The SoapBoxers

It should be an interesting Heisman match up as only three people are invited to the festivities this year. In many ways it is the unlikeliest three you could have ever tried to pick out before the season started.

Optimus Klein

Collin Klein had been a good – maybe even great quarterback for the Kansas State Wildcats. He had matured nicely over a couple of years and the club was seeing some success after the lean Ron Prince Era in Manhattan. No one saw the Wildcats going undefeated – until a late season loss at Baylor- which dropped them from the eventual #1 BCS ranking. K-State is headed to the Fiesta Bowl to represent the Big XII conference against the vaunted Quack Attack from the Pac Northwest. Klein is not flashy, doesn’t look real fast, but he is smart and he makes plays, and has been as consistent as any guy talked about in the Heisman voting all year with 22 touchdown runs and another 15 through the air.

As much as it pains a Nebraska guy to say this…I would be happy for Kansas State if Colin took home the Heisman.

Baby Seau

Manti Te’o is the unquestioned leader of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He has led the team to an undefeated record and a trip to the BCS title game in Miami against the Crimson Tide. The Golden Domers were thought to be better this year, but much like in the case of Kansas State…I don’t think anyone saw an undefeated season coming. A few lucky breaks ( a quick referees whistle against Stanford, and a couple of “noonans” out of the Pittsburgh kicker) kept the undefeated season alive. Teo leads his team with 103 tackles and is 2nd Nationally with 7 picks on the year. Oh yeah…he won the Butkus on Monday.

I can’t vote for Manti because – A….he is from Notre Dame and B…what a horrible nickname…..

Go Johnny GO!

The media darling and apparent leader in the clubhouse is Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M. Manziel is the favorite to win the award and would be the first freshman EVER to win if the voters agree. He would also be the only other Aggie to win the award since John David Crow clear back in 1957. Johnny Football does not have history on his side. Other greats have come close in their freshman years but to no avail. Adrian Peterson finished 2nd as a freshman, Michael Vick and Herschel Walker both finished third their initial year in college. That is a pretty strong list of company. Manziel racked up an SEC record 4600 yards of total offense (yep, that beats Tim Tebow and Cam Newton folks) and ran for an impressive 1181 yards – also to lead the conference

I don’t know if the voters will have the guts to take a defensive player (this just does not happen) or a Freshman (this just does not happen either) or will vote for the safe play in Klein.

Vote for Johnny!

Melt Down in Indianapolis.

The Big 10 Woodshed Beating known as the title game saw the Wisconsin Badgers run up the score – both literally and figuratively- on their way to 70 points and almost 600 yards of rushing. This has Nebraska fans searching for answers and screaming about yet another large embarrassing national televised beat down while Wisconsin fans are making travel arrangements to Pasadena.

Of course my allegiances lie with the Big Red. So take my comments here with a grain of salt. Many Husker faithful will are calling for coaching changes. Nebraska won 10 games so far this year, and have a brutally tough match up in the Capital One Bowl with Florida. (another likely loss as UGA is a huge early favorite) Truth is the overall talent on the defensive side of the ball in particular and much of what was done this year was probably as much smoke, mirrors and duct tape – mixed in with a little luck….but I think coaching was the reason the team actually won 10 games this year and have a chance to make it to the Big 10 Title game.

After getting housed by Ohio State in Columbus, Husker Coach Bo Pelini challenged his team to win 6 in a row. Well the Cornhuskers did just that…winning 6 to make the title game.

Maybe Bo should have told them they needed to win 7. The team looked lackluster and slow…they looked like a tired team that had been through a rough stretch of schedule.

Wisconsin on the other hand looked my buddy Scott running the controls on NCAA Football 2012 for PlayStation III on “easy” mode.

One Highlight during a lowlight evening.

Always a fan of big hits, this one is arguably one of the worst calls I have seen. Nebraska receiver Kenny Bell was flagged for unnecessary roughness after plastering Wisconsin’s Devin Smith. This is the largest smack down since John Ruud de-cleated Kelly Phelps from Oklahoma on a kick return in a colossal match up of the Huskers and OU in 1978 in Lincoln.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA5fJkSRFyk" 
Before any Wisconsin fans whine that it was the correct call, let me remind you…SCOREBOARD…just keep quiet and let Husker fans rejoice on one of the few glimmers of brilliance on this fateful night.

