VITO'S VIEWS

Do you like debating sports questions with your friends?

If so, the book “Got Your Answers” by Mike Greenberg with Paul “Hembo” Hembekides is right for you.

The book, published by Hyperion Avenue, is their second. The first, “Got Your Number,” was more about sports history. This one is designed to settle the 100 greatest sports arguments.

Of course, it won’t settle all of them,  but it will start the debate. Some you will agree with and some you won’t.

For example, he does not include the Tom Brady Patriots on his list of the top 10 sports dynasties of all time. He has the Bill Russell Celtics with 11 titles first with the Casey Stengel Yankees with seven titles from 1949-58 second. The two pro football dynasties he includes are the Vince Lombardi Packers third and the Chuck Noll Steelers third and sixth with five and four titles.

He said he doesn’t include the Patriots because they don’t fit the traditional definition of a dynasty because by the time they won their sixth, Brady was the only player left from the first three. In effect, Brady won with three different teams because he won his last one with the Bucs.

I agree with him that the Patriots don’t fit the definition of a traditional dynasty, but many fans won’t, although that is why it is interesting to debate these questions.

I think it is just a matter of time before the  Patrick Mahomes Chiefs are added to the list. The success of Brady and Mahomes shows that in this era, when all the rules favor the passing game, you don’t need a great team to win; you just need a great quarterback.

In the past, John Unitas had Alan Ameche, Otto Graham had Marion Motley, Bart Starr had Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung and Terry Bradshaw had Franco Harris. Brady didn’t need a great running back and Mahomes hasn’t needed one, either, to compliment the passing game.

 I would include the Paul Brown Browns who went to 10 title games in a row with Otto Graham at quarterback and won seven from 1946 to 1955, but since the first four were in the AAFC, I guess that is why they were left out.

On the pitchers you would want with the season on the line, the authors have Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Christy Mathewson as the top three and there is no argument there. But they have Curt Schilling and Whitey Ford at Nos. 4 and 5, and they left off Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Warren Spahn from their top ten.

In the rule changes that had the most impact, he starts with the NBA three-point line in 1979. But he leaves the five-yard bump rule that the NFL instituted the previous year. It was the first step into turning the NFL into a pass-first league. 

In his list of the top NCAA tournament team, he has Gail Goodrich over Magic Johnson at guard. I know Goodrich won three rings and became a Hall of Famer playing with then-Lew Alcindor at center, but Magic’s win over Larry Bird in the Michigan State-Indiana State game made March Madness a prime time event.

His perfect all-time baseball lineup includes five old-timers (Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson, plus Ruth and Gehrig plus one Negro League player, Josh Gibson. He has Ruth hitting second because according to analytics, he would get more at bats. Ted Williams makes it as a DH batting fourth behind Josh Gibson. Barry Bonds leads off and knocks Ty Cobb off the team. Willie Mays and Mike Schmidt round out the lineup. The only team to have more than one player was the Yankees of the 1920s with Ruth and Gehrig. That is why the 1927 Yankees are still in the running for the accolade of being the best of all time. If you have Ruth and Gehrig, you can just fill in the other seven.

The book includes a lot more answers, which is why it is a good addition to the library of any sports fan. And the book also includes 100 trivia questions so you can see how many you can answer.

Here’s one: Bart Starr went 9-1 in playoff games. Which team beat him?

The answer is the Philadelphia Eagles in 1960. Vince Lombardi said after the game  they would never lose another title game and they didn’t, winning the next nine before he left the sidelines in Green Bay.

You will want to see how many you can answer. 

The NFL’s new kickoff rule is obviously a work in progress.

The Jaguars-Chiefs first preseason game Saturday night showed that teams are still adjusting to some of the nuances of the new rule.

A good example came when Jacksonville kicker Cam Little hit a kickoff that bounced just into the end zone and then bounced forward to the one. Chiefs returned Mecole Hardman grabbed the ball and pulled back in the end zone and took a knee.

