2017-2018 Predictions for Club Football

English Premier League                August, 15, 2017 predictions made     
1. Manchester City                           June 1, 2018 Actual standings (1), (2)...
2. Manchester United
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool
5. Chelsea
6. Tottenham
7. Everton

La Liga 
1. Real Madrid
2. Athletico Madrid
3. FC Barcelona
4. Valencia CF
5. Sevilla
6. Villareal
7. Real Sociedad

Serie A
1. Juventus
2. AS Roma
3. Napoli
4. AC Milan
5. Lazio
6. Internazionale
7. Fiorentina

Bundesliga 
1. Bayern Munich
2. Borussia Dortmund
3. Schalke 04
4. RB Leipzig
5. 1899 Hoffenheim
6. FC Kolin
7. Bayer Leverkusen

Ligue 1
1. Paris Saint-Germain
2. Nice
3. Monaco
4. Lyon
5. Marseille
6. Saint-Etienne
7. Bordeaux

Best regular season teams vs World Series Champions

   Traditions are important. They can have a significant impact on a community. In the baseball community, there tends to be treasured traditions that are held in high regard. I will not list each baseball tradition and debate its morality and importance. That is not the point here. Sports are a tradition themselves and there isn't anything wrong or wicked in that. I do want to question the number of games played in a regular Major League Baseball season. 162. At first, 162 may seem like a random number to the outside spectator, but it does have its purpose. One of those purposes is that it determines which teams make the play-offs for an opportunity to be the world series champion. That is where my interest peaked. Do the best teams during the regular season win the world series ?

   I collected data from 39 seasons (1977-2016) as my sample size. From the information that I gathered, only 9 out of the 39 seasons or 23% or (.231), of the best regular season teams went on to become the world series champions. The Chicago Cubs (2016), New York Yankees (1978, 1998, 2009), Detroit Tigers (1984), New York Mets (1986), Oakland Athletics (1989), and the Boston Red Sox (2007, 2013) are the teams that make up the 9 seasons when a team held the best regular season record and won the world series. Note that the two season the Boston Red Sox pulled off the double, their best regular season record was tied with the Cleveland Indians (2007) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2013) respectively for those seasons. The regular season is long and it can take a toll on the players and the ball clubs. I am not stating nor taking a stand against the number 162. I enjoy baseball, I am aware of the criticism that baseball encounters; "the pace of the game is too slow.." and "the season is too long.." However, whether I agree or disagree with either of those criticisms isn't the topic for today. I am stating that the regular season isn't seen as important as it should be.

  The regular season isn't a walk in the park and for most of the players isn't a guarantee. Players and teams put in a tremendous amount of work to win those games. The individuals are awarded, such as the Cy youngs, golden gloves, and homerun leaders. Yet, the team that was the best throughout the year tends to be awarded less, if any, and soon enough forgotten and overshadowed by the world series champion. Unless, on the rare occasion, that same team wins it all. From the sample size that I researched and analyzed, one could easily observe that the majority of the teams with the best regular season record do no win the world series.

   I am not saying the world series champion isn't deserving of being honored and celebrated throughout the sports world. But, for the sport nerds out there, they can point out that technically the play-offs are a different tournament. Which it is. What I am proposing is that the team with the best regular season record be remembered and recognized by sports historians and fans for what they accomplished. Being the best team all year long. Maybe the two, if they aren't the same team, can have a 3 game series in the spring to determine the best of the best prior to the start of the new season. If that were to ever happen, I am aware that in the spring teams are, well it's spring baseball. But, that's the point. It could be a glorified spring game with some meaning to it.

Champions League Semi-finals

UEFA Champions league semi-finalist chart from 1999-2017.

-Click on "Chart" for access.

Real Madrid has won 3 of the last 4 Champions league titles. One argument that is brought up repetitively is that the champions league always has the same semi-finalist. Now I will give the benefit of the doubt that those who make that statement do not literally mean that the same four teams always make the semi-finals, but that it is a rotation of the very rich teams. The chart that I made takes into consideration all the teams from 1999 to 2017 that have made it to the semi-finals and how many times each team has respectively participated in one.  

Gentlemen, Please have your resumes ready...

