Adam Rittenberg ran a piece this morning for ESPN detailing how Wisconsin and Purdue are going to use the Air Raid this season.
Excuse me?
Wisconsin?
Purdue makes some sense. David Blough threw the ball 43 times during the Tyler Trent game. But Wisconsin?
After talking to a friend more familiar with the Badgers than I am (I think we have the same level of familiarity with badgers, though, unless I’m missing a great story), my impression isn’t that we’re going to see Michael Crabtree 2.0 at Camp Randall. It sounds like it’s maybe more of an “air raid schematics” situation than out-and-out Air Raid. Also, it’s possible it won’t last long. The idea seems to be to shake things up and invest at the quarterback position rather than continue to rely on offensive line recruiting, after multiple local milk-fed prizes have enrolled at universities outside state borders in recent years. We’ll see if it works, or if Luke Fickell decides he’s maybe able to recruit Pewaukee better than his predecessor could.
Regardless of if this is a good or bad idea for winning, it’s a little perverted to think of someone throwing a football regularly while playing for the Wisconsin Badgers. It’s like picturing a cat at doggy daycare, or a competent thinker heading the front office of the Chicago White Sox. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but it feels icky. Even the season Russell Wilson played in Madison, he only threw the ball two more times than Montee Ball carried it.
The Cuban Little League Coach Got into a Car
We probably could have guessed this, if left to our own devices, but the Cuban Little League coach who disappeared from Williamsport this weekend was seen on security footage getting into an automobile. A source relayed to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette that Jose Perez got into a vehicle driven by another person around 11 PM on Saturday night. It’s unclear if this was an Uber or an accomplice or a kidnapper or what, but Perez did not leave Williamsport on foot. This was not a Sri Lankan Handball situation. (I’m not sure they have Ubers in Williamsport, by the way. That place is out there.)
Credit to us, by the way. We made clear yesterday that it’s still possible the guy didn’t defect, and that it’s possible this is all an unhappy coincidence. Today, the rest of the media is joining us in adding that caveat to its reporting. Makes you wonder who all’s reading The Barking Crow. Jose Perez, if you’re out there, mail us an unmarked postcard. (This goes for anyone else reading as well. We would love an unmarked postcard from anyone. Anyone at all. Even Carlos Correa.)
The Knicks (Allege They) Had a Mole
The Knicks sued the Raptors yesterday, alleging Ikechukwu Azotam, an employee who worked for them in video and player development and now works for the Raptors, sent over three thousand sensitive Knicks files to his new employers before he made the move. The lawsuit says that right as Azotam was telling his bosses he was leaving to join the Raptors, he “began secretly forwarding proprietary information from his Knicks email account to his personal Gmail account, which he then shared with the Raptors.”
I have no idea what the laws are about NBA teams’ files, and I don’t know how exactly lawsuits work when the other employer in question is located in a different country, so I don’t know how this is going to turn out. I also have no idea why the Knicks didn’t walk Azotam out with security as soon as he said he was leaving for a conference rival, if my impression is correct and they did not walk him out. That all said, I hope the Raptors’ legal defense in this is something along the lines of, “Why the hell would we want to steal things the Knicks think they know? You gonna accuse us of cheating off of Dan Marino’s Wonderlic?”
Maybe they wanted the files so they could giggle at what the Knicks were up to.
“What’s Understood Don’t Need to Be Explained”
That’s a pretty good quote, taken out of context. Taken in context, it leaves me with questions. It leaves me not understanding. It leaves me needing something to be explained.
The line in question comes from Joe Mixon, and as reported by The Athletic, and it’s in response to him being asked whether he ever felt the need to explain to his teammates his various legal situations which dotted this offseason, ranging from a road rage incident right before the Bengals flew to Buffalo for that playoff game to a March incident in which one of Joe Mixon’s neighbors, a 16-year-old boy, was allegedly shot by Mixon’s sister’s boyfriend while playing with a Nerf gun 45 minutes after sunset.
When Mixon says all of this is understood, what exactly does he mean? Because I still don’t understand the Nerf thing. And a few other pieces of this all.
Bears Fans Are Silly: Tyson Bagent Edition
A collection of Bears blogs published pieces today hyping up Tyson Bagent, an undrafted free agent out of Division II Shepherd University whom the Bears signed this offseason. Some of the blogs went so far as to ask for Bagent to pass not only Nathan Peterman, but also P.J. Walker on the depth chart.
I don’t know if Bagent is better or worse than Walker and Peterman, and I don’t know if his floor or ceiling being lower or higher makes him a better fit as the backup for Justin Fields. I don’t know how mobile he is or how much that should play a role in an offense designed for a guy who does most of his producing with his legs (first in QB rush yards last year, 25th in passer rating, this is not a Black Quarterback thing). But I know a Bears thought when I see it, and getting super fired up about an undrafted Division II quarterback after two preseason games is a Bears thought. From the people who brought you “Rex Grossman is going to win us a Super Bowl” and, more recently, “the double doink wasn’t blocked,” now comes Bagent Dancing Fever.
I hope Bagent ultimately works out for somebody, because it would be a very cool story and it feels unnecessarily mean to root against a guy just because he happened to sign with a team whose media ecosystem operates like the aliens from Toy Story. But I mostly hope these guys get their wish, and that when Justin Fields struggles—because let’s face it, Justin Fields plays for the Bears—some of them take the next step and start wondering if Bagent should be the starter. Although now that I think about it, Bagent doesn’t need to rise to second string to be the one mentioned when Fields has a bad month. These guys are now going to fall back to him no matter what.
Javy Báez Almost Killed the Cubs
The beautiful Javier Báez has not been very good at the plate since leaving Chicago, entering tonight with an on-base percentage worse than that of Miles Mastrobuoni. Still, he came through with a double last night to break open a game-tying Tigers rally, and I admit I found myself reflexively and instinctively happy for him. Those loyalties die hard, especially when a guy is so visible with his emotions that you really feel like you know him. The Cubs have a ton of Ballplayers right now, and I like that, but it’s more of a collective, workmanlike identity than the individual joys around which the last Cubs core revolved. Adbert Alzolay and Justin Steele are lively, but Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner are all business. I love them all, but I don’t feel like I know Swanson.
Thankfully, there’s evidently talk of Pete Crow-Armstrong coming up soon? I don’t know anything about his personality, but I know he’s electric on the field. I’m glad the Cubs got someone with that much entertainment value as the Báez return.
NASCAR on Netflix
NASCAR finally got a Netflix series, after last year’s USA Network series flopped and the golf and tennis and quarterback docuseries over on the OG streaming platform all turned out well. NASCAR’s brass is excited about this, because of course they are, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. is an executive producer, which does make me a little optimistic. I trust Dale Earnhardt Jr. The problem is that it’s hard to trust a series about NASCAR to perform so well that bros talk to me about it at parties. Even the tennis one couldn’t do that. You think Kyle is going to tell me how he’s actually been a Ross Chastain fan for a few years now while he drinks a Michelob Ultra because they don’t have any IPAs in the fridge?
