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JOE PATERNO: 1926-2012

2012-01-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say that I grew up at Penn State, but I can't. I did, however, grow up WITH Penn State. And that meant that I grew up with Joe Paterno.

My parents went to Penn State. My brother went to Penn State. Me? I only wish I had, but I had another calling from an Ivy League school in West Philadelphia that to this day, gets confused with Penn State. Yes, there really are "Not Penn State" t-shirts available on the Penn Campus. That never bothered me when I attended Penn; I knew the difference, even if the students at Penn hated that we were confused with a "football school." What they didn't know is that Penn State was a lot more than a football school.

But football at Penn State only set a tone for the school. It created a dynamic that drew you towards the University, even as a young boy.

Saturdays in the fall are still one of my most vivid memories of growing up. My dad and I would drive off to the local farmer's market, where we'd pick up 3 sides of beef that we would wrap up for the freezer later in the day. Always on that car radio was Penn State football, the voice of Fran Fisher calling names like John Cappelletti, Chuck Fusina, and all those Bahr brothers. Joe Paterno had recruited and coached the players that made Penn State football an experience. We loved Penn State football, even if, in the days before the federal lawsuits that opened up broadcast rights, you only got to see your favorite team play live on television once or twice a season.

But that was okay, because Sundays were time for the Penn State Football Show. The one-hour package of that weekend's Penn State football game was such required viewing in our house, that my dad and I would watch separate broadcasts on separate channels over the course of those Sunday mornings.

Listening to and watching all those Penn State games, I'd like to say that my father taught me to love and respect coach Joe Paterno. But he didn't. He didn't have to. You only had to watch Paterno, and listen to Paterno, to love and respect Paterno.

I admired JoePa so much that I bought whatever cause he was selling. Joe said there should be a playoff in college football. That worked for me. Coaches should graduate their players? I couldn't have agreed more. Plain uniforms without names on the back? Fine with me. Joe once said he didn't want to leave college football to the Barry Switzers.

Well, I didn't need Joe Paterno to tell me about Barry Switzer. It was easy to see what an ass he was.

When you went to a live Penn State game, there were two things you wanted to see. The players might come and go, but you knew that you could see, and wanted to see at every game, Joe Paterno and Mount Nittany.

Rising miles beyond the stadium, but seemingly as close as that coach in the khakis on the sideline, was Mount Nittany. As stoic as Joe himself, that big hill set the tone for the beautiful valley over which it rose. Much like Joe set the tone for an entire academic community.

He wasn't just Joe the coach of the football team. He was the coach of the entire school. He was everyone's coach, and could have been everyone's grandfather. More powerful than any administrator, move loved than any professor, more a symbol of the school than the mascot, Paterno's influence was not bounded by Beaver Stadium. Joe's contributions to the library -- there's a wing in the name of he and his wife Sue -- his "grand experiment" of combining athletics with academics, and his ever-faithful position as teacher and mentor to the Penn State community, is what set the tone for the campus.

Remember the last time Joe publicly spoke to the student body? You've probably seen the video of Joe on his lawn, addressing the shocked students in the wake of his dismissal from the 2nd great love in his life, as coach of Penn State football. Remember what Joe told the students gathered on his lawn? Told them to go back and study.

Joe didn't drill the academics down your throat, mind you. He didn't have to. He wanted his players to graduate. Well, heck, if the dumb jocks can get a Penn State degree, so can I. He gave his money not to build a new athletic facility, but to a library. And on the worst day of his Penn State life (with apologies to 4th-and-1 in the Sugar Bowl) he told the kids to go study.

That's the kind of man I wanted as the coach of my favorite football team. Or to coach my own son. In fact, when my boy was born less than two years ago, I said in my Sports Bar Newsletter that I hoped my son would grow up to play for Joe Paterno. I was only half-kidding; the thought that Joe would ever not be the coach at Penn State was almost unimaginable. I would not have been surprised to see JoePa still coaching the Nittany Lions when my boy got there in 18 years.

I guess my boy won't grow up to experience what a great man was Joe Paterno. But he will learn it from me.

Eventually, I had the chance to go to Penn State. Took the summer before my junior year at Penn to be a real Penn State student, if only for one summer. Penn State wasn't a place I *wanted* to go to, it was a place I NEEDED to go to. I had to feel that experience of being a part of Penn State. Studied hard, got all A's and a B that summer. Our dorm won the softball intramural title, playing the title game in the shadows of Beaver Stadium. We'd might as well have been playing in the shadows of JoePa himself.

I look forward to taking my son to Penn State, to show him where his dad won the softball title, and the library where his dad studied every night.

And when we do visit Penn State, Ryan will know Joe Paterno had been there as well. He will see it in the library, he will see it in the magnificent stadium and athletic facilities that exist because of Paterno. And my boy will know who was responsible for it, because I won't let him forget it.

But while Joe set the tone for the Penn State experience, he is maybe getting too much credit. You've heard it said that Joe was the embodiment of Penn State. That he *was* Penn State. Angelo Cataldi on WIP sports radio said the university "Would not exist" without Paterno.

Okay, so that might be just so much sports-radio-host hyperbole. Whatever the case, I think this part of the accolades of Joe Paterno's life is unfair to Penn State. Penn State was a great place before Joe got there, and would have been a great place without him. The academics, the alumni community, and the beautiful college town that sprang up around it, are all top notch. Penn State has more fundraising than I think you could find on any college campus. THON, the former Sy Barash Regatta, the Lady Lions Pink Out for breast cancer. You might not have heard about this philanthropy, but trust me, everyone connected with Penn State has.

So there is lots to admire and love about Penn State, and it would have been there without Joe Paterno. JoePa just made it a better place than it ever could have been without him.

We will miss you, JoePa. GrandPa. CoachPa. Penn State, college football, and the lives of an entire educational community were a lot better off because of you. I look forward to telling that to my son.

FOR THE GLORY,

-- Brian, somewhere near Penn State

STOP SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-18T18:51:00.001-08:00

We're "black" today, to join the campaign against big business interests who want to control and censor the Internet.

2012-01-13T04:10:00.001-08:00

THE NFL STORY: WILD CARD WEEKEND

So maybe god is be a Tebow fan, after all.

THE SCORE:
Cincinnati (9-8) 10
HOUSTON (11-6) 31
THE STATS: Houston RB Arian Foster 24-153-2 TD.
THE STORY: The game mirrored Cincinnati's season: Get off to an early 7-0 lead (started 6-2), then struggle the rest of the way in scoring just 3 more points (3-5 record to end the season at 9-7).

THE SCORE:
Atlanta (10-7) 2
NY GIANTS (10-7) 24
THE STATS: NY Giants WR Hakeem Nicks 6-115-2 TD.
THE STORY: New York's reward for an impressive win: Green Bay.

THE SCORE:
Detroit (10-7) 28
NEW ORLEANS (14-3) 45
THE STATS: New Orleans offense 34 first downs, playoff record 626 total yards.
THE STORY: Saints still haven't lost since before Halloween.

THE SCORE:
Pittsburgh (12-5) 23
DENVER (9-8) 29
THE STATS: Denver QB Tim Tebow 10-21-316-0-2 TD, 125.6 rating;
10-50-1 TD rushing.
THE STORY: Most memorable picture of the weekend wasn't Tebow Tebowing after the win, but the media rushing to get pictures of Tebow Tebowing after the win.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #17

2012-01-06T04:07:00.001-08:00

So Tebowmania is dying down. Guess you gotta actually win to be a
pop culture icon.

THE SCORE:
Detroit (10-6) 41
GREEN BAY (15-1) 45
THE STATS: Green Bay QB Matt Flynn 31-44-380-1-6 TDs, 136.4 rating.
THE STORY: The Green Bay quarterback factory continues to turn them out.

THE SCORE:
TENNESSEE (9-7) 23
Houston (10-6) 22
THE STATS: Houston's first postseason.
THE STORY: How far can the Texans go behind T.J. Yates after losing quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart?

THE SCORE:
Indianapolis (2-14) 13
JACKSONVILLE (5-11) 19
THE STATS: Jacksonville just one penalty, one turnover.
THE STORY: Colts horrible season proves the value of losing a premium quarterback. Now let's see if Indy goes and drafts one.

THE SCORE:
NY Jets (8-8) 17
MIAMI (6-10) 19
THE STATS: Miami wins in spite of being outgained 210 to 374 yards.
THE STORY: After two consecutive runs to the AFC title game, the Jets took themselves out of the playoffs by losing their final three games to teams with a combined record of 23-25. Someone has some 'splainin to do, Lucy. I mean, Rex.

THE SCORE:
CHICAGO (8-8) 17
Minnesota (3-13) 13
THE STATS: Chicago snaps 5 game losing streak.
THE STORY: Good news for the Bears: the crowds in Florida are thin this time of year. Enjoy your vacations.

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (6-10) 21
NEW ENGLAND (13-3) 49
THE STATS: Buffalo 1-7 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: Buffalo started the game 21-0, then gave up 49 straight points. Kind of a microcosm of their season (3-0, then 3-10 the rest of the way).

THE SCORE:
Carolina (6-10) 17
NEW ORLEANS (13-3) 45
THE STATS: New Orleans 617 total yards.
THE STORY: Carolina was actually 6-6 until you factor in their 0-4 against the division's two playoff teams, New Orleans and Atlanta. That's something to build on in Carolina, but shows how far they have to go.

THE SCORE:
Washington (5-11) 10
PHILADELPHIA (8-8) 34
THE STATS: Philadelphia TE Brent Celek 6-86-1 TD.
THE STORY: Eagles win their last 4 games, go 5-1 in the division, score the most points and give up the fewest in the division, but still miss the playoffs. How is that possible?

THE SCORE:
SAN FRANCISCO(13-3) 34
St. Louis (2-14) 27
THE STATS: San Francisco K David Akers 4-4 XP, 2-3 FG, 1-1-14-0-1 TD passing, 158.3 rating.
THE STORY: So 49ers kicker David Akers threw a touchdown pass to WR Michael Crabtree, who faked like he was leaving the field on a FG attempt. But why would the Niners roll out that play a week BEFORE the playoffs?

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (4-12) 24
ATLANTA (10-6) 45
THE STATS: Atlanta RB Michael Turner 17-172-2 TD.
THE STORY: Atlanta led 42-0 with 6:49 left. Not left in the game, but in the first HALF.

