Dan PearsonBy:  J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola


JD’S MORNING MUSINGS…

In recent years, baseball has enjoyed record attendance and revenues.  Franchises are now worth billions.   And now it appears baseball is going to come to a sudden, screeching halt because billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players can’t figure out a way to split that enormous revenue pie?  The last labor stoppage in 1994 canceled about half the season and the World Series and caused a ton of damage to the game. Now, these guys seem hell-bent on history repeating itself.  As someone who spent years in sports public relations, here’s some free advice – figure out how to solve this so the season starts on time because frankly, the American public doesn’t view your game as must-see TV anymore…

Say What?  Great sports quote from days gone by:   “My goal is to rush for 1000 or 1500 yards this year…whichever comes first.” Former Saints running back George Rogers…

The Grand Poobahs of the College Football Playoffs have decided to leave the system of selecting four playoff teams in place through the expiration of the 2026 contract.  Although I was one of the people screaming for UCF to be included in the playoffs in 2017 (because I sincerely believed they were one of the four best teams in the country that year not because I wanted to see an eight-team playoff), I am 100% okay with leaving this tournament at four teams.  My reasoning is simple.  Since the system was adopted for the 2014 season, we have had 16 semifinal games – 12 of those games were total blowouts of 15 points or more.  In short, we can’t seem to find four teams to give us two good semifinal games so how is asking for eight, 12 or 16 teams making the game any more interesting or compelling?  Since Cincinnati was able to prove that a non-power five team can get into the tournament, I do not see the need of creating two more rounds of lopsided games.  I mean do we really need to see Alabama or Georgia kill the 16th seed by 50 points?   As a side note, does anyone besides me find it interesting that officials from UCF, BYU, Houston and Cincinnati –who spent years screaming, pleading and begging for playoff expansion – have remained totally silent about the decision to keep the current system at four teams?  It seems to me that out of principal they should still be publicly fighting for expansion but I guess the attitude has changed since they now have a seat at the adult table…

Bucs fans who think their team is simply going to out and get another star quarterback to replace Tom Brady are being more than a little delusional.  First Brady was a free agent.  Current star quarterbacks that may be available would require the trading of multiple draft picks to obtain.  Secondly, the Bucs had about $80 million in cap space that allowed them to pay Brady and other great players to surround him – that cap space number this year is about $3 million. Finally – and this doesn’t have anything to do with signing a quarterback – but when they signed Brady a few years ago, many of their defensive players were in their prime.  Guys like Gholston, Suh and Pierre-Paul are now a few years older and are in the decline. So even if you were somehow find a star quarterback, your team is not going to be the same caliber as it was two years ago.  It may sound ridiculous, but if anyone other than Kyle Trask is the starting quarterback for Tampa next year, it is a lot more likely that it will be Jameis Winston instead of Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson…   

Speaking of baseball, I saw a stat the other day that sort of blew my mind.  The late, great Tony Gwynn came to bat a combined 323 times against John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux and struck out a grand total of three times against those guys (that’s less than one percent against four Hall of Fame pitchers who won 1092 games).  To further put it into prospective, those four pitchers averaged 61 strikeouts in their career per 323 hitters faced.    Gwynn had a career batting average of .328, never hit below .309, was 15-time all-star and is in the Hall of Fame – because he played in San Diego for mostly bad teams that did not get a lot of national TV attention –I always felt he never received the accolades he deserved as one of the top players in MLB history…

Y’all have a great week…

By:  J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola


Dan PearsonJ. Daniel Pearson, a long-time resident of Osceola County, has joined Positively Osceola as a freelance contributor. His JD’s Monday Morning Musings column is a regular feature and he will be covering events for us throughout the year. Dan is a former Public Relations Specialist for Florida State University, Boardwalk and Baseball, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Orlando Predators, and other professional sports teams and has been a freelance reporter to many newspapers in the state.