RIP Junior Seau

Suicide is an awful thing. It is awful for the family and friends of the victim as well as for the victim himself/herself. Precious few folks are so socially unredeeming that one might wish for suicide on his/her part as a way to make the planet a better place. As of this moment, it appears as if Junior Seau committed suicide.

I am glad I am not a reporter who has to cover this matter – - or any suicide for that matter. I do not know if I could find the strength or the energy to impose on the victim’s family at a time like this. And, I know before even starting the process that friends – - and teammates in the case of a sports figure – - are going to say that he was a great person/teammate and that they never saw this coming. The only way to “get a story” would be to “cross-examine” the family or those friends and I do not know that I could do that.

Another horrible thing about suicide is that it always engenders an investigation by the authorities. Investigations have a habit of dredging up unsavory details and incidents in the life of the deceased – - things that the world is no better off when it knows about them as opposed to when the world did not know about them. I hope that is not the case here…

I never met Junior Seau; I have no idea if he was a good person or not. Those who dealt with him say he was a “good guy”. As of this moment, no one has offered a hypothesis as to why this happened. For the sake of his family, I hope there are no sordid incidents for an investigation to uncover.

Rest in peace, Junior Seau.

Tomorrow, they will run the Kentucky Derby. I once was a huge horseracing fan; but in recent years, my interest has waned. This spring, I have only followed the 3-year-old prep races leading up to the Derby in a perfunctory manner. No horse in the race compels my interest to the point that I will not have even a farthing riding on the outcome of the race.

Like Andy Beyer who is on an approximately 20-year losing streak with regard to his Derby picks, I have not done well handicapping this race in recent years. Therefore, I will offer only superficial selections here:

    Instead of picking the horse that I think will win, why not pick the jockey I think could win. In that case, I like Calvin Borel and he is riding a noble steed named Take Charge Indy at 15-1 on the Morning Line.

    Here is my “Patriarchy Trifecta” for the race. Box El Padrino (20-1 in the Morning line) with Daddy Nose Best (15-1) and Daddy Long Legs (30-1).

    I would be wary of betting on Rousing Sermon (50-1) because rousing sermons tend to occur on Sundays and the Derby is on Saturday.

    At the end of the day, many folks can relate to a horse listed at 12-1 in the Morning Line and coming from the 19th post position. Its name is I’ll Have Another. Yes, I think I will…

If you are a horseracing junkie and you have access to Sirius satellite radio, you will love the fact that one of the channels will have a 7-hour program leading up to the Derby. I am sorry, but there simply is not 7 hours of “stuff” to say about that race without repeating everything at least a dozen times. Nevertheless, if you want to go find this channel, Mazel Tov…

The Derby bills itself as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” I do not want to argue that point but I will say that the folks who are the movers and shakers in the horse racing industry have to watch the first 20 or 30 seconds of that race with just a bit of apprehension. Think about it. Twenty horses come out of the gate and make a mad dash for the first turn bumping and cutting one another off. This is often the largest TV audience of the year for a single horserace. What might be the reaction if there were a seven-horse pile up where three or four of the horses lay dead on the track and the rest of the racers who finish the race have to dodge the carcasses – - and maybe some unconscious jockeys too – - as “down the stretch they come…”

There is a reason why Churchill Downs does not run 20-horse fields in its normal racing calendar. [Hint: They do not fit will on the track and it would be dangerous to run many races with that many entries.] They should not run a field that big in the Kentucky Derby either. The Derby field should be limited to anywhere between 12 and 14 horses – - whatever the maximum field is for the rest of the race meet at Churchill Downs. Sadly, it is going to take an “incident” to get the folks in charge to do something like that.

Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle had a great slant on the suspension of Metta World Peace for seven games:

“David Stern is no pushover. Had Metta World Peace killed James Harden with that elbow, Stern would have ordered World Peace to apologize at the funeral.”

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot makes two excellent points in this brief observation:

“Perspective check: If John Wooden had coached at UCLA with today’s one-and-done rules, he wouldn’t have hung 10 NCAA pelts on the wall. This isn’t meant to diminish the Wizard’s legacy. It’s simply to note that sports eras should never be compared.”

Finally, Greg Cote of the Miami Herald saw the WNBA Draft for what it is:

“Hurricanes women’s basketball stars Shenise Johnson and Riquna Williams both were taken in the WNBA Draft. Meaning neither will ever be heard from again.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

May 4, 2012 – 12:22 am Categories: Daily Rants | Post a comment

These Saints Go Marching Out

Pending an appeal by the NFLPA, the NFL seemingly closed the books on “Bountygate” yesterday with suspensions to 4 New Orleans Saints players who would seem to be lynchpins in the bounty scandal.

    Jonathan Vilna LB – suspended for the entire 2012 season
    Anthony Hargrove DE – suspended for 8 games
    Will Smith DE – suspended for 4 games
    Scott Fujita LB – suspended for 3 games

According to the press release, this punishment comes from the Commish “after a thorough review of extensive evidence corroborated by multiple sources.” Were that absolutely obvious to any observer, there would be no purpose for an NFLPA appeal; but there will surely be one. Goodell acknowledged that players other than these four participated in the bounty program but that these four “participated at a different and more significant level.” Said the Commish:

“I focused on players who were in leadership positions at the Saints; contributed a particularly large sum of money toward the program; specifically contributed to a bounty on an opposing player; demonstrated a clear intent to participate in a program that potentially injured opposing players; sought rewards for doing so; and/or obstructed the 2010 investigation.”

It is that last accusation – “obstructed the 2010 investigation” – that gets me. That is called a “cover up”, and when someone gets caught covering up some other wrongdoing, the sanction for the wrongdoing plus the cover up is always significantly greater than it would have been for the wrongdoing by itself.

Here is the text of a statement by the NFLPA on these suspensions:

“After seeing the NFL’s decision letters, the NFLPA has still not received any detailed or specific evidence from the league of these specific players’ involvement in an alleged pay-to-injure program. We have made it clear that punishment without evidence is not fair. We have spoken with our players and their representatives and we will vigorously protect and pursue all options on their behalf.”

I understand that is exactly what the union has to say regarding this mess. What I wish they would have added to the statement is something along these lines:

    “The NFLPA represents all of the players –including ones who may indeed have been targeted by the alleged bounty program in New Orleans. If the NFL’s evidence is as clear and compelling as it has been made out to be, the NFLPA will not condone such action or enable other teams and players to do such things in the future.”

It does seem to me that there is room for some moral outrage on the part of the union folks here too without sacrificing the position that they want to see clear and compelling evidence corroborated by multiple sources.

This NFL news comes on the same day as another NFL story – one that is far more upbeat and also more insignificant. The Tampa Bay Bucs’ new coach Greg Schiano came from Rutgers. In 2010, Rutgers lost DT, Eric LeGrand, to a neck injury that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors said he would be on a ventilator for the rest of his life, but LeGrand has been breathing on his own for over a year now. Even better, he reports that he has started to regain feeling over his whole body.

