In 2020, we could always us a feel good story.  That’s especially true in the sports scene of this odd pandemic year.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team!

The Razorbacks have been the sad sacks of the SEC for the past several years.  With 2-10 records in the past two seasons, the “Woo-Pig Sooie!” team from Fayetteville went 0-for-SEC in those years, too. 

The Arkansas Razorbacks were so bad (how bad were they?) that they have chewed up and spit out four coaches in the past 8 years.  John L. Smith lasted one season (2012) in going 4-8.  He was tossed overboard for former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema.  Though Bielema had a few years of moderate success, he was sent packing at the end of his fifth season in 2017 after a 4-8 campaign. 

It got worse after that.

Former SMU coach Chad Morris took the reins in 2018.  Morris had miraculously transformed the Ponies into a winner and was considered an offensive guru.  Alas, two years of 2-10 overall (and 0-for-SEC) chased Morris from the hills. 

Arkansas was at another crossroads.  The university’s football program had a long and proud history of winning more than they lost and competing for championships.  The fans that fill Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville are among the most vocal in the SEC and the nation. 

Arkansas was a founding member of the old Southwest Conference and participated in the league from 1915 until 1991.  During that span, the Hogs were league champions 13 times, a perennial fixture in the AP Top 25 polls, and the 1964 team (11-0) and 1977 team (11-1) finished the season in the top three. 

In 1992, though, the Arkansas Razorbacks took a big step-up and joined the Southeastern Conference.  More importantly, the Hogs were placed in the incredibly tough SEC Western Division.  They now compete against the likes of Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss.   

Beginning in that same year of 1992, the SEC has captured the college football national championship an incredible 14 times in 28 seasons.   The SEC West (home of the Arkansas Razorbacks) has won 10 of those 14 championship trophies.   There is no tougher division to play college football.

This means that Arkansas doesn’t have the ability to rebuild slowly in order to have a competitive season.  The team faces the football equivalents of Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago on many Saturdays in the fall. 

Cue the “Rocky” music, because the 2020 Arkansas Razorbacks have climbed off the mat and are fighting back once again!

The team hired a career assistant football coach by the name of Sam Pittman to be the next Head Coach at Arkansas last December.  Pittman played football for small school NAIA powerhouse Pittsburg (Kansas) State from 1980-1983.  He earned All-American honors and was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall-of-Fame in 1988.  After a year as a graduate assistant with his alma mater, Pittman’s lengthy coaching resume included three high school football teams, one junior college, and then 11 more stops slowly ascending the ladder in major college football. 

From 2013-2015, Sam Pittman coached the offensive line for none other than the Arkansas Razorbacks!  In 2016, the coach moved to the SEC East national contender, University of Georgia. 

I remember it well.  Back in the prehistoric year of 1979, cable television was just starting to catch-on around the country. 

And then, miracle of miracles, I heard about an all-sports television network which may be coming soon to my cable television carrier. 

A special channel called the Entertainment and Sports Network (ESPN) would be bringing me a chance to watch sports 24 hours per day/7 days per week?  Sign me up, said this young newlywed guy in Louisiana.

Though ESPN was born in late 1979, the only other reliable sports viewing on cable television at the time was coming from the Madison Square Garden Network (which later became the USA Network).  That channel featured sporting events in New York City’s premier indoor mecca.  Prior to ESPN, I watched the weekly WWF professional wrestling shows (now WWE) plus in-season college basketball games, hockey, and the Westminster Dog Show from Madison Square Garden. 

When ESPN started programming, they had a nightly one-hour show called “SportsCenter” which allowed me a chance to watch televised highlights from football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, and other sports around the country.

Of course, the network needed some “live” sports to broadcast, too.  So, they cobbled together any number of low production cost events to put on the air.  ESPN had a few basketball games, women’s college softball and volleyball games, tennis matches, cheerleading contests, and even a series of weekday morning exercise programs to stretch the sports day in between the network’s vaunted “SportsCenter” highlights shows.       

Sports fans can thank ESPN for the developing the concept of “March Madness” as the network first became involved with the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament beginning in 1980.  Before that time, college basketball fans would only see one or two feature games on each night of the tournament as local network affiliates were reluctant to anger viewers by showing a basketball game during weekday afternoons instead of soap operas, game shows, and the news.    

ESPN said, “We’ll take those games!”  ESPN became even more relevant and “must see TV” for male viewers.  In cable television’s infancy, local systems rarely had more than 50 channels available.  In case you didn’t know this, some cable channels actually paid your local cable system to carry their channel in order to guarantee their sponsors “x” number of possible viewers in “y” number of markets. 

ESPN’s popularity started to soar.  But, then again, so did their cost of doing business, too.  In those early days, the upstart network’s production costs were minimal as many of the “live” events were small scale productions not requiring them to pay “rights” to broadcast the events.  As the network’s popularity grew, viewers demanded a higher quality of sports to watch on television, too.  College football became a staple for ESPN in the 1980’s.

In 1984, ESPN’s owners sold the network to ABC Television.  Then ABC was purchased by The Walt Disney Corporation in 1996.     

ESPN now had access to capital (ie – money) and entered into bidding wars with the traditional networks for rights to cover sports and sporting events.  With the high costs of completion, ESPN needed to charge local cable television operators money for the privilege of carrying their sports programming.    

ESPN quickly responded and developed ESPN2 (to show more than one feature game at the same time) and ESPN Classic (to provide sports fans with reruns of vintage sports events) to justify the high ...

Historically, the best college football teams in the Southeastern Conference have been known for playing extremely tough defense. 

Back in November, 2011, the nation’s #1 and #2 teams (LSU and Alabama) played an overtime game in which neither team scored a touchdown.  LSU won that game 9-6, but Alabama claimed revenge two months later and grabbed the national championship in taking a 21-0 win of the Bayou Bengals.

During a nine game stretch of that football series, Alabama held LSU to a total of just 72 points (just 8 points per game). That scoring drought finally ended in 2019 as Joe Burrow led LSU’s unbeaten Tigers to score 46 points and a much needed victory at Alabama.  

“Rock ‘em, sock ‘em” defensive football games have been synonymous with SEC football for many decades. 

Until this year, that is.

Through the first few games of the 2020 season, LSU’s defending champions are just 1-2 on the season with a defense which has allowed 32 points per game this year (ranked #51 nationally). 

In recent years, the University of Florida had one of the toughest defensive teams in the nation.  In 2019, Florida gave up just 14.4 points per outing (good for 10th best scoring defense nationally).  In 2020, however, Wally Gator is giving up 33.3 points per outing (#58 in the nation) although Florida is still 2-1 on the year.  

Last weekend, the University of Alabama surrendered an incredible 48 points against SEC foe Ole Miss.  Yes, Bama won the football game 63-48, but the Tide surrendered an amazing 647 yards in the game at Ole Miss. That was the most yards Alabama defense has allowed – in school history!

In fact, the game’s total of 111 points and 1,370 combined total yards were both Southeastern Conference records for a non-overtime football game.  Since the SEC was established in 1932, the Bama/Ole Miss game was the highest scoring football game played in 88 seasons!   

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin (who was a former assistant coach at Alabama) shook hands with his former boss Nick Saban at midfield afterwards and said, “I thought they played defense in the SEC!”

Good question! Where’s the D, SEC?

Georgia, #3 in the latest AP poll, is currently leading the Southeastern Conference in scoring defense as the Bulldogs have surrendered only 12.3 points per game in their 3-0 start.  They are ranked #5 nationally in scoring defense.   The second-best SEC defensive team this season has been Auburn.  The War Eagles have allowed 22.7 points allowed per game (22nd in the nation).

Alabama, ranked #2 by the AP this week, has allowed a very un-Saban-like 30.3 points per game through their first three games in 2020.  The Tide surrendered just 18 points per football game on average in the 2019 season.

