Man. Super Bowl week came and went and I missed out on publishing snarky commentary denouncing all of the hype. I also missed an opportunity to impress everybody with my prediction. In all honesty I really believed that the Patriots were going to win by 20. I figured the Patriots would take away the run and force Eli Manning to make mistakes. As it turned out the Patriots did take away the run but Eli Manning stepped up in a big way. His lone interception was a tipped ball that should have been caught and any throw he missed was more than made up for when he willed himself out of coverage to connect on a clutch conversion. Even though he didn’t put up eye popping stats, Eli was the MVP. He might have been more deserving of that distinction than his brother was last year.
The interesting thing about that game is the way the Patriots played. They gave up three points on long time consuming Giants’ drive to start things off but they responded with a touchdown and held onto the lead for most of the game. Still, you could sense that the Giants were comfortable with a defensive struggle whereas the Patriots were nervous. That feeling manifested when Belichick opted to go for it on fourth and 13 even though he was within field goal range. After that play blew up I was pretty sure that the Patriots were doomed.
Tom Brady looked average. With no running game to soften the Giants front and his line struggling to give him the eons of time he had grown accustomed to, Brady looked a lot more like Jim Kelly than Joe Montana. It pretty much closed the book on the argument over who the better QB is. The Colts are successful because Peyton Manning is spectacular. Tom Brady is spectacular because the Patriots are successful. There’s a big difference and we saw it in the Super Bowl. Eli Manning showed us what maintaining one’s composure can do. It looks like Eli might be related to Peyton after all and Tom Brady, well after that performance I think we see a lot more of Jan than we do Marcia.
The difference in the Super Bowl was quarterback play. Everything else was just about even. Manning had Patriot defenders in his face all game long. The Giants couldn’t establish the run. The reason the Giants won is because Eli Manning stayed focused on the task at hand and came up with the plays when they mattered most. He threw two beautiful passes for touchdowns, one was a dagger that demonstrated his arm strength and the other was a nifty game winning fade that showed us Eli can read a defense as well as anybody. And while nobody will forget the amazing hand to helmet grab Tyree came down with, it was Eli’s amazing tackle-breaking scramble that made it possible.
The Patriots looked old and tired. They looked like a team that passed its prime somewhere in the first quarter. Belichick started that game a genius and ended it as the dour little troll who dismantled the Cleveland Browns back in the early 1990s. He couldn’t even stomach going back on the field to play out the last second of official time.
Of course, who cares? The clock ran down after Brady desperately heaved another pass out of reach on fourth and the end of a dynasty. Everybody was on the field because they thought the game was over. Why somebody opted to get persnickety over the final second is anybody’s guess but it wasn’t Belichick’s fault. Nobody likes to lose and expecting somebody to run all the way back to his sideline to relive a tough loss is just ridiculous.
There are plenty of downsides to this Super Bowl. First of all New Yorkers have something to be happy about which will keep them cheerful for about 15 minutes. Then they’ll go back to their routine of arrogance and self-pity. By the time spring rolls around the Super Bowl will be ancient history and the Yankees will be the center of attention. By August people will hate Eli Manning and a sense of entitlement will start to build in the heart of every spoiled fan. It’s too bad the football Giants didn’t pack up and leave with their baseball counterpart decades ago. They’d be easier to root for.
Then we have the handful of loudmouths from that 1972 Dolphins team. In case you were wondering what the sound was, they spent Monday and Tuesday patting themselves on the back. It’s OK to let them have their last little vestige of glory because they gave up any semblance of class and dignity 25 years ago. The best response to their demands for attention is the honest one: They played football back in 1972?
The upside to this Super Bowl is that we don’t have to listen to the Patriots extol their own virtues for the next 30 years. Of course some of the guys on HGH (Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison for example) probably won’t make it another 5 years but Matt Light sure seemed to enjoy the camera in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Surely a win would have made him a major celebrity. Given the manner in which he got worked by the Giants he might want to consider a career as a door mat.
Another interesting dynamic to this outcome is how far the Patriots have fallen in public esteem. A few weeks ago every sports pundit was making a case for the Patriots as the greatest team of all time and the question was when the winning streak would end. With one loss in a tightly contested game these Patriots, who set records that might not be broken fell not into obscurity but infamy. Nobody remembers Super Bowl losers unless they do it in grand fashion. The Buffalo Bills lost four straight; Dan Marino lost in his only appearance; Fran Tarkenton and his Vikings were consistently turned away in the final game. Nothing comes close to this. This loss, coming off of one of the most remarkable regular season performances in history eclipses everything the Patriots have done. It’s a loss that will loom larger over the franchise than the three Super Bowl wins they acquired since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady became household names.
It almost seems unfair. Can we really take everything away from this team because they came up short in the championship game? This is a team that defeated the best the AFC had to offer and lost by three points to a team that they beat in the final game of the season. Should they be punished so severely for falling 3 points short of history?
You bet. That’s the way it’s done. There’s no best of seven series in football. One shot, winner takes all. That’s why almost a billion people watch the NFL’s championship game and nobody watches the World Series until game seven. The Patriots knew that going in. The schedule didn’t change. Right after they beat the Chargers they knew when, where and who they were going to play. They had two weeks to get ready.
The thing of it is, the Patriots didn’t look flat, or tired, or like they didn’t take the Giants seriously. They simply looked like the lesser of two teams. The game was close but the Giants seemed to have a better handle on things. The Giants got better as the game went on.
Sometimes you’ll witness a big upset and walk away believing that if you played that game over 100 times the favored team would win 99 of them. Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan last year had that sort of feel to it. Other times you’ll see a close game and figure it would be a coin too every time. But the Giants finished the Super Bowl looking like a much better team than they were when they started it. If the Patriots and Giants were to square off in a rematch there’s little doubt that the Giants would win.
What’s more is the fact that the Giants were banged up. They were without their All Pro tight end, their top receiver was playing a bad ankle and the New York secondary was held together with a little spit and tape. The Patriots, on the other hand, were healthy. So that makes the Giants upset even more convincing.
Of course, it’s a little premature to throw dirt on the Patriots grave just yet. They looked bad in the Super Bowl but they don’t need to tear the roster apart and start from scratch. It might be time to let Rodney Harrison go and sign some younger linebackers but overall the Patriots are a solid team and will remain competitive. Belichick might have been outcoached for the first time in nearly 10 years but he’s still a smart guy who can set up a game plan. The dynasty might have ended but there’s still some life left in New England. Whether or not it’s enough life to get back to the Super Bowl and win is another story.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Don't confuse Buckeye BCS Blunder with Big 10
Ohio State waltzed into its second consecutive BCS Championship game with the nation’s best record and a number one ranking only to get clobbered by an SEC opponent. Is the SEC better than the Big 10? Stats can be produced that prove it’s not but at the end of the day the SEC has claimed back to back national championships via the convoluted system people accept in lieu of playoffs.
Of course the BCS wins don’t really point to superior talent or greater team speed. One need only check the NFL to see that the Big 10 does quite well when it comes to recruiting talent. Ohio State can produce an impressive list of players who have enjoyed successful careers at the NFL level. Speed is not an issue. NFL scouts are always impressed with the physical attributes of players coming from Ohio State. So why does the Big 10 seem so sluggish on game day?
Coaching…and let’s be fair, Ohio State is giving the Big 10 a bad name. Michigan matched Florida’s speed and Wisconsin was far from overwhelmed by Tennessee’s quickness. Last year Penn State was able to beat Tennessee and Wisconsin stifled Arkansas in bowl games. The Big 10 does just fine against the SEC. It’s Ohio State that fairs poorly and the culprit is Jim Tressel.
Who else are you going to blame? Last year Ohio State was a juggernaut featuring a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback who could beat you with his arm or his legs. Florida crushed the Buckeyes. People wondered if Ohio State took the game seriously and it was widely accepted that the Buckeyes were fat and happy. That wasn’t the case this year. Ohio State might have been number one but outside of Columbus nobody had any respect for Ohio State. The Buckeyes had something to prove. Not only did they have the BCS beat down suffered at the hands of Florida to motivate them, every national pundit was calling Ohio State a fraud.
So the Buckeyes came in ready to send a message and two plays into the game Chris Wells exploded for a 65 yard touchdown run. The bruising 235 pound back blew right past the speedy LSU secondary proving in one play that the disparity in speed was a myth. LSU seemed hobbled by the opening blow and self-destructed on its opening drive. Ohio State quickly responded with another big play but the promising drive ended in a field goal.
Nobody expected Ohio State to jump out to a 10-0 lead with nearly 10 minutes left in the first quarter but LSU found its composure and the coaches made adjustments on both sides of the ball. First LSU neutralized Ohio State and then they started to tip the scales back in their own favor. The final result was a 38-24 LSU victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the score seems to indicate. LSU simply dominated. They humiliated Ohio State’s offensive line, rattled Ohio State’s quarterback and picked apart the vaunted Buckeye defense.
Ohio State helped LSU with stupid penalties. LSU saw drives extended deep into OSU territory thanks to 15 yard personal fouls. Ohio State even stymied its offense with a 15 yard foul but the biggest boner of the night came when Ohio State finally put the screws to LSU’s offense in the second half and forced a punt on fourth and forever. That’s when some dumb reserve linebacker came flying through the line and into the punter. Automatic first down. Ball game. Yes, that play pretty much sealed it. Ohio State came up with a big defensive stop and was poised to start a comeback but LSU managed to score again.
Of course Ohio State’s biggest problem was a lack of production on offense. Sure, they put up some yards but they didn’t score. LSU stopped the Buckeyes when it mattered. Ohio State tried to connect on big plays and missed. Rather than staying composed and using quick passes to keep the LSU defense honest, Ohio State tried to go vertical. Once LSU realized that the Buckeyes weren’t going to attack the short and intermediate zones, the Tigers pinned their ears back and attacked. That resulted in turnovers. Boeckman was a nervous wreck in the pocket and the coaching staff did nothing to help him regain his composure.
It’s so simple, really. Teams use short passes to create manageable situations. Connecting on a four yard pass on first and 10 creates a second and six, picking up three yards on a run presents a third down and three situation. Third and three is much harder to defend than third and 10 which is why LSU won the game. The Tigers didn’t try to pick up 50 yards on every play, they were content to slowly peck away at the field and take what the defense offered. As a result, Ohio State struggled to pressure LSU’s quarterbacks and the LSU line got to beat up the Buckeye front seven. In the end, LSU won because they didn’t try to force things.
Buckeye fans will lament that this wasn’t even supposed to be Ohio State’s year. The Buckeyes were supposed to be rebuilding. But when the season started Chris Wells was in the Heisman discussion, Jim Laurenitis was the defensive player everybody was talking about and Todd Boeckman wasn’t your typical first year starter. Even though Ohio State was picked to finish third in the Big 10, nobody was stunned to see their stock rise as the season progressed, especially given the caliber of their competition. The Buckeyes have always been one of those programs that reloads rather than rebuilds so a BCS Championship bid was not exactly out of the question. Inexperience is no excuse. In fact, that’s an insult to the players. Besides, wasn’t LSU coming off the departure of its starting quarterback and wide receivers from last year as well?
Ohio State’s talent is a as good and as deep you will find anywhere in the country. LSU was a better team when they played for the BCS Championship but that doesn’t mean that LSU is really the better team. What it means is that Les Miles is a better coach.
Jim Tressel gets a lot of credit for running a successful program and much of it is deserved. Since taking over the Ohio State football program he has amassed five seasons of 10 or more wins, three BCS Championship appearances and of course a legacy of dominance over arch rival Michigan. Just before embarking on another collision curse with disaster in the BCS Championship Tressel notched his fourth straight win over Michigan. When you consider that players as good as Chad Henne, Mike Hart and Jake Long are leaving Michigan with 0-4 records against Ohio State, that is quite the feather in Tressel’s cap.
But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Ohio State has been a miserable failure against the SEC in bowl games. Trivialize the conference chest-puffing all you like but in today’s world of college football perception is reality. LSU got into the BCS Championship game because it won the SEC. The conference reputation was the tie-breaker. And if perceived inferiority can influence bowl pairings, what do the top recruits think?
That’s where Tressel’s BCS failures are unacceptable. The reputation of the conference was riding on Ohio State’s performance and once again Ohio State looked like a junior college trying to pull off a season-opening upset. The players weren’t out-classed, the coaches were. Jim Tressel and his staff came in with a plan and stuck to it. Even after LSU figured that plan out. Les Miles, on the other hand, kept making adjustments and never let Ohio State draw a bead on them.
It looked like a promising heavy weight fight between a top contender and the defending champion. Ohio State delivered a staggering opening blow and had LSU on the ropes. They got a few more good licks in before LSU covered up, cleared its head and worked back into the fight. Like a true heavyweight champ, LSU didn’t go for the early knockout. They battled back with jabs and body shots, slowly taking the wind out of Ohio State’s attack. LSU was crafty and didn’t deliver a big blow until Ohio State dropped its hands.
Tressel and his coaching staff were lost. They kept calling the same plays. They tried to duplicate Wells’ big run and got stuffed. They tried to connect on that sideline pass to Saine and got sacked. Tressel threw a haymaker and Miles hit him in the ribs. In the end, the fight was a TKO. Ohio State never had a chance. Not for lack of talent, but for lack of brains.
Of course the BCS wins don’t really point to superior talent or greater team speed. One need only check the NFL to see that the Big 10 does quite well when it comes to recruiting talent. Ohio State can produce an impressive list of players who have enjoyed successful careers at the NFL level. Speed is not an issue. NFL scouts are always impressed with the physical attributes of players coming from Ohio State. So why does the Big 10 seem so sluggish on game day?
Coaching…and let’s be fair, Ohio State is giving the Big 10 a bad name. Michigan matched Florida’s speed and Wisconsin was far from overwhelmed by Tennessee’s quickness. Last year Penn State was able to beat Tennessee and Wisconsin stifled Arkansas in bowl games. The Big 10 does just fine against the SEC. It’s Ohio State that fairs poorly and the culprit is Jim Tressel.
Who else are you going to blame? Last year Ohio State was a juggernaut featuring a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback who could beat you with his arm or his legs. Florida crushed the Buckeyes. People wondered if Ohio State took the game seriously and it was widely accepted that the Buckeyes were fat and happy. That wasn’t the case this year. Ohio State might have been number one but outside of Columbus nobody had any respect for Ohio State. The Buckeyes had something to prove. Not only did they have the BCS beat down suffered at the hands of Florida to motivate them, every national pundit was calling Ohio State a fraud.
So the Buckeyes came in ready to send a message and two plays into the game Chris Wells exploded for a 65 yard touchdown run. The bruising 235 pound back blew right past the speedy LSU secondary proving in one play that the disparity in speed was a myth. LSU seemed hobbled by the opening blow and self-destructed on its opening drive. Ohio State quickly responded with another big play but the promising drive ended in a field goal.
Nobody expected Ohio State to jump out to a 10-0 lead with nearly 10 minutes left in the first quarter but LSU found its composure and the coaches made adjustments on both sides of the ball. First LSU neutralized Ohio State and then they started to tip the scales back in their own favor. The final result was a 38-24 LSU victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the score seems to indicate. LSU simply dominated. They humiliated Ohio State’s offensive line, rattled Ohio State’s quarterback and picked apart the vaunted Buckeye defense.
Ohio State helped LSU with stupid penalties. LSU saw drives extended deep into OSU territory thanks to 15 yard personal fouls. Ohio State even stymied its offense with a 15 yard foul but the biggest boner of the night came when Ohio State finally put the screws to LSU’s offense in the second half and forced a punt on fourth and forever. That’s when some dumb reserve linebacker came flying through the line and into the punter. Automatic first down. Ball game. Yes, that play pretty much sealed it. Ohio State came up with a big defensive stop and was poised to start a comeback but LSU managed to score again.
Of course Ohio State’s biggest problem was a lack of production on offense. Sure, they put up some yards but they didn’t score. LSU stopped the Buckeyes when it mattered. Ohio State tried to connect on big plays and missed. Rather than staying composed and using quick passes to keep the LSU defense honest, Ohio State tried to go vertical. Once LSU realized that the Buckeyes weren’t going to attack the short and intermediate zones, the Tigers pinned their ears back and attacked. That resulted in turnovers. Boeckman was a nervous wreck in the pocket and the coaching staff did nothing to help him regain his composure.
It’s so simple, really. Teams use short passes to create manageable situations. Connecting on a four yard pass on first and 10 creates a second and six, picking up three yards on a run presents a third down and three situation. Third and three is much harder to defend than third and 10 which is why LSU won the game. The Tigers didn’t try to pick up 50 yards on every play, they were content to slowly peck away at the field and take what the defense offered. As a result, Ohio State struggled to pressure LSU’s quarterbacks and the LSU line got to beat up the Buckeye front seven. In the end, LSU won because they didn’t try to force things.
