the saddest part of sports

The saddest parts of sports occurs when a season has ended and the speculation of what is next ensues. Coaches get fired. Players get released or demoted or traded. Fans are left wondering what is going on or saying it is about time. Then we pay for the changes good or bad. When the Yankees don't win a world series and then they go out and buy the next big talent. This past season the Yankees not only opened a new stadium, they went out and bought a championship. They signed all of the top tie players and now this off season look to bolster an already loaded team. Roy Halliday wants to be in pinstripes and you know to the victor goes the spoils... This Bobby Bowden and Charlie Weis saga ends with both men leaving jobs because they have not won. Al Groh, Steve K., Tommy west have all been fired because the haven't won either. It is sad because in all of these cases it is the right decision.Lawrence Frank being fired yesterday by the New Jersey Nets is a tragedy. This man lead the Nets to the NBA finals twice in his tenure. He ran into Shaq and Kobe in one final and Tim Duncan in another. The Nets this off season traded away Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson their two best players and have completely overhauled this team at other positions. I cannot believe that they are blaming the coach for this fiasco. They are currently 0-17. They play Dallas in the next game which means they will be 0-18. Rod Thorn is the man who drafted Micheal Jordan and most people around the NBA say that he has an eye for talent. Why isn't he fired? He built this mess. Lawrence Frank is this obscure little man who basically came out of nowhere to coach an NBA team. He is a whiz kid and basically reached his coaching potential with a team filled with unproven players and veterans who are just collecting a paycheck. Jeff and Stan Van Gundy are his proteges. I am outraged that he is out of a job because he IS NOT THE REASON THAT THEY ARE LOSING. Neither is Charlie Weis or Bobby Bowden.. Weis is not mad about being fired. He has already 10 teams interested in his services. He needs a defense coordinator and Notre Dame would have been okay this year. How can you fire a guy whose team lost 6 games by a touchdown or less? I know we hold Notre Dame to a higher standard but are you telling me that his team did not improve over the season? No games for them to hang there head other than the fact that they lost. He deserved one more year with a defensive coach and I guarantee you they would be in the picture for a title. Bobby Bowden has put Florida St. on the football map. Not Burt Reynolds.. He won a championship there, Heisman trophy winners played there, first round N.F.L. talent played their too. Joe Paterno had a dry spell and he was given a chance to right the ship. I guess Bobby needed to donate a 1 million dollar library to the school and maybe the school would have given him more time. Remember.. Winning isn't everything,its the only thing... I am very bitter today.. I know most of you will say don't cry for these coaches because they will get hired soon. Hell Charlie Weiss and Bowden probably have huge buyout clauses. Weiss getting 18million dollars. Us regular folks only wish we were so fortunate..

thanksgiving..

This time of year everyone starts thinking about the year that they had, Christmas gifts, and Thanksgiving Dinner. This year I am trying something new by not having the traditional feast but enjoying this amazing Lasagna type pie my wife makes because she is vegetarian. This pie has potatoes, broccoli, cheese, tomatoes and if I tell you any more she will kill me for it is her own recipe. I am thankful for her being in my life and producing one hell of a young girl named Miracle. I am thankful that my father and siblings have made it this far this year and I look forward to the many blessings of the Christmas season. I miss my mother and I wish she was here everyday but I am thankful that she is no longer in pain and is manifesting herself through my daughter. I am thankful to my friends who inspire me to write everyday because it is really keeping me mentally motivated in my attempts to figure out how to be a better man, father, husband and provider.
With that being said this Thanksgiving is greeted with difficult news for a few sports figures around the globe. I am sure that the Irish National soccer team wants to strangle the referee for missing the obvious bad calls in the game against France. France seems to always find themselves embroiled in some controversy. I thankful that they did not attack the referee and harm him because we have all heard of stories where fans go fanatic and cross the line.
I am thankful that there are six undefeated college football teams thus slapping all those people in the face that say that we don't need a playoff in college football. Some of the one loss teams would love a shot too. Unfortunately on two will have a shot at the title.
I am thankful that Brett Favre is having a great year and the critics who have been talking soooo much about why he came back this year was a mistake are eating crow instead of turkey. His success is making the Packers look foolish for not re-signing him. The Jets for not acknowledging that he had an injury last year could have had Sanchez learn under him!!!
The person this rant is mainly for is Charlie Weis!! Charlie Weis came into South Bend, Indiana and basically slapped Tyrone Willingham in the face. He used tough talk, like he was Bill Parcells and basically told the Notre Dame faithful that 6-5 was not good enough and you are who you are... The irony of the Charlie Weis regime at Notre Dame is that he only made B.C.S. games with Tyrone Willingham's players. Brady Quinn was not a Weis recruit. He has brought in great talent on offense and they are a tough team to stop. They have had a tough luck year. They have not been beaten badly in any games they have played in this year. They have had a chance to win in every game this year, but their defense could not stop anyone. So I am thankful that Charlie Weis is about to find out that he is who he is .. I feel sorry for him because his integrity and honesty is refreshing. But he is no Parcells or Bellichick. And I wish all of the Parcell proteges would stop acting like they are Bill Parcells. They act like they are the mob and it is really annoying. I feel badly that his family has to endure listening to his name everyday in a negative light. He brought it on himself.
Allen Iverson.. A.I. Dont Retire.. Swallow your pride and come off the bench and be like the microwave. You are the best under 6'1 player anyone has ever seen. I am thankful that I got to see you play live in NCAA tournament. Don't go out like this..

