2018 MLB HOF Class

This new class might not seem very sexy or historic, but closer inspection reveals that it's actually a fantastic class.  I'll get Trevor Hoffman out of the way first.  I'm not a fan of the 3-out low-stress closer; I think they were quite overrated as compared to the likes of Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, or Bruce Sutter who came in to put out fires and routinely pitched 2+ innings.  But, as a group they were highly valued for a time and Hoffman was one of the best.  Whatever.

But the hitters in this class qualify as great in my estimation.  Vlad Guerrero was a beast; he was big, he could throw and he was aggressive.  In the middle of his career, he was hitting over .330 with power.  You hit .318 lifetime with 450 homers, you could rake.  Vlad got an MVP and was in the top 5 several times.  Yes he hacked away, but his career OPS of .930 tells the story.  He wasn't quite Frank Thomas, but he's one of the all-time great right-handed hitters.

Chipper Jones is interesting.  As a can't-miss #1 pick, did he live up to it?  Some would say no, but in reality his numbers are historic.  His WAR says he was the #6 all-time 3rd baseman.  His career slash line of .303/.401/.529 is fabulous for an infielder.  In his prime from age 24-31 he churned out 8 superb years in a row before injuries mounted up.  In his 30's he continued to hit through the injuries winning a batting title at 36.  Chipper also collected an MVP and was the definition of professional hitter.

Jim Thome falls into the Ralph Kiner, Harmon Killebrew mold of hall of famer, hitting with prodigous power and a good eye at the plate, overcoming slightly lower batting averages.  He has the best OPS of this class at a truly fantastic .956.  He just kept bombing to the tune of 12 30-homer seasons and 612 total, making him a shoe-in.  My only issue with Thome was that he never was really close to an MVP award.  But he was really underrated in his prime, toiling for a lot of bad teams.

S

Astros

I love the mindset of the Astros as they pick up Gerrit Cole for 4 players, mostly prospects.  I think it's great that after putting their fans through the rebuild, they are being aggressive now in putting extra pieces in place to maximize their window.  Cole is former #1 pick who is 27 and under control for 2 years and has ace stuff.  Their rotation is ready to roll with 5 quality options.  I don't see how they don't blow away the division again.

S

Skol Chant in Minnesota to End a Classic

I absolutely love the chant they have adopted and I love that Case Keenum led the stadium in a chant while waiting at the end.

As far as the ending to that game, I feel bad for my friends that are Saints fans having to live through a crazy ending.

The Vikings had outplayed the Saints the majority of the game and probably deserved this type of win. 

Honestly, I always felt bad for the Vikings. They did survive the Hail Mary, missed FGS and the bounty gate game plan to maim Brett Farve in playoff loses. 

All Hail Bud Grant, Allen Page and Fran Tarkenton. 

J

Your Allen Eagles Update

I would be remiss if I didn't post about my adopted hometown Allen Eagles' latest state championship.  This one was the most hard-fought of the now 5 titles in the last 10 seasons, 35-33 over Lake Travis.  I'm not certain if I think Allen deserved it, or was the best team this year, but as I like to say, if you put yourself in the position to win, you're going to do some winning.

The game: there was plenty of drama, LT losing their QB straight off, Allen going up 21-0, LT storming back to lead 24-21, Allen fighting back to squeeze it out on Brock Sturges' 176 yards.  My lasting memory is the final 7 minutes as LT was driving to potentially take the lead, the great INT by Allen deep in their own territory, then Allen running 8 consecutive plays on the ground that picked up 4 successive first downs to run out the clock.  Fitting since the O-line has always been the Allen calling card.