So, what’s going on in 2020?  Here are a few ideas to ponder.

In 2020, the SEC isn’t playing its traditional 12-game season.  Normally, SEC teams will play eight conference games and four non-conference outings.  During this pandemic year of 2020, the league has scheduled just ten games with all of them being played against SEC foes.

By removing a few “tune-up” early season football games along with the annual “cupcake&#...

The National Basketball Association is in deep trouble. 

I’m not buying the excuse train being offered by the sports apologizers, either.   The NBA can run, but they cannot hide the league’s diminishing fan interest during this pandemic-related extended season.

The television ratings for the NBA Finals have just established historic lows.   Television viewership was down nearly 50% from last year’s weak ratings. 

The self-proclaimed King himself, LeBron James, was presiding court yet again – this time for the newly crowned NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. 

Thankfully, the NBA season ended Sunday night with LeBron’s LeLakers swatting the dehydrated Miami Heat four games to two. 

Who do you think won the Finals MVP?  Yes, LeBron James.  That makes four NBA Championships and four NBA Finals’ MVP trophies for the nearly 37-year old basketball player. 

If he remains the league’s top-drawing star, the NBA is in big trouble.

As a reminder, the NBA Finals would normally be playing in June (a problem in itself due to the league’s lengthy season).  Despite having no fans on hand to cheer for the home teams this October, the NBA’s quite expensive Bubble Court has done a decent enough job of giving television viewers the sounds of a home court game (without the courtside cursing, thankfully). 

Despite the NBA’s changes in playing dates due to 2020’s COVID issues, the positive side means that millions more sports-starved basketball viewers have been at home and could have watched the recent NBA playoffs. 

From my perspective, the potential television audience in 2020 should have been larger than ever.   

Recently heard excuses have included, “It’s a very important political election season!”  No argument here, but there wasn’t an NBA Finals game scheduled on the same days as either of the debates held thus far.  From what I remember, television sports ratings haven’t crashed during previous presidential campaigns of 2016, 2012, and others in recent memory.   

The NBA’s target audience is definitely unlikely to be watching Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, either.  Carlson may be grabbing a whopping 4.5 million viewers per night, but it’s likely that less than 1% of them would have been likely to change the channel if they had been aware that LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers were playing the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

Let’s not forget that October is the conclusion of baseball season, too!   Alas, the television ratings thus far for Major League Baseball’s COVID season have also been swirling in the proverbial toilet.  So, the NBA isn’t losing many (if any) fans to baseball games on television.

Others are opining that the NBA doesn’t stand a chance during football season.  That would have some merit on Sunday or Monday nights.  However, the basketball league’s weekday games aren’t competing against college or NFL football games, are they?

The quality of play on the court is certainly representative of the 2020 version of the NBA.  That’s another part of the NBA’s problem, too.

The 2020 version of the NBA often times reminds me more of watching the Harlem Globetrotters playing against the New Jersey Generals.  Players like LeBron James are permitted to, quite literally, drive to the basket and plow over an opponent without a foul being whistled.  Other times,

Way back on January 20 of this year (pre-COVID times), yours truly penned an article about the sorry state of the Houston Texans NFL franchise.  The team had just blown a 24-0 first quarter lead to the Kansas City Chiefs (who would not only win that game but later go on to win the 2020 Super Bowl game).

On Monday, the Houston Texans (now 0-4 in the new season) finally fired their dual purpose head football coach/general manager, Bill O’Brien.  Many bad decisions, both on the field and in the off season, will haunt the Houston football franchise for years to come. 

Since joining the team in 2014, the Bill O’Brien record will show that he finished his tenure as the only Texans’ coach with a winning record (52-48).  That record doesn’t reflect the competition level of the generally weak division which the Texans play in. 

For most of O’Brien’s tenure in Houston, the AFC South division (which features “juggernaut” teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, and Indianapolis Colts) has been weaker than Popeye without a can of spinach.  For many of O’Brien’s years, the Texans were virtually guaranteed to win five out of six games played against these divisional rivals. 