   The NFL pre-season is just around the corner. Teams are starting get their engines running. Players are working out, coaches are navigating through the free agents available to fill any gaps or if possible improve a few positions and tinker with the roster before they have to cut it down to 53. Preseason in short is a method for coaches to test and observe players that can potentially aide them in their quest to victory. Two available free agents come to mind. Johnny Manziel and Colin Kaepernick. Both are quarterbacks that are currently without a team. The news up front is simple. Two QBs that are free agents looking for a team. Now unfortunately, the world isn't as black and white as deciding what flavored ice cream one wants to enjoy during the summer.
 
   Colin Kaepernick has had one of the most interesting free agency sagas I have ever seen in my short sports viewing career. Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem at the start of the season to protest what he believed to be the unjustly shootings on the black community. He played for the San Francisco 49ers for the 2016 NFL season. He started the season as a back up and ended up earning the starting position. Kaepernick ended the season with sixteen touchdowns and four interceptions which is actually a lot more impressive knowing that he did it with the 49ers. For those who don't follow the game too closely the 49ers were a disaster, from the front office to the team's play. Kaepernick opted out of his contract at the end of the season.
 
   Johnny Manziel or Johnny "Football" as he is also known as, came out today announcing that he is seeking on returning to play professional football. Stating that he has been in contact with a few teams. That has not been verified to my current understanding at this time. Manziel hasn't played a game for over a season almost two.

   I wont get too into the numbers and stats as those are readily available anywhere online. The point is that one of these two free agents has played longer and demonstrated to be a play short on winning the grand prize, the super bowl. The other was a over-hyped college player that did not impress at all in his two seasons in the league that was filled with actual controversies. From what I have been able to detect on a hunch from the media and football world is that Manziel has a better opportunity on landing on a team than Kaepernick. My football "intelligence" tells me that neither one will get signed. That is not to say that both are on the same standard on their quality of play. Colin Kaepernick by far has demonstrated that he is clearly the better player of the two and to compare them is a bit laughable. One could argue (those in the anti-kaepernick group, let me help you out) that teams could sign Manziel on a cheaper contract. He would demand less money than Kapernick. However, those who state Kaepernick is a distraction can not logically in any way hold on to that argument. Just how Kaepernick has proven to be the better quarterback of the two, Johnny Manziel has demonstrated on multiple occasions to be a distraction and burden to a football team. Now only time will tell how the NFL and its teams will demonstrate their "intelligence." In a free market teams can do as they please, there is a great product out there for buy that can benefit them. The free market is a great place to see which team is dumb enough to sign the distraction.
 

Video Replays may not be the Problem

    The match between New Zealand and Mexico in the Confederation tournament in Russia was an ugly match. As a person who resides in the CONCACAF region I tend to follow the Mexican national team quite closely. Monitor their moves on a weekly basis. It was an awful game from El Tri. Not sure if it was due to the line up changes or the team didn't have much respect for their opponents. The all whites came out in all black today, but they played organized and were dangerous on the long balls which caught the Mexican defense out of position on more than one occasion. That is just an ugly game, no one can really change that. Blame the Mexican head coach? sure, but he isn't the first and the only one who has tinkered with his line up when facing a "weaker" side. The ugly part came later on.
   The center referee had quite a handful on his plate therefore I wont use his name. We are human and mistakes are a given. What is special about the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia is that it will be the first international tournament that will use video assisting replay. Or VAR. Which is a big deal for multiple reasons. One being some are strongly against it because it will ruin the beautiful game. A game that is run by an organization that is accused of bribes, tax fraud, and money laundry but the line is drawn on technological advancements. To be fair the proper argument that those who are against VAR make a fair point. That the referee checking video replays will halt or slow the game down. Which is true, but I will counter that wasting game time isn't new. When a player gets sent off or a penalty awarded it can take up to three minutes just to resume play. That is why there is stoppage time added at the end of each half. The center referee had quite a few mistakes, but it wasn't because of the VAR. They were due to human error. Diego Reyes and Rafael Marquez were not awarded yellow cards when they purposely committed a foul to stop play. Now both of those were not dangerous plays and both occasions the players pulled and yanked on their opponents shirts. It can be seen as more tactical than dirty, but both merit a yellow card for it. Most fans, if not all, were aware of that. The referee had to use the VAR to give Diego Reyes the yellow card which should have already been given! There was no if, and, or buts here. That led to a scuffle where a shoving match arose and potential red card offenses could have been committed. THAT is when VAR should come in to productive use. Not to give a yellow that should have been given. That was just awful. That being said I will give credit for the center referee for actually going to the sideline and watching the video himself. The prior two incidents when referees used VAR they trusted the men upstairs. Which is not wrong, but the image it portrays is a negative one. The center referee is putting a lot of trust in others when he has the capability to check himself and receive upstairs information when it is HE or SHE that will be attacked and blame for any little blunder.
  That being said the referee's error was not VAR, even though I strongly believe the VAR was not used properly, driven. I was human error and poor officiating. That being said, this shouldn't be the death sentence to end VAR. It will take time for refs to know how to properly and effectively use it. This match should not define the use of VAR. It was an ugly match that shouldn't be watched as a replay in the first place.      