THE SCORE:
BALTIMORE (12-4) 24
Cincinnati (9-7) 16
THE STATS: Baltimore RB Ray Rice 24-191-2 TDs.
THE STORY: Baltimore secured the #2 seed, setting up a possible showdown in the 2nd week of the playoffs against #5 seed Pittsburgh. Just what we need, another matchup in this great rivalry.

THE SCORE:
PITTSBURGH (12-4) 13
Cleveland (4-12) 9
THE STATS: Pittsburgh time of possession: 39:11.
THE STORY: Pittsburgh needed to win to have a chance at winning the division, a first-round bye, and even home field. But they got no help from around the league, and settled for the #5 seed.

THE SCORE:
Seattle (7-9) 20
ARIZONA (8-8) 23
THE STATS: Tie game in regulation produces virtually tied statistics at the end of the game: Total Yards (Seattle Arizona): 369/388; First downs: 19/20; Turnovers 1/2; Total plays: 73/73; Passes: 35/40; Completions: 21/22; Punts 8/7; Penalties 7/9; Time of Poss: 33:42 / 35:19.
THE STORY: Last year, two teams with 7 wins in the NFC West would have been playing for the division title in Week #17.

THE SCORE:
KANSAS CITY (7-9) 7
Denver (8-8) 3
THE STATS: 2nd lowest scoring game in the NFL this season (Cleveland over Seattle, 6-3 in Week #7).
THE STORY: Denver's ride to the playoffs was like a Chris Berman home run call: "Back, back, back, back, BACKED IN".

THE SCORE:
SAN DIEGO (8-8) 38
Oakland (8-8) 26
THE STATS: Combined 983 total yards of offense.
THE STORY: Disappointing season for San Diego, which started 4-1 and finished 4-1. It was the 6-game losing streak in the middle that hurt. Even more disappointing was the Raiders, who could have made the playoffs if they had won, coupled with Denver's loss.

THE SCORE:
Dallas (8-8) 14
NY GIANTS (9-7) 31
THE STATS: Dallas 2 turnovers vs. 0 for New York, 7 penalties vs. 3, 6 times sacked vs. 2.
THE STORY: Playoffs began a week early for the Giants.

- 30 -

2011-12-30T04:21:00.000-08:00

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #16

So the NFL tiebreakers are so complicated, that colleges should start
offering a course in NFL tiebreakers. Make it a graduate-level course.

THE SCORE:
Houston (10-5) 16
INDIANAPOLIS (2-13) 19
THE STATS: Indianapolis WR Reggie Wayne 8-106-1 TD.
THE STORY: Colts 2nd win in a row, Houston's 2 loss in a row. Good thing Houston had the division already won, because they are going in the wrong direction, just in time for the playoffs.

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (4-11) 14
BALTIMORE (11-4) 20
THE STATS: Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis team-leading 9 tackles for the 2nd week in a row.
THE STORY: Best AFC North division race in history is sullied only by not having Baltimore and Pittsburgh (both 11-4) match up in the season's final weekend.

THE SCORE:
Denver (8-7) 14
BUFFALO (6-9) 40
THE STATS: Denver QB Tim Tebow 4 interceptions.
THE STORY: This was Buffalo's 1st win since their 7 game losing streak started. Think about it. We've celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, AND Halloween since the Bills had last won a game.

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (4-11) 16
CAROLINA (6-9) 48
THE STATS: Carolina QB Cam Newton 12-17-171-0-3 TD, 142.4 rating; 6-65-1 TD rushing (10.8 average).
THE STORY: Strangest stat line comparison of the week: Cam Newton throws for 3 TDs, runs for 1 TD, while New England QB Tom Brady throws for just one TD, but runs for 2 TDs.

THE SCORE:
Arizona (7-8) 16
CINCINNATI (9-6) 23
THE STATS: Cincinnati 165 yards rushing to just 136 passing.
THE STORY: The only 9-6 team and currently in the 2nd wild card spot for the AFC, but the Bengals still have some "clinches a playoff spot with...." work ahead of them.

THE SCORE:
OAKLAND (8-7) 16
Kansas City (6-9) 13
THE STATS: Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski 3 FGs, 1 XP, 10 points, including overtime 36-yard game winner.
THE STORY: Someone say it: "Future Hall of Famer Sebastian Janikowski".

THE SCORE:
Miami (5-10) 24
NEW ENGLAND (12-3) 27
THE STATS: New England 4 touchdowns rushing, just 1 TD receiving.
THE STORY: Patriots are the only team in the AFC who controls their own playoff destiny -- win and earn the home field advantage. No "Loss OR tie", no Loss by a team plus a loss by a team plus a loss by a team plus a loss OR tie". Just win.

THE SCORE:
NY GIANTS (8-7) 29
NY Jets (8-7) 14
THE STATS: Giants win with just 11 first downs, 9-27 passing, 23:54 of possession.
THE STORY: Funny road game at home for the Giants. At least one of the teams played like they were at home; it just wasn't the Jets.

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (2-13) 0
PITTSBURGH (11-4) 27
THE STATS: 2nd shutout of the season for Pittsburgh.
THE STORY: Great 3-way race between Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and New England, any of which could take home field advantage.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (4-11) 17
TENNESSEE (8-7) 23
THE STATS: Tennessee tight end Jared Cook 8-169-1 TD.
THE STORY: Perhaps the screwiest playoff tiebreaker ever has the Titans rooting for the Jets to win on Sunday, unless Oakland and Denver win, in which case the Titans want the Jets to lose; and they want Oakland to win, unless New York wins, in which case the Titans want Oakland to lose.

THE SCORE:
MINNESOTA (3-12) 33
Washington (5-10) 26
THE STATS: Minnesota linebacker E.J. Henderson 11 tackles.
THE STORY: One of only two meaningless games all weekend which did not feature a team playing for the playoffs or playoff seedings (Tampa Bay at Carolina).

THE SCORE:
San Diego (7-8) 10
DETROIT (10-5) 38
THE STATS: Detroit QB Matthew Stafford outplays San Diego QB Philip Rivers, 137.6 rating to 60.2.
THE STORY: Detroit has the advantage of playing Green Bay to end the season. Green Bay, by my calculation, is the only playoff or playoff-possible team which has nothing left for which to play.

THE SCORE:
PHILADELPHIA (7-8) 20
Dallas (8-7) 7
THE STATS: Eagles outscore Dallas 54-14 in two games this season.
THE STORY: Philadelphia's so-called "Dream Team" falls short in the easiest division to win this season.

THE SCORE:
SAN FRANCISCO(12-3) 19
Seattle (7-8) 17
THE STATS: David Akers 4-5 FG, NFL record 42 field goals on the season.
THE STORY: San Francisco may have benefited from a weak NFC West (4-1 against the West with 1 game left), but they also defeated Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, NY Giants, Pittsburgh outside the division.

THE SCORE:
Chicago (7-8) 21
GREEN BAY (14-1) 35
THE STATS: Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers 21-29-283-0-5 TD, 142.7 rating.
THE STORY: Never mind the Packers; can I buy stock in Aaron Rodgers?

THE SCORE:
Atlanta (9-6) 16
NEW ORLEANS (12-3) 45
THE STATS: New Orleans WR Marques Colston 7-81-1 TD.
THE STORY: Who's peaking in December? New Orleans wins their 7th in a row.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #15

2011-12-23T04:13:00.000-08:00

So the Denver Broncos are the team everyone wants to watch. Well, in the 4th quarter, anyway.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (4-10) 14
ATLANTA (9-5) 41
THE STATS: Atlanta WR Roddy White 10-135-2 TD.
THE STORY: Sometimes, you're happy that you can't watch a game because it is carried on the premium channel NFL Network. This was one of those weeks.

THE SCORE:
DALLAS (8-6) 31
Tampa Bay (4-10) 15
THE STATS: Dallas 399 total yards to 190; 28 first downs to 7; time of possession 37:59 to 22:01.
THE STORY: Dallas' win puts them in position to clinch the division this weekend -- or sets them up for another epic choke.

THE SCORE:
CINCINNATI (8-6) 20
St. Louis (2-12) 13
THE STATS: Cincinnati returner Brandon Tate 4-101 (25.3 avg) kick returns; 2-71 (35.5) punt returns.
THE STORY: St. Louis offense has scored just 14 TDs in 14 games.

THE SCORE:
MIAMI (5-9) 30
Buffalo (5-9) 23
THE STATS: Teams combined for 6 turnovers, 16 penalties, 14 punts.
THE STORY: Miami started the season 0-7; Buffalo has now lost 7 straight, including every game since the Miami streak ended. Gotta love the symmetry.

THE SCORE:
WASHINGTON (5-9) 23
NY Giants (7-7) 10
THE STATS: Washington just 2 penalties (to 8 for Giants).
THE STORY: Giants now face a critical showdown this weekend, on the world's shortest road trip -- to their own stadium to play the Jets.

THE SCORE:
Tennessee (7-7) 13
INDIANAPOLIS (1-13) 27
THE STATS: Colts win with just 10 first downs, 3-12 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: With their 1st win, Colts have not clinched, still have some work to do earn the 1st pick in the draft.

THE SCORE:
SEATTLE (7-7) 38
Chicago (7-7) 14
THE STATS: Seattle outscores Chicago 31-0 in the 2nd half.
THE STORY: Chicago's 4th loss in a row; they can't clinch next week, but they can be eliminated.

THE SCORE:
Green Bay (13-1) 14
KANSAS CITY (6-8) 19
THE STATS: Kansas City defense holds Aaron Rodgers to 48.6%, 5.5 yards per pass play, sacked 4 times.
THE STORY: Children in Nigeria now wearing green "19-0" shirts.

THE SCORE:
CAROLINA (5-9) 28
Houston (10-4) 13
THE STATS: Carolina punting: 5 punts-50.4 yard average to just 2-29.5 average for Houston (3 turnovers).
THE STORY: Nevermind the Green Bay loss and the Indianapolis win; this game might have been the biggest upset of the weekend.

THE SCORE:
NEW ORLEANS (11-3) 42
Minnesota (2-12) 20
THE STATS: New Orleans RB Darren Sproles 33 yards rushing, 79 yards receiving (TD), 75 yards kick returns, 45 yards punt returns.
THE STORY: Vikings want a new stadium, or they might move. Coincidentally, many of the fans now like the latter idea.