The Eagles' run over the past 10 years is one of the best in TX high school football history.  The numbers are hard to accept when you write them down.  Five in 10 years in the highest class is impressive enough, but the 4 in the last 6 years looks surreal:

Season	Regular Season	Playoffs	Total
2012	9-1	6-0	15-1
2013	10-0	6-0	16-0
2014	10-0	6-0	16-0
2015	10-0	4-1	14-1
2016	10-0	4-1	14-1
2017	10-0	6-0	16-0
Total	59-1	32-2	91-3

To win at this rate against the top programs in TX is something hard to believe.  I vividly remember opening night at the new stadium in 2012, hoping to survive Southlake being in town, wondering if Allen was ever going to realize the potential that everyone recognized.  We couldn’t know that the program that Coach Westerberg had built had in fact finally reached the level of depth and quality necessary to dominate Texas 5A (now 6A).  Those classes had arrived in full force, we just didn’t know what was in store.  6 seasons later and we haven’t yet witnessed a home loss or a season falling short of the state semi-finals.  A 57-game win streak, a national player of the year, a mythical national championship.  This from a school that had never won a title in any class until 2008.  It's been quite a ride.

• 15 seasons since 2003, 9 state semi-final appearances
• 10 seasons since 2008, 137-9 with 5 state championships

Championship game recap:

2008  Allen 21  Hightower 14

2012  Allen 35  Lamar 21

2013  Allen 63  Pearland 28

2014  Allen 47  Cy Ranch 16

2017  Allen 35  Lake Travis 33

S

College Football Royalty - UPDATED

This is my third re-post of this info, updated after last night's Alabama win over Georgia.  Saban extends his lead over Meyer to 6-3 and pulls even with the Bear with 6 titles.  He has won those 6 over the last 13 years in which he has coached in college, an unprecedented rate of success.  Like everyone else, I've run out of words to describe Nick Saban.  At the same time, Alabama continues to stretch their lead of poll-era championships, now 4 clear of Notre Dame.

As a follow-up to the season I looked at the historical AP and Coaches polls and added them up.  The thing to remember is that until 1968 for AP and 1974 for Coaches, the polls were taken before the bowls, which used to be considered kind of like exhibitions or bonuses for good seasons.  Coaches polls started in 1950 and AP in 1936.  Alabama claims several championships outside of the AP or Coaches polls, which to me are totally bogus.  For instance in 1941 every poll of substance named Minnesota champion, but one obscure poll named Alabama, and they still claim it.  Also, you can make the case that they did not deserve their 1964 and 1973 championships since they lost their bowl games, or 1978 when they split with USC but lost to them in the regular season.  Regardless, I'm showing the official results of the polls below.  Whether some of these can be disputed or not, these are the royalty.  The numbers in parenthesis indicate total AP+Coaches championships and the number that were undisputed.  The asterisk indicates a split championship:

Alabama (12/9) - 1961, 1964, 1965*, 1973*, 1978*, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
Notre Dame (8/7) - 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973*, 1977, 1988
Oklahoma (7/6) - 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974*, 1975, 1985, 2000
USC (7/4) - 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974*, 1978*, 2003*, 2004
Ohio St. (6/4) - 1942, 1954*, 1957*, 1968, 2002, 2014
Miami (5/4) - 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991*, 2001
Nebraska (5/3) - 1970*, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997*


S

Greatness at DT in Cowboy History.

Mr. Cowboy - Bob Lilly  was a true HOF member.

• 14 years in the NFL , 
• 7 Times first team all Pro. 

The other leading Cowboy is also a DT is Randy White with 7 also. 

Some other Greats Deacon Jones, Carl Eller and Mean Joe had 5 1st team years.. Warren Sapp  and Ware had 4, Leroy Selmon 1. Dwight Freeney 3.  Rice and Jim Otto have 10 to lead in career numbers.   Deion and Larry Allen have 6. 

Only Reggie White and Bruce Smith had more as Defensive Lineman with 8. 

I hate to mention a DEs with the likes of Lilly and White, but Smith was great. 

J

Jarvis Landry

Landry doesn't seem to get the love nationally like OBJ, but after 4 years he is on a HOF career path.
400 catches and 4038 yards in the first 4 years.

This is not happening in a Sean Payton or Bill Walsh schemed offense that bloats the passing numbers.  Miami is just difficult to watch offensively.

He lacks the huge yardage of AJ Green and OBJ, but he is really special.

