Heavy is the head that wears the crown which doesn’t fit ..

Heavy is the head that wears the crown which doesn’t fit ..

Well the weekend in the world of sports brought about an array of news’ stories which might have been pleasing to some and a real disappointment to others. As the College Football season winds down last year’s national champions. the Ohio State Buckeyes succumbed as their unbeaten season came to an end with a loss to Michigan State (Spartans) , a 17-14 defeat to the Spartans , which football/ may well derailed the Buckeyes’ chance to repeat as national champions.

For Urban Meyer this season has been one filled with missed opportunities and for Ohio State to have actually fortified their season, as the top-ranked team in the nation before some rather indifferent performances during their schedule. Now one might be critical of the polls and how the rankings are being determined, but in many respects, the new playoff format and the polls have simply diluted what we see and know to be one of the many litany of problems and this format altogether.

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With the fall of Ohio State’s fall in the rankings the Clemson Tigers (10-0) have fortified their stand at the top of the polls. Alabama (Crimson Tide) 10-1 and Florida are now seen as the likely candidates to face off in the SEC championship given their respective standings within the divisions of the SEC. Jim McElwain as the head coach of the Gators , have been explosive as their season has unfolded , with the coaching staff bringing out the best the team has to offer throughout much of the season. Florida struggled to an overtime win over Florida Atlantic , overcoming their instate rival 20-14 .

The AP Poll as it now stands provides us with four unbeaten teams among the top-eight and an array of plot-lines now likely to unfold over the final week of the regular season schedule.

Say what you will about the NFL season , but it is now becoming abundantly clear , several teams have fallen way short of their own lofty expectations. With two unbeaten teams now left as the season meanders into the final quarter of the NFL schedule . Both the Carolina Panthers (10-0) and New England Patriots (9-0) have sought to continue their unbeaten runs within the league.

Cam Newton and his Panthers’ teammates laid waste to the Washington Redskins on their way to an emphatic 44-16 victory over their NFC rivals. As to what this might indicate about this Jay Gruden coached team can be best summed up by how inept the performances of the Redskins have been over the course of their schedule to date.

Dan Snyder has to wondering whether or not this franchise said to be worth $2 billion is actually worth the ongoing frustrations and the salaries being paid out to several of the players on the roster. A billionaire team owner, whose interference in the team’s affairs have been well-chronicled has presided over an unmitigated disaster in recent years. Jay Gruden entered his second season as the head coach and remains unsure as to what his best lineup just happens to be and also which quarterback he can place in his implicit trust in. Neither Kirk Cousins or Robert Griffin III have been able to prove their worth to the team and in all likelihood there is the remote possibility the front office will seek to rid themselves of both players at the end of the season .

The New England Patriots if they can overcome the Buffalo Bills when the two teams meet in the Monday Night Game being played on 23rd November , 2015 at Gillette Stadium , in Foxboro’ Massachusetts, will edge closer towards NFL history , as they seek to become the first NFL franchise to twice go unbeaten during the regular season.

Superbowl L (SB50) will be held at Levi Strauss Stadium in Santa Clara , California , home to the San Francisco 49ers (3-7) . For the Forty Niners , this has to be a season , the organization and the players would rather forget. Apportioning blame to the front office , coaching staff and team would be appropriate , but in reality, it is hard to understand how this franchise could have fallen with such rapid decline from the heights of the 2012 and 2013 NFL seasons. On Sunday the San Francisco 49ers fell to the Seattle Seahawks with another inept performance , where defensively and from an offensive standpoint Jim Tomsula’s team was simply nowhere to be seen in this 29-13 loss .

Colin Kaepernick’s six-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers is now looking something of an overreach on the part of the franchise , even if they were basing it all on Kapernick’s postseason heroics for the franchise. With there now being rumblings GM Trent Baalke will be looking to offload the disgruntled quarterback as well as several other players on the roster, one can only surmise the 49ers are at a point, where they have not only given up on their season, but will be taking some aggressive steps to try and turn things around as quickly as possible.

