**NFL KNEELING**

Here's the latest news on the NFL Kneeling thing...

The NFL has reserved the right to fine any team who's players don't kneel during the pregame ceremony, however, to cover their ass from infringing on the 1st Amendment rights of the players, they will not penalize a team if it's players remain in the locker room during the ceremony.

The United States Government pays the NFL to hold these ceremonies before the games so the league had to do something.

Well, that's one way to please the fans that didn't get their way last few seasons.

Amazing isn't it?

The same people that complained about people protesting are the same people that protested the protesting and will probably still complain about it because the league isn't forcing all the players to stand during the ceremony.

On the positive side, at least the league came to a 'neutral' decision on the "issue", somewhat anyways.

Now, if the league can just get the players, and some owners, to stop using drugs, dealing drugs, committing assault, rape, and murder, as well as soliciting prostitutes, and a variety of other ILLEGAL acts...

Thanks For Reading.

"MARCH MADNESS WAS FULL OF MADNESS!"

Another NCAA basketball season is in the books, and it was quite a ride as it usually is.

Congratulations to Villanova men's squad and to Notre Dame's women's squad on winning the National Championship in what was a thrill ride of a tournament season!

The women's tournament is not usually as intense as the men's because the top seeded teams are usually in the mix at the end every year, and this season was no different with the four #1 seeds making it to the Final Four, but the games were really exciting and fun to watch.

Notre Dame's ladies pulled off back-to-back buzzer beater victories in the Final Four against UConn and the finals against South Carolina on their way to the title with the same player making the winning shot in both games.

As a fan of Notre Dame it was glorious!

The men's tournament had a lot of upsets, including the first time a #16 seed defeated a #1 seed with UMBC spanking, literally, the top seeded UVA team that was a favorite all season long. I was shocked at the result of that game.

There were many upsets, some which were upsets as far as seeding is concerned, but teams like Texas A&M, West Virginia, and Florida State that were ranked in the Top 10 early to mid-season were geared to make runs respectively, and did make it deep into the field.

Both tournaments were fun to watch and did not at all disappoint.

Villanova dominated every game they played in the tourney, and they were a clear cut champion when it was all said and done.

Congrats again to the teams that made it to the Big Dance(s), then the Sweet 16, then the Elite 8, then the Final Four, then the finals, then to the title. None of those accomplishments are an easy feat.

I look forward to next season and what type of craziness will transpire!

"Super Bowl 52"

First of all, allow me to congratulate the Philadelphia Eagles for their win against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl... It was an exciting game to watch from start to finish!

The Eagles certainly earned every bit of the win.

Everybody knows that if you're gonna beat a team like the Patriots you gotta outscore them, and the Eagles put up 41 points which will win any football game in the NFL 99% of the time. From start to finish the Eagles pulled out all the stops and kept the pedal-to-the-metal.

Personally, I was not at all surprised about the outcome of the game, the score was higher than I thought it would be, but the Eagles winning wasn't shocking on any level. They were the best team in the league all season starting out 1-1 and finishing 14-2 which is very impressive.

Late in the season the start QB and MVP candidate for the Eagles, Carson Wentz, went out for the remainder of the season with an injury and for a brief moment hope faded, for a moment.

They had a backup, who is not really a backup, stepping into the role in the form of Nick Foles. Foles has bounced around the league a little, but he has either started or competed for the starting role for every team he has played on, and he did not disappoint.

Foles played a hell-of-a-game and was named Super Bowl MVP.

Though the Patriots made it interesting coming back from a double-digit deficit at halftime to take a 1-point lead late, the Eagles stayed on the throttle and pushed it back to a 5-point lead.

The Patriots had a chance with just over 2 minutes to play and possession of the ball, but a late turnover in the form of a Tom Brady fumble recovered by the Eagles allowed them to make it a 8-point lead with about 1 minute left.

The Patriots got close enough to try a Hail Mary, but like the 3 Super Bowl losses in the Brady-Belichick era, they came up short.

