I’ve said it before, but no 53-year-old man, least of all an NFL coach, should be wearing a baseball cap backward, as the Commanders’ Dan Quinn was again this week for a camp-opening press conference. The old hipster guise doesn’t work. Someone trying to lead a team forward shouldn’t look like he’s walking backward.
Numbers game: Baltimoreans of a certain generation might find some amusement in Lamar Jackson’s trademark dispute with Troy Aikman over who has promotional rights to No. 8. At least until Jackson leads the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory, for the burghers at the other end of the Chesapeake Bay, the most revered No. 8 is Cal Ripken Jr.
On edge: As the MLB trade deadline approaches and the Orioles’ need for a front-line starting pitcher grows urgent, baseball insiders have done a lot of speculating about the Tides’ talent pool — which players are untouchable and which aren’t. We shall soon find out.
Idle thought: The Open Championship served as another reminder that Tiger Woods has been a ceremonial golfer for quite some time now.
TV timeout: I’m reading a lot about the ACC’s “identity crisis,” created, in part, because the conference can’t keep pace with the media reach of SEC football. Don’t see how the additions of SMU, Cal and Stanford are any help with that.
Future watch: The distinct possibility exists that the inclusion of Oregon and Southern Cal in the Big Ten will expose the conference’s brand of football as highly overrated.
Weird and wacky: Under Jim Harbaugh, who compared the first training-camp practice to childbirth — “it was like coming out of the womb” — the Chargers’ season may be good or bad, but never dull.
Looking ahead: Dak Prescott is about to become the first quarterback to break the $60 million-per-season barrier. And yes, he’s still 2-5 in playoff games.
Girl dads: Some of the increased popularity of the WNBA — TV viewership for its All-Star Game jumped 300% this year — is credited to men warming up to women’s sports. That’s true in a sense. But it doesn’t take into account the dads who have always supported and coached their daughters on the grassroots level. There wouldn’t be women’s sports without fathers.
Just asking: Something has been left out of reports on the WNBA’s new 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC Universal. Does Caitlin Clark get a cut?
Nostalgic: Because Olympics coverage is programmed for a female audience, boxing — once a major attraction — has been given an eight-count by TV since Sweet Pea Whitaker took gold in the ’84 LA Games, with Howard Cosell at the mic for a national audience. For broadcasting purposes, boxing isn’t what it used to be. But as a result, neither are the Olympics.
That guy: Bob Beamon holds the Olympic record in the long jump, and swimmer Michael Phelps has won the most medals. But nobody had a bigger impact on a prominent Olympic sport than Dick Fosbury, a 1968 gold medalist whose Fosbury Flop — leaping over the bar backward — revolutionized high jumping.
Another oddity: Breaking — breakdancing — which deserves ridicule as an Olympic “sport,” is not the only event entering the Games on a trial basis. Surfing is another. Surfing in France? Not exactly. The competition will be held in Tahiti, a French protectorate located almost 10,000 miles from Paris. Don’t try to understand it.
Tennis tussle: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who haven’t met on court in more than two years, could tangle in the second round of the Olympics. Djokovic leads their head-to-head 30-29, with Nadal up 8-2 on the red dirt of Roland Garros. The “lions in winter” vibe adds to the anticipation.
Real politics: With the IOC’s ban of Russia from the Olympics, only 15 Russian athletes — seven of them tennis players — will compete. But why 15? Why not zero?
Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.