J.

Red Jesus and The Hamstring Years

Red Jesus-His 7th full season in Dallas and his 3rd winning record. He has only 1 losing record during his reign, but also 3 seasons of 8-8...  Forever known to me as Mr 500.

• He should be an Accountant or a Journalist. 
• His degree at Princeton proves he is intelligent and can recite things.  His career as coach shows he lacks the imagination or creative gifts.  
• The Hamstring Years are such a crazy thing.  If we include groins and backs then I think someone should really consider that Dallas hires trainers that do not understand tissue elasticity and preparation.  
• It seems he is a firm believer in non-imaginative communications.
• How many times during this reign have we heard other defensive secondary comment "We knew what they would do"
• Is it Poor Preparation or a lack of adjustments? How many years do we see this team chose the option of safety when someone is hurt.  And of course the outcome is a losing streak.

• Garrett 3rd quarter scoring is a thing of legends. .
• The debate Execution over Scheme.  Red is a preacher of Execution.  
• Dallas finished 14th in the league in scoring.   
• Cowboys ranked 29th in the league in 3rd qtr scoring 
• Last in 3rd qtr scoring at home. 1.2 ppg. (Giants were next at 2.0)
• 1st qtr scoring is ranked 16th, 3.8ppg
• 2nd qtr scoring 8th  8 ppg 
• 4th qtr  ranked 8th...7.5 ppg. 
• Did I mention that on Defense they ranked even worse at 31st in 3rd qtr.
• The defense is 14th overall in scoring.    
• This makes me think that it is not the coordinators and maybe not the schemes.  Could it be a process they use at half that shifts focus?  

 j

SEC Doubters need to take another honest look.

So the Bowl season is coming to a close and people are chiming in that the Big 10 was stronger than SEC after the top few.     Ha.  An absolute a pipe dream

Bowl Records suggest the Big 10 is strongest, but as anyone that follows football knows this is based on who you play. 

• Big 10   7-1  
• Big 12   5-3
• Pac 12   1-7
• ACC     4-6
• SEC      5-6 

Not really interesting in anyone else except the Irish who beat the ineptitude of coaching at LSU to finish 10-3. and the Irish did maul the 3rd best team in the Big 10 in Lansing this year.

So in my fantasy world lets compare conferences head to head based on conference rankings.

The Big 10 head to head with SEC say top 9 teams (Qualified SEC Bowl teams)  We know that Vegas would favor SEC, but can anyone really argue.

• GA-Ohio State   SEC
• Bama- Wisconsin   SEC
• Michigan ST - Auburn-   SEC
• Penn St- LSU   Big 10 (purely on coaching , Ha.) 
• South Carolina- Northwestern  SEC
• Mississippi St- Michigan-  SEC --- M State of course is better than S. Carolina but in West. 
• Purdue- Texas A&M   SEC or a PUSH...  even without a coach I lean Aggies.
• Iowa- Kentucky          SEC
• Missouri- Nebraska-  SEC

Does the Big 10 win 2 games?  3?.  Face it they would be ecstatic and shocked to win 4 of 9 .

Now the Big 12

• GA- Oklahoma  SEC
• Bama- TCU   SEC
• OKLA ST - Auburn-   SEC
• Texas- LSU   SEC. 
• South Carolina-  W Va SEC
• Mississippi St- Kansas State -  SEC 
• Iowa State-  Texas A&M   SEC or a PUSH..
• Texas Tech - Kentucky    Big 12 by a feeling bad for conference.
• Missouri- Baylor-  SEC

The Big 12 may win 1 or 2 games. .....Maybe, But like the Big 10 they would be underdog in virtually every game. 

And in 3 years when the SEC has many more NFL players than the rest, people will have forgotten they had made the argument that SEC had fallen. 
The SEC will fall into the same area as the rest one day, but it does not appear to be in the next couple of years.

As a side point.  This coaches being fired or leaving prior to bowl season is horrible.   I mean seriously, it was huge for so many schools.

J.