There will be no Mythical Picks this week for NCAA or NFL football. I don’t know if I will have time to do Mythical Picks next week either.
I am in transit to visit my son and my daughter-in-law and my grandson for this weekend and will attend a family wedding next weekend.
Most likely, I will do rants next Wednesday and next Thursday only.
Stay well, everyone.
Divorce is not funny or fun in any way. I have known too many friends and relatives who have gone through a divorce to dismiss it as merely an annoyance in one’s life. Therefore, I try not to make snarky comments about marriages that are in the process of breaking up unless there is something that seems a bit outré about the situation. Such is the case with the divorce filings between Frank and Jamie McCourt. If the court filings are accurate and if California law applies here, the McCourts are worth $1.2B and the LA Dodgers are worth $800M. That means either the Dodgers get sold to make the 50/50 split of assets work or these two have to work together in some kind of joint manner to own/run the club. That does not look like it will happen easily given some of the demands made by Jamie McCourt in her filing. In addition to monthly payments to her of $488,928, she seeks:
Travel by private jet and five-star hotel accommodations with an unlimited travel budget.
Five business lunches and five business dinners per week.
Access to Dodgers’ team doctors for her and other McCourt family members.
Trust me; that is a greatly abbreviated list. Somehow, I do not think the Dodgers will wind up in any “joint custody” arrangement for very long…
Baseball fans in Chicago believe that the Cubs are cursed by Billy goats and/or just about anything else that might explain why the Cubs have been absent form the World Series since forever. In LA, fans do not just believe – they know for sure – that the Clippers are a cursed franchise. If it can go wrong, it does go wrong. Now comes news that rookie Blake Griffin’s career will get a delayed start because he has a “broken kneecap”. Who put the hex on the Clippers? A consortium of Lord Voldemort, the Wicked Witch of the West and Beelzebub?
Speaking of the NBA, it was only about 6 weeks ago when Cavs’ shooting guard, Delonte West, was arrested for carrying concealed handguns and a shotgun in a guitar case while riding his motorcycle in the DC area. Those charges are still pending. Now, West has been arrested on charges of domestic abuse. OK, folks, we now have a rather routine exacta working here but if he wants to create a really exotic trifecta, Delonte West will have to go outside the “normal range” of athletes’ arrests for his third run in with John Law. Perhaps he can get himself charged with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby…
Last weekend in college football, Nebraska lost to Iowa State in Lincoln Nebraska. They turned the ball over 8 times in the game, which is horrific in itself. To top that, the Cornhuskers turned the ball over 4 times inside the Iowa State 5-yard line. That goes beyond embarrassing…
Two weeks ago, Texas A&M lost to Kansas State by 48 points. Last weekend, Texas A&M beat Texas Tech by 32 points in Lubbock. That goes beyond embarrassing too…
Last year, Missouri was dominant in the Big 12 North and some thought they were BCS bowl game material until Texas showed that was not the case. This year, Missouri is 0-3 in conference play and has been outscored by a cumulative 95-36. That is merely embarrassing…
College football teams that are on a roll this year include:
Cincinnati: The last time the Bearcats went 8-0 to start a season was in 1954
Pitt: They are 7-1 having blown a big lead to lose to NC State. They play Cincinnati down the road.
Iowa: The last time the Hawkeyes were 8-0 in a football season was - - never.
One of the best games this weekend will be USC/Oregon. Looking at the PAC-10, the winner here should be the PAC-10 participant in the BCS bowl series with a shot at being in the championship game. Do not underestimate the Oregon defense this year against a freshman QB…
Remember a couple of years ago when the Raiders hired Tom Walsh to be their offensive coordinator after he had been out of football for a few years and off running a B&B somewhere in Idaho if I remember properly. That did not turn out all that well for the Raiders. Now we have Danny Boy Snyder hiring Sherm Lewis - - initially as a “consultant” - - to be the offensive playcaller if not the actual offensive coordinator. Sherm Lewis had been out of football for a few years calling Bingo games at his local senior center. The nation saw on Monday night how big an improvement that management shuffle was for the Redskins on the field.
Memo to Danny Boy Snyder: How can you think that this move can turn out to be anything better than “The Great Leap Sideways”?
Do you actually believe that your Fairy Godmother is going to show up at FedEx Field later this year and wave her magic wand and turn this pumpkin of a squad into a competent football team? Because that is what it is going to take…
Greg Cote had a comment about another NFL woebegone franchise in the Miami Herald:
“New England-Tampa Bay on Sunday marks the third consecutive year for an NFL regular-season game in London. We are trying to expose Brits to the best that American football has to offer. And, yet, sent the Bucs anyway!”
No discussion of stinkitude in the NFL this season can be complete without a mention of the Cleveland Browns. Just consider some stats for the team about halfway through the 20090 season:
Browns are 31st in the league on offense and 32nd in the league in defense. In case you forgot, there are 32 teams in the NFL…
Browns are 31st in the league in first downs made and 31st in the league in first downs allowed.
Derek Anderson’s QB rating is 40.6. To put perspective on that, Raiders’ QB, JaMarcus Russell, has a QB rating of 47.2.
On third down, Derek Anderson’s stat line reads, 17-50 with 1 TD and 5 INTs.
What makes those last two “bullet items” even worse is that with such pathetic performance by Anderson, Brady Quinn cannot even sniff the field on Sunday.
About a week ago, I commented on Josh McDaniels and Jim Caldwell beginning their head coaching careers in the NFL with long unbeaten streaks. I got a note from a reader in Houston, TX who is a font of historical statistical information. Here is the text of his note in its entirety:
“Speaking of McDaniels and Caldwell being undefeated, the last head coach to begin his career with a longer regular-season winning streak was Wally Lemm, who began his career with a 10-game winning streak for the 1961 Oilers (9-0 regular season) and the 1962 Cardinals (won opening game). (Lemm’s Oilers also won the AFL Championship Game after the 1961 season.)”
Finally, here is another comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:
“I saw the headline, ‘Skateboarding pioneer Andy Kessler dies.’ There is something odd about the phrase ‘skateboarding pioneer.’ It’s sort of like calling someone a ‘hula hoop legend.’ “
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When the sports world gives me a mishmash of items, I write a disjointed rant with lots of unconnected stuff.
The NBA season started on Tuesday night. The wild acclaim that you heard on a nationwide basis to accompany this momentous event was easily equivalent to the sound of a bird’s chirp at a distance of 2 miles. The beginning of the NBA regular season juxtaposed with the upcoming debate and voting on health care reform leads me to ask a fundamental question here:
If I get sick because I have watched too much of an early season NBA game, am I going to be covered?
Speaking of the start of the NBA season, the league and the union representing its referees finally reached an agreement on a new contract. Dwight Perry summed up the situation regarding the officiating of NBA games quite nicely in the Seattle Times:
“How hard could it be for the NBA to find 60 replacement refs?
“Easy, said syndicated columnist Norman Chad: ‘You just need 59 guys who make calls that favor the biggest stars, and one guy who bets on games and provides gamblers with inside information.’ “
Having mentioned health care reform above, that reminds me that then-candidate for President Obama came out foursquare in favor of a college football playoff system and said he would “throw his weight around” once in office to see what he could do about it. As with far too many issues, it is far easier to talk about this one on the campaign trail and in the afterglow that lingers during a transition time than it is to actually do something constructive about it. The President has not thrown his weight around; nothing significant has changed here. Paraphrasing an important question asked during the Jewish Passover Seder ceremony:
Why should this issue be different from all other issues?
However, I am a patriotic American and I want to help my President and my government to do the right thing; therefore, I offer this plan to move away from the current BCS system to a collegiate football playoff system for Division 1-A schools:
President Obama send letters to the NCAA and the BCS mavens informing them of some upcoming legislation that will be sent to the Congress on Feb 1 2010. That legislation will tax all profits made by athletic programs at colleges and universities in the US and a special section of the IRS will be directed to audit every athletic program in the US with revenues more than $10M every other year. With rising deficits, this is a “government revenue enhancer”.
