Say it isn't so

As usual I spent Labor Day consulting my crystal ball, CB2, to obtain its official forecast for the NFL season. And after it churned out the 2025 forecast having the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl, well, my first thought was the words being used as the title of this post. No, that's not accurate. "Say it isn't so" was my second thought. The very first thing that came to mind was "ugh!" (I'm a Bears fan.) And then after a brief pause my third thought was that this is going to be one time I won't be hoping my crystal ball is right. Just to be sure I offered CB2 a chance for a retraction, but instead it reiterated not to put your money on a rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 60. Because for this year, at least, Green Bay will be living up to its moniker as Titletown.

BUST

The conclusion of Super Bowl 59 nearly 7 months ago actually had my thoughts turning to ..... baseball? Huh? The end of the game, I thought, needed to be punctuated by the phrase familiar to fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, uttered by their former longtime announcer Lanny Frattare. Whether the game was a blowout or the outcome wasn't decided until the final pitch, after victory by the Pirates was secured Frattare would proclaim, "... and there was no doubt about it!" Well, after time expired in SB 59 a tape of Frattare's famous phrase would have been appropriate on the Fox telecast. Because there was no doubt - absolutely no doubt - about it after the Philadelphia Eagles were done stomping and romping all over the Kansas City Chiefs to pick up the franchise's 2nd Super Bowl victory ever and 5th NFL championship overall.

History Making

Can you truly be described as "going out on a limb" when the team you're picking to win the Super Bowl has won 3 of the last 5 Super Bowls, is the betting favorite to win another one this season, and has arguably the best quarterback and best coach in the league? That hardly sounds like going out on a limb to me. Putting your money on the favorite? That's about as safe as it gets in betting. But in this case my crystal ball, aka CB2, really is going out on that limb in its forecast for the 2024 season .... because in this case CB2 is predicting something that has never been done before.

The confetti had barely stopped falling at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas 7 months ago, after the Kansas City Chiefs had just become the NFL's first repeat champion in 19 years with their thrilling 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58, when thoughts began to turn to the most obvious question: Can the Chiefs do it again? Can they become the first team ever to win 3 Super Bowls in a row?

Close Only Counts .....

How does that old saying go? Right. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Or something like that. Maybe it counts in curling and darts too. But close certainly does not count for anything in the NFL. Being close in the NFL means nothing but frustration and disappointment for teams and a whole lot of heartbreak and heartburn for their fans. Just ask the San Francisco 49ers.

Once upon a time the Buffalo Bills were the NFL's poster child for coming close. You can't get much closer than losing the Super Bowl .... 4 years in a row. But that was a long time ago. And although the Bills still give their fans plenty of heartbreak nowadays, you'd have to say there's a new sheriff in town when it comes to disappointing endings. And that sheriff's name is, of course, the 49ers.

2022 NFL House Calls - Part 1

Another NFL season has already come and gone, and yet another is about to begin; and having watched and enjoyed many of the games of the 2023 season but not yet viewed a box score/game book from any of them, I have no idea how many touchdowns were scored by players with dreads and who scored them. I could only guess. But I most certainly can tell you which player with dreads had the most TD during the 2022 season. Hint: you're looking right at him. 

After the scoring free-for-all that was the 2020 season, the defense struck back the next 2 years. Even with 16 more games played in 2021 (with the change from a 16 to 17-game schedule) the total number of touchdowns leaguewide dropped by 50 - from a most-ever 1473 in 2020 to 1423. And then in 2022 the total plunged all the way down to 1315 - the fewest in a season since 2017. Despite that plunge the percentage of touchdowns scored by players with dreads remained above 20% for the 2nd straight season. 272 touchdowns were scored by players with dreads in 2022, with that number equaling 20.7% of all touchdowns scored - not too big of a drop from 21.1% in 2021. 78 different players accounted for the 272 TD, numbers lower than the 82 players and record 300 TD in 2021.

Gold Touch

Ah, yes. The beginning of September, one of my favorite times of the year. Not only does it mean it's the start of another football season, it also means I get to dust off the old crystal ball and see what kind of nonsense it is spewing out in its annual NFL forecast. Well, most of the time it has been nonsense. But just like that blind squirrel, my crystal balls - CB and CB2, for short - actually attain that moment of success every now and then. Not once or twice but three times in the last 15 NFL seasons they actually have correctly picked the winner of the Super Bowl. CB got the Saints right in 2009 and the Ravens in 2012. And after I retired CB at the end of the 2015 season, CB2 has gotten the winner right one time in its 7 forecasts, that being the Chiefs in 2019.