On a more concerning note, this legal hit is exactly what football (NFL more explicitly) is trying to dictate. They are trying to regulate safety in the game. Anytime you have big, strong, fast grown men running around with helmets and body armor on…occasionally violent collisions will happen.

This time a big hit was on a big stage at the college level (albeit in a complete blowout game) Will the NCAA respond and put some rules in place just due to a hit like this in a conference title game.

The 2013 baseball season is just around the corner.  At some point in the coming months, I’ll delve into each league in more detail.  Today, however, we’ll just take an overall look at things to watch for in 2013.

Players to watch

Mike Trout – Trout’s season was a historically great season.  He hit .326 with 30 homers and 49 steals in just 139 games, and also provided great defense at a premium position, center field.  It’s very possible that Trout will never again have a season as good as his 2012 season.  In fact, this is pretty likely.  If Trout averages .300 with 20 homers and 30 steals for 15 more years (he’d be 36 at the end of that span) while playing above average defense in center field, those numbers would most likely get him into the Hall of Fame.  Don’t engrave the plaque yet, though – a lot can happen in 15 years.  Some are worried that Trout’s body type (stocky) won’t be able to retain his blazing speed for very long.  This could be true, but it might also be true that he’s just a freak.  Trout still is several years away from a player’s traditional peak years, so it’s possible that he might actually get better …

Bryce Harper – Harper was a far more highly touted high school player, but he was completely overshadowed by Trout in 2012.  However, Harper still had a very good season, hitting .270 with  22 homers and stealing 18 bases.  He’ll need to kick those numbers up a fair amount to reach the potential people see for him, but the fact that he was able to hold his own in the majors at age 19 is extremely impressive – this is a rare achievement.

Jurrickson Profar – The top prospect in baseball was promoted by the Rangers at the end of the year.  He had a cup of coffee in the majors and put up fairly bad offensive numbers in the very limited action.  If Profar can hold his own in 2013 – and I think he can – this will create an excess of middle infielders for the Rangers.  The smart move would be to trade Elvis Andrus.  They could also trade Ian Kinsler and move Andrus to second base, but this would actually destroy value.  Shortstop is a more valuable position than second base, and converted Andrus to a second baseman would make him a less valuable player.

Shohei Otani – Otani announced that he wanted to sign with a Major League team out of high school rather than a Japanese professional team.  He was then drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters, which could put a wrinkle in the plans.  The consensus seems to be that Otani is still free to sign with an MLB team, although this might straning relations between MLB and the Nippon Professional Baseball League.  Otani is 6’4″ and boasts a 100 mph fastball.

Josh Hamilton – Hamilton is a free agent and will get a lot of money from somebody.  There are a couple of things that should scare some teams.  First is the history of off-field problems, most notably with drug abuse.  Everyone is cheering for Hamilton to stay clean and sober, but realistically, Hamilton’s risk is greater than that of some random player (Peter Bourjos, for example).  A related concerns is whether the drug abuse in his earlier years have caused damage to his body that will cause him to break down in a few years.  Major League contracts are fully guaranteed, which means a team could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars if something bad happens.

Teams to watch

Toronto Blue Jays – The Blue Jays made a trade with the Marlins that netted them Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and Jose Reyes.  This is a big influx of talent and I’d expect the Blue Jays to make a big jump in the standings.

Florida Marlins – The Marlins won just 69 games last year … and then dumped most of their good players (with the exception of Giancarlo Stanton).  This could be a historically awful season.

The 2012 playoff teams – The Yankees are getting older.  The Orioles have a great bullpen – but can they sustain their incredible record in one run games?  Can the Nationals close the deal with Strasburg pitching an entire year?  Are the A’s for real?  Can the Angels avoid digging a big early hole again and win the West?

 

 

Greedy Big 10

The news leaked out last week, The Big 10 with 12 teams is going to now have 14 teams.