Schools can get a tax credit on these profits dollar for dollar when they cut the salaries paid to head coaches in the “revenue sports”. Any coach whose contract is in excess of $1M per year – including all imputed income by the standard IRS definitions – will cost the athletic program an equivalent amount as a special luxury tax.
In addition to that legislation, the President should tell the NCAA and the BCS that he is directing the DoJ to see how the laws that apply to monopolies, cartels and trusts apply to the NCAA itself and to the BCS entities that put on that series of bowl games. That direction to DoJ will also be delivered on Feb 1, 2010.
There would be two ways for the NCAA and the BCS to avoid such action/scrutiny. First would be to implement an 8-team playoff system that did not exclude what are now referred to as “non-BCS conferences”. Absent such a solution, the second would be for the BCS to implement a new rule and demonstrate that it is being enforced. That rule would forbid any school from playing in a BCS bowl game or championship game unless it can show that a minimum of 67% of the football players who were issued scholarships 5 years prior to the bowl game had graduated from that university with a real bachelor’s degree. No fancy counting rules for kids who transferred or turned pro are allowed; just count the kids who got scholarships and the kids who got degrees. Then do the math…
I think those kinds of suggestions might stir some discussion on the topic - - and if the President would make good on another promise he made about openness in his administration’s governance, he could have the discussions with the NCAA reps and the BCS mavens shown live on C-SPAN. It would probably be the highest rated C-SPAN program ever…
In Buffalo, there is an interesting thing going on. Through 7 games, Terrell Owens has caught a total of 18 passes for 242 yards and 1 TD. Granted, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards have been the QBs throwing the ball in Buffalo; nonetheless, those are meager totals to be sure. Those numbers project to 41 receptions for 553 yards and 2 TDs for the entire season. To call that a mediocre season would be generous; considering that Terrell Owens costs the Bills something in the $6M range, that is a pathetic season. So here is the question that makes this interesting:
Are those numbers a reflection of the mediocrity of the QBs in Buffalo? Or…
Has Terrell Owens’ career gone round the bend very quickly this season?
I personally think it is both of those things in a combination of 70/30 with the majority portion being that Owens’ career is quickly coming to an end.
Despite the fact that Michael Crabtree missed all of training camp and the first five weeks of the NFL season, he played last weekend and caught 5 passes for 56 yards. Those are not eye-popping stats, but some folks here in the DC area have rationalized the lack of on-field productivity for young WRs as being due to the immense learning curve required of players at that position. Compare Michael Crabtree in his first game with:
Malcolm Kelly in his second season has 7 catches for 73 yards in 7 games.
Devin Thomas in his second season has 7 catches for 71 yards (and 1 TD) in 7 games.
Hmmm…
The Bills have three QBs on the roster. Edwards went to Stanford; Fitzpatrick went to Harvard; Hamdan went to Indiana. What Buffalo needs is an amendment to the NFL scoring rules allowing added points based on the combined SAT scores for the QBs on a team’s roster…
Brad Rock had this item in the Deseret Morning News:
“Reports say Mark McGwire will soon be returning to the Cardinals as a hitting coach.
“Imagine what tips a former single-season home run king could give young players.
“On the other hand, he did say he’s not here to talk about the past.”
McGwire will be in the presence of baseball scribes from mid February through at least the first week of October next year. The scribes still have a lot of unanswered questions; McGwire wants to avoid talking about any of that “stuff”. Honk if you think that is going to work out real well…
Finally, a word from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald regarding ads during football games:
“New survey suggests a disproportionate amount of ads airing during NFL games are for alcohol or erectile dysfunction. Maybe if those guys wouldn’t drink so much beer they wouldn’t need those pills.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
This was a weekend where a few teams in the NFL showed themselves to be what they truly are - - miserable excuses for professional football teams. In a league that seeks “parity” with all sorts of interventions like a common draft and a salary cap, in a league that still clings to the idea that “on any given Sunday …”, there are a few teams that are so far below the standard of play that victories for those teams are special events unto themselves. Last weekend demonstrated that fact - - and the Detroit Lions had a BYE week.
The St. Louis Rams lost to the Colts 42-6. It was not that close. I realize that the Colts are an elite team in the league and could hang 42 points on just about anyone. Nevertheless, the Rams were not playing the same game that the Colts were playing. It looked like one of those creampuff college football scheduling quirks where a team at the top of the barrel reaches down to play a game against a team that could not win the game if they were allowed to have 12 players on the field on every snap.
The Tampa Bay Bucs traveled across the ocean to demonstrate their ineptitude on an international scale. At least they scored a touchdown while losing 35-7 to the Pats. Other than that, they showed themselves to be a miserable team.
The KC Chiefs gave up 37 points to the Chargers. One has come to expect far less from the Chargers’ offense these days. At the same time, the Chiefs only managed 7 points against a Chargers’ defense that has come down several pegs from what it was 2 years ago. The Chiefs are a miserable football team.
Aside: Larry Johnson took the opportunity of this loss to “tweet” that his coach never played football in college or in the NFL but that he and his father had done so. Larry Johnson is using the disastrous season in KC to demonstrate that he too belongs in the Pantheon of Pinheads among NFL players. Larry Johnson has been a good running back - - but not nearly good enough for the Chiefs to tolerate this nonsense. He should be at least benched for a game - - if not suspended for a game. Walter Payton could have gotten away with saying that although he had far too much class to do so. Larry Johnson is nowhere near the station in NFL history where he should be immune to punishment for that kind of nonsense.
The Cleveland Browns had better hope they are never sold to a Frenchman. If they play the way they did last weekend and a Frenchman owned them, they would soon come to be known as the Cleveland Merdre. A 31-3 loss to the Packers is bad; playing as if they would not be able to score double digits on a collegiate defense borders on criminal.
Three other teams played so badly last weekend that one has to wonder if they are as bad - - or maybe worse than some of the teams listed above. Consider the Chicago Bears who lost to the Bengals 45-10. The Bears came off their BYE week and supposedly used those two weeks to prepare to play a division-leading opponent. They showed up prepared to play no one. Were the players too focused on their previous successes and thinking they were going to stroll through this game? Were the Bears’ coaches out to lunch in getting the team ready to play here? All one can say is that the Bears showed nothing positive in this loss –- nothing on offense and nothing on defense either.
The Oakland Raiders lost to the Jets 35-0 and benched JaMarcus Russell in the second half. Sadly for Raider fans, there is no beacon of hope on the bench in the guise of a young QB who has the pedigree to lead fans believe he is the one to lead the team out of the abyss. The Raiders put Bruce Gradkowski in at QB. Oh, swell. Raiders’ fans need to come to a stark realization or two:
1. The game has not passed Al Davis by. That convenient and generalized charge allows Raiders’ fans to blame circumstances instead of Al Davis. The old Raiders’ vertical game can still work in the NFL if the right personnel are in place to play that game at a high level. Here is the real problem; Al Davis no longer has the “eye” or the “touch” to identify the talents within the “right personnel” to make that system or any system work well. He drafts wide receivers who simply cannot catch a football; he drafts offensive linemen who are turnstiles in pass protection situations; he drafts QBs who are not very mobile and expects them to play behind those turnstiles and successfully throw the ball to WRs who cannot catch. The game has not passed by Al Davis; Al Davis no longer knows how to identify talent within football players.
2. The rosy future for the Raiders likely lies beyond the date at which Al Davis is “on the other side of the turf” - - so to speak.
Lastly, the Washington Redskins showed up on MNF seemingly with the intent to show everyone who bothered to watch that they are a dispirited and dysfunctional organization. It is not a matter of who calls the plays; Vince Lombardi could call the plays for this team and it would still lose. It is not a matter of assembling players who are widely acknowledged good individual performers at their positions. It is not a matter of coaching experience. It is not a matter of playing the second string or third string QB. The Redskins organization is untenable; it is set up to fail.
