When will the Charlotte Hornets and/or the Carolina Panthers become relevant again? Mediocrity at its best. How many times can the Hornets start a rebuilding process? Maybe something has to be built for something to be rebuilt. I don’t know what to think about the Panthers. Players come and go and this team still cannot score enough points to win consistently.

What happened to the best teams in baseball? The Atlanta Braves. The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Baltimore Orioles. The best three teams during the regular season each lost their first round playoff series. Media pundits like to say that the reason this happened was that each team had a bye in the wildcard round of the playoffs and that having a week off of action led to slow starts and subsequent playoff losses. I do not buy this view. The game is the same. This excuse did not surface last year when the Houston Astros had a week of inactivity and easily won the World Series.

It has long been said that the NFL craves parity. Parity in that any team is capable of winning each week and that teams can rebuild quickly. I believe they are getting what they want in 2023. If you watch the Red Zone regularly you have to have noticed that virtually every game comes down to the last possession. The excitement brings people to their TVs to view the finishes and check their bets.

I have watched a lot of baseball this past month. The older I get the more I miss how baseball was played 20 plus years ago. Back when starting pitchers pitched complete games. Back when hitters could hit .300. Back when it was shameful to strike out. Back when outfielders could throw. Back when players seemed to care about the game as much as they did their contract.

The NBA is back. I get to hear the term “load management” again. It pains me to watch players, uninjured players, take games off to ‘rest’. This trend will hurt the game. Fans will turn on their teams while asking why players cannot get their rest on the many days off in the schedule.

This is the one time of year when we can watch all four major sports. Yes, one can watch baseball, football, hockey, and basketball. And don’t forget soccer and golf. For the record, I have watched the four major Amercian sports. Let me give you my championship picks. Texas will win the upcoming World Series. The Philadelphia Eagles will win the Super Bow. I see the Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA title and the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup.