Patriotism is dead

Who would have thought that Plaxico Burress would have given the New England Patriots too much credit as they only scored 14 points. That is where the phrase, any given Sunday comes in. May favorite part of the Super Bowl did not come during the game but during the night when all of the Bostonians had to come to grip that a team from New York beat them and took away their chance of immortality. That had to hurt.

My favorite ten NFL players of all time

Rick Bennett has a list of his ten favorite NFL players. I know such a list is subjective but he has it all wrong. How can one not cheer for the greatest backup of all time, Steve DeBerg? You can check out his list but I'll post the correct list below of favorite players of all time.

10. Ottis "OJ" Anderson :: MVP of XXV and the cornerstone of perhaps the most boring Super Bowl winning offense ever. In 1989, Anderson become the top running back for Bill Parcells' ball control offense and was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He scored a career high 14 rushing touchdowns, and rushed for 1,023 yards on 325 carries. He was also the top running back for the Giants the following year, when they won Super Bowl XXV, and was named Super Bowl MVP for his 102 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. As a testament to the Giants' ball control strategy, their time of possession was double that of the Buffalo Bills, their opponents, in the first Super Bowl without a turnover.
9. Steve DeBerg :: DeBerg passed for over 34,000 career yards, and ranks in the top 20 all-time for attempts, completions, and yards passing. DeBerg's best years were with the Chiefs, during which he led the team to two playoff berths and had his best year in 1990 with a 101.2 quarterback rating, passing for 3,444 yards, 23 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. Chronologically, most of his career was spent in a back-up role, and he never spent more than 64 games with any one team. He also did really well at those stupid NFL QB Skills competitions that gave us NFL-oholics a quick fix during the spring.
8. Don Majkowski :: 10th round pick starts his rookie year and later goes on to throw for 4,000+ yards proving that NFL talent evaluators don't know a lot more than you or I.
7. Rodney Peete :: 16 years in the league but I grew up watching Detroit cable and who else was I going to root for. Andre Ware, Scott Mitchell, Erik Kramer.
6. Damon Allen :: He was 43 this year and still playing professional football. He is a grandfather. He has approximately 20,000 more passing yards than second-place Danny McManus. In addition, he stands fifteenth on the all time professional rushing list (third on the all time CFL list behind Mike Pringle and George Reed) and he stood only 464 yards behind his brother Marcus. Damon is widely considered the best football player to never play in the NFL I have seen his play a couple of times live and the amazing thing is that he never looks that dangerous or that effective but 70,554 passing yards, a couple of championships, and a lot of wins. Apparently he is that good.
5. Roger Craig :: He didn't need a dance, he just high stepped into the end zone again and again. The funny thing is that when Tom Rathman and him were in San Francisco, the 49ers were known as a finesse team but the truth is that the 49ers could run over any team any time they needed to. Of course he would have rated higher but he decided to play for the Raiders.
4. Bo Jackson :: The hit on the Boz on MNF just about sums it up. Oh yeah he ran a 40 in 4.12 seconds which is just sick.
3. Warren Moon :: Five Grey Cup wins in Edmonton. Growing up in Calgary, we didn't even cheer for the Stampeders, we cheered for the Warren Moon lead Eskimos. After he went south and played in Houston, I remember watching him lead his Oilers against the old Cleveland Browns while growing up. The Dawg Pound, Bernie Kosar, Jerry Glanville, and a stupid looking muff around his waist. Moon held the record for most passing yardage in professional football until surpassed by Damon Allen, held the record for most passing touchdowns in professional football until surpassed by Brett Favre, and held the record for most pass completions in professional football until surpassed by Brett Favre. He still holds the record for most pass attempts in professional football history with 9,205
2. Steve Atwater :: He was one of the most violent hitters I have ever seen. Many thought he should have been the MVP of Superbowl XXII. Here is his resume. Eight Pro Bowls, six All-Pro team selections (2 unanimous), two Vince Lombardi Trophies, 1301 tackles over a 10 year Bronco career, selection to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1990s, a Denver Broncos Ring of Fame inductee with only 5 missed games over his Bronco career, Atwater's reputation as a fierce hitter, his leadership role as Captain of the Broncos defense, as well as his contributions during Super Bowls XXIV, XXXII, and XXXIII.
1. John Elway :: Unless you are a Cleveland Browns fan who is still bitter after Elway ruined your reason for breathing with The Drive, you recognize that Elway is the greatest QB ever. He also set the trend for bad QB's in Baltimore before it was even cool. He refused to play for the Colts and got a trade to Denver after being drafted first overall. Elway also holds the record for most game-winning or game-tying scoring drives in the fourth quarter, with 47. Elway holds the rather undesirable record for most times being sacked (516) and most career Super Bowl interceptions, with eight picks in the five title games he played. He also ended his career with 148 victories, good for second place behind Brett Favre for most wins by a starting quarterback. He finished his career with 774 rushing attempts, one shy of NFL record-holder Randall Cunningham (775) for rushes by a quarterback. Elway's 3,417 rushing yards ranks sixth all-time among NFL QB's behind Cunningham, Steve Young, Michael Vick, Fran Tarkenton, and Steve McNair. Elway threw for 1,128 yards in his five Super Bowls, second only to Joe Montana's record of 1,142 yards. His 76 Super Bowl pass completions rank him third behind Montana and Jim Kelly.