The Redskins squad has been assembled by a person or persons who are hugely substandard in their ability to spot talent and also to put together a balanced team without glaring weaknesses. Added to that hugely fundamental flaw, the team is soft as a feather pillow because some of their “star power” players don’t practice all that much during training camp or during weeks in the season. They are always “nicked”. And since all the “star players” are BFFs with the owner and have the owner on speed-dial, there isn’t much that the coaches can do in order to get these guys to be professional in what they do beyond cashing their bloated paychecks. When it comes to “cashing in”, the Redskins’ players are top shelf.
The Detroit Lions were off last weekend and are probably in a position today to look at the landscape as painted last week and realize that they are no longer alone at the bottom rung of the NFL ladder. In fact, the Lions should consider that they have plenty of cover these days. And, maybe the Lions are the team on the way up in this morass. All those other teams really wish they could say that and not have fans around the country snickering as they listen to that hogwash.
Finally, just in case you believe in curses or bad omens or stuff like that, please consider that the Tennessee Titans have not won a football game since the date last year when a couple of their MENSA members stomped on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Terrible Towel”. So what are the Titans supposed to do to reverse the “Towel Curse”? I am sure Cubs’ fans could advise Titans’ fans on things they can do in order to delude themselves into thinking it is the curse and not the team.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
According to a report in this morning’s Washington Post, Donald Fehr will get a severance package worth $11M from MLBPA when he steps down as the Executive Director. I have never been a fan of Donald Fehr. Most of the folks in the media relish taking pot-shots at Bud Selig; I think Donald Fehr is far more to blame for perceived shortcomings of MLB than is Bud Selig.
The players recently voted to approve this severance package. They must have seen this as a “Lifetime Achievement Award” because Donald Fehr and his minions seem to be the main culprits in the leaking of PED abusers’ names from that anonymous testing list in 2003. Scott Ostler summed up that situation succinctly in the SF Chronicle:
“The baseball players’ union made that 2003 survey testing necessary because of its determination to fight any testing. Then the union failed to properly educate the players. Then for the survey testing it signed off on a confusing system the union now seems not to understand. Then the union failed to destroy the “guilty” list when it had a chance. So it’s the media’s fault that some players are having their reputations tarnished unfairly?”
I wish no evil to befall Donald Fehr. Nonetheless, from my perspective his departure from the sporting scene is a case of good riddance.
Sticking with baseball, was anyone really surprised to learn that Manny Ramirez was not in the dugout to see Jimmy Rollins hit his walk-off double in Game 4 of the NLCS? Did it take that reporting to shock you into the realization that Manny Ramirez is not a great teammate? It is a bit surprising that when confronted with the story by the LA media, Manny steadfastly maintained that this was no big deal; I would have thought Scott Boras would have advised him to go into his goofing and jiving mode to deflect some of the criticism there.
Manny Ramirez is going to have to take a pay cut next year if the Dodgers exercise the option they hold on his contract. He will not like that. So, Dodger fans need to prepare themselves for Manny to start being Manny sometime soon - - and by that I mean being the Manny who forced his way out of Boston with asocial behaviors and feigned injuries. The bloom is off the rose in LA…
If you were the Dodgers’ owner(s) and you were going through a divorce that could split assets in a very inconvenient way, which party of the two would be in a position to make a decision as to whether or not to pick up the option on Manny’s contract? This situation could get very interesting. By the way, if that option were not exercised, what other MLB team would bid for Manny’s services in the $22-25M range. Anyone hearing Elton John singing:
M-M-M-Manny and the Mets…
Speaking of the Mets, there are now reports that the Wilpons did not get taken to the cleaners by Bernie Madoff but in fact may have profited to the tune of $48-50M from his Ponzi scheme. That information comes from a lawsuit filed by people who lost money in the “Madoff Mess” and if their assertions hold, the Wilpons may have to forego those profits even though there is no allegation that they were complicit with Madoff in the Ponzi scheme. The Mets mascot really ought to be the old Al Capp character, Joe Btfsplk - - the guy who was so unlucky he did not even have a vowel in his name.
Here is a philosophical question for you to ponder:
Is Manny Ramirez the Terrell Owens of baseball - - or
Vice-versa?
The US men’s soccer team is in the World Cup Tournament to be held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. After finishing second in the Confederations Cup this year – and beating Spain in the process of getting to the final game –, the expectation for the US Team is that it will surpass its rather dismal showing in the 2006 World Cup. Three years ago, the US lost to Ghana and to the Czech Republic in Group Play. The fact that they also played eventual champion, Italy, to a tie did not alter the fact that they had an early departure for home. Next year, they really do need to get out of Group Play and into the elimination round.
Dwight Perry had this soccer item recently in the Seattle Times:
“Liverpool soccer fans were stunned when their team lost 1-0 to Sunderland on a shot that deflected off an unlikely escapee from the stands — a beach ball.
“Soccer historians immediately dubbed it the Sand of God goal.”
The Wall Street Journal is not a source often cited here. Recently, the Journal had a column suggesting that the NFL might want to get rod of domed stadiums because the stadiums confer an advantage to home teams not matched by traditional stadiums. The column cited the undefeated Colts, Saints and Vikings and the undefeated-at-home Falcons to support the idea of a dome advantage.
That sounds good on the surface until you consider also the unassailable fact that the Detroit Lions play their home games in a dome and managed to lose 19 consecutive NFL games in the very recent past. Oh, and the St. Louis Rams have now lost 16 games in a row despite playing in - - you guessed it - - a domed stadium.
Let me be clear. I prefer outdoor football - - and baseball for sure - - to dome venues. Any city that would choose to tear the roof off its domed stadium and turn it into a “regular stadium” will get no argument from me. Nevertheless, I cannot accept the “unfair advantage” argument to bolster my preference here…
It is Quick Quiz time:
1. Which NFL coach will hold his job the longest, Jim Zorn, Dick Jauron or Norv Turner?
2. Will Tom Cable, Wade Phillips and/or John Fox still have their current jobs on March 1, 2010?
Finally, since I quoted Scott Ostler above on one aspect of the steroids-in-baseball-situation, let me use another of his observations related to that issue here:
Gynecomastia is a womanly chest on a male. Those afflicted allegedly include Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez, also known as AA-Rod.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
A subset of these picks will become actual picks sometime on Saturday and it will be perfectly legal. This is my annual weekend visit to Las Vegas and I will spend a lot more time in the sportsbooks than I do at all other Las Vegas activities combined. However, I must confess that this year I have agreed to take a lesson from “The Professor” in craps and to join him in a fling at the table. That confession does not negate my statement that I will spend more time in the sportsbooks than anywhere else - - unless of course “The Professor” and I each win a few grand at the craps table during our fling there…
Last week’s prognostications here stunk like the armpits of a shirt worn by someone who worked in a cheese factory on the hottest day of the summer. The ATS picks were 2-7 taking the season total down to 25-31. Meanwhile, the Over/Under picks were 2-3-1 making the season total for these picks a plain vanilla 15-15-1. Blechhh…
Here are some comments from last week’s Mythical Picks:
I said the Giants/Saints game would be a litmus test for the Giants. The logical conclusion from that statement is that the Saints are definitely acidic because they left the Giants red from the beating they put on “Big Blue”.
Notwithstanding my comments about his lack of on-field success so far this year, JaMarcus Russell led the Raiders to a win over the Eagles last week that should have the Eagles crimson red with embarrassment.
I took the Packers to win and cover 13.5 points against the Lions. They did that and shut out the Lions in the process.
I took the Chiefs with points against the Redskins and said that the Skins should not be 6.5-point favorites against the Helen Keller Middle School. The Chiefs won the game outright and the Redskins never found the end zone against the defense ranked 32nd in the league.
