Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

The passings tributes never stop here at the world headquarters and sadly this update filled up quicker than usual...

Goodbye to Trini Lopez at the age of 83.
Lopez was both a singer and actor with successes in both fields in the 1960s.
Lopez had several hits from 1963 through 1968 with his cover version of "If I had a Hammer" in 1963 reaching two on the charts.
The version by Lopez was the higher charting of the two versions (Peter, Paul, and Mary) in the early 60s and is generally thought of as the signature recording.
Lopez also acted in films and television shows, most notably a co-starring role as one of the "Dirty Dozen" in 1967.


Goodbye to "Kamala" at the age of 70.
James Harris was a journeyman wrestler on some of the smaller wrestling circuits in the South when Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler (Co-owners of the Memphis territory) offered him a job with a new character-Kamala "The Ugandan Giant".
Kamala was positioned as a savage brought from the jungle in introductory vignettes (which were actually filmed on Jerry Jarrett's property" and was an immediate star against Lawler at the top of the card.
Kamala would headline in the Mid-South territory, usually against the Junkyard Dog, the World Class territory in Texas against the Von Erich family, and in the WWF against Andre the Giant and received a few title shots against champion Hulk Hogan.
Kamala wrestled many times vs Andre the Giant in Mid-South and World Class along with a feud in the WWF with a famous cage match that saw Andre slam Kamala and finish him off with two "seat drops".
The Kamala gimmick turned out to be one of the best remembered one of the era as the early version was a feared warrior by the fans and the later WWF model was equally a comedic character.


Goodbye to Dick Coury at the age of 91.
Coury was a long-time assistant coach for nine different NFL teams, but his only head coaching opportunities were in renegade leagues as Coury would coach the Portland Storm for both seasons of the World Football League and the Boston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers in the three seasons of the USFL.
None of Coury's teams made the playoffs in those leagues, but his work with the 1983 Boston Breakers was a tremendous job in leading one of the least talented teams in the league to a winning record at 11-7 and had the playoffs been expanded to two wild cards, the Breakers would have made the playoffs.
Coury had the New Orleans Breakers in contention the following season before a series of injuries caused a second-half collapse that would end in a missed post-season.
Coury was loved by his players as shown in the biggest win in Breakers' history, on a last-second tipped pass that defeated the Philadelphia Stars.


Goodbye to Bill Yeoman at the age of 92.
Yeoman built the Houston Cougars football program into a power as their head coach from 1962 to 1986 and is the school's winningest all-time coach with 160 wins.
Yeoman is also the innovator of the Veer offense, which is another form of the triple option and was by the Cougars as an independent and after they joined the Southwest Conference in 1976.
Houston won the SWC in their first season and would win the league title three times in their first four seasons, but only once in the final six seasons of Yeoman's tenure and following a 1986 season filled with NCAA investigations and a 1-10 record, Yeoman was forced to resign and he would never return to coaching.


Goodbye to Wilbert McClure at the age of 81.
McClure won the middleweight gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics for the United States on the same Olympic team as the then-Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and was expected to have a successful pro career.
Instead, McClure was a disappointing pro, losing eight fights, and losing to all of his notable opponents- twice to former welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez, future light heavyweight champion Jose Torres, a loss and a draw against Rubin "Hurricane" Carter", and losing in his final career bout against future light heavyweight champion Billy "Dynamite"  Douglas, the father of James "Buster" Douglas.

Cleaning out the Inbox:

A long-overdue cleaning of the inbox with two items having languished near the bottom for almost six weeks!

We start with the Athletic with the first of a few links from their site and their story about the home of the Buffalo Bisons, which is being used by the Toronto Blue Jays for this season.

Sahlen Field was built for Buffalo's attempt to be one of the teams chosen when baseball expanded in 1993 (the selected teams were the Rockies and Marlins) and even today, Sahlen Field is the largest stadium in AAA and even though it is now 32 years old, it is the only stadium in the minors that could be expanded to meet major league standards.
The article discusses the stadium's past and the present as the Blue Jays attempt to retrofit Sahlen Field to the needs of television and the spacing needed for the reasons of the pandemic.

