I've got some news for all the Tennessee fans and students who have acted out in anger over the news that head football coach Lane Kiffin is trading in Rocky Top for SoCal.
You asked for this and now you have to live with the consequences.
By "this" of course, I'm talking about the winning-above-all-else attitude that is so prevalent in the world of major collegiate athletics, to which Tennessee has been a willing follower. So it should really come as no surprise to anyone with half a brain that the ego-maniacal Kiffin would skip town after less than a year and a half on the job.
As universities and their athletic directors look to satisfy rabid fan bases and deep-pocketed boosters, it is inevitable that this kind of thing is going to happen. The pressure to win is getting coaches fired before they can even see their first recruiting class graduate, can you really blame coaches for always having an eye on the next best gig?
When Tennessee fired long-time head coach Phil Fullmer it traded in any chance of the Paterno-like loyalty their fans would all like to think their head coach would and should bring with him. Fullmer, as much as I didn't care for him as a coach on the field, was (and is) a loyal and steady presence. But in the end, with rival schools like Florida and Alabama asserting themselves thanks in large part to new head coaches, that stability just wasn't good enough any more.
Some Vols fans are mad at athletic director Mike Hamilton who bowed to the pressure and fired Fullmer, making way for Kiffin and his traveling circus? But even Hamilton was just doing what he thought was in the best interest of the program. Surely even he couldn't have predicted the wonderful mess his school now finds themselves in.
Like so many schools before them (ahem, Notre Dame), unrealistic expectations from nearly everyone involved led them to this point. Head coach gone, recruits jumping ship and a fan base on the verge of revolt. But in the end Tennessee, their fans and their boosters, have no one to blame but themselves.
We all know that earlier this week that Pete Carroll bolted from USC to become Head Coach and President of the Seattle Seahawks. My question is why?
USC, college football's team of the decade, is arguably the top job in the world of college football. Year after year the Trojans land top recruits from all across the nation, and are amongst the favorites to win the national title.
What's wrong Pete? Was the 97-19 record you compiled at USC not good enough? Was your 2003 AP National Championship, and your 2004 National Championship not good enough? How about your 7 consecutive Pac-10 titles and BCS appearances? How about your back-to-back Heisman trophy winners (Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush) is that not good enough? Ah, I got it. It must have been the $4.4 million you made last year.
Enjoy your stay in Seattle. Enjoy your team that has won a combined 9 games the past two seasons. Enjoy your aging quarterback, wide receiver, and left tackle. The move from So-Cal to Seattle will most certainly be rainy. This team has very little to get excited about, and turning it around will truly be magical.
Yes, you got a raise but my sense doesn't think you made the move for the money. So again, why? Wait a minute. I figured you out. There's a meeting between NCAA officials being held next month to discuss possible sanctions against your former university regarding illegal benefits distributed to some of your premier players. That wouldn't have anything to do with your departure now would it Pete?
When USC gets penalized for illegal connections with former stud running back Reggie Bush, and recent NFL declaree Joe McKnight, you better be penalized as well. Shame on you for bailing out on kids to head north just so your image would not be tarnished. Shame on you for entering the homes of these kids and promising national championship opportunitites, only to leave right after you had a sub par season for the Trojan's football program (9-4).
Giants ace and consensus best pitcher on the planet, Tim Lincecum, picked up his second straight NL Cy Young Award today after leading the league in strikeouts with 261 and finishing second in ERA at 2.48.
The win marks the first time since 1981 that a National League starting pitcher has won the Cy Young with fewer than 16 wins, and only the third time overall that feat has been accomplished. It's also a sign that baseball writers are finally starting to see the fallacy in using wins as the main statistic used to judge starters.
As a Giants fan this is also a very sweet victory after Pablo Sandoval was passed over for the Silver Slugger Award at third base.
Welcome to a special Tuesday Edition of Monday Musings thanks to the Labor Day holiday. I won't bore you with my golfing exploits over the weekend, so on with the show...
The college football season started with a bang and picked up right where last season left off with upsets a plenty.