Let the Bats Fly

   Baseball, America's past time, a sport that is engraved in the nation's DNA is still alive and well. It wont die out anytime soon.Now I must admit as a child baseball was not my first choice, but as time continued to move forward and I matured just a bit, baseball has become a lot more interesting to me. It did help that a professor that I looked up to assigned the college class baseball related assignments. I appreciate and respect the sport. As a younger little person I enjoyed playing the game, yet watching the major league games was dreadful to my short attention spanned mind. Now I can watch the occasional regular season game and stay tuned in for the most part. There have been a few incidents in the past few weeks that has brought up the debate about baseball's unspoken rules. Plenty of sports writers and pundits have given their two cents on the topic. The incidents that has given 24 hour sports news outlets material is accredited to major league pitchers intentionally hitting the opposing team's batter. There a few circumstances that merit a batter from receiving a "deserving" fastball to the body.
   One incident could be if a player, say like Manny Machado, who slid into second with his cleats up hitting and in this instance hurting the field player on the opposing team. The opposing team's pitcher who is looking out for his teammate here throws a 90 mph fastball to Machado when its he is up to bat. Machado takes the hit and walks to first. It was expected. Now this particular series between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox was intense from the start. Multiple factors played into this series turning into an emotional fiery exchange between two AL East teams. Chris Sale decided to join in on he fun and aim for Manny Machado's back side the following game. Machado did not take to kindly to Sale's self imposed unwritten rule regulator.
  A second incident for a major league player to be hit by a pitch is if they flip their bat. To clarify, if a batter hits a home run and flips his bat, the pitcher can take that as show boating, offensive, and even somehow disrespecting the game. The next time that same batter is up at the plate fans, players, coaches and even the umpires know what's going to happen.
   There are a few more unspoken rules in baseball that can lead the discussion to continue on for days, but the issue is not about the unspoken rules. Sports in general have a variety of certain rules or etiquette that are followed in that particular sport. The issue I take part with baseball is how it allows players to solve these issues on their own in a very dangerous manner. I question whether certain sports fans or people in general lack a basic understanding in fundamental physics. This is a hard spherical object that is being launched at 90 miles per hour at a human body. I am not sure what else is needed to explain that getting hit by anything tends to hurt especially if it's coming at you at such a high speed.
   The league tends to no get involved nor implements any rules or policies to prevent pitchers from intentionally hitting a batter. The occasional home plate umpire might read the situation and throw out the pitcher, but no suspension or fine will follow. My solution, have batters throw their bats at the pitchers that intentionally hit them. This way it becomes like a western stand off, a duel, but instead of it being bullets it can be replaced by a bat and baseball. This solution works out great for two reasons. First reason is that if batters throw their bats at pitchers, the pitcher might think a bit longer before he acts on throwing a baseball 90 mph at a person with a bat. Second reason, the entertainment value will dramatically increase! Move over UFC and WWE baseball is here with some real action. Or, just bare with me here, pitchers can stop throwing fastballs at batters and learn to control their temper tantrums a bit more. I prefer the former, but like I mentioned before baseball isn't my first choice go to sport. I haven't watched enough to gauge a better feel for the game. But I do know stupid when I see it.

The Good Ol Days.....