LeGrand is on track to graduate from Rutgers with a Bachelor’s Degree next year. Yesterday, the Bucs’ signed LeGrand to a ceremonial contract. He will not receive any money from the contract and he will not perform any services for the Bucs. This is completely ceremonial but it is uplifting to see a football player whose goal it is to walk again continue with his education and to be a positive example for others. Coach Schiano had this to say:

“Leading up to the draft, I couldn’t help but think that this should’ve been Eric’s draft class. This small gesture is the least we could do to recognize his character, spirit, and perseverance. The way Eric lives his life epitomizes what we are looking for in Buccaneer Men.”

That small gesture will not help Greg Schiano and the Bucs win games but it is uplifting despite its insignificance with regard to winning and losing NFL games.

Here is a headline that appeared in the Miami Herald almost two weeks ago:

    Florida Gay Rodeo Association’s Sunshine Stampede Rodeo smashes stereotypes

If you knew there was such an organization as the Florida Gay Rodeo Association, you are several steps ahead of me in terms of world awareness. That headline grabbed my interest. However, a check of what the Sunshine Stampede Rodeo had for events indicates that some stereotypes may have been reinforced rather than smashed. Here is one of the events:

    Goat dressing: The competitors “race the clock to put a pair of men’s briefs on a goat”.

If you go to Wikipedia and check out what they have as “Rodeo Events”, you are not going to find goat dressing there –nor will you find anything that is even close to goat dressing.

Finally, Greg Cote commented on this rodeo event in his Sunday column in the Miami Herald:

“Davie [Florida] hosted a Florida Gay Rodeo Association event, and competitions included steer decorating. (Against odds, the preceding sentence is 100 percent true).”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

May 3, 2012 – 12:26 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (2)

Three Boneheaded Athletes Lead The Way Today

Today’s rant has to begin with three monumentally boneheaded behaviors by two hugely overpaid athletes and a retired pro athlete who was hugely overpaid during his career. To put the “hugely overpaid” modifier in perspective, here are some representative salaries of folks who hold jobs with a ton more responsibility than any pro athlete in the USA:

    President of the United States $400K per annum
    Cabinet Level Officials $191.3K
    Senators and Representatives $169.3K
    Supreme Court Justices $208.1K
    US District Court Judges $165.2K

According to reports, A’mare Stoudamire and the NY Knicks are at the end of the second year of a five-year contract. Stoudamire earned a pro-rated portion of $18.2M this year and will earn $64M over the next three years. Remember, he will earn that money for playing a game in underwear that has team colors on it. Surely, you have read/heard reports that in Stoudamire’s frustration over losing the second game of the playoff series against the Heat, he jammed his fist/hand through the glass that enclosed a fire extinguisher located in the hallway on the way from the court to the Knicks’ dressing room. That action required stitches and will keep him out of at least the next game in the Knicks’ playoff series.

Let me be clear. If Stoudamire’s contract had a clause in it allowing for the balance due to him to be reduced in the case of demonstrated abject stupidity, the Knicks would now owe him something like “three easy payments of $39.35.” Stoudamire left the arena after the incident, which required EMTs to be on the scene, without talking to reporters. That was clearly the single most intelligent thing he did all day long.

Some folks always want to find the silver lining in a cloud – - even when one may not really exist. For those folks, let me try to find a silver lining here:

    This boneheadedness demonstrates the intrinsic value of NBA players having a “posse”.

    The next time Stoudamire – - or any of his similarly emotionally prone colleagues – - finds himself tempted to slam his hand into something, he should summon one of his sycophantile followers and say:

    “Hey! I feel like jamming my hand through that glass in front of the fire extinguisher because I am frustrated and unable to control my emotions. Do that for me … now! I’m dialing ‘911’ for you.”

Over in the world of MLB, Tigers’ outfielder, Delmon Young, will sit out a 7-game suspension after he was arrested in NYC and charged with a hate crime. According to reports, Young began yelling anti-Semitic insults at a man who was dressed with a yarmulke and with a Star of David on his apparel while he was panhandling. Young – allegedly in a state of inebriation sufficient to have the police take him to a hospital – also got into a physical altercation with other folks on the street in the vicinity of this panhandler. The police arrived and restored order. Young reportedly will make $6.75M to play baseball this season – - minus whatever salary he must forego during the suspension.

Recall that Delmon Young was suspended for 50 games in the minor leagues when he threw his bat at the home plate umpire over a disputed call by the umpire – - and the bat hit the umpire. Young is 27 years old; one might think that is sufficiently aged to realize that drunken spewing of anti-Semitic commentaries in public is absolutely unacceptable.

The third boneheaded behavior by a well-paid athlete actually occurred a few years ago but it has been brought to the fore by a recent ruling in a NY court. Two massage therapists filed suit against Brett Favre and the NY Jets claiming that they lost their jobs due to Favre’s inappropriate actions back in the days when Favre was playing for the Jets. The two women allege that Favre sent them sexually suggestive text messages – thankfully sans any photographs of personal appendages so far as has been reported – and when they complained to their supervisors about this, the supervisor fired them. Favre and his lawyers had filed motions in Manhattan District Court to have the suit thrown out as being baseless. The judge refused to do that meaning that a trial on this matter will proceed – absent a settlement prior to the proceedings. If it does go to trial, Favre will almost certainly have to testify under oath in that trial; even if he can convince a jury that his text messages were not the instruments of the firing of the two women, it is hard to see how he can come out of the courtroom “looking good”.

Remember, there are some folks who say there is no such thing as bad publicity. Yeah, right! About now, Brett Favre and the Archdiocese of Boston might want to dispute that assertion…

Tiger Woods does not like the way he is being portrayed in the press these days – after getting accustomed to nothing but adulation from the press over the past decade or so. Here is how Scott Ostler saw that situation in the SF Chronicle:

“Tiger Woods’ swing coach, Sean Foley, launched an assault against his boss’ media critics. Foley is right, hero-bashing has gone viral in this twitterblog world. That said, Tiger’s petulant, pouty, potty-mouth, poor-me poor sportsmanship doesn’t play well in golf. We don’t want robots, but here’s the deal in golf: When you suck, take it like a man.”

Finally, here is a commentary from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times regarding the potential demise of the NFL Pro Bowl:

“Hear about the latest Pro Bowl proposal where the NFL all stars play the Cincinnati Bengals?

“They would call it the Pro and Con Bowl.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

May 2, 2012 – 12:17 am Categories: Daily Rants | Post a comment

A New “Curse” To Keep Your Eyes On

Everyone knows about the “Curse of the Bambino” and the “Billy Goat Curse” and even the “Curse of Frankenstein”. Curses – real and imagined – are everywhere. There is a famous joke told by Myron Cohen about the Kopplemann Curse…

    A man was sitting next to a woman on a train and saw that she had a huge and beautiful diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand. He told her that he thought it was an absolutely beautiful stone.

    The woman thanked him for his compliment and said that she was wearing the Kopplemann Diamond, which was indeed beautiful but it came with a curse.

    The man asked what the curse was.

    The woman replied, “Mr. Kopplemann!”