the nfl draft of 2006

The NFL Draft of 2006 was supposed to be the best draft class that we have seen in years. Do you remember who the marquee people were in that draft? Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and Vince Young. This Sunday in Tennessee could be the first time in NFL history that Matt Leinart and Vince Young get to play against each other. The only problem is that Kurt Warner is probably going to make the start despite being injured disrupting this battle. What an odyssey these guys have been on. First of all, Mario Williams being the first pick in the draft shocked everybody. Most of us feel that Reggie Bush is one of the greatest players any of us has ever seen on a college football field. So when he wasn't chosen it was shocking. He has not been as great a pro as we have expected but he has been a contributing member to a team that has been to the NFC championship once and right now is on an undefeated team. He is still diving into the end zone like his college days. Matt Leinart and Vince Young have had tumultuous careers so far just in 3 seasons. Vince Young has won over 66% of his games that he has played in. Last season unfortunately the pressure got to him and many feared for his life. He had David Chappelle moment where the actualization of realizing a dream scared him and put him in a panic state. Compounding his situation was that his replacement Kerry Collins was leading the team to the best record in football. Unfortunately they did not do well in the playoffs. This season the lost their first six games and the coach seemed reluctant to give Young a chance to prove himself until the owner said he had to allow him to do so. Now they have won 4 games in a row and we will see what happens as the season progresses.
Matt Leinart has been an enigma. He has been in the news for the wrong reasons and stories about him make people think that he still thinks he is at USC. He had a child out of wedlock, he has photos posted of him partying with college coeds, now he is MMA fighter. No press about how he has improved as a football player. He was supposed to be the one that was supposed to be the star of this class. Today he is the backup for a hall of fame quarterback. If he starts Sunday it would be his first start this season. Who would have thought that this would be true? Kurt Warner is a star so I am not surprised that he has beaten out Leinart, It is just that I thought by now Leinart would be ready to take a team to the big game.
The funny thing about this draft class is that there are players in this draft that have been better than the "big Three". Joseph Addai has a ring with the Colts. Devin Hester has already begun re-writing the record books for returns. What he did in the Super Bowl against Addai's team is legendary. Jay Cutler despite what we see of him today has had a better start to his career than both young and Leinart. He has earned a huge contract with the Bears and when they get a receiver they will be contenders. Santonio Holmes beat Leinarts team in the Super Bowl last year and he was the M.V.P. His touchdown catch that won the game has put him in the conversation of great moments in Super Bowl History. There are Maurice Jones Drew, Marques Colston, Laurence Mulroney and Deangelo Williams. Who have had insane impact on the league. Elvis Dumervil may be the defensive player of the year this year. So do the "Big Three" have time to earn the status that we believe they should have already? Is three years not enough years to judge them? The answer to both is yes. I cannot wait to see what the next 10 years has to offer from these guys. I just expected that we would be talking about the "Big Three" with higher esteem. Who knows, maybe Tennessee will not lose again this year and meet the Saints in the Super bowl and we will hear the real story of what happened in the Texas and USC game...

from genius to knucklehead in one felt swoop

The beauty of sports in my opinion is its humbling nature. Most of us cannot remember how many times that Micheal Jordan failed to hit a game winning shot or how many times Tiger Woods missed a putt to win a major tournament. ( What most people don't remember about the 63 point game that Jordan had against the Celtics is he missed a jump shot that would have given the Bulls the victory in regulation..) The reason I love liking players and coaches that the public dislike or root against is that they usually perform no matter what is said about them or who is against them. Only in sports (it seems) one can be on top of the world one day and the literally the next day be looking for employment elsewhere because of a decision they made or performance that just didn't get the job done. This last seven day period has show all the above in ways that I have never seen before in my life. For example, Why the hell would a coach decide to go for a fake punt in the 4th quarter of football game when the odds of success is 10 million to 1. Fourth and 22 with the lead, in the Harvard and Yale game, the coach at Yale decided to run a fake punt because he felt that his defense was tired and he felt they couldn't stop Harvard. They had stopped them all day except for the last 8 minutes of the game. The guy did run for 15 yards and if he had cut back to the right may have been able to get a lot more yardage. I thought that was crazy until I watched LSU watch the clock run down, complete a hail Mary pass and then not have enough time to run the field goal team on to the field to kick a game-winning field goal. The coach then says he does not know who told his quarterback to spike the ball and then they pan to the sideline and actually show him telling his player to spike the ball... I thought that their should have been 2 seconds on the clock but the slow ass ref did not get the clock stopped until a second later. I love the coach of LSU. He is one of the best quotes in sports. . Then Stanford has 4th and 8 against Cal and decides to go Bellichick and not only not get the first down. They then allow Cal to kick a field goal that meant Stanford would have to the length of the field to win the game. I thought that Stanford and Yale were universities where the smart kids go. Then it gets better.. The woeful Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions play an epic shootout yesterday. The Lions rally from a 24-3 deficit and throw a hail Mary pass that gets intercepted and the quarterback Matthew Stafford of the Lions gets absolutely blasted. Pass interference in the end zone because a player is actually pushing a receiver out of the back of the end zone. He has no clue where the ball is and instead of looking back for the ball, he is actually committing pass interference. Then it gets better.. the Lions have one play to run to win or lose the game and then the coach of the browns calls timeout allowing for the lions quarterback Stafford to come back into the game. I think the coach's nickname is "ManGenius". Stafford comes back in and delivers the game winning pass and they win!!!Miracle thinks I am going crazy because I cannot believe what I just saw.. Then the Cincinnati Bengals who beat Baltimore and Pittsburgh twice this year comes out here to the west coast and fumbles the kickoff with a minute and change left and loses to the Raiders!!!! Then.. I am watching David Beckham and Landon Donovan lead the Galaxy to victory in MLS cup. Landon Donovan is the best U.S soccer player and he has a penalty kick that could give his team the title and maybe justify all of the hype about Beckham playing in the U.S. and give us non soccer fans a reason to watch here in the U.S. He misses the kick completely. Over the goal.. They lose to a team that had a losing record... I dont want to quote coach Lombardi but "what the hell is going on here"?
All of this happened on a weekend where Jimmie Johnson set a record that no one who does not follow racing understands. I dont have a drivers license so I dont know what the hoopla is over a guy driving left at 180 plus miles an hour. I watch the Daytona 500 and that is it. I hate these end of the season series that determine who is a champion. Golf and auto racing don't have a problem getting sponsors or gaining fans so why do they have this extra incentive for these players to get richer. In golf, Tiger could win every major tournament and not finish as the champion of his Cup series. Even though he would be voted player of the year be ranked number 1 in the world. Tennis does it too but the difference is that in tennis, all matches are factored in to determining its player of the year and top ranked player. Golf's Fedex championship does not start until after the PGA and only a few players have a chance at winning. At least in Nascar the top 12 starts with the same chance at winning the cup. I am exhausted...

