Ohtani’s contract should be addressed
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ use of an accounting loophole to defer 97% of Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract undermines MLB’s competitive balance rules. Very clever of them. But maybe commissioner Rob Manfred, if he really has the game’s best interest at heart, should step in to amend what’s going down. Don’t hold your breath.
Sho-ing off: The Ohtani deal and the capacity it affords the Dodgers to sign and retain more big stars may make L.A. as unpopular as the Astros.
Lights out: Call it East Coast bias, but Ohtani would have been a better national attraction playing in a time zone that allowed the most fans to watch him on TV. As it was before, too many of Ohtani’s special moments will take place while most fans are sacked out.
Hanging on: Given that he’s only the third head coach the traditionally unflappable Steelers organization has had in the past 54 years, under-duress Mike Tomlin likely will keep his job. Still, it’s been seven years since a Tomlin team won a playoff game.
Quick hit: The questions about Bill Belichick’s job status create national headlines for the Patriots’ coach, who otherwise has become sort of irrelevant without Tom Brady.
Good candidate: The Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill, on pace for the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiving season, is given the best — if still slim — chance to loosen the quarterback stranglehold on the MVP award since Adrian Peterson won it in 2012.
Under control: Who knows why 79-year-old Al Michaels, the dean of American sports broadcasting, was dropped from NBC’s announced playoff game rotation? It could be that his wry, modulated approach to handling a game is out of step on a TV landscape dominated by screamers.
A little silly: It’s not the big deal media magpies make it out to be, but sure, the Lakers’ decision to hang an In-Season Tournament championship banner is cringeworthy.
Streaking: As for the Detroit Pistons’ 21-game losing streak, when does the word “tanking” enter the conversation?
Airborne: Now that NFL kickers are almost routinely threats from 50-plus yards — Cowboys rookie Brandon Aubrey was good from 60 and 59 yards on Sunday — maybe the ball should be checked for helium.
Routine call: The offsides penalty committed by Chiefs wideout Kadarius Toney wasn’t so wildly controversial until Patrick Mahomes had a cow over it.
Out of bounds: Mahomes’ postgame, caught-on-camera whine to Bills quarterback Josh Allen about the offsides call is the definition of chutzpah. Was he expecting Allen to apologize?
Idle thought: Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is having a very good year.
Leakage: It’s been a problematic few weeks for an Eagles team that has given up 34, 42 and 33 points in its past three games. Down the stretch, though, the scheduling weighs heavily in Philly’s favor (the Cardinals once and Giants twice). Meanwhile, the Cowboys finish with three of four on the road, including at Buffalo and Miami.
In any case: Critics who claim that NFL zebras are worse than they’ve ever been must have been born yesterday. Complaints about rotten officiating began two minutes after the first air was pumped into the first pig bladder.