Weekend Hangover: Love/Hate

LOVE

- Has there ever been a more ridiculous ending to a college football game than the LSU-Tennessee game this weekend? LSU got down to the 3 yard line with under 30 seconds left and was completely confused and out of sorts trying to call a final play. With the clock about to run out, the center snapped the ball past the quarterback who fell on the ball to seemingly give the Vols the win. Only during the confusion of LSU substituting players and not knowing what play to call, the Vols were flagged for having 13 guys on the field. LSU got another chance and punched it in for the game winning touchdown with no time on the clock. A finish that was more unbelievable than Cristina Del Basso of Big Brother in Italy. Rumor has it that she is another of Tiger’s birdies. Wow.

- I love all the overdone hype surrounding the picture of Gisele at some European event and possibly kissing a dude that isn’t Tom Brady. There are so many possibilities and explanations that don’t involve a scandal or anything illicit. I mean, Gisele is Brazilian and they are all about kisses on the cheek for greetings and departures. Is it really a stretch to think that the guy just pulled a middle-school trick and turned his face at the last minute so she planted one on his lips? My brother asked me the most pertinent question that can be applied to this situation or the Dez Bryant dropping 55k on dinner: Wouldn’t you? If you were that guy and got that close to Gisele or if you were Dez Bryant and could afford to take an entire football team out to a steak dinner, wouldn’t you?

- That sound you heard on Sunday was the Vick hype train jumping the rails and going down in flames faster than Mel Gibson’s career. I haven’t seen how long Vick will be out, but the Eagles definitely need him. Kevin Kolb looked scared and weak-armed as he took over the Eagles and couldn’t lead them back against McNabb and the Redskins. The other lesson learned from this game: The NFC East is wide open because all of the teams suck. The Eagles were feeling good because they beat the Lions and the Jaguars. This week showed their defense is awful. The Redskins have two wins within the division, but have lost their two games outside the division.

- I love the slobber-fest that continues over Denard Robinson. Yes, he put up more video-game-like stats this week and just looking at the stats, he has to be the Heisman front-runner. Yet if you watch the game, he is not a very good passer and Michigan struggled to put away a poor Indiana team. Read the post game summaries and they talk about how he “heaved a high-arching pass to Hemmingway” for 42 yards which set up the game-winning touchdown. The reality is that he threw a terrible jump ball and Junior Hemmingway made a spectacular play to outjump and come down with the pass. At the end of the day, all that matters is that the Wolverines remained unbeaten after a win on the road, but at some point Michigan is going to play some competent defensive teams and when they do, it will be interesting to see how Robinson plays.

HATE

- Dear Ted Thompson, congratulations on building a championship contender in Green Bay. You have a top 5 quarterback, top 5 tight end, top 5 wide receiver, top 5 cornerback, top 5 linebacker, and adequate offensive and defensive lines. However you have a glaring hole at running back that needs to be addressed if this team is going to win a championship. I know you love draft picks more than I love Kelly Brook in a low-cut shirt, but this should be an easy decision. Give a call to Buffalo and see what draft pick they want for Marshawn Lynch. A 5^th rounder? Sure. A 4^th rounder? Sure. The lack of running game leaves the defense on the field for too much time, which tires out our talented veterans like Charles Woodson and Cullen Jenkins. Swallow your pride and fix the problem you created by not having more than Brandon Jackson behind Ryan Grant at the beginning of the year. This isn’t hard, Ted. You messed up when you didn’t get Randy Moss, so don’t be an ass-hat on this one. Make the call and make the deal. Sincerely, Trent

- Another big game for a Bielema-coached Wisconsin team, and another disappointment. Coach Alvarez used to excel at getting his teams up for the biggest games and they would come out with focus and energy in all of their toughest road games and difficult opponents. Coach Bielema just doesn’t seem to get the best out of his teams. He has an unbelievable amount of talent with studs like James White, Lance Kendricks, JJ Watt and he can’t seem to put it all together to get the most out of his teams. On Saturday, Michigan State beat the Badgers by doing exactly what the Badgers used to do with teams: pound them with the run game which opens things up for the passing game.

- I’m going to miss Mike Singletary’s post games quotes. Wait, he hasn’t been fired yet? Give it time, as there is no way he makes it through the rest of this season. He tried to deflect the shots by firing Jimmy Raye before this week, but now the scopes are set on the legendary linebacker. His press conferences are awesomely intense and his quotes are memorable, but unfortunately it has not translated to any on-field success.

- It sure seems like the Oregon Ducks should be considered for a spot in the national championship game if they continue to play the way they’re playing currently. At least I think so, but it’s hard to tell because I couldn’t watch the Oregon-Stanford game even if I wanted to because of the ridiculous television programming decisions made by Time Warner and ABC. Instead of watching a match up of two top-ten teams in prime time in one of the loudest stadiums in the country, ABC decided that the northeast would rather watch an awful Notre Dame team against an even-worse Boston College team. Are you friggin’ kidding me? Do you want to know why there is an east coast bias by voters? They can’t actually see the best teams because of the morons at ABC who still can’t get it through their heads that Notre Dame hasn’t been relevant in 15 years and NO ONE CARES about them. I don’t need to see another Notre Dame game for the next 5 years and I guarantee I won’t miss anything of importance.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Congrats to Michigan for winning a huge game this weekend which should launch them……INTO the rankings? Seriously, we’re supposed to be impressed by a victory against a team that was barely .500 last year and lost their starting quarterback for much of the game? I don’t buy it. Yes, Denard Robinson has put up monster stats the first two games…against Connecticut and Notre Dame. Call me when he does something against a real team.

- I love the return of football season, but let’s not overreact too much too early in the season. The sky is not falling in Indianapolis, Arian Foster will not rush for 3,000 yards this season and the Seahawks will not go undefeated.

- So much for Boise State’s chances of making the BCS Championship. When you’re only marquee win is against a Virginia Tech team that then loses to James Madison (who knew they even fielded a football team?), you can forget playing for a national championship. That would be like Jessica Alba trying to claim she should get a lifetime achievement for acting award with her highlight being Into The Blue.

