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February 29, 2008

The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Pt. 2)

Continued from The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Pt. 1)

Forests

Most of the league's head coaches trace their roots to one of four basic places: Ray Perkins and the 1980s Giants (Bill Parcells Tree), Chuck Noll's Steel Curtain Dynasty (Tony Dungy Tree), Marty Schottenheimer (his own tree and the Bill Cowher Tree), or Bill Walsh and the 1980s 49ers (Mike Holmgren and George Seifert Trees). Is there something bigger, something to tie those trees together? Yes.

Pardon me for stretching the "tree" analogy, but today's most prominent coaching trees grew in two coaching forests: those of Paul Brown and Sid Gillman. I hope you'll understand, though, why I think it's important to include a third "forest" — that of Steve Owen.

The Steve Owen Forest

Steve Owen coached the New York Giants from 1930-53, winning two NFL championships and more than 150 games. Owen is credited with inventing the "Umbrella Defense" — a system that became the basis for today's 4-3 defensive set.

The Jim Lee Howell Coaching Tree

After playing for Owen in the 1930s and '40s, Howell succeeded his old coach in 1954. His own head coaching career, although it yielded a championship in 1956 and a pair of losses to the famous Colts teams of Weeb Ewbank and John Unitas, is most remarkable for the assistants he hired. Howell's defensive coordinator was future Cowboys coach Tom Landry. His offensive coordinator, who would go on to win five NFL Championships as head coach of the Packers, was Vince Lombardi.

Vince Lombardi — I've placed him in the Howell Tree, but Lombardi also has ties to Sleepy Jim Crowley and Frank Leahy (as a player at Fordham University), plus Red Blaik (as a coach for Army). Sid Gillman and Lombardi were both assistants for Blaik in the late 1940s.

Forrest Gregg — His playing career, as a Hall of Fame offensive tackle, included 13 seasons with Lombardi and one with Tom Landry. During his head coaching career with the Bengals, Gregg oversaw the development of fellow Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz and led the team to an appearance in Super Bowl XVI. Current head coaches Tom Coughlin and Dick Jauron both served as assistants on Gregg's staff in Green Bay.

The Tom Landry Coaching Tree

He played defensive back for both Owen and Howell, later coaching for Howell. Landry, a Hall of Fame coach for Dallas, won two Super Bowls in the 1970s and was one of the most important offensive and defensive innovators of the 1950s and '60s.

Mike Ditka — During his career as a tight end, Ditka played for two Hall of Fame coaches: George Halas in Chicago, and Landry in Dallas. He continued to work with both of them after his retirement as a player, spending nine seasons as an assistant to Landry before Halas hired him as head coach of the Bears. Ditka coached Jeff Fisher for three seasons, and his staff in Chicago included future head coaches Steve Mariucci and Dave McGinnis.

Dick Nolan — He played defensive back for both Howell and Landry, then spent another six seasons as an assistant coach for Landry. He later served as head coach of both the 49ers and Saints. His son, Mike Nolan, coaches the Niners today.

Dan Reeves — Played running back for Landry in Dallas and later served as his offensive coordinator. Reeves has connections to Gary Kubiak, Mike Nolan, Wade Phillips, and Mike Shanahan.

Active Head Coaches in the Steve Owen Coaching Forest — Mike Nolan

Second-Hand Connections — Tom Coughlin, Jeff Fisher, Dick Jauron, Gary Kubiak, Wade Phillips, Mike Shanahan

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The Sid Gillman Forest

Sid Gillman coached the Rams for five years in the late 1950s, the Chargers for their first nine seasons, and the Oilers for two years in the 1970s. Gillman revolutionized coaching tactics and forever changed NFL offenses, emphasizing vertical passing in a way the league had never seen before. Among those who picked up his offense were Don Coryell (future coach of the Cardinals and Chargers), Al Davis (long-time owner of the Raiders), and Chuck Noll (who coached the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories).

His own mentor was Francis "Close the Gates of Mercy" Schmidt, for whom he played at Ohio State.

Bum Phillips — He was a defensive assistant to Gillman in the 1960s and '70s, with both the Chargers and Oilers. Unsurprisingly, this puts his son Wade Phillips in Gillman's forest.

Dick Vermeil — This is a bit weird. Gillman was an assistant to Vermeil, rather than the other way around. Clearly, though, it was Gillman's offensive philosophy that Vermeil adopted, consistently hiring those who ran Gillman's offense, such as Mike Martz and Al Saunders. Sealing the deal, Vermeil didn't spend much time working for anyone else. He spent one season as an assistant to George Allen, another with Chuck Knox, and worked for Tommy Prothro for two years. Gillman's influence is clear, even if their working relationship was a bit unusual.

The George Allen Coaching Tree

It's misleading to put him here. Allen's primary influence was undoubtedly George Halas, the legendary coach and owner of the Bears, for whom he worked from 1958-65, including several years as Chicago's defensive coordinator. But Gillman gave Allen his first NFL coaching job — with the Rams in 1957 — and I don't have a Halas Tree (yes, I feel bad about this), so Allen is here.

Marv Levy — Allen emphasized special teams more than any other coach the game has seen, to the point that he hired the first special teams coach in NFL history (Dick Vermeil). Levy was the second, working for Allen in both Los Angeles and Washington. Among Levy's own legacies is that Wade Phillips was his defensive coordinator in Buffalo, and former Chargers coach Bobby Ross was on his staff in Kansas City. Bill Walsh was an assistant to Levy at Cal in the early 1960s.

Ted Marchibroda — A long-time assistant to Allen, he was also Levy's offensive coordinator in Buffalo. Active head coaches with ties to Marchibroda include Marvin Lewis, Eric Mangini, and Ken Whisenhunt.

Jack Pardee — After playing for Allen in both Los Angeles and Washington, he spent more than a decade as an NFL head coach with the Bears, Washington, and finally the Houston Oilers, where his defensive coordinator was current Titans HC Jeff Fisher.

The Don Coryell Coaching Tree

Don Coryell coached both the Cardinals and the Chargers, and it is telling that despite a 42-27-1 record in St. Louis (.607 winning percentage), he is more famous for his work in San Diego. Coaching future Hall of Famers like Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, and Kellen Winslow, Coryell coordinated an offense that no one could seem to stop. The Chargers led the NFL in total yards four seasons in a row and in passing offense five seasons in a row; those accomplishments are unequaled in the Modern Era.

Joe Gibbs — He played and coached for Coryell at San Diego State, then served as Coryell's assistant with both the Cardinals and Chargers. Gibbs himself mentored former head coach Joe Bugel.

Al Saunders — His three-year head-coaching career was not productive, but Saunders has been one of the most influential offensive coaches of the last 30 years. He was an assistant to Coryell at San Diego State and with the Chargers, then went on to serve as either offensive coordinator or assistant head coach to Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Martz, Dick Vermeil, and Joe Gibbs. He is also the new offensive coordinator in St. Louis.

Ernie Zampese — The only person listed here who has never been an NFL head coach, Zampese is too important to ignore. He was an assistant to Coryell (1967-75, 1979-86) and John Robinson (1987-91), a mentor to Norv Turner, and an offensive consultant to Joe Gibbs and Mike Martz.

The Al Davis Coaching Tree

Al Davis is a unique figure in the history of professional football. During his career in football, Davis has been a personnel assistant, scout, assistant coach, head coach, general manager, league commissioner, and principal owner and chief executive officer of a team. Davis won AFL Coach of the Year in 1963, was one of the driving forces behind the AFL-NFL merger that created the modern league, and has owned and run the Raiders for more than 30 years. He was an offensive assistant to Gillman with the Chargers, and he has consistently shaped the Raiders as a down-the-field passing offense, like Gillman's.

John Madden — Another coach with multiple ties to Gillman, Madden learned from Norm Van Brocklin — Gillman's old quarterback with the Rams — before joining Coryell at San Diego State. Three years later, Al Davis offered him a job with the Raiders.

Tom Flores — A Davis man through and through, Flores was the Raiders' quarterback during Davis' three years as the team's head coach, then an assistant to John Madden, and finally was hired by Davis to be the Raiders' head coach following Madden's retirement. He coached the team to victories in Super Bowls XV and XVIII. Former Washington and Cleveland coach Terry Robiskie is a Davis/Flores protege.

Art Shell — The Hall of Fame tackle played in the Raider organization for 15 seasons, including all 10 seasons of Madden's head coaching career and another four under Flores. Shell himself coached the Raiders from 1989-94 and again in 2006.

THE BILL WALSH BRANCH

Bill Walsh — Conventional wisdom places Walsh in the legendary Paul Brown Coaching Tree, since Walsh was an assistant to Brown for eight seasons. But everything else, including Walsh's offensive philosophies and personal statements — he hated Brown and has publicly credited Davis as his biggest influence — indicates that this is where he belongs.

Dennis Green — He was an assistant for Walsh both at Stanford and with the 49ers. Green's contribution to this branch of the coaching tree includes former head coaches Brian Billick, Jim Fassel, and Mike Tice, plus current Rams HC Scott Linehan, who is part of the Mike Tice Coaching Twig. Green also has secondary connections to Tony Dungy (his defensive coordinator in Minnesota) and, through Billick, to everyone associated with Marvin Lewis.

Mike Holmgren — Holmgren's coaching tree has considerably diminished in stature recently, but this is still an important addition to the Bill Walsh branch of Gillman's coaching forest.

George Seifert — Walsh's defensive coordinator and successor in San Francisco, he led the 49ers to wins in Super Bowls XXIV and XXIX. Seifert's assistants included Jeff Fisher, Holmgren, Gary Kubiak, Ray Rhodes, and Mike Shanahan.

[Click to expand]

The John Robinson Coaching Tree

I'll be honest, I'm not sure where to put Robinson. He was an assistant to Madden in 1975. Robinson hired Norv Turner and Zampese as offensive assistants while he was coach of the Rams. His single biggest influence may have been Len Casanova, but Robinson has so many connections to the Sid Gillman Forest that he needs to be here.

Mike Martz — I haven't gone through exact numbers, but including his college coaching career, Mike Martz may have worked for more head coaches than anyone else in history. He's a student of the true West Coast Offense run by Gillman and Coryell, and his most immediate influence is Norv Turner.

Norv Turner — Some fans are puzzled that Turner keeps getting good coaching jobs, and I suspect many readers will be equally puzzled at the frequency with which Turner's name has appeared in this study (12 times before we even got to this entry). To understand this, you must realize that Turner is now the only major practitioner of the Gillman/Coryell offense remaining in the NFL. This was the most dynamic offense in football for most of the 1960s and '70s, into the early '80s, and although it seems to be dying out now — replaced by Walsh's short-passing offense — you can see the legendary names attached to it (Coryell, Davis, Gibbs, Madden) and understand why some people still have faith in this style of offense. It's also a lot more exciting than a bunch of five-yard passes, and if you've ever been bored out of your mind watching a Walsh-style West Coast Offense, Martz and Turner are your guys.

Active Head Coaches in the Sid Gillman Coaching Forest — Brad Childress, Jon Gruden, John Harbaugh, Mike Holmgren, Dick Jauron, Gary Kubiak, Scott Linehan, Mike McCarthy, Wade Phillips, Andy Reid, Mike Shanahan, Norv Turner, Jim Zorn

Second-hand Connections — Jack Del Río, Tony Dungy, Jeff Fisher, John Fox, Lane Kiffin, Marvin Lewis, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Sean Payton, Lovie Smith, Mike Tomlin

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The Paul Brown Forest

Paul Brown is the father of modern professional football. He was the first Modern Era coach to racially integrate his squad, the first coach to regularly call plays for his offense, and the first to hold classroom practice sessions. The list goes on (modern pass-blocking techniques and the quarterback "pocket") and on (year-round coaching staffs and positional coaches) and on.

Blanton Collier — Most famous for succeeding two of the greatest coaches in history, Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Kentucky and Paul Brown in Cleveland. Collier was an assistant to Brown for eight seasons before his own head coaching career began. Collier probably wasn't a formative influence on any major coaching trees, but he has many important secondary connections, and his assistants included Bill Arnsparger, Howard Schnellenberger, Chuck Knox, and Don Shula.

Bud Grant — The coach who took Minnesota to four Super Bowls (and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL to six Grey Cups) played for Brown at Great Lakes Naval Station, and for former Giants coach Allie Sherman in Winnipeg.

Chuck Noll — His seven-year playing career was spent under Brown, and he spent three years as an assistant to Shula. Noll also has significant ties to the Sid Gillman forest, though, based on six seasons as an assistant with the Chargers. Noll was the primary influence on both Tony Dungy and John Fox, as well as current Indianapolis offensive coordinator Tom Moore.

The Weeb Ewbank Coaching Tree

Ewbank was an assistant to Brown at Great Lakes Naval Station, served as his line coach for the Browns, and was a fellow grad of Miami University in Ohio. He coached the Colts to two championships and the Jets to an upset win in Super Bowl III.

Chuck Knox — He worked for Blanton Collier at Kentucky, then got his first professional coaching job from Ewbank. Former head coaches Jim Haslett, Mike Martz, and Mike Tice all have ties to Knox.

Buddy Ryan — Ewbank's defensive line coach in New York, he also worked for Bud Grant in Minnesota and Mike Ditka in Chicago. Ryan's coaching tree includes Titans coach Jeff Fisher and former head coaches Dave McGinnis and Gregg Williams.

The Don Shula Coaching Tree

How many connections to Paul Brown can one man have? Shula played for Brown and Ewbank, and he coached for Collier. Shula's Tree is also the cradle of today's 3-4 defensive coaches.

Bill Arnsparger — Like Shula, he was on Collier's staff at Kentucky before moving to the NFL. Arnsparger was a defensive assistant for Shula in both Baltimore (1964-69) and Miami (1970-73, 76-82). Arnsparger was also defensive coordinator for the Charger team that played in Super Bowl XXIX. Among his most significant contributions to the game — as if coaching on seven teams that played for a championship isn't enough — is that Arnsparger gave Marty Schottenheimer his first NFL coaching job.

Ray Perkins — I don't know how accurate it is to put the Bill Parcells and Marty Schottenheimer Coaching Trees in Paul Brown's forest, but Arnsparger and Perkins belong here. Perkins, who hired Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Romeo Crennel, played for Shula in Baltimore. His other significant influences were Bear Bryant, Chuck Fairbanks, and Don Coryell.

Active Head Coaches in the Paul Brown Coaching Forest — Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Romeo Crennel, Jack Del Río, Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards, Jeff Fisher, John Fox, Lane Kiffin, Marvin Lewis, Eric Mangini, Rod Marinelli, Sean Payton, Tony Sparano, Lovie Smith, Mike Smith, Mike Tomlin, Ken Whisenhunt

Second-hand Connections — Dick Jauron, Mike McCarthy, Wade Phillips

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Bringing It All Together

Sid Gillman and Paul Brown, both of whom began their NFL coaching careers in the 1950s, remain relevant in today's game through the coaches they tutored. Where do these giants — the forests that contain the game's most vibrant coaching trees — intersect?

Bill Walsh — It should be no surprise that the most influential coach of the last 30 years has roots with both Brown (eight years as an assistant with the Bengals) and Gillman (he's on the Al Davis Coaching Tree).

Chuck Noll — The only head coach in history with four Super Bowl victories, Noll worked directly with both Brown (seven years as a player) and Gillman (six years as an assistant coach with the Chargers).

Ray Perkins — The man who hired Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Romeo Crennel played for Don Shula (Paul Brown Forest) and coached for Don Coryell (Sid Gillman Forest).

Miami University — Miami of Ohio, as it's usually called today, produced — among many others — Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, and Red Blaik (mentor to both Gillman and Vince Lombardi).

[Click to expand]

Gross Simplification

The four maxims below are not 100% accurate, but they can serve as a general guide to today's head coaches and their roots.

1. Today's defensive-minded coaches, if they use a 4-3 defensive alignment, are from the Tony Dungy Branch of the Chuck Noll Tree, in the Paul Brown Forest.

2. Today's defensive-minded coaches, if they use a 3-4 defensive alignment, are from the Don Shula Tree in the Paul Brown Forest. This tree includes Bill Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Belichick, and Bill Cowher.

3. Today's offensive-minded coaches, unless they are Norv Turner, are from the Bill Walsh Branch of the Al Davis Tree, in the Sid Gillman Forest.

4. Today's offensive-minded coaches, if they do not use Walsh's "West Coast" Offense, are from the Don Coryell Tree, in the Sid Gillman Forest.

More broadly, offensive coaches probably trace their roots to Sid Gillman, while defensive coaches probably trace their roots to Paul Brown or Steve Owen.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame

Fourteen of the former coaches mentioned in this study are in the Hall of Fame. Those coaches are listed here with their coaching trees and Hall of Fame presenters.

George Allen — George Halas Tree, includes Marv Levy, Ted Marchibroda, and Jack Pardee; HOF presenter was Deacon Jones (player)

Marv Levy — George Halas Tree, George Allen Branch, includes Bobby Ross; HOF presenter was Bill Polian (executive)

Steve Owen — Steve Owen Forest, includes Jim Lee Howell Tree and Tom Landry Tree; HOF presenter was Mel Hein (player)

Vince Lombardi — Steve Owen Forest, Jim Lee Howell Tree, includes Forrest Gregg; HOF presenter was Wellington Mara (executive)

Tom Landry — Steve Owen Forest, includes Mike Ditka, Dick Nolan, and Dan Reeves; HOF presenter was Roger Staubach (player)

Sid Gillman — Sid Gillman Forest, includes Don Coryell Tree, Al Davis Tree and Bill Walsh Branch, John Robinson Tree, and Bum Phillips; HOF presenter was Joe Madro (asst. coach)

Joe Gibbs — Sid Gillman Forest, Don Coryell Tree, includes Joe Bugel; HOF presenter was Coryell

John Madden — Sid Gillman Forest, Al Davis Tree; HOF presenter was Davis

Bill Walsh — Sid Gillman Forest, Al Davis Tree, includes Dennis Green, Mike Holmgren, and George Seifert; HOF presenter was Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. (executive)

Paul Brown — Paul Brown Forest, includes Weeb Ewbank Tree, Don Shula Tree, Blanton Collier, Bud Grant, and Chuck Noll; HOF presenter was Otto Graham (player)

Bud Grant — Paul Brown Forest; HOF presenter was Sid Hartman (journalist)

Chuck Noll — Paul Brown Forest, includes Tony Dungy Tree and John Fox; HOF presenter was Dan Rooney (executive)

Weeb Ewbank — Paul Brown Forest, includes Chuck Knox; HOF presenter was Brown

Don Shula — Paul Brown Forest, includes Bill Arnsparger and Ray Perkins; HOF presenters were Dave and Mike Shula (family)

Note: Al Davis is also in the Hall of Fame, but as what the Hall calls a contributor rather than as a coach. His HOF presenter was John Madden. Mike Ditka is in the Hall of Fame as a player rather than as a coach. His HOF presenter was teammate Ed O’Bradovich.

I hope you've found this study both helpful and interesting. If you notice any errors or omissions, please notify me in the comments section. My goal in this study was to create the most comprehensive NFL Coaching Tree ever assembled, and in a project of this scope, mistakes are almost inevitable. Please recognize, though, that my focus remains fixed on today's coaches, as well as a few of the most significant coaches of yesteryear. I know I don't have George Halas or Curly Lambeau or Greasy Neale. But I've tried to include every contemporary head coach (plus a few of the hottest prospects) and all of coaches who influenced them. I welcome your comments, but please don't complain that someone like Harry Gilmer or Ken Meyer isn't included here.

All diagrams and illustrations of coaching trees that accompany this study were created by Brad Oremland and Lisa Fuller.

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Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:52 AM | Comments (7)

Sports Q&A: 40-Times and Petty Crimes

Lawrence from Little Rock, AR writes, "NFL Network covered 26 hours of the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis. Can a bunch of sprints and jumps really indicate a players potential quality?"

Wow! Twenty-six hours of video footage that's subject to limited viewership? Sounds like a collection from the New England Patriots underground video vault. But just as fastidiously as Bill Belichick watches the seemingly irrelevant movements of a St. Louis Rams walk-through, there are viewers watching with wide-eyed amazement as potential NFL draft picks are put through mental and physical tests that quantify their capacity to be athletes and/or good citizens.

Of course, good citizenship alone won't get you drafted, but as the NFL Combine, or the adult film industry, for that matter, has proved again and again, incredible physical feats always overrides even the most obvious absence of mental aptitude. So you could be the biggest dummy in the room, but if your clean and jerk is impressive enough, then you'll have a job in the NFL, or in the adult film industry, for that matter.

