Barely Representative Jack Kingston Ain't No Ripken

I always used to smile when they described Cal Ripken Jr. as the "Iron Man." Now, don't get me wrong, his onsecutive game streak was impressive. But, hey, he worked from February to October, maybe November if he was lucky. The earliest salary I got for him was in 1985, when he made $800,000 for eight months work, which might make it easier to get up in the morning.

He is going to the Hall of Fame. He was a great player.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ripkeca01.shtml

But the Iron Men (metaphorically, just sounds better than "Iron People") that I think of are the guys and gals who work 50 weeks a year, five or six days a week, laying pipe, or even in an office, or out on the road, or in a police station or a firehouse. And they ain't making $800,000. And then there are those men andwomen who had to leave their families behind to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And then there are the folks in Washington who sent them there.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is makingthe members of the House of Representatives work a five-day week. Five whole days a week. The response?

Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), says "Keeping us up here eats away at families. Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families, that's what this says."

Time away from Washington is just as important tobeing an effective member
of Congress as time spent in the Capitol, said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga.
"When I'm here, people call me Mr. Congressman. When I'm home, people call
me 'Jack you stupid SOB why did you vote that way?' It keeps me
grounded."

Really? You had me at "stupid SOB." How about all those folks you and your friends sent to Iraq? Was that an "anti-family" action?

This isn't new for representative Kingston. Accordingto the Chicago Sun Times, in 1998 Kingston said, "You can't be in Washington five days a week and service your district. I'm just enough of a populist to believe that the real action is on the streets of America and not in Washington."

Here is an editorial from the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120601780.html

The 109th Congress will have been in session for agrand total of 103 days
this year, which, as Lyndsey Layton pointed out in yesterday's Post, is seven
days fewer than the "Do-Nothing Congress" of 1948. Anordinary full-time worker
with a generous four weeks of vacation would have clocked 240 days of work
duringthat same period.

... they need time to campaign and to grub for campaign cash. But it's
undeniable that the time lawmakers spend in the capital, actually legislating,
has been on a downward path for the past few decades. According to the American
Enterprise Institute's Norman Ornstein, the average number of days in session
for a two-year Congress has dropped from 323 in the 1960s and '70s to just 250
during the first six yearsof the Bush presidency.

Eats away at families? Gee, Mr. Kingston, they could move here. And, we
wonder: Where, exactly, did you think the Capitol was when you ran for this
job?

Know Your Super Bowl MVPs, No. 3

Know your Super Bowl MVPs. This Super Bowl MVP led his college football team to back-to-back Grantland Rice Bowls. He was named the MVP of the Grantland Rice Bowl as a junior when his college team beat Akron, 33-13. In this Super Bowl MVP's senior year, the Rice Bowl was a different story, as his squad lost to East Tennessee State, 34-14. This quarterback was sacked 12 times in that game. The quarterback for East Tennessee that game was named Larry Graham. Who is this Super Bowl MVP?

Some Slug(ger)s Rank Louisville No. 4

This is ridiculous. Louisville is undefeated, and somehow, in the USA Today poll, they are ranked No. 4 in the nation, behind one-loss Texas.

Now, I understand that Texas' only loss was to Ohio State, and that they should be rewarded for playing a team like that. I have litte problem with them being a top-five one-loss school. But Louisville just beat the No. 3 team in the nation, formerly undefeated West Virginia! And they are undefeated. And they beat Miami (OK, not a great accomplishment, but, who knew?)

Who cares what the Cardinals do Thursday night? (As my good friend, Doug Sohn, says ... "On any given Thursday night ... ") The Cards play the Knights of Rutgers, another undefeated team. (Greg Schiano for Governor of New Jersey!!! ... or maybe mayor of Miami, Florida, if you know what I mean.)

And why is Rutgers No. 14 in the nation, behind two-loss LSU? Sure, an SEC schedule is brutal, but Rutgers beat everyone they've played.

Ahhh, the joys of the polls.

thankyouverymuch,
OldCleat

Know Your Super Bowl MVPs No. 2

Know your Super Bowl MVPs. This is the second question. This Super Bowl MVP was a 12th-round draft pick out of Texas Christian University. He was one of the first Super Bowl MVPs to use his breakout game to score a big contract the following year. He was a Cowboy.

Know Your Super Bowl MVPs

Know your Super Bowl MVPs. This Super Bowl MVP broke Chuck Foreman's school rushing records in college at the University of Miami. He went on to become the first rookie running back in NFL history to average more than 100 yards a game rushing over the course of an NFL season. Who is this Super Bowl MVP?

Sean Casey for ... for ... for MAYOR

Sean Casey is a cool guy. Sean Casey is a great ballplayer.

Sean Casey is sssssslllllloooooowwww.

But, what the hey. Love the Mayor.

Tim Sullivan describes Casey as "baseball's best Samaritan, a genuine, honest-to-goodness, real-life George Bailey, only with much better bat speed. " I just think that George Bailey would beat Case in a foot race. While carrying all the kids.

This from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "On the slow side: Leyland occasionally jokes about Casey's lack of speed. Yesterday, Leyland said: "My steal sign for Casey is when I jump up in the air and don't come down. When that happens, he can run." Casey, a 9-year veteran from the University of Richmond, has 15 career steals, peaking with four in 2003." -- John Markon

Sullivan also writes: "Long before he attained All-Star status, Casey was so friendly to fans of the Cape Cod League that Brewster (Mass.) manager Mike Kirby was moved to remind him that he was a ballplayer and not the mayor. Casey has been known as “The Mayor” ever since. "

Anyway, I love the Mayor, and I'm glad to see him get a shot at the postseason.

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

Boomer Esiason Foundation Is a Four-Star Charity

If you live in New York or on the East Coast, a fantastic charity does great work and has a ton of great events for you.

Here is a link to a piece about the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

http://heartdonation.blogspot.com/2006/09/boomer-esiason-foundation-is.html

Here is another link regarding Jim Otto and the "Legends of Center" award.

http://rbcsacramento.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/otto-finalist-for-legends-of-center-award/

The BEF does great work, and is a four-star charity.

Rashad Jeanty Makes Jump From CFL to NFL

It's all about Rashad.

Rashad Jeanty was an undersized defensive end out of Central Florida who dropped out of school and headed north the the Canadian Football League to help his mom, who was evicted from her house.

This young man was signed by the Bengals, backed up David Pollack, beat out eight-year veteran Hannibal Navies for the job, and started Sunday's Season Opener in Kansas City as Pollack has what Dave Wannstedt loving calls a "hammy."

Jeanty recovered a muffed punt by Dante Hall and had three tackles in the Bengals season-opening 23-10 victory over the Chiefs.

Texas Longhorns Now 4-1 in No. 1 vs. No. 2 Football Matchups

Here's a piece of trivia: before the Ohio State loss on Saturday, Texas was 4-0 all-time in No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups, with all four coming en route to the national championship. The other previous meetings were in 1963 (No. 2 Texas beat No. 1 Oklahoma 28-7), the 1964 Cotton Bowl (No. 1 Texas beat No. 2 Navy 28-6) and 1969 (No. 2 Texas beat No. 1 Arkansas 15-14).

The Goose's trivia question during the game was naming the first regular season No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in college football. The answer, I believe, was the 1963 game, when the Longhorns beat the Sooners.

Taking the long view, the BCS championship concept does seem to be working better than not having a BCS, if you just consider the No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a bowl. Not that there aren't problems with the BCS, but there are problems with the polls as well. There are some coaches who don't know who they voted as the No. 1 team in the nation.

I got this info off of CBS's Sportsline:
Since the AP poll started in 1936, the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams have met 36 times -- 21 during the regular season and 15 in bowl games. Since the first matchup in 1943, the No. 1 team has beat the No. 2 team 23 times, lost 11 and tied twice.