i have been wondering for years

I have been wondering for years, what has happened to the athletes around the world. We have become the most sensitive people on every topic in the sports world and country. Does the lack of having a father figure in the home hurt us or help us in some cases? I heard an alarming statistic the other night that in minority homes around the country over 70% of them are single parent and of that 70%, 90 % are woman lead homes. Is that one of the reasons why we have all become so sensitive these days? I keep hearing stories about how coaches around the country have mentally and verbally abused players in all sports. The latest story is about Mark Mangino at the University of Kansas and allegedly he has chastised his players with some choice language and condescending statements that make you scratch your head that one of the highest paid state employees would be using such language. We have all had coaches that have challenged our manhood. I can name 3 off the top of my head without blinking an eye and they never crossed the line with what they said. In fact what is the line? The word now is that since Kansas is not winning the coach is a "fat bully". When Kansas won 13 games in 2007 he was a genius and the future of the Big 12 conference. Now that they are losing, fighting with the basketball team and the school apparently has a problem with his weight he is a "villain" and a bully.
Do you remember the movie, "the Junction Boys"? It was a story about Bear Bryant coaching at Texas A&M and the harsh football camp that he put his players through. One of the players nearly died or died and the storyline was essentially about how tough this camp was and how tough Bear Bryant was. Bear was great coach at Alabama and his style of coaching made him legendary. In the 40's, 50's and 60's there seem to be evidence to support that athletes played under coaches that were tyrannical or resembled what most of the people thought a father figure was to be. Most of these athletes would listen to their coaches on the same level as they would their own fathers in other words. There was great pride in surviving "boot camp" style training with some of the teams or just even boot camp. Supposedly the training made you a man and if you could hack it you were not a man. Bear Bryant was a great coach allegedly and he was not the only coach that had that militaristic style. Adolph Rupp, Woody Hayes, Frank Kush, Vince Lombardi, Bobby Knight are famous coaches known for their tough manner in which they coach their players. Kush, Knight, and Hayes have stories about them of hitting players which cost them their jobs. Rupp and Lombardi were so feared and respected that speaking negatively about them was a sin. I have never heard anyone say anything negatively about the way any of these men coached because they all won. Bill Parcells is famous for saying stuff to his players to get them motivated and no one criticized him because they won 2 rings. So why is today's athlete so much weaker in the mind or even physically that the athlete of the previous eras.
With mommy having to work and support families these days, it seems that the lack of discipline in homes has to be the leading cause. Obesity is the reason why athletes are not cut in the same mold as well. In the NFL I would say that 30 percent of the league is over 300 pounds. In the 50's and 60's I believe that there was only a handful of players over that weight. So with obesity and I can understand why so many have died in recent years of heat exhaustion and suffer from diabetes and other physical ailments. The other side of the issue is not having father figures in the homes. My mother is a rock star and she raised me right and even though my father was not there everyday, i had enough contact from him to understand right from wrong. I had tough coaches in my day who were strict and did not tolerate much crap. I was fortunate that very team I ever played on was good and won a lot of games so I did not have to endure their wrath too much. In the 50's and 60's parents loved sending their sons to play for these "tough" men. They thought that these men would make their sons into better men. In the 70's and 80's it seemed that they were some of the same tough guy coaches around but there were other styled coaches who succeeded. Tom Landry, Bud Grant, Dean Smith are coaches that it seemed never got angry. They just won games and handled defeat with grace. John Wooden was an exception in the 50's and 60's and maybe these coaches emulated their styles. Don Shula, Joe Paterno transcended different eras and was able to blend their styles with the type of players they had. I have never heard anything negatively about them in all of my years following sports. Now the the trend of single parent homes are not a new phenomenon dont get me wrong. Many parents today send their children to schools hoping that they get the discipline and structure that get at home and more. What the parents don't want is their child losing their confidence or integrity because a bully coach is in their face 24-7. Coach Mangino made the comment that parents should not blame him for his style but they should do a better job at home so he does not have to raise their kid. He has an obligation to that child. Would i let my child be coached by a bully coach. Of course I would. I saw an HBO documentary of Pat Summitt and she was ruthless on her players for playing badly. The players were crying and apologizing and I thought one of the players was going to quit. She did not call any of them names or threaten to send them back to ghetto like Mangino allegedly has but she wasn't kind either. Pat Summitt wins and no one will ever criticize her. PERIOD!!! I dont personally blame single parent homes. Each child is different. Some children need support and adulation all of the time. Some just need the damn ball and get out of his/her way. Coaches will always emulate the person who influenced them. Not only coaches all human being do. The question is how we respond to the things said to us!! Do we take the grief or do we cry about it and turn it into a national story? A lot of people react differently to all kinds of stimuli. In hindsight we take both approaches to the topic. I think that every coach I ever played for or even every boss I have ever worked for has been tough and i take a little bit from their approaches and apply it to my life. Whatever works right?

There are six unbeaten teams ...

There are six unbeaten teams left in college football and at least 3 of them have no shot at winning a championship. Cincinnati has two interesting games left but a victory in both games wont put them in the title game. Boise St. has to play 3 games and Nevada is their toughest opponent and T.C.U. doesn't have a tough schedule remaining either. The only hope these teams have is if during rivalry week or Championship week 2 of the big three falls. Florida has to play Florida St. Alabama has to play Auburn and Texas has to play Texas A&M. The next big games after that will be Florida and Alabama and Texas probably against Nebraska. Kansas was supposed to be a threat to Texas but they have too much turmoil to get ready for this weekend. The system stinks as I have mentioned before in one of my blogs earlier this fall. Today it was confirmed that there will be no playoff in the near future. I listened to the new head of the B.C.S explain his reasons and I nearly fainted. He not only is a former college player but he really is a big fan of the B.C.S. He said today that he has talked to many players in the past and present and their experience at the Bowl Games were memories that they would never forget. He talked about going jet skiing and having fun at the Orange Bowl and the Bowl experience was amazing. In other words since his team wasn't playing for a championship having a chance to go jet skiing was more important than the game itself. Is he serious? He flat out said that he would be upset if he was a supporter of Cincinnati, T.C.U, and Boise St. if they went unbeaten and did not have a chance to play for a title. Trust me when I say this, THE PUBLIC DOES NOT WANT TO SEE BOISE STATE PLAY T.C.U OR CINCINNATI PLAY ANY OF THE TWO TEAMS EITHER!!!! What is the point? I would much rather see Cincinnati play Ohio St. or T.C.U play the loser of Alabama and Florida on a neutral field. Georgia Tech versus Boise St. would be even cool to see!!! No one wants to play Georgia tech with that triple option clicking. Forget about it!!!We have never had six unbeaten teams this late in the season and if everything goes to plan, there could be 5 teams unbeaten at the end of championship week. God I wish Notre Dame or USC had gone unbeaten just to see what the committee would have done then!!! Notre Dame had chances to beat all of the teams they have lost to this year. They should have beaten Michigan, Navy and had the ball at the goal line against USC. I just could not believe that this man was saying that he would be upset if his team was in the mix and not playing for a title. You would think that would make him want to create a playoff system. He is right on one angle though. Determining who plays in the game would be difficult because not everyone plays the same strength of schedule. Plus if you have want is happening this year 6 teams with an unbeaten record going into the final month of the season, you are panicking because you don't want the fans to think that the B.C.S is fraudulent. We all know that it is and the only reason there will not be a playoff in the future is MONEY!!!! I want his job.. I could create a playoff system right now that makes everyone happy. Plus stop using final exams as an excuse. Division1AA they and Divisions 2 and 3 do a playoff in December. Plus don't bowl games happen during final exams anyways? I believe the bowl season begins in mid December and goes through the end of the month.
You know I won a jet ski on a sports trivia show 6 years ago. I should have kept and rode it so that I would have gotten a feel of what it was like to play in a college football bowl game!!! Damn!!

