In case you missed it, the owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills wants a brand new stadium built for his professional football team in western New York State.  Oh, boy – here we go again!

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and his wife, Kim, also control the city’s Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.  A Penn State grad, Pegula made his fortune as in the oil and gas business by starting his own company called East Resources.  Getting in on the early phases of the Marcellus shale boom, he would eventually flip a large part of his production company to Shell Oil for a cool $4.7 billion and his West Virginia and Ohio properties to American Energy Partners for another $1.75 billion.

When the family of Buffalo Bills original founder, Ralph Wilson, put the team up for sale, Terry Pegula won the bid in 2014 over another offer made by some guy named Donald Trump and his partner, Jon Bon Jovi.  Yes, that’s right!

In October, 2014, Buffalo Bills fans rejoiced after Terry Pegula (a man with many local ties to the Buffalo area) bought the NFL football team for $1.4 billion in cash.

“Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing.  It’s good to be the local sports king!”

The Buffalo Bills were founded as one of the initial franchises in the old American Football League back in 1960 and merged into the NFL in 1970.  The team operates in one of the smallest media markets in the National Football League with a metropolitan area of just 1.1 million people (good for #49 in the United States).   It is a slightly smaller market than the NFC’s New Orleans Saints (1.2 million), but they only lead the Green Bay Packers (where 600,000 live in their metropolitan statistical area).

Green Bay (unlike Buffalo) is the only community-owned franchise in major professional sports.  The Buffalo Bills (like most NFL franchises) is controlled by a single family entity who can decide whether the franchise stays or goes.

Like right now, for example.

Despite the relatively small size of the city along Lake Erie (in comparison to other NFL markets), the attendance for Buffalo Bills games is nearly always among the highest in the National Football League.

Built in 1973, Rich Stadium (named for a Buffalo-area food products company) in suburban Orchard Park initially had a seating capacity of 80,000 when it opened.  After a few changes have been made to modify the stadium (primarily to add more luxury boxes for the high-roller fans), the current seating capacity of this facility has shrunk to about 71,000.

While on vacation years ago, my family and I drove by the stadium on our way to see nearby Niagara Falls.  Since the football field and the seating are built below ground level, the only thing you will see from the outside of the stadium are the top portions of the upper deck and the light standards.  The placement of the football field and stands below ground level was intended to help limit the fans’ exposure to the cold winds blowing in from Lake Erie.  Since the stadium is open-air, though, the swirling winds still play havoc with punting and field goal attempts at this facility.

The stadium is now nearing 50 years of age and could use a facelift.  The current Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has already dedicated $130 million of the state’s budget for that purpose right now.  That is a lot of money for a football stadium which is used a maximum of ten times a year by the local NFL team, isn’t it?

Unless you realize that the Buffalo Bills current team owner has recently upped the ante and now wants the government (city and/or state) to build a brand new stadium for his team at a cost of $1.5 billion.

Once hailed as a local hero,

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me!  (Whoa!)

Deep dark depression, excessive misery (Whoa!)

If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all (Whoaaaaa!)

Gloom, despair, and agony on me…Wahhhh”

That funny little ditty from the 60’s hit TV show “Hee Haw” is quite accurate when describing NBC’s television ratings for this year’s Summer Olympic Games from Tokyo.

Very sad, indeed!

NBC’s television coverage of the 2020 (yes, that’s what they’re calling) Olympics is about as bad as anyone could have ever imagined.  The ratings are about 50% lower than the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The television ratings debacle has very little to do with the current host city of Tokyo, Japan.  Sure, the city has been in a virtual COVID lockdown for the entirety of the games.  Cheering crowds have not been admitted into Olympic venues to lend support to athletes from around the world.

Thanks for NOTHING, COVID!

A rather creative twist for television at these Summer Games has shown many Olympians getting a few seconds of solo “face time” as they are being introduced via a special entrance into the track and field stadium.  Yes, this is definitely NOT your father’s Olympic games.

The ratings crash also has very little to do with how many nights that US gold medal-collecting gymnast Simone Biles sat out due to personal reasons.

What about the pre-Olympics media-induced uproar concerning a questionable weightlifter from New Zealand?  In the end, that person went home empty handed, so all the hoopla on the much-hyped subject didn’t materialize.

