Archive for the ‘football’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: August 5, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It’s the start of August and there are plenty of sports on television for fans to watch and while you’d think it’s a good thing I’m not totally sure it is. Now normally this is just baseball season with sports fans getting ready for football, but with the pandemic we also have the NHL and the NBA playing. This can make things difficult to not only watch, but to keep up with. Are you keeping up? I’m not.

As I’ve mentioned many times I don’t enjoy what the NBA has turned into and all I really do is flip on a game to get a score and then I move on. Watching professional basketball players stand around at the 3-point line and shoot doesn’t interest me. I’m also not interested in watching a guy dunk when he has to travel to do it. I thought that’s what the dunk contest was for. It’s just so boring for me to watch a player drive the lane and either dunk or throw the basketball out to the 3-point line so one of his teammates can launch a 3-pointer. I’m not even going to go into defense in the NBA mostly because it’s nonexistent and if a player seems to try to play defense he’ll be called for a foul. I know that the NBA has lots of fans, but I’m just not one of them.

As for the NHL I guess it’s just the fact that it’s August and they should be preparing for next season not just starting the playoffs. I’m sure the fact that it’s summer and not cold and snowy out like I picture the weather being outside when the NHL plays. I’ve tried multiple times to sit down and watch one of these NHL playoff games, but it just doesn’t hold my attention for more than a few minutes. Maybe I’ll find myself more interested as teams get eliminated, but I’m not actually sure if that will happen or not. at least I have a local team to root for in the NHL playoffs, but who knows if the Chicago Blackhawks will even get out of this play in round or whatever they’re calling it. I think if the Blackhawks could get on a run in these playoffs that might peak my interest, but it just seems weird to me to watch playoff hockey in August.

I don’t believe that either the NBA or the NHL has mentioned when they might try to get what would be their 2020-21 season started. There was some talk about the NBA waiting until Christmas day to open their season, but I haven’t heard any rumors about what the NHL might do.

When the next season finally does open for the NHL and the NBA will they allow the players to travel or will they attempt to do another “bubble” type set up. Would either league try to play a full schedule of games next season? There’s no doubt that both the NHL and the NBA seasons for what would’ve been 2020-21 is going to start late. Will either league try to pay a full 82 game schedule? I’m not sure if either league would be willing to try to do that, but if not what number of games would they come up with? Would they set it up along the lines that Major League Baseball did and have teams play mostly within their division. With the geography of the NHL and the NBA it might be best if they have team just play against conference opponents. Of course the NBA would have to figure out what to do with the Memphis Grizzlies since they are in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies ended up in the Western Conference because when they entered the NBA they played in Vancouver.

What do you think about next season. How many games do you think that the NHL or the NBA might try to play next season?

Obviously I’m not keeping up with the restarted NBA season, but I don’t believe that they’ve even started their playoffs yet. How long is this NBA season going to go? I get that they brought the league back because they wanted to get their hands on as much television and sponsorship money as they could, but it seems ridiculous that they’re still having what would be considered regular season games. At least the NHL is in some sort of playoff situation.

On the plus side when it comes to the NHL and the NBA it seems as though their “bubble” set up is working as I don’t believe either league has reported a positive Covid-19 test since they’ve been playing in the “bubble”. Let’s hope that continues and neither league has to deal with any kind of virus outbreak like MLB has had to. Don’t forget that the NHL has two “bubble” set ups with no positive Covid-19 tests.

MLB had to deal with another team dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak. This time it was the St. Louis Cardinals. I believe the Cardinals ended up with 13 total members of their traveling party testing positive for the Covid-19 virus.

Yesterday St. Louis placed Paul DeJong, Junior Fernandez, Kodi Whitley, Edmundo Sosa, Rangel Ravelo and Yader Molina on the IL. All players have tested positive for Covid-19. Carlos Martinez was also added to the IL yesterday, but his injury was listed as undisclosed.

Due to this outbreak the Cardinals have canceled a four game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers as well as a four game series in Detroit against the Tigers. Even though that series was in Detroit the Cardinals where scheduled to be the home team in two of those games. Major League Baseball also went ahead and canceled the Cardinals game against the Chicago White Sox on August 13th that was scheduled to be played at Field of Dreams in Iowa. As long as the Cardinals can clear Covid-19 testing they’ll restart their season this Friday as they host the Chicago Cubs for the start of a three game series.

The Sports Time Radio podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you’d like.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was your week

Posted: August 1, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Major League Baseball returned for a shortened 60-game season on July 23rd. Now with the season just 10 days old the question is; will they be able to get even a 60-game season in?

On Friday MLB commissioner told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Friday that if the sport doesn’t do a better job of managing the coronavirus the season could come to an abrupt end.

MLB’s concerned started with the Miami Marlins. After the Marlins took two of three from the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia they where preparing to return to Miami for their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles.

Unfortunately for the Marlins they where unable to return home as they had multiple players and coaches test positive for the Covid-19 virus. As of now 21 members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19 and they haven’t played a game since July 26th and they’re not scheduled to even try to play again until this coming Tuesday August 4th. AS of now 7 Marlins games have been postponed; 4 against the Orioles and 3 against the Washington Nationals. No make up dates have been announced for these games and it hasn’t even been announced if the Marlins will be able to restart their season against the Phillies on Tuesday.

Then yesterday as the Milwaukee Brewers where getting ready to play their home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals the Cardinals had 2 players test positive for the Covid-19 virus and the game was immediately postponed. As for this game it was announced that it would be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday.