Delving into the mediocrity of the conferences this season and it easy to understand why several of the teams have failed so miserably .

The Cleveland Browns (2-8) , San Diego Chargers (2-8) , Tennessee Titans (2-8) within the AFC , the Dallas Cowboys (3-7) , Detroit Lions (3-7) and San Francisco Forty Niners (3-7) within the NFC, are representative of the worst of what each conference has offered the fans this season. Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones still believes the team remains capable of obtaining a playoff berth in spite of the Dallas Cowboys’ inept play this season and with Tony Romo having missed several games due to injury. Romo’s return for their week eleven clash against the Miami Dolphins might have proved to be something of a respite , while also showing signs the Dolphins are now a lost cause for the rest of this season. I certainly don’t believe the Dallas Cowboys are capable of reeling off six consecutive wins to be in with a chance of gaining a wildcard berth, much less a remote chance of winning the NFC East , as mediocre as the division just happens to be !

So the MLB off-season has brought about the customary moves one has come to expect as teams seek to make the trades they believe will put them in a position to win for next season . Award winners are now known and there were no major surprises determining the recipients. The departure of Don Mattingly from the Los Angeles Dodgers to become to the new manager of the Miami Marlins , was no big surprise , but I believe Mattingly will be in for a tough time ahead, as he moves from an organization with a $300 million payroll in 2015 to a franchise where the projected payroll for next season is likely to be a paltry $65 million . Given the ineptitude shown by the Marlins over the last six years , it will take a lot more than Don Mattingly to turn the ball-club around.

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, after the disappointment of this past postseason , the search for a new manager began in earnest as GM Farhan Zaidi and Head of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman interviewed a list of potential candidates. Though it now seems a formality , it would appear Dave Roberts will succeed Don Mattingly as the Dodgers’ new manager. If Roberts is named the manager of the baseball franchise, he would become the first minority manager to hold the position in Los Angeles Dodgers’ history.

Zack Greinke after spectacular regular season with the Los Angeles Dodgers coming me up short in the postseason and then failed to win the NL Cy Young Award . when many felt he had the inside track to the award. Jake Arrietta beat out the Dodgers’ pitcher to win baseball’s top individual pitching award within the NL . Greinke added to the Dodgers’ disappointment for the season , by opting to become a free agent this off-season , and be among the leading starting pitchers on the market . While I believe Zack Greinke will find a new home , I don’t believe he will be offered the type of contract signed by his former teammate Clayton Kershaw.

The off-season could prove to be interesting for the Los Angeles Dodgers as the front office seeks to completely restructure the make-up of the roster as the organization goes about its rebuilding process. Twenty-seven years and counting since the Dodgers last prevailed in the World Series and the closest this ball-club has come to making a reappearance in the Fall Classic, saw the team fall to the NL Pennant in the 2013 MLB postseason. The Boston Red Sox would go on to become the world champions for that year, upending the ambition of the St Louis Cardinals .

The Red Sox for its part had an inauspicious season in 2015, never managing to be competitive enough to make a difference within the AL East. Within the front office the departures of Ben Cherington and Larry Lucchino , brought about the about the hiring of Dave Dombrowski to succeed Lucchino as the team President and Head of Baseball Operations , while Mike Hazen succeeds Cherington as the new general manager. This upcoming season will also see the final year the final year of David Ortiz in a Red Sox uniform , as the DH has announced this will be his last season within Major League Baseball. Ortiz’s heroics with the franchise have been well-chronicled and he is likely to become a future Hall of Fame inductee as a Boston Red Sox player. Where the franchise now goes from here, will be dependent upon the decisions likely to be made by Dave Dombrowski , Mike Hazen and the managerial staff led by John Farrell , as they seek to revamp this current roster with an influx of new talent through trades , free agent signings and promotions from within their farm system.