    The world of sports experienced a familiar reminiscent dose of racism this past week. Two players in particular were at the receiving end of the abuse. Sulley Muntari and Adam Jones.

   

   Sulley Muntari, the 32 year old Ghanaian midfielder plays for Pescara in Italy's Series A. On 30 April 2017, Pescara visited Cagliari. The score ended 1-0 in favor of the home team, but the interesting aspect of this particular game was the incident that occurred towards the end of the match. Sulley Muntari heard fans chant racial slurs that were directed towards him. Muntari went up to the referee to let him know what he had heard. In Italy, due to the level of visible racism in the soccer stadiums the league has intended to combat this by implementing procedures to eradicate this buffoonery. The first step is that the referee states a warning over the stadium's speaker system. If the racist chants have not stopped the match is stopped. If needed the match can be abandoned. On Sunday none of these counter measurements were implemented by Daniele Minelli, the center referee for the match. Muntari was booked for complaining to the referee about what he heard. Muntari ended up walking of the pitch before disappearing into the players tunnel he looked into the stands slapping his forearm with his opposite hand to indicate that This is me, This is my color. For his humanistic response to such vile abuse Muntari was shown a second yellow card, therefore receiving a red for walking off the pitch without permission. Indicating that he will be suspended for the next game. Daniele Minelli, "the altruist", thought it would be fitting to have Muntari suspended and to sit out the next game in order to avoid being racially abuse for a second consecutive week. As of today at this time the Series A disciplinary committee has overturned Muntari's suspension. That same committee cannot punish the fans or the home team due to it's own rules, only 10 people were involved and therefore not reaching the minimum 1% of the fans needed to be racist in the stadium in order to act on a disciplinary action. 

  Without missing a beat, the day after, across the pond where baseball is played, in the civil rights proud ground breaking the color barrier America's historical past time, descended into the twilight zone. The Boston Red Sox hosted the Baltimore Orioles. Adam Jones, Baltimore's center fielder, witnessed fans shouting racial slurs and targeted by a peanut tosser. The next day Adam Jones was given a standing ovation by the Boston crowd during his first at bat. The Red Sox's front office came out in defense and support for Adam Jones and condemned anyone who used racial slurs in Fenway park, threatening that they will be banned for life (Which they stood by, a few fans have been band). I believe that the Red Sox organization handled the situation as best as possible. The troubling aspect of this was not the Red Sox organization or the league, but what one former baseball analyst said. Curt Schilling said that Adam Jones created a situation. That he needed proof in order to believe that Jones was being targeted with racial abuse. Schilling's defended his outrageous claim by citing that he has heard his black teammates use the N-word 100 million times and went on twitter to some how demonstrate proof that based on the artist and music a person listen's to is an indicator of what should or shouldn't be offensive to them.

   The troubling aspect in these two similar events isn't the big leagues or the front office of the teams, however, I do believe the Italian FA did act in a molasses manner towards a situation that should have been resolved the next day. What is worrisome is the individuals with certain power and authority are yielding towards inaction rather than any action. As I mentioned before the the leagues and front office of the teams did their part in a swift, respectful and not over reaching manner. No one was unfairly punished. Muntari had his suspension over turned and the Red Sox organization warned their fans or any other visitor about their zero tolerance racial abuse policy (and kept true to their threat). So what astonishes me the most is that men like Curt Schilling demand proof for such horrendous acts. Why? As a self-proclaimed person of science I believe that facts should be observed and results questioned and analyzed. But, in this situation what is the purpose of questioning and demanding proof from Adam Jones? To call him a liar and diva seeking attention because racism doesn't exist in sports and in particularly baseball? I am curious to why then stadiums across the United States honor the number 42. As for the Italian referee, Daniele Minelli, what if Muntari was lying? Would announcing over the stadium's speaker system to remind the fans that racism has no place in the soccer world cause such a PR uproar? Minells's inaction and Schilling's support for inaction unless someone personally provides proof to him directly is an indication that there is plenty of work needed to be done to combat racism in sports and in our communities. There have been great strides across the global sporting community to eliminate those with racist mentalities from barring into stadiums to spew their filth onto others. Yet, we need to vigilante amongst our own sporting communities that particular individuals are not fueling racism with inaction and denial.