(Photo: Stephen Lew)
It’s trick-or-treat time.
It’s also the busiest time of the sports year with all major seasons overlapping, and it can be difficult to figure out if what we’re given is actually a treat – or maybe a trick.
For instance:
Tyler Shough is going to make his first NFL start for the New Orleans Saints on Sunday against the Rams in Los Angeles.
It would be a treat for Saints fans if the second-round draft choice seizes the opportunity more successfully than Spencer Rattler did, though Rattler did treat the Who Dat Nation to a few good moments.
It would also be a treat if Shough maintains a firm grasp on the job for the eight games that remain after Sunday and sends a message that he is a legitimate starting-quality NFL quarterback, and the rebuilding franchise can focus its attention in the first round of next spring’s draft on one of its many other needs.
But here’s where it gets tricky:
What if Shough proves to be better than Rattler, shows glimpses of being who the Saints want him to be but also leaves doubt as to whether they can afford to pass on a better quarterback prospect with what is bound to be a very high No. 1 pick?
And that brings us to another trick-or-treat conundrum:
This Saints season as a whole is no treat. But the team has been mostly competitive and if Shough does give this group a lift, they could improve gradually, be more entertaining than they have been thus far, win a few games along the way and offer evidence that a return to NFL relevancy might happen sooner rather than later.
But here’s where that gets tricky:
What if they win just enough games to screw up their draft position just enough to slow down that return to relevancy and give a front office that tends to do no more than dip its toes into the rebuilding waters the encouragement it needs to once again skip a dive into the deep end?
Here’s more trick or treat stuff.
The New Orleans Pelicans have lost their first three games and Zion Williamson already has been sidelined by injury. But let’s not go all Charlie Brown “I got a rock” pessimistic just yet.
In the two games in which Williamson played the Pelicans were very competitive against a team that won 48 games last season (Memphis) and one of the more rapidly ascending teams in the league (San Antonio). On top of that Williamson’s injury is minor and he should be back real soon.
This season could still offer a lot of treats over the next nearly 80 games with a talented roster and a presumed return of Dejounte Murray plus continued growth by three talented draft choices potentially leading to a surge in the first few months of 2026.
But here’s where things with the Pelicans always get tricky:
What if Williamson’s initial injury isn’t a one-off and merely evidence that history is indeed prologue? What if the 122-90 embarrassment against a middling Celtics team on Monday night was a sign that the Pelicans’ competitive spirit in Williamson’s absence is as fragile as his legs tend to be?
LSU’s firing of Brian Kelly was a real treat for the many Kelly haters that follow the Tigers. Maybe interim head coach Frank Wilson will light a fire under this average team and LSU fans can still be treated to something like the Gasparilla Bowl during the holiday season.
But hiring the right coach is always trickier than firing the wrong one.
Kelly is a good coach who was a bad fit, and the firing was proper after the debacle against Texas A&M in Tiger Stadium.
(Photo: Elias Carman)
Tigers AD Scott Woodward is known as “a big-game hunter” when it comes to hiring head coaches, but even big-game hunters misfire as Woodward did four years ago.
Now he’ll start tracking again. Lane Kiffin? Lincoln Riley? Joe Brady? Eli Drinkwitz? Deion Sanders? Who knows?
But we do know that Kelly’s buyout cost some $50 million and even if his successor doesn’t quite get the $100 million that Kelly got overall, he’ll get pretty darn close. And as Woodward enters the most competitive environment for hiring a head coach in college football history he’ll hear his top choices say something like, “If you want me to win bigger than Brian Kelly did you’ll have to give me more NIL money than he had.”
It’s tricky – and really, really expensive.
Speaking of attractive head coaching candidates Tulane fans have been treated to two in a row. The Green Wave held on to Willie Fritz for nine seasons before Houston lured him to a power conference program.
Now other power conference programs – perhaps including the one in Baton Rouge – will undoubtedly have interest in Jon Sumrall.
It would be a real treat for Green Wave fans to see their team play in another American Athletic Conference championship game, maybe in another major bowl, maybe even in the CFP.
It’s all possible.
But the tricky part is that the more success that Tulane has, the harder it will be to fend off Sumrall’s suitors.
Sumrall sure sounds like a coach who loves his job and his city and has no interest in leaving either.
So did Fritz – until he got an offer he couldn’t refuse.
The biggest sporting treat in October is the World Series, and we’ve got ourselves a beauty.
It’s easy to see the Los Angeles Dodgers and their gazillion dollar payroll as an evil empire. But even that is offset by the singular brilliance and elegance of Shohei Ohtani.
It’s a David vs. Goliath story – at least as much of one as we can have when David has a payroll of almost $300 million
We’re 2-2 and we’re going back to Toronto for at least Game 6 after the Blue Jays’ 6-2 victory Tuesday night.
The Dodgers’ 6-5 victory in 18 innings in Game 3 a night earlier was one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
And now we’re going to have World Series baseball on Halloween in Canada – and maybe even on Nov. 1.
Now that’s an unqualified treat.
Happy Halloween!
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