Three top-25 teams lost to unranked opponents (Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh), another was beaten badly by a lower ranked team (Clemson) and Michigan found a way to lose their second-straight home opener.
This is why I love college football, because for those five teams it will be virtually impossible for them to win a national championship. Every game counts equally and there is no room for slow starts.
Oh, and they're OK too.
Tennessee head coach Phil Fullmer may never set foot in the state of California again. At least he won’t if he’s smart.
Cliff Lee became the major league’s first 20-game winner after he tossed a complete game shutout against the AL Central leading White Sox.
Lee now has credit for 20 of Cleveland’s 66 wins, which is remarkable. What’s even more impressive is that in seven of his wins the Indians have scored four runs or fewer and he picked up no-decisions in four games in which he gave up two runs or less.
He hasn’t lost since July 6th and has won six straight decisions giving up eight earned runs and seven walks in 47.2 inning pitched. Dominant doesn’t quite describe what Lee has done this season and he should be a lock to win the AL Cy Young Award.
There are reports that the Bengals’ wide receiver formally known as Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco. This might be at the same time the dumbest and greatest attempt to market ones self in the history of sports.
One thing is for certain, if the NFL allows him to put Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey (and I can’t see how they can stop him now), his will be the most purchased jersey in the league and it won’t be close.
Ricky Williams got a one-year contract extension with the Miami Dolphins. I have him on 1,400 yards and 8 touchdowns, no joke.
The San Francisco Giants have lost six of their last seven games and Barry Zito got lit up by the Reds on Friday. Order has officially been restored to major league baseball.
The Knicks traded for Patrick Ewing Jr. apparently hoping to distract fans from the awfulness that is the New York Knicks. Honestly, it will be pretty cool to see Ewing emblazoned on the back of a Knicks jersey once again, but they still suck. A lot.
Tiger Woods and his wife Elin are reportedly expecting their second child sometime this winter. This of course brings into question the story about him injuring his knee while running. You the man Tiger!
Brazilian superstar Robinho signed with Manchester City, favorite club of Oasis front man Noel Gallagher (new album in stores Oct. 6, yay!). This after powerhouse Chelsea thought it had the inside track on the 24-year-old.
I’m sure no one reading this will care, but anytime a talent like Robinho switches clubs it’s worth mentioning in my book. Thus ends the soccer portion of the program.
Vijay Singh won his second straight tournament by demolishing the field at the Deutsche Bank Championship, firing a final round 63 on his way to all but securing the $10 million bonus that goes to the winner of the FedEx Cup.
At 45, Singh looks as fit as ever and even his often-balky putter seems to be behaving for him.
I am supremely impressed by Singh who looks like he could play until he’s 55 without losing a step. He still hits it a mile and has the experience and moxy to do some serious damage in the majors next year.
Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost for the first time in 112 matches when they were beaten by the American team of Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh.
The loss came just over a year after their last defeat, which was also at the hands of Youngs and Branagh.
Say what you want about beach volleyball being a fringe sport, but you have to be impressed by the total dominance May and Walsh have shown over the last year.
Cal beat Michigan State 38-31 on Saturday in spite of senior quarterback Nate Longshore’s two crucial interceptions in limited duty.
I have no idea why Cal head coach Jeff Tedford continues to run him out there, but here’s hoping Longshore’s terrible effort on Saturday will further tighten sophomore Kevin Riley’s grip on the starting job and decrease the amount of playing time Tedford gives his senior QB.
Lastly, the LPGA is trying to pass a rule that requires its members to speak English or face suspension from the tour.
While it’s true that a growing number of the best players in the world hail from non-English speaking countries, making it mandatory for them to learn the language or lose playing privileges is out of line.
For a game that markets itself as a global competition the LPGA has clearly over-played its hand in this instance. They could never get this kind of rule passed on the men’s tour, and they are foolish to think they can do it for the women.
The LPGA needs to be happy about the rise in their popularity as a tour and keep its greatest assets, its players, as happy as possible and this is no way to do it.
If you're a true sports fan you have teams and schools that you truly can't stand.