Sometimes I dont know..

Sometimes I don't if when I am watching or listening to sports radio if what they are saying is shtick or how they really feel. I listen to the Dan Patrick show every morning as i am getting Miracle acclimated to her new day and I wonder sometimes if what he is saying is from the heart or if he is trying to get attention. When he was at ESPN, it seemed like if one person at the network does not like an athlete, then the entire network has to hate them.. I remember one time Dan was on the radio in Arizona and he was bashing about Barry Bonds and then later on that day he grabbed the p.a. mike and announced Bonds was coming to the plate, doffed his cap to him and then Bonds hit a monstrous home run grabbed his bag of bats and left. The next day on air Dan could not stop talking about how honored he was that Bonds had done that. The recent villain in sports is Larry Johnson. Larry Johnson got into some trouble over some comments he made about his coach. He also had some trouble because he had a couple of incidents involving women in a nightclub. The chiefs released him and now he is Bengal and the bashing has begun. Now i don't excuse anyone who makes sexual sensitive comments about people, but in the sports culture femininity and homosexuality is joked about in every locker room. My high school told me once that I throw like a girl. I hear people daily refer to men as a "wuss" if they cant "take " certain things. So when I here so many people bash Larry Johnson because he made a statement that in "public " insulted so many I ask myself if these networks are serious or is this a shtick. I write about this today because I don't understand the hypocrisy that we live in. He teammates all said that he was a positive player in the locker room. No player has spoken out against him in fact some were stunned that he was released. So now that he is a Bengal and he contributes well with the Bengals will that shut people up about him? NO.. the public will criticize him and call him a brat because he did not stick it out with his failing teammates.
Terrell Owens comes to mind today because I couldn't believe that Linda Cohn asked John Clayton if Owens had anything to do with Dick Jauron getting fired today. T.O. was seen this weekend having a fit because he felt that he was open and did not get the ball enough. The replays showed that he was right.John Clayton had to disappoint Linda when he told her that T.O. had nothing to do with it. Do athletes do things that make you scratch your head? Of course they do. Today Dan and the boys were talking about how Tiger Woods threw his club into the gallery and that the tantrums need to stop. I may agree but I guarantee you if Tiger walked past Dan and the boys they would flock to him like bees on ....Of course you are allowed to criticize people, just play both sides equally. Don't rip T.O. and want him on your show to help you boost your ratings. Don't tell the world that you hate Randy Moss and then he joins the Patriots and all of sudden he is your favorite player. When Vince Carter was with Toronto many people felt he quit on them and forced his way out of town. He went to New Jersey and reinvented himself and now he is in Orlando. He gave his soul to the Nets so when I hear negative stuff about him I say that these people are just crazy at ESPN. Allen Iverson is the next victim. He went to memphis and basically discovered that he is better than everyone on that team and simply did not want to sit on a bench on a bad team. We know that he has lost his superstar card but you have to rip him for being exiled by the league this season? I hope the Knicks do sign him.

and in the nfl..

Could we be heading for the weirdest super bowl match up in history? Last years game was a strange with Arizona, the worst division winning team in history getting hot and was probably a minute away from winning damn thing, playing the all-time winningest team Pittsburgh. This year could have the New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals in the game. Or how about the Indianapolis Colts against the Minnesota Vikings. San Diego and Dallas? The games yesterday were unbelievable. The Patriots should be so angry with how that game ended. Coach Bill is a genius and defensive savant. Why dont you kick the ball and make Peyton Manning Drive 60-70 yards to beat you? I remember the year when both teams were unbeaten going into the game and the Colts had the ball under 6 minutes to go in the game. They had the lead too. They got called for a holding or illegal hand in the face penalty and put them in a 2nd and 17 and they could not get the first down. The Patriots got the ball and scored a touchdown and won the game when Colvin I think forced a fumble when the Colts were trying to get a drive going. The point is the Patriots always seem to make a play to beat the Colts or the Colts self destruct and lose the game so why not make them drive 60-70 yards and beat you coach?What are you thinking? You give Manning 29 yards to figure out a way to beat you with tons of time on the clock. Not smart!!!!
Jacksonville is crazy too. Remember when Brian Westbrook did the same thing against the Cowboys last year? They did not need points so that was a brilliant play. Don't you remember Tony Romo dropping the ball against the Seahawks on a sure game winning field goal? Also what if a Jets player would have come from behind and as MOJO is slowing down pops the ball out from behind him and he fumbles? Adrian Petersen had that happen to him during the Lions game. When it works, you are a genius. When it fails you are ego-maniacal.
Philadelphia and Dallas crack me up... The Eagles throw for like twenty five miles and only score touchdowns against the Giants. They had first and goal at the one three times and could not score a touchdown. The shredded the Chargers secondary and lost a very important game. The Cowboys dont know what prosperity means. Everyone is bestowing compliment after compliment to them and then they lose to a team who just lost to Tampa Bay. They fumbled the ball, dropped passes, and just flat out did not show up. The Saints are the luckiest team in the league. They have played poorly three weeks in a row and have won all of the games. The Rams gave them fits and Stephen Jackson is a beast.
The story of the day are the Bengals!!! Beating both Pittsburgh and Baltimore twice in the same season is an incredible accomplishment!!! Carson Palmer and the offense did not even score a touchdown yesterday. The defense has finally played like a Marvin Lewis defense is capable of playing. They have a pretty easy schedule left and could possible win 13 games this year!!! What would happen if Tennessee runs the table? Would they be the biggest fools for not letting Vince Young not play sooner? Gotta love the owner flipping off his fans and anyone else who was looking yesterday. The Broncos are free-falling and playing San Diego and New York in the next two weeks could be a disaster... Cant wait for next week.. Brett Favre and Peyton Manning are going to be Co- M.V.P's