No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the AP Poll
Date Matchup Result Bowl
Sept. 9, 2006 No. 1 Ohio State def. No. 2 Texas 24-7
Jan. 4, 2006 No. 2 Texas def. No. 1 Southern Cal 41-38 Rose
Jan. 4, 2005 No. 1 USC def. No. 2 Oklahoma 55-19 Orange
Jan. 3, 2003 No. 2 Ohio State def. No. 1 Miami (Fla.) 31-24 (2OT) Fiesta
Jan. 4, 2000 No. 1 Florida State def. No. 2 Virginia Tech 46-29 Sugar
Jan. 4, 1999 No. 1 Tennessee def. No. 2 Florida State 23-16 Fiesta
Nov. 30, 1996 No. 2 Florida State def. No. 1 Florida 24-21
Jan. 2, 1996 No. 1 Nebraska def. No. 2 Florida 62-24 Fiesta
Jan. 1, 1994 No. 1 Florida State def. No. 2 Nebraska 18-16 Orange
Nov. 13, 1993 No. 2 Notre Dame def. No. 1 Florida State 31-24
Jan. 1, 1993 No. 2 Alabama def. No. 1 Miami (Fla.) 34-13 Sugar
Nov. 16, 1991 No. 2 Miami (Fla.) def. No. 1 Florida State 17-16
Sept. 16, 1989 No. 1 Notre Dame def. No. 2 Michigan 24-19
Nov. 26, 1988 No. 1 Notre Dame def. No. 2 USC 27-10
Jan. 1, 1988 No. 2 Miami (Fla.) def. No. 1 Oklahoma 20-16 Orange
Nov. 21, 1987 No. 2 Oklahoma def. No. 1 Nebraska 17-7
Jan. 2, 1987 No. 2 Penn State def. No. 1 Miami (Fla.) 14-10 Fiesta
Sept. 27, 1986 No. 2 Miami (Fla.) def. No. 1 Oklahoma 28-16
Oct. 19, 1985 No. 1 Iowa def. No. 2 Michigan 12-10
Jan. 1, 1983 No. 2 Penn State def. No. 1 Georgia 27-23 Sugar
Sept. 26, 1981 No. 1 USC def. No. 2 Oklahoma 38-24
Jan. 1, 1979 No. 2 Alabama def. No. 1 Penn State 14-7 Sugar
Jan. 1, 1972 No. 1 Nebraska def. No. 2 Alabama 37-6 Orange
Nov. 25, 1971 No. 1 Nebraska def. No. 2 Oklahoma 35-31
Dec. 6, 1969 No. 1 Texas def. No. 2 Arkansas 15-14
Jan. 1, 1969 No. 1 Ohio State def. No. 2 USC 27-16 Rose
Sept. 28, 1968 No. 1 Purdue def. No. 2 Notre Dame 37-22
Nov. 19, 1966 No. 1 Notre Dame tied No. 2 Michigan State 0-0
Jan. 1, 1964 No. 1 Texas def. No. 2 Navy 28-6 Cotton
Oct. 12, 1963 No. 2 Texas def. No. 1 Oklahoma 28-7
Jan. 1, 1963 No. 1 USC def. No. 2 Wisconsin 42-37 Rose
Nov. 9, 1946 No. 1 Army tied No. 2 Notre Dame 0-0
Dec. 1, 1945 No. 1 Army def. No. 2 Navy 32-13
Nov. 10, 1945 No. 1 Army def. No. 2 Notre Dame 48-0
Dec. 2, 1944 No. 1 Army def. No. 2 Navy 23-7
Nov. 20, 1943 No. 1 Notre Dame def. No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight 14-13
Oct. 9, 1943 No. 1 Notre Dame def. No. 2 Michigan 35-12

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

Illinois College Football: Northwestern and Illini Stink It Up

Wow, does Big Ten football in Illinois stink.

I only saw the first quarter of the Illinois-Rutgers game on the tube. Going in, I thought that Rutgers was a trap game for the Illini. Rutgers is a downtrodden Big East team that is improved, and could give the Illini trouble.

Rutgers blew threw Illinois like nuthin'. How is Illinois going to play Ohio State or Iowa? And Rutgers will win the National Championship! OK, probably not. But they made Illinois look slow and small.

The reason I only saw the first quarter was that I took the fam to Northwestern-New Hampshire game. NHU rolled up 300 and some odd yards againt the Northwestern defense. On the pregame radio show on WGN, new coach Pat Fitzgerald kept talking about how he wanted NW to be physical, but it was NHU that took the game to the Big Ten team.

Rutgers creams Illinois, 33-0. Division I-AA team New Hampshire gives Northwestern a beat-down, 34-17. Yesterday was a black day in Illinois football.

How Should Marion Jones Be Viewed?

The Marion Jones case of the "A" test and the "B" test is a tough one.

I assumed, as I think many people did, that Jones was finally caught, and that was that.

There is a story in the L.A. Times that discusses her problems.

The 30-year-old sprinter had fallen on hard times after winning three gold
medals and two bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Her ex-husband C.J. Hunter and ex-boyfriend Tim Montgomery had been
suspended for doping violations, and her former coach Trevor Graham had been
sanctioned.

Jones also had been swept up in the BALCO scandal,
confronted with allegations of steroid use, which she steadfastly
denied.

Then the unthinkable, at least to me, happened. Jones's "B" sample of the test didn't match the "A" sample of the test, and thus she was cleared. At least of this one test.

And, to quote Jones, "I have always maintained that I have never, ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, and I am pleased that a scientific process has now demonstrated that fact."

So, given her history, what to think?

Well, Jon Saraceno of USA Today, for one, doesn't believe her.

... It is an Olympian leap of logic to be cleared of any doping in one meet and
then claim that means you never used performance-enhancing drugs.

I agree, but with reservations.

When athletes fail one drug test, they are automatically suspended. Many of these suspensions are long term. Many thus are banned basically for life because of the nature of their sports.

By that logic, if Jones passes one drug test, doesn't it follow that she should get to claim that she is completely drug free, any evidence to the contrary? But the drug-testing standard, Marion Jones is a clean athlete.

While to me that really doesn't pass the sniff test, I think that she needs to be considered clean as of now. Especially considering that while this was a drug test that got some publicity, this wasn't the only drug test that she has ever passed. Up until now, she's passed all of her tests.

Mark McGwire has been accused of using steroids (mostly by that paragon of virtue, Jose Canseco), and it is confirmed that he used "andro," which was banned by most other sports organizations but not HIS ruling body, Major League Baseball. He seemed evasive in front of Congress when asked point-blank if he had ever used steroids.

Having said all of that, I think that, historically, Mark McGwire, never having failed a drug test, never admitting to using steroids, should be considered a clean athlete. You can bring the circumstantial issues up when discussing him. But to me, he's clean.

As is, as of this moment, Marion Jones.

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

Damon Allen's Passing Yards Mark Flies Under Radar

Damon Allen, who is the younger brother of NFL Hall of Famer Marcus Allen, broke Warren Moon's all-time professional passing yards mark over the weekend. Allen now has 70,596 yards passing. As is the case with almost all Canadian Football League news, this flew under the radar here in the States.

Moon's mark stood at 70,553 yards combined in the NFL and the CFL. The Hall of Fame doens't really recognize any of the yardage of course, so you can't really tell that Moon had the combined mark. The NFL's policy seems to be that AFL records are in, but all other records are to be kept separate.

They do, however, mention Moon's five Grey Cup victories ... pretty much almost in passing.

I like CFL football. I like football. I wish that the U.S. press would pay more attention to the CFL. I had hoped that the internet was going to help the situation, and it has, but only marginally. I have occasionally watched some action on my satellite, but I haven't seen that much CFL.

Here are Allen's career stats.

Career Passing Statistics
YEAR TEAM ATT COMP % YDS TD INT RATING
1985 EDM 98 48 49.0 661 3 3 68.4
1986 EDM 87 49 56.3 878 8 3 107.4
1987 EDM 287 150 52.3 2,670 17 13 85.3
1988 EDM 218 94 43.1 1,309 4 12 46.2
1989 OTT 434 209 48.2 3,093 17 16 69.6
1990 OTT 528 276 52.3 3,883 34 23 79.6
1991 OTT 546 282 51.6 4,275 24 31 68.7
1992 HAM 523 266 50.9 3,858 19 14 76.2
1993 EDM 400 214 53.5 3,394 25 10 92.4
1994 EDM 493 254 51.5 3,554 19 15 75.2
1995 MEM 90 228 58.5 3,211 11 13 80.6
1996 BC 368 219 59.5 2,772 13 10 83.5
1997 BC 583 378 64.8 4,653 21 11 93.5
1998 BC 479 282 58.9 3,519 16 16 79.0
1999 BC 521 315 60.5 4,219 22 13 89.9
2000 BC 525 324 61.7 4,840 24 11 98.4
2001 BC 471 251 53.3 3,631 18 14 79.0
2002 BC 474 268 56.5 3,987 22 10 90.9
2003 TOR 450 267 59.3 3,395 17 10 86.3
2004 TOR 312 189 60.6 2,438 12 4 92.6
2005 TOR 549 52 64.1 5,082 33 15 102.7
2006 TOR 145 85 58.6 1,274 6 4 85.7
TOTALS 8,881 5,000 56.3 70,596 385 271 --

thankyouverymuch,
OldCleat

Anibal Sanchez Hurls No-No as a Rookie

Last night, Anibal Sanchez pitched a no-hitter as a rookie. He gets added to the list.

Anibal Sanchez, Florida, beat Arizona, 2-0, Sept. 6,2006.

Here are a couple of lists of rookie no-hitters in the past century or so. I have several different lists because there are some disagreements about who should be on and who shouldn't.