This year’s television ratings should not have been significantly lower due to the fact that the games are being played a half-day ahead of us in Japan, either.

A nightly highlights show is put together by NBC.  If anything, having hours of time to edit and put together a nightly “Best of” show should have helped retain more viewers by capturing the most interesting happenings from each day’s competition.  Let’s face it, most Americans aren’t going to run to the internet to find out who won today’s Olympic skeet shooting event (yes, it’s now an Olympic sport).

Just how bad have this year’s television ratings been?

In previous years and decades, at least 30 million people per night have found the time to check out at least an hour of the Summer Olympics.  In 2021 (for these 2020 Summer Games), the Peacock Network is averaging about half of the nightly audience that the Rio Games had just five years ago.  That also includes a dismal showing for the Opening Ceremonies, too.

Sunday’s NBC audience of 13 million was down 51% from the 26.7 million who watched the corresponding night in Rio.  Most nights are down 50 to 60% from prior Summer Olympic Games.

Trying to make the best out of a bad situation, NBC’s head honcho laughably put the following spin on this year’s Summer Games:

“We’ve had some bad luck,” said NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Shell last week. “There was a drumbeat of negativity … and that has resulted in linear ratings being probably less than we expected.”

What?  Let me help you, Jeff.

When large numbers of Olympic athletes tell the American people that they plan to symbolically protest their country at the Summer Olympics, it is considered an insult to a large percentage of the American public.  We don’t care to hear about it or see it any longer.  Telling the world just how bad of a country that America is while taking advantage of all of the freedoms (at least for now) that most of the other countries do not have is quite hard to swallow for a growing number of us, too.

Whether it is coming from purple-haired female soccer players, male and female professional basketball players,

With the Big 12 Conference caught off guard as stalwarts University of Texas and Oklahoma University have bolted for even bigger money in the Southeastern Conference during the past week, Oklahoma State University athletics fans may be feeling pretty doggone depressed right now.

The school’s athletics programs are top notch and highly competitive across the board.  The rivalry with in-state neighbor OU is so intense that fans call it the “Bedlam Series“.  They dislike each other on the field, but, in general, respect each other within the conference.

I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for several years and was quite surprised that Tulsa leans more toward Oklahoma State sports while Oklahoma City and vicinity are fervently on the Boomer Schooner bandwagon.  I have worked with people who have attended both universities and was surprised that, if their favorite team wasn’t in the running for a championship, they usually bond together as Okies to support the other in-state school.

Having also lived in Texas for much of my career, I can assure you that Texas A&M and University of Texas fans have continued to dislike one another even after the Aggies left for the SEC back in 2012 (Has it really been that long?).  Texas fans may be excited to grab some of that SEC money, but the Ags are not thrilled to welcome the Longhorns back into their world once again.

In Oklahoma, Sooner Nation fans rejoiced that they will now be able to prove, once and for all, that their football program is every bit as good as Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, and so on.  Maybe, and maybe not.  Time will tell.

But how do sports fans of Oklahoma’s OTHER major public university feel about being left behind as the maroon-colored Sooner Schooner sets sail for points eastward in the SEC?

Oklahoma State University (like seven other Big 12 member schools) is understandably in shock wondering how this bus just left without them.  Not taking anything away from the other teams in the fast-sinking Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma State has invested quite heavily in upgrading their athletic facilities in recent years in order to enhance their reputation as an athletics power.

The late oil man and OSU alum Boone Pickens gave millions of dollars to help facelift several athletics facilities on the school’s lovely campus in Stillwater (located about halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City).  His vision helped revive interest in the athletics programs for the past few decades and solidified the Cowboys as a perennial contender in football and other major sports.

Before we examine what can be done to patch-up the Big 12, it’s interesting to examine why the SEC failed to invite Oklahoma State to the party, too?

Sorry, Vanderbilt, but the only thing you had going for your athletics program in recent years is a dandy baseball team which is hampered by some fool who shows up at every home game and whistles on every pitch.   Note to Vandy fans — please take away this man’s whistle ASAP!

