Moments in Time for J

Here are some sports memories that formed my warped view of Sports.

1. Cowboys dominate Miami for first SB win. First time my team had ever won anything.
2. LSU Beats Oklahoma for first NC of my life. I am still in shock. Thank you Saban.
3. Eddie Sutton and the Hogs Final Four Run with the Triplets. Brewer, Delk and Moncrief.
3. Cowboys beat Bills the first time. I may have stronger feelings from the 49ers game.
4. Nicklaus wins 86 Masters.
5. Personal Item- My Dad makes halftime Half court shot at Centenary (Robert Parish was on the team and 20th ranked in AP), After raising his finger to check the wind in the Gold Dome he looked at me smirked a look of no doubt, it was "Nothing but Net."
6. La Tech blow out wins against Ohio State and Pitt in NCAA tourney run.
7. Oklahoma and Pruitt lose to the Hated Huskers and Johnny Rogers. I still remember the weather at my Grandmother's that day.
8. UCLA and Bill Watlon losing at Notre Dame. I hated it, but it was incredible.
9. Duke-Ky Game 104-103 game in 1992. My Wife was one happy camper.
10. George Brett's 9th inning Pine Tar Homer off the most intimidating closer of all time, Goose Gossage.

j

Honorable Mention No Order:
Hail Mary Game-Boys and Vikes.
Bo Kimble LMU against Michigan after Gathers Death. Left handed FT and a Blow out.
Chris Jackson against Tennessee-50 pts never looked easier.
Gibson HR against Eck in Game 1.
Wayne Morris HR against Miami. I was jumping up and down on the hotel bed.
Reggie Jackson 3 HR in game against Dodgers in WS. Disgust, but it was great.
Kosar and Flutie in the famous Game. Kosar screaming at Johnson to just run the ball.
Ark-TX game of Century. I can still smell the pillow I put my head into with each pass.
NC over Georgetown. Jordan Jumper.
Ewing vs Sampson when Ewing was Freshman.
Webber time out againt UNC in Championship game.
Wide Right or was it left- Florida State the first time with Jimmy Johnson.
Notre Dame beating Bear Bryant in Sugar Bowl for title. I despise the Irish.
Arkansas beats Oklahoma in 78 Orange bowl.
Indiana State beating Hogs to go to final four. Bird was special.
First time I saw Barry Sanders against Nebraska.
The '75 Fisk Home run game, first time I was allowed up past 10pm.
BYU comeback against SMU with Jim McMahon.
Jackie Smith-OOPS. Dwight Clark-Crap. George Allen-Old Fart.

Moments in Time

After reliving the Cowboys '92 team the other night, I tried to think of some of the best moments I've experienced as a sports fan over the years. Unfortunately many of them seem recent since memory fades over time. I thought I would try to get these down while I was thinking about it.

1. Cowboys win '92 super bowl 52-17 and bring back the glory. I remember almost every moment of the super bowl and the NFC champ game.

1a. LSU beats OU 21-14, knocking down several end zone attempts late by the Sooners, to win the 1st ntl champ since '58. I can see myself standing in my living room near to fainting dead away I wanted it so bad.

2. Personal, but it's my blog. Shelby's cheer team rallies from 3rd after day 1 to win Nationals in Feb '08. They repeated the next year, but it's hard to express seeing your child win something on that scale after so much work for the first time.

3. Alabama turns away Penn St. to win the '79 Sugar Bowl and the '78 ntl champ. Watched it at Rick Hauser's house. Cemented my love for the Tide which has remained with me to this day.

4. Sugar Ray Leonard rallies late to knock Thomas Hearns out in the welterweight showdown in 1981. I loved boxing then, and Leonard was my favorite. Like Ali, along with the flash came a big heart which he proved in this fight.

5. LSU dominates Ohio St. to win a 2nd ntl champ in the '08 Sugar Bowl. The game earlier in the year at Tiger Stadium against Florida stands out almost as much to me as my 2nd greatest Tiger moment.

6. John McEnroe defeats Bjorn Borg to stop Borg's streak at Wimbledon 1981. I used to love watching the big tennis matches, and 'breakfast at Wimbledon' was my favorite.

7. Tom Glavine shuts out Cleveland to deliver Atlanta's first World Series title. I grew up watching the Braves on cable, and it was great to see them finally scale the mountain. Glavine was the perfect person the clinch it as he represented the new Braves in so many ways, 1995.

8. Cowboys hold on the beat the Steelers for their 3rd title in 4 years, finally extracting revenge on the hated Steelers, Super Bowl 1996. Game in doubt and me sweating bullets, and then Brown's interception to seal it.

9. Josh Hamilton's home run derby binge in 2008 all-star festivities. Truly one of the most impressive athletic feets I've witnessed. The crowd in NY chanting "Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton". Reminded me why I love sports.

10. Michael Phelps rallies in the 100m butterfly to win his 7th gold medal of 2008 Olympics. He had no prayer with 30m to go............my household stayed up watching Phelps every night that week, and he delivered. We were all screaming at the top of our lungs.

11. I stand in my brother in law's den and watch Allen rally with 21 2nd half points with a backup QB to win the 2008 state 5A championship; Allen's first state title. For the next month, every business in town with a marquee proudly displayed "Congrats Allen Eagles 5A State Champs!"

12. Boise State boldly throws caution to the wind and strikes the ultimate blow for the little guy, toppling mighty OU in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Watched in your den, the perfect cap to another of our traditional New Years Day bowl watching marathons.

S

Duke - Georgetown

Duke does not have enough quickness to survive in the tourney.

G'town I am still not comfortable with against a high energy team.
j

Mickelson and Why I Watch.

Phil did it again this week. He loses a tournament by a large amount, but puts on a show.
He hits some of the worst shots you will ever see in a tournament, left, right, left.
He then hits shots that only around 10 players in history would have even considered attempting.

I know that a large portion of the PGA and PGA media dislike him, mostly I see stories that he does not hang out with them, is aloof or arrogant and fake. Sour Puss Steve Pate and Vijay question if the smile is real. Five hour rounds and approaching 20 years of stress on national TV would at some point show the change in a person.

The one's that he does let in like Couples, Van Pelt and Dimarco are loyal to a high degree.
I can only say what he acted like when I saw him in person with no media around,
he was smiling and laughing.

For a guy in the top 12 on the All time PGA Win List. He is the most compelling golfer for me to watch. Not the best, but he is on the short list of the greatest that I have seen play. Behind, Jack, Woods, Palmer, and Player. Els is still the biggest waste of talent ever. He was better than Phil.
j

Senior Bowl Quick Review.

The kid from Central Michigan, LeFevour, was the best looking QB. His decisions were quicker.
The LB from Michigan, Graham, was the best player on the field.
Alabama CB, Arenas was also a difference maker.
Gilyard from Cincy looked good at WR. Jody was correct.

Tebow, he needs work in the pro offense, everything was in slow motion when he played.
His talent may take over one day, but he is a bit slow in his decisions. He had several drops but never looked deep.

j

High School Basketball and Players -Frosh From Irving High.

After watching Bossier High beat Minden last night it is so obvious how much the high school game is changing to an outside dominated system. Dribble-Drives, Pitino's UMASS offense.

First Bossier. 3 starters under 5'10".
If they get hot in the playoffs from the outside they will be tough in 4A. They shoot about 40% from 3 pt land. Their big men at around 6'6 and 6'4 are skinning jumpers. Defense will determine if they beat the bigger teams down south and it will depend on one player not getting in foul trouble. Soph. D. Francis 5'9 and the tallest, is ridiculous on or off the ball. He is the only one of the 3 guards that can handle the bigger players on the defensive end. He takes people out of the game with quickness, Averages about 3 steals and 1 blk per game.

Scoring wise it is a bomb or a lay up,
Jr-West 16pts is really a good set shooter with a good ball skills down the lane. West should be all state this year, being the leading scorer and assist man, he is getting all of the press from the media and coach.
Francis 14pts can score at will because of his quickness, better than average shooter 39% from 3 88% fT. , but he does not push his offense as often and is the primary driver of West getting the open 3 pointers with his slashes.
J James 14pts is the smallest, but more muscular and is shooting around 48% from 3. Quick as a cat.
====
NWLA Summary:
Bossier in 4A has the difficult assignment of getting thru Peabody,Wossman and Glen Oaks. Peabody is undefeated with the 6'7 perimeter player that is special.

Green Oaks is good in 3A and should make a run. ranked top 5.
Airline is the best team in 5A in NWLA, but they are a bit young. Ouachita is supposedly the best 5A up here, so I expect someone down south to win 5A. Airline played them tight.
---
The best player I have seen is the kid at Cotton Valley. Soph -J Walker-6'5 and built like a college Sr. guard. (Think M. Cutwright) I saw him steal a ball from 4A pt guard and shoot 3 pointer on the fast break. He is tough with multiple moves insides.