So the two teams that were considered the best in their conference all season long got there, and the best team won.

Tom Brady will be back for the Patriots, as well as Bill Belichick, so we know they'll be in contention again.

The Eagles will be very tough to beat in the next few seasons, with Carson Wentz returning as well as many others like Alshon Jefferey and many defensive players, and I look forward to seeing them play.

Congratulations again to the team and the fans of the Super Bowl 52 Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Lavar Ball & Big Baller Brand"

Oh man... Where do I begin?

Well, for starters, I love that a parent is so involved in his children's lives and that the parent influences success in their children, but Lavar Ball is going a little far in my opinion.

On one hand it's pretty brilliant to bank on the success of an athlete, I mean, Nike, Reebok, etc. have been doing that for decades, but on the other hand, riding the coattails of your children's success is an arrogant move to me.

The Williams' sisters in tennis, as well as many other athletes' parents, have caused more problems than anything else for their kids while attempting to turn a buck off of their children's hard work.

Remember how that situation worked out?

It's a great thing to support your children but to try to earn money off of them is absurd to me. It's a lot like pimping in my view, and that's ridiculous.

Lavar Ball started Big Baller Brand to piggyback off of the potential success of his sons. In many ways he has definitely made an ass of himself in the process. Not to mention that he has written checks that his boys have to work even harder to cash.

They have done nothing other than earn scholarships to college for playing basketball. The oldest of the three is currently in the NBA but he is not shining as bright as ESPN and Lavar Ball himself are claiming he is.

You have to achieve first and earn second, that's called business.

Yeah, he's been entertaining in many ways at times, but overall he has done more damage to the brand than anything else.

In closing, because there's really not much to say about it that bares anything positive to reflect on, I can't find any way to respect the actions of Lavar Ball in his antics to promote his sons because he has promoted himself more than the kids he claims it's all about.

"Cheapest World Series Champions Ever!"

First, allow me to congratulate the Houston Astros for winning the Major League Baseball World Series, well done gentlemen.

Of all the teams that made it to the MLB playoffs the Astros have the lowest payroll, over $100,000,000 less than the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox, the three teams they beat on their way to winning it all.

1-Los Angeles Dodgers
2-New York Yankees
3-Boston Red Sox
6-Chicago Cubs
10-Washington Nationals
17-Colorado Rockies
18-Minnesota Twins
21-Cleveland Indians
22-Arizona Diamondbacks
24-Houston Astros

The Astros traded away the farm years ago in an effort to build the team of the future, and they certainly have succeeded in doing so.

They had three(3) consecutive seasons with the #1 overall draft pick and those players were on display in this season's playoffs. They are a very young team and will have to spend a ton of money to keep the team together because most players are still on rookie contracts but will have high market value now.

The lowest payroll of the teams in the playoffs and they won it all. That's an amazing accomplishment in the game of baseball where individual talent usually wins out because some teams pay for the best available players. But those young players are gonna be expensive in the near future, so we'll see if Houston's ownership will be willing to pay to keep them in a market where the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and a few others can afford to outbid pretty much everybody.

I have nothing negative to say about the Houston Astros, they have carried themselves with class the entire way to winning the franchise's first World Series title.

Once again, congratulations Houston Astros, you are the World Series Champions.

"Will Colin Kaepernick ever play in the NFL again?"

Well, folks, this is certainly a very touchy issue for many...

First thing first, allow me to state that originally I disagreed with the kneeling during the anthem, like many did and still do, but I have somewhat changed my stance overall about it.

I thought it was very disrespectful that Kaepernick and other players were kneeling during the anthem, however, upon learning that it was recommended that he do so by a Green Beret, I view it a bit differently now. Though I still don't completely approve of the method, I certainly approve of the why it's being done.

Through the politics of it, which the president NEVER should've have involved in it in my opinion, people have obviously lost focus of the point of it all.

But let's stick to the football part of it, shall we?