Am I the only person that thinks someone needs some remedial math…..

Maryland and Rutgers were invited to join the conference. And by invited I mean, umm….tapping into the Northeastern Television Market required the Big 10 to add some teams that were geographically located there.

The Greedy ACC

I am guessing the ACC put this into play since they landed their “Big Fish” in Notre Dame, and wanted to make sure that if the Golden Dome ever left the confines of the ACC they would be leaving some of their pots of gold behind.

Earlier this year Maryland – along with Florida State – voted against raising the exit fee from $20 million to $50 million in September after Notre Dame was added as a member in all sports but football. This is a significant exit penalty and much much more than Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M or Missouri had to pay in comparison for leaving the befuddled Big XII a few years ago.

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh went on record earlier this year saying he did not think the $50 million Atlantic Coast Conference exit fee would hold up in court, but now the ACC has filed a lawsuit against the University of Maryland to protect their interest in a buy-out clause that was reconfigured just last year.

“We continue to extend our best wishes to the University of Maryland; however, there is the expectation that Maryland will fulfill its exit fee obligation,” Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “On Friday, the ACC Council of Presidents made the unanimous decision to file legal action to ensure the enforcement of this obligation.”

Rutgers, by comparison, had to pay only a $10 million exit fee to leave the Big East. This seems like lunch money at this stage.

It will be interesting to see if Maryland is able to barter down the price tag, but I am guessing that this would have been happening behind the scenes, and well in front of any lawsuit being filed.

Looks like the Commonwealth and the League need to take this one outside and duke it out.

Late Season Craziness

Hold off on your early Christmas parties…. This could shape up to be a crazy bowl season, and a lot hinges on what transpires this week.

UCLA and Stanford play each other for the second straight week to decide who represents the Pac 12 in the Rose Bowl. Nothing like a rematch on back to back weeks.

Nebraska has a rematch with Wisconsin to be the representative of the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl. Nebraska won the first meeting. If Wisconsin wins, they will be 8-5 and representing in Pasadena.

As a side note, Nebraska lost to UCLA earlier this year in September in California.

I think the Rose Bowl Committee is pulling hard for the Huskers and Stanford, as that match up will be much more attractive Nationally and will also benefit the ticket sales much more than any of the other possible combinations of those four teams.

Alabama and Georgia play one another to basically settle who gets to go to the beach and play Notre Dame.

The Big East has three teams still alive depending on who beats who this weekend.

And a freshman Quarterback might actually win the Heisman Trophy.

Good luck to you and your sports teams and remember…Johnny for Heisman!

Until next time, stay classy Tyler, Texas

My My….crow is tasty and best served when cold….

In lasts week’s article I went on the record about Notre Dame with the following statement:

I am going on record that Boomer Sooner will roll one up on this over-rated team. Of course I could be completely wrong as frankly Oklahoma can be pretty average as well (see loss to Kansas State). Coach Stoops has a way of losing the big one, but I predict this will look more like the game against Texas than the turnover plagued loss to the Wildcats.

I even went as far to proclaim in the office that you can’t spell “BLOWOUT” without “OU”

After a Sunday to prepare for the onslaught of grief in the office on Monday, I supplied some cookies from a local establishment – Eileen’s.  While I am not a paid endorser, I am giving Eileen’s some free publicity today as their cookies are the GREATS!. Of course everyone in the office already likes them and how can you not like chocolate cookies with green mint frosting to celebrate a Fighting Irish victory over Oklahoma.

Of course my cookie offerings could not stop the onslaught of emails of Manti Te’o’ and various signs popping up on my cubicle throughout the day when I would be away at lunch or at the printer.

Gotta love those Irish fans.

The Big 10?

Another crazy week in the conference. Denard Robinson gets injured and Nebraska wins rather easily against Michigan. Neither team looked very good on the field, matter of fact you could argue the play of both offenses rivaled the condition on Sunday morning of most of the people that were at our football tailgate party all day on Saturday at Memorial Stadium…..sluggish….

The Huskers have the lead in their division but head into what is sure to be a dog-fight this weekend in East Lansing. This side of the equation for the Conference Title game in Indianapolis is still wide open in what has been a very average year in comparison to the national stage.