S, I wish you were here, there are more young athletes playing than anytime I can remember.

The Freshman in Irving is the player I want to see. Playing in that district and being dominant is crazy.
I pulled this from the espn blog.
Keith Frazier, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound 15-year-old, scored 29 points in Irving’s resounding 80-46 road win over Irving Nimitz on Friday night. His evening included five 3-point baskets, a two-handed dunk, two blocked shots and a pair of steals. Averages 16pts and 3boards.
In two prior games, Frazier scored 29 and 30 points, helping Irving (23-7, 6-2) remain a solid playoff contender in a district that includes Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Irving MacArthur and South Grand Prairie.
J

While I am on Golf. Lets talk earning power..

Bloomberg BusinessWeek list of Most Powerful Athletes in America.

1. Tiger Woods
2. LeBron James
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Albert Pujols
5. Peyton Manning.

This is based on earning potential.


j

Saints-Colts cont.

I have started looking into the breakdowns.
My post breakdown will come next week. With flow of the game predictions.

j

Mickelson being accused of cheating? Please.

Sometimes the word HYPERBOLE is just suitable.
Subject: Rule change on Grooves of clubs.

Scott McCarron comments calling Phil a "cheater" at the tournament this week cause me to laugh and feel disgust toward McCarron and the PGA.
For the record, other players have used them in each of the 3 previous tourneys this year. 8 last week.

These old ping club designs that the players are using are legal by a court decision in 1990.

Mickelson discussed this loop hole with the tour prior to the season and tried to get the tour governing bodies to change the rules to be equal. (McCarron has shown no reports to suggest that he was insightful enough to even discuss the loop hole with the tour prior to Phil, Daly and others bringing the clubs into play.)

For the record, Mickelson has publicly stated he thinks his club should have been banned also.
The courts have ruled in Ping favor so the PGA cannot outlaw the club. Bottom line, Phil did not want the club he is using legal if the others were not.

The PGA is just being Obtuse.

A couple of comments:

1.) The PGA changing the grooves on the wedges is ridiculous, if they want to fix the problem with spin out of the rough they have an easy fix.
"Restrict the Ball distance and Ball Spin requirements on swings at different swing speeds."
It would also save communities valuable resources and not have the need to extend golf coursed by up to 1000 yards to compensate for the ball technology. Swing speeds are relative and most are not excessive compared to previous generation players.
(An Example: Greg Norman's Swing Speed with a heavy and shorter club was higher than Woods or Mickelson and not by just a small amount. The fact that he was around 132mph then is incredible. )

I realize that my 115plus swing speed and being a scratch handicap is a far cry from the true professionals, but even I can tell the difference in spin immediately with high quality balls on any swing, and especially on the less than full from the rough or fairway. The new multi-layer balls are incredible!

For a summary of the balls technology:
(1ST layer)increased grip and to help with spin with less speed.
(2ND or 3RD layer)-the energy (varied by length of shaft an mass angle to effect speed) transfers energy into a calculated area of the balls core to give a bit less spin and more distance or velocity at this speed.
(4TH Layer)- The real trick- If a person can produce the correct amount of Momentum or M=Mass x Velocity. The new balls have an increased effect on the distance if you have a greater Momentum than someone else. Thus the balls go longer based on more than just the swing speed. The middle core reduces overall spin and a higher trajectory than the previous generations.

This technology could be applied to roll back the balls 10-20 in disctance with increased spin on long shots and decrease spin and grip on short shots.

2. ) Specifically to our new PGA Hypocrite McCarron.
McCarron survives on tour with a long putter braced against his body.
The long putter and belly putters to me are the same type of issue as better grooves.
Rules are specific against using something as a brace to complete a stroke.
The long putter McCarron uses is braced against his body to complete the stroke.
Many major champs have complained or years with this technique.
All major ruling bodies in golf are considering the legal ramifications of outlawing these clubs.

Solution:
1. Go to last years rules on grooves.
2. Change the ball requirements. Adding Spin to drives and less on half swings would get the premium back on straight drives.
3. Outlaw the putters that are braced against the body and put nerves back into every stroke.

j

Tebow at Senior Bowl Practice.

I am still shocked he showed up, but it proves again that he is just different breed and willing to try anything. He should call the coach that changed Romo's motion. He needs help.

Here is some quotes from an article I read tonight.
============================
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/4DB9313CF30FE665862576BA0014DCB1?OpenDocument

"He's terrible," said one longtime NFC coach.

"He was Tebow," said a veteran NFC scouting executive. "There's some things that coaches are going to have to get with him and fix in the NFL."

There seems no middle ground with Tebow in the eyes of NFL talent evaluators. They either love him or they don't.

"People are killing this kid," said Russ Lande, a former NFL scout who runs the GM Jr. scouting service and publication. "But you've got to remember: What can he do? He's got a strong arm. He's a good athlete. He's a big, tough, strong kid. Great intangibles. You can't get rid of those. Those are there. He's got some great tools."

----
On the other side- McCluster is killing them, they are comparing him to Percy Harvin.

j

Great College QB part 2

As a follow up to your Young, Tebow, Frazier rankings during our adult life.
I almost hated seeing Frazier on your list, but it is understandable and you are right.

Doug Flutie

No National Titles-1 Heisman. Record 32-10-1. (0-5 his Freshman year prior to start. 5-1 remainder of year. ) Won 3 bowl games.
Boston College had not won 10 games since 1940 prior to Flutie.
39 years since a bowl game appearance.
The year after he graduated BC went 4-8.

He made more big plays with his ability than any player I have ever seen.
Watching him throw passes under handed, 64 yards in the air and/or scrambling like Fran Tarkenton, he was the most amazing thing I have witnessed. (Vick was close but did not play long enough.) He won games with inferior talent and BC was never out of a game.

When he graduated he was the NCAA all time leader in Passing.
He was also the all time NCAA leader in total offense.

Did I mention that he was a Rhodes Scholar Finalist?

S,
You personally know that I had a huge dislike for him during his first two years at BC. He kept winning games against teams that I liked. I finally learned to appreciate and enjoy the feats he accomplished, maybe I will with Woods in golf one day.

His effect at Boston College also showed up with in research papers with exponential jumps in entry applications. This lead people to dub the phenomenon of schools popularity increasing due to sport as the FLUTIE Effect.

I wish I could have seen Staubach at Navy. I vaguely remember Manning doing the same things at Ole Miss, but I was so young that I can't remember enough detail. Besides, I was a Joe Ferguson fan first.

I would have had Steve Young on my list for just being a pure joy to watch in College.


j

Super Bowl Predictor Says Saints = Kind of.

I think I am finally getting over the Cowboys loss, so maybe I can get back into some sports thought.

SB Predictor says Saints Win. (Previous Post)
The problem is that 2 of the 3 teams that lost with the predictor were high scoring teams.
The other team that lost was to the Colts.

By the way, the Saint's bandwagon group is rolling through town with a loud roar.
I am really struggling to stay positive toward the team. Even when I want to pull for them it is a struggle.

This Saint's being America's team crap is another irritant.
It seems like they are a fan favorite, kind of like an ugly sister who does good. The numbers say different on this popularity issue. This was the first time in history the Saints had sold out a season. The road games around the country have been a pretty fair judge of the popularity of teams and the Saints still don't even budge the needle. Like the 49ers, Dolphins, Raiders, Patriots, Packers and Steelers before the media is enjoying the visibility of someone other than the Cowboys.

I know some people question the popularity and that is fine, they should support their teams forever.
I would waiver on my thoughts of popularity.
1. Dallas 2. Steelers 3. Packers 4. Giant 5. Redskins.

These are the Numbers:
1. Since the 70's the Dallas Cowboys have been in the top 4 in Merchandise in the NFL the most popular sport in America. The vast majority of the years, they are top 2. No other team is close in this realm of popularity. The years they have led the league in merchandise surpasses the others in getting into the top 4 rankings. In the 90's an NFL sales report showed that the Cowboys made up 25% of all Sales since the merger.

2. Most hated team, By far. If 10-25% of all NFL Fans are Cowboys fans that leaves a great portion of the 31 teams splittng the other 75-80% of the fans. If I was not a Cowboys fan I would feel about them like I do the Yankees and Notre Dame.

3. Since the Media Bonanza of the 60's:
The Cowboys have played in more nationally televised games.
Won more playoff games than any team in history.
Played in more Playoff Games.
Lost more Playoff Games
Played in More Title Games, Conference and Super Bowls.
2nd in Wins to the Steelers in Super Bowls.

4. Besides Tex Schramm picked the uniforms and home colors after researching and targeting uniforms that represented a product that would be popular.