Vanderbilt is the only private institution in the now-16 team SEC.  As one of the original members of the Southeastern Conference back in 1932 (joining founding members Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Louisiana State University, and, one year later, Tennessee), Vanderbilt’s athletics program has been, sadly, a competitive joke for years in most major sports.

For most of my lifetime, Vanderbilt seems to have existed to simply raise the academic profile of the SEC.  Vandy’s smarter-than-average athletes have helped to pad the league’s overall GPA and graduation percentages for the longest time.  Vanderbilt uses the SEC for athletics income,

It’s not like I really left you back on July 7.  My wife and I took a week to visit one of our sons, his lovely wife, and two of our young and energetic grandkids after publishing that story.

We spent a few days in central Arkansas at the DeGray State Park resort south of Hot Springs.  We made the obligatory trip up to Hot Springs to see the sights.  I also enjoyed a round of golf at the state park’s golf course (which is in great shape and is quite reasonably priced  – a “must” for golfers) prior to leaving for our return journey back into the land of excessive humidity.

Upon my return, I was ready to discuss the then-rumored information about the University of Texas and Oklahoma University bolting the Big 12 (minus 2 – now minus 4) and joining the Southeastern Conference.

I still plan to discuss that with you soon, but here’s the rest of this story.

When I design my stories prior to them being published on the internet, I utilize a great product called WordPress.  It has been amazing to use and has worked like a charm for well over three years of this unique website’s existence.

Until the week of July 14 and through Sunday, August 1, that is.

When I logged-in to my WordPress “production” system to opine about the implications of Texas and OU joining the SEC, I was prompted to install a few “updates” first.   Nothing surprising about that as it usually occurs at least once per week.

Well, your SwampSwami (a Stone-Aged technology guru who still utilizes Windows 7 on his 13 year old desktop computer put together by his engineering-major son) may have inadvertently uploaded the equivalent of COVID for my SwampSwami WordPress engine.

Cough!  Sputter!  Wheez!  I couldn’t post anything which I had written.  I also couldn’t upload a picture or my award-winning audio podcast.

For once, I was completely stunned.  No matter how hard I had prepared for my blog and podcast show, the vehicle which I utilize to bring it to you was suddenly in the Intensive Care wing of the Worldwide Web hospital.

Yes, I was “SOL”.  With the REAL Sol (as in the sun) still brutalizing the South for another few months of his evil “heat ray”, I, too, was becoming burned-up how to fix matters involving my beloved SwampSwami.com site for the past few weeks.

First idea?  Let’s call a “Doctor” as they’ll know what to do!  I nearly forgot that I am paying a third party to manage good ol’ WordPress for me.  That company (which has terrific customer service and does a fine job) helped me to acquire my website’s naming rights for me, too.  (Hint – they are the company which used to advertise during halftime of the Super Bowl with commercials featuring very attractive females – one of whom had raced Indy cars just a few years ago).

I called the Help Desk and spoke to a very nice, congenial staffer who tried to troubleshoot my issues.  “It’s probably that one of those optional downloads caused your system to flake”, said the kind gentleman over the phone.  “Let’s try something called a System Restore and try to bring back your settings before contracting Computer COVID”.

Think about “Back to the Future” and that’s what we tried.  I turned on the Wayback Machine to July 8 (the day after my last successful post), and we shut it down for the night.  The next day, I was still out of luck.

Double Drat!

The company sent a “How did we do?” email to me, and I responded that everyone was quite response and polite, but my PC was still in sick bay.

I tried another call a few days later to the Help Desk.  Again, I explained the details of this tragic occurrence and that I had legions of SwampSwami.com fans to attend to.  He said, “Sir, I hate to ask this, but what does SwampSwami mean”?

Why, this is a sports site where your humble host (me) is from a state well known for its swamps, and I like to prognosticate and analyze sports from my ...

***Note to my fans!  This post should have been online three weeks ago.  Due to some lingering production issues , I have just now been able to post this on August 1.  My apologies!  Be on the lookout for a new name for this site.  Coming soon: Swampswamisports.com!

If professional golfer Louis Oosthuizen had chosen to become a professional race car driver, he would be the guy who grabs the lead in the first lap and holds onto it until a few laps before the finish line.  No matter how hard he tries and how well he performs, he just can’t seem to be in first place once that checkered flag is waved.

