http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/14/josh-hamilton-breaks-his-arm-his-fault-coachs-fault-think-again.aspx

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/11/does-tiger-woods-off-the-course-effect-your-enjoyment-of-tiger-woods-on-the-course.aspx

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/09/manny-ramirez-fails-again-retires-instead-of-100-game-suspension-sigh.aspx

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/07/old-huh-connecticuts-jim-calhoun-and-texas-ams-gary-blair-beg-to-differ.aspx

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/05/great-movie-lousy-ending-2011-march-madness.aspx

Another one.

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/04/uconn-women-lose-still.aspx

Just trying to help. Yes, another new post.

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/03/butler-bulldogs-vs-uconn-huskies-cant-wait.aspx

Another new post. Opening Day.

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/04/02/butler-is-back-its-not-all-in-teh-lo.aspx

Another New Post. Opening Day.

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/03/31/opening-day-nothing-like-it.aspx

New Post at my new home

http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/2011/03/29/veteran-coaches-calhouncalipari-young-coaches-stevenssmart-uconnkent.aspx

I'm moving

Well, kind of. I got my own domain and will be blogging on my own website. I have the blog part set up and will begin using it. I hope you don't get lost. http://blog.sportsramblingsofbriankinel.com/

NCAA March Madness. Over coma finally.

I so wanted to share my thoughts with you on March Madness right away on Sunday night.  That became problematic since I was laying comatose on my couch, most likely drooling and babbling incoherently. It has taken me until Tuesday to recover from my basketball overdose. I’m a simple man. This year’s coverage by four networks, allowing us to watch EVERY SINGLE GAME, might just be the greatest concept ever.

I’m just going to share some random thoughts about the tournament so far:

*I have to start with my Syracuse Orange failing to reach the Sweet 16 again. A few weeks ago I wrote about this team’s lack of intangibles and intensity. Never more evident than in the second round ( no, I won’t refer to the play in games as round one). A very sloppy 18 turnovers and horrible decision making allowed Marquette to advance. While this year’s Orange missed the numbers put up by Wes Johnson, Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku, they were done in by their inability to replace their leadership. I’ve spent the season shaking my head at the poor decisions by the supposed veteran point guard, Scoop Jardine. Two plays from Sunday night exemplify my frustration. Down one with 18 seconds to play in the first half. Brandon Triche grabs a rebound in the lane and has the presence of mind to pass it out to hold for the last shot. He gives it to Scoop who immediately shoots and misses a three. Marquette rebounds and comes down and scores at the buzzer. A gift wrapped two points. Tie game with 51 seconds left and on the in bounds pass Scoop tip toes near the half court line trying not to step on it for an over and back. Really? All he had to do was let the ball bounce in the backcourt and take two steps over the line to get it. Instead he turned the ball over. All season long.

*The end of the Pitt/Butler game was something that I have never seen in 45 years of watching sports. Let’s start with the fact that both plays were fouls and needed to be called. In the span of two seconds it went from Butler’s game to Pitt’s game to Butler’s win. While I love exciting endings, I don’t like them as the result of a bad play. I want to see someone make a spectacular play to win it. I feel so badly for Nasir Robinson of Pitt.  I can’t  fathom what he feels like Yes, it was a terrible, terrible foul. But I still feel for him. If Shelvin Mack doesn’t foul Gilbert Brown then the game ends with Brown throwing up a prayer that probably doesn’t go in. And then if Brown makes the second free throw, Robinson never has the chance to commit the foul. Tough.

*I also feel for Texas’ Jordan Hamilton. If he just holds the ball after his rebound, he gets fouled up 2. Inexplicably he calls time out and then gets called for a five second violation trying to inbound the ball. Derrick Williams then makes an amazing “and 1” and Arizona moves on. I have to wonder where Rick Barnes was while Hamilton was trying to inbound. He can call timeout also and should have at 3 seconds to help Hamilton out. Hamilton waited until the count reached four. Too late.

*30 years after Danny Ainge, say hello to Jimmer.

*Either Florida State or VCU will be in the Regional Final. Amazing.

*How have so many babies become such great coaches? Butler’s Brad Stevens is considered one of, if not the best, in game coaches around. Watching him run into the locker room and do a flying chest bump was great. His team immediately gathered around him.  Richmond is blessed with two of these new hotshots. Chris Mooney of the Spiders and Shaka Smart of VCU are apparently locks to take over Georgia Tech and Tennessee respectively. I’ve talked about Memphis’ Josh Pastner. How cool is Marquette’s Buzz Williams? Any Curly look alike is awesome.

*Thanks for letting me watch Morehead State’s Kenneth Fareid before he gets to the show.

*That intensity I’m looking for from my Orange? Caring? Let me introduce you to Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen. Any team of mine Jacob, anytime.

I need another nap.

Memphis Coach Josh Pastner: We aren't worthy.