Feel free to correct me on any of these players (Steve DeBerg?!) and add your own below.

Technorati tags: NFL, history

Nooooooooo!

Kent Austin bailed out on Saskatchewan again and is leaving the Roughriders to be the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss.  I can't be too angry at Austin as he did lead Saskatchewan to a Grey Cup and Eric Tillman is still the General Manager (In Eric We Trust) and the opportunity to be an offensive coordinator at a SEC school is a great opportunity but... there is a lot of anxiety right now in Riderville.

Why would he leave Regina for Ole Miss, well Austin played quarterback at the University of Mississippi from 1981 to 1985 and grew up in nearby Nashville.  He is Ole Miss's second all-time passer and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.  It is pretty hard to compete with that.  Still, it is like a kick to the groin for the faithful today.

Of course if he ever comes back, it appears that he has a future in politics.

Technorati tags: Saskatchewan Roughriders, Kent Austin, Eric Tillman, Ole Miss, SEC

The Bolts Beat the Colts

It pains me to say this but congratulations to the San Diego Chargers for beating the Indianapolis Colts.  Oh yeah, they did it without Philip Rivers or LaDamian Tomlinson for most of the game.   Apparently Norv Turner can coach.  In the end it was the offensive line completely dominating the front seven of the Indianapolis Colts who couldn't rush Billy Volek or stop the run.  Expect much gloating on Mike DeVries blog this week.

Technorati tags: San Diego Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning, Phllip Rivers, LT, LaDamian Tomlinson, Billy Volek

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

One of the books I received for Christmas was The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis, a book where one of my favorite authors tackles my favorite sport. In the 1980s rushing linebackers, specifically Lawrence Taylor, became a bigger part of the defensive scheme (at about the same time Bill Walsh was reinventing offensives to make the quarterback more important) This created a problem for the offensive line: protect the valuable & fragile quarterback from the huge, fast outside linebackers like Lawrence Taylor, who you may have seen snap Joe Theismann's leg before. To stop the unstoppable, you need giant-handed men the size of houses who move like ballerinas to protect the blind side of the quarterback. Thus has the left tackle position become the second-highest paid position in the league behind the quarterbacks themselves.

The book is the story of Michael Oher, a kid from the ghettos of Memphis who somehow ends up at a private Christian school and is taken under the wings of a wealthy family and almost accidentally discovers football (his passion is basketball) and whose combination of strength, size, agility, and speed makes him the kind of left tackle that colleges and the NFL fantasize about. As a confessed NFL-aholic, I have to admit that I loved the X and O's in the book but in many ways the book is a story of living out the faith.

A big part of the story is about the Tuohy's. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy were wealthy white evangelical Christians from the south. They were Republicans and had a daughter in a prestigious private Christian school not known for having a lot of blacks. After Sean initially made sure Michael's lunches were paid for (lunch isn't free at private schools), the got more and more involved until on Lee Anne's initiative they took a 16 year old kid who would not speak, had no social skills and in many ways had no hope into their home. There are a couple of memorable lines from this transition.

The next day in the afternoon, Leigh Anne left her business — she had her own interior-decorating firm — turned up at Briarcrest, picked up Michael and took off with him. A few hours later, Sean’s cellphone rang. His wife was on the other end.

“Do you know how big a 58-long jacket is?” she asked.

“How big?”

“Not big enough.”

Leigh Anne Tuohy grew up with a firm set of beliefs about black people but shed them for another — and could not tell you exactly how it happened, except to say, “I married a man who doesn’t know his own color.” Her father, a United States marshal based in Memphis, raised her to fear and loathe blacks as much as he did. The moment the courts ordered the Memphis City Schools integrated in 1973, he pulled her out of public school and put her into the newly founded Briarcrest Christian School, where she became a student in its first year. “I was raised in a very racist household,” she says. Yet by the time Michael Oher arrived at Briarcrest, Leigh Anne Tuohy didn’t see anything odd or even awkward in taking him in hand. This child was new; he had no clothes; he had no warm place to stay over Thanksgiving. For Lord’s sake, he was walking to school in the snow in shorts, when school was out of session, on the off chance he could get into the gym and keep warm. Of course she took him out and bought him some clothes. It struck others as perhaps a bit aggressively philanthropic; for Leigh Anne, clothing a child was just what you did if you had the resources. She had done this sort of thing before and would do it again. “God gives people money to see how you’re going to handle it,” she says. And she intended to prove she knew how to handle it.

After the Tuohy's decided that Michael would be moving in with them, there was one big problem where do you put a guy who a fifty-eight long is too small for.

