The Professor and the panel of the Judge, Dan Butterly, Paul Dalligan and the Gelding discuss the MLB playoff picture and who will win through to the Championship series. Paul Dalligan reviews the NRL and NRLW Grand Finals. The Judge looks at the AFL Commission and Chairman and says it’s time for a change. The Judge talks up the prospects of Tottenham Hotspur under Ange Postecoglou in the Premier League with their best start to a season since 1980. The Panel talks about the relevance of the Rugby World Cup and One day Cricket World Cup and the Gelding gives his tips for today’s Bendigo race meeting.
Tag Archives: arizona-diamondbacks
Friday musing – Premier League, AFL, MLB……..
Not much has grabbed me this week on the sporting front although I must say that the Gunners have left me feeling a little flat after a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea and a draw at home with Swansea. With a game coming up against Manchester City I will just have to focus all my attention on the FA Cup.
One thing that has piqued my interest is how the AFL pundits are prepared to make prognostications about various teams seasons on the back of one performance. Some people had North Melbourne finishing in the top four and now they are gone, Carlton’s recruiting is all wrong and they are destined for mediocrity, the Bombers were in for a poor season, but they could finish in the top four. I think the reality is that you cannot make a judgement based on one performance. Essendon had a good win last week, but they get the reality check this week against Hawthorn. The Kangaroos played badly last week, but should bounce back this week against the Bulldogs. Carlton also played well last week and if they had kicked straight should have won the game with a number of their first picked players not available. One game does not define a season and you need to wait until at least half way before you can write someone off.
I didn’t get to watch any of the Major League baseball from Sydney last week, however, the ground looked amazing and as I understand it, the game was a success so it will be interesting to see if more Major League games come to Australia.
Have a great weekend!
New Mets manager like the boy with the barrow!
Professor’s Rant #2
I guess there is one thing we can say for the New York Mets management now being led by Sandy Alderson…..they picked a recycled manager in Terry Collins who has a winning record (444-434)!! 
That at least allows me to put a tick in one box for Jeff Wilpon, Alderson & Co (and there haven’t been too many of those handed out by me to the Mets over the last few seasons).
Collins main claim to fame seems to be that he managed teams that finished second…..that’s right, second, in their division five years out of six. I guess that is better than appointing a potential manager from a list that seemed packed with candidates who had losing records and were sacked from their previous roles (Collins, Chip Hale, 
Bob Melvin, Wally Backman, Clint Hurdle, Don Wakamatsu to name but a few). Let’s look at some of the candidates – recently sacked Mariner’s manager Don Wakamatsu for one. The allegations of ‘losing’ the players during a tough season isn’t a great start to a resume, especially when you combine that with a 100+ loss season and you have a recipe for disaster in New York. Let’s also take a look at Wally Backman (currently managing the Mets affiliate the Cyclones). He was sacked as manager of the Diamondbacks in 2004 just four days after starting in the job after not revealing two arrests and ‘financial problems’ to the interview panel. One heck of a stint in the big leagues Wally.
So, my burning questions are these. Weren’t there any potential managers sitting out there with winning records? Weren’t there any that had World Series experience? Why wasn’t Bobby Valentine
at least interviewed? He is curently not managing, having come off a very successful stint in the Japanese league with the Chiba Lotte Marines where he won the Japan Series and the inaugural Asia Series, but perhaps more importantly, has managed successfully before in the heat of the New York sporting spotlight garnering a 536-467 record over seven seasons (which included two 90+ win seasons). Don’t forget he is the last manager to take the Mets to the World Series.
In any event, out of all that, Terry Collins has the job and now gets to confront what to do about closer 
Francisco Rodriguez, the non performing Jason Bay and Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran in the final year of a seven year contract.
Like the boy with the barrow, Terry has it all in front of him!