A lot of fans watch the combine just because it's on, not necessarily because they want to. But once you watch, you can't help but be sucked in to the drama and intrigue of measures of strength and speed, such as the 40-yard dash, the vertical jump, the broad jump, the bench press, the three-cone drill, the 20-yard shuttle, and the 60-yard shuttle. These are simply the physical measures of players' abilities.

But can these really give teams an accurate measure of how an athlete will perform as professionals? Truly beneficial tests would include the '200-yard dash from the cops,' or the '3-stripper drill,' or the '80-yard shuttle from the holding cell to the fingerprint station,' or the 'bouncer sucker-punch.' And everyone knows that a legitimate '40' measurement is the time it takes to down 40 ounces of liquor and toss the empty bottle at a road sign, all while maintaining a speed of 90 or above. For additional insight, the urine test offers great results, indicating how well a prospect can urinate in public without being seen. There is more to becoming a solid NFL player than just some token times, distances, and repetitions. A flawless recitation of the alphabet, backwards, with a flashlight shining in your eyes? That's when you know that your game is ready for the next level.

Unfortunately, player weigh-ins are no longer televised. This has to be upsetting to NFL purists, as well as boxing promoter and world-class buffoon Don King, who's never seen a weigh-in in which he couldn't stage a confrontation. Obviously, some chubby lineman complained that they felt embarrassed by the spectacle of being weighed in public. The names of these players should be red-flagged immediately by prospective drafters.

Part of being a successful offensive or defensive linemen in the NFL is the utter disregard for your physical appearance. If obese linemen were concerned with their disheveled and sloppy appearance, then Dan Dierdorf wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame, and Tony Siragussa wouldn't have the nerve to engulf NFL sidelines and spout cartoonish commentary. Personally, I think all players should wear two-piece bikinis to the weigh-in, and their personality tests should be administered then and there. Scouts would have their answers immediately about players' ability to maintain their composure under the most embarrassing of circumstances. I'm guessing Pacman Jones would have pulled a piece from his bikini top and fired off a few warning shots. And the Titans would have been impressed.

If the weigh-ins and height measurements do nothing else, at least they offer the truth. That was especially the case when California wide receiver DeSean Jackson, listed throughout his college career at a towering 6,' was revealed to be a mere 5'9". It had to be the most talked-about instance of a Jackson losing three inches off the top since Michael Jackson's jeri-curled 'do went up in flames back in 1984. Suddenly, Jackson's price tag went down, and suddenly, Danny DeVito doesn't seem so short.

Let's not forget the NFL Network's coverage is hosted by Rich Eisen, and who can pass up a chance to watch a show hosted by Eisen? I can't. On a network known for badly-announced regular-season games and exclusive features like "Put Up Your Dukes," 26 hours of the NFL Combine looks pretty inviting. How did Jamie Dukes get his own show? I believe, first, someone at the NFL Network came up with a clever title for a show, then they hired Dukes. Let's be thankful Andy Dick doesn't have his own show on the network.

But the best thing about the NFL Network's coverage of the Combine: no Mel Kiper, Jr. It must kill Kiper not to be able to voice his opinions and show off his Eddie Munster hairdo directly to the NFL Network viewers. But, as always, Kiper will have his say elsewhere, and his mock draft will continue to change by the minute. The NFL Network's Mike Mayock is just as capable of over-analysis as Kiper, and he's got a regular hairstyle.

When all is said and done, the Combine will be history, and the information gathered will raise the draft status of some, and lower it for others. But the real questions about a player's ability to handle the rigors of the pro game can't be answered until that player faces the tough situations inherent to football, like criminal charges. Until the Combine vastly changes its testing procedures, these answers will be clouded among useless numbers and statistics. In the meantime, Roger Goodell should have his appointment calendar readily available.

Get Your Questions Answered!

Do you have a question or comment? Did you perjure yourself and forget to wear a diaper? Do you have a fear of presidential candidates whose names rhyme with "Obama?" Are you oozing machismo, and can't get it to stop? Then send your demands/concerns/questions along with your name and hometown to [email protected].

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:50 AM | Comments (1)

February 28, 2008

The Sports Announcer Column (Pt. 1)

This will not be the first time I have written about announcers in this space, but it is the first one I have written having realized that I have a very clear criteria of what makes a good announcer in my book: an iconic voice. Sounds pretty shallow, eh? Yet, I don't really listen to the announcers too much, and I bet you don't, either.

We don't need the announcer to tell us that it's 2nd-and-10, or if he noticed that Adrian Peterson just made a great run. We might pay slightly more attention to the analysts, but even then, there's more than enough "You want to get a first down here because it can help build momentum," for you to start turning them out.

So what that means is I value a voice that provides good background music to the game. This criteria is highly, highly subjective. A voice that is music to me might grate you terribly. With that out of the way, my icons are the following:

1. Pat Summerall

There will never be another like him. He was truly the voice of football. He was the voice. He never showed any emotion. His deadpan, just-the-facts delivery will always resonate in my mind. "Touchdown, 49ers." "Interference, and he caught it anyway."

He should've left the game being triumphantly hoisted on the shoulders of others, but instead, he is merely fading away. He retired in 2001, and then unretired a year later to just do Cowboy and Texan regional telecasts, close to his home.

Since then, he's strictly been a mop-up man, filling in where needed. He covered for Mike Patrick at ESPN in 2004 when Patrick recovered from heart surgery, and has been an emergency substitute teacher of sorts for FOX a few times after that, most recently when he called the Bengals/Rams game just this past December.

Now, I realize this is probably his call. I imagine that he doesn't mind working occasionally, but at 77, doesn't really have it in him anymore to work week in and week out. I also realize that his age shows in his broadcasts. He occasionally seems to get behind or make mistakes that are gently corrected by his booth partners or producers.

I don't care. They let Harry Caray broadcast until he died, but he was already really hard to listen to the last few years, when he sounded out-of-it and confused.

I'd like the same for Summerall, for him to still find work until he dies. I think he's earned that work-as-long-as-you-want golden ticket. I never catch these games where he materializes to be the emergency longman for the network's 13th commentating crew or whatever, but I hope to before he hangs it up for good. We need to give this man a proper goodbye, but we also have to appreciate that he's still calling games every now and then.

2. Vin Scully

He's another one that is now quite old (80), but is still logging part-time duty as the radio announcer for Dodger home games and road games west of the Rockies. He became my baseball iconic voice as the lead NBC baseball announcer from 1983 to 1989.

3. Keith Jackson

Whoa, Nelly!!! Would rather hear him call a college football game than anyone else. Hidden behind the folksy aphorisms was the fact that he was very articulate, smooth, and clever. He's yet another one that went from national work to regional to cut down on travel before hanging it up altogether.

4. Chris Cuthbert

He's the only guy on this list that is not retired and not nearing retirement. Unfortunately, he's the only one here that most Americans never heard of and likely never will.

Longtime readers know that I prefer the CFL for my offseason football fix, and Cuthbert is the lead announcer for Canadian sports station TSN, whose CFL product is made available in the U.S. on regional sports networks.

I've only been watching the CFL for a couple years, but he somehow struck a chord with me right away. Here's a YouTube sample of him, if you want to judge for yourself. As an aside, he works well with his broadcast partner, whose name escapes me, but the Canadian announcers seems much more willing to criticize and be frank in their analysis, which is evident in the clip at around the one-minute mark ("Oh! You know, I just hate the call. I just hate the call." "Yep.").

Cuthbert is also a big-time NHL announcer, and was part of NBC's NHL broadcast team the last couple of years. Now that NBC has trimmed their NHL schedule down to a single weekly game, he's on the sidelines in terms of American broadcasting, waiting to mop-up if needed. Along, I suppose, with Summerall.

Posted by Kevin Beane at 11:53 AM | Comments (1)

Globalization or De-Americanization?

I've been looking for a good professional tennis story to write. I thought that maybe a nice article on Kei Nishikori, the Florida-based, Japanese 18-year-old superstar of the moment would be perfect after his totally unexpected win at Delray Beach. Then I read a column by long-time tennis writer Peter Bodo. Peter thinks that the globalization of tennis is ruining the sport. I agree that my sport of choice is not heading in a direction I think it needs to, but the cause isn't globalization.

Mr. Bodo laments the shift toward a more uniform playing surface. I'll join him in that. In my time on this earth, I have seen the game go from one played on a serious diversity of surfaces to three basic surface materials (all with a very clay-like bounce.) The fact that the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has been slowing down the grass and even changed the grass blend continues to be a disappointment to me. The move was heralded as a means to give clay court specialists, aka "dirt ballers," a better chance of moving through the tournament.

In the past, that never mattered. It used to be that to be a great player you had to have an all-court game, you had to be able to be adaptable to different court surfaces. Rod Laver won on all surfaces. Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and even John McEnroe all were successful on all the court types. Even the legendary Bill Tilden adapted to different surfaces, and Tilden actually saw the move to a more uniform surface. He wrote in several of his classic tennis books how he believed a dirt surface would become the most preferred. It just took about 50 years longer then he thought.

I've written many a time that academy tennis was the single biggest contributor to the slow, downslope of the game. Yes, Peter, you are right, most of the players all have the same style. Blame that more on Nick Bollettieri than the court surface. It used to be you never went too far from home when learning tennis. So if you grew up on the East Coast, you played on more grass and indoor surfaces. Harry Hopman was the great teacher of choice. Grew up in the middle of the country and you found a lot of clay. Grew up in California and everything was hard cement and high bounce.

But now you send your kids immediately to a large academy in Florida and everyone plays on the same surface, taught by the same coaches, and taught all the same basic everything. Where is the Japanese Mr. Kei Nishikori based out of? You guessed it, sunny Florida, land of the super academies. Yes, the lack of difference in styles makes the game boring to watch. Actually, without the new international faces, the game would be unwatchable.

I also find it interesting that Tennis Magazine itself this month basically features nothing but foreign players. Yes, there is the quick blurb about the U.S. Men defeating defending Davis Cup Champions Russia in the first round, but mostly articles about players like Ivo Karlovic, Nicole Vaidisova, etc. Clearly, the "globalization" sells magazines.

No, the biggest problem with the game is that there just isn't any superstar on the horizon coming from the ranks of America. Just think about World Cup Soccer. When the American team made a run a few years ago, everyone knew who was on the men's team, and they watched the World Cup even though they didn't know about anyone on the French, Italian, or Korean teams. Same with the women. Mia Hamm? You got it. Now where is soccer? I agree, boring for me to watch, and the new captain of the U.S. women's team is from my town. David Beckham won't make soccer much bigger here, either.

Yes, tennis has always been the most international professional sport. Rod Laver, John Newcombe, René Lacoste, Fred Perry, Ken Rosewall, Ilie Nastase, and Bjorn Borg all came from somewhere other than the USA. They were always balanced by Bill Tilden, Pancho Gonzalez, Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Connors, McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras. Same on the women's side. For every Margaret Court-Smith, there was a Billie Jean King. For Evonne Goolagong, there was Chrissie Evert.

The largest amount of money spent on tennis (both recreational and professional) is still in the U.S. To this day, the bulk of most tennis companies' sales are still in the U.S. Babolat was a long, storied company in the string business. It wasn't until they launched racquets in the U.S. that they became a major force in the game. The largest retailers of tennis equipment are in the U.S. Heck, even Tournagrip, that pesky blue overwrap, is marketed using Pete Sampras and he retired and nearly disappeared from the game. Don't Europeans buy overwrap?

Maybe it's the fall of the Iron Curtain. There is a lot to be said for great rivalry. Who could ever forget the U.S. men's hockey gold medal win and the "Miracle on Ice?" It would never have been possible without the great divergence of communism and democracy. The us versus them mentality driven by cultural and political differences used to fuel a lot of great sports and television drama. Now all that has gone away. Communism is no longer the "great evil" it once was. The influx of foreign players into all sports, and even more so in tennis directly from the fall of communism, means it's no longer us against them, but it's more of a global group hug. Sports needs drama. Sports needs a winner-take-all mentality. Tennis just currently doesn't have any.

I agree with Mr. Bobo, the push of the game toward other parts of the globe will not benefit the game in the long-run. Not unless the U.S. finds the next Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, King, or Evert. WTA CEO Larry Scott will do well in the short-term. He's moving the action to where the money is for today. Long-term, the money always will be here. Let's hope the game of professional tennis lasts until the powers that be understand.

Posted by Tom Kosinski at 11:38 AM | Comments (2)

NASCAR Top 10 Power Rankings: Week 2

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch — Busch led 14 laps in the rain-delayed Auto Club 500 and survived a brush with the wall on lap 114 to finish fourth. He led as late as lap 150, but fell to the advances of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and eventual winner Carl Edwards. Busch now leads the Sprint Cup points standings by six points, which is the first time a Toyota driver has topped the points.

"I do more with the Interstate Batteries car by 9:00 AM than J.J. Yeley did in a career," says Busch. "And I'm also pretty handy in a Nationwide series car, as well as a Craftman truck. Put me in a Sherman tank, and I'd be the No. 1 driver at Michael Waltrip Racing. Shoot, if I'd been behind the wheel of a white Bronco, they'd still be looking for O.J. Simpson."

2. Jimmie Johnson — Starting on the pole after a washed-out qualifying, Johnson led a race-high 76 laps, but had no answer for the Roush Fenway-powered Ford of Carl Edwards, who passed Johnson with about 15 laps to go. Johnson finished second, an impressive rebound from his 27th at Daytona.

"I've got to hand it to Fox TV for trying their darndest to get this race completed on Sunday," says Johnson. "But that rain was as persistent as the lack of creativity of the drivers who were asked to name that blasted gopher running the 'Gopher-Cam.' Who wants to see a ground-level view of cars speeding by at 180 miles per hour? Practically useless. Heck, you might as well put a camera in the exhaust pipe, or in a public restroom frequented by an itchy-fingered George Michael and call it the 'Wham Cam.' Now that's entertainment. Anyway, what makes FOX think a gopher is the most talented filmmaker in the rodent family. Personally, I'm much more partial to beaver shots."

3. Tony Stewart — Stewart finished sixth in California, then hopped in his Nationwide ride and picked up his second consecutive Nationwide Series win. Stewart remains third in the Nextel standings, 19 behind leader and teammate Kyle Busch.

"It was a grueling weekend," says Stewart. "But overall, I'd say it was a great success. I'm fat and happy. On that note, I'd like to congratulate Subway's Jared Fogle for 10 years of not being a fat slob. By the way, Jared, those pants fit comfortably over my No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Come to think of it, at my current rate of growth, those pants will soon fit comfortably on me."

4. Jeff Gordon — While running third on the final lap, Gordon's engine blew, bringing out the race's final caution. Luckily for Gordon, NASCAR rules mandate that the field is frozen when the caution flies. Thus, he held on to his third-place finish, and
improved 24 places in the points to 12th.

"What's this?" asks Gordon. "I finish third in the Auto Club 500, and all I get is this lousy t-shirt that says 'Free Robbie Gordon.' Well, I'll try my best to free Robbie, and I'll even throw in a vote for Pedro. As for Robbie, I believe he's sporting the 'I'm With Stupid' t-shirt in honor of the idiot who sent him the unapproved front bumper cover."

5. Carl Edwards — Edwards took charge late at Fontana's 2-mile oval, passing Jimmie Johnson on lap 234 and cruising to victory in his Roush Fenway Ford. Edwards celebrated with his typical backflip, and stuck the landing despite unsure footing caused by water seeping from the "weepers." Edwards then capped his backflip with a fist in the air.

"It's got nothing to do with 'Black Power,' says Edwards. "I just like seeing 'Matt cower.' Kenseth is still a little squeamish from our incident last year. Why, just the other day in a team meeting, I simply raised my hand to ask a question, and Matt wet himself. Not only is he sponsored by DeWalt Tools, he is a DeWalt tool."

6. Ryan Newman — Apparently, the manifestation of God's omnipotence in the form of a push from No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge does not occur on Monday's. Newman didn't get the 'push from God' that supposedly powered him to his Daytona victory. Still, the Lord saw fit for Newman to finish tenth and lead three laps in the Auto Club 500.

"And on the seventh day," says Newman, "God said, 'Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let there be racing!' But, it seems, God, like the majority of fans in Fontana, couldn't hang around for a Monday finish. By golly, we sure could have used some fiery hail to dry that track out on Sunday. NASCAR probably would have made us race in that as well. As it was, you could count on two hands the number of fans there on Monday. Sad, but still, that beat the number of moviegoers that braved ridicule for the opening weekend of Larry The Cable Guy's new offering, Witless Protection."

7. Kurt Busch — Busch ran out of fuel on lap 123 and fell a lap down, but recovered with a few strategic pit stops to finish 13th. He is now fourth in the points, 36 behind younger brother Kyle.

"Hey, my time in California was much like the heavyweight unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov," says Busch. "No one got punched."

8. Kasey Kahne — Kahne put the Dale Earnhardt Incorporated Budweiser Chevy (or the Evernham Bud Dodge, but that sounds like Kahne---boring) in the top 10 for the second-straight race, following his seventh at Daytona with a ninth in the Auto Club 500. He is sixth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 41 out of first.

"Hey, Teresa Earnhardt ain't so bad," says Kahne. "We have a lot in common. She fell into DEI ownership, and I fell into Budweiser sponsorship. And, oh yeah, neither one of us is blood related to Dale Earnhardt."

9. Matt Kenseth — Like his Roush Fenway brethren, Kenseth ran strong at California, finishing fifth as teammate and bully Carl Edwards won the race. Four Roush Fenway drivers led laps in the Auto Club 500, and this makes four California early season races in a row won by Roush Fenway racers. Kenseth won this race in 2006 and 2007.

"I assume the comments about my 'nice intermediate package' were compliments," says Kenseth. "If you think that's something, you should see my huge manifold."

10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. — On lap 21, Earnhardt smacked the No. 5 car of teammate Casey Mears, who bounced off the wall after hitting a slick spot. Earnhardt's No. 88 Hendrick Amp Energy Drink Chevrolet suffered severe damage, and he finished 40th, 47 laps off the pace.

"The one thing I feared most about joining a new team has reared its ugly head," says Earnhardt. "Hendrick-on-Hendrick violence. And I thought that was only a problem in the ghetto. Anyway, I was surprised that Tom Cruise, who was at the track, didn't attend to the accident, since, as a Scientologist, he's one of the few capable of actually helping. Anyway, I'm very disappointed with my finish, especially for my fans. Whether it's my male fans, the 'Amp-u-tees,' my lady fans, the 'Amp-u-tantes,' or my fans of undetermined gender, the 'Amp-biguous,' I always try to please them with a good finish."

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:05 AM | Comments (3)

February 27, 2008

A First-Hand Account of Cameron Indoor

Augusta National. Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lambeau Field. Yankee Stadium. Fenway Park. The Rose Bowl. Wrigley Field.

All of these venues are adored, historic landmarks of sports in the United States that are all at least half a century old. This list, of course, is lacking a venue in the most original of popular American sports, basketball.

Sure, there has been a building called Madison Square Garden in Manhattan for well over a century, but the current structure was built in 1968, which makes Oakland Arena (or Oracle Arena if you want to please sponsors) the oldest arena in the NBA.

So, by far, the most logical basketball arena to place in my rudimentary "Ancient Wonders of American Sport" is Cameron Indoor Stadium, a venue I was fortunate enough to visit this past Saturday.

I had never been to Cameron before last weekend, but the building has been a sort of unknown legendary family member for my whole life.

When my Dad went to his first Duke home game in late 1975, the Duke program was in a lean time of sorts, winning only about a third of its conference games in the first six seasons of the decade. After making the NIT in 1971, the Blue Devils were 14-34 in ACC play and 49-55 overall for the next four seasons.

By my Dad's junior year, Duke had made an unexpected run to the national title game by upsetting Notre Dame, before falling to Kentucky.
(John Feinstein's book about the 1977-78 Blue Devils, Forever's Team, is an excellent read for any Duke or ACC fan. You might have to look on eBay or the used section of Amazon, however, as the book probably went out of print long ago.)

Countless stories from my Dad's four seasons among the "Crazies" have been told to me, and with many of those stories being told five, 10, or more times over.

While it is not a story per se, my father had also told of how small Cameron is and that it only holds about 8,000. I have known this fact ever since I was five, but the compact nature of one of the most heralded basketball arenas in the world was still a shock.