As she organized his clothing, Leigh Anne stewed on where to put this huge human being. The sofa clearly would not do--"it was ruining my ten-thousand-dollar couch"--but she was worried that no ordinary bed would hold him, or, if it did, it might collapse during the middle of the night and he and it would come hurtling through the ceiling. Sean had mentioned that he recalled some of the larger football players at Ole Miss sleeping on futons. That day Leigh Anne went out and bought a futon and a dresser. The day the futon arrived,s he showed it to Michael and said, "That's your bed." And he said, "That's my bed?" And she said, "That's your bed." And he just stared at it a bit and said, "This is the first time I ever had my own bed."

This line kind of blew me away.

From the moment Michael moved in with them, Sean began to stew on his future. ("Because I figured I was going to have to pay for it.") Michael was approaching the end of his junior year in high school, and while they hadn't seen his transcripts, they knew his grades were poor. Since Myrtle Beach he'd been good enough of the basketball team that Sean thought he might be able to play at a small college. "And if I figured if he wasn't, I could make him good enough," said Sean.

Of course the next year he discovered football and became dominant but his marks were too poor to get into college. That didn't stop Sean or Lee Anne.

To get into the N.F.L., Michael Oher needed to first get into college. And to get into college, he needed to meet the academic standards prescribed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The N.C.A.A. had a sliding scale of ACT scores and grade-point averages; the higher the ACT, the lower the required G.P.A. Given Michael’s best ACT score, to play college football he would need a 2.65 overall G.P.A. He had finished his sophomore year with a 0.9. A better performance at the back end of his junior year, when he moved into the Tuohy home, raised his cumulative average to 1.564. That’s when Leigh Anne took over more completely. Before Michael’s senior year, she called all his teachers at Briarcrest and asked them to tell her exactly what Michael had to do to earn at least a B in their classes. She didn’t expect them to just hand Michael a grade — though she wouldn’t have complained if they did. But to her way of thinking, a B was the fair minimum to give any normal person willing to take the simple steps. She would hound Michael until he took those steps. Just give me the list of things he needs to do, she told the teachers, and he will do them.

Two days into his senior year, he came home, dropped his massive backpack onto the kitchen table and said, “I can’t do this.” Leigh Anne thought he was about to cry. The next morning, she told him to suck it up and pushed him right back out the door. But that’s when Leigh Anne brought in Sue Mitchell, whom she met at a sorority function.

As a tool for overhauling the grade-point average of Michael Oher, as well as for broadening his experience of white people, Sue Mitchell had a number of things to recommend her. In her 35-year career she taught at several Memphis-area public schools. At Bartlett High School, just outside Memphis, she took over the cheerleading squad and whipped it into five-time national champions. She applied to work at the Briarcrest Christian School, but Briarcrest rejected her out of hand because though Mitchell said she believed in God, she had trouble proving it. (“The application did not have one question about education,” Mitchell says. “It was all about religion and what I thought about homosexuality and drinking and smoking.”) She wasn’t born again, and she didn’t often go to church. She also advertised herself as a liberal. When Sean heard that, he hooted at her, “We had a black son before we had a Democrat friend!”

Still, in spite of these presumed defects, Mitchell was relentless and effusive — the sort of woman who wants everything to be just great between her and the rest of the world but, if it isn’t, can adjust and go to war. And that’s what she did. She worked five nights a week, four hours each night, free, to help get Michael Oher into Ole Miss, her alma mater. The Tuohy family looked on with interest. “There were days when he was just overwhelmed,” says Collins, who saw the academic drama unfold both at school and at home. “He’d just close his book and say, ‘I’m done.”’ When he did this, Mitchell opened the book for him. She didn’t care much about football, but she fairly quickly became attached to Michael. There was just something about him that made you want to help him. He tried so hard and for so little return. “One night it wasn’t going so well, and I got frustrated,” Mitchell says, “and he said to me, ‘Miss Sue, you have to remember I’ve only been going to school for two years.”’

His senior year he made all A’s and B’s. It nearly killed him, but he did it. The Briarcrest academic marathon, in which Michael started out a distant last and had instantly fallen farther behind, came to a surprising end: in a class of 157 students, he finished 154th. He had caught up to and passed three of his classmates. When Sean saw the final report card, he turned to Michael with a straight face and said, “You didn’t lose; you just ran out of time.”

A lot of people would have given up at that point.

Now it was Sean’s turn to intervene.

From a friend, Sean learned about the Internet courses offered by Brigham Young University. The B.Y.U. courses had magical properties: a grade took a mere 10 days to obtain and could be used to replace a grade from an entire semester on a high-school transcript. Pick the courses shrewdly and work quickly, and the most tawdry academic record could be renovated in a single summer. Sean scanned the B.Y.U. catalog and found a promising series. It was called “Character Education.” All you had to do in such a “character course” was to read a few brief passages from famous works — a speech by Lou Gehrig here, a letter by Abraham Lincoln there — and then answer five questions about it. How hard could it be? The A’s earned from character courses could be used to replace F’s earned in high-school English classes. And Michael never needed to leave the house!