This first list is circa 1983, and it came from the New York Times (or, as I like to call it, the paper of records - HA!). I've added it because it includes the pitcher's career won-loss record.

Pitcher, team Yrs. W L
'01 Earl Moore, Indians 14 161 153
'07 Nick Maddox, Pirates 4 43 20
'12 Jeff Tesreau, Giants 7 119 72
'22 Charles Robertson, W. Sox* 8 49 80
'34 Paul Dean, Cardinals 9 50 34
'35 Vern Kennedy, W. Sox 12 104 132
'47 B. McCahan, Athletics 4 16 14
'53 B. Holloman, Browns 1 3 7
'55 Sam Jones, Cubs 12 102 101
'62 Bo Belinsky, Angels 8 28 51
'67 Don Wilson, Astros 9 104 92
'70 Vida Blue, Athletics 17 209 161
'72 Burt Hooton, Cubs 15 151 136
'73 Jim Bibby, Rangers 12 111 101
'73 Steve Busby, Royals 8 70 54
'83 M. Warren, Athletics 3 9 13
*Perfect game.

This list is from ESPN.

Rookie no-hitters since 1900
Pitcher Team Opponent Result Date
Bud Smith St. Louis San Diego 4-0 9/3/01
Jose Jimenez St. Louis Arizona 1-0 6/25/99
Wilson Alvarez Chicago (AL) Baltimore 7-0 8/11/91
Mike Warren Oakland Chicago (AL) 3-0 9/29/83
Jim Bibby Texas Oakland 6-0 7/30/73
Steve Busby Kansas City Detroit 3-0 4/27/73
Burt Hooton Chicago (NL) Philadelphia 4-0 4/16/72
Vida Blue Oakland Minnesota 6-0 9/21/70
Don Wilson Houston Atlanta 2-0 6/18/67
Bo Belinsky L.A. (AL) Baltimore 2-0 5/5/62
x-Bobo Holloman St. Louis (AL) Philadelphia 6-0 5/6/53
William McCahan Phila. (AL) Washington 3-0 9/3/47
Vernon Kennedy Chicago (AL) Cleveland 5-0 8/31/35
Paul Dean St. Louis (NL) Brooklyn 3-0 9/21/34
Charles C. Robertson Chicago (AL) Detroit 2-0 4/30/22
Charles Tesreau New York (NL) Philadelphia 3-0 9/6/12
Nicholas Maddox Pittsburgh Brooklyn 2-1 9/20/07
Christy Mathewson New York (NL) St Louis 5-0 7/12/1900
x -- first major-league start

For a synopsis of at least one of the rule changes for a no-hitter, click here.

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

Brining Your Pork Chops

Pork chops are among the perfect foods for a barbeque or a tailgate. They are delicious, they are relatively quick to prepare, they are delicious, they have some wiggle room as to being well prepared, and they are delicious.

One of the techniques to preparing great pork chops is to brine the chops.

Here are some tips to brining pork chops. Many of these tips came from James P. DeWan's article in the Chicago Tribune.

* Brining makes meat juicer. The meat has more liquid when you start grilling, and thus is juicier when grilling is finished.

* Brining seasons the inside of the chops, so while you may be a big proponent of rubs, as I am, this will get the whole chop tasty.

* The brining time for most regular-sized pork chops takes only about an hour.

* Make sure you have enough liquid to cover all the chops.

* About 1/4 cup of table salt per quart of water.

* Dissolve salt in a little hot water first. Add the rest of the cold liquid solution to cool the temp of the liquid.

* BRINE IN THE REFRIGERATOR. Don't send your guests to the hospital. While funny, it's not that nice.

* Remove chops from fridge, pat dry, add rub, grill.

thankyouverymuch,
OldCleat

Bronson Arroyo Does His Stopper Bit

Bronson Arroyo proved to be a stopper. Boy, did he step up big, holding the Giants to three singles in a 3-0 shutout last night.

Despite it all, I'm still not in favor of the Wily Mo trade. Every time that Arroyo pitches well, it softens up my staunch opposition to the deal. But Pena can smoke the horsehide, and he is soooo young.

I do understand, however, that if you want to change the culture of a team, you have to make some hard decisions.

The Reds are floundering. Junior is hurt, but this time, they aren't overflowing with outfielders to cover his loss. Thank heavens for Todd Hollandsworth.

I'd Like To Buy The World A Coker

Can't beat the real thing.

But, hey, lose twice in a row to your rivals, and, as Larry Coker is finding out, not All the 'Cane World Loves a Coke-r.

Winning a national championship and over 80 percent of your games just doesn't buy the same happiness that it used to.

The long knives are already out for Larry Coker.

'Cane mutiny? by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports put it pretty well: The U Nation is not happy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=AnQht1iGWuBL_jY8TaF69E45nYcB?slug=dw-coker090406&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Dan Le Betard of the Miami Herald has a column sure to infuriate some of the faithful. He says Miami is just not good enough anymore.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/colleges/florida_state_university/15440236.htm

Matt Zemek of College Football News makes the point that the Canes didn't just lose to the Noles by being beaten, but that Miami's new-look offense "was limp, lame and panicky."

http://cfn.scout.com/2/564659.html

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

The OTHER other Bush

This is a bad story about Bush -- not Reggie, and certainly not this guy, but Michael Bush.

Before his broken leg, Michael Bush looked like he had it all. A big, strong, tough, and fast running back, he had to work for a starting job at Louisville against near NFL-quality backs Lionel Gates and Eric Shelton. Bush is 6-3 and about 245 or 250 pounds. He led the Big East in rushing in 2005 with 1,143 yards, and he had 23 rushing TDs. He also had a TD reception, and his 144 points on 24 TDs led the nation.

In the story it says that Bush has to decide whether to redshirt or not. The way the pros draft, I don't see that his missing the entire 2006 season will be a big issue. Knowing them, they will probably think that the fewer carries he had will mean that he is a little more highly regarded.

The ESPN story said that Bush didn't want to go back to Louisville in 2006, but he didn't enter the draft because he didn't project to the first round. Truthfully, I think he was a better prospect as an NFL running back than DeAngelo Williams or Joseph Addai.

There are some mock drafts or rankings for 2007, such as NFL Draft Countdown, About.com football guy, DraftDaddy, Fox Sports, TheFootballExpert, and others that have Bush going pretty high.

Walker Looks to be Irish MVP

The thing that hit me over the head while watching the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game last night was that while Brady Quinn may be the Heisman Trophy winner and Jeff Samardzija may be the two-sport threat, the MVP of the Irish offense (and thus probably the whole Notre Dame Eleven) is Darius Walker.

The Irish were lucky (where have we heard that before) that the Georgia Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler was called for a helmet to helment hit on Quinn -- a questionable call at best. But the Irish prevailed.

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

RedHawks Drop Opener in Randy Walker Game

Well, it didn't go quite as I had hoped.

The RedHawks dropped the opener, 21-3, to Northwestern in the Randy Walker game. The game was preceded by tributes to Randy Walker, who was the winningest coach in Miami University history who died suddenly on June 29 at the age of 52. Walker was honored with a plaque at Miami's "Cradle of Coaches" plaza.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060901/SPT02/609010326/1035/SPT

Of course, Northwestern was Walker's team now, not Miami. And the game seemed to prove more than anything that a somewhat experienced squad from the Big Ten can beat an inexperienced squad from the Mid-American Conference. Despite losing quarterback Brett Basanez and Zach Strief, the Wildcats have seven returning starters on offense and eight on defense. The RedHawks have four returning starters on offense (and Brandon Murphy, their tailback, was out last night) and only two (or two and a half, if you count Frank Wiwo who as been a nickel corner for a couple of years) on defense.

Pat Fitzgerald (who I am still amazed didn't make an NFL squad coming out of Northwestern) gave Tammy Walker, Randy's wife, the game ball. It all seemed so fitting.

Quick observation about the two new starting quarterbacks. Mike Kafka of Northwestern, who is a redshirt freshman, is very athletic and looks to have a good future. Mike Kokal of Miami, who is a junior, didn't appear as athletic, and he didn't appear all that comfortable passing the ball. Could be a long season.

Fight to the Very End

Fight to the very end.

Northwestern travels to Oxford, Ohio, to play Miami University in a season-opening game tonight at 7:30 Eastern. This game was supposed to be a homecoming forRandy Walker.

Instead, it will turn into a memorial for RandyWalker.

The earliest I can remember Randy Walker was when he was a running back for Miami in the 1970s.

But one of my most vivid memories was a quote about Walker in one of the Cincinnati papers after he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1977. He was picked No. 371 overall in round 13. In training camp that year (they lasted a whole lot longer then), the running backs coach for the Bengals, I believe, commented on how Walker filled notebook after notebook with info.