Usually, when you visit a college or university, the school's basketball arena is very noticeable. It's usually the building that looks most like a gym, has a higher roof and may be a different color or architecturally foreign to the rest of the campus.

Not so with Cameron Indoor Stadium.

If signs right outside the campus buildings were not present at Duke, one would likely see it as a large-sized classroom or dorm building until they found the box office on the side of the building.

If you enter into Cameron at any of the non-student entry ways (which you would, obviously), you enter through a doorway. And by doorway, I mean a typical doorway like you probably have many of in your house or apartment.

You then head up a stairway, taking you to the level of seats above the students. And by a stairway, I mean something that is probably narrower than what you have at your home or apartment.

In other words, if there was ever a diametrically opposite sports arena to Staples Center, the American Airlines Center, or any other 20,000-seat NBA arena built from about 1991 to now, it is surely Cameron Indoor Stadium.

My Dad and I sat in the next-to-last row of seats. In fact, we were a mere 15 feet or so from the press box where you always see the TV guys broadcasting from when doing a live shot during pre-game, halftime, or post-game. If you have ever wondered why it looks as if Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale have just ran 5Ks before doing said live shots, it is because it is quite warm in that part of the arena.

Duke's official website says that air conditioning was added before the 2001-02 season, but I didn't feel it. Of course, with temperatures going from the mid-40s on Friday in Durham to what felt like the mid-60s on Saturday afternoon, the air conditioning was probably off in anticipation for another cool day.

Last month, I was able to meet up with super-awesome basketball buddy Kyle Whelliston (of ESPN and Mid-Majority dot-coms fame) during his one yearly trip to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Lucky for me, he was at North Texas, my school, and at a game I would have gone to anyway against South Alabama.

Somehow during our halftime conversation, the minute detail of Duke getting RPI credit for a road win against UNC Greensboro last season at Greensboro Coliseum (despite the game being organized by Duke) came up. I mentioned my upcoming trip to him to which he said, "Make sure you bring seat cushions. The seats are really uncomfortable." Of course, I didn't and they were, as the guy who finds a way to go to 100+ college basketball games every season (now all mid-major games to boot) was clearly smarter than I. But this is not to complain, as I would rather have the atmosphere and uncomfortable seats than the other way around, as is often times the case at North Texas games (more on than later).

We sat in those seats about 50 minutes before tip-off, and of course, the students were almost all in place and cheering just about every three-pointer and flashy looking play that the Blue Devils made against their formidable warm-up opponent of air.

Obviously, the Cameron Crazies are the number one thing that makes the atmosphere so special. If somehow, the roles were reversed, and the season ticket holders and other paying customers got floor seats, while the students were relegated to the upper reaches of the arena, the atmosphere would likely suffer, but probably only slightly. Another factor that makes Cameron special is that the next to last row of seats in the entire building is a deceptively great seat. In contrast, going to Charlotte Hornets (I feel so old typing that) games in the mid-'90s and sitting in the next to last row of seats in a 24,000-seat arena was incredible, but not in a real good way.

Which brings me to the topic I teased a little earlier. At the school I attend, North Texas, the arena is 10,000 seats, which is way too big for a school that draws at a maximum 7,500 for a basketball game (and that's only when a basketball-conscious Big 12 team travels to play here). The school features a huge undergrad population of over 25,000 (although a fair portion of those are older, part-time students).

I know that every school can not be like Duke when it comes to passion for basketball, but for whatever reason, not a very big amount of my fellow students care about college basketball, or care about Sun Belt basketball in particular. Given, that number has grown since UNT went to the NCAA tournament last spring.

And being that I live in Texas, but am a transplant from the Carolinas, I guess I might never get why three or four times more people would show up for a football game between North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette that truly means nothing in the grand scheme of Division I-A football than show up to see home basketball games against South Alabama and Western Kentucky, who both have good chances to be in the NCAA tournament come March 16.

Louisiana-Lafayette (or any other Sun Belt football team) will never have a chance to be in the BCS and play for a title, unless the talent level increases about threefold over the next decade (which it won't). But one Sun Belt team will always be six games from winning an NCAA Division I Basketball championship. And, uh, rant over.

You may have noticed that I haven't talked one bit about the actual game on Saturday. After two straight losses and facing a St. John's team that is one of the worst power conference teams in the nation, Duke was always going to trounce the Red Storm. I predicted a 25-point win, but the Blue Devils won by 30 in their yearly-misplaced late February non-conference game.

There were a few things, though, to notice about the blowout.

• Usually (but loved by the Crazies) inconsistent center Brian Zoubek pulled down 13 rebounds, but it came against a St. John's frontline that looked to be even smaller than Duke's oft-questioned forwards.
• Greg Paulus was absolutely awful in the first half. He was turning the ball over very commonly during Duke's first few possessions and picked up three fouls in the first nine minutes of the game. Even as a Duke fan (it chose me, not the other way around), I don't really like the guy that much. He is undoubtedly the most hated player in the country.
• Paulus' backup, Nolan Smith, could be a star as soon as next year if he, not coincidentally, cuts his turnovers down.
• Kyle Singler in person is a better basketball player than on TV, and he's definitely no slouch when watching him on screen. He is especially a better defender than people realize when he can move around the perimeter. Because Duke really only has Singler, Zoubek, and Lance Thomas over 6-foot-6, Singler has been forced to play a bigger opponent in many games.

To focus on some of the game's semantics would be to lose the plot, as the trip was not as much about the 40 minutes on the court than the three hours I spent inside of college basketball's greatest theater.

Posted by Ross Lancaster at 11:52 AM | Comments (4)

Here Yesterday, Gone Today

Tuesday was the most hyped day so far in the National Hockey League not involving the playoffs (directly). At 3 PM Eastern Time, the NHL trade deadline arrived. The weeklong stream of steady prognostication on the pending disbursement of soon-to-be free agents, and the players and draft picks expendable enough to exchange for them, concluded. Final rosters — barring internal adjustments with minor league affiliates, or waiver wire acquisitions — are set.

The deadline is a revealing moment in the NHL season. It prescribes an honest self-examination by all 30 clubs. General Managers, scouts, and team personnel maneuver through a cascade of e-mails, faxes, phone calls, and conversations about who is available and how much they will cost. The worst teams must answer a very direct question: is it time to part ways with a top player — who will probably walk come July 1st — for prospects whose earning potential won't bust their salary cap? Look at recently successful squads like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and, to an admittedly lesser degree, Washington, and there's a clear trend to assemble a roster internally.

Teams on the postseason bubble, conversely, operate amid more dire circumstances — choices routinely cost coaches and GMs their jobs. In the case of Atlanta, would Thrashers GM/coach Don Waddell dump winger Marian Hossa for a potentially comparable player, or retain him in slim hopes of making the playoffs? If Hossa remained, and Atlanta failed to advance, the Thrashers would have lost a remarkable player and received nothing. Obviously, the nuances of altering a dynamic are more severely pronounced when the fate of the team in question is unknown.

Last year's deadline was borderline lackluster, the loudest move made when the Nashville Predators swapped forward Scottie Upshall, defenseman Ryan Parent, and a first and third round pick for Peter Forsberg from the Philadelphia Flyers. But yesterday was filled with big-name movement, all in preparation for the final playoff stretch. Here we (subjectively) review some of the wisest deadline transactions.

(For those interested in the technicalities of trades, NHL.com kindly provides this short tutorial.)

Dallas Stars

Dallas ended Tuesday with a substantially deeper lineup than it started with by adding center Brad Richards and goalie Johan Holmqvist. In return, the 29th-ranked Tampa Bay Lightning received forwards Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern, and goalie Mike Smith. Richards is an adaptable player who performs at even strength and on special teams, averaging over 24 minutes of ice time per game. Dallas got a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winning forward whose durability is surpassed only by his skills. Richards allows coach Dave Tippett to spread Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro, Brendan Morrow, and Jere Lehtinen across multiple lines. They're now an immediate threat to Detroit whose defensive corps has (to put it lightly) taken a beating.

Meanwhile, Tampa has a chance to develop Smith as a number one goaltender. Holmqvist struggled since October, and GM Jay Feaster stressed that signing a goalie was his primary concern. But Holmqvist's experience will be vital should Dallas starter Marty Turco go down or need a break. Holmqvist may have tanked thus far, but he also wasn't playing in Dallas.

Colorado Avalanche

Is it 2008 or 2001? Not only did Colorado Avalanche GM Francois Giguere do the presumably unthinkable by signing Peter Forsberg days after announcing he would not return to the NHL this year, but he relinquished a mere draft pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for veteran defensemen Adam Foote. A grinder with a proclivity for cheap shots, Foote was a staple of Colorado's last Cup winning team. Not the fleetest afoot, he brings a physical element to the blue line that will keep traffic away from Jose Theodore's face.

Giguere smoothly avoided jeopardizing Colorado's young talent. Foote's and Forsberg's experience will ground the Avalanche lineup. Combine the return of Joe Sakic and sniper Paul Stastny with the grittiness of Ryan Smythe and consistency of Milan Hejduk, and suddenly the Aves seem poised to scrap for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Philadelphia Flyers

What a year for the Fly guys. After an abysmal 2006-2007 season in which they finished dead last, they currently own the eighth playoff position in the Eastern Conference. But the past month has been unkind to the turn-around-team of the year. The Flyers dropped 10 in a row until a shootout victory over Buffalo on Monday (any Sabres fans still fuming at Briere's game winner?); they've been weakened by injuries (notably Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, and Joffrey Lupol), defensive lapses, and shoddy goaltending.

In response, GM Paul Holmgren traded Alex Picard — a 22-year-old defensemen who's played only 72 NHL games — and a conditional draft pick to Tampa for Vaclav "Vinnie" Prospal. (Philly drafted Prospal 71st overall in 1993.) Despite posting respectable numbers throughout his career, he's struggled to be consistent — a hindrance that may expose itself without Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Nonetheless, Prospal has a ring and more than a decade of experience. Although he doesn't personify offensive stability, Prospal can still play. And considering the injury ridden Flyers roster, a forward like Prospal that can play both center and wing will only strengthen his team's limp into the playoffs.

Washington Capitals

Did anyone see this coming? The Caps acquired Cristobal Huet, the Montreal Canadians' starting net minder for most of this season, for a paltry second round draft choice. Then they snagged Sergei Fedorov from Columbus for 2007 draftee Theo Ruth, a defenseman so unknown, not even Yahoo! Sports recognizes him.

(Here is where other writers would likely excoriate Montreal for getting so little in return for a number one goalie. Such lunacy speaks for itself. More importantly: Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Viktor Kozlov, and now Fedorov. Is Washington the new Detroit?)

The Caps also traded Matt Pettinger to Vancouver for Matt Cooke. Cooke, a low-line winger with practically no points for the Canucks, will give Washington toughness and speed up front. As a result, the Caps lose an insignificant forward. Washington completed other minor deals, all helpful enhancements as the Caps challenge for the top spot in the Southeast Division.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks are barely holding fifth in the West with 74 points. Eighth seeded Nashville is only two points behind; the West is that close. So, GM Doug Wilson scored the most coveted defensemen on the block: Brian Campbell. The Sharks gave Buffalo a first-round pick and mediocre forward Steve Bernier. Bernier has rotated among the bottom two lines for most of this season, not offering much productivity (13g, 10a).

Campbell, on the other hand, plays roughly 25 minutes per game, has a microscopic 12 penalty minutes, and went to his second All-Star Game last month. A fast, yet physical blue-liner, Campbell's ability to skate and quickly move the puck increased his value. The Sharks recognized their need for a reliable defenseman that could make swift breakout passes and anchor the point on the power play. Campbell's 43 points is second among Sharks scorers. And with 38 assists, he noticeably reduces Joe Thornton's playmaking burden.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are second in the East with Sidney Crosby on the shelf. Evgeni Malkin, averaging almost two points per game in Sid's absence, is all but unstoppable. Ty Conklin has been solid in net, while Marc Andre Fluery was recalled from injury. Now they have Marian Hossa — the pervasive desire for whom was league-wide — and speedster Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta, plus Hal Gill from Toronto. In an immensely beneficial trade for the Pens, Atlanta received promising, albeit average forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen (replaceable role players). Christenson has been superb in the shootouts — success he's failed to employ during regulation. Armstrong, who was Crosby's roommate on the road and close friend, is a muckraker who will just as easily give a beating as take one. Sadly, their collective point totals hardly match Hossa's.

Hossa was highly discussed and his final whereabouts speculated for weeks. That the news came with under five minutes remaining until the deadline is curious, especially since Don Waddell publicized weeks ago that Hossa was going to be dealt. Pittsburgh is a growing complication for the East; and they just scared the shit out of the entire Atlantic Division.

See You Next Year

February was busy, indeed — 25 trades involving 45 players on the final day alone, big names and small, draft picks, and the hope of future success. Many teams modified their rosters for various reasons: to dump salaries, for draft picks, to make playoff runs. The Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders each made a couple subtle changes. Those mentioned above were by no means the only ones, nor the most important. They were simply the transactions deemed the best for their organizations.

As fun as it is to tout theories and predictions of who will go where, the truth is that the push begins now. Both conferences have a tight race for its final postseason openings. Barely 20 games remain on each schedule. The trades that were hailed could quickly be scorned; those questioned eventually praised. There was enough inaction by teams that needed improvement to warrant a separate column. Regardless, the hype is over; all that's left to do is watch. And that's the best part about the trade deadline.

Posted by Jeff DiNunzio at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)

Golf's Version of Pros vs. Joes

It has been said that one of the many beauties of the game of golf is that the professionals play the same game as amateurs like you and I. We use the same equipment, can play many of the same courses, and can even play alongside of one another in the Open major championships. Everyone uses the same set of rules as governed by either the USGA or the Royal and Ancient. In other words, the difference — supposedly — between players on the professional tours and us Sunday hackers is, well, talent.

The problem, though, is that is not the reality of the game of golf today. With innovations in technology over the past 10 years, and particularly in the 1998-2002 time frame, the benefit that professionals see from the same clubs we all supposedly play is highly skewed to the professionals. According to the National Golf Foundation, the average golf score simply has not improved in that time frame. It is, at least in part, proof that the benefits of technology are not universally extended to amateurs.

Distance increases that have been seen by players on the professional tours — though leveled in the past two seasons — are still substantial and, on average, measure over 20 yards. In an effort to make the golf ball more resistant to the wind, the golf ball is more difficult to shape left and right, up and down. Still, the ball has an incredible spin rate out of the rough and allows for many more lies from off of the fairway to create green lights for players.

These significant benefits have resulted in a fundamental change in the professional tournament host course. Courses have been made dramatically longer by tournament organizers in an attempt to combat the skew to defenselessness that many lengthy players threaten to bring to tournament layouts. Many tournaments have inserted pin placements into the rotation that border on impossible. Rough has been grown to deep length in many tournaments — particularly the major tournaments, including the Masters' relatively deep "second cut."

In turn, the professional golfer has reacted to technology and these responses by playing a completely different style of golf as opposed to even 15 years ago. The style that professional golfers play today is much simpler. The goal of players — young and experienced alike — is simply to hit the ball as far and as straight as possible toward a selected target, and then repeat that task until they can putt the ball in the hole. In effect, the professional game has become simplified.

The days of strategy off the tee, working the ball in different ball flights and directions, and the general concept of shotmaking is on life support in the professional game. Some may argue that this simplification of the game at the professional level actually amounts to a change that reunifies the professional and amateur games. After all, most amateur golfers have very little control over their golf ball — much less the ability to customize their shot selection to the situation.

The difference, though, is that an amateur simply does not have the sophistication or know how to be able to delve into advanced shotmaking. It is certain, though, that almost any amateur would happily take the ability that the pros are not using to create shots. Professionals, on the other hand, are continually shunning their abilities to move the golf ball in favor of a style of play that simply tries to overpower a golf course when possible.

It is probable that many fans of professional game do not have a problem with the transition to a power game. In fact, I am sure that many fans do not even notice the change. Still, the purist desires to see a reversion back to the days when it was more difficult to hit the ball straight and the power game was not the usual — rather an extraordinary style. Many amateurs, though, would still like to be able to purchase the same types of technology that is available today. After all, amateurs will take any edge they can get in the hopes of improving their golf game, and the manufacturers of golf equipment will happily take their money.

When it comes to regulating the game, it seems that there is a conundrum. One option is that the governing bodies can choose to regulate technology for all golfers in an effort to not ruin technological advances for amateurs — which, in effect, is basically what the USGA's grooves proposal is. (That is serious editorializing there.) Or, the industry can decide that the days of denying the reality of bifurcation should end and that professionals should really have slightly different rules than those of the amateur golfer. Since I am convinced that the first option is not the correct answer to restoring strategy in golf, I think it is time to call for the official division of the rules for professionals and amateurs.

The problem to that suggestion is that it is basically impossible given the principles in charge of the game today. Tim Finchem, Commissioner of the PGA Tour, would not seriously entertain implementing rules and equipment standards that are specific to the PGA Tour. After all, Finchem's predecessor Deane Beman got into seriously hot water for taking a stand on professional-specific regulation. Finchem has also gone on record as saying that he feels it is not the responsibility of the PGA Tour to regulate golf equipment.

Further, even though the PGA Tour could decide to do something, it is not guaranteed that the other professional tours around the world would recognize those rules. In effect, a decision to bifurcate the game by the PGA Tour would actually create professional tours that respect the original rules of the game and trifurcate the sport. It would be a disaster.

It appears that the USGA and Royal and Ancient are not interested in bifurcating the game in the interest of returning shotmaking. Rather, through the USGA-sponsored grooves proposal, the governing bodies appear to be interested in bifurcating the game in the interest of preserving a specific aspect of the game — hitting the fairway. After all, USGA research on grooves was written toward the conclusion that there is little correlation between hitting the fairway and winning golf tournaments for professionals. The grooves proposal responds particularly to that fact. It does not, though, respond to the alterations in how far and straight that the golf ball flies. In effect, the USGA appears more interested in restoring hitting fairways and greens — the old U.S. Open mantra — as a key component to success in professional tournaments. That is their decision and they appear ready to stand by it, even if the manufacturing companies plan a huge lawsuit in response.

Unfortunately, my proposal is going to fall on deaf ears. Still, it is important to have the conversation about the future of the game with respect to the realities presented by golf technology. There are two games of golf now. I am not here to make a verdict on that situation, but it is the truth — a truth not uncommon to this sport.

What is left, then, is to question what is to be done about it. Is it to be embraced and rules are written to reflect that pros and amateurs need to be treated differently? Or is it to be denied and shunned in the interest of appealing to equipment manufacturers and allow the skill requirements of the pro game to continue devolving?

Posted by Ryan Ballengee at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2008

The NBA, Where Anything Happens?

I'm not ashamed to admit it, but only four months into my first season of the NBA League Pass, I have become addicted. From the blatantly biased announcers every team has to the shameless local promotions that coincide with the local telecasts, I love it all. Especially the overdramatic "Where Amazing Happens" ad each team has.

In fact, I like the "Where Amazing Happens" idea so much that I decided to add a few of my own in, just to see what it would look like.

The NBA...

Where 50 Wins Gets You in Happens

It makes for a cute story, but realistically, I don't see a 50-win team missing the playoffs in the West. As of Tuesday, eight teams in the Western Conference are on pace to win at least 50 games. Denver, who right now would be the ninth seed, is on pace to win 48 games. It's hard to envision a scenario in which all eight teams maintain a 50-win pace and another team starts winning more often. It seems like the bar has been set out West: 50 wins gets you in.

Where Improving Happens

Congratulations to the Lakers for setting off a whirlwind of knee-jerk reactions after the Pau Gasol trade. You can argue until you're blue in the face that every team just made inevitable adjustments to their roster that most championship teams make. I'm not buying it.

Teams in the West saw that the Lakers and, on a much smaller scale, but equally as effective, the Utah Jazz made trades early on and said, "We are ready to win now." The rest of the league seemed to collectively accept that challenge and made moves of their own.

A few of those teams even succeeded in making their team better. They are, in no particular order:

Houston — I liked what the Rockets did at the deadline. They got rid of a locker room cancer (Bonzi Wells) and a bad contract (Mike James), and got back a serviceable backup point guard (Bobby Jackson) in return. If Houston fails to advance in the playoffs again this year, it'll be squarely on T-Mac and Yao.

