Thoughts

There has always been rumors that the media is biased against the Dallas Cowboys, but I always had a hard time believing it until now. The Dallas Cowboys success has brought them both fans and detratcters. The detracters seem to be disguised the media. Example, I went to the Cowboys game this weekend and then drove 10 hours home. On my way home I flipped several sports stations on my XM radio. While listening to the wrap up of games, with John Clayton, every game was mentioned but one: Cowboys Cardinals game. This happened time and time again on all of the stations. Now I know that this is not a scientific study by any means but maybe it should be. This bias is usually brought to light during Super Bowl weekend when the Hall of Fame inductees are announced. Last year Michael Irvin was the only candidate in the last group that was not inducted into the Hall of Fame. Currently the Dallas Cowboys franchise is the winningest franchise in NFL history but it only has seven members of the Hall of Fame and two of those are not players. Why isn't Bob Hayes in the Hall? He truely is responsible for the modern day passing game. Where is Rayfeild Wright, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Harvey Martin, Lee Roy Jordan, Chuck Howley, Drew Pearson? If Lynn Swann then Drew Pearson. Fair is Fair. Drew had better numbers. Now I know there will be at least 2 players going in next 5 years, Troy and Emmitt but there are several more that need consideration as well: Irvin, Larry Allen, Woodson, Jimmy Johnson, Charles Haley, and Dieon Sanders? The last two will probably go with 49ers and Falcons respectively. With this my question still remains is there a bias? It sounds like a future research study.

Does Anyone Care?

Yesterday it was announced that Sheryl Swoops was a lesbian. The question that I have is who cares? Honestly why do we need to know this in the first place. I really don't understand why celebrities, in general, want to reveal all of their lifes secrets and thoughts to us, the public. Take Tom Cruise's beliefs on psychology and mental health treatment, anyone with a lick of sense should know that he has an agenda that he is trying to inindate the world with, that being the teachings of the Church of Scientology. I don't care. There are more pertanent issues that people are dealing with than the need of Sheryl Swoops to tell people that she is gay. The thing that bothers me about this is the attention that it is being given in print, the internet, and on ESPN. The only thing that this story accomplishes is it reinforces the stereotype that many people have about female athletes, that the majority of them are gay. You can decide whether this is a pertanant issue but from my point of view: I could care less.

Trends

I don't know if anyone noticed the two trends this past weekend in the world of football. In college, there was the trend of teams scoring 50 or more points and in the NFL the number of games that had a team winning on the final play.

A ethical question arose on saturday night, while watching some of the Penn State Illinois game: How does Joe Pa play in the second half after scoring 56 points in the 1st? When playing a conference foe you don't want to run the score up on them because it might come back to huant you one day. But when you are playing a team, as bad as Illinois, how do you make it look as if you aren't running up the score? In the second half Penn State had their 3rd string in and they still could move the ball. This is a tough question for a coach unless your name is Steve Spurrier.


Quote of the week:
I think the nature of man is to be aggressive and football is a violent game. But I think the very violence is one of the great things about the game, because a man has to learn control. He is going to go in to knock somebody's block off, and yet he must keep a rein on it. I can't think of any other place that demands such discipline.
Vince Lombardi

Simply The Best

Many, around the country, believe that Reggie Bush is the best running back in college football, right now, but I beg to differ.The best running back plays for the University of Memphis and his name is DeAngelo Williams. Yesterday he surpassed Herschel Walker and several others to move into 7th place in total rushing yards. While there have been a few others, from non-BCS conferences, to do this DeAngelo is extremely special. Coming into the year Memphis fans were very excited about his pontential Heisman bid but those hopes were dashed when he rushed for only 85 yards against Ole Miss. The untold story about this is that on the first offensive series the starting quaterback broke his leg and the coaching staff had to scrap its game plan. Since this game the Tigers have had to chnage their offensive philosophy because of injuries. Memphis is now using it's fourth different staring quaterback of the season, converted wide receiver Maurice Avery. In this time Memphis has lost its second string qb to a broken leg, used a true freshman who is 5' 11' and weighs 185, and have used Deangelo at qb in the single wing. Added to the problems at quaterback is the fact that the Tigers have a completly brand new offensive line that frequently rotates players in and out of the game. With all of this uncertainty Deangelo has step up his game and is averaging 187 yds a game. In his seven games he has rushed for 85 yds: Ole Miss, 205:3 tds: UT Chattanooga, 223 yds:3 tds: Tulsa, 236 yds:2 tds: UTEP, 136 yds: UCF, 198 yds:2 tds: Houston,and 226 yds:2 tds:East Carolina. Mind you all of these defenses are lining up in 8 man fronts to stop him and he is still gaining yardage. He is putting up remarkable numbers in spite of this. This is why I beleive that DeAngelo is better than Reggie Bush; Reggie Bush has not had to face the adversity that DeAngelo has this season. While I am realitic that DeAngelo will not win the Heisman, my only hope is that he is invited to the ceremony. If this happens it will be a huge boost of self esteem to a football program that was a perenial loser until he and Tommy West arrived. You can vote for the Heisman @ http://www.voteforheisman.com. All I can say that while Reggie Bush will get the hype in college, DeAngelo will get the check in the NFL.

No Love Lost

Phil Fulmer makes his long awaited return to Bryant-Denny Stadium this Saturday. The Alabama faithful have been waiting with baited breath for the kickoff at 2:30 tomarrow. Why, you ask? Well many Alabama fans hold Phil Fulmer responsible for the last five years of probation and controversy surrounding the Alabama Football program. Reports, out of Tuscaloosa, say that fans have his effegy ready to burn. I have even heard stories that the stundents plan to throw dounuts at him when he runs out of the visiting lockerroom. Well lets hope that is all that they throw at him, i.e. whiskey bottles. Well the last thing that I want to say is "Roll Tide Roll".