If another outbreak was to take place like the one that the Marlins are going through right now commissioner Manfred has the power to shutdown the season and it appears he’d move in that direction if another team suffered an outbreak. It’s possible that commissioner Manfred could shut the season down as early as Monday if the number of positive test continue to rise or if players don’t continue to follow the league protocols.

Not only has union head Clark been briefed, but multiple players have also been told about the situation. Keith Olbermann of ESPN is reporting that Major League Baseball has reached out the the networks that are televising their game and advised them to look at possible alternate programming after this weekend.

It’s difficult to know what players do where they’re away from the ballpark, but one high ranking official has said “There are some bad decisions being made.” Chicago Cubs outfielder Steven Souza took things a step further saying “Every player in this league better take a hard look at what you’re doing off the field, because what you do affects, more than just you and your team.” Souza added “Your decisions off the field will put all of our seasons in jeopardy this year.”

On Thursday Major League Baseball along with the players association announced the results from their Covid-19 testing. There have been 11,895 samples taken by MLB over the past week. 29 of the test came back with a positive result for the Covid-19 virus. 20 of those positive test belonged to players while the other 9 positive test where from team staff members.

When the outbreak happened with the Marlins the media jumped all over Major League Baseball and did everything they could to vilify them and accuse them of not handling the situation properly. In what has to be looked at as a strange turn of events Dr. Fauci who has become the go to guy when it comes to the Covid-19 virus whether he wanted to or not came out and said that Major League Baseball did a good job of handling the Marlins outbreak. Of course none of those media members that destroyed MLB when the outbreak happened haven’t mentioned anything that Dr. Fauci said; of course that’s no surprise.

Do you think that MLB will be able to finish this shortened season?

The National Football League finally announced Antonio Brown’s punishment. In case you don’t remember the NFL has been investigating Brown since he was accused of sexual assault by an artist who was working in his home in 2017. Brown also had an incident in June and ended up pleading no contest to a felony burglary with battery charge and two lesser misdemeanor charges related to a January incident with a moving truck company outside his home in Hollywood, Florida.

For these two incidents Brown was given and 8-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Brown has also been advised by the NFL to continue counseling and treatment.

Brown’s agent Ed Wasielewski said that Brown has no plans to appeal this 8-game suspension.

With this ruling teams now understand what they’re dealing with if they decide to sign Brown. Even with this 8-game suspension Brown would be able to participate in the team that signs him preseason activities. The suspension would take effect after the final roster reduction September 5th and he would be eligible to return after the team plays eight games.

While there have been a few teams that have expressed some interest in Brown there’s also a possibility that he could could be facing another suspension.

The NFL is still investigating Brown as another woman is alleging that she was sexually assaulted by Brown. A former trainer of Brown’s has filed a lawsuit against him over these sexual assault claims. Brown has stated that his sexual relationship with this trainer was consensual and Brown met with the NFL in November as part of this investigation.

Once the NFL concludes it’s investigation into this incident it’s possible that Brown could face another suspension or depending on when the ruling is made it could be another suspension.

Brown played one game for the New England Patriots in September of last season before being released as some of these allegations started to surface.

Brown has shown throughout his NFL career that he is talented, but you have to wonder if there’s a team out there that think he’s worth taking a chance on with all the baggage that comes along with him.

Would you like to see your favorite NFL team sign Brown?

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast. It airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live version of the podcast just head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want.

Also feel free to look me up on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: July 25, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Well after quite a delay the Major League Baseball season finally got underway Thursday evening with two games. The New York Yankees beat the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals 6-1 in a game that was shortened to 5 1/3rd innings due to rain. In the second game the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1; that game went all 9 innings.

Now if you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or just kept up with the blogs right here you know that I’ve been hot and cold or maybe you’d call it here or there on if I was going to watch baseball this season. Like a lot of fans I was very frustrated with the way the negotiations went, but in the end I was right there to watch Max Scherzer throw the first pitch of the season to Aaron Hicks.

What I didn’t expect to happen was how bored I was by the Yankees/Nationals game. Honestly I don’t know what my issue with the game was, but luckily when my two local Chicago teams started the season yesterday I found myself enjoying those games much, much more. Maybe the problem was I’m not really invested that much into this shortened baseball season; so seeing the Yankees and the Nationals start the season didn’t get me excited for baseball. I guess I’ll have to play it by ear and see how it goes today as there will be quite a few games for me to watch, but only two of them will feature the teams in my area.

I should have access to a minimum of five games today. At 12:05 p.m. Fox will be showing it’s first game of the season featuring the Milwaukee Brewers at the Chicago Cubs. At 1:10 p.m. the Chicago White Sox will be hosting the Minnesota Twins. At 1:15 p.m. the MLB Network will be showing the Pittsburgh Pirates at the St. Louis Cardinals. Then at 3:10 p.m. Fox will be showing the San Francisco Giants at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The final game that I’ll have a chance to watch will be on Fox Sports 1 at 8:10 p.m. as the San Diego Padres host the Arizona Diamondbacks.

All the listed start times are for the Central time zone; which of course is where I live.

The listed pitching match ups for these games are as follows. Corbin Burnes starts for Milwaukee, Yu Darvish starts for the Cubs. Randy Dobnak is starting for the Twins while Dallas Keuchel stats for the White Sox. Trevor Williams starts for the Pirates while Adam Wainwright starts for the Cardinals. San Francisco has yet to announce their starting pitcher for todays game, but the Dodgers listed start is Alex Wood. In the last televised game in my area the Diamondbacks are starting Robbie Ray while the Padres are going with Dinelson Lamet.

