Making Headlines

Picture this:  Your greatest rivals, after years of disappointment and — let’s be blunt – failure, suddenly have turned things around.  In just a few years, they have taken first place (which you think you deserve, of course) away from you and dominated the championship.  Twice.  And what’s worse, they’ve  used your strategy (buy the best) to do it.  What’s a slighted team to do?

Why, make headlines, of course.  For example, drag out negotiations with your popular manager, and then fail to come to an agreement, doing your best to release statements to draw attention away from games that are still being played.  In the midst of a historic game, have one of your best players, who, although never embraced by your fan base, is clearly headed to the Hall of Fame, announce that he is leaving the team.  Finally, do your best to overshadow celebration with a job offer to one of the rising stars in the game.  Draw attention away from the enemy and on to yourself. 

Despite my professed aversion to both these teams, as a communications professional I have to admire the Yankees’ strategy.  The irony and timing are amusing.  Really, I think they must have given A-Rod some incentive for making his announcement at the end of the World Series.  He’s a great player, but he’s never been embraced by Yankee Nation the way Jeter has been.  And timing news about an offer to Girardi less than 24 hours after a Red Sox sweep?  Classic.  They may have still been celebrating in Beantown, but the rest of the world was fairly easily distracted by the LATEST news, and the Yanks provided it. 

And now that Joe Girardi is officially the new Yankees manager, I have to decide what imapct, if any, this will have on my anti-Yankee sentiment.  TheSassyOne has been a strong supporter of Girardi, and has made her preference for him over Pinella very clear.  After listening to her, I’ve developed respect for the young manager.  But I don’t cheer for the Yankees, based on the arrogance and sense of entitlement that permeates the team and their fans.  I guess I’ll see how I feel next summer…

Big Fat Dirty Crybabies

I am loath to defend anything that the Patriots do. Tom Brady is an arrogant pretty boy and Bill Belichick is an arrogant asshat. They are big fat dirty cheaters. But let’s be honest. Maybe the biggest reason for hating on the Patriots is that they insist on being just sooooo good all the time. The nerve.

This last point is of particular interest to what I’m about to say, and why I am about to defend the Patriots despite my inclinations against doing so. If I hear one more team complain about them running up the score, I’m going to lose it. Lookee here. This isn’t peewee leagues. This is the big boy leagues. This is where big boys get paid for doing a job. And if you’re on defense, your job is to stop the other team from scoring points. And if you can’t do your job, then you don’t get to complain that the other team won’t do your job for you. Sorry.

We all like to hate the king of the mountain. It’s OK. We can just admit. I can, at least. Part of the reason I hate the Pats is that they are good. And when they don’t conduct themselves in a gracious and sportsmanlike manner (e.g., when they cheat), I can hate them for that too. But unfortunately, and as much as I might like to do otherwise, I can’t come up with a definition of “gracious” or “sportsmanlike” that requires them to (a) do the other team’s job for them, or (2) coddle the other team’s ego.

Now, is it possibly stupid for them to keep running up the score? Sure it is. One tragic slip-and-fall by Tom Brady on a late-game play and their season could be over. But if your defense is playing that poorly, and if you’re dumb enough to fall for a fake spike against a team known for using that move, then I think you abdicate all right to complain about that team’s lack of willingness to lie down in front of the train for you, even if it is the end of the game and you think, by some strange method of accounting, that they should make their backsides more available for your cleat marks.

Go home, work on not sucking, and next time come ready to play. You’ve obviously got plenty enough to worry about with yourselves. Stop wasting energy on the other team. There are no style points in the NFL. You don’t get an extraspecialsuperloss with a certain margin of defeat. The only thing all this crying does is drag your morale down even further, waste all your energy, and take your focus away from the things you can and should be working on.

And all the columnists and talking heads should find something else to talk about, other than who’s being an alleged big meanie. They should talk about…you know, something that might actually make a difference in this weekend’s upcoming games.

[And yes, this post is a deliberate attempt to avoid talking about the Bears.]

