Derrick Henry came on strong for the Titans late in the season
It’s a new year and, as always, the Train Daddy is back with sports news, life lessons and politically incorrect talk. All aboard!
2019 is upon us and life is good! Don’t listen to the naysayers spreading doom throughout the news and social media. There are over 7 billion people living on Earth and most of the 300 million living in the United States of America have it far better than nearly all of them. Fact!
Remember when Tennessean Al Gore won an Oscar and Nobel Prize in 2006 for An Inconvenient Truth? I have yet to forgive Gore for claiming the Titans would win a Super Bowl, that the polar bears would go extinct and that Earth would be beyond saving after another decade. Well here we are in 2019, and none of his predictions have come to fruition. In fact, the polar bears’ numbers have increased, while the Titans have only won a single wild card game since ’06 (last year). Can you believe Gore made An Inconvenient Sequel in 2017 after being so wrong? In this sequel he claims kangaroos will sprout horns and become fierce apex predators, he claims the Walter Hill landfill is really a volcano ready to blow and he claims the birds are running out of sky, all because of global warming!
Ha-ha! Let’s quit the shenanigans and discuss some sports.
What a whirlwind season for the Titans, who ultimately finished 9–7. They swept the NFC East, beat the Patriots and ended the regular season winning four of the last five games. The Titans will miss the playoffs with the same overall record that got them into the playoffs last season. But don’t be sad, as there is some success this team can build upon.
Corey Davis was good when given the chance to receive, and Derrick Henry ended the season as the hottest running back in the game. Harold Landry, Jayon Brown and Rashaan Evans all look like future defensive superstars, as Orakpo announces his retirement. The special teams were excellent, and Adoree Jackson seems to be improving into a decent corner. Jurrell Casey is a beast and Logan Ryan, Kevin Byard and Vaccarro all had successful seasons at their position. Let’s be honest this was a good season for Coach Mike Vrabel, considering all the injuries this team dealt with. This team was so frustrating because it won games it should have lost and lost games it should have won. The name Blaine Gabbert should become forgotten Tennessee history.
Marcus has failed to play a full 16-game season for four straight years. Titans fans are clearly divided: half believe Marcus is cursed and injury prone, while the other half believe it’s bad luck, and point blame at the coaches and offensive line.
I don’t know what the answer is. I am a fan of Marcus and yet I’m struggling to defend him these days. This is a serious question: how long can the Titans wait for Marcus? This is his fourth year in the NFL. Tennessee came within one game of the playoffs this season under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. This team has a lot to build upon. I stand with Marcus still as the future of this team, but crunch-time has long since passed. Next season will be a telling year as Marcus Mariota enters his final season on contract. Do they sign him and pay him for an extension, or take a wait-and-see approach for 2019? Whatever happens, I love this team and will always remain loyal until the day they bury me. Believe that! Titan up, 2019!
Let’s give a quick shout-out to the Nashville Predators! As the year ends, we can reflect on the first half of the Predators’ season and look forward to 2019. Injuries have been heavy and the power play has been horrendous, yet despite all that the Predators have managed to stay near the top of the Western Conference. After a fast start early in the season, December became a rough month full of road losses for Nashville. Hockey has a long season and the regular season ends near the beginning of April. With that said, 2019 is looking very sexy as superstar players like P.K. Subban, Filip Forsberg, Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson begin returning from injury. You want your best hockey of the season being played towards the end. Who cares about another Presidents’ Trophy? The Nashville Predators only have eyes for the Stanley Cup. This team can score, can hit and has speed, and their defenders play a special kind of hockey that makes Daddy Pekka Rinne happy. Smashville, get loud!
Random news: New Jersey high school wrestler forced to forfeit or cut hair? Recently a video of 16-year-old junior Andrew Johnson having his hair cut went viral, causing a social media firestorm. In short, a kid had dreadlocks, a referee gave him 90 seconds to cut his hair or forfeit the match. Then a visually distraught Andrew is seen on video getting his hair quickly lopped off. Rules state hair must be at a certain length or a special hair cap is required. Most articles are quick to point out Andrew is black and the referee white, so it must be racism like everything else, right? This is just a case of bad decisions. The adults and coaches around Andrew failed him. This should have been resolved long before the match rather than to force a kid to cut off his dreadlocks within 90 seconds of the match, losing something that takes years and patience to grow properly. Andrew went on to win the match, yet lost five inches of hair.
LeBron James! What has that social/political activist, I mean NBA player, done now? Well, the basketball superstar managed to upset some Jewish people and most liberals, and weeks later marginalized an entire league and its owners. As James tweeted recently, “Getting that Jewish money, everything is Kosher.” James generalized Jewish people and was forced to apologize. The bigger story is what James said on his new HBO series, The Shop. I believe his comments were disrespectful and deserve full condemnation. The Shop is a show where LeBron brings in other personalities who discuss controversial issues with no resistance to their one-sided views. In one episode, LeBron James had Ice Cube, NAS, Jimmy Fallon and star NFL running back Todd Gurley as guests. “In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality, and it’s like, ‘this is my team. You do what the f*ck I tell y’all to do or we get rid of y’all,’” James commented.
There is no defense for saying that. It’s irresponsible of LeBron, it’s bigoted, and it gives us insight on how he must really feel about white people and businessmen. LeBron wants to be a voice for change and social justice, yet he just labeled an entire group of people as being comparable to what is today one of the vilest insults possible: slave owners. I dare say African Americans from years past who were lynched, beaten and whipped would disagree mightily with James and his insensitive comments. Imagine being 24-year-old NFL star Todd Gurley? LeBron, the most powerful athlete in the world, is bashing the league you love and represent. Of course he kept silent. At least eight-time pro bowler and future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates condemned the statement by claiming he has a phenomenal owner and reminded us that “you get paid to play!”
You should YouTube Jason Whitlock. He is a co-host for the sports show Speak for Yourself on Fox Sports1 and has many wise things to say about LeBron James. That is, unless you’re a fan of Stephen A. Smith and the nonsense spewed on First Take. If you don’t like what I have to say about the King, I will stop criticizing James, one of the most well-known athletes in the world, when he stops generalizing others, specifically NFL owners.
That’s it. The Train Daddy is rolling into the station! Remember to cherish the 5 Fs: Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends! It may be a sad time as Titan football comes to an end for now, but for those of you embracing life, time is nothing and football will be kicking off again before you know it! Say goodbye to 2018 and try to improve one thing about yourself in 2019.
Choo-choo!