On the other side of the league, Wisconsin loses to Michigan State last week at home (the first home loss in 21 games for Bielema’s boys was the 2nd longest streak in the nation) but since both Penn State and Ohio State are ineligible for the Title game, they are still clearly in command to make that game. Unfortunately they have lost their starting QB Joel Stave to a broken collarbone so they will have to go to the back-up plan and basically just hold off pesky Indiana to play for (gulp) the automatic BCS berth. But as Kosmo alluded to in his article yesterday, the Big 10 is still full of scenarios that could have them sending no one to BCS Bowl this year.

The many possibilities as they say are very …well….possible. I am guessing conference athletic directors might be secretly rooting for Nebraska to run the table just so everyone can get a slice of the BCS payday pie.

Optimus Klein

Collin Klein has pretty much distanced himself from the rest of the pack and barring a major crash and burn by his team or injury he looks to be the guy to hoist the trophy at the Downtown Athletic Club. On the year he has 1630 passing yards 634 yards rushing and a combined 28 Td’s. The Mildcats have Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor and Texas on the schedule…What that spells to me is more huge stats by the lead Cat.

Fighting Frankies!

Once a Husker always a Husker, and I was disappointed to see that former Husker Coach Frank Solich and the Ohio Bobcats lost their first game of the year this past week to Miami of Ohio. The MAC is tough and this drops them from the rankings and even outside mention at a possible BCS bid if they ran the table, to now being in third place in their own conference.

Know a Good Real Estate Agent?

I have a hard time believing that Auburn will keep Gene Chizik after the abysmal year of the Tigers. They got wood-shedded again this past week losing by 42 points. The good news for Auburn is they have New Mexico State this week and still have to play powerhouse Alabama A&M in another examples of two cases of an SEC school playing weird home games late in the year against poor opponents or downright patsies.

The bad news is that they also have to face Georgia (who I still think really isn’t that good) and Alabama (which I think IS really that good)

I am sure for War Eagle fans it seems so very long ago that they had paid Cam Newton and won their BCS Title. Wonder where Gene will end up?

Until next time, stay classy Tarpon Springs, Florida

Before the season began, the Giants knew they would be without Brian Wilson, their effective – and more importantly, quirky – closer.

Then the calendar flipped to April.  Tim Lincecum, a two time Cy Young award winner who should be in the heart of his peak years, began pitching like utter crap, and finished the season with an ERA above 5.00.

Outfielder Melky Cabrera provided a spark early in the year, racing toward a batting title.  Then Melky got popped for performance enhancing drugs and was banned 50 games.  He’d be eligible to return in the middle of the playoffs, but the Giants opted not to add him to the roster.  This decision was probably partially due to not wanting the stench of PEDs to waft over the team’s post-season success, but also because it would mean Cabrera would be having to re-acclimate himself to Major League pitching during the playoffs – not a good thing.

Then the playoffs began, and the Giants quickly lost two games to the Reds.  Then they had to go on the road and try to win the next three games.  Which they did.

Then they faced off against the Cardinals.  They got down three games to one, and once again faced elimination three games in a row – and won all three games to win the series four games to three.  Italian-bred and Venezuelan-born infield Marco “Polo” Scutaro arose from the ashes of a hard Matt Holliday slide in game two to be named the NLCS MVP, recording a record-tying 14 hits in the series.

Now the Giants, after just one day off, face the well-rested Detroit Tigers in the World Series.  The Tigers have Justin Verlander on the mound, and the Giants match him with … Barry Zito.  The much-maligned and overpaid Zito is forced into the role because the Giants had to use Matt Cain in the NLCS game 7 on Monday.

On paper, this is a huge advantage for the Tigers.  They can start Verlander in games 1 and 5 and should have a great shot at winning both those games.  Win just one of the other three games and they’d have a 3-2 lead after five games.  Get some well place rain that causes extra off days and it’s possible Verlander could pitch games 1, 4, and 7.  Or manager Jim Leyland might just pitch Verlander on short rest and run him out in games 4 and 7 anyway.  On paper, that’s a huge advantage for the Tigers.