I like to think I’m a pretty successful guy. I’ve won a bunch of awards in my sales career and I actually have both an Associates and a Bachelors degree.  Most days I have that positive, conquer the world attitude.  And then just when I feel good, along comes that damn Josh Pastner.

Pastner is the 33 year old coach of the Memphis Tigers.  I’ll recap his story briefly in case you aren’t familiar. He walked on at Arizona with the intent of becoming a coach one day. He was on the 1997 Wildcat National Championship team. After graduation he was an assistant at both Arizona and Memphis, getting the head coaching job for the Tigers when John Calipari went to Kentucky. Pretty impressive, right? Oh, we’ve only scratched the surface..

Josh’s father, Hal, was a high school and AAU coach in Houston. Josh knew he wanted to be a basketball coach by the time he was in 5^th grade. I didn’t know what I wanted to do over summer vacation when I was in 5^th grade.

At the age of 13, Josh created his own publication that offered scouting reports on local Houston high school players. When he was 16 his father turned over the AAU team to him. Josh coached future NBA’ers Emeka Okafor, TJ Ford and Daniel Gibson. Hate him yet?

I knew that Josh walked on at Arizona, but I didn’t know how he got there until hearing him on ESPN today. As with most stories, we find out that not everything we hear is true. Josh didn’t actually write every Division I coach asking for a walk on opportunity.  No, of course he didn’t stop there.

Oh, he wrote every Division I coach all right. And Division II. And Division III. Not done yet. He then proceeded to write every NAIA Division I and II coach. Every single one. 1000 letters in all. Well, only a matter of a few hours with copy and paste, right? Now would that be good enough for our Josh? HE WROTE THEM ALL BY HAND! He asked for a walk on opportunity and offered to help work players out and run drills. He pointed out that while there are NCAA regulations about number of  coaches and hours they spend with players, none of that applies to another player.

Now, I don’t have an explanation as to why, but Josh took 23 credit hours his first semester at Arizona and 22 his second. 21 both his third and fourth semesters. So after two years Josh had 87 of the 120 credit hours needed to graduate. Naturally he took the 33 needed during his fifth semester. After two and a half years he had his Bachelors. Over the next three semesters he earned his Masters and started work on his doctorate. Hate him YET??!!

For crying out loud, my Associates isn’t real since I changed majors and never did take all the core accounting courses that I needed for the degree. Then when I transferred, I got credit for a course I never took so my BA isn’t real either.  I’m such a loser.

None of us should hate Josh Pastner obviously. Quite the opposite. As impressive a young man as I have seen. Driven, Focused. Articulate. Bright, Respectful. Not giving up my Orange, but Memphis has a new fan.

March Madness. This is why I love sports.

I just finished reading about UConn’s improbable win over Louisville for the Big East Championship.  I need a nap.

In my mind, 5 for 5 is associated with a deal at Arby’s. I’m sore and tired just thinking about the Huskies winning five games in five nights. What an unbelievable accomplishment. Four of the wins were against Top 25 teams! Kemba Walker winning  the MVP was the biggest no-brainer since Julia Roberts came to her senses, looked at Lyle Lovett and went running from the house screaming. My wonderful fiancé, Tina, says that dates me as old and I need more up to date references. Ok, so the biggest no brainer since some vampire beat up some werewolf or vice versa. I’m better being old.

It’s Selection Sunday and the tourney is days away. Three exciting weeks that take us away from…… you know what, I don’t even want to talk about anything else.

I’m not much into Utah State’s record against top 50 teams versus Illinois’ RPI. I’ve told you that I’m not much of an x’s and o’s guy. I like the stories of sports and the drama of the games. The memories. The moments. Nothing beats this tournament.

Ainge’s fullcourt dash against Notre Dame. Villanova shooting 22/28 in shocking Georgetown. Jim Valvano running around the court looking for someone to hug. Smart’s shot from the corner beating Syracuse. Laettner’s shot against Kentucky. Edney’s heroics for UCLA. Chris Webber’s timeout. Arkansas’ 40 minutes of hell. Hayward’s shot in the air as the buzzer sounded that would have crowned Butler as the most improbable champ ever.

Who will provide the memories this year?   30 years later, can the amazing Jimmer Fredette recreate some of Danny Ainge’s magic for BYU? 24 years ago, SU’s Howard Triche just missed blocking Smart’s shot. Can nephew Brandon lead the Orange and get bragging rights at Easter dinner? Will steady seniors Singler and Smith and the many Plumlee’s win back to back? Will Kemba Walker break more ankles and light up Houston? And the most exciting question..... who will come out of nowhere and delight us?

I’ve told you predicting is for fools. What the hell. Don’t look for in depth analysis here as to why. Ohio State, Duke, Kansas and Kansas State travel to Houston. Kansas beating Duke for the title. Yeah, don’t put too much money on that. But who cares, we’re about to watch the 2011 NCAA tournament. It gets no better than that.