Buckeye fans will lament that this wasn’t even supposed to be Ohio State’s year. The Buckeyes were supposed to be rebuilding. But when the season started Chris Wells was in the Heisman discussion, Jim Laurenitis was the defensive player everybody was talking about and Todd Boeckman wasn’t your typical first year starter. Even though Ohio State was picked to finish third in the Big 10, nobody was stunned to see their stock rise as the season progressed, especially given the caliber of their competition. The Buckeyes have always been one of those programs that reloads rather than rebuilds so a BCS Championship bid was not exactly out of the question. Inexperience is no excuse. In fact, that’s an insult to the players. Besides, wasn’t LSU coming off the departure of its starting quarterback and wide receivers from last year as well?
Ohio State’s talent is a as good and as deep you will find anywhere in the country. LSU was a better team when they played for the BCS Championship but that doesn’t mean that LSU is really the better team. What it means is that Les Miles is a better coach.
Jim Tressel gets a lot of credit for running a successful program and much of it is deserved. Since taking over the Ohio State football program he has amassed five seasons of 10 or more wins, three BCS Championship appearances and of course a legacy of dominance over arch rival Michigan. Just before embarking on another collision curse with disaster in the BCS Championship Tressel notched his fourth straight win over Michigan. When you consider that players as good as Chad Henne, Mike Hart and Jake Long are leaving Michigan with 0-4 records against Ohio State, that is quite the feather in Tressel’s cap.
But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Ohio State has been a miserable failure against the SEC in bowl games. Trivialize the conference chest-puffing all you like but in today’s world of college football perception is reality. LSU got into the BCS Championship game because it won the SEC. The conference reputation was the tie-breaker. And if perceived inferiority can influence bowl pairings, what do the top recruits think?
That’s where Tressel’s BCS failures are unacceptable. The reputation of the conference was riding on Ohio State’s performance and once again Ohio State looked like a junior college trying to pull off a season-opening upset. The players weren’t out-classed, the coaches were. Jim Tressel and his staff came in with a plan and stuck to it. Even after LSU figured that plan out. Les Miles, on the other hand, kept making adjustments and never let Ohio State draw a bead on them.
It looked like a promising heavy weight fight between a top contender and the defending champion. Ohio State delivered a staggering opening blow and had LSU on the ropes. They got a few more good licks in before LSU covered up, cleared its head and worked back into the fight. Like a true heavyweight champ, LSU didn’t go for the early knockout. They battled back with jabs and body shots, slowly taking the wind out of Ohio State’s attack. LSU was crafty and didn’t deliver a big blow until Ohio State dropped its hands.
Tressel and his coaching staff were lost. They kept calling the same plays. They tried to duplicate Wells’ big run and got stuffed. They tried to connect on that sideline pass to Saine and got sacked. Tressel threw a haymaker and Miles hit him in the ribs. In the end, the fight was a TKO. Ohio State never had a chance. Not for lack of talent, but for lack of brains.
Monday, December 31, 2007
History in the making
The NFL might be the most competitive sports league in the world. Very little separates the winners from the losers. The Miami Dolphins finished the season 1-15 while the New England Patriots achieved regular season perfection winning all 16 of their games…Including two victories over the hapless Dolphins. Still these teams were much closer than the 15 game difference in their final records.
Consider that six of the Dolphins’ losses came courtesy of a three point margin. Even games where the Dolphins lost by more points they were pretty competitive. The Dolphins just didn’t get any breaks. They lost key players to injuries, had big plays called back by penalties and saw the ball bounce the other team’s way in more than one contest. Looking back over the Dolphins’ season it’s hard not to believe in luck.
The Patriots didn’t seem lucky. They were just good. They obliterated opponents all season long. Granted there was a stretch where the Patriots seemed to lose motivation and they found themselves in close games down the stretch but when they needed a defensive stop or a long scoring drive they managed to get it. Still, luck was on their side. Imagine how the Patriots might have fared if they’d have lost Tom Brady to a severe concussion or Randy Moss to a torn ACL. Although the Patriots made their own luck on the field, the fact that their key players managed to stay healthy all season was remarkable.
The 1972 Dolphins weren’t that lucky. They lost their starting QB early in the season and had to rely on their backup QB. Of course that back-up happened to be a wily veteran who had intimate knowledge of Don Shula’s game plan but Earl Morrall was still a reserve. How many teams could qualify for the playoffs, let alone win every game with a reserve QB calling the signals?
Of course football was different in 1972. Players didn’t have as much power as they do today and teams were able to load up on talent and Shula’s Dolphins were loaded. They had a fantastic line and a powerful running game. They weren’t known as a passing team back in the 1970s. Bob Griese wasn’t the greatest QB in NFL history. Larry Csonka was the weapon of choice and Miami’s line allowed him to build up a head of steam. In fact, of all the players the Dolphins could lose to injury, the QB was probably the one they needed least. When you think about the way the game was played back then and the way it’s played today the Patriots 16-0 is far more impressive than Miami’s 14-0 run.
Of course the regular season feat doesn’t matter. Miami continued the perfection into the post season winning the divisional playoffs, the conference title and finally sealed the deal with a 14-7 Super Bowl win over the Redskins. New England has to match that feat and in today’s NFL there’s very little separating one playoff team from another. If New England doesn’t beat all three of its post season opponents the 16-0 regular season record will become a running joke. Teams are judged by the championships they win, not overall records. Just ask the Buffalo Bills who dominated the 1990’s by winning 4 straight AFC Championships, but the albatross the members of those teams will forever wear is the 0-4 record they hold in the Super Bowl. Nobody cares that they made the playoffs every year from 1988 through 1993 or that they won 70 regular season games in that span…an average of more than 11 wins per season.
If the Patriots make good on the promise their 16-0 season committed them to, there’s no denying where they stand in NFL lore. The nature of today’s game makes their accomplishment so much more significant than anything anybody’s done before. Football is at its pinnacle. Players in the league are more athletic and work harder at the game than the players in seasons past. There’s very little difference in talent. Now more than ever the “any given Sunday” adage is true. The Patriots ran a gauntlet to get to 16-0 and now they will face three monumental tests. If they succeed there will be no denying how great this team is.
In fact, it’s hard to deny it now. When you think about how fierce the competition is in the NFL, the fact that they actually went 16-0 should be enough to hold them in high esteem. If the Patriots fall in the playoffs or come up short in the Super Bowl, is it fair to relegate them to anonymity? Can we make fun of a team that goes 18-1?
Sadly, the answer is yes. If the Patriots don’t win in the post season people will speculate that they were so focused on that perfect regular season record that they lost site of winning a championship and in the world of professional sports that’s a cardinal sin. Teams don’t start training camp in the middle of summer so they can win 16 games, they do it because they want to win the Super Bowl. That’s the prize. Now the Cleveland Browns can take solace in winning 10 games, and the Packers can bask in the glory of capturing a division title but ultimately every player on every team starts the season with the goal of winning a Super Bowl. Out of all the games a team plays throughout the season the only one that matters is the one that ends the journey. For the Patriots that game hasn’t arrived yet, for the Browns that was last week when they lost to the Bengals, for the Dolphins, Raiders, 49ers, Bears and Ravens, that game came along months ago.
9-7, 11-5, 16-0...Those are just numbers. The only thing that matters is whether or not you get to the playoffs. The Tennessee Titans are as successful as the Patriots at this point. Now it’s a single elimination tournament. The only thing that matters is winning. Everything else is just talk. The team that wins it all will be the team that wants it more. Stats, rest, injuries fatigue, home field advantage…none of that really matters. It’s a new season and the best team will win. Everybody has a chance to make history.
Consider that six of the Dolphins’ losses came courtesy of a three point margin. Even games where the Dolphins lost by more points they were pretty competitive. The Dolphins just didn’t get any breaks. They lost key players to injuries, had big plays called back by penalties and saw the ball bounce the other team’s way in more than one contest. Looking back over the Dolphins’ season it’s hard not to believe in luck.
The Patriots didn’t seem lucky. They were just good. They obliterated opponents all season long. Granted there was a stretch where the Patriots seemed to lose motivation and they found themselves in close games down the stretch but when they needed a defensive stop or a long scoring drive they managed to get it. Still, luck was on their side. Imagine how the Patriots might have fared if they’d have lost Tom Brady to a severe concussion or Randy Moss to a torn ACL. Although the Patriots made their own luck on the field, the fact that their key players managed to stay healthy all season was remarkable.
The 1972 Dolphins weren’t that lucky. They lost their starting QB early in the season and had to rely on their backup QB. Of course that back-up happened to be a wily veteran who had intimate knowledge of Don Shula’s game plan but Earl Morrall was still a reserve. How many teams could qualify for the playoffs, let alone win every game with a reserve QB calling the signals?
Of course football was different in 1972. Players didn’t have as much power as they do today and teams were able to load up on talent and Shula’s Dolphins were loaded. They had a fantastic line and a powerful running game. They weren’t known as a passing team back in the 1970s. Bob Griese wasn’t the greatest QB in NFL history. Larry Csonka was the weapon of choice and Miami’s line allowed him to build up a head of steam. In fact, of all the players the Dolphins could lose to injury, the QB was probably the one they needed least. When you think about the way the game was played back then and the way it’s played today the Patriots 16-0 is far more impressive than Miami’s 14-0 run.
Of course the regular season feat doesn’t matter. Miami continued the perfection into the post season winning the divisional playoffs, the conference title and finally sealed the deal with a 14-7 Super Bowl win over the Redskins. New England has to match that feat and in today’s NFL there’s very little separating one playoff team from another. If New England doesn’t beat all three of its post season opponents the 16-0 regular season record will become a running joke. Teams are judged by the championships they win, not overall records. Just ask the Buffalo Bills who dominated the 1990’s by winning 4 straight AFC Championships, but the albatross the members of those teams will forever wear is the 0-4 record they hold in the Super Bowl. Nobody cares that they made the playoffs every year from 1988 through 1993 or that they won 70 regular season games in that span…an average of more than 11 wins per season.
If the Patriots make good on the promise their 16-0 season committed them to, there’s no denying where they stand in NFL lore. The nature of today’s game makes their accomplishment so much more significant than anything anybody’s done before. Football is at its pinnacle. Players in the league are more athletic and work harder at the game than the players in seasons past. There’s very little difference in talent. Now more than ever the “any given Sunday” adage is true. The Patriots ran a gauntlet to get to 16-0 and now they will face three monumental tests. If they succeed there will be no denying how great this team is.
In fact, it’s hard to deny it now. When you think about how fierce the competition is in the NFL, the fact that they actually went 16-0 should be enough to hold them in high esteem. If the Patriots fall in the playoffs or come up short in the Super Bowl, is it fair to relegate them to anonymity? Can we make fun of a team that goes 18-1?
Sadly, the answer is yes. If the Patriots don’t win in the post season people will speculate that they were so focused on that perfect regular season record that they lost site of winning a championship and in the world of professional sports that’s a cardinal sin. Teams don’t start training camp in the middle of summer so they can win 16 games, they do it because they want to win the Super Bowl. That’s the prize. Now the Cleveland Browns can take solace in winning 10 games, and the Packers can bask in the glory of capturing a division title but ultimately every player on every team starts the season with the goal of winning a Super Bowl. Out of all the games a team plays throughout the season the only one that matters is the one that ends the journey. For the Patriots that game hasn’t arrived yet, for the Browns that was last week when they lost to the Bengals, for the Dolphins, Raiders, 49ers, Bears and Ravens, that game came along months ago.
9-7, 11-5, 16-0...Those are just numbers. The only thing that matters is whether or not you get to the playoffs. The Tennessee Titans are as successful as the Patriots at this point. Now it’s a single elimination tournament. The only thing that matters is winning. Everything else is just talk. The team that wins it all will be the team that wants it more. Stats, rest, injuries fatigue, home field advantage…none of that really matters. It’s a new season and the best team will win. Everybody has a chance to make history.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Browns Made Big Strides in 2007.
The Cleveland Browns surprised almost everybody this year. Regardless of whether they win or lose their final game, the outcome of which has no impact on their playoff aspirations, this 2007 campaign has been a success. Granted, this is a team that shot itself in the foot several times over the course of the season and the defense leaves a lot to be desired but back in April, when the Browns traded for Dallas’ pick to land Brady Quinn, a lot of people wrote the Browns off as a bust.
Joe Thomas has proven himself to be as good as advertised. That’s big. Plenty of teams have played it “safe” in the draft by selecting a highly-touted lineman with a top five pick only to find themselves struggling to mitigate that selection years later. Thomas is going to be a stalwart tackle in the NFL. For every Chris Samuels there is a Robert Gallery. Thomas is the real deal. That was a smart move. The Browns also got a lot of mileage out of Eric Wright and Ben McDonald. The rookie corners made big strides throughout the season.
Landing Quinn with the 22nd pick was a coup for the Browns who needed to take out an insurance policy against the Charlie Frye experiment. Frye narrowly won the starting job over a lackluster Derek Anderson in preseason only to find himself run out of town on a rail after regressing in the season opener against Pittsburgh. Anderson stepped in and stepped up, elevating his game to a remarkable level. Now the only question about Quinn is whether he’ll ever get a chance to lead the Browns.
But Anderson is a sketchy proposition. As impressive as his stats appear at first blush, a closer look reveals a very raw QB who could very well end up playing in the AFL if he doesn’t make some improvements. Anderson can be reckless at times, firing the ball into tight coverage. He’s been bailed out by great receivers and aided by a resurgent Jamal Lewis. But what happens when defenses start keying on his weaknesses? Anderson’s four interception performance against the Bengals is an indication that the NFL might be on the verge of figuring him out. We’ve seen it happen a hundred times before. The fact is that there are more Kerry Collins stories than Tom Brady epics. The law of averages tells us that Anderson is on a collision course with mediocrity. Anderson can’t throw short and intermediate passes with any consistency. That’s bad news for an NFL team with any hope of winning a title.
But that doesn’t mean the Browns should cut him loose. Until he hits that wall he’s a great player. The Browns need to hedge their bets and that means keeping Anderson and Quinn on the same team. If somebody outbids the Browns for Anderson’s services so be it. Take the compensatory draft picks and move on but don’t let Anderson slip away for a song. The best move for the Browns is to start the 2008 season with a lively battle of the starting spot and hold onto a promising backup for another year. If Anderson proves to be a flash in the pan, you got exactly what you wanted: a solid year of preparation for the future of the team. If Anderson improves and becomes the franchise the Browns have been looking for Quinn will still command some value on the trade market. GM Phil Savage has already indicated that they will offer Anderson the maximum tender which means that the Browns will receive first and third round picks if another team scoops him up. It’s doubtful that a team would want to beat the Browns offer and give up two picks in the draft but stranger things have happened. Look at what the Dolphins did.
The Browns look good on offense. Edwards and Winslow matured a lot heading into this season and should get better next year. They’ll anchor one of the best receiving corps in the NFL for a few more years. Retaining Jamal Lewis is a good idea, especially if they can keep him as hungry as he was in 2007. LeCharles Bentley is rehabbing his knee and should be ready to bolster a much improved line. Finding an explosive compliment to Lewis is a nice idea but it won’t be feasible without a first round pick. The real focus needs to be the defense. Romeo Crennel earned his chance to coach the Browns because of his pedigree as a championship-caliber defensive coordinator. Since he took the helm, the Browns have been struggling to implement the 3-4 defensive scheme employed by the Patriots. The Browns are awful against the run and generate no pressure on the QB during the two minute drill. Teams seem capable of moving the ball at will.
While there’s no question that the Browns could use some help on the defensive line, blaming the deficiencies on talent alone is unfair. There are some solid athletes on that defense but they aren’t being deployed effectively. The Browns are running a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel. Something has to change. If the Browns aren’t willing to overhaul the defensive personnel in the off season then a change will have to be made with the coaching staff. Crennel might have to relinquish control of his defense to 4-3 guru.
For the Browns it’s great to be in this position. For the first time in ages it looks as though the Browns can stop rebuilding the franchise and start tweaking the team for a championship run. It’s still a long road ahead but long roads are much easier to deal with when the engine is finally running.
Joe Thomas has proven himself to be as good as advertised. That’s big. Plenty of teams have played it “safe” in the draft by selecting a highly-touted lineman with a top five pick only to find themselves struggling to mitigate that selection years later. Thomas is going to be a stalwart tackle in the NFL. For every Chris Samuels there is a Robert Gallery. Thomas is the real deal. That was a smart move. The Browns also got a lot of mileage out of Eric Wright and Ben McDonald. The rookie corners made big strides throughout the season.