The uproar that has taken place, and continues to take place, is way overblown in my opinion. Everybody has a right to their opinion, but let's dissect this further than the emotions that exist about it...

From a pure business standpoint, NFL-wise, I'd say that Kaepernick being signed at this point is a ship that has sailed. Though he has put up some big numbers from time-to-time, and has had a few solid seasons, he is not a stellar QB.

Fun to watch, but not a Super Bowl quality QB like some people make him out to be.

Allow me to point out that he did well when he had a fleet of WRs, arguably the best defense in the NFL, and an amazing coach in Jim Harbaugh, who scouted him in college at Nevada and had his sights on him because he fit the scheme that the 49ers were running at the time. Since the departure and retirement of the majority of those players and the coach, not much success has been had by CK.

People can say you need players to surround him so he can be successful, and that's true, but that doesn't make him as valuable of a QB as people would like to think he is. If he needs a stacked deck to be a winner, well, that's asking a lot.

He is a financial liability for any franchise, let me explain...

He's holding to his market value from his last contract, as he should, but the longer he sits the more it drops. Unless he agrees to drop his signing value it'll only be more difficult to get a job, anywhere.

That's simply business.

If a team signed him they would experience a major turn of fan base alone, not to mention a major drop in ticket sales, concession sales, etc. and there would most likely be protesters in front of the stadium every game, and the social media reaction could be extremely detrimental.

No business owner on the planet wants that to happen to their business.

From a realistic standpoint, there are far too many variables that are currently and will continue to block the opportunities he may have, that's reality.

I enjoy watching CK play, and I feel it's a shame that he can't for the reasons why he can't, but the NFL is still a business first and the franchise owners have to make decisions that benefit and protect their business. So after all that's happened, it's not likely that CK will play again in the NFL.

He is now suing the NFL for collusion, so I'd say he signed his own career death warrant by doing that, and there is nobody to blame for that but himself. I understand why, but he had to be advised of the potential consequences of that action by the NFLPA(National Football League Players Association) attorneys as well as his own.

Maybe he'll get a chance, maybe he won't, either way it's a business first and the fans are the catalyst that makes that business run. So unless something happens that changes the circumstances, I personally don't see him being in a NFL uniform again.

Thanks For Reading.

"United States Men's soccer isn't very 'UNITED'..."

Well, the USMNT(United States Men's National Team) will NOT be competing in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

I, like many Americans that are fans of soccer, am extremely disappointed in the performance, or lack thereof, by the men's team in the World Cup 2018 Qualifiers.

From top to bottom, the USMNT needs to be overhauled if it expects to be successful in the future.

In 2014, at the World Cup in Brazil, the USMNT made it out of the Group rounds among the likes of Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, into the Round of 16 and was one blown goal attempt away against Belgium from facing Lionel Messi and Argentina in the 2nd round. Which was much more than anybody expected, anywhere on the planet, literally. I was very proud of the guys and was excited for the future of the USMNT.

After the poor performance in the 2018 Qualifiers many United States soccer fans are enraged, understandingly so, that we will not be in the World Cup next year, myself included.

Since the birth of MLS(Major League Soccer) in 1995-96 American soccer has flourished and grown rather greatly in fan base and talent. The United States now has some very talented young players as well as veteran players that keeps USMNT fans optimistic about the future, but in the World Cup Qualifiers their performance was lackluster in many ways.

Sadly, the veteran and young talent will not be on display for the world to see in 2018 and they will not be able to show how far men's soccer has come for the United States.

There's not really much to say about it that's positive.

I hope that the people in charge of the inner workings of the USMNT will take the necessary steps to bring USA men's soccer to the level of global competition that people feel it should be. I really miss the days when guys like Alexi Lalas, Marcelo Balboa, Eddie Johnson, and Eric Wynalda played, as I'm sure many U.S. soccer fans do as well.

I will always support the USMNT, but they need to do some serious work to prevent this type of embarrassment from happening again.

Thanks For Reading.