Those last two comments represent the totality of my on-point remarks last week.
I liked the Giants with 3 points against the Saints. Not … even … close… At least I said to take the game OVER; the Saints went OVER all by themselves.
I said I would be surprised if the Browns scored over 13 points against the Steelers. They scored 14; but they covered while I took the Steelers.
I liked Seattle/Arizona to go OVER. I might have had a shot at that pick had the Seahawks’ offense not taken the day off to go grocery shopping.
I said the Pats had not been scoring enough to give 9.5 points away so I took their game UNDER 43.5. The final score was New England 59 and Tennessee 0.
I took the Chargers to win and cover. They did neither.
Just looking at the results from last week, only a dunce would begin to consider taking information here and using it to decide how to deploy one’s actual money on wagers involving NFL football games. In fact, such a person would be so stupid that it would make it very difficult indeed to believe in Intelligent Design…
Comments:
The word is that Michael Crabtree will play this week for the 49ers having had a BYE week to try to figure out what he is supposed to be doing. As his negotiations came down to the nub, MC Hammer attended the final sessions as someone brought along by Crabtree. I have not read what Hammer’s role in any of this was, but I am sure of one thing:
He did not give Mike Singletary any fashion advice that Singletary would follow at any locus in the known universe.
If you look at the play-by-play recap of last week’s Steelers/Browns game, you will come across a 4-minute span in the third quarter in which:
The Browns intercepted a pass…
The Steelers recovered a fumble…
The Browns recovered a fumble…
The Steelers recovered a fumble…
And the Browns recovered yet another fumble.
That’s right; there were five turnovers (four fumbles lost and an interception) in four minutes. NFL Films will likely intersperse clips of the Keystone Kops with that footage…
In horseracing, there is an old adage that a surefire way to win a race is to take your horse to the front and then continue to improve its position at every marker on the track. The Pats adopted the message in that adage in last week’s 59-0 shellacking of the Titans. Even with the Titans at 0-6, the suggestion by the Titans’ owner that this is significantly the fault of Jeff Fisher is colossally stupid - - so stupid that you might think the Titans’ owner were channeling Danny Boy Snyder.
What the Titans have to do right now is to recognize two fundamental realities:
1. They are not going to the playoffs this year.
2. They have a fundamental QB question to which they must have an answer by January 2010.
Kerry Collins is one of the Titans’ QBs and he is 37 years old; he is not the guy to carry this team to the playoffs and maybe to the Super Bowl anymore. Perhaps he can be a backup to play a few games should the “main man” get nicked, but that’s it. Therefore, the Titans have to find out very soon if Vince Young is ever going to make it as an NFL level QB. That question remains unanswered and the final verdict there will be critically important to the Titans as they decide what their team focus and direction will be in the off-season.
Adrian Peterson has played in 36 NFL games. In 18 of those games, he has gained 100 yards or more rushing. Not bad…
When Jets’ fans stop focusing on the fact that Mark Sanchez had not played in a football game in cold weather conditions prior to last weekend, they might want to focus on the fact that the Jets lost a game to the mediocre Buffalo Bills even though the Bills had to go to their backup QB – Ryan Fitzpatrick – for much of the game. Forget meteorological angles; that simple fact is not a good omen for Jets’ fans….
The Washington Redskins should be designated as the NFL Welcome Wagon Team for 2009. The Skins gave Lions’ coach, Jim Schwartz, his first win ever. The Skins gave Chiefs’ coach, Todd Haley, his first win ever. In fact, the Redskins have a history of doing that for new coaches. There was this guy who went 1-15 in his rookie year as an NFL coach; the only team he could find a way to beat was the Washington Redskins in a Monday night game. You may remember him from tales of NFL lore; his name was Jimmy Johnson.
Let me go on record here, three months in advance of the Super Bowl game:
If the Saints and Colts are in the Super Bowl, I want OVER.
The Games:
SF at Houston – 3 (44): Much more important than the arrival of Michael Crabtree for the Niners is the return to action of Frank Gore at RB. With a BYE week behind them, that means they have had to listen to Mike Singletary harp on their embarrassing loss to the Falcons for two weeks now - - and that cannot have been a fun environment. Look at the Niners’ schedule and you will see that they actually need this game. Upcoming games against the likes of the Colts, Packers and Eagles on the road and a home game against Chicago are hardly “gimmees”. I like the Niners to win this game outright, so I will take them with the points. And, because the Texans’ offense is a good one, I’ll also take this game OVER.
San Diego – 5 at KC (44.5): Even though they won in Washington last week, the Chiefs’ OL gave up 4 sacks and allowed Matt Cassell to be hit more than a few times. The Chargers defense seemed incapable of putting any real rush on a passer on Monday night against the Broncos. This will be a test for the Chargers; if they do not get a couple of sacks and lots of hits on Cassell, you can officially stick a fork in them. I do not particularly like either side in this game but since I said I would make a pick in each game, I’ll take the game UNDER.
Indy – 13 at St. Louis (45): Shop this line if you like the Rams; you can find it as high as 14 in a couple of sportsbooks. The Rams are in a position to lose their 17th game in a row this weekend. Having seen the Rams’ pass defense, I cannot imagine them holding the Colts below 27 points. I can see the Colts holding the Rams to 10 points. The Colts’ front seven on Quaaludes would put more heat on a passer than the Rams’ front seven would on amphetamines. I’ll take Indy and lay the points.
New England – 15 vs. Tampa Bay (45): This is the annual NFL London game. The weather forecast is for rain on Friday and Saturday and then windy on Sunday. At first glance, that should not help the Pats passing game. However, the Bucs’ lack of a pass rush should more than make up for the weather conditions; after all, the Pats found a way to score 59 points in a snowstorm last week, so weather does not seem to be an immediate disqualifying condition for them. The Bucs are a bad football team that deserves mention in the same discussion with the Rams, Lions and Browns. They have two inexperienced QBs and one experienced QB; the problem is that the experienced QB is not very good so the Bucs are hurting at QB. Mythically, I’ll take the Pats and lay the ton of points here - - because mythically I cannot lose any actual dollars.
Minnesota at Pittsburgh – 4 (45): Clearly, this is the best game of the weekend. It might even be a Super Bowl preview; both teams have a legitimate shot at being in uniform at Landshark Stadium in Miami in February. The Vikes’ defense came apart at the seams last week against the Ravens once Antoine Winfield had to leave the game. As I am writing this, there is no indication that he will play on Sunday. The most encouraging news there is that the Vikes did not make a trade for a CB by the trade deadline this week indicating to me that Winfield is not done for the season even though the replays of his injury make you want to look away. The Steelers can and will throw the ball against anyone; if the Vikes’ defense represents damaged goods, that cannot be a good sign for the folks in the Twin Cities. I like the Steelers to win and cover here.
Green Bay – 7 at Cleveland (41.5): Coming off a shutout win over the Lions, at first glance this game looks like another walk in the park for the Packers. However, looking at the schedule, you will notice that the Packers have a return date next week with the Minnesota Vikings back home at Lambeau Field. There would be no surprise here if the Packers’ players had that game in mind as they took the field this Sunday. And if the Packers OL is distracted or unfocused even a little bit, that could spell a lot of trouble for Aaron Rodgers. The Packers won handily last week, but the Lions – as in the Detroit Lions – sacked Rodgers five times in the game. I think the Browns are a dismal football team so I cannot see them exploiting the Packers’ OL or the Packers’ less than stellar defense in any grand way. Oh, and there are reports now that a flu is running through the Browns’ team curtailing practice sessions - - but with Eric Mangini at the helm, even that may be false or exaggerated information. Recall that the Packers winning record so far this year has come at the expense of two miserable teams (Rams and Lions). I trust neither of these teams as far as I can throw a piano; for mythical purposes only, I’ll take the Browns at home with the points.