But baseball isn’t played on paper, and the Giants seem to be a team of destiny.  My prediction: Giants win, with Barry Zito the World Series MVP.  Zito will pick up wins in games 1 and 5, and pitch the 14th inning of game 7 for the save.  Zito’s stats for the World Series: 5 and 1 run in 16 innings, for a 0.56 ERA.

 

Where did Geno’s Heisman Go?

A few weeks ago, I like many of the other sports aficionado’s had declared the Heisman Trophy all but won by West Virginia’s Geno Smith.

Boy was I wrong…..

It never ceases to amaze me how in the world of college football, things can change so quickly.

Who saw these things happening?

At the start of the season, Michigan State looked like the favorite to win the Big 10 Conference after knocking off the Boise State Broncos in the opener, and Le’Veon Bell carry the ball 225 times for like 565 yards. Update – Sparty then loses 4 of the next 7 games and is basically out of it and waiting for Izzo to take the floor to get renewed hope.

Kansas State looked like a “nice” team in the B ig 12 Conference. Bill Snyder, aka Methuselah had resurrected the Cats of the bowels of despair (also known as the Ron Prince experiment) and was set for a decent year. Update – A decent year is being undefeated, having the current Heisman front runner – Colin Klein – leading your team, and being undefeated and currently #3 in the BCS rankings.

The Auburn Tigers – Just a short time ago Cam Newton was taking his expensive brand of college football quarterbacking and leading the club to a National Title. Now, Auburn shows up as #100 in the USA Today ranking of teams from 1-124 in Division 1. Auburn went 8-5 last year and coach Gene Chizik was expecting a better year in 2012 with 16 returning starters. Update – Auburn fans are figuring out what Iowa State already knew…..it is fine if this guy leaves. Chizik left town for greener pastures when he left Iowa State overall Clones fans would say they are better off with Paul Rhoads.  Auburn meanwhile is 1-6 this year and 0-5 in conference play.

I had to give a shout out to Auburn fans here – as they seem to like my article on recruiting which has been getting some play on message boards in War Eagle country.

Notre Dame is undefeated.  Man did I miss this one, of course Coach Kelly hangs his hat on a slew of wins over ranked teams. Let me re-cap – Michigan State – Top 10 at the time but now has a losing record. The hot and cold Michigan team that had 28 turnovers in the red zone to lose to the Golden Domers. The ol leprechaun’s got the Luck of the Irish – AGAIN – against Stanford – whose running back Stepfan Taylor still hasn’t hit the ground. This week they looked un-inspired in a narrow win over BYU. Update –I am going on record that Boomer Sooner will roll one up on this over-rated team. Of course I could be completely wrong as frankly Oklahoma can be pretty average as well (see loss to Kansas State). Coach Stoops has a way of losing the big one, but I predict this will look more like the game against Texas than the turnover plagued loss to the Wildcats.

It was the Dukes it was the Dukes….

Hold onto your hats….the Blue Devils are BOWL ELIGIBLE. That is right. We are talking about Duke. They have David Cutcliffe at the helm and he has led Duke to a place they have not been both literally and figuratively in forever. Duke went uninspiring 19-117 in the dozen years before the arrival of their head honcho. This will make their first chance to head to a bowl game since 1994 and only the third time since 1961. The last time they were in this position they were coached by the Old Ball coach himself, Steve Spurrier.

A lot of tough games for them the rest of the way, as they have to still play the Seminoles, but this is the first time in a long time the Cameron Crazies maybe are not ready to sleep in tents to see Coach K’s boys just yet.

The more things change, the more they stay the same….

I have to offer a written “Shout Out” to an old friend who I tailgated and attended the Northwestern vs. Nebraska game with this past weekend in Evanston. I have had the pleasure of seeing two of the more exciting college games in person while travelling with my buddy Terry. (We also went to the Missouri vs. Nebraska infamous “kickeroooskie” game in 1997 together) As always we had a great time and we picked up right where we last left off, the last time we went to a game together some 4 years ago. One thing is true about Nebraska Fans, they travel like no others. The stadium at Ryan Field (PS Northwestern Athletic Department – you have plenty of money at your University…how about some facility upgrades. Port-a-potties at the stadium….really???) was at least 50% Nebraska fans.

