As promised in the last

update, ol’ SwampSwami made his annual appearance in the Yahoo! Sports draft

room this week. 

Also as promised, I generally followed my own draft guidelines to select my team (aptly named “Swamp Gas”).  Though my Methane Marauders drew the worst draft selection position (#10 out of the ten teams in the league), I stayed the course and believe that this 2019 team has playoff potential after completing the first 13 weeks of the NFL regular season.    

Apparently, the gurus at

Yahoo! Sports think otherwise.  Here’s

how they rated my team’s draft:

OUCH!  That seems a

bit harsh!  However, these Yahoos graded

my team at a “B-“.  That would equate to

a middle-of-the-pack finish and unlikely to make the playoffs. 

Here’s how the entire league was graded after our draft this week – according to Yahoo! Sports:

So, who did Swamp Gas select for players?  Let’s take a look at my initial team roster for 2019:

Since I was selecting in the #10 slot in the first round, my team also picked first in the second round (#11 overall pick).  With the #10 slot, though, most of the “big money” fantasy stars such as RB Saquan Barkley (NY Giants), RB Alvin Kamara and WR Michael Thomas (Saints), and RB Christian McCaffrey (Carolina) were long gone by pick #10. 

I selected WR Davante Adams (Packers) first at #10 overall and then started Round 2 with RB Le’Veon Bell (now with the NY Jets) at pick #11.  Then I had to wait until pick #30 to select WR Adam Thielen (Vikings) and RB Kerryon Johnson (Lions) at #31.   It was very hard to wait and watch while so many other players were being taken. 

It’s time to introduce our 2019 Swamp Gas team!

QB – Drew Brees (Round 6 – Saints) and Ben Roethlisberger (Round 10 – Steelers) – I love my QB’s!  Both are touchdown machines with teams looking at the playoffs this season.

RB – Le’Veon Bell (Round 2 – Jets), Kerryon Johnson (Round 4 – Lions), Austin Ekeler (Round 5 – Chargers), Derrius Guice (Round 9 – Redskins), and Carlos Hyde (Round 13 – Texans).  I’m a little weak at running back this year, but Bell is coming off a full year of rest (he held out last season at Pittsburgh and was traded to the Jets).  The Yahoo! Sports folks think I’m nuts to have selected Ekeler in the fifth round.  However, he was quite productive as a back-up last season for the Chargers and their #1 back (Melvin Gordon) is still holding out for more money as of this writing.  With the Chargers’ offense being one of the NFL’s best, I’ll keep Ekeler in the line-up until he proves me wrong.

WR – Davante Adams (Round 1 – Packers), Adam Thielen (Round 3 – Vikings), Jarvis Landry (Round 8 – Browns), James Washington (Round 11 – Steelers), and rookie Andy Isabella (Round 16 – Cardinals).  I will be counting on this bunch of wide receivers to strut into the end zone for touchdowns frequently all season!  I’m hopeful that James Washington becomes a favorite receiver for Big Ben in Pittsburgh. The rookie (Isabella) is the fastest wide receiver in the NFL, and I’m expecting him to emerge as a contributor during this season.  We shall see!

TE – Jared Cook (Round 7 – Saints) and rookie T.J. Hockenson (Round 15 – Lions).  Cook comes from the Raiders to New Orleans.  With the Drew Brees now 40 years of age, I figure Cook will see a lot of short passes this season.  Meanwhile,

It’s that time again!  Yes, it’s time for me to enter the annual ritual called the NFL Fantasy Football season once again. 

For the past eight years, I have been participating in a Yahoo! Sports league with a group of interesting personalities.  I used to work with a couple of them, while the rest of the group is constituted of former college classmates (or their children) of my former boss. 

My team name is based on my

home state and my former career in the natural gas business. 

“SwampGas”  Get it?  

Ol’ Swampy was victorious in

his first year in the league back in 2011. 