When playing the more competitive NFL teams, the Texans were, at best, an average team under Bill O’Brien.  The team’s 2-4 playoff record under O’Brien confirms that Houston was not ready for football’s annual big dance. 

Offensively, O’Brien (who was supposedly a press-acclaimed genius while serving under Bill Belichick in New England) fielded teams in Houston which regularly struggled to put 20 points on the scoreboard.  The Texans’ defense, anchored by future Hall-of-Fame defensive end J.J. Watt, had to rescue the offense from itself year after year during the team’s best seasons. 

O’Brien, who served as the quarterback coach for a guy named Tom Brady in New England in 2009 and 2010, actually installed a series of quite forgettable quarterbacks as starters in Houston.  Do you remember names like Brock Osweiler, T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, Tom Savage, and Brian Hoyer?  These quarterbacks started games under center for Bill O’Brien in Houston.  The Texans’ offense was notoriously slow and plodding under O’Brien. 

If you had insomnia, watching the Texans on offense could help solve your problem – by halftime!  

In 2017, the Texans drafted quarterback Deshaun Watson from the national champion Clemson Tigers to throw the football to his former Clemson teammate and four-time NFL All-Pro receiver, DeAndre Hopkins (who had been selected by O’Brien’s predecessor).     

By this time, though, the Texans’ normally-tough defense was starting to show its age and key injuries mounted.  J.J. Watt missed most of the 2017 and 2019 seasons due to injury.  Due to poor draft decisions and bad free agent decisions, Houston’s pass defense had degraded to 28th out of 32 NFL teams last season in 2019.   

After another disappointing season ending in 2019 (getting blown out by Kansas City in the first round of the playoffs), Bill O’Brien made the single worst trade in recent memory by sending DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for oft-injured running back David Johnson.  O’Brien said that he couldn’t afford to pay Hopkins the kind of money that he would be demanding soon. 

As the team’s General Manager, Bill O’Brien was responsible for overpaying the rest of the Houston Texans squad instead of re-working their bes...

Unless you closely follow Texas high school football, you and I probably haven’t heard of Manvel, Texas.  The Class 5-A Texas high school is located halfway between downtown Houston and the Gulf of Mexico. 

College coaches are quite familiar with the Manvel Mavericks.  According to the school’s athletics website, the Mavericks are the “most recruited Texas High School this decade” with 150 college football scholarships handed out in the past ten years.  With that average, a senior football player at Manvel High School is quite likely heading to college with some type of financial assistance.

The Manvel Mavericks, a perennial playoff participant in Texas high school football, have lost only 18 games in the past ten years.   I think it would be fair to say the program is the epitome of what you’d call a “football factory”.

A few years ago, the Mavericks were led into the playoffs behind three year starting quarterback, D’Eriq King.  King, who stands 5’11”, was a dual threat quarterback and earned a full-ride athletic scholarship at the University of Houston. 

D’Eriq King’s back-up quarterback in high school was Kyle Trask.  The 6’5” 215 pound Trask looked the part of the prototypical quarterback and possessed a talented arm.  Kyle was the Manvel High School team’s starter as a freshman, but he lost the job to King for his final three years at the school.  Trask kept working hard and remained hopeful for a chance to shine in high school every season.  However, that opportunity never came as both King and Trask graduated in the same year.

With D’Eriq King heading 20 miles north to play college football at the University of Houston, his high school teammate was not exactly a hot college prospect.  Game film highlights for Kyle Trask were generally from blow-out wins featuring the big quarterback handing-off the ball to running backs during the final few minutes of Manvel Mavericks’ victories.

College coaches from smaller college programs such as Houston Baptist and McNeese State were quite interested in Kyle Trask.  Most major universities, though, would be taking a huge risk by offering a valuable football scholarship to a young man who wasn’t able to win the starting job at his own high school for his final three seasons. 

Enter the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference. 

Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier knew the reputation of the Texas high school and wanted to take a closer look at the towering back-up quarterback.  The University of Florida’s quarterback play had been inconsistent for several years, and the coach saw something special in Kyle Trask.    

The Gators signed Kyle Trask and, just like in high school, the young quarterback found himself in an all-too-familiar position.  Trask was given the traditional freshman “redshirt” year (which gave him a fifth year of eligibility) as he spent more time watching the starters from the bench during his first few seasons in Gainesville, Florida.

Meanwhile, his high school teammate, D’Eriq King, was having early success in becoming the starting quarterback for the Houston Cougars by his sophomore season.  After an injury marred his junior year, King returned for his senior campaign with a new head coach as the University of Houston hired former West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen beginning in 2019. 

The National Basketball Association could probably use a little help in getting the word out.  You see, they have several head coaching positions which are needing to be filled.

Warning – If you value your new job, do NOT immediately lead your team to the playoffs! You can and possibly will be fired for not winning the NBA Championship! 

That is exactly what happened this week to Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers.  The long-time NBA head coach led his team into the NBA Western Division semifinals this season.  After Doc’s star-studded squad of well-paid Clippers built a 3-1 advantage over the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers lost the series by dropping the final three games. 

If you own a $2 Billion NBA franchise like the Clippers, apparently anything less than winning the NBA championship must be unacceptable.  Since the team usually won’t ditch the majority of the players, the next best thing to justify the high cost of tickets is to replace the coach.  

Besides, some coaches make less than some of the players coming off the bench in today’s NBA.

Doc Rivers is currently unemployed.  He joins the former coach of the Philadelphia 76ers (another playoff team), Brett Brown.  Let’s also not forget Houston Rockets (playoff team) parted ways with former head coach, Mike D’Antoni.  Other NBA coaching casualties in recent weeks have included Indiana Pacers (playoff team) coach Nate McMillian, and New Orleans Pelicans (playoff team) coach Alvin Gentry.

Wouldn’t logic say that it makes more sense for the non-playoff teams to fire their head coaches? 

Let’s compare the NBA to the NFL.  For example, did the New England Patriots fire Bill Belichick after failing to get to the Super Bowl last year?   Of course not!  The New Orleans Saints have been bounced from the NFL playoffs the past two years after posting a 13-3 regular season record.  Did they fire Sean Payton in the offseason?  No way!

What makes the NBA so different? 

The only logical thing that I can come up with is that actual coaching skills really don’t matter very much in today’s NBA. 

The so-called “stars” of the NBA have literally taken over the league and, for the most part, do whatever they want to do on the court.  Sure, the coaches still call time-outs and appear to be diagramming a play at the end of the game.  When the ball is put back into play, though, the players may or may not follow the coach’s directive. 

With NBA stars spending more and more time “influencing” fans via social media, the individual players on the court are far more visible than their coaches in 2020. 

Professional basketball coaches are going the way of the dinosaur.  

At some point soon, you will see a female head basketball coach in the NBA.  A female ex-college player, coach, and/or professional player certainly will have earned a chance to coach in the NBA soon. 

In case we haven’t noticed, today’s NBA is all about making social statements to their dwindling fan base in America. 

Just don’t tell that future first female NBA head basketball coach that the job has now been reduced to organizing practices, giving pre-game pep talks to your team, yelling at referees, calling time outs, showing-off your drawing skills on a grease board, and providing post-game comments to the media (as long as you don’t say anything bad about one of your players). 

Just one year ago, the LSU Tigers put together the ultimate college football season. 

The team went a perfect 15-0 in winning the national championship in 2019.  Quarterback Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy.  He was also selected as the #1 overall pick and joined 13 other teammates being drafted by the NFL this spring. 

LSU won its fourth overall national championship last year and its third since the early 2000’s.  Multitudes of LSU Tiger football fans have been joyously spoiled by their football team’s success. 

Then, 2020 hit.

The first home game of the year at LSU’s Tiger Stadium following a national championship season should have been packed with over 103,000 rabid fans ready to raise the national championship flag and celebrate one more time.