- Everyone knows I hate everything Philly. Watching the Packers beat the Eagles brings me an inordinate amount of joy. And while it is a big road win to start the season in Green Bay, there are definitely some major concerns, particularly on defense. Dom Capers defense seems to be completely boom or bust. They blitz and take chances and if they don’t get a sack or an interception, they give up a ton of wide open pass plays and gashing runs. Perhaps Andy Reid’s sugar rush wore out by the end of the game, but he made some really questionable decisions down the stretch. Using his timeouts with more than 5 minutes remaining left the Eagles without a way to stop the clock after the 2 minute warning. And then on the critical 4^th and 1 play, with the Packers struggling to keep up with Michael Vick, Reid chose to take the fastest guy on the field and run him straight ahead like a fullback rather than stretch the field and let him use his speed. At least now we’ll get to watch the Eagles idiot fans whine about a quarterback controversy all season.

HATE

- Can the media – particularly BSPN – finally stop trying to sell us the hype on Miami quarterback JaCorey Harris? Much like the success of Glee, I just don’t understand the fascination with a show about the glee club or the fascination with a quarterback who can’t throw. He is a great athlete but a terrible quarterback. He was exposed against Wisconsin in the bowl game last season, so what made anyone think he would excel against an Ohio State team that was better than the Badgers and returned most of their starters? Harris threw 4 interceptions against the Buckeyes, ensuring an easy win for Ohio State. Looks like a reincarnation of Isiah “Juice” Williams at Illinois. Who? Exactly – another overhyped nobody quarterback.

While BSPN was hyping this as “Monster Saturday” they would have been more accurate to call it “Exposing the State of Florida” weekend – Miami and Florida State got hammered in so-called marquee games and the Florida Gators continued to show they have a long way to go to get past the ghost of Tim Tebow.

- Went to the US Open on Saturday with tickets to the women’s final. It’s a great atmosphere and we got there early and had drinks out in the gallery watching the end of the Roger Federer match on the multiple big screens available. Then we settled into our seats and watched Kim Clijsters absolutely destroy her Russian opponent, 6-2 6-1 in exactly one hour. As if I wasn’t disappointed enough that neither Venus Williams nor Caroline Wozniacki were in the finals, but then the match was a complete blow out. Imagine how annoyed I would have been if I actually had to pay for the tickets.

- The Wisconsin Badgers have enough talent to win the Big Ten this year, but they seem to be plagued with the same thing that has been a staple of too many Bret Bielema teams – they are undisciplined. They are careless with the football and make stupid plays which allow inferior opponents to stay in the game. Opening weekend against UNLV they gave up more points than yards in the first half (14 points and 12 yards), and this week against a pathetic San Jose State team, the continued to turn the ball over with a chance to put the game away before halftime. The Badgers have an awesome trio of tailbacks, a dynamic tight end, and an emerging receiving corps, yet if they play this way against a respectable opponent, they will get blown out.

- Even if the call at the end of the Lions-Bears game was correctly interpreted, it sucks. Calvin Johnson caught the winning touchdown in the final seconds but the ball came loose as he was bouncing up to celebrate. It’s a shame because the Lions played well enough to win even after franchise QB Matt Stafford was injured.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- You can’t stop the Flying Monkey, Calvin Borel if he gets to the rail by the last turn!! Borel rode Super Saver to the victory on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs this weekend, giving trainer Todd Pletcher his first Derby win. The most unfortunate part of the entire event was that the rain put a damper on the hats and ridiculous outfits that could be shown. The best story was the short awkward guy who won a contest that allowed him to make a $100,000 single bet, and he put that money down on Super Saver, which went off at 8-1 odds, bringing the guy a cool $800,000 for winning the contest. That’s awesome. And since there is no reason to post a picture of Calvin Borel or a horse to start the week, I’ll instead opt for a picture of Diane Lane because she is going to be in an upcoming movie about Secretariat and was at the Derby this weekend.

- Coffee is for Kobe Bryant. (to get the reference, check this clip from Glengary Glen Ross – warning: language from Alec Baldwin) Kobe scored 11 points in the final 4 minutes of the Lakers victory in game 1 over Utah, and totaled 30 points on only 19 shots, making 12 of them. He started the game hot, and then coasted through the middle of the game, allowing Pau Gasol to keep LA in the game until Bryant came in to shut the door. Kobe has a banged up finger on his shooting hand and a gimpy knee and is still the most dangerous player in the league at winning time.

- If you missed the opening game of the Cavaliers-Celtics series on Saturday night, you most likely missed the best game of the series. Was it that great of a game? No, but it’s unlikely that the old Celtics will be able to maintain the level of intensity and effort needed to compete with the Cavs. Two years ago the C’s knocked out LeBron on the shoulders of an unbelievable performance from Paul Pierce, and it is unlikely Pierce can replicate that performance this season. Saturday night was the most rest the Celtics will have before a game in this series and they still couldn’t pull out the win. Look for the Cavs to finish them off in 6 games.

HATE

- Shut Up Brett Favre. Obviously he was feeling unloved during the NFL Draft and Chris Berman must have not met his quota of mentioning Brett and genuflecting at least once per 20 minutes when he is discussing the NFL. So Brett decides that he now needs to come out on his website and mention that he needs ankle surgery if he wants to come back next season. Of course he follows it up with comments that it’s not the worst pain and he could play and you shouldn’t think that the injury would be the reason he would retire. Whatever, dude, we’re so sick of your routine and even your most ardent supporters are starting to get sick of this scripted act every spring. Just go away once and for all you drama queen.