If this was not enough.
Here is the the Business breakdown for Most Valuable Teams in the World.

The top ten sports team future brand value in the world follows:

Allbusiness.com- These ranking were prior to Cowboy Stadium. Which increased the value greatly. They also led the value again this year.

Rank              Sports Franchise          Brand Value (US $M)
1                 Dallas Cowboys                     $274,306
2                 Manchester United                  $258,943

Yankees were 4th behind the Washington Redskins.

j

Super Bowl Pt 1

My early thoughts on the game. Not sure what will happen after I start watching, but right now I think I'll root for Manning to get that 2nd win and cement his place in history. I have a hard time believing the Saints can hold the Colts to less than 28 pts. Can Payton scheme the bend but don't break Colts defense to the tune of 30 pts? Early guess: 31-24 Colts.

S

College QB's - Place in History

I was thinking of some of the players in various sports who've made the biggest impact during my adult years. I got caught up looking at college QB's in recent memory, specifically is Tebow the most successful or the guy with the biggest overall impact on college football in this era? Here are to me the recent contenders:

Tim Tebow - 35-6 as a starter. 2-1 as a starter in bowl games, 2-0 in BCS bowls, 1 Ntl Champ, 1 Heisman, MVP of 2 BCS bowls. Tebow had a unique set of skills and certainly impacted the sport and his team in a huge way.

Vince Young - 30-2 as a starter. 2-1 as a starter in bowl games, 2-0 in BCS bowls, 1 Ntl Champ, MVP of 2 BCS bowls. Robbed of the Heisman. Young lifted Brown's program to new heights and rolled up 839 yards of offense in winning back to back Rose Bowls.

Tommy Frazier - 33-3 as a starter. 2-2 as a starter in bowl games, 2-1 in BCS bowls, 2 Ntl Champ's, MVP of 3 consecutive BCS title games. Frazier did not lose during his last 2 years and holds the unprecendented honor of being named MVP in 3 straight Ntl Champ games.

This is really a pick-'em. My vote goes to Young. He was a 1-man gang and made more mind blowing big plays in big games than anyone I've ever seen.

S

Steve Nash

I ran across Steve Nash's stats this week kind of by mistake. How's this for shooting: 53% from the floor, 43% from 3-pt, 94% from the line. I also checked his PER, which is ESPN's 'total average' for basketball. You basically take all the good, subtract all the bad, and adjust for minutes played and also the pace that your team typically plays at. Nash is ranked 10th in the league for PER, at 35 years of age. But, it's those shooting numbers that really impress me. That is some sweet shooting.

S

Not Sports Related.

As a follow up to the books we have read during the last 15 years.
I watched Spartacus:Blood and Sand last night.
You may enjoy it, but make sure the kids are in bed. MA rating is a definite.

It did make me want to start the First Man in Rome series again.

j

Saints - Colts

I look forward to this game for 3 reasons.

1. Peyton Manning-I want him to win another Super Bowl for the History of the game to recognize that he was the best. I cringe when people mention some of the others because of the titles.
2. Sean Payton-I want him to win for a simple reason, originality and brilliance should be rewarded.
3. Many of our friends are extreme happy with the Saints win.
But good god, why can't they learn a better chant than the illiterate "Who Dat". It is demeaning to those of us educated in Louisiana.


S, you were right, it will be great to watch Payton game plan for the colt for 2 weeks.

A comment on the Vikings, rarely do you see a championship game in which the dominate team loses the game. It truly was a ridiculous way to lose a game.

Even though, I pulled for Sean Payton in the game, it reminded me how much I despise the NFL
replay and overtime rules.

It is awful.
J

Final Four

My Final Four Picks From Preseason may need some tweaking.

Original.
1. Kentucky
2. Kansas
3. Villanova/Michigan State
4. W Va

I have concerns over Kansas and W VA.
Kansas is too perimeter oriented and W VA. doesn't look as good as Syracuse.

Ohio State and the Big 10 are much better than I thought.
The Big East is just brutal.
The SEC is still weak, outside of the KY freaks, there are just not very good shooters to open up the court.
j

SB predictor update in Playoffs.

2-2 first round.
3-1 Second round.

Today Winners
Saints
Colts.

Point breakdown:
Saints 7/10s of a point advantage.
Colts 3pts advantage.

j

LSU - Article is ominous

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100124/SPORTS0202/1240320/1028

The article is "Slipping Away" and it compares Miles to DiNardo.

This is the first LSU article I have been able to stomach since the article on Miles pondering what could have been in an article on Jan 9.

This maybe the start of another 50 years hiatus for LSU football and national championship games.

j

Cowboys '92

I just finished reliving what I'd have to say was my very favorite moment in all the years I've been a sports fan. After loving the Cowboys since I was 7 yrs old and then suffering through the dark years, that '92 team can still literally make me cry. I can remember watching the NFC champ game and then the super bowl like they were yesterday. I've never felt that much pride and happiness watching sports before or after (maybe the Sugar Bowl in '04).

The interviewees for the DVD were Aikman, Irvin, & Norton. They were all great. Michael Irvin is without a doubt the best interview in history. He alone brings me to tears because he loved it so much and it comes out in every word he says. Here's Irvin talking about the 'perks' of being a Cowboy: "I get home from the road and there are women in my house. "What are you doing in my house, and where are your clothes?"" Delivered like only Michael Irvin can deliver it.

The defense was ranked #1 for the season. Emmitt led the league, Irvin was 2nd, and Aikman was rated 3rd. They were young, fast, confident, talented, and coached by a master. I'm sure you heard about him leaving Irvin at the airport once for being late, but did you know he left Aikman at the Stadium after the NFC champ game for being late to the bus? Had to ride to the airport with the media. But Troy loved him and so did Irvin. I would wager he could win the super bowl if he came back and coached them today.

I'm going to watch it again before bed. Having that year and 2003 for the Tigers ensure that I will die happy.

S

Size Matters?

Ok, I got off on a strange tangent today because a friend at work asked me where to find UIL classification info for TX high schools. As I looked at all the info, my head was just spinning at the size of these schools and how many schools there are. I know the population in TX has exploded in the last couple of decades, but it is really amazing the number of schools here and their size. It made me think how on top of the incredible facilities and the year-round training, these coaches also have such big pools to choose players from.

For reference I thought I'd compare some of these numbers with LA. Consider that the 4A/5A dividing line in TX is 2085 kids. In LA it is 1099 kids. I looked up some school enrollments in LA:

Airline - 1457
C Shreve - 1198
Southwood - 1562
Byrd - 1996
Barbe - 1806
W Monroe - 1887
Central B.R. - 1146
Covington - 1558
Neville - 873

So, these schools fall in line with a solid 4A school in TX, for instance Lake Travis' enrollment is 1751. Some of the TX numbers get crazy, of course you know about these schools in 8-5A, Plano, Allen, etc. But there are many districts full of enrollments over 3k. The suburban high school hasn't really been fully realized in LA, but over here it's another world. Consider some suburbs here; Conroe has 4 5A schools with enrollments over 2500. Klein has 4 over 3k. Katy has 6 5A schools alone and Garland has 7. Allen has over 3x the enrollment of Airline, and Plano East has 3x that of W Monroe. Combine these numbers with the resources at hand and you can see why these programs are so amazing.

And look at the sheer number of schools. There are 247 high schools in LA, and 1487 in TX. There are 10 5A districts in LA, and 32 in TX. If you combine 5A and 4A in TX since all of these would qualify as 5A in LA, there are 64 such districts in TX. Look at the number of high schools in these cities. The numbers are total high schools, and then divided into 5A/4A/3A:

Houston - 42 24/18/0
San Antonio - 34 20/12/2
Dallas - 23 4/17/2
El Paso - 21 9/12/0
Fort Worth - 15 1/11/3
Austin - 13 5/8/0

Can you even fathom there are 42 high schools in Houston proper, not including the suburbs? And 24 of those are 5A? I remember reading stories about why a couple of these suburban schools could be considered the best high school coaching gig in all of America. These numbers and one look at the facilities, and you can believe it.

S

Jarvis Varnado Block Shot Record.

Varnado is two blocked shots from moving into 2nd all time.

1. Wojciech Mydra - 535 Louisiana Monroe: 1998-2002
2. Adonal Foyle - 492 Colgate: 1994-97
3. Jarvis Varnado-490- MSU 2006-10

He is at 5.3 per game, MSU (15-3)has about least 15 games remaining, so he should pass Mydra before the end of the year to become the all time leader.

A 6'11"Freshman at Marshall leads the nation at 5.6 per game.