There really is no place like Nebraska…or any fans like their fans. Now go bring home a win against Michigan.

If they do, I just might cease to be amazed.

Until Next Time – Stay Classy Union Grove, Wisconsin

Derek Jeter broke his ankle in the 12th inning of Saturday night’s ALCS opener.  Would the ankle have remained intact if the game had gone just nine innings – or was there previous stress that would have resulted in a break at a later point?  It’s a moot point for the Yankees, as they’re without their captain.  After losing again on Sunday night, the Yankees are down 2-0 and heading to Detroit for three games.  Oh, yeah – they’ll face Tigers ace Justin Verlander in the next game.

It’s no surprise that the Yankees are down 2-0 to the Tigers.  Even with the help of steroids, they’re giving up a good 60 pounds per man across the offensive line.  With Fielder at center and Cabrera at left tackle, the Yankees D-line isn’t ever going to get a hit against Verlander.  Oh, sorry, wrong sport.  Seriously, though, those guys are huge for baseball players.  If you’re wondering which city has the best restaurants, don’t overlook Detroit.  Those guys are eating well.

Jeter’s value had been the subject of much debate over the years.  Much of the discussion has revolved around his defense.  Yankee fans will point to error total and gold gloves and say he’s a good defender.  Others will point to advanced defensive metrics which rank him mediocre or worse.

But is Jeter’s post-season offense also overrated?

We always hear that A-Rod chokes in the post-season and that Jeter shines.  Jeter’s career post-season OPS is .838.  How bad is the OPS of the legendary choker, Alex Rodriguez?  .838.  Jeter’s had some great post-season series, but he’s also had a few stinkers over the years.  However, his legacy was established early in his career, as his reputation precedes him at this point.

An argument that you might hear is that Jeter ranks highly in many career post-season statistical categories.  This is true.  He’s first in hits, runs, total bases, doubles and triples while ranking in the top five in homers, RBI, and walks.

However, let’s not overlook one big aspect of Jeter’s numbers: opportunity.  Not only has he been fortunate to play on many successful teams, but the post-season is longer than it was in the past.  Prior to division play in 1969, there were a maximum of 7 post-season games per year – The World Series.  In 1969, this jumped to 12 possible games per player before jumping to 19 in 1995.  The coin flip game now makes it possible for someone to play in 20 games during a single post-season.

Yogi Berra famously won 10 World Series titles as a member of the Yankees.  He was also on the losting side 4 times.  Her compiled 295 post-season plate appearances in 77 games – incredible numbers for his era.  Derek Jeter has 734 plate appearances in 158 post-season games.  That’s a full season of games, just in the post-season.  He has more post-season homers (20) than Reggie Jackson (18) or Babe Ruth (15), but it would be silly to argue that he was a better slugger.  Does he have more shining post-season moments than nearly anyone else?  Sure – but he also has more ordinary moments.

Jeter’s 734 post-season plate appearances are by far the most in history.  Bernie Williams is second with 545, Manny Ramirez is third with 493, Jorge Posada is 4th with 492 (anyone noticing a trend?).  In fact, only seven other players have half as many post-season at bats as Jeter.

Don’t get me wrong – Jeter has made the most of his opportunities.  But he has also been the beneficiary of a massive amount of opportunities over the years.  Jeter also is the runaway leader is strikeouts – not because he sucks, but because he’s had more opportunity to strike out.

Likewise, he’s also had more opportunity to get injured … and random chance finally got Jeter on Saturday night.

When John L. Smith’s financial woes made the news, it was reported that the Arkansas football coach owed $25 million in debts related to bad real estate deals.  Later court filings showed that this figure was not accurate.  Smith actually owed $40 million.  Prior to this year, Smith’s highest salary was $1.35 million at Michigan State in 2002.  recently, he’d been earning $130,000 as the head coach at Weber State.

