National Sports Commentary
Woody Paige, a nationally acclaimed sports writer for many years, continues to deliver his special brand of commentary via television, podcasts and writing. My cartoons, illustrations and comments are featured weekly on WoodyPaige.com alongside Woody's finest and other outstanding content by some of the finest sports writers in the country. I cover a wide range of sports topics, with an honest perspective that comes from a background as an athlete (D-I lacrosse and football, All-America), coach (youth, club and HS), several years living abroad, and family (Grandpa Wimer is in Basketball Hall of Fame). Featured on this page is work from 2022 and 2023.
2023 & 2024
Dikembe Mutombo Memorial
On one day, we lost 2 transcendent athletes: Dikembe and Pete Rose. One of them devoted his post-athletic career signing autographs for money, the other left a far bigger impact...in both his homeland and his adopted country.
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Gradishar and Orange Crush HOF Moment
This summer's NFL notables was the induction of one of the truly outstanding Broncos into the Football Hall of Fame. An NFL Defensive MVP and 7-time All-Pro, Randy Gradishar AVERAGED over 200 tackles/year.
When he retired, his tackle count wasn't simply the most in Bronco history, they were the most in NFL history. Tom Jackson: "Best tackler I had ever seen." Gradishar didn't just tackle, he's also in the top 10 linebackers for interceptions and fumble recoveries.
Also long overdue as the first representative of the Orange Crush defense of the 70s and 80s, regarded as one of the best of all time.
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NBA Rule Changes
Carl Weathers: A Man For All Seasons
We lost a good one February 2, with the passing of Carl Weathers at the age of 76.
A linebacker for the Oakland Raiders in the early seventies, Weathers' versatility beyond sports became obvious with his breakout role on the silver screen in 1976 as the bombastic Apollo Creed in the original Rocky movie. He'd reprise this role in three subsequent Rocky movies.
Seldom a main character, Weathers was exceptional in strong supporting roles in Predator, Happy Gilmore, the Mandalorian series, and many other film and TV projects.
His presence, booming voice, and sense of humor always guaranteed a memorable character that would help carry a film. He credited his athletic career for providing a bedrock of discipline, attention to detail, and fearlessness in his movie career.
The outpouring of sentiment from many who knew him is a testament to his work and his value as a person; Weathers will truly be missed.
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Colorado School of Mines Engineering Success
Colorado School of Mines, a top engineering school, set in the Foothills within sight of Denver, has set the country ablaze with its undefeated season and run atop the Division II rankings.
Led by quarterback and Masters student in Computer Science John Matocha, the Orediggers are on course for capturing their first national championship. This season Matocha broke the all-time record for total touchdowns at any level of college football.
Go down the roster and you’ll see nothing but engineers of every stripe; smart and focused, and outstanding football players. A terrific example of the potential to get it all done with excellence.
Also, it’s worth a bit of your time to actually see their roster. You might think these nerdy, intense athletes would bring an equivalent level of seriousness to their profile headshots. Instead you will laugh harder than you ever have viewing a football roster.
The program has been surprisingly good for quite a while and lost in the DII championship last year to Ferris State. But this year feels a little different and it appears these engineers have built something truly special.
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New Additions Ready For 2028 Olympics
As the host for the 2028 Olympics, the United States' organizing committee added five sports: lacrosse, squash, baseball/softball, cricket, and flag football. Each sport has male and female versions, so in effect 10 new medals.
Baseball and softball have been there before. Baseball had a run as an official Olympic sport from 1984-2008 before being dropped partially because of the absence of the best professional players. Softball's connection with baseball contributed to a similar stretch, that also saw its removal in the late 2000s.
It's not the first time for lacrosse in the Olympics, having been a medal sport in 1904 and 1908, then a demonstration event in 1928, '32, and '48. But it has taken a significant effort (see a great piece on this at InsideLacrosse) to get back to the big stage in a slightly different format: 6-person teams instead of 10 men or 12 women.