The book is about football but it is also a story on what the Christian faith looks like in practice. I think many people would look at a Michael Oher when he was 16 and think twice about talking to him let alone adopting him. As Lewis writes the story, it isn't just his salvation that Tuohy's were interested in, it was about helping a person for the sake of doing the right thing (something they had a history of doing according to book).

A combination of work, the holiday season, and the book has had me thinking about how to tackle bigger societal problems. I understand what Sojourners is trying to do and I am a liberal and believe that the government has a role in the solution (and helps create problems as well) but I am under no illusions that by fixing the system, one can solve societal problems.

I grew up going to good schools and while there were many idiots there, everyone knew how to read and write. They had learned to learn over the years and while some chose not to, it was their choice. Working at the shelter, I found myself amongst many people who are not in the rat race but are simply struggling to eat and stay warm. That's it. The system keeps them going one day more at a time and for many that is it for their entire life. Poverty has become a life sentence. Maybe it was caused by fetal alcohol syndrome, untreated mental health issues, abuse, or generations of indifferent parenting but it is going to take a long term effort to work itself out.

For FAS victims alone, they many experience secondary disabilities on top of the FAS.

• Mental health problems — Diagnosed with ADHD, Clinical Depression, or other mental illness, experienced by over 90% of the subjects
• Disrupted school experience — Suspended or expelled from school or dropped out of school, experienced by 60% of the subjects (age 12 and older)
• Trouble with the law — Charged or convicted with a crime, experienced by 60% of the subjects (age 12 and older)
• Confinement — For inpatient psychiatric care, inpatient chemical dependency care, or incarcerated for a crime, experienced by about 50% of the subjects (age 12 and older)
• Inappropriate sexual behavior — Sexual advances, sexual touching, or promiscuity, experienced by about 50% of the subjects (age 12 and older)
• Alcohol and drug problems — Abuse or dependency, experienced by 35% of the subjects (age 12 and older)

All of these make it extremely function within society which is combined with a relatively low income earning potential. So whose responsibility are those that can not function well in society? Canadians tend to default to the government (our social safety nets) but that only helps a certain percentage. Social workers tend to be overwhelmed since the budget cuts in social services in the mid-90s. Several churches I know have really tried to make a difference but many efforts are programs where the end result is the distribution of goods on a limited scale which can be a good thing but as David Fitch argues effectively in his book, The Great Giveaway it isn't justice we are performing. We aren't changing lives (although it is important to help a person continue on until help can be had). The solution isn't to not help but rather go further and get more involved and work towards something better in community. Of course that sounds a lot easier than what it is to do which explains why it doesn't happen more.

The church does get bashed unfairly at times because in many ways the inner city ministries and churches that are the most closely situated to the problem often have the fewest resources for dealing with this. Those that have the resources are often a long way removed intellectually and world view from those that have the need. That may make what happened in the book all the more remarkable, someone moved out of their comfort zone and at risk to their family and themselves and became intimately involved in that person's life. Churches are often hindered by a classroom/lecture style of discipleship (the sermon and class) that is ineffective with people who have never been taught that style of learning (Saskatoon has around 1500 truant school kids according to several reports and when they grow up, I would imagine they would be very similar to Michael Oher and very hard to teach).

I don't know in the end what to make that part of the book. It is an issue I wrestle with and wonder what I need to be doing to make a bigger difference in more lives. I see an awful lot of pain and suffering and my prayer every morning is that I make some positive difference in the lives I cross at the shelter and at home.

Technorati tags: The Blind Side, Michael Oher, Big Mike, Ole Miss, Briarcrest Christian School

UCLA to regret hiring Neuheisel?

As Michael Ventre points out, there has been some integrity issues in Neuheisel's past and for many coaches, those never, ever go away.  I know the CIAU athletics is something completely different than the NCAA and isn't even in the same league (now that I think about it, that pun is intended) but I am proud to be a University of Saskatchewan Huskie football fan.  Part of that is because of the integrity that Brian Towris has run the program over the last 22 years. Yeah they win a lot but they win by the rules.  For all of the winning, they have won within the rules.  So have coaches like Joe Paterno.  I hope Neuheisel can prove me wrong for the four or five diehard UCLA fans that aren't cheering for USC but I fear that Ventre is correct.

Technorati tags: UCLA, Rick Neuheisel, Brian Towris, University of Saskatchewan, Penn State, Joe Paterno

Shreveport: Everything that is wrong with college bowl games

The sad thing is that I have watched this bowl game on more than one occasion.

The original recipe for bowl disappointment, though, comes from Shreveport, La.: The Independence Bowl, better known to you and me as the former Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl. The GMAC, the Motor City, the Meineke Car Care Bowl ... they all owe a debt of gratitude to the Independence Bowl, which came along in 1976 and innovated the bowl scene by removing the requirement of being "a destination city" from the criteria.

Teams used to go somewhere for their bowl games; Shreveport proved that football fans were so desperate for games they were willing to ditch the requirement of a holiday destination to watch games between .500 teams playing for payouts barely covering their expenses (if they're lucky).

