By Rick Morris
NOTE: 59-56-1
record last year
Ohio State -21
over Indiana
Bowling Green
+17 ½ over Michigan State
Florida +5 over
Michigan
Florida State
+7 ½ over Alabama
Virginia Tech
-4 over West Virginia
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Lounge on YouTube: 2017 college football preview
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #872 previews the 2017
college football season with Fran Stuchbury of OurSportsCentral.
Lounge on YouTube: Pioneers of Baseball book analysis
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #871 previews the book
PIONEERS OF BASEBALL with its author, FDH Lounge Dignitary and Sportsology
proprietor Russ Cohen.
Lounge on YouTube: Mayweather-McGregor fight preview
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #870 previews the
Mayweather-McGregor fight with FDH Lounge Dignitary Jake Digman.
Lounge on YouTube: Fan etiquette in entertainment
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #869 examines the
concept of fan etiquette in entertainment with FDH Entertainment Editor
Samantha Jones.
Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #868 – 2017 fantasy football preview Part 2
By Rick Morris
Here is
Mini-Episode #868 of The FDH Lounge, another edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, providing
Part 2 of our 2017 Fantasy Football Preview.
Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #867 – 2017 fantasy football preview Part 1
By Rick Morris
Here is
Mini-Episode #867 of The FDH Lounge, another edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, providing
Part 1 of our 2017 Fantasy Football Preview.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
MLB power rankings for mid-August
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Rankings from start of season are
in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Los Angeles
Dodgers (7-2-2-2-1-1)
SECOND TIER
2 Washington (2-3-6-6-3-3)
3 Houston
(1-1-1-1-2-2)
THIRD TIER
4 Boston
(12-7-7-4-4-5)
5 Cleveland
(10-8-13-12-9-6)
6 New York
Yankees (3-4-4-5-11-10)
7 Chicago Cubs
(14-17-20-20-23-11)
8 Arizona
(8-5-5-3-6-4)
9 Colorado
(4-6-3-7-8-8)
10 Los Angeles
Angels (18-18-11-11-16-13)
11 Miami
(29-25-23-25-17-14)
12 St. Louis
(6-14-18-13-15-15)
13 Minnesota
(13-11-8-8-10-17)
14 Kansas City
(24-24-16-15-12-9)
15 Milwaukee
(9-10-9-9-5-12)
16 Texas
(16-20-12-17-13-20)
17 Seattle
(17-23-14-14-20-16)
18 Toronto
(23-13-15-19-21-18)
19 Baltimore
(5-9-19-18-22-19)
20 Tampa Bay
(20-12-10-10-7-7)
21 New York
Mets (22-15-17-16-18-21)
22 Pittsburgh
(21-22-24-21-19-22)
23 Atlanta
(26-26-26-22-14-23)
24 San Diego
(30-28-28-28-27-24)
25 Cincinnati
(11-16-22-24-24-27)
26 Detroit
(15-21-21-23-26-25)
27 Oakland
(27-27-27-27-25-26)
28 San
Francisco (28-29-29-29-29-29)
29 Chicago
White Sox (19-19-25-26-28-28)
FOURTH TIER
30 Philadelphia
(25-30-30-30-30-30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Chicago Cubs, Minnesota,
New York Yankees and Texas (4 spots), Los Angeles Angels, Miami and St. Louis
(3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Tampa Bay (13 spots), Kansas
City (5 spots), Arizona (4 spots), Milwaukee (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY
DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM
1 AL EAST 67
2 NL WEST 70
3 AL WEST 73
4 NL CENTRAL 81
5T AL CENTRAL 87
5T NL EAST 87
RANKINGS BY
LEAGUE
1 AL 227
2 NL 238
Monday, August 14, 2017
10 years of The FDH Lounge Multimedia Magazine
By Rick Morris
It’s been an
amazing ride and yet it’s only getting started.
If
you read our manifesto from Day One of this incarnation of our brand, we’ve
lived up to everything we proclaimed that our brand would be – and then
some. It even became the home of our
show in 2011 and also plays host to many of our great segments at our previous
home, The Sports Talk Network.