There are your games and your starting pitchers for the televised games; so what I want to know from you is; what are your viewing habits going to be today? The only game you won’t be getting would be the White Sox/Twins game unless you live in that viewing area and if not it would be replaced by your local teams broadcast. Are you planning on watching one game? Or will you watch two games? Is it possible that you’ll watch three or even four games? Or are you just planning on skipping all of the baseball games today?

What I’d also be interested in knowing from you is; what was your highlight from opening day?

As for me I’m not sure if you would call it a highlight, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was watch Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs pitch a complete game shutout against the Brewers. With all the talk coming into this season I wasn’t expecting to see a pitcher throw a complete game in all of the 60 games each team was playing and here Hendricks throws one in the Cub home opener.

Hendricks was allowed to go 9 innings because he kept his pitch count down. Hendricks threw just 103 pitches in his complete game shutout with 74 of them being for strikes. He struck out nine while giving up just three hits. Interestingly all three of Milwaukee’s hits where by Orlando Arcia who was hitting 9th for the Brewers. The 1 through 8 hitters in Milwaukee’s line up went 0 for 27 against Hendricks.

To be fair Hendricks wasn’t the only opening day starter to register a complete game, but he was the only one that went 9 innings. In Thursday nights game Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole get credit for a complete games. Since the game was rained shorten and they where the only two pitcher to appear for their teams it goes down as a complete game for each pitcher and while Scherzer did strikeout 11 and Cole gave up just 1 hit neither outing was as impressive as Hendricks was.

I wanted to leave baseball for a story that’s been confusing me for the better part of a week now; Antonio Brown.

Brown had been working out with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and there was some talk that Seattle might be interested in signing him. Then kind of out of the blue Brown more or less said that he was retiring from football. Then just two days later Brown backtracked on his retirement and then went on to blame to NFL for holding up his career.

In case you don’t remember the NFL is investigating Brown for about sexual assault and rape allegations. That means Brown is head for a suspension or possible a spot on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. Of course Brown would have to be signed by a team before he could serve out any suspension. Even with this hanging over his head there are multiple teams that have shown some interest in possibly signing Brown.

Brown played in just 1 game last season with the New England Patriots even though he signed a big money deal with the Oakland raiders during the off season. I don’t think we need to rehash all the incidents he had with them before being released. He did catch 4 passes and score a touchdown in his one game with New England last season.

If your favorite NFL team was desperate for a wide receiver would you like to see them sign Brown? He is very talented, but he appears to bring a lot of baggage with him.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you do miss the podcast live all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want.

Feel free to look me up on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your week

Posted: July 18, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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While the National Football League will have it’s own set of circumstances to deal with as they try to open their season it does seem that they’ll be able to play that season continuously unlike Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association had to. Of course the NFL will have to figure out a couple of things.

First and foremost testing and player safety will be the most difficult thing to keep up with. The one thing that keeps popping up right now is the number of pre-season games teams will play. The NFL owners want to cut the number of pre-season games to 2 while the National Football League Players Association doesn’t want to play any pre-season games.

When it comes to sports it seems as when it comes to negotiating it’s either that specific league itself or it’s a players union that’s try to take advantage of the situation and get something out of this deal. That’s all this seems to be here. The NFL players union wants something in return for a certain number of pre-season games. In the end they’ll work this out somehow and will probably end up settling on just 1 pre-season game being played.

Now NFL teams don’t take pre-season all that seriously anymore and as for most teams the starters barely play if at all. As odd as it may sound I think it might be important to have the NFL play a couple of pre-season games.

Most importantly playing these pre-season games would give teams an idea of how they’re going to handle the current situation and it may give them an opportunity to see what a game would be like without fans and then what steps they might have to take if a limited number of fans are allowed to return to games later in the regular season.

Then from a pure fans point of view without some type of pre-season game or games being played how many weeks will it take for an NFL team to get up to speed and start playing decent football. It’s not like the starters would be playing ever minute of these two pre-season games, but no matter how much they played it would help improve the games when they get into the regular season. Last season the Chicago Bears hardly played their starters during the pre-season and they suffered for it at the start of the regular season. Everyone is waiting with anticipation for football to arrive, but the last thing any fan wants to see is bad football to start the season.

This of course leads us to the question of; what does the NFL players association want? While I’d like to think that it’s just players safety and how the NFL will handle testing for the Corona virus I know better than that. Unfortunately the NFL players association hasn’t mentioned anything; so we’re going to have to wait and see and just hope that this doesn’t up the season.

The NFL did released the process they’re going to try and follow if and when the season get started. Here’s what the NFL will be trying to do. The league will mandate that team buses cannot be more than 50% full and that there must be at least one open seat between passengers on team planes. Also everyone will get his or her own hotel room on the road and that all players and team personnel must wear face coverings while on the road. Players also are being told that they will not be allowed to leave their hotel rooms to eat in or otherwise use restaurants that are open to the public. Now players will be allowed to use contactless food delivery services and they’ll also be able to use rom service. Everyone has to travel on the team plane and/or bus. While at the hotel, players and team personnel may not be visited in their rooms by anyone who’s not in their traveling party, and no one in the traveling party may use shared hotel facilities such as pools or gyms unless they have been disinfected and are being used only by the traveling party.

The NFL release these guidelines on Friday, but it’s unclear if the NFL players association has agreed to these or if the two sides will have to sit down and come to an agreement on these. I’d like to think that since the NFL released these that they’ve worked this out with the NFL players association.

It doesn’t seem like the NFL is asking too much of it’s players while they’re on the road, but as we have seen with the NBA and it’s “bubble” set up; players are use to a certain lifestyle so there may be some push back, but hopefully the players will see this is for their own health and safety and follow the these guidelines.