They were commenting that even then, he knew that he wanted to be a coach.

Walker took over the program at Miami from Tim Rose, a handsome young man who was not a great football coach. The RedHawks (or whatever they were called) were 0-10-1 and 2-8-1 in the two years before Walker took over.

When Walk took the program over, he brought back sometoughness to the team.

In 1995, he brought the RedHawks to Dyche Stadium to face Gary Barnett's Northwestern team that had just beaten Notre Dame at Notre Dame. The Hawks had a pretty good QB in Neil Dougherty. The Wildcats were in control of the game, leading 28-7 in the third quarter. But Dougherty brought them back, scored some easy TDs. And then Northwestern had two fumbled snaps from their backup long snapper to lose to Miami, 30-28.

After that game, Gary Barnett was distraught, and really didn't give Miami any credit. But Walker was having none of it. He was calm, and he said the right thing, that his team just kept fighting.

I remember when Walker was coaching the Northwestern 11 years later and they beat Michigan State in a great game in Dyche Stadium, in 2001. Charles Rogers returned a punt for a TD in the fourth quarter to put State up 20-17. Northwestern had a long drive and scored a TD with only 29 seconds left to go in the game, to go up 24-20.

Northwestern kicked off, and Herb Haygood of Michigan State returned the kick 84 yards for a TD, with only 18 seconds left to go in the game. The Spartans were up 26-24.

But Northwestern wasn't done. They got a paw on the point after, making it go wide. Michigan State only had a two-point lead. They kicked off, and Zak Kustok of Northwestern had the ball on his own 15. Game over?

Kustok threw a huge pass that was almost intercepted but was in fact completed, in State territory. Nortwestern sent in a kicker, with almost no time left, and he got it through. The Cats won the game, 27-26.

And all the years that I watched Miami football, then Northwestern football, that is the one thing that really is foremost in my memory. Any Randy Walker team would keep fighting. Fight to the very end.

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/walker_randy00.html

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060831/SPT0103/608310391/-1/CINCI

Milwaukee Brewers and the Reds

My family and I went to the Reds and Brewers game July 3 in Milwaukee. The Brewers won the game 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth off of the Reds closer, Todd Coffey. Of course, the Brewers closer, Derrick Turnbow, blew the save in the top of the ninth.

The game was fun, had everything (except good defense), and the hot dog won the sausage race.

Super Bowl XVI (16) and Dan Ross

I was just looking over the obits for Dan Ross, one of my favorite players. And I started looking into Super Bowl XVI, or as I like to call it, Super Bowl 16.

Ross had 11 catches that game, as the Bengals tried to come back from a 20-0 halftime deficit. And they did a pretty good job, losing the game 26-21. Ross caught a TD pass, his second of the game, with less than 20 seconds left in the game, but the onside kick was recovered by the Niners.

The Super Bowl was played in the expanse that was the Pontiac, MI, Silverdome. Different stadia mean different things, and the Silverdome always reminds me of Barry Sanders, Wayne Fontes, and the wacky Lions of that era.

Ross was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He must have been some college player. And he is one of the all-time great Bengals.

Looking into Super Bowl 16, I was struck that the leading rusher for the 49ers that season was none other than Ricky Patton. Patton gained 543 yards for the Niners. It took a while to get the Roger Craig kill ya running or passing thing down, I guess.

Raider Who May Have Lost His Arc

Aaron Brooks is the new Raider starting quarterback. The plan seems to be let him start for a little while, then let Andrew Walter will take over. (I think being a starter for the Raiders is over for Marques Tuasisopo, at least in their minds).

Brooks had it all going for him, but for the last year and a half, he seems like a below average quarterback who occasionally has a good game.

Of course, this also could be said for Gus Ferotte, and he went out and had a good season for the Dolphins. And Brooks' numbers aren't that bad, taken as a whole.

Season Team G QBRat Comp Att Pct Yds Y/G Y/A TD Int
2000-01 New Orleans 8 85.7 113 194 58.2 1514 189.3 7.8 9 6
2001-02 New Orleans 16 76.4 312 558 55.9 3832 239.5 6.9 26 22
2002-03 New Orleans 16 80.1 283 528 53.6 3572 223.3 6.8 27 15
2003-04 New Orleans 16 88.8 306 518 59.1 3546 221.6 6.8 24 8
2004-05 New Orleans 16 79.5 309 542 57.0 3810 238.1 7.0 21 16
2005-06 New Orleans 13 70.0 240 431 55.7 2882 221.7 6.7 13 17
Career 85 79.7 1563 2771 56.4 19156 225.4 6.9 120 84

Aaron Brooks took over a newly reconfigured Saints team for Jeff Blake, who was doing a great job, and he led them to the playoffs his first year, winning the franchise's only playoff game. But the past few years, it hasn't been the same. Last year, the entire season was just a bad year for the Saints. With Katrina, one is inclined to give the whole franchise and all of the players a pass. I know I am.

It'll be interesting to see what the Raiders can do with Brooks. He has a strong arm, and they want to throw the ball downfield. And they have Randy Moss and Jerry Porter.

Andrew Walter should be ready to start in the NFL soon. He was a fine pick by the Raiders, and he will be the guy for Art Shell at some point.

Here are Walter's numbers at Arizona State.

Year G/GS Comp/Att Yds. Pct. TD/Int. Lg. Avg./G Eff.
2001 11/2 38/86 546 44.2 3/2 53 49.6 104.4
2002 14/10 274/483 3877 56.7 28/15 85 276.9 137.1
2003 12/12 221/421 3044 52.5 24/10 80 253.7 127.3
2004 11/11 244/426 3150 57.3 30/9 79 286.4 138.4
Total 48/35 777/1416 10617 54.9 85/36 85 221.2 132.6

Bears Win Race for Griese Monkey

In the race for Brian Griese, it appears the Bears beat out the Bengals. Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune, one of the best football writers in the country, said (at least by implication if not outright) that he likes Griese better than Jay Fiedler, Jeff Blake, Gus Ferotte, Jeff Garcia, and Jon Kitna.

The one thing this does is move Kyle Orton back to third string. I am a huge Kyle Orton fan, and I think that the Bears ain't really treating him right after his stint as the starter last year. Another thing this does is give some competition to Rex Grossman. Is Brian Griese better than Sexy Rexy? I don't know, and neither, really, does anyone else.

How much does a quarterback like Brian Griese cost? It seems that he is a five year, at least $14 million with at least a $4 million signing bonus.

Brad Biggs of the Suntimes reports that Griese signed with the Bears because of Lovie Smith's quick hook for quarterbacks. Fair enough.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-bear22.html

Geoff Hobson's story on Bengals dot com says that Aaron Brooks considers himself a starter, so the Bengals don't fit. They may be down to Joey Harrington and Jaimie Martin. I still want them to explore the Jay Fiedler option. But I am fine with Joey Harrington.

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5149

John Sandusky, longtime NFL assistant, dies at 80

John Sandusky died recently. If you were from Ohio, you knew of John Sandusky. If you were a lineman, you knew of John Sandusky.

He was a line coach in the NFL for 35 years. He coached some of the best offensive lines in the history of the NFL.

Again, I would like to state: There is a real need for referees in the pro football hall of fame. Can't have a game without them, and we all notice the real good ones from the average ones.

And there is a real need for assistant coaches in the pro football hall of fame. No team doesn't have them. And we all can spot the real good ones from the average ones.

Baltimore Sun

"He was part Irish, part Polish," [Don Shula] the former Miami Dolphins and
Colts coach said of Sandusky. "But the Irish part, he had that great Irish voice
and he sang those great Irish songs like 'Danny Boy.' Invariably when we went
out together as a staff, John would burst out in song. And I never got tired of
listening to it."John was a great teacher, and on top of that, he was just a
wonderful human being."

The First Cut Is the Deepest: Can Any Early Cuts Help the Bengals?

The following players have been waived. Several of these players represent an upgrade at a position, and, depending on cap number, salary, and health, might be good pickups. The Bengals need a defensive tackle (or two) and a safety (or two).

Defensive Tackle
Sam Adams, DT BUFFALO
Brentson Buckner, DT CAROLINA
La'Roi Glover, DT DALLAS
Ted Washington, DT OAKLAND

Let's start at defensive tackle. Three of the four big DTs are just that, big DTs. Washington, Adams, and Buckner are big take-up-two-blockers, two-gap run-stuffers at their best. They all probably have left their best days behind. Washington at his best was a Hall of Fame type DT. Adams was a Pro Bowl level DT. Bucker was a big dude with occasional ability. All would probably be a step up from Bryan Robinson. But the Bengals will probably choose to go the youth route. I would hope, however, that they at least give Ted Washington a call. Glover is 6-2, 285 or 290. He is a one-gap DT, and was probably the premier one-gap DT for a year or two in New Orleans. Had a couple of good years for the Cowboys, but when Dallas went 3-4, Glover became a bad fit. He is too small for a nose, and, at 30-plus, he probably wasn't given the opportunity to win a DE spot. Pittsburgh would have used him as a DE, though. Glover is a step up from John Thorton, but Thorton is probably going to be more value priced. Someone will take Glover. [Note: Glover has already been signed by the Rams, who may have had a worse problem stopping the run than the Bengals]. And I think the Bengals need a two-gap guy more. It would surprise me, however, if they go for one of these older guys.