Technorati tags: Shreveport, NCAA, football, Independence Bowl, sports

Micheal Lewis on the odd life of kickers

From the New York Times Magazine

Field-goal kickers are still defined by the tiniest sliver of their professional career. "I made a lot of big kicks, but all anyone wants to talk about is that one," Dempsey said. And, finally, there is still some faint resistance to the notion that a kicker could ever really do anything great. Brett Favre can throw 10 more game-ending interceptions and fans will still cherish his moments of glory. Reggie Bush may fumble away a championship and still end up being known for the best things he ever does. Even offensive linemen whose names no one remembers are permitted to end their days basking in the reflected glory of having been on the field. Kickers alone are required to make their own cases.

Technorati tags: NFL, CFL, football, kickers

Saskatchewan Wins the 95th Grey Cup

The Saskatchewan Roughriders just won the 95th Grey Cup by beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 23-19 in a game that should not have been that close except for the Roughriders offense sputtered quite a bit.  My favorite was when Winnipeg's coach challenged a video replay decision.  Yes, he threw his challenge flag to challenge a ruling that had already been reviewed by the video replay official.  Brilliant.  This also means that we pass Sarnia on the all time Grey Cup wins list.

Technorati tags: Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, CFL, Grey Cup

Cleveland goes old school

I have always enjoyed the Cleveland Browns, maybe because they can never beat the Denver Broncos when it counts but I enjoy the Dawg Pound and the rabid Cleveland fans.  As I flipped to watch the Browns play today, I was wondering why they stenciled their numbers with Sharpies on their helmets.  A quick look around the Internet told me that they are supposed to look this bad.  Apparently they are wearing "throwback" uniforms which makes little sense to me because what makes the Browns uniform work is that it is basically a throwback uniform.  The uniforms aren't that much different but the bad numbers on the helmets not only look but seem to be applied inconsistently, especially Derek Anderson's.

Technorati tags: Cleveland Browns, Derek Anderson

Time to Bury Sarnia

This came from Joe Manafo but if Saskatchewan wins today, we pass Sarnia on the all time Grey Cup championship list.

The Toronto Argonauts lead the way with 15, with the Edmonton Eskimos next in line at 13. Look wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay down and you will find four teams beside the No. "2'' -- Saskatchewan Roughriders, Sarnia Imperials (ouch), Balmy Beach (gulp) and Ottawa Senators (who says they can't win the big one?).

Remarkably, Saskatchewan -- the home of a beloved franchise with a history dating back to 1910 -- is still mired behind the University of Toronto (four) and Queen's University (three) on the all-time list. And the mighty Imperials, who captured the Cup in 1934 and 1936, have yet to be surpassed by the Riders.

Technorati tags: Sarnia, Grey Cup, Saskatchewan Roughriders, CFL, football

Saskatchewan Roughriders are headed to the Grey Cup

I moved to Saskatchewan in 1984 and the Saskatchewan Roughriders have let me down more often than not but this year has been different.  A new coach in Kent Austin and the amazing play of Kerry Joseph have actually led to a year that Saskatchewan can be proud of.  After their first home playoff game in 19 years, they beat the Calgary Stampeders  and then headed to Vancouver for the Western Conference Final against the B.C. Lions.  They won that game and are now headed to the Grey Cup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (who are without their star QB, Kevin Glenn who broke his arm in the victory).  Expect a lot of Saskatchewan Roughrider links in the next week.

Technorati tags: Saskatchewan Roughriders, B.C. Lions, CFL, Grey Cup, Kevin Glenn

Duke

So Notre Dame finally wins another game and beat the football powerhouse known as Duke University 28-7.  I watched most of the game and was quite disappointed in Notre Dame.  A couple of plays going the other game and Duke could have won and the idea that Duke should even be on the same field as Notre Dame, let alone play the competitively shows how far Notre Dame has slipped.

The Notre Dame looked as slow as they have all season and when you have really slow defenders, it doesn't matter what kind of defense you run when the other team runs right past them and a better offensive team than Duke would have scored at will against Notre Dame.

Offensively much has been said about Charlie Weiss statement where he said that Notre Dame would have a "decided schematic advantage" every game and they might but the offensive line can't block and the running backs can't run.  That is a lot for Jimmy Clausen to overcome.  The end result is that it was an ugly game to watch, even when Notre Dame wins.  It reminded me of when the Saskatoon Blades were having a bad year in hockey.  I would wait until another really bad team would come to town until I got tickets, that way the game would be competitive.  It is just sad that Notre Dame football has fallen to the level of thinking that beating Duke is a big game.

Whose fault is it?  Well some really bad recruiting classes by Tyrone Willingham explains some of the lack of talent that Weiss had to work with but part of college football is teaching.  Teaching Tom Brady is one thing but as Weiss is learning (hopefully), teaching a bunch of 18 and 19 year old kids is another.  Time will tell if Weiss can turn his vaunted recruiting classes into National Championships or will be known as Dave Wannstedt II but he will need more than a schematic advantage  if it is going to happen.