Well, in May/June 2012, all sports fans need to pay attention to the progress of the Miami Heat in the NBA playoff brackets. The Heat are fighting a curse that has not yet gotten sufficient attention. They labor under the Curse of the Fab Five.

Twenty years ago, the Fab Five entered the University of Michigan as freshmen and became the center of media attention and hype. They were good – but they never won an NCAA championship. That has not stopped many of the Fab Five from continuing to hype that squad as the greatest ever – despite the fact that only three of them ever had any meaningful time in the NBA and not a single one of them has ever won an NBA championship either.

In Texas, the Fab Five would be labeled as “all hat and no cattle”. This year, the final remaining active member of the Fab Five, Juwan Howard, is a benchwarmer for the Miami Heat. In this abbreviated season, Howard has appeared in 28 games and has averaged about 6.5 minutes per game once the coach has asked him to take off his sweat pants. Howard has averaged 1.5 points per game and 1.7 rebounds per game in those appearances. He has not been one of the lynchpins for team success. However, Howard carries the curse and it will be interesting to see if Lebron, D-Wade and “that other guy” who all took their talents to South Beach can play well enough to overcome the Curse of the Fab Five.

    [Aside: The two Fab Five members who never had real NBA careers may have played in the old CBA or some other minor league of pro basketball and won a championship there. In my mind, given the hype back then about these guys and the continued focus on that team as “something special”, a championship in the CBA or the D-League or some semi-pro league on Pitcairn Island does not negate “The Curse”.]

Speaking of the NBA playoffs, the Memphis Grizzlies led the LA Clippers by 24 points with just over 8 minutes to play in the game – and the Grizzlies found a way to lose that game. The only thing in Memphis that would be more shocking to Grizzlies fans would be for Elvis to invite all of them over to Graceland for a Bar-B-Q this weekend…

Jay Leno had a good line in his monologue regarding the NBA playoffs and the 7-game suspension handed down to Metta World Peace for his elbow to the head of James Harden:

“I haven’t seen an NBA player take an elbow like that since Kris Humphries got between Kim Kardashian and a camera.”

According to reports, here is part of the opening statement made by Rusty Hardin, Roger Clemens’ defense attorney, in his opening statement to the jury in the perjury proceedings facing Clemens:

“God help me if we reached a stage in this country where we make a federal crime of denying you committed a crime. Our government should never ever prosecute a person for saying ‘I did not do it.’ “

Damn! That sounds so good – until you think about it. Clemens is not on trial for denying he did something; he is on trial for denying he did something while he was under oath to tell the truth and he was asked if he did it. That is not a trivial distinction… Perjury has nothing whatsoever to do with guilt/innocence or “I did it”/”I didn’t do it”. Perjury is about telling the truth under oath; if you answer is incriminating, then the Fifth Amendment will give you cover and protection. Clemens never invoked the Fifth Amendment and so the veracity of what he said under oath now becomes the subject of a criminal proceeding.

In case you had not noticed, voting for the MLB All-Star Game began last week. If anyone ever needed convincing that the fan voting for the All Stars is nothing more than a “beauty contest”, that fact ought to do it. Based on hype and not on performance, why not vote Bryce Harper onto the squad. He had a great first weekend in the major leagues…

Bob Molinaro had this item in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot regarding one of the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league prospects:

“Big start: Maybe more help is on the way for the Orioles. Hard-throwing 19-year-old right-hander Dylan Bundy, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2011, has not given up a hit in his first 13 innings for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds, striking out 21 of the 40 batters he’s faced.”

Those strikeout stats are indeed amazing…

Finally, let me present to you one more nugget of wisdom from Professor Molinaro:

“Tubular: After catching a few minutes here and there of Jon Gruden tutoring and wheedling another crop of college quarterbacks, I’m convinced that there’s not a more obnoxious person on TV outside of the cast of Two and a Half Men.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

May 1, 2012 – 12:05 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (2)

Two Football Events…

Two recent events in the world of football should be sources of happiness to football fans. Those same two events may – on the surface – seem to make the job of sportswriters and columnists more difficult, but that is really not the case. Consider the first of these two events – the completion of the NFL Draft.

The NFL has managed to take one of its more mundane events of the year and has turned it into a three-week event of high drama and intense focus. The draft generates more interest in NFL activity than anything except actual regular season or playoff games. I believe that the passion that surrounds the draft is based in the fantasies that the fans of various teams create for themselves about the mythic powers and abilities of the young men who are in the marketplace for selection. And, I do mean that people create fantasies about players about to enter the NFL.

The NFL Draft is an inefficient process which attempts to improve the unsuccessful teams from last year more than it will improve the successful teams from last year. This creates the language of “leveling the playing field” and “bringing competitive balance” to the league. Technically, the entire concept of a draft, which binds a player to negotiate his contract with only a single club, is legally flawed and survives only because the players through their union come to collective bargaining agreements, which contain a sanction for the draft and rules about how it shall proceed. Last weekend, the three-week saga and media bonanza of the draft came to an end.

Football fans can now focus on their created fantasies about their new players and how great those players are going to become; simultaneously, those fans will no longer be burdened with reading and contemplating daily – if not hourly – columns on “mock drafts” and “players rising on draft boards” and “falling players”. The absence of those columns is truly a blessing because they are based on completely fallacious assumptions.

No player rises or falls on draft boards of teams – which are the only draft boards that have any standing in reality. The teams do their own analyses and have various players in slots on their wish-lists. What far too many writers/commentators try to do is to guess which team has which player in which slot. Then, when a writer/commentator feels the need to change his guess, he portrays that change as the player moving up or down on draft boards. Nonsense; what it means is that he now feels that the guess he made previously is no longer as good a guess as he can make at this moment and so he is changing his mind. Absent something like a felony arrest or a serious injury in a motorcycle crash, the player probably did not move even a bit on the draft boards of the various teams.

Missing out on those commentaries should be blessing for football fans. Those “rising/falling” commentaries and columns are merely arrogance and cover-ups by the folks who do Mock Drafts. Such columns/commentaries are not much more than detritus in the space-time continuum.

Now, many of the mock draft writers will have the time to focus on assigning grades to the draft – another meaningless exercise until at least two years have passed and perhaps three years. Fans will have created their incredibly positive fantasies about every pick their favorite team made and will then expect the player to achieve what the fantasies have predicted. When it does not happen – as it often will not happen – they will blame coaches or the player himself for “not using him correctly” or “not having the proper work ethic” or some such excuse. Rarely if ever will the fan recognize that the scout who saw the kid play in college overestimated what he was capable of doing at the NFL level and/or the GM who integrated all the information from all of the scouts did a poor job of realizing what the player could and could not do. Therein lie the roots of the vast majority of draft flops.

Here is the way I would characterize a failed draft pick:

    A draft pick is like the beautifully wrapped Christmas present that a child gets in the mail from an aunt in a far away city that he rarely if ever sees. He had not even thought she would be giving him a present this year; the package looks great; it is enticing; it is hefty; it does not rattle when he shakes it gently to see if he can guess what is inside. He just knows deep down inside that he is going to love this present – - – and then he opens it and it is a tablecloth. That is a failed draft pick…

The other piece of good news for football fans is that the BCS intends to move to a four-team playoff system in 2014. Plans for this change will be put to the university presidents for ultimate approval later this summer. These folks in the BCS have spent so many years arguing that a football playoff would be deleterious to the sport and would demean the regular season that they could not bring themselves to hang a “playoff label” on their new idea. They are calling it a “four-team event” not a playoff. To paraphrase Willie Shakespeare:

    A rose by any other name would get a dose of 2, 4-D

One report said that a possible implementation of this playoff format would be to play two of the playoff games in two of the major bowls and then offer up the championship game to the bowl committee that bids the highest for it. That causes me no heartburn at all; but if that idea is even considered by university presidents, think about the hypocrisy they will have to swallow to deal with it while still maintaining that college athletics is all about the joy of competition and about the student-athlete in his most noble incarnation…

Some folks wanted to have a playoff with a different format and perhaps as many as 16 teams (far too many in my view) and this proposed system may not be perfect. However, it is better than the current system for crowning a national champion in college football and the current system is better than the one that preceded it. The trend is in the right direction; fans should be happy about that.

Some might worry about what columnists and commentators will do to come up with material in November and early December if the stock story lines about what team got snubbed or screwed in the struggle to see who would play in the championship game(s). Fear not; with a four-team tournament, there will be ample opportunity to argue over which team “should have gotten” that final playoff slot. That story line will never die…

Consider the “who got a tournament snub” story line for March Madness. It is a staple of the day after Selection Sunday. The good news in March is that the “tournament snub” story only has a useful life of 23-36 hours because the stories have to change quickly into which double-digit seeded team will be the bracket-busting Cinderella for that given year. The “tournament snub stories” are always there but their shelf life is small. Not so in football. The teams will be named in the second week of December and the games will not happen until New Years. Fear not, there will “football tournament snub” stories that will be armpit deep by the time the games take place on the field.

Greg Cote had it about right in the Miami Herald this weekend:

“Bowl Championship Series officials, meeting in Hollywood, agreed to institute a four-team playoff as soon as 2014. College football fans immediately were feeling pangs of regret at the notion they’ll be denied the joy they get every year complaining about the BCS.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 30, 2012 – 12:27 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (2)

Shooting Yourself In The Foot…

Last year, the LA Dodgers saw a significant decline in attendance. Many in the LA media explained that decline as the fans expressing their displeasure with the McCourts’ ownership of the team and with the way the McCourts used the Dodgers as an ATM to live a pair of outrageous lifestyles. About six weeks ago came the euphoria associated with news that the Dodgers had new owners and that the “front man” for the new owners was none other than the beloved Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

Perhaps that euphoria was merely “premature exultation” on the part of some of the media folks. Attendance after nine home games is down almost 2600 fans per game below the already depressed numbers from last season. Then in yesterday’s LA Times, there was this column by T.J. Simers, which deserves to be read in its entirety.

The Cliff’s Notes version is this:

    Fans show up early to Dodgers Stadium and want to get autographs after batting practice.

    Stadium security has orders to keep them away from the expensive seats meaning they cannot get near the players to get autographs.

    When Simers tracks down the Dodgers’ GM and shows him what is happening, the GM brushes him off and does not resolve the problem. Simers does not ask some “flunky” to do something about this; he speaks directly to the General Manager who does nothing.

It seems to me that fans who show up early enough to see the home team take batting practice in the hopes of getting an autograph might also be fans who might go to one of the shops in the stadium and buy some stuff with a Dodgers logo on it. In sports management parlance, that is a revenue stream. That is what teams ought to be enhancing. But if you piss off those fans with ham-handed “security measures”, the revenue stream is going to be something other than enhanced.

There is an old adage that the LA Dodgers need to heed:

    Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel and newsprint by the boxcar-load.

Even in this era of declining newspaper circulation, there just is no reason to give a widely read columnist in your town that kind of “stuff” to write about…

Back in 2005, I suggested that all the major sports should strongly consider doing away with their All-Star Games. I continue to believe that all of them are a gigantic waste of time and do nothing more than to contribute to the ultimate entropy death of the universe. Therefore, you might well understand that I was happy to read a report by Mike Freeman on CBSsports.com that the NFL and the NFLPA are seriously thinking about ditching the Pro Bowl.

Seriously, the NFL Pro Bowl is a travesty. Players do not even pretend to block or tackle opponents with any effort at all. In terms of “hitting”, you will see as much of that in a Lingerie Football League game as you will in the Pro Bowl.

There was a day when All-Star Games were special because fans in one part of the country rarely if ever got to see the star players on teams at the other end of the country. They might read of their exploits or see photos of those other star players, but weekly access to seeing those players in real games just did not exist. So, the All-Star Game was an attraction for fans if for no other reason. Today, that reason is as outmoded as a 56K dial-up external modem.

The league and the union supposedly are working on how to honor existing contracts with “Pro Bowl bonus clauses” in them and how to accommodate such revenue boosters for players in coming years. However, both entities seem to recognize that the Pro Bowl will be in a better place if it simply goes away.

    So let it be written; so let it be done.

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am taking some enjoyment from the interpretations by various conspiracy theorists regarding David Stern’s suspension of Metta World Peace for 7 games after his “unintentional” elbow to the head of James Harden. The same action by David Stern can be used to prove two different theories and the two theories are mutually exclusive:

    Theory 1: David Stern wants to manipulate events to assure that the Lakers make it to the NBA Finals in order to keep TV ratings high. That is why he went so leniently on Metta World Peace who, after all, delivered the most violent blow on an NBA court since Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich had their encounter. This light suspension will let Metta World Peace get back in to the playoffs in the second round when the playoff competition gets a bit tougher.

    Theory 2: David Stern’s harsh penalty handed down to Metta World Peace demonstrates his deep and abiding East Coast bias. The idea is to make the Lakers expend a super-effort in Round 1 of the playoffs such that they cannot sustain the effort to make it to the NBA Finals where they would – - obviously – - beat whoever comes out of the East.

Personally, I think a 7-game suspension for that kind of action is a bit light. Given Metta World Peace’s history and recidivism with on-court violence, I think I would have suspended him for the rest of this season.

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times has an interesting view of the Boston Red Sox fanbase and its relationship with Bobby Valentine:

“The glue is barely dry on Ted Williams new commemorative postage stamps, and Red Sox fans are already grumbling.

“As in, how many would it take to mail Bobby Valentine out of town?”

Finally, here is an interesting extrapolation by Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“[Florida International University] hired Rick Pitino’s son to replace fired Isiah Thomas as men’s basketball coach, after earlier hiring the son of former U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena to coach soccer. FIU loves the bloodlines. I hear the new tennis coach is a foal of Secretariat.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 27, 2012 – 12:18 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (2)

Roger Clemens And Mickey Loomis Today…

Before I get to the meat of today’s rant, I have to pose these questions to all of you as the re-trial of Roger Clemens begins to unfold. Clemens is on trial because he allegedly lied to Congress under oath. HOW-EVAH …

    Congress lies to the people virtually every time a Congressthing/Senator moves his/her lips in the same zip code with a microphone.

