Titan's coach Jeff Fisher vs QB Vince Young: Who will win?

We will get to Vince Young. I promise, I’ve talked about how facing adversity makes us stronger. About my daughter Emily’s 18 month battle to overcome the symptoms of her fourth concussion.  How does the saying go? Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it? Something like that.

That fourth concussion ended Emily’s softball career. I certainly didn’t realize it at the time, but all during that season Emily showed the character that allowed her to beat that last concussion.

Her coach that year was tough. Hanging that season with the parents was interesting as some found him passionate and some found him mean. I heavily leaned on the passionate side.  And it’s not because he didn’t get tough with Emily. There was the throwing of his hat on the ground when she popped an attempted bunt up. And he could be heard yelling “that’s embarrassing” when Emily and the pitcher, Avery, looked at each other and let a pop up drop between home plate and the pitcher’s mound. And the benching when he thought she didn’t get after a wild pitch fast enough.

Ok, we’re getting to Vince Young. Emily’s reaction to Coach Ormond’s passion? She played harder. She played better. She told me after one practice that he complimented her on showing character by playing better and not sulking. “Oh great, now he’ll yell at me all the time”, was her concern. He didn’t.

I am in no way advocating yelling and abuse by youth coaches. But I am advocating holding kids responsible and teaching them to go hard and overcome adversity. Let’s talk about Young now. Young’s unbelievable physical talent has most likely allowed him to skip the whole adversity thing. He has always been the best player and probably by a large margin. And I am willing to bet that his coaches weren’t too quick to criticize uber talented Vince.

Now Vince gets to the NFL and guess what? While very talented, he’s not head and shoulders above everyone anymore. At the first sign of tough times, Vince sulks and shows unbelievable immaturity and lack of accountability. Sunday he acted like a total child. Throwing his equipment in the stands and storming out of the locker room yelling at Coach Jeff Fisher.

Fisher has been the Titan’s coach for 17 years and is one of the best coaches in the NFL.  He is also regarded as a coach who has always gotten along with his players. In other words, if you have issues with Fisher, it’s probably on you. Young was thrown out of the Titan’s practice facility this morning and it certainly looks like Fisher will tell owner Bud Adams that it’s Young or him. Adams apparently loves Young and all Texas players. He holds a grudge against the state because he thinks Houston shafted him, forcing the move to Nashville. Yeah that seems like a good reason to gives baby Vince millions and choose him over a great coach.

We will see how this story plays out. Last year Adams told Fisher to play Young. I think if he does that next season, Fisher will refuse. Adams will then either allow Fisher to have his way, or fire him. At which point Fisher will be unemployed no longer than 30 seconds.

No question where I stand. Goodbye Vince, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Cam Newton: Should he win the Heisman?

Cam Newton. That name is so polarizing right now, with so many angles to the story. “Remember Duke lacrosse!” That comes mostly from the Auburn faithful. From the other side? “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!”

Innocent until proven guilty? That’s in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. Should we try to get all of the facts and be patient before forming an opinion? Yes, of course.  But people do have every right to form an opinion. Like most situations, only the few people involved really know the indisputable facts. The rest of us have to base an opinion on what we can find out.

Did Cam Newton’s dad, Cecil, tell schools that it would take more than a scholarship to sign his son? I don’t know. Did he specifically ask Mississippi State for between $100-180,000 for Cam to sign to play in Starkville? I don’t know. Did Auburn meet Cecil’s asking price? I don’t know.

All of those are alleged by people supposedly involved in the recruiting of Newton by Mississippi State. Why did this come out now? Because this is when it came out, perhaps planted by a rival SEC school to ruin Auburn’s magical season. If so, well welcome to big boy college football in the conference that looks like old time Chicago politics. And instead of focusing on why now, Auburn nation should be focusing on whether or not it’s true.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik has done a laudable job of trying to deflect from the story. Praising Newton as a model student/athlete. Hmmmm. During two years at Florida, Newton was accused of cheating three different times. He bought a computer at such a great price that the police paid him a visit to ask about it. While they were at the door, Newton threw it out the window. That one is fact. Hearing now that Newton’s decision to leave Florida for a junior college may have been strongly suggested by the administration at Florida.

We don’t know if these things are true. However, when the list of allegations is this long, certainly it’s more than reasonable to have doubts. Clearly things have happened in Cam Newton’s past. Does that mean he has not been a model citizen at Auburn? No, it doesn’t. And if he has been as Chizik has said, that’s great. I admire him turning things around.

But that doesn’t mean that things in the past should be ignored. When we hear now that Vernon Davis of the 49ers violated NCAA rules by giving a player at Maryland $20 and that Hakeem Nicks violated them by treating some North Carolina players to dinner, we laugh at the NCAA for dealing with these which seem so insignificant. But where is the line? If Nicks spending $3300 is okay, then is $5000 ok? $10,000? If buying a kid a burger is ok, how about a steak? Lobster? Suit? House?   Where do we draw the line?