Technorati tags: Duke, Notre Dame, football, Charlie Weiss, Jimmy Clausen, Tyrone Willingham

At least I am not a Nebraska fan

It was a bad week for Notre Dame fans but at least I am not cheering for the Cornhuskers (dumbest nickname in college sports).  How does Bill Callahan keep his job after a loss like this?  It makes you a little misty eyed for the Frank Solich era.  Although whatever you say about Callahan in Nebraska, at least he didn't allow Lawrence Phillips play in Nebraska.

Technorati tags: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Bill Callahan

Bush

While in the Bahamas, I was having a debate with Mike DeVries about Reggie Bush and how he was on the take so to speak at USC. I was asked where the evidence was and as Dan Wetzel points out, it is piling up against Bush.

The case against USC, like all similar cases involving players and agents, will revolve around two basic lines of questioning, according to three athletic directors and one former NCAA investigator with whom Yahoo! Sports discussed the generalities.

1. Did Bush receive extra benefits that would make him ineligible for competition? And if so, when did they begin?

2. Did or should have USC officials and coaches known about the extra benefits.

We'll start with the first one, where a mountain of evidence, both in direct accounts, paper documents and even admissions from Bush make it seemingly implausible that this is all a lie.

Where previously all the NCAA had were third-party accounts and the direct testimony of memorabilia dealer Bob DeMartino claiming Ornstein asked him for cash to make a payment to Bush's relatives (another vein of this investigation), this lawsuit opens up many problems for USC.

Once Lake meets with investigators, his testimony coupled with the paper trail involved, makes it almost unfathomable for the NCAA not to determine Bush received extra benefits starting in his sophomore year.

2. It is not so much a matter of if USC knew, but if it should have?

The NCAAs key phrase is "institutional control" which demands schools do everything possible to protect and monitor the actions of its student-athletes. Carroll used to run a loose ship in Los Angeles, a place where agents regularly attended open practices and had been spotted inside the football facility.

In the case of New Era, while they operated out of San Diego, their ties to USC are possibly significant.

Yahoo! Sports previously reported Lake and Michaels didn't just attend USC games, but after two games even went into the Trojan locker room. That's a place most schools severely limit access to and would investigate the background of any non-relative who gains such access.

"Two guys don't just walk into your postgame locker room," said one athletic director. "You confront them immediately and find out. That's basic stuff."

Yahoo! Sports also previously reported that sources claim USC assistant Todd McNair knew of Bush's relationship with both Michaels and Lake. Moreover he spent a night out in San Diego with Bush, Michaels and Lake and knew Bush was staying the night in a $500-a-night suite at the city's Manchester Hyatt.

Yahoo! Sports obtained a receipt for the stay that was paid for by Michaels' credit card. USC refused to allow Yahoo! Sports to interview McNair.

Those bits alone, especially if Lake provides details, could prove to be damning blows for the Trojan program.

The potential for greater trouble looms in what USC hasn't released publicly.

That includes phone records, emails and internal correspondence of all USC athletic department staffers from athletic director Mike Garrett on down. It would also include all compliance department files on Bush plus the Trojans complimentary ticket lists, gate passes and locker room/sideline access lists. USC refused to turn over those items to Yahoo! Sports on a Freedom of Information Act request citing its status of a private school.

But as a member of the NCAA, USC must (and may already have) provided all of that information and anything else the NCAA thinks up. Again, it isn't just what USC was suspicious of, but what the NCAA believes it should have been suspicious of.

"The NCAA defines due diligence," said one AD.

Where it goes from here, how deep it winds up, remains to be seen.

But for USC, Tuesday's lawsuit was a terrible development, the kind that can blow open the doors on Heritage Hall, imperil both the past and future and send Carroll scurrying back to the NFL.

I think it is becoming easier and easier to see USC forfeiting it's NCAA title and Pete Carrol making a comeback with Miami (Ohio) in the near future.

BCS

I don't get Dan Wetzel's reasoning on the BCS. Yes a playoff would be fun but how many games does the NCAA football season have then and then you would only have a controversy over how NCAA playoff teams are picked. It is an enourmous field of teams and you really can't make everyone happy. I know he is horrified that Ohio State is going to be #1 but flukes happen and who thought the Big Ten was going to be this bad?

As if it isn't hard enough being a Dolphin's fan

In case 0-3 and Ted Ginn Jr. wasn't bad enough. Here is the Dophin's rapping to "Can't Touch This".

-14

Three games. Three losses. -14 yards rushing.

I know Notre Dame is young. I know their schedule is the toughest in the country. I know they are slow on defence but -14 yards rushing and no offensive touchdowns. Ouch.

How childish?

Michael Silver has a great article over on Yahoo! Sports about how childish this whole thing is with Belichick spying on Mangini.

How did all of this happen? How did Belichick, probably the greatest defensive strategist of his era and a future Hall of Fame coach, allow one of his prodigies to distract him from the task at hand and make him look like a fool?