    So – - – if Clemens is convicted, should we all find ways to put Congressthings/Senators under oath every time they try to speechify themselves to us?

    Do we have enough room in Federal prisons if lying Congressthings/Senators would be sent “up the river” for prevarication?

Many years ago when Bob Dylan wrote songs for other people to sing, music was a kinder and gentler place. At one point, he wrote It Ain’t Me, Babe and The Turtles recorded the song. In part, it said:

You say you’re lookin’ for someone…

But it ain’t me babe
No, no, no, it ain’t me babe
It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe

Fans in New Orleans have to hope that when all of the investigators come “lookin’ for someone” in the latest alleged Saints’ scandal that Mickey Loomis can say at the end of it all, “It ain’t me you’re looking’ for, babe.”

According to an ESPN report, Loomis had a device hooked up in his box in the Superdome from 2002 to 2005 that allowed him to listen in on the dialog amongst the opposing coaches and coordinators. Obviously, Loomis and the Saints deny these allegations in the most vigorous of terms. Moreover, since you can see coaches on the sidelines walking around with wires trailing behind them, you can conclude that the only way to capture all of those communications – - if indeed they were captured – - would be to do a wiretap operation.

Because of that possibility, the Louisiana State Police and the FBI are involved in the matter – - in addition to any involvement by the NFL and NFL Security. Wiretapping is illegal without a court order; that brings the State and Federal authorities into the case. If the alleged timeframe is correct, the statute of limitations may have run out on any potential Federal case but might have a year or so left within the State jurisdiction.

Jim Haslett is now the defensive coordinator for the Redskins. In the period 2002-2004, he was with the Saints in the position of head coach. When asked about these allegations, Haslett gave a “non-denial denial”. His answer only added fuel to the fire for folks who had already decided that they wanted to believe this was true:

“To my knowledge, this concept was never discussed or utilized.”

If that is the best defense that Haslett can offer in this situation, the Redskins need to rethink their coaching staff assignments immediately…

I think the most interesting reaction to this story came from Bill Polian who used to be the GM for the Indy Colts and is now a talking head for ESPN – - where the story originated. Polian did not have much to say about the presence or absence of such a monitoring system; Polian’s remarks minimized the value of any such intercepts:

“There’s something missing here. I don’t know what kind of competitive advantage you could get. Mickey [Loomis] would have to know the verbiage of every other opposing team in order to translate, and then he would have to do it instantly and find some way to communicate with his coaching staff, and get it down to the field in time to be useful. That would be very difficult to do, in my opinion.”

That is an interesting perspective but I did not hear Bill Polian saying anything of the sort when the Patriots taping of opponents’ hand signals during games was a cause celebre. If “knowing the verbiage of every other opposing team” and translating that into sideline calls is such a daunting task, why is decoding hand signals and then getting that info down to the sidelines in time to effect play calls not similarly daunting?

We know that the Patriots did that for the simple reason that they admitted they did that because they thought it was OK under NFL rules. If that action nominally got the Patriots a competitive advantage, then if Loomis did what he is alleged to have done, a congruent advantage accrued to the Saints.

Notice, I did not say that Loomis actually did any of this – - for the simple reason that I do not know if he did. Nevertheless, precedent for a similar kind of behavior exists in the Roger Goodell incarnation of the NFL and the punishment was pretty severe. Bill Belichick paid a $500K fine; the Pats as a team were also fined AND the Pats lost a first round draft pick. Saints’ fans have to hope nothing happens to their team that costs them a first round draft pick; Loomis has to hope he does not have to write a check to the NFL for “500 Big Ones”.

The latest news is that the FBI and the Louisiana State Police are cooperating in a joint investigation of this matter – - and despite their findings and despite any statute of limitations that might preclude any proceedings based on their findings – - such a joint investigation might provide the NFL with a reason to believe that its rules were violated.

The NFL standard for proof is not the same as in a court of law; it is not “beyond a reasonable doubt”. For the NFL, the preponderance of evidence is sufficient. And in this case, the taxpayers of Louisiana and the taxpayers of the US at large will do much of the legwork in terms of an investigation for the NFL. The case may never be heard in front of a person wearing judicial robes – - but the case developed by these law enforcement officers may be heard in an office on mahogany row in the NFL offices at:

    280 Park Avenue
    New York, NY 10017

Finally, here is a thought from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“Parting thought: Dolphins cheerleader tryouts were held Saturday. Young women were required to be good dancers, have vivacious personalities and think field goals are awesome.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 26, 2012 – 12:10 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (4)

A Parents Code Of Conduct For Youth Sports

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I have in my possession a “Sport Parent Code of Conduct” which has been implemented by one of the Little Leagues in her area of the world. The parents of the kids need to read and sign this document agreeing to abide by its terms and conditions or risk being

“… asked to leave the sports facility and be suspended from the following game.”

The tone of this document is lofty; the goals are noble indeed. I cannot imagine any parent refusing to sign the document; I also cannot imagine that all parents will behave in ways that are in concert with the document they signed. For example:

    “I will remember that children participate to have fun and that the game is for youth, not adults”. I suspect they will remember that until the first and second place teams are squaring off near the end of the season with the “league championship” on the line.

    “I will learn the rules of the game and the policies of the league.” Having officiated youth sports for 37 years I can assure you that parents will never learn the rules of the game. Moreover, they will only learn the league policies in order to trash them or to attempt to circumvent them.

    “I (and my guests)will not engage in any kind of unsportsmanlike conduct with any official, coach, player or parent such as booing, taunting, refusing to shake hands or using profane language or gestures.” The first violation of that covenant will probably occur in the 4th inning of the first game of the season.

    “I will demand that my child treat other players, coaches, officials and spectators with respect regardless of race, creed, color, sex or ability.” Good luck with the “ability” part of that statement.

    “I will refrain from coaching my child or other players during games and practices, unless I am one of the official coaches of the team.” This one will last until the 3rd inning of the first game…

There were 17 statements of this type that parents “agreed to” in this document; the dozen that I left out also had noble ends in mind with realistic expectations of conformity ranging from “perhaps” to “no way on the planet”. Nevertheless, I am sure that this makes the league administrators feel as if they have done something to make their league better than the one down the road. Hopefully, they will all sleep well in their delusional state…

Speaking of people living in a delusional state, Larry Brown was introduced to the world as the head basketball coach at SMU. To call Brown peripatetic would understate his coaching career. He has coached 9 NBA teams, 1 team in the old ABA that did not make the jump to the NBA and 3 college teams prior to surfacing at SMU at age 71. This is his 4th coaching position since 2003 – - and he took all of 2011 off. Asked about his commitment to this SMU job, here is what Larry Brown said:

“I don’t want people to think I’m just doing this for a little while. I don’t feel like, you know, one, two, three, four years. I want to be in this for the long haul.”