Landing Quinn with the 22nd pick was a coup for the Browns who needed to take out an insurance policy against the Charlie Frye experiment. Frye narrowly won the starting job over a lackluster Derek Anderson in preseason only to find himself run out of town on a rail after regressing in the season opener against Pittsburgh. Anderson stepped in and stepped up, elevating his game to a remarkable level. Now the only question about Quinn is whether he’ll ever get a chance to lead the Browns.
But Anderson is a sketchy proposition. As impressive as his stats appear at first blush, a closer look reveals a very raw QB who could very well end up playing in the AFL if he doesn’t make some improvements. Anderson can be reckless at times, firing the ball into tight coverage. He’s been bailed out by great receivers and aided by a resurgent Jamal Lewis. But what happens when defenses start keying on his weaknesses? Anderson’s four interception performance against the Bengals is an indication that the NFL might be on the verge of figuring him out. We’ve seen it happen a hundred times before. The fact is that there are more Kerry Collins stories than Tom Brady epics. The law of averages tells us that Anderson is on a collision course with mediocrity. Anderson can’t throw short and intermediate passes with any consistency. That’s bad news for an NFL team with any hope of winning a title.
But that doesn’t mean the Browns should cut him loose. Until he hits that wall he’s a great player. The Browns need to hedge their bets and that means keeping Anderson and Quinn on the same team. If somebody outbids the Browns for Anderson’s services so be it. Take the compensatory draft picks and move on but don’t let Anderson slip away for a song. The best move for the Browns is to start the 2008 season with a lively battle of the starting spot and hold onto a promising backup for another year. If Anderson proves to be a flash in the pan, you got exactly what you wanted: a solid year of preparation for the future of the team. If Anderson improves and becomes the franchise the Browns have been looking for Quinn will still command some value on the trade market. GM Phil Savage has already indicated that they will offer Anderson the maximum tender which means that the Browns will receive first and third round picks if another team scoops him up. It’s doubtful that a team would want to beat the Browns offer and give up two picks in the draft but stranger things have happened. Look at what the Dolphins did.
The Browns look good on offense. Edwards and Winslow matured a lot heading into this season and should get better next year. They’ll anchor one of the best receiving corps in the NFL for a few more years. Retaining Jamal Lewis is a good idea, especially if they can keep him as hungry as he was in 2007. LeCharles Bentley is rehabbing his knee and should be ready to bolster a much improved line. Finding an explosive compliment to Lewis is a nice idea but it won’t be feasible without a first round pick. The real focus needs to be the defense. Romeo Crennel earned his chance to coach the Browns because of his pedigree as a championship-caliber defensive coordinator. Since he took the helm, the Browns have been struggling to implement the 3-4 defensive scheme employed by the Patriots. The Browns are awful against the run and generate no pressure on the QB during the two minute drill. Teams seem capable of moving the ball at will.
While there’s no question that the Browns could use some help on the defensive line, blaming the deficiencies on talent alone is unfair. There are some solid athletes on that defense but they aren’t being deployed effectively. The Browns are running a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel. Something has to change. If the Browns aren’t willing to overhaul the defensive personnel in the off season then a change will have to be made with the coaching staff. Crennel might have to relinquish control of his defense to 4-3 guru.
For the Browns it’s great to be in this position. For the first time in ages it looks as though the Browns can stop rebuilding the franchise and start tweaking the team for a championship run. It’s still a long road ahead but long roads are much easier to deal with when the engine is finally running.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Damage Control
It looks like HGH is the easy way out for the players who have been exposed by the Mitchell Report. Andy Pettit copped to using HGH a couple of times to speed the recovery process after sustaining an injury. Now Fernando Vina is making the same excuse. How many more will follow? Of course, let's give credit where credit is due, Paul Byrd spun this web of lies during the ALCS when his name was connected to a massive shipment of HGH.
Bullshit.
The truth of the matter is that the guys on this list represent a small percentage of cheaters. Just because Jose Canseco is the only guy willing to admit that he regularly used steroids to enhance his performance doesn't mean the other players are just dabblers.
Even if Andy Pettit is being honest and he really limited his excursion into the realm of performance enhancement to a recovery process skepticism is the price he has to pay. It's not like Pettit came forward before the report was released. He was just the first guy to use an admission as damage control. That doesn't make him a good guy, just a smart one. He's still a liar and a cheater. If he was honest he would have assisted in the investigation.
Look, playing baseball is a privilege. Players are expected to do things a certain way. There's no question that the temptation to take steroids is tremendous and in some cases the use of performance enhancing substances might even be required but there are consequences for every action.
And let's get real...
It would be fitting if every player from the mid 1980's through the 2007 season was denied induction into the Hall of Fame. Even though a lot of players didn't cheat, most knew about it and didn't say anything. Everybody involved in baseball over the last 25 years has a hand in this mess. Tony Gwinn and Cal Ripkin Jr. are just as guilty of dishonoring the game as the guys on the Mitchell Report. Aiding and abetting.
By the way, Pete Rose fans...Pete's still a scumbag of the highest order. Right or wrong, prior to 2002 gambling was the worst crime a baseball player could think of committing. One of the greatest players of all time, Shoeless Joe Jackson, is still banned from baseball even though most baseball historians feel he was an innocent victim in a massive scandal. Pete Rose was no innocent victim. He was a egomaniac who willfully and wantonly broke baseball's cardinal rule. Then, after he signed his own ban, he embarked on a campaign to ruin baseball for everybody else. Steroids might be the worst form of cheating but nothing is more disgraceful than Pete Rose.
Bullshit.
The truth of the matter is that the guys on this list represent a small percentage of cheaters. Just because Jose Canseco is the only guy willing to admit that he regularly used steroids to enhance his performance doesn't mean the other players are just dabblers.
Even if Andy Pettit is being honest and he really limited his excursion into the realm of performance enhancement to a recovery process skepticism is the price he has to pay. It's not like Pettit came forward before the report was released. He was just the first guy to use an admission as damage control. That doesn't make him a good guy, just a smart one. He's still a liar and a cheater. If he was honest he would have assisted in the investigation.
Look, playing baseball is a privilege. Players are expected to do things a certain way. There's no question that the temptation to take steroids is tremendous and in some cases the use of performance enhancing substances might even be required but there are consequences for every action.
And let's get real...
It would be fitting if every player from the mid 1980's through the 2007 season was denied induction into the Hall of Fame. Even though a lot of players didn't cheat, most knew about it and didn't say anything. Everybody involved in baseball over the last 25 years has a hand in this mess. Tony Gwinn and Cal Ripkin Jr. are just as guilty of dishonoring the game as the guys on the Mitchell Report. Aiding and abetting.
By the way, Pete Rose fans...Pete's still a scumbag of the highest order. Right or wrong, prior to 2002 gambling was the worst crime a baseball player could think of committing. One of the greatest players of all time, Shoeless Joe Jackson, is still banned from baseball even though most baseball historians feel he was an innocent victim in a massive scandal. Pete Rose was no innocent victim. He was a egomaniac who willfully and wantonly broke baseball's cardinal rule. Then, after he signed his own ban, he embarked on a campaign to ruin baseball for everybody else. Steroids might be the worst form of cheating but nothing is more disgraceful than Pete Rose.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Roid Rage
Well the laundry list is out and there are a lot of players who’ve been linked to steroids. Big, bad Roger Clemens is among the would be Hall-of-Famers who will spend the next few years being hounded by their connection to performance enhancing substances. Sadly, the list is far from comprehensive. The Mitchell Report might have been exhaustive but that doesn’t mean they got everybody. The goal of this inquest was to identify the scope of the problem, not to resolve it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this list represents only 10% of the players who are guilty of doping.
Naturally, just about everybody on this list denies any wrong doing but let’s just see how many of them hire lawyers to sue for slander. Mark McGwire and Raphael Palmiero both too k vicious shots at Jose Canseco but stopped short of holding Canseco legally accountable for defamation of character. That’s because Jose told the truth. In retrospect, Canseco should have sued them for questioning his integrity.
It’s not practical to retroactively punish players. Major League Baseball needs to move forward and address the issue of current cheaters. Let the court of public opinion handle the players on the list. Shame can be a powerful thing. The issue at hand is current and future use. There are laboratories feverishly working on better performance enhancing substances. There are loopholes to exploit. That’s why Mark McGwire dodged a bullet when he was caught with Andro. Andro wasn’t a steroid but rather a precursor that became a steroid in the body. Technically speaking, Andro wasn’t even illegal at the time and it wasn’t banned in baseball. But the truth is that McGwire used Andro to supplement his regular steroid regimen.
Labs are doing more than exploiting loopholes, they’re also creating illegal drugs that can’t be readily detected. Scientists carefully study the methods used in current testing and engineer drugs to avoid the indicators. Steroids are traditionally fat soluble which means they tend to linger in the system for weeks but Barry Bonds was implicated in an operation that alleges the use of water soluble steroids that don’t stay in the system for more than a day or two. The now infamous “Cream” and accompanying “Clear” are examples of steroids that were engineered to beat conventional tests.
Nobody utilizes more rigorous testing than the International Olympic Committee but even the IOC was duped by Balco. Marion Jones managed to foil the numerous tests Olympic competitors undergo and the result was Olympic domination. Her name surfaced in the BALCO nightmare and she subsequently admitted to using steroids. The result: she was stripped of her medals. Also, although it was unlikely she was planning a comeback, Jones is banned from international competition for a minimum of 2 years. Even though the tests can be beaten, the consequences of a positive test make the risk exceed the reward.
Imagine if those penalties were imposed in professional sports. Currently players face a suspension that amounts to a fraction of the regular season. In fact, in the NFL steroids are treated in the same manner as marijuana. Why? Marijuana is not a performance enhancing substance and it doesn’t impugn the integrity of the game. It’s about image. People seem more disgusted with Ricky Williams than they do Shawn Merriman but it was Merriman who cheated. Merriman’s decision to break the law made him bigger, stronger and faster. Ricky’s made him hungry. Merriman even made the Pro Bowl on the heels of his positive test. And now it’s all better. He’s still a gridiron hero but Ricky Williams is a punk. Frankly, Ricky Williams is more worthy of our respect and trust.
Professional athletes have the wherewithal to purchase steroids on their own. Pay is based on performance so players see steroids as an investment. If they can mitigate the risk, there is a tangible reward. Forget about health concerns, these guys risk permanent injury on every play. Long term liver failure is the least of their worries. The risk is getting caught. The risk is losing money. Furthermore, since teams aren’t held directly accountable for doping there’s a culture of looking the other way throughout sports. It’s not just at the professional level either. College coaches and athletic directors can see the impact of steroids better than anybody but when’s the last time you heard of a college coach blowing the whistle on a player who miraculously packed on 40 pounds of solid muscle over an offseason? And because college athletes have a desire to compete at the professional level, the use is prevalent.
For decades former athletes at the professional and collegiate levels have characterized drug testing as laughable. Players know when they might be tested and there are hundreds of ways to beat the test. Combine that with the masking agents and more difficult to detect drugs and you have a system designed to create the illusion of propriety. Ultimately the primary concern is revenue. If doping generates more money, nobody really cares.
Part of the problem is that fans don’t really care. Most see steroids as a minor problem. They don’t give steroids credit for the impact they have. Many people are ignorant to the science of steroids and assume that steroids result in big, bulky, slow behemoths. But then you have Marion Jones. The reality is that steroids falsely increase hormone levels that enhance athletic performance. The athlete can use a training program to dictate the impact steroids have. Marion Jones used steroids to improve her speed. Roger Clemens used steroids to speed his recovery time and, like Barry Bonds, used steroids and HGH to shave years off his performance. How do you quantify the impact? You don’t have to. Once a player tests positive it’s safe to assume they’ve been juicing all along and that everything they’ve accomplished is tainted. Because the testing procedures are such a joke you can go ahead and assume that they’ll hop right back on that steroid cycle after they jump through a few hoops to appease the masses. Once a doper, always a doper. That might sound unfair, but so are steroids.
It wouldn’t be that big a deal if it weren’t for the kids. What an adult chooses to do to his body is his business but what about those kids who are pursuing the dream of playing big time college ball or even making it as a pro? If the road to the NFL or Major League Baseball is paved with the Cream, then collegiate players will be juicing to catch up and if collegiate players are fortifying their performance with dangerous substances it’s ridiculous to assume that high school athletes aren’t following suit. From there it only gets worse.
That’s why it’s time to stop fooling around and impose some serious penalties. Improve the testing procedures and put the screws to those who come up positive. Instead of suspending a player for a month, kick them out for two years and impose sanctions on the team. You can bet your bottom dollar that the San Diego Chargers would have dealt with Shawn Merriman internally if a positive test would have cost them the playoffs. The Yankees would have never signed Roger Clemens is his positive test would have resulted in a forfeit of the entire season. That’s if the player would even be willing to risk getting caught if the penalty was as severe as a two year layoff. As it stands right now teams can benefit from the actions of cheaters and the only risk they face is losing that player. Raise the stakes. Once you take steroids out of professional sports, amateur sports will follow.
Naturally, just about everybody on this list denies any wrong doing but let’s just see how many of them hire lawyers to sue for slander. Mark McGwire and Raphael Palmiero both too k vicious shots at Jose Canseco but stopped short of holding Canseco legally accountable for defamation of character. That’s because Jose told the truth. In retrospect, Canseco should have sued them for questioning his integrity.
It’s not practical to retroactively punish players. Major League Baseball needs to move forward and address the issue of current cheaters. Let the court of public opinion handle the players on the list. Shame can be a powerful thing. The issue at hand is current and future use. There are laboratories feverishly working on better performance enhancing substances. There are loopholes to exploit. That’s why Mark McGwire dodged a bullet when he was caught with Andro. Andro wasn’t a steroid but rather a precursor that became a steroid in the body. Technically speaking, Andro wasn’t even illegal at the time and it wasn’t banned in baseball. But the truth is that McGwire used Andro to supplement his regular steroid regimen.
Labs are doing more than exploiting loopholes, they’re also creating illegal drugs that can’t be readily detected. Scientists carefully study the methods used in current testing and engineer drugs to avoid the indicators. Steroids are traditionally fat soluble which means they tend to linger in the system for weeks but Barry Bonds was implicated in an operation that alleges the use of water soluble steroids that don’t stay in the system for more than a day or two. The now infamous “Cream” and accompanying “Clear” are examples of steroids that were engineered to beat conventional tests.
Nobody utilizes more rigorous testing than the International Olympic Committee but even the IOC was duped by Balco. Marion Jones managed to foil the numerous tests Olympic competitors undergo and the result was Olympic domination. Her name surfaced in the BALCO nightmare and she subsequently admitted to using steroids. The result: she was stripped of her medals. Also, although it was unlikely she was planning a comeback, Jones is banned from international competition for a minimum of 2 years. Even though the tests can be beaten, the consequences of a positive test make the risk exceed the reward.
Imagine if those penalties were imposed in professional sports. Currently players face a suspension that amounts to a fraction of the regular season. In fact, in the NFL steroids are treated in the same manner as marijuana. Why? Marijuana is not a performance enhancing substance and it doesn’t impugn the integrity of the game. It’s about image. People seem more disgusted with Ricky Williams than they do Shawn Merriman but it was Merriman who cheated. Merriman’s decision to break the law made him bigger, stronger and faster. Ricky’s made him hungry. Merriman even made the Pro Bowl on the heels of his positive test. And now it’s all better. He’s still a gridiron hero but Ricky Williams is a punk. Frankly, Ricky Williams is more worthy of our respect and trust.
Professional athletes have the wherewithal to purchase steroids on their own. Pay is based on performance so players see steroids as an investment. If they can mitigate the risk, there is a tangible reward. Forget about health concerns, these guys risk permanent injury on every play. Long term liver failure is the least of their worries. The risk is getting caught. The risk is losing money. Furthermore, since teams aren’t held directly accountable for doping there’s a culture of looking the other way throughout sports. It’s not just at the professional level either. College coaches and athletic directors can see the impact of steroids better than anybody but when’s the last time you heard of a college coach blowing the whistle on a player who miraculously packed on 40 pounds of solid muscle over an offseason? And because college athletes have a desire to compete at the professional level, the use is prevalent.
For decades former athletes at the professional and collegiate levels have characterized drug testing as laughable. Players know when they might be tested and there are hundreds of ways to beat the test. Combine that with the masking agents and more difficult to detect drugs and you have a system designed to create the illusion of propriety. Ultimately the primary concern is revenue. If doping generates more money, nobody really cares.