Safety
Marcus Coleman, S HOUSTON
Tebucky Jones, S MIAMI
Lawyer Milloy, S BUFFALO

To me, this is a no-brainer. After Madieu Williams and Kim Herring got hurt and missed most of the season, the Bengals were left with probably the worst set of starting safeties in the NFL. Kevin Kaesviharn and Ifeanyi Ohalete were the Bengals starters for most of the season. Kaesviharn is a former corner who doesn't have enough speed and can't cover that well. He also is a poor tackler. Ohalete -- who was cut by the Cardinals at the beginning of the season and picked up by Cincy when they put Herring on IR -- is a big safety without enough speed who occasionally hits hard. But he misses more than he hits and tight ends just roam free. I wanted the Bengals to go with Herna Daze-Jones or Patrick Body or both, just to give them experience. It didn't seem that they could be much worse. With Williams coming back, I think the Bengals need to get one veteran safety. Williams was moving toward Ed Reed territory as far as safeties go by the end of his rookie year. I hope that he if fully recovered and ready to start at free safety. As far as strong safety, I would go for Tebucky Jones, a classic strong safety, if he doesn't cost that much. He played in only six games in '05, so he may need some rehab. But he's big, fast, strong, and experienced. Lawyer Milloy is a little small for a strong safety, but he is ultra productive and would be fine. I would take a pass on Marcus Coleman. But, hey, worse comes to worse, so to speak, he's better than nothing.

Defensive End
Trevor Pryce, DE DENVER
Brady Smith, DE ATLANTA

Always pays to look at who else is out there. I like Brady Smith, but someone else will like him more. Trevor Pryce is not my cup of tea. There will probably be better DEs cut later. And this isn't really an area of need.

Quarterback
Tony Banks, QB HOUSTON
Kerry Collins, QB OAKLAND
Jay Fiedler, QB NEW YORK JETS
Tommy Maddox, QB PITTSBURGH

With Jon Kitna set to find a new home, Cincinnati needs a veteran backup QB. I would sign Jay Fiedler in a heartbeat. I like him. He is a lot like Kitna. The only problem is that Fiedler had a shoulder injury and was out for many months. I think the Jets cut him because they didn't want to chance it that he couldn't come back by sometime in training camp to help. But I think the Bengals should look longer term, and Fiedler is the sort of guy that can carry the old clipboard and make everyone feel better. So I would sign him. And, I would sign another veteran. Right now, these are the other guys available. Ouch. Out of the three of these guys, I think I would take Tommy Maddox. He will be cheap, and maybe he could be an OK guy for a couple of games if you needed him. I would feel more comfortable if he was a third-stringer. Same with Banks. Collins would be a good second-stringer, but I don't see him coming cheap. Hopefully there will be better options a little later.

Cornerback
Andre Dyson, CB SEATTLE
Michael Harden, CB SEATTLE
Reggie Howard, CB MIAMI
Sam Madison, CB MIAMI
Denard Walker, CB OAKLAND
Eric Warfield, CB KANSAS CITY
Willie Williams, CB PITTSBURGH

The Bengals have had two straight cornerbacks make the Pro Bowl in two straight years, which shows you what a crock of manure the Pro Bowl is. The base your corner play on interceptions only. On the theory that you can never have too many corners, here's what's available. I like Madison and Dyson from the above list. If value priced, I'd bring 'em in. But they probably won't be value priced. Charles Woodson is also probably going to be available. The Bengals need to suck it up and start trying to get corners through the draft. And is Keiwan Ratliff a starter? I don't know. But I think James may be nearing the end (perhaps he can be a free safety?), and O'Neal is occasionally great, frequently maddening.

Offensive Line
Brad Hopkins, OT TENNESSEE
Kevin Mawae, C N.Y. JETS
Damion McIntosh, OT MIAMI
Ron Stone, G OAKLAND

I like Mawae, and I would bring him in if you could. Hopkins would be a great backup. He can play left tackle, and he is built like a guard, so one would hope that he could play guard. Mawae and Hopkins both are probably better than a starter for the Bengals, and both could probably start. Both will probably cost too much, and are too old. McIntonsh and Stone are backup material only. Both are also probably too expensive.

thankyouverymuch,

OldCleat

Reds' Best Lineup?

There is a lineup analysis tool on the Internet (wow, I think this thing may catch on!). It does some cipherin' on the best lineup you can have to score the most runs, based on on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Put in the 2006 Reds lineup, using 2005 stats.

Don't know why I did this, but here are the top 10 results.

Best Lineups Runs per Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4.942 Jason LaRue Adam Dunn Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Felipe Lopez Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.941 Adam Dunn Felipe Lopez Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Jason LaRue Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.938 Adam Dunn Felipe Lopez Jason LaRue Ken Griffey Austin Kearns Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.937 Jason LaRue Adam Dunn Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Felipe Lopez Edwin Encarnacion Wily Mo Pena Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.937 Adam Dunn Jason LaRue Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Felipe Lopez Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.936 Adam Dunn Felipe Lopez Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Jason LaRue Edwin Encarnacion Wily Mo Pena Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.936 Jason LaRue Felipe Lopez Austin Kearns Ken Griffey Adam Dunn Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.934 Adam Dunn Austin Kearns Jason LaRue Ken Griffey Felipe Lopez Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.934 Adam Dunn Felipe Lopez Jason LaRue Ken Griffey Austin Kearns Edwin Encarnacion Wily Mo Pena Aaron Harang Ryan Freel

4.933 Jason LaRue Adam Dunn Felipe Lopez Ken Griffey Austin Kearns Wily Mo Pena Edwin Encarnacion Aaron Harang Ryan Freel


http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/LineupAnalysis.py?Player0=Jason+LaRue&OBA0=.355&Slug0=.452&Player1=Felipe+Lopez&OBA1=.352&Slug1=.486&Player2=Adam+Dunn&OBA2=.387&Slug2=.540&Player3=Ken+Griffey&OBA3=.369&Slug3=.576&Player4=Austin+Kearns&OBA4=.333&Slug4=.452&Player5=Ryan+Freel&OBA5=.371&Slug5=.371&Player6=Wily+Mo+Pena&OBA6=.304&Slug6=.492&Player7=Edwin+Encarnacion&OBA7=.308&Slug7=.436&Player8=Aaron+Harang&OBA8=.027&Slug8=.027&Model=0


And here's the tipsheet I found at another website.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/

1. This is the most OBP-centric spot in the lineup. Your hitter here might very well be your best hitter, IF his best attribute is his OBP. A hitter with a .425 OBP and a .500 SLG would fit in here well, provided that there's not a better OBP threat elsewhere on the roster. When I looked at it, I decided that Derek Jeter is really the optimal leadoff hitter. He has a good OBP and acceptable power, and he's generally a solid hitter.

2. The 2-hitter should be the lineup's most balanced hitter, a good combination of OBP and SLG. David Wright fits the bill here, as does the player I chose, Chase Utley. The first guy I thought of was Mike Lowell in his prime, when I looked at the results and coefficients.

3. This was the biggest surprise: the 3 hitter should be the player that doesn't fit into any of the other spots. Every other spot has some significance, but if I were building a lineup, I would just put the leftover player in the 3 hole. This seemed very counterintuitive to me when I first heard it, but David Pinto noted, "Part of what it's telling us is that you need to spread out your easy outs." I still struggled to get this, but I'm starting to, now. Marc said something to the effect of "the worst players have to go somewhere." I guess this is really it; the other spots just have greater needs. If you can get a good hitter here, it means that your lineup is very deep.

4. This is the bopper. This guy's best attribute should be his power, with OBP being of secondary importance. He should be the foil to the leadoff hitter, in a way; both players could be similar if they're both very complete. Andruw Jones, though, is an ideal #4 hitter: slightly above average OBP, and "phenomenal cosmic power," to quote Aladdin.

5. Picking the 5 hitter is simple: it's the second choice for the two slot. Paul Konerko, who I picked for this spot, had a very similar line to our #2 hitter, Chase Utley.

6. The 6 hitter shows the biggest difference between SLG and OBP on the roster. This is because you're going to want to have guys driving in the leftovers. The 6 hitter is the most exclusively power-dependent hitter of the bunch. His OBP is VERY unimportant. Alfonso Soriano and Jay Gibbons are good picks for this
slot.