the number 55 was powerful this weekend

The second thing that stood out to me this weekend is the number 55. Two college football teams this weekend introduced themselves to the world with emphatic results that have many of us scratching our heads today. Texas Christian University demolished Utah 55-38 and The Stanford Cardinal scored more points in one game against USC than any team in history. 55-21. I left my house during the USC game and it was a 7 point game with the 4th quarter to play. I came back to find out that Stanford not only won, but they were actually running up the score. I hear that they went for 2 point conversion when the were up 48-21 with 6:47 to go in the game. I remember watching USC play Arkansas in 2004 and won something like 70-17. I said that someday some school is going to make them pay for this beating but at least USC was not trying to score. They had their bench players in the game and they just could not be stopped. I once watched Penn St. beat Cincinnati 81-0. They could have scored 100. But what the hell has happened to USC. They have defeated some really good teams this year and to be smashed twice in the last three weeks is unheard of. They have given up 106 points in their last two losses.Stanford went into the game and said that even though they just beat Oregon, they hadn't accomplished anything until the beat USC. They clearly proved that they are more than for real. They have to play California and Notre Dame who USC defeated quite easily. What are they going to do to them?
TCU is probably the best team in the country that no one cares about. Boise St. and Cincinnati are undefeated but they seem to be a bigger story than TCU. TCU beat Boise St. last year and ended their chances of going unbeaten. This year TCU has beaten BYU and Utah by a ton of points. They went to Clemson University and beat the Tigers. They will not get a chance to play for a title because they don't play in a power conference and their conference is not a BCS conference. They line up every week and whack everyone that is put in front of them. What the hell is a horned frog anyway? So as Texas, Florida, and Alabama march towards a championship, TCU sits at home and will wonder what they could do in a game against the big boys!! Last year Utah smashed Alabama. Boise St. defeated Oklahoma in a big bowl game. Hell this year BYU beat up Oklahoma and ruined their season before it could started. TCU beat BYU at BYU this year by 27 points and it wasn't even that close. Two great academic schools whipping ass on the big boys.
The third 55 that caught my attention this weekend was turned in by NBA super rookie guard Brandon Jennings. Now anytime a person scores 55 points it is a big deal whether he is a rookie or a veteran. Golden St. Warriors are not a defensive juggernaut either. This kid was blasted for going to Europe last year and not going to college to learn his profession. Ten teams are all sitting at home asking themselves why did they did not choose they special player. Whether he hits the wall in March or April is irrelevant. He is combination of Kenny Anderson and Nick Van Exel. Milwaukee hasn't had this much excitement since Ray Allen was there. I mean when you approaching Wilt Chamberlain records that says a lot about you. No one saw this coming. The Timberwolves drafted Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn. Dont let me mention the who the Knicks drafted.. i cannot find a NBA photo of him. that should tell how unexpected all this is.

alot to say today..

What an incredible weekend of sports. Many things to write about so i will spread it over two or three different blogs. The top item on my mind today may surprise you. When I was growing up in Yonkers, N.Y. I used to think that I was as good as anyone in every sport. When I would see someones name in the faces in the crowd section in Sports Illustrated I thought that the stories were fake and in most cases thought how lucky the kid was to be called a prodigy or special. The first prodigy that I can remember was a girl by the name of Tracy Austin. She was this 15 or 16 year old Tennis phenom that was supposed to be the face and star of tennis for years to come. I was so naive that I thought the she was related to Steve Austin the "Six Million Dollar Man". Other people followed in her footsteps. Some to the detriment and some to the benefit of the game. Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati became household names at a very young age. Jennifer's story is pretty sad and Monica's was worse. Who knows what Monica could have been. She won several Major Championships and was really dominating her sport as a 17 year old. Capriati had moments of greatness but never became the player that people thought she would. Not too mention problems with her father and her own personal demons. We watched her grow up and I thought it was a train wreck until I heard about a 11 year old girl named Michelle Wie.
When she was 11 they were talking about her like she was going to be the person to beat both men and women in golf. Then at age 13 she started playing in U.S amateur events and doing real well. For some crazy reason, her parents and advisers thought that she was ready to go pro. She has been destroyed as a child. She competed against men for a couple of years and didn't win. She competed against women and didn't win. She competed against amateurs and did not win. Everyone was in awe of her length and her ability to strike a golf ball that they forgot that she was a child. A CHILD!!! She did not go to school. She had tutors. She did not have a normal child life. Only Micheal Jackson could relate. Tiger's dad made him go to school. He trained him to play the game with distractions and rewarded him for completing tasks. The Wie's just kept sending this child out to play.Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis got fame because of winning and competing well in tournaments. They had their childhoods. Remember Justin Rose and Ty Tryon? Justin Rose had a British Open to remember as a 17 year old turned pro and hasn't done anything since. He has had a few good results overseas. Not much over here. Ty Tryon was supposed to be this new phenom and he has fallen off the face of the earth. He was in a commercial with Aaron Baddeley another phenom. Neither of them has had the success that was expected of them..
Michelle Wie finally won a tournament this weekend!!! Isnt it sad that it is not front page news? This poor young girl started this journey almost 9 years ago and now she is a winner. Was all the pain and criticism worth it? Was the humiliation, loss of childhood, ridicule worth it? i hope she goes on and wins every tournament she enters for the next 20 years and tells the world to kiss her ass..I saw today that Espn then compared her to tiger because he did not win his first tournament until he was 20 also. What a dumb comparison. Just because they went to Stanford does not mean that they need to be compared. Leave her alone!!! Let her live her life in Peace!!! I am begging you world!!! Do not compare her to Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Tiger Woods, Morgan Pressel or Paula Creamer!!!!! Let her be Michelle Wie.

should they retire Micheal Jordans number?

