5 Things on a Friday: Panic?!

Hi folks.  Happy Friday.  As you read this, I am skiing Mount Snow.  As I write this, though, it’s Thursday morning, and there’s precipitation in Vermont.

So.  Was it rain or snow?  Am I having a good day or a bad day?

With Josh & Rob at Killington.  I'll be with Josh again today.

These are burning questions.  But by the time you read this, we’ll know the answers.  As I write it, however, I can only worry and wait.  Kind of like the Coronavirus.

1. So, Should You Panic About Coronavirus Now? (Slate)

A coronavirus outbreak is likely coming to the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday morning. The number of cases here is up to 57, with health officials saying they are just trying to buy time before it starts spreading within communities. Globally, the virus is in more than 30 countries, and though the World Health Organization isn’t yet calling it a pandemic, it seems like it’s only a matter of time.

Translation: we’ve got some time, but yes, definitely panic.

Let’s put this on the calendar for mid-April, yeah?

2. XFL Power Rankings, Week 4: Roughnecks rise to No. 1 amid major shakeup across the league (CBS Sports)

8. New York Guardians (1-2)

Previously: 7

Maybe going to Luis Perez at QB should've been a thing before the fourth quarter of Week 3. Guardians fans might be able to convince themselves the defense is fine, with an occasionally dominant line, but they still have to put up with a poorly designed, poorly called and poorly executed offense. Somehow, it might still get worse before it gets better.

Hold this thought for a few minutes.  We’ll get back to it.

3. The Yankees may have mismanaged the offseason (Pinstripe Alley)

Masahiro Tanaka had arthroscopic surgery at the end of October to remove a bone spur in his elbow. James Paxton started feeling recurring back pain in January that never seemed to have gone away. He had surgery to remove a peridiscal cyst in his back and won’t return until a month or two into the season. It didn’t stop there. Luis Severino felt tightness in his throwing arm after pitching Game Three against the Houston Astros in the ALCS. That lingered into the offseason and now he’s done for the year as he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery.

The injuries are bad, don’t get me wrong, but it’s Spring Training, which means it’s time to overreact to everything.  As of this writing, the Yankees’ early-season rotation is Gerritt Cole, Tanaka, J.A. Happ, Jordan Montgomery, and presumably Jonathan Loaisiga coming off an opener inning from Chad Green.  

This is not a disaster.  In fact, the Yankees will probably win more of those opener games than they lose.  But even if that’s not the case, you’d still like to give   Loaisiga five or so starts to see what he’s got, by which time we’ll be looking at Paxton’s return.

The injuries suck, but the team still has better options internally than they were likely to get via the offseason free agent market.  Unfortunately, Yankee fans are hard-wired to think every problem ought to be solved via high-end free agent acquisition.  As it happens, though, they discovered and developed Severino in exactly this kind of situation, and if we’re ever gonna see anything like that again, it’ll be because young guys get a chance to play.

Loaisiga has great stuff, but he’s very young.  Now is exactly the time to see what he can do.

4. Emergency Football Preview: NY Guardians vs. LA Wildcats (AFF)

I’d argue that the base problem is the [Guardians’] retrograde offensive philosophy played despite their having replacement-level offensive players.  To put that another way, sure, you can win football games with a run-first pocket-passing offense if you have QB Eli Manning throwing accurate downfield strikes behind a talented O-Line.  It helps to have guys like Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Mario Manningham catching those passes. But the Guardians have nothing like that on offense.

You want a piece of advice that works in every situation?  Play the game you’re in with the rules you have, not the game you want with the rules you wish you had. 

Some XFL teams get that.  Some don’t.

XFL: Week 4

The first of two articles I wrote this week for AsForFootball.Com.  This one covers Saturday’s XFL game, to which I won tickets via VetTix.Org.  Yay!

And yeah, barring a miracle, the Guardians are looking to get trounced.

5. Dissecting the Coverage: Three-Star Saturday (AFF)

Army Women’s Basketball, Men’s Basketball, and Wrestling all BEAT NAVY! this past Saturday, making it the first three star Saturday of the year.

Also wrote this one for for AFF.  Check it out.

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Short and sweet this week.  Enjoy the weekend!