The officials ruled a touchback and were putting the ball on the 30 when Jaguars coach Doug Pederson objected and talked to the officials. Jaguars special teams coach Heath Farwell alerted Pederson it was a safety under the new rules.

“My point to the officials is you’ve got to review it at least,” Pederson said. “Give us an opportunity to review it –not me because I couldn’t but let the official review it.”

The crew led by referee Tra Blake held a conference and agreed Pederson was right and ruled a safety.

But the interesting thing is that neither the Chiefs nor the officials knew that it was a safety at first.

“The ball landed in the end zone and now by rule and now by rule is still a live ball,” Pederson said.

Andy Reid is a future Hall of Fame coach who has won three Super Bowls as the Chiefs coach, including the last two, but he wasn’t up to speed on the new rule and obviously the returner wasn’t either.

“We’ll get it cleaned up,” Reid said.

It was a positive that it happened in the preseason so other teams can use it as a teaching tool to make sure their players know the new rule.

The Jaguars also did well in the return department as Parker Washington returned their first kickoff 73 yards to set up a touchdown and Tank Bigsby returned a free kick after the safety 45 yards.

The idea of the new rule is to have more kick returns. But are teams going to risk long returns or just kick it out of the end zone and have the ball placed on the 30?

The averaging starting position for all kicks was the 29 and 28.5 for returned kicks according to PFT. Maybe the starting position should be the 35 to encourage teams not to kick it out of the end zone.

Teams have two more games to experiment as they decide what to do during the regular season. First, they have to learn all the new rules.

Jim Harbaugh’s return to the NFL has suddenly gotten more difficult.

When Harbaugh took the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coaching job after winning the national title at alma mater Michigan, he seemed set at quarterback with Justin Herbert as his starter.

That all changed early in camp when Herbert was sidelined with a plantar fascia injury in his right foot. The Chargers put the best face on the situation, saying he would be in a boot for two weeks and then make a gradual return and be ready to play in the season opener against the Raiders.

That is the optimistic report. But the injury, which is an inflammation of the fibrous tissue along the bottom of the foot that connects the heel bone to the toes, can cause intense pain and take a lot of time to heal.

Meanwhile, the quarterback instead will be Easton Stick, who threw one pass in his first four seasons. Last year he came in after Herbert suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand in the second quarter of a loss to Denver. Stick then started and lost the final four games while throwing three touchdown passes and one interception.

While Herbert had started the previous 62 games, he often played hurt with bruised ribs, a torn labrum on his non-throwing shoulder and a broken finger on his non-throwing hand before missing the last four games last year with the broken finger on his throwing hand.

Last July, he signed a five-year $262.5 million extension, so the Chargers are committed to him.

The quarterbacks behind Stick are second-year pro Max Duggan and undrafted rookie Casey Bauman.

Herbert’s injury is the first major one suffered by a quarterback in the NFL this year. The timing isn’t good because the Chargers have a virtually new cast of wide receivers, running backs and tight ends, and he won’t have much time to get in sync with them if he does manage to return for the start of the season.

The Chargers can only keep their fingers crossed and hope this isn’t the start of another star-crossed season.

The Las Vegas Raiders are holding training camp outside of Los Angeles this year.

That seemed to be a routine announcement, but it was not.

By training in Costa Mesa, which is about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, the Raiders are infringing on the territorial rights of the Rams and Chargers. Those clubs have the rights for 75 miles around Los Angeles.

So the Raiders can’t advertise they are training close to Los Angeles and can’t invite fans or the Los Angeles media to their practices. Only members of the Las Vegas media that make the trip can attend.

The Raiders played in Los Angeles for 13 years and still have a big fanbase there, so the Rams and Chargers don’t want the Raiders building on that fan base and are enforcing that obscure rule.

Coach Antonio Pierce wanted the Raiders to train away from Las Vegas as a bonding experience. But the Raiders aren’t getting any promotional benefits, so it will be interesting if they keep training there in the future.

The Cowboys have been training in California for years, but since they were doing that before the Rams moved back to Los Angeles and the Chargers moved from San Diego, they are grandfathered in. 