San Antonio — The Spurs have been in this position too many times to get careless and try to make a splash just because the Lakers did. Instead, they made their patented bring-in-a-veteran-player-willing-to-take-a-lesser-role move twice and brought in Damon Stoudamire and Kurt Thomas.

P.S. While you were busy reflecting on the Shaq trade, the defending champs quietly moved to within a half-game of the top seed.

Where Not Improving Happens

Unlike those listed above, some teams did not improve at the deadline. They are, in no particular order:

Phoenix — Let me try and follow Steve Kerr's logic here. The Suns win a lot of games every year because they play fast and shoot well from outside. So this offseason, they bring in Grant Hill, who is neither fast nor a very good outside shooter. Then, as the season goes on, Kerr sees that he has the worst record within conference of any of the potential playoff teams (16-15) because everyone else has decided to play fast and shoot well, too.

So to counteract that, what does Steve Kerr do? He trades away speed and outside shooting for the slowest player in the league. Shaq in his prime is a terrible fit for this team. Shaq now is just mind-boggling. Be on the lookout for Seven Seconds or Less 2: Shaq Gets Into Position. I've mentioned in this space before that the Suns' style is too gimmicky to win, but now they don't even have an identity. Are they run-and-gun or pound the rock?

The trade was supposed to make the Suns better defensively, yet they give up more points with Shaq in the lineup (107 per game) than without (104). He is supposed to fit in offensively with what they do no problem, but they scored more without him (109 points per game) than they do with him (98.3 points per game). I know it's early and the rallying cry in the desert will be "adjustment period." You can hold off on judgment if you'd like until after the season, but I've seen enough. I've watched all three games Shaq has played with the Suns, and I can say with confidence that this Suns team will not win a playoff series.

Cleveland — Maybe the Cavs are hoping that LeBron doesn't realize that the trade was all smoke and mirrors. The Cavs did nothing but trade bad players with bad contracts for other bad players with bad contracts. Maybe the addition of Ben and Wally makes them slightly better, but they are still not better than the Celtics or Pistons, so the trade really doesn't accomplish much.

Delonte West will take some of the ball handling pressure off Lebron, but he's not nearly enough of an upgrade to make this team a threat in the East. Their strategy is the same as it was entering the playoffs last year: hope LeBron gets crazy hot.

Where Inmates Running the Asylum Happens

If the Taurean Green addition isn't the answer, the Nuggets are in big trouble. How can a team have two of the top five scorers in the league, the reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and not be a playoff team? The answer is George Karl.

If you watch enough of the NBA League Pass, every announcer says pretty much the same two things about the Nuggets: they like to throw alley-oops and they like to play a zone. You could say anything else in the world about a team, but when you tell me those are two distinguishing traits of a team, I'll show you a team that isn't a contender.

It shows that the team has a tendency to be careless with the basketball, and that they can't guard anyone. That is a fatal combination come playoff time.

What does that have to do with George Karl? He's the one who lets these things happen. Normally, I'm not a fan of interviewing coaches during the game. But George Karl said something one time that pretty much summed up why Denver isn't a factor out West. The Nuggets were playing the Lakers on ESPN and the Nuggets trailed after the first quarter. They had turned the ball over too much trying to run and it in turn led to several fastbreak points for the Lakers. When asked what he planned to do differently in the second quarter, Karl replied that they were not going to make any changes because "this is how the guys like to play."

The head coach is afraid to make in game adjustments because his guys like playing a certain way. Something tells me that approach might not get it done come playoff time.

Where Conspiracy Theories Happen

Since I mentioned the Gasol trade already, I feel like I need to mention something that I find awfully coincidental. Last year, Jerry West was calling the shots in Memphis, and refused to trade Gasol to the Bulls in various packages that reportedly included several different quality, young players. West had made it known that he was stepping down after the season, and decided to let the next regime deal Gasol.

West then conveniently takes on an advisor role with the Lakers who just so happen to pull off the basketball equivalent of the Latanza Heist shortly thereafter. Now, either Mitch Kupchak somehow overcame all his shortcomings as a GM and pulled off this deal or Jerry West is in the background pulling all the strings on this one. My money is on the latter.

Where Amazing Happens

That's exactly what this season has been. For the first time in a long time, there is no real clear-cut favorite in either conference. The West is going to be a dogfight all the way to the finish and the East is a two-team race with a King-sized wild card in the deck. The NBA playoffs are the greatest two months in sports, and this year is shaping up to be among the best of the best.

Unfortunately, sentencing for the biggest black eye in league history will occur on April 18th, the same day the playoffs start, leaving us with a dark cloud hanging over the second season that reminds us:

The NBA ... Where Tim Donaghy Happened

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)

Controversy-Free Football

It's hard to believe it's only been three weeks since the Super Bowl. The controversy over Bill Belichick's taping practices has covered the league like a thick fog, something out of a Stephen King book with the suit from Pennsylvania the dark monster lurking in the shadows.

It's gotten to the point Matt Walsh could produce tapes of Barack Obama in nothing but a turban snorting lines of cocaine off the Bible and it wouldn't get any more depressing.

But while the fog still looms, a funny thing has happened over the past week. The incredible over-analysis of the NFL combine, usually a subject for derision, provided a ray of sunshine, finally something normal. Free agency is just around the corner and it's beginning to feel a lot like football again.

Thank God.

So no more controversy for a while. Just rich guys getting richer, giving hope to the millions of us who just want to watch our teams play, the rest of it all be damned.

***

The large number of players receiving the franchise tag has made some classify this year's free-agency crop as weak. But though Terrell Suggs, Albert Haynesworth, Jared Allen, Nnamdi Asomugha, Ken Hamlin, Marcus Trufant, and Karlos Dansby won't be cashing in on the free market, that doesn't mean there aren't high-quality players available. Among those who will hit the market and should command some attention (unrestricted unless otherwise noted):

QB: Derek Anderson (Cleveland; restricted), Todd Collins (Washington), Quinn Gray (Jacksonville), Billy Volek (San Diego), Daunte Culpepper (Oakland), J.T. O'Sullivan (Detroit),

* In other words, it's draft, trade, or bust for teams looking for new QBs.

RB/FB: Michael Turner (San Diego), Marion Barber (Dallas; restricted), Julius Jones (Dallas), Justin Fargas (Oakland), Chris Brown (Tennessee), Mewelde Moore (Minnesota), Derrick Ward (NY Giants), Musa Smith (Baltimore), Jesse Chatman (Miami), Tony Richardson (Minnesota)

WR: Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney (New England), Bernard Berrian (Chicago), Patrick Crayton (Dallas), Devery Henderson (New Orleans), D.J. Hackett (Seattle), Jerry Porter (Oakland), Justin Gage (Tennessee)

TE: Eric Johnson (New Orleans), Marcus Pollard (Seattle), Ben Troupe (Tennessee), Jermaine Wiggins (Jacksonville), Bo Scaife (Tennessee; restricted), Ben Utecht (Indianapolis; restricted)

OL: OT Flozell Adams and G Larry Allen (Dallas), OT Kyle Turley (Kansas City), G Alan Faneca (Pittsburgh), G Jake Scott (Indianapolis), C Brett Romberg (St. Louis), C Jeff Faine (New Orleans)

DL: DE Justin Smith (Cincinnati), DE N.D. Kalu (Houston), DE Antwan Odom (Tennessee), DE Mike Rucker and DT Damione Lewis (Carolina), DT Tommy Kelly (Oakland), DTs Ian Scott and Kimo Von Oelhoffen (Philadelphia)

* The Giants' pressure in the Super Bowl is going to influence a lot of teams into loading up on the d-line, even if they don't really need starters there (Justin Tuck didn't start for the Giants, and he was arguable the best player on the field). As you can see from the list of players available this offseason, there's not a lot of depth in the defensive line market. More than any other position with the exception of quarterback, these are the guys teams work the hardest (and pay the most) to keep.

LB: Lance Briggs (Chicago), Boss Bailey (Detroit), Kawika Mitchell (New York Giants), Brandon Chillar (St. Louis), Clark Haggans (Pittsburgh), Calvin Pace (Arizona), Demorrio Williams (Atlanta), Mark Simoneau (New Orleans)

DB: Asante Samuel and Randall Gay (New England), Drayton Florence (San Diego), Gibril Wilson (New York Giants)

K: Josh Brown (Seattle), Rob Bironas (Tennessee; restricted)

To add to the free agents, you have the collection of players cut from their teams for one reason or another. Carolina released DeShaun Foster (releasing DeAngelo Williams from fantasy hell in the process) and Atlanta released Alge Crumpler.

A few of the other notable cuts over the past week or so: S Terrence Holt (Arizona), TE Bubba Franks (Green Bay), TE Jeb Putzier (Houston), S Dwight Smith (Minnesota), CB Fernando Bryant (Detroit), WR Muhsin Muhammad (Chicago), QB Byron Leftwich and OT Wayne Gandy (Atlanta), WR Marty Booker (Miami), G Mike Wahle (Carolina), and LB Warrick Holdman (Denver)

And then there are rumored cuts to come: Kansas City is expected to release CB Ty Law. Seattle is rumored to be considering cutting Shaun Alexander. And St. Louis is facing tough choices with Isaac Bruce and Leonard Little.

Little will count for $9.5 million against the cap next year with a $7 million roster bonus due at the end of this week. Bruce has already been cut once under Rams coach Scott Linehan and has a cap figure over $5 million. Little is 33 and coming off a debilitating toe injury. There's no way he's cashing a $7 million check this week.

And of course there's also the possibility of trades. Moss wouldn't have been on this list last year, being still under contract to the Raiders. Then they gave him away to the Pats for a fourth round pick in the draft. Already there's news the Vikings have agreed in principle to trade wide receiver Troy Williamson to Jacksonville for what is being reported as a sixth-rounder this year.

Who else might pack? Detroit WR Roy Williams has been making noise for months about wanting out with the Lions also fielding calls about talented-but-likes-strip-clubs-too-much-DT Shaun Rogers. Javon Walker is either getting traded or cut, but he won't be with Denver next season. If Roger Goodell re-instates Pacman Jones, the Titans will undoubtedly dump him as quickly as possible.

If Buffalo decides to commit to Trent Edwards, do they trade J.P. Losman? Does Tampa Bay try to get some value for Chris Simms? Will Miami continue to prove it has no soul by trading Jason Taylor? Will the Falcons trade DeAngelo Hall's talent for some peace and quiet? What about the rumored trade of Donovan McNabb to Chicago, Minnesota, or Baltimore?

(The guess is Losman, Taylor, and McNabb stay where they are, Simms and Hall find themselves elsewhere.)

And then of course there's the draft, one of my top five favorite sporting events of the year.

The Atlanta Falcons won the rights to pick third in the draft, "beating" Oakland in a coin flip. The Raiders will pick fourth on the strength of a tiebreaker over the Chiefs. What does this mean? That Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan is going to be playing in Atlanta next year. I've only barely begun to prep for the third annual Mock NFL Mock Draft Competition, but I do know this: Ryan to the Falcons is about as sure as Barack Obama saying the word "change" in his next speech.

Coming out of this past weekend's combine, I've got the Dolphins with Virginia DE Chris Long, the Rams with Michigan OT Jake Long, the Falcons with Ryan, the Raiders with LSU DT Glen Dorsey, and the Chiefs trading out to somebody who wants to jump ahead of the Jets for Arkansas RB Darren McFadden.

Then again, I could also see it going Chris Long, Dorsey, Ryan, McFadden, with the Chiefs keeping the pick for Jake Long. Or maybe Dorsey, Chris Long, Ryan, Jake Long, and McFadden to somebody other than the Chiefs.

Either way, it seems the top five is set with those guys. I think the Chiefs will keep the pick if Jake Long is on the board or trade it if he's not. If they do trade it and McFadden is on the board, bet on it being to the Cowboys, who really want McFadden and have two first-round picks (22 and 28) thanks to the trade with Cleveland that brought the Browns Brady Quinn last year.

If McFadden somehow makes it to six, the Jets will take him in a heartbeat. So since it doesn't seem likely the Dolphins, Rams, or Falcons will take him, it all comes down to the Raiders.

Oakland doesn't need McFadden. They were the sixth-best rushing team in the league last year. Whether it was LaMont Jordan, Justin Fargas, or Dominic Rhodes, they had a 100-yard rusher in eight of their 16 games. For a team that went 4-12, that's pretty impressive. In other words, McFadden would be a luxury pick for a team that can't afford to take a luxury pick.

What the Raiders do need to do is to improve their 31st-ranked rush defense. If Dorsey or Chris Long are on the board, they have to take them. If they're not, they'd be much better served trading down for someone desperate for Jake Long or McFadden. Then again, this is Al Davis we're talking about. Logic doesn't wear skull masks and shoulder pads with metal spikes.

Two other draft notes:

1. A lot of people are predicting the Pats to go with the best available corner at the seven slot, but I don't see it. It's far more likely they go USC DT Sedrick Ellis, Ohio State DE Vernon Gholston, or just trade out. The value at corner is much better toward the end of the first round and into the second.

2. Speaking of value, most of what is going to be written between now and April will be about the same group of 20-25 guys expected to go toward the top of the first round. But as everybody should know by now, it's the guys taken in the third round and later that can really push a team over the top.

As such, five guys who aren't getting the public love but have the skill to contribute next year: Arizona CB Antoine Cason (probably better as a free safety in the NFL), West Virginia RB Steve Slaton (mark it down — he's returning a punt for a TD next year), Louisville WR Harry Douglas (great, great hands), Arizona State C Mike Pollak, and Boston College CB DeJuan Tribble.

Five more guys who could become special teams contributors right out of the gate: Notre Dame S Tom Zbikowski, LSU FB Jacob Hester, Illinois LB J Leman, Arizona LB Spencer Larsen, and Appalachian State WR Dexter Jackson.

So while people in suits and muckrakers with keyboards continue to pound away at that thing with the thing, remember this: the NFL offseason is a season all its own. And it's about to kick into high gear.

Seth Doria is a writer based out of St. Louis. For the only daily column that mixes sports, politics, and entertainment news in one, visit The Left Calf.

Posted by Joshua Duffy at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

Happy 25th, USFL! (Or What Could've Been)

Taking the sports page from the rung of news is a daily grand ritual. The sports world and all that goes with it creates a yearly agenda, aligning the major sports like football, basketball, baseball, and hockey so that when one major sport ends, another is in full flourish. When basketball and hockey end, baseball races take shape for its stretch run. When baseball pokishly cools, football rules.

Let's face it, the sports world flat-out reeks of insignificance every February. Cycling, motorsports, the spring training before spring training in baseball, the ego dances of NBA and NHL All-Star Weekends. Pro basketball's and hockey's "real season" doesn't begin until May, March Madness is still a month away, and football is as far away from us as it ever will be at this time of year — only a spring draft to mildly wet our beaks before September.

(...and not to mention the Sports pages are uprooted with sagacious bad news. I could read the other sections if I wanted to know about espionage or drug exploitations or court drama in the United States.)

Sports depression?

Wish there was more football on air? Not necessarily a farm league in Europe, or even one that has a 50-yard field and checking boards.

Why not a dose of real springtime football to fill this void?

Twas over two decades ago, a visionary named David Dixon thought the same thought on how to fill this sports void.

Twenty-five years ago this spring, the United States Football League kicked off its inaugural season. This the same year that brought us Michael Jackson's Thriller, a remote control for the Betamax, "National Lampoon's Vacation," parachute pants, and, of course, the USFL. Remember?

Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?

Young Steve Young of the Los Angeles Express? Heisman Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals (that's right ... New Jersey, not New York )? Reggie White of the Memphis Showboats? Jim Kelly of the Houston Gamblers?

Whether you recall the short life of the United States Football League or not doesn't mean you can't attend its 25th birthday party, or anniversary, or whatnot. Although the conception of the league was in 1982, the USFL kicked off in February 1983, 25 years ago to this very month.

Cities such as Orlando, Jacksonville, Birmingham, Memphis, Tulsa, San Antonio, and Portland, which had hopelessly sought franchises in the non-expanding National Football League, found refuge in the new rival league. Big cities already hosting the NFL in the fall/winter continued the gridiron spirit in bigger markets such as Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Tampa, Washington, and Philadelphia — even using the very same stadiums.

The USFL had all the green lights to making it, unlike the World Football League, the American Football League, and (cue to snicker aloud) ... the XFL. Upstart ESPN and big-wig ABC bought television rights for the first season. The NFL had gone through its first major strike in 1982. The timing was perfect for the new league. League founder David Dixon was in the right place, at the right time, with the right product and the right people behind it.

The USFL successfully courted three consecutive Heisman Trophy winners, and future stars were being drafted right out of the most prestigious colleges and being thrown into the league that introduced the two-point conversion into professional football and even, get this, an 18-game regular season schedule. Unlike the NFL, players could wear whatever jersey numbers they wished; hence Doug Flutie's No. 22 and Anthony Carter's No. 1, but were not liberated so far as to put "He Hate Me" on a jersey.

Even the teams' nicknames and uniforms were emblematic of the cities represented. The Arizona Wranglers. The Washington Federals. The Memphis Showboats. The Oklahoma Outlaws. The San Antonio Gunslingers. The Denver Gold. The Boston Breakers (a.k.a. New Orleans Breakers, a.k.a. Portland Breakers). The year was 1983 and the USFL was on!

In the USFL's first year, 1983, the average attendance for the 12 team league was 31,000 fans (about half the NFL average), and there was something metabolically strange about real football in the spring. You could watch a game on television and notice many empty seats in the background. Even the annual USFL Championship Game, which was held at a neutral site, couldn't pack the house. Seldom did you see empty seats at NFL games 25 years ago.

Also, players' contracts forbade them to two-time with the NFL franchises since the two leagues played at different times of the year. The second year of the league brought in six expansion franchises. Unknowingly, the USFL had reached its apex in 1984. The league whittled down to 14 teams in 1985. Financial losses by the millions were commonplace for nearly all the franchises during the second and third seasons.

Under the advocacy of Generals' owner Donald Trump, the USFL decided to go toe-to-toe with the NFL by announcing its move to the fall for the 1986 season, which went against founder Dixon's formula for league success. Teams such as the Breakers moved from New Orleans to Portland, frantically relocating and merging, and knowing it was a losing proposition to directly compete with the rival NFL in the fall. Whatever credibility the league had built was all but gone. The 1983 USFL champion Michigan Panthers merged with the Oakland Invaders because they simply could not compete with the NFL Lions, and the Oakland Invaders had the city to themselves with the relocation of the NFL Raiders to Los Angeles. Eddie DeBartolo's Pittsburgh Maulers simply didn't stand a chance with the beloved Steelers in the same stadium.

The USFL had hit nothing but yellow lights. The rogue owners had deviated from the original plan for the league, and they paid dearly for it. Before the USFL could ever say "hut, hut, hike" in the fall of 1986, the USFL and the NFL took to court over anti-trust issues, in which the USFL won a measly $1 from the NFL (perhaps alluding to the 1983 comedy "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd). The eight teams committed to stick it out in the fall of 1986 were informed of the league's canceled season. The USFL saw red. Game over.

While the concept of spring professional football was considered odd in the early 1980s, the USFL worked initially thanks to the quality of its product and the novelty of seeing pigskin fly during months when it never had before. Had the league continued down the path it was blazing, and had a few breaks gone the USFL's way, it likely would have survived to today.

Posted by Jon Gonzales at 11:06 AM | Comments (4)

February 22, 2008

The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Pt. 1)

Don't miss The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Pt. 2)

Three years ago, I wrote The NFL Coaching Tree, examining the roots of every head coach in the league. Since that piece was published, 18 of the NFL's 32 teams have changed head coaches, several of them more than once. In this column, I've updated the original article and taken the roots even deeper. When you read a coach's summary, you can now learn not only his immediate influences, but the less direct ones, as well.

The Bill Parcells Coaching Tree

Parcells, as the new Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Miami Dolphins — and more importantly, the man at the root of Bill Belichick's coaching tree, has had a lot of influence on the NFL's head coaches.

Tom Coughlin, NYG — The head coach of this year's Super Bowl champ traces his roots to Parcells and the New York Giants. Coughlin was an assistant for Parcells in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the team that won Super Bowl XXV. Parcells' influence remains clear in how Coughlin runs his team. Coughlin got his start in NFL coaching from Marion Campbell in Philadelphia, later spending two years under Forrest Gregg before working for Parcells.

