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The Patriots Do Color Rush Right

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A+ Patriots uniforms ready to go Thursday night. The Color Rush™ promotion is totally unnecessary, but if you’re going to do it this is the right way to do it.

This is what the Packers did last week and what the Giants did last year. This is the standard Patriots white jersey with the standard gray pants now in white. It doesn’t look like any other changes have been made to the gray pants. The socks look like the standard road socks, which are regularly worn with the navy blue pants.

The Patriots haven’t rocked the white-on-white look since 2009, when they wore it as an AFL throwback. But the white-on-white look was a standard look for them until they mixed in red pants off-and-on 1979 through 1992. Of course, the uniforms went blue in 1993 when Flying Elvis made his debut and the uniforms went navy blue in 2000.

The Minnesota Twins Don’t Get No Respect

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CBSSPORTS.COM – Now that the postseason field has been finalized, we can look ahead and figure out which potential World Series matchups are most intriguing. There are 25 of them.

  • 25. Colorado Rockies vs. Minnesota Twins
  • 24. Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Minnesota Twins
  • 23. Minnesota Twins vs. Washington Nationals
  • 21. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Minnesota Twins
  • 20. Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota Twins

Yahoo! Sports – We’re down to 10. Ten teams have a chance to reach the 2017 World Series. Slowly, over the next month, that number will dwindle down until it’s just two teams. And then one. But right now, 10 teams are still alive and that gives us 25 possible World Series matchups.

  • 25. Twins vs. Diamondbacks
  • 24. Twins vs. Nationals
  • 23. Twins vs. Dodgers
  • 22. Twins vs. Cubs
  • 19. Twins vs. Rockies

The MLB Playoffs start tonight with the American League Wild Card game in New York, and it’s pretty clear that no one wants to see the Twins make a run.

The Twins squeaked into the playoffs as the second Wild Card team a year after losing 103 games and after selling at this year’s trade deadline. They have lost 12 straight playoff games, but their last postseason win did come at Yankee Stadium in 2004.

The Yankees won 91 games this year and enter the playoffs as a more traditional Wild Card team. They went 4-2 against the Twins this year, and swept the Twins in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium just two weeks ago. The Yankees have also defeated the Twins nine straight times in the playoffs.

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So why all the apathy, if not hate, toward the Twins? It is hard to say they look like a typical playoff team. Ervin Santana had a very good season and Big Sexy was a fun addition, but it’s hard to name much of their staff after that. They also traded their All-Star closer at the trade deadline. Their most recognizable player, Joe Mauer, had his best season since 2013 but is still a shadow of the first-ballot Hall of Famer he looked like at the end of the 2000s.

But the Twins franchise has been here before. The franchise won its first World Series in Minnesota in 1987 after getting outscored in the regular season. They won the AL West that year at 85-77 (the same record as the 2017 squad)  while three teams with better records from the AL East went golfing in October. They won the division on the strength of a 56-25 home record at the much-maligned Metrodome.

So while people can criticize the 2017 Twins and say a team like this shouldn’t make the playoffs, they are not the first team to squeak into the playoffs after a run-of-the-mill regular season. Mediocre teams made they playoffs long before the Wild Card was invented.

With all the Yankees Haters out there, I have to imagine at least some folks will be pulling for the Twins tonight. Who doesn’t like to root for an underdog? And don’t tell me a Dodgers-Twins World Series isn’t even in the top 20. A Dodgers-Twins World Series would feature an historical rematch, a David vs. Goliath feel, an iconic stadium, and one of the best modern stadiums in the game. I’m not saying it will happen, or that it would go past five games if it did happen, but don’t tell me the Twins aren’t worth rooting for.

I Hate Instant Replay

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PFT – The Lions had what appeared to be another incredible fourth-quarter comeback victory today in Detroit. And then came instant replay.

After Golden Tate appeared to score a game-winning touchdown with eight seconds left, an instant replay review ruled that Tate’s knee was down before the ball crossed the goal line. By NFL rule, when the clock was stopped only because of a call that was then overturned, there’s an automatic 10-second runoff. Because there were only eight seconds remaining when Tate was originally ruled to have scored, the runoff ended the game.

This play and the outcome of this game perfectly encapsulate what is wrong with instant replay in sports. Instead of games being decided by players and officials on the field, games are being decided in dark, windowless rooms by the members of the leagues’ AV clubs in New York.