Though an avid sports fan, I knew nearly zero about the strategy

involved in drafting players, making cuts/additions, and the weekly thinking

which most fantasy players seem to possess.

In a nutshell, I probably won

because I was lucky and oblivious to outthinking myself. 

I’ve theorized that fantasy

football owners’ decisions seem to mirror their investing choices.  Some like to buy and sell frequently, while

others tend to think long and hard before making strategic changes to their

roster. 

When the dust settles on the

season, you’re more likely to be affected by pure luck than your glorious

decision making during the draft and player choices during the regular season.

If you’ve never played in one

of these fantasy leagues (ours is simply for fun – no money involved – just pride),

here are a few of SwampSwami’s suggestions to enjoy your Fantasy Football

Season:

* Team name – make sure that you’re happy with the sound of your name.  You’ve going to live with that name for the entire fantasy football season!* Research players and teams – I annually fork-over nearly $10 at my local drugstore for a Fantasy Football magazine.  With your annual purchase, you are afforded the chance to learn how other “experts” see the upcoming season and give you advice about making your draft picks.  Sadly, their advice is usually no better than your own.  Trust your gut.* Determining a draft strategy – For example, my personal strategy is to (for the most part) select the best offensive players from the NFL teams which score the most points every year.  Hence, I will likely stockpile a lot of players from the Saints, Steelers, Chiefs, Chargers, Falcons, and Rams.  I might grab the best player from a mid-level team, and I normally stay away from the losers (you know who you are!).  * Do – pick players from teams which you personally like.  In my case, I am a Saints fan, so I’ll generally have one or more players from New Orleans on my roster.* Don’t – pick players from teams which you personally despise.  In my case, I avoid Dallas Cowboys players like the plague.  I just can’t make myself root for most players on “America’s Team”. * Don’t waste picks on a kicker or defense until your last two picks –  Last year, I picked a different defense every week to play against one of the league’s lowest scoring offenses (who usually correspond to having the lousiest records).  It was a lot of fun to do this, but it probably wasn’t much different from leaving the same team in every week.* Injuries happen –  Be ready to find new players once one or more of your drafted players go down.* Week 1 and 2 – Be on the look-out for rookies who are making an impact.  Grab them early and dump a bench warmer in the same position.  This can pay dividends down the stretch! * Set-up your fantasy team for a great finish to the season – In a nutshell, you won’t win the league unless your team gets “hot” during the final f...

Already in 2019, professional football fans have already seen the AAF (Association of American Football) come and go.  The league’s on-field product was pretty good, but not good enough to stave off an abrupt ending to play prior to the end of its first (and only) regular season. 

A bankruptcy filing followed soon

thereafter. 

What did we learn from the “Crash

& Burn” AAF this year? 

* There are some die-hard fans that are willing to

watch a less-than-NFL quality brand of football once the Super Bowl ends.  * Unfortunately,

there may not be enough of those fans willing to pay for tickets (even at $20

apiece) to show up in winter conditions (cold and rain) for a minor-league

level quality of play.* Don’t play

football in cities which can’t fill-up at least half of the stadium.  Ever.  You need television viewers to see that fans

of the team are supportive and having a good time.* Don’t televise

football games on networks (CBS Sports Network, NFL Network) which aren’t

available on most cable and satellite providers.* Expect (and

prepare) to lose a ton of money in Year 1 and, likely, in every subsequent year

of play thereafter.* Define what your

objectives are (a merger with NFL or a peaceful co-existence as the official

developmental league for the NFL) in advance and do not lie to your fans about

it beginning on Day 1.  * Have all of your

league’s funding (in cash and ready to spend) available from Day 1 and expect

to lose three times more cash than you initially budgeted.

With all of those harsh lessons learned by the fledgling AAF this spring, it’s time to welcome back the XFL (Version 2.0) beginning the week after the NFL ends play in February, 2020.

What???

Yes, the XFL is returning to

try a reboot after its own “One and Done” football season back in 2001. 