 

It’s not that finishing in the top group doesn’t pay well enough to make for a very comfortable life, though.

 

This weekend, golf’s final major of 2021 was played at Royal St. George in Sandwich, England.  While those of us watching on television were treated to spectacular views of the white cliffs of Dover across the bay from the golf course, The Open Championship (aka The British Open to most of us) was played under bright sunny skies with temperatures in the 70’s each day.

 

That’s not exactly the kind of weather most of us expected to see at The Open.  Though this golf course (built in 1887) has more bumps in the fairways than my teenaged face, the lack of wind, rain, and chilly weather this weekend gave a huge advantage to today’s professional golfers using their high-tech golf clubs and aerodynamically super-charged golf balls.

 

The 2021 Open was grabbed by the latest young American golf sensation named Collin Morikawa.  This rising star finished with an incredible 15-under par for the tournament and did not card a single bogey during Sunday’s final round of 66.  It was a record-setting performance for the 24-year old Morikawa as he has now claimed two major championships (the 2020 PGA and the 2021 Open) in his first appearance in those events.

 

Finishing second on Sunday was another young American golf star named Jordan Spieth.  It’s hard to believe that Spieth is still just 27 years old as he has been on the pro golf scene since 2012 at the age of 19.  Spieth quickly won three of golf’s major championships but has struggled the past few years to regain his form.  By finishing at -13 and runner-up to Morikawa at The 2021 Open, it appears that Jordan Spieth has turned the corner and is set to resume his upward trajectory in professional golf.

 

That brings us to Louis Oosthuizen.

 

The 38-year old South African (whose real name is Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen) won the 2009 Open Championship played at the legendary St. Andrews Golf Links.  Twelve years later, Louis Oosthuizen again led the tournament at the end of the first, second, and third rounds.  He started the final round at 12 under par with a one-shot advantage over Collin Morikawa.

 

Unfortunately, Louis failed to capitalize on the benign conditions at Royal St. George and was one of just two players in the top 15 who shot over-par during the final round.  He would finish in a tie for third place at -11 along with Spain’s Jon Rahm.

 

Just a month ago at the US Open played at Torry Pines near San Diego, Louis Oosthuizen was tied for the lead with Russell Henley after Round 1 and Round 3.  Alas, he would shoot a 71 on Sunday to finish just one shot back of the eventual champion, Jon Rahm.

 

In May’s PGA Championship held at Kiawa Island, South Carolina, guess who finished in a tie for second place?

 

Yep, that’s right!   Noticing a pattern yet?

 

Louis Oosthuizen is fast out of the gate, but he seems to run out of energy at some point coming down the home stretch.  In the last three majors of 2021, he has finished 2nd (PGA), 2nd (US Open) and third place (British Open).

 

If golf was a horse race,

It’s quite possible that you (and most of America) didn’t spend five hours watching the made-for-television golf competition called “The Match” Tuesday night.  This was the fourth in a series of golf competitions on Turner Network Television featuring pairings of two PGA stars and two NFL legends.  This year’s event featured Phil Mickelson and Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady vs. the team of Bryson DeChambeau and Green Bay (at least for now) quarterback Aaron Rodgers. 

If you missed it, I’ll give you a recap.

First, let’s talk about the golf course.  This year’s event was played at the spectacular Jack Nicklaus-designed Reserve at Moonlight Bay golf facility in Big Sky, Montana.   This incredibly picturesque golf course is located in southern Montana and not too far from Yellowstone Park in northwestern Wyoming.   The golf course elevation is listed at 7,500 feet above sea level.  That’s a full 1.5 miles higher than golf being played here in the bayous of the South.   The tee box views with a vista featuring snow-capped mountains were incredible.

In addition to having less air to breathe at that elevation, the golf ball also travels about 15% further than normal, too.   When you’re talking about golfers like Mickelson and DeChambeau who regularly hit the golf ball over 300 yards, their drive will carry 345 yards (300 x 1.15) at this higher altitude. 

The golf course features a unique 777 yard (yes, that’s correct) par-5 hole.  The elevation drops nearly 300 feet from the tee box area down to the green which is nearly ½ mile in distance from the tee!   Unfortunately, neither Phil Mickelson nor Bryson DeChambeau were able to hit the fairway off that tee as viewers were teased that we were about to see a drive of 400 or more yards.  It didn’t happen, but it was fun to watch them try.