7. The 7 hitter is the less extreme version of the 6 hitter, with less of a need for power and more usage for OBP. I picked Vernon Wells here.

8. This is the worst hitter in the lineup. If it's the pitcher, he goes here, unless it's Dontrelle Willis or Jason Marquis or someone similar. This is because you'd rather not put the pitcher close to two of the best hitters in the lineup: the 1 and 2.

9. The 9 hitter should be a "punchless wonder," of sorts. Scott Podsednik, Gregg Zaun, and Brad Ausmus fit into this role nicely: guys with acceptable OBPs and absolutely no power. This is the "stereotypical leadoff hitter" to the extreme. He's not actually leading off because you don't necessarily want these guys to imbibe plate appearances, I think.

This is all very new stuff, and I could have interpreted this wrong. I think that Cyril Morong is onto something because you CAN rationalize these positions, even if there's a high level of initial cognitive dissonance. I would say that you should try to go over this checklist when you try and optimize the lineup for whatever team you want, and see if it checks out or comes close to it.

And They Called It, "Tuffy Love"

Love the Tuffy.

LOVE THE TUFFY!

Tuffy Rhodes is back and badder than ever.

Tuffy Rhodes signs with the Cincinnati Reds. I actually think he has a 1-in-10 shot to make the team (but, really, who knows? It would be a better shot if Jim Bowden were still the GM). Rhodes has been called the greatest American player in the history of Japanese Baseball (at least according to the headline from The Japan Times; I couldn't click on the story).

Tuffy Rhodes: the best ever foreign player in Japan The Japan Times, Japan - Feb 18, 2006 The 10-year Japan career of Tuffy Rhodes has apparently come to an end with the announcement last week he had signed a contract with his hometown team, the ...

Here's another story.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060222&content_id=1319606&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

http://www.middletownjournal.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2006/03/01/mj030206redsnotes.html

The Reds have signed on a lot of veteran players in the bullpen and on the bench.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060302/SPT05/603020326/1035

Bullpen: 36-year-old David Weathers, 37-year-old Rick White, 38-year-old Kent Mercker and 40-year-old Chris Hammond.

Bench: 34-year-old Rich Aurilia and 35-year-old Frank Menechino and 35-year-old Quinton McCracken and 36-year-old Scott Hatteberg and 36-year-old Tony Womack and 37-year-old Tuffy Rhodes.

And out of those guys, who do I love? I LOVE THE TUFFY!

Looking at that bench, hells bells, Johnny Bench is only 58.

Last year, it was Aaron Holbert. (Don't worry, Aaron. Still pulling for you this year. But Tuffy's a better story right now.)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/holbeaa01.shtml

This year, so far, it's Tuffy Rhodes.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rhodeka01.shtml

I live in Chicago, surrounded by Cubs fans and (curiously enough, many more) Sox fans. And never will I forget when Karl Tuffy Rhodes took Doc Gooden deep three consecutive times on Opening Day 1994. This was made especially important to me because of an inside joke I had and still have with a coworker regarding Jim Frey, who went to Western Hills High School in Cincinnati (as did Tuffy Rhodes, Don Zimmer, and Pete Rose [you betcha]). (I had a date to a high school dance with Jim Frey's niece back in the Seventies. Still cracks my friend up.) Doc Gooden was still considered a pretty damned good pitcher Opening Day 1994.

Here is the Cubs 1994 Opening Day starters (in alpha order), provided by Baseball Almanac:

1994 Chicago Cubs
Opening Day Starters
Steve Buechele
Shawon Dunston
Mark Grace
Derrick May
Mike Morgan
Karl Rhodes
Ryne Sandberg
Sammy Sosa
Rick Wilkins

And to think they were 49-64.

NFL Combine on NFLNetwork

Did you watch the coverage of the combine on the NFL Network?

Oh, Pete Rozelle, what have you wrought?

I have major issues with the NFL combine. I think there are too many people making too many decisions about too many players instead of seeing if these players can play football.

Every time that I think it is easing up, I hear things like Jay Cutler is passing up Vince Young as a higher rated QB, based on what Cutler did in shorts in Indy. I thought that Vince Young was a first-round pick, a top-15 pick, after the Rose Bowl Game. Not the USC-Texas thriller, but the Michigan-Texas thriller in 2005 when Vince ran for 192 yards and four touchdowns and passed for 180 yards and one touchdown.

He had a better season last year, and a better Rose Bowl game for the National Championship.

I don't get it. Not Jay Cutler. Sorry. And maybe Jay Cutler will be a fine NFL quarterback. But what does Vince Young need to do?

Vernon Davis, tight end from Maryland, ran a 4.38 40 at 255 chisled pounds. The speeds of these things just keep getting more ridiculous. Having said that, I like that Leonard Pope of Geogia and would draft him first as a tight end. Probably that Byrd kid from USC would be No. 2.

Joseph Addai as a first-round pick? Not me. I think he's about Mewelde Moore. Which ain't all that bad, but not a first-round pick.

Rick Spielman and the 40 Time at Indy

There is a great column on ESPN Insider by former Dolphin GM Rick Spielman on the Combine and what scouts and medical personnel look for in Indy.

Here is the URL, but I think you need to pay for this premium content:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/insider/columns/story?columnist=spielman_rick

Below are a few of the more interesting quotes:

When I was with the Miami Dolphins, we would hold a specific combine meeting with everyone who would be attending to go over each player on our board and identify specific things we needed to find out about them.

Of all the tests and evaluations performed at the combine, [medical evaluation] might have the biggest influence on whether a team will draft a player, regardless of
how he grades out as a football player. Teams will take players off their draft board if the doctors decide it is not worth the medical risk to draft the player.

Some people might wonder what scouts possibly can evaluate when a player stands alone on a stage in just his shorts. ... Some teams will go as far as identifying tattoos that could be gang related.

Spielman also spouts the usual stuff about thinking every player should run the 40 at the combine, and that fast players are fast and slow players are slow and blah blah blah. This is the one-way street stuff that galls me.

First off, NFL scouts put SO much value in the 40 time that a player can hurt his draft status incredibly by turning in a slow time. A player can enhance his status by ripping it up in the 40. There are many examples of the 40 time being a determining factor.

And the funny thing is, much like my college GPA, which I don't mention in polite company, NOBODY ever, EVER brings up a 40 time for 98 percent of the guys in the NFL again. If you can play, you can play.

(Of course, I get sucked into the 40-time thing more than I would like to. It is pretty impressive when you hear some of the 40 times of some of those guys, such as Samie Parker of Oregon or Bethel Johnson out of Texas A&M, who each seemed to have about a 4.28 40.)

Pat Kirwan wrote a column in 2004 regarding the 40 time, and I found it online.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/story/7095858

In it, he sort of advocates finding players who are great college players and who look very athletic in every phase of the game, but who blow their 40 times. His two examples are Domanick Davis and Anquan Boldin, who had bad 40 times and were docked in the draft, and turned out to be NFL players. I don't think players should be upgraded because of bad work in Indy, of course. I think it was Bill Walsh who said that Bill Walsh's genius in drafting players was that he only really looked at what players did in college games as the indication of what they could do, not their size or 40 times or arm strenghth or anything else.

Here are some quotes from the Kirwan piece:

As one prominent agent said to me this week when I asked him if his top clients were working out in Indy, he said 'no, and for two big reasons: Domanick Davis and Anquan Boldin'. Both of those young players last year felt they had to do everything at the combine so they participated and they ran slow. Their draft status was damaged in the eyes of club officials with the slow times.

Why take a slow player when you can take a fast player? Maybe because the "slower" player is a better football player? Davis ran a 4.62, which is a bit too slow for an elite running back. Boldin ran an awful 4.72, which is snails pace for a wide receiver. Of course, both players went on to have excellent rookie seasons in the NFL. Davis ran for 1,031 yards and eight touchdowns as the top rookie running back in the league for Houston and Boldin caught 101 passes for 1,377 yards and eight touchdowns. Their football production far outweighed their 40-yard times, but Davis was drafted in the fourth round and Boldin went in the second round.

All I can think about if I were running a personnel department right now is to tell my staff, 'go find the Domanick Davis and Anquan Boldin of this draft.'

I took a look at the All-Rookie team and a number of rookies who excelled this past season that were drafted no higher than the fourth round to find the common thread as to why they were drafted lower than where they actually performed.

Panthers cornerback Ricky Manning started in the Super Bowl. After he won the starting job, his team went 6-1 on the road. He was drafted in the fourth round and he ran a slow 40 (4.53) at the combine. He ran faster later in the spring but was ranked anywhere between eighth and 12th on most cornerback lists. One college scout admitted his combine 40 time was a factor.