NFL Labor Issues. *!@#$%

I couldn’t sleep last night, up again struggling with one of the most confusing issues known to man. One that has been studied by think tanks all over the world. Why does Goofy get to walk on his hind legs, wear clothes and talk while Pluto has to act like a dog? Hey, let’s admit it, that’s about as deep as I and those of you reading this get.

What does Disney’s unexplained act have to do with sports? Not much actually. I’d just rather contemplate that than the **** I was watching on Sportscenter at 2am about the NFL. I know you are probably tired of hearing me talk about keeping sports in perspective but damn it if it doesn’t keep coming up.

What struck me like a 2x4 last night was the contrasting stories I was watching. Billionaire owners and millionaire players who are too stupid to realize that they should be in a room divvying up their $9 BILLION and should be totally embarrassed that they are parading this in front of us. The contrasting stories?

Fennville High winning again, capturing their District Championship. Yes, I cried as the team had Wes Leonard’s little brother accept the trophy. Watching BYU’s Jimmer Fredette score as many points himself in the first half as Wisconsin could score in their entire game.  Jimmer ended up with a BYU record 52 points.

Emotions? I had them all. I was captured and involved in those stories, as  I was in watching highlights of the various college basketball conference tournaments. Joy and some sadness about Fennville.  The NFL? Oh, that brought emotions too.

Anger. Disgust. I watched as ESPN showed some action during the report of Ray Lewis strutting and screaming. Of other players making plays and celebrating like they had won the Super Bowl.  9 ****ing BILLION a year!!

You know what? Give me Jimmer and Fennville any day.

Ohio State and Coach Jim Tressel. Quite a show.

Great pieces of drama are said to have it all. They make you laugh, they make you cry.  They bring out a plethora of emotions. Yes, I used the word plethora. The recent drama at Ohio State certainly brings out multiple emotions. I’m laughing and I’m insulted, which makes me angry.

Seinfeld’s George Costanza put it best. “That is CA-MI-DEE!”.  OSU President Gordon Gee seems to have made the wrong career choice. Oh yeah, stand up might have been Gordon’s calling. Gee was asked if he would consider firing Coach  Jim Tressel. His response? Gee only hoped that Tressel wouldn’t fire him. That’s a statement on who is running the show, huh?

I hate being talked down to, patronized, treated like an idiot. With a passion. Why didn’t Tressel act on the information he had been given? Let’s understand that the “information” was an email from an attorney who notified Tressel that in the course of a federal investigation into the drug trafficking of a tattoo parlor owner, a lot of OSU football memorabilia was discovered. The attorney informed Tressel that his players, among them star QB Terrelle Pryor, apparently had sold the memorabilia to the tattoo parlor owner. This is not someone telling Tressel that his 4^th string nickel back was skipping some classes. This involved his star player and would be a clearcut and serious NCAA violation.

So why didn’t Tressel act? He didn’t know who to bring this information to. I know, you’re rubbing your eyes. You’re thinking you must need glasses or at least new ones. Nope. You read it right. I’ll repeat it. Ohio State Head Football Coach Jim Tressel would like us to believe that when told his star player and others might have committed a serious NCAA violation, he didn’t know who to bring that information to. So of course, he did nothing. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! On top of everything, you’re going to insult us like that?

OSU responded by suspending Tressel for the first two games of the 2011 season. I have no idea how the Buckeyes will manage to compete against Akron and Toledo without their head man. They fined him $250,000 also. What a joke. The players were suspended for the first five games.

Look I’m not saying Tressel is the devil. But here is a guy who is pushing his new book about faith and integrity and doing things the right way. Really? There were issues with the NCAA while he was not only coach but athletic director at Youngstown State. He brought in Maurice Clarett after reportedly being briefed extensively by Clarett’s high school coaches about his off field issues. Interesting that Clarett allegedly had his own apartment at OSU despite the school requiring freshmen to live in a dorm. Troy Smith was suspended for taking money from a booster. Again, nothing that isn’t found at most schools, but Tressel is supposed to be different.

Doesn’t seem different to me. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck..........

Remembering Fennville's Wes Leonard. What sports can and should be.

I’ve been accused of being too serious. Of needing to lighten up. Sometimes I think that’s true. This isn’t one of those times.

I’ve been wanting to write about Wes Leonard, the high school basketball player from Fennville, MI who died March 4 just minutes after laying in the winning basket for his unbeaten Blackhawks. I didn’t know what to say, until today. Sports has become something that often times I don’t like. That too often now is given a priority that’s way out of whack. Everything that happened and was represented in a couple of hours last night inside DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College is what sports should be about.

Last night’s state regional playoff game was supposed to be played at Lawrence High School. Once Fennville decided to play the game, Lawrence offered to move it to nearby Hope College to accommodate everyone that would want to be there. Class. 3472 people showed up. The combined population of Fennville and Lawrence is about 2300.