The television cameras caught a few of nature’s creatures which golfers normally don’t encounter on golf courses in most of the country.  There was a moose slowly wandering just off the golf course and a lone wolf meandering near one of the golf holes.  Tuesday’s animal star of this television show was a large bear.  Yogi wasn’t looking for a pic-a-nic basket snack, but he did seem fascinated by some of the yellow television cables.   When Bryson DeChambeau decided to venture deep into the brush to look for an errant golf ball, a television commentator startled the golfer by suggesting that he might want to keep an eye out for the bear.   Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was also ribbed about having to play the Bears every season (he didn’t seem to find it funny – more on Rodgers in a bit).  For his part, Mr. Bear never intruded on the golfers, but it made for a few light-hearted moments.

Speaking of the golfers, Phil Mickelson has become legendary in this format for his tongue-in-cheek bragging and taunting of the other players and the announcers during play.  The 51-year old, who just captured his sixth golf major in winning the PGA in May, was on top of his golf game and his needling once again.  He taunted DeChambeau after besting him in the longest drive competition on the front nine saying, “I’m the oldest guy out here, and I still hit the bombs!”  I was fascinated listening to Phil as he gave exceptionally detailed instructions on and around the green to playing partner Tom Brady.  Brady has more Super Bowl titles (7) than Phil has major golf championships, but Tom Terrific was quite receptive to Mickelson’s putting and short game suggestions.  After all, Phil is one of the all-time greats at his sport, too!

Most of us remember the classic TV show from the 1960’s named “I Dream of Jeannie” where the bottle containing a lovely blonde genie (Barbara Eden) is found by astronaut Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman).   For five years, the television series portrayed their new relationship is cute, cozy and fun.

Last Thursday on July 1, a different kind of genie was let out of the bottle as college student-athletes are now permitted to start to make money from their name, image, and likeness (NIL).  

Until last week, college athletes had to accept that receiving up to a full academic scholarship complete with room, board and athletic gear was all that they were permitted to legally receive from the university.   In some of the elite private universities, that educational package is now worth $75,000 per year or more.  For state universities, it is still worth up to $35,000 per year for the student-athlete in return for participating in the school’s athletic programs. 

Did you know that the NCAA actually did approve many cases (prior to July 1, 2021) where the student-athlete made a request to be able to promote something (such as a personal clothing line or if the student wrote a book for sale to the public)?  The NCAA’s own website stated that, since 2015, over 200 waivers had been requested by student-athletes to promote their own business or product and 98% of those waivers were approved.  The remuneration was restricted to a reasonable amount based on the estimated value of the product(s) – not based on the perceived value of the endorsing athlete. 

The NCAA’s previous rules prohibited the student-athletes from promoting commercial products and services while enrolled at the university.   

You see, there are many unscrupulous people with connections to college sports programs and who have an abundance of money who would just love to “help” heavily recruited athletes – as long as they would come to play for their favorite university.  The NCAA has been chasing these overzealous athletics boosters for years.  Sadly, the NCAA’s inability to capture the bad guys makes the Keystone Cops look good.

Nevertheless, college athletes across the nation have taken their fight to earn money off their personal name, image, and likeness to the courts and won.  Student-athletes may now sign endorsement deals for their autographs, personal appearances, product endorsements, and social media posts.

These new “NIL” rules are being implemented like wildfire by state governments around the country. God forbid, no state wants their football or other athletic teams to be at a competitive disadvantage for very long!  Louisiana’s Governor John Bel Edwards just signed the Bayou State’s bill on the same day (July 1) as the national rule took effect.

You have to wonder how long it will take for high school kids to try to jump on this perceived financial gravy train. 

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association rules do not allow student-athletes to profit under Louisiana’s newly signed rule.  Bylaw 1.25 of the LHSAA handbook states that “no student shall, at any time, receive any salary or financial compensation, except actual expenses”.  

It won’t take long for attorneys to jump aboard and try to get this issue into the high school level soon.

Let’s pause and consider how much money can a college athlete actua...