- It was unfortunate that the Milwaukee Bucks laid an egg in game 7 against the Hawks on Sunday as the Hawks advanced to play the Orlando Magic. The Hawks are tremendously more talented than the Bucks, but the Bucks were able to stay in the series without Andrew Bogut because they played hard, played intelligent, and played with poise and determination. The Hawks are very athletic, but extremely undisciplined, sloppy, and Mike Woodson was thoroughly outcoached all series by Scott Skiles. But keep your head’s up Bucks fans, I’ll let my college roommate, the biggest Bucks fan I know and a guy we called Bango tell us why it’s going to be okay for the Bucks in the future:

1) Brandon Jennings: It is unreal to think that he is all of 20 years old. With an NBA season under his belt the sky is the absolute limit. Once he can hit a jumper at a 42-44% clip, he will be impossible to stop.
2) John Hammond-took inherited a garbage heap and made it into a 6th seed. Makes you wonder who was the one making things happen in Detroit during their times of prosperity.
3) Andrew Bogut-breakout year this year both offensively and defensively. Unfortunatelty the Bucks luck turned against them in the fateful game he messed up his arm, but he has turned himself into a second team all-NBA center according to many experts. He was also the brain child of the ingenious and incredibly successful “Squad 6.”
4) Scott Skiles – the guy can flat out coach and gets the most out of his players. Continue surrounding him with talent and we can only get better.

- Is it too soon to give up on the Brewers? I hope not, but I do not have v.ery much faith in this pitching staff to turn it around and get them above .500. Add to that the prolonged offensive slumps like this weekend against the Padres (2 runs in 4 games – one of which was a HR from the pitcher?) and you have the makings of a 75 win season at best.

- Well, no matter what Brian Kelley does to improve Notre Dame football, he can’t undo this video. Ouch. I talked to a good friend and golden dome alumni and his response pretty much summed it all up: “I just lit my diploma on fire. I couldn’t be more embarrassed.”

Heisman Vote - Brewers Signings - Snow Man Video

We’ll get to my thoughts on the Heisman, but first my thoughts on the Brewers action in free agency, my Thursday Night NFL pick, and at the end, a snowman video.

The Brewers were active yesterday, signing two veteran left-handers to bolster their pitching, which was putrid last year (starting pitching ERA was tied for last in the majors). Randy Wolf, a 33-year-old starter was signed for 3 years at $29.75 million, and LaTroy Hawkins, a 37-year-old reliever inked a 2 year deal for $7.5 million total.

The Hawkins signing seems like a pretty good deal for a veteran reliever that can be a set-up man for Trevor Hoffman, and has closing experience if necessary. Hawkins still has pretty good pop on his fastball, hitting the low-90’s consistently, which is a perfect contrast to Hoffman and his devastating change-up. Last year Brewers opponents saw Suppan’s 86 mph fastball, followed by Carlos Villanueva’s 87 mph fastball in the set-up roll before Hoffman came in with his 89 mph fastball. Now, hopefully Hawkins ability to consistently buzz the plate in the low 90’s will not allow the hitters to sit on the heater.

At first blush, I was underwhelmed by the signing of Randy Wolf, and confused by how aggressive the Brewers were in going after him. I’m still a little fearful that giving a 33-year old a 3 year contract could be risky, but after looking at the numbers, reading about his career and looking at the other options, I am firmly in the “good signing” camp on this one. Wolf has good velocity on his fastball and has a wicked curve. He has been healthy since his return from Tommy John in 2006, among the league leaders in starts in 2008 and 2009. He is an innings eater, and is a perfect core component of a good pitching staff. While that sounds less than thrilling, it is.

I think his upside is a great #2 in the rotation, and his likely production will make him a very solid #3 starter. So doesn’t $9 million seem expensive for a #3 starter? There are two ways to look at it: First, would you have traded Mike “K”ameron for Randy Wolf? I would have in a heartbeat. “K”ameron made $10 million last year. Second, there weren’t better options out there, and the Brewers may not be done. Basically, the Brewers were at the dance, scouting the talent, and they had more than few drinks in them to drown the sorrows of last year's disappointment. After that seventh drink, they decided they had the money to buy a drink for the best looking girl at the bar - and you're hoping that she turns out to still be good looking once you sober up - like Jenna Fischer after a couple seasons of The Office.

With the money they saved trading J.J. Hardy, they might still be in the running for Jarrod Washburn, a Wisconsin native. There is also still a chance they can pull off a trade for Javier Vazquez of Atlanta by dangling Matt Gamel out there. And finally, what about Ben Sheets or Mark Mulder? I know they’re coming off injuries, but they have tremendous upside if they can return to some form of their old selves. If you can ink them to an incentive-laden deal, wouldn’t that be worth it? We know Sheets has the stuff to be a #1 starter, but we’re also all too familiar with his injury history. I’d be willing to ride that roller coaster again now that we have Gallardo, Wolf, Parra, Bush & Suppan already in the fold.

Oh, and this guy has way too much time on his hands for this breakdown of Randy Wolf, and proves that baseball is a game that can be a little too reliant on stats. It’s kind of like choosing a wife based purely on her 36-24-36 measurements, and not taking the fact that she’s crazy into account. Something Chuck Finley probably should have thought of before tying the knot with Tawny Kitaen.

------------------------------------------------
I don’t actually have a Heisman vote, because surprisingly, they don’t hand out votes to guys whose athletic careers peaked in middle school, and don’t work as an actual journalist. But if I did have a vote, here’s how my ballot would look, working from the bottom to the top:

Write-In Vote: CJ Spiller – RB, Clemson
The guy is the most electric player in college football. He can score through kick returns, punt returns, rushing, receiving, and he even threw a touchdown pass.

5 – Tim Tebow – QB, Florida
I would vote Spiller higher than Tebow, who has been a great leader, but not a great player this year.

4 – Colt McCoy – QB, Texas
On Thanksgiving, I thought McCoy was wrapping up the award, but his terrible clock management and poor play in the SEC Championship cost him the chance. He wasn’t good in the biggest games of the year.

3 – Ndamukong Suh – DE, Nebraska
He was completely dominant against Texas, and will likely be the #1 pick in the NFL Draft. Yet as a defensive player, he doesn’t move the needle enough to be a Heisman winner.

2 – Mark Ingram – RB, Oklahoma
He was a monster in the SEC Championship, guaranteeing Tebow won’t win the award. He has put up great numbers, and might resemble Emmitt Smith. But he was awful against Auburn with 19 yards on 16 carries, and on the bench during his team’s comeback.

1 – Toby Gerhart – RB, Stanford
The guy is a beast and put up huge numbers against the best opposition he played against. In an underwhelming year of top players, Gerhart is the choice.