If you're a member of the Red Sox Nation you hate the Yankees. You went to THE Ohio State University? You probably can't stand the sight of maize and blue.
For me there are three which hold a special spot on my sporting dart board and nothing brings me more pleasure than to see them fail at every turn.
They are the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Duke Blue Devils basketball team and the entire Stanford University athletic department. Those three teams/programs irk me in ways that non-sports fans can't understand.
Seeing them succeed no matter how heart-warming the story at the time, absolutely makes my skin crawl. And if that sounds a little over the top, it is. But I have perfectly good reasons for all three.
First and foremost are the Dodgers, who I have been groomed to hate over my 27 years on this earth like no other team in sports. I am a Giants fan through and through, and that's really all you need to know about that.
Second would be Stanford, which when compared to my father's alma mater Cal, stands as the bastion of spoiled-brat schools where as long as you can afford it, you can go there. Oh, and I want to burn that stupid tree to the ground, or beat the tar out of it like Cal's mascot Oskie did.
Last, but certainly not least, would be the Duke Blue Devils and their men's basketball program. When I first got into college basketball I was a fan of Michigan's Fab Five who, with their baggy shorts and black socks, stood in stark contrast to the lily white, buttoned-down Dukies.
There's just something so off-putting about those guys, and before you go calling me a racist, I've never like their black players either.
The strangest thing however is that while in general I've got running vendettas against all three, there still manages to be something about them that I admire, and even(gulp) like.
You know what I'm talking about. Vikings fans hate the Packers, but most of them have a healthy respect for Brett Favre. And as much as Red Sox fans want to see the Yankees go down in flames, most of them recognize the effort and classiness of Derek Jeter.
So here now, the "unholy trio" of things that I actually like about the Dodgers, Stanford and Duke. I feel dirty just saying that.
Vin Scully - Play-by-Play Announcer:
A huge part of truly enjoying a baseball game on television or on the radio is the ability of the play-by-play man working the booth.
In some places, like San Diego, people are forced to choke down the over-the-top and hardly-accurate musings of guys like Matt Vasgersian. However in Los Angeles fans are treated to the silky smooth tones of one of the greatest sportscasters of all time, Vin Scully.
Sure Scully is getting up there in age and he will sometimes butcher a player's name, but no one tells the story of a baseball game like Scully.
The man has forgotten more about baseball than most of us will ever know. He's steeped in anecdotes about players both past and present, and listening to him wax poetic about a funny moment or a dramatic play is truly a treat for those of us who love the game.
On top of that he's still a sharp baseball mind, who pays attention to what's going on in the game and does so much homework that often he'll be able to give you a full bio on players who don't even play for the Dodgers.
In an era of broadcasting that is fully in love with the three man booth and semi-illiterate former players as color commentators, Scully commands his one man show like no other.
As much as I hate the Dodgers and all that they stand for on the field of play, it is an honor to sit down to a Giants/Dodgers tilt with Scully behind the mic.
Mike Krzyzewski - Head Coach:
As fully annoying as I happen to find the Duke players, their head coach is another matter completely.
Krzyzewski is the model of what a collegiate coach should be. Dignified, classy, intense and a wonderful teacher of the game. Coach K is as interested in growing quality young men as he is in developing big time basketball players.
On the court, his pressure defense and precision offense are what make the collegiate game stand out from it's professional brethren, and no one does it better.
There are a few coaches in big time collegiate athletics who I would gladly send my child to play for, safe in the knowledge that they will truly get an education in both sports and life. Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Washington's Tyrone Willingham and Zrzyzewski would top that list.
Too many coaches are in it to win at any cost and in the process neglect to give all of their kids, from the stars to the walk-ons, the best of themselves as people. This is not the case with Coach K, which you can tell by the relationships he keeps with his former players.
Few things in sports bug me like watching Duke trampling ACC opponents, but I can certainly appreciate the efforts of Coach K both on and off the court.
Tiger Woods - #1 Golfer in the World:
This one proves that even the best have at least one fatal flaw, and for the greatest golfer of all time (that's right, I said it), it happens to be his choice of school.