In the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks are now playing without their leading scorer and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.  Their opponent, the Atlanta Hawks, also lost their leading scorer in Trae Young to a sprained ankle at about the same time.

Watching those two teams compete late this week without their respective top scorers has been a joy.  When the “star” player isn’t available, the remainder of an NBA team’s players must pick up the slack and perform at a high level. 

When you watch so-called “star” players in the NBA, it can often look as if the other four players on the team never even played in college or high school. 

After watching years of Houston Rockets games, I used to joke with friends that the team would almost always lose when in the last three minutes when James Harden would morph into “Dancin’ Harden”!  When the chips were down, the Rockets players would, quite literally, stand around and watch as James Harden would get the ball, dribble, fake back and forth, and loft-up a long shot or go to the rim and feign being fouled. 

As a basketball fan, it was comical and cringe-worthy to watch this play out night after night.  Sometimes, James Harden would hit a few hero shots and win the game.  Most other times, the other four players (whose job was to literally get out of Harden’s way) might as well have taken a seat on the sidelines. 

James Harden took his dancing act to Brooklyn in early 2021 and had to share the dance floor with two other ball-hogging divas – Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.  Their team, the Brooklyn Nets, was eliminated in the NBA playoffs in the second round by Atlanta.

If you are a fan of Los Angeles, Cleveland, or Miami, you have watched LeBron James do the same thing as James Harden did in Houston.  In Boston, it has now become the Jason Tatum show.  Portland fans know that Damian Lillard, a quite talented guard, does the same thing.   In Dallas, there is no doubt that it’s the Luka Doncic show with just minutes to go!

Unfortunately for those teams, they are now gone from the playoffs. 

The four teams which advanced to the NBA Eastern and Western Conference finals were the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks (still playing) along with the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers (eliminated earlier this week). 

Let’s see how the remaining NBA teams have fared in the “star” player department. 

Of the NBA’s top scorers in the regular season, Giannis of Milwaukee came in at #5, Devin Booker of Phoenix ranked #14, Trae Young of Atlanta was #15, and the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard finished the year #18 in scoring.  Though their respective teams can count on their top scorers, the other four guys and the bench players must be doing a better job than the supporting cast of players on those other 26 NBA teams who were at home watching the games on TV this week. 

Regardless of what the NBA and the media might lead you to believe, a championship basketball team still needs five starting players and a solid bench in order to win.

In Arizona, Devin Booker is one of the league’s best young players.  However, the Phoenix Suns are going to play for the NBA championship next week because other players did their job better this year.  The addition of 36-year old point guard Chris Paul took pressure off Booker this season while young center Deandre Ayton has benefited from additional easy buckets after receiving assists from his new teammate. 

I hate to break this to you, but 2021 is not the year when sports truly returned to “normal” as  this evil pandemic lingers. 

Look no further than the 2021 College World Series in lovely Omaha, Nebraska.   The finals will continue tonight as the defending champions (OK, they were from 2019 as there wasn’t a College World Series played in the lost year of 2020) from Vanderbilt take on fellow SEC member Mississippi State.  Vandy leads the CWS 1-0 after taking Game #1 on Monday.

Vanderbilt has a better pitching staff than several major league baseball teams.  The Commodores’ Kumar Rocker and Monday’s Game 1 starter Jack Leiter may be selected within the first ten picks of the next Major League Baseball draft.   The bullpen has been equally effective this season, too. 

No doubt about it.  Vanderbilt has a fine college baseball team, a terrific program, and looks to remain a top contender for years to come. 

However…

Vandy was given an early Christmas present on Saturday and awarded an unexpected and unearned spot in the championship round due to (ugh) this pandemic which never seems to end and causes mayhem for everyone.  After an outbreak of COVID was discovered within the North Carolina State baseball team on Friday, the NCAA awarded Vanderbilt a spot in this week’s final series without the Commodores having to defeat the college baseball team which had been on the biggest roll at the conclusion of this 2021 season.   

Let’s review what just happened to the 2021 North Carolina State baseball team.

After a woeful 4-9 start to their season, North Carolina State had literally morphed into the dragon slayers of the college baseball world coming down the stretch.   The Wolfpack turned their season around and finished as the runner-up in the ACC baseball tournament.  The team was glad just to have an opportunity to be selected for the NCAA’s post-season tournament. 

