NFL: League-wide issues, a primer /// MLB: Teams suddenly afire; Colorado Rockies---the upswing.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com . . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). . . ///. . . NFL --- Like soldiers returning from leave, America’s professional football players have reached training camp, some having stuck to routines preparing them for pre-season scrimmages, sprint repeats, the no-pain/no-gain weightlifting, and the lectures. Others have arrived overweight or underweight and definitely out of shape. Around 25 have negative baggage---arrest records, while several hundred have landed at camp unsullied, many of them family guys. And some have come to camp angry for one reason or another and won’t give their all until after that first regular season game, when they will embarrass themselves and their teammates and decide to man up. Moreover, players still fresh from college, high school or a local field will be dreaming big and learn quickly that the NFL game is one they’d never encountered directly, that it’ll be a while before they are fully credentialed. And, as training commences it’ll once again be clear to head coaches and front office personnel that the nearest thing to perfection of individual football skills and of teamwork is the maximum effort put forth by their players, which will never lead to perfection but can come close. Other coaches and owners won’t see that and will wish they were in another profession, anything but football . . . Yes, another NFL season is moving forward and gaining momentum, by September it will roll in like thunder, some fans sighing happily as if to their table a fantastic meal had been set; they are alive again---until their favored team experiences that first crush, a loss by 15. Furthermore, as the new season approaches “a gathering of critics will again appear, asking that the NFL game disappear from planet Earth.” They will argue that there is medical evidence that the game’s players are at risk of suffering psychological, neurological and physical damage, post-career. They will add that there is evidence that the game inspires thousands of observers to tag violence as a virtue among character attributes, as other than lurid entertainment for young and old. A recent criticism is that professional football encourages violent crime and also obesity, makes it okay for players and fans to be enormously fat. . . Of note, and problematic for the NFL, is that there is much truth to the above-cited criticisms, which have been coming to light at the same time that the NFL has reached new heights of popularity and financial profit. But no way does elimination of the NFL need to happen, the NFL game can evolve, it can lose nearly all of the negatives now plaguing the NFL as long as the NFL refrains from resisting the criticisms and makes certain that it does not label the criticisms, “Bogus.” A model worth following is that of the U.S. military responding this year to claims of widespread sexual assault within the ranks. Instead of denying that the problem has existed and instead of attempting to demonize critics, the military admitted failure and has established programs to eliminate the problems cited. In this vein, the NFL has more than enough money to uptick its outsourcing for R&D re. technical and physiological means capable of reducing numbers of player-received concussions significantly. Too, NFL team-owners have to get over the fear that rule changes minimizing football’s violent effects will result in too many empty seats, huge losses in TV ratings and massive reductions in advertising. Many media and sports management analysts believe that NFL fans have sufficient sophistication for acceptance of less train-wreckage on the football field. Game appreciation drawback did not occur for the NBA when rule changes for less violence occurred, placing greater responsibility on referees for calling fouls, turning basketball defense and the avoidance of fouls into art forms that fans have learned to appreciate. Such can happen in football from referees being more vigilant about spotting and penalizing the over-zealous crusher. . . Regarding obesity, records show that it’s in all walks of American life---what could be a better outlet for speaking about the dangers of obesity than during televised NFL games, many millions of fans watching? Okay, it could seem hypocritical, like the seductive cigarette pack that says that smoking is indeed hazardous, unless the NFL takes more to heart that mastering skill-sets is a better way to get a job done than a player being 30 pounds heavier than an opponent, backing this up by placing limits on body-weight per lineman that cannot be surpassed or a player will disqualify, be suspended . . . In sum, the NFL ignoring or denouncing criticisms that cannot be faulted could result in growth of opposition, in sophisticated public outcries, in less NFL popularity and in forced changes beyond that which were necessary. No sport is immune to power of truth, not to the losses in number of fans, not to the prestige and revenue that truth can take away in a matter of hours. . . /// . . . MLB --- Since 11 days ago, the NL West’s first place team, the 51-47 Arizona Diamondbacks, have won only one of five games. But NL West second place club, the 51-47 Los Angeles Dodgers, won five and lost two. Meanwhile, the NL West’s third place franchise, the Colorado Rockies, accrued four wins over three losses. Resulting