Category: Sports

Commentary and news about sports and sports teams — and media coverage of them.

Trite Trophy

And the winner is … “Dial up a blitz.”

That nouveau football cliché beat out such stellar competition as “Take a shot down the field,” “It depends on the spot” and “Shy of the first down” to capture the 26th annual Trite Trophy, as awarded by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Gene Collier.

“Somewhere, somehow, defensive coordinators lost the ability to just call a blitz, order a blitz, signal a blitz, send in a blitz or even just blitz,” Collier wrote. “They suddenly were forced to ‘Dial up a blitz.’ It’s a beauty of a cliche, and it meets our ageless criteria: it’s meaningless, it’s everywhere, and I really, really hate it.

“It’s got multiple malignancies, such as the matter of when you do dial, whom do you call? Second, who dials anything any more? I mean as of, like, 1990, my grandmother and the Yanomamo Tribe of deepest Venezuela were the only people that still had that technology.”

Sideline Chatter | Seattle Times Newspaper

Idle thought

Urban Meyer is just another “it’s about me” jerk.

All this indecision couldn’t wait a week until the team’s season was over?

The Immaculate Reception

It was 37 years ago today. I still feel the pain.

It was a divisional playoff between the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers. A few seconds left …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xMDIcsUMmA

Harris, who was simply trailing the play, scooped up the ball (which had bounced 24 feet) and scored with 5 seconds remaining. It was the first playoff victory in the history of the Pittsburgh franchise and it began their glory days.

But the question was, did the ball bounce off Frenchy Fuqua, the Steelers intended receiver, or did it bounce off Jack Tatum, the Raiders defender. If Fuqua, it’s incomplete. Offensive deflections were not legal receptions at the time. If Tatum, or if both, then the completion is good. It took several minutes for the officials to decide.

And to this day no one is sure except Raiders fans and Steelers fans.

NFL Films calls it the greatest play in NFL history. For fans it was one of those indelible events that causes you to remember right where you were when it happened — driving on I-5 between L.A. and San Diego on the way from Oakland to Tucson for Christmas.

The rule was changed in 1978 to make passes deflected by any player legal.

Another provocative thought from Gladwell

Think about it: Virtually every parent now straps their children into expensive, specially engineered car seats in order to prevent them from injury in the exceedingly remote chance of an accident. That’s how safety-conscious parents have become. Do we really think those same parents are going to turn around a few years later and let that same child be hit in the head repeatedly at forces of upward of 100Gs in the name of entertainment? I mean, if your son wants to play Pop Warner in a few years, can you really tell me you’d let him do it?

Malcolm Gladwell-Bill Simmons III

Lobos

The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team is ranked 12th in the coaches poll and 13th in the AP poll. They are 12-0 on the year.

The six other undefeated teams are ranked 1 through 6 in both polls.

The F in NFL must stand for something other than Football

The NFL Players Association is offering to cover any fines that Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco would incur for wearing Chris Henry’s No. 15 jersey during Sunday’s game versus San Diego, a source close to the situation said.

ESPN

The NFL would fine a player for wearing the number of another player — a player who died this week — in tribute.

Let me see “F,” what applicable words that begin with F might better be part of NFL?

I will remind you that the NFL played on the weekend of JFK’s assassination. Nothing has changed.

And yes, Ochocinco is a showboat, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t sincere — his teammate did die. And besides, pro football is a show, not a liturgical rite.

Idle thought

The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team is ranked #19 in the AP poll out today. It’s the first time the Lobos have been in the Top 25 since the end of the 1998-1999 season. They are 10-0 this year so far.

OK Wally and Tom, when will we start hating Coach Alford? And why?

Best line about Tiger I've seen today

“If this was a scheme concocted by your handlers, get some new people. One of the reasons you’re in this mess is because your handlers helped you craft an image that wasn’t really you. Swearing on the golf course is you. Throwing clubs is you. A lot of people took issue with those offensive jokes you told GQ’s Charles Pierce in 1997; that was you, too. But if stepping away from golf is a calculated public relations stunt meant to generate some empathy, that means you’ve learned nothing from this entire ordeal.”

