Stick to Sports Is Dead

Cause of death (today)... Iran

Stick to sports can't be done.

I've given it the ol' college try. And by college I don't mean Hugh Freeze, the new football coach hired by Auburn, even as the school knew that in 2017, Freeze's cell phone was full of calls to escort services. Say congrats to this fine molder of young men.

You try to run a decent sports-centric ship and darned if it doesn't run aground almost every day. It's not our fault that Freeze got a high-profile job building character. (Does he need a hard hat for that? Or will a whistle suffice?) Or that an Iranian journalist, speaking for the billions of people around the world longing to support that country's human rights record, asked this of Black American futbol-er Tyler Adams,

“Are you OK, to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against Black people in its own borders?”

I'm sorry. What?

This was at a pre-match news conference Sunday, devoted not to questions about the Iran-US World Cup match this afternoon, but to beefs about what happened to Iran's flag on social media posts.

The U.S. Soccer Federation briefly displayed Iran's national flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic. Which was a witless thing to do. It was meant to show support for Iranian women, who are serially mistreated. All it achieved was a media circus and needless pressure on the US team, which had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Of course, Iran took offense. The same Iran which burns Old Glory like it's kindling at a Boy Scout camp-out. The same Iran whose own World Cup team members didn't sing the country's Anthem pre-game last week. That Iran.

Truth is, awarding Qatar the Cup was guaranteed to make the event not about sports, on some level. Fans have protested. One ran across the pitch bearing a rainbow flag. Pundits debate the effect an Iranian win or loss today would have on the protests back home.

Meantime, the US side just wants to play the games.

Which, of course, hasn't been possible since Jesse Owens won gold in Munich in 1936. Only now, it's worse.

That said, all of us will be rooting very hard for the Americans to win big today. You know, 1-nil.

I'd love to stick to sports in This Space. But I can't type while wearing blinders.

Now, then. . .

QUOTE O' THE DAY:

"After a thoughtful, thorough, and well-vetted search, we ended where we started, with Hugh Freeze," Auburn athletic director John Cohen said in a news release. "Of all the candidates we considered, Hugh was the best fit. Fit has several meanings.''

Do tell.

IT'S SILLY AND IRRATIONAL AND A BIG SO-WHAT, but I can't ignore the way Peter King ignores The Men, week after week. He did it again this week, after the Bengals nice win at Tennessee.

Maybe I missed something. His weekly, beyond-comprehensive Football Morning in America column checks in at several million words. Missing a couple Men mentions is possible.

I n a noticed a lot of NFL tidbits. There were also mentions of OSU-Michigan, beer, the first woman to make a D-1 college baseball team, movies and lithium batteries. What would a football column be without a mention of lithium batteries?

Alas, no Men. Which is OK in the big picture. It has no bearing on what happens in a given game. I'm assuming Zac Taylor doesn't fire up the tribe saying, "No mention! Again!"

If Cincinnati beats KC Sunday for, um, the third time in a year, you watch what the national media does. It will roll out the adjectives carpet for the Bengals, and suggest it knew all along how good Cincinnati was. King included.

Stop being petty, Doc.

Yeah, I know. It's just irritating, is all. Happens to our little Republic all the time, in every sport.

MEANTIME, KING has Joe Burrow ranked 7th among MVP candidates, behind the likes of Tua and Minnesota wideout Justin Jefferson. Figures.

Right now, I'd take Burrow over everyone but Patrick Mahomes, though Jalen Hurts is right there. Mahomes is only slightly more Inevitable than Burrow. Burrow at the moment is more Inevitable than Josh Allen and certainly more Inevitable than the overhyped Tagovailoa.

Tua's the sexy MVP pick of the moment. He's doing what Burrow has done already, last year. Since Game 1, Burrow has 21 TD and four picks. Tua missed a couple games. His nine-game totals? 19 and 3.

Burrow QB rating: 102.7.

Tua: 91.3

Yards: 2,890 Burrow. 2,564 Tua.

Completion pct: Burrow, 68 and change. Tua, 69.

Whom would you rather have in January? Fourth quarter, down a score, everything on the table? Burrow has provided you his answer.

There is no topping Mahomes. Unless you're Burrow, who beat him twice in a month last season.

Just another reason Sunday at 4:25 will be large.