Sean Payton, NO — The 2006-07 Coach of the Year, Payton's most immediate influence is Parcells, for whom he worked in Dallas. Payton also has roots with Jim Fassel and a connection to the mighty Bill Walsh/Mike Holmgren Tree through Ray Rhodes and Jon Gruden in Philadelphia.

Tony Sparano, MIA — The new head coach of the Dolphins, hand-picked by Parcells, spent five years as an assistant in Dallas while Parcells was the head coach there. It is not apparent that anyone else has had significant influence on his coaching philosophy.

The three coaches already assigned to the Parcells Tree are impressive enough — Coughlin is the reigning Super Bowl champ and Payton was the 2006 Coach of the Year — but we've yet to reach the Tuna's most impressive pupil. So successful has this coach been that he has his own, fairly large, branch on the Parcells Tree.

THE BILL BELICHICK BRANCH

Bill Belichick, NE — Where to begin? Spygate notwithstanding, Belichick has established himself as a surefire Hall of Famer, and probably one of the five or six best coaches of all-time. Although his father was a football coach, Belichick's primary influence is Parcells, for whom he spent over a decade as defensive coordinator. Like Parcells, he was an assistant to Ray Perkins in the early 1980s.

Romeo Crennel, CLE — Which coaching staff was the greatest ever? I don't think there's a clear answer to that question, but one of the leading candidates is the New York Giants in the 1981 and '82 seasons. Those teams were coached by Perkins, with Parcells, Belichick, and Crennel all on board as assistants. Crennel spent most of his career as an assistant for Parcells before joining Belichick's staff as defensive coordinator from 2001-04.

Eric Mangini, NYJ — These days, no love is lost between Mangini and Belichick, but it's clear whose tree — and in this case, whose branch — he belongs on. Belichick gave Mangini his start in the NFL, brought him to Parcells' staff from 1997-99, and hired him in New England when Belichick became head coach there in 2000. Mangini also spent one year working for Ted Marchibroda.

It is noteworthy that all three coaches on Belichick's branch also worked directly with Parcells at some point.

Rising Star: Josh McDaniels — As a new feature this year, I'm also profiling some of the league's most prominent assistants. McDaniels, who coordinated last year's record-setting offense in New England, is a very hot head coaching prospect. His foremost mentor is Belichick, but he got his start in coaching from Nick Saban at Michigan State. Notably, Saban is also part of the Belichick Branch; he spent four years on Belichick's staff in Cleveland.

Fired or Retired — Former Browns HC Chris Palmer was an offensive assistant for Parcells in New England and Dallas. He also worked for Coughlin in Jacksonville and is currently Coughlin's quarterbacks coach in New York. Former Chargers HC Kevin Gilbride traces his roots to Tom Coughlin, and former Dolphins HC Nick Saban was once an assistant to Belichick.

[Click to expand]

The Tony Dungy Coaching Tree

Last season, Dungy's Tree was as hot as can be. The master was fresh off a Super Bowl victory, and his assistants were in high demand. That's only slightly less true in 2008.

Tony Dungy, IND — Dungy himself traces his coaching roots to Chuck Noll, Marty Schottenheimer, and Dennis Green — probably in that order. Dungy worked for Noll as both a player and a coach before joining Schottenheimer's staff in 1989. He was Green's defensive coordinator in Minnesota for four years before becoming head coach of the Buccaneers.

Rod Marinelli, DET — He spent 10 years in Tampa Bay working for either Dungy or Monte Kiffin, who has continued to run Dungy's defense in Tampa. Marinelli spent four of those years with Jon Gruden, and nine seasons as an assistant at the University of California, working under Joe Kapp and Bruce Snyder.

Lovie Smith, CHI — Dungy's most famous disciple, with the possible exception of Kiffin. After five seasons as Dungy's linebackers coach in Tampa, he spent three seasons as defensive coordinator for Mike Martz in St. Louis.

Mike Tomlin, PIT — Hired by Dungy in 2001, he spent another four years working under Gruden and Kiffin before one season as defensive coordinator in Minnesota.

Other Notables — Herman Edwards was Dungy's assistant head coach for five years.

Rising Star: Jim Caldwell — Dungy's successor-in-waiting is very much a product of Dungy himself, but he also spent seven years as an assistant to Joe Paterno at Penn State.

THE MONTE KIFFIN BRANCH

Lane Kiffin, OAK — This is actually kind of complicated: Tony Dungy to Monte Kiffin to Pete Carroll to Lane Kiffin. This isn't even an NFL-based tree, it's from USC, but it's the right answer. But Carroll himself owes his roots to the elder Kiffin (plus Bum Phillips, Jim Mora, Bruce Coslet, and George Seifert). The younger Kiffin also worked for Jeff Tedford at Cal.

Rising Star: Monte Kiffin — Okay, fine, I don't believe Monte Kiffin is really a "rising star" who is about to get a head coaching job. But he is without a doubt the most influential current NFL assistant never to be a head coach in the NFL. I believe Dungy is his primary influence, but Kiffin has also worked with Bud Grant, Tom Osborne, Lou Holtz, and of course, Jon Gruden. Kiffin's own tree includes connections to Edwards, Marinelli, Smith, Tomlin, Lane Kiffin, and USC head coach Pete Carroll.

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The Mike Holmgren Coaching Tree

Bill Walsh's Coaching Tree is legendary, but most of the people who worked directly for Walsh have retired by now. With the exception of a nod in Mike Shanahan's direction, Walsh's legacy effectively runs through Holmgren now.

Mike Holmgren, SEA — It doesn't get much easier than this: Holmgren's roots are with Walsh. He was an offensive assistant for San Francisco from 1986-91, serving under Walsh and George Seifert, before bringing Walsh's "West Coast" Offense to Green Bay and then Seattle.

Jon Gruden, TB — He spent three years as Holmgren's wide receiver coach before moving to Philadelphia as offensive coordinator for another Holmgren assistant, Ray Rhodes. Former Raiders coach Bill Callahan, if he were still around, would be on Gruden's branch.

Dick Jauron, BUF — Aside from three years as Holmgren's defensive backs coach in Green Bay, he also worked for Holmgren disciple Steve Mariucci. I nearly listed Jauron under the Bill Parcells Tree, though, because of his four years as Tom Coughlin's defensive coordinator in Jacksonville. Both Coughlin and Jauron worked for Forrest Gregg in the late 1980s.

Jim Zorn, WAS — Washington's new head coach spent the last seven seasons as Holmgren's quarterbacks coach. It's probably fair to say that Jack Patera, Zorn's first coach in the NFL, also deserves some credit.

THE ANDY REID BRANCH

Andy Reid, PHI — Worked with Holmgren at BYU in the 1980s and again at Green Bay through most of the 1990s before taking Holmgren's version of the West Coast Offense to Philadelphia.

Brad Childress, MIN — Reid's offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, he was also part of the legendary Northern Arizona coaching staff that included Childress, Reid, Bill Callahan, and Marty Mornhinweg. He also has spent eight years at Wisconsin as an assistant for Badgers coach Barry Alvarez.

John Harbaugh, BAL — It's more than a little counter-intuitive, but the most dynamic wing of the Walsh Tree seems to run through Andy Reid at this point. Harbaugh spent nine years as an assistant to Reid. He also has roots with the University of Cincinnati, under head coaches Tim Murphy and Rick Minter.

Rising Star: Steve Spagnuolo — The sought-after defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, Spagnuolu spent eight years working for Reid with the Eagles.

Fired or Retired — Former Eagles and Packers HC Ray Rhodes, 49ers and Lions HC Steve Mariucci, Packers HC Mike Sherman, and Lions HC Marty Mornhinweg were all Holmgren disciples. Mornhinweg is Reid's top offensive assistant in Philadelphia. Former Raiders HC Bill Callahan is also in this tree via Jon Gruden, for whom he worked in Philadelphia and Oakland.

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The Marty Schottenheimer Coaching Tree

In my original article three years ago, I named Schottenheimer's Coaching Tree the largest and most impressive in the NFL. It's lost that designation now, because I gave Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy their own trees. I think they've earned them, but both coaches were heavily influenced by Schottenheimer.

Herm Edwards, KC — Spent the early 1990s in Kansas City with Schottenheimer before following Dungy to Tampa Bay. Edwards also has roots with Dick Vermeil, who was his coach during Edwards' playing career with the Eagles.

Mike McCarthy, GB — Served as an assistant to Schottenheimer for six years before joining Jim Haslett's staff in New Orleans as a coordinator. I think Marty — and his top offensive assistant, Al Saunders — had the bigger influence.

Other Notables — Dallas HC Wade Phillips was Schottenheimer's defensive coordinator in San Diego.

Fired or Retired — Former Chiefs HC Gunther Cunningham was Schottenheimer's defensive coordinator in Kansas City. He now holds the same position on Edwards' staff.

The Bill Cowher Coaching Tree

Many of Cowher's assistants have gotten head coaching gigs, but most of those have been short and unsuccessful. Cowher played and coached for Marty Schottenheimer in Cleveland, and he was also on Schottenheimer's staff in Kansas City.

Ken Whisenhunt, ARI — Six years under Cowher make putting him on this branch a no-brainer, but Whisenhunt also worked for Ted Marchibroda, and he played for Joe Gibbs.

Fired or Retired — Former Bengals HC Dick LeBeau, Bills HC Mike Mularkey, Cowboys HC Chan Gailey, Panthers and Texans HC Dom Capers, and Saints HC Jim Haslett all worked for Cowher.

Rising Star: Russ Grimm — How he didn't get hired for Washington's coaching vacancy is still beyond me, but Grimm, Whisenhunt's assistant head coach in Arizona, remains a top candidate. He spent six years on Cowher's staff, but Grimm also has significant connections to Gibbs (who coached Grimm throughout an 11-year playing career) and Norv Turner (for whom Grimm spent seven seasons as an assistant).

THE MARVIN LEWIS BRANCH

Marvin Lewis, CIN — He was Cowher's linebackers coach in Pittsburgh, working with the likes of Kevin Greene, Levon Kirkland, and Greg Lloyd. Lewis also has some ties to Ted Marchibroda and Brian Billick, his superiors in Baltimore.

Jack Del Río, JAC — He worked under Lewis on the Ravens' defensive staff. Del Río got his coaching start from Mike Ditka in New Orleans, but was probably more influenced by coaches for whom he played: Jim Mora, Jimmy Johnson, and Dennis Green.

Mike Smith, ATL — At what point does a branch get so small, or at least so far removed from the original tree, that we call it a leaf? Smith was Del Río's defensive coordinator in Jacksonville. For those of you playing along at home, here's how we got from Cowher to Smith: Mike Smith coached for Jack Del Río, who coached for Marvin Lewis, who coached for Bill Cowher. Atlanta's new head coach also spent a lot of time with Jim Ragland at Tennessee Tech.

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Smaller Trees

That's it. I'm out of the major trees. But you can trace 24 of the NFL's current head coaches to one of the major trees we've already examined: Bill Parcells, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren, Marty Schottenheimer, and Bill Cowher.

THE BUDDY RYAN COACHING TREE

Jeff Fisher, TEN — He played for Ryan (and Mike Ditka) in Chicago, and he was on Ryan's staff in Philadelphia. He also worked for George Seifert in San Francisco, and in college he was coached by John Robinson and Norv Turner.

Rising Star: Rex Ryan — I'll assume I don't need to explain why he would be part of his father's coaching tree, but Baltimore's defensive coordinator also has roots with Marvin Lewis and Brian Billick.

Rising Star: Jim Schwartz— Tennessee's defensive coordinator was interviewed for several head coaching vacancies this January. His main influence is Fisher, but he also coached for Ted Marchibroda in Baltimore and Bill Belichick in Cleveland.

Fired or Retired — Former Cardinals HC Dave McGinnis was a defensive assistant for the Bears in the 1980s and '90s, and is now Fisher's assistant head coach in Tennessee. Former Bills HC and new Jacksonville defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was also a Fisher assistant.

THE GEORGE SEIFERT COACHING TREE

Mike Shanahan, DEN — He's first and foremost a member of the Bill Walsh Coaching Tree, via three seasons with Seifert, but he also has strong ties with Dan Reeves, and some connection to both Barry Switzer, with whom he worked at Oklahoma, and Charley Pell, who coached the Florida Gators. Shanahan does not share Pell's and Switzer's reputations for NCAA rule-breaking.

Gary Kubiak, HOU — He spent 11 seasons as an assistant to Shanahan, and one year as Seifert's quarterbacks coach. Like Shanahan, Kubiak has connections to both Seifert and Dan Reeves, the latter having coached Kubiak during his playing career in Denver.

Other Notables — Jeff Fisher and Mike Holmgren were both assistants for Seifert in the early 1990s.

Other Coaches

John Fox, CAR — His first NFL coaching job was for Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh, so I'm putting him with Dungy on the Chuck Noll Coaching Tree. Fox also worked with Jim Fassel and Art Shell.

Scott Linehan, STL — I desperately tried not to do this, but there's no way around it. Linehan is part of the Dennis Green Coaching Tree, and he's on the Mike Tice Branch. Linehan is also connected to Dennis Erickson, Jim Lambright,and John L. Smith, via college playing and coaching ties.

Mike Nolan, SF — I hate to keep assigning coaches to their father's trees, but I don't see any way around planting a Dick Nolan Coaching Tree, so Mike can be on it. This guy has been everywhere, but most notably, he has roots with Dan Reeves and Norv Turner.

Wade Phillips, DAL — Where to put this guy? Phillips was an assistant to Buddy Ryan in Philadelphia. He spent three seasons as Marty Schottenheimer's defensive coordinator in San Diego. He worked for Marv Levy in Buffalo and was promoted to succeed him when Levy retired. Phillips was also a defensive coordinator for Dan Reeves in both Denver and Atlanta. Ultimately, I went in another direction, and I put Phillips on the tree of the man who gave him his first NFL coaching job: Bum Phillips. Wade worked for his dad in both Houston and New Orleans before moving to Denver as an assistant with Reeves.

Norv Turner, SD — The lone remaining head coach who runs the original "West Coast Offense" developed by Sid Gillman and Don Coryell, Turner is part of that esteemed coaching tree through John Robinson and Ernie Zampese. Turner was an assistant to Robinson for seven years at USC and another six with the Los Angeles Rams. More famously, Turner was Jimmy Johnson's offensive coordinator in Dallas from 1991-93.

Rising Star: Jason Garrett — The hotshot offensive coordinator in Dallas, if he becomes a head coach next year, will probably do so as part of the Jim Fassel Coaching Tree. He also has connections to Nick Saban and Barry Switzer.

Rising Star: Jim Mora, Jr. — Yes, he's part of the Jim Mora, Sr. Tree. Little Mora also has connections to Steve Mariucci (Holmgren Tree), Al Saunders, and Don Coryell. He is expected to take over for Mike Holmgren in Seattle, probably at the end of the 2008 season.

Summary

Every major coaching tree in list format. Secondary and indirect connections are italicized. Note that some coaches may appear on more than one list, and "rising stars" are not listed.

The Bill Parcells Coaching Tree — Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Sean Payton, Tony Sparano, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Dick Jauron

Gone, but not forgotten: Al Groh, Ray Handley, Chris Palmer, Nick Saban

The Tony Dungy Coaching Tree — Tony Dungy, Rod Marinelli, Lovie Smith, Mike Tomlin, Herman Edwards, Lane Kiffin

The Mike Holmgren Coaching Tree — Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, Dick Jauron, Andy Reid, Jim Zorn, Brad Childress, John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy

Gone, but not forgotten: Steve Mariucci, Marty Mornhinweg, Ray Rhodes, Mike Sherman, Bill Callahan

The Marty Schottenheimer Coaching Tree — Herman Edwards, Mike McCarthy, Wade Phillips, everyone on the Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy Trees

Gone, but not forgotten: Cowher, Gunther Cunningham, Cam Cameron

The Bill Cowher Coaching Tree — Marvin Lewis, Ken Whisenhunt, Jack Del Río, Mike Smith, Mike McCarthy

Gone, but not forgotten: Dom Capers, Chan Gailey, Jim Haslett, Dick LeBeau, Mike Mularkey

Those are the big five. Smaller ones are listed below:

The Buddy Ryan Coaching Tree — Jeff Fisher

Gone, but not forgotten: Dave McGinnis, Gregg Williams

The George Seifert Coaching Tree — Mike Shanahan, Jeff Fisher, Mike Holmgren, Gary Kubiak

Gone, but not forgotten: Ray Rhodes

The Jim Fassel Coaching Tree — John Fox, Sean Payton

The Jimmy Johnson Coaching Tree — Jack Del Río, everyone on Norv Turner's tree

Gone, but not forgotten: Dave Campo, Butch Davis, Dave Wannstedt

The Ted Marchibroda Coaching Tree — Marvin Lewis, Ken Whisenhunt, Eric Mangini

The Jim Mora Coaching Tree — Jack Del Río

Gone, but not forgotten: Dom Capers, Jim Haslett, Jim Mora, Jr.

The Chuck Noll Coaching Tree — Tony Dungy, John Fox

The Dan Reeves Coaching Tree — Gary Kubiak, Mike Nolan, Wade Phillips, Mike Shanahan

The Norv Turner Coaching Tree — Mike Nolan

Gone, but not forgotten: Cam Cameron, Mike Martz

All diagrams and illustrations of coaching trees that accompany this study were created by Brad Oremland and Lisa Fuller.

Part two of "The NFL Coaching Tree 2008" will be available Friday, Feb. 29 and looks at the Coaching Forests; Brad reveals how most of the league's head coaches can trace their roots to one of four basic places.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:49 AM | Comments (11)

February 21, 2008

Five Steps to Fix the NFL's Worst

I'm sitting here thinking about what to write, and it occurs to me that I'm an incredibly lucky guy.

Two healthy, beautiful daughters, a wife that to my knowledge hasn't decided to leave me yet, and a chair within viewing distance of a TV.

All things considered, I'm a pretty lucky guy.

So tonight, I've decided to give a little something back.

I'm going to use my vast football knowledge to give the worst teams in the NFL a foolproof plan to get back to respectability.

No need to thank me.

Miami Dolphins

Step 1) Call Jerry Jones, offer him the first overall pick in the draft for Marion Barber and his two first rounders. If he doesn't accept, sweeten the deal by adding a third rounder. Jerry Jones will make the deal.

Step 2) Grab Aqib Talib with the 22nd pick in the draft. Aqib gives you a big, athletic cornerback who has the size and speed to keep up with the Randy Moss's of the world.

Step 3) Next, you need to get your young quarterback some weapons. Grab Limas Sweed with the other first-rounder you get from the Cowboys.

Step 4) Trade Jason Taylor for whatever you can get. Jason Taylor is old, has a little value, and will not be around long enough to see you turn this thing around. So trade him for whatever you can get.

Step 5) Use the rest of your draft picks on linemen, both offensive and defensive, unless Dan Connor or Keith Rivers falls into the second round. If one does, grab him. If one falls close to the end of the first round, trade up to get there.

St. Louis Rams

Step 1) Get yourself either Glenn Dorsey or Chris Long, whichever guy is still on the board at two.

Step 2) Chris Williams from Vanderbilt is probably going to fall into the second round. You pick second in the second round. It's a perfect marriage! Williams will give you a future replacement for Orlando Pace and an instant infusion of talent at the offensive line (either inside or at right tackle).

Step 3) Invest in anti-concussion technology to help save your quarterback. Marc Bulger spends more time on his back than a female Raiders fan (yes, I went there). Since you can't seem to stop him from getting hit, invest in technology that will help keep him coherent when he does get hit.

Step 4) Tape Steven Jackson's mouth shut. He's not the best running back in the NFL. He's not going to rush for 2,000 yards next season. Best to keep him from embarrassing himself again by proclaiming both those things to anyone who will listen.

Step 5) Sue the Patriots! Help take your fans' minds off the fact that you stink again by suing the New England Patriots for potentially videotaping your walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI.

Oakland Raiders

Step 1) Stop the whole "Weekend at Bernie's" thing and just let Al Davis die. We've seen him. We know he's not a living person. He looks like a Skeletor, except more bony and dead-looking.

Step 2) Stop trying to run your coach out of town. Lane Kiffin is the only good thing you've got going. Stop trying to get him to quit and fire yourself. You suck.

Step 3) Tell your fans to stop wearing Halloween costumes, unless it's actually Halloween. I can't stress this enough. You look like morons. Your kids are ashamed of you. Stop it. Just stop it.

Step 4) Get someone competent to run your draft. Then, when they draft someone, make sure you sign him before the month of September. Sounds simple, sure. But we know how that goes.