THE SCORE:
DETROIT (9-5) 28
Oakland (7-7) 27
THE STATS: Detroit WR Calvin Johnson 9-214-2 TD.
THE STORY: Let me see if I have this straight. Detroit clinches a wild card spot with a win or tie, OR a Chicago loss or tie and an Arizona loss or tie, and a Seattle loss or tie, and a Dallas loss or tie OR a Chicago loss or tie, and an Arizona loss or tie and a Seattle loss or tie and a New York loss or tie, OR a Chicago loss or tie and an Arizona loss or tie and a Seattle loss or tie and an Atlanta win or tie. Simple.

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (4-10) 17
ARIZONA (7-7) 20
THE STATS: Last 5 Cleveland possessions of the game: Punt, Fumble, Punt, Punt, Punt.
THE STORY: Overtime win by Arizona after starting the 4th quarter down by 10 points; may have been the best game of the week. Meaningless, but the best game.

THE SCORE:
NY Jets (8-6) 19
PHILADELPHIA (6-8) 45
THE STATS: Philadelphia RB LeSean McCoy, 18-102-3 TDs, team record 20 TDs on the season.
THE STORY: Eagles are still alive? Next you're going to tell me that the Colts won a game.

THE SCORE:
NEW ENGLAND (11-3) 41
Denver (8-6) 23
THE STATS: Tebow: 80.5 rating; Brady: 117.3 rating.
THE STORY: Tebow magic falls short to a superior team.

THE SCORE:
Baltimore (10-4) 14
SAN DIEGO (7-7) 34
THE STATS: Chargers 3rd win in a row.
THE STORY: The Chargers' usual late-season run came a little late this year. But too late too little?

THE SCORE:
Pittsburgh (10-4) 3
SAN FRANCISCO(11-3) 20
THE STATS: 2 power outages for 35 minutes.
THE STORY: Conspiracy theories abound about the lights going out in San Francisco, as a ploy to get a new stadium. Yeah, I'll believe that when an earthquake hits the Bay area during the World Series.

- 30 -

2011-12-02T04:08:00.001-08:00

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #12

So Tim Tebow is running the ball and winning, but gets criticized. Why doesn't he get the same break that Michael Vick has gotten all these years for being the same type of quarterback?

THE SCORE:
GREEN BAY (11-0) 27
Detroit (7-4) 15
THE STATS: Detroit 11 penalties, -3 on turnovers.
THE STORY: Still undefeated Packers get Lions again for the final game of the season. The division race won't be at stake the next time, but history probably will be.

THE SCORE:
Miami (3-8) 19
DALLAS (7-4) 20
THE STATS: Dallas WR Laurent Robinson 7-79-2 TD.
THE STORY: Best game of the weekend. There were 6 lead changes in the game, along with a lot of cold turkeys and angry wives across America.

THE SCORE:
San Francisco(9-2) 6
BALTIMORE (8-3) 16
THE STATS: Baltimore defense: allows 170 total yards, just 96 yards passing.
THE STORY: The sparkling wine from the Napa Valley is on hold for another week in the San Francisco locker room.

THE SCORE:
ARIZONA (4-7) 23
St. Louis (2-9) 20
THE STATS: Arizona RB Beanie Wells 27-228-1 TD.
THE STORY: The winning quarterback, John Skelton, had no touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and a passer rating of 30.0. Sounds like a Tim Tebow stat line.

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (5-6) 24
NY JETS (6-5) 28
THE STATS: NY Jets TE Dustin Keller 4-61-2 TD.
THE STORY: Bills have lost to the Jets twice during their current 4 game losing streak.

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (4-7) 20
CINCINNATI (7-4) 23
THE STATS: Mike Nugent two 4th quarter FGs to tie and win (:38 remaining).
THE STORY: Early coach of the year candidate: Marvin Lewis. Last year: 4 wins. This year: 7 and counting and current playoff spot.

THE SCORE:
HOUSTON (8-3) 20
Jacksonville (3-8) 13
THE STATS: Houston defense: 7 sacks.
THE STORY: Impressive 5 game win streak for Houston, but only one against a team with a winning record (Tennessee).

THE SCORE:
CAROLINA (3-8) 27
Indianapolis (0-11) 19
THE STATS: Indianapolis 1-9 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: It wasn't only that the Colts converted just one single 3rd down conversion; but they only had 9 such conversion attempts the entire game, on 11 possessions.

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (4-7) 17
TENNESSEE (6-5) 23
THE STATS: Tennessee RB Chris Johnson 23-190-0 TD.
THE STORY: Nice win to run Titans' record to 6-5, but still just good enough to stay in that "Also in contention" column.

THE SCORE:
Minnesota (2-9) 14
ATLANTA (7-4) 24
THE STATS: Atlanta QB Matt Ryan 27-34-262-0-3 TD, 128.2 rating.
THE STORY: Atlanta stays in the wild card and division race, setting up a great Monday Night Finale against New Orleans the night after Christmas.

THE SCORE:
Chicago (7-4) 20
OAKLAND (7-4) 25
THE STATS: Oakland K Sebastian Janikowski 1-1 XP, 6-6 FG, 19 points.
THE STORY: Janikowski had 229 yards in kicking field goals.

THE SCORE:
WASHINGTON (4-7) 23
Seattle (4-7) 17
THE STATS: Washington RB Roy Helu 23-108-1 TD, 7-54 rushing.
THE STORY: Redskins interrupt their 6 game losing streak with a win.

THE SCORE:
NEW ENGLAND (8-3) 38
Philadelphia (4-7) 20
THE STATS: New England WR Wes Welker 8-115-2 TD.
THE STORY: Eagles, who set records for blowing 4th quarter leads this season, didn't wait so long against the Patriots. The Eagles' 10 point 1st quarter lead at 8:19 was gone just 1:48 into the 2nd quarter.

THE SCORE:
DENVER (6-5) 16
San Diego (4-7) 13
THE STATS: Denver QB Tim Tebow 9-18-143-0-1 TD, 95.4 rating, 22-67 yards rushing.
THE STORY: The great debate continues: are the Broncos winning because of Tim Tebow, or in spite of him?

THE SCORE:
PITTSBURGH (8-3) 13
Kansas City (4-7) 9
THE STATS: Pittsburgh defense gets 4 turnovers.
THE STORY: Steelers now 8-1 against teams not from Baltimore.

THE SCORE:
NY Giants (6-5) 24
NEW ORLEANS (8-3) 49
THE STATS: New Orleans QB Drew Brees 24-38-363-0-4 TD, 129.6 rating.
THE STORY: Good season the Saints are putting together, but they don't yet appear on the "Could clinch with..." list, so they still have work to do.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #8

2011-11-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

So the ESPN cameras caught Philip Rivers saying "This is the worst thing ever" after his fumble cost the Chargers a chance to win the Monday Night game. Worst thing ever? Has he seen the Dolphins play lately?

THE SCORE:
Indianapolis (0-8) 10
TENNESSEE (4-3) 27
THE STATS: Indianapolis outgains Tennessee 399-311, 22 first downs to 17, but -2 in turnovers, -7 in penalties.
THE STORY: NCAA rules notwithstanding, the Colts should find a way to invite Andrew Luck to watch practice. Ya know, just to get an early start on things.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (2-6) 14
HOUSTON (5-3) 24
THE STATS: Houston double the yardage, 358 to 174.
THE STORY: Houston now 3-0 in division, beating each division opponent in their first meeting.

THE SCORE:
MINNESOTA (2-6) 24
Carolina (2-6) 21
THE STATS: Minnesota QB Christian Ponder 18-28-236-102.7 rating.
THE STORY: I think I figured out how Minnesota can win. After blowing halftime leads in 4 times this season, they didn't blow one this time. It was tied 14-14 at the half. So the Vikes just need to stop leading at halftime and they can win.

THE SCORE:
New Orleans (5-3) 21
ST. LOUIS (1-6) 31
THE STATS: St. Louis RB Steven Jackson 25-15-2 TDs.
THE STORY: The shocker here isn't that a week after scoring 62 and giving up 7 against Indianapolis, that the Saints scored just 21 and gave up 31 against St. Louis. Rather, The Story is that a week after scoring 7 and giving up 34 at Dallas, that winless St. Louis could put up 31 and give up just 21 to New Orleans. There's something about a blind squirrel that you can insert here.

THE SCORE:
Arizona (1-6) 27
BALTIMORE (5-2) 30
THE STATS: Arizona up 24-6 at the half.
THE STORY: What's with all the blown leads in the NFL this season? Is Frank Reich running a school on how to overcome any deficit?

THE SCORE:
Miami (0-7) 17
NY GIANTS (5-2) 20
THE STATS: NY Giants QB Eli Manning 31-45-349-0-2 TDs, 106.6 rating.
THE STORY: Could Dolphins be the first franchise to win every game in a season, *and* lose every game in another?

THE SCORE:
Washington (3-4) 0
BUFFALO (5-2) 23
THE STATS: Washington 178 total yards, 2.2 yards per rush, 3.6 per pass play.
THE STORY: Redskins' 3 game losing streak is longest current losing streak in the NFL for teams not named Cardinals, Dolphins, or Colts.

THE SCORE:
DETROIT (6-2) 45
Denver (2-5) 10
THE STATS: Detroit defense: 7 sacks, 1 interception, 2 fumble recovery, 117 net yards passing.
THE STORY: Tebowing is: 1) The latest Internet craze 2) An expression of devotion and thanks to god 3) A beat down of the opposing team's quarterback.

THE SCORE:
New England (5-2) 17
PITTSBURGH (6-2) 25
THE STATS: New England: 43 yards rushing, 3.6 average per rush.
THE STORY: Quick question (no peeking until you've guessed): who's got the best record in the AFC right now?

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (3-4) 10
SAN FRANCISCO(6-1) 20
THE STATS: San Francisco RB Frank Gore 31-134-1 TD.
THE STORY: Besides Green Bay, I bet you can't name one team in the NFL with a better record than San Francisco. You can't, because there isn't.

THE SCORE:
CINCINNATI (5-2) 34
Seattle (2-5) 12
THE STATS: Seattle outgains Cincinnati 411-252 in the loss.
THE STORY: Early Elias Sports Bureau Season-ending stat prediction alert: Seattle winds up with the worst 2nd place record of any NFL team, ever.

THE SCORE:
Dallas (2-5) 7
PHILADELPHIA (4-3) 34
THE STATS: Philadelphia RB LeSean McCoy 30-185-2 TDs.
THE STORY: Andy Reid now 13-0 after bye weeks; Eagles petitioning NFL to add 16 more bye weeks to the schedule.