The game became about community and being together to grieve and honor Wes Leonard.   Players from both teams wore warm up shirts that said NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN on the front and Leonard 35 on the back. As Wes’ parents came into the gym, it fell silent out of courtesy to them as they took their seats. When the starting lineups were announced, only four players were introduced and came onto the court for Fennville.  After a few moments, the fifth player was announced and came onto the court.  Fennville won and will play Bangor High Wednesday night at their new home at Hope College.

It’s easy to forget how therapeutic sports can be. How rooting for the local team can help with the healing that needs to take place in Fennville.  One of the Fennville parents said she really hasn’t seen her son since Wes’ death because the players have all been together at Coach Ryan Klingler’s house. Like 13 brothers. All eating together and consoling each other.

This is the power of sports. The importance of sports. It’s okay to immerse yourself in fantasy leagues. It’s okay to enjoy big time college and professional sports. But don’t lose sight of the real priority. The vast majority of players never get to that level. So keep youth and high school sports in perspective for what they can give us.  What they can teach us. That should be the priority. Not 3 NBA players strutting and preening before they had even practiced together. Not big time college football coaches perhaps covering up violations by his players. When I remember the priority, I love sports.

BYU Suspends Brandon Davies for?

Wow. I’m pretty sure that I have never seen a story like this in the twenty…. thirty….  ok ok FORTY plus years that I have been following sports. Stop laughing, most of you are there with me.

BYU basketball player Brandon Davies has been suspended for the rest of the season for breaking the student honor code of the university. His transgression? Admitting to having sex with his girlfriend. Wow. A leading player on the 3^rd ranked team in the country. A team having a magical, once in a lifetime season. Wow.

My first reaction is that I do feel bad for Davies and the rest of the Cougars. BYU is not a team that will reload and have another Jimmer Fredette next year. However, I can’t blame BYU for enforcing their code of conduct. It’s something that is front and center and made clear to every potential student of the university. It’s not something that is a surprise to students or forced on them. They know the deal going in.

While 99% of college students would not be able to live up to the code, BYU makes no bones about the fact that their university is for the 1% who can. I give them credit for having their standards. That’s not a bad thing and something that our kids could benefit from more of.

I hope that Davies learns that when he agrees to something, it’s something to live up to. I can tell you from my experience that many kids nod their heads a lot agreeing to something and really don’t grasp the magnitude. Hopefully for Davies, lesson learned. 

Please pay attention to former Bear Dave Duerson

I’m sure the Coliseum rocked watching the underdog Gladiators take on the Lions. My violence in sports project in college featured a newspaper picture of a hockey fight right up against the glass. The shear joy on the faces of the fans was remarkable. The 17 car pile up in this year’s Daytona 500 is what many race fans are hoping for. A video of the NFL’s most violent hits is always a huge seller. Let’s face it. Violence sells.

The issue of whether or not kids are influenced by watching or listening to TV, video games, movies and music has been debated for decades. Not so surprisingly, as I have gotten older my stance has shifted to now being concerned about the effects of these media on youth. I heard a psychologist say the issue is that the violence seen isn’t actually taken far enough. You see someone killed for example but never see the consequences of that. You never see the impact on family and friends. The grieving. The fact that the person is actually gone. You see this person die and then the game or show or movie moves on. 

This past week we saw yet another consequence of the violence that attracts so many to the NFL. Former Bears DB Dave Duerson took his own life. He left a note saying he wouldn’t shoot himself in the head because he wanted someone to look at his brain to figure out why he was in such pain and misery. Duerson was 50 years old. Colin Cowherd on ESPN said there is a study that showed that the career with the shortest life expectancy among American males is that of professional football player. Shockingly he cited the study as saying that former professional football players die at an average age of 54 compared to the average male who dies at the age of 75. While I do find it hard to believe that the average age of death of every former football player is 54, there is no questioning the severity of this issue.

NFL players will tell you that game day is like being in a car crash. Most find it difficult to walk until Wednesday or Thursday. Former lineman Mark Schlereth had 29 surgeries during his career. When he hears people say how they would give anything to have played in the NFL, he says no you wouldn’t. It’s a struggle for him to get going every day. Pain every day. I know that this comes as no surprise to the players and that they make the choice to play. Very true.

But I do think that the league needs to be concerned about long term effects of its game on the players. Dave Duerson is not the first player to have this happen Former Steeler Mike Webster’s post career problems have been well documented. Watching the effects of multiple hits to the head on Muhammed Ali is painful for those of us old enough to remember him in his youth.

It’s ignorant to talk about how the game has always been violent and should be played the way it always has been. The people playing football today are incredibly bigger, stronger and faster than players of the past. Cam Newton is about to begin his professional career at 6’6” 260 lbs. That’s three inches taller and 15 lbs heavier than Jerry Kramer. So what? Cam Newton is a quarterback in 2011. Jerry Kramer was a right guard in 1967. The human body is not meant to withstand the violent impact of crashes with men this fast and strong.