Cowboys '71

Jody bought me the 5-dvd set of the Cowboys' super bowl wins for Christmas. To make myself feel better, I watched the first one tonight. The three main Cowboys who spoke for the show were Staubach, Lilly, & Duane Thomas. Lilly said after 7 games the def elected LR Jordan to go to Landry and tell him the whole team thought he needed to pick a starting QB because the team was divided. Of course they didn't lose after that. The clips of Lilly were amazing; he was so athletic, he just dominated, and he wasn't young then. He was also a great interview. The clips of Thomas were a revelation. Lilly said he played against Jim Brown and playing against Thomas every day and watching him that year, he fully expected him to become a hall of famer. One of the great wastes of talent of all time. Thomas was his usual odd self during the interview. He was surprisingly proud of winning the super bowl though you wouldn't have known it by how he acted then. My final thoughts on it are that how sad that that season was really the end for many of the first generation of Cowboy stars and they ended with only 1 championship. Should have been 2-3. The youth movement started after that win.

S

Vikes were just better.

Pitiful scheme from Garrett.
Wades D was chasing all day.
A bunch of bad grades for the QB, lines, and coaches.

Cowboys Vikes. Pre game.

To Win:
Cowboys win if the line gives Romo time to get ball to WR's. My concern, this front 7 for Vikes is stout.
On Defense, if Ratliff needs to get push up the middle, Stops run and the Vikes are going to get punched a lot by pocket collapse. less than 3 sacks they lose.

Vikings win if they hit Romo for 3 quarters.
Favre completes passes in the middle of the field where Hamlin sleeps through the open spots. Percy Harvin goes off on a LB's or Safety in scheme mismatch.

To Lose:
Cowboys-Penalties stopping momentum
--------3 TO's or big mistakes. I.E. kick return.
Farve is allowed to wait for the corners to get beat by Rice.

Vikes Lose-Farve starts to force ball on outside-Vikes LB's do not dominate RB's.
If they do not shut down WR's. They can win if it is a Witten, Barber game.
Pressure Romo is the most important thing.

One more on Dooley to Tenn.

I wish he was at LSU and Miles was at Tenn.
He was Espn talking about the fact that going to Tech may have hurt his marketing skills as an up and comer, but that he was definitely better prepared. I agree completely.

I saw where his mother is ready to don the Orange at games.
Hall of Fame Pop will not concede, but who can blame him. You know that he will pull for his son over Ga next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFwgzOxs0yM
j

Playoffs Predicitons.

-Continued from the SB Predictors == See previous post on data.
This week Games and SB.
Saints.
Vikes
Chargers
Colts.

Chargers beat Saints.
Chargers lose to Vikes.

*Best predictor I could find from Data points for past SB winners. Not real strong in playoffs.
2-2 in wildcard round.
Cowboys-Jets winners.

The two lossing teams both fell into the exception group. High O or Cheaters. Seriously, the Raven, Pats were the closest match in the entire playoff.

Vikes, Saints will be the same.

The Saints and Colts qualify as the the offensive teams that failed on neutral fields.

You know what I want, but do not think will happen.
Cowboys-Colts.
Cowboys beat Colts- Lose to Bolts.
j

Dooley hired

I spoke with a few of my friends and they liked the hire for Tenn.
These are people that do not bleed their school's colors when giving a critique and do not like Tenn.

To me, it comes down to the Weiss problem. Hiring the staff to cover all parts of the team.
No big weaknesses like a Defense Coordinator that you think you can fix.

j

Derek Dooley to Vols?

I know that the nation is looking down on Dooley, but he actually has more qualifications than Kiffin.
This is a big loss for my alma mater.

Dooley has upgraded the facilities, recruiting and attitude in Ruston.
1. He has a Law Degree from Georgia, worked 2 years in law, then went to work with his Dad at Georgia for a year in 1996.
2. Worked with Saban as Recruitin Coordinator/coach from 2000-2006
3. 2 years with Dolphins, 5 at LSU, 1 at Ga, 3 at SMU.
4. Louisiana Tech coach 2006-2009.
5. Tech AD 2008-2009. Tech has the lowest or 2nd lowest budget in WAC.
6. A young looking 41year old that takes a stern approach with players.
7. Tech recruiting has been better under Dooley.
1 bowl appearance and win in his 3 years.
8. Better than average speaker in Public.

Kiffin -USC 6 years 2 as OC with Bush, Lienart,White,Smith and called the play that TX stopped. 3yrs Fresno,1 colo st, 1 jax jag, 6usc, 2 oakland, 1 tenn.


j

Did you know who has played in the most NFL playoff games?

Considering the age of the NFL and it's teams, I found this amazing.

Dallas Cowboys.
56-Most Post Seasons games played.
32-Most Post Season Wins

Who would think that a team that started in 1960 would have these numbers.( 40 years after some of the first 12 members.) Only 11 of the 32 NFL teams are younger.

Other Facts:
8-Most Super Bowls-Most
5-Super Bowl Wins-2nd Pit
14-Conference Champ Games Tied 1st with Pit.-Most wins.
5-NFL titles Tied for 6th.. Green Bay leads 12, Chi 9, Cle 8, NYG 7, Pit 6.

	Overall
Team	W	L	Total	Pct
Dallas Cowboys -1960	32	24	56	0.574
Pittsburgh Steelers-1933	31	19	50	0.62
Green Bay Packers -1919	25	15	40	0.625
San Francisco 49ers -1946	25	17	42	0.595
Oakland/LA Raiders -1960	25	18	43	0.581
Wash/Bos Redskins -1932	23	17	40	0.575
N E/Boston Patriots -1960	21	13	34	0.618
Miami Dolphins -1966	20	20	40	0.5
New York Giants -1933	20	24	44	0.455
Philadelphia Eagles -1931	19	18	37	0.514
St. L/LA/CleRams 1936	19	24	43	0.442
Minnesota Vikings -1961	18	25	43	0.419
Denver Broncos -1960	17	15	32	0.531
Ind/Baltimore Colts -1953	17	18	35	0.486
Chicago Bears -1920	16	17	33	0.485
Buffalo Bills -1960	14	15	29	0.483
Titans/Houston Oilers -1960	14	19	33	0.424
Cleveland Browns -1946	11	20	31	0.355
San Diego Chargers -1960	10	15	25	0.4
New York Jets -1960	8	11	19	0.421
Kansas City Chiefs/Dallas Texans -1960	8	13	21	0.381
Baltimore Ravens -1995	7	4	11	0.636
Detroit Lions -1930	7	10	17	0.412
Seattle Seahawks -1977	7	10	17	0.412
Carolina Panthers -1995	6	4	10	0.6
Atlanta Falcons -1966	6	9	15	0.4
Tampa Bay Bucs -1977	6	9	15	0.4
Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals -1920	5	6	11	0.455
Jacksonville Jaguars -1995	5	6	11	0.455
Cincinnati Bengals -1968	5	8	13	0.385
New Orleans Saints 1967	2	6	8	0.25
Houston Texans -2002	No Playoff Appearances		0	j

Team of the Decade. Boise State?

Below are the schools with the highest winning percentages.
1. Boise State, 2. Texas, 3. Okla , 4. Ohio St. 5 USC, 6. TCU, 7.LSU

I remove Boise St and TCU for obvious reasons and talent differences.

LSU and Florida are the only multiple National Champions.

Winning percentages from Ohio St and USC need to be weighted because of the weaker
teams they have in conference. (No other team from these schools conference even played for a title.)

The Big 12 with Texas and Okla get credit for playing each other, but they are 2 -5 in championship games and Okla allowed USC to win there only title. Thank god for Vince Young.

The SEC won 5 of the 10 champions going 5-0 and placed more players in the pro's by a wide margin.

I would rank Oklahoma over Texas because of the conference titles. 6-2.

LSU and Florida are the only 2 time National Champs.
Florida won 1 more game than LSU, 100-30 vs 99-31.
Both teams finished in the top 10 - 5 different times.
Both won 3 conference titles.
Head to Head Florida 6-4.

I give Florida the "Team of the Decade"

1. Florida
2. LSU- Miles is worse than Fulmer. Houston Nutt beating Miles gives Fla team of the decade.
3. OKLA
4. Texas-they beat USC's supposed best team.
5. USC
6. Ohio St
7. Miami
8. Fl St
9. Georgia-They would be with Ok/Tx/USC/OSU in wins, if they were in a different conference.
10. V Tech-Beamer Ball is amazing.

I want to hear nothing about the "Media Given Title in 2003 AP for USC".
They simply did not win it in the system they agreed to. Considering, the same media pundits gave Auburn nothing for an undefeated season with 4 first round draft picks (USC had 2 only 1 still in the league. They had the same amount of players total a 5, but Auburn's have been more productive.)
Like the Big 12 during this decade, the media market in the Big 10/Pac 10 is blinded by local pressure and familiarity.