Part of the problem is that fans don’t really care. Most see steroids as a minor problem. They don’t give steroids credit for the impact they have. Many people are ignorant to the science of steroids and assume that steroids result in big, bulky, slow behemoths. But then you have Marion Jones. The reality is that steroids falsely increase hormone levels that enhance athletic performance. The athlete can use a training program to dictate the impact steroids have. Marion Jones used steroids to improve her speed. Roger Clemens used steroids to speed his recovery time and, like Barry Bonds, used steroids and HGH to shave years off his performance. How do you quantify the impact? You don’t have to. Once a player tests positive it’s safe to assume they’ve been juicing all along and that everything they’ve accomplished is tainted. Because the testing procedures are such a joke you can go ahead and assume that they’ll hop right back on that steroid cycle after they jump through a few hoops to appease the masses. Once a doper, always a doper. That might sound unfair, but so are steroids.
It wouldn’t be that big a deal if it weren’t for the kids. What an adult chooses to do to his body is his business but what about those kids who are pursuing the dream of playing big time college ball or even making it as a pro? If the road to the NFL or Major League Baseball is paved with the Cream, then collegiate players will be juicing to catch up and if collegiate players are fortifying their performance with dangerous substances it’s ridiculous to assume that high school athletes aren’t following suit. From there it only gets worse.
That’s why it’s time to stop fooling around and impose some serious penalties. Improve the testing procedures and put the screws to those who come up positive. Instead of suspending a player for a month, kick them out for two years and impose sanctions on the team. You can bet your bottom dollar that the San Diego Chargers would have dealt with Shawn Merriman internally if a positive test would have cost them the playoffs. The Yankees would have never signed Roger Clemens is his positive test would have resulted in a forfeit of the entire season. That’s if the player would even be willing to risk getting caught if the penalty was as severe as a two year layoff. As it stands right now teams can benefit from the actions of cheaters and the only risk they face is losing that player. Raise the stakes. Once you take steroids out of professional sports, amateur sports will follow.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Squib Kicks
B_S
Ohio State stumbled into the top ranking in the final BCS poll. Thanks to a soft schedule and a battered Big 10, the Buckeyes managed to go 11-1. Buckeye fans don’t like hearing it but the fact that the Buckeyes are in the BCS Championship makes a mockery of the term National Champion. Not the LSU is exactly worthy of the hype. The Tigers lost twice. Granted both losses came in overtime but that says a lot more about LSU’s coaching staff than it does about the Tigers’ opposition. The SEC is a strong conference but it’s not that much better than the Big 10 or the Pac 10. About the only thing that sets the SEC apart is its championship game which forces two very good teams to beat on each other at the end of the season. The SEC title game is why Florida was able to exploit a lethargic Ohio State team last year.
Don’t count on Ohio State to make the same mistakes. Even though the Buckeyes lost to the only formidable opponent on their schedule (at home against Illinois), Ohio State isn’t short on talent. They never are. There are a number of players on the Buckeye roster who are more than capable of playing on Sundays next year. Ohio State’s schedule might have been soft but they did win their games in convincing fashion. These guys can play.
And the Big 10 needs them to. In spite of proving itself as a conference in head to head competition against the SEC in bowl games last year, fans and commentators ignored the success of Wisconsin and Penn State and cast doubt on the Big 10 in light of Ohio State’s sleepwalk in the so-called championship game. It’s not fair but Ohio State and the Big 10 have become a punch line. If Ohio State loses another bowl game to an SEC school the Buckeyes and the rest of the Big 10 will be punished in future polls.
Make no mistake, perception is reality. If public opinion of the Big 10 is low that will be reflected in the preseason rankings. Even if Big 10 schools perform well during the course of the season, voters won’t be as willing to reward those teams with lofty poll position. That means the Big 10 could find itself on the outside looking in. Over the past few years the Big 10 had enough clout to break a tie in favor of its teams. A 10-2 Wisconsin team used to have enough clout to get ranked ahead of an 11-1 Big East program. If Ohio State loses they will confirm suspicions that the Big 10 is fat, slow and noncompetitive thus guaranteeing a long hard road to those at large BCS bids.
Can I get that in writing?
Speaking of guarantees, was that angle played a little too aggressively by the media in the prelude to the Steelers/Patriots game? It’s not like anybody went out of their way to disrespect the Patriots. If you ask any player in any sport if they think they can win their next game they are probably going to say yes. That’s why we play the games.
It’s unlikely anything any Steeler said had any impact on the Patriots performance. The Patriots were coming off two sketchy performances and had a point to prove. The message was delivered. The Steelers were supposed to be a contender. Losing by 20 points this late in the season doesn’t bode well for Mike Tomlin and the boys.
16-0
On the heels of spanking the Steelers New England looks primed to complete a perfect season. A win next week over the lowly Jets matches Miami’s miraculous 14-0 performance and then the only question is whether the Pats will play to win against the Giants. Thanks to Don Shula’s recent tantrum over “Spy-gate” B-squared will probably lay the wood to New York just to spite everybody. Then the only issue is capping the perfect season off with a perfect post season. Somehow going 16-0 doesn’t seem special if it’s followed by a 1-1 playoff performance.
For the record, Don Shula should just shut up. First of all, he knows damned well that every coach in the league cheats. His Dolphins, like so many of the great teams of the 1970’s were the product of steroids. Shula probably stole signals from opposing teams as well. Everybody knows that the only difference between Belichick and every other coach in the league is that he got caught. Get over it.
Frankly, Don Shula is the most overrated coach in NFL history. He gets too much credit for that 17-0 team but his biggest mark on NFL history came a few years earlier when his Baltimore Colts failed to beat Joe Namath and the upstart Jets. Combine that with squandering Dan Marino and you have a guy who was lucky rather than good. As much as I dislike Belichick, I hope that Don Shula lives to see the only feather in his cap get blown into the gutter. Go Pats!
Ohio State stumbled into the top ranking in the final BCS poll. Thanks to a soft schedule and a battered Big 10, the Buckeyes managed to go 11-1. Buckeye fans don’t like hearing it but the fact that the Buckeyes are in the BCS Championship makes a mockery of the term National Champion. Not the LSU is exactly worthy of the hype. The Tigers lost twice. Granted both losses came in overtime but that says a lot more about LSU’s coaching staff than it does about the Tigers’ opposition. The SEC is a strong conference but it’s not that much better than the Big 10 or the Pac 10. About the only thing that sets the SEC apart is its championship game which forces two very good teams to beat on each other at the end of the season. The SEC title game is why Florida was able to exploit a lethargic Ohio State team last year.
Don’t count on Ohio State to make the same mistakes. Even though the Buckeyes lost to the only formidable opponent on their schedule (at home against Illinois), Ohio State isn’t short on talent. They never are. There are a number of players on the Buckeye roster who are more than capable of playing on Sundays next year. Ohio State’s schedule might have been soft but they did win their games in convincing fashion. These guys can play.
And the Big 10 needs them to. In spite of proving itself as a conference in head to head competition against the SEC in bowl games last year, fans and commentators ignored the success of Wisconsin and Penn State and cast doubt on the Big 10 in light of Ohio State’s sleepwalk in the so-called championship game. It’s not fair but Ohio State and the Big 10 have become a punch line. If Ohio State loses another bowl game to an SEC school the Buckeyes and the rest of the Big 10 will be punished in future polls.
Make no mistake, perception is reality. If public opinion of the Big 10 is low that will be reflected in the preseason rankings. Even if Big 10 schools perform well during the course of the season, voters won’t be as willing to reward those teams with lofty poll position. That means the Big 10 could find itself on the outside looking in. Over the past few years the Big 10 had enough clout to break a tie in favor of its teams. A 10-2 Wisconsin team used to have enough clout to get ranked ahead of an 11-1 Big East program. If Ohio State loses they will confirm suspicions that the Big 10 is fat, slow and noncompetitive thus guaranteeing a long hard road to those at large BCS bids.
Can I get that in writing?
Speaking of guarantees, was that angle played a little too aggressively by the media in the prelude to the Steelers/Patriots game? It’s not like anybody went out of their way to disrespect the Patriots. If you ask any player in any sport if they think they can win their next game they are probably going to say yes. That’s why we play the games.
It’s unlikely anything any Steeler said had any impact on the Patriots performance. The Patriots were coming off two sketchy performances and had a point to prove. The message was delivered. The Steelers were supposed to be a contender. Losing by 20 points this late in the season doesn’t bode well for Mike Tomlin and the boys.
16-0
On the heels of spanking the Steelers New England looks primed to complete a perfect season. A win next week over the lowly Jets matches Miami’s miraculous 14-0 performance and then the only question is whether the Pats will play to win against the Giants. Thanks to Don Shula’s recent tantrum over “Spy-gate” B-squared will probably lay the wood to New York just to spite everybody. Then the only issue is capping the perfect season off with a perfect post season. Somehow going 16-0 doesn’t seem special if it’s followed by a 1-1 playoff performance.
For the record, Don Shula should just shut up. First of all, he knows damned well that every coach in the league cheats. His Dolphins, like so many of the great teams of the 1970’s were the product of steroids. Shula probably stole signals from opposing teams as well. Everybody knows that the only difference between Belichick and every other coach in the league is that he got caught. Get over it.
Frankly, Don Shula is the most overrated coach in NFL history. He gets too much credit for that 17-0 team but his biggest mark on NFL history came a few years earlier when his Baltimore Colts failed to beat Joe Namath and the upstart Jets. Combine that with squandering Dan Marino and you have a guy who was lucky rather than good. As much as I dislike Belichick, I hope that Don Shula lives to see the only feather in his cap get blown into the gutter. Go Pats!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Crash and Burn
Normally I don't like the way the BCS penalizes good teams for losing tough games late in the season. If a good team is going to be upset it will likely come against a tough conference rival who knows its opponent and has had plenty of time to review the game footage. Teams that lose early are often victims of their own in experience. Teams that lose late are often victims of a tough home stretch. So normally I'd cry foul over Ohio State's big drop from number one in the BCS poll to number seven. But this isn't a normal season.
Nobody forced Ohio State to line up an opening salvo of cream puffs. Just because the NCAA opened the door to Division 1-AA, conveniently renamed the Champion Subdivision., doesn't mean Ohio State had to lure Youngstown State to town with a million dollar contract. When the NCAA gave a twelfth game the green light the Buckeyes plugged a depleted Kent State into its bye week without even thinking of a respectable game against somebody else.
Ohio State didn't face a real challenge until they overcame Wisconsin in the second half a couple of weeks ago but even then Wisconsin was without key players so it was hard to judge Ohio State's performance. When you take a long hard look at who Ohio State has played and how those teams have fared it's really hard to come away impressed with any of their victories. Ohio State was number one by default and the only way the Buckeyes were going to retain national respect was by winning out. The Buckeyes understood the consequences of losing.
I don't think West Virginia is better than Ohio State but because Ohio State dodged any meaningful competition this year I don't know that for sure. West Virginia managed to beat some pretty respectable teams this year and they feature a much more refined mobile quarterback than Juice Williams of Illinois. Maybe West Virginia has the tools to beat the Buckeyes after all. Sadly, we won't get to see that on the field. By losing to Illinois Ohio State's best possible finish will get them to the Rose Bowl where they will likely face a Pac Ten opponent. If Oregon wins out the Ducks will earn a BCS berth which means Ohio State could draw an at large team but the Rose Bowl committee will be mindful of selecting a team that will draw plenty of fans to Pasadena. That means it will be a westward orientation. Aside from Oregon, none of the teams likely to end up in Pasadena excite me. Even Kansas , though unbeaten, seems a little suspect against Ohio State. Since we've seen a mobile QB give Ohio State trouble that leaves Pat White as the best possible test. Will the Rose Bowl see it that way? Probably not, the problem with the bowls is that they are all about money.
Even though I'm in the camp that concurs that Ohio State was overrated this year, I still would love to see the Buckeyes get a chance to redeem themselves in some sort of playoff. It's hard to win every game and more than a little short-sighted to put such a high value on a perfect record. Luck plays such a key role in going 12-0. The Buckeyes enjoyed that luck for a while. They avoided injuries to key players and faced opponents who had suffered injuries. In fact, Ohio State's final opponent, Michigan, is decimated by injuries to its best players. quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart have been hampered by serious injuries for much of the season.
Playoffs would give teams a chance to play for the national championship in spite of suffering set backs. Granted, Michigan would probably not recover from three losses but taking the sting out of a couple of early losses would give teams more of a reason to schedule quality opponents. Look at most high school playoff systems. In most places teams desperately try to schedule bigger and better programs in the hopes of earning a lot of qualifying points in the event of a victory or at least gaining some experience to prepare for later games.
Sadly, the people who control big time college ball don't want to give up the big time college money. Even though playoffs would likely generate more money, it would spread that money into more pockets. It would give too many of the teams that finish on the cusp of BCS glory a chance to prove themselves in a good, old-fashioned fight to the finish. Nobody wants to be the team that lost to Hawaii in the playoffs. People don't want to see Boise State getting a regular shot of the big dogs. Parity scares the hell out of the NCAA and they'll do anything to keep it in check. Even if it means punishing Ohio State for playing along.
Nobody forced Ohio State to line up an opening salvo of cream puffs. Just because the NCAA opened the door to Division 1-AA, conveniently renamed the Champion Subdivision., doesn't mean Ohio State had to lure Youngstown State to town with a million dollar contract. When the NCAA gave a twelfth game the green light the Buckeyes plugged a depleted Kent State into its bye week without even thinking of a respectable game against somebody else.
Ohio State didn't face a real challenge until they overcame Wisconsin in the second half a couple of weeks ago but even then Wisconsin was without key players so it was hard to judge Ohio State's performance. When you take a long hard look at who Ohio State has played and how those teams have fared it's really hard to come away impressed with any of their victories. Ohio State was number one by default and the only way the Buckeyes were going to retain national respect was by winning out. The Buckeyes understood the consequences of losing.
I don't think West Virginia is better than Ohio State but because Ohio State dodged any meaningful competition this year I don't know that for sure. West Virginia managed to beat some pretty respectable teams this year and they feature a much more refined mobile quarterback than Juice Williams of Illinois. Maybe West Virginia has the tools to beat the Buckeyes after all. Sadly, we won't get to see that on the field. By losing to Illinois Ohio State's best possible finish will get them to the Rose Bowl where they will likely face a Pac Ten opponent. If Oregon wins out the Ducks will earn a BCS berth which means Ohio State could draw an at large team but the Rose Bowl committee will be mindful of selecting a team that will draw plenty of fans to Pasadena. That means it will be a westward orientation. Aside from Oregon, none of the teams likely to end up in Pasadena excite me. Even Kansas , though unbeaten, seems a little suspect against Ohio State. Since we've seen a mobile QB give Ohio State trouble that leaves Pat White as the best possible test. Will the Rose Bowl see it that way? Probably not, the problem with the bowls is that they are all about money.
Even though I'm in the camp that concurs that Ohio State was overrated this year, I still would love to see the Buckeyes get a chance to redeem themselves in some sort of playoff. It's hard to win every game and more than a little short-sighted to put such a high value on a perfect record. Luck plays such a key role in going 12-0. The Buckeyes enjoyed that luck for a while. They avoided injuries to key players and faced opponents who had suffered injuries. In fact, Ohio State's final opponent, Michigan, is decimated by injuries to its best players. quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart have been hampered by serious injuries for much of the season.
Playoffs would give teams a chance to play for the national championship in spite of suffering set backs. Granted, Michigan would probably not recover from three losses but taking the sting out of a couple of early losses would give teams more of a reason to schedule quality opponents. Look at most high school playoff systems. In most places teams desperately try to schedule bigger and better programs in the hopes of earning a lot of qualifying points in the event of a victory or at least gaining some experience to prepare for later games.
Sadly, the people who control big time college ball don't want to give up the big time college money. Even though playoffs would likely generate more money, it would spread that money into more pockets. It would give too many of the teams that finish on the cusp of BCS glory a chance to prove themselves in a good, old-fashioned fight to the finish. Nobody wants to be the team that lost to Hawaii in the playoffs. People don't want to see Boise State getting a regular shot of the big dogs. Parity scares the hell out of the NCAA and they'll do anything to keep it in check. Even if it means punishing Ohio State for playing along.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Short Outs
There are some columnists complaining about all of the hype surrounding the Colts/Patriots clash this weekend. Why? The unbeaten defending Super Bowl champion is playing an unbeaten intra-conference rival most people have picked to win it all. New England looks unstoppable and the winner of this game could finish the season with a perfect record. The only problem with this game is that it should be moved the prime time spot. You can’t hype this game enough. The two best teams in football are going head to head.