Meanwhile, this year will be like a secret camp for the Raiders since they aren’t allowed to promote the fact they are in Costa Mesa.

Raider owner Mark Davis didn’t protest.

“The Chargers and the Rams have the ability to to block us from (promoting),” Davis told ESPN. “That’s fine.”

No word on whether a Los Angeles media outlet could hire a Las Vegas writer to report on the camp for them. Or whether Los Angeles or the Los Angeles media even cares.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh doesn’t mind putting a lot of pressure on his quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

He recently said Jackson can be the GOAT.

“The vision that we have together is Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh said.

Wow. That is quite a goal.

“That’s the vision,” Harbaugh said. “It’s going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort, together as a team, teamwork, and by the Grace of God and God’s goodwill.l That is how it is going to happen. And I believe it like we’ve already seen it.”

They’ve seen it in the regular season because Jackson has won two regular season MVP titles including last year. 

Still, Harbaugh has heard the critics who question Jackson’s 2-4 playoff record and that he is more of a runner than a passer.

“Lamar’s a guy, all his life, who’s been answering these same questions,” Harbaugh said.

“He’s got a growth mindset,” Harbaugh said. “He’s going to get better and better no doubt.”

Now Jackson has to prove he can be as good as Harbaugh thinks he can be. 

Last year, the Ravens lost to the Chiefs in the AFC title game by a 17-10 margin. This year, they open the season against the Chiefs, who are going for an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl win, on Thursday night Sept. 5 in prime time.

The opener will be a big test for the Ravens and Jackson and for what Harbaugh thinks of Jackson.

The NFL 18-game regular season schedule train seems to have left the station. Now it seems to be a matter of time before it reaches its destination.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has been talking about it in the offseason and he usually gets what he wants.

He said in May they want to keep making the game safer and said they have to make an agreement with the Players Association.

And Stephen Jones, the son of Cowboy owner Jerry Jones and a member of the competition committee, recently said an 18-game schedule is inevitable and that the players will go for it because it means more money for them.

The players should oppose the idea because more games and means more chance of injuries and increases the chances of a player getting CTE after they retire. 

But since they are likely to agree to it, they should make a lot of demands. Joe Burrow has already suggested an 18-game schedule include a second bye. But they should get a lot more than that, starting with a bigger share of the percentage. Starting with at least 50-50, if not more. They are taking the injury risk.

This will be the first big test for new NFLPA director Lloyd Howell. The NFLPA has a history of caving because they don’t want to give up paychecks.

But Howell must convince the owners they have to pay more for labor peace.

When a business is hit with a $14.1 billion antitrust verdict, it is usually big news.

But it got little notice when a lawsuit filed on behalf of subscribers to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket were awarded $4.7 billion in damages that are trebled to $14.1 billion because of the antitrust violation. Commercial subscribers were awarded $96 million.

The crux of the case was that the NFL was overcharging for the service to protect the Fox and CBS Sunday packages. In effect, the NFL was selling the rights to the games twice and kept the price high so Fox and CBS didn’t lose too many viewers.

The NFL made a deal last year with YouTube to sell the package of all the games for $349 million. ESPN offered to sell customers one team a year for $70, but the NFL rejected that idea. They also did not want to sell single-game packages.

The NFL still has three shots at an appeal to the presiding judge, the circuit court and eventually the Supreme Court.

If it could lose all the appeals, the NFL teams could have to pay $440 million each, which is a big number even for the NFL.

If they lose the appeals on the first two levels, they still may have a good chance to get it overturned by the conservative Supreme Court.

The NFL already has an antitrust exemption to sell league-wide packages and when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case the first time, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that if each team had to negotiate individual contracts it could mean “substantial tension” with antitrust principles.

On the other hand, if the NFL loses the appeals, the owners will be unhappy. Whether commissioner Roger Goodell would get some flak if they have to pay $440 million remains to be seen.

Although it may have gone back to Mark Twain, Harry Truman popularized the phrase that there are three kinds of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics.