Yes, the XFL II will be owned and controlled by the same primary owner, Vince McMahon, who runs the professional wrestling company WWE.

Yes, the XFL (apparently) has

plenty of cash as Mr. McMahon has cashed-out a lot of his WWE stock (upwards of

$500 million).   My question is whether

he has the stomach to see it all disappear in a heartbeat to bankroll the

start-up costs to fund his new venture. 

Let’s now examine our “AAF

Lessons Learned” questions above as it pertains to the XFL II:

* The original XFL

(2001) averaged only 23,500 fans per game for games played during the winter

and early spring.   The AAF’s average

attendance was only about 15,000 per game. 

Even though the AAF played in a few smaller markets and the XFL II, fans

shouldn’t be expected to sit outside in wet and cold conditions.  I wouldn’t expect a significantly increase in

local attendance with XFL II.* What should be

the average ticket price to charge fans to watch a winter-time minor-league

football?  I think the XLF II will be

hard-pressed to sell tickets for more than an average price of $30-40 per seat.  * That said, will

enough fans fill the seats to make the viewers at home believe that the

on-field product is worth watching?  The

XFL II is beginning with eight teams in seven current NFL cities.  On the east coast, there are teams in New

York City, Washington DC, and Tampa.  On

the west coast, there will be teams in Seattle and Los Angeles.  In the middle, XLF II will begin with teams

in Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis (the only market without an NFL team right

now).

Last night, the Golden State Warriors swept the Portland Trailblazers out of the NBA playoffs and will appear in their fifth straight NBA Finals soon.  As champions for three of the past four seasons, Golden State’s championship team should be quite familiar to the American television viewers by now.

However, television ratings

for the NBA playoffs are down by about ten percent from previous years. 

What gives?

Could it be that LeBron James is missing from the NBA playoffs this year for the first time since 2005 and after playing in the last eight NBA Finals?

Maybe.  I guess the “LeBron factor” was higher than

the NBA expected. 

Could it really be that

hundreds of thousands of basketball fans will tune-in ONLY when America’s longest

reigning basketball star is playing on television? 

Apparently so.

Last weekend, golf’s second

major of the season, the PGA Championship, played to one of the smallest

television viewing audiences in the past twenty years.   The venue

was Bethpage State Park’s Black course, which is as difficult of a layout as

you can ask for.

The winner of the event, Brooks Koepka, is the hottest golfer on the planet after winning for the fourth time in the past eight majors.  So, why did the ratings drop by 36% from last year’s PGA Championship?

Could the problem have been that Tiger Woods missed the cut and wasn’t participating this weekend in the final rounds? 

Could it really be that

hundreds of thousands of golf fans ONLY tune-in when America’s longest reigning

golf star is playing on television?

Apparently so.

Can you imagine what will happen to the NFL television ratings if the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints fail to make the playoffs this fall?  If that were to happen (but it probably won’t), there would be no Tom Brady or Drew Brees on television during the playoffs.

The NFL television ratings

would definitely take a big hit.

Are there that many casual sports

fans who only know (or like) LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees

and won’t tune in to watch the sport without them?

Apparently so.

Let’s do a little test.  I’ll make you a SwampSwami unofficial wager –

right now.

Assuming that Zion Williamson is drafted as the #1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft, I’ll wager that you will see the New Orleans Pelicans (or whichever team Zion ends up playing for) on ESPN and TNT more than times next season than you will see the Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Detroit Pistons on national television.

All four of those teams

failed to make the playoffs this season, and all of them will add draft picks this

June to help improve their squads.    

Why Zion?  The media has made “Zion” into a household

name the past season.  Of course, the young

man has loads of talent, a high energy, a winning smile, and a memorable first

name.

But then again, so does Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.  Same for Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers.     

Sorry, Draymond and Montrezl.  Though you played at well-known colleges (Michigan

State and Louisville) and had solid college careers, you were both second round

picks in the NBA draft. 

Zion,

With this weekend’s snooze-fest called the PGA Championship, I believe it is now safe to say that professional golf’s television ratings are in a world of trouble.