from this is that the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers are now tied at first place, and the Rockies, while still a third place club re. number of wins, they are actually in the number two spot, closer to .500 than 11 days ago, still just four games behind first place. . . Within the NL Central, there’s been less change across the past 11 days, the now 58-39 Pittsburgh Pirates still in second place behind the 59-37 St. Louis Cardinals, the former 4-3 of seven games played since July 12, the Cardinals 4-2 of six during the same period. . . It’s the NL East that can speak of significant change within the 11 days, the division’s July 12 second place team, the 48-51 Washington Nationals, now at third position behind the 49-50 Philadelphia Phillies, the Nationals having gone 2-5 during the past 11 days, while the Phillies maxed at 3-3. Still atop the NL East, however, are the 56-43 Atlanta Braves, by seven wins. . . Within the AL West, the 58-41 Oakland Athletics have maintained the top spot since July 12, now three games up over the 55-44 Texas Rangers, instead of by only one win. The A’s recorded four wins over three losses since July 12, the Rangers finishing the 11 day period, 2-5. . . Within the AL Central since July 12, the first place 54-44 Detroit Tigers won four and lost three, and second place 52-46 Cleveland Indians won four and lost two, so there hasn’t been significant change in the AL Central’s top two positions, while third place team, the Kansas City Royals, went 2-5 since July 12 and is now eight games behind the Tigers instead of six. . . Nor has the AL East experienced serious upheavals from just before and after the All-Star game. Though the AL East’s numero uno are still the 60-41 Boston Red Sox, the Sox are but one game atop the 59-41 Tampa Bay Rays, the latter having won six games and lost only one in the 11 days since the AL won the All-Star event, while the Sox went 3-4. The AL East has also seen a significant jump-up, in that third place 57-43 Baltimore Orioles went 6-1 since July 12. While still in the third slot, the Orioles are now but two games behind first place, not the five behind on July 12. . . So, it can be said of the NL Central’s Phillies, the AL East’s Rays and the Al East’s Orioles, that they might be teams afire, closing in on leading clubs, but also that the NL East’s Braves and the AL West’s A’s have been afire, expanding their leads at the top. . . The AL East’s Red Sox are still the leading MLB club, and the first MLB club to reach 60 regular season wins. Still worst among the 30 MLB franchises are the AL West’s Houston Astros, 32-59. Colorado Rockies --- Watching baseball clubs is probably akin to observing salamanders meandering across a plaid rug, the many changes in color swift and usually unpredictable. No player is exactly the same player that he was yesterday, and so no two scheduled MLB games are ever exactly the same. Not much to go on if you like to predict a game’s outcomes. Too, pitcher rotation adds to the likelihood of today’s game being different than yesterday’s . . . Some ball clubs are less predictable than others, with a wider gap between one day’s performance and another’s. The AL West’s 48-52/.480 Colorado Rockies are close to being in this category. Fans ask, “How can a team of its caliber not sweep the Chicago Cubs, though it just took a series away from the Cubs, next lose a game to the second worst franchise in the majors, the Miami Marlins, when this season the Rockies have won three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, all AL West teams, and also split a four-game series vs. the Washington Nationals?” To date this season, the Rockies have won 14 series, but have lost 15, not a disastrous stat were it not that some of the lost series were to teams that, in light of the Rockies skills and power, the team should have won, e.g., losing a series to the Toronto Blue Jays in June, and three of four to the Houston Astros in May. . . Implied here is that MLB clubs that play at their highest levels of competency consistently can lose games, but rarely do they lose to clubs that play at competency levels that are always much lower. Last Friday, during game one of three vs. the Cubs, one of the more powerful line-up segments in the NL---the Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez, SS Troy Tulowitzki and OF Michael Cuddyer---could not push anyone around the bases for runs, rarely themselves. The Rockies lost to the Cubs, 3-1, when Rockies starter, RH Jorge De La Rosa, had suppressed Cubs hitters more than adequately. Yes, a rare occurrence for the three Rockies hitters but in the second half of a season to be avoided. Compounding the matter’s seriousness is that the game was the first of a 10 game homestand consisting of games versus three teams that the Rockies have the wherewithal to win all 10. As noted on this page in an earlier column, winning all 10, or the lion’s share of the 10, is most important as insurance against the possibility of Colorado losses vs. clubs much harder to beat in August, e.g., the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles. Then there are six games scheduled against the Diamondbacks in September. By shrinking the July loss rate from today on (there are three more games vs. the Marlins, then three against the Milwaukee Brewers) and by increasing wins in August, such means post-season candidacy for the Rockies and definitely an above .500 end-of-season record. END/ml