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Several of my recent posts have been covering the exciting college football season. Other sports and sports-related stories had to be (temporarily) pushed to the back burner. Let’s get caught up on a few stories today!
Congratulations to the World Series Champion Milwaukee Brewers!
The Brewers left no doubt in Game 5 at the Tampa Bay Rays. Milwaukee built a 4-0 lead on Wednesday night and cruised to a 4-1 victory to bring Wisconsin its first World Series title.
The Milwaukee Brewers won the most regular season games (103) than any team in Major League Baseball this year.
Former Brewers catcher and long-time announcer Bob Uecker passed away in 2025.
The long-time reserve major league catcher-turned-comedian would have been quite proud of his hometown baseball team finally winning a World Series title for Milwaukee.
Big payrolls don’t necessarily buy titles
The new World Series champion Milwaukee Brewers won the title without having a massive payroll. Their $169 million championship team ranked #19 out of 30 Major League Baseball organizations this year.
American League champion and World Series runner-up Tampa Bay’s payroll was about $110 million in 2026. That’s 27th overall.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ($400 million), New York Mets ($356 million), and the New York Yankees ($342 million) watched the World Series at home just like the rest of us.
A diagnosis of CTE is on the rise with former NFL players
Results from a recent study revealed that 75% of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. It is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disease frequently found among athletes participating in high-impact head contact sports such as football and boxing.
Researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham Hospital, and the Concussion and CTE Foundation reviewed a total of 2,362 cases. Within that total, 369 were former pro football players who donated their brains to become part of the study. Nearly 94% of that subset showed CTE.
CTE has four stages of severity. The early stages are difficult to diagnose. Later stages generally are associated with memory loss, dementia, and mood disorders.
David Toms is becoming an excellent pitch man for the PGA Champions Tour!
It now costs $30 million if your city wants to host a big-time PGA Tour event featuring the game’s top stars. Even a lesser PGA event (where many fans won’t know 90% of the field) will still cost a cool $15 million in prize money to have them play a tournament in your fair city.
13-time PGA Tour winner David Toms recently reminded golf fans that the PGA Champions (Senior) Tour is a significantly better economic option. A “mere” $6 million brings well-known senior golf stars like Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink into your local community.
The 59-year old Shreveport resident brings plenty of golf credibility. He won the 2001 PGA Championship and the 2018 US Senior Open title, too. The LSU grad made a very good case for corporate sponsors to consider bringing a senior golf tournament to their hometown.
One other benefit for having a PGA Champions Tour event is that the older golfers have actually learned how to smile on occasion and acknowledge the local fans.
LIV Golf – Bankruptcy update
The clock continues to tick on LIV Golf as their Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearings continue in New Jersey. Time is of the essence. Failure to meet a few upcoming critical deadlines will trigger an order to immediately wind-down (end) operations of LIV Golf by the bankruptcy judge.
Two prominent LIV golfers (both winners of a major championship) just added their names to the growing number of players opting out of the proposed LIV 2.0 next year. Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell will look to the DP World (European) Tour next season for a chance to play.
Losing major stars is rapidly making LIV Golf 2.0 less attractive to investors and world golf fans.
One issue worth mentioning during the bankruptcy hearing involves the perceived value of LIV Golf’s $3 billion worth of net operating losses. Who would have imagined that running up nearly $1 billion per year in annual losses would have any future value?
The good news is that any future taxable earnings could be reduced by utilizing some of the massive net operating losses.
The bad news? A reboot touted as LIV Golf 2.0 would actually need to post a profit in order to benefit from any of the $3 billion worth of tax losses being carried forward.
It’s quite possible that the words “profit” and “LIV Golf” have never been used in the same sentence together over the past five seasons.
The UFL moved out of Birmingham and Houston and into…where???
Spring football’s United Football League (UFL) skedaddled from two long-time markets in Birmingham, Alabama and Houston, Texas after the 2026 season ended. Those two franchises have been relocated to Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The new Rhode Island Breakers UFL team will play in Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium (a soccer venue) with 10,500 seats in 2027.
Watch out for the Colorado Stampede!
The other relocated UFL franchise will play next spring at Weidner Field. That facility is a brand new 8,000 seat soccer stadium located in downtown Colorado Springs.
The UFL has not been able to draw enough fans to fill-up traditional football stadiums. Billionaire owner Mike Repole began to downsize every UFL team’s venue into smaller soccer arenas.
A relatively small crowd in a soccer stadium will look better on television than having the same 10,000 people spread around a 40,000 seat football stadium.
I still don’t see how the UFL will be able to break even by selling-out such tiny stadiums for their football games. Yes, the rental costs are lower. However, team revenue is extremely limited by playing in such small venues.
The St. Louis BattleHawks have been playing in an indoor football stadium which was the former home of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. This domed facility has some weekend scheduling conflicts during the upcoming 2027 UFL season. League owner Mike Repole is giving thought to downsizing the UFL’s popular BattleHawks into a smaller arena for their football games beginning next season.
Be careful, Mr. Repole!
Health update on WWE wrestling legend Ric Flair
The 77-year old legendary professional wrestling star was recently diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg. He posted a note on social media one week ago saying that he will undergo a procedure soon to address the blood clot.
Later on that same day, Ric Flair had a rather nasty fall coming out of a Tampa, Florida restaurant.
The accident caused a scary injury to one of his eyes along with several cuts on his face.
Flair was treated at a local hospital and released. The long-time favorite former WWE star has been recuperating at home this week.
Perhaps Ric Flair was out on the town stylin’ and profilin’ just like during his younger days.
At age 77, Ric Flair may want to consider a more age-appropriate nightlife. How about something safer such as deciding on his favorite flavor of ice cream and settling down on the couch to watching sports on television?
Woooo! Love that Blue Bell Pralines and Cream, baybee!
Happy Halloween!