Alas, not this year.

Due to the ongoing pandemic issues in 2020, LSU’s first game of the season against SEC foe Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon just felt downright weird from the start. 

Louisiana’s governor mandated that only 25% of Tiger Stadium’s normal seating capacity would be allowed.  An LSU home football game without a packed house of loud and rowdy fans looked and felt like a ghost town.  

The heralded LSU Tiger Band (a powerhouse source of energy for both the team and its fans) was not permitted to jog into the stadium this season like normal.  The band’s rousing LSU pregame show was kept off of the playing field in Game 1 (and, perhaps, the regular season).   Due to seating restrictions, the 320-member band had to leave half of its squad behind to accommodate their designated 6-foot COVID-spaced positions in the stadium’s north end zone on Saturday.  

Nope.  Saturday certainly didn’t look like an LSU home game.  It didn’t sound like an LSU home game.   And, in the end, the LSU Tigers football team didn’t play like the defending national champions, either.

Mississippi State brought their brand new pass-happy offense to Baton Rouge Saturday and pounded the defending national champions 44-34.  If you watched the game, it wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.

For a college football team which has been known more for a brutal (and boring) running attack, Mississippi State’s new head coach, Mike Leach, magically transformed the Bulldogs in just one game. 

Stanford graduate transfer quarterback, K.J. Costello, played his first football game in the SEC and walked away a winner by tossing an SEC record 623 passing yards against LSU’s traditionally stingy defense.  He completed 36 of 60 passing attempts for the game.  Though his throwing arm is likely sore today, Costello will happily take a victory in his first game at Mississippi State.

Coach Mike Leach built a reputation with his “Air Raid” offensive schemes at both Texas Tech and Washington State over the past decade.  The SEC is a conference which generally features balanced offenses and tough defenses.  On Saturday, Leach’s new passing offense spread the ball all over the field as the Bulldogs simply wore down LSU’s defenders on a warm and humid late September afternoon in Baton Rouge.

Speaking of the LSU defense, Tiger fans might be clamoring for refund from their new defensive coordinator after the team’s horrible performance on Saturday.   Bo Pelini, who was returning to his old job at LSU after being fired as Nebraska’s head coach back in 2014,

As a lifetime Saints fan (circa 1967), the time is now.  The New Orleans Saints need to shake things up – quickly.  The Saints were just embarrassed by the Las Vegas Raiders 34-24 on Monday night to fall to 1-1 this season.

It’s not just because of the incredible number of penalties (10 for 129 yards).  It’s not just because the Saints were missing All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas, either.    

Let’s begin by saying that I have been a HUGE fan of Drew Brees ever since he came out of Purdue as a second round draft pick by the Chargers in 2001.   Yes, the NFL’s leader in so many categories was not a first round choice! 

No matter what happens to the Saints this season, Drew Brees will always be “The Man” in New Orleans and in the hearts of Saints fans forever.  He led the team to victory in the Saints first (and only) Super Bowl appearance on February 7, 2010.

On the other hand, remember that was ten years ago.  Ten…years…ago. 

Like so many long-time WhoDat fans, I counted myself in that number when hearing “I can finally die happy knowing that the Saints finally won a Super Bowl!”   It was a joyous day, week, month, and year for millions of Saints faithful after that glorious victory.   

It was something special that fans of the following 12 NFL teams have yet to experience: 

Buffalo and Minnesota – 4 Super Bowl appearances – Zero wins

Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Carolina – 2 Super Bowl appearances – Zero wins

Arizona, Tennessee, and Chargers – 1 Super Bowl appearance – Zero wins

Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, and Jacksonville – Zero Super Bowl appearances – Zero wins

Ten years later, it’s still great to know that the now 41-year old quarterback of the Saints is still considered among the best signal callers in the NFL. 

However, Father Time marches on.  There is a good reason why you don’t see (many) 40-year old professional football, basketball, baseball, and tennis players.  Between injuries and diminishing physical skills, it is rare for a 40+ year old athlete to maintain the required physical and mental conditioning needed to stay at the top of their profession.