Buffalo at Carolina (no lines): You do not know who will play QB for the Bills; that is why there is no line. Unfortunately for the Panthers’ fans, they know exactly who will play QB for the Panthers. If Trent Edwards actually suffered his second concussion in a year as reported - - there is always the possibility that announcement was made to conceal a real injury to his lower body - - the Bills would be nuts to let him play. I am assuming here that Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the QB on Sunday for the Bills and I am assuming that he will be the better QB on the field. No matter; the Bills’ run defense is not stellar and the Panthers should be able to control the game on the ground. I look for Carolina to win by 7-10 points and for the game total to be under 40.
Jets – 6 at Oakland (35): The Jets won their first three games; then they lost the next three games. Oakland stunk out the joint for the first month of the season; then they beat a good Eagles’ team outright last week as 14-point underdogs. If you can figure this game out, you can probably also square the circle. Historically, the Jets do not play well in Oakland but this game is happening in the present and not in the past. Here is what is going on in the present; the Jets have a rematch with the Miami Dolphins upcoming next weekend. The Raiders could easily be an afterthought. No way will I have any coin of the realm on this game this weekend, but mythically, I’ll take the Raiders with the points.
Chicago at Cincy – 1.5 (41.5): There are loads of angles in this game. Cedric Benson gets to play against his old club - - the one that jettisoned him after several less than productive seasons in Chicago. Jay Cutler gets to show off his new contract extension. Chad Ochocinco has said he will spin the Bears’ CBs around like a top. Devin Hester may actually catch a long TD pass one of these months so Sunday might be that day. Both teams sport winning records at the moment; neither team is “scary good”. Purely a hunch; I’ll take the Bears with the points.
Atlanta at Dallas – 4 (47.5): Both teams can run the ball well; neither team excels at stopping the run. That would lead me to believe that this will be a fast game where the clock runs a lot and the score is low. I’ll take the game UNDER.
New Orleans – 7 at Miami (47): If the Dolphins defense can keep the scoring down to the point where the Over/Under wager is not in the books by the end of the third quarter, then the Dolphins have a shot at winning the game outright. The only way for them to do that is to shorten the game and run the ball effectively. Miami is third in the AFC East at the moment; losing here could put them in a bad way with two road games in the division on tap for the next two weeks. I like the Dolphins at home with a full TD’s worth of points.
Arizona at Giants – 7 (46): Just a guess, but the Giants did not have a happy week of practice with lots of lighthearted banter back and forth among players and coaches. Arizona manhandled the Seahawks last weekend; they do not figure to do that with the Giants – particularly at Giants Stadium and on a national Sunday night telecast. Unless Eli Manning is seriously injured such that the offense cannot operate efficiently, I think the Giants will romp and stomp here. I’ll take the Giants and lay the points.
Philly – 7 at Washington (38): Will the Eagles throw in another clunker this week? If so, the Skins can win the game outright. Will the Skins be “unpredictable” with someone new calling the plays or will their offensive unit be completely discombobulated? Last week, fans chanted to the owner’s box, “Sell The Team”. What will it be this week:
“Can The Dan”?
“Snyder Sucks”?
“Dump The Dwarf”?
Alternatively, will Fed Ex Field have as many Eagles’ fans in green as it does Skins’ fans in burgundy so that none of this matters? I have no idea which of these myriad possibilities will come to pass but I do see this as a low scoring game so I’ll take the game to go UNDER.
Delaware Dabbling:
Last week’s four Delaware Dabbling picks were perfect - - in a perverse sort of way. I got all four of them wrong. Trust me; that is as difficult to do as getting all four correct…
I will be taking a scheduled airline flight to get to Las Vegas this weekend - - but if anyone were to have access to a magic carpet and used that access to get to the great State of Delaware for the purpose of playing their parlay cards, here are four picks that one might play in such a magically mythical scenario:
Pittsburgh – 4
Giants – 7
Indy – 13
Chi + 1.5
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
This week’s iteration of NCAA Mythical Picks has to use early week lines on the games and less information in injury reports than usual. The reason is that I am making my Annual Autumnal Pilgrimage to Las Vegas this weekend and have to get these done earlier than usual.
The Linfield College Wildcats are not satisfied with the assurance that they will have a winning football season for the 54th consecutive year. Last week, they took their record to 6-0 by annihilating Lewis and Clark College 59-14. The score was 28-0 with time left in the first quarter. This week, Linfield travels to Salem, Oregon to play Willamette College – the defending Northwest Conference champion and a team that has beaten Linfield the last three seasons. Both teams are undefeated in conference play this year. A place in the Division III playoffs could be at stake here. Go Wildcats!
Here are some notes related to last week’s NCAA Mythical Picks:
I said I thought Arkansas would have trouble getting “past the mid-teens” in scoring against Florida last week. Final Score: Florida 23 Arkansas 20.
I liked South Florida with the points against Cincinnati. Ooops.
I liked Pitt/Rutgers UNDER. The teams obliged.
I liked Oklahoma with 3.5 points. The hook got me the win there.
I liked Iowa/Wisconsin UNDER 48.5. This game was UNDER by more than 2 TDs.
I liked Ohio State to win and cover 13.5 points against Purdue. Ohio State lost the game by 8 points. BIG Ooops.
I liked Texas Tech/Nebraska to go OVER 59.5. They missed that target by 19 points. Ooops.
I liked Va Tech to win and cover 3 points against Ga Tech. They neither won nor covered. Ooops.
I liked San Diego State with the points against BYU. State covered even though they lost.
I liked Alabama/South Carolina to go UNDER 46.5. They scored all of 26 points.
I liked Navy/SMU to go OVER 56. Final score: Navy 38 SMU 35.
Despite some apparent success in the selections above, it would take a truly stupid person to use any information here as the basis for selecting a side to back in a real wager on college football this weekend. How stupid, did you ask? Well, you would probably believe that male zebras are the ones with the black stripes and female zebras are the ones …
General Comments:
Ohio State lost to USC this year. There is no shame in that. However, they won a game against Wisconsin in which they were dominated for most of the game and used turnovers to win the game. Then last week, they lost to a bad Purdue football team. So, riddle me this: How did they stay in the Top 25 in the polls this week? Perhaps the voters in those polls are going on “name value” and “history” instead of 2009 performance on the field?
By the way, has the Ohio State coaching staff improved Terrelle Pryor’s throwing mechanics even 1% yet? I don’t think so…
Now that we are near the halfway part of the college football season, it is time to look at four teams that have been very pleasant surprises for their fans/alums. In alphabetical order:
Idaho has been a doormat for a while now; their last winning season was in 1999. They are now bowl-eligible and it is still October.
Miami started out the season with four games against ranked teams. They could have gone 0-4 and into the tank; they went 3-1 and are ranked in the Top 10.
SMU has been horrible since getting the NCAA “Death Penalty” in the 1980s. They are 3-3 now.
Wyoming just plain stunk last year. This year they are 4-3.
In terms of teams that have disappointed their fans and alums, there is really one team that stands out in that category sufficiently that I shan’t make a list:
Florida State began the year in the Top 20 in most polls - - adding evidence to the lack of value in such early season polling. Their record now is 2-4 and they are 0-3 in a truly mediocre ACC. By the way, if you chance to look at the FSU schedule, four of their final six games are road games…
Penn State shut out Minnesota last weekend. Joe Paterno has been the head coach at Penn State for a tad over 40 years and that was the 40th time Penn State has shut out an opponent under JoePa’s tutelage. I continue to believe that Penn State is not as good as the polls make them out to be but the defense is good - - as usual.
I said before that folks needed to pay more attention to Florida’s defense and stop fawning all over Tim Tebow. The first part of the Florida schedule was a joke; ignore all those gaudy offensive numbers for a moment. Against Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas, Florida has not averaged 20 points per game - - but they won all three. The Florida defense did that.