NFL training camps will be opening very soon and the NFL will be welcome backed by sports fans with open arms. The NFL has always been the most popular of the big four sports here in America. Now the fans have to hope that there’s no interruption of the regular season or playoffs if they get that far. It would be a big plus even if the games had to be played with out fans to see a league be able to play their entire schedule without a stoppage due to the Corona virus.

We’re just a little under two months away from the start of the NFL regular season. Thursday night September 10th the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to host the Houston Texans in the first NFL game this coming season.

Now we have baseball starting in five days. Then will have the hockey and Basketball starting at the end of the month. What I’d like to know is; are you looking forward t the start of one of those three season or are you holding out for the start of the NFL season?

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast. The podcast can be heard live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live version of the podcast all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 15, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Dak Prescott is represented by Todd France in his negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys. Yesterday there where reports that France has said their would be no new contract between the Cowboys and Prescott by next Wednesday and Prescott would be signing his franchise tender. Once Prescott officially signs that franchise tag contract he’ll make $31.4 million dollars next season.

There where some reports that Prescott and the Cowboys might be close to a deal, but that the contract was for too many years according to Prescott. Now you’d think if both sides had seem to have agreed on a dollar figure you think it wouldn’t of been to difficult to get the years worked out, but apparently they where unable to do so.

Now if you remember as Prescott was headed into free agency he said that he expected to be paid between $30 and $40 million dollars per season and while the franchise tag gets him into that salary area it is on the lower end of Prescott’s original number. There where some reports that France had approached the Cowboys with a deal that was around $34 million dollars a season, but it was never mentioned how long that deal would’ve been for.

Since the Cowboys used the “exclusive” franchise tag on Prescott he’s paid the average salary of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL as of April 2020. Otherwise the Cowboys could’ve paid Prescott 120 percent of his salary from last season. Prescott receives whatever number is greater for his salary.

To be fair Prescott has been a steal for the Cowboys while on his rookie contract, but that’s no fault of the Cowboys like some people have implied. Remember Prescott was a 4th round pick in the 2016 draft and he was paid according to his draft slot. Prescot clearly outplayed his contract, but there was a reason Prescott was selected in the 4th round when he was coming out of college.

Prescott had solid number in college at Mississippi State, but he was spectacular by any means. In his Senior season he threw for 3793 yards with 29 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. In passing yards Prescott ranked 15th. He was also 15th in touchdowns as for interceptions there where only a handful of college quarterbacks that threw fewer than Prescott did.

Prescott didn’t receive a Heisman Trophy vote in his Senior year. Interestingly running back Derrick Henry of Alabama won the Heisman and is now in the same place as Prescott. Henry is currently a free agent and was franchised tagged by the Tennessee Titans after leading the NFL in rushing yards last season.

There where five other quarterbacks that received Heisman Trophy votes when Prescott was a Senior. Deshaun Watson finished 3rd in the voting, Baler Mayfield finished 4th, Keenan Reynolds finished 5th, Connor Cook finished 9th and Trevone Boykin finished 10th in the Heisman voting.

In the voting for the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner Prescott’s future teammate Ezekiel Elliott finished 8th in the voting.

In the end the decision the Cowboys have to make before they sign Prescott to a long term deal is: Is he a franchise quarterback?

Prescott had his best statistical season in 2019. He threw for 4902 yards and 30 touchdowns which where both career highs. Unfortunately there was some bad with that good as the Cowboys had their worst record 8-8 with Prescott as their starting quarterback and they missed the playoffs.

Prescott also has the ability to run the football if needed. Last season he ran the least number of times in his four year career 52; he averaged 5.3 yards per carry and scored 3 rushing touchdowns. Prescott had run for 6 touchdowns in each of his first three seasons with Dallas.

Running less signals that Prescott is becoming more comfortable throwing the football and staying in the pocket and while his interception total did jump to 11 last season he had an interception percentage of 1.8%. There where 13 other starting quarterbacks that threw more interceptions than Prescott did last season.

Prescott has started all 64 games at quarterback for Dallas since they drafted him in 2016 and he has a record of 40-24.

We all know that in the NFL a quarterback gets way too much credit when his team wins and way too much blame when his team loses, but you know there are going to be people pointing out that Dallas hasn’t won a Super Bowl with Prescott as their starting quarterback, but he has taken the team to two playoff appearances in his four seasons. I’m sure there are a lot of teams out their that would like to go to the playoffs with what could be a franchise quarterback that often.

Prescott is always going to be compared to Jared Goff and Carson Wentz who went #1 and #2 in that 2016 draft, but Goff and Wentz where expected to be starting quarterbacks right out of the draft while no one was sure about Prescott.

Goff has been successful as the Los Angeles Rams starting quarterback and while he’s taken them to the playoffs the last two season with one of those playoff runs ending in a Super Bowl loss, but his numbers where down last season and there have been some questions that have come up about Goff’s ability to be a starting NFL quarterback.

Since the Philadelphia Eagles drafted Wentz they’ve been to the playoffs in the last three seasons and won the Super Bowl in 2017. The Eagles have played 6 playoffs games since drafting Wentz and have a 4-2 record, but Wentz has played in just one of those games and in that game only threw 4 passes before being injured.

Goff and Wentz have both been signed long term by their teams. Goff is signed through 2024 and has an average salary of $33.5 million dollars a season. Wentz is also signed through 2024 and has an average salary of $32 million dollars a season.

This is where it gets interesting. Do you feel that Prescott is a better NFL quarterback than Goff and Wentz? Or is he similar to them? Depending on where you sit on that might be how you feel about how much Prescott should be paid.