If you've read my blog at all you know how much I love to watch Woods play and he is easily one of my top 5 athletes of all time. Still, it irks me that of all the places in the world (or the West Coast for that matter), Woods chose to go to Stanford.
I suppose I understand the decision given the school's prowess on the national collegiate golfing scene, but that doesn't excuse the lapse in judgment.
You don't need me to tell you about all the amazing things Woods has accomplished on the golf course, and for all the scrutiny he gets for not taking many political stances off of it, his Tiger Woods Foundation has done more to help kids around the country than most star athletes.
Even though watching him freak out during the Stanford/Arizona basketball game in 2004 was truly annoying, Woods is the man without question.
The end of every football season brings with it the inevitable head coaching moves as guys get hired and fired all over pro and college football.
This week both the Dolphins and Ravens have made headlines concerning their own search for their next head man. And all that posturing got me to thinking, why am I not hearing former 49ers and Lions head coach Steve Mariucci's name mentioned with guys like Tony Sparano and Jason Garrett?
For those of you who don't remember, Mariucci last coached in the NFL in 2005 when he was fired by the Detroit Lions after a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Since then Mariucci has been working the analyst desk for the NFL Network and doing a fine job. But it seems to me his talent and resume as a head coach would be difficult to ignore for any team with an opening.
As a fan I have fond memories of Mariucci's tenure with the 49ers and to this day maintain that former GM Terry Donahue's decision to fire him after a 10-6 season and an NFC West crown set the team back at least five years.
When Mariucci was first hired by the 49ers he inherited a team of stars led by Steve Young and Jerry Rice and had great initial success going 25-7 in his first two seasons on the job. The next two years were not as kind however as the Niners best players aged and succumbed to injury.
The Niners went into free fall in 1999 and 2000, compiling a 10-22 mark over those two seasons and it would have been easy then to let Mariucci go. But the Niners showed their faith in the man that helped mold Brett Favre in Green Bay and that faith paid off.
Coaching up a total unknown in quarterback Jeff Garcia, Mariucci reversed the Niners fortunes yet again going 12-4 in 2000. Despite the fact that they were beaten by Favre and the Packers in the Wild Card playoffs that year, it seemed the Mariucci-led Niners were back.
They followed that campaign up by winning the NFC West and pulling off one of the greatest (albeit controversial) comebacks in playoff history, beating the New York Giants 39-38.
By then Garcia was a Pro Bowl caliber player and the team had started to put together a decent roster of players including Terrell Owens, Julian Peterson and Andre Carter. Things were looking good, and then just like that it was all over.
On January 15th, 2003, Mariucci was fired by the Niners after a falling out with Donahue. Less than a month later he was hired by the Detroit Lions and the Niners haven't posted a winning record since.
Sure Mariucci's record with the Lions left quite a bit to be desired, but much of that blame has to fall on GM Matt Millen and some of his terrible decisions. Trust me, you'd have a tough time winning with Joey Harrington as your starting quarterback too.
I remember Mariucci as a guy the Niners players seemed to rally around and as one of the more entertaining sound bytes in the league. A guy whose ability to keep things light off the field and play to his team's strengths on it was just the right combination for a professional coach in this day and age.
So why is it that no one seems interested in hiring a guy with the kind of solid credentials that Mariucci brings to the table? There have been rumors that he's not interested in stepping back into the spotlight again, but I have a hard time believing that given what I saw of his competitive fire when he was in San Francisco.
If not in the NFL then, why not at the college level? He spent one year as the head coach at Cal and led them to a bowl game and has been linked in the past to several schools including Michigan State and UCLA.
Why in heaven's name would someone hire Bobby Petrino before at least giving Mariucci a look? Oh wait, that's right, it's Arkansas.
Seriously though, I think he'd be perfect for the college game with his offensive mind, NFL background and effervescent personality he'd make a great recruiter and would be a guy that college kids would really respond to, much like Pete Carroll at USC.
Regardless of the situation, I personally would love to see Mariucci back on the sidelines and think it would be a shame if he remains behind a television desk for much longer.