It’s one thing to say the rules stink and to work to change them. Another to say they stink and disregard them. And I don’t think anyone thinks that a father demanding $100-180,000 for his son’s commitment is insignificant. So what should be done? Auburn has clearly decided that they are going to take this magical season as far as it can go and worry about consequences later. They insist Newton is eligible. I can’t blame them. If it comes out later that he wasn’t, well we all know they won those games and maybe a championship, no matter what the NCAA says.

What about the Heisman Trophy? The voters will have to make their decision before any resolution to this. Do they vote for Newton? The NFL Hall of Fame is very clear, only on field performance is to be considered by voters. The Heisman Trophy is not so clear. I believe it talks about integrity. Should a kid be punished solely by allegations? No. However, it’s more than reasonable to look at the body of allegations here and believe that something doesn’t smell right. I wouldn’t vote for Cam Newton.

Sports: Dont be naive

I would worry about dating myself, but that ship has long ago sailed. You know what Virginia, when it comes to sports there just may not be a Santa Claus. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain? ESPN, Twitter, Facebook and the like have made that impossible.

I love sports, I really do. When I was a kid there was one major league baseball game on each week. Saturday at 2pm on NBC. That was it. No nightly highlights and yapping by a panel of a dozen former players, coaches and front office execs. Music and news were the only things on the radio. No sports talk. Al Gore had not yet invented the internet. Old timers will tell you that players played for the love of the game. Unlike the selfish players of today.

Well things change. There was a time that neither women or blacks could vote. Thankfully things do change. Some change is great and some not so much. Generally that’s a matter of opinion.

 There are a multitude of games on every night now. Entire television and radio networks devoted to sports. All of that information has pulled the curtain down and completely exposed the man behind it. We now know everything that goes on in sports. On and off the field of play.

All of that has also greatly increased the interest in sports. That interest has also generated billions of dollars for the sports industry. Yes, I see my beautiful girlfriend Tina rolling her eyes and hating the day that I ruined sports for her by exposing too much.

Sports are not fun and games anymore. Old players played for the love of the game? Well yeah, there was not much else to play for. There was no free agency or arbitration. Once you signed with a team, you were property of that team forever. Even after your contract ran out. It was up to that team to then offer you another or trade you. Ralph Kiner won the NL home run championship and was offered a pay cut. The Pirates’ owner’s explanation? We finished last with you, I’m pretty sure we can do that without you. He either accepted that contract or left baseball.

All of the money filters down and effects every level of sports. Please don’t be naïve and think that college athletes are there to play for the honor of State U. It’s about getting to the next level. That’s starting at about age 10 with jockeying to get on the right travel team.  Then fielding offers from private high schools to convince you to go there instead of the public school whose district you live in.

Then it really gets crazy if you are in the hunt for a Division I scholarship. Did someone really offer Cam Newton’s considerable football skills to Mississippi State for $180,000? I don’t know. Does that happen? Supposedly then Southern Cal basketball coach Tim Floyd’s recruitment of OJ Mayo consisted of Floyd cutting a check to the “street agent” who offered Mayo to USC.

I’m sorry to break it to you, but sports is a huge multi billion dollar industry. It is that because we the sports fans have chosen to make it such. And that’s ok if that’s what you want. But you have to be realistic about it and understand what it is. It is not a bunch of kids playing on a sandlot. It’s an industry and to the people involved it’s their profession, which they take very seriously. Don’t for one second think that the old players would have been any different than today’s if they had the same financial opportunities available to them. It’s a completely different world. Accept it.

   

Yankees Mickey Mantle: superstar. Joe Pepitone: not. Randy Moss:?

Mickey Mantle. Joe Pepitone. Two players on the NY Yankees in the early to mid 60’s. They roomed together one spring training and were not known for early bed times. One very late night led to the two waking up very late, with a spring training game scheduled that morning. Mantle, with a lot of experience in these matters, arranged for a limo and the two arrived in style at the field. Well, until the door opened and the two stumbled out, falling on the ground as they tried to dress.

What happened next you ask? Mantle got the day off, dozing his hang over off on the bench. Pepitone? Yeah, not so much. A full nine innings in the hot sun at first base.  The difference? Mantle hit 536 homeruns in a Hall of Fame career. Pepitone hit 219.

Superstars have always gotten preferential treatment. And this isn’t just in sports. The top sales rep in the company gets away with the same things that get the guy in the mail room fired.

Fast forward to October 29, 2010. A bonding team dinner for the Minnesota Vikings.  Gus Tunicci was probably thrilled to be chosen to cater the weekly dinner for the Vikes. Until Moss sauntered up to the buffet. “What the ****! Who ordered this ****? I wouldn’t feed this ****ing **** to my dog”.

Life is looking at upsides and deciding if they are worth the downsides. In sales being over quota and over budget was accepted. Under quota and over budget? Didn’t go over nearly as well. Successful people get some chips to use, favors to call in.