Our Cup Runneth Over

Has there ever been a better time than now to be a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs? Well, any longtime follower of the team (and having been a follower/fan since the mid-1980's I think I qualify as longtime) will tell you the answer to question is very simple: NO! Of course not. The Chiefs have enjoyed their share of regular season success over the past 30 years - several seasons during the Coach Schottenheimer era, one season in particular during the Coach Vermeil era, and several more during the first part of the Coach Reid era. But postseason success? That was elusive, to say the least. Between 1990 and 2017 the Chiefs went a not-very-stellar and often head-scratching 4-14 in playoff games, concluding with that horrible game in the 2017 wild card round, when they blew a 21-3 halftime lead and lost at home to the Tennessee Titans 22-21.

But ever since then Chiefs fans have had smiles on their faces almost continuously for the past 5 years. After going 50 years without a championship, the Chiefs have won 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls, the latest coming 6 months ago with their thrilling 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 to finish the 2022 season.

MLB '23 with Dreads - Part 1

So, what's up in the MLB in 2023? I mean dreads-wise, of course. Well, if you've been paying attention, surely you already know that things are a far cry now from where they were when I started this blog nearly 15 years ago. Long gone are the days when you only needed the fingers on your hands to count the number of players with dreads on MLB rosters. Long gone is the time where the only dreads worth seeing were wherever the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing - until Andrew McCutchen cut his dreads off, that is - or on the one day out of every five that Johnny Cueto was pitching for the Cincinnati Reds. Today, on every given night, in more games than not, you'll be able to see at least one player with dreads in action. No, there hasn't been (and won't likely ever be) an explosion in the number of baseball players with dreads like there has been in football; but there are enough that I here now (finally) can introduce a full, 26-man team consisting entirely of players with dreads. 

MLB '23 with Dreads - Part 2

The much anticipated major league debut of Elly De La Cruz couldn't come soon enough for Cincinnati Reds fans (not to mention De La Cruz himself) but come it finally did on the evening of June 6, 2023; and, as far as debuts go, well - it could have gone better. I mean, after being welcomed to Cincinnati with a standing ovation before his first plate appearance (photo on right) and reaching base 3 straight times on 2 walks and a double, the 21-year old slugger/speedster actually was retired on his last 2 trips to the plate. But that's O.K. Nobody's perfect. Imperfection notwithstanding, yet another ho-hum baseball season for Reds fans suddenly has become really interesting in a hurry. Not only has Elly done nothing but live up to his billing as one of baseball's best and most exciting prospects, his arrival has sparked the Reds in a major way. In fact the Reds have been so successful since Elly came aboard that if they're not careful, they're going to have their fans worried about having enough money for playoff tickets.

But wait. Part 2 of our look at dreads in the MLB this year isn't all about Elly De La Cruz. So, in addition to him let's take a look at some 34 other MLB players with dreads in all at work and at play in this dread gallery - featuring photos mostly from the first 2 months of the 2023 season.

2021 NFL House Calls

For every NFL season - except for one - between 2013 and 2020 a player with dreads led the league in touchdowns scored. Familiar names like Todd Gurley, Alvin Kamara, Aaron Jones, Marshawn Lynch, and Jamaal Charles were among those at the very top of the lists during that 8-year span. And even during the one exception a player with dreads finished in 2nd place (LeGarrette Blount in 2016). Going back even further, during each and every season - without exception - since Edgerrin James finished in 4th place in touchdowns in 2005 there has been at least one player with dreads in the top 10 in the league in TD scored. Sadly, and shockingly, that 16-year streak came to an end in 2021.

Last season indeed was a strange one for the league's dreadheads when it came to touchdowns. While none of them were among the league leaders, they still managed to make more house calls than ever before.

There was a tie for the player with dreads with the most touchdowns in 2021. No surprise that Packers WR Davante Adams (top photo on right, finishing off his 38-yard catch and run for a TD against the Bears in Week 14) was one of them. But the other one? I'm not even going to ask for a show of hands because I know when the season began nobody had Cordarrelle Patterson scoring the most TD among players with dreads. The 11 scored by Patterson (including his 7-yard reception against the Buccaneers in Week 2 in bottom photo on right) in his first season with the Falcons and by Adams in what turned out to be his final season with the Packers was the lowest leading total for a player with dreads since James scored 9 in 2004. And the 11 weren't enough for a top 10 finish in the league, as 11 players without dreads scored 12 or more TD.