I’ve written about my daughter’s battle with the after effects of her four concussions. I’ve seen the consequences. Three years later and she still isn’t cleared to play “contact sports”. Fortunately today she only suffers from the loss of her softball career. She’s great academically and suffers very few symptoms anymore.  I know you can’t legislate the violence out of football. But let’s make it as safe as it can be made within the context of the game.

Cardinals and Pujols. Can it keep going?

It’s so hard to relate to contracts in sports.  I have a contract but in no way can relate to the contract issues of Albert Pujols.

Albert’s contract expires after this season. There is no question that he is the best player in baseball. But how do you structure his contract? How much longer will he be able to put up the numbers that he has in the past? There is evidence that he is already slowing down. So we look at Alex Rodriguez’ $27 million per and begin there. If Rodriguez gets $27 million than Albert has to get more. Really? Albert is 31… or 33…… or 35, hell no one is really sure.

Reportedly he is asking for 10 years and $300 million total. He thinks that the $30 million per is about right. Wow.  Pujols has about 3-4 years left of big numbers and then they will put him in the lower part of the top ten in the game very quickly. And the Cards would still be on the hook for $30 million per? Ridiculous.

I don’t understand why these players think they should be paid forever for performance in the past.  In baseball the union pushes players to get every penny they can out of every negotiation. They don’t want the bar being lowered. Supposedly they were never happy with Tony Gwynn taking less than he could have gotten if he had left San Diego. Most people forget that Alex Rodriguez agreed to be traded from Texas to Boston before he signed a big free agent contract with the Yankees. The union wouldn’t allow it because he would have actually taken less money than he was being paid at the time by the Rangers.

Just because one team overpays for a player doesn’t mean that every team after that has to use that contract as a benchmark. At some point the demands will be such that there will be no bidders. Orioles’ GM Andy MacPhail put it best when he recently said that it’s a game of musical chairs and at some point the music will stop and some player will not have a seat.

SU struggling. Boeheim was right again.

He’s been saying it all season. At 5-0. At 12-0. At 18-0. At that point, his message was drowned out by the big #3 next to Syracuse in the national rankings. We should have listened to him. After all, his name is on the court.

When it comes to all matters basketball, I will defer to Jim Boeheim. He tried to tell us that his Orange weren’t as good as their record. Clearly at 18-0, he was right. What’s happened since? 2-6 and quite a drop in the rankings. Is it the tougher schedule? I don’t think it’s that simple.

The workings of a team are very intricate. It’s much more complicated than looking at the talent of the players. We hear talk of chemistry and intangibles. Sometimes when a team does better or worse than expected, it’s because the “experts” missed on what should have been expected.  In 1969 the Colts were favored by 17 over the Jets in Super Bowl III. After the Jets won it was clear that they were greatly undervalued by the “experts”. So was it really a big upset? The same with the Jets beating the Patriots in this year’s playoffs. Upon further examination, it looks the Patriots might only have advantage over the Jets at head coach and quarterback.

Trying to evaluate college teams depends on the performance of 19-21 year olds. It’s not just that their play can be inconsistent, it’s also that we’re forecasting on potential more than we are performance. Case in point is SU freshman Fab Melo. He was chosen as Big East pre-season freshman of the year and can barely get off the Orange bench.  

On the court, this year’s Orange were relying on three players new to their situation We just discussed Fab Melo’s struggles. Last year Kris Joseph was national sixth man of the year. While he has had a decent season, he has found out that it’s different when the focus is on you. I’ve watched Brandon Triche since he was in third grade. He has always been a distributor, even though he could have scored virtually at will. This year he is asked to play shooting guard and be a little more selfish. While he is really coming on, there have been times that he has needed to look for his shot a little more.

The bigger issue with this year’s Orange might be what was such a strength of last year’s team. Chemistry and intangibles.  Leadership. Something seems off with this year’s team. From day one they have struggled offensively and now the defense has been porous. Defense is effort and that’s been lacking. We’ve seen issues with Dion Waiters, James Southerland and now Fab Melo as far as losing playing time. Does this year’s team get along as well as last year’s? Having never been in the same room as these guys, I can’t say. But something seems off.

Can this be turned around? Sure. Who knows, the Hall of Famer might just have us all where he wants us.

NFL Offseason. Football? Not so much.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, welcome to the NFL off season.  Draft preparations? Free agent evaluations? Off season team activities? Mini camps? No no. Welcome to the 2011 off season. CBA. Rookie wage scale. Longer season. Yeah, real x’s and o’s stuff.

I know, I know. You don’t care about any of this stuff, you just want to talk about the (fill in the blank)’s back up left guard. Knock yourself out. But stop reading now.