--------------------------------------------

THURSDAY NFL PICK

BROWNS (+9) over Steelers
The Browns are playing much better, Brady Quinn resembles an NFL quarterback, and the game is in Cleveland. Pittsburgh is coming off losses to Oakland, Kansas City & Baltimore, and reeling. Quinn can take advantage of the struggling Steelers secondary (if Gradkowski could throw three 4th quarter TDs…..) and put enough points on the board to get the cover.
------------------------------------------------

What would you expect to happen when a foot of snow drops on Madison, and the University calls off school the following day? Amazingly, the kids went out and got hammered and made snowmen in the middle of the street……..

---------------------------------------------------
This has been flying around pretty quickly, but it’s a great spoof on Notre Dame buying out Charlie Weis. And now that Brian Kelley has admitted that he is “pro-choice” he may have removed himself from consideration as their next coach. Randy Edsall of UConn is the next guy to go through the car wash……….

Tuesday Ramblings - Worst of the Decade

What a sloppy game, but a big win for the Packers over the Ravens. There were 10 first downs due to penalties (9 pass interference) during the game and both quarterbacks realized when the play broke down, just throw it deep and there’s a pretty good chance of a penalty. Tramon Williams of Green Bay showed on multiple occasions his favorite play is an arm bar to grab the receiver to try and improve his closing speed. Unfortunately for him, the refs were aware of his specialty. Jon “Sunny” Gruden tried to blame the penalties on the weather before adjusting his knee pads for any discussion regarding Charles Woodson (who played for Sunny in Oakland)

---------------------------------
With Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate declaring for the NFL Draft, the next Notre Dame coach will be coming into a serious rebuilding situation with a pretty bare cupboard. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, right? I mentioned the similarities between Brian Kelly and Charlie Weiss yesterday. Now they’re also going to talk to a young hotshot from Stanford in Jim Harbaugh. Well, that sounds really familiar too, so where have I heard that story? Oh yeah, Notre Dame hired Ty Willingham from Stanford, and well, we all know how that turned out. How about some creativity or a new idea in South Bend?

UPDATE: Harbaugh says he is not talking to Notre Dame and has no interest in the job. Maybe the Irish will call Bob Davie to see if he has a brother?

---------------------------------
As we wind down the last few weeks of the decade, there will likely be a ton of rankings and ratings of the “best of the decade” in everything from music to movies to sports. I’m going the other way and I want to cover some of the worst of the decade. It’s time to look at the worst draft picks in the NFL and NBA during the decade. It’s also time to look at the worst champion in baseball, basketball and football during the decade. As the decade ends with the year of “transgressions” from Tiger to David Letterman to Steve Phillips and so on and so on…….let’s look at some other teams and drafts that scraped the bottom of the barrel.

Worst NBA Draft Pick – Darko Milicic (#2 Overall, Detroit Pistons)
In judging the NBA draft, I tried to discount many of the foreign players taken later in the first round because in many instances they weren’t expected to actually play in the US. As a result, many of the Spurs picks were not eligible. However, Darko Milicic was the second overall selection in 2003 ahead of guys like Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony. He has bounced around like Lucy Pinder without a bra and is on his 4th team in 6 years, and is averaging 5.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Honorable mention for the worst pick of the decade goes to Marcus Haislip (#12 by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2002), Mateen Cleaves (#14 by the Detroit Pistons in 2000) and Adam Morrison (#3 by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006).

Worst NBA Champion – 2006 Miami Heat
There were 5 franchises that accounted for all the titles during the decade, the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Heat & Pistons. The 2006 Heat were a flash in the pan and the team where Pat Riley threw his “friend” Stan Van Gundy – the coach who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ron Jeremy - under the bus so he could take over the coaching duties to get the title. They beat underwhelming teams from Chicago, New Jersey and Detroit to get to the Finals, where Dwayne Wade and Shaq were on the positive end of some very shoddy officiating. Honorable mention goes to the 2004 Pistons who did not have a 20 point scorer, and benefitted from the infighting between Shaq & Kobe to beat the Lakers.

Worst MLB Champion – 2006 St. Louis Cardinals
The 2006 Cardinals went only 83-78 in the regular season and made the playoffs solely because the rest of the NL Central was so weak. They had a worse record than the second place teams in the NL East and West. Albert Pujols was their only legit offensive weapon, and their pitching was not going to scare anyone. Chris Carpenter went 15-8 with an ERA of 3.09, their only starter with an ERA under 4. They got through the playoffs on the suddenly hot arm of Jeff Suppan, which he parlayed into getting overpaid by the Brewers where he has stunk since then. Oh, and if you need any more proof, David Eckstein was the World Series MVP. A guy that is barely bigger than Verne Troyer was the MVP, proving that the league had finally decided to pay some attention to steroid abuse.

Honorable mention goes to the 2005 Chicago White Sox, where journeyman Jon Garland won 18 games, and Paul Konerko powered the offense to the title over the Astros.

Worst NFL Champion – 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers were a collection of Tony Dungy players coached to the title by Jon Gruden, who the Bucs had bought from Oakland during the off-season. And that paid off tremendously as Tampa played the Raiders in the Super Bowl, and Gruden’s knowledge of his previous team paid off in the Super Bowl, when league MVP Rich Gannon had 5 interceptions. Gannon gave it up easier than a ___________ (choose your own adventure: Vegas Cocktail Waitress, Perkins Waitress, NYC club VIP Hostess, Porn Star). The Bucs had Brad Johnson at quarterback, which immediately puts them among the worst champions of all time. They didn’t have a 1,000 yard rusher (Michael Pittman had 718 yards) and Keyshawn Johnson barely topped the magic mark receiving (1,088 yards).

Honorable mention goes to the 2001 Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had a horrid offense, but had a legendary defense so they can’t be completely discounted. Their defense practically outscored their offense, with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the always-hungry Jon Jurkovic.