THE SCORE:
San Diego (4-3) 20
KANSAS CITY (4-3) 23
THE STATS: San Diego QB Philip Rivers passing: 26-41-369-2-0 TD, 72.1 rating. San Diego QB Philip Rivers rushing: 3 carries, 1 yard, 1 fumble lost.
THE STORY: Philip Rivers did his best Romo in blowing a chance to win the game.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: WEEK #7

2011-10-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

So Tebowing has replaced planking as the latest Internet
craze. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Introducing-Tebowing-It-8217-s-like-planking-?urn=nfl-wp10549

I think I've seen this praying position before, but I just can't put
my finger on it. Maybe I'll remember after I leave the Rodin museum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker)

THE SCORE:
CHICAGO (4-3) 24
Tampa Bay (4-3) 18
THE STATS: Chicago RB Matt Forte 25-145-1 TD.
THE STORY: Tampa Bay's schedule doesn't get any easier, with 3 straight division leaders ahead (New Orleans, Houston, Green Bay).

THE SCORE:
Washington (3-3) 20
CAROLINA (2-5) 33
THE STATS: Carolina QB Cam Newton: 18-23-256-0-1 TD passing, 127.5 rating; 10-59-1 TD rushing.
THE STORY: After starting the season 3-1, Redskins (3-3) now just a .500 team in a .500 division.

THE SCORE:
San Diego (4-2) 21
NY JETS (4-3) 27
THE STATS: Jets defense holds Philip Rivers to 50% passing, 179 yards, 51.4 rating.
THE STORY: Jets not accustomed to being in 3rd place in the AFC East; San Diego not accustomed to leading the AFC West in October.

THE SCORE:
Seattle (2-4) 3
CLEVELAND (3-3) 6
THE STATS: Cleveland K Phil Dawson two 50+ yard field goals (52,53).
THE STORY: Let's be kind and just call this one "a defensive struggle".

THE SCORE:
HOUSTON (4-3) 41
Tennessee (3-3) 7
THE STATS: Houston RB Arian Foster 25-115-2 TD rushing; 5-119-1 TD receiving.
THE STORY: Texans laid down the most impressive combination of offensive (518 yards) and defensive (148 yards allowed) performances of the day -- until the Sunday Night game.

THE SCORE:
DENVER (2-4) 18
Miami (0-6) 15
THE STATS: Miami 15-0 lead with 7:34 to play.
THE STORY: Miami loses chance to win a game against the worst team it will face all year. The rest of Miami's schedule is entirely against teams with .500 or better records.

THE SCORE:
ATLANTA (4-3) 23
Detroit (5-2) 16
THE STATS: Detroit 1-12 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: In spite of 2 straight losses, Detroit would make the playoffs, if the season ended today. Unfortunately for them, the season doesn't end today.

THE SCORE:
KANSAS CITY (3-3) 28
Oakland (4-3) 0
THE STATS: Oakland gets 322 yards, 18 1st downs, but 0 points thanks
to 6 turnovers.
THE STORY: New Raiders QB Carson Palmer went for 17.3. That's not completions or points. That was his QB rating after replacing starter Kyle Boller in the 2nd half. Palmer was 8-21-116-3-0 TD.

THE SCORE:
PITTSBURGH (5-2) 32
Arizona (1-5) 20
THE STATS: Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger 26-39-361-0-3-121.8 rating.
THE STORY: At least Arizona still has two more games against winless St. Louis to look forward to.

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (0-6) 7
DALLAS (3-3) 34
THE STATS: Dallas RB DeMarco Murray 25-253-1 TD.
THE STORY: Why was DeMarco Murray still available for pickup as a free agent in my fantasy league on Wednesday after he set a Dallas rushing record?

THE SCORE:
GREEN BAY (7-0) 33
Minnesota (1-6) 27
THE STATS: Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers 24-30-335-0-3 TD, 146.5 rating.
THE STORY: Yes, Minnesota blew another halftime lead (17-13).

THE SCORE:
Indianapolis (0-7) 7
NEW ORLEANS (5-2) 62
THE STATS: New Orleans: 36 1st downs, 557 yards, 38:19 possession.
THE STORY: NBC showed Peyton Manning on the sidelines so many times during the Sunday Night broadcast, I thought I was watching ESPN "This is SportsCenter" commercials.

THE SCORE:
Baltimore (4-2) 7
JACKSONVILLE (2-5) 12
THE STATS: Jacksonville defense: allowed just 146 yards.
THE STORY: Baltimore saved their worst performance of the year for the national spotlight of Monday Night Football.

- 30 -

The NFL Story: Week #6

2011-10-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

So Chicago is playing Tampa Bay in England this Sunday. Is the game on the Tampa Bay season ticket plan? And are the Buccaneers planning on running a bus to the game for the fans?

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (0-5) 3
GREEN BAY (6-0) 24
THE STATS: Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers 17-28-310-1-3-119.6 rating.
THE STORY: No Super Bowl hangover here.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (1-5) 13
PITTSBURGH (4-2) 17
THE STATS: Pittsburgh balanced attack 185 yards rushing, 185 yards passing.
THE STORY: Steelers are sandwiched in the middle of a division separated 1st place to last by just 2 games.

THE SCORE:
PHILADELPHIA (2-4) 20
Washington (3-2) 13
THE STATS: Washington 1-10 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: Occupy Philadelphia protesters go back to complaining about Wall Street instead of Andy Reid.

THE SCORE:
SAN FRANCISCO(5-1) 25
Detroit (4-2) 19
THE STATS: San Francisco: 203 yards rushing, 7.0 average. 111 yards passing, 3.3 yards per pass play.
THE STORY: Niners and Lions were each 6-10 last year; now both 5-1.

THE SCORE:
Carolina (1-5) 17
ATLANTA (3-3) 31
THE STATS: Atlanta RB Michael Turner 27-139-2 TD.
THE STORY: Atlanta: Best .500 team in the NFL.

THE SCORE:
Indianapolis (0-6) 17
CINCINNATI (4-2) 27
THE STATS: Colts had just 2 penalties but 3 turnovers; Bengals 11 penalties but 0 turnovers.
THE STORY: Season not yet lost for Indy; they can match last year's record by running the table 10-0.

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (4-2) 24
NY GIANTS (4-2) 27
THE STATS: New York Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw 26-104-3 TDs.
THE STORY: Giants take 1-0 lead in the Battle For New York, this being a rare year when all 3 New York state teams play each other.

THE SCORE:
Houston (3-3) 14
BALTIMORE (4-1) 29
THE STATS: Baltimore K Billy Cundiff 2-2 XP, 5-5 FG (43, 48, 25, 33, 40), 17 points.
THE STORY: Houston completes the 0-3 weekend for the AFC South, which at 7-16 is the worst division in the NFL.

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (2-3) 17
OAKLAND (4-2) 24
THE STATS: Oakland defense allows just 3.9 yards per Cleveland play.
THE STORY: No letdown for Oakland after their emotional signature win of the season last week.

THE SCORE:
Dallas (2-3) 16
NEW ENGLAND (5-1) 20
THE STATS: Tom Brady 8-9-78 yards, TD passing, 2 yards rushing, on
last-minute drive.
THE STORY: Bill Belichick seemed happy about being back in first place in the AFC East; during his post game press lashing, he only snarled twice at the media, gave one word answers only 3 times, and even took off the hood.

THE SCORE:
New Orleans (4-2) 20
TAMPA BAY (4-2) 26
THE STATS: New Orleans +33 on total yards, but -4 on turnovers.
THE STORY: Huge tiebreaker loss for Saints as Tampa Bay ties for the division lead.

THE SCORE:
Minnesota (1-5) 10
CHICAGO (3-3) 39
THE STATS: Chicago QB Jay Cutler 21-31-267-0-2 TD, 115.9 rating.
THE STORY: Donovan McNabb had his best game of the season -- a 97.4 passer rating. And then got fired from his third 1st string QB job in three years. There's no stimulus plan in the world that can save McNabb's job.

THE SCORE:
Miami (0-5) 6
NY JETS (3-3) 24
THE STATS: Jets defense: 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovered, 2
interceptions, 1 pick six, 6 points allowed.
THE STORY: Jets coach Rex Ryan said that he would have two Super Bowl rings with San Diego if he'd had Norv Turner's personnel. Then he apologized. But what part of that was wrong?

- 30 -

The NFL Story: Week #5

2011-10-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

So Hank Williams Jr's theme song is no longer on Monday Night
Football. If only we could also get rid of that awful Faith Hill song.

THE SCORE:
KANSAS CITY (2-3) 28
Indianapolis (0-5) 24
THE STATS: Kansas City WR Dwayne Bowe 7-128-2 TD.
THE STORY: One day, Indianapolis will win a game. They just need to get Peyton Manning back. And Joseph Addai. And Marshall Faulk. And Marvin Harrison. And Edgerrin James. And Johnny Unitas. And Raymond Berry. And Lenny Moore. And Art Donovan.

THE SCORE:
Arizona (1-4) 10
MINNESOTA (1-4) 34
THE STATS: Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson 29-122-3 TD.
THE STORY: Even Minnesota couldn't blow a 28-3 halftime lead.

THE SCORE:
Philadelphia (1-4) 24
BUFFALO (4-1) 31
THE STATS: Buffalo LB Nick Barnett 2 Int, 1 TD return.
THE STORY: How bad is it for the Eagles? Well, you know that play at the end of the game, where the team that is leading with 1:30 left tries to draw the other team offsides by making like they are going to snap the ball on 4th down, but of course, everyone knows they are just trying to draw the defense offsides? It never works. Against the Eagles, it worked, as Juqua Parker jumped offsides, ruining a chance for the Eagles to score a late TD to tie.

THE SCORE:
OAKLAND (3-2) 25
Houston (3-2) 20
THE STATS: Oakland's Al Davis 1929-2011.
THE STORY: Just win, baby.

THE SCORE:
NEW ORLEANS (4-1) 30
Carolina (1-4) 27
THE STATS: New Orleans QB Drew Brees 32-45-359-1-2 TD, 100.1 rating.
THE STORY: Saints are the only team in the NFL to lose their first game and win every week since.