Squash is the lone individual sport of the five new entrants. Cricket is an interesting addition, as it has seen significant growth in the United States, but it traditionally played throughout the Commonwealth and remnants of the old British Empire. And flag football got a major push from the considerable influence and deep pockets of the NFL and its never-ending efforts to grow viewership around the globe.
Not unsurprisingly, France chose a bit more avant-garde new sport selections for the upcoming 2024 Olympics: breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing. Interesting that with the exception of climbing, all of these sports originated on these shores. Also intriguing sociologically, is that the US chose mostly team sports, while the French chose individual disciplines.
For the sports slated for 2028, the next five years will be filled with major activity, as state-sponsored entities will pour resources into their growth to put their best foot forward in the pursuit of new medal opportunities.
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Get Your Seat on the Buffs Bandwagon
The college football season is off and running and Coach Prime is leading the parade with quite the ride.
Not only has he accumulated a slew of talent in Boulder, he and his top notch coaching staff are doing a masterful job leading the Buffs to a 2-0 record and the 18th slot in the AP rankings.
The entire landscape of college sports is paying attention, and plenty of believers are hopping aboard the rollicking CU bandwagon.
In a hypercharged TV interview following CU's major upset victory over TCU, Coach Prime told the world that he "keeps the receipts" in reference to those who wrote the team off. Now he's more than happy to check you on board.
Rough games lie ahead vs USC and Oregon (and don't sleep on rival and heavy underdog CSU Rams) that will test the true strength of this very new team. No matter the direction this season goes for the Buffs, the ride on this wagon is gonna be fun.
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Can Lacrosse Break Into the Big Boys Club?
For decades, the giants of the American, professional sports landscape (the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have dominated the attention of national audiences in stadiums and on the airwaves. Individual sports like golf and tennis (and in earlier times, boxing) will always draw eyeballs to their annual tournaments, but men's and women's soccer leagues and the WNBA have not significantly moved the needle. Attempts to extend football to non-traditional seasons have failed spectacularly. College sports (you can honestly lump into the "Pro" category these days) deserve a separate cartoon and discussion.
Interestingly, a sport that's been around for a while (actually, quite a while, but more about that later) is now making some noise in the jockeying for attention in the world of American pro sports. Lacrosse, in its latest iteration of the PLL, is growing at a massive clip, thanks in part to its broadcasting relationship with ABC and ESPN. Drawn from a report earlier in the season, ABC was seeing an average of 402,000 viewers (one game with a peak viewership of 782,000). Although this is dwarfed by NFL average viewership (16.7 million), this performance is impressive compared to recent averages for the NBA (1.6 million), the MLB (1.5 million), the NHL (583,000), and for additional reference the MLS (343,000 viewers).* In-stadium attendance comparisons are another story, and some locations have not provided optimal TV optics with half-filled stands.
The league's focus has been multi-pronged, including aggressive social media efforts drawn from earlier in the season show a 146% increase in engagements, 186% increase in views, and 80 percent increase in impressions (all year-over-year). Go to a game and you'll be struck by fans young and old sporting eye-catching (and not inexpensive) gear. When Russell Wilson and family showed up to a recent doubleheader in Denver, his wife Ciara sported a Cannons #22 jersey that suddenly became the best-seller in the league as PR and interest ballooned outside the regular lacrosse world.
What's changed to elevate the game in recent years? That's also worthy of another article or take some time to watch the "Fate of a Sport" documentary. After many years of slow growth by a prior outdoor lacrosse league (MLL) and the indoor NLL league that has a strong, but niche presence, Paul Rabil and his brother Mike made a bold move to raise money, pay players as full-time athletes, and build a different kind of beast. They dramatically sped up the game and found a way to showcase the significant skill, creativity and athleticism for a really fun product that those new to the sport could also appreciate and enjoy. It's rare on a weekend day where one if not two PLL moments aren't featured on ESPN's Top Ten Plays of the Day.
For many long-time fans of the game, this became especially apparent earlier in the summer when the World Lacrosse Championships were held and played under much older field lacrosse rules that don't feature a shot clock, a two-point shot, and other recent alterations. The games were plodding, deliberate affairs that seemed to sap the game of the fun and speed now regularly seen in the PLL as well in the NCAA.