Spammers

I am writing this to let the spammers, who like to piggyback your advertising through my comment page, to stop. While I want this page to be an open forum, people like you make this hard. If I have to I will shut down the comments link. I am not getting paid by you, so don't think that you will get away with your free advertising.

Great Time of Year

I have to say that this is the best time of year for sports. Just about every night you have either NFL, College Football, baseball, and coming soon college basketball. If you love sports, as I do, then you are in seventh heven. With that said I want to have me say on the Greatest College Game Ever Played: USC vs. Notre Dame this past weekend. I have to say that the next big game is will be the next greatest game ever played. I am willing to bet that the UCLA vs. USC game will be the next greatest game ever. Can we please stop with the lists and hype that surrounds sports. I know that they can be fun to talk about but when is enough enough, in terms throwing the term greatest around. Is Peyton Manning the greatest of all time? How about Vick? Barry Sanders? Emmitt Smith? The media has weakened the term "the greatest" so when their is truly a great game we won't recognize or it's status has been cheapened. According to ESPN we have the greatest sporting event at least once a week. What about the games of the past or the players for that matter. Where does Jim Thorpe fit in to the greatest equation? At least he has the credentials to back it up? What about Red Grange and his accomplishments? Here is a man who is responsible for the modern day NFL. Do we still hold Sammy Sosa's and Mark McGuire's accomplishments in the same light as we did two years ago? Are they still two of the greatest home run hitters ever? What about Carl Lewis and his accomplishments, aren't they pretty great? What I am trying to say is that the greatest athlete or sporting event is subjective. If you ask 700 people this question you will probably receive 700 different answers.

High School Football

Since the movie Friday Night Lights, shoe companies and media companies have infiltrated the world of high school football. Have you noticed the Nike commercials that feature the NFL stars while they played high school football? This is an attempt to ambush market Reebok and their deal that they signed with the NFL.NFL athletes that have deals with Nike cannot use the marks that they wear on the feild so they so footage of them playing in high school. While I don't have a major problem with this, I do have a problem with the reality tv show "Bound for Glory". ESPN is clearly taking advantage of these kids in order to find content for their channel. It would be one thing if Dick Butkus was really the coach but he wasn't; the real coach was Coach Lou. The show is total hype, all the while promenantly displaying the Reebok logo. Ray Crokett and Dick Butkus come in and say they are going to change things then they quit before the season is even over, after the team starts out 1-6. What message are you sending to these kids? Get ready kids you will be used and let down time and time again all in the name of trying to keep a old athletes name in the public eye. Maybe if he would have played to the camera more, when he was announcing XFL games, maybe the league wouldn't have failed. Better yet maybe he should have worked harder at acting then his saturday morning tv show, on NBC, wouldn't have failed. I guess the problem that I have is that he quit on the kids. In today's society if you quit on a kid than nine times out of ten that kid will not ry again. Rather they will devote more time to playing video games.

The Quick Out

I might be in the minority but I have to say that I am really tired of Fantasy Football. The arguement in favor of it, is that it brings an added level of excitement to the games, on both saturday and sunday. I don't need the added excitement, I am the type of person who can find a team to root for in any game, even if it is Temple vs. Florida Atlantic. What I don't need is the information overload that takes place on the scrolling ticker giving me fantasy stats, I don't care. I don't care if Adam Vinateri went 6 for 6 and score a touchdown on a fake fieldgoal. What is sad is that this insanity has now infiltrated college football. Why? Why do we need college fantasy football? We have to deal with sports wagering infommercials weekly now we have to deal with fantasy football updates and weekly handicapping shows. What really kills me about fantasy experts is that these are guys who have never stepped on a field or has thrown a pass. Instead they are stats nerds who are obsessed with YAC's or how many TDs Deon Branch had against the Bengals. These guys don't care about the game, the integrity of the game, or the history of it. Instead they have brought an annoying aspect to our weekly viewinf experience. You know I hear freinds say all the time that betting on games brings an exciting aspect to the game also.

The Slant

There are a few stories that I want to discuss that happened this weekend, the first being the 60 Minutes interview of Bill Romonowski. I have seen some intense people in my life but the look in that man's eyes was something else. After watching that interview my opinion changed in favor of him, because for once I could really relate to what an athlete was saying. I knew what he was talking about when discribed hurting people on the bottom of the pile and the intense nature in which he played the game. While listening to his interview I was reminded of interviews with former NFL stars, that are now hailed as great players but played with same intensity, such as Chuck Bednarick and Deacon Jones. Except for the issues with steriods I have to say that Romo was a true throwback player. Compare his antics with what Chuck Bednarick did to Frank Gifford or LT did to Joe Thiesman, there really isn't much differecnce except time. These guys are now seen as heroes of the hall whereas Romo is seen as a dirty player who took steriods.

The other important note to take away from the interview is the damage that Romo has had to his cognitive functioning. He should be the poster child for Post Concussion Syndrome. If you really payed attention you would have noticed his slurred speech and response time to the answers of the questions. The sad thing is that during his career he paid an enormous amount attention to his body and what went into it but he neglected the one thing that he would need after his career: His brain. He will be an interesting case to watch as he ages, to see if he developes Parkinson's like Ali has.

I have to give recognition to one of the nation's less heralded players, that being DeAngelo Williams. This weekend he surpassed Archie Griffin on the all time leading rusher list. This year Deangelo has had one game in which he didn't rush for nearly 200 yards, that being against Ole Miss in which he rushed for 85 yards. In the last five games he is averaging over 200 yards a game.