There is a great opportunity waiting for the people responsible for a team's draft to look at combine results differently and find those special players most teams will be downgrading this week because of a less-than-stellar performance.

As one of smartest football friends I have in the NFL said to me this week, 'there is a competitive edge to be gained from changing the way I use the results of the combine. I hope after all these years I can try different ways of using the information we gather in Indianapolis'.

Shootin' the Brees: I'd Take Pennington

There are reports that the Jets are going to cut Chad Pennington because of his huge salary. Here's the math:

The team is about $26 million over the cap and needs to come to an agreement with Pennington before the start of free agency March 3.

Pennington's agent, Tom Condon, reportedly rejected a deal that would have reduced the quarterback's base salary from $9 million to $1 million.

The Jets started renegotiating with the franchise quarterback last week, hoping to slash his base pay to make his contract more salary-cap friendly.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=At2nGObED3qKvpTMq_Mtkl5DubYF?slug=ap-jets-pennington&prov=ap&type=lgns

And the Chargers are going to let Drew Brees go in free agency, supposedly.

San Diego general manager A. J. Smith said Monday the team has declined to designate Brees as its franchise or transition player.

If the Chargers had slapped either of the tags on Brees, he would be guaranteed nearly $10 million in a one-year salary next season. That's too rich for the Chargers, considering Brees was injured in the team's season finale, tearing the labrum in his throwing shoulder while trying to recover a fumble.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-chargers-brees&prov=ap&type=lgns

So two young quarterbacks, two bad shoulders. You are a NFL team. Which quarterback do you go for?

I like Drew Brees. Thought he was a heckuva QB out of Purdue. Thought the Dolphins should have picked him at the end of the first round in 2001, when, instead, they took Jamar Fletcher, the cornerback from Wisconsin (my brother-in-law, Dave-o, a huge Dolphin fan, almost had a cow, a whole steer, when the Dolphins announced that pick).

But, for my money, I would take Pennington on the open market. When healthy, I think Pennington is a better player. If they are both hurt, they are just hurt. But if they are both healthy, Pennington, in my mind, is the much better quarterback. Here are the numbers:

Brees
Season Team G QBRat Comp Att Pct Yds Y/G Y/A TD Int

2001-02 San Diego 1 94.8 15 27 55.6 221 221.0 8.2 1 0
2002-03 San Diego 16 76.9 320 526 60.8 3284 205.3 6.2 17 16
2003-04 San Diego 11 67.5 205 356 57.6 2108 191.6 5.9 11 15
2004-05 San Diego 15 104.8 262 400 65.5 3159 210.6 7.9 27 7
2005-06 San Diego 16 89.2 323 500 64.6 3576 223.5 7.2 24 15
Career 59 84.9 1125 1809 62.2 12348 209.3 6.8 80 53

Pennington
2000-01 NY Jets 2 127.1 2 5 40.0 67 33.5 13.4 1 0
2001-02 NY Jets 2 79.6 10 20 50.0 92 46.0 4.6 1 0
2002-03 NY Jets 15 104.2 275 399 68.9 3120 208.0 7.8 22 6
2003-04 NY Jets 10 82.9 189 297 63.6 2139 213.9 7.2 13 12
2004-05 NY Jets 13 91.0 242 370 65.4 2673 205.6 7.2 16 9
2005-06 NY Jets 3 70.9 49 83 59.0 530 176.7 6.4 2 3
Career 45 92.1 767 1174 65.3 8621 191.6 7.3 55 30

I lot of what I like about Chad Pennington is from his 2002 season, which was a long time ago. But to me, his best is better than Brees's best. And Pennington's worst isn't that much worse than Brees's worst. I would be willing to gamble on Pennington coming back and being great again.

A team is going to have to shell out a great deal of money for Drew Brees. A team will have to load Pennington's contract with a bunch of incentives. The better deal is Chad Pennington.

Maybe Reggie Bush to the Texans Isn't a Slam Dunk

According to Peter King, the Texans aren't sold on Reggie Bush. Or at least that is what Charlie Casserly, the Houston GM, has told King. or at least that is the Texans negotiating ploy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArIekHCA5jRE6Lhg6ZPN9H5DubYF?slug=cnnsi-firstthingsfirs&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns

"There's been no guarantee that we'll take Bush,'' Casserly told me. "We're wide
open. We're wide open for trades for the pick. The way I see it, here are our
options. Keep David Carr and take Reggie Bush. Keep David Carr and draft Vince
Young. Take Vince Young and see what we can get in trade for David Carr. And
trade down. We're going to visit with people at Indianapolis and take our time.
Nothing will get done, I wouldn't think, until the week before the
draft.''

I think it is a little better to just go with the flow on this and see if you can get a talent like Bush wrapped up before the draft. I also don't want to hear the bull about Bush being durable enough. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Peter King says: "My biggest question about Bush has been -- and continues to be
-- this: Can he be an every-down player in the NFL? This is a guy who rushed
more than 20 times twice in a three-year USC career, and who, playing at around
198 pounds, will have massive durability questions in the
NFL."

"It's the same question we're asking ourselves internally,
quite frankly,'' said Casserly. "He didn't do it in college, and you don't know
if he can do it in the NFL."

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. I hope you are just blowing smoke up someone's bloomers. I think the guy is Cadillac Williams, only better. I think he is Clinton Portis, only faster. I think he is Marshall Faulk. Reggie Bush is about Marshall Faulk. And with the way that teams pass the ball, Bush doesn't have to carry it 20 times a game between the tackles every game. Just some games. And Bush has always looked plenty tough to me.


Let's take a look at the top running backs in the NFL draft for the last several years.

2005

Ronnie Brown, No. 2 overall, Miami: Looked pretty damned good his rookie year. Split carries with Ricky Williams toward middle and end of year. Hopefully didn't split brownies with Williams.

Cedric Benson, No. 4, Chicago: Held out. Couldn't win starting job from former No. 7 overall pick Thomas Jones.

Carnell Cadillac Williams, No. 5, Tampa Bay: Was the top rookie running back last season, and won several honors as offensive rookie of the year.

J.J. Arrington, No. 44, Arizona: Was it JJ's lack of burst or an offense-wide problem with Arizona not being able to run the ball? Arrington didn't look very good his rookie year.

2004

Steven Jackson, No. 24, Rams: Was good enough to take Marshall Faulk's starting job away. With the Rams moving away from a pass-drunk offense, Jackson may move to being a top NFL running back. Big and fast, Jackson needs to continue working on his game.

Chris Perry, No. 26, Cincinnati: Was slated as a second-rounder. Missed most of his rookie year with an injury, but was productive as a sophomore as a third-down back. Showed a surprising burst.

Kevin Jones, No. 30, Detroit: Looked better as a rookie than last year, though he had to battle some injury woes as a sophomore. May be getting the ball a lot as the Lions move away from the San Fran West Coast offense.

Tatum Bell, No. 41, Denver: Is a part-time starter. Very, very fast, and looks like he can be productive in the Denver system.

Julius Jones, No. 43, Dallas: There are times that Julius looks like the best back in this class. He is powerfully built, can read his blockers, and shows a nice burst with some breakaway speed.


2003

Willis McGahee, No. 23, Buffalo: Sat out a redshirt year as a rookie because of injury. There are times that McGahee looks like a top-5 back in the NFL. There are times that he doesn't. Has all the tools, and still may put them together.

Larry Johnson, No. 27, Kansas City: Looked a little like a bust after his first season and a half. There was some talk about KC giving up on him and moving on before last year. I'll be they are glad they didn't. Had one of the best half a seasons in football history the last half of 2005. He gained 1,351 yards in the last nine games of the season, with 16 rushing touchdowns. He is one of the top three backs in football right now.

Ernie Stautner, NFL Tough Guy

Ernie Stautner died this past week.

I remember him best as the defensive coach for Tom Landry, but I also know that he was a defensive tackle for the Steelers in the 1950s and a Hall of Famer. When I was younger, it was always my impression that he was HUGE.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Reading some of the obits, it seems that he was a precursor to one of my favorite playes, Tim Krumrie.

Here are some obits with some great quotes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/sports/football/17stautner.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

At 6-foot-1 and about 235 pounds, he was small for his position, even in that
era, but he was chosen to play in the Pro Bowl nine times and was voted to the
N.F.L.'s All-Star team four times.

Jim Parker, the Hall of Fame offensive guard who died last July, as once saying of Stautner: "That man ain't human. He's too strong to be human. He's the toughest guy in the league to play against because he keeps coming headfirst. Swinging those forearms wears you down. That animal used to stick his head in my belly and drive me into the backfield so hard that when I picked myself up and looked around, there was a path chopped through the field like the farmer had run a plow over it."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/nfl/stories/021706dnspostautner.323f3346.html

"He was from an era where football was built and was one of the toughest guys
I've ever known," former Cowboys safety Cliff Harris said. "In those early days
of football, there was no such thing as illegal roughness, and Ernie had broken
noses and broken knuckles, and everything was fair. I think that people have
forgotten about that era, but they laid the foundation of where football is
today, and he was one of those pillars."

