10 Weekly Items

10 Weekly Items

Don't you love how these morons in the media who spent a %$#@load of time last week going over the "strategy" for the new playoff overtime rules? What F%$#@ing strategy? Win the flip, take the ball and shove it down their throats for a touchdown and the game is over. The last time I checked, it’s awful hard to score if you don’t have the football. I'm sure there is some idiot out there that has it calculated you should defend first, especially if the wind is over 20 mph and there are at least 1,000 Jews and/or 5,000 Catholics (of which I am one) in the stands of a stadium that seats 65,000 or more - unless of course you have a starter on defense named Rex – then all bets are off. Ridiculous!

Here’s a warning to those NFL teams that are considering taking Cam Newton in the first round – don’t! Not because of talent level, although he’s is far from a polished passer, but because I would not make this guy the face of my franchise for the next 10 years based on his, let’s say, “checkered history.” Would I draft him – yes, in round 2 and no earlier. Had he gone 20-of-26 with 3 TD tosses and 80 yards rushing against Oregon, Kipper and company would have him in the top-5 – can you say J. Russell.

By the way, I saw where the Auburn All-American D-tackle was giving the Oregon All-American running back “the business” in that pile. You can tell a lot about a coach by how he handles that situation. I lose respect for a head coach who doesn’t pull the guy out for a couple plays after earning such a penalty. But then again, I have a suspicion we will hear more about Auburn and its recruiting of players (i.e. Cam Newton and/or others) in the future. Here’s hoping it doesn’t turn into another Reggie Bush case five years down the road and people are sending back the hard ware they won. Of course, in Newton’s case, his old man will probably have the stuff on E-bay by Spring Break.

I found it ironic the OSU defensive player who picked off that late Arkansas pass was one of five guys who sold stuff to help pay mom’s rent, buy pizza, or whatever. There is no way in the world those 5 players should have been playing in that game. The precedent set by the NCAA and OSU is clear – you F%$#@ up and we catch it before a BCS Bowl game, and we’ll give you a get out of jail free card until next year. What happens if one or more of these guys decides to turn pro now? Had Posey come up with 9 grabs, 111 yards and 2 TDs, and moved way up in the minds of pro scouts, he would have been crazy not to turn pro. Then what? And for Tressel to demand they come back before agreeing to play them in the game clearly smacks of pure personal gain for the coach. Tressel gets everything he wants – his team is intact going into the Arkansas game and stays intact through the large majority of Big 10 play in 2011. How convenient? Nice work Jim. Where the hell was the AD in all this? With all his faults, could you see Bobby Knight pulling this stunt?

As for paying college players, one last time – they get, at minimum, a $100,000+ education grant when on scholarship. Isn’t that payment enough?

Speaking of Oregon, how do you come up with a defense where you have a DE/OLB, who weights 250+ pounds, trying to cover a 190 pound wide receiver downfield? On more than one occasion, the Ducks had that coverage called. One more time – it’s impossible for a linebacker to stay with a running back, so how do you scheme a large defender matched up with a WR? It’s the equal of a basketball power forward trying to cover a point guard in space – can’t be done. Are you telling me there isn’t one coach on that Ducks’ staff that would red flag that during the 5 weeks of practice prior to this game? Here’s how it should go – “Hey coach (to D-coordinator), with all due respect, do you really think it’s a good idea to have one of our bigs trying to stay with that little guy downfield?

Coming on the heels of a 50+ point ass-beating by LA, it has been nearly 4 months since a number of my so called friends and acquaintances chastised me for predicting my Cavaliers unfortunately would win at the most 29 games and could very well be a mere 20 win team if they quit early and Byron Scott failed to motivate them to compete. You know who you are. I wouldn’t normally mention it, but a couple of you actually ridiculed me at the time, including one instance where the term “delusional” was used to describe me. So – who’s your daddy now?

I see where my boy Warren Cromartie ran his mouth on twitter. You have to love those social networking sites – ditto for the world’s premier narcissist (LBJ) taking a shot at the Cavaliers when they are down. As I have said, today’s technology, where every pro or major college athlete can let the world know what they are thinking in mere seconds, causes headaches for those in the PR business. The media loves it, but the PR pros have to deal with the ramifications. I’ll say this – if you run your mouth, you’d better be able to back it up or you look like a complete fool. Call me old fashioned, but I like folks who take the high road and just play. Good luck this weekend Tom Brady.

The Browns hired a new head coach this week and he isn’t a household name with a proven winning track record. That’s not the route I would have gone, but I wish him luck nonetheless. I know nothing about him other than the offense he ran last year was 26th in the NFL. Like everyone else, I’ll watch and see. But think about it – the bar has been set awful low around here since 1999. If he wins half his games or more, they’ll probably put a statue of him down Superior Avenue somewhere. And that’s the sad truth for the current NFL football climate in NE Ohio.

To close things out, I have one comment on the Arizona shooting incident of last week. This is for those morons who are trying to make more out of it than it is. Yes, it was tragic in many ways – especially for the loss of life and the effect on the families involved. However, it had absolutely nothing to do with our current political climate or discourse. And it had nothing to do with this nation’s value system as a whole. To draw some unsubstantiated parallels to politics or society borders on the ridiculous. Here’s the truth – in a nation of 308+ million people, you will have a few nuts. Period. And some of those nuts will unfortunately act on their sick belief system and harm others. It’s happened through history and will continue to happen. It can’t be avoided. Some folks simply aren’t wired right. And it’s an insult to my intelligence to try to link such an incident to other parts of society. So stop the nonsense you morons. Unfortunately, with our present 24/7 news cycle, everything is magnified, analyzed, taken apart and re-packaged by those who have agendas. I simply refuse to fall for this re-packaging of information, nor should you.