Worst NFL Draft Pick – Charles Rogers (#2 pick by the Detroit Lions in 2003)
I tried to discount how bad Rogers was due to some unfortunate injuries, as the guy broke his collar bone twice. But then I remembered how much he also loved the ganja and had a work ethic that rivaled JaMarcus Russell. He was drafted right ahead of Andre Johnson, who has turned into one of the best receivers in the league, also making the pick of Rogers that much more egregious. Rogers played in only 15 games during his 3 year career catching a total of 36 passes for 440 yards and 4 touchdowns. Rogers was among the draft blunders by Matt Millen, sandwiched by Joey Harrington in 2002 and Roy Williams in 2004. Maybe the problem was Chris Tucker took a break from filming Friday and Rush Hour and took Rogers place in the NFL?

Honorable Mention: There are a bunch of them, including the defensive linemen Justin Harrell and Jamal Reynolds both drafted by the Packers. Yet it came down to Rogers compared to Courtney Brown, the #1 pick in 2000 by the Cleveland Browns who lasted less than 5 years and played only 61 games, compiling 19 sacks. Another contender was JaMarcus Russell, the #1 pick in 2007 who could dominate an all-you-can-eat buffet, but couldn’t read a defense. In 28 games, Russell has thrown 17 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, with a passer rating under 66. His only redeeming quality at this point is that he is still fairly young and could maybe have a Vince Young revival? It’s unlikely, but possible.

Week 13 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Finally after 13 weeks, I recognize that hillbilly with the gray-stubble wearing that purple #4 jersey. More impressive was the performance from the Cardinals. There is some concern with how banged up Kurt Warner is after missing last week with a concussion and injuring his hip at the end of last night’s game. However, the Cardinals defense completely shut down Adrian Peterson, and confused Favre on multiple occasions. Could they be the second-most-dangerous team in the NFC?

- The BCS Championship matchup: Love. Texas was lucky to get by Nebraska after some terrible clock management, and Colt McCoy cost himself the Heisman trophy. Why did they not use their timeout? Why did they call a roll out and casually throw it out of bounds barely leaving one second for the final kick? Maybe they were reading from the Les Miles/Andy Reid book of clock management. Here was a four-year starter at quarterback that didn’t appear to have a good grip on the game clock? In the end, we get the two big programs and probably the best teams playing for the national championship. Alabama looked dominant against Florida and Texas will have a tough time putting up points against the Bama defense, which is better than the Nebraska defense that stuffed Texas all night. I think the difference may come down to coaching, and it’s tough to go against Nick Saban with a month of preparation to come up with ways to slow down McCoy and the Texas offense. He's quickly put himself among the legendary Alabama coaches, Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings.

- Peyton Manning is better than Tom Brady. Case closed. No argument. Despite Brady having 3 Super Bowls to Manning’s one, it’s not even close. Manning continues to be a master with the Colts, crushing records, cruising through the league with new weapons around him, and running the team with perfect precision. Brady threw another 2 fourth quarter interceptions yesterday, and it’s been 5 years since his last Super Bowl title. While Brady remains in the discussion among the top quarterbacks in the league (probably still the #2), Manning is a level above him in every way…….except for the whole Gisele thing. Though he’s done pretty well considering he has more chance of being on the cover of “Herman Muenster Look-A-Likes Monthly” than GQ.

- The race for the NFC East just got a lot more interesting. While I still think the division is grossly overrated, the Cowboys and Eagles are tied at the top with 8-4 records and the Giants are now 1 game back at 7-5, and have swept the Cowboys. The Cowboys may have another December swoon, but it may be a result of their schedule more than anything. After losing in NY, they get San Diego at home and then go to New Orleans before finishing at Washington and hosting Philly. That is a brutal finishing kick. 10-6 would be an accomplishment and 9-7 would not be a stretch. Philly goes to NY this weekend, where the Giants have revenge on their minds and seem to have regained some confidence. They then have San Francisco and Denver at home before finishing at Dallas. That looks like 10-6 but 9-7 would not surprise me since the Eagles love to choke away winnable games. The Giants need to go 3-1 to have a chance, and after a home game against Philly, they go to Washington, host Carolina and finish at Minnesota. It should be an interesting run down the stretch

- Reason #2,321,768 why I will never be able to make a living gambling: The Redskins lose to the Lions, breaking Detroit’s 19 game losing streak, but then have multiple chances to knock off the 11-0 Saints. The “Bingo” offense showed life the past few weeks, and had Suisham hit the 23-yard field goal, they would have iced the game. Can Jason Campbell not handle the pressure when games matter, and as soon as the team is out of it, he looks like he could have the potential to be the Redskins’ quarterback next year? It sure appears that way. So while some might say it’s an example that the Saints can or will be beat, I think the exact opposite. They were able to pull out this game when they had a hangover from the Pats game, and didn’t play well. I think they will run the table. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

HATE

- The Fiesta Bowl matchup between TCU and Boise State. No one wants to see the two small conference teams play each other. We want to see them play against the “Big Boys” to see how they really match up and if they are as good as their unblemished records. The ratings for this game will be horrible. No one is saying “man, I really want to know if Boise State or TCU is the best unbeaten team that doesn’t get to play anyone.” Having them match up is not in the best interest of the BCS either. Now it is guaranteed that one of them will be unbeaten and can make a legit argument that they didn’t get a fair shot to prove they were the best team in the land. If you match them up separately against Georgia Tech and Florida, they both lose and suddenly it adds ammunition to the argument that the BCS works. Oh, and someone please show or tell me what the hell that hand signal thing is the TCU fans do?

- Grow up Tim Tebow. There is just something so contrived about the guy, and his big crying show he put on as he team was getting dismantled was another example of it. Of course CBS had to show his passionate/contrived speech on the sidelines imploring his defense to play better. Maybe he should have given that speech in the mirror. Random aside: Why would Florida break out the hideous alternate all-white jerseys for the conference championship game? They have strong colors in the bold blue and bright orange, and they hide all of it with white jerseys, white pants and a white helmet? Seems like they were taunting karma and got kicked in the jimmy.

- The mainstream media is going to tell us that Michael Vick is back after doing some stuff in Atlanta. Who cares? No one. He was able to get some things done in a blow out game when the Falcons had given up. It’s a non-story. The media is obsessed with trying to make a story out of this guy when he sneezes, drops a deuce or steps on the field. He’s about as relevant as Canada. Let’s just move on.

