see their heads rolling down the field” Whether that was in jest or not I do not know. But that is the way he played. NO! Football isn’t football any more. Seems to me NFL football is rapidly becoming more of a “Flag Football game.” Seems their exhuberance to make the game more safe. Has degutted the game. I am getting to dislike the game more each week. It is getting closer to the times of the NBA strike. In order to attract an audience they chose people like Michael Jordan, (a good player), SEEM, to be exceptional by allowing him to break all the rules. And allowing an “iNDEFENDABLE SHOT” . There is an extended line above the goal in which if your hand enters it is “GOAL TENDING”, NOW it is legal for the offensive player to enter this area to “DUNK” a ball and score. HOWEVER if a defenders hand is in that extended circle. It is called as “GOAL TENDING’ and the offensive team is awarded 2 points whether it goes in or not. Like I said there is no way to defend against it. Considering many of today’s players can touch the rim without even jumping. I fail to see the excitement in watching this act. When the game began the average player was about 5 ft 8 in. Putting the rim over 4 ft above their head. Sure you had some players taller. But if capable of “dunking” , they didn’t because that would be GOAL TENDING. I think it is way past time to raise the goal, by the same amount as the average player of today. 12 foot goals, I think are both unreasonable. While on the subject. Many rules need to be enforced. Nearly all players “palm the ball today, and then the announcers talk about how much control the players have while dribbling. Of course you can control the ball better when you can carry the ball. Basketball used to be a “NON CONTACT SPORT”. Now you have more contact than is allowed in FOOTBALL. The MLB is just as guilty after the big STRIKE. (which is when I quit watching MLB. I used to watch the CUBS play everyday, (before the lights), and the Braves every night. But to get the crowd back they “unofficially’ sanctioned the use of PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs), To produce super sluggers chasing Maris’ season home run record. The only reason was to entice people to watch the game. I have watched 1, one game of MLB since then. That was because my Cubs were playing my son’s Braves and it was a birthday present. Now College basketball is a professional game. Not only do the athletes get a “FREE EDUCATION’ I and most students today PAY for. The Athlete gets endorsements too. If they are very good it could make them a millionaire before they graduate. I remember the story of a “a student athlete basketball player in the movie HOOSIERS, lost his elgibility for ACTING as a basketball player in the movie. Bah !! Humbug!! to professional and college sports. I still like Australian football and Rugby. But do not get to see that often. I enjoy Rally Car Racing, which is really hard to find on TV. NOW I enjoy watching the little ones play. They play, have fun. Go home. I have to admit there are some bad coaches, players with attitude, and some of the umpires who have no idea what the rules are. Of course there are different rules according to what area you are in. I have no problem with this as long as the rules are applied equally. O.L.Thymer agrees. He said it is more fun watching his great grandchildren play. He will travel nearly 100 miles one way, sometimes 1 day, sometimes 2 days, sometimes 3 days (for the travel team games), to watch them play, other days they may play as close as 30 miles away each way. Believe me. I’ve seen him do this 2-3 weeks in a row. But now that he is having a little more trouble driving at night he may leave before a game is finished. RANT OVER. For now. SORRY for turning this Football based talk into non football opinions. But the idea behind starting fromthemiddleblog.com was to air my opinions. And maybe what I said here should have been a separate post. But I think it is all tied in. COLTS: Owner, Jim Irsay states, QB Anthony Richardson will “probably” miss rest of season, (a damaged AC joint to his shoulder), after last Sunday’s game against Titans. He will be undergoing surgery. For those of you who are new here. This is how confidence ranking goes, let me explain. If we were playing an office pool,(which we ARE NOT). The object is to score the most points. To obtain the score YOU rank the teams by how confident you are a team will win its game. EXAMPLE: Say this week we have 16 games. The team you are most confident will win you would assign the number 16 and follow down to the team you… Continue reading NFL CONFIDENCE PICKS WEEK 7 10/19-22-23/ 2023

As a SPORTS fan, let me chime in to say, an NFL Lockout or Strike would not be viable option. For one the team owners, players, and NFL in general are already OVERPAID. The economy could not absorb any further raises in revenue for these groups. I agree that extra games are nothing more than a money grab. But if they add more games where will it end. The NBA season already overlaps into the BASEBALL season. Football overlaps into the BASEBALL season. All seasons overlap. I was a huge Baseball fan. I watched the Chicago Cubs every afternoon on the Superstation WGN, I watched the Atlanta Braves whenever the CUBS weren’t on, and sometimes, I hate to admit this I sat up a second TV so I could watch when they were on at the same time. The BASEBALL STRIKE of 1994-1995 ended that streak. I have watched only one full game (CUBS) since then. I have only been to our local minor league teams game once. Before the strike it would be nothing to go a couple of times a week. I even got to know and sat with some of the players families. Yes I am only one person. But I have noticed many of my friends and acquaintances have had a similar reaction. This was the reason McQwire was in my opinion pushed along with other player to use steroids, Viewership hit such a low level MLB had to do something to grab the public’s attention. What better way than to use ‘livelier balls” and “super hitters”. Do I blame the players involved. Yes it was their choice. However, in their defense I think they were coerced in this move by MLB to regain interest in their industry. Now let us look at the NBA Lockout of 1998-1999. I again lost all interest in NBA. I had been a NBA fan an ABA fan. (I still prefer the old ABA). But I haven’t paid to see a game since the LOCKOUT. I don’t watch it on TV. I occasionally switch over during a commercial break to check the score of our local NBA team, just to get the score. But the NBA had to do the same thing as BASEBALL. To generate interest they had to create a SUPERPLAYER. A one time good player suddenly became a SUPERPLAYER, when he was no longer held to the rules. Let’s face how many people do you know can dunk the ball in a step and a jump from the 1o second line, or shove a player and get to shoot free throws. When some players got ejected from the game for an action, and he was free to do the same thing without any penalty. Yes their were more than one. But (I know) you who aren’t savvy on real basketball, will go up in arms. But the player I’m referencing is Michael Jordan. I’m not saying he wasn’t a good, maybe even better than average player before the lockout. But if you watch after the lockout you will see what I say is true. NBA marketing, just like the MLB got behind one player. Marketing is everything. You could take anything and with the proper marketing turn it into a SUPER WHATEVER. Who or What would be the hook to draw back fans if the the NFL does not play. That Is How I See It. Views: 135