Step 5) Just win, baby.

SeanMC is a columnist for Bleacher Report and writes a column for Sports Central every other Thursday. You can read more articles by SeanMC in his Bleacher Report archive.

Posted by Sean Crowe at 11:09 AM | Comments (1)

NASCAR Top 10 Power Rankings: Week 1

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Ryan Newman — Newman, buoyed by help from teammate Kurt Bush, rocketed past Tony Stewart on the final lap, securing car owner Roger Penske's first Daytona 500 win. Newman credited Busch for his help, and called Busch's assist a "push from God."

"Yeah, you heard right," says Newman. "The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge is the holy vessel of God's will. They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. I'd definitely classify 'through Kurt Busch' as mysterious, not to mention pretty darn scary. I haven't seen this kind of an assist from Penske teammates since I packed Rusty Wallace's bags for him in 15 minutes. Kurt and I work pretty well as teammates. Throw in divine intervention, and you've got an unbeatable combination, even when Tony Stewart teams up with his pal Satan, who's known for his hellacious pit strategy."

2. Tony Stewart — It was evident that the Joe Gibbs Toyotas weren't lacking for power in their debut at Daytona, as Stewart and teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin led 134 of the 200 laps. As possibly the greatest driver never to have won the 500, Stewart carried the burden of his own lofty expectations, as well as the weight of an extra chin, into the lead with one lap remaining. But circumstances and the lack of a push from behind cost Stewart, and he was passed by Ryan Newman, wisely paired up with teammate Kurt Busch, for the win.

"I guess there's one Penske driver who can beat me to the punch," says Stewart, who's beginning to look a lot like an overweight version of New York cop Frank Serpico. "But I couldn't be more happier with the Toyota power plant. I can't wait to thank those Japanese engineers in person. To the Japanese people, I'm like Godzilla. They revere me, but they're scared to death of me. Just like NASCAR photographers. That will also give me the opportunity to introduce my new product, 'Smoke' brand wasabi sauce, guaranteed to blister the tongue like a used tire at Daytona."

3. Kyle Busch — Busch clearly had the strongest car, leading a race-high 86 laps, but as he and Stewart split race leader Jeff Burton on the restart with four laps to go, Busch went below the yellow line. He immediately gave the position back so as not to suffer a black flag, and that left him too far back to make his own run for the win, let alone help Stewart against the Penske duo.

"Sure, I wish I could have won the race," says Busch. "But I can't be disappointed with a fourth to go along with seconds in both the Craftsman Truck series and the Nationwide series. It doesn't matter what make of car I drive or for which iconic car owner I drive, I get results, often in more immediate fashion than the Guantanamo Bay Waterboarding Team. But, as a teammate of Tony Stewart, my brother Kurt's most hated rival, I'm faced with an awkward situation. Whose side do I choose? It's a difficult situation in which to be. After much deliberation, I've chosen to go with Tony. Not because he's my teammate; I hate my brother, too."

4. Kurt Busch — Busch rallied from a starting position of 43rd, and a previous punch from nemesis Tony Stewart and drove into position to follow teammate Ryan Newman across the line for a 1-2 Roger Penske finish. On February 8th, during a practice for the Budweiser Shootout, Busch and Stewart's annual altercation led to Busch ramming Stewart's No. 20 Toyota on the track, and Stewart slugging Busch in their meeting with NASCAR officials.

"I guess it's pretty stupid to get so upset about a crash in practice," says Busch. "I mean, it's practice. We're talking 'bout practice? Practice? Practice? Even Allen Iverson would say that's dumb. Anyway, we made history. Newman became the first Penske driver to win the Daytona 500, and I became the first driver from any team to be slugged both by Jimmie Spencer and Tony Stewart."

5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. — Earnhardt's ninth-place finish set the pace for the Hendrick Motorsports stable, and while his result in his Hendrick debut should not be considered a disappointment, it certainly could have been better. Earnhardt stayed out after a late caution while all of the leaders pitted, then, a radio malfunction led to a missed signal to pit 20 laps from the end. Furthermore, Earnhardt's rabid fans were faced with the stunning realization that Amp energy drink does not contain alcohol.

"But it makes a great mixer," says Earnhardt. "And it gives you the strength to turn back the charges of any random attacks from 800-pound gorillas you may face during your daily routine. If you believe that, then you're probably enjoying a drink of Amp'd right now while dressed head-to-toe in No. 88 gear. I've got a name for my fans who've switched over and bought my new merchandise — the 'Crazy 8s.' Those that are still wearing my old gear; well, you all are the 'Lazy 8s.' Let's face it. My merchandise sales drive this nation's economy. So, if you don't spend your government rebate check on No. 88 merchandise, then you're un-American, and probably a fan of open-wheel racing."

6. Jimmie Johnson — Johnson's quest to become only the second driver to win three-straight Cup titles began with a lackluster 27th at Daytona. The No. 48 Chevrolet came off the jack in an early pit stop, then Johnson was spun in a brush with rookie and former open-wheel champ Sam Hornish, Jr. Johnson will resume his quest to match Yarborough's feat from well down the points standings. However, a 39th in last year's 500 didn't stop him from capturing his second consecutive title.

"My chase for number three is off to a slow start," says Johnson. "But the race to duplicate Yarborough's feat is well underway. In fact, just the other day, I whipped the tails of two brothers named 'Allison.' It wasn't Bobby and Donnie, though. It was Joey and Billy, 8- and 10-year-old brothers who just wouldn't stop badgering me for an autograph. Look kids, if you want me to sign a helmet, just don't throw it at me.

"As for Hornish, there are reasons these open-wheeled drivers are here in NASCAR. One, they give people like me someone to blame in cases in which I wreck them, as in Sunday's race. And, they give us ample opportunities to gaze upon Ashley Judd, wife of Dario Franchitti. I hear Ashley's sister, Wynona, or as she's known in the Pacific Northwest, Sasquatch, is single and looking for a driver. Elliot Sadler would make a perfect match."

7. Kasey Kahne — For the second consecutive year, Kahne earned a seventh-place finish at Daytona, only this time he did it under the Budweiser banner. Kahne finished two spots ahead of the former driver of the Bud car, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., a situation that did not sit well with Earnhardt fans, leaving them in the awkward situation of tossing Budweiser cans at the Budweiser car.

"I've gone from starring in ads aimed at undersexed, middle-aged housewives," says Kahne, "to promoting a product to oversexed, middle-aged men. So, in essence, I went from being a wife's favorite driver to being her husband's favorite. But, there's no truth to the rumor that I've changed my name to Kasey Kahne, Jr. and I've started speaking with a North Carolina accent."

8. Jeff Gordon — What looked like a promising day for Gordon turned sour when a suspension failure on lap 153 extinguish his chances for a fourth Daytona 500 win. He completed 186 laps and finished 39th.

"At least it wasn't a catastrophic suspension failure," says Gordon. "A truly 'catastrophic suspension failure' is when the velcro straps on my little girl's diaper break. But at least I kept the car off the wall, which is more than I can say for Casey Mears. That dude's seen more walls than Pink Floyd."

9. Clint Bowyer — Bowyer was in the lead on lap 184 when he was clipped and sent spinning by the No. 42 car of Juan Pablo Montoya, father of South American teeny-bop sensation Hannah Montoya. The spin flat-spotted all four of the tires on Bowyer's Jack Daniels Chevy, and after leaving the pits, he came home in 24th.

"As a native of Bogota, Colombia," says Bowyer, "you'd think Montoya would be able to hold a line. He should have been content just to tuck in comfortably behind me. Ask any fan. I guarantee you they would have been thrilled to see 'Jack and Coke' atop the Daytona leaderboard."

10. Reed Sorenson — Sorenson was fast for the duration of Daytona's Speed Weeks, finishing second to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the first of the Gatorade Duels, and powering to a fifth in the Daytona 500. Sorenson also led five laps in the 500, and placed his name amongst the ranks of a star-studded top 10.

"I'm sure some people may think I felt out of place up there with the big dogs," says Sorenson. "Maybe I was a little bit out of my element, but compared to Chubby Checker and Kool and the Gang on the Daytona infield, I felt right at home. That was the most un-NASCAR-like moment since last year's pre-race concert. You should have seen the bewildered expression on Junior Johnson's face. Of course, Junior's always got that bewildered expression on his face."

Predicted Auto Club 500 winner: Jeff Burton

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:08 AM | Comments (2)

February 20, 2008

Top 10 Fantasy Baseball '08 Bargains

John Maine (RHP, New York Mets)

Johan Santana grabs the headlines, but you'll pay high for his services on draft day. Behind him, John Maine is the only reliable and/or healthy starter on the Mets' roster. Maine will add wins with the high-powered Mets offense behind him and his strikeout rate will hover around a healthy 8 Ks per 9 IP. He needs to cut the walks down and he's prone to the long ball (23 last season), but at 27 (in May), he has time on his side.

His fastball tops out at around 94 mph, but it has good movement and he sneaks up on batters, especially high. He can hit the edges and doesn't get flustered on the mound when things are not going to plan. As late as July 29th, he was sporting an ERA of 2.92, but hit the wall in August and September, understandably as it was his first season starting.

Maine comes with one big warning: his innings count jumped from 90 in 2006 to 191 in 2007 and this usually signifies a red alert. Maine reported arm numbness in August, but pitched 7.2 innings of 1-hit ball in his last start against Florida. He seems durable and is worth taking a chance on in the mid-late rounds of 12-team mixed leagues. I can see 15 wins, 170Ks, and an ERA around 3.60.

Michael Cuddyer (1B/OF, Minnesota Twins)

Cuddyer was one of last season's hot picks to have a big year, but he floundered through 144 games with a variety of niggling injuries and returned mediocre numbers (87-16-81-.276). He's capable of replicating or beating his 2006 numbers of 102-24-109-.284 with a healthy season and could be a mid-round bargain with drafters recalling last season's flop.

Yahoo! Sports fantasy baseball experts composite rankings have Cuddyer behind Jay Bruce, Rick Ankiel, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Kemp, Jeremy Hermida, and Johnny Damon, quite ludicrous considering that five of the above are virtually straight out of AAA ball and unproven and the other (Damon) is always injured and slated to platoon at DH with Jason Giambi or CF with Melky Cabrera.

Cuddyer is at the crossroads of his career and needs a big season to earn a decent paycheck and start to justify some of that first-round selection hype. With Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Delmon Young surrounding him in the lineup, the Twins aren't exactly anemic, so numbers around 100-25-110-.285 aren't impossible.

James Shields (RHP, Tampa Bay Devil Rays)

26-year-old Shields doesn't get a lot of fantasy love being hidden away amongst the disinterested snowbirds of South Florida. He wasn't a highly-touted prospect, drafted in the 16th round in 2000, and he didn't tear up the minor leagues, but he ended last season in spectacular fashion. His last five starts returned a 2.29 ERA, 3 wins, 30Ks, and almost 8 innings per start.

Shields pitches in the AL East, where dangerous bats lurk in every corner, but he's a solid late-round option to fill out the pitching staff on draft day. Scott Kazmir has gaudier numbers and a stronger arm, but he'll go 8 rounds or so before Shields. He did see a jump in his innings pitched last year (124.2 in 2006 up to 215), so there is a cautionary note.

He could struggle to hit 15 wins, though the Rays figure to be better this season (don't they always figure that?), but he should be a steady pitcher who won't ruin your rotation, returning similar numbers to Maine with less wins.

Dustin McGowan (RHP, Toronto Blue Jays)

McGowan is another young (26 by opening day) pitcher in the brutal AL East. He's been brought along slower than Shields as the Jays can afford to be gentle with their stronger pitching staff, but he's got a decent arm and will add around 7-8 Ks per 9 IP. He needs to watch the walks (3.23 per 9 IP in 2007) and trust his strong arm more rather than nibbling at the edges. The promising post-ASB numbers (3.67 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 2.17 BAA) will boost his confidence heading into his first full season in the rotation.

Personally, I'm not keen on using top-100 picks on pitchers, bar Jake Peavy and Santana, so it's guys like Shields, Maine, and McGowan in later rounds that are crucial to draft day success. None of them stand out as "aces," but combined with a strong RP core on your team, they can keep the team ERA down and keep you in contention for pitching points.

Brian Wilson (RHP, San Francisco Giants)

Closers, I hate them. You use a high-round pick on them (B.J. Ryan) and they get injured. You panic and make a trade (as I did last season after losing Ryan) for Brian Fuentes and within two weeks, he blows 4 saves and loses the job. The whole closing situation is fraught with danger once you get past Joe Nathan, J.J. Putz, and Jonathan Papelbon.

So one policy is to forget them until the latter rounds and take a flier on those currently in the second or even third chair. The waiver wire always throws up a bunch of emergency closers anyway.

One such flier is Brian Wilson, who is currently in the background behind former first-round pick Brad Hennessey. Wilson nailed down 6 of his 7 save opportunities last season when he got the call in the ninth after Hennessey lost the job. Take out his September 25th meltdown against San Diego and he actually only gave up 6 runs in 22-plus innings and 3 hits in his 6 saves.

Hennessey has the chair right now, but he's lost the job before and doesn't have the type of lights-out stuff managers like in a closer. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the job changing hands in spring training or early April. The competition is Steve Kline, Randy Messenger, and Vinnie Chulk, none of which have the look of a reliable ninth-inning guy. It's not hard to see Wilson beating out this motley crew and getting the curly finger from Bruce Bochy.

A note of caution, the Giants are a very poor hitting team and save opportunities are likely to be scarce. But if he's there in the final rounds, snag him and stash him; it could pay dividends.

Carlos Ruiz, (C, Philadelphia Phillies)

Catchers, don't you just hate them more than closers? They take more days off than Paris Hilton, get an RBI once a week, and end up on the DL before August after a fight with one of their own pitchers.

Basically, there are only five catchers worth owing: Victor Martinez, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Joe Mauer, and Jorge Posada. The rest are a potential black hole of non-production.

Owning Martinez or Martin will cost you a second- or third-round pick and that's a high premium to pay for what they offer in terms of production. So is there anyone down in the low rounds that won't hurt you in the standings?

The Tampa Bay backstop Dioner Navarro might have some improvement in him and if he can healthy for a season, the Pirates' Ryan Doumit has power potential, but the one I like is Carlos Ruiz in Philadelphia. His home stadium will give him a power boost, he's young, and disciplined at the plate. He won't return a David Ross type BA and might knock a few in, even batting eighth in the order.

Something around 60-15-65-.280 is possible, which isn't bad considering catchers like Ivan Rodriguez and Paul Lo Duca will go way before him with their greater name recognition and they likely offer less production.

Pedro Feliz (3B, Philadelphia Phillies)

Another Philly who can cash in on a bandbox home stadium, Feliz never seems to get any love from fantasy writers. He's never going to be top-10 material, but if you've missed out on the frenzy addressing needs elsewhere, then Feliz is a viable option who can also fill out any utility spots.

He had his big year in San Francisco in 2006 (22 homers and 98 batted in), but he's young enough (33 in April) to get somewhere around those numbers again in a more friendly hitting park. He'll likely hit sixth or seventh in the order, but in the NL's strongest batting lineup, that will give him plenty of RBI and run scoring opportunities.

Kelly Johnson (2B, Atlanta Braves)

Chase Utley dominates second basemen, but you'll need a top-8-10 pick to grab him so where can you grab some reasonable production in the lower rounds?

Johnson is likely to be still hanging around on the board in the 15th round, but he's potentially a lot better than that. He blazed a trail in April and ended the month with a mighty OPS of 1.066. He couldn't keep that up, but had a steady season until September when he tanked. I'm expecting a much stronger second season as a starter and at 26 by opening day, there's improvement to be had.

Bobby Cox regularly sat him against lefties, but that's unlikely to be repeated in 2008 as he managed to finish the year a robust .272 in 158 AB's vs LHP. He'll hopefully start the season at the top of the line-up, though Cox does move his guys up and down the card, which means he'll bag around 100 runs with the strong Atlanta hitting and he has enough power to get 20 homers and 70 RBI's. That's not a bad return from a guy drafted in the beer-fog rounds.

Luke Scott (OF, Baltimore Orioles)

Unless you're in a really deep league, Scott will start the season on the waiver wire. He's going straight on my watch list as there's some hope that he could finally put it together and have a decent full season.

Scott has the potential for strong power numbers, but he could never convince the Houston brass that he was a long-term prospect. He had a good 2006 with only 214 ABs, but a sturdy .336/.426/.622 (AVE/OBP/SLG) that augured well for his future, but it never came off in Texas. A fresh start in Baltimore where he'll be the regular left fielder is just what he needs.

He managed a career high 369 ABs last year with 18 homers and 64 RBIs. Strangely, he hit an abysmal .208/.305/.422 at his home postage stamp-sized stadium and a much better .305/.400/.593 on the road. He also finished the season on a high going .296/.392/.586 after the break. If he can cut down on the whiffs and revert to his 2006 more patient style of hitting, he could bulk up the average.

He's not going to make-or-break anybody's fantasy league standings, but he does have the potential to fill a fpirth outfield spot or fill an injury gap. I'm hoping for a line of 80-25-85-5-.280.

Hank Blalock (3B, Texas Rangers)

The lefty third bagger has been around so long in the majors it's hard to believe he's only 27 and theoretically approaching his peak years. Blalock burst onto the fantasy scene in 2003 with a solid 29 home run 90 runs batted in year and built on that in 2004 (107 R, 32 HR, 110 RBI, 2SB, .276 AVG), but since then, it's been slightly disappointing. Last year was ruined by injury, but he did have a nice comeback from shoulder problems in September (12, 5, 17, 1, .313).

Blalock at his peak was a third- or fourth-round pick and a top-five third baseman. Now he's likely to be still on the boards in the 15th round onwards in 12-team mixed leagues and could be the bargain of the whole draft. The Rangers are no longer the offensive force they were, minus Mark Teixeira, but Blalock will have the benefit of a hitter-friendly home park and a healthy shoulder.

With a full season, I'm predicting 90, 27, 100, 5, .280.

Posted by Mike Round at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2008

Are We in the Dark Ages of Sport?

Here's a poll for you — which is the most egregious violation of sports ethics?

A) Using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs

B) Illegal videotaping of opposing team's signals

C) College recruiting violations not including paying players with money and/or promiscuous co-eds

D) Widespread academic fraud within a college sports program

No matter how you answer the poll, the wider point is this: these are the dark ages of sports morality.

Think about it. Every major sport has dealt with some sort of ethical catastrophe over the past few years. Baseball has this congressional circus, as if we need a bunch of mugging politicians to tell us the game was completely corrupted by performance-enhancing drugs. The Giants won the Super Bowl, but that's been barely a pimple on the ass of Spygate. College basketball has Kelvin Sampson, whose apparent blatant disregard for recruiting rules has tarnished both Oklahoma and Indiana.

College football had Florida State suspend more than a third of its team for receiving improper academic "assistance," not to mention the alleged Reggie Bush improprieties at USC. Hockey had the Rick Tocchet gambling scandal. The NBA had Tim Donaghy and Kobe Bryant in Colorado. Track and field had Marion Jones. Cycling had Floyd Landis. Racing had the Renault espionage scandal in Formula 1. Italian soccer was rocked by top clubs paying crooked refs. Men's tennis had the Russian mafia trying to force players to throw matches. Pakistan's cricket coach was murdered.

It's gotten to the point boxing is one of the cleanest sports out there. Boxing! One of the cleanest sports in the world! What in the name of Cecil Peoples is going on here?

To some degree, you can blame it on the media. That's always fun. We have the Mike Lupicas of the world waiting to pounce on the next athlete, coach or GM who dares go wayward from the straight and narrow. In this web-fueled, 24-hour-news-cycle mad world, even the most mild of transgressions can turn into windfalls of ethical carnage.

But that would be shortsighted. Lupica is no more responsible for the baseball steroid scandal or Mike Vick's dog fighting than a mosquito is culpable for spreading malaria. It's not his fault he's a bloodsucker. That's just the way he was born. And besides, the mosquito didn't invent malaria. That was God's fault.

So if not Lupica (or Skip Bayless or Gregg Doyel or Gregg Easterbrook or ten thousand idiots at their keyboards like I am now), then who?

