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Mark Knudson’s Three Strikes Blog: Time for poll voters to recognize ‘State Champ” Air Force; Astros aren’t likely to be only ones spying, and Broncos token “effort” to watch Kaepernick

@Mark Knudson41

Strike One: Air Force Academy football players get to compete for lots of trophies. First and foremost, the Commander-in-Chiefs Trophy against Army and Navy (AFA has won 20 of those) but also the Mountain West Conference title, and even the Ram – Falcon Trophy that goes to the winner of the AFA – Colorado State game each season.

The Falcons may have lost the C-in-C trophy this season, and they remain a longshot to get into the MW title game…but they did beat CSU again to win their fourth straight Ram – Falcon award…and there’s something else: They have also now won the unofficial State Championship of Colorado, having beaten both the Colorado Buffaloes and CSU – both on the road – this season. (It’s the first time in 45 seasons that all three schools have played each other in the same year.)

The Buffs should probably cede their Governors Cup Trophy to Air Force for 2019.

That would be a nice feather in the cap for the Falcons, who beat the Buffs in and overtime thriller in Boulder in September and then overcame a gritty and inspired effort by the CSU defense to overwhelm the Rams late and win by 17 points. The win moved the Falcons to 8-2 on the season, with losses only to ranked teams MW frontrunner Boise State and Navy blemishing the record.

Still, outside the borders, AFA gets no respect. The national pollsters don’t seem to know that the Falcons exist.

Once again, this week, Air Force is not in the Associated Press top 25, and when the College Football Play-off rankings come out, they’re highly unlikely to show up there, either. It’s a head scratcher.

They are listed under “others receiving votes” with exactly TWO points – meaning two voters had them #25.

Group of Five teams historically have a harder time cracking the rankings, but this season, aside from the fact that the Mountain West had an outstanding non-conference season, posting eight wins over Power Five conference schools (including AFA’s win in Boulder), there have been numerous G5 schools crack the rankings ahead of the Falcons. Even after they were thumped by Notre Dame last Saturday, 7-2 Navy still checks in at #21, while once beaten Boise State is #19.

At 9-1 Cincinnati, Memphis and SMU are #17, #18 and #20 Respectively. Fine. But 6-4 Texas is ranked? And three loss teams Iowa, Indiana and Oklahoma State? And still no 8-2 Air Force. Why?

What’s worse is that there are 10 teams ahead of AFA in the “others receiving votes” department (including MW member San Diego State.) Ridiculous.

How about the pollsters wake up and offer up their own version of a Salute to Service?

Strike Two: Must admit, I have mixed feelings about all the uproar regarding the Houston Astros and sign stealing.

To start with, it’s not the huge, enormous game changing thing it’s being made out to be.

Ever since teams began giving out signs, other teams have been trying to steal them. It’s part of baseball. When done correctly (on the field) it can be an art form. And while it can impact a play or three (or not) during a game, it’s not the same as having a copy of the other team’s playbook or anything. Not even close.

In fact, as an example most of the hitters I played with during my 12-year professional baseball career did not want to have anyone else try to tell them what pitch was coming. That’s because, inevitably, there would be a time when they got the wrong tip and ended up looking foolish, having been told one pitch was coming when another ended up being thrown.

Now, if a pitcher is tipping his own pitches by doing something different in his delivery when he threw a curveball for example, then that can end up being a big deal. But having the runner on second tip you off that a curve was coming and then getting a fastball was infuriating to a hitter. And even if the hitter has a good idea what’s coming, he’s always going to have doubt – and he’s still got to hit it. So it doesn’t make hitting easy or anything.

So there’s that.

Now, knowing when a team was going to try to steal second so you could throw a pitch out? Absolutely an advantage. Love to know that in advance. Most baseball people would tell you that if a team figures that stuff out their own, they deserved the advantage. Tip of the cap.

But what the Astros – and the Red Sox a few years ago – stand accused of crosses the line for most people. It’s not like stealing signs on the field. It’s about using technology to try to steal them from off of it. And that’s pretty slimy.

If published reports are accurate, this is an operation that Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels would be proud of. And if an Astros front office executive is involved in this (as been alleged) then that really violates the code. Heads will roll.

Not having dove into this story much yet, my first instinct is to guess that Houston isn’t the only team that has engaged in this. It stands to reason that other teams have similar tech and can engage in similar tactics, doesn’t it? Now Major League Baseball must step in and figure out a way to combat this practice, much like they had to do with performance enhancing drugs. And they will.

If I were in a big league dugout now, my answer to this would be pretty simple: When your team is in the field, treat every at bat as if there’s a runner on second base peering in at the catcher. Have your catcher give your pitcher a series of signs that are not easy for the ‘spy’ to decipher and relay in a matter of seconds. It’s already a common practice that just needs to be made a little more common. The art of disguising your signs will have to improve. And it will.

This won’t be the last time the cheaters will find a way to get ahead. As they say, if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.

Strike Three: The Denver Broncos did make a token effort to attend the showcase workout of former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick. Broncos scout Jordan Dizon reportedly stopped in Atlanta on his way to watch the Buffalo Bills in Miami on Sunday, but when the workout location was changed, he couldn’t get to the workout and back to the airport in time to catch his flight. Too bad.

Priorities.

Make no mistake, Kaepernick – despite his skill set and the fact that he led a team to the Super Bowl – will never ever ever wear predominantly orange. Ever.

It’s true he’s been out of the game for three seasons. It’s also true that up until last Sunday, he’d taken as many NFL game snaps during that same time period as current Broncos starter Brandon Allen. And as of this moment, he still has the better resume.

Would Kaepernick be the answer in Denver right now? Highly doubtful. But we’ll never know.

The Broncos are not being run the way Pat Bowlen would have wanted. Not even close. Bowlen was “win at all costs.” Today, it’s “watch all costs.”

This is now a business-first operation, run by a guy, Joe Ellis, who is a member of the Bush family and views life – and business – accordingly. Add that to the fact that Kaepernick once declined to take a pay cut from his existing contract with the San Francisco 49’ers in order to accept a trade to Denver engineered by John Elway. The Hall of Fame QB turned VP/GM doesn’t take kindly to being told no. He’s held a grudge ever since.

Kaepernick could be Pro Bowl caliber right now and this Broncos front office would not want him.

No, Ellis, Elway and the Broncos don’t view things the way Pat Bowlen did. Bowlen famously said once, “I don’t care if I have to bail them out of jail on Saturday night if they can win on Sunday.” That was an exaggeration of course, but the fact of the matter is that Bowlen placed 100% importance on winning football games, and zero on political opinions or personal grudges.

If Bowlen was still with us and functioning at full capacity and he believed Kaepernick could help Denver win, then the controversial QB would be wearing a Broncos uniform, period.

Best guess is that the NFL offices “urged” each team to send a rep to the Kaepernick workout to appease those – including the courts – who believe there is a conspiracy to keep the former 49er out of the league. So, Ellis and Elway played along…sort of.

It’s the effort that counts, right?

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