- The Steelers are going down faster than Lindsay Lohan on a table of nose candy. Four straight losses, including one to the Raiders and one to the Chiefs (who have been destroyed by the Chargers & Broncos). They are in absolute crisis mode and likely just knocked themselves out of the playoffs. I suspect this was not the “hell” that Mike Tomlin had in mind during the December. The bigger question might be whether Tom Cable saved his job in Oakland? The Raiders almost look like a pro football team, but who knows if all the off-field issues will have a detrimental effect on his long-term prospects. Someone please wake up Al Davis and ask him what he thinks.

- We’re about one more mistress away from Tiger Woods claiming he’s a sex-addict and going into rehab before the next golf season kicks off. Have you seen the latest one? After his best looking birdie (so far) came out, Jaime Jungers, he went “Steve Phillips” on us with Mindy Lawton. Yikes. I guess it’s probably just time to start bringing out women that aren’t skanks or waitresses (or both) from Vegas/Orlando that DIDN’T sleep with Tiger, as it might be a shorter list.

And Saturday Night Live did a skit about Tiger getting roughed up by his wife on the same show where the musical guest was Rhianna? That’s some unfortunate comedic timing.

And now the NY Post claims that the number is up to 9 for Tiger. Once he paid Rachel Uchitel to keep her trap shut (and I guess you could claim he paid her to keep other things open?), it opened the floodgates for every woman he ever had a conversation with to come out and offer up all the details for some easy cash.

- One more thing – so Notre Dame was turned down by Bob Stoops and now they’re going to turn to Brian Kelley at Cincinnati as their top target? Let me get this straight……they got turned down by their top target, and now they’re going after a hot name that is an offensive whizz, but doesn’t know anything about defense. Sound familiar? Five years ago, they were turned down by their top target, Urban Meyer, and they settled on an offensive genius who didn’t know defense in Charlie Weis. So how is this going to be any different or better?

Tuesday Ramblings

Went to a great Stephen Kellogg concert this past weekend. Despite having some issues with his guitars early in the show, he put on a hell of a show. It was his birthday, his parents and wife were in the audience, and he was taping the show for a CD and DVD, which all combined to create a high energy show where he showed his passion for his music, playing for almost 2 hours. Dressed like Tom Petty and sporting a shaggy beard that somehow works for him, he jumped and played guitar all over the stage keeping the crowd dancing and singing along. I also highly recommend for his newest CD “The Bear” which came out a couple months ago. The concert was a great mix of his new songs, his older songs, and some jam sessions showing off the considerable talents of his band, The Sixers.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Wait, Steven Seagal has been a cop for the past 20 years? Really? I thought he was just a bad-acting, martial arts guy who had dramatic lines like “Whoa. Shut the music off.” when he comes across a drugged out, topless Erica Eleniak jumping out of a cake on a cruise ship in Under Siege (yeah, I just dated myself a little, but it was one of those great HBO moments growing up). But I guess he ate his former actor self and now A&E is following him around as he corrects all the wrongs on the means streets of Jefferson Parrish, Louisiana. It’s basically “Cops” starring Steven Seagal, which sounds like a skit from Saturday Night Live.


---------------------------------------------------------------
A dominating performance last night by the Saints in New Orleans, as the Saints really took it to the Pats. While it would have been unlikely, didn’t it seem strange that Bill Belichick threw in the towel with five and a half minutes left, down by 3 touchdowns? I also think he again showed he has no confidence in his defense to stop a good offense (similar to in Indy) by going for it on 4th down 3 more times. But all that being said, the story should be the Saints, and how much faster, quicker, and well-prepared they looked on the big stage with the big lights against a big time team. The Saints and Colts are rolling through the league and playing “can you top this” like Justin Timberlake and John Mayer with the hottest chicks in Hollywood.


-------------------------------------------------------------
So they finally cut Charlie Weis off from the all-you-can-eat buffet at Notre Dame. You have to feel for him a little bit, as he was a student at the university and obviously coaching there had to have been a dream come true for him, only to have it fail miserably. Now the rumor mill gets going and all the coaches will give out their Nick Saban line “I am not going to Notre Dame” until the huge contract is placed in front of them, and then they suddenly show up wearing the leprechaun costume.

The latest is Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, who is supposedly at the top of Golden Dome list. While he earned the nickname “Big Game Bob” early in his career, he has lost 5 straight BCS bowl games, laying some bad eggs along the way. Then again, he has gotten to a BCS bowl in 5 of the last 6 years, which would be an enormous improvement from what Notre Dame has done recently.


------------------------------------------------------------------
Looks like Bobby Bowden is going to retire this morning. I guess they decided against making a sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s. The guy is a legend and led a Florida State program that was among the best in all of college football for a solid 20+ years. It’s kind of a shame the way he had to take a nudge to get out, but at least he saved himself a little bit of his dignity by not being fired. Tip of that dopey straw hat to you, Bobby, and there are likely a few tears behind those Oakley shades.

---------------------------------------------
And how do you think the mood was in the locker room after this game? Hockey player accidentally whacks his own goalie in the head when trying to hit the goal in frustration. Wow.

Week 12 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Tiger Woods huddled with his best public relations and legal team and decided that no one needs to know what happened when he crashed his Escalade into a fire hydrant and tree at 2:30 in the morning. And legally, he doesn’t have to tell anyone. Everyone knows there is more to the story than what’s been reported, but Woods has no intention of sharing. It doesn’t seem logical that a car accident that didn’t cause the airbags to deploy, and only caused an estimated $5-8k in damages would be enough to cause injuries to Tiger’s face and cause him to be drifting in and out of consciousness when the police arrived. But Tiger and his team are hoping the media storm blows over and he never has to talk about whether he was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel, or whether there was a domestic dispute with his wife Elin, or whether he was drunk when he crashed. And why did Elin have to break the REAR window to get Tiger out of the car? And why did she have a golf club with her? If she went back to get the club, couldn’t she just get her keys to unlock the car doors (assuming they were locked)? Too many questions that point away from a simple, “I went out for a leisurely drive at 2:30 in the morning on Thanksgiving and ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree.”