Two years ago, Illinois was in the Rose Bowl - - where they were hammered but that’s not the point - - and sophomore QB, Juice Williams, was the guy who led them there. It looked then as if Ron Zook had brought the Illinois program back to relevance. So, what happened? Juice Williams was benched this year; Ron Zook is 19-35 overall at Illinois; the Illini lost by 2 TDs to Indiana last week.
The last time Temple won 4 consecutive football games was 24 years ago; Ronald Reagan was President. Last week, Temple beat Army for their fourth straight win this year. Just a week before that, Army had beaten Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt – in addition to losing to Army – has played 4 games in the SEC and has averaged 7.25 points per game there. That is not a formula for success.
Three Big 12 teams provided negative surprises last week.
Nebraska lost at home by 3 TDs to Texas Tech. Losing to Texas Tech is not an embarrassment, but by 21 points and at home…?
Kansas lost to a truly mediocre Colorado team last weekend. Sheesh!
Texas A&M lost to Kansas State 62-14 after trailing 59-0 in the third quarter. To put perspective on that game, Kansas State lost to Texas Tech two weeks ago by 52 points. Yuck!!
Georgia Tech beat Va Tech last week even though the Yellow Jackets only completed one pass in the entire game. They ran for 309 yards against the Va Tech defense…
Rick Neuheisel came to UCLA to revive what had come to be seen as a dull and second-fiddle program in SoCal. Notwithstanding that perception, UCLA had been to bowl games for five consecutive years – albeit not major bowl games. Last year, UCLA was “home for the holidays”; and at 3-3 this year, they are hardly a mortal lock to go to a bowl game in 2009.
Oklahoma has lost three games this year. All of them have been close games; Sam Bradford has not played the whole game in any of the losses; all of the losses have been away games. [Yes, I know that the Red River Rivalry game is played at a neutral site. Nevertheless, it was not in Norman, Oklahoma.]
USC hosts Oregon State this week in a big revenge game given what Oregon State did to USC last year. The game provides a reason to look at some arcane stats:
USC leads this series by a commanding 58-10-4 record. However, Oregon State has won two of the last three games.
USC has won 46 of their last 47 games at home in the Coliseum.
On the other hand, USC has not won a football game of any kind in the State of Oregon since 2005.
The Ponderosas:
There was only one Ponderosa Spread game last week. Florida did not come close to covering in that game.
The record for favorites covering Ponderosa Spreads this year now stands at 13-20.
This week, we have 4 Ponderosa Spread games. Interestingly, the favorite is on the road for 3 of those games:
Washington State at Cal – 34.5 (56): Cal has been good at times and Cal has been bad at times this year. Washington State has pretty much been bad for the last couple of years…
Florida – 24 at Mississippi State (48.5): About once a year, the Bulldogs pull a huge game out of their “helmets” against a superior SEC team and it is always a game in Starkville. Just saying…
Fresno State – 24 at New Mexico (54.5): Fresno State is a decent team. New Mexico is a SHOE team…
Boise State – 25 at Hawaii (57.5): Boise State is ranked such that it will get a BCS bowl invitation if they can stay where they are. Hawaii is not a highly regarded team so Boise State needs a convincing win.
The SHOE Teams:
I will continue to list candidates for my ten worst teams alphabetically for the time being. There are still embarrassing losses to come from teams on this list. Here are this week’s contenders for the putative SHOE (Steaming Heap Of Excrement) Tournament:
Akron 1-5
Ball State 0-7
Eastern Michigan 0-6
Fl Atlantic 1-4
Fl Int’l 1-5
Miami (Oh) 0-7
New Mexico 0-6
North Texas 1-5
Rice 0-7
W. Kentucky 0-6
Big name schools that are knocking on the door to get onto this list include Illinois, Washington State, Maryland and Vandy…
Games of Interest:
Rutgers – 10 at Army (40): I agree this will be a low scoring game; and in those circumstances, I usually take the dog with the points. However, Army relies on running the ball and even though Rutgers was gashed by Pitt’s running game last week, Army is not likely to do anything similar this week. Make no mistake, I do not think Rutgers is a very good team, but I think they can win and cover this number comfortably.
Minnesota at Ohio State – 17.5 (43.5): Minnesota did not score last week at Penn State; they should not score very much this week in Columbus. If Ohio State does not find a way to put points up against Minnesota, the natives could start to get restless. This smells like a huge blowout win for Ohio State - - assuming that Terrelle Pryor really is a blue-chip player and not an over-hyped prospect…
Illinois at Purdue – 10 (53.5): Purdue is not a good team; Illinois appears to be close to a SHOE team. Do not bet on this game…
Arkansas at Ole’ Miss – 5.5 (53): Jevan Snead has also been underwhelming as a QB this year for Ole’ Miss, but he has a chance to get well here against a defense that does not always show up. After last week’s big effort against Florida, my guess is that the Arkansas defense never gets off the team bus. The Rebels win and cover here…
Iowa State at Nebraska – 17.5 (52): Nebraska will play better this week than last week. Even losing to Texas Tech last week, they held a high-powered offense to less than 300 yards of offense and 31 points. Iowa State presents no such challenge. Nebraska wins and covers here.
Ball State – 3 at Eastern Michigan (47): Check the SHOE listing above. Ball State is 0-7; they are on the road and they are a 3-point favorite. Eastern Michigan is also on the list at 0-6. It is not a guarantee that the winner will come off that list next week. Under no circumstances should you wager on this game.
Maryland at Duke – 5.5 (55.5): It surely has been a while since Maryland has been an underdog to Duke in a football game. Here are two mercurial football teams - - neither of which is all that good. Do not bet on this game.
Penn State – 4.5 at Michigan (48.5): Purely a hunch, but I like Michigan with the points here…
Akron at Syracuse – 10.5 (47): Akron is a SHOE team this week. Syracuse is not far off that list. Do not bet on this game.
Oregon – 10 at Washington (52): Oregon wins the PAC-10 if they win out - - but that means they have to beat USC next week to do that. This is a rivalry game to be sure, but Oregon might just be thinking about USC as much as Washington this week. As a venue call, I like the Huskies with the points.
Tennessee at Alabama – 15 (44): This will be a low scoring game and that line is too fat for a low scoring contest. I like Tennessee with the points here and I think the game will indeed go UNDER.
Oklahoma – 7.5 at Kansas (53.5): Assuming Sam Bradford does not play, I like Kansas with the points here.
Air Force at Utah – 9.5 (41): This will be a low scoring game and that line is too fat for a low scoring contest. I like Air Force with the points here.
Temple at Toledo – 3 (54.5): Temple is going to win their fifth in a row here. I’ll take them with the points as gravy. In addition, I do not see this game getting near the 50s as a total so I like the game to go UNDER too.
Iowa at Michigan State “pick ‘em” (43.5): I am not in love with either team here, but I do think Iowa is the superior team. They have gotten plenty of breaks this year so the worm will turn one of these days. I will assume this is not the week and take Iowa to win here.
Florida International at Arkansas State – 11 (56.5): FIU is a SHOE Team this week; Arkansas State did not make the list but they were under consideration… Do not bet on this game.
TCU – 2.5 at BYU (50): This game is the battle of the “TLAs”. What is a “TLA”? Why of course it is a Three-Letter Acronym. Last year, TCU took BYU out of BCS contention with a win at home. Will BYU “return the favor” this year? I think so. I like TCU to win and cover.
Texas – 13 at Missouri (50.5): The best way for Texas to be sure of playing in the BCS Championship game is to win every week. They got past OU last week; they need to stay focused and continue to win. They should to that against Missouri this week.
Oregon State at USC – 21 (50.5): Talk about a “revenge game”… However, USC is not a high-flying offense this year. I do not like them laying 3 TDs here and I do not like Oregon State. I’ll watch the game with no financial interests at stake.