I know it seems crazy that millionaires have a union to help them deal with billionaires. It is crazy, but it’s also reality. So on March 3^rd the current CBA expires and it appears that the owners will lock out the players at that point.  The first win came for the owners about a week ago when a judge ruled that as of March 3^rd the players’ health insurance will indeed lapse and the owners have no responsibility to continue payments. Think that’s no big deal? Hmmm, think again. First of all, not all players are making millions of dollars. The sage words of Patrick Ewing come to mind regarding the wealthy players. Yes, we earn a lot, but we also spend a lot. Lots of these guys have spent most of their money. Obviously football players spend a lot of time visiting doctors and doing rehab. It will hurt many of them to have to pay out of their pocket. It will be interesting to see if players put some pressure on the union to get this settled to help them save on their medical expenses.

There are plenty of issues to be worked out. The owners seem intent on cutting two pre-season games and adding two regular season games. More is not always better. I think they should leave the schedule as it is. The more games at full speed the more injuries. To compensate. rosters will be expanded, which just means a bunch of players in the league that can’t make the league right now. More is not always better.

It also looks like a rookie wage scale will be implemented. This makes all the sense in the world. It’s crazy to pay rookies way more than veterans. How psyched are the Raiders about that first draft pick a few years ago? Yeah, Jamarcus Russell took his $31 million to the bank. And Taco Bell. And McDonalds. And Burger King.  Everywhere but the practice field.

Another sign of the off season? Players pissed off about being tagged as franchise players. Instead of the long term contract they want, they get a one year deal. At the average of the top 5 players at their position. Yeah, real disrespectful.  I can’t stand players complaining about this. Their union agreed to this in the CBA. Live with it. You don’t like, try and get it changed. But until then, suck it up and accept it along with the millions that came your way from that same CBA.

Sorry. I know that these are things that many of you would rather not discuss. I get that. But I also live in the real world. And this is part of it.

Rodgers elite. Packers amazing.

It’s 10:30 and I just exhaled. What a Super Bowl. As a Packer fan, all I could think of was sitting in the end zone where the Steelers scored on the last play of the game last year to beat Green Bay. Then I thought of the Super Bowl two years ago when they beat Arizona late. And I assumed that would happen again. Instead the Packers hung on.

I can’t say enough about Aaron Rodgers. When he needed to, he directed the Packers on a drive that sealed the game in the fourth quarter.  We have just seen the elite quarterback club add a new member. Perhaps their most impressive one.

There was talk that he might be the number one pick in the draft six years ago. Instead he sat and waited until being taken 24^th by Green Bay. The same Green Bay that had a quarterback who seemingly would play forever.  So, unlike recent top picks like Sam Bradford and Matt Ryan, Rodgers sat. And sat. And sat.

There was no mentoring of Rodgers by Favre. I’m not criticizing Brett for that, just stating the fact. He wanted to play and didn’t want to help the next guy take his job. I’m not a fan of Favre, but no problem with that. After three seasons of sitting, credit coach Mike McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson for knowing that Rodgers was worth waiting for.

Rodgers’ chance to finally play came with a circus that neither Bradford, Ryan, or any other young QB I can remember had to endure.  Rodgers handled himself with amazing class. On top of that, his play on the field has been unbelievable.

The Packers had 16 players, 8 starters, on IR this year. They were 8-6 and faced with having to win their last two regular season games to make the playoffs. So, in order to bring the Lombardi Trophy back home, they had to win 6 straight win or go home games. And they did.

Green Bay is the second youngest team in the NFL. It’s very cool to be a Packer fan right now.

UConn Booster Controversy. Not as it seems.

Pete Bell did what he felt he had to do to rebuild his college basketball program.  He needed new talent and new talent costs money. Happy, the rich alum, was more than glad to open his wallet. A new house for Butch McRae’s mom and the 6’8” freakish point guard comes to play for Bell.  Need a sweet shooting small forward? A new tractor for the farm and Ricky Roe commits. The 7’ 350lb mountain of a center struggling with his grades? Bell’s ex-wife personally tutored him through the SAT’s to ensure his eligibility.

Eventually Bell had enough of his strings being pulled by Happy and the other alumni who wrote the checks. He outed them all at a press conference and walked away to coach high school basketball.

What program am I talking about? When did this happen?  It happened back in 1994 at fictitious Western University in the movie “Blue Chips”. Pete Bell was played by Nick Nolte. Real players Penny Hardaway, Matt Nover and Shaquille O’Neal played the characters I referred to earlier.

Art can in fact imitate life. Sometimes the story is so outrageous that you can’t make it up. University of Connecticut AD Jeff Hathaway found himself this week in the middle of a Blue Chips controversy. Robert Burton has donated $7 million to the UConn football program over the last few years. The last donation of $3 million got the football complex named after Burton. Do these donations come without strings? Apparently not.