Did Moss get waived by the Vikings because of his rant showed him to be a complete jerk? No. Moss got waived because his feeble performance on the field didn’t give him enough chips in his pocket to be a complete jerk. Once upon a time his pocket was filled with chips that convinced his employers to look the other way. No chips, no job. Moss found out what it’s like t

SF Giants are band of misfits

A million years ago I played softball. We played once a week and sometimes played in tournaments. The tournament team wasn’t always the same one that played at Cobbs Hill every Monday. We would recruit other players and try to put together more of an all star team.

The Florida Marlins that won the 1997 World Series reminded me of a tournament team. They went out and got established players from other teams. Al Leiter, Bobby Bonilla, Darren Daulton, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Alex Fernanadez, Moises Alou, and Devon White were some of those that came together for a ring.

Fast forward to 2010. The San Francisco Giants are also a team put together of a lot of parts from other teams. But those parts don’t quite look the same as the ones scooped up by the Marlins.

Pat Burrell and Cody Ross were flat out released before being picked up by the Giants. Ross was the NLCS MVP. And the Marlins didn’t want him. Aubrey Huff wasn’t exactly seen as an All Star and leader while toiling for my pathetic Orioles. Freddy Sanchez was discarded by the Pirates. Juan Uribe, who has done nothing but smack big hits this postseason, let go by the White Sox.

What a motley crew. Certainly the Giants have some pedigree players on their roster with catcher Buster Posey and pitchers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. But look at the significant contributions made by the misfits mentioned above.  It’s crazy. It’s also one of the things I love about the World Series.

You never know who the heroes will be. Will the Giants win the Series? I’m not sure. Texas took Game 3 tonight and certainly could come back and win the ring. Regardless though, the Giants are a fascina

Vikings Coach Childress Rips QB Favre

“It is what it is”. One of my favorite sayings.  I’m also a big believer in the serenity prayer. Paraphrasing: change what you can, accept what you can’t change and have the wisdom to know the difference. Is this easier said than done? Yes it is. All right enough with the sayings already.

After the Packers beat the Vikings last night, Vikes coach Brad Childress forgot his note cards that reminded him of these sayings. He proceeded to go out to the parking lot and not only pull the bus into the press conference to run over Brett Favre, but he backed it up and ran him over again.

Childress talked about Favre’s bad decisions leading to three interceptions, leading to points for the Packers in a game that the Vikings lost 28-24. In other words he criticized Favre for, well quite frankly, for being Favre.  

Gee, Favre made risky decisions that led to interceptions. Really? Brad, have you not been watching the last 20 years? This is and always has been who Favre is. The same Favre that you begged to come and quarterback your team each of the last two years. The same Favre that you allowed to come late to camp each of the last two years.  The one you personally picked up at the airport to bring to camp last year, leaving a team meeting to do so.

You didn’t get stuck with Favre, Brad you asked for him. You got exactly what you asked for. I’m not a Favre fan. I think he is a diva and has held teams hostage. But Childress and the Vikings knew this and decided to accept it. And that’s fine. Just don’t complain when he delivers what you asked for.  

SF Giants' Panda: Sandoval lacking in Fundamentals

If she was watching the NLCS, I know that Allison Herholtz rolled her eyes and heard my voice as she watched the Kung Fu Panda fail to get back and cover third for the Giants in Game 5. So did Avery Share, Claire Simizon, and many other girls who played softball on teams I coached. They remember the freeze drill.

The defense would be set and I would hit the ball out of my hand from the plate. Right before hitting it, I would call out the situation. Where runners were and how many outs. The second the fielder touched the ball I yelled freeze. I then proceeded to go player by player and make sure they were in the right place. Then we did it again. And again. And again.  Rule #1? Every base is always covered.

 If the ball isn’t hit to you, then you get to where you should be. As soon as Halladay’s bunt stayed at home plate, Pablo Sandoval should have sprinted back to third base, Freddy Sanchez to second and Aubrey Huff to first. The second they realized the ball wasn’t coming to them. I preached it over and over and over again. Even the catcher. My daughter Emily knew to get out of her crouch and stand ready at the plate, even if the bases were empty and the ball was hit on the ground to first.

If I know that. If Allison, Avery, Claire, Emily and all the other girls know that, then how do major league baseball players not? A few years ago I was watching a game and saw the Royals’ Willie Wilson, one of the fastest men to ever play the game, go half way on a fly ball to the outfield. Why do I bring this up? Because Wilson was on THIRD! Trust me, Allison, Avery, Claire, and Emily would all have had their foot planted on the bag waiting for the ball to touch the glove and then would have scored. Wilson? He jogged back to third when it was caught and then stayed put as the throw came in. He could have walked home had he tagged properly.

Why are fundamentals so bad at the major league level? Good question. The obvious answer is that players are rushed and in the majors too soon. I don’t buy that. 12 year old girls know the fundamentals. I think great players are allowed to get away with relying on their overwhelming talent. As the Panda learned, that can cost you.