A fourth category could be NFL quarterback contracts.

Quarterbacks are getting big contracts these days, but they always aren’t what they seem.

The five-year contract extension that Trevor Lawrence signed for $275 million raised a few eyebrows because he suffered four injuries last year and lost his last five starts after an 8-3 beginning. The Jaguars’ only victory the last six weeks came when they beat Carolina with C.J. Beathard at quarterback. It showed the Jaguars still have confidence in him that he will become an elite quarterback.

At first glance, it tied the $275 million deal that Joe Burrow got for a five-year extension for the best deal.

But at a closer look the deal wasn’t as good as the one Burrow signed. Burrow got $219 million in guaranteed money while Lawrence got $142 million in guaranteed money, although injury guarantees bring it up to $200 million.

On top of that, former Green Bay executive Andrew Brandt did a breakdown on the cash Lawrence is getting and it is generally at the bottom of the recent quarterback contracts.

First year: Lawrence gets $39 million while Jared Goff got $80.6 million, Lamar Jackson $50 million, Kirk Cousins $62 million, Daniel Jones $46 million and Burrow $45 million.

Second year: Lawrence gets $76 million the first two years. Jackson and Burrow get $111 million, Goff $98 million, Deshaun Watson $92 million and Cousins $90 million.

Third year: Lawrence gets $114 over first three years. Jackson gets $115 million, Goff $153, Burrow $146 million, Jones $160 million and Herbert $157 million.

Fourth year: Lawrence gets $155 million over the first four years. Jackson $207 million, Golf $193 million, Burrow $181 million Jones $160 million, and Herbert $157 million.

Lawrence still got a good deal  considered considering he was coming off a disappointing third season, but both sides decided to make it look better than it really is by adding two non-guaranteed years at the end worth almost $104 million. There is no guarantee Lawrence will ever see that money.

Now it will be interesting to see what kind of contracts quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love and Dak Prescott get going forward.

Whatever they get, ignore the overall figure. Check the guarantees and the year-by-year cash figure to determine how good their deals are.

There were rumors during the draft that the Minnesota Vikings might take a receiver on the first round and trade John Jefferson.

The Vikings denied that and it never made any sense to let a player of his talent get away.

And they proved they were going to keep him by giving him the best non-quarterback contract ever – a four-year, $140 million deal at $35 million a year.

That will not only reset the wide receiver market but the market for all non-quarterback players. Tyreek Hill is now the fourth-highest paid receiver at $30 million and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was quick to notice it is a new market now.

It also changes the narrative that in this passing era teams don’t need high-paid wide receivers. The Chiefs traded Hill and won two Super Bowls without him. Now more receivers are likely to aim for more than $30 million.

It will also make it easier for the players to accept an 18-game schedule. Even though it will not be good for them physically, it will mean more money in their pockets.

There are likely to be a lot of ramifications caused by the Jefferson contract. We can only wait to see how it plays out. 

The siren call of getting a head coaching often lures assistant coaches into taking bad jobs and getting fired a few years later.

Ben Johnson isn’t one of those coaches.

Johnson has been a hot commodity on the coaching market after his success as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. He was courted by the Panthers a year ago and was a candidate for both the Washington and Seattle jobs at the end of the last season.

He decided to remain to remain in Detroit to see, in his words, if he can “reap the rewards a little bit longer” in Detroit.

 “I like the sunshine,” he said at a recent press conference according to NFL.com. “I like what we’ve built here, starting with ownership. the head coach, the GM on down.” 

“Something that really resonates with me is, OK, eight openings this past year. What would you set the over-under (at) in three years?  I’d put the over under at. 4.5 I would say. I would say there is a good chance that five of them will be out of jobs three years from now.”

Now we will see how this plays out. Will he go on to win a Super Bowl ring in Detroit and get to pick his job? Or will the Lions falter and he will no longer be a hot candidate?

Will he have any regrets or will it turn out he made the right decision? He will find out in the next couple of years. 

Meanwhile, you have to admire him for making a mature decision.