I'm fortunate enough to have the two teams that I pull for in the National League play in the best two parks in baseball.
Unless you are a ridiculously biased homer, your rankings for the best park in baseball must have Pittsburgh's PNC Park and San Francisco's Oracle Park at either 1-2 or 2-1.
If you don't, well you are wrong.

The Athletic writes of the rejected designs for PNC Park that might have ruined such a terrific stadium and takes a glance at the past to the stadium hat was so awful that Oracle Park was needed in order to keep the Giants in San Francisco.
A few of the designs for PNC Park that didn't make the cut included using red brick as the material, trying to give the exterior an appearance of a neighborhood with rowhouses painted around the stadium, and another bought fully into the Pirate motif with a huge pirate ship in the right-field concourse.
In San Francisco, the article searches for the point in time that the city and the Giants discovered that building Candlestick Park in the location that was decided led to disastrous conditions such as constant heavy wind conditions.
Candlestick was also baffled with several issues in building the stadium as the architect and contractor couldn't get along, a heating system that was planned turned out to be a flop, and did I mention the wind??

The final Athletic note discusses the fall of pro basketball in Pittsburgh after the ABA Pipers and Condors ended their run in the Steel City with pro basketball never to return.
Quite a few stories about the ABA and a theory on how the final blow was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who never played in Pittsburgh.
My favorite is the oft-told story of the Condors giving away 1,000 cupcakes to a fan and when the fan was asked about the cupcakes, he responded that he was diabetic and the few members of the crowd predictably booed.

Sports Illustrated remembers the 1984-85 Cavaliers as the NBA playoffs begin.
Those Cavaliers were coming off the Ted Stepien years that endangered the franchise on the court with terrible teams and off the court with threats from Stepien that he would move the team to Toronto or a bizarre idea that would change the name to the Ohio Cavaliers and split home games between Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Toronto- the final two not residing in Ohio (And skipping the largest Ohio city in Columbus).
With rookie coach George Karl running an offense that didn't accentuate the positive of the team's best scorer, World B. Free, the Cavaliers stumbled to a 2-19 start before finishing 34-25 to earn the final spot in the Eastern Conference and giving top-seeded Boston all they wanted in losing three games to one.
The three Boston wins were by a combined seven points which shows how close to beating Boston the Cavaliers were to what would have been the biggest upset in NBA playoff history.

The New York Post finishes with an article on former 1980 American hockey star Mark Pavelich and his recent troubles.
Pavelich was part of the Miracle on Ice team that stunned the world with their gold medal run and his NHL seven-year career was solid, spent mostly with the Rangers.
Pavelich scored over thirty goals twice with his career-high 37 goals in 1982-83, but had a few tragedies in his post-NHL career and may have brain issues from concussions suffered during career.
Pavelich has spent the last year in a psychiatric facility after beating a neighbor with a pipe but was recently moved from a high-security facility to a lower-level facility for his continued treatment.

We get letters

Well, we actually didn't get letters, although should enough of you want to send them, I'm sure that we could accommodate a post filled with them.

However, I do have some various thoughts to fill a column that's different from a Cleaning out the Inbox and might be enough to fill out a post.

I know that I've been critical of the President and I'll choose not to waste your time with my opinion on what he is trying to accomplish with this war on the USPS, but allow me to ask this- If the USPS goes out of business, how do you propose you receive your everyday mail and if you don't have the time or ability to get to a mailbox somewhere, do you really believe that your service will improve by the elimination of USPS?
For all the flaws and issues with USPS and there are plenty of those, it is a free service that brings mail and packages to your home six days a week.
Enjoy paying 25-30 bucks a month for a service to bring your mail to your house a few times a week.
The crowd that screams about waste (and isn't it funny, how many of that bunch has gone silent over the last three and a half years?) will be begging for the USPS once they realize the alternative is to start paying to receive their mail as well as send it...

I'm not a fan of Kamala Harris.
She comes off as insincere and she wouldn't have been in my top few Vice Presidental candidates, considering Joe Biden's commitment to a woman on the ticket.
However, the President's tired act of claiming that an opponent isn't a "Real American" isn't just stale, it's ridiculous.
Harris was born in Oakland, she's qualified legally to be on the ticket and any statements otherwise only makes the person stating the false claim look desperate.