Prescott and the Cowboys have a little less than 7 hours to come to an agreement on a contract. Do you think they’ll work something out? If so; how much do you think Prescott will be paid? Please leave your answers in the comments.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you ‘d like.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your 4th of July

Posted: July 4, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Earlier this week the National Football League announced that they would be cutting their pre-season schedule to 2 games. With everything going on in the world today that seemed like a good idea and let’s face it all the NFL pre-season isn’t any fun to watch. After this announcement the National Football League Players Association held a vote and what should come as no surprise to anyone they want something different than what the NFL just announced. The NFLPA wants no pre-season this year. Now of course getting the NFL owners and the NFLPA to agree on something is incredibly difficult. I’m sure they’d argue over what color the grass was if you asked them. This shouldn’t be too big of a stumbling point as their has to be some sort of pre-season and I’m sure the NFLPA is just using this as a negotiating tactic.

The one thing that we have to remember is even though these are the sports we love to a lot of owners and players it’s just a business and they’re going to try and use everything and anything they can as leverage. Don’t forget that when baseball was going through their negotiations the Major League Baseball owners tried to use these negotiations to recoup some of the things they gave up in the last collective bargaining agreement. To be fair the Major League Baseball Players Association was any better as they wouldn’t budge off of the players getting 100% of there prorated money.

Unfortunately for fans they’re the ones that pay the price. Baseball could’ve easily given us more than this 60 game embarrassment of a season if the owners would’ve started with a decent opening proposal and the players association had negotiated in good faith on their side. Of course neither side could do that as one of them had to feel like they where getting the upper hand in the negotiations and neither side wanted to look weak with the actual collective bargaining expiring after the 2021 season.

In the end who suffers; the fans. I haven’t seen any team announce that they’ll  lowering ticket prices to help out their fans that may have gotten laid off or completely lost their jobs during the pandemic. It was also made very clear that the one thing the players wanted to make sure of in those negotiations was that they got all of their money. Maybe it’s a good thing that they’ll have to start playing these games without fans.

The toughest part about this entire thing is that no matter what these leagues do to their fans they’re always going to come back. I’m not sure why that is though. Maybe it’s just a pure love for a sport or sports in general, but they’ll come back. Or will they?

I’ve mentioned over and over on the Sports Time Radio podcast that I was done with baseball for the 2020 season and I would see them for spring training in 2021. Well it didn’t take long for me to soften on that stance and say that I might watch some games this year. I can pretty much tell myself anything I want, but once the games return I’ll be in front of the television watching whatever game I can get. How about you?

just last ight I had a good friend of mine explain to me how he was so upset with the NFL that he was done being a fan and he didn’t care about how many pre-season games they played or if they played at all. Now he’s a life long fan and I’m not sure what actually set him off, but he had a list of complaints and had some very good points. Of course in the end when the kickoff the football he’ll be there watching in some form.

I’m sure there are fans of the NBA and the NHL that have said they won’t be watching the restart of those leagues once they get up and running, but we know that’s not going to be the case. I’m thinking that maybe one or two out of every ten fans that say they’re not going to watch might actually stick to that statement.

So fill me in on where you stand. Are you like me and you have or had a strong stance at one point, but it’s beginning to weaken? Or are you staying strong and you’re going to hold the line and not watch whatever sport it is you’re upset with when they start play? If you are thinking that you won’t be watching when your favorite sport gets up and running will it be for the entire season or just a short break from the game? Also if you’re going to stay away from the game will you be strong enough to do it for the entire season? Then what do you do if your favorite team makes a run for the championship; do you get back onboard? or do you still manage to stay away? Would you actually miss out on your favorite team winning a championship? Even though it might be a little impure do to the Covid-19 situation.

Who knew that there was so much to think about and try to process when you’re a true fan of a team or a sport.

I understand that there where a lot of people up in arms yesterday when MLB announced that they had 31 people test positive for Covid-19. There was even quite a bit of talk about not restarting the season, but I think we know that’s not going to happen even if it is just 60 games.

Now I can completely understand that a positive test is something that people should have concerns about, but there are a couple of things you have to think about. Did you honestly think there would be no positive tests and while the mainstream media just threw the number 31 out there the other way you can look at it is that 1.2% of the people MLB tested came back positive. Wouldn’t that have sounded like a much better number if it had just been reported that way.

Don’t forget that you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live version of the podcast just head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want.

Also feel free to look me up on Twitter I’m @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 1, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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At the start of the NFL off season all the talk was about Tom Brady heading into free agency and what the New England Patriots would do at the quarterback position. This was all the media could talk about and how the Patriots needed to move quickly to find their next quarterback. What did the Patriots do; they stood pat.

As the NFL draft rolled around over and over it was said that the Patriots would need to find a way to move up in the 1st round to draft a quarterback or they would have to get lucky and have one fall to them at #23. So what did the Patriots do with that 23rd pick? That’s right they traded it to the Los Angeles Chargers and moved back to the 37th pick. When that pick came around everyone thought for sure that this would be the spot the Patriots took their quarterback, but instead New England took Kyle Duggar a safety from Lenoir-Rhyne. Then pretty much every time it was the Patriots turn to make a pick someone would say they need to take a quarterback here. You know who didn’t think they needed to take a quarterback with any of their picks? That’s right the Patriots.

Then just as Tom Brady settles in with his new team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it looks like New England will go with Jarrett Stidham as their starting quarterback New England decides to add a veteran quarterback to their roster.

Just when everyone stopped talking about the Patriots quarterback situation and had switched over to talking about how the might not win the AFC East for the first time in forever New England adds Cam Newton on a incredibly team friendly deal. Newton was all set to make $19 million dollars in the final year of his contract before he was released by the Carolina Panthers. Instead of collecting that Newton signed and incentive laden deal with New England that can pay him a maximum of $7.5 million dollars.