The greatest basketball player ever to live in most people's eyes is Micheal Jordan. Wilt and Bill Russell are in the conversation. Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Dr.J deserve to be there as well. Some will say that Connie Hawkins and Earl "the Goat" Manigoat created a basketball art form that Jordan and Dr. J perfected. Kareem had the most unstoppable shot in the game, but he was 7 feet tall. The height issue is what kills Wilt. Many people don't credit his stats because he was bigger than everyone and stronger than everyone. If he played in today's NBA he would be as dominant if not more because of the rule changes and superstar calls. The interesting part of this is that most of us never saw some of these greats play so we cannot really assess who was the best. So does Micheal Jordan's number being retired league wide really need to happen? I don't know if I think so and here are a couple of reasons for both sides of the story.
Wayne Gretzky is recognized as the greatest hockey player ever to play. He too has people that say otherwise and feel that there were a couple of players who should be in the same conversation. Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr are usually the 2 players who get mentioned with Gretzky. On paper and in on the ice it is hard to argue against Gretzky. He hold most of the records in the game, whether it is season or playoff or even career. He was hockey's greatest ambassador and tried to bring the game to the states and give us the same excitement that he did for the Canadian people. His number being retired is a tribute to his contribution to the game on and off of the ice. Micheal Jordan essentially raised the last 2 generations of basketball fans. Every kid said screw the jump shot, I want to dunk. At most high schools, colleges and A.A.U. teams around the country, the player usually wearing 23 was usually the teams best player. Has Jordan been the ambassador to NBA that Gretzky has been? Hell No. Most people think that Magic Johnson would be that person. As an executive and team owner Micheal has not enjoyed life as he did as a player. To me that hurts him in getting his number retired because he has not been to his league what Gretzky has been to his. When they retired Jackie Robinson's number in baseball it was because of the social change and pioneering aspect of his career. Jackie was a great athlete. Baseball wasn't even his best sport. Just because Michel was the greatest ever does not mean his number should be retired.
Now the one way they could honor him is the way Syracuse does with the number 44. If you have a superstar player like Lebron, he can wear 23. Marcus Camby is a very good player but he is no Jordan. Jodie Meeks may someday be Jordan like but he should have to earn the number. Jason Richardson won a college title and won a slam dunk contest so he has potential but he should change his number. Kevin Martin has been a star on the Kings. I think that there are 11 players currently wearing the number. Can you believe that only one player is wearing the number 16 in the NFL? I believe that Joshua Cribs on the Cleveland Browns is the only player wearing 16. I remember Chris Weinke and Matt Cassell wore the number but that is it in recent years.No starting Quarterback is wearing 16. Most of the players wearing 56 are actually really good players but none of them are in L.T.'s league.I was surprised to see that not many receivers wear the number 80 and not many running backs wear 32. I think Lebron should wear 23 or put on a number gives him autonomy over that number. I guess some players just have respect for the numbers mentioned and choose to create their own legacy.
I will conclude and say this. If they do retire Micheal's number it should be in all sports. He was the first athlete since O.J. Simpson to make corporate America take notice that an athlete can help you make money. He has his own line of clothing and accessories that make him millions of dollars too. As a global Icon he is probably the second most famous person on the planet. Ali is the 1st and Tiger is catching both of them. Because of his endorsement appeal, Jordan has made it possible for athletes in all sports to flourish. What do you think?

I love homers..

Before the invention of the satellite dish I never knew what a "homer" meant. A "homer" could be short for a home run in baseball but today I am using the colloquial meaning of the word. A "homer" is someone who roots for his/her team so blindly and blatantly that it makes you nauseated just listening to them. The interesting part of the is rant to me is how every city has a "homer" but New York. When you listen to the White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson he does not hide who he roots for. He refers to the opposing team as the bad guys and the White Sox as the good guys. He is complimentary to opponents which allows me to listen to him but he does not do the same home run call for visiting players. He may say the same phrase every once in a while but he will not do it with any enthusiasm. It actually sounds like he is at a funeral if the White Sox lose. Contrast that with Gary Cohen who is the voice of the Mets and he seems to give the opponent and Met player the same courtesy. So does Micheal Kay from the Yankees. They speak glowingly of the opponents and don't have a problem interviewing them before or after the games. If you listen to a Red Sox, Patriot, or Celtic announcer you not only hear their passion for their teams but you all feel the pain when something does not go right. Johnny Most, Tommy Heihnson would go way over the top in the calls of the Celtic games. Tommy is great though. He does not hold his tongue for nobody. The late great Johnny Most was the same way. Chick Hearn was that way for the Lakers too. The interesting thing is that Vin Scully is not that way with the Dodgers. He bleeds Dodger blue don't get me wrong but he treats the opposing team with the same respect. He is a New Yorker after all. Johnny Most is from New york too which I find surprising that he became a such a homer for the Celtics.I remember during the Bonds home run chase, him calling several Bonds home runs and being impressed that he did the calls pretty enthusiastically.
There is nothing wrong with a "homer". I think that if you bleed a certain color then bleed it baby. What I don't like are people who are fans of teams from several different states in different sports. For example. Half of my friends are Dallas Cowboy fans, but like the Lakers in basketball and the Yankees in baseball. I have a friend here in L.A. who is a Cowboy fan, Yankee and Celtic fan. What the heck is that? How can you be a fan of Yankees and Celtics? Now I know why half the country is Cowboy fans. They have been forced down our throats since 1974 and the Thanksgiving Day Games and they were always on television when I was a kid. The Raiders were on a lot too, but the style they played forced them off of the mainstream t.v. Detroit is always on Thanksgiving day too but since they haven't been consistently good, very few fans outside of Michigan care.
Now the reason for the rant today is Mack Brown of the University of Texas. A few years ago, Urban Meyer did a press conference and was asked several questions about the B.C.S. title game and he answered by saying that an S.E.C. team will be in the game, I guarantee it. He was right and Florida beat Ohio St. in the big game. Then the next year, L.S.U. did the same thing. Mack Brown is so pro University of Texas, that i want to get him a tissue every time he is on the air. He has been interviewed by ESPN every week since the season has started. He talks only about his team and even if they win by a fluke play and someone else loses by a bad call or fluke he only talks about Texas. He wont comment about any other team no matter how many times he is asked. He reminds me of George Bush. He talks like and even looks like him. He is funny. He is a walking sound bite about his team. He does not even talk about preparing hi players for life, or for the NFL. He wants that championship. He beat USC in 2005 and wants to end Tim Tebows' legacy in Florida. And you know what, I love IT!!!
I wish more coaches would come out and say that their program is the best in the world and if you don't like it tough. I would love for Pete Carroll or Urban Meyer to stand at the podium and say we are better than you and we expect to be playing for it all at the end. I am still waiting for Mack Brown to say "don't mess with Texas". I will wet my pants if he does it. By the way the worse "homer" fans in the world are from the lovely state of Massachusetts. They will literally fight you over their teams. It does not matter what sport either. They know everything about their players. Remember that movie Celtic Pride? that was no embellishment... I have never seen anything like them.

