Hot Sports Takes! (non-MN edition)

[coolhandgopher]

Most overrated coach of all-time, without a close contender is Mike Ditka. Ditka's been gravy training the '85 Chicago Bears the rest of his life, on the backs of a dominant defense coached by Buddy Ryan and an offense that still had Walter Payton reaching great heights. Even in '85, a year that they went 15-1 and dominated through the playoffs, Ditka found time to feud with Ryan and Jim McMahon and in a blowout Super Bowl, found a way to get the ball to Refrigerator Perry at the goal line, but not Sweetness.

From '86 to '88, the Bears went 37-10, won the Central division every year, but only won one playoff game in those next three years, failing to make it again to the Super Bowl. In '86, with McMahon injured, Ditka started Doug Flutie in the playoffs and they were buried by the Redskins. In '87, they blew a 14 point lead to the 'Skins at home, who went on to defeat the Vikings in the NFC Championship and then the Broncos in the Super Bowl. In '88, it was the 49ers who trounced the Bears at home in the NFC Championship game.

The Bears had two more winning seasons with Ditka as coach, making it to the second round of the playoffs once. After he was fired in 1992, Ditka was hired by the Saints in '97, made the ridiculous decision to trade all their draft picks to move up to get Ricky Williams and had seasons of 6, 6, and 3 wins.

That Bears team should have been a dynasty, but Ditka's ego got in the way and he was out coached by contemporaries Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells in the playoffs.

 

[coolhandgopher]

When I compare sports from my youth ('80s-'90s) to now, few measure up to that era for enjoyment. College basketball is a shell of what was its golden years. College football is too often a track meet up and down the field with defense an afterthought. I'm not even sure where to start with baseball's transition from free swinging, stolen base swiping, walks be damned era to today's strikeout or home run version. NBA basketball will be hard to ever beat the Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, early Bulls, Trail Blazers, etc. of the '80s/90s.

But NFL action? Man, I am loving today's game. I used to find quarterbacks to be the most boring players on the field. Drop back five steps, fire down the field, let your wide receiver take it from there. But watching the likes of Kyler Murray, Pat Mahomes, DeShaun Watson, Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson go to town? It's damn fun. The defenses are good enough to keep it from turning into college football, but the athletes behind center are taking the NFL to a whole new level.

 

[Nokomis]

Most overrated coach of all-time, without a close contender is Mike Ditka. Ditka's been gravy training the '85 Chicago Bears the rest of his life, on the backs of a dominant defense coached by Buddy Ryan and an offense that still had Walter Payton reaching great heights. Even in '85, a year that they went 15-1 and dominated through the playoffs, Ditka found time to feud with Ryan and Jim McMahon and in a blowout Super Bowl, found a way to get the ball to Refrigerator Perry at the goal line, but not Sweetness.

From '86 to '88, the Bears went 37-10, won the Central division every year, but only won one playoff game in those next three years, failing to make it again to the Super Bowl. In '86, with McMahon injured, Ditka started Doug Flutie in the playoffs and they were buried by the Redskins. In '87, they blew a 14 point lead to the 'Skins at home, who went on to defeat the Vikings in the NFC Championship and then the Broncos in the Super Bowl. In '88, it was the 49ers who trounced the Bears at home in the NFC Championship game.

The Bears had two more winning seasons with Ditka as coach, making it to the second round of the playoffs once. After he was fired in 1992, Ditka was hired by the Saints in '97, made the ridiculous decision to trade all their draft picks to move up to get Ricky Williams and had seasons of 6, 6, and 3 wins.

That Bears team should have been a dynasty, but Ditka's ego got in the way and he was out coached by contemporaries Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells in the playoffs.

 

[Nokomis]

Hot take: Indiana has the best tailgating scene in the B1G.

 

[LakevilleBro]

Ditka traded 8 draft picks for Ricky Williams, and was fired at the end of the year.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Another old guy point of view:

Comparing sports over the eras, I prefer almost every sport as it was played in the 60's, 70's or 80's to today.

In hoops, I just can't stand teams jacking up 3-pt shots with no post play. Give me a good mid-range jump shot any day. Preferably a bank shot.

College football has become a video game - 1st team to 60 wins most of the time. give me some balance between Offense and defense.

Hockey - give me more goals. today, a 30-goal scorer is a big-time scorer. in the 70's, 30 goals was nothing - had to get 50 goals to be considered big-time. And make the goalie equipment about 50% smaller.

