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.

SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, December 3
AT SHARKS 1	CAPITALS 7
CAPS GOALS: Ovechkin 2 (13, 14), Strome (6), Leonard 2 (6, 7), Duhaime (4), Milano (4) GOALTENDER: Lindgren RECORD: 17-9-2 NEXT GAME: December 5 at Anaheim

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