Teams of decade from Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I-A_football_team_records_by_decade#1990s

In the last 40 years Florida State and Bowden had the highest winning percentage for a decade during the 90's at 89% - 13 loses.

Here is the 2000's.

Rank	School	Winning percentage	Wins	Losses
1	Boise State	.868	112	17
2	Texas	.859	110	18
3	Oklahoma	.821	110	24
4	Ohio State	.803	102	25
5	USC	.797	102	26
6	Florida	.769	100	30
7	Texas Christian	.766	95	29
8	LSU	.762	99	31
9	Georgia	.760	98	31
10	Virginia Tech	.756	99	32

Book Review - Bird/Magic

Just finished the new book by/about Bird & Magic. They sat with a sportwriter and told their stories. It is a quick read and no real revelations. I give it 3 stars out of 5. It was worth my time to relive those days. Hard to remember when the NBA was barely surviving. Interesting to get their takes on the intensity of their personal rivalry as well as the hatred that those 2 teams had for each other. In honesty I do respect them both for their talent, the way they played, and their impact on the game.

Bird is such a straight shooter (in 2 ways) that you have to like him. I didn't remember that during a 4-year stretch he averaged over 28 points while shooting 52% and 42% from 3-pt. His back troubles after that were much worse than publically known. He went through hell. If you believe him, the rivalry pushed him to be better than he would have been otherwise. I do believe that the other was the only player each of them worried about, or gave them doubts as to whether they were the best player in the world. We were lucky and the game was lucky that they came along, and did things the right way (on the court at least).

The first year Riley asked Magic to take on more offensive load, he avg'd 24 pts and kept the assists over 12. I've been grudging over the years with Magic, but it's clear to me he was one of the greats. He could do basically what was necessary on the basketball court. He avg'd 15 pts, 6 reb, & 7 asst as a chubby power forward after being out for 5 years after his first retirement. Both were lucky to play with the talent they did. I would recommend you read it, even though it's not great.

S

Carroll and Peers vs History

Whether we like these coaches or not, these guys have been great.

I only included coaches that won the title, coached most or all of the decade and only used the records at the school they stayed at during the decade.

Carroll 9 years 2001-2009 84% wins
97-19 - 1 Title-2 Title Games
7-2 Bowl Games
7 Pac 10 Titles.

Tressel 9 years 2001-2009 82% wins
94-21 - 1 Title-3 Title Games
5-4 Bowl Games
6 Big 10 Titles

Stoops 11 years 80% wins
117–29 -1 Title-3 title game
5-6 Bowl Games
6 Big 12 Titles.

Brown 12 years 83%
128–27- 1 Title - 2 Title games
8-4 Bowl Games
2 Big 12 Titles

Recent SEC coaches with a National Championship.
Meyer has not been at big school long enough, but he is at 85% in the SEC which is nuts.
Miles 75%, Saban 77%, Fulmer 75%.

As a reminder- During Bowden's 14 years run from 1987-2000 88% with 2 NC's. 11-3 in bowl games.

		J

Kiffin and Coach O

Can anyone really be surprised at the behavior coming out of So Cal? Orgeron is such a sleazy guy that he will do anything. Of course, he called TN recruits and told them not to go to school.

Kiffin is a coach I wanted to like, but he really does make it hard. I was caught off guard by how many media people think he was a horrible hire for Tennessee prior to leaving.
The main man on Rivals Radio, Bill King, said the depth and team are in worse shape than the year before he arrived. This may have been a miscommunication or I did not hear it correctly, but the atmosphere was very negative. King thinks the AD who hired him should be worried for his job.

Forgetting about his many NCAA infractions in his first year, I get to the job he did at TN.
Many things truly are disappointing:
1. Lack of control being reported with players.
2. Played USC game tapes at the Vols training center?
3. Told people they would be USC of East.....Are you kidding me?
Should someone remind him, that during the Carroll reign that he was selling, that won half the NC's that LSU and FLA won during the same span.
4. Used older ladies to recruit players at a HS.

He really never understood or respected the SEC history or the NCAA. I guess he did learn some things from Carroll.
J

A PIcture or a Thousand Words per your rant

I dont know what it means, but.....

More than 20 years ago when Bonds was around 180 lbs with a hat size of 7 1/2; Other photo 260 lbs with a hat size of ~ 9 3/4;I can't guarantee the numbers, but I have hear it more than a few times. Data and pics came from net.

\

1st Pic was before he was caught juiced.

j

Tubberville / Tech

I think this was a good hire on Tech's part. I will be very interested to watch it unfold. Tommy loves to run the ball. He has said all the right things to keep the recruits in the fold, but I expect he will slowly migrate away from the pure spread and go to where he is comfortable. But, can he find the players to play his style and convince them to live in Lubbock, TX? Tough duty. Everyone and their mother is in here recruiting and Leach had that crazy offense to entice players. We'll see. But, I think Tech did very well. I like Tommy, he's a good coach.

S

Steriod Era

You know my history with baseball. I've always truly loved it. I spent hours and hours as a kid poring over stats, reading histories, playing stratomatic. I cannot find the words to describe how much I despise these pricks who sold their soul and blew a huge hole in the history of baseball. And as much as I hate them, I hate the owners and commisioner just as much. Utter failure on their part to protect the game. Utter failure on the part of the players to act with integrity.

It totally amazes me that as a group baseball fans just want these guys to admit it, so we can forget about it and start idolizing them again. Not me. Count me with those HOF voters who will never forgive or forget. As far as I'm concerned none of them or their deeds exist. You will not hear me mention ARod, Manny, Clemens, Bonds, McGwire, et al in any discussion of great players ever again. They are cheaters. I'll say it again, they are cheaters. Their feats and records should no longer exist. They should never be mentioned with the Ruths, Williams, Musials, etc. It's pure BS that we excuse them because, well we might do the same thing with so much money to be made, right? Cut them some slack, everyone was doing it. Wrong! They cheated, they took the gamble, they made their money, now they want forgiveness and understanding because they got caught. They should get the exact same treatment that Joe Jackson rec'd. Out. Out to never be heard from again. I only wish that the caretakers of the game would act with some backbone. Pathetic, sorry, spineless group that they are, they will just roll on making their money along with the cheaters. They all deserve a special place in hell for what they've done to baseball.

S

Lebron

Lebron after 500 games.
For some reason, I do not enjoy watching James or Kobe. Durant, however is fun for me.


Career Avgs.
Lebron
27.7pt 7reb 7asst. 47%FG 74% FT 1.7steals
Kobe
24.6pt 5.6rb 4.3asst 45%FG 84%FT 1.5 steals
Carmello
24.6pt 6.1reb 3.1asst 46%fg 80%FT
Wade
25.3pt 4.9rb 6.6asst-48% fg 77%FT
Jordan
30.1pt 6.2rb 5.3asst 50%fg 84%ft 2.3 steals
Bird
24.3 10rb 6.3asst 50%Fg 89%FT
Malone
25pt 10.1 rb 3.6asst 52%FG 74% FT
Magic
19.5pt 7.2 reb 11.2 rb 52%fg 85%FT
Oscar
25.8pt 7.5reb 9.5asst 49%fg 84%FT
West
27pt 5.8rb 6.7 asst 47FG% 81%FT

Babe Ruth - It's good to remember

As a follow up to the previous note on McGwire about the greatest HR hitters in the 1st 4 years of their career
.
S, since you know more about this stuff than anyone I have ever met. I did this breakdown for me.

Babe Ruth leads all of the greats HR hitters at 177 hrs in 4 yrs. He spent half of 1919 pitching in-15 games with a 9-5 record.
Without pitching in 1920-23 he had 189 in 4 yrs. (Kiner at 168 was closest. )Ruth hit 11% of the all of the Home Runs in the AL from 1919-1922.

No 1 in Career Slugging by a large margin at 69% William 2nd at 63%
No. 1 Career Slugging plus on base 1.16. Williams 2nd 1.11
9th career ba at .342 = 2nd on Base behind Williams 471 to 480.
4th in Runs Scored.
2nd in RBI's
2nd in Runs created behind Bond.
Not in top 100 in At Bats. 1449 less than Bond, 3449 behind Aaron.
3rd in HR behind these two.

I am still shocked at the pitching record. Started 163 Games. Half of the people ahead of him started about 20games more.
Career 94-46 - 67% winning % 10th highest all time.
Post Season 3-0. .87 ERA
Career ERA 2.28 16th all time.
Hits per 9 innings 7.17 - 7th all time.

I would like to know if Gretzky dominated to this level.
He is in a league of his own.