Baseball - analytics must die. No bleepin' shifts. bring back the bunt, the hit-and-run - plays that require some technique and finesse. Give me a guy who hits .300 with 25 HR over a guy who hits .240 with 50 HR.

 

[Nokomis]

Another old guy point of view:

Comparing sports over the eras, I prefer almost every sport as it was played in the 60's, 70's or 80's to today.

In hoops, I just can't stand teams jacking up 3-pt shots with no post play. Give me a good mid-range jump shot any day. Preferably a bank shot.

College football has become a video game - 1st team to 60 wins most of the time. give me some balance between Offense and defense.

Hockey - give me more goals. today, a 30-goal scorer is a big-time scorer. in the 70's, 30 goals was nothing - had to get 50 goals to be considered big-time. And make the goalie equipment about 50% smaller.

Baseball - analytics must die. No bleepin' shifts. bring back the bunt, the hit-and-run - plays that require some technique and finesse. Give me a guy who hits .300 with 25 HR over a guy who hits .240 with 50 HR.

So you want less offense in college football and more in hockey? Got it.

Hot take: strategies are cyclical. Once teams figure out how to counter the offense, it swings back. Fleck prefers a low scoring game (like Kill or Tressel). It's fun when strategies collide. Like the Holiday Bowl against Wassu. I'm sure Leach was plenty frustrated with a 17-12 score. Similar story against Georgia Tech. So I guess my point is that balance still exists. I think the bigger issue is the disparity in college football where one team totally outclasses another.

 

[KD6-3.7]

i’ve said this here before. barry bonds is the best baseball player ever.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

i’ve said this here before. barry bonds is the best baseball player ever.

who cheated and violated the spirit of fair competition by pumping himself full of steroids and designer drugs, until his head was three sizes larger.

the tragedy of Barry Bonds is that, if he would have stayed 'clean,' he would have been a 1st-ballot HOF player. the younger Barry Bonds was a true 5-tool player - average, power, baserunning, great defense, the whole package. but he got jealous that other players were grabbing the limelight by roiding up and hitting HR's, so Bonds decided to outdo them. As a result, he hit a lot of HR's but other aspects of his game suffered, including defense and baserunning. And, he will never get into the HOF. Bonds was his own worst enemy.

 

[KD6-3.7]

who cheated and violated the spirit of fair competition by pumping himself full of steroids and designer drugs, until his head was three sizes larger.

the tragedy of Barry Bonds is that, if he would have stayed 'clean,' he would have been a 1st-ballot HOF player. the younger Barry Bonds was a true 5-tool player - average, power, baserunning, great defense, the whole package. but he got jealous that other players were grabbing the limelight by roiding up and hitting HR's, so Bonds decided to outdo them. As a result, he hit a lot of HR's but other aspects of his game suffered, including defense and baserunning. And, he will never get into the HOF. Bonds was his own worst enemy.

how did bonds cheat? steroids were banned in 2005. hgh in 2011

are you sure that hank aaron didnt use peds? babe ruth? roger maris?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_baseball#Historical_use

do you think that the freaks playing in the nfl right now achieved their athletic prowess from orange juice and beef liver? i promise you that everyone in the nfl is taking peds.

and i remember everyone talking about the growth of berry bonds head, but no one mentioned the growth of tiger woods head.

the only reason people hate barry bonds and he is not recognized as the greatest ever and in the hof is because he treated the media like shit. therefore the media took it upon themselves to worry about peds when it came to bonds.

the "bonds cheated and doesn't deserve to be in the hof" is a narrative put out be a vindictive sports media that has totally dropped the ball on any type of investigative journalism on peds in other sports because they dont want to bite the hand that feeds them.

 

[Iceland12]

Have heard this argument before. Problem was/is(?) that possession of anabolic steroids without a prescription is a crime. Under the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990, federal restrictions on anabolic steroids without a prescription puts its usage in the same vein as barbiturates and LSD.

MLB didn't post a ban on them initially because they didn't need to. Just like they probably don't list all the possible crimes that could be committed. Anderson, his trainer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and to money-laundering and spent some time in prison. More time was spent for not testifying in the Bonds perjury case.

So yeah, Bonds broke the law. He shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. Though as many have said before this, he may have made it without breaking the law. Problem is he did.

The members of the Big Red Machine? Maybe they shouldn't be in there either. Though they will never be removed.

They should be known as The Big Greenie Machine.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

The aforementioned Roger Maris was going to be my hot take for greatest season at the plate, 1961, in my fan time. (He was the MVP in 1960 also.)