Two years into his ten-year $240 million contract and it would appear Robinson Cano is not happy in his tenure with the Seattle Mariners . If the rumors are to be believed, then his wish for a return to the New York Yankees is unlikely to be granted , unless the Mariners can obtain a player of equal value or at least several top Yankees’ prospects in return. Cano it should be remembered , left the New York Yankees having burned several bridges with his criticism of the front office , with a great deal of anger pointed towards among others , Brian Cashman , Hank and Hal Steinbrenner as well as SVP Lonn Trost. If the Yankees could pull off such a deal to bring Robinson Cano back within the fold , I believe they would be prepared to do so , even if it meant adding part of Cano’s remaining contract to their future payroll. Such minor details have never stopped this organization before , especially a baseball franchise which was the first to break the $200 million a year payroll barrier as far back as 2008 .

In 2015 , with only the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers surpassing $200 million a year payroll ceiling , it is easy to understand why baseball’s finances remain so out of whack , with it simply being about those who have and those who do not . The New York Yankees’ failure in the postseason , with their abrupt dismissal in the wildcard round loss to the Houston Astros , summed up the team’s frustrations and lack of competitiveness all season-long. Joe Girardi and the managerial staff could not get the team to play with any level of consistency with the pitching and offense being so mundane .

One year removed from a league-mandated suspension and his regular season heroics , Alex Rodriguez still finds himself among the disliked of the active players within the game of baseball. While he was never in serious running for the AL MVP Award , a distinction for which Rodriguez has been named three times by the BBWAA . There were a number of supporters who felt the player’s contributions for the Yankees in 2015 made him a legitimate contender for the AL Comeback Player of The Year . To my mind , an act of contrition or not by Alex Rodriguez and his winning of the award, would have meant a slap in the face of the fans , while also continuing to make a complete mockery of the game. Bud Selig and his successor MLB Commissioner , Rob Manfred have continued with the ineptitude for which the hierarchy has come to be known for, along with the myopic view of the press and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) .

Fifteen games into the NBA season and the Philadelphia 76ers (0-15) seem be well on their way to infamy. Win-less and a streak going back to the latter half of 2014 and bets are now being taking legally and otherwise. as to when the Eastern Conference franchise will gain its first victory of this season.

Personally, it is this sort of ineptitude which has now come to epitomize the ongoing mediocrity of the NBA , along with the lack on insight among so many general managers within this league . Never mind, we have idiots with single-minded lunacy insisting the likes of an inexperienced Derek Fisher is are somehow good for the NBA ? . Fisher’s lack of coaching acumen alongside Phil Jackson’s ego remains the primary reason why the New York Knicks were so bad last season and the fact they are now barely above . 500 , with the NBA season still in its infancy , doesn’t provide a great deal of optimism when you consider the team’s longest winning streak of the season has been no more than four games at this point of their schedule .

On Monday night the New York Knicks fell to the Miami Heat as these two Eastern Conference foes sought to get the better of each other. The Philadelphia 76ers continued with their losing ways suffering another defeat , this time at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves , in a five-point 100-95 loss .

Make way everyone, as the Los Angeles Lakers continue to meander through their lousy season , because sooner , rather than later , Kobe Bryant will wage all-out war on the franchise , his teammates and anyone else he believes is not giving him any love. An impoverished season with only two wins in their last ten games and one can understand why many , are screaming for the head of Byron Scott to be served up on a platter with the rest of the heads of his coaching staff . The last of those two victories came in a game against the Detroit Pistons in the Lakers’ twelve-point 97-85 victory over the surprise team within the Eastern Conference this season, which took place on the . 15th November at the Staples Center in Los Angeles , California,.

Byron Scott will now prepare the Lakers for their next contest where they will play the reigning NBA champions the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle Arena, Oakland , California on Tuesday evening . The Warriors remain unbeaten at home and on the road this season .

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With so much news having unfolded within the world of sports over the past seventy-two hours and many story-lines still to be played out. It will be interesting to see what takes place over the next few days and which athletes or teams take center-stage , seeking to make their presence felt.

🙂
Tophatal ……….

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