As Brooks Koepka started the final day with an unheard-of seven shot lead on Sunday at the Bethpage State Park – Black golf course, it would have taken an epic collapse (think “Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters”) to prevent him from winning his fourth major championship over the past two years.

Koepka bogeyed four holes in a row on the back nine on Sunday and, for a few minutes, saw his lead trimmed to one shot, but his closest competitor and close friend, Dustin Johnson, gave up two shots on the final three holes to hand the title to Koepka.

Though Koepka’s training

buddy, Dustin Johnson, applied some minimal pressure on Sunday, DJ seems to

have trouble closing the deal in golf’s majors.

With Koepka now winning 50%

of the past eight golf majors, Dustin Johnson is now the owner of the “Second

Place Slam” as he has finished in the runner-up spot in the past four marquis

golf events.

These two guys spend time in

the weight room together, on the driving range together, and are off-the-course

friends, too. 

Sadly, both of these golfers share a bad habit of chewing tobacco, and, grossly, expectorating the stuff while the cameras are on them. Ugh.

They are both notoriously

bland to watch and rarely provide golf fans any emotion while playing.  As New York golf fans shouted “DJ! DJ! DJ!”,

Dustin Johnson rarely acknowledged the hearty support from the crowd.

Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka

admitted that he heard the DJ cheers and used it as motivation to snap-out of

his bogey streak on the back nine. 

Koepka, whose arrogance/confidence makes him equally as boring to watch as Dustin Johnson, admitted that he plays best when he feels slighted in some manner.  Whether the issue (fans shouting a competitor’s name around him, for example) or something he keeps mentally filed away, Koepka apparently needs something to poke the bear and motivate himself.

“There’s always a chip,”

Koepka said. “I think every great athlete has a chip.”

For Dustin Johnson, though,

it looked like the fans’ adulation actually made him more nervous.  With the winds blowing 15-20 mph for the

first time in the four-day PGA Championship on Sunday, Dustin Johnson briefly moved

to 3-under par for the day before stumbling with two bogeys coming down the

stretch. 

Koepka won the tournament by

just two shots.  Ouch.

As a golf fan, I was hoping

that Dustin Johnson would embrace the support from the boisterous patrons and

rally into a most improbable victory. 

Unfortunately, DJ continues to finish near the top but still has just

one major championship (the 2016 US Open).

The CBS announcers called Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson the “Smash Brothers” as both golfers are known for their extremely long drives off the tee.  When professional golfers’ tee shots travel well over 300 yards and find the fairway, most golf courses are being reduced to pitch-and-putt games for guys like these.

No one will convince me that Koepka and DJ would necessarily outdrive players from past generations without the benefit of recent equipment changes which have reduced the amount of hook ...

Welcome back to SwampSwami’s “Sweep-the-SwampCast!” podcast for this week!

Golf’s PGA Championship has moved from August into May and is underway this weekend at Bethpage State Park “Black” Golf Course located outside of New York City. We’ll talk about the tournament and see if Brooks Koepka will hold onto the lead this weekend.

We’ll also talk about the amazing Golden State Warriors of the NBA, college basketball recruiting, the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, and take a peek at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.

To listen, please click on the button above. Better yet, subscribe to this and all of our podcasts via Apple Podcasts. It’s FREE – try it today!

As someone who once lived in New Orleans, your SwampSwami would like this commentary to be a special note to the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans and their management.

The Pelicans were given only a

6% statistical probability of landing #1 pick last night during the NBA’s

annual draft lottery.  Though six other

NBA teams had a higher probability of drawing the #1 position, the Pelicans

literally came out of nowhere and now control the first pick in the NBA’s June

draft.

This now means that the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Wizards likely won’t be able to select Zion Williamson, the freshman sensation from Duke.

Sometimes being lucky beats

being good, right?