Burton expected “to be kept in the loop” regarding the hiring of the football coach who would replace Randy Edsall at UConn. When Hathaway hired former SU coach, Paul Pasqualoni, Burton was furious. He wasn’t consulted or informed and is none too enamored with the resume of Pasqualoni. Burton’s reponse? An angry public letter to Hathaway saying he isn’t qualified to run a top athletic program and should be fired. Burton also demanded his last donation, $3 million, returned.

Should Burton expect input into the program because of his donations? At first glance it’s easy to say he is a jerk. That’s because once again we are viewing sports as this romanticized sandlot activity that we love. I hate to continue to ruin that fantasy but it’s time to be grown up about this. This is big business. Huge business. Multi-billion dollar business. In business these things happen. Advertisers call the shots. Don Imus didn’t get fired for his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Imus got fired because advertisers threatened to pull out because of his comments. Boosters call the shots a lot in college sports.

It’s why Terry Bowdon got fired as the Auburn football coach. He had an undefeated season, but was never an Auburn guy and the boosters got him fired. If T. Boone Pickens wants certain things at Oklahoma State or Phil Knight at Oregon, I think they will get them. How can schools take these millions and not play ball with the people donating? It becomes a matter of how far does it go.

It’s time to call this what it is. Professional. These are corporations who are responding to their funding sources. If your business accepts investments from groups, you have to answer to these groups. This is no different. Do I think Burton should have a say in the hiring of the football coach? Of course not. But it’s not as easy an issue as we think. How do other schools respond to Texas cashing checks for $15 million/year for 20 years from their ESPN deal? By getting in bed even more with rich boosters.

I don’t like this, but I also don’t know how to change it.  

Texas/ESPN deal. Wow!

I was so close. So freaking close. But nooooooo. Just when I think I am out, they drag me back in. I’m like an addict who hangs around people who enable him. Yes,  you Don Litzelman are at fault. You played enabler to my addict.

Here my last post was actually about games. And I was just about to blog again about the NFL playoffs this weekend. And now my head is about to explode. All from one little comment from Don. Yup. How about that UT/ESPN deal?  As they say in the Bud Light commercials, “Here we go!”.

The University of Texas and ESPN have completed a deal that will create a 24 hour UT network. The new network will broadcast about 200 Texas games a year. At least one football and eight basketball games will be shown live. The rest will be replays of games shown on other networks and various other sports.

Terms of the contract?  20 years for $300 million. Let me say that again. 20 years for $300 million. Hmm love of the conference kept Texas in the Big 12? No no no. Love of $15 million/year kept Texas in the Big 12 conference. When the Big 10 and Pac 10 came calling for Texas, they told the Longhorns that they wouldn’t allow them to have their own network. The Big 12, fighting off extinction, more than gladly told Texas it was fine with them. Of course it was.

This is unbelievable. I know that Notre Dame got their own network deal first, but this is taking things to another level. This is their very own network.  With the extra $15 million per year does Texas really need the Big 12? Might they just go independent? AD DeLoss Dodds says no. We will see.

Okay, right or wrong? I’m not sure it’s that simple. What is anything worth? What someone is willing to pay for it. I know I have covered this before but here’s a short recap on this subject. Don’t blame either Texas or ESPN for this contract. The fact is that there is enough interest in Texas sports to support this or it wouldn’t happen. If you don’t like this, and I don’t, the blame belongs with fans.  And blame might be a tough word. It’s a choice. Americans have chosen to make sports this kind of priority.

What does it mean for college sports? It changes the entire landscape. It gives Texas a resource that no other school has. And that won’t be acceptable for more than 30 seconds to Alabama or to Ohio State or to USC or to Florida or to ……….. fill in the blank.

Outcome obviously still to be determined but I don’t think college sports will ever look the same. We are looking at the creation of an elite division with only those few schools who can get deals like Texas just did. Hold on tight.

Only fools predict games. You're looking at one.

Now, don’t get too used to this, but I am going to get off the soapbox and actually talk some sports. It’s a very strange club, these NFL playoffs. Out are the NY football Giants, 10-6 and a recent Super Bowl champion. In are the woeful Seattle Seahawks, 7-9 and a division champion.

Should Seattle be in the playoffs? Yes, they did win the division and it’s too reactionary to think teams winning divisions with losing records will become a trend. Should they host a playoff game? That’s where I think there can be some discussion. I would have no problem with determining the 12 playoff teams as they do now, but then re-seeding, making Seattle the six seed instead of the four.

Matchups: Let’s go through by conference.  Don’t expect in depth x;s and o’s analysis, not my thing. But here are my thoughts. The first round in the AFC sees Indianapolis hosting the Jets and Kansas City hosting Baltimore. While the Colts have tied the NFL record with their 9^th consecutive playoff appearance, these are not your older brother’s Colts. (Let’s face it, can’t go with your father, we’re all old). They did win their last four to make the playoffs, but are limping in this year. Injuries have hit them hard and Peyton is showing signs that he may actually be human. That said, the Jets will be on the other side of the ball. Bravado aside, I don’t have a lot of faith in them. They have walked a tight rope all season.  But they make it to the other side one more time.