Larry Brown is an excellent basketball coach; the fact that he is in the Basketball Hall of Fame attests to that. However, the odds that he will be the coach at SMU in 2017 – - that is one year past the four years he dismissed as not the “long haul” – - are very big.

Bob Molinaro had this comment about SMU in his column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“In case you didn’t know, and I needed reminding, SMU – still located in Dallas – joins the Big East in 2013. Makes about as much sense as most conference moves these days.”

Far too often, the owners of sports franchises and pro sports leagues play games with politicians at the local and state level seeking to get money from the public coffers to aid their teams’ bottom line. When the politicos do not knuckle under sufficiently, their jurisdictions face punishment from the leagues or the teams in the form of “leaving town”. Seattle lost the Sonics that way; Cleveland lost the Browns that way – - and only got an expansion team back once the local leaders found the money in the budgets to do what they had refused to do for the previous owners; Sacramento may lose the Kings if things do not settle down out there. Therefore, it is nice to hear one politician speak up and say what he really thinks about a sports franchise that is not going to hang around. Here is Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey:

“I’m not going to the Nets game (Monday night) and my message to the Nets is ‘Goodbye.’ They want to leave here and go to Brooklyn? Good riddance.”

Finally, here is a gem from Brad Rock in the Deseret News:

“A report in ESPN the Magazine estimates 40-60 percent of the Oregon football team smokes marijuana.

“Does that include the people who designed the uniforms?

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 25, 2012 – 12:08 am Categories: Daily Rants | Comments (10)

Ultimate Tak Ball

I was having a discussion with a friend about the trend toward increasing violence and mayhem in sports.

    In the NFL, we see that in addition to the prevalent headshots that lead to concussions galore on the field, at least one team was paying out bonuses to defensive players who could knock specific opponents out of the game.

    In MLB, charging the mound to start a bench-clearing brawl has become so commonplace that it happened in Spring Training this year.

    In the NHL playoffs this year, there have been so many examples of premeditated actions whose main intent was to injure the opponent that the league is becoming an even bigger laughingstock than usual.

    In a recent NBA game, Metta World Peace made like Metta Genghis Khan with an elbow to the head of an opponent he called “unintentional”. Yeah, right…!

    MMA and UFC have supplanted boxing as the hand-to-hand combat sport of choice and both are far more violent than boxing.

And then, he told me about something called “Ultimate Tak Ball”…

I needed to use Google to ascertain that this was an actual thing and not something he had made up but indeed, there is a league called UTB out there. The game is played on a field that is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide; the teams of four players each try to get a ball into the goal at either end of the field. The ball is a large one and tackling the opposing players with the ball is allowed. So far, there is nothing unusual or violent about this – - right?

However, each player carries a Taser with him onto the field and the rules permit the use of that Taser on any player who is in possession of the ball. OK, where do things go from there? Perhaps players on the bench should be allowed to use blowguns to bring down opposing players with tranquilizer darts that have only a short-term effect? Why stop at tasers; why not machine guns with rubber bullets? Or real bullets… Why not just have gladiators fight to the death?

    [Aside: One of the four teams in UTB is known as the Philly Killawatts. The creation of that name had to come after a series of taser shots…]

José Canseco is back on his “Twitter Machine” proving once again the truth at the core of an old adage:

“Wisdom comes with age – but sometimes age comes alone.”

Here is the latest from Canseco:

“Would love to host SNL and would donate pay to greenpeace. Does anyone know how to contact Lorne Greene? Please help me make it happen! Hugs.”

I do not know how to contact Lorne Greene but I do know where he is. For the last 25 years or so, Lorne Greene has been “on the other side of the meadow” so to speak. Canseco would actually like to be in touch with Lorne Michaels who produces Saturday Night Live. I cannot help him with that any more than I can help him contact Lorne Greene…

The Boston Red Sox are coming apart at the seams. The first month of the season is not over yet and Bobby Valentine has managed to get crosswise with a couple of key players in the clubhouse. Fans booed Bobby V at the celebration of Fenway Park’s 100th birthday. Jacoby Ellsbury is out for more than a month with a dislocated shoulder. And then there was “that game” against the Yankees last week…

    The Red Sox led 9-0 after five innings. The Yankees scored a run in the top of the sixth – - no big deal.

    Then, the Yankees scored 7 runs in the top of the seventh to make it a 9-8 game.

    Then the Yankees scored 7 more runs in the top of the eighth to make it a 15-9 game – - and that is how it ended.

Therefore, the Red Sox braintrust made a move. They went out and found an outfielder – - nominally to fill in for Ellsbury – - in Chicago. They acquired Marlon Byrd from the Cubbies. Byrd at the time of the trade was hitting .070. I do not care how many “Moneyball Mavens” might manipulate the numbers here. That just is not very good. Oh and by the way, Marlon Byrd would not be much help in getting out Yankee batters in order to hold a 9-0 lead…

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel had this observation about the fan reaction to the Miami Marlins this year:

“The Miami Marlins opened up their new ballpark this season and fans were so excited they sold out one straight game. Moral of the story: A new ballpark doesn’t make you a baseball town any more than a new hairpiece makes me Johnny Depp.”

Finally, here are two comments from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald about two aging baseball players headed in different directions:

“At 49, the Rockies’ Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher ever to win a game. Moyer is so old he remembers when ’roids meant hemorrhoids.”

“Catcher Pudge Rodguez announced his retirement. Umm, when you’re a free agent nobody wants, I think other teams are sort of making that announcement for you, Pudge.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 24, 2012 – 8:30 am Categories: Daily Rants | Post a comment

Leading Up To The NFL Draft 2012

For new readers who may have only discovered these rants in the past year, let me do a reset regarding this annual feature.

I like college football; therefore, I watch a lot of college football on TV. While watching, I try to keep a notepad nearby to make notes about players that I see who might be successful in the NFL. Since I also read articles/columns about college football, I also know who is considered a “top prospect”; that lets me pay particular attention to those players to see if my eyes see the same promise that others see in them. Then, I put those notes away for several months and dig them out in April hoping to be able to decipher them as the basis for these analyses.

Back in 2010, I called myself “The Couch Scout” – - as a sort of homage to syndicated columnist, Norman Chad, in his persona as “The Couch Slouch”. That name is a kind of full disclosure; my “scouting” is done from the comfort of my living room – - or perhaps from a seat in a Las Vegas sportsbook on one weekend – - in the Fall. I do not visit schools; I do not go to practices; I do not talk to coaches; I do not have any organized set of “sources” feeding me information. What you get here is a distillation of the notes I took watching games with my own eyeballs – - nothing less and nothing more

Since television is my data source, there are two biases that are resident in these remarks:

    The “big schools in the big conferences” are on my television more often than “little schools in small conferences”. That is a fact of life and it means that I will never get to see some very good players in some of the smaller conferences. Such is the way of the world…

    In some cases, I only get to see a team play one time. Another fact of life is that very good players have mediocre/bad games now and then. Sometimes I see a good player on an off day and take no notice of him. I mean no disrespect to any players; what I have here are my notes from watching them play on television.