Though it looked like Pelicans new General Manager David Griffin looked quite stunned with the lucky break (we’ll teach you how to do the Benson Boogie next time, David!), the people who love professional basketball in New Orleans and the Gulf South region were quite excited to hear the team’s good fortune.

The news is reporting that

upwards of 2,000 requests for season tickets had occurred within hours of the

team landing the first pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Whether the late Mr. Benson

pulled a few strings for the team or that lucky charm that David Griffin

clutched had anything to do with the Pelicans’ lucky night, it’s now time to

get serious about what the team should do.

Long before last night, the

Pelicans’ had been dealing with the drumbeat that Anthony Davis, the team’s

last #1 overall pick from 2012, has steadfastly told the team for months that

he wants out of the Crescent City and the final year of his contract.

Suitors like the Los Angeles

Lakers, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks were already lined-up like buzzards

on top of the Smoothie King roof during the final months of this season. 

They’re still there, too.

First, SwampSwami thinks that the New Orleans Pelicans should look to the success of the Golden State Warriors and their continued winning with a “Strength in Numbers” motto.   The Warriors starters and bench players play hard on both ends of the court and, more importantly, freely share the basketball with any teammate who has the better shot. 

The lack of selfishness up

and down the Golden State roster is why they are still playing basketball and

Boston and Philadelphia have headed home after two rounds of the NBA playoffs

this season. 

I believe the first order of business for the Pelicans should be to let the NBA know that Anthony Davis is available, but only if the price is right. 

That price should be a

combination of high draft picks and young talented players who have shown a

desire to play hard every night to help their team win.   The

last thing New Orleans needs is to obtain more high school prima donnas who will

want to take the next riverboat out of the CBD.

New Orleans isn’t (thankfully)

one of the media-centric and star-studded cities where immature players can spend

their checks and feed their inflated basketball egos.

I think that players from

smaller colleges or metropolitan areas can make for a good fit in New

Orleans.  There’s plenty to do, but not

the same bright lights as found on the East and West coasts. 

When evaluating the current

players being offered for Anthony Davis,

In New York City earlier today, there were real witches who were chanting “Zion Williamson” incantations outside of Madison Square Garden. 

Also in New York, a priest, a rabbi, and a shaman were seen offering prayers for the New York Knicks to win the #1 pick in tonight’s NBA draft lottery.

The winner of the first pick will have the chance to choose the first player in this June’s NBA draft.  Barring any injuries or arrests, Duke freshman sensation Zion Williamson is expected to be that pick.

Williamson is a unique basketball talent.  At 6’7” and 285 pounds, he glides up and down the basketball court with the speed and agility of most guards.  He averaged nearly 23 points per game, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals per game in his only season at Duke. 

More importantly, Zion is fun

to watch on the court and seems to enjoy the game more than most other college

basketball players.  His smile and

fun-loving nature make him even more coveted for struggling NBA franchises

seeking a revival of fortunes.

The New York Knicks have been really, really bad as a professional basketball team for the past six years.   Out of the 15 teams currently playing in the NBA’s Eastern conference, the Knicks have finished 9th, 15th, 13th, 12th, 11th, and 15th for the past six seasons.

It’s easy to see why the

largest city in the United States would be pulling out all of the lucky charm

stops in hopes of receiving the #1 pick in the NBA draft.

But first, the city must be

lucky enough to win the NBA’s annual draft lottery tonight.

The fourteen NBA teams who

did not qualify for the playoffs this season will participate in this confusing

annual event combining statistics and random luck.

Once upon a time, the NBA

draft lottery gave equal chances to the 14 losers.  In that manner, teams would not be

incentivized for losing the most games on purpose. 

Unfortunately, the whining

began when the most woeful teams were even unlucky at the 1-in-14 chance

selection for draft order positions.

The NBA then revised the

annual draft lottery “game” to give a higher percentage chance to the teams

which finished with the worst record.

In my opinion, this has

caused even more disparity by teams throwing in the towel earlier in the year

in order to (theoretically) improve their chances at receiving one of the top

draft picks for next season.