Barry Bonds issued a half-hearted threat: If the asterisk-emblazoned 756 ball ends up enshrined in the Hall of Fame, he won’t go. Then he qualified his remark and said that he’s simply expressing how he feels now but that in five years he might change his mind…so Barry did leave wiggle room for his ego. Barry also talked about history and records and stated that you can’t put an asterisk in baseball. Well Mark Ecko proved that you can. He seared a big red one into that record-breaking ball and everybody knows it. The fans have spoken, Barry. You’re a liar, a cheater and a jerk.
Am I the only person who doesn’t give a flying F**K about Joe Torre? Can we stop the pity party? The fact of the matter is that Torre was overpaid and overrated. The Yankees offered him a very generous contract to come back next year and they were not out of line by including incentives. I hate the Yankees and think that George Steinbrenner is an enormous ass who raised two sons to be even worse but the man isn’t spending twice as much as anybody in baseball to lose in the ALDS. Joe Torre didn’t get the job done.
Is Ohio State the best team in the country? Yes. I didn’t think so a few weeks ago but after clobbering Penn State 37-17 in Beaver Stadium the Buckeyes proved their point. Nobody can make a stronger case for the top ranking in the country. The SEC has been enjoying a lot of respect this year but the Big 10 proved to be rather formidable against the SEC in head to head competition this past January. Wisconsin and Penn State defeated their vaunted SEC opponents in convincing fashion and Florida’s win over Ohio State didn’t raise as many eyebrows as Ohio State’s soft performance did. The Big 10 is still a football powerhouse and at this point in the season Ohio State’s record is worthy of respect. There’s still football left to be played and Ohio State will have to avoid looking ahead to its finale against Michigan but until the Buckeyes go out and prove otherwise they’re the team to beat.
In case you missed it, the NHL and NBA both opened their seasons. You don’t have to pay attention yet, but mark your calendar to check the standings after the Super Bowl. Your favorite team might be playoff bound.
Were you surprised to see the Red Sox sweep the Rockies? Yeah? You’re an idiot. The Red Sox were better in every facet of the game. The Rockies ran off an impressive winning streak at the end of the season but they did it in the National League. Money talks people. The Red Sox spent a lot of money picking apart small market teams in free agency. Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox guessed right on their purchases and it paid off. Your first clue that the Sox would win was in the 100 million dollar disparity in payroll. Duh.
Speaking of exercises in futility, who’s your Heisman favorite? Don’t tell me another Boston College QB is going to win it on the strength of one miraculous performance. Can anybody recall a more wide open race? Perhaps we could if the media would stop picking the front runners right after the previous season’s trophy is handed out. Darren McFadden was crowned as this year’s winner last December but a funny thing happened on the way to the podium, he played another season. Now everybody’s confused because the best players in college football weren’t on the short list of contenders. The solution? Stop making short lists! Let the players play a few games before we start worrying about who will hoist the Heisman albatross…I mean trophy.
Barry Bonds issued a half-hearted threat: If the asterisk-emblazoned 756 ball ends up enshrined in the Hall of Fame, he won’t go. Then he qualified his remark and said that he’s simply expressing how he feels now but that in five years he might change his mind…so Barry did leave wiggle room for his ego. Barry also talked about history and records and stated that you can’t put an asterisk in baseball. Well Mark Ecko proved that you can. He seared a big red one into that record-breaking ball and everybody knows it. The fans have spoken, Barry. You’re a liar, a cheater and a jerk.
Am I the only person who doesn’t give a flying F**K about Joe Torre? Can we stop the pity party? The fact of the matter is that Torre was overpaid and overrated. The Yankees offered him a very generous contract to come back next year and they were not out of line by including incentives. I hate the Yankees and think that George Steinbrenner is an enormous ass who raised two sons to be even worse but the man isn’t spending twice as much as anybody in baseball to lose in the ALDS. Joe Torre didn’t get the job done.
Is Ohio State the best team in the country? Yes. I didn’t think so a few weeks ago but after clobbering Penn State 37-17 in Beaver Stadium the Buckeyes proved their point. Nobody can make a stronger case for the top ranking in the country. The SEC has been enjoying a lot of respect this year but the Big 10 proved to be rather formidable against the SEC in head to head competition this past January. Wisconsin and Penn State defeated their vaunted SEC opponents in convincing fashion and Florida’s win over Ohio State didn’t raise as many eyebrows as Ohio State’s soft performance did. The Big 10 is still a football powerhouse and at this point in the season Ohio State’s record is worthy of respect. There’s still football left to be played and Ohio State will have to avoid looking ahead to its finale against Michigan but until the Buckeyes go out and prove otherwise they’re the team to beat.
In case you missed it, the NHL and NBA both opened their seasons. You don’t have to pay attention yet, but mark your calendar to check the standings after the Super Bowl. Your favorite team might be playoff bound.
Were you surprised to see the Red Sox sweep the Rockies? Yeah? You’re an idiot. The Red Sox were better in every facet of the game. The Rockies ran off an impressive winning streak at the end of the season but they did it in the National League. Money talks people. The Red Sox spent a lot of money picking apart small market teams in free agency. Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox guessed right on their purchases and it paid off. Your first clue that the Sox would win was in the 100 million dollar disparity in payroll. Duh.
Speaking of exercises in futility, who’s your Heisman favorite? Don’t tell me another Boston College QB is going to win it on the strength of one miraculous performance. Can anybody recall a more wide open race? Perhaps we could if the media would stop picking the front runners right after the previous season’s trophy is handed out. Darren McFadden was crowned as this year’s winner last December but a funny thing happened on the way to the podium, he played another season. Now everybody’s confused because the best players in college football weren’t on the short list of contenders. The solution? Stop making short lists! Let the players play a few games before we start worrying about who will hoist the Heisman albatross…I mean trophy.
Monday, October 29, 2007
A-Hole
Look At Me!!!!I’ve never had much of a problem with Alex Rodriguez. I suppose if he was choking on all of my team’s post season chances I might think he’s overrated but you can’t lay a post season egg if you don’t get to the playoffs and A-Rod has been an integral part of that equation for the Yankees.
I also don’t really have much of a problem with his bush league antics. Slapping the ball out of a wayward glove and calling off a fielder with an “I got it” is low but hardly a disgrace to baseball. It’s more childish than cheating.
There’s no question that A-Rod is vastly overpaid. In the minds of most fans athletes are all overpaid but when you consider the revenue they generate quite a few professional athletes are actually underpaid. LeBron James and Tiger Woods come to mind as two guys who should get paid just for breathing. Both are single handedly responsible for generating at least ten times the revenue they are paid. Tiger’s mere presence at a PGA event doubles patronage and LeBron has increased the overall value of the Cavaliers by nearly 200 million dollars.
Even by those standards A-Rod is overpaid. Because of salary cap provisions A-Rod can push a team over the limit and incur a luxury tax. That makes the real cost of signing A-Rod a lot higher than his total contract value. Teams with the assets to afford this financial impact have to win a championship to avoid losing money on the year. Even the endlessly wealthy New York Yankees struggled to stay in the black while shouldering just a portion of A-Rod’s deal. People sometimes forget that part of A-Rod’s contract was being paid by the Rangers. Another caveat in that contract was a player option. That’s where A-Rod proved what a jerk he is.
He doesn’t owe the Yankees a damned thing. Opting out of that contract doesn’t make A-Rod an A-hole. He’s got every right to pursue a better deal with a team that will appreciate him more. The Yankees are a calculating organization and Yankee fans are myopic brats who lack any semblance of class. Screw them. A-Rod is a better defensive shortstop than Derek Jeter but the Yankees refused to slide Jeter over to the hot corner for fear of offending him. If Jeter was half the leader everybody makes him out to be he would have volunteered to move over but Jeter’s ego is almost as oppressive as A-Rod’s. A big part of the reason A-Rod never really seemed to fit in with the Yankees is because Jeter happily fostered the idea that A-Rod wasn’t a “real” Yankee. So be it. It’s also worth pointing out that Jeter’s heroic post season performances are ancient history and his lackluster play in the ALDS was even more atrocious than A-Rod’s. Jeter’s a loser too.
But A-Rod trumped everybody. He could have waited until a few days after the World Series to announce he was terminating his contract. It wouldn’t have made him any more or less valuable on the open market to declare his intentions next week. But A-Rod couldn’t do that. He waited until the deciding game was well under way to tell the world that he was pursuing free agency. Of course the sports outlets started reporting it immediately and it became a topic of conversation throughout the game.
A-Rod’s move was a calculated attempt to steal the spotlight. It reveals a lack of respect for the game and its fans. It should weigh heavily on the minds of his future employers but it won’t. People will talk about his timing and his selfishness but over the coming months the bidding will begin and A-Rod will ink a 300 million dollar contract. He’ll put up great stats, break records and eventually land himself in the hall of fame because nobody will stop to investigate the story behind the numbers.
And that’s where baseball goes bad. Pick a sports hall of fame and you can name at least a dozen players who have been inexplicably snubbed but baseball sets the standards for unworthy honorees. Baseball writers are notorious for hiding behind the numbers and avoiding making and decisions about a player’s personality, leadership and overall character. A-Rod might prove to be so outstanding that his numbers will transcend the intangibles but the fact that they won’t even be discussed is why baseball is such a joke. We know A-Rod’s a jerk, but nobody will dare hold him accountable.
I also don’t really have much of a problem with his bush league antics. Slapping the ball out of a wayward glove and calling off a fielder with an “I got it” is low but hardly a disgrace to baseball. It’s more childish than cheating.
There’s no question that A-Rod is vastly overpaid. In the minds of most fans athletes are all overpaid but when you consider the revenue they generate quite a few professional athletes are actually underpaid. LeBron James and Tiger Woods come to mind as two guys who should get paid just for breathing. Both are single handedly responsible for generating at least ten times the revenue they are paid. Tiger’s mere presence at a PGA event doubles patronage and LeBron has increased the overall value of the Cavaliers by nearly 200 million dollars.
Even by those standards A-Rod is overpaid. Because of salary cap provisions A-Rod can push a team over the limit and incur a luxury tax. That makes the real cost of signing A-Rod a lot higher than his total contract value. Teams with the assets to afford this financial impact have to win a championship to avoid losing money on the year. Even the endlessly wealthy New York Yankees struggled to stay in the black while shouldering just a portion of A-Rod’s deal. People sometimes forget that part of A-Rod’s contract was being paid by the Rangers. Another caveat in that contract was a player option. That’s where A-Rod proved what a jerk he is.
He doesn’t owe the Yankees a damned thing. Opting out of that contract doesn’t make A-Rod an A-hole. He’s got every right to pursue a better deal with a team that will appreciate him more. The Yankees are a calculating organization and Yankee fans are myopic brats who lack any semblance of class. Screw them. A-Rod is a better defensive shortstop than Derek Jeter but the Yankees refused to slide Jeter over to the hot corner for fear of offending him. If Jeter was half the leader everybody makes him out to be he would have volunteered to move over but Jeter’s ego is almost as oppressive as A-Rod’s. A big part of the reason A-Rod never really seemed to fit in with the Yankees is because Jeter happily fostered the idea that A-Rod wasn’t a “real” Yankee. So be it. It’s also worth pointing out that Jeter’s heroic post season performances are ancient history and his lackluster play in the ALDS was even more atrocious than A-Rod’s. Jeter’s a loser too.
But A-Rod trumped everybody. He could have waited until a few days after the World Series to announce he was terminating his contract. It wouldn’t have made him any more or less valuable on the open market to declare his intentions next week. But A-Rod couldn’t do that. He waited until the deciding game was well under way to tell the world that he was pursuing free agency. Of course the sports outlets started reporting it immediately and it became a topic of conversation throughout the game.
A-Rod’s move was a calculated attempt to steal the spotlight. It reveals a lack of respect for the game and its fans. It should weigh heavily on the minds of his future employers but it won’t. People will talk about his timing and his selfishness but over the coming months the bidding will begin and A-Rod will ink a 300 million dollar contract. He’ll put up great stats, break records and eventually land himself in the hall of fame because nobody will stop to investigate the story behind the numbers.
And that’s where baseball goes bad. Pick a sports hall of fame and you can name at least a dozen players who have been inexplicably snubbed but baseball sets the standards for unworthy honorees. Baseball writers are notorious for hiding behind the numbers and avoiding making and decisions about a player’s personality, leadership and overall character. A-Rod might prove to be so outstanding that his numbers will transcend the intangibles but the fact that they won’t even be discussed is why baseball is such a joke. We know A-Rod’s a jerk, but nobody will dare hold him accountable.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Another BCS blunder
The Ohio State Buckeyes have looked impressive so far this year. Granted, they didn’t exactly obliterate Youngstown State and they struggled to get their offense on track when Akron came to town but they convincingly beat Washington on the road and laid the wood to their early conference foes. Ohio State looks like a strong contender of the national championship.
But looks can be deceiving. Ohio State hasn’t really played anybody of consequence just yet. They boast a perfect record, have put up impressive stats and have a considerable average margin of victory but they haven’t beaten a top 20 team. By the time the season finally wraps up Ohio State might find themselves unbeaten, untied and untested. Does that make them worthy of a title shot?
South Florida stumbled into the number two spot and a lot of people are second guessing them but the Bulls have impressive victories on their resume. Early in the season South Florida shocked a highly ranked Auburn team with a gritty overtime win. A few weeks later West Virginia found themselves unable to move the ball effectively against a quick South Florida defense. At the time WVU was ranked number four in the country.
Ohio State’s highest ranked foe so far is Purdue which had just cracked the top 25 before getting worked over by the Buckeyes. Purdue might have reclaimed a top 25 ranking if it hadn’t fallen to Michigan a week later. People joked about Ohio State starting its season with a YAWN (Youngstown State, Akron, Washington, and Northwestern) but now the Big 10 schedule looks weak with Ohio State facing only one more ranked opponent when it plays Michigan in November. If Michigan continues to win the Wolverines could prove to be a formidable foe but right now nobody sees Michigan as a force to be reckoned with.
The odds are in Ohio State’s favor and if they run the table in a big conference there’s no question that the Buckeyes would be worthy of a shot at the BCS title but the current ranking is premature. Ohio State has not proven that it’s the best team. A perfect record can be impressive but only if the teams on the schedule were competitive. Right now the poll-makers are saying that Ohio State is better than everybody else but if we matched Ohio State up against Kentucky would the Buckeye defense hold? Is that Ohio State offense good enough to get vertical against that LSU defense? Florida humiliated Ohio State by putting Tim Tebow in to pick up tough yards, has Jim Tressel come up with a plan for Superman?
Nobody can answer these questions. That’s why they play the games. USC had too many weapons and Texas only had Vince Young but somehow the Longhorns walked away with a BCS Title in 2005. Last year the BCS Championship was played a month and a half early when unbeaten Ohio State outlasted unbeaten Michigan in a barnburner. Then Florida hung 41 points on the Buckeyes during a rout of the greatest college team ever assembled. Play the game.
Ohio State should not be rewarded for playing a soft schedule. There are those who would say that its unfair to punish the Buckeyes since the schedules are filled years in advance but it’s not as if Akron, Washington and Kent State were top-ranked teams four or five years ago. Nobody forced the Buckeyes to play Youngstown State. The Buckeyes can’t control how competitive their conference is year to year but they certainly have control over the number of in-state patsies they book.
The easy solution is playoffs. The BCS system is a beauty contest that rewards perfection. The polls are supposed to be subjective because the people voting in the polls are supposed to consider each team on its own merits, not just run down the schedule and see who has the most wins. LSU would be ranked ahead of Ohio State if not for one loss; a hard fought overtime heartbreaker to a very tough Kentucky team. While LSU was fighting a tough opponent to the bitter end, Ohio State was enjoying a leisurely stroll to the end zone over a Kent State team so outmatched that the Kent State coach admitted he would be resting his starters. Cal moved up in the polls two weeks ago for no other reason than having a bye week when other teams lost.
Dumping the BCS in favor of playoffs would not make the regular season mean less it would make quality opposition mean more. Coaches wouldn’t want to enter the playoffs having cakewalked through a soft schedule only to get massacred in December. Tough non-conference opponents would be the best way to prepare a team for a championship run through a playoff field.
The best part about playoffs is that post season match ups would no longer be determined by selection committees. For once the NCAA Division 1-A championship would be determined on the field not in some conference room.
But looks can be deceiving. Ohio State hasn’t really played anybody of consequence just yet. They boast a perfect record, have put up impressive stats and have a considerable average margin of victory but they haven’t beaten a top 20 team. By the time the season finally wraps up Ohio State might find themselves unbeaten, untied and untested. Does that make them worthy of a title shot?
South Florida stumbled into the number two spot and a lot of people are second guessing them but the Bulls have impressive victories on their resume. Early in the season South Florida shocked a highly ranked Auburn team with a gritty overtime win. A few weeks later West Virginia found themselves unable to move the ball effectively against a quick South Florida defense. At the time WVU was ranked number four in the country.