THE SCORE:
CINCINNATI (3-2) 30
Jacksonville (1-4) 20
THE STATS: Cincinnati 2-3 on 4th down conversions.
THE STORY: With Jacksonville down by just 3 points, the official description of the final wild play for the Jags went like this: QB Blaine Gabbert passed to Mike Thomas to the right for 13 yard gain. Mike Thomas fumbled. Maurice Jones-Drew recovered fumble. Maurice Jones-Drew fumbled. Jarett Dillard recovered fumble. lateral to
Blaine Gabbert. Blaine Gabbert fumbled. Geno Atkins recovered fumble and returned for 10 yards (Mike Nugent made PAT).

THE SCORE:
Tennessee (3-2) 17
PITTSBURGH (3-2) 38
THE STATS: Pittsburgh offense: 26 first downs.
THE STORY: Titans' RB Chris Johnson still trying to be Chris Johnson (14-51-1 TD).

THE SCORE:
SEATTLE (2-3) 36
NY Giants (3-2) 25
THE STATS: Teams combined for 31 points on 6 scores in the 4th quarter.
THE STORY: Giants blow a shot at the NFC East lead against an NFC West team that was 0-3 outside its own division.

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (3-2) 3
SAN FRANCISCO(4-1) 48
THE STATS: San Francisco RB Frank Gore 20-121 TD.
THE STORY: San Francisco had more yards rushing (213) than passing (205). Didn't they pass a rule against such things in the NFL ?

THE SCORE:
NY Jets (2-3) 21
NEW ENGLAND (4-1) 30
THE STATS: New England RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis 27-136-2 TD.
THE STORY: Jets have given up 30 points in each of the past three games, all losses. First two games, gave up 27 points combined, winning both.

THE SCORE:
SAN DIEGO (4-1) 29
Denver (1-4) 24
THE STATS: San Diego balanced offense 206 yards rushing, 212 passing.
THE STORY: San Diego, a notoriously slow starting team, is already 4-1. Denver is just notoriously bad.

THE SCORE:
GREEN BAY (5-0) 25
Atlanta (2-3) 14
THE STATS: Green Bay 25 straight points after spotting Atlanta a 14-0 lead.
THE STORY: Between now and Week #12 when 5-0 Packers finally play 5-0 Detroit, Green Bay's 5 opponents are 9-15 (.375).

THE SCORE:
Chicago (2-3) 13
DETROIT (4-1) 24
THE STATS: Teams combined for 26 penalties for 198 yards (Chicago: 14-104).
THE STORY: I don't know what was more bizarre -- seeing the Lions play on Monday Night Football, or not hearing Hank Williams, Jr. on Monday Night Football.

- 30 -

The NFL Story Week # 1

2011-09-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

So the NFL put kick offs up at the 35-yard line. Some day, I will tell my son about the old days, when kicks were run back for touchdowns.

THE SCORE:
New Orleans (0-1) 34
GREEN BAY (1-0) 42
THE STATS: Each team scored at least one touchdown in every quarter.
THE STORY: What a great show the NFL put on for the opening game of the season. It was exciting, entertaining, and full of fireworks. And that was *before* the kickoff.

THE SCORE:
Pittsburgh (0-1) 7
BALTIMORE (1-0) 35
THE STATS: Pittsburgh: 7 turnovers
THE STORY: Steelers tumble in all of those NFL "Power Ranking" articles.

THE SCORE:
DETROIT (1-0) 27
Tampa Bay (0-1) 20
THE STATS: Detroit WR Calvin Johnson 6-88-2 TD.
THE STORY: Seems like the last time Detroit won an opener was the Johnson administration. That's Andrew Johnson.

THE SCORE:
Atlanta (0-1) 12
CHICAGO (1-0) 30
THE STATS: Chicago 9.0 yards per pass play.
THE STORY: Significant game, as this was the only game all weekend between two of last year's division winners.

THE SCORE:
BUFFALO (1-0) 41
Kansas City (0-1) 7
THE STATS: Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 17-25-208-0-4 TD, 133.0 rating.
THE STORY: C'mon, admit it, you're thinking it: Buffalo worst to first?

THE SCORE:
Indianapolis (0-1) 7
HOUSTON (1-0) 34
THE STATS: Indianapolis QB Kerry Collins 16-31-197-0-1 TD, 82.3 rating filling in for Peyton Manning.
THE STORY: A bit of advice for the Colts. It's all "succession planning". Try it at your quarterback position.

THE SCORE:
PHILADELPHIA (1-0) 31
St. Louis (0-1) 13
THE STATS: Philadelphia RB LeSean McCoy 15-122-1 TD.
THE STORY: There were 7 kickoff returns in this game, only 1 punt return. Who said the NFL was eliminating kick off returns?

THE SCORE:
CINCINNATI (1-0) 27
Cleveland (0-1) 17
THE STATS: Cincinnati 2 TDs in final 5 minutes.
THE STORY: Smart scheduling decision to have Cincinnati and Cleveland play each other in the opening week. One of them gets to lead the division for exactly 7 days. Sell tickets while you can, boys.

THE SCORE:
Tennessee (0-1) 14
JACKSONVILLE (1-0) 16
THE STATS: Jacksonville defense: allows just 13 first downs, only 1 by rushing.
THE STORY: How bad a day did Chris Johnson (9-24 yards) have? His fantasy owners wish they had selected Donovan McNabb instead.

THE SCORE:
NY Giants (0-1) 14
WASHINGTON (1-0) 28
THE STATS: NY Giants: 1-11 on 3rd/4th down efficiency.
THE STORY: Losing a conference and division game not a good way to start the season. Giants haven't made the playoffs since their Super Bowl win. How long does a 2007 season Super Bowl victory let you hold your head coaching job, anyway?

THE SCORE:
Carolina (0-1) 21
ARIZONA (1-0) 28
THE STATS: Carolina QB Cam Newton 24-37-422-1-2 TD, 110.4 rating; 8-18-1 TD rushing in the loss.
THE STORY: Is the NFC South (0-4) the new NFC West?

THE SCORE:
Seattle (0-1) 17
SAN FRANCISCO(1-0) 33
THE STATS: San Francisco K David Akers 4-4 FG (27,25,31,18), 3-3 XP after being let go by Philadelphia.
THE STORY: No panic in Seattle, where a 7-8 record for the sest of the season will match last year's division-winning record.

THE SCORE:
Minnesota (0-1) 17
SAN DIEGO (1-0) 24
THE STATS: Minnesota QB Donovan McNabb 7-15-39-1-1 TD in Vikings debut.
THE STORY: Who are these coaches that keep trading for McNabb?

THE SCORE:
Dallas (0-1) 24
NY JETS (1-0) 27
THE STATS: Dallas was up 24-10 in the 4th quarter. Naturally, they lost.
THE STORY: Romo's interception with under a minute to go adds to his list of late-game chokes. Hey, holding a ball for a game-winning kick in a playoff game is difficult.

THE SCORE:
NEW ENGLAND (1-0) 38
Miami (0-1) 24
THE STATS: New England QB Tom Brady 32-48-517-1-4 TD, 121.6 rating.
THE STORY: Brady had the 5th most fantasy points -- I mean, passing yards -- of all time.

THE SCORE:
OAKLAND (1-0) 23
Denver (0-1) 20
THE STATS: Oakland K Sebastien Janikowski record-tying 63-yard FG (3-3 FGs) as time expires in the 1st half.
THE STORY: Great way to end a great weekend and evening of football. If you could stay up until 1:46am to watch it.

- 30 -

THE U

2011-08-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

The biggest little scandal to hit college sports since the last scandal to hit college sports has been flying under the radar for awhile, but this one looks like it could be the grandaddy of all the college sports scandals.

I won't go into the long, lengthy, sordid details here. I could never summarize 6744 words in a 200-line newsletter. You can read the ground-breaking story on the controversy surrounding the University of Miami athletic program here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/investigations/news?slug=cr-renegade_miami_booster_details_illicit_benefits_081611

Let's just set a little background before getting to a few observations and questions that are raised by it.

Nevin Shapiro made millions in a ponzi scheme, filtered substantial sums of money to top football and basketball athletes at the University of Miami, as well as the athletic program itself. He lavished cars, cash, parties, and prostitutes at the players, eventually investing in a sports player representation firm. Shapiro then sheparded to the firm athletes with whom he'd nurtured very close relationships. After going to jail in connection with the ponzi scheme in 2010, he felt abandoned and betrayed by the Miami athletic community, so he dropped the goods on The U.

And that brings us to The Sports Bar's questions surrounding this mess at one of the country's most successful athletic programs:

1. Why didn't these allegations come out earlier? Shapiro's connection to Miami started in 2002. There were neighbors who saw the players at the Booster's house. Employees on Shapiro's yacht interacted with the player. Bodyguards saw everything. Restaurant staff served them. Prostitutes performed favors. Why didn't they come forward earlier? Maybe they did, maybe their stories weren't believable. Is a felon like Shapiro the most reliable source around?

2. Does the story establish Yahoo Sports as a major sports investigative reporting outlet? Yahoo Sports spent 100 hours interviewing the central figure, Nevin Shapiro, alone. They then sought corroboration of everything about which they reported. Right now, ESPN's Outside The Lines has nothing on Yahoo Sports investigations.

3. What part of the allegations were illegal? I don't think the Yahoo Sports story even once mentioned how, if at all, the gifts and favors were illegal. The story did refer to some activities as being "permissable", but I believe that was in the context of NCAA regulations. Just about every breath that Shapiro took on campus -- or off -- led to obvious NCAA violations. But was there illegal bribery? Prostitution? Was the conduct of the player agency in violation of Florida state laws? What about the use of the illegally gotten ponzi money?

4. What is the most disturbing of the allegations? The cash to players? The sex-induced parties? The conflict of interest in sending players to Shapiro's own player agency? The way the University either looked the other way, or was so stupid as not to see what was happening right under their noses? To me, the worst thing Shapiro initiated may have been the cash bounty put on Florida State quarterback Chris Rix. Money was offered to Miami players who could hurt Rix in the Miami vs. Florida State game.

5. Let's see how many steps it takes for this scandal to reach a messy political connection: 1. Donna Shalala is and was the President of the University of Miami when Shapiro was engaging in this behavior, including handing a $ 50,000 check to Shalala at a basketball fund raiser. Shalala was previously the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Clinton administration. There you go; just two degrees of separation.

6. That said, how long before someone tries to connect this to the White House (like I just did?). Will the Fair and Balanced network drum up an inference of impropriety on the part of a former democratic cabinet member? And will the Lean Forward network then blast the Fair and Balanced for trying to make the University of Miami story into a race issue, and blame the Tea Party?