***

The world has thousands of cultures. Many at are odds with each other. Some hate each other to the point they'd willingly kill one of their own just to kill a few more of their enemies. But one thing they all have in common is the will to win. Bill Belichick, Sampson, the frauds, and the juicers just wanted to win. That was more important to them than anything else. Humankind reveres nothing else like it reveres winners. It's always been that way and it always will. If you're not first, you're last. That's just the way it goes.

But why now? Why is it so bad now?

For the answer, I turn to Chris Rock, who once said men were only as faithful as their options. In other words, you could love your wife or girlfriend as much as anything in the world, but if Page 58 of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition starts getting sexy with you on the dance floor, you're going to have a hard time turning away.

Similarly, most people are only as loyal to the rules as their options are to evade them. Back in 1950, how many ways were there to cheat? A pitcher could cut a ball or use some kind of lubricant to get some extra motion. A basketball player could intentionally miss a few shots so the other team could cover the spread. And while those things might have worked, they also left the offenders in great peril of getting caught. All it took was a batter telling his manager, "Hey, I think that guy is putting something on the ball. It's moving funny." The manager goes out to the ump. The ump goes out to the mound. Badda-bing, badda-boom, ejection and suspension. Play ball.

Now, we've got an army of chemists working on ways to artificially improve the human performance. It's like technology. Most of us are only now finding out about the cutting edge of five years ago. Chances are that as Major League Baseball stumbles to find some way of testing for Human Growth Hormone (and getting the Union to agree with it), the next generation of performance-enhancers is already snaking its way into the market. This fact is and will always remain true — professional sports leagues will never catch up with the science of cheating. They can chase all they want (and it's debatable how much they really want to), but they won't catch up. Ever.

And with this reality in hand, what is the incentive to follow the rules? Oh, sure there's personal integrity and respect for the game. Those are great values I hope my son and daughter carry through their likely limited athletic careers. But if my son was going on year eight in the minor leagues and he thought a chemical could get him over the hump to the point he could start making some major league money and provide for his children's future, could I really damn him for taking the chance? Would you give up your lifelong dream for an ethic?

Belichick taped because he wanted an edge. Sampson called because he wanted an edge. Jones and Landis and Glenallen Hill doped because they wanted an edge. That thrill of victory is a cancer all its own, eating at the souls of those who have spent a lifetime in its pursuit.

And so maybe things will die down. Eventually the vultures back East will have had their fill of the carcasses of athletes gone wrong. Eventually Sampson and Belichick will retire and become footnotes of sports history.

But don't think their successors are going to be any better. There are only so many Tony Dungys to go around. We live in a culture of win at any cost. We want owners to spend tens of millions of dollars for just a slight chance at getting better. We want athletes to play hurt, to the point of crippling themselves for life. We want coaches to ignore their families so they can study more tape, get that edge. We want them to win. We need them to win. And we will boo the living hell out of them if they fail.

So whose fault is it? Nobody's really. But if you're looking for a scapegoat, go find a mirror. We've all got a hand in this madness.

Seth Doria is a writer based out of St. Louis. For the only daily column that mixes sports, politics, and entertainment news in one, visit The Left Calf.

Posted by Joshua Duffy at 10:21 AM | Comments (2)

West Coast Biased

"It's not fair."

The words have been echoing through the halls, from Nassau to Chicago. They are supposed to have the Mecca of basketball. They are supposed to be home to champions. The game started there.

Yet, since Michael Jordan's Bulls walked off into the sunset, the East has hardly been a beast. The teams east of the Mississippi have won two titles in the past 10 years. And one of those teams, Miami, is the worst team in basketball right now.

There was hope for change this year. Detroit has earned the right to be called one of the best teams in the NBA. Cleveland has LeBron James. And, until two weeks ago, it wasn't crazy to think Boston would be hoisting No. 17 up into the rafters.

Not anymore.

As quick as the power shifted to the West with Jordan's departure, the idea that the East was back on the rise has diminished.

Four years ago, you could feel it. Detroit had just upset the Lakers. James was living up to the hype and then some, and the East still had Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dwyane Wade.

Now, like a cruel joke, the West is taking it all back. It started last year, with Iverson jumping conferences to Denver from Philly. Then the Los Angeles Lakers went from mediocrity to overnight Finals favorites with the L.A. Larceny. Mitch Kupchak brought in Pau Gasol and, although he stayed in the West, it brought another Western team to the championship picture.

The Lakers recently acquired Gasol and a 2008 second round pick for Kwame Brown, possibly Aaron McKie (salary cap purposes), Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, and Los Angeles' 2008 and 2010 first-round picks.

My first reaction: How? What? They got away with that?

If this were fantasy basketball, that trade would not even lasted a second before being overturned. On a level of 1 to 10, this larceny is a 937.

Over the past three years, the Western Conference has paraded around the Staples Center knowing the big, bad Lakers were no longer big, just bad. Now the Grizzlies hand Los Angeles a gift right back into the Finals picture.

Before the "Laker Larceny" Los Angeles had proven to be a much improved team from the previous season. Andrew Bynum was playing like a future all-star, Derek Fisher provided a grounded leader, and Kobe was being Kobe. The biggest reason for the improvement this season is the Lakers' bench.

Kupchak made a savvy move dealing for Trevor Ariza to solidify a potent bench of Ronny Turiaf, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and Vladimir Radmanovic. That group has averaged over 30 points per game, second only to San Antonio. Kupchak has to be grinning when he looks at the roster he can roll out. Phil Jackson, he'll have to get another hip replacement surgery with all the jumping up and down he's been doing since the deal.

Jackson, a coach known for finding the best matchups, is going to have so many different formulas to work with, it will be impossible to prepare for the Lakers. Los Angeles can go big: C Bynum, PF Gasol, SF Lamar Odom, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. Or they can go smaller: C Bynum, PF Gasol, SF Luke Walton, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. Or even smaller: C Bynum, PF Odom, SF Walton, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. There are so many options with just the first six, never mind how he can mix and match with bench players and starters. There are six players who Jackson can facilitate in and out to keep players rested for the final stretch as well as create mismatches at every position.

Thanks to that deal, everyone in the West felt they needed to follow suit. A week later, the Diesel was heading west. While this trade is not as clear-cut of a winner as was the Gasol deal, a healthy Shaq is still a healthy Shaq.

Shaq wants to solidify his legacy and needs to win one more championship to accomplish that. You can expect him, when he gets healthy, to do everything in his power to prove all the naysayers wrong.

There's nothing scarier than an all-star with a chip on his shoulder.

And now, most recently, Jason Kidd may be ditching the East for Texas.

It's the 21st century's version of manifest destiny, the gold rush and the Oregon Trail all in one.

While stars continue to flee west and the conference gains more and more strength, the East seems content to just roll with the punches. As much talk as there was for Boston in the first half of the season, since the Gasol deal, you can't talk about the NBA without talking about the West and all the different scenarios that are about to bloom as we get closer to playoff basketball.

We won't even mention a Portland team that is a Greg Oden away from competing, or Denver, San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans, the best team in the West at the All-Star Break. Nine teams are within four and a half games of first. The 10th-place team in the West would be sixth in the East right now.

Does the East deserve an underperforming Bulls team, and the Knicks? No. Will it be a while before the East makes things interesting again in the Finals? Yes.

It's not like the East doesn't have the pieces to make some deals happen. Danny Ainge did it, grabbing two Western all-stars and sending them East. Orlando made a move, bringing in Rashard Lewis. Yet the East has done nothing to facilitate a wow from the NBA faithful since Boston's "Three Party."

There is one bright spot. Unlike the late-'90s when Jordan left, the East is loaded in youth this time around. The Hawks, Magic, Bulls, Raptors, and Cavs all have young talent, and will get the East on the right spot if those players live up to their potential.

Why, though, does the East feel it's okay to sit stagnant while the West truly becomes the Wild, Wild West? In your mind, can you honestly see anyone besides Boston or Detroit winning the championship? Now while you're there, how many teams can you see from the West?

During the All-Star Game, Doug Collins mentioned this year might be the first time a 50-win team doesn't make the playoffs. At the same time, there is a possibility a 50-loss team could make it in from the East.

So East Coast, you have two options. Find Doc Brown and travel back to 1990, or head into the future, and wait for Danny Ferry to get LeBron some help, or Dwight Howard to become the beast he is destined to become.

Until then, you're right East side, it's not fair.

Posted by Wailele Sallas at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2008

Can Giants and Pats Draft Way Back?

Two weeks after on the best Super Bowls in the history of the NFL, the dust from the Eli Manning-to- David Tyree miracle play has settled and the smoke from New England's late-game implosion has cleared.

Okay, maybe not. The play is still a fixture on YouTube, it will be a staple of "SportsCenter" highlight reels for decades, Bill Belichick and the Patriots are still mired in the Spygate controversy, and endless Super Bowl XLII discussion is still rampant. Nonetheless, there is time enough to break away from the past for just a moment and instead discuss the future. Namely the future of these two esteemed franchises.

Can the New York Giants and New England Patriots make a return trip to the Super Bowl for a rematch in the 53rd edition of America's biggest sporting event? Well, the long road back begins now in preparation for the 2008 NFL Draft.

While the Patriots' offense fizzled in the Super Bowl under the constant pressure of the Giants' defensive line, that unit is obviously still borderline flawless. It's the defense that has to be addressed, and the most glaring problem on that side of the ball is without question the age of the linebacker corps. Mike Vrabel is 32, Tedy Bruschi is 34 (and an old 34 at that), and Junior Seau just turned 39. That's right; the two insider linebackers sport a combined age of 73. Yep, I'd say it's time for an overhaul.

Unfortunately for New England, the top inside linebackers available in the 2008 draft are not worth drafting with the seventh overall pick (that's where the Patriots stand thanks to owning San Francisco's first-round pick). James Laurinaitis would have been an enticing option, but he decided to go back to Ohio State. That leaves another Buckeye, Vernon Gholston, as the only real option if the Patriots want to address the linebacker position with the seventh pick. Gholston was a monster at defensive end for Ohio State, but he can also be converted to outside linebacker in New England's 3-4 scheme. Again, the more glaring need is inside, but the Patriots also could upgrade at one of the defensive end positions, so perhaps Gholston could remain at DE for a while; at least until Vrabel decides to call it a career.

If Bill Belichick really wants to meet the needs of the immediate present rather than solve the linebacker issue that could be an even bigger problem one or two years down the road, then he could go cornerback in the first round. Asante Samuel is almost certainly on the way out via free agency and the quality depth at the position is not there to sufficiently replace him from within. That means South Florida cornerback Mike Jenkins could be packing his bags for New England. Jenkins has the size, speed, and athleticism to make an immediate impact at the next level and he can also help out in the return game if the Patriots want to preserve Wes Welker's health for primarily wide receiver duties.

The decision might be made easier for the Patriots, as Gholston is coveted by several teams picking ahead of New England. At least one of two premier cornerbacks in the draft (Jenkins and Leodis McKelvin from Troy) will certainly be available at number seven.

The Super Bowl champion Giants are not lucky enough to own the draft pick of one of the worst teams in the NFL, so they will not be selecting until the very end of the first round. That's not to say the 32nd slot lacks importance or is incapable of yielding an immediate-impact player. There will definitely be players who have the talent to start as rookies available at this point of the draft, and while the Giants are the champs, it's not like they don't have any holes.

Like the Patriots, New York needs to take a long, hard look at its corps of linebackers. Kawika Mitchell flanks MLB Antonio Pierce on one side, but an upgrade is necessary on the other side. Keith Rivers of USC and Dan Connor, who enjoyed a renowned career at Penn State, could both fall all the way down to No. 32. If that doesn't happen, Oklahoma's Curtis Lofton is shooting up draft boards and should draw some serious attention from the Giants at the upcoming NFL combine.

Realizing that the Giants and Patriots are already linked by their epic Super Bowl encounter as well as their most glaring need at the NFL draft, you can probably guess New York's second biggest area of concern. Yep, cornerback. Sam Madison is 33-years-old and if Bruschi is an old 34, Madison is an ancient 33. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Antoine Cason look like potential steals at the end of the first round.

One thing the Giants should definitely avoid is taking a running back early in the draft. Some experts say they need a change-of-pace back to platoon with the punishing Brandon Jacobs. Last I checked, however, Ahmad Bradshaw handled that duty to perfection at the end of the regular season and throughout the postseason. And even if Bradshaw is not as good his spurts of brilliance would suggest, Jacobs is certainly capable of being an every-down running back in the NFL. I still think some of the Patriots' defenders must be reeling from the hits Jacobs put on them in the Super Bowl. That's right — Jacobs was hitting the defenders; the defenders weren't hitting Jacobs.

If the Giants insist on improving the offense early in the draft (they probably shouldn't), the only logical areas to address are offensive line and wide receiver. Of course now that Plaxico Burress and David Tyree have recently added a Super Bowl-winning touchdown catch and the greatest catch in Super Bowl history to their resumes, respectively, perhaps that position is no longer an issue. Offensive tackle, however, should be looked at and some possibilities at No. 32 would include Pittsburgh's Jeff Otah, Mississippi's Michael Oher, and Vanderbilt's Chris Williams.

The bottom line is that as good as the Patriots were last year and as good as the Giants looked at the end of the year, neither team can sit idly this offseason if it hopes to make it back to the Super Bowl. Sure, free agency could end up being the most important factor between now and the start of the 2008 season, but just as easily, the NFL draft could be the difference between winning and losing next year and could definite the fate of each franchise's future.

Then again, both teams could always just bag the first five rounds and draft the second coming of Tom Brady in the sixth. That doesn't sound like a bad plan.

Guess who else was drafted in the sixth round.

Yes. You guessed it. One David Tyree.

Posted by Ricky Dimon at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

Signs of the Time

Ebbets Field begat the Sign Man of Shea.

Among the fans who were almost as legendary as the team, the Brooklyn Dodgers had Hilda Chester (with the fishwife yowl and the iron frying pan banged with a ladle) in the bleachers and the Dodger Sym-Phony Band (nine fans whose musical ability rivaled that of quadriplegic seals, but were beloved regardless) behind the dugout.

But the Bums also bequeathed a comparable character to the New York Mets, a former Dodger fan who took up residence in the Shea Stadium third-base box seats, brandishing perfectly lettered, often punny signs, ready to hoist at the drop of a ball, a strike, a travesty, or a miracle.

The Mets' advent either introduced or restored the art of banners in the stands, but Karl Ehrhardt — who died at 83 at his Queens home February 5th — refined it into a mad art from the season Shea Stadium opened, carrying a box of professionally block-lettered, 20x26 signs, colorful lettering on black folding placards, each tabbed, presumably, with its legend, the better to let him whip one up on the spot.

"Before I went to the ballpark," he told the New York Times two years ago, "I would try to crystal-ball what might happen that particular day. I would read all the newspapers to learn who was hot and who was in a slump, stuff like that, and create my signs accordingly."

A commercial artist by profession (he was graduated from Pratt Institute with a design degree after his service as a translator for American forces in World War II), Ehrhardt's ballpark art never went madder than his performance during the 1973 World Series. His inspiration was Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley trying to bury infielder Mike Andrews (including with a pressurized order for a medical exam) after a bad day with the glove helped cost the Mustache Gang a game.

Sure enough, in the following day's game an Athletic booted one. Sure enough, Ehrhardt had a sign ready and hoisted: YOU'RE FIRED! (Watching the camera pans on television, I could have sworn that even a few of the A's were laughing, even like Figaro, that they might not weep — or measure Finley for a necktie party.)

It isn't that Ehrhardt wasn't prepared to let a Met have it for feats of derring don't. When youthful first baseman Ed Kranepool hit a particularly arduous skid, Ehrhardt greeted him invariable with a sign saying IS KRANEPOOL OVER THE HILL? (Always the signs were in upper-case lettering.) When Jose Cardenal underwent a protracted spell of forgetting the strike zone, Ehrhardt was only too well prepared: JOSE, CAN YOU SEE? Fielders' boots were likely to be answered with LOOK, MA — NO HANDS. Hitters breaking out of long slumps were likely to be greeted with IT'S ALIVE!

He was magnificent during the Mets' first championship run, right down to October 16, 1969, Game 5 against the Baltimore Orioles. When Frank Robinson got into a broiling debate with an umpire over close play at second base? BACK TO YOUR NEST, BIRD! With two out in the top of the ninth? BYE, BYE, BIRDIES! When future Met manager Davey Johnson skied to Cleon Jones in left, Jones making the catch that sent New York into cheerful apoplexy: THERE ARE NO WORDS.

Perhaps only Ehrhardt himself could top that, when he was invited to sit in one of the open parade cars as the Miracle Mets were given the Canyon of Heroes treatment for the first time. There he was, hoisting for just about the entire drive, THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE.

Let the Mets knock an opposing pitcher out of the box early in a game? LEAVING SO SOON? But let an opposing pitcher hand a Met an intentional walk, however, and Ehrhardt proved he didn't need words all the time, a mere picture would do. One favorite for the intentional walk was an image of a chicken, which on camera resembled the logo of the ancient Chicken Delight takeout joint.

Ehrhardt may have pinned at least one player with a nickname, never mind that the player was ambivalent about it for a good while. When Dave Kingman launched his first mammoth regular-season bomb in Mets silks, Ehrhardt was prepared: KONG!

(To be fair, Ehrhardt didn't limit his Kingman raves to that motif. Once, as Kingman approached the plate, Ehrhardt hoisted THE KING OF SWING. On another occasion marked by a transcontinental Kingman launch, this one clearing the back-most bullpen fence: CALLING LONG DISTANCE!)

He was part of the Shea show from 1964 until the end of the 1981 season. No one has ever explained within my earshot just why he gave it up, and I don't remember reading anything about why he gave it up. But he wasn't even close to forgotten. As if to prove it, the Mets brought him back for the franchise's 40th anniversary. Ehrhardt, typically, was prepared for the occasion: THE SIGN MAN LIVES!

Eternally.

Posted by Jeff Kallman at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2008

The 25 Most Successful NFL Quarterbacks

Explanations for the system will follow the rankings.

The following grading standard was applied for grading each quarterback:

• 10 points for a Super Bowl Ring or NFL/AFL championship
• 1 point for every 1,000 yards passing
• 1 point for every 10 touchdowns
• 3 points for every Pro Bowl selection

The top 25 are listed with statistics and notes about each player. Current players are listed in all caps.

25. Dave Krieg — 73 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 38,147 passing yards; 261 TD passes; 3 Pro Bowl Selections

Krieg's primary target, Steve Largent, retired in 1989. Needless to say, Krieg's statistics began to plummet starting in 1990. Krieg is also the quarterback who was sacked 7 times in one game by the late, great Derrick Thomas.

24. Boomer Esiason — 73 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 37,920 passing yards; 247 TD passes; 4 Pro Bowl Selections

A good quarterback on a finicky team. For example, in 1988, Boomer threw for 28 TDs and 14 interceptions and led the Bengals to the Super Bowl. In 1989, Boomer had an even better season, with 28 TDs and only 11 interceptions, but the Bengals didn't even make the playoffs. Boomer gets the edge over Krieg for an actual Super Bowl appearance and for not having Steve Largent.

23. John Hadl — 75 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 1 AFL Championship; 33,503 passing yards, 244 TD passes, 6 Pro Bowl Selections

Hadl was the quarterback for the San Diego Chargers though the 1960s. He played in 16 seasons, piling up the statistics, but should have retired after 12.

22. Roger Staubach — 75 points

2 Super Bowl Rings; 22,700 passing yards; 153 TD passes, 6 Pro Bowl Selections

The two Super Bowl victories were part of a fairly impressive 12-7 overall playoff record for Staubach. Though his statistics aren't amazing, Staubach was a great leader for a dominant Cowboys team throughout the 1970s. Staubach gets the nod over Hadl due to his winning record.

21. Vinny Testaverde — 79 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 46,233 passing yards; 275 TD passes; 2 Pro Bowl Selections

The old man never gives up. Now in his 21st NFL season, Testaverde is the epitome of perseverance, starting only five playoff games in his entire career. Testaverde has been on mediocre teams throughout his life and has kept with it and amassed some amazing stats.

20. Drew Bledsoe — 81 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 44,611 passing yards; 251 TD passes; 4 Pro Bowl Selections

Mr. Immobile himself was a good quarterback in his own right for the New England Patriots. It is rather unfortunate that he had to give way to Tom Brady right as the Patriots' true dynasty began, which we have not seen the end of quite yet.