Ohio State’s highest ranked foe so far is Purdue which had just cracked the top 25 before getting worked over by the Buckeyes. Purdue might have reclaimed a top 25 ranking if it hadn’t fallen to Michigan a week later. People joked about Ohio State starting its season with a YAWN (Youngstown State, Akron, Washington, and Northwestern) but now the Big 10 schedule looks weak with Ohio State facing only one more ranked opponent when it plays Michigan in November. If Michigan continues to win the Wolverines could prove to be a formidable foe but right now nobody sees Michigan as a force to be reckoned with.
The odds are in Ohio State’s favor and if they run the table in a big conference there’s no question that the Buckeyes would be worthy of a shot at the BCS title but the current ranking is premature. Ohio State has not proven that it’s the best team. A perfect record can be impressive but only if the teams on the schedule were competitive. Right now the poll-makers are saying that Ohio State is better than everybody else but if we matched Ohio State up against Kentucky would the Buckeye defense hold? Is that Ohio State offense good enough to get vertical against that LSU defense? Florida humiliated Ohio State by putting Tim Tebow in to pick up tough yards, has Jim Tressel come up with a plan for Superman?
Nobody can answer these questions. That’s why they play the games. USC had too many weapons and Texas only had Vince Young but somehow the Longhorns walked away with a BCS Title in 2005. Last year the BCS Championship was played a month and a half early when unbeaten Ohio State outlasted unbeaten Michigan in a barnburner. Then Florida hung 41 points on the Buckeyes during a rout of the greatest college team ever assembled. Play the game.
Ohio State should not be rewarded for playing a soft schedule. There are those who would say that its unfair to punish the Buckeyes since the schedules are filled years in advance but it’s not as if Akron, Washington and Kent State were top-ranked teams four or five years ago. Nobody forced the Buckeyes to play Youngstown State. The Buckeyes can’t control how competitive their conference is year to year but they certainly have control over the number of in-state patsies they book.
The easy solution is playoffs. The BCS system is a beauty contest that rewards perfection. The polls are supposed to be subjective because the people voting in the polls are supposed to consider each team on its own merits, not just run down the schedule and see who has the most wins. LSU would be ranked ahead of Ohio State if not for one loss; a hard fought overtime heartbreaker to a very tough Kentucky team. While LSU was fighting a tough opponent to the bitter end, Ohio State was enjoying a leisurely stroll to the end zone over a Kent State team so outmatched that the Kent State coach admitted he would be resting his starters. Cal moved up in the polls two weeks ago for no other reason than having a bye week when other teams lost.
Dumping the BCS in favor of playoffs would not make the regular season mean less it would make quality opposition mean more. Coaches wouldn’t want to enter the playoffs having cakewalked through a soft schedule only to get massacred in December. Tough non-conference opponents would be the best way to prepare a team for a championship run through a playoff field.
The best part about playoffs is that post season match ups would no longer be determined by selection committees. For once the NCAA Division 1-A championship would be determined on the field not in some conference room.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Something's Bugging Yankee Fans
eek!After watching the Yankees fall three games to one in the ALDS people can’t help but wonder what might have been. The Yankees seemed poised to steal home field advantage from the Indians in game 2, regrouping from a 12-3 beat down in game 1, only to have their efforts derailed by a swarm of flying insects known as midges. Refer to your local entomologist for more details.
The bugs were thick and players on both sides were struggling to cope with the waterborne pests but the Indians prevailed. Fausto Carmona had just as many midges crawling around on his face as Joba Chamberlain but it was the pampered reliever who struggled with the infestation. Fausto tuned out every distraction and threw 9 innings of lock down baseball while Joba fell apart. At least he didn’t make excuses for it after the game.
That hasn’t stopped others from throwing a tizzy. Roger Clemens whined about the bugs and said that the umpires should have delayed the game. George Steinbrenner took a break from threatening Joe Torre long enough to call Bud Selig and cry foul. Everybody seems to think that the bugs cost the Yankees the game and now that New York has lost another divisional series you can bet the innocent midges will take the heat for that. Never mind the fact that A-Rod sucked out loud yet again, or that Derek "God" Jeter played poorly in every aspect of the game.
Forget about Rocket laying an egg in game three and forcing Torre to exhaust his bullpen early. Thanks, pops. Now about that 18 million...I didn't see any insects forcing Wang to post an ERA so inflated it can only be quantified with exponents. And can we think about blaming Steinbrenner for applying undue pressure? By putting Joe Torre’s future on the line, Steinbrenner made it impossible for the players to relax and play naturally. Every mistake was another nail in Torre’s coffin. Maybe the Yankees lost on purpose just so they could get a break from Big Stein. Sometimes the owner needs to shut up and let the players play.
By the way, the umpires did delay the game. Everybody got to soak themselves in copious amounts of OFF. Unfortunately the unseasonably warm temperatures triggered a massive hatch and the bright lights of Jacobs field attracted millions of the harmless bugs. The lush grass drew the bugs to field level and the sweaty players rendered the repellant moot. Umpires aren’t supposed to stop play unless safety becomes an issue and the bugs, though annoying, did not pose any threat. Delaying the game for an extended period of time probably would have made matters worse as more midges became active throughout the night. Were they supposed to throw the entire post season into disarray because a couple of Yankees had got a case of the heebie jeebies?
The reason the umpires didn’t see any risk to the players was because only a few players seemed adversely affected. Doug Mientkiewicz acted as though he was going to die after inadvertently eating one and Joba tried to pitch with his eyes closed. They probably drowned their sorrows in Cosmopolitans after the series and they might take their mind off the loss with a day at the spa. Pedicures for everybody! Most of the players seemed capable of tuning the bugs out when it was time to play. Even her royal highness A-Rod and Dame Derek Jeter sucked it up when it counted. If Fausto Carmona had gone wild as well a delay might have been in order but the call on the field was that the bugs were a distraction that the players simply had to overcome. The conditions were fair and safe. Get over it.
New York fans can bitterly crack jokes about Cleveland but the Yankees will spend another off season trying to figure out where they went wrong. Steinbrenner will bluster, Torre will get the boot and A-Rod will opt out of his contract…he’ll probably end up winning a World Series in a classier city with better fans. Meanwhile Cleveland, swarms of midges notwithstanding, is reveling in a hard fought win. Even if they fall short against the Red Sox the team seems back on track and will remain in contention for a number of years. The Yankees are in trouble. The Boss might not be able to buy them out of the hole they’re in right now so they’ll whine about what might have been if those pesky midges hadn’t made an appearance in game 2. In all honesty, they would have lost anyway. The Yankees have no leadership and no heart.
By the way, the umpires did delay the game. Everybody got to soak themselves in copious amounts of OFF. Unfortunately the unseasonably warm temperatures triggered a massive hatch and the bright lights of Jacobs field attracted millions of the harmless bugs. The lush grass drew the bugs to field level and the sweaty players rendered the repellant moot. Umpires aren’t supposed to stop play unless safety becomes an issue and the bugs, though annoying, did not pose any threat. Delaying the game for an extended period of time probably would have made matters worse as more midges became active throughout the night. Were they supposed to throw the entire post season into disarray because a couple of Yankees had got a case of the heebie jeebies?
The reason the umpires didn’t see any risk to the players was because only a few players seemed adversely affected. Doug Mientkiewicz acted as though he was going to die after inadvertently eating one and Joba tried to pitch with his eyes closed. They probably drowned their sorrows in Cosmopolitans after the series and they might take their mind off the loss with a day at the spa. Pedicures for everybody! Most of the players seemed capable of tuning the bugs out when it was time to play. Even her royal highness A-Rod and Dame Derek Jeter sucked it up when it counted. If Fausto Carmona had gone wild as well a delay might have been in order but the call on the field was that the bugs were a distraction that the players simply had to overcome. The conditions were fair and safe. Get over it.
New York fans can bitterly crack jokes about Cleveland but the Yankees will spend another off season trying to figure out where they went wrong. Steinbrenner will bluster, Torre will get the boot and A-Rod will opt out of his contract…he’ll probably end up winning a World Series in a classier city with better fans. Meanwhile Cleveland, swarms of midges notwithstanding, is reveling in a hard fought win. Even if they fall short against the Red Sox the team seems back on track and will remain in contention for a number of years. The Yankees are in trouble. The Boss might not be able to buy them out of the hole they’re in right now so they’ll whine about what might have been if those pesky midges hadn’t made an appearance in game 2. In all honesty, they would have lost anyway. The Yankees have no leadership and no heart.
The bottom line is that the Indians were the better team. They wanted to win more than the Yankees did. The bugs didn’t discriminate in game 2; they bothered everybody. The difference was that the Indians weren’t looking for an excuse. The Yankees came unglued because they aren't a real team. That’s one thing money can’t buy. New York is a collection of gutless prima donnas who don’t know what toughness is. The midges made it easy to give up.
Friday, October 05, 2007
LeBron Demonstrates Youthful Stupidity
It was bound to happen. LeBron's too young not to screw up once in a while and we all know he would do something foolish before long. What would it be... Dog fighting? Dope? Seven kids by way of 10 different women? As it turns out LeBron's first faux pas was a wardrobe malfunction.
I don’t have a problem with LeBron James wearing a Yankees cap. LeBron’s 22 which means he was 12 years old the last time the Indians got to the World Series and what do they do? Choke. Then the Indians unloaded the stars from that team and embarked on several rebuilding attempts. I was so disgusted I took a baseball sabbatical. Yes, I’m back on the Tribe bandwagon but I’m 15 years older than LeBron which means my Indians were the hapless losers of the 1980s who inspired somebody to write the script for Major League. It was a great movie but the fact that I had tears in my eyes at the end speaks volumes. It’s not easy being a Cleveland fan but if you made it through the 70s and 80s you don’t have much of a choice.
I should be a Yankees fan. Everybody from Cleveland should. Blowhard Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is a Cleveland boy who made good so we have a way to connect with the winningest team in baseball history. More than a handful of promising Cleveland prospects have earned championship rings in New York. It’s easy. Why waste time with a team that hasn’t won a championship since 1948?
Still, LeBron didn’t need to sit in Jacobs’ Field during the American League Divisional Playoffs wearing that Yankees hat. It was just cruel. Cleveland is a city that has taken some hard knocks over the years and not just in sports. The Cuyahoga River caught on fire. The city is cold, wet and dirty. Jobs are hard to come by and low paying anyway. The rich side of Cleveland looks like the poor side of everywhere else. Dennis Kucinich.
Sports are important to Cleveland. They are more than a diversion. People get to distract themselves from the drudgery of everyday existence by following their hometown teams but they also draw their self esteem from sports. It hasn’t been good. The Browns have never been to a Super Bowl, last winning a championship in 1964 but the worst was when Art Modell stabbed the city in the back and deprived Cleveland of the Browns for three years. The city fought tooth and nail with Modell and the NFL to retain the rights to a lousy team and since 1999 the new incarnation of the Browns has been terrible.
The Indians were awful for decades. After blowing the 1954 World Series the Tribe devoted itself to embarrassing the city and making a mockery of baseball every year until 1994 when a strong showing by the Indians was crushed by a labor dispute. There was no World Series in 1994 and the Indians might have been in the mix to win it. After winning 100 games in 1995, the Indians handed Atlanta its first World Championship and then relinquished the 1997 title to the upstart expansion Florida Marlins. Rumor has it that the Cavaliers have been a professional basketball team all along but most people can’t recall anything of the sort until LeBron arrived. All of that misery but yet the fans still show up. Nobody needs to rub salt in the wounds.
LeBron is the Chosen 1. He tattooed that sentiment on his back so he has clearly accepted the challenge. Clevelanders are terrified that LeBron will soon leave Cleveland for the fame and fortune of a much larger city. Rumor has it that the NBA is conspiring to put James in a Knicks’ jersey in the near future. So that Yankees hat plays on those fears. If LeBron loves the Yankees he might love New York and that makes it possible that Cleveland’s hero will soon be breaking their hearts. It’s hard to take. We always get screwed.
Of course that’s silly. LeBron might love the idea of building his own dynasty right there in Cleveland the way Jordan did in Chicago. If LeBron jumps ship and heads for a big market franchise with a storied past he’ll be one of many great players but in Cleveland he will be the greatest. Any former Cleveland player who left on good terms will tell you that Cleveland fans never forget. 20 years after hanging it up mediocre players can still get free drinks. Hey, Brook Jacoby! Let me buy you a beer. The money will be there regardless but the glory is greater when it is earned the hard way. LeBron wearing a New York hat has nothing to do with his NBA career.
Nevertheless, it’s in poor taste. He’s a shining star in Cleveland and has committed himself to being a force for positive change in what is essentially his home town. That means he should show support for the Indians, especially during the post season. If he wants to root for the Yankees privately that’s fine but as a high profile figure in Cleveland he needs show solidarity with the Indians.
It goes deeper than psychology. If LeBron shows up in the postseason cheering for the hometown team, the Indians will reciprocate. It’s good for the players from both teams to demonstrate camaraderie on and off the field. LeBron was disrespectful of his baseball counterparts.
Late in the game the Yankees were getting spanked and LeBron sat brooding in his NY cap. The entire city of Cleveland was thrilled to see its Tribe dominating the reviled Yankees for the first time all year and the most recognizable Clevelander was sulking like a petulant child. For the first time in his life LeBron seemed immature. He’s entitled to make mistakes and in the grand scheme of things this one is pretty minor but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth calling him out. The real problem is that LeBron drew considerable attention to himself when it was the Indians’ time to shine. He made himself the center of attention and looked a bit like a jerk in doing so.
Fans will forgive him. As long as LeBron shows up at the Q in a Cavaliers uniform, LeBron will continue to be the King. It’s just unfortunate that the King did have the good sense to be magnanimous.
I don’t have a problem with LeBron James wearing a Yankees cap. LeBron’s 22 which means he was 12 years old the last time the Indians got to the World Series and what do they do? Choke. Then the Indians unloaded the stars from that team and embarked on several rebuilding attempts. I was so disgusted I took a baseball sabbatical. Yes, I’m back on the Tribe bandwagon but I’m 15 years older than LeBron which means my Indians were the hapless losers of the 1980s who inspired somebody to write the script for Major League. It was a great movie but the fact that I had tears in my eyes at the end speaks volumes. It’s not easy being a Cleveland fan but if you made it through the 70s and 80s you don’t have much of a choice.
I should be a Yankees fan. Everybody from Cleveland should. Blowhard Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is a Cleveland boy who made good so we have a way to connect with the winningest team in baseball history. More than a handful of promising Cleveland prospects have earned championship rings in New York. It’s easy. Why waste time with a team that hasn’t won a championship since 1948?
Still, LeBron didn’t need to sit in Jacobs’ Field during the American League Divisional Playoffs wearing that Yankees hat. It was just cruel. Cleveland is a city that has taken some hard knocks over the years and not just in sports. The Cuyahoga River caught on fire. The city is cold, wet and dirty. Jobs are hard to come by and low paying anyway. The rich side of Cleveland looks like the poor side of everywhere else. Dennis Kucinich.
Sports are important to Cleveland. They are more than a diversion. People get to distract themselves from the drudgery of everyday existence by following their hometown teams but they also draw their self esteem from sports. It hasn’t been good. The Browns have never been to a Super Bowl, last winning a championship in 1964 but the worst was when Art Modell stabbed the city in the back and deprived Cleveland of the Browns for three years. The city fought tooth and nail with Modell and the NFL to retain the rights to a lousy team and since 1999 the new incarnation of the Browns has been terrible.
The Indians were awful for decades. After blowing the 1954 World Series the Tribe devoted itself to embarrassing the city and making a mockery of baseball every year until 1994 when a strong showing by the Indians was crushed by a labor dispute. There was no World Series in 1994 and the Indians might have been in the mix to win it. After winning 100 games in 1995, the Indians handed Atlanta its first World Championship and then relinquished the 1997 title to the upstart expansion Florida Marlins. Rumor has it that the Cavaliers have been a professional basketball team all along but most people can’t recall anything of the sort until LeBron arrived. All of that misery but yet the fans still show up. Nobody needs to rub salt in the wounds.
LeBron is the Chosen 1. He tattooed that sentiment on his back so he has clearly accepted the challenge. Clevelanders are terrified that LeBron will soon leave Cleveland for the fame and fortune of a much larger city. Rumor has it that the NBA is conspiring to put James in a Knicks’ jersey in the near future. So that Yankees hat plays on those fears. If LeBron loves the Yankees he might love New York and that makes it possible that Cleveland’s hero will soon be breaking their hearts. It’s hard to take. We always get screwed.
