Sports Agenda for Wednesday (9/25/13)
Top Stories:
Kind of an abbreviated agenda this morning as your fearless writer is dealing with a migraine headache. The Marlins finally did it! The Canes are ready to blow out the Bulls on Saturday. Can the Fins fix the run defense, or does it matter against the Saints? The Canes and the rest of the college football world wait. And why Ted Cruz is dumber than a sack of bricks.
Quote of the Day:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." – Dwight Eisenhower
Miami Marlins:
Big congratulations are in order for Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria for intentionally bombing a season with the second worst record in franchise history.
The old saying you have to try to be this bad is especially fitting for this team.
Dead last in every statistical category you can find on offense, the Marlins have now lost 100 games for just the second time in franchise history.
The first time you may remember was in 1998 when then owner, I believe Huizenga, sold off the team when he didn't get what he wanted.
Loria sold off the team he personally put together because he's a pathetic excuse for a professional sports team owner.
Fans ranked the Marlins as the third worst franchise in pro sports and it all falls on Loria's head.
He's got a good baseball man in Larry Beinfest who put together as good a team as possible given Loria's petulance.
Now Loria is taking a more active role and leaving Beinfest to swing in the wind hoping he'll quit so Loria doesn't have to fire him and pay him any more money.
Still, losing 100 games in a season takes a certain amount of FAIL that is not often seen in pro sports.
The best hope Marlins fans have is that Loria decides to sell…which he won't because he can continue to pocket tens of millions of dollars thanks to revenue sharing and keep putting a bad product on the field.
So in our $2 billion stadium, we're treated to the second-worst team in baseball.
Luckily for the 2013 Fish, they won't finish with the worst record in franchise history as there just aren't enough games left to lose to tie the mark set in 1998.
So they've got the going for them…which is good?
Miami Hurricanes: (next game, Saturday vs. USF)
So either Vegas knows something I don't know, or they're hitting the slot machines a little early this week.
Miami is only a 19 point favorite over USF.
Mind you, this is the same USF team that got mauled by McNeese State….from the Football Championship Subdivision.
That's like Miami Central playing a middle school and losing.
The over under on the game is set at 110, which sounds a little high to me…only because I don't think USF can score on the Canes defense.
Much like last week, this game will be over by halftime and if it's not….Golden may rip his guys to shreds during halftime.
Looking ahead, I thought UM would have an easy schedule moving towards November 2 at FSU…I was right with one exception.
Trust me Canes fans, circle the game against Georgia Tech as a potential stumbling block for the team this year.
Plus, finishing the year against a Pitt team that is improving each week may be tougher than some expect.
Luckily, UM escapes playing the up and coming Maryland Terrapins this year.
Miami Dolphins: (@ New Orleans Saints next Monday night)
The Fins have a hole in the run defense that the Falcons exploited.
Some may think that's a problem, but not with the Saints coming to town.
New Orleans ranks 24th in the league in rushing offense, averaging just 85.7 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry.
That's the good news.
The bad news…Atlanta only ranked 22nd in rushing offense and tore the Fins defense apart.
The bigger problem?
New Orleans' defense is fifth in the league and allowing just 5.3 yards per play and have forced six turnovers this season.
So the Fins' shaky at best pass blocking against a defense ready to blitz until the cows come home.
If I'm Ryan Tannehill, I know where my safety valve receiver is and get it to him in a hurry because he may not have time to go through any progressions while trying to find an open receiver.
UM/NCAA:
After Penn State got their sanctions reduced yesterday, I decided to email the NCAA to see if there was any word on when UM might receive news.
I was given the same answer you have received…total silence.
I've sent the same note to the NCAA about three or four times in the past two months and each time have received no response.
So UM appeared before the committee on infractions around June 19.
That was more than three months ago.
The expected timeline for a decision is six to eight weeks.
So we're WAAYYY past time for one to come and still nothing.
Either the NCAA is scared to death of Donna Shalala, which is likely given her connections; or the NCAA is just an inept organization, well that's a given.
Finally, a special comment on Ted Cruz.
Ah Ted Cruz…he spent most of the last 16 hours talking in the Senate about nothing in particular.
He's not even filibustering, he negotiated the time with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office.
He's spent the last almost day comparing people who opposed him to Nazi appeasers, his friend Mike Lee said they were fighting like the colonists, which means those who oppose them love the British, or something.
Marco Rubio took the floor for a little bit to "support" Cruz but ditched him last night to go to a fundraiser.
Politics are well and good, but don't miss the money!
What's comical about it is that it's not a filibuster.
See, a filibuster stops action on a bill. Even when he gets done with his ridiculous speech, which in truth is his launching point for a 2016 presidential bid, the bill will still come to a vote.
It will be amended to strip out the anti-Affordable Care Act language and get sent back to the House.
So he will achieve nothing. He and his cohorts get nothing and achieve notoriety for the longest non-filibuster speech on the Senate floor.
So I guess he's got that going for him?
Seriously, it makes you wonder why do people like Cruz and Rubio want to stop the ACA so bad?
It's not because they're afraid of it failing, it's because they are afraid it will work.
Think about it for a second.
If it works, everything that they have stood for the past three years will be a complete failure. They're whole reputation is built on the ACA failing and millions being denied health insurance.
The ACA is far from perfect, everyone knows that. It's going to have a lot of hiccups and problems in the first few years like any major government program would.
But make no mistake, Cruz, Rubio, and others aren't opposing it because they think it's bad policy…they're opposing it because they're afraid it will work and if it does, they know their entire political goose is cooked.