J

Romo Talk

Thought I would look at Romo at this point in his career vs some of his contemporaries with similar experience. Going through the teams and trying to figure where he fits is debatable, but consider that Brady & Manning are 1 and 1a, and Favre and Warner are the aging hero's, you then have Brees and Rivers playing at a fantastic level along with Rothlisberger. If you give those 7 spots, then Romo has to slide into somewhere 8-12. If he can continue to keep the turnovers down and makes a playoff run, then to me he is definitely top 10 maybe higher.

Player Career Rating Low High Compl % Avg per Attmpt

Romo 95.6 91.4 97.6 63.4 8.1
Palmer 87.9 69.0 101.1 63.2 7.1
Rivers 95.8 82.4 105.5 63.1 7.8
Eli 79.2 73.9 93.1 57.0 6.7
Rothl 91.7 75.4 104.1 63.3 8.0
Cutler 83.8 76.8 88.5 61.9 7.1
Schaub 91.3 87.2 98.6 65.3 7.8

Carroll - The End of an Era

As a long-time closet USC fan, I have to give props to Carroll as he makes his huge career gaffe. 97-19 even after losing 6 his first year. He took over a program in tatters but with immense potential and quickly brought it back on line. In 9 years he went 6-1 in BCS games and took personal ownership of the Rose Bowl, winning it 4 times. It's hard to think of a program and a coach so perfectly matched. He coached 56 NFL draft picks including 14 first-rounders and made USC the cool place to be in SoCal. I personally see this is a blow to the sport and I'll miss him. I guess Nuehiesel is doing the happy dance right now. Unless Garrett can make a great hire, UCLA will make hay.

S

McGwire

I guess I have become callus to the steroid subject in Baseball.
Out of all of the recent admissions, McGwire is the one I get the least upset with. I know I am a hypocrite, but at least McGwire was a big time home run hitter in college and during his rookie year.
Lets compare the greats early in their career.
HR totals first of 4 years career of top hr hitters (brief call ups not counted in years.)
Bonds 84.
McGwire 153
Aaron 110.
Mays 116
Griffey 87
Sosa 68
Robinson134
Arod 143
Jackson 132
Schmidt 130
Mantle 108
Palmeiro 56
Killebrew 167
Kiner 168
Helton 151
Thome 123
MannyRamirez 107
Williams 127
DiMaggio 137
Pujols 160
Strawberry 108
Rice 132
Bench 113
Belle 136
Colavito 129
E Matthew 153

Bonds, Raffy, Sosa and Griffey do not belong.
(I was shocked to say that about Griffey, but these are the numbers. )
I am starting to wonder about those High School Reports on Arod use.
S, you know what I have always thought about Pujols.

I sometimes forget how great Kiner, Killebrew and Matthews were.

Babe Ruth will be in the next post. He deserves to be alone with the pitching data also.
j

Favorite Traditions.

I thought I would share some of my favorite college traditions. The first two are my favorite, but the order is backwards.

1. West Virginia Football playing Country Road after ever home game.

60,000 people in a blizzard standing around after the game for up to 5 minutes to sing and sway in unison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5w4mNFdiHM&feature=related

2. Calling the Hogs.

As you know, my father raised me to be a Hog fan and I loved to call the hogs. I get goose bumps to this day when I hear it. It also reminds me of my grandfather hollering Sooeeyy when it was time to feed the Cattle. Good memories from this old time saying.

3. Florida State "used at NLU" War chant.

4. South Carolina 2001 Space Odyssey Entrance

Honorable mention---. Houston Oilers song. just kidding.
j

Tennessee Upset of Kansas

Kansas has been flirting with a loss lately, so it might as well happen out of conference. The pressure at the end almost caught up with Tennessee in the last 2 minutes. A walk-on hit a 3 pointer as the shot clock expired with less than a minute up 3 to put it away.

The reason for the post is not the game, but the fact that I love to here Rocky Top at a game. It has become my favorite school song. It is not the official fight song, becuase it was written in 1967 and they started playing it in 1972 at Neyland.

Chorus
Rocky Top, you'll always be
Home sweet home to me.
Good old Rocky Top,
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Rocky Top, Tennessee.

Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top
Lookin' for a moonshine still.
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top,
Reckon they never will.
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Dirt's too rocky by far.
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.

My Bluegrass up bringing is coming out. Here is the original band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RamatoyEdwg&feature=related
J

My Basketball Weekend. High School and LSUS

2 LSUS-Games -Men and women. Saturday.
3-HS Games Friday and Saturday.

I missed the finals at 70th Bossier Tourney to watch the Cowboys game.
Bossier beat Natchitoches Central by 5. Both teams played 3 games Saturday. My Dad's favorite player J James led Bossier in scoring in the finals. (His father graduated from Parkway in '83 and played in college.)

Thoughts.
Best 3 players at Bossier Tourney. 1st two from Bossier.
Devonte Francis So.(MVP)-As I mentioned to you last year, he deflects and steals so many balls it is uncanny. He dribbles past people at will and led Bossier in Scoring in Tourney.
Jalen West-Jr. The best outside shooter I have not seen this year, throw in his talents at PG and he is special.
KJ Aaron-Jr, Natch Central-5'11? pg-Quick, Defensive hound,strong. (two hand slam in traffic down the baseline.) If he learns to shot a bit better he will be great next year. For some mysterious reason, Aaron did not make the all tourney team, he led them in scoring, likely steals and heart.

LSUS beat Loyola handily 91-65, the first big loss of the year for Loyola.
LSUS is ranked 6th in the nation. Loyola had two of the top scorers in the nation. Numbe 1 and 6 in NAIA.

Before the game, LSUS coach Chad McDowell shared some insight on how he was going to play the Loyola players and it worked perfectly. These two avg 46pts a game but they had 28 last night. He set his defense to be be set in the areas where they take most of their comfort shots instead of trying to chase them through the picks.

The Pilots played 12 people and pushed the pressure at both ends.
LSUS has all American candidate Derrick Parker, 6'6 out of Minden had 18pts and 23rbs. Year Avg 19pt 13rbs.

A tidbit I learned, Loyola runs a set offense that has movements and screens predicated on where the drive or first pass goes. It allows the slasher type players to be aggressively running around screens toward the ball from different angles. I do not know how many options that have with each half court set, but I would hate to try to guess where the next player is going.

McDowell has the best prepared team in La, LSUS is lucky he likes the area.

Even his pre-game is scripted to include ball handling and shots while moving in games situations. He could win big at some other programs.

Ronnie and the girls had a rough night. Losing by 5 to Loyola.

I worry about the ability to score in the half court game.

They will be in all of the games, because of the defense. They made a few runs to win this game, but could not close the gap with the missed opportunities.

j

Tuberville and Carroll

Was anyone that keeps up with the problems at USC surprised he wants to leave?
I am glad to have him out of College, blatant allegations, questionable players have become common place.

Tuberville,
I heard an interview with him on Wednesday, he was really excited about the opportunity. He said the offense will stay the same with a few more downhill runs.

On Defense-He said he will continue to run the same Defense that Saban uses. He said Muschamp uses it at Texas also. The Cigar lover also said he had used it for 10 years.

Overall, he was really excited and said it was the only job he actively pursued. He wanted to get a shot in the Big 12. Pelini, Muschamp, Stoops and Tuberville, I think the Big 12 is about to really make a run at the SEC's rep with these ex SEC coaches leading the way.

j

New Yankee Stadium vs Cowboy Stadium

Stadium Yankee Stadium --- Cowboys Stadium
Cost $1.5B ---------- $1.3.B
Both teams won Division
Yankees Won Series as you know, Cowboys won SB when TX stadium opened.


If the New Yorkers paid more for "that" stadium than the Cowboy's, they
should scream from the roof tops. I assume they are including that overpriced land value as a the driver, but either way, It is Ridiculous.

I found this on an ESPN page
j

Reilly on Tiger

I left the smut part of the article cut out.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4765227


6. When Tiger Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, e-mails The New York Times and asks it not to run its story about Woods receiving treatment from an HGH-using Canadian doctor, and the Times refuses, is that what Steinberg gets for doing absolutely no media any favors for a decade?

Yes, yes, yes.

7. Are there no doctors in Florida who do the fairly common platelet-rich plasma therapy (my producer on "Homecoming" just had it done on his knee), so that Woods had to fly in a controversial doctor from Canada, Anthony Galea, to work on his knee in Florida, where Galea is not licensed?

No, there are.

8. Could Galea be in trouble for that?

Not if the Florida Highway Patrol is in charge. They seem to have the curiosity of toe lint.



j

Bama/Texas Final Thoughts

In my mind the game we all were waiting to see never took place. Once Colt got hurt, both teams totally changed their outlook and thought process. It became a game of weird adjustments on both sides. AL stopped playing until late in the game, while TX had to rely on a true freshman who took 26 meaningless snaps during the season. I truly wish we could have watched the 2 teams really play each other, but what we saw barely gives us a glimpse of what would have happened.