How could Smith manage to incur $40 million in debt?  That’s a great question.  It definitely seems like some bankers were asleep at the wheel when they gave Smith loans.  Could an average Joe get loans for such a high multiple of their annual income?  I doubt it.

If the bankruptcy court discharges Smith’s debts, he’ll wash his hands of them and begin anew.

Smith is 53, and if successful, could conceivable have around 15 more years of coaching left.  He could earn $20-$30 million during that time – with none of it going toward his creditors.

Does that seem right to you?  What this precedent would do is set up a win-win proposition for people like Smith.  These people would essentially be playing with house money.  They’d keep all the money they win but get other people to pay for their losses.

“Wait a minute,” you say.  “Maybe Smith will make an honest effort to pay back his creditors.  Maybe he just needs some time to straighten things out.”

That’s a noble thought – but you need to pick a different hero.  We recently found out that Smith deferred 70% of his 2012 salary.  Why?  To make it more difficult for is creditors to get at they money.  The bankruptcy court may call an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Smith and force him to reach a repayment plan with his creditors – a plan that would garnish his salary.

A footbal coach, of course, it a leader of young men – someone who will mold them.  Perhaps some parents should have second thoughts about sending their sons to play football at Arkansas.

Bobby Petrino left Arkansas in disgrace, but I’m not sure that the Razorbacks traded up when they go John L. Smith.

 

 

The lack of coverage of the Triple Crown in the American League this year is total proof that baseball is no longer America’s Pastime. Instead baseball has been relegated to American history.

The only Triple Crown most anyone knows about outside of baseball aficionados is that involving the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

The king of the hill is now clearly the juggernaut known as football. American’s crave the gladiator style, fast paced action that only football can bring. Baseball in comparison is slow with action, the fielders stand around the entire time except when the ball is put into play. The antics of the batter box and the pitchers have delayed the games even more. Also baseball has gotten too specialized, no longer do players pitch complete games nor play double headers that often. No, baseball is no longer the game of a by-gone radio era, it is now made for TV entertainment, although not many are watching.

It Was a Very Good Year……

The last Triple Crown winner was Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Yaz’s meteoric climb to popularity was due to a number of factors.

First he played for the Boston Red Sox. Not that the Beantowners were as popular back in the 50’s and 60’s as they are today, but remember baseball had much fewer teams then, and Boston was one of the more popular teams, mainly due to the heavily populated Northeast.

Second, Yaz also followed Ted Williams, arguably the best hitter of all time and surely on everyone’s list as a starter on any All-Time baseball team you want to put together. Williams left an irreplaceable hole in the hearts of Boston fans. After all he had won the MVP twice, was a two time triple crown winner and 19 time all-star. Yaz would never be able to replace Williams, but he did his best to try.

Thirdly Yaz played his entire career with the Red Sox, and was an 18 time all-star, won the MVP and Triple Crown in 1967 and is a member of the 3000 hit club. The 1967 season is the main reason he is still revered in Massachusetts. 1967 was a magical season for the normally down-trodden Sox, and added to the allure of Yastrzemski popularity.

The Red Sox finished 9th place in the division the year before, and were in a tight race with the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers as the season came to a close. He hit an amazing .521 with 5 homers and 16 rbi in the last two weeks of the season propelling the Sox to the World Series where they eventually lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. Yaz was the main that almost single handedly carried Boston all the way to the title, and the fans never forgot that.

Pride or Prejudice?

Cabrera faces a slug of uphill factors in his chance to cash in on this monumental accomplishment. The media is not giving it much coverage because, let’s face it, Detroit is not a sexy baseball town, and he does not speak English as his primary language. I am surprised that no sports reporters have mentioned this fact. We all like to claim that things such as race and prejudice no longer have a place in sports or society today, but the reality is they still do. It will be interesting to see how the people who vote on the MVP will choose this year. They have a tough decision.

Mike Trout, of the Angels is getting just as much if not more media attention this year in the face of the biggest accomplishments in the Major Leagues in almost 5 decades. Mike Trout is 21 years old, is an American and looks to have a bright future ahead of him. He has done some things this year that put him on the list of all-time greatest seasons. Will he get the nod for the MVP vote, or will it be Cabrera?