Finally, perhaps what is at the core of the sport is finding resonance with new and lapsed fans of lacrosse. It is the original American sport, dating back to 1100, played by indigenous peoples long before Europeans landed on these shores. Named the Creator's Game, and now an important rallying point for the Haudenosaunee people (they captured 3rd place in the World Championships), lacrosse transcends sport and has a strong spiritual component. To its credit, the PLL has done much to honor while also educating on this unique and important facet of the sport.
There's plenty of room for improvement in all areas of the product, and the league has major growing pains ahead of it. But it's proving to be an intriguing new play in a brutally competitive space for a very old player.
*Statistics and comparisons drawn from available online reports and articles. I am NOT an expert in this particular area, so I welcome any corrections or updates where I may have gone astray.
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No Trophy Envy For Joker
Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets led his team to the first NBA championship (as well as a NBA Finals MVP award) in its 47 year history.
Through the course of the 2022-23 season, Jokic rode waves of controversy while putting up some of the best statistics of his career and leading his team to the top of the Western Conference. On the East Coast, Joel Embiid had a strong season, leading the league in points and propelling the Philadelphia 76ers to a nearly identical record as Denver and third place in the Eastern Conference.
Embiid made no secret about his desire to win the MVP trophy, and plenty of basketball analysts and personalities weren't shy to jump into the fray with crazy opinions about who was most deserving of the award. Meanwhile, Jokic made it very clear it he didn't care much about winning the award. He had his eyes firmly set on the playoffs and winning a championship. After winning consecutive MVP awards in previous seasons, it's easy to see why Jokic was aiming for something higher.
Joker is also simply built differently than most pro basketball players, much less pro athletes in any sport. The consummate team player and leader, he constantly deflects compliments and attention. Ultimately it was this approach that contributed to a sublime team effort for the Nuggets in their 16-4 playoff run (2nd best in the past 24 years).
Did Embiid and Philadelphia focus too much on chasing the MVP award at the expense of the larger prize? Hard to tell, but the 76ers under-performed in the playoffs, losing in the second round 4-2 to the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, the Nuggets rested players prior to the playoffs (including Jokic in the midst of the MVP "race") which cost them some games, but had them primed for their epic playoff performance.
At the end of the day, Embiid got his trophy, but Jokic took home the most important hardware of them all.
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Jim Brown Passes On
Jim Brown passed away at the age of 87. A force of nature on any field, Brown was considered by many as both the greatest football player and lacrosse player of all time.
He retired from the NFL and the Cleveland Browns a year before I was born, but I can still hear my father (separated in age by only a handful of months from Brown) talk with awe about his dominance in the League.
A Pro Bowler every one of his nine years in the NFL, he led the league in rushing eight of nine years, and averaged 5.2 yards per carry. He was named MVP three times, played in three championships and won a title.
As a lacrosse player, Brown was equally unstoppable. It's said that three new rules were instituted because of Brown's dominance, including "chesting the ball." He once said, "I'd rather play lacrosse six days a week and football on the seventh." If there had been a professional lacrosse league in his time, we might have truly seen his dominance in the sport.
Also an outstanding basketball player (drafted for the NBA) and track athlete, Brown earned 10 letters in 4 sports at Syracuse. He would have earned more, but in those days athletes had to play for the freshman teams in all sports.
It must be also noted that Brown faced allegations of assault against various women. He was never convicted in these cases, but admitted “I can definitely get angry, and I have taken that anger out inappropriately in the past.”
Brown was never shy in his activism in the community and on the national stage, first as a player, then as an actor and finally as a spokesman and founder of some major initiatives. His impactful work in the Black community, and with the impoverished and the incarcerated of all types spoke to his substantial heart and dedication to making a difference.