Georgia head coach Mark Richt pulled two of what I considered to be the coolest moves of the 2007 college football season on his way to a 10-2 season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.
At 5-2 with the Bulldogs season in the balance and facing the defending national champion Florida Gators, Richt sent his entire team out to the end zone after an early touchdown to send a message to the Gators that they were not going to be pushed around as they had in several previous meetings between the schools.
He knew they would get penalized and that people would talk trash about the tactics, but he realized that his team needed a boost. The move propelled Georgia to a 42-30 win over Florida and helped inspire his team to five straight season ending wins.
The second pull from Richt's coaching grab bag of tricks came two weeks later against rival Auburn when Richt sent his team out in red jerseys, only to have them yank them off to reveal their rarely seen black jerseys.
Those moves had me thinking I really kind of liked Richt and how he was handling his players as he seemed to really understand motivation and knew how to keep things loose and have a good time, a la Pete Carroll at USC.
However after watching his team steamroll the Hawaii Warriors in the Sugar Bowl while Richt ordered passing plays and fourth down attempts in the fourth quarter with his team up 41-10, I lost quite a bit of respect for Georgia's head man.
Why do that? What could there possibly be to prove? People knew going in that it was going to take a big time effort for Hawaii to hang with an SEC school like Georgia and when the score got out of hand and Colt Brennan had been knocked out of the game there was no reason for Richt to keep the pedal to the floor.
The television announcers mentioned next year's pre-season polls as possible explanation for Richt running it up on Hawaii, but that's crap if you ask me.
So too is the idea that Richt wanted to let his backup guys get some stats and find the end zone in a bowl game. In fact there was no good reason to try and embarrass a team and a school who quite frankly was overmatched from the opening kickoff.
As entertaining as Richt's regular season antics may have been, in the end he proved to be nothing more than another classless college football coach who has little in mind besides his own ego.
Riley saves the day:
The California Golden Bears were one of the more disappointing teams in 2007, reaching number two in the country and then falling off the map and finishing 6-6.
Much of the blame for Cal's demise was placed on redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Riley who freaked out in the final seconds of a loss to Oregon State and cost Cal the chance to be the top ranked team in the country.
But it was none other than Riley who saved the Golden Bears in their bowl win over Air Force in relief of embattled starter Nate Longshore.
Just when it looked like Cal and Longshore were about to suffer another bad loss to an inferior team, head coach Jeff Tedford made the move he should have made weeks earlier and gave Riley his second chance.
All the kid did was go 16-of-19 for 269 yards and three passing touchdowns and ran for another score on his way to leading a 21-point comeback in the Bears' 42-36 win over the Falcons.
Why Tedford waited so long to finally make a move on Longshore is a mystery to me and most Cal fans who had such high hopes for their favorite team in 2007. Thankfully it appears the starting job will not be handed to Longshore in 2008 as it was this past year.
Personally I can't wait to see what Riley can do with a whole season as the starting quarterback for the Bears as they look to put the disaster of the 2007 season behind them.
Henne and Hart go out winners:
I've never been a huge Chad Henne fan and I've never thought Mike Hart was overly impressive outside of his ability to hang onto the ball and get the tough yards.
Despite the fact that Hart doubled his career fumble total by putting the ball on the ground twice and Henne threw two interceptions in the Capital One Bowl against SEC powerhouse Florida, both of Michigan's senior leaders came up big when it mattered and led the Wolverines a 41-35 win.
Along with senior left tackle Jake Long, Henne and Hart came back to school to win a national championship with a team many considered one of the best in the country prior to the season. But an opening season loss to Appalachian State sent the title hopes down the tubes and by seasons end Michigan would be unranked and searching for a new head coach.
But Henne and Hart rallied their teammates like the true leaders they are and to them I say congratulations on two stellar careers in the maize and blue.
So the big NFL news of the day comes from the Atlanta Falcons and surprisingly this time it had nothing to do with Michael Vick.
No this time it's their brand spanking new head coach Bobby Petrino who apparently decided in Saban-esque fashion that he wasn't cut out for the flaming hot glare of the spotlight that is the NFL.