Of course that’s silly. LeBron might love the idea of building his own dynasty right there in Cleveland the way Jordan did in Chicago. If LeBron jumps ship and heads for a big market franchise with a storied past he’ll be one of many great players but in Cleveland he will be the greatest. Any former Cleveland player who left on good terms will tell you that Cleveland fans never forget. 20 years after hanging it up mediocre players can still get free drinks. Hey, Brook Jacoby! Let me buy you a beer. The money will be there regardless but the glory is greater when it is earned the hard way. LeBron wearing a New York hat has nothing to do with his NBA career.
Nevertheless, it’s in poor taste. He’s a shining star in Cleveland and has committed himself to being a force for positive change in what is essentially his home town. That means he should show support for the Indians, especially during the post season. If he wants to root for the Yankees privately that’s fine but as a high profile figure in Cleveland he needs show solidarity with the Indians.
It goes deeper than psychology. If LeBron shows up in the postseason cheering for the hometown team, the Indians will reciprocate. It’s good for the players from both teams to demonstrate camaraderie on and off the field. LeBron was disrespectful of his baseball counterparts.
Late in the game the Yankees were getting spanked and LeBron sat brooding in his NY cap. The entire city of Cleveland was thrilled to see its Tribe dominating the reviled Yankees for the first time all year and the most recognizable Clevelander was sulking like a petulant child. For the first time in his life LeBron seemed immature. He’s entitled to make mistakes and in the grand scheme of things this one is pretty minor but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth calling him out. The real problem is that LeBron drew considerable attention to himself when it was the Indians’ time to shine. He made himself the center of attention and looked a bit like a jerk in doing so.
Fans will forgive him. As long as LeBron shows up at the Q in a Cavaliers uniform, LeBron will continue to be the King. It’s just unfortunate that the King did have the good sense to be magnanimous.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Somebody get Grandpa his meds
Every October old school baseball fans finally put in their dentures so they can denounce the wild card. They wax philosophically about “the long haul” and how the wild card "rewards mediocrity". Then they get sleepy and take a nap. If they could keep their eyes open and actually watch the playoffs it might open their minds to the fact that this is good baseball.
Look, Pops, the wild card is the best thing to happen to the game since Jackie Robinson. It’s given teams the opportunity to overcome injuries and inexperience during the course of a season and still have a chance to win it all late. It has also put the pressure on the early divisional leaders to stay fresh and find an edge down the stretch. That means better baseball late in the season and the best team having a chance to win it all. Instead of deciding the championship based on record alone, we throw the best eight teams into the post season and see who wins on the field. That means the hottest team in baseball can upset the winningest team. If it upsets you that the playoffs are open to too many teams, do away with the pretense of playoffs altogether and just hand the championship to the team with the best record.
Look at the way things shaped up this year. The Yankees were dead and buried back in May but they fought through their struggles and now they get to face a team they owned all season long. If the Indians get past the Yankees we’ll know they’re for real but if the Yankees continue to dominate the Tribe it will prove that the AL Central was a joke. In the NL the Phillies set their sites on the Wild Card and managed to pass the free falling Mets in the process. As it turns out, the NL wild card could feature the scorching hot Rockies who will face the Padres for a one game play-in today. If the Rockies get in they will be the hottest team in baseball and a real threat to get to the World Series based on momentum; are you telling me that’s a bad thing?
Before the wild card format was created, the old timers complained about the short series. The old timers always have something to complain about. They complained when the league opted to keep the balls clean and again when the league banned the spitball. Old football fans screamed bloody murder when the NFL replaced leather helmets with plastic and again when the face mask was added.
Apparently the World Series used to be a 900 game affair with triple headers finishing up well into the wee hours. Pitchers threw 400 pitches per game and were required to bat…blindfolded. Bats weighed 40 pounds and gloves were no bigger than an oven mitt. Maybe it wasn’t that strenuous but I still remember listening to my grandfather complain about the “short” seven game series back in the 70s. How dare they?
It happens in every sport. My dad will sit there with a straight face and tell you that Otto Graham would make Peyton Manning look like a cheerleader if he played today. The reality is that Otto Graham wouldn’t be able to wrap his mind around a typical two minute package. Joe Montana would have a stroke if he tried to process the information today’s QBs internalize. Times change, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s for the worse.
My dad is also of the opinion that baseball was better when he was a kid; today the “pitching is diluted”. He doesn’t seem to believe that the fact baseball is now a global game and that the pool of talent is deeper than ever. He doesn’t think that training and nutrition make for a better baseball player. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs and never lifted a weight in his life. Warren Spahn didn’t have a resistance machine in his clubhouse. He sees the numbers and assumes that the pitching is weaker. People will cite the statistics amassed by legendary players like Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Babe Ruth and dare you to find a modern player close to those numbers. Case closed. Numbers don’t lie, right?
Of course they do…because numbers never tell the whole story. And the old timers know it. They use that when the stats are stacked against them. Jim Brown played fewer games, Peyton Manning plays in an era where the rules favor offense. 50 Home runs means less now because seasons are longer and parks are smaller. But then they’ll talk about Chief Wilson hitting 30 triples and fail to mention how that was back in the day when some fields went on forever. It’s funny how nobody seems to mention that the worst player in any professional sports league is thousands of times better than the worst player just 25 years ago. The gap between the best and the rest is smaller than ever because the also rans have closed it. Today’s mediocre player is better than yesterday’s mediocre player. That’s why we need wild cards. Boston’s roster isn’t that much better than New York’s and the separation between contenders in the NL is nonexistent. We need the wild card to ensure that the best teams are playing.
The problem is that people get nostalgic as they get older. They have trouble accepting change because it makes them feel less significant. The past becomes less relevant so they do to. It’s what one might call hateration. Instead of enjoying the game, whatever game it might be, for what it is and embracing the changes the old farts focus on the negatives and raise a ruckus whenever they’re reminded of that change.
And I’m not some 20-something punk taking cheap shots at the old guys. I’m 37. I’ve seen the games I enjoy change tremendously. I still get nostalgic but not at the expense of dissing today. I roll with the punches and if I don’t like something new I’ll voice my displeasure but not at the expense of saying well in my day…I don’t ever want to be that guy, shaking my fist and yelling, “You kids get out of my yard.”
What these old fogies have to wrap their minds around is the fact that nobody cares. Every good sports fan is cognizant of sports history but they recognize it as just that: History. As in over. Bob Gibson WAS good; CC Sabathia IS good. Reggie Jackson WAS Mr. October but he isn’t going to see one pitch this month. It might make for an interesting discussion but no matter how hard you try there’s no going back in time, so just shut up and enjoy the game, whether there’s a wild card team playing or not. If you choose to live in the past you also choose to be irrelevant. Whining about the good old days isn’t going to bring them back and it won’t get you invited to any World Series parties.
Get over yourself, have a beer and enjoy the frigging game.
Or we’ll call the nurse.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Not so fighting Irish
I have to be honest. I love see Notre Dame suffer. It’s got nothing to do with Charlie Weis, although his ego is only rivaled in size by his belly. It’s also got nothing to do with the classless way Notre Dame pulled the rug out from under Ty Willingham. While I think that the color of his skin made it easier for the trustees to send him packing before he crossed that fifth year threshold every other Irish coach had been afforded to that point, I don’t think race was the reason he was fired. A factor? Sure, but not the reason.
My hatred of Notre Dame goes way back and has cultural implications. I grew up in the Cleveland area. Catholic high schools dominate the football landscape throughout Ohio but in Cleveland they seem untouchable. Somehow the Catholic schools always had the best athletes in every sport. Cleveland St. Ignatius high school was among the top five ranked high schools in the country for five years straight.
To those from outside the area the run seems impressive but people living in Cleveland understand the corruption involved. Football is a big deal in that part of the country and every year there’s a scandal involving some outstanding player changing schools. Public schools have to follow pretty strict rules regarding sports recruiting but Catholic schools are private entities who do not answer to public administration. It’s no secret that these schools offer scholarships to standout players but it goes deepe: parents are offered administrative jobs, siblings get scholarships and other financial considerations are presented.
Although he didn’t play football, Lebron James was implicated in a high profile example of this sort of tomfoolery. James didn’t come from a family that could afford parochial tuition but somehow he managed to attend Akron St. Vincent St. Mary’s for four years. Before he signed an NBA contract, James drove to school in a brand new Hummer. The car was in his mother’s name but his team…his high school team…was traveling around the country playing in NBA venues to sold out crowds. His school got a huge portion of the gate. Even with such a remarkable player most public schools would not be able to absorb the expense of marketing their basketball program and if they did it would draw the attention of public officials. A Catholic school, however is part of a much larger organization that doesn’t have to answer to the same people. In the end the diocese invested in marketing Lebron James and reaped massive financial rewards. Make no mistake, they paid him. They had to. Good luck proving it.
High school football players are rarely so publicized but the top recruits heading to big time college ball seem to come from large catholic schools. In Cleveland you’ll see kids transfer from a rough inner city high school to a posh Catholic campus just weeks after completing a break out season. Sometimes the transfer will entail a move of 40 or 50 miles. Where does a family scraping by on food stamps come up with the money to make that happen? Other private schools join the fray as well but in the Midwest the Catholic schools have a stranglehold on athletics.
This is a big part of the reason Notre Dame was so successful. NCAA recruiting rules are designed to level the playing field and give each program a fair chance to make a pitch to a promising high school athlete but for decades Notre Dame had its hooks into the very best players long before any other college could consider them. By using the Catholic diocese to funnel top athletes to Catholic high schools, Notre Dame was able to exploit the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to contact players about playing for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame saw its fortunes turn for the worse when the NCAA imposed scholarship limits on the major programs. That leveled the playing field. Before those scholarship limits were imposed players prestigious programs could hide great players on the bench strangling other schools. Well endowed schools could offer countless scholarships while less known programs scraped by. Now those lesser programs are starting to shake things up. That’s why Boise State and Rutgers are suddenly contenders while Notre Dame struggles to establish some consistency.
Another factor in Notre Dame’s demise is that the NCAA is allowing for much earlier contact between high school players and college coaches. Players are verbally committing as juniors and contact can start as early as junior high school thanks to skills camps and other events coaches are allowed to participate in. Notre Dame has lost its advantage. The Catholic high schools are no longer a safe haven for Notre Dame recruiters.
Notre Dame’s biggest problem is that its trustees refuse to change with the times. They still approach recruiting as though Notre Dame is doing the athlete a favor. While it’s true that Notre Dame does have more stringent academic requirements, the problem is that Notre Dame is arrogant enough to believe that its legacy sells itself. That is no longer the case. Today’s players don’t care about Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes. And they shouldn’t because it ancient history. They care about playing time and media exposure. Nobody wants to sit on the bench for three years…not even if its at Notre Dame.
The final problem Notre Dame faces is the expanded media coverage. Notre Dame enjoyed a national television contract and gleefully crammed its product down the throats of a sports-watching public that simply didn’t have a choice. Now there’s plenty of choice. Credit the Big East and the MAC for leaping at the opportunity to play weeknight games on ESPN. Now they have an advantage in recruiting players because they get prime time exposure. Notre Dame and other traditional powers balk at the idea but a high school player dreaming of playing on Sunday would be wise to eschew regional coverage on Saturday for prime time coverage on Thursday. It won’t be long before USC loses a top recruit to West Virginia and then you’ll see the mad dash for weeknight games.
Notre Dame used to be the only show in town, now Saturday is a blitz of intense coverage. Games are analyzed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fans aren’t easily fooled and everybody knows Notre Dame isn’t the best show in town. Fans are smart and they are getting smarter. Failing to recognize the changing market place has put Notre Dame at a severe disadvantage. People are no longer enamored with the Irish.
And I’m loving every minute of it.
My hatred of Notre Dame goes way back and has cultural implications. I grew up in the Cleveland area. Catholic high schools dominate the football landscape throughout Ohio but in Cleveland they seem untouchable. Somehow the Catholic schools always had the best athletes in every sport. Cleveland St. Ignatius high school was among the top five ranked high schools in the country for five years straight.
To those from outside the area the run seems impressive but people living in Cleveland understand the corruption involved. Football is a big deal in that part of the country and every year there’s a scandal involving some outstanding player changing schools. Public schools have to follow pretty strict rules regarding sports recruiting but Catholic schools are private entities who do not answer to public administration. It’s no secret that these schools offer scholarships to standout players but it goes deepe: parents are offered administrative jobs, siblings get scholarships and other financial considerations are presented.
Although he didn’t play football, Lebron James was implicated in a high profile example of this sort of tomfoolery. James didn’t come from a family that could afford parochial tuition but somehow he managed to attend Akron St. Vincent St. Mary’s for four years. Before he signed an NBA contract, James drove to school in a brand new Hummer. The car was in his mother’s name but his team…his high school team…was traveling around the country playing in NBA venues to sold out crowds. His school got a huge portion of the gate. Even with such a remarkable player most public schools would not be able to absorb the expense of marketing their basketball program and if they did it would draw the attention of public officials. A Catholic school, however is part of a much larger organization that doesn’t have to answer to the same people. In the end the diocese invested in marketing Lebron James and reaped massive financial rewards. Make no mistake, they paid him. They had to. Good luck proving it.
High school football players are rarely so publicized but the top recruits heading to big time college ball seem to come from large catholic schools. In Cleveland you’ll see kids transfer from a rough inner city high school to a posh Catholic campus just weeks after completing a break out season. Sometimes the transfer will entail a move of 40 or 50 miles. Where does a family scraping by on food stamps come up with the money to make that happen? Other private schools join the fray as well but in the Midwest the Catholic schools have a stranglehold on athletics.
This is a big part of the reason Notre Dame was so successful. NCAA recruiting rules are designed to level the playing field and give each program a fair chance to make a pitch to a promising high school athlete but for decades Notre Dame had its hooks into the very best players long before any other college could consider them. By using the Catholic diocese to funnel top athletes to Catholic high schools, Notre Dame was able to exploit the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to contact players about playing for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame saw its fortunes turn for the worse when the NCAA imposed scholarship limits on the major programs. That leveled the playing field. Before those scholarship limits were imposed players prestigious programs could hide great players on the bench strangling other schools. Well endowed schools could offer countless scholarships while less known programs scraped by. Now those lesser programs are starting to shake things up. That’s why Boise State and Rutgers are suddenly contenders while Notre Dame struggles to establish some consistency.
Another factor in Notre Dame’s demise is that the NCAA is allowing for much earlier contact between high school players and college coaches. Players are verbally committing as juniors and contact can start as early as junior high school thanks to skills camps and other events coaches are allowed to participate in. Notre Dame has lost its advantage. The Catholic high schools are no longer a safe haven for Notre Dame recruiters.
Notre Dame’s biggest problem is that its trustees refuse to change with the times. They still approach recruiting as though Notre Dame is doing the athlete a favor. While it’s true that Notre Dame does have more stringent academic requirements, the problem is that Notre Dame is arrogant enough to believe that its legacy sells itself. That is no longer the case. Today’s players don’t care about Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes. And they shouldn’t because it ancient history. They care about playing time and media exposure. Nobody wants to sit on the bench for three years…not even if its at Notre Dame.
The final problem Notre Dame faces is the expanded media coverage. Notre Dame enjoyed a national television contract and gleefully crammed its product down the throats of a sports-watching public that simply didn’t have a choice. Now there’s plenty of choice. Credit the Big East and the MAC for leaping at the opportunity to play weeknight games on ESPN. Now they have an advantage in recruiting players because they get prime time exposure. Notre Dame and other traditional powers balk at the idea but a high school player dreaming of playing on Sunday would be wise to eschew regional coverage on Saturday for prime time coverage on Thursday. It won’t be long before USC loses a top recruit to West Virginia and then you’ll see the mad dash for weeknight games.
Notre Dame used to be the only show in town, now Saturday is a blitz of intense coverage. Games are analyzed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fans aren’t easily fooled and everybody knows Notre Dame isn’t the best show in town. Fans are smart and they are getting smarter. Failing to recognize the changing market place has put Notre Dame at a severe disadvantage. People are no longer enamored with the Irish.
And I’m loving every minute of it.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Polls or Playoffs?
As you look up and down the two college football polls one has to wonder what people are thinking. Ohio State certainly hasn't performed like a top 10 team, nor has Texas but yet they remain fixed in their places because they won. USC looked flat in its opener but held on to its top ranking in spite of taking a week off while LSU spanked Virginia Tech. West Virginia is entrenched in the top 5 even though the Mountaineers feature a defense that couldn't stop a Pop Warner team from scoring. Never mind that five or six teams ranked outside of the to 10 look much better than half the teams in it,.the preseason poll determined the national champs before a game was played.