Bills Due

I guess it's too late for a spoiler alert. Sorry about that. So, now that you've seen the title of this post, you already know which team my crystal ball is predicting will rule the NFL during the 2022 season. No need to read any further. But if you must, go ahead and keep on reading anyway.

It's always dicey when your pick to win the Super Bowl is a team that has never won the Super Bowl. But this time it just makes too much sense; and I'm sure my crystal ball, aka CB2, isn't the only one that thinks it's a no brainer that the Buffalo Bills will be the team celebrating underneath the confetti shower following Super Bowl 57, to be played 5 months from now on the home field of the Arizona Cardinals.

Rambunctious

"What the hell's going on out here?!"

Coach Lombardi screamed it so eloquently all those years ago during one of those rare times when things weren't going the Packers' way. And today I'm the one screaming it, because something has gone amiss in the NFL over the past few seasons. I mean, whatever happened to the NFL I used to know? Certain things that used to be sure things aren't anymore. I'm talking about three things in particular that, before each season started, were given. Automatic. No matter what you knew you could depend on them to come through for you. But not anymore. Tom Brady-led teams took a hatchet to two of them.

Brownie Points

The final game of Week 11 of the 2018 NFL season sure was one to remember; but unless you're a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs or Los Angeles Rams, you may have deleted it from your memory banks by now. That was the Monday night the Chiefs, in the middle of Patrick Mahomes' sensational first season as their starting quarterback, put a season high 51 points on the board at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, only to lose the game because the Rams scored 54. But here in the House of Dread the game is remembered more for something other than the one in which the Chiefs became the first team in league history to score 50 or more points and not win. And that something other is something that still bothers me today almost 3 years later. You see, that game was the last one (ever?) in a Chiefs uniform for RB Kareem Hunt (photo on right).

Ah yes, the Chiefs stuck gold twice in the 2017 Draft. Mahomes, picked in the 1st round (10th overall), seems headed for the Hall of Fame. And then midway through the 3rd round they picked Hunt, who did nothing but be a star for them from Day 1. Hunt led the league in rushing in his rookie season and scored 25 touchdowns in his first 27 career games. But everything came to a screeching halt before Game #28.

Fool's Steel

Week 12 of the 2020 NFL season ended a couple of days later than scheduled; and after they defeated the Baltimore Ravens on a late Wednesday afternoon at Heinz Field, the Pittsburgh Steelers were 11-0, stood as the league's only remaining undefeated team, and seemingly were well on their way to the Super Bowl my crystal ball predicted it would win. But things certainly changed in a hurry, didn't they Steelers fans? What looked like was going to be a march to the championship turned out to be fool's gold - or in this case fool's steel, if you will. The Steelers suffered their first loss 5 days later and staggered to the finish line, dropping 4 of their final 5 regular season games (and needing to rally from 17 points behind in the one game they did win), barely hanging on to win the AFC North division title, and then exiting the playoffs far short of the Super Bowl with a wretched 48-37 first round home loss to the Cleveland Browns, a game in which they trailed 28-0 in the 1st quarter and turned the ball over 5 times.

Edge of Fame

On more than one occasion over the years I have wondered out loud who would be the first player with dreads inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and the two likeliest candidates that always came to my mind were Larry Fitzgerald and Marshawn Lynch. Well, the final answer is ..... none of the above ... because someone else has beaten those two to it. While Fitzgerald - currently mulling retirement - and Lynch - recently retired (maybe) - are still years away from worrying about what to say during their induction speeches, three weekends ago it was none other than Edgerrin James with a microphone in front of him and his bust - with dreads - next to him while proudly accepting the honor of the first with dreads to be enshrined in Canton.

When I began this blog almost exactly 13 years ago in late August 2008, James, picked 4th overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1999 NFL Draft, was in the latter part of his career; and it never occurred to me that he was Hall of Fame bound because (I'll admit it) I had forgotten how great he was during the prime of his career.

Lovable Loser

Once upon a time ..... back in the early days of man ..... back when you couldn't watch TV shows on your phone or computer; heck, back when you didn't even have a portable phone or computer; back when there was no such thing as the internet; back when there was no cable or satellite TV to bring hundreds of channels into your home; yes (no sense denying it) back when I was a teenager ..... way back then there were only a precious few channels available in any particular area, and you needed to attatch this funny-looking thing called an antenna to the roof of your house to more clearly see those channels. In days such as these a sports fan like myself (from day 1 of my life) found the options for sports programming to be, to put it kindly, limited. So please forgive me that in days such as these if, in order to satisfy my need for sports, I turned to the wild and wonderful world of pro wrestling.