Bob Lilly was in his
sixth season when Stautner joined Landry's staff as a defensive line coach in
1966. He knew Stautner as a tough-nosed player from his days with the Steelers
and saw it again as a coach.

"We're hitting the two-man sled, and we're supposed to hit it with our forearms, and Ernie says, 'You guys are hitting it like a bunch of girls. Let me show you how to hit it,' " Lilly recalled. "He comes up and almost knocked it over. By the third time, he hit this steel plate with his knuckle and broke his hand. He got our attention from
that point on."

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/steelerslive/s_424869.html

And, because he demonstrated a blue-collar work ethic (no doubt developed in his native Germany), he was a favorite of the long-suffering Steelers fans.

"Ernie's physical and relentless style of play helped the Steelers earn a reputation for being one of the NFL's toughest teams in the 1950s," Rooney said, mindful that the Steelers were 16-9-3 in Stautner's final two seasons, which included a playoff berth in 1962. "He was undersized for his position, but his strength and power were among his greatest assets."

"He was kind of the backbone of our Doomsday defenses," said Gil Brandt, the vice president of player personnel with the Cowboys from 1960-89. "He kind of coached like he played. He was a hard-working, hard-trying individual who had a lot of patience in developing young players. He was easy-going and well-liked. The thing with him was that he made everybody feel at home."

http://news.steelers.com/article/62905/

"The team in the 1950s was a lot better than anybody knew," said Rooney. "They played well. They didn't win championships, but some of that was because of injuries. Our reputation for being a tough team started a little bit before Ernie, but not to the extent that he would take it to.

"When people thought of the Steelers in the 1950s, they thought of Ernie Stautner."

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news.cfm?id=7438BC7C-C1BA-E12C-07CE962FB46D1FDB

Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells remembered having to coach against those Stautner defenses when he was first making his way in the NFL.

"He was the first one to bring all eight," recalled Parcells, referring to the numbers of guys at the line of scrimmage and rushing the quarterback - a forerunner to what Buddy Ryan began doing with the Bears. "He was tough."

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=269853&Category=17

Lilly, a Hall of Fame defensive tackle, said that as soon as Stautner arrived, he demanded that his players pay attention to the little things in practice. “He said, ‘You guys hit that two-man sled like a bunch of girls.’ What he did was he put his right hand in a fist and came up and hit that sled as hard as he could, and he was stout,” Lilly said. “He hit it two or three times, and we were wide-eyed.

“There’s a half-inch metal plate behind that pad, and he hit that pad with his middle knuckle and broke a bone in his hand. He hit it again, and blood started squirting out,” Lilly said. “Boy, I can tell you he had our attention from then on.”

Rating the New Head Coach Hires: The First Time Coaches

Rating the New Head Coach Hires: The First Time Coaches :

B Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints
I give the Saints a B for getting Payton. He is a respected quarterback guru (who will probably get a chance to show what he can do with Matt Leinert) and a fine offensive mind. He seems to have all the tools to be a big-time head coach, and he reminds me a little of John Gruden. He has a chance to turn around a struggling organization. He is probably about even with Jim Haslett.

C+ Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans
Kubiak reminds me of Mike Shanahan. Both the good and the bad. Kubiak seems highly organized, he has run one of the best offenses in the NFL for more than a decade in Denver with all sorts of players, and he is ready to be a head coach. And he seems to know how to run the ball. He was a player in the league, which neither helps nor hurts. Denver has had it share of below par quarterbacking ever since No. 7 left town, so it willbe interesting to see what Kubiak can do with David Carr. Reggie Bush will help. I do like Dom Capers, but, geez, Dom, get an offensive line, would ya?

C Rod Marinelli, Detroit Lions
OK, this is just me. There is something aboutMarinelli that just says "football coach" to me. Whether he is a svelte Abe Gibron, who also sort of said "football coach" to me, is another matter. Idon't think you need to have been a coordinator before taking a head job. I do think it helps. I don't think you need to have a head coach at a lower level before taking a lead job. I do think it helps. I think Detroit is a mess of a situation and it may not matter who the head coach is there, they may not be able to be successful. Is Marinelli a step up from DickJauron? Probably not, but I think Jauron needed to go, because of the interim status thing. Is Marinelli astep up from Mariucci? No.

C- Scott Linehan, St. Louis Rams
Maybe I'm biased, but I thought that much of what Minnesota accomplished under Linehan's tenure as the offensive coordinator was due to Randy Moss tilting the field and Dante Culpepper being a fairly fast 255-pound quarterback with a big arm and running skills. I was never really impressed with the Vikes' consistency on offense. But they did score. Linehan did a pretty impressive job with Miami's offense last year. But the Fish were coming off the Ricky fiasco, got Ronnie Brown, and got Ricky back. Linehan has some pretty impressive college credentials as well. Is Linehan an upgrade over Martz? As a offensive mind, no, but as head coach, maybe.

D+ Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings
I have to admit that I was never a big fan of Philadelphia's offense, but it IS productive. Childress is given credit for much of Donavan McNabb's success. Maybe rightly so. And, if that is the case, then he has a lot to work with in Culpepper. I thinkDante's decision skills aren't as good as McNabb's, so there will be some problem there in adopting a pass-first West Coast offense that depends on a high completion percentage. Childress is a step up from Mike Tice, if for no other reason than it was time for Tice to go. I'm not overly impressed with Childress and think he's about Mike Mularkey. There were probably better candidates available.

F Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers
I think Mike McCarthy isn't even Mike Mularkey. When Andy Reid was hired as the Philadelphia coach, I gave that an F-, so you never know. But I think McCarthy wasn't even close to the best candidate available. I don't think he's ready. And I think he's come some spotty work in the past. He was the QB coach for Brett Favre for one season in which Favre threw for 4,000 yards. He was an offensive coordinator for New Orleans for five years. He had Jeff Blake, who did him proud for a year. And Aaron Brooks. Not all that great. Last year, he was the OC for the 49ers, where he oversaw the rapid development of Alex Smith. He is not an upgrade from Mike Sherman.

Eric Mangini, New York Jets F-
What is this about? I was going to make some derogatory comment about Mangini being Phil Bengtson, but Bengtson was much better prepared to be a head coach and actually deserved the job. I'm sorry. There is nothing about this guy that says "outstanding" to me. He took over a defense that was No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed in 2003 and No. 2 in 2004 and drove it to No. 17 in 2005. Now I know there were injuries and whatever, and those are just numbers, but why give this kid the job? I think that what Ted Cottrell did in his career is far more impressive. I think Norm Chow deserved a shot more. And I will tell you this, there is nothing about Mangini that says "step up from Herm Edwards." Definite stop down. Eric, you are welcome. By my giving you an "F-", you will now go out and make everyone forget Don Shula, who was 33 when hewas hired by the Colts in 1963, replacing one of my favorite coaches of all time, Weeb Ewbank.

Rating the NFL Coaching Hires: The Veteran Coaches

Rating the new head coach hires

A+ Art Shell, Oakland Raiders
The last hire of the year was the best. This will turnout to be one of those situations where the Bears hadto settle for Lovie Smith or Notre Dame had to settlefor Charlie Weis. Shell is the right man for the job. Art knows exactly how to be a head coach. He knows exactly how to coach the Raiders. There was only one person for this job, and it was Art. Bobby Petrino was not as good a fit for this job. Neither was KenWhisenhunt. This needed to be Art's job. Great hire byAl Davis, even if he was sorta forced into it.

A- Dick Jauron, Buffalo Bills
Jauron is a fine football coach, and he has shown the ability to be a successful head coach somewhat in the NFL. He will have about the same level of talent atBuffalo that he had in Chicago several years ago. And he will have one of the same problems: a young quarterback who may not be an NFL starter with veteran ability sitting on the bench. In Chicago, Jauron had Cade McNown, who was forced into a starting role for a playoff team and failed miserably, while Jim Miller had the support of the team. In Buffalo, Jauron islooking at JP Losman, while Kelly Holcombe may have the support of the team. But, long-term, I look forJauron to succeed.

B+ Herm Edwards, Kansas City Chiefs
Boy did the Chiefs want Herm. With Al Saunders sitting there, Carl Peterson went out and got Herm. And I think that's a plus. Also, he was a good to very good head coach for the Jets for most of his tenure there. I actually think he did OK last year, all things considered. How would Tony Dungy have done with Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi hurt and out in week two or three? I would have like to see Al Saunders get a shot, but the Herm hire was a pretty good one.