North Carolina State was placed into the Ruston, Louisiana regional.  The Wolfpack went 3-0 in the Bayou State and took down tournament host and #17-ranked Louisiana Tech twice in their home ballpark.  As a reward for winning the Ruston regional, the NC State baseball team was dispatched to the Fayetteville Super Regional to face #1 national seed, University of Arkansas.  The “OmahaHogs” wasted no time and obliterated NC State 21-2 in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.  After that game, Arkansas fans started packing for what most expected to be a likely trip to Omaha and the College World Series the following week.

In Game #2, North Carolina State took an early lead and then held on to beat Arkansas 6-5 and force a deciding third game.  In addition to having 14,000 loud fans on hand to “Call the Hogs” in the championship game in Fayetteville, Arkansas trotted out their previously unbeaten (12-0) ace pitcher Kevin Kopps.  Kopps (who was selected by the NCAA on Monday as the 2021 College Baseball Player of the Year) had been allowing less than one earned run per nine innings on the mound for Arkansas this season. 

Yes, things were looking fairly bleak for the Wolfpack.  Don’t tell that to NC State’s baseball team, though.  After such a dismal start to their 2021 season, this team had been fighting for several months just to give themselves a shot at the national title. 

Taking a 2-2 tie game into the ninth inning,

This week, I have listened for several hours of the new radio show which is trying to replace Rush Limbaugh in the 11AM-2PM Central time slot.  “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” debuted Monday after February’s passing of talk radio giant, Rush Limbaugh. 

Clay Travis is a conservative voice but his primary talk radio experience comes from several years as a nationally syndicated sports talk radio host.  His new partner, Buck Sexton, was a former CIA agent who initially learned the ropes working for Glenn Beck and has hosted a nationally syndicated evening talk show the past five years.

Rush Limbaugh’s national radio show grew to include over 600 radio stations nationwide.  After he passed from lung cancer in early February, several capable local talk show hosts rotated substitute host duties in the time slot while creatively utilizing some of Limbaugh’s past audio clips to hammer home a point about current-day political issues. 

After the first month of “Rush Tribute” radio shows, the daily audience started to dwindle and the network (Premier Radio) may have lost about 1/3 of the local radio station affiliates.  The Rush Limbaugh Show sadly and slowly morphed into the “Rush Limbo” Show as the guest hosts were forced mesh current topics with previous audio clips of Rush Limbaugh’s thoughts on a similar matter at some point in the past.  That show must have been quite difficult to produce for the several months which it aired. 

After listening to a couple of days of the new replacement program, the biggest issue I see for “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” is that the two hosts (both about 40 years of age) sound quite a bit alike.  It’s hard to know which host was commenting at any particular moment.  They have great energy, and the show has a lot of upside based on the first few days on the air. 

Will they win back the +/- 200 local radio affiliates which have left Limbaugh’s gigantic umbrella after his passing a few months ago?  Only time will tell, and I wish them both well.

I started thinking about how hard it must be to follow in the footsteps of legendary giants.

For example, will any investment guru be able to measure up to the legendary Warren Buffett once he finally retires?  He is still leading the multi-national business conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway at the youthful age of 90 with his ever-spry 97-year old sidekick Charlie Munger still a vital part of the team.  

Though a management succession plan is already in place at Berkshire Hathaway, the next primary leader of that company will feel a lot of heat from investors if he or she fails to keep delivering a rising share price in the future.

At Duke University, major college basketball’s winning coach, Mike Krzyzewski (now 74) has already announced that he plans to retire after this coming basketball season.  Coach K has now won 1,170 games in 45 years as a head coach (five at Army and then the next 40 years at Duke).  His recently-named successor is former Duke player and current assistant coach, Jon Scheyer.   A history major at Duke, the 33-year old Scheyer will soon have to cope with following one of history’s most successful college coaches in Mike Krzyzewski.  No pressure, Jon!

Speaking of legends, how would you like to have been one of the children of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus?  More specifically, how would you like to have been Jack’s son, like to play golf and bear (pardon my pun) the name Jack Nicklaus, Jr.?   His dad won 18 major golf championships over his career, and that record may remain intact for a long time...