7. The NCAA now says they have been investigating The U of Miami for 4 months now. Great! But why didn't they mention this before? I can understand confidentiality and "No Comment" on pending investigations, but why did they suddenly find it necessary to admit they were investigating? If their position before the Yahoo Sports story broke was not to reveal who they are investigating, why did they not stick to that policy?

8. If true, will the conduct by Shapiro and the athletic department be the Watergate of all college athletic violations? According to Yahoo Sports, several coaches knew what was going on. Will the NCAA invoke exceptions to their 4-year statute of limitations, or will The U get off easy because of the statute of limitations? And will this put a cloud over the entire athletic department at Miami, the entire Big East conference in which they play, or all of college sports?

You'll want to stay up on this, because it has all the makings of not just water cooler talk, but of being The Big One.

- 30 -

MORE REPORTING, LESS EDITORIALIZING

2011-08-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

I usually don't have a problem with ESPN's Outside The Lines stories. How can you? The Sunday morning show is informative, hard-hitting, and, well, accurate.

Its the accurate part that I am now questioning.

On Sunday's OTL, ESPN continued following the story of The Ohio State football program. This is the program that is the current poster child for what is wrong with college football, recruiting, and corrupt coaches. Of course, the story recanted the issues with former star quarterback Terrell Pryor's receiving goods and services in exchange for his autographing memorabilia, and with former head coach Jim Tressel's lassiez-faire (to put it kindly) attitude towards reporting known NCAA violations.

What bugs me was a small, but sensationalized reference in the piece. If you hadn't been scrutinizing the story, it would have slipped right past you. It was almost a throwaway line -- except that it unfairly damned The Ohio State University athletic department.

The reference was made in conjunction with OTL's reporting on the money allegedly made by OSU boosters in the market for autographed memorabilia. That's money which, as the story goes, eventually made its way to players in the form of favors or cash.

What OTL said in the story was:

"Ohio State may have seeded the market for autographed merchandise."

That was a reference specifically aimed at a particular OSU-sponsored player autograph event.

What is bothersome is that the ESPN story would try to damn OSU for doing something innocuous, while making it sound like OSU's conduct was part of the overall bad conduct on the part of the University and its employees -- and by employees, we include coaches and players.

This is no excuse for The Ohio State, but plenty of schools conduct events like this one. So are all football programs "seeding the market" for player autographs because they choose to hold player meet and greets like the one depicted by ESPN?

It is hard to understand how an autograph session or sessions even manages to "seed the market" for memorabilia, anyway. The accusation against the players were that they specifically and privately signed stuff for boosters who returned favors -- like tatoos -- to the players. It is not alleged that signed merchandise was taken from those official OSU events and resold in a manner which violated NCAA rules.

And their is no allegation that the autograph signing event was a violation of NCAA rules. So why did ESPN go out of their way to mention the autograph event?

Indeed, if the official Buckeye athletic department signing events had any effect, it would have been to diminish and water down the memorabilia market, not to "seed" the market, as ESPN alleges. By making more autographed gear accessible, OSU would have discouraged other boosters from getting players to sign for them personally. The official OSU events would have made the privately-signed stuff less valuable in a watered-down market for memorabilia.

This mention of "seeding the market" by the ESPN story was just one part of a much larger, well-done piece. It is just hard to understand why the reference was used, except to make the story more sensational and damning of The Ohio State University.

ESPN's Outside The Lines is great TV for anyone interested in the other side of sports. But we can do without the editorializing.

- 30 -

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND PAUL KRUGMAN

2011-08-08T04:02:00.000-07:00

I heard a funny guy on TV the other, which got me thinking a little
bit about the relationship between sports statistics and politics and
economics.

Hey, this is The Sports Bar Newsletter, where we can draw a
relationship between sports and ANYTHING.

The funny guy was uber-liberal commentator, columnist, and Nobel
Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman. You might recognize The Beard
from his Sunday morning newspaper columns and his appearances on
ABC's This Week show on Sunday mornings, which I still refer to
lovingly as "The Brinkley Show."

Krugman, if you've ever read or heard two words that he strung
together, is just about as liberal a guy as you can get. To him, FDR
was a conservative, and Barack Obama is a fascist.

I don't know if Krugman is a sports fan, ala his fellow Brinkley Show
round table panelist George Will. But I know that Krugman would make
a good sports fan.

On Sunday's This Week show, the panelists doing the round table
commentary with host Christiane Amanpour included Krugman, Will, and
conservative tax-hater Grover Norquist.

It was Norquist who made the "Better than" type of sports argument,
but in a political/economic context. He said that the economy was
better in states that had dealt with, and balanced, their
budgets. Places like New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Texas, and Florida.

SIDEBAR: Coincidentally (???), all the governors in those states are
Republicans.

Well, Krugman could not let this conservative argument go
unchallenged, like a great baseball question of "A-Rod or Pujols?"

=====================================================
SIDEBAR:
Alex Rodriguez per 162 games: .302 / 43 HR / 128 RBI
Albert Pujols per 162 games: .328 / 42 HR / 127 RBI
=====================================================

Krugman responded to Norquist by saying "We can get into statistics,
but it just isn't true".

Ah. Krugman, so smug with that Nobel Prize apparently stuck up his
butt, could only respond to Norquist with "It just isn't true?" And
his evidence is "We can get into statistics." ?

By saying "We can get into statistics," I think Krugman is conceding
the evidence in favor of Norquist. It is like saying "Sure, you have
the statistical evidence on your side, and we could argue this stat
or that stat all day. I mean, sure, if all you want to do is look at
statistics, then you're right."

"But it just isn't true."

If they were arguing about great baseball players, the two This Week
panelists might have shared a similar exchange:

Norquist: "Hank Aaron was better than Willie Mays. Aaron had more
career home runs, RBI's, better batting average, RBI's. Hank Aaron
was better than Willie Mays."

Krugman: "We can get into statistics, but it just isn't true".

Paul Krugman doesn't need the statistics to be on his side. He just
has to look at you and say you're wrong. And I guess that's good
enough for the media who continue to put him on the air and in print.

- 30 -

INSTANT REPLAY: INSTANT REPLAY:

2011-08-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Now that bad umpiring calls have stolen a win from the Pirates, in
addition to a perfect game by Armando Galarraga, and a World Series
from the St. Louis Cardinals, it is time once again for Baseball
Commissioner Bud Selig to reject instant replay for Baseball.

Selig, who has shown himself to be a baseball purist in few other
other aspects of the game, has repeatedly rejected the expanded use
of instant replay. In the wake of Wednesday night's 19-inning game
that was decided by one of the worst calls in baseball history,
someone on ESPN's The Sports Reporters or The Sports Bar Newsletter
will claim that now is the time to finally use replay to help the
umpires do a difficult job.

When Atlanta's Julio Lugo crossed the plate and was called safe by
umpire Jerry Meals in the 19th inning of Wednesday's game against
Pittsburgh, it showed how infallible are umpires, and how necessary
is instant replay.

MLB and umpire Meals later admitted the call was a mistake. But do
we need any more mea culpas from umpires, as was the case when Jim
Joyce made a bad call last year that cost Detroit pitcher Armando
Galarraga a perfect game? Or when Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta
safe in the 9th inning of Game 6 of the 1985 World Series? That play
would have ended the Series in favor of St. Louis, but instead,
Kansas City went on to win the game and Game 7.

The technology for instant replay is not only available, but already
in place. MLB uses it for home runs. And every pitch of every game
is video recorded by MLB. The league doesn't even need to turn
everything into a reviewable moment. Strikes and balls should be
sacred, and not subject to replays. All close plays would not need
to be reviewable. Reviews could be limited to just scoring plays at
the plate. Or walk-off plays. Or just 9th-inning plays. The NFL
already changes the way replays are used late in the game, putting
reviews in the hands of booth officials in the final minutes of a game.

Would baseball games be longer with replay? Maybe not. If video
reviews were used, managers would argue less frequently. They would
not come trotting out of the dugout on every close play, because they
know that instant replay would solve the matter. And just like balls
and strikes cannot be argued, MLB could eliminate arguments for
reviewable plays, thus speeding up the games.

So there you have it, Bud. The ball is in your field.

- 30 -

The Irony

2011-06-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

I found it interesting to see what was happening in labor law over the past winter and into the spring, from state capitals to sports CBA negotiating strategies.

We all saw the highly charged political environment in Wisconsin, where the governor and legislature have been attempting to reel in the costs of state government, even if that means doing so at the expense of lucrative labor union contracts. Lucrative for the unions, that is.

The volatile atmosphere revolved around what many in the labor community charged was an effort by the Wisconsin government to break unions. The result was an energized and even more resilient union base. It resulted in an environment where unions were trying to strengthen support for, and membership in, unions.

And then along come the NFL player's union to ruin all that.

Isn't it funny that in the middle of this charged pro-union atmosphere, that the NFL player's union, a member of the AFL-CIO, decided that being unionized was a bad thing? That the player's made a choice to de-certify and no longer be represented by a union? That they wholly rejected unionization as the best choice for their future?

That's what the players indicated in March, when they officially decertified during the current NFL lockout.

The answers, of course, are that the de-certification was, irony of ironies, the most collective thing the players could have done. By de-certifying, the players were not rejecting their union, but trying to gain leverage against the owners.

That's because, as non-union workers, the players had a right to sue the NFL owners for anti-trust violations. But as a collective unit, the players were unable to sue the owners.

And make no mistake, football -- and just about any sport -- are walking violations of antitrust law. The act of competitive entities (owners) collectively scheduling their product output (scheduling of games), of dividing up their raw materials (the draft), and other collective measures, are against antitrust law. Just about the only thing the owners have a right to do is combine their efforts to negotiate television contracts and broadcast games, a right they were
given under federal law, in exchange for agreeing not to broadcast NFL games against high school and college football. On the collective negotiation of television rights, the players could not
sue the owners.

So here are the players, having officially decertified, for the obvious purpose of gaining leverage against the owners. It was a smart, calculated move. Deciding that they (officially) no longer
wanted to collectively bargain was probably the most collective thing they could do. And make no mistake, this is just a ploy by the players. They will no doubt re-certify the first chance they
get. And this wouldn't be the first time the players played this de-cert, re-cert game. In 1987, the NFLPA decertified in order to pursue antitrust litigation to win free agency. They recertified in 1993.

Mark my words, the players will recertify again, even if it is just a formality. They'll become a union again, just in time to go march in support of unionized labor in Wisconsin. Yeah, that will be the day.