Jemele Hill – ESPN

Best line of the day, so far

Further proof that college football’s so-called postseason is a joke: Even the coaches treat it like one.

Can you imagine, say, Sean Payton quitting the unbeaten New Orleans Saints on the eve of the NFC Championship Game to take his “dream job” coaching the Dallas Cowboys?

Sideline Chatter

Referring of course to coach Brian Kelly leaving his undefeated Cincinnati team to take a new job.

The FCS semi-final games were not a joke. Villanova beat William and Mary 14-13 and Montana defeated Appalachian State 24-17. Both were exciting well-played games.

Big Game

William and Mary (11-2) at Villanova (12-1)
ESPN2 6PM MT Today

Winner advances to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision National Championship next Friday against the winner of Appalachian State (11-2) @ Montana (13-0) tomorrow at 2PM MT on ESPN.

Championship? Playoffs? Unlike the Football Bowl Subdivision presidents, the presidents of the 145 FCS schools must want to be football factories.

Ouch!

On this rare occasion, black coaches actually are being hired at places with a chance to succeed. Memphis should be one of the better programs in Conference USA and sits on fertile recruiting ground. Same could be said for Virginia and the ACC. And Louisville is one of the more committed football schools in the Big East. . . .

Last year black coaches got dead-end jobs at New Mexico State, New Mexico, Eastern Michigan and Miami (Ohio) at a historic low ebb.

Pat Forde — ESPN

Football Championship

If you like your college football to end in a real championship, consider the Football Championship School (FCS) playoffs which continue tomorrow. The eight teams that won in the first round are matched:

Stephen F. Austin State Lumberjacks (10-2) @ Montana Grizzlies (12-0) 2PM ET
Appalachian State Mountaineers (10-2) @ Richmond Spiders (11-1) 7 ET
New Hampshire Wildcats (10-2) @ Villanova Wildcats (11-1) 3:30 ET
William & Mary Tribe (10-2) @ Southern Illinois Salukis (11-1) 12 ET

There are 125 FCS schools (and 120 Football Bowl Schools).

Richmond won the championship last year. Appalachian State won in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Four of the eight teams still contending are from the Colonial Athletic Association. Yet, meanwhile, two of the league’s 12 schools have just announced they are ending their football programs (Northeastern and Hofstra).

The $3 Million Dollar Men

“The 926 players in the major leagues before rosters expanded in September averaged $2,996,000, according to the annual report of the players’ association, which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.”

AP via Huffington Post

Average. Nearly. Three. Million. Dollars.

For six months.

(I do wonder what the median is.)

Best lines of the day

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow, “The Man in the Glass,” 1934

Recited in full today by Al Groh, football coach, University of Virginia. The Cavaliers were 3-9.

Groh continued, “When I visited the guy in the glass, I saw that he’s a guy of commitment, of integrity, of dependability and accountability. He’s loyal. His spirit is indomitable. And he is caring and loving. I’m sure I will always call the guy in the glass a friend.”

And that was his whole press conference. Bravo Coach.

Update: The poetry didn’t help. Groh was fired. He was 59-53 for nine seasons.

If you are interested in football at all, watch this

From the The Fifth Down Blog:

NFL Films has been putting microphones on players since 1965. Its president, Steve Sabol, said recently that no player’s wiring had ever been as dramatic as Matthew Stafford’s in a comeback victory against the Browns.

The video, which has many memorable moments, culminates when Stafford, after sustaining a serious injury to his nonthrowing shoulder, eludes the trainers and runs back on the field for the final play. But words can’t do it justice; enjoy the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVEN74CAHqk

The World's Most Famous Lobo

The Sports Pickle wonders if UNM soccer player Elizabeth Lambert is related to the great Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert. Click for an awesome photo of Jack, a nine-time Pro Bowler.

Meanwhile, at The New York Times there is an adult-like interview with Ms. Lambert — Those Soccer Plays, in Context. Well done, and worth your time if you’ve paid any attention to this story.