Sports this 'n' that

ESPN is looking for another analyst for Monday Night Football. Again.

Jason Witten, after one season in the booth, and mixed reviews from critics, is returning to the Dallas Cowboys for one more season, realizing that his absence last season might've been a reason why Dallas didn't get very far in the postseason. His absence cost QB Dak Prescott a valuable weapon in the offense, and his successors didn't exactly move the meter. With talk that Anthony "Booger" McFarland and his infamous mobile booth might be permanently separated in 2019, Joe Tessitore will either have McFarland in the booth with him, or someone else so that McFarland can be on the field, a la former Fox analyst Tony Siragusa. Stay tuned.
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The Philadelphia Phillies just became the latest team to be fleeced by Scott Boras.

The Phillies have agreed to a 13 year, $330 million dollar contract with Bryce Harper. The tempermental Harper stays in the National League East, there is a no-trade clause included, but there also isn't an opt-out clause, one of Boras' favorite tools. Harper appears in a number of YouTube baseball ejection compilation videos because he does have a tendency to lose his temper over questionable strike calls. Harper leaving Washington for Philadelphia means a shift in the balance of power in the division, but the Nationals still have a top shelf pitching staff, which the Phillies are trying to copy. What the move actually means, in this writer's opinion, is not only overtaking the Nationals and Braves in the division after the Phillies' second half collapse last year, but finally ending the dominance the Mets have enjoyed at Citizens Bank Park in recent years. Philadelphia's pitching corps isn't on the Mets' level, either, but.....!

Harper's contract averages out to roughly around $25 million a year, and he'll be the linchpin of the Phillies' offense until 2031. And that's assuming he maintains his physical and mental health over that span. If Harper can mentally mature and stop with the post-strikeout temper tantrums, then the Phillies are players. If not, then second year manager Gabe Kapler has a big problem.
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Speaking of the Mets, local fans won't be able to listen to the team's games on the radio this season, barring an 11th hour move. Pamal Broadcasting, parent company of WROW-AM, which carried the team's games last year, chose not to renew their deal, and it doesn't look like anyone's interested. WCBS, the team's new flagship, has a signal that strengthens in the dark, meaning you'd miss the first hour of a lot of night games if you tried tuning your radio to WCBS. I should know. I used to have a transistor radio back in the day, and would tune into WCBS at night. The signal's not always strong or consistent, and you'd have to angle your radio in such a way to get the clearest sound. Here's to hoping WCBS has a website (doesn't every radio station have one?) that will stream the broadcasts. That might be your best bet.
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A week before Christmas, WWE Chairman/CEO/head nutcase Vince McMahon, alongside son Shane, daughter Stephanie, and son-in-law Triple H, promised on Monday Night Raw that the fans would have some authority in deciding what they want to see.

Two months later, McMahon has gone back on his word. No surprise there. It's how he's gone about it that has people talking.

Deluded by the belief that he's still a ratings draw, McMahon has made a pair of arbitrary decisions, seemingly without consulting the rest of the family, on the air that have had an adverse effect on forthcoming pay-per-view/WWE Network events.

First, women's Royal Rumble winner Becky Lynch, who had her storyline suspension rescinded by Stephanie & Triple H, was placed back on the suspended list for 60 days, opening the door for frenemy Charlotte Flair to move into the women's title match, Raw division, vs. Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania on April 7. While, technically, McMahon did nothing wrong, it was his approach to it, undermining his daughter & son-in-law, presenting Flair as if she were his latest mistress or something. This led to Rousey, on the last Raw, leaving her title belt with Stephanie. Now, Flair claims she'll be at Raw on March 4 to be formally declared champion, something her father, Hall of Famer Ric Flair, would never have done in his career. Every title Ric Flair won, fair or not, was earned in the ring. I was there when Ric won the 1992 Royal Rumble at the then-Knickerbocker Arena in Albany. So why would Charlotte, turning heel, take the low road, when her dad, either as a heel or babyface, always did things the right way?

Then, two nights ago, just as Kofi Kingston, an 11 year main roster veteran, was about to sign his first world title contract to face Daniel Bryan at Fastlane on March 10 in Cleveland, with Shane & Steph witnessing the signing, along comes Chairman Wackjob himself, to use his discretion, questionable as that is, to replace Kofi with the returning Kevin Owens, all because the elder McMahon, 73, thinks Owens is a bigger box office draw. What he's not willing to admit, of course, is that there might be a racial subtext. Kingston was inserted in the storyline to replace the injured Mustafa Ali (facial injury).

Ok, it's one thing to substitute a Muslim with an African-American (who once posed as a Jamaican). But to pull the race card ever so subtly, at the end of Black History Month? This sounds to me like McMahon had plans to submarine Ali's push, making him a bigger underdog, but instead, with Ali on the DL, Kingston gets undercut, but at the same time, the stunned expressions on Shane & Stephanie told a bigger tale, one I've been hoping they'd get to for years.

That Vince, at 73, is, in fact, nuts.

Consider that Vince wants to revive the XFL, independent of WWE, and the launch is set for next year. A protracted storyline that has Shane/Stephanie/Triple H, and most of the roster, against the old man for a variety of reasons, culminates with Vince being removed from power for an extended period than he was in storyline in 2011 (3 months), giving him time to concentrate on the XFL's relaunch. Some people might think they could fast-track this and end Vince at Wrestlemania. To me, that's too soon. Stretch it out over the spring & summer, and send him on his way at either Summerslam in August or Survivor Series in November, and keep him away for as long as possible, allowing Triple H to work his magic on the main roster, which has a number of NXT graduates, Owens included. It'll be interesting to see if they include a straitjacket in Vince's farewell package, since his on air persona needs to be sent to Happy Acres. Yesterday.