For all of the chat about sports being back among the return to "normal", remember this- Basketball and Hockey will start much later with their new seasons, closer to winter than fall and with college football off the table, we aren't anywhere near being "normal".
I have a funny feeling come October, we'll be fortunate to have the NFL on Sundays and maybe the niche' sports such as boxing, UFC, golf, etc.
You think the public handled this poorly the first time?
Wait until they go through with colder weather and nothing to do outside!

The behavior of Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac in ignoring the MLB protocol and leaving the restricted area earlier in the week was irresponsible and endangered the season.
I know the life of a player in the baseball world right now is very dull and I might prefer the bubble of other sports if it was my choice.
However, Plesac's firing back at the local media for reporting on his violations are a very bad look and strikes me as immature.
Clevinger's screw-up though was even worse as he avoided the public relations mistakes, but he covered up his role, attended team meetings, and flew back to Cleveland with the team- all of which could have blown up the team and put the Indians in the same spot as the Cardinals in missing games, falling behind in the standings with games that will never be made back up completely.
The point isn't what they did, which by all accounts seems tame, it's that they left at all and betrayed teammates at a time when trust is everything.
Both Clevinger and Plesac were demoted to the minor camp in Eastlake and it'll be interesting to see if a team attempts to buy low on Clevinger after all this.
Clevinger won't be a free agent until after 2022, so he'll have value should the Indians decide to listen to offers.

Boxing Challenge: The Hamburglar Returns! Favorites win

The boxing weekend from ESPN+ and Showtime would have been pretty mundane with the favorites all winning their fights, and none of the fights being exciting or memorable, but then the Hamburglar stuck his head out and made his return.
Now, boxing is truly back.

Starting in the afternoon in London, former junior featherweight and featherweight champion Carl Frampton returned as a junior lightweight and dominated Darren Traynor throughout the fight before dropping him with a body punch in the seventh round that left Traynor quickly offering his surrender.
Traynor was a late replacement and he was fairly effective at times from long range early in the fight, but as Frampton picked up the pace it was clear that the talent difference between the two was going to be too large to overcome for Traynor.
Frampton put Traynor on the floor with a body blow late in the sixth round and Traynor barely continued to the end of the round as the stage for the completion of the fight was set.
Frampton is expected to fight the winner of the WBO championship fight between Jamel Herring and Jonathan Oquendo later this fall.

Michael Conlan lost two points due to low blows, but he won just about everything else in his fight with Sofiane Takoucht and stopped Takoucht in the tenth and final round.
Conlan, who announced his decision to drop in weight from 126 pounds to 122, dominated Takoucht throughout and it didn't take long for the storyline to become this- could Conlan stop Takoucht before the low blows took him out of the fight?
Conlan will likely face the winner of the mandated WBO junior featherweight title defense of newly crowned Angelo Leo against Stephen Fulton in a bout that was delayed by Fulton's positive test for Covid-19
Leo,  an aggressive fighter without a lot of power, might be perfect for Conlan as Leo walks forward into Conlan's power punches.
Fulton may be a different case as the flashy Philadelphian might keep Conlan a step behind throughout that test as Conlan might have trouble with Fulton's speed.
Either would be an interesting and possibly entertaining fight, so be on the lookout for that one early in 2021.

Showtime's evening card from their enclosed environment would have been a card that would have easily been forgotten, if not for one of those pesky Hamburglar appearances in the middle of the three matches.