mma vs. boxing

For the past decade, many people have declared that boxing is dead and Mixed martial arts is the new king in the sport of pugilism. Since there is no true answer here, I thought I would chime in and tell you that I still prefer Boxing over the MMA stuff. I have several reasons and here they are: 1). There is nothing like a championship fight in any sport. If both combatants are of equal ability it heightens the fight to another level. No game 7 in any sport can rival it. The Super Bowl may come close but fight night was awesome. When Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns fought or when Oscar De La Hoya fought Felix Trinidad the earth moved. When Ali fought Frazier or Tyson fought anyone the earth would stop to watch no matter what happened. Today sure the quality of fighters could sweat in the same gym as the previous 25 years of boxing. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacqiauo may be the best fighters in the world. Hopefully they will fight next year. They are the closest to what we had back in the day. But back to my point, I don't get the same feel with a MMA fight. The best fighters don't always fight one another. The current Heavyweight champion is 275lbs and he is beating on old fighters who could kick anyone else ass but not Brock. Plus he has had 7 fights and he is a champion. How is that possible? The really good fighters all have been beaten a bunch of times and it seems that everyone has a chance to win in a fight. Plus the best fighters are all old and they fight these up and coming guys and once they get beaten we never hear from them again. Before Chuck Liddell became a household name he had several losses and it was like he was proving himself to be tough and then get a few wins and then beat the heck out of Tito Ortiz and you are the baddest man on earth. What champion do you know has 7 losses?Usually in boxing when a championship fight is held, both fighters have great records or a pedigree of fights that warrant giving him a shot at the title. I am aware that HBO and Showtime do make showcase fights where a boxer that they are sponsoring gets a chance to show off what he can do. Once again that boxer has a good record and you think that translate into him being a good fighter. In MMA, all it takes is a proper strike and then a wrestling move and the fight usually is done. Now yes I have see some fighters tun an adverse situation around rather quickly in MMA fight and yes that is exciting but that rarely happens.

2) reason I prefer Boxing is that it seems as if MMA fighters could be anyone. I stopped being a tough guy a long time ago because you never know who are messing with. I was working at a club and Tank Abbot came in and my boss told me that if he starts fight just let him finish then clean up the mess. I heard a story about some guy who beat up a staff of bouncers at a night club and when I found out it was a guy who was a martial artist I though I was in a movie and laughed. Then I saw the guy and he was barely 5'10 and 185 soaked and wet and realized that he was crazy and was reliving a childhood fantasy. So many of these guys don't fit the profile. When I see Forrest Griffin I think he is a computer geek. I had a guy staying at my hostel who was a MMA fighter and he was the biggest pain in the ass and i couldn't believe that he knew Judo and could get down with the best of them. Joe Rogan is a MMA fighter/ announcer and can kick some serious butt if prompted. Don't you think the Carlos Mencia would just fight him if he was just a regular guy? I don't see the artistry in the sport. I hate to generalize but some o the guys look like they belong in prison and in motorcycle gangs. There is an art to boxing. Some fighters like to street fight and i think they are easily beaten by someone who times out their attack. When Mayweather took the late Arturo Gatti apart, i thought that was pure boxing and ring savvy. Gatti was famous for having a big, big heart and tough chin was getting peppered from every angle on his face. When Paquiauo was doing the same to Hatton and DeLa Hoya I couldn't believe just how pure and beautiful his techniques was. When I watch an MMA fight I see the creativity of putting submission holds on opponents and think of the mentality of a chess player when that happens. Getting someone to the floor takes some skill and usually a tired fighter. Too me that is when the sport gets savage because the elbows and forearms to the head makes sick sounds that I cannot take.

In conclusion Boxing needs to get better fighters in all divisions fighting again and then everyone will go back to it. The Klitscho brothers need to fight and the new good light heavyweights and middleweights need to bring back a glamour to the sport. MMA is exciting and 5 minutes in a ring is an eternity. They need less name fights and more quality fights. The old men of the sport needs to train a new genration and make the new generation better than the old. Regurgitating the same fighters over and over again is boring. Making these guys fight trilogies when one fight is plenty keeps me away. MMA needs to develop their divisions better and try to get all of the other leagues to join in. Fedor Emelianneko should be fighting Lesnar to have a universally recognized champ. I will watch both but will always prefer boxing. Call me old fashion... Maybe I like Bob Arum and Don King better than Dana White. Hell I like Vince McMahon better than all of them..

who is the most hated man in sport?