It’s being reported that the Patriots won’t be handing Newton the starting quarterback job, but it’s difficult to believe that a healthy Newton won’t be their starter come Week 1.

Of course that does bring up another question; is Newton healthy? Newton played in just two games last season and judging by his statistics he probably wasn’t healthy enough to be playing in those two games. up until last season Newton had been a warrior playing in all but five games over his first eight seasons.

Towards the end of the 2018 season it looked like Newton’s injuries where starting to catch up to him, but he’s had quite a bit of time off to rest and rehab; so you have to wonder what kind of Newton the Patriots will get.

Before his injuries Newton was the best running quarterback in the NFL and that’s something that New England didn’t have with Brady. Of course Brady knew how to manage the pocket to keep himself out of trouble and to be fair Brady also got a lot more penalty calls from the referees than Newton ever did. Newton averages 5.1 yards per carry when he runs with the football and he’s scored a career 58 rushing touchdowns. Even if he’s not the same runner he once was just the threat of Newton being able to take off with the football adds another dimension for Josh McDaniels and the Patriots offense to show. Not counting last season Newton has ran the football between 90 and 139 times in a season. I don’t expect him to get anywhere close to those numbers with the Patriots. I wouldn’t be surprised if Newton runs the football less than 50 times next season, but teams will have to remember that the possibility of him running will always be there.

Now the signing of Newton in no way means that the Patriots have soured on Stidham as their future quarterback. Remember Newton is only signed for one year in New England at very low money. It’s doubtful that Newton would return to the Patriots on such a low money deal again for the 2021 season and New England doesn’t have a lot of salary cap space to maneuver with. Don’t forget that this is just Stidham’s second season in the NFL; so sitting one more year behind Newton and earning isn’t the worst thing for him.

Now that the Patriots have a quarterback that the mainstream media is happy with do you think they’ll reinsert them as the favorite in the AFC East? Don’t forget that the Buffalo Bills where 10-6 last season and mad the playoffs They also added a top receiver this off season in Stephon Diggs. Do you think the Bills can compete with the Patriots for the AFC East title?

Let me know what you think of the Cam Newton signing by the Patriots. Do you think he was the right choice? Or did you have another quarterback in mind for them.

While we’re talking about the Patriots. The NFL has decided what penalties New England will face for the filming incident during the Cincinnati Bengals/Cleveland Browns game from last season. It’s being reported that the Patriots  be fined $1.1 million dollars and stripped of a 2021 third-round pick.

It was actually Week 14 of last season when the Patriots film crew was in the press box and filmed the Bengals sideline. One of the Bengals staffers noticed and turned the film crew in. New England claimed that the crew was their to film b-roll footage for their online series called “Do Your Job”. The Patriots have admitted that they should have done a better job advising the crew of league protocol and communicating with the Bengals beforehand. It’s prohibited from shooting video of coaches on the sideline and don’t forget that the Patriots have a little thing called Spygate in their history.

Do you think these penalties where fair? If not which side do you fall on? Should New England have been fined more and lost a higher draft pick? Or should they have been fined less and maybe not lost a draft pick? Or do you agree with how the NFL handled this.

Remember to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if for some reason you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want.

Remember that you can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 17, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Now I’m sure you know someone or maybe you are that person who has a thankless job. Well even though it’s well paying it seems as though being a commissioner of a professional sports league has to fall into this category. Here’s how it went for a couple of these commissioners these past couple of weeks.

Rob Manfred who is the commissioner of Major League Baseball was interviewed two weeks ago and was very positive in saying that their was going to be a baseball season. Now he didn’t go into detail about how many games or any of the other particulars for the season. Then after some more negotiations between the owners and the players association things didn’t look good. Manfred was then interviewed again earlier this week and said that he was now doubtful that there would be a 2020 baseball season. I’m not sure why, but apparently the commissioner isn’t allowed to change his mind and Manfred is just getting killed by the media for this. Now I am completely confused by this since there are people who change their minds on a daily, hourly or even minute to minute basis; so why can’t the commissioner of Major League Baseball change his mind. Now to be fair with the way the negotiations are going I can totally understand why Manfred might think there won’t be a 2020 season.

In case you’re not up to date on the baseball negotiations the owners sent a new proposal to the players association at the end of last week and asked for a reply by Sunday. Well since the proposal included a pay cut it was immediately turned down by the players and their union. The players association then said that there wouldn’t be a counter offer; so that more or less has put an end to negotiations between the two sides.

Now interestingly Manfred has the power to actually force a season, but so far has been unwilling to do this. Now recently some players have come out and have almost dared Manfred to use this power he’s been given. With the way the negotiations are going a forced season by Manfred would give the players exactly what they want. See if Manfred does decide to force a 2020 season the players would be guaranteed their prorated salaries that they agreed to back in March; so the owners wouldn’t be able to ask them to take ay kind of salary reduction in a forced season.

Maybe you find this funny like I do, but I could just see some major league players standing outside Manfred’s office daring him to force a season. It would be something like we use to do when we where kids. I wonder how long it will be before a player or players double dare or maybe even double dog dare Manfred to force a season. Please just picture that in you mind and then try to tell me you didn’t get a chuckle out of that.

Unfortunately I’ve settled on the fact that I won’t get to watch my favorite sport; baseball in 2020. Now that I’ve resigned myself to that; I’m more concerned about if there will be a strike or lock out after the 2021 season.

Are next commissioner who hasn’t been able to catch a break these past few weeks and this will come as no surprise to you is Roger Goodall the commissioner of the National Football League.