In the main event, a very nice sparring session was held as David Benavidez battered Roamer Alexis Angulo around the ring for ten rounds before the corner of Angulo decided that their fighter had enough for one day.
Benavidez missed weight and the WBC super-middleweight title will be vacated.
Benavidez landed what he wished, was able to get away with dropping his hands throughout without being concerned by any punches from Angulo, and offered ten rounds of a high-level sparring session.
Benavidez has the body frame of a light heavyweight and would be best suited to move up, but while PBC has plenty of options at super middleweight, it is Top Rank that controls most of the top light heavyweights, so Benavidez may decide to stay at 168 and hope that this missed weight was an aberration that can be excused by the downtime caused by the pandemic.
Still, Benavidez has now lost the same title twice without losing in the ring ( a failed drug test caused his first title stripping) and you have to wonder how responsible the still-only 23-year-old is going to be about making weight.
No word on who will fill the vacant title other than one will likely be mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim and knowing the WBC, do not be surprised to see David Benavidez in the other corner.

The co-feature looked to have the potential to create a new star in power-punching lightweight Rolando Romero from Floyd Mayweather's money team and I stated in the preview that Romero could be the star of the evening.
Instead, undefeated and virtually unknown Columbian Jackson Marinez outboxed Romero and appeared to have won one of those "valuable" WBA minor titles that are often given away like promotional bobbleheads at baseball games, back when they played those in front of real customers.
The fight was far from thrilling, as it boiled down to Marinez landing loads of jabs and enough right hands to keep Romero honest and Romero swinging and missing like Aaron Judge in attempts for a knockout, but the verdict seemed pretty clear-cut to everyone watching.

And (cue the Ray Stevens music) then. AND THEN Along came the Hamburglar with a unanimous decision win for Romero with scores of 115-113 (maybe a passable scorecard, IF you give every close round to Romero), 116-112 (Awful), and a jaw-dropping 118-110, which ranks with one of the worst cards in quite a while.
I scored the fight 116-112 for Marinez and that may have been mildly generous on my part.

The decision and especially the 118-110 scorecard was so awful that PBC and Money Team guys were tweeting how bad it was and busting Romero's gloves about the ridiculous decision.
Boxing people often blame a crowd for bad decisions when the cheering can influence judges, but I can't offer one reasonable explanation for this.
The WBA has stated that they will order a rematch, but from what I saw Saturday night Rollie Romero has a big punch but needs many rounds to sand his rough edges away, and having a "title" to defend and fighting twelve round fights is way beyond what he is prepared for right now.
Romero has talent, but he might be pushed far too quickly in a loaded lightweight division.

As for Marinez, he deserved a win but didn't show anything special, so he could return to obscurity should a rematch not be arranged.
That's too bad and yet another reason that boxing can suck.


The opener was about what I expected as Otto Wallin won all four rounds against Travis Kauffman, and then won by fifth-round stoppage when a shoulder injury to Kauffman caused the fight to be stopped.
Kauffman had surgery on the shoulder after his 2018 loss to Luis Ortiz and re-injured it in round one.
Kauffman announced his retirement after the fight, while Wallin's win is the biggest of his career.
Wallin's competition had been very weak before his credible loss to Tyson Fury, so this win over the veteran journeyman is the biggest of his career.
Wallin's a solid heavyweight that may not be championship timber, but he can slot in the lower half of the top fifteen consistently and won't embarrass himself against the elite of the division.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored eight points on the day to move our totals to 89-79.

Boxing Challenge

The boxing weekend covers two networks and continents as ESPN+ televises from London and Showtime from Connecticut without both cards without fans as usual.

Showtime's card is in the evening and took a small blow when David Benavidez missed weight by over two pounds and forfeited his WBC super-middleweight title on the scales.
Benavidez has now lost the same championship twice without losing a fight after previously being stripped for failing a drug test.
The fight against Roamer Angulo will go out as scheduled with Angulo being eligible to win the title with a victory and should Benavidez win, as expected, the title will be vacant.
Benavidez remains a prohibitive favorite over the veteran Angulo, but this is a really bad look for a fighter that has already had out of the ring issues.
Benavidez says that he wants to stay at super middleweight but for a fighter his size to have problems with the scale, it might be a better idea to move to 175 pounds.
However, light heavyweight is a division that is dominated by Top Rank for now, so Benavidez may give staying in the division a try.

I'm interested in the lightweight fight on this card as I've been really impressed with Floyd Mayweather protege, Rolando Romero, and Romero faces another undefeated and untested boxer in Jackson Marinez.
Romero is another talented young fighter in the division and could be the show-stealer on this evening.