We’ll take this
occasion to clue you in to an exciting new development in The 21st
Century Media Alliance that we have great pride in helping to launch – a new
entity in the group dedicated solely to coverage of football and
basketball. It’s coming soon, but we’d
be betraying confidences if we said more than that. But it’s just one more manifestation of the
quality content that we and those around us have worked to establish over the
years – and will continue to do so in the years to come.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Let the horses and drivers, not the judges, decide the Hambletonian
By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
You’ve
heard the expression in other sports; in basketball, in football, in hockey
–“Let the players decide the game.” It’s
a saying that is often followed in professional sports.
Well,
it wasn’t followed on Saturday, August 5, 2017 in the 2017 Hambletonian Final. Watch the replay of the stretch drive. Did David Miller and his horse, What The
Hill, interfere with Jason Bartlett and his horse, Guardian Angel As, as Miller
pulled the pocket to successfully trot by Perfect Spirit?
He
did. But was Bartlett’s horse going
forward in the stretch?
No.
Did
he have a chance to win or even keep up with horses after being parked the mile
in the Hambletonian Final?
No.
WHAT
HAPPENS IN OTHER SPORTS?
Well,
virtually all of the time, NHL referees “swallow their whistles” in overtime
playoff games. Virtually all of the time, NBA referees “swallow their whistles”
late in playoff games (and even many regular season games) when a player (even
a star) goes to the basket and gets fouled.
Virtually
all of the time, NFL officials “swallow their whistles” and won’t call that
holding penalty late in a big game.
Why
is that? Well, it’s because there is a
general feeling in sport that players, not officials, should decide the game.
ARE
THEIR EXCEPTIONS TO THIS “RULE”?
There
are. If an NBA player gets hammered and
had a clear path to a layup/dunk, some referees will call that, even in a big
spot. Or if an NHL player has a
breakaway or even a step on a defender, that hook or trip might be called.
In
football, once in a while, that obvious hold in a big spot will be called (see,
for example, Atlanta’s Jake Matthews’ egregious hold/takedown of the Patriots’
Chris Long in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI, when it was clear that Long
had a clear path to sacking QB Matt Ryan).
IS
THERE AN EQUIVALENT IN HARNESS RACING?
You
bet there is. Generally speaking, in
harness racing and thoroughbred racing, especially in big races, judges are
generally loathe to take down horses for interference. Often, the nuanced test is, “was the horse
who was interfered with going forward at the time of the interference?” or, “was
he cut off from having a chance to win or pass horses by the interference.”
There
was no such chance for Guardian Angel As.
He had been parked the mile at 55-1 in the Hambletonian Final. While he raced gamely to be up near the lead,
he was already flattening out when Dave Miller pulled the pocket with the
eventual winner (until he was disqualified), What The Hill.
BUT
WHAT’S A DRIVER TO DO?
Indeed,
thousands of times a year in harness racing, a driver who has put up a brave fight
for much of a race with a game horse will ever so slightly move over (or just
drift to the outside from being tired) to not get in the way of a horse who has
a chance to win or, at least, go forward in the stretch.
But,
in the Hambletonian Final, Jason Bartlett was caught between a rock and a hard
place. Andy Miller, driving Devious Man,
and following Jason Bartlett and Guardian Angel As, pulled around Bartlett to
try and pass him at the top of the stretch.
But
Andy Miller’s horse, Devious Man, came down on Bartlett’s horse (importantly,
before David Miller’s horse, What The Hill, interfered with Bartlett’s horse).
The
point being that Bartlett couldn’t either slightly move over or even drift out
when it was clear he was not going to go forward in the stretch after being
parked the mile. Indeed, it looked like Bartlett’s horse came down inside a
little bit just before he was interfered with – because he had to get slightly
away from Devious Man to his outside (watch carefully).
In
thoroughbred racing, where this happens much more often, it’s called “being
pinched” from both sides.
WHAT
ARE THE JUDGES TO DO?
Well,
often-times, judges will make a nuanced determination that the horse interfered
with was done or wasn’t going forward or, at that point in the race, had lost
all chance to win or go by horses in the lane.
In that case, no disqualification is warranted.
In
this writer’s opinion, that would have been the proper determination, given the
circumstances of this race.
BUT
WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
The
problem with taking down the winner is that, if you’re going to go “by the
book” (you know, interference is interference, no matter what the situation),
well then, the judges should have at least discussed taking down Devious Man as
well (imagine that debacle).