BCS advocates will tell us that the BCS rankings take much more into account but the polls carry quite a bit of weight in the final tally. The polls wouldn't be so bad if the people casting their ballots watched every game or at least analyzed the stats to appreciate how teams win. If I'm being objective I can't justify Ohio State being ranked ahead of Oregon at this point in the season and I certainly couldn't leave USC ranked ahead of LSU simply because USC didn't lose. But even if the polls did a better job of analyzing each team, there are still fatal flaws in the system.
Champions should be determined on the field. BCS proponents warn that there would still be controversies over who got into the playoffs and some erroneously argue that playoffs would diminish the importance of the regular season. The enormous success of the NFL proves that theory wrong and while there would be a handful of people crying foul over one or two of the playoff selections, the fact that pretenders and contenders would run a gauntlet to win it all would dry those tears in a hurry. You can't say the same for the BCS.
Arbitrary champions winning paper titles? That's not football.
BCS advocates will tell us that the BCS rankings take much more into account but the polls carry quite a bit of weight in the final tally. The polls wouldn't be so bad if the people casting their ballots watched every game or at least analyzed the stats to appreciate how teams win. If I'm being objective I can't justify Ohio State being ranked ahead of Oregon at this point in the season and I certainly couldn't leave USC ranked ahead of LSU simply because USC didn't lose. But even if the polls did a better job of analyzing each team, there are still fatal flaws in the system.
Champions should be determined on the field. BCS proponents warn that there would still be controversies over who got into the playoffs and some erroneously argue that playoffs would diminish the importance of the regular season. The enormous success of the NFL proves that theory wrong and while there would be a handful of people crying foul over one or two of the playoff selections, the fact that pretenders and contenders would run a gauntlet to win it all would dry those tears in a hurry. You can't say the same for the BCS.
Arbitrary champions winning paper titles? That's not football.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Michigan seals fate of NCAA Football.
Michigan put together a nice run last year that was capped by a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of a talent laden Ohio State squad that could only be stopped by its own complacency. Coincidentally, that is precisely why Florida won a so called national title. Even after the loss Michigan was very close to getting another shot at Ohio State and a chance to be crowned BCS champs. Ultimately the Wolverines fell short of enough points to qualify for that title shot.
Ironically Michigan chose to play a team that won a legitimate national title last year. Appalachian State is a division 1 AA college which means it is considerably smaller than Michigan but somehow the NCAA has no problem with organizing a playoff system for the smaller programs. Appalachian State didn't have to worry about computer points and polls because in division 1 AA champions are determined on the field.
Appalachian State had little hope of beating #5 Michigan. Michigan was loaded on offense and only needed to tune its defense to march through the season unscathed. Nobody gave Appalachian State much of a shot and starting the season off with a beating at the hands of a division 1 A powerhouse was not going to hurt Appalachian State's chances of repeating it's championship run. Michigan, however couldn't afford to lose a single game this year. Under the BCS system perfection is the only sure way of getting a title shot which means its better to be lucky than good.
Appalachian State is not better than Michigan and if they played 100 times Michigan would win 99. Appalachian State simply caught Michigan asleep at the wheel. Everybody knows this but that won't stop Michigan from free falling in the polls. Now Michigan, a team capable of beating anybody in college football will have to hope that other top-ranked teams lose later this season if they have a shot at playing in the BCS Championship game. Appalachian State, on the other hand, gets nothing but a pat on the back for pulling of the massive upset. Later this year Appalachian State will have to run a gauntlet of top caliber teams on the road to a real championship game while Michigan waits for reporters, coaches and computers to award it with enough points to play for something meaningful.
Lost in this story is the fact that Michigan did what every other top-ranked team in D1A did this year. Everybody scheduled a D1AA opponent in order to pad the schedule with an easy win while still collecting ticket revenue. The NCAA realized that there was more money to be made with a 12th game but nobody wanted to give up a home game so they opened the door to the newly dubbed Championship subdivision. It sounds better than D1AA.
While everybody is snickering at Michigan's misfortune the policy makers in the NCAA office are thrilled. This upset legitimizes the scheduling of D1AA foes and increases the marketability of these games. Who will be the next to fall?
The problem is it won't be anybody of Michigan's caliber anytime soon. Michigan was looking past this game and down the road at key match ups such as its November grudge match against Ohio State. Appalachian State went out hoping to catch Michigan by surprise. In the end it was all about motivation. What happened to Michigan will serve as a wake up call to the rest of college football. Coaches will have a tangible example of what can happen on any given Saturday and getting players motivated to play their best against a weaker opponent will no longer be a struggle.
Sadly that game will keep the critics at bay for a few years too. The NCAA can point to this upset anytime somebody questions a soft schedule. People will claim that parity has equalized the balance of power but when you ask why the Western Athletic Conference doesn't get an automatic BCS bid they'll change the subject. In the end it's all about the money and though Michigan will pay the price for this loss in the polls all year, this game has secured the financial future of the NCAA for the next decade.
Ironically Michigan chose to play a team that won a legitimate national title last year. Appalachian State is a division 1 AA college which means it is considerably smaller than Michigan but somehow the NCAA has no problem with organizing a playoff system for the smaller programs. Appalachian State didn't have to worry about computer points and polls because in division 1 AA champions are determined on the field.
Appalachian State had little hope of beating #5 Michigan. Michigan was loaded on offense and only needed to tune its defense to march through the season unscathed. Nobody gave Appalachian State much of a shot and starting the season off with a beating at the hands of a division 1 A powerhouse was not going to hurt Appalachian State's chances of repeating it's championship run. Michigan, however couldn't afford to lose a single game this year. Under the BCS system perfection is the only sure way of getting a title shot which means its better to be lucky than good.
Appalachian State is not better than Michigan and if they played 100 times Michigan would win 99. Appalachian State simply caught Michigan asleep at the wheel. Everybody knows this but that won't stop Michigan from free falling in the polls. Now Michigan, a team capable of beating anybody in college football will have to hope that other top-ranked teams lose later this season if they have a shot at playing in the BCS Championship game. Appalachian State, on the other hand, gets nothing but a pat on the back for pulling of the massive upset. Later this year Appalachian State will have to run a gauntlet of top caliber teams on the road to a real championship game while Michigan waits for reporters, coaches and computers to award it with enough points to play for something meaningful.
Lost in this story is the fact that Michigan did what every other top-ranked team in D1A did this year. Everybody scheduled a D1AA opponent in order to pad the schedule with an easy win while still collecting ticket revenue. The NCAA realized that there was more money to be made with a 12th game but nobody wanted to give up a home game so they opened the door to the newly dubbed Championship subdivision. It sounds better than D1AA.
While everybody is snickering at Michigan's misfortune the policy makers in the NCAA office are thrilled. This upset legitimizes the scheduling of D1AA foes and increases the marketability of these games. Who will be the next to fall?
The problem is it won't be anybody of Michigan's caliber anytime soon. Michigan was looking past this game and down the road at key match ups such as its November grudge match against Ohio State. Appalachian State went out hoping to catch Michigan by surprise. In the end it was all about motivation. What happened to Michigan will serve as a wake up call to the rest of college football. Coaches will have a tangible example of what can happen on any given Saturday and getting players motivated to play their best against a weaker opponent will no longer be a struggle.
Sadly that game will keep the critics at bay for a few years too. The NCAA can point to this upset anytime somebody questions a soft schedule. People will claim that parity has equalized the balance of power but when you ask why the Western Athletic Conference doesn't get an automatic BCS bid they'll change the subject. In the end it's all about the money and though Michigan will pay the price for this loss in the polls all year, this game has secured the financial future of the NCAA for the next decade.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Best Damn Fans In The Land?
I was born and raised a Buckeye fan but living in Columbus, Ohio is starting to drive me away from the scarlet and gray. People around here think they’re great fans and they pat themselves on the back regularly. The fact is, they are pretty avid and the revenue generated by the Ohio State football program is pretty phenomenal but they leave much to be desired.
First, it’s all football all the time. In case you missed it, Ohio State plunged deep into the NCAA Tournament last year. That’s basketball for the reader in Columbus. The round orange sphere tall guys shoot through a hoop. Ring a bell? The men’s hoops team made it all the way to the championship game before getting clipped by a loaded Florida squad. They put up a fight but in the end Florida’s depth was too much to overcome. Buckeye fans didn’t take much of an interest until about halfway through the Georgetown game. What did they do during the regular season? Obsess over football.
Buckeye fans also have a reputation for inhospitable behavior. It’s often dismissed as a few “bad apples” giving the rest a bad name but I’ve been on Lane Avenue before a game and there are a lot of people behaving badly. The problem is exacerbated by the self-proclaimed good fans that stand idly by while their reckless counterparts run amuck. And the abuse isn’t limited to opposing players, coaches and fans. Ohio State football players who put in a lackluster performance are subjected to intense ridicule, personal insults and even death threats if the stakes are high enough. Most don’t condone personal attacks but the rest of the abuse is regarded as the price a player pays for playing big time college ball. Never mind the fact that these are kids who are trying to juggle big time college ball with full time college course work.
It goes deeper than that. Fans around Columbus are so obsessed they lash out at anything not scarlet and gray… literally in some cases. One of the area high schools, the one that produced All American wide receiver Terry Glenn, no less, happens to sport colors similar to those worn by Michigan. Wouldn’t you know those kids get harasses around town if they do something crazy like wear their letter jackets? And heaven forbid somebody taking an objective point of view and paying a compliment to a Michigan player. In fact, the Columbus Dispatch received bags full of angry letters expressing sheer outrage that Michigan Wolverine Braylon Edwards was depicted on the front page of the sports section after the Cleveland Browns made him their top pick a few years ago.
Former Buckeye hero Kirk Herbstreit routinely gets lambasted by local fanatics who can’t accept the fact that he has to be objective when breaking down games nationally. When he drops by to contribute to his local radio show he plays to the home crowd just a little bit but if he does something crazy such as rank a loaded Michigan team over Ohio State in a preseason poll the pitchforks come out. Keep in mind that this guy was the face of Buckeye football when he played in the early 1990s.
With the Buckeyes getting ready to kick off their 2007 campaign with a leisurely romp against Youngstown State, analysts aren’t lining up to praise Ohio State’s strength of schedule. Buckeye Nation is starting to get defensive. Fans are pouring over schedules looking for punch lines as comical as YAWN but the reality is that Ohio State won’t face a test until well into October.
The Big Ten looks weak, Ohio State doesn’t have to play one of the conference rivals that might be respectable which leaves two formidable opponents out of the 12. Now there’s a chance that Michigan State or Penn State will surprise some people and prove to be a challenge but as of right now the Big 10 looks more like the Big Easy and Ohio State looks like Homer Simpson hoarding all the cream puffs.
I hope the Buckeyes do well and believe that they’ll be a lot tougher than people think. Even though they lost all of their firepower from last year the people stepping up to fill those holes are capable. The Buckeyes will have a solid line and Chris Wells will be a more dynamic running back than Antonio Pittman. Pittman left Ohio State early because he was going to lose his starting job to Wells. Troy Smith leaves behind a Heisman-sized crater at quarterback but Todd Boekman has been a diligent understudy since 2003. He should be just fine and if he’s not, Tressel needs to take the heat for not developing his prized recruit over such a long period of time.
In spite of my high hopes and fervent belief that the Buckeyes will be serious contenders I can’t take offense to those who doubt Ohio State. This is a team coming off an embarrassing performance in the BCS championship and I have serious questions about the coaching staff. Jim Tressel might be a god in Columbus but I see a stodgy old man who doesn’t adapt very well and his loyalty to idiotic assistant coaches, like Jim Bollman, worries me.
Until I see this team prove to me that it can win creatively I’m dubious and I can’t argue with those who predict a 9-3 season. Tressel has had a great start to his career but he has a long way to go and this year’s team is where he’ll have to prove something. Anybody could win with the talent he had last year and 2002 had fluke written all over it. I loved it, but looking back with objectivity I can’t say that it could happen again. That offense was pitiful!
My doubts don’t make me less of a fan but in Columbus it’s dangerous to say these things. People have been punched out for less. That’s why I think Ohio State fans leave a lot to be desired. Overall I they go too far. There’s nothing wrong with taking your football seriously but you have to have perspective. That’s a foreign concept in Columbus and that’s why I’ve retired my Buckeye regalia. I don’t want to be counted among the nuts.
First, it’s all football all the time. In case you missed it, Ohio State plunged deep into the NCAA Tournament last year. That’s basketball for the reader in Columbus. The round orange sphere tall guys shoot through a hoop. Ring a bell? The men’s hoops team made it all the way to the championship game before getting clipped by a loaded Florida squad. They put up a fight but in the end Florida’s depth was too much to overcome. Buckeye fans didn’t take much of an interest until about halfway through the Georgetown game. What did they do during the regular season? Obsess over football.
Buckeye fans also have a reputation for inhospitable behavior. It’s often dismissed as a few “bad apples” giving the rest a bad name but I’ve been on Lane Avenue before a game and there are a lot of people behaving badly. The problem is exacerbated by the self-proclaimed good fans that stand idly by while their reckless counterparts run amuck. And the abuse isn’t limited to opposing players, coaches and fans. Ohio State football players who put in a lackluster performance are subjected to intense ridicule, personal insults and even death threats if the stakes are high enough. Most don’t condone personal attacks but the rest of the abuse is regarded as the price a player pays for playing big time college ball. Never mind the fact that these are kids who are trying to juggle big time college ball with full time college course work.
It goes deeper than that. Fans around Columbus are so obsessed they lash out at anything not scarlet and gray… literally in some cases. One of the area high schools, the one that produced All American wide receiver Terry Glenn, no less, happens to sport colors similar to those worn by Michigan. Wouldn’t you know those kids get harasses around town if they do something crazy like wear their letter jackets? And heaven forbid somebody taking an objective point of view and paying a compliment to a Michigan player. In fact, the Columbus Dispatch received bags full of angry letters expressing sheer outrage that Michigan Wolverine Braylon Edwards was depicted on the front page of the sports section after the Cleveland Browns made him their top pick a few years ago.
Former Buckeye hero Kirk Herbstreit routinely gets lambasted by local fanatics who can’t accept the fact that he has to be objective when breaking down games nationally. When he drops by to contribute to his local radio show he plays to the home crowd just a little bit but if he does something crazy such as rank a loaded Michigan team over Ohio State in a preseason poll the pitchforks come out. Keep in mind that this guy was the face of Buckeye football when he played in the early 1990s.
With the Buckeyes getting ready to kick off their 2007 campaign with a leisurely romp against Youngstown State, analysts aren’t lining up to praise Ohio State’s strength of schedule. Buckeye Nation is starting to get defensive. Fans are pouring over schedules looking for punch lines as comical as YAWN but the reality is that Ohio State won’t face a test until well into October.
The Big Ten looks weak, Ohio State doesn’t have to play one of the conference rivals that might be respectable which leaves two formidable opponents out of the 12. Now there’s a chance that Michigan State or Penn State will surprise some people and prove to be a challenge but as of right now the Big 10 looks more like the Big Easy and Ohio State looks like Homer Simpson hoarding all the cream puffs.
I hope the Buckeyes do well and believe that they’ll be a lot tougher than people think. Even though they lost all of their firepower from last year the people stepping up to fill those holes are capable. The Buckeyes will have a solid line and Chris Wells will be a more dynamic running back than Antonio Pittman. Pittman left Ohio State early because he was going to lose his starting job to Wells. Troy Smith leaves behind a Heisman-sized crater at quarterback but Todd Boekman has been a diligent understudy since 2003. He should be just fine and if he’s not, Tressel needs to take the heat for not developing his prized recruit over such a long period of time.
In spite of my high hopes and fervent belief that the Buckeyes will be serious contenders I can’t take offense to those who doubt Ohio State. This is a team coming off an embarrassing performance in the BCS championship and I have serious questions about the coaching staff. Jim Tressel might be a god in Columbus but I see a stodgy old man who doesn’t adapt very well and his loyalty to idiotic assistant coaches, like Jim Bollman, worries me.
Until I see this team prove to me that it can win creatively I’m dubious and I can’t argue with those who predict a 9-3 season. Tressel has had a great start to his career but he has a long way to go and this year’s team is where he’ll have to prove something. Anybody could win with the talent he had last year and 2002 had fluke written all over it. I loved it, but looking back with objectivity I can’t say that it could happen again. That offense was pitiful!
My doubts don’t make me less of a fan but in Columbus it’s dangerous to say these things. People have been punched out for less. That’s why I think Ohio State fans leave a lot to be desired. Overall I they go too far. There’s nothing wrong with taking your football seriously but you have to have perspective. That’s a foreign concept in Columbus and that’s why I’ve retired my Buckeye regalia. I don’t want to be counted among the nuts.
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