Finally, here is a college football observation from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:
“Marc Siegel, Virginia Tech’s football team physician, was charged with felony property damage after police say he damaged a colleague’s vehicle in a hospital parking lot, the Roanoke Times reported.
“Though defense lawyers are trying to plea-bargain it down to 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
Today marks the anniversary of a unique NFL event. On this date in 1973, Fred Dryer playing defensive end for the LA Rams recorded two safeties in the same game. Actually, they came on two consecutive possessions by the Green Bay Packers in that game. You would probably not be shocked to learn that the Rams won the game that day.
I used that bit of NFL history as a way to segue to an idea that I have for the Rams’ team of 2009. This 2009 iteration of the squad is pretty awful; there are plenty of empty seats for their games; lots of merchandise has gone unsold. And so, I am going to suggest another of my marketing ideas - - proving that I never took a marketing course in my life - - to try to rev up interest in the team and to loosen up a few wallets in the St. Louis area. Here is how it goes:
1. The team introduces a new mascot. It is not a “Ram”; rather, it is a female ovine creature.
2. Playing to fan predilections regarding the team, they name the new mascot “P-Ewe”.
3. They sell “P-Ewe Dolls” by the bazillions…
The NFL has decided that it does not want Rush Limbaugh as part of its ownership fraternity. I am not going to get into any arguments here about whether or not he is a “victim” in that decision nor whether the NFL has allowed people with lesser reputations in as owners in the past (can anyone spell Leonard Tose?). What I want to suggest is that the fans of the Washington Redskins are pretty fed up with Danny Boy Snyder as their team’s owner and I want to pose this question seriously:
In a free choice, would Redskins’ fans trade Danny Boy for Rush Limbaugh as their owner tomorrow? Washington DC is hardly a “red state”. Nonetheless, I am not sure how that “referendum” would turn out…
Speaking of Redskins’ fans – a group of people as a whole who seem to think they are entitled to winning football every year – their moans and cries of anguish need to be put into perspective. The Redskins have not been champions since 1992 but they have had some winning seasons and they have had playoff appearances.
Memo to Redskins’ Fanboys: Get over yourselves. Imagine how it must be to be Pittsburgh Pirates fans over the same time period.
Do you believe in genetics? If not, consider this set of facts.
Henry Hynoski is a good sophomore blocking fullback for Pitt who can also carry the ball when needed.
Henry’s father was a fullback at Temple about 30 years ago.
His sister was a college basketball player.
One of his uncles – probably a grand-uncle – played major league baseball in the 1930s.
He has two “cousins” who also played college football in the 1950s and 1960s.
Might I suggest that there are “athletic genes” that are running through that family?
The Florida State academic fraud scandal - - the one that looks as if it might cost Bobby Bowden 14 wins on his coaching record - - has had new information come to light. Based on “Freedom of Information” requests – or whatever they are called in Florida parlance – Florida State released hundreds of pages of documents that were related to the NCAA investigation into the matter. Forget for a moment whether or not Bobby Bowden should or should not lose those wins from his record; focus on the events that transpired within Florida State UNIVERSITY, an institution presumably still interested to a degree in higher education:
1. A “learning specialist” who worked with the team said that she tutored some FSU athletes whose reading level was second grade. Yes, those players were victims to some degree of the school systems that passed them through their grades; but still, there is not much rationale for an institution of higher learning to admit these young men to said institution if they are still only able to read Dr. Seuss books. After all, some professor might accidentally assign them Dr. Zhivago.
2. According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, FSU President, T.K. Weatherell, committed to paper an opinion to the effect that “We don’t really believe they cheated. They got inappropriate help.”
3. If you ever needed an example of a distinction without a difference, all you need to remember is T.K. Wetherell’s statement here…
Maybe this is merely coincidental, but since the Cleveland Browns got rid of Braylon Edwards, their QB, Derek Anderson, has only completed 11 out of 41 pass attempts. Lest anyone conclude that I think that Braylon Edwards is some kind of transcendent player who should never have been traded, please note that the Jets have gone 0-2 since they added the services of Edwards to their 2009 endeavors…
With the Broncos win last night, Josh McDaniels has won the first six games of his NFL coaching career. Mike Martz did that when he inherited the reigning Super Bowl champions. I do not know if anyone else ever did that - - and I am too lazy to do the research to check it out. Nonetheless, Colts rookie head coach, Jim Caldwell, has won his first 5 games this year and had a bye week last week. Therefore, he could match McDaniels and Martz next week…
Richmond Virginia will have a new AA baseball team next spring. They decided to name the team the Richmond Flying Squirrels. What’s up with that? Also under consideration as a team name was the Richmond Rhinos. So, what is the connection between “Richmond” and “Rhinoceroses” other than alliteration? Do they have one in their zoo?
Finally, here is Dwight Perry’s comment from the Seattle Times regarding the Richmond Flying Squirrels:
“Richmond’s new AA baseball franchise will be called the Flying Squirrels.
“So when is Rocky Colavito and Moose Skowron Night?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
The St. Louis Rams are going exactly nowhere on offense this year. They have played Marc Bulger at QB; they have played Kyle Boller at QB; and the Rams score about as frequently as The Elephant Man. The third string QB on the depth chart is a guy from West Texas A&M named Keith Null. So, here is my question:
If the Rams decide to find out if Keith Null can actually play at the NFL level and start him at QB and if the Rams score no points in that game, would I be wrong to conclude that the Rams’ offense is officially:
Null and Void?
After Sunday’s loss to the KC Chiefs, Redskins’ head coach Jim Zorn was “relieved of his play-calling duties” ostensibly so he could focus on coaching the QBs and on sideline game management. Absent a miraculous change in fortunes for the Skins, this is a prelude to Zorn’s firing sometime between next weekend and January 4, 2010 - - the day after this NFL regular season ends. The bigger question is who made the decision to “strip” Jim Zorn of these duties. The official announcement said that it came from a meeting between Zorn and Vinny Cerrato – the team’s nominal GM.
You would have to conclude that this came from higher up in the organization than Zorn himself - - someone who would be significantly complicit in assembling the players that make up the roster that made this decision thinkable in the first place. That would pretty much reduce the universe of possibilities to Vinny Cerrato and Little Danny Boy Snyder himself. If it was Danny Boy, then he was a weasel in that he did not think it was necessary or even courteous to do this in person. If that is the case, he sent his lackey, Vinny Cerrato - - aka The World’s Most Uninteresting Man - - to do the job.
Lest you think this could not possibly be the way it went down, allow me to recall for you just how Jim Zorn was hired in the first place. When Joe Gibbs threw up his hands and resigned as the head coach of the Skins, Danny Boy and Vinny set out to find a replacement. Rather than focus on getting a head coach who might then assemble his coaching staff, they saw that Gibbs had signed all of his assistants to contracts that were longer than the one he had, so the team owed those 20 or so guys a pot-load of money. They did not fire lots of them but they did go out and hire an offensive coordinator on their own before they had a head coach. That guy was Jim Zorn and it was a promotion for him; he had never been a coordinator before; he had been the QBs coach for the Seattle Seahawks.
After lots of fits and starts and plenty of opportunities for Danny Boy to see his name in the paper as he “searched” for a head coach, it started to become clear that coaches with top shelf résumés were not interested in:
a. Taking a job where the staff was already in place without their input - - and
b. Working in an environment where the folks “upstairs” would think that was even remotely like a good idea.
And so, Vinny and Danny elevated Jim Zorn not just to offensive coordinator, they made him the head coach AND the offensive coordinator. Oh, and he was the QBs coach too. Now, a year and a half later, they come to the conclusion that this guy is swamped and perhaps a tad over his head. What they don’t seem to be yet ready to admit is that the roster of overpaid and pampered players they assembled might be able to win 9 games in a season with a top shelf coach - - no more than that. But now that they have interfered with the team in yet another novel way, they are making it even more difficult for them to hire a top shelf coach next January without alienating other NFL owners by setting a salary scale for coaches that is even more ridiculous than the one in place today.