19. George Blanda — 81 points

2 AFL Championships; 26,920 passing yards; 236 TD passes; 4 Pro Bowl Selections

Blanda is the oldest of old men. Testaverde has six years to go to match Blanda's ridiculous 27-year career. Though Blanda threw 277 INTs and had a completion % of under 50%, he was still able to hang tough nearly to age 50, and nobody else can even come close to saying that. Not to mention, he also played kicker for many seasons.

18. Sonny Jurgenson — 82 points

1 NFL Championship; 32,224 passing yards; 255 TD passes; 5 Pro Bowl Selections

Jurgenson was one of the great 1960s quarterbacks. He built large numbers in yards and touchdowns and led the league 5 times in passing yards and twice in TD passes.

17. Otto Graham — 85 points

3 NFL Championships; 23,584 passing yards; 174 TD passes; 5 Pro Bowl Selections

If you add the AAFC championships to the total, Graham would have another 40 points and be up at number six right after John Elway. I know very little about Graham and his play, but he was obviously a winner.

16. Dan Fouts — 86 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 43,040 passing yards; 254 TD passes; 6 Pro Bowl Selections

Fouts led the Chargers through some rather lean years with some rather large numbers. Had he been on a better team, who knows how impressive he could have been.

15. TOM BRADY — 87 points

3 Super Bowl Rings; 26,370 passing yards; 197 TD passes; 4 Pro Bowl Selections

Brady will undoubtedly move up on this list and who really knows how far. He seems to be highly durable and with more weapons now than ever, he may be in the top five before too long.

14. Bob Griese — 88 points

2 Super Bowl Rings; 25,092 passing yards; 192 TD passes; 8 Pro Bowl Selections

Griese led a great Dolphin team in the 1970s and took advantage of the "No-Named Defense" who helped him win two rings, one of them flawless.

13. Len Dawson — 92 points

1 Super Bowl Ring; 1 AFL Championship; 28,711 passing yards; 239 TD passes; 7 Pro Bowl Selections

A true AFL stud, Dawson helped the AFL gain some real credibility along with playboy Joe Namath.

12. Troy Aikman — 96 points

3 Super Bowl Rings; 32,942 passing yards; 165 TD passes; 6 Pro Bowl Selections

With a few less concussions, Aikman could have quite easily been a top-10 pick. Also, slightly depressing his touchdown numbers is the fact that Emmitt Smith ran in a lot of touchdowns for the Cowboys in the '90s that could have easily belonged to Aikman's arm. Aikman was surrounded by a great team and he helped build them from the ground up starting in their most dismal season, 1989.

11. Steve Young — 97 points

2 Super Bowl Rings; 33,124 passing yards; 232 TD passes; 7 Pro Bowl Selections

Steve Young is a very interesting pick. Young took Joe Montana's job and that in and of itself is amazing. He played great for many years and honestly missed at least four seasons sitting on the bench behind Montana. Granted, he probably learned a lot from Montana, but he wasn't able to pile up the stats like many of the people ahead of him on this list. Something I did not include in the statistics of this list that would have benefited Young more than anybody else is rushing touchdowns of which Young had 43.

10. Terry Bradshaw — 97 points

4 Super Bowl Rings; 27,989 passing yards; 212 TD passes; 3 Pro Bowl Selections

Bradshaw was a great leader and a real winner, going 14-5 in the playoffs. Though he threw 210 interceptions, his touchdown and yard numbers are also relatively low due to the style of Pittsburgh football. Who can blame them, though? With Franco Harris in the backfield, I would have run a lot, as well.

9. Bart Starr — 101 points

3 NFL Championships; 2 Super Bowl Rings; 24,718 passing yards; 152 TD passes; 4 Pro Bowl Selections

The winner of all winners, Starr and the Packers of the early 1960s were phenomenal. Starr's the type of man who could make a 7-3 victory as exciting as New Year's Eve in Time's Square.

8. Warren Moon — 105 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 49,325 passing yards; 291 TD passes; 9 Pro Bowl Selections

One of three top 10 performers plagued by the zero in the first column, Moon led the massively talented Houston Oilers to plenty of disappointing early playoff exits.

7. PEYTON MANNING — 105 points

1 Super Bowl Ring; 41,626 passing yards; 306 TD passes; 8 Pro Bowl Selections

Undoubtedly, Manning will move up on this list. Manning's poise and ability to control a game are astounding. Nobody in history can drive a team down the field as fast and as efficiently as Manning. Whether or not he winds up at No. 6, No. 1, or somewhere in between depends on rings and the always important health.

6. Fran Tarkenton — 108 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 47,003 passing yards; 342 TD passes; 9 Pro Bowl Selections

Not quite as bad as Jim Kelly (who is actually number 26 from what I can tell on this list), but 0-3 in Super Bowls isn't good for the reputation. Tarkenton revolutionized the way a quarterback could play with his uncanny ability to escape from defenders.

5. John Elway — 128 points

2 Super Bowl Rings; 51,475 passing yards; 300 TD passes; 9 Pro Bowl Selections

The majority of Elway's true success came in his last two seasons and if he didn't win rings in those seasons, he'd still be at about the same spot and I'd wonder why, but given his run of winning his last seven playoff games including two Super Bowl victories, he's a solid number 5.

4. Johnny Unitas — 129 points

1 Super Bowl Ring; 2 NFL Championships; 40,239 passing yards; 290 TD passes; 10 Pro Bowl Selections

Unitas was a real stud for the era he played in, compiling an amazing amounts of yards and touchdowns and a consistently dominant career. It's a shame that the thing he's often most remembered for is losing to the ever cocky Joe Namath in Super Bowl III.

3. Dan Marino — 130 points

0 Super Bowl Rings; 61,361 passing yards; 420 TD passes; 9 Pro Bowl Selections

Marino was also cursed with no rings and his only comfort were the numerous records he possessed, which are almost all gone thanks to the likes of Brett Favre. Marino was a great quarterback though and helped the transformation of NFL offenses into a wide-open passing game perhaps more than any other quarterback. He did it extremely well, but he won't ever ascend to the ranks of number one with no rings on his fingers.

2. Joe Montana — 131 points

4 Super Bowl Rings; 40,551 passing yards; 273 TD passes; 8 Pro Bowl Selections

"The Quarterback" falls short of number one due to one thing and one thing only — longevity. If he could have played another four or five seasons, Montana would have another 30+ points under his belt and be virtually untouchable. In his prime, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better all-around player than Joe Montana. Such sweeping vision, deft delivery, and his unmistakable ability to lead a team from a seemingly impossible deficit are unmatched. If I could relive a decade, it would be the 1980s, purely to see Montana in every single 49ers game. Watching him simply gives me a sense of peace, as if everything in the world must make sense.

1. BRETT FAVRE — 141 points

1 Super Bowl Ring; 61,655 passing yards; 442 TD passes; 9 Pro Bowl Selections

The value of Brett Favre goes beyond mere statistics. What other quarterback can boast that during his tenure, his current division opponents (Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota) have started more than 50 quarterbacks combined? His consistency, patience, and leadership for the Green Bay Packers throughout the past 16 years have been beyond measure. But perhaps the greatest thing he brings to the Pack is his contagious attitude, his wondrous smile, and his unmatchable ability to overcome personal adversity and win in spite of it. A true number one pick, Favre maintains a high success rate, while also holding true to the intangibles that make a man great.

***

Note the title please, it is very intentional. This is a list of most the successful quarterbacks, not my opinion who is or was the best. It includes both AFL and NFL players, but does not include AAFC (hence why Otto Graham is No. 17 on the list and not No. 6 or better).

There are certain things in professional football that you cannot measure without being an MIT graduate, i.e. strength of teammates, coaches, or opponents; the difference between statistics in the 1960s versus statistics in the 21st century; starting 200+ straight games; being injury-prone; personal problems; or the ability to make ones teammates better players. The intangibles of being a football player are not measurable by me, so I make no attempt to do so. This list attempts to determine which quarterbacks were the most successful in the American professional football leagues of the AFL and NFL.

I personally think that the quarterbacks list came out pretty close to what I would select, although I kind of hope numbers 20-25 disappear off of the list very quickly. Perhaps Matt Hasselbeck (45 points), Jeff Garcia (45 points), Drew Brees (39 points), Ben Roethlisberger (32), Carson Palmer (30 points), and Eli Manning (28 points) will keep piling up the statistics.

Lists of a similar nature for running backs and wide receivers will be released shortly.

Posted by Andrew Jones at 11:13 AM | Comments (3)

February 15, 2008

All the Rage of Mid-Majors

Small schools. Shockers. Cinderella stories. Bracket Busters. They go by so many names, but one thing is for sure. Schools from the mid-major conferences, or as popularly termed "mid-majors," make you take a second look at your bracket come tourney time. You had Cleveland State beating Indiana in '86? Sure. Richmond over Syracuse in '91? Gotcha. Manhattan beating Oklahoma in '95, Princeton beating defending champ UCLA in '96, Coppin State over South Carolina in '97, Valparaiso to the Sweet 16 in '98, or Gonzaga in '99? Whatever makes you feel better.

Whatever it may be, we look at our list and check it twice like St. Nick at Christmas time when it comes to those games pitting schools from major conferences against mid-majors. Why else would you think hard about No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 4 vs. No. 13, or No. 3 vs. No. 14 when filling out your bracket? Now when we see the Butlers, Gonzagas, and Northwestern State's of the world, we shouldn't sell them so short. Now mid-majors are in some cases mainstays around Top 25 polls and within the respectable range in RPI rankings. Looking forward to March, here are five mid-major programs that you might want to keep an eye on come Championship Week.

Note: these are not the necessarily the five best mid-majors, just teams to be mindful of.

Butler (Horizon League)

You know the kid who's wasn't really popular, but gets an invite to the party he's been waiting for? Then when he gets there, he really does some cool things to impress people, got invited back and now he's "cool?" Butler is that cool kid. A run to the Sweet 16 last season and a constant spot in the Top 25 has Butler looking to be a factor in the national picture for the tourney, where a No. 3 seed may be in their calling. Balance is what suits the Bulldogs, who have four players who average double-digits in scoring, led by senior guards Mike Green and A.J. Graves at 15.4 and 13.4 points a contest, respectively. Pete Campbell is a versatile forward who can shoot from the outside.

Butler is scrappy, quick, and great at shooting. Already on the victims list for the Bulldogs for this season from the majors: Michigan, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and Florida State. They have to finish the season strong and despite having won 14 of their last 15, there are some defensive issues they need to work out to jockey for position in the brackets. Either way, the Bulldogs are looking to be more than just being one of the cool kids at the party in March.

Drake (Missouri Valley)

Raise your hand if you actually know where Drake University is. After a loss to St. Mary's in their second game, the Bulldogs from Des Moines, IA ripped off 21 straight wins and hopped right into the Top 25. Missouri Valley Conference leading scorer Josh Young and leading rebounder Jonathan Cox, led by a supporting cast of Leonard Houston, Adam Emmenecker, and Klayton Korver (younger brother of Utah Jazz and former Creighton Blue Jay forward Kyle Korver), Drake has made its hallmark of playing solid, but not great defense and pulling out close games. The argument against Drake by some is their lack of solid competition. Their latest setback against Southern Illinois will only amplify the critics, but a win in a huge "Bracket Buster" game at Butler on Feb. 23 could do a lot to silence the doubters. Either way, these Bulldogs are sitting in good shape for the regular season crown in the MVC.

St. Mary's (West Coast)

The Gaels have beaten them all: the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the ultra-competitive West Coast Conference, where for the better part of the last decade, any team not named Gonzaga was settling for the role of bridesmaid, St. Mary's has managed to stay a step ahead of the Bulldogs and San Diego in the standings. They are tough to beat at home, delivered Drake one of its two losses on the season, and picked up impressive wins over Oregon, Seton Hall, and Ohio. Patrick Mills, Omar Samhan, and Co. need to be careful. One loss down the stretch in conference play could cough up the WCC title to Gonzaga or San Diego. Another "Bracket Buster" buster game on Feb. 23: Kent State from the MAC comes to St. Mary's, where the Gaels have yet to lose this season.

VCU (Colonial)

After upsetting Duke in the first round of last year's tournament, Virginia Commonwealth came in with George Mason, a clear favorite in the CAA. Led by the talented Eric Maynor, who leads the conference in assists and second in scoring, the Rams are making a push for a second consecutive bid in the Big Dance. A setback at George Mason on Jan. 29, may go a long way towards determining the regular season champ. Either way, despite early wins against Houston and Maryland, it seems the winner of CAA tourney may get the conferences' only bid. It seems to be a two-horse race between the Patriots and the Rams. Anthony Grant continues to be a hot commodity in the coaching ranks. Circle Feb. 23 for the Rams, as well. They travel to Akron to face the Zips.

South Alabama (Sun Belt)

There may be other talented teams in the Sun Belt conference, but it's clearly two teams head and shoulders above the rest: Western Kentucky and South Alabama. The Jaguars are neck and neck with the Hilltoppers, in first place by virtue of their head-to-head win against WKU 65-61 on Jan. 5. Demetric Bennett leads four Jaguars who average double figures at just over 20 points a game and exhibits the kind of senior guard leadership that can give South Alabama a chance at an upset if awarded a bid to the tournament. Sophomore point guard Domonic Tilford isn't bad, at just less than 15 points a game. The Jaguars have a fight with the Hilltoppers for the rest of regular season for the Sun Belt regular season title, which could very well be decided when they visit Bowling Green for the rematch on Feb. 21.

Posted by Brian Cox at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Sports Q&A: Clemens-McNamee

Anna from Bullock, TX writes, "The Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee saga gets juicier by the minute. Can it get any better?"

Needles, vials, and bloody gauze? Jose Canseco's house? Roger Clemen's wife? Shouldn't shady Hollywood scumbag Tom Sizemore be in this picture, with Amy Winehouse providing the soundtrack? If this fiasco continues in this manner, I'll have to put a parental block on Major League Baseball in my home, and I don't even have kids. With a teaser like used drug paraphernalia, Canseco, and Debbie Clemens, this story has to get better to reach the expectations I have for scandalous baseball trials. At this rate of increasing sleaze, this trial will have to be televised on early morning Cinemax.

We don't simply expect this story to get better; we demand it. In our tabloid-driven society, the Clemens/McNamee circus fits like a glove when compared against the exploits of train wrecks like Britney Spears and O.J. Simpson. We watch in wonder as the lives of our entertainment and sports heroes spiral downward, fueled by greed, pride, arrogance, illicit drugs, bad decisions, and manipulative lawyers and advisers. Weened on the trite and commonplace baseball scandals of old, like the Black Sox throwing the World Series, or Pete Rose betting on baseball, or Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson arguing on the dugout steps, our appetites for lecherous fodder have reached epic proportions. And the test of wills between a seven-time Cy Young Award winner and his former personal trainer promises to satisfy our urges.

McNamee claims he injected Clemens at least 16 times with steroids and human growth hormone in 1998, 2000, and 2001, years when syringes were spitting more juice than the mouths of the hundreds of tobacco-chewing ball players. Ironically, Clemens is once again telling McNamee where he can stick it. How McNamee could remember the exact number of injections seemed uncanny, until he revealed that he has evidence in the form of used needles and bloody gauze from some of those very injections, he claims. Either he's a meticulous record-keeper, or he's taken baseball souvenirs to another level.

Of course, Clemens and his counsel, Rusty Hardin, doubt the authenticity of the evidence, claiming that McNamee could have just grabbed a random needle and some gauze and just said it held Clemens DNA (chances are, though, a random needle probably would have Clemens' DNA on it). Besides, Clemens and Hardin suggest, what kind of sick person would hold on to used drug paraphernalia when you can take it to the local health department and get brand new replacements?

McNamee's claims are damning, if true. But there's more. There's his contention that he injected Clemens' wife, Debbie, with HGH, under Roger's supervision, as part of her regimen to tone up for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. And McNamee says he remembers seeing Clemens at a party in Miami hosted by none other than novelist and the man who knows everyone who's used steroids, bad boy Jose Canseco. I know what you're thinking, and I hate to burst your bubble, but Debbie Clemens was not at Canseco's Tupperware party, and Canseco did not do blow off her hind end, although I seem to recall a similar scene in The Surreal Life, season five.

It's plausible McNamee could have been mistaken about Roger Clemens' presence at Canseco's party, which was attended by several players and announcers, but it's not plausible that he would have been "mistaken" about the one time he injected Debbie Clemens. I mean, most guys remember their first threesome in vivid, glorious detail. I bet he's got souvenirs from that magical moment, but those we'll never see. Roger Clemens definitely does not want his wife involved in this situation because, as the wife of an accused steroid user, she's been asked questions involving the "little prick" a painful and inordinate amount of times.

And the fact that Canseco is once again involved in a steroid case is amazing. Amazing for the reason that his words, in this case, actually support the cause of the person accused of using steroids. Normally, it's the other way around. Usually, Canseco claims a player used steroids, and that player's legal team immediately goes on the attack to discredit Canseco. In the Clemens' case, Canseco says he doesn't remember Clemens being at his party in 1998. So, some of the plausibility of the Clemens' case rests on the word of Jose Canseco? That's a sign that your case is in trouble. Who are Clemens' next character witnesses? Hanz and Franz?

But let's give Canseco some credit. His book Juiced was criticized as a book fraught with inaccuracies and embellished accusations. Now it looks as though Canseco was right about everything in his book, and he's being lauded as a highly credible witness. So the Clemens' camp must be thinking "Clemens' account + Canseco testimony = vindication." That's crazy math. A more proven equation involving Canseco is "warning track power + Canseco's head = home run." But that's useless in court or in front of Congress.

And what's with Clemens going to Washington, D.C. and hobnobbing with members of the House oversight committee, the very people who tore him a new one on Wednesday? If you watched or listened to the spectacle, you can tell it's obvious the Congressmen and Congresswomen are taking sides. I guess an autographed baseball will make a sick kid's day, as well as earn you preferential treatment on Capitol Hill. But as Clemens and McNamee were grilled Wednesday, it became clear that this is just the beginning of what will be a long, arduous, and interesting journey.

Clemens seemed to be making up answers as he went along, using awkward terminology, such as "knowingly knowing," "misremember," and "honestly." While purporting his respect and admiration for Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblach, whose testimony supports that of McNamee, Clemens basically called them liars. McNamee didn't fare much better. His words seemed genuine most of the time, but I got the feeling most members of the committee believed him most when he admitted about lying previously.

Then, the National Enquirer and other periodicals got the scoop they've been waiting for, when the subject turned to Clemens' butt, then to his nanny. That's tabloid gold, the old "butt and nanny" storyline, as well as an upcoming episode of Nip/Tuck. And it gives former president Bill Clinton a fond, reminiscent feeling. The Clemens/McNamee saga has something for everyone, from the sports fan down to the soap opera-addicted housewife. If it hasn't already captured the attention of all of America, it soon will. And we'll all follow it like the paparazzi tailing Britney Spears. Let's not act surprised when the photographs of Clemens sans underwear take this situation to the scurrilous stratosphere.

Richard from Pontiac, MI asks, "Who will win the Daytona 500?"

I like the No. 88 car of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Hendrick Motorsports cars traditionally run well at Daytona, and with new teammate Jimmie Johnson on the pole, and former teammate Michael Waltrip beside Johnson, Earnhardt will have fast cars with which to work the draft, as well as cushion him from any Tony Stewart/Kurt Busch brush-ups.

Last year, Earnhardt was often plagued by mechanical issues, and he failed to win a single race. This year, with Hendrick power and reliability under the hood, don't be surprised if Junior wins multiple times. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if the Hendrick stable of Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt, and Casey Mears finish 1,2,3, 28th in the Sprint Cup point standings.

Finally free from the wicked spell of Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated queen mother Teresa Earnhardt, Junior's thoughts will solely be on driving, and not on contracts, company shares, and legacies. And, the last Dale not named Earnhardt to win at Daytona, Dale Jarrett, also drove the No. 88 car.

Get Your Questions Answered!

Do you have a question or comment? Are you demanding a blockbuster NBA trade? Does seeing Bill Belichick in a director's chair outside your home creep you out? Did Mike Tice fall through in getting you those Hannah Montana tickets? Then send your demands/concerns/questions along with your name and hometown to [email protected].

Super Bowl	My Vote			Actual Winner

XXXVII		Simeon Rice		Dexter Jackson

XXXVIII		Richard Seymour		Tom Brady

XXXIX		Deion Branch		Deion Branch*

XL		Antwaan Randle El	Hines Ward

XLI		Joseph Addai		Peyton Manning

XLII		Justin Tuck		Eli Manning