In
addition, you have to consider the fact that this is the World Series of
Harness Racing, the Super Bowl (double-meaning intended) for trotters, the
seventh game of the NBA Finals.
Now,
if Guardian Angel As was going forward with a chance to win or go by horses, by
all means take down a horse who interferes with him. But that simply was not the case. And, again, if you are going to take down
the winner, you have to possibly take down Devious Man as well.
WHAT
DID THE DISQUALIFICATION LEAD TO?
Well,
it led to a long wait, a TV audience that really wasn’t aware of what was
happening (yes, this writer DVR’d the race, went home and watched it again and
again) and the first disqualification in the 92 editions of the Hambletonian.
It
also led to an awkward winner’s circle presentation, where the owner was
actually asked this question: “Is the feeling any less special because the
horse finished second across the wire and was put up via DQ or is it still just
as sweet?”
Yikes!
To owner Lennart Agren’s credit, the first half of his answer was terrific: “We
cannot do anything about that.” The second half, not so much: “so I thought the
horse did two very good races and I think he deserved it.
Obviously,
the second half of the answer is open for debate. While Perfect Spirit and talented
trainer/driver Ake Svanstedt did go two very good races, the reality is that,
ON THE RACETRACK, he finished second.
Did he “deserve” to win the Hambletonian?
Not
really. While Perfect Spirit was not involved
in the interference, What The Hill trotted right by him in the deep stretch
(What The Hill had a perfect pocket trip while Perfect Spirit in the Final cut
the mile after leaving from the 10 hole, tucking fourth and being first over in
his elimination).
AT
THE END OF THE DAY …
Many
people will say, interference is interference – the facts surrounding it are
irrelevant. But this writer says that
the age-old axiom, “Let the players decide the game on the field,” or, in this
case, “Let the horses and drivers decide the race on the track,” should be
followed in all but the most egregious cases.
The
2017 Hambletonian Final was NOT one of those egregious cases.
Steve
Kallas is a former groom, assistant trainer, trainer and driver. Every year on Hambletonian Day he joins Marc
Malusis on WFAN to discuss harness racing in general and the Hambletonian in
particular.
Friday, August 4, 2017
MLB power rankings for start of August
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Rankings from start of season are
in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Los Angeles
Dodgers (7-2-2-2-1)
2 Houston
(1-1-1-1-2)
SECOND TIER
3 Washington
(2-3-6-6-3)
4 Arizona
(8-5-5-3-6)
5 Boston
(12-7-7-4-4)
6 Cleveland
(10-8-13-12-9)
7 Tampa Bay
(20-12-10-10-7)
8 Colorado
(4-6-3-7-8)
9 Kansas City
(24-24-16-15-12)
10 New York
Yankees (3-4-4-5-11)
11 Chicago Cubs
(14-17-20-20-23)
12 Milwaukee
(9-10-9-9-5)
13 Los Angeles
Angels (18-18-11-11-16)
14 Miami
(29-25-23-25-17)
15 St. Louis
(6-14-18-13-15)
16 Seattle
(17-23-14-14-20)
17 Minnesota
(13-11-8-8-10)
18 Toronto
(23-13-15-19-21)
19 Baltimore
(5-9-19-18-22)
20 Texas
(16-20-12-17-13)
21 New York
Mets (22-15-17-16-18)
22 Pittsburgh
(21-22-24-21-19)
23 Atlanta
(26-26-26-22-14)
24 San Diego
(30-28-28-28-27)
25 Detroit
(15-21-21-23-26)
26 Oakland
(27-27-27-27-25)
THIRD TIER
27 Cincinnati
(11-16-22-24-24)
28 Chicago
White Sox (19-19-25-26-28)
29 San
Francisco (28-29-29-29-29)
30 Philadelphia
(25-30-30-30-30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Chicago Cubs (12 spots),
Seattle (4 spots), Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Los Angeles Angels, Miami,
San Diego and Toronto (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Atlanta (9 spots), Milwaukee,
Minnesota and Texas (7 spots), Cincinnati, New York Mets and Pittsburgh (3
spots)
RANKINGS BY
DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM
1 AL EAST 59
2 NL WEST 66
3 AL WEST 77
4 AL CENTRAL 85
5 NL CENTRAL 87
6 NL EAST 91
RANKINGS BY
LEAGUE
1 AL 221
2 NL 244
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