When I go back and look at these analyses over the last decade, I find that I get some right and I get some wrong. That is to be expected because these analyses are actually predictions of future performance – - and prediction is pretty easy so long as it does not involve the future. Enough preamble…

Since there is always hype about quarterbacks coming out of college, I will start with that position.

    Yes, I saw Andrew Luck play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Yes, I saw Robert Griffin III play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Ryan Tannehill (Texas A&M) has gotten a lot of attention and ink recently. My notes say “accurate short passer” and “good mobility”. I had no “superlatives” in my notes as opposed to Luck and RG3 where superlatives were everywhere. Someone said Tannehill might go as high as the #3 overall pick; frankly, I think that would be a bit of a reach.

    Kirk Cousins (Mich. St) “does nothing spectacularly but does everything very well”. Sounds like a second or third pick to me…

    Kellen Moore (Boise St) is listed as smaller than most QB prospects; however, I made these notes. “All he does is win”; “hits receivers in stride” and “seems to go through a progression when selecting where to throw the ball”. If this guy is still on the board in the fifth or sixth round, he would be a value pick there.

    Brock Osweiler (Ariz. St) is “huge” and has a “very big arm”. He is also “not always accurate on short balls” and he evidently “throws behind his receiver” enough times to make me write that down. I read one report that had him as 6’ 7” tall and 250 lbs. That is a big quarterback indeed…

    Russell Wilson (Wisconsin) is not very big and is not fast but he is “elusive and can throw on the run”. This guy could also be a value pick in later rounds.

Since I started with the quarterbacks, let me stay with the offensive players and move on to running backs.

    Yes, I saw Trent Richardson play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    LeMichael James (Oregon) “looks too small to be an every-down RB in the NFL” but he is an “explosive runner” who has “more than enough speed to be a third-down back or slot receiver”. I would guess second round pick here.

    Bernard Pierce (Temple) is a “power back” who also “can break a tackle and turn it into a long gain.” Understand, I saw him play one game against a bad Maryland team where he scored a bunch of TDs and gained about 160 yards. Maybe he is that good; maybe the Maryland defense was that bad…

    Jonas Gray (Notre Dame) is a “power runner” who is “big but not tall”. “Decent blocker” and “good pick in middle rounds” are my other two notes.

    Todd Anderson (Mich. St) is “a very large man” who blocks very well. Can play fullback in the NFL but not every team uses a fullback anymore.

Next, come the wide receivers…

    Yes, I saw Justin Blackmon play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Yes, I saw Michael Floyd play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Alshan Jeffery (So. Carolina) is a “big target” with “good hands and adequate speed”. If a team is looking for a possession receiver, this could be their guy.

    Kendall Wright (Baylor) has “great speed” and “good enough hands”. “When he gets open, RG3 gets him the ball and big plays happen.”

    Joe Adams and Jarius Wright (Arkansas) are both “small receivers”. Both look like they need “6 months of good home cooking to put meat on their bones.” However, both of them “catch well” and “make plays”. They do look small for the NFL though…

I need to interrupt my commentary here to present information that came to me via e-mail from a long-term reader who knows that I do these analyses every April. Here is the salient part of his note to me:

“If you get a chance to see Elvis Akpla in an All-Star Game, keep your notes handy. I think you will like him. He is a wide receiver at Montana State and he is dominating the competition there … The kid is a great athlete.”

I did not see Elvis Akpla play; in fact, I would only know him from Elvis Presley based on the fact that Elvis Presley is dead and Elvis Akpla is obviously not. I present him here only because he came to my attention via an old friend…

Moving on to the tight end position …I evidently did not see any prospects that jumped out and screamed “Take Me Now! I Am A Great Player!” My notes reflect several good players who should make contributions to NFL teams but no sure-fire prospects:

    Dwayne Allen (Clemson) is a “very good run blocker” who can “move defensive tackles around”. In the game I saw, he “made one nice catch in tight coverage”. However, he “looks pretty slow to me.”

    David Paulsen (Oregon) is an “excellent blocker” with “good size”. They must not have thrown the ball his way very much in this game because I do not have any notes on his catching. However, I do have a note that says, “maybe too slow for the NFL?”

    George Bryan (NC State) has “good hands” and “good size” but “questionable speed”. He blocks well on running plays.

    James Hanna (Oklahoma) is “big and tall” with “good hands”. Here are two more notes I made:

      “dominating the Baylor secondary”

      “why don’t they throw the ball to this guy more often?”

    Coby Fleener (Stanford) is touted by some writers as a potential first round pick. I saw Stanford twice last year and did not make a single note about him.

Here is another interruption to bring to your attention someone I have never seen play but who caught the eye of a long-term reader who went to UMass for two years before transferring to Cornell:

“UMass does not produce lots of pro football stars (Victor Cruz?) so you probably won’t go looking there for any draft prospects … Emil Igwenagu (TE) is going to make it in the NFL. He can catch, he can block … he can run. Some team will be very happy after they take him.”

Now you know everything that that I know about Emil Igwenagu…

When it comes to offensive linemen, I tend to lump them all together. Some folks try to project a guy as a left tackle as opposed to a right tackle – - or an interior lineman as opposed to what, an interior decorator? About the only “distinction” I might make is for a center who demonstrates some speed in addition to blocking abilities.

    Yes, I saw Matt Kalil play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Yes, I saw David DeCastro play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Cordy Glenn (Georgia) is “a huge dude” who will be a “really good run blocker”. On pass blocking my note says he “looks like a dancing bear on roller skates”. He will be taken high in the draft because of his size and his school, but I think he is “a project”.

    Brandon Mosley (Auburn) “runs well and blocks well”. Screen graphic said he was 6’ 6” and 303 lbs. My note says “he was 303 lbs in high school – - looks about 320 to me”. Good pick in the mid-rounds.

    William Vlachos (Alabama) is a “good interior run blocker” who “opens holes for Trent Richardson”. Probably worth a pick in the 3rd to 5th rounds.

    Lucas Nix (Pitt) is a “powerful run blocker” and an “adequate pass blocker”. He is aggressive to the point that I wrote “mean streak?”.

    Peter Konz (Wisconsin) is a “good run blocker” and a “decent pass blocker”. Playing center for a top-flight school along with good physical skills will get him taken in the draft.

    Rokevious Watkins (So. Carolina) is “the biggest OG I remember seeing”. He “moves well” and he “moves people” after he hits them.

    Mike Adams (Ohio State) is a “much better run blocker than pass blocker”. That makes him a project but “good size and good competition make him worth a pick”.

So much for offensive players I made notes on, here are some defensive linemen who will try to combat those offensive talents. Two defensive tackles who have gotten a lot of mention in the past couple of weeks are Fletcher Cox (Miss State) and Dontari Poe (Memphis). I have no notes on either one. I know I did not see Memphis last year and I do not recall if I saw Mississippi State. Lots of writers think these two could go in the first round of the draft. I have nothing to say on that matter. Quinton Coples has received a lot of attention as a top prospect at defensive end. I did not see UNC play last year so I have nothing to say about him either.