I’ve watched the replay of Golden Tate’s catch at game speed at least a dozen times, and I don’t know how any referee could call it anything but a touchdown in that moment. After watching the replay in slow motion a few dozen times more, was Tate’s knee down before the ball crossed the plane? Maybe. But that is not a blown call. That is a tough call that went the Lions’ way instead of the Falcons’ way, and that’s the way it should have stayed.

Instant replay was introduced as a way to get obviously blown calls corrected. Think of Don Denkinger’s safe call in the 1985 World Series, or Jim Joyce blowing Armando Galarraga’s perfect game with one out to go. Instant replay should not, in my opinion, be used as an attempt to achieve 100% perfect officiating. Perfect officiating is simply not possible, regardless of how much technology is implemented. It just shifts human error from one spot to another. Using instant replay in an attempt to achieve 100% perfect officiating opens a Pandora’s Box of bizarre and illogical outcomes just like the one yesterday in Detroit.

Last year, the Boise State men’s basketball team won a game at the buzzer on a Hail Mary shot. The ball was inbounded with .8 seconds on the clock and the player got the shot off before time expired. However, after review, the officials found that the clock was wrong. The clock did not start when the player first touched the ball, so the officials used a stopwatch and saw that it took him 1.3 seconds to get the shot off. The basket was waived off and the game ended.

Any sports fan who says they want more of this stuff is lying. Besides the artificially engineered game outcomes, instant replay is the reason the last minute of a basketball game takes 10 minutes now instead of just five. It’s why no one knows what a catch is. It’s why the “neighborhood play” is now the most dangerous play in baseball.

I’ve long been on the record advocating for more restraint with the use of instant replay, but I don’t know if there’s any turning back now. It would’ve been nice to see the Lions get one more untimed down at the end of the game yesterday but I’m not sure more lines in the rule book are the answer either.

I’ve always been told that football is a game of inches. Instant replay has turned it into a game of millimeters.

Friday Morning Randomness

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Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix special is out and, critics be damned, it is a must-watch. I know it’s a lot of recycled material, but it’s still one of the best comedy specials I’ve seen in a while. Even if he’s just “playing the hits,” it’s solid material from one of the best to ever play the game.

Here’s his 1998 HBO special, “I’m Telling You For the Last Time.” This was the first comedy album I ever owned, and I still listen to it today.

Iowa Woman Taking Speeding Ticket to Supreme Court

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AP — An Iowa woman who says she was wrongly ticketed by an automated traffic camera when she wasn’t speeding has accomplished the unusual feat of getting the state Supreme Court to consider her $75 small-claims case.

For Marla Leaf, 67, it’s not about money, but about constitutional rights. Her attorney, James Larew, will argue Wednesday that the city of Cedar Rapids, where Leaf lives and was ticketed, is violating equal protection and due process clauses of the Iowa Constitution in part because it delegates police power to Gatso USA — the private, for-profit company hired to run the equipment.

You know how I know Iowa knows that speeding tickets from traffic cameras are bogus? The fine is only $75. The last time someone I know got popped for speeding by an actual police officer the fine was $150. If Iowa thought their traffic cameras were infallible, they would charge the same fine an actual police officer would charge. A fine of $75 is just small enough to not be worth your time to fight it. Not to Marla Leaf, though.

I admire Marla Leaf’s conviction. I’ve paid my fair share of unjust parking tickets, and would have loved to have brought them all to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. But after being told to pound sand enough times by parking clerks in the basement of city hall, I’ve learned to just pay my “parking tax” once or twice a year and move on. That’s not how Marla rolls.

I’ve always thought that traffic cameras were bogus. I hate that Massachusetts has moved to all electronic tolling. There’s no way I’m not getting hosed making an airport run eventually. So I’m rooting for Marla and her attorney. If I am legitimately speeding and get pulled over by a police officer, I will pay my ticket. But if I get ticketed by a traffic camera, I’m going to call shenanigans every time. I’d love to see Marla put Gatso USA out of business. The company that produces and operates cameras to fine motorists has to be run by the kids who reminded teachers they forgot to assign homework.

Let’s just hope that Jimmy Larew is a better barrister than Newman.

Sox Land $30M Mop-Up Man For Stretch Run

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CBS Boston – David Price is off of the disabled list and heading to the Boston bullpen.

The Red Sox activated the 32-year-old lefty on Thursday after a seven-week stay on the disabled list with left elbow inflammation. He threw a three-inning simulated game at Fenway Park on Wednesday, and Boston manager John Farrell hopes to have Price available out of the bullpen on Sunday or Monday.