- The Heisman race is still completely wide open, and no one seems to want to run away with it. Colt McCoy of Texas made a strong statement on Thanksgiving night with 300 yards and 4 TDs, but Tim Tebow put up 5 TDs on his own Saturday in his final home game. Stanford’s Toby Gerhart, a guy who seems to be “John Riggins 2.0”, ran for 200 yards and 3 TDs against Notre Dame, and Clemson’s CJ Spiller returned the opening kick for a TD against South Carolina. Alabama’s Mark Ingraham is the only name that anyone knows on Alabama, so he appears to be a candidate, but he was completely shut down against Auburn, likely costing him a real shot. Spiller is the most talented of the contenders, Tebow is the media crush, McCoy would get it for career achievement, and Gerhart is the late addition flash in the pan. I think McCoy deserves to win, completing nearly 72% of his passes this year, with 27 TDs against 9 INTs. And he added 175 yards rushing on Thursday, just to show Tebow isn’t the only QB with capable feet.

- Brett Favre is now the leader in the race for the MVP. He is playing the best he has ever played in his entire career, and with the weapons he has, he is playing smart, exact, and accurate football. I will now go ask someone on the street to kick me in the junk repeatedly for the next hour……..wait, most of the people wrapped up in carpet lining and smelling like urine outside the subway might take me up on the offer.

- So with Kurt Warner sitting out after another concussion, we had a rematch of the starting quarterbacks in the 2006 Rose Bowl, Matt Leinart and Vince Young. And just like that unbelievable Rose Bowl game, Vince Young came out victorious after some late game heroics, this time hitting Kenny Brit for a touchdown on 4th down with less than 5 seconds left in the game. The biggest difference between this game and 2006 was Young’s passing skills, as he threw for 387 yards on Sunday. Hopefully he didn’t decide to party like he did after the Rose Bowl, shirtless and with a bottle of tequila.

And a side note, why was Chris Johnson so ineffective during the first 6 games of the year? He’s on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record, but only broke 100 yards in 2 of the first 6 games. It doesn’t make sense because you would think with Vince Young at QB, teams would load the box more, with less fear of the passing game. But the opposite has happened, and Johnson has rushed for over 130 yards in each of Young’s starts, 5 straight wins for the Titans.

- Love this tribute to Matthew Stafford, which was obviously made before he wet himself against Green Bay on Thanksgiving, allowing Charles Woodson to put a stranglehold on the defensive player of the year award.

HATE

- I hate the current structure and situation where the college coaches are fired and hired between the end of the regular season and their bowl games. I understand it is because of the recruiting schedule and you want to have your new coach in place as soon as possible to get ahead immediately when the high school kids can be contacted. But it just doesn’t seem right that the current undefeated Cincinnati team has to deal with the distraction of Chip Kelley leaving (potentially) their team to coach Notre Dame. If and when Weis is fired at Notre Dame, the Irish will want to immediately replace him, possibly with Kelley, and they will want him to immediately start recruiting for the Golden Domers, meaning he will have to treat his team like Richard Jefferson treated his fiancé Keisha Ni’cole Nichols.

- The Steelers Dennis Dixon played well during his first NFL start, considering he had only thrown 1 pass in his career and didn’t find out until Saturday that he was going to start. But unfortunately, it was his only mistake of the game, an overtime interception, that cost his team the game against the Ravens. Is there any other rivalry in the NFL where you know exactly what you’re going to get from the game? Steelers-Ravens is going to be a hard-hitting, low scoring game that comes down to a field goal every time.

- I’m done with the Jaguars. Two trips out west this year against average to bad teams (49ers & Seahawks), and they lose both, being outscored 61-3. That is a joke and they are the worst team with a winning record in the league. Time to start looking at drafting a new quarterback to replace David Garrard.

- Really Andy Reid? Starting the game against a 3-7 Redskins team with an onside kick? What were you possibly thinking? Why would you allow a team that stinks and knows they are undermanned to get some momentum and believe they have a chance to win? Just another example of why Andy Reid is not capable of winning big games. Maybe he was still on a sugar high from the dozen donuts he had for breakfast and wasn’t thinking clearly. What a terrible decision, yet because his team was able to squeak out a win against a bad Washington team, there won’t be any focus on another brain fart from the round mound of coaching.

- Pete Carroll, you are a douchebag. You whined “what’s your deal?” after Stanford stuck it to you with a 2 point conversion after their 7th touchdown. Then you go and throw deep for a 48 yard touchdown in the final minute of a blowout against UCLA, and claim that you were just “competing” for the entire game. Time to roll that stupid turtleneck you wear up over your face to keep you from saying anything else so stupid (who’s your fashion consultant, an 80’s movie star?). Then again, since your Trojans are completely irrelevant this season, I guess you have to do something to make people remember USC is still playing out the string of meaningless games.

- The Nets. 0-17. Ouch. Yeah, fire the coach. THAT must be the problem……oh wait, they didn’t exactly come out firing for their new coach, trailing Kobe Bryant 13-12 at the end of the first quarter. Yes, Kobe by himself, not counting the rest of his team’s points. The Nets tied the NBA record for longest losing streak to start the season, and seem destined to break it with the Mavs in their next game. Pretty sure the Nets and Knicks with their combined 3 wins are not exactly making LeBron James pine for playing with either of these teams next year.

Week 11 Hangover - Love/Hate

This week we're leading off with the hates........no real reason. It's my site, I'm in charge.

HATE

- It’s a known fact that Syracuse basketball plays great at Madison Square Garden in NY. Well I went there Friday night to watch the Orange dismantle the UNC Tar Heels in the 2K Sports Championship. And their fans are something to behold, with the majority of them having the physical attributes of two of the school’s famous point guards of the past: the face of Jerry McNamara (balding, whispy attempt at a goatee) and the body of Sherman Douglas (round – as wide as they are tall). Short, fat, awkward fans wearing their orange jerseys over button-down shirts, or over nothing at all, but ALWAYS complimented by a fat gold chain. And those are just the women. I’ve never been there, but based on their fans on Friday, I would assume that Syracuse’s campus is on wheels, double-wide, and could be hooked up to a large truck to tour the country.