Is It the End of the (College Football) World as We Know It?

Saturday was a typical day in college sports.  Kansas beat Texas A&M in College Station.  Florida and Georgia battled in a high-tempo, high-scoring game.  Oregon beat USC in Eugene.  Conneticut is the only team undefeated in Big East conference play.  Texas beat Nebraska in Austin.  Ohio State controlled their game against Penn State in Happy Valley.  The Illini look to be headed into post-season play.  Crisp passing and teamwork allowed D-III Trinity (TX) to beat Millsaps as time expired.  And, there is considerable debate over who might emerge as the national player of the year.

But look at your calendar.  It was October 27.  I’m talking about FOOTBALL!  Kansas over A&M?  Conneticut has a football team?  USC lost (again)?  Penn State was essentially dominated at home?  My Illini are bowl-eligible?  A D-III team won on a play with 15 laterals?  There’s no clear frontrunner in the Heisman race with about a month left in the season?  What’s going on? 

The crazy ups and downs and twists and turns of the 2007 college football season have given the talking heads on ESPN plenty to talk about.  But I believe we are witnessing a subtle shift in the college football world.  Top high school recruits are slightly less awed by the names of traditional powerhouses and are slightly more likely to consider opportunities that will allow them to play sooner. 

Is this a permanent shift?  Only time will tell, but I do think this trend will continue…

Maybe It’s the Water

I’ve decided that there must be something in the water at Halas Hall that reacts with biochemcial and cognitive processes in quarterbacks, disrupting their eyesight and throwing arm such that they are prone to throw interceptions.  Any other explanations?

Why I’m Rooting for the Rockies

(1) They’re the underdog. My personal Life Rule for these situations in which I have no obvious rooting interest is as follows: all things being equal, root for the underdog. Watching the favorite march toward his/her/their inevitable victory is not near as exciting as watching a great upset in the making. In this case, as the remainder of this list will make clear, all things are not equal. However, the general bias toward the underdog persists.

(2) I have league pride. This is a difference between my pro rooting habits and my college rooting habits. For college sports, I do have conference pride. If my team doesn’t make it, I’ll go ahead and root for the team from my conference that did make it (in most cases). However, I do not have divisional/conference/whatever pride in pro sports. If I did, that could result in something as horrific as me rooting for the Packers or something like that. Can you imagine? The major exception I’ll make is NL pride in baseball. I mean, the DH, fercryinoutloud.

(3) I like Troy Tulowitzki. OK, mostly I just like saying his name. It’s one of the more pleasantly alliterative names in recent memory. Furthermore, I’m a sucker for the rookie-having-a-breakout-year storyline. And I have a thing for guys who play the left side of the infield, a thing outstripped only by my thing for starting pitchers. Course, he does idolize Derek Jeter. No one’s perfect, I suppose.

(4) The Bo Sox are suddenly quite cocky. Mostly, I like or at least don’t mind the Red Sox. I think it’s because of the anti-Yankees thing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend—isn’t that how it goes? But I have to say, for a team that’s only won one World Series in the last 90 or so years, they’re getting a little too big for their britches these days.

(5) It might be nice to see some history made. I already saw the playoffs in which the Red Sox made history. That’s so 2004. I’m interested in this new flavor of the month. Did anyone, anyone at all, pick the Rockies to win it all this year? Pick ‘em to even make the playoffs? How about a winning record? Yeah, maybe the story my grandkids will want to hear is the story of how the Red Sox finally broke through and won after all those years of futility. Or maybe I’ll slap them and tell them that they should be asking about a scrappy team, mostly devoid of marquee names, that used an unprecedented late season run to springboard into one of the most unexpected World Series wins ever. I can tell them these tales while we continue to wait for the Cubs to break their drought.

(6) I lived in Colorado for a year. I didn’t convert or anything during that year. My interest in the Rockies mostly extended to joking with fellow transplants about the “Cubs game” when the Northsiders made their way into Denver. But absence, she makes the heart grow fonder.

(7) The Red Sox have Josh Beckett on their roster. ‘Nuff said.