What a story the Chiefs have been. Tremendous credit to both GM Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley.  Matt Cassel is jus an amazing story. Stuck backing up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC, he didn’t really play. And now look at him. In come the Ravens. The Chiefs have been winning with running and defense and those are more consistent than Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco. He has decent weapons but I’m just not sure if good or bad Joe will show up. Betting on good. Ravens move on.

That sends the Jets to New England and the Ravens to Pittsburgh. I’ll make this short and sweet. The home teams are just too good here. What an AFC championship game this will be. While the Patriots have been amazing this year and I think the world of Brady, I don’t think they have the weapons to outscore the Steelers. (Huge disclaimer: my beautiful girlfriend Tina is a  diehard Steeler fan. But trust me, if she knew I just picked them she would be livid that I jinxed them. Don’t tell her).

The first round in the NFC sees Seattle hosting New Orleans and Philadelphia hosting Green Bay. You’re right, there’s no need to even discuss the Seahawks and Saints. Packers and Eagles could be the game of the first round. The Packers are a bad matchup for the Eagles with their defensive speed and passing firepower. They beat the Eagles again.

That sends Green Bay to Atlanta and New Orleans to Chicago. The Packers lost by a field goal in Atlanta a few weeks ago. I can’t say enough about the Falcons. After winning the division Sunday, the players doused the owner with Gatorade. And Arthur Blank deserved it. Three years ago this franchise was dead as Michael Vick was in jail and Bobby Petrino coached a Monday night game and then yelled  “Go pig sooey” the very next day. He walked out on them with three games left to coach Arkansas, leaving notes in the players’ lockers. Blank hired Thomas Dmitroff as GM and unknown Mike Smith as head coach and what a turn around. I love Matt Ryan and Michael Turner. But something just tells me the Packers avenge their first home playoff loss back in 2003 to Vick and the Falcons.

On to Soldier Field. Julius Peppers has been a beast and Devin Hester is just ridiculous, but I can’t pick a team quarterbacked by Jay Cutler to win this game. Yes, I am saying that the wild cards will play for the NFC championship.

Like I said, no x’s and o’s. Here’s my analysis: I watched Drew Brees overcome horrible mistakes and will his team to a win the other night. I can’t get that out of my mind. The Packers will be in a Super Bowl soon, just not this year. Saints win the NFL for a second straight year.

Please, please for the love of god don’t tell Tina I said the Steelers will beat the Saints in the Super Bowl. Have a heart. 

Winner. Leader. Saints' Drew Brees, yes. Titans' Vince Young, no. Rose? Wall?

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said he couldn’t define pornography but he would know it when he saw it. Whether or not I can define being a winner, I do know that I saw it last Monday night in Atlanta.

I saw it in Drew Brees’ eyes and it translated into his actions. He threw two hideous interceptions late in the game against the Falcons. The Saints needed a TD to win and keep their hopes alive for the division and number one seed in the NFC. Brees throws those interceptions and how did he react? Like a leader and winner.

Brees didn’t freak out. He didn’t throw his jersey into the stands and storm out on his team. No, that would be Vince Young’s response to adversity. He had fire in his eyes and determination. He led his team on a drive that won the game.  He’s a winner.

Being a winner is not a measurable. Let’s go to the playground for a pick up game. There’s a lot of quarterbacks to pick from. You get to watch them for a while. Picked first are Jeff George, Ryan Leaf, Jamarcus Russell, and Vince Young because damn they look pretty. That’s fine. I’ll gladly take Bart Starr,Joe Montana, Tom Brady or Drew Brees. Wayne Gretzky would be standing a while waiting to be picked for pick up hockey too.

This doesn’t just apply to sports. There are people who just get it. They have a mind set that says they will succeed. Paul Westphal said that Charles Barkely was a pleasure to coach, that he had fire in his belly. Westphal said that you see frustrated NBA coaches because they have players without that fire and there’s nothing you can do to give it to them.

Tom Golisano lived out the American Dream in building Paychex from the ground up. He started with nothing. His motto in hiring? You can’t really motivate people so hire people already motivated and just don’t de-motivate them.

Being a winner counts. Especially in a leadership position like quarterback. Or point guard. It will be interesting to see how this new generation fairs in that respect. There is no questioning the amazing talent of both Derrick Rose and John Wall. But are they leaders? Time will tell. Will they make their teammates better or will they just make great plays, padding stats. Leadership is judgement. Supposedly Wall’s close friend on the Wizards was Gilbert Arenas, before his trade. Hmm. Not great judgement. Interesting.