- 30 -

Changes to the NCAA Tournament

2011-03-14T04:24:00.000-07:00

HOW THE TOURNAMENT CHANGES:

Let us break down some of the details about how the 2011 NCAA tournament is
changing compared to previous years.

WHERE TO WATCH:

The tournament broadcast environment is vastly different this
year. Now, every game will be broadcast -- in its entirety. No more
waiting for halftime cut-ins, or post-game "bonus coverage" to watch
portions of some games. It will take 4 networks to show all of these
games, with Turner's truTV, TBS, and TNT cable outlets joining CBS in
broadcasting the tournament.

So our first tip is to find out -- now -- where the 3 Turner channels
are on your cable or satellite lineup.

TV SCHEDULE:

For the love of the tournament, check this link now and keep it handy
as a way to get a feel for the busy television schedule over the next
few weeks:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/2011-03-08/men's-march-madness-tv-schedule

While games are listed only as "Game 1," "Game 2," and so on, we see
how truTV, TBS, and TNT are woven into the tournament broadcast
schedule. For example, truTV will broadcast all of the Tuesday and
Wednesday games from Dayton. The games will start at 6:30pm and
9:00pm on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

And here is the early afternoon schedule for the Thursday games that
starts the Round of 64:

12:00pm: Game #1 on CBS
12:30pm: Game #1 on truTV
1:30pm: Game #1 on TBS
2:00pm: Game #1 on TNT

Game #2, Game #3, etc., follow later in the day on each of the 4
televising networks.

The Friday games are on exactly the same schedule.

Good luck watching those overlapping games. Keep a fresh set of
batteries handy for your remote control.

MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND:

The NCAA and their broadcast partners continue their amazing (read:
FREE) March Madness On Demand online streaming service. This allows
us to watch out-of-market games online. I am not certain, though,
why we need MMOD as much as in the past, since all games will be
broadcast by CBS or one of the Turner cable outlets. Certainly,
having a computer available as a second TV monitor adds a great deal
of convenience in watching the tournament.

MMOD is also expanded to allow streaming of games to the iPhone, iPod
Touch, and iPads.

Visit this link to sign up and get more info:
http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/2011-03-03/enhanced-mmod-ready-debut

- 30 -

The NFL Story Week # 7

2010-10-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

THE NFL STORY: WEEK # 7

So it was a good thing that Obamacare passed. I checked, and it
covers concussions. So, the half of the NFL currently on the injured
list is covered.

THE SCORE:
PITTSBURGH (5-1) 23
Miami (3-3) 22
THE STATS: Pittsburgh defense: gives up 22 points, most all season.
THE STORY: The "other team" in Miami not generating quite as much excitement.

THE SCORE:
Cincinnati (2-4) 32
ATLANTA (5-2) 39
THE STATS: Atlanta WR Roddy White 11-201-2 TD.
THE STORY: Cincinnati last year: Division winner. Cincinnati this
year: high draft pick.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (3-4) 20
KANSAS CITY (4-2) 42
THE STATS: Kansas City QB Matt Cassell 144.0 passer rating on just
13-18-193-0-2 TDs.
THE STORY: After David Garrad's concussion, Jacksonville handed the
QB duties to journeyman Todd Bouman (18-34-222-2-2 TD), who last
played in the NFL in 2005. That's 5 years ago. I don't know if
that's some kind of record, but it must be close.

THE SCORE:
Philadelphia (4-3) 19
TENNESSEE (5-2) 37
THE STATS: Tennessee WR Kenny Britt 7-225-3 TDs.
THE STORY: Tennessee outscores Philadelphia 27-3 in 4th
quarter. Actually, it took Tennessee only 13:26 to score 27
points. At that rate, they would score 121 points over a full
game. Even Nebraska doesn't score that much.

THE SCORE:
WASHINGTON (4-3) 17
Chicago (4-3) 14
THE STATS: Chicago 6 turnovers.
THE STORY: Incredibly, Chicago turned the ball over 6 of the 7 times
they had the ball in the 2nd half. The other time was a punt.

THE SCORE:
CLEVELAND (2-5) 30
New Orleans (4-3) 17
THE STATS: Cleveland QB Colt McCoy 9-16-74-0-0, 68.2 rating in first NFL win.
THE STORY: New Orleans had more first downs (25 to 12), more yards
gained (394 to 210), far more TOP (35:34 to 24:26), but lost due to
more turnovers (4 to 0).

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (0-6) 34
BALTIMORE (5-2) 37
THE STATS: Buffalo loses in spite of 506 yards offense, to 364 for Baltimore.
THE STORY: Buffalo fumbled the ball. In overtime. On their own 41
yard line. And committed a 16 yard penalty after the recovery. 5
plays later, Baltimore kicked the game winning field goal. You can't
make up stuff like this about Buffalo.

THE SCORE:
San Francisco(1-6) 20
CAROLINA (1-5) 23
THE STATS: Carolina 10 points in final 2 minutes.
THE STORY: Things I never knew: That the performance of the area's
football team (49ers) is inversely proportional to the success of the
baseball team (Giants). See also: Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers.

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (3-4) 17
TAMPA BAY (4-2) 18
THE STATS: Tampa Bay kicker Connor Barth 4-4 FG (24,39,53,38).
THE STORY: Tampa Bay already surpasses last year's win total of 3.

THE SCORE:
Arizona (3-3) 10
SEATTLE (4-2) 22
THE STATS: Arizona only 2-13 on 3rd and 4th down conversions.
THE STORY: Seattle's opponents only 15-26 (.366) on the season, but
last two weeks Seahawks defeated the then-division leader (Chicago, Arizona).

THE SCORE:
NEW ENGLAND (5-1) 23
San Diego (2-5) 20
THE STATS: New England just 179 yards in offense to 363.
THE STORY: AFC West currently a complete inverse of last year's
division finish (San Diego, Denver, Oakland, Kansas City).

THE SCORE:
OAKLAND (3-4) 59
Denver (2-5) 14
THE STATS: Oakland RB Darren McFadden 16-165-3 TD, 2-31-1 TD receiving.
THE STORY: Oakland scares me. No, not because they scored 59
points, but because they are owned by Al Davis.

THE SCORE:
Minnesota (2-4) 24
GREEN BAY (4-3) 28
THE STATS: Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers 21-34-295-2-2TD, 84.8 rating.
THE STORY: Minnesota QB Brett Favre 16-29-212-3-1 TD, 50.4 rating in
his last game at Lambeau Field. Or at least, we hope it is.

THE SCORE:
NY GIANTS (5-2) 41
Dallas (1-5) 35
THE STATS: New York offense: 200 yards rushing (5.4 avg) to Dallas'
41 yards (3.2 avg).
THE STORY: Mr. Jones will see you now about that job opening, Mr. Cowher.

2010-07-12T04:48:00.001-07:00

AND NOW, HERE IS THE HOST AND STAR OF OUR SHOW: LeBron James

So LeBron James gets his own one hour show on ESPN, called The Decision. He won't be taking on sports challenges from other athletes. He won't be dancing for a disco ball. And he won't be trying to prove that he is smarter than a 5th grader.

No, LeBron gets a full hour, just to say the name of an NBA basketball team.

That's right, we need a full hour, of prime time sports programming, just to hear LeBron James tell us for which team he will be playing in the middle years of his NBA career. This is valuable air time, usually reserved for such important events as the NFL Draft, the All-Star selection show, and The ESPYs.

And the ESPY for most Overhyped Free Agency goes to....

Now, let's be fair. A free agent of the caliber of King James is a pretty big deal. If he'd been traded to another team, the event would be on par with Wayne Gretzky going to the Los Angeles Kings, or Alex Rodriguez from Seattle to the Texas Rangers. Or the Yankees. You just don't see the game's best player, future Hall of Famer, and top 10, 25, or 50 players, moving very often.

The James free agency has been called The Biggest Free Agent. Ever. What has not been explained, is the criteria for the Biggest Free Agent. Ever. If you are judging this on being a future hall of famer, then fine. But it has happened before. Should the standard be a multiple MVPs? Maybe if you're the game's best player at that time, the you get to be the Biggest Free Agent. Ever. Or, should the Big Man On Free Agent Campus be measured by the number of league titles he owns? By that standard, the LeBron stakes are no big deal.

But we are told LeBron's free agency is a big deal. By ESPN, and by golly, we have to believe it. Because if ESPN says it is true, then it must be true. And if it is not true, then it SHOULD be true. Because ESPN says so.

ESPN has been great at hyping the entire LeBron affair. It seems that most of their programming, from SportsCenter to the Sports Reporters, has been taken over by LeBron speculation. There is now a larger cottage industry of LeBron speculation than Obama birthers.

And that whole Obama thing is the Biggest Birth Certificate Controversy. Ever.

Even the ESPN scroll has been taken over by LeBron, with constant updates on.... well, on nothing, really. The scrolls may tell us to which teams he has been talking to, but recently, all we have been reading on the bottom of the SportsCenter screen is how LeBron would be announcing his decision this coming week.

The entire affair is vaguely reminiscent of the John McCain announcement for vice president during the Republican National Convention. That was when one cable news station actually ran a scroll under a "Breaking News" banner, that said that McCain was not going to announce his choice for veep until later. That's right, the "Breaking News" was that THERE WAS NO NEWS.

So LeBron James will have his prime time special on ESPN, announce where he is going to play, and then we can get on with ignoring the NBA again.

POST GAME ANALYSIS:

ESPN's production for their main man, LeBron James, was interesting. I found it particularly amusing near the start of the show, when ESPN host Stuart Scott asked his roundtable panel just where they thought LeBron James was going to take his services.

Panelists Jon Barry, Michael Wilbon, and Chris Broussard stepped over each other to say that "their sources" told each of them that James was going to Miami.

- 30 -

WHEN SPORTS IS LIKE POLITICS: Reform is as reform does.

2010-03-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

It was interesting to see the political process play out over the past year, especially in the past few weeks, as so-called "Health Care Reform" became a bigger political football than anything in a football game.