- Despite the Bengals crapping themselves against the Raiders, these are not the “same old Bengals” that always find a way to lose. Thanks to the rest of their division losing, they didn’t give up any ground and are still in a position of strength. Losing without Cedric Benson after a horrific fumble in the last 40 seconds on a kickoff after giving up the tying touchdown is a terrible loss, but not crippling to the season. They get the Lions and Browns in the next two weeks, so they immediately have a chance to blow out an inferior opponent and prove it was a blip, not a pattern. The Raiders have continued to play hard for Tom Cable despite having a QB who couldn’t throw and an WR who can’t catch. What a difference replacing a joke in JaMarcus Russell with a below average option in Bruce Gradkowski makes.

- Can someone please explain the appeal of Lady Gaga? I really don’t get it. She’s a hideous freak with minimal talents. Oh, and her music stinks too. I don’t get her whole schtick of wearing outrageous outfits and acting like an idiot. I mean, why wouldn’t the American Music Awards spend more time showing Carrie Underwood? Or Mary J. Blige? Or anyone else for that matter? And yet for some reason, Gaga is all over the place and gets accolades within the music community, but she terrifies me and I have to immediately change the channel if her freaky mugg crosses the screen.

- The Broncos are officially in big trouble. After their improbably 6-0 start, they dropped their 4th straight, getting mauled at home by the Chargers. They are now a game out of the division lead and face turmoil, with some of their players accusing each other of quitting or not caring enough, including Brandon Marshall & Knowshon Moreno fighting on the sidelines.

- Losing to Northwestern was a complete embarrassment for Wisconsin on Saturday. They started the day with an outside chance to tie for the Big Ten championship, and went to bed tied for 4th place, and having purple footprints all over their backsides. Their defense couldn’t slow down the Northwestern offense, the Badger offense couldn’t produce points (2 turnovers) in their last three possessions, and WR Isaac Anderson showed off his stone hands for another week. Pitiful. Another trip to the Outback Bowl for the Badgers?

LOVE

- Matthew Stafford gave a glimpse of why he may have been worthy of that top pick in the draft and could potentially help the Lions franchise rise from the ashes. Granted it was against the hapless Browns, but this game amazingly turned into one of the more compelling football games of the entire season, resulting in a 38-37 shootout win for the Lions. Stafford dislocated his non-throwing shoulder on the second-to-last play of the game, but was able to elude the medical staff and get back into the game to throw the game winning touchdown, after a pass interference call and a strange timeout by Eric Mangini. Had Mangini not called timeout, Daunte Culpepper would have had to take the final snap. So it was yet another bad decision by Mangini in a season full of them, and it allowed Stafford to show his grit and make the winning throw. He threw for 5 touchdowns in the game, besting Brady Quinn’s 4 touchdowns. Amazingly, The Browns had only scored 5 offensive TDs all season before this game, and Quinn led them to 4 TDs in this game. Stafford proved he has the potential to lead the franchise in this game, and maybe we need to give Quinn a chance to mature into his position of leading the team. Or maybe his girlfriend from draft night knew something ahead of time, and didn’t stick around.

- The NFL underdogs rose up. With the Raiders beating the Bengals, the Chiefs shocking the Steelers, and the Redskins and Bills barely dropping games against the Cowboys and Jaguars, respectively, the meek of the league had a surprising resurgence. During the first half of the year, the oddsmakers couldn’t make spreads wide enough as these poor teams continued to get blown out every week. But this week there were only 4 of the 15 games that were decided by more than one score. It will be interesting to see if the spreads begin to get a little tighter down the stretch in the coming weeks.

- It’s going to be a great coaching carousel this off-season, in both college and the NFL. The Notre Dame job will be open (even Charlie Weis himself said he won’t be surprised if he’s let go), and there will likely be anywhere from 7-10 openings in the NFL, some in prestigious places like the Cowboys or Redskins and others in less desirable places like Cleveland and Buffalo. First, let’s stop the Urban Meyer to Notre Dame rumors – that is not happening. We’ve covered that in the past. But an interesting opening that might pop up after this weekend? LSU, where Les Miles flubbed a game against Ole Miss that could cost his team and school a BCS berth. Down by 2 points, the Bayou Bengals inexplicably let 17-18 seconds run off the clock before completing a pass with one second remaining at the 6 yard line. Instead of trying to sprint the FG unit on the field, or running a play for a touchdown, they tried to spike the ball. Of course, a spike takes one second and the clock runs out, game over. After the game, Miles was asked who made the call to spike the ball, and he responded that he DIDN’T KNOW!! Blink, blink…..stare…….Uh-oh. Miles has never been Nick Saban, and won a national championship with most of Saban’s players, and something like this could be enough to get him bounced out of town. And it doesn’t even involve whatever is going on in the background of this picture…….not that there’s anything wrong with it.

- Aaron Rodgers erasing all doubt about who the best QB from the 2005 draft. Rodgers dominated the 49ers defense and has produced some great numbers this season, nearly 2800 yards, 19 TDs, and a QB rating of 102.6. While he is still likely a distant 5th in the MVP race behind Favre, Manning, Brees and Brady, he has been tremendous in keeping the Packers in the playoff hunt despite playing behind the leakiest offensive line in the league. And speaking of Favre, he may be playing as well as he has played since 1997, and as much as it pains me, he is right up there in the MVP discussion, and likely the favorite at this point. He has only thrown 3 interceptions all year, easily the least by any QB that has started every game (McNabb & Rodgers have the next fewest with 5).

- Wes Welker continues to light up the stat sheets. It is now time to stop looking at him as an interesting little mighty might and start to mention him with the best receivers in the league. The guy led the league in catches in 2007, was 2nd in 2008, and is the league leader thus far in 2009. After lighting up the Jets for 15 catches for 192 yards, he has 79 catches in 9 games, which is ahead of the pace he was on the past 2 years when he ended with over 110 catches each year. He is Tom Brady’s security blanket and has the ability to stop and start on a dime as if he controls his legs with a joystick.