Hear it here!
There is no off season in sports.
The winding down of some signals the beginning of others.
There are few followers who don’t get revved up as football gets underway.
The college game started last weekend. The pros launch their extravaganza this week.
Baseball is in the home stretch, and golf and tennis either are wrapping up their campaigns.
Let’s touch a few bases this week, shall we?
College football talk was considerable during their quiet time. But not the way they would have liked. It was little about recruits and prospects for the new year, mostly about how the game has changed in an unhealthy way. The millions in Name Image Likeness money for teenage athletes and the unlimited ability to transfer from school to school dominated the news with no clear solution on the horizon.
Already we’ve seen one thing that’s new. Bill Belichick, the coach many fans and the media love to hate tasted success in the opener and flashed a smile as North Carolina beat TCU in Dublin to get off on a winning foot after a disastrous 2025.
The one thing to keep in mind as the college football parade marches on is that the problems the game has, affects only the schools themselves. They don’t mean a hill of beans to those who simply want to watch the sport, either in person or on TV. The competition will go on, many games will be thrilling and all of us will see it unfold and not have a clue as to how much cash a player is receiving or how many times he’s switched schools.
The finale of the PGA season lined up perfectly with the finale of the LIV golf challenge that shook up the professional golf world four years ago. Several prominent players jumped from the traditional tour to the Saudi-backed organization that offered millions to launch a new league, so to speak, that brought out resentment by many PGA stars of those who turned their backs on the tour that gave them their chance at celebrity and substantial money earnings.
The cash-cow dried up, and the big names have no choice but to return, paying penalties, but finding out the victories they once knew are no longer happening. LIV golf was a walk in the park for the millionaires. The 54-hole tournaments, going from individual to team play, wearing shorts, and generally performing in almost exhibition form took away their sharpness in competing in the style of what the golf tour is all about. And you wonder if the likes of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka, will ever get that back.
As for the PGA wrap-up, the Tour Championship for the 30 top players, a familiar name came from behind on the final round to win a massive $10 million at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club.
Scottie Scheffler was three back of Norway’s Viktor Hovland but captured the prize by three shots. The victory, vaulted Scheffler past Tiger Woods as the biggest money winner in golf history. I don’t know why sports fans are so enamored of money winning or earning by athletes.
That’s not why they play the game. A golfer who never wins but plays on the tour will never have to worry about money. They have plenty and they know it. They play to compete. And they compete to win. In other sports, agents may care more than their clients.
In Scheffler’s case it’s a matter of preparing as best he can, then going out to execute as best he can. Golf is his profession. Not his life. He has said as much. What the 29-year old Scottie Scheffler, who strongly contends more often than not will not admit is that he has no weaknesses in a game that comes and goes for not only the professionals but for amateurs as well. He’s the best and most consistent golfer we’ve seen since Tiger.
What a strange year it’s been for men’s tennis. This was supposed to be a continuation of the new look duel between youngsters Yannick Sinner, 25, and Carlos Alcaraz, 23. The U.S. Open is underway in Queens, the final Grand Slam of the season. Alcaraz captured the Australian Open in January. But Sinner didn’t reach the final round, losing to ageless Novak Djokovic.
Then Alcaraz dispatched the Djokovic for the title. That was okay. It would be a Sinner-Alcaraz tennis story moving forward, with the legendary Serb around to pester one and all.
But something happened on the way to the one-on-one showdowns that would mark the new phase in men’s tennis. The two would never meet in this 2026 season.
Alcaraz suffered a wrist injury serious enough to sideline him for five months, missing both the French Open and Wimbledon.
Meanwhile Sinner, injured his right knee and is out for the U.S. Open. But the 23-year old Spaniard is finally back and with his right wrist and arm in a brace, came back successfully winning his opening round match in straight sets. He did not show much rust after five months but his ability to respond to long matches and an increased schedule will be one to watch.
A footnote on the amazing Djokovic, who at 39, was knocked out in the first round after cramping, and experiencing stomach issues.
So the questions hanging over the final Slam of the season: does the great Djokovic have anything left to go forward and will Alcaraz come back from five months away with a concerning wrist injury to pick up where he left off?
Now the NFL takes over. Let the games and the stories begin.
Finally Bill smiles
Scottie remains super
Carlos is back