I don't really know, and I doubt anyone else knows, exactly what "Health Care Reform" is, and although I am still in the middle of reading H.R. 4872 right now, I am sure of this: It is not what Teddy Roosevelt first proposed about 100 years ago. Nor is it what Franklin Roosevelt wanted some 70 years ago. It sure isn't what Hillary Clinton (the first lady, not the Secretary of State nor the presidential candidate) tried to push through more than 16 years ago. Heck, the Health Care bill that was wrangled through the House recently wasn't even the bill that the House wanted. It wasn't what Barack Obama wanted when he ran for the office he now holds. But in the world of politics and semantics, all you have to do is repeat the lie long enough, and if the media picks up on it, then it will have legs. So "Health Care Reform" it is, complete with the lack of care
for millions of Americans, lack of universal coverage, failure to include all of the costs that will ultimately have to be paid for, but including funding for abortion, all of the back-room deals, the arm-twisting, the useless Executive Orders, broken promises to televise proceedings on CSPAN, the higher taxes, the more types of taxes, the forcing of people to purchase a product they may, or may not, want to buy, the inevitable huge deficits, and general lack of decorum by everyone who had an opinion on the bill, Mr. Olbermann.

So where is the sport in all of this? If you watched what I did over the past week on CSPAN, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, you will know that there was more strategy than an NFL game, more defense than a college basketball tournament, more slugging it out than an entire NHL hockey season, and more lack of ethical conduct than every Major League Baseball player who has juiced.

I will let you know when I finish reading the Health Care Reform Bill. Or whatever it really is.

WHEN SPORTS IS LIKE POLITICS: Reform

I am not certain if this article written by Matt Hinton on Yahoo's Rivals.com sports forum was meant to be poignant, timely, or just plain sarcastic, but there was the headline in an article which tried to make sense of the new NFL playoffs overtime rule, the rule where a team which kicks a field goal in overtime will have to give the other team a chance with the ball. The headline read:

NFL owners pass overtime reform. Should the NCAA be next?

I don't know how intentional was that headline, but I am certain that it would have been written differently just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

The adoption of the word "reform" in a far more reaching context reminds me of how another word morphed from politics into sports and mainstream use.

It was back when Bill Clinton had a tawdry, adulterous, extra-marital affair of adultery that was adulterous in nature.

But not to worry, those words I just wrote never, ever, appeared anywhere in print when describing the adulterous affair engaged in by Bill Clinton.

Instead, Clinton's handlers managed to get the media to buy into his only having a "inappropriate relationship."

Ah, "inappropriate". The meaningless word that can be made to lesson a more serious offense, or make a lesser offense more sinister (think about it; Human Resources staff are great at making it a crime to do perfectly legal things, like discuss your pay with other employees. Such minor actions are called "inappropriate".)

Much like the "inappropriate" reference had crept into our vernacular, we now have this word "reform" morphing to the sports world.

- 30 -

You Will Survive

2010-01-29T04:25:00.000-08:00

Last week, I told you about the upcoming breast cancer fund raising event that was going to surrounded the Penn State women's basketball game last Sunday, a game won by Penn State over Illinois, by a score of 70-66.

I had a chance to attend this game, and it was a privilege to do so. The crowd was decidedly younger women, with many high school girls teams apparently in attendance. There were free pink water bottles, free pink pom poms, a silent auction of sports items (I picked up a nifty collection of Penn State football booster buttons), and lots of pink t-shirts. A portion of each ticket was donated to breast cancer causes.

The highlight of the day had to be the halftime program, where women, wearing pink "Survivor" t-shirts, were invited to walk out onto the court. Hundreds of them streamed out from all corners of the arena, until the court was ringed with women who had beaten cancer.

The school then played Gloria Gaynor's disco classic, "I will Survive".

It was difficult not to shed a tear at this event. Seeing all these women, including a family friend, walk onto that court, made you realize that all that money is doing good work. Whether you give through Susan G. Komen, or The Three Day Walk, or Penn State's Pink Zone, the results were right in front of you. Those women are alive because of their own courage, as well as the who people cared enough to give time and money to help them survive.

- 30 -

I HAD A DREAM... and it was to host The Tonight Show

2010-01-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

The mess with NBC has turned into a real loser for the network, viewers, affiliates, but most of all, Conan O'Brien, who did the least to hurt himself, but is the one being hurt the most -- with apologies to all of his staffers who followed him to California, and may now be out of a job.

Then again, maybe it is Conan who is hurting Conan.

With all of the finger pointing going on -- in case you haven't noticed -- the one bit of blame that has not been placed is Conan's decision to abandon the Tonight Show.

Abandon? That's not too strong of a word, isn't it?

It is O'Brien's choice to leave the show that he took over 7 months ago. Conan and his writers and drummer and quirky trombone player could all just keep on doing exactly the same thing they have been doing, and doing it at the same time every night. The only difference would be the time that the show is aired to the nation, a whopping 30 minutes after the current time.

But this argument ignores the fact of what the Tonight Show really is, and we think we need a sports analogy to make sense of it.

Football fans might remember that once upon a time, there was an NFL game that was played and broadcast on Sunday nights, and one on Monday nights. That's right. This, in contrast to the more recent events which have the NFL playing and broadcasting a game on Sunday nights, and one on Monday nights.

So what's the difference?

If you are very old, say, 12 years older or more, you probably can remember when ABC's Monday Night Football (using capital letters, mind you) was THE game of the week. It got the best time slot, it got network broadcasting, it got the choice of the best games, it got the most hype, it got it's own pre-game show (oft times on ESPN), and it got the best announcers.

It was a brand.

It was an event.

It was the game on which all players wanted to appear, and all young sports announcers wanted to announce.

It was basically The Tonight Show of football.

Suddenly, though, this all changed 4 seasons ago. The Game of The Week was now that Sunday Night Game. Starting in 2006, the Sunday night game was on network television (moved to NBC from ESPN). The Sunday night game had the flex scheduling for the best matchups. The Sunday night game got the dedicated pre-game show, got the most
eyeballs, and oh yeah, it got...

....the best announcers.

First, it was John Madden who jumped ship, agreeing to move from the ABC Monday night broadcast, as it was preparing to move from ABC network to ESPN on cable, to the new NBC-aired Sunday night game, just as the Sunday game was being shifted from ESPN cable to NBC network.

Madden was the latter-day Conan, moving from a spot on the secondary game (ESPN's Monday Night Football) to the top game of the week (NBC's Sunday Night Football). This may contrast O'Brien's earlier move, which was from the minor league "Late Night" show to the top billing at the 11:35pm slot. Madden wanted to stay with the
signature football game of the week, and that game was now broadcast somewhere else.

Al Michaels, apparently feeling left behind to do his games on (yuck!) cable, managed to get out of his contract with ABC/ESPN. Michaels underscored Madden's decision by getting traded to NBC in exchange for a cartoon character, just so he could be on the flagship NFL broadcast.

======================================================
SIDEBAR: The deal for Al Michaels included NBC granting ABC/Disney the rights to some Ryder Cup broadcasts, additional Olympic footage for ESPN, and the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character created by Walt Disney, the rights to which were owned by NBC's parent company.
======================================================

And then there is Conan, who probably has not gotten the blame he deserved for not agreeing to just keep doing The Tonight Show, whether it was broadcast at 11:35pm or 12:05am, or 4:00am in the morning.

But Conan seems to be looking past the words on the banner at the top of the show. Yes, "The Tonight Show" would still exist in name, much like Monday Night Football still exists on many televisions (except those that can't get cable, which is much of the point here).

Conan seems to recognize that a television talk/entertainment show which follows another talk/entertainment program is not THE TONIGHT SHOW, but rather, a talk/entertainment show which airs after the most important late night time slot. Think about the place held by the Late Night show, which has been hosted by Dave Letterman, O'Brien, and Jimmy Fallon. No matter how good a show this was (and Conan's version was clearly better than Jay's Tonight Show for much of their comparable run), the Late Night program simply would never, could never, be the flagship program that was represented by the 11:35pm time slot. Late Night was minor league; The Tonight Show was the majors.

Let's extend the football analogy a little further. Imagine 5 years ago, if the ABC Monday Night Football game were moved to 12:05am to follow another football game on ABC or another network, at 9:00pm. The 9:00pm game would be called "The Early Evening Football Game." The Early Game got the best matchups and the most viewers. That would leave Monday Night Football as a game, but not THE game. Wouldn't the announcers want to leave MNF to move to The Early Game?

It isn't the name Monday Night Football that has the glitter, but rather, the time slot and the other elements that make it the game of the week.

As for Conan, it is a little hard to grasp what is going on, and what he is thinking, without using the football analogy. Conan has said that moving The Tonight Show to a later time (which we interpret as meaning "after another show has already preceded us") would destroy the franchise, and he did not want to be a part of that. Using our football example, we would have to ask, is Monday Night Football really Monday Night Football anymore? After all, there was a Sunday night game before the 2006 switch to NBC. There was a Monday Night game before the Monday night switch to ESPN. And there is still a Sunday and Monday night game.

So with Sunday and Monday games still on the television, is the really a difference between the broadcasts? Well, according to pretty much everyone that counts, and by that, we mean the NFL, the answer is yes. The NFL managed to completely change the minds of everyone who doesn't count, and by that, we mean the fans. They changed our minds that Football Night In America was now on Sundays.

The shame in all of this is that NBC made a mistake, Leno failed, but Conan is the one getting screwed. In a way, Leno is being rewarded for failing. He gets to go back to the game of the week. And this after probably doing part of the damage to Conan. I can't help but think that part of the reason The Tonight Show's ratings are down since O'Brien took over is because Leno could not deliver the audience to carry over to the late local news, and thus failed to carry the residual audience to 11:35pm.

There is no sports analogy for that.

Then again, may Leno knew what he was doing. Maybe he tanked his 10:00pm show, knowing he would get to slide back into 11:35pm. Maybe Leno's lawyers already had a deal in place to move Jay back to 11:35pm if his show bombed.

Whatever happened, Conan fell on the sword, so The Tonight Show could be saved as the historic franchise that it is. I'm not certain many sports broadcasters would do the same.

- 30 -

Penn State Women's Basketball Fighting Cancer

2010-01-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

Penn State women's basketball is making a full-court effort to raise funds and awareness through The Pink Zone, Penn State's program for fighting breast cancer.

Pink Zone activities include fundraising, an online auction, and The Pink Zone game at Penn State on Sunday, January 24th at 1:00pm. That's when the Penn State Lady Lions host Illinois in a Big Ten matchup at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State's campus.

The first 200 fans attending the game will receive a pink Lady Lion water bottle, a silent auction will be held for Penn State and professional sports memorabilia, and the Lady Lions pink uniforms will be auctioned off after the game. $2.00 from each