Heavyweight Otto Wallin returns for the first time since he severely tested Tyson Fury last September.
Wallin cut Fury badly and in a normal fight, may have succeeded in winning via stoppage.
Travis Kauffman hasn't fought since December 2018 in a KO loss to Luis Ortiz and will be a test for Wallin, whose competition has been very weak other than the Fury fight.

ESPN+ and Top Rank's afternoon slate from London features a former champion on his way back and an undefeated contender that continues to prepare for his first true challenge that has yet to arrive.
Former junior featherweight champion Carl Frampton prepares for a potential title opportunity against WBO junior lightweight titleholder Jamel Herring as he takes on late replacement Darren Traynor.
Traynor seems to be the perfect fighter for Frampton to shine against in his junior lightweight debut and Frampton is set to look very strong here.

Michael Conlan continues his march to a featherweight title shot without facing a top twenty level challenge as he faces Sofiane Takoucht of France.
Takoucht was knocked out in two by IBF champion Josh Warrington in two rounds in his last fight and while that seems to be nothing to hold against Takoucht, Warrington had scored only six KOs in twenty-nine wins going into their fight so a loss by stoppage is a detriment.
Conlan is expected to challenge the winner of the Emanuel Navarrete-Jessie Magdaleno fight for the vacant WBO title next year.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 81-71.

Super Middleweights 12 Rds
David Benavidez vs Roamer Angulo
R.L: Benavidez KO 5
TRS: Benavidez KO 3

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Rolando Romero vs Jackson Marinez
R.L: Romero KO 6
TRS: Romero KO 2

Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Otto Wallin vs Travis Kaufman
Both: Wallin Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Carl Frampton vs Darren Traynor
R.L: Frampton KO 8
TRS: Frampton KO 4

Featherweights 10 Rds
Michael Conlan vs Sofiane Takoucht
R.L: Conlan KO 7
TRS: Conlan KO 5

Big Ten postpones 2020 Season

The announcement of the Big Ten's decision to postpone the 2020 football season to the spring has rocked the sports world, and there is a very small (minuscule) chance that the decision could result in a major conference shakeup that could result in with the long-rumored "super conference" arriving.

I have no idea what to really believe as some have reported a 12-2 vote with Nebraska and Iowa voting to play the season and others noting that Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan with the other two have looked into playing the season elsewhere.
I wouldn't think that the fifty million dollars and being removed from the conference would make a departure for any school likely, but one never knows in these matters.
If someone is smelling weakness in new Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and think that the money that makes the Big Ten the top money-making conference (per team) is going to be reduced, perhaps someone would test the waters in an unlikely scenario.

Should that team exist, I would think that it would be the Cornhuskers of Nebraska.
Nebraska seemed to be a fit for the Big Ten athletically and geographically when they were admitted to the league, but it's never seemed to click for the Huskers, who haven't competed as well as expected on the gridiron and for the league, who didn't pay for the market of Omaha as their reason for adding Nebraska.
This could be something that could shake up the alignment of college football eventually, although not right away.
Nebraska wouldn't be a huge loss, but imagine if Ohio State and Penn State walked away?
And imagine the effects on recruiting as the playing conferences use this against the Big Ten that "doesn't value" football?
All of these are long shots, but long shots do occasionally connect.

I'm doubtful that spring football accounts to much, perhaps a few glorified scrimmages.
In the big scheme, the need is for a full and normal season in the fall of 2021, and should something happen in the spring, it could take its toll on the players during the fall season.

I'm not sure what to think about all of this.
If the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 all play their season without incident, the schools that postponed are going to look very bad.
It would be a better choice to buy a month or so and then see what happens, but I suppose the Big Ten and Pac 12 have their reasons for throwing in the towel a little early.
If the eventual end to this season is the three conferences that are trying to play eventually cancel, the Big Ten will be looked at as forward-thinking and ahead of the curve.
However, the prudent choice might have been waiting with the rest and the decision made on Tuesday may be one that is long regretted by many involved.

Moving Plans?

No, I'm not moving, but a recent article that I read on the NHL and their 30 something teams made me think a bit.
The article could be one that I tackle sometime as it imagined a revamp of the league where you were forced to keep the number of teams that currently are in the league, but can place them where you think would be best.

The article sent me in a different direction as I thought of this- how many of my teams would I continue to root for in the event that they would move?

I've been through this once with the Browns and the Devils were very close to moving in the mid-nineties, so I have some experience in this area.
I've had teams move, very narrowly missing a move, and teams that float rumors to see what they can pull from a city with the threat of leaving.

I'm sure that through the years of writing this small piece of work that I've told the stories of how I've come to root for certain teams, but I'm sure that I haven't written an article of who I would follow and who would be cast aside for a new team as a price for their deception.

I'm so disgusted with baseball right now that I'm not sure that I wouldn't just say to hell with it, should the Indians (or soon to be whomever's) leave Cleveland.
The Indians lease at their stadium expires after the 2022 season and should a city step up to the plate and build a new stadium, I wouldn't put it past the team leaving Cleveland.
Fortunately, that's unlikely because there aren't any cities that are suitable and ready to go.
The fan apathy has been rising towards the team of late as the refusal of the Dolan family to spend money on a player or two to allow the team to support Francisco Lindor before he leaves for free agency and with the team asking for more money for renovations at a time of national emergency, I think that there will be more and more whispers about the future of the team in Cleveland.
Had the pandemic not occurred, I think the team would be in far more danger than they will turn out to be in the end.
There aren't any standout cities that have the size and stadium ready to go to attract a team and I'm doubtful that a city will step with baseball in the flux that it currently finds itself.
But could it happen? Sure.
Would I follow? Doubtful, but maybe depending on where they would land.

The Giants and Pirates?
Both have beautiful ballparks that make watching home games a treat, but I don't have a connection to either city and both have problems with relocation.
The Giants would be unlikely to bring their announcing crew along with all three of their television crew living in the Bay Area, and the Pirates would likely pursue a name change.
Without the broadcasting crew that brought in as a fan, the Giants might become just another team and without the memories, the Pirates would be the same.
The Pirates lease ends after the 2030 season, while the Giants lease runs through at least 2038.
So for baseball, I might move with the National League teams, but the chances are equal that I wouldn't either.
The Indians, I could consider depending on where they would go, but it's unlikely that would happen.

In football, I wouldn't follow the Browns.
I had the chance to do that once and it took me about a half-second to make that decision.
Perhaps much of that was the selection of Baltimore as the destination, but Art Modell's treachery was never going to be rewarded by me.
I cannot see a scenario short of a move in-state that I would consider leaving them for.
The Browns lease expires in 2029, so some sort of renovation or even a new stadium talk will begin in the next few years.

In the NBA, I would likely not follow the Cavaliers in such a scenario.
That's not going to happen after the recent renovation to the Gund/Q/Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor Arena/Fieldhouse which locked the Cavaliers to Cleveland through at least 2034 and through two options as long as 2044.
The Cavaliers are the team that I have rooted for the longest, and I'd be doubtful to go with them to a new city, especially if they dropped the nickname.

Moving to the NHL, the New Jersey Devils are in a unique situation as the owners own the lease to the building, but not necessarily the building itself.
The owners aren't likely to leave an arena that they have a business interest in, but the Devils are part of a market that is one team too large and with the Islanders building a new arena, I wouldn't feel safe in the long run.
I've read two conflicting pieces that listed the end of the Devils lease at Prudential Center as 2027 or 2032, so there is time to see what the future would bring.
The Devils are the only number one team on my list that I don't have a personal reason to follow, my fandom doesn't have an attachment to New Jersey, and the transient history of the team (Kansas City and Colorado before New Jersey) would make the Devils the one team on this list that I would be likely to consider following.
Other factors could change that, such as the team moving far west where I couldn't see as many games or changing the nickname to something like the Kraken, but the team could be possible to stay as my favorite NHL team.

That's how I'd feel about if my teams moved, but stay tuned as later this week, I'll be continuing the possible scenarios with this- If I didn't follow my teams, what teams would be in the running to take their place?