DG178 - Part 1

You are forgiven if you are unable to remember the contents of the first ever dread gallery I did featuring basketball players. Hastily prepared and posted a couple of weeks (or so) before Christmas in 2008, DG#30 covered the first month of the 2008-09 College Basketball season, and all I can recall about it is that I had to look high and low and far and wide just to find enough players to make a dread gallery. Of the handful of players with dreads that I did find, most played for the so called mid-major and low-major teams that you rarely see on television. Dreads were few and far between in the big, power conferences. And the story was the same in the NBA. You had to look even far-er and wider to find dreads in the Association. So small was the roster of NBA players with dreads back then that it could be tallied with just the fingers on your two hands.

But things are different nowadays. Just a bit. I mean, it seems like every team - pro, college, or wherever - has at least one player with dreads. Many teams have more than one. Dreads have become so commonplace on the basketball court that it's unusual - and disappointing - to see a game without any. Rather than a look at all the dozens of players with dreads currently on basketball teams, dread gallery #178 will focus mostly on a small number of players from a select few games.

But first .....

DG178 - Part 2

You have arrived at the College Basketball section of dread gallery #178; and we'll lead off Part 2 with a player I was finally able to welcome to the house this season, his 3rd and final collegiate season. Chicago native Ayo Dosunmu made a lot of Illinois fans happy (including this one) when he decided to stay home and play for the Fighting Illini. And after thrilling those fans with several late clutch baskets to help win games, the 6-5, 200-pound baby-faced assassin is moving on to what hopefully will be a long and successful NBA career. Dosunmu, who goes by his nickname Ayo instead of his real first name Quamdeen, went the freeform route with his dreads; and he stayed the course, resisting his family's desire for him to cut his hair, even though it sure took its time forming into dreads. Finally in his junior season (see photo above from the game at Nebraska on Feb. 12) it started to look enough like dreads for me to welcome him to the house, and we're glad to have him.

On Feb. 23, three nights before and about 88 miles northwest of where the NBA game between the Pistons and Kings, featured in Part 1, was played, Dosunmu was one of four players with dreads in uniform as Illinois faced Michigan State at East Lansing. This is the first of 4 games to be featured in Part 2 of DG178. I was unable to find a video of the whole game, but I'm cautiously confident of the parts of the game that most of the photos happened.

Overruled

Pandemic? What pandemic? You didn't really think the National Football League was going to let a little old pandemic stop it, did you? No, sir. The calendar has rolled around to September again; and although we may remain locked in the grip of the worst health crisis of our lifetime, there's too much money to be made. So - pandemic be damned - the NFL is going full steam ahead with its 2020 season. Well, at least that's the plan. Indeed while the NFL is open for business, it certainly won't be business as usual. I mean, football (and the other sports too) with no fans in the seats? It just ain't right. But I guess it's better than no football at all.

Anyway, I waited until Labor Day (6 days ago) to consult my crystal ball, aka CB2, and get its forecast for the 2020 season. And, I don't know, maybe it got confused because there weren't any preseason games this year to get at least a glimpse of how all teams are going to look .... because its prediction for the two teams it expected to meet in Super Bowl 55 was so ludicrous that it was flat out unacceptable. So, like a 5th grade teacher unhappy with shoddily done homework turned in by a student, I instructed CB2 to "do over."

10 Down, Victory To Go

I have to admit it was looking kind of bleak. It was just past the midway point of the 4th quarter of Super Bowl 54 and the Kansas City Chiefs were trailing the San Francisco 49ers 20-10. The Chiefs' normally explosive offense hadn't scored a touchdown since the 1st quarter, had turned the ball over on both of their possessions in the 2nd half (on the first 2 postseason interceptions of Patrick Mahomes' career) and was facing a 3rd and 15 from their own 35-yard line. But little did we know it (although we should have) the situation wasn't bleak at all. Actually the Chiefs had the 49ers right where they wanted them.

You remember what happened next. A blown coverage by the 49ers left WR Tyreek Hill open for a 44-yard reception to convert that 3rd and 15. And all of a sudden, like one light turning on and the one right next to it shutting off, the Chiefs could do no wrong, while the 49ers collapsed like a house of cards. Three Kansas City touchdowns in a span of 5:01 later it was S Tyrann Mathieu (not 49ers CB Richard Sherman) and teammates celebrating under a confetti shower (photo above) after the Chiefs had won 31-20 for the franchise's first Super Bowl victory in 50 years.