    Devon Still (Penn State) gives good “inside pressure on the passer” and “plays the run aggressively”. “A good DT for the NFL” would seem to be an omen that he should go in the early rounds.

    Michael Brockers (LSU) is “super-quick and still strong enough to throw blockers off him”. My other note says “hits runners to bring them down he doesn’t just fall down with them.” He should go early in the draft too.

    Nick Perry (USC) is “very quick off the ball” and provides “relentless pass pressure”. I also have a note than he “chased down a RB to the other side of the field” on a play indicating he has “good speed for a big man”. Probably gone by the second or third round…

    Josh Chapman (Alabama) is “a run-stuffer in the middle” who is “not very quick or very fast.” Perhaps a late round pick…?

    Chas Alexih (Pitt) “plays with lots of emotion and hustle” and is “always around the ball”. “Good speed for D-lineman” is another positive note. Probably in the later rounds…

    Jake Bequette (Arkansas) “hustles every play from snap to whistle” and is a “sure tackler”. My negative note says he is “not all that fast”. Probably a late round pick.

Here is another interlude from a reader sending me an e-mail. The sender is an alum of Marshall University and he must have felt strongly about his assertion here since he sent his note along in July of last year before much of anything happened in college football.

“…watch Vinny Curry – Jr. Marshall DE.”

I never did see Marshall play last year but I Googled “Vinny Curry Marshall” just now. One of the scouting/rating sites lists him as the sixth best DE prospect in the draft and projects that he will go in the first or second round. I guess I should have found a way to follow the direction provided in that July e-mail…

Now on to the linebackers:

    Donta Hightower (Alabama) is a “tackling machine” in the middle who can “cover the middle on passing downs”. Defense carried Alabama to the national championship and this guy was a standout on that defense.

    Vontaze Burfict (Ariz. St) is “big, fast and a violent tackler”. He should be able to play ILB in the NFL. However, there are other stories about Burfict getting into an altercation with teammates in the locker room last year and some questions about his “coachability”. I have no idea how serious any of those things are, but on the field, this guy can play linebacker.

    Melvin Ingram (So. Carolina) is a “relentless pass rusher” who is “good enough against the run”. “Too small to be a DE” means he has to play OLB and will have to learn to play pass coverage. At South Carolina on passing downs, he was always coming…

    Ronnell Lewis (Oklahoma) is a “good athlete” with “good speed” who is “quick off the ball”. When he was supposed to cover a receiver in the flat, he “plays pass defense pretty well.” A mid-to late round pick?

    Keenan Robinson (Texas) is a “sure tackler” with “good size and good enough speed” at ILB. Probably a middle round pick…

    Tank Carder (TCU) is “always around the ball” and “very quick to get to the point of attack on run plays”. My notes say “fast enough to play OLB and tackles well enough to play ILB”. The only cautionary note I have is that he is “not as big as other LBs.”

    Whitney Mercilus (Illinois) has “a great name for a defensive football player” and he also has “good quickness and balance going around an OT.” He is “not particularly good against the run” but is “always close to a passer even if he does not get a sack.” He will go high in the draft…

    Jabaree Tuani (Navy) is a “big linebacker who plays hard and is a sure tackler”. Given his service commitment to the Navy, he is not likely to be drafted, but I think he might be able to play at the NFL level if given a shot.

Moving along smartly to cornerbacks – - where I look for players who can both cover receivers AND make tackles on running backs…

    Yes, I saw Morris Claiborne play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Yes, I saw Stephon Gilmore play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Yes, I saw Dre Kirkpatrick play. Yes, I was mightily impressed.

    Jayron Hosley (VA Tech) is a “good pass defender” but does hot have “good fundamental tackling skills” on run plays. In addition, my notes say he “looks awfully small for covering NFL sized receivers”. Worth taking in the mid to late rounds…

    R.J. Blanton (Notre Dame) is “a big defensive back” who is “fast enough but not with ‘sprinter speed’ “ and a “solid tackler”. He “plays the run strong”.

    DeQuan Menzie (Alabama) is the “guy playing the other cornerback position”. He is “bigger than Kirkpatrick” and a “good tackler” but “may not be fast enough to be a cornerback in the NFL”. Perhaps a team will draft him in the late rounds and move him to a safety position…?

    Antonio Fenelus (Wisconsin) was “first team All Big Ten in 2010” according to announcers. My notes say “looks pretty ordinary to me” and “looks too short to cover tall NFL receivers”. Obviously, the game I saw and the player that the selectors for the “all Big Ten Team” saw were two different people…

Safety is the last of the defensive positions; I do not distinguish between free safeties and strong safeties here.

    Neiko Thorpe (Auburn) “seems to be in on every other tackle” and “defends the pass well enough”. He “looks a bit skinny for the NFL.” Probably a late round pick…

    Antonio Allen (South Carolina) is “tall and quick” and a “good tackler in the open field”. He “looks skinny – needs to hit the weight room and the chow line”. He had “good cover skills.”

    Mark Barron (Alabama) “hits like a truck” and is “always around the ball”. He “played pass defense well enough.” He should go in the first couple of rounds.

    Tysyn Hartman (Kansas St.) is “big and strong – - hits hard.” My notes say “speed is suspect for NFL” but he “seems to know where the play is going most of the time.” Probably a late-round project…

    Blake Gideon (Texas) has “good size” and “plays the run well”. However, he “gets beaten deep” and “gets beaten on quick moves in short zones”. As a long-term starter at Texas, he has seen good competition that might move him up on draft boards but my guess is that he is a late round pick or an undrafted free agent.

    George Iloka (Boise St.) is “a big dude with very good speed” and who “hits running backs hard”. “Good in pass coverage too.” The only negative comment here was “made some borderline late hits; self-control?” Given his size and skills, I suspect he will go in the first three rounds.

    Harrison Smith (Notre Dame) is “a big guy with really long arms” who “can run a bit” and who “hits people so that they go down.” The downside of his hitting is that he does not hit low so the tackle is sure; instead, he is a “highlight reel hitter” and that can cost you at the NFL level.

With regard to punters and place-kickers, my notes are thin indeed.

    Drew Butler (Georgia) Punter: His kicks go “high and long” and he “dropped one inside the 10 [yard-line] with a perfect bounce.”

    Anson Kelton (TCU) Punter: “Screen graphic said he was 6’ 2” and 265 lbs. I believe it.”

    Derek Dimke (Illinois) Place-kicker: “Little guy with a big leg.”

Just to conclude this compendium, allow me to present one more note from one more “correspondent” regarding a place-kicker:

“Tyler Almieda kicks for Mount Union so you’ll never see him on TV. His value is on kickoffs, he will put the ball in the end zone half of the time.”

The “correspondent” is correct; I never did see Mount Union or Tyler Almieda on TV. In fact, about the only things I know about Mount Union is that the school is in Ohio and that it is usually one of the final teams left standing in the Division III championship tournament.

So, watch the draft later this week and see if this guide gives you some insight into some of the folks who are selected about whom you have heard nothing from the ESPN talking heads over the past month or so.

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

April 23, 2012 – 8:24 am Categories: Topical Rants | Comments (2)