David Price hasn’t made an appearance out of the bullpen in a regular season game since 2010, but the bullpen is actually where he’s found most of his success in the postseason. Price’s postseason woes are well known, but he’s actually been pretty good out of the bullpen in October. Both of his playoff wins were out of the bullpen.

Price pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in 2008 and was 1-0 with a save in five appearances. He posted a 1.59 ERA over 5.2 innings, struck out 8 of the 24 batters he faced, and allowed just two hits. His sole relief appearance as a Blue Jay in 2015 against the Rangers wasn’t as impressive, but he did manage to get a win out of it.

It’ll be interesting to see how John Farrell chooses to use Price going forward. Will he be used a lefty specialist, as an eighth-inning guy, or a as a general fireman? Also interesting  to see will be Price’s reaction to being placed in the bullpen. I know he’s coming back from an injury and has to work his arm strength back up, which is difficult to do this late in the season, but it still feels like a demotion. Even after his rough outing last night, I’d still rather give the ball to Doug Fister in game three or four of the playoffs than David Price.

Regardless of what happens down the stretch, it’s hard not view year two of David Price in Boston as a disappointment. A strong late-season run would help make this deal look less like the Pablo Sandoval disaster, but this is not the guy the Red Sox thought they were getting. The Red Sox thought they were getting a guy who could drive the bus, not a guy who would yell at the team broadcaster on the bus.

Here’s the Billion Dollar DraftKings Lineup

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As I mentioned on The 300s podcast Monday, this Billion – With a B – Dollar Challenge from DraftKings was complete and total bullshit with a B. Daily Fantasy Sports Codes proved my point when they reported that the Billion Dollar Lineup would have scored 232.98 points, while the top lineup for the week only scored 198.44.

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Here’s a comparison of the top lineup and the “perfect” lineup, from Daily Fantasy Sports Codes:

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I can’t believe no one thought to draft three Lions, three rookies and a bottom-ten defense from a year ago to crack the code.

Again, I understand that a contest for such a large sum of money has to be nearly to impossible to win. The Billion Dollar Bracket is damn near impossible to win but at least offers a tiny glimpse of hope. I’m pretty good at predicting first round games. If I run the table in the first round, it’s just 31 more coin flips in a row that need to go my way for the billion. Also, I can pick all four one seeds in the first round. The billion dollar lineup was not that simple.

It was not “pick the best player at all these positions.” That would be hard enough. It was draft “the lineup that scores the most DraftKings fantasy points that could possibly be scored within the salary cap and position requirements.” I’d rather take my chances with Powerball. I know for a fact someone has won Powerball in the past. I don’t think anyone in a thousand years will draft the “perfect” lineup.

Nordstrom Coming in Hot with a Bold, New Retail Strategy

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AP – Nordstrom is opening up a store that doesn’t have any inventory.

The luxury department store chain says its Nordstrom Local concept store will open in Los Angeles next month.

The Seattle-based company says the store will be staffed with personal stylists who can order merchandise for customers. Nordstrom says customers can also buy online inside the store or pick up online orders the same day.

A lot of struggling retailers have been closing brick-and-mortar locations (thanks millennials!) in order to hawk more merchandise online and better compete against Amazon, et al. Not Nordstrom, though.

Nordstrom is going in the opposite direction. Nordstrom is going to open up more brick-and-mortar locations. How are they doing it? These new locations won’t actually sell any merchandise.

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To better explain how utterly absurd this idea is, think of it this way : this would be like Sears replacing department stores with kiosks at the mall.

The kiosks wouldn’t actually have Craftsman power drills or 16 gallon wet/dry vacs, through. Just some guys in blue polos. The guys in blue polos would show you how to order those items online yourself, in case you haven’t used a computer since the Bill Clinton impeachment trial. You would then be able to grab a quick bite at Auntie Anne’s or Cinnabon, and then come back later in the day to pick up your items.

Who wouldn’t want that superb experience?

It reminds me of the We Sell Your Stuff on eBay store from The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

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The only brick-and-mortar store that should exist solely for internet shopping is Starbucks. At least you don’t have to leave Starbucks empty handed.

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What Does Sports Pope Have To Say About Craig Carton?

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Being from Boston, I don’t regularly listen to Francesa. But on a day when Craig Carton got hauled into the pokey? I figured the Sports Pope would be must-listen radio. The guy is done in three months, why hold back? If I had his platform, all I would do is kick my enemies when they were down.

But I was wrong. Just another reason to tip the cap to Kirk Minihane. When his buddy and coworker got bagged for a DUI, he did what we all would do in his position.

He busted his friend’s balls live on the air.