It's true that Texas' run stats were inflated during the season by their pass rush and sacks. They held AL to a stingy average-per-play, but still gave up 200 yards on the ground. TX showed they could stretch AL on the edge with their speed guys but we'll never know if they could have capitalized with Colt making some plays. Bottom line is I still think it would have been a contested game but we'll just never know and that is a true tragedy for the sport.

I'm with you that Saban is ahead of schedule and has more talent coming than what he had already. Scary. He's an amazing coach. You ask how could they beat Florida? Because Saban had the plan, and he had the ability to make AL believe they could do it. Those are the 2 ingredients, along with talent, that make a great coach, and he has all 3.

S

Where the Talent Is II / Miami

You wanted to see some additional teams:

Aub - 32/6
Clem - 24/3
FSU - 49/10
Miami - 58/25

Ok, lets talk Miami. That is by far the most 1st rounders of the decade. And 19 of those came in '01 - '04. I think it's clear that the early '00's teams of this decade were even more talented than JJ's. After '04 things fell off until last year they only had 1 player drafted at all. But I looked back from '85 to '04 and found 40 1st rounders. Below is my Miami 'heyday' all-star team.

DL - Cortez Kennedy WR - Michael Irvin
DL - Jerome Brown TE - Jeremy Shockey
DL - Warren Sapp OL - Bryant McKinnie
DL - Kenny Holmes OL - Leon Searcy
LB - Jesse Armstead OL - Vernon Carey
LB - Ray Lewis OL - Eric Winston
LB - D.J. Williams TE - Kellen Winslow Jr.
CB - Duane Starks WR - Andre Johnson
S - Ed Reed QB - Vinny Testeverde
S - Bennie Blades FB - Alonzo Highsmith
CB - Ryan McNeil RB - Clinton Portis
Spec - Devin Hester

Break it down. No one will run on us period. Brown, Kennedy, & Lewis will stuff the middle while Holmes, Sapp, Armstead, Williams, Reed, and Blades wreak havoc on anything wide. I'm thin at corner with Phillip Buchanon my only quality slot or nickel corner off the bench. I've got Sean Taylor as the 3rd safety. I don't have great pass rushers, with Sapp moving to end along with Holmes. You would have to throw on me, but my backfield can make plays. Russell Maryland, Jonathan Vilma, Mike Barrow, & Vince Wilfork give me some depth along with Taylor and Buchanon.

I have trouble at QB. I picked Vinny since he won the Heisman and had a long NFL career. If I had to really suit up, I'd probably start Dorsey or Walsh. My O-line is thin, not a lot of talent there. I'd have some spare center, but my starters are solid otherwise. Weapons galore. Eddie Brown and Reggie Wayne back up Irvin & Johnson. Shockey & Winslow give me mid-range targets and can also break deep. I go with Portis over a bevy of talented tailbacks: Gore, James, & McGahee. I go pro-style and can hold my own with anyone. Hester is the secret weapon on special teams.

S

Basketball - Scott Skiles

I am on my way to the Bossier Tourney and thought a little history was needed.
Jay T who grew up in Michigan reminded me of one of my favorite things to witness.

Dateline: Feb 1986
Michigan has Gary Grant, Antoine Joubert, Glen Rice, Roy Tarpley and are ranked 3rd in the nation. Grant is reportedly the best Defensive guard in America by a long shot.

Michigan State and Skiles at 6'1" with no player above 6'8" scores 40 on Michigan and Gary Grant with 15 of 20 shooting while taunting the Michigan Bench.
This is the game after putting up 45 at Minnesota. He averaged 7 assist and 5 rebounds a game. He was the best passer and shooter in the NCAA, who later set the single game assist record in the NBA.

Skiles was a jerk and was set to do 15 days in jail when the NCAA tourney was over. He was hated worse by fans than Laettner and frequently taunted the other teams bench by telling them what he would do and where he was going to shot from.
Alas, Michigan State lost in the tourney to Kansas when the officials literally robbed Michigan State with clock management.

Michigan Coach Bill Frieder was asked who the best guard combo in the country was.
The media thought he would pick his own combo.

Instead he says.
"You can take my walk-on and put him with Skiles and you'd have the best combination in the country"

j

Picture that needs no explanation

Alabama -Texas Game Thoughts.

I am glad Bama won, but very disappointed in how it happened.
-
McCoy goes down on first hit. That absolutely ruined the night.
5 special team mistakes for Bama is Crazy.
McElroy looked terrible,(whispers of pre game rib injury maybe true.)
Ingram looked great. I thought Alabama quit in the 3rd, thinking it was over. Was it just me that thought they were flat?

Congrats to Alabama, but Texas, to my surprise, was every bit as good as Alabama on this night. The score was not indicative of the play in the 2nd Half.
Maybe Alabama could have blown them out with McCoy, unlikely from what I saw, but I hate that we could not see it.
My biggest question: How did Bama beat Florida? Florida must have been asleep.

SEC
===
How will history remember this stretch in the SEC?
The SEC has won 6 of the 12 Championship games. 4 in a row, 5 of 7.
6-0 in title games. The cycle has to end soon.
(Big 12 conference is 2-5 in 7 NC games and with the most opportunities. No other conference is above 500 or 3 chances.)

Pray for everyone in the SEC for what is coming with Nick and Bama when he gets these Freshman and Sophomores ready. Hopefully Meyer will stay and keep them at bay.

J

Predictions

Texas
Jody 20-17
Nxn 31-27
JJ 19-17
Wife 21-19

Bama
J 31-20
S 24-17
JmU 35-14
Jonathan 34-24
Brian 17-13
Dad 28-14
Pa-in-law 27-17
Sean 20-16
Big T 31-20

J Breakdown of TX Bama.

My ratings:

Special Teams -Texas. More Returns and surprisingly a more consistent FG kicker. Punting went to Bama, barely.

Penalties Edge Bama.

Defense Bama - I wanted to go even, but I just could not after I remembered that Nebraska was more dominant than TX and they just do not have the Athletes of Bama in Lincoln.

Offense Draw - I thought TX would win easily, but 19yds per game without balance makes me lean to Bama. Time of Possession an no Turnovers. Bama avgd more yd per play.

Turnovers-Bama .Bama protects the ball much better- 10 turnovers all year. Texas had 23.

Depth-Texas

Coaching-Bama - Saban beat a Okla team for an NC that had the Number 1 offense and Defense. Brown just wins, I find no fault.

The funny thing is that Florida was more dominant during the year than Bama or Texas.
More Yards and Better D than Tx and Less Turnovers. Same TOP as TX, but a worse kicking game. Was it really just an off day for Florida?

I also compared TX-USC in 2005, since the Horn Hacks are screaming about it.
TX d 16pt SC 22. USC offense 49ppg TX 50ppg.
TX passing offense was more highly rated.
TO-Even.
TX average more yd rushing per game than passing, like Bama this year.



Everything does not point to Alabama, but I do.
31-20, 31-13 in the 4th after a close 1st quarter and a half.

BAMA TEXAS - Stat

Offense-Yards---- Time of Possession
TX-40.7 -432.4 -- 30:53 - OFF TD 55
AL 31.7 -413.8 -- 33:30 - OFF TD 44
---Rush-----Pass
TX- 1985----3636
AL- 2806----2573

Defense-PTs per games
TX-15.1
AL-11

Def--Rush RushAVG-TD
TX --818- 2.0-----5
AL--1015--2.8-----5
Pass Def
TX-251.8
AL-241.8

Special Teams
Punt-------- P R Avg ---KR
TX 40.5------13.6-------27.4
AL 42.1------15.8-------25
FG-Both 88%- Draw.

Penalties
TX-86
AL-64

Texas wins on pure stats, especially if you think the conferences are equal.


j

Where the Talent Is

This little item in SI made me think more about our discussion about whether Texas has comparable talent to the other programs. But, before I get to that, check this out. The 2001 Hurricanes were 12-0, outscored opponents 512-117, produced 16 first round picks, including 10 future pro-bowlers. Hello. Given the fact that the 'Canes gave away championships in '02 vs Ohio St. and in '87 vs Penn St., I think you can make the case that they had the best 20-yr run in history. 5 championships, 2 should haves, and innumerable draft picks.

As for Texas, Mack arrived in 1998 and that year the Horns had 1 player drafted. The next year it was 2 players and the next it was 1 again. Starting in '01 his recruits started to mature and enter the draft. Since then he has had 38 players drafted, 13 of which were first-rounders. I wanted to see how this compared with the other top programs of the decade (2001-2009).