Goodall made a big, big change when he said that he supports any player that wants to take a knee during the national anthem. This of course is a stark contrast to where the NFL’s stance when Colin Kaepernick and a few other players started kneeling was it four years ago now. Of course this didn’t dissuade Goodall critics from coming out of the woodwork to take shots at the commissioner for making this change even though it appears that this is what they wanted all along. It’s oddly confusing that you can finally get a resolution in your favor and still find a platform to complain about it, but I guess this is how things go. I can only imagine what we’d be hearing had Goodall came out and didn’t change the NFL’s view on kneeling.

Goodall also mentioned this week that he’d like to see Kaepernick back in the NFL. Now to be fair Goodall has never said that he didn’t want Kaepernick in the NFL, but with the response he got you’d think Goodall was personally responsible for a team not signing Kaepernick.

Now I’m not sure if it’s a lack of understanding or if it’s just the idea that all of the facts could ruin your story, but Goodall can’t force a team to sign Kaepernick. Remember that Goodall works for the owners; so he can’t tell one of them to sign any player let alone Kaepernick. I’m not sure why people and especially people in the media think that Goodall has that kind of power. Oddly Goodall saying that he’d like to see Kaepernick back in the NFL might actually help Kaepernick get signed, but I doubt anyone will mention that.

The question now becomes; is there a good fit for Kaepernick? And if so with which team?

There’s been some noise that the Seattle Seahawks might be interesting in signing Kaepernick, but lately it seems that the team being pushed to the forefront is the New England Patriots. As we know the Patriots will have different starting quarterback for the first since 2008. New England didn’t sign one of the many free agent quarterbacks and they also didn’t use a high draft to bring in a rookie quarterback; so it looks a though the starting quarterback job is Jarrett Stidham’s to lose. Now since this is going to be Stidham’s first shot at being an NFL starting quarterback you have to wonder if Kaepernick would be a good fit as his back up. Don’t forget that the Patriots do have veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer on their roster.

Do you think there’s a spot for Kaepernick in New England? If not with the Patriots; do you have a landing spot for Kaepernick?

Now don’t forget that you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Now if you miss the live version of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want.

If you’re interested you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 10, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I’m sure by now you’ve heard, seen or read that the National Football League has changed it’s stance on players kneeling during the national anthem. It should com as no surprise that the media has been attacking the NFL for not going with this decision as soon as the kneeling started. Now let’s face it no matter what the NFL would’ve decided either at the beginning of this or now with making a change the media would’ve attacked them for one thing or another.

I’m not sure why, but the NFL has always been a target of the media. I’m under the impression the media goes after them because they are the most popular sport in America and someone media member wants to make a name for themselves by trying to take them down. To be fair the NFL hasn’t always made the best decisions on major issues, but now they seem to be doing what everyone wanted them to do in the first place and they still can’t win.

With the NFL under attack their has been one odd thing that quite a few media members have jumped on and I just don’t understand. I’ve heard multiple talking heads on sports television say that the NFL owes Colin Kaepernik a job and that’s something I just can’t buy.

Kaepernick played his last game on January 1st of 2017; so he’s almost three and a half years removed from playing in the NFL. He is still young at 32 years old, but remember he lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert back in 2017. Yes, he did lead a team to a Super Bowl appearance, but if you subtract that 12-4 season from his record he’s 16-26 as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Now as we know quarterbacks get too much credit when a team wins and too much blame when a team loses, but if you’re going to hold other quarterbacks to this Kaepernick has to be held accountable as well.

Don’t forget that their have been teams that have shown some interest in signing Kaepernick, but went in a different direction for one reason or another. The NFL even set up a tryout for him, but it seemed as though he looked at it as a conspiracy and made a bunch of changes to his tryout last minute. Even if it was a conspiracy almost every NFL team was going to be in attendance for that tryout, but after the changes he made to it a lot of teams declined to travel to the new tryout location and he lost out on a lot of teams getting a look at him.

I actually heard someone claim that if the Jacksonville Jaguars would’ve picked up Kaepernick they would’ve won the Super Bowl in the 2017/18 season. Okay; so let’s take a look at this.

Blake Bortles was the Jacksonville starting quarterback and he threw for 3687 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing 60.2% of his passes. This was Bortles 4th season with Jacksonville and he had the advantage of working with  head coach Doug Marrone at the end of the 2016/17 season after he replaced Gus Bradley. Now one of Kaepernik’s strengths in running the football, but that season Bortles ran for 322 yards averaging 5.6 yards per carry and scored 2 touchdowns. Do you honestly see Kaepernik having a better season than Bortles did with just one training camp under his belt?

What you also have to remember is that Jacksonville found success that season by running the football. Jacksonville led the NFL with 2262 yards that season and they where 2nd in rushing touchdowns with 18.

It’s easy to look back and say they would’ve won a Super Bowl, but remember they lost to the lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game and while it was a close game (24-20); do you buy that Kaepernick at quarterback gets Jacksonville a win?

Now before you start calling me names and saying that I’m against Kaepernick that would mean you’ve never listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast where I’ve advocated for teams to sign him. I have no problem with a team signing Kaepernick, but it shouldn’t have to be forced. If a team believes that he’s the best options as maybe a back up quarterback then they should certainly sign him regardless of how it might be looked at.