So instead of honoring the five-year, $24 million contract he signed, Petrino has decided to high tail it out of town and return to the comfort of the college game at the University of Arkansas.
On the surface some might say that the move was predictable given his struggles through 13 games as an NFL coach and if his heart wasn't in it then good riddance.
I'd agree with that to a point, but all of this contract breaking by coaches who realize the harsh reality of life in the NFL has got to stop. It seems to me that no player would be allowed to switch teams less than a year into a freshly signed contract.
That is they wouldn't without a prolonged hold out that would inevitably paint that player as a malcontent in the court of public opinion and ultimately drive his value down. Starting to see the hypocrisy in all this?
For coaches who want to try their hand at the big leagues, contracts might as well be replaced by secret handshakes because they seemingly have no meaning besides stipulating what that coach may make in a particular year if he decides to stick around.
Players have to force trades, coaches trade themselves (albeit down a level), and for some reason in my little brain that seems wrong.
Think about it, how different is this move by Petrino to say Chester Taylor, a year after signing a contract to be the feature back for the Vikings, deciding that he doesn't want to play second fiddle to rookie sensation Adrian Peterson and deciding to take his skills elsewhere? That sounds outrageous, but honestly what's the difference?
Taylor signed on to be the man and then the team decided it's going to stake it's future on a younger, more explosive player, why can't he negotiate elsewhere to be the starting tailback? I don't understand why coaches are able to make these sort of unilateral decisions without ramification or compensation, while players are held like precious commodities by the franchises that sign them.
Aside from the obvious double standard when it comes to a move like this, consider the ramifications it has across the board on players left behind on teams and players on their way into a program.
Don't forget that Petrino left a very talented Louisville team that massively underachieved with new head coach Steve Kragthorpe at the helm. What could have those players accomplished with Petrino guiding the ship and allowing kids that he recruited and coached for several years to keep the system rolling?
Think about the disservice he did to a guy like Brian Brohm who spent his entire collegiate career up to that point perfecting his ability to execute Petrino's system and then has to start over with a new head coach his senior year. How is that fair to him or any of the other upperclassmen that started the year with National Championship hopes and ended it 6-6 and without a bowl bid altogether?
Oh yeah, did I mention Petrino signed a 10-year extension with Louisville a year before he jumped ship and left the college game for the pros? That's special.
Think about the guys on the Atlanta Falcons who have had to struggle and fight daily battles on the football field as well as away from it in the wake of the Vick dog fighting case that left the team without its biggest star.
Those are grown men who are going to have to learn a new scheme for the second time in two years, a fact I'm sure not lost on them. Players in the NFL get criticized and even cut for poor performance and sometimes the culprit for the poor play is as simple as not picking things up quick enough.
In that case we're talking about people's livelihoods on the line, and while I know it can be difficult to feel sorry for high-paid professional athletes, it's still a job and they can get fired just like the rest of us. Remember, there are no guaranteed contracts in the pros.
Then think about the players that Petrino will be recruiting to join him at Arkansas. Impressionable kids who can and will be lured by the promise of playing time and gridiron glory at a tradition rich school like Arkansas.
But how can any of those kids or their parents believe a word that comes out of Petrino's mouth? Why on earth would you send your child to play for a guy who clearly has one foot out the door at all times?
The sad part is that most likely Petrino will get his blue-chip prospects and build himself a nice little powerhouse in the always tough SEC. Life will go on and all will be merry for Petrino and the Razorback faithful.
But watching Petrino whoop it up at his press conference with the cries of "pig suey" was more than a little annoying and if I were good old Bobby Ball Coach I wouldn't dare show my face in the state of Georgia for at least six months.
Now I know coaches changing jobs is a part of life, and generally speaking I have absolutely no problem with that. But when a guy like Petrino makes a long-term commitment as he's done twice now in the last two years and then backs out, I have to seriously question his character and his integrity.
That said, I hope all you Razorback fans take the time to enjoy the Bobby Petrino era, it could be over before you know it.
You asked for this and now you have to live with the consequences.