TX - 38/13
FL - 45/8
USC - 56/14
Okla - 40/7
LSU - 47/9
Ohio St - 63/15
Oregon - 32/3
Va Tech - 42/4
Penn St - 34/7
AL - 32/1
GA - 54/10

Ohio St. is the king for both total drafted and 1st-rounders. Va Tech surprised me with how many they had. Mark Richt wears the under-achiever crown by far. He's done little with an incredible amount of talent. Mack's 13 1st-rounders during the period was 3rd highest.

S

Bama Recruits.

Here is Saban's list.
2-5 stars-12 4stars.
QB-Top Rank,
CB-2 of top 4 - Faster 40times.
S-Top Rank.

Texas has 18 4 stars.
LSU has 12 4 stars.
Fla 15 4 stas
USC 3 5stars 8 4stars
Auburn 2 5tars 9 4 stars.
Mis St 4-4stars.
Ole Miss 5-4stars.
Ark 1 4star
Ten 12-4star
Okla 13-4star

TCU-BSU

Geez that killed me to watch.
Last year I thought Boise St would win and TCU dominated.
This year the opposite, little wonder why I never bet.
No 13 for TCU, needs to quit watching Roy Williams drop passes.

I loved Boise St Orange pants and Blue Helmets.
Hated TCU Helmets and Pants.

I looked up the sizes of the players on the teams. They really are small comparable to Tx and Bama. I wish Cincy could have played one of them.

I cannot see a way either team would beat Fla, Bama or Texas.
j

FL State Champs.

I know we were talking about this on Friday.
-
6A Marimar. 5A Plant 4A Dwyer-lost early to Belle Glades who had two losses.
All Teams had a loss. St Thomas Aquinas lost in semis as someone predicted.

West Monroe finished 4th in nation in USA today.
Abilene was 2nd. Lake Travis 9th.
South Panola was 11th. Euless 20th.

S,
You will love this, A private School - Don Bosco Prep was number 1.

Until someone beats a good Texas team from out of state, I would have Abilene 1.

j

LSU Defensive Decline -Saban vs Pelini.

Chad and I were discussing the Bama D vs Nebraska D.
I commented on the coaching difference as another reason why BAMA is better.
We decided to investigate the Pelini Reputation.

Key to Data:
=============
1st-Pt's per game allowed by LSU Defense cumulative.
2ND-PT's per game allowed versus SEC offenses.
3rd-The Difference in points allowed LSU Defense in SEC games only vs SEC average Points per game of that year.
*********No conference Championship numbers used.
---------------------
=====================
- DefPPG- SECPPG Dif vs SECAVG Coach
2003 11 - 11.2 (19.28) Saban
2004 17.1 - 16.4 (8.2) Saban
2005 14.2 - 14.2 (9.6) Pelini
2006 12.6 - 16.4 (9) Pelini
2007 19 - 26.9 (3.1) Pelini
2008 24.2 - 31.5 (-7.3) *combo for Miles- Negative vs SEC
2009 16.2 - 18.8 (9.3) Chavis

-------------
This really shows how much the quality has dropped in Baton Rouge since Saban left.

Appears that Pelini was losing the edge for LSU in the SEC before he left. It was getting worse with the increasing time gap away from Saban's coaching and recruiting.

(This year Saban and the Alabama Def allowed 10.1 ppg, 10.6SECppg= 17.56 difference)

Comparing TEX, Al, and Nebraska showed the two conferences average the same 28pts per game on offense, both conferences are averaging 25pt a game in Bowls. (Ignore the Big 12 hype for being high scoring.)
Nebraska Defense is great at 11.4 with a 17 pt difference vs. Big 12 competition.
Texas Difference is really good 9.9.

Does anyone really think that Nebraska has the same Athletes on D that Pelini had at LSU or Saban has at Alabama?

j

MY BS Meter went off.

Quote from Eagle's Defensive Coordinator:
"I'd rather not get into what the game plan was, because we have to play them again next week," Sean McDermott said. "You do have to look at the big picture. . . . There was a chance we could face this team again."

What?

Eagle win and they get a week off to heal and would only face Dallas again if
Dallas made it to the Championship game through Arizona and New Orleans.
Then add fact that the game would have been at the Vet.

Reid is smarter than that. Excuses straight from the Les Miles school of interviews.



j

Playoff Prediction-First Round

If I use my non-proven SB indicator for an early prediction.

Caveat:
It does not account for home field advantage, (Super Bowl on neutral field.)
It may need a tweak of 1 point or 2 points in weather.
The exceptions teams usually come with high scoring teams that score early in the year or teams with no offense and depend on defensive scores.

Point differential Breakdown:

Dallas-22.6 offense 15.6 Defense. 7pts Winner
Philly-26.8 offense 21.1 Defense. 5.7

Other games
Ari 23.4o 20.3d 3.1pts
GB 28.8o 18.6d 10.2 pts Winner. Scored well at the end of year.

Bal 24.4o 16.3d 8.1pt Scored most of the points early in the year.
NE 26.7o 17.8d 8.9pt Winner-Welker Factor?

Cin 20.3o 16.9d 3.4pt
NYJ 20.7o 15.7d 5 pts Winner- This one of those games with no offenses.

Min-9.9 Have problems with strong defensive fronts.
NO -10.6 A lot of points Scored Early in Year?
SD -8.4 No Blowouts outside of division, they play like the Cowboys in 91.
Ind-6.8 I have no idea, they score so quickly, that the d is on the field a lot.

The most dominant team I watched this year was San Diego. They seem to be able score when they want physically and they have a better defense than Indy or NO.
I felt like the Packers handled Dallas better than any other team during the year.
(I like that Coach)

Packers-Chargers SB
j

Eagles Cowboys-Final Round

I had predicted the Eagles going to the Super Bowl in my preseason picks for the second year in a row. But Alas, the numbers do not often lie.

Dallas has been better than Philly in nearly every category all year.
The Exceptions Points 26.8 pt per game, Dal 22.6 and Field Goal Percentages.

I did not realize that Philly had only scored 1 more TD on offense than Dallas.
Dallas Defense is a tad better overall and Dallas' offense is much more efficient at staying on the field. Dal had more rushing and passing yards.
6390 total yards vs Philly 5726. Time of possession. D-32;16 p-28;04

j

Chris Johnson- Jamaal Charles next year?

What an amazing season with 2006 yards.
He had a 64 yard run called back for holding in the game with Seattle.
He also broke the yardage from scrimmage record held by Faulk with 2509.

Kudos to Jamaal Charles on 256 yards against a good denver defense. Now that Larry Johnson is gone, he has taken over and is averaging 5.9 per carry on 190 carries 1120yds.

His Sr year at Texas he ran for 1619 at 6.3yd. Ingram won the heisman with those numbers. He ran a 4.36 at the combine. Johnson 4.24 (McFadden 4.27 was removed because of movement upward at the start.)

KC wasted over 132 carries on Larry Johnson and he averaged 2.9.

j

Reid on Romo- A shot at TO?

"It's obvious he's a leader of the offense," Reid said in a conference call with Valley Ranch media. "Not that he wasn't before, but there were a couple of distractions there and he doesn't have any of that. He's playing great football."

j

How loud is the Super Dome vs Jerry World

Quote from Williams.

"It’s not loud because the fans are sitting their watching the JumboTron, eating their popcorn, enjoying the movie on the screen until the game gets exciting at the end to where we need the fans," Williams said. "At the end, that’s when it gets really loud.

"But you go to New Orleans, where it’s just loud the whole game until we take them out of it. Then when they got back into it, we couldn’t hear in the huddle.

j

Roy Williams Quotes on his play

Article from Espn. Calvin Watkins.

"I have to take my game to another level," Williams said. "I have to do that, and it starts this Sunday and this is pretty much a playoff game for this football team. Hopefully, I can win the confidence of my peers here and the fans and even my family. They were getting on me. My brother is getting on me hard, and my mom is getting on me. I've got to get these people off me, and the only way I can do that is play my game."

On being cut..
"Not in Year 1," Williams said when asked if he would get released. "Not in Year 1 of this thing. Now, next year, if this is the same thing going on, then I'll be like, 'Oh [expletive], I've got to get my [expletive] together, but right now, no. It's play ball. I'm good."

This week, Williams indicated that quarterback Tony Romo and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett have lost confidence in him. However, Romo and coach Wade Phillips said they still believe in Williams.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/columns/story?columnist=watkins_calvin&id=4789111

j

Bama-Texas

I have been doing a little digging into the teams for next week.
My first instinct as you well know was 31-20 Bama,
========
S,

I know you have told me this before; I listened to Chris Landry on Fox Radio and he was saying that the Horns have more talent top to bottom on the roster. Landry, who I respect, also said that he never feels comfortable when the underdog is not getting it's due and has more talent, like Texas in this game. He thinks that Texas will have to play a perfect game to win and Bama has better starters.
His pick Bama.

I am trying to convince myself that Texas can win. More to come.
j