I assume that the NBA felt

the need to give each franchise and its fans some modicum of annual hope by

allowing the League’s Biggest Losers to have one night of feeling important.

Now, the NBA has made the

statistical chances the same for the teams which finished this season with the

worst records in the league. 

In tonight’s NBA draft lottery, the worst team (New York Knicks) will have the same changes as the next-worst teams (the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns finished in a tie for 2nd/3rd worst records). 

According to the statisticians, each of those three teams has 14% chance of grabbing the top pick and a 52.1% chance of earning a top four pick in this su...

In this edition, SwampSwami discusses the collapse of the Boston Celtics, the rise of the Milwaukee Bucks, and the hilarity surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. We’ll also talk about how instant replay just ruined another sport – horse racing! Finally, we’ll talk about a couple of professional athletes whose lives have been affected by alcoholism.

It’s Mother’s Day weekend! Remember to tell your Mom “I love you” while you still can!

This is our weekly audio-only version. Please click on the button above, or subscribe to Apple Podcasts. It’s FREE!

Major League Baseball attendance is off to a bad start in 2019.  Through the first month of the lengthy season (162 games – yawn), attendance for the thirty major league baseball teams is down a little more than 2%.

That doesn’t sound all that

bad until you consider that there are only three teams showing a double digit

increase.  Philadelphia (+46%), the

Chicago White Sox (+12%), and the San Diego Padres (+10%) are all off to a

terrific start at the gate.

However, there are a whopping

eight major league franchises showing double digit drops in early 2019.  The biggest percentage loser thus far has

been in Kansas City (-23%) closely followed by Toronto (-22%) with Baltimore

(-17%), Minnesota (-17%), San Francisco (-17%), Houston (-12%), Miami (-12%),

and the Los Angeles Angels (-10%). 

On the positive side,

Philly’s big attendance gain is in large part from fans’ interest in seeing

newly acquired star, Bryce Harper.   It

doesn’t hurt that the Phillies are also in first place in the NL East.

On the negative side, MLB

owners should be concerned that two of the biggest attendance drops are with

teams currently leading their divisions (Houston Astros and Minnesota

Twins).  The Tampa Bay Rays are leading

the AL East, but home attendance is down 9% at only 13,351 per game early this

year.

For the thirty teams in Major League Baseball, the overall attendance is still about 26,200 per game (down nearly 550 per game from last year at this time).  Though a 2% drop in overall attendance isn’t an indicator of impending doom, the trend is not good for a sport which continues to struggle building fan interest.

In 2017, the lowest average home attendance for every team was above 15,670 (Tampa Bay). 

Starting 2019, though, there are currently five MLP teams with home attendance lower than that mark.

Teams in Cleveland (15,585),

Baltimore (14,704), Kansas City (14,397), Tampa Bay (13,351), and Miami (9,668)

are off to a bad start this season.

As expected, Major League Baseball’s Commissioner, Rob Manfred, is trying to paint a positive picture. 

“It’s a changing world out there,”

Manfred said last week.  “Across

sports, live [events] is something that generationally is a little

different. We need to work really hard on making that live product, which is a

different product than turning on the TV, as appealing as possible. I think

clubs are investing and experimenting in different ways that over time will pay

dividends in appealing to younger people.”

Generationally different?   I was born into the Baby Boom (i.e. “old guys”) generation and have found baseball games to be too lengthy for my entire life.

Here’s a quiz for you.  With the average major league baseball game

taking over 3 hours in recent years, how long did baseball games last in 1920?

A:  2

hours, 33 minutes

B:  2

hours, 4 minutes

C:  1

hour, 47 minutes

The correct answer is “C”.  Baseball has doubled in the amount of time needed to watch a nine inning game over the past century.

In addition to the time needed to watch the

game (which has been slothful for a long time now), the bigger issue is the

cost to take a family of four to one single game.

With average ticket prices of nearly $30 per game,