Drew Brees, legendary quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, is now showing that Father Time has made a visit.  Brees’ long ball has scaled back in the past few seasons.  It is rare for him to take a shot downfield anymore.  He is much more likely to drop short passes (15 yards and less) to receivers, tight ends, and running backs. 

Need more proof?  After two games, Drew Brees has completed just four passes for 20 yards or more.   That ranks #30 in the NFL!  The current leader is Buffalo’s Josh Allen with 12 completions of 20 yards or more. 

Without the threat of a home run, though, defenses can inch up closer to the line and play receivers and running backs tighter than ten years ago.  The Raiders (not exactly a defensive juggernaut) kept Brees in check on Monday. 

Sure, the Saints All-Pro receiver, Michael Thomas, was sidelined on Monday night.  However, Brees and Head Coach Sean Payton had a week to prepare and work other receivers into the game plan, too. 

It just didn’t happen.

OK, the winner of the 2020 men’s US Open golf tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club on Sunday wasn’t really Herman Munster, but 27-year old Bryson DeChambeau’s style of golf reminds me of that lovable Frankenstein clone from a 1960’s television show.

I have been a fan of Bryson DeChambeau ever since he hit the PGA Tour several years ago.  I have been fascinated by this young man who majored in Physics at SMU and quickly became the “Mad Scientist” of the PGA Tour. 

Bryson DeChambeau has dared to be different since arriving on the scene in professional golf. 

In addition to his trademark Ben Hogan-styled cap, Bryson decided in college that he wanted to try playing golf with irons of the same length.  Traditionally, each iron is built slightly longer as each club’s clubface angle decreases.  For example, a lofted traditional 9-iron is shorter than a 4-iron. 

Bryson DeChambeau read more about it.  He questioned it.  He wondered why shouldn’t irons be of the same length so that you could swing them all the same way?  Could that possibly yield more consistent results?   So, DeChambeau took the plunge, and his irons are all the length of a standard 6-iron (37.5 inches).

Bryson DeChambeau decided to give his theory a try while in college at Southern Methodist University.   It worked – for him!  He later won the NCAA’s individual championship and then won the US Amateur title back in 2015 with his spiffy single-length irons.  

Many traditionalists scoffed at the notion that his unique style would be successful in the professional ranks.     

Professional golfers are, by and large, quite similar in build and have incredibly silky-smooth swings that make the rest of us quite jealous.  These golfers have all worked hard for years to develop their golf games and make it look easy to the average golfer (like me).   Alas, professional golfers can be a little clone-like in both appearance and in their style of play. 

No offense to Justin Thomas (who gets the most out his 150 pound frame as I’ve ever seen) or the long-hitting (and blank-looking) Dustin Johnson, but the vast majority of golfers have both a silky smooth swing and an equally stoic demeanor.   

It’s hard.  Golf played at the highest level requires a great deal of discipline – physical and emotional.

After turning professional in 2016, Bryson DeChambeau enjoyed a successful start.  He won seven times during his first three seasons and earned a spot on the 2018 Ryder Cup team and the 2019 President’s Cup squad. 

After the 2019 season ended, the “Mad Scientist” wanted to add more length off the tee.  Though he was already among the upper group of golfers in distance with a driver in his hands, Bryson DeChambeau committed to increased distance off the tee by adding 35 pounds to his 6’1” 195 pound frame over the holiday break. 

In addition to boosting his daily calorie intake, he worked out very hard and emerged this year as the new “Beefy” Bryson DeChambeau in 2020.  The physics major had observed how the freakish long-driving contestants whaled at the golf ball.  He wanted to develop a similar swing and go for the green on nearly every tee box.  Though DeChambeau now looks incredibly stiff and robotic while thrashing at the golf ball, he went from 302 yards off the tee in 2019 to 322 yards and a #1 ranking this past season on tour.   

More importantly, Bryson DeChambeau’s overall game in 2020 still remained at a high l...