It goes back to the end of the 2005 season, when the Jets were courting Mangini as a replacement for departed coach Herm Edwards. Belichick, who as the Browns' head coach in '95 had given his fellow Wesleyan alum an assistant's job after having noticed Mangini's work as a public relations intern, had a deep-seated disdain for the Jets' organization dating back to his infamous one-day stint as New York's head coach following Bill Parcells's resignation in January of 2000.

Go be a head coach anywhere but there, Belichick told his then-34-year-old defensive coordinator. There'll be other opportunities, and I'll help you get them, Belichick insisted. Just don't take this one.

Mangini took the job anyway, and Belichick felt betrayed. When Belichick learned that Mangini, while still serving out his final days with the Patriots, was soliciting Pats coaches, support staff members and players to join him at his new gig, the war was on. Belichick had Mangini's key card access revoked, but not before Mangini, a source says, took a laptop with confidential files stored in its hard drive out of the building. Mangini hired a Pats employee, Erin O'Brien, as his administrative assistant.

"He did exactly what Bill would do in the same situation," says one high-ranking league source who knows both men. "Bill raised him too well."

And they have been feuding ever since. Hell knows no wrath like a NFL coach who has been scorned.

Update: If you are going to fine, Billechick, don't do it half-heartedly like the NFL is doing. Go all the way and fine him $100 million like Formula One did to McLaren. Wow.

The Toilet Bowl

Dan Wetzel takes some easy shots at Michigan and Notre Dame.

The two winningest programs in Division I-A history are not just both 0-2, they are so pathetically 0-2 that Duke and Temple are laughing.

Take your shots when you can because we all know they won't be down long. Last year it was fun to pick on Miami and this year it is fun to kick Notre Dame, Michigan and Miami (still). Penn State looked horrible for a couple of years as well and we know who they beat earlier today.

Michigan lost to who?

I was feeling sad that Notre Dame got hammered by Georgia Tech until I read that Michigan lost to division 1-AA Appalacian State College. At home. In front of 109,218 fans.

Appalachian State's Corey Lynch blocked a 37-yard field goal attempt on the game's final play and the University of Michigan's 2007 football season, for all intents and purposes, came to a sudden and — if you're a Wolverine fan — sickening end on Sept. 1.

So much for that undefeated season and a national championship. It also reinforces my belief that no coach does so little with so much talent as Lloyd Carr.

Vinny Testevarde in the Hall of Fame

Well not yet since he just resigned with the New England Patriots

Testaverde has started 208 of his 226 NFL games and is in the top 10 on the career lists for yards passing, attempts, completions and touchdown passes.

Who would have thought it after those awful seasons in Tampa Bay?

Speaking of the Oakland Raiders, the holdout by JaMarcus Russell could be a mistake if Cullpepper keeps playing well in his comeback. Daunte isn't that old and could keep Russell on the bench much like the way Drew Brees kept Phillip Rivers on the bench. I am not a Raider fan but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Trading QBs

I grew up in Calgary and like all good boys, we collected and traded hockey cards. It wasn't big business like it was now but you wanted to get the bad cards out of your collection (like Wayne Gretzky cards) for good cards (like Ed Beers and Kent Nilsson). Of course every once in a while you would get suckered and trade a great Pat Riggin card for a bad Mark Messier card and you would beg to get it back. You would go to the teacher, plead with your parents to intervene (mine never did but another teacher did get involved in a particularly bad deal between two kids which seemed to me at the time to be messing with the laws of the school yard) and use peer pressure to get your card back.

Anyways, in the light of the Michael Vick indictment and probable suspension, I wonder how much of that pleading is going on between the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans over the trading of Matt Schwab. I can't think that the Falcons are happy with Joey Harrington as their starter and it is a big risk to bring in a marginally healed and out of shape Dante Cullpepper.

Akili Smith Goes To Canada

Akili Smith was horrible while playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and he was horrible while playing for the Calgary Stampeders tonight.  He big play was tossing an under thrown pass into triple coverage.  Some things never change.  The good news is that the Saskatchewan Roughriders squeaked out a 49-8 win against Calgary.

Technorati tags: Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, CFL, Akili Smith

Top Secret

I enjoy when Alan Creech posts about things we don't know about him but I have never done it myself. Here are ten things you probably didn't know about me.