Did ya miss me? I have a lot to blog about today so lets get to it. As an avid sports fan, I have had a lot of athletes that i could say that i hate. Hate is such a strong and cruel word so tend to say I dislike. I, like everyone else would dislike these players and secretly say that if they were on my team i would root for them like crazy. I hated Pedro Martinez for a long while until he became a Met. I hated Barry Bonds but when the world decided to dump on him I became his biggest fan. The funniest thing is that the players that most people associate hatred with never played for any of my teams. Bill Laimbeer, Bill Romanowski, Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, Bonds are just a few names that immediately come to mind. I am going to shock you by telling you who is the most hated man in sports today is. His name is Isaiah Thomas.. Little Zeke has been cast into the fire hotter than O.J. Simpson. Whether you believe O.J. did the crime or not at least his hatred is for actually doing something to be hated for. Isaiah had a scandal with this secretary with the Knicks and he was made to pay the price for it with not his job but with cash. But the hatred for Isaiah goes back much farther than that.
After winning the national championship against North Carolina, Isaiah wanted to follow in his great "friends" footstep and turn professional at a young age. Mark Aquirre and Magic Johnson had turned pro after prolific endings in their college careers and went pro. Magic was a champion right out of the gate with Lakers and Mark had to wait some years but was a top notch rookie with the Mavericks. Isaiah went to the Pistons and seemed like a match made in mid-west heaven. He had a great career in Detroit. At the time when he was looking to come into the pos many people were against underclassmen from entering the draft early. They talked about how small he was and that he couldnt hold up for a full season. He did and that slapped a lot of the media in the face as well as the NBA brass and the NCAA. He is undoubtedly the greatest basketball player 6'1 and shorter and may be the best point/ shooting guard the eastern conference ever saw. No one could stop him. There are stories that Isaiah conspired with other players to make sure that Micheal Jordan would not get the ball in the All star game. The Dream Team players allegedly went to head of Olympic basketball operations and told them not include Isaiah on the Dream Team. His accusations that Magic Johnson was gay so when Magic came out with his announcement that he had HIV destroyed allegedly the friendship between he and Magic. Remember when the Bulls finally beat the Pistons and he and 7 other teammates walked off the court and did not congratulate the Bulls? That angered a lot of people. He was the first gm of the Toronto Raptors and drafted Damon Stoudamire and everyone thought that he was a genius. Stoudamire was rookie of the year the Raptors had a great future ahead. He drafted Tracy Mcgrady, Marcus Camby too. The Raptors did not win often and when new management came on they clashed on the direction of the team and he was gone. He coached the Pacers and apparently ruined them too. He was the owner of the CBA and ruined that too and of course he was the blame for the fall of the New York Knicks. He screwed up their salary cap, got rid of Larry Brown, couldnt co-exist with Starbury and Donnie Walsh who was a friend even turned on him. He gets hired to run a college team down in Florida and they lose their first exhibition game to a division 3 school. "What the hell is going on here?"
I have never seen someone so beloved be so hated in any capacity of life. Osama Bin Laden has fans. O.J. was still getting women after his crimes. Mike Tyson is loved by women all over the world. Isaiah went from being the guy who scored 16 points in 94 seconds and a superstar to the most hated man in sports. I have not heard a positive thing said about Isaiah in 15 years. His petty spat with Jordan kept off of the Dream Team. When he was put on the second Dream Team, none of the stars were playing then so it was like a consolation prize. To make matters worse, he destroyed his Achilles and had to retire. The crowd was chanting Magic, Magic last night during the game and he smiled. I am sure the talking hairdos around the country thought he was crazy for smiling. He is a misunderstood man I guess because very few people say anything complimentary about him. For Micheal Jordan to spend time in his retirement speech talking about him shows how much he was hated by him. He was a good T.V commentator. To be exiled to Florida International University is so sad. Indiana University had a scandal a few years ago and he should have been considered for that job. NOT....

First Half is about to be over..

The first half of the NFL season ends on Monday Night with a great game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers. So far this seas has been filled with either really outstanding play or really terrible play. There are two unbeaten teams left. The Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. They are both led by very strong quarterbacks. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Each team has benefited from playing great and timely defense and explosive offense. The Saints have a lot of people thinking that they can go undefeated the entire season.. They play in a dome stadium so weather won't be a factor in any of their remaining games. They play Dallas and New England and Atlanta who have capable players and pose a threat to their unbeaten status. The other games should be pretty easy to win. Although Carolina has beaten the Saints in New Orleans in the past and the way the Panthers played last week maybe they are onto something. The city of New Orleans still needs help from the Katrina tragedy so I am rooting for them to get it done. Peyton Manning's family are legends there and wouldn't it be cool to see the Saints and Colts battle for the Super Bowl? The Colts have to play the Texans, Patriots, Ravens, and Texans all in the next four weeks. They will lose one of those games for sure and with the news today that Bob Sanders is out for the season, they will have their hands full.
Minnesota and Denver are the next intriguing stories of the season. Last season Brett Favre was the talk of the league at this point and then the wheels fell off as the Jets did not make the playoffs. Will he wilt again? He has been better than advertised this year and has made the Packers look foolish twice. The Vikings defense has not been as good as it has been in the past. Jared Allen may be having an M.V.P. season but the rest of the defense needs to pick up their play. Denver last season was in first place for most of the season and despite Jay Cutler throwing for a boat load of yards and Brandon Marshall having a Pro-Bowl season, they got caught by the Chargers and watched the playoffs from home. They have a tough schedule to finish the year as well. With games against the Steelers, Chargers, Eagles and Giants ahead. Speaking of the Eagles and Steelers, when they play well the do not lose. If Both Mcnabb and Big Ben stay healthy and don't turn the ball over, both of their teams will be in it at the end. My Giants need a bye week. They are dumping water off their boat at such an alarming rate that they need a week away from the game to get re-focused and poised to make a championship run. I think New England is ready to roll since they have had their bye week and Tom Brady is chomping at the bit to play again. Can Houston, Cincinnati, Houston and Arizona get on a roll and make it to the playoffs? The 49ers and Bears have potential. The Packers have the most accurate quarter back in Aaron Rodgers. The Cowboys, Falcons, Chargers and Ravens have what it takes to be champs but have mind blowing performances that confuse everyone. The Cowboys and Chargers have the talent to win it all. The Ravens and Falcons i think are a year away from really being special. Aside from the Jets and Dolphins, the rest of the league is horrible. Tampa, Detroit, Oakland, Carolina, Washington, Seattle, St.Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Tennessee, and Buffalo are looking forward to the draft. Jacksonville is wondering where the fans are. I never thought that in my lifetime that NFL fans would not show up to a game. At least show up and where the bags over your head. Draft Tim Tebow and see what happens. He is a local kid and would probably love to be the savior of football in that city. I cant wait to see what happens