Miracle in Philly

As far as miracles go, it’s not exactly on par with walking on water or anything. But here’s what you have to understand. These things just don’t happen to the Bears. Oh sure, we’ve won some games. We’ve won some close games. We’ve won some games at the last or very nearly last second. But 97 yards in less than 2 minutes with no timeouts left? OK, these things only happen once in a blue moon to any team. But they really, really just don’t happen to the Bears. It requires a competent, level-headed, judicious quarterback, and those are certainly not indigenous to Chicago.

So we know what this win told us. It told us the Bears aren’t quite dead just yet. It told us that the offense can pull it out, but we already knew that from the past two weeks. It told us that maybe Brian Urlacher isn’t hurt. It told us that, late in the game, when it mattered, Tommie Harris may have found that fire he apparently hasn’t had since last February. It told us that, despite improved offensive line play, the Bears still have no running game to speak of. Credit them for not completely abandoning the run until the that last drive (when they had to do so for obvious reasons), but Cedric Benson’s got quite the knack for finding just the exact spot where the defensive hoarde is lying in wait.

It also told us that Devin Hester, while perhaps not the single best player in the NFL, does have something unique that I’m not sure anyone else can lay claim to. The Eagles’ persistent tactic of kicking anywhere but within 20 yards of Hester resulted in some great field position for the Bears—up until that last drive, of course. Devin Hester didn’t lay his hands on the ball once on special teams. How many players can change the face of the game that drastically without ever even touching the ball? If you’re looking for a franchise-changing player, you’d probably still pick, say, LaDanian Tomlinson. But could Tomlinson change the entire game if he never touched the ball? Or maybe you’d like to have Tom Brady. Can’t fault you for that. But can he alter the game without ever getting his grubby mitts on that ball?

But let’s recap what this win didn’t tell us. While they’re not dead and buried yet, it also didn’t tell us that the Bears have saved their season. They already “saved” it once, two weeks ago, and we all saw where that went. Realistically, the Bears need to go 6-3, and probably 7-2, to get into the playoffs. And the schedule still calls for a rematch against all three division foes, plus games against Seattle, Denver, Washington and the Giants. Even the games against Oakland and New Orleans aren’t gimmes. They don’t have a single game left that looks like a sure win. But, on the other hand, they don’t have a single game left that looks like a sure loss. This game also didn’t tell us that Ron Turner should be fired, even though Griese called the plays on that last drive. I’m not Turner’s biggest fan, but Griese assembled them from a sheet prepared by Turner, a sheet full of plays they’ve been practicing. It’s not like he came up with those plays ex nihilo.

And on the topic of Griese, this game also didn’t tell us that Griese is the answer. That’s not to say he can’t be. Griese is 31, not all that old by NFL QB standards. The Bears have got enough question marks at the offensive skill positions as it is. If Griese continues to improve his numbers (i.e, 250+ yards and no more than one turnover, both of which he’s done in two of the last three games) and continues to be cool in the clutch, then maybe wide receiver and running back jump quarterback on the off-season priority list. But the operative word is “continues.” Let’s not rush to elevate Griese to The Answer status just yet.

And finally, the game didn’t tell us that the defense is back just yet. It’s going to take more than just one pretty solid overall effort to erase the bad taste of certain previous games.

BTN

That’s “Big Ten Network” for those who don’t follow college sports closely.  A nice idea, but I’ve not been impressed thus far.  And today, I can watch 4 Big Ten games without it, thanks to ABC and ESPN.  I don’t know the details of the contracts and rights to broadcast games, but today I sincerely mean it when I say “thank you!”

This Just In

NBC has a sense of humor. ABC, not so much.

NBC is taking Saturday Night Live’s recent digs at Notre Dame (and NBC) in style. Apparently, they get that it’s funny. OK, maybe Charlie Weis isn’t laughing. But the rest of us are. It’s not often that you see a multimedia conglomerate displaying a sense of humor and self-awareness, but there you go.