1. Despite never having been to a NFL game, I met future Miami Dolphin defensive lineman, Chuck Klingbeil at a defunk water park called Penguin Park when he was playing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1990. Former Notre Dame QB, Tony Rice was there as well. While I thought Rice was the greatest when he was at Notre Dame, I took it personally when he was asked if he was going to keep playing professional football when he wasn't drafted and he said something like, "No, I am going to play in Canada". Sadly for us Saskatchewan fans he showed the same amount of talent passing the ball up here as he did for Notre Dame which wasn't a lot when he wasn't in an option offence. I remember Klingbeil as being the cooler of the two while Tony Rice was probably depressed to think that a year or two before he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and now he was doing dumb personal appearances at a waterslide park in Saskatoon. For all of you Clemson fans out there, Homer Jordan was also a Saskatchewan Roughrider QB as was West Virginia's Major Harris (for a week or so before getting cut).
2. I don't normally like to look down on people but when Mark was six months old, we were in Las Vegas in the lobby of MGM Grand waiting for some people when Marie Osmond walked by. She was doing a concert and was also selling some of her ceramic dolls. Part of the P.R. campaign was her standing there being photographed with fans. I tried to get Wendy to get a photo with her and Wendy refused. All of the people in line were middle aged men who all had to tell her that they had her poster up on the wall when they were teenagers. Wendy and I started to laugh which generated an icy stare from Osmond but I did feel sorry for her as she looked quite uncomfortable and more than a little grossed out.
3. I have never been arrested or charged with a crime but I may have committed aggravated assault on my father when I may have broken up an Ex-Lax bar into a bowl of Rocky Road Ice Cream and watched them eat it when I was 12. Does anyone expect a court ordered visitation to go any differently?
4. I hate spaghetti. Ate too much of it as a kid and lost my stomach for it was I was 17. I can eat it now as it tastes okay but some reason I have a huge mental block towards it. Funny thing is if there is a different pasta noodle used I am fine with it so it is all in my head.
5. I have a very clear memory of watching in person the 1981 Canada Cup in the Calgary Corral. We had standing room only tickets and Team Canada beat the CCCP. I went online to find out the score a couple of months ago and there was not a Canada Cup game in Calgary in 1981. Looking back it must have been an exhibition game but it is weird finding out that a favorite childhood memory wasn't even close to how you remembered it.
6. I have never been even close drunk but I do enjoy the taste of some red wines and never have more than half a glass in an evening. I was a hospitality suite of the Hon. John Crosbie once and he served me the first bit of alcohol that I ever had... Newfoundland Screech.
7. I don't gamble. Why play something that is programmed to take more of you money away than it is to give back. That's not chance, that's idiocy.
8. My first web host was GeoCities back when there was less than 100,000 users and 1 megabyte of space for free was an insane amount of space to work with.
9. The times I have tossed a baseball in front of radar gun, I have been ashamed with how slow my "fastball" is.
10. I am dyslexic which explains some but not all of the spelling and grammatical mistakes that are made on this blog.

My name is Jordon and I need help

Driving home from Waskesiu yesterday, Wendy asked me what I was thinking and I couldn't tell her the truth. I was trying to name off all of the NFL's starting, backup, and third string quarterbacks of all 30 teams from memory. The scary thing is that not only did I name them, I also was running scenerios of what would happen if Daunte Cullpepper signed with different teams.

I may be a NFL-aholic. Of course it isn't my fault and I can quit at anytime but I blame the NFL Network. No person can handle that much NFL without being changed but here I am, absorbing hour after hour of Deion Sanders trying to be funny and wondering if an insightful thought will ever come from his mouth (not yet anyways).

Last night I actually came home, flipped through the channels and decided the best thing to watch was video footage of the Houston Texans mini-camp. For the love of Gary Kubiak, what was I thinking? Even the Houston Texans don't like the Houston Texans.

Other signs of NFL-aholism...

• I own two Rodney Peete Pro Set Rookie Cards
• I have fond memories of watching Steve DeBerg compete in the NFL Quarterback Challenge.
• I cried while watching America's Game and I am a Canadian.
• I keep my NFL "Duke" football on my night table.
• I named a previous dog of ours Elway.
• Many of my fondest memories involve Monday Night Football.
• I have the NFL Films sountrack on my iPod and I occasionally sneak it on Wendy's iPod.
• I consider the NFL Draft to be on the same par as Christmas, Easter, and my wedding anniversary in terms of holidays.
• I watched the Nebraska spring game this year.

I am a man screaming out for help and I have to deal with this... right after I watch the reply of the NFL Europa game of the week.

Technorati tags: NFL, football, NFL Network, Houston Texans, Gary Kubiak, Steve DeBerg

USC's Strength Coach, "Chuck Berry"

No wonder why USC has so many players going in the first round of the draft. I think if I had trained with Chuck Berry, this would be a NFL players blog. Why was I never taught the "pincher" technique?

Contextless Links

• We love the CFL around here and we wish Mark Cohon the best, working with the CFL owners makes Bettman's job easy.  Those idiots would fire Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue.  They are that crazy.
• Prime Time Sports podcast.  Probably the best call in radio sports show in Canada
• The bigger the house, the worse the CEO
• Seth Godin thinks you should write an e-book :: Here's how

The end of a mediocre season

Just a note of thanks to Jake Plummer who managed to regress horribly this year and cost my beloved Denver Broncos some key games. Yes the defence had a lot of injuries but when you give the ball away like Jake Plummer did over and over and over again, you aren't going to win a lot games.

The search for John Elway's replacement continues.

Update: Then again, the murder of Broncos QB Darrent Williams puts it all in perspective.

Technorati Tags : Denver+Broncos

Contextless Links