There have been some people who think that the Seattle Seahawks should be the team that signs Kaepernick and he could be a good fit as Russell Wilson’s back up. I also saw someone insist that the New England Patriots sign him, but these people seem to forget that there’s still a quarterback by the name of Cam Newton available and there are probably a few teams that would take Newton over Kaepernick if they had to make the choice. In all honesty I would be much happier if the Chicago Bears where headed into the 2020/21 season with either Newton or Kaepernick at quarterback instead of Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles competing for the starting quarterback job. Of course both Foles and Trubisky have experience in the style of offense Matt Nagy runs and I’m guessing that’s why they’re here.

It’s time for you to weigh in and tell me what you think. Does the NFL own Colin Kaepernick a job? Do you think will see him on an NFL team this coming season? If you do think that he’ll be in the NFL; which team do you see him signing with? If Kaepernick does sign with an NFL team; do you see him as a back up quarterback? Or do you think there’s a team out their he could start for? It’s an interesting conversation to have and I’d like to know your thoughts.

Don’t forget that the Sports Time Radio podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you somehow miss the podcast live all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen anytime you want.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: May 16, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, football, NASCAR, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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As we hopefully get closer to having sports to watch again I’m interested to now how you spent your time during this pandemic.

I’ve noticed that every television station that shows sports; even the stations that just air sports on he weekend have been showing replays of old events. They’ve shown some kind of game, matches, tournaments or in some cases tournament matches. Have you been watching these?

There’s no real reason for it, but I just don’t enjoy these at all. I’ll stop on one for a few minutes here and there, but they just don’t hold my attention. I’ll try to catch a great play or something of importance that happened in that game, but if I don’t find that play or series it’s just fine. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I know the outcome of the game or what, but I just haven’t enjoyed watching these games.

Now if you’re watching these I’d like to know what you’ve found interesting or what makes you continue to watch. Maybe it’s just one sport that you’re tuning into or maybe you’re someone who covers a large spectrum of sports. Either let me know what you’ve found of interest or maybe you’ve noticed something that you didn’t see the first time you watched the event.

With everything sports wise kind of being shutdown and with me not paying a ton of attention I was kind of caught off guard when I realized that Dak Prescott still hasn’t signed his franchise tag contract with the Dallas Cowboys.

With the franchise tag Prescot would make a little over $31 million dollars this season and then would have the opportunity to go back on the free agent market at the end of this coming season. Now of course the Cowboys could use another franchise tag on him and hold onto him for another season as they try to work out a long term contract.

As of now there’s still plenty of time for these two sides to work out a deal to keep Prescott in a Cowboys uniform for a long time, but can they get that done. It seems as though the two sides have been far apart salary wise and right now it doesn’t seem like Prescott isn’t give anything back on his side.

As negotiations go on Prescott will have another option. He can hold out. Now we’ve seen multiple players go this route, but so far Le’Von Bell is the only one that’s held out for an entire season. Could a hold out by Prescott get the Cowboys to move their salary offer higher than what it is now?

Don’t forget the Cowboys just dealt with one of their top skill position players holding out. Ezekial Elliott didn’t report to Cowboys camp last July as he wanted a new contract even though he had two years remaining on the contract he had. Elliott’s hold out lasted about five weeks, but it worked. Dallas signed him to a new 6 year $90 million dollar deal on September 4th.

Even though the Cowboys went 8-8 last season and missed the playoffs Prescott had what was probably his best season. Prescott threw for 4902 yards and 30 touchdowns; both career highs. He also attempted more passes 596 and completed more passes 388 than any other season.

Prescott may have a good case for expecting the Cowboys to give him a big contract. In four seasons with the Cowboys Prescott has never missed a start and the team hasn’t had a losing record with him as their starting quarterback.

Dallas made a coaching change after last season; so this will be the first time in his career that he’ll have to learn a new offense, but he’s going into an offense of a head coach that has a proven track record of having a quality offense in Mike McCarthy. If last season showed that Prescott was on the upswing in his career his numbers might improve even more than they did last season under McCarthy.

It’s difficult to determine what the value of a quarterback is because there’s so much around them that decides if they’re going to be successful or not. Somehow the Cowboys are going to have to try and figure out where Prescott fits salary wise among those quarterbacks.

With Prescott’s situation in flux this may explain why the Cowboys went out and signed veteran Andy Dalton to be Prescott’s back up. If Prescott does make the decision to hold out Dalton gives them a proven NFL quarterback who has started in the NFL. If the Cowboys wouldn’t of signed Dalton they’d be looking at Cooper Rush as their starting quarterback.

Weigh in here. What do you think happens between Prescott and the Cowboys. Does he get a new contract? Does he end up playing this coming season under the franchise tag? Or does he hold out?

The Cowboys should be a contender in the NFC East and some people may see them as the favorite to win that division. The Cowboys are looked at as a 20-1 gamble to win the Super Bowl. That gives them the 6th best odds to win the Super Bowl overall and they’re the 4th best pick in the NFC.

The New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers are the teams that are ahead of the Cowboys odds wise. All three of those teams odds are set at 12-1.

The starting line up for tomorrow’s NASCAR race The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway has been set.

Brad Keslowski will start on the pole. He’ll be joined by Alex Bowman on the front row. Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch will start in the second row.

Now NASCAR didn’t hold qualifying for this race. The line up for this race was done by random draw. The draw aired live on Fox Sports 1 Race Hub show. Here’s how the draw was structured. Positions 1 thru 12 where determined by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in team owner points. Positions 13 thru 24 where done by a random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points. Positions 25 thru 36 where done by a random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points. While positions 37, 38, 39 and 40 will be filled out by open; non-chartered teams in order of owner points.

This will be the first Monster Energy Series NASCAR race since March 8th. If you’re interested in watching this race it will air live on Fox at 2:30 p.m. Central time.

I hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. It airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com; so check it out over there, but if you miss it there head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want to.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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