Only 12 people have ever won a triple crown. That is less than the number of 500 Home Run club members, 3000 hit listers, 300 game winners and pitchers that have thrown perfect games.

Four times the Triple Crown Winner has not also won the MVP award. The last time that happened, Ted Williams lost out to Joe DiMaggio in 1947.

Only the votes remain, it will be an interest ballot to be cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Until next time, stay classy Millville, Ohio

It is hard to put two hands on the trophy when you have two hands around your own neck.

This should be the motto for the American team for the 2012 Ryder Cup Matches played at Medinah in Illinois. The American Squad played marvelously the first two days, and built what is basically considered an insurmountable lead (10-6) but failed to close the deal. Losing in a 14 ½ to 13 ½ final score.

Team Europe put its heavy hitters out early in an attempt to turn the tide. It worked, as the American team consistently lost holes 17 and 18 in a number of matches thereby giving the European contingent some unexpected points.

Miracle at Medinah

This ties for the largest come-back in the history of the event, matching the Miracle at Brookline in the 1999 Ryder Cup matches. The big difference here is that Team Europe did this on American soil, and not riding the wave of emotion that comes with a home field advantage.

I think Brookline at a lot more to do with this week than many golf fans even know.

At Brookline, European Captain, Jose-Maria Olazabal was there front and center in the American celebration. Most ardent golf fans forget that he was the opponent standing on the 17th green in the decisive match and watching Justin Leonard roll in a 45-foot birdie. The ensuing celebration with almost the entire American team running onto the green and basically creating a celebration pile created quite a rift between the teams (and the members of the golfing media on both sides of the Atlantic for that matter ) as it was viewed as a breach of golf etiquette.

Win One For Seve, or Still Steaming About Brookline?

This brings me down to Sunday. With Steve Stricker missing his put on the 18th hole, the match was in fact over. But standing in the 18th fairway was the final paring of the day. Francesco Molinari against Tiger Woods. Eldrick held a 1 up lead at the time.  With 14 points secured, there is really no reason to even finish out the match for that matter. Concede the hole – as the outcome is already decided.

Love concurred telling reporters, “Whatever Tiger and Molinari do we don’t get the cup. We’re stunned anyway. I stood there thinking, ‘Why isn’t over? Why isn’t it good-good?’ What were we playing for?”

Molinari and the Europeans, however, had a different take on the final outcome.

“I thought about giving him the halve in the fairway,” Molinari said. “But then the captain was there and he told me it’s not the same, winning or halving, so get focused and do your best and that’s what I did. . . . I wasn’t expecting him to give it to me.”

Instead both players hit “iffy” approach shots to the green and were both faced with 4 footers to tie with par. Molinari made Tiger putt his and he missed. Tiger gave Molinari his putt, but he made it anyway.

So it appears Olazabal got a little sweet revenge, on something that I can only suppose has been stewing with him for 13 years. On a day dedicated to the great Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, he pulls a totally Seve Ballesteros move of gamesmanship, and not sportsmanship, at the conclusion of the 2012 Matches.

Touché Jose, Touché

Two Hands on the Trophy

I have been doing a Top 5 Heisman list each week, but this week, I am going away from that completely.

For those that watched the video game…errrr..basketball game….errrr…Track Meet…errrr..Football game between West Virginia and Baylor last Saturday, you will understand the following few lines of rhetoric.

There is only one clear cut person for the Heisman after last week. With the continued wide open, lack of defense football you will see much more in the Big XII this year, I can only imagine what type of numbers he is going to end the year at.

I present to you, this week’s ONLY Heisman candidate. Geno Smith – Quarterback of the West Virginia Mountaineers. All he did on Saturday against Baylor is throw for 656 yards, 8 Touchdowns, 0 Interceptions, 248.0 Rating. 5 carries 32 yards Rushing.

Yup, you read all of that correctly. On the year he has thrown for 1728 yards with 20 Touchdowns and count em NO interceptions. He has also ran for another 98 yards and 1 Touchdown on the year.

Hope he has his plane tickets to New York already on order.

Until Next time. Stay classy Miami, Florida