At the moment, I am willing to put some of the blame on Vinny and some on Danny Boy for the mess the franchise is in. Danny Boy is the meddling owner who does not know his ass from a kicking tee when it comes to football; Vinny is the sycophantical enabler.
I mentioned above that the Skins’ roster is made up of overpaid pampered guys. Think about this; a few years ago, Randy Moss – still with the Vikes - left the sidelines of a game in which the Vikings trailed with about 4 seconds to play. He was excoriated for that; it showed what an egomaniac he was; it showed he was not a “team guy”. Anyone remember that? Well, in yesterday’s loss to the Chiefs, Albert “The $100-million Man” Haynesworth left the team on the sideline and reportedly “sprinted” to the clubhouse before the game was over. Anyone want to bet that someone in the Skins’ organization chewed his ass out? I doubt that. The Skins’ organization is the one that puts the “dys” in “dysfunctional”.
The Bears lost to the Falcons in the Sunday Night Football game by a TD. If you want to know why the Bears lost, just check out their “Red Zone Productivity”:
Trip #1: Threw an interception.
Trip #2: Scored a TD.
Trip # 3: Lost a fumble. (Actually, they fumbled twice on consecutive running plays inside the 1-yard line. Sheesh!)
Trip #4: Turned the ball over on downs.
Now that the Jets have lost three games in a row - - after starting the season with three straight wins - - is it possible that Rex Ryan is not as smart or as clever as he thinks he is and proclaims that he is? Alternatively, is it possible that Mark Sanchez perhaps is not the second coming of John Unitas…? Given the NY media, I wonder how long before someone there starts asking those kinds of questions…
Finally, here is something from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times regarding a stadium promotional event:
“NBC’s Conan O’Brien, on free prostate exams at Yankee Stadium: ‘Of course, fans felt a little cheated because the Yankees advertised it as Glove Night.’ “
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
It must have been NFC East Bed-Wetting Weekend; did I miss the memo? The NY Giants took their undefeated record to New Orleans to play the similarly undefeated Saints. When two good teams meet, one should expect a close and interesting game. But not on NFC East Bed-Wetting Weekend. It was never close; the Saints scored 48 points on a Giants’ team that had only been allowing 14 points per game against lesser opponents. I mention that game first because it was the least embarrassing game for the NFC East yesterday.
Here in the DC area, NFL watchers got to see the other two games of NFC East Bed-Wetting Weekend as our weekly NFL fare. In the early game, the Washington Redskins lost to the KC Chiefs 14-6. No, the Chiefs did not score two TDs; they scored 4 FGs and a safety; the Skins managed two field goals. The Chiefs entered the game having lost 28 of their last 30; the Chiefs had the 32nd ranked defense in the NFL; you can go on and on with these kinds of futility indicators. Nevertheless, they won the game keeping the Redskins out of the end zone even one time. The Redskins had 275 yards of offense on the day; that included a 78-yard run from scrimmage and a 42-yard pass completion. That leaves the offense with 155 yards gained on the other fifty-or-so snaps on offense. Change those bed linens … Now!
There was a wide-angle stadium shot with about 3 minutes left in the game; FedEx Field was empty; there could not have been more than 10,000 folks left in that 90,000 seat mausoleum. Other than the canned crowd shots of the goofy old guy wearing a headdress and wielding a tomahawk and the fat old guys dressed in drag and wearing pig snouts - - those doofuses do realize that all of the Redskins’ Hogs have been retired for the last 20 years or so don’t they? - - there was zero energy in the home crowd. The Redskins played a home game to the sound of shrugging shoulders. This game was bed-wetting squared.
Notwithstanding those two games, NFC East Bed-Wetting Weekend saved the worst for last. In the late game yesterday afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles tripped over their collective [slang term for male genitalia here] and lost to the Oakland Raiders 13-9. Like the Redskins, the Eagles never managed to find the end zone all day long; they did manage to miss two field goals; they did manage to yield 6 sacks; they did manage to give up an 86-yard TD on a pass to the tight end; their rushing offense was so pathetic that they only tried to run the ball 14 times all day. This game was so bad that the NFL might want to consider making the Eagles ineligible for post-season play no matter what their record based on this shameful display. Only the folks who do the laundry for NFC Bed-Wetting Weekend will know for sure if all the Eagles did was to wet the bed…
In terms of football ineptitude, yesterday saw the accomplishment of the NFL’s equivalent of the “Tiger Slam”. Recall when Tiger Woods had won all four of golf’s major tournaments consecutively - - albeit not in a single year - - he and some others suggested that it represented a golfing Grand Slam. It was a huge achievement to be sure; it was not a Grand Slam; it became known somewhat derisively as a “Tiger Slam”. Well turn everything inside out in your mind here and realize that the St. Louis Rams just lost their 16th consecutive game. The Detroit Lions lost 16 games in a row last season - - in a single season. The Lions were the butt of jokes and derision all over the country. Nonetheless, the Rams have just achieved the same level of ineptitude without nearly the notoriety.
The Lions’ streak of losses stretched to 19 games - - and ended with the largess of those same Washington Redskins that wet the bed against the woeful Chiefs yesterday. The Rams are on the clock. They can meet the Lions’ futility standard of 19 games on November 15 at home against the New Orleans Saints. Of course, the Rams will have to find a way to lose to those same Detroit Lions on November 1 in Detroit. What a train-wreck of game that ought to be.
Yesterday’s Raiders/Eagles game put Raiders’ first round pick, Darrius Heyward-Bey on display for folks in the DC area who might have seen him play WR for Maryland the past couple of years. Heyward-Bey has been a monumental disappointment so far. The Raiders took him because he ran the fastest time in the NFL Combine. Well, Bears’ rookie WR, Johnny Knox ran the second fastest time in the 40-yard dash at the Combine but he did not go until the 5th round. The difference between the two players can be summed up thusly:
Knox ran .02 seconds slower.
Knox can actually catch a football when he gets open and the QB gets the ball to him.
Compare the stats so far. Heyward-Bey has played 6 games. He has caught 2 passes for 36 yards and 0 TDs. I cannot find a count on his dropped passes for the season, but there have to be more than 2. Knox has also played 6 games. In those 6 games, he has caught 17 passes for 224 yards and 3 TDs. That difference in on-field production surely seems worth .02 seconds in the 40-yard dash to me.
Changing the sport but continuing to focus on what ought to be hugely embarrassing behavior; Stephon Marbury announced that he will take a year off from his NBA career to inter alia “…keep building my empire”. He went on to say that what he was doing was to emulate Michael Jordan who also took a sabbatical from the NBA in mid-career and look how that worked for MJ. Marbury said that this was a calculated and prudent business decision on his part. What he seemed not to mention was that over the summer he had exactly one offer to play in the NBA - - from the Celtics for the veteran minimum salary of $1.3M per year. When he turned that offer down, no one else came forward to offer him the veteran minimum plus one dollar. Ergo, his prudent business decision was a logical consequence of his decision to turn down the Celtics’. Marbury vows that he will be back in the NBA next season. If you are an NBA fan, all you can do is to pray that it will not be with any of the teams that you root for.
Last week, Bob Molinaro had this observation in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:
“After an encouraging start in the Monday Night Football booth, Jon Gruden has replaced what passes for candid analysis with schoolgirl gushing over his favorite players. Maybe his mind is on something else - like another coaching position.”
I have only one minor quibble with Professor Molinaro here. I do not think that Jon Gruden had all that encouraging of a start in the Monday Night Football booth.
Finally, here is comment from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle:
“Usain Bolt won his final race and says he’ll take a long vacation. When you live in Jamaica, where do you vacation? Akron?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
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