ABC/ESPN, on the other hand, axed Jimmy Kimmel from Monday Night Football after he attempted to grab a few laughs at the expense of the firing of Joe Theismann. This raises a few important ancillary issues which must first be addressed. (1) Why is Jimmy Kimmel even on MNF anyway? What is his relevance? (2) Exactly when did Joe Theismann get fired and why was I not informed? (3) And what took them so long?

Jimmy Kimmel is one of the most unfunny yet allegedly hilarious people out there. In fact, one of the few people who can match him in that category is his lady love, Sarah Silverman. These two deserve each other. But I digress. In this case, he was somewhat humorous. I mean, insinuating on national TV that Tony Kornheiser got Joe Theismann fired? Only a robot missing the humor chip wouldn’t get a least a little chuckle out of that.

Even Theismann claims to be amused about the whole kerfuffle. As a non-fan of the Jimster, I’m not actually going to lobby ABC/ESPN to bring him back, but come on. All of those aforementioned humor-chipless robots must be working for ABC.

Blow Up the Entire Defense and Start Over

OK. This one is definitely too extreme. Urlacher, Harris, Tillman and others–there’s definitely some keepers in this group. Yet the defense has been middling to poor to really bad for most this year. The offensive woes, I can understand. They just don’t have the personnel to make things happen. But they’ve still managed to put together something over the past two weeks, though they’ll likely never escape the limitations of their collective ability.

The defense, despite injuries, seems to have the personnel to at least make a respectable showing. Getting shredded for 300-something yards on the ground and 34 points doesn’t meet any standard of respectability. It’s the reverse of the offense’s problem: they’ve got the pieces but can’t put it together.

Is Lovie losing this team? Many players credited a rather impassioned halftime speech from Lovie with fueling their turnaround in Green Bay. So, given the positive results of that, why didn’t the same mojo carry them this week? No way you can justify losing the Vikings, an overmatched team with no passing game and no secondary. No way you can lose to the Vikings when Devin Hester gives you yet another touchdown. No way you can lose to them when your much maligned offense gives you three more touchdowns and a field goal. No way you can lose when it’s well within your ability to stop or at least contain a rookie running back. I don’t see where this loss can be attributed to anything other than sheer lack of will.

And yes, the players say all the right things, owning up to their own poor effort. But you’ve got to wonder what’s really going on there. A team with superbowl aspirations has, in the span of six games, turned into a team that lacks the will to put away a clearly inferior opponent. And you know, maybe if these grown men can’t somehow manage to summon that will within themselves, then there’s not a whole lot a coach can do. But this team seems completely unprepared for competition, almost as unprepared as they would be if they came into next Sunday with no gameplan whatsoever. That failure, we’d feel secure in laying at the coaches’ feet. So do they get the same blame in this case?

Like I Said…Parity

The word has crept into commentary on the 2007 college football season.  Saturday seemed to level the playing field, with both #1 and #2 in the polls losing.  Of the few remaining unbeaten teams, Ohio State and Kansas can boast soft schedules, and many people are still trying to figure out where South Florida is (Tampa) and what conference they are in (Big East).

The Illini lost on the road in Iowa City in a heartbreaking game, but the team is doing so much better than I expected, that I will get over it soon.  Penn State beat up on Wisconsin, and Michigan did the same to Purdue.  Minnesota managed to let a big lead get away from them at Northwestern, losing in double overtime.  

I can’t believe I was cheering for Kentucky, but it was exciting to see them stop LSU in triple OT.  Auburn and Arkansas slugged it out in a defensive battle, and the Tigers pulled it out on the road, even though they never scored a touchdown.  The highlights from the end of Cal and Oregon State were crazy — you don’t expect that kind of clock management from a top team. 

Overall, it was another great day for college football (even though I’m mourning the Illini loss).  Although there were quite a few blowouts, parity is a reality.  The AP rankings are all but meaningless.  I was curious to see what the BCS computers would do with the season, and they have Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College at the top.  I’m not convinced that these are the best team in the country, but they haven’t lost.