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Hockey Curse Strikes Again
The Boston Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of their first round series after the most dominant season in modern NHL history. In the 38 seasons that the Presidents' Trophy has been handed to the team with the best regular season record, only eight have grabbed the Stanley Cup hardware to finalize a season. It's been over 10 years since the last team did it: the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
Because of this, many speculate there's a curse on the regular-season NHL champ. The Bruins just strengthened this sentiment with their failure to advance even out of the first round.
What makes this particularly remarkable is that the Bruins were enormous favorites to win it all, after a season they broke the NHL record for wins and points. They also led the league in goals against, penalty kills, and were 2nd in goals against, contributing to a total goal differential not seen since 1996.
On top of this, they ended the season with tremendous momentum and an eight-game winning streak. Nearly half of all NHL playoff bettors placed their championship hopes on the Bruins.
But somebody must have forgotten to tell the Panthers, who gutted out four wins, including an overtime thriller in Game 7. An upset for the ages and fuel for the fire for belief in a curse that Boston fans will not soon forget.
Mikaela Skis Into Uncharted Territory
American Mikaela Shiffrin passed the winningest skier of all time with 87 World Cup victories a day after her 28th birthday.
Remarkable Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark had set what had seemed an unbreakable record forty years ago. Lindsey Vonn had come close to reaching those heights only a few years ago with 82 victories before succumbing to multiple injuries and retirement.
After passing the Swede, Shiffrin added one more win to push the total to 88 before the 2022-23 season ended. At her young age, who knows how high she can push the record as arguably the best skier of all time?
She's humble and focused, and has for the most part avoided the injuries that are such a constant in the world of alpine skiing. Shiffrin's won World Championships and gold medals at Olympics, so no one knows the motivation she'll need for skiing into the unexplored terrain ahead of her.
But we will all be fortunate if for many more years we can continue to witness the grace, athleticism and absolute mastery delivered by the greatest of all time.
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Chiefs Coaches Dictate Super Bowl Scales
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs claimed their second Super Bowl in four years after a tight battle against the Philadelphia Eagles. A field goal by the Chiefs with 8 seconds left capped a gripping comeback from a 10 point halftime deficit.
Mahomes laid claim to Super Bowl MVP with a masterful second half, in an entertaining duel with an equally impressive Jalen Hurts of the Eagles.
As is always the case with the big game, there were a multitude of side stories regarding factors that tipped the scales one way or another. One was a universal complaint that loose and mushy sod had players slipping all night long. Some claimed that the Eagles were never able to find their footing in order to exert the kind of pass rush and pressure they had been known for all season. Thus, Mahomes found more time to work his magic than he would have otherwise. This argument of course loses some weight when considering the Chiefs had their own challenges navigating the same swampy field.
Perhaps the biggest complaint was a questionable call with 1:54 remaining in the game. The Chiefs had driven inside the twenty yard line, and on a third-and-long play threw the ball incomplete. A somewhat late flag was thrown for defensive holding, resulting in a 5 yard penalty and more importantly a first down. Instead of 4th down and a probable field goal that would have left plenty of time on the clock for a potential scoring drive for the Eagles, the Chiefs had a new set of downs and ultimately the game in hand. For most viewers, the hold/hook seemed minimal, and Mahomes' pass was uncatchable with or without contact. It was a significant call that determined the end of the game, but as most coaches worth a salt will properly tell you, you never lose a game on single play.
The Eagles lost the second half due to outstanding adjustments by the Kansas City Chiefs, particularly on offense. Utilizing a dizzying array of motion and misdirection, the Chiefs had one of the NFL's best defenses on their heels for the final 30 minutes of the game. The Chiefs' final two touchdowns were so well executed (made more effective by overreaction by the Eagles D due to earlier plays), that the receivers caught passes with no defender within 10 yards. Employing effective in-game adjustments is one of the hardest things to pull off in sports, but the Chiefs coaching staff expertly succeed in this and clearly earned their playoff bonuses in the victory.
Ironically, three years ago, it was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who outcoached the Chiefs in their 31-9 victory. This time Andy Reid and his staff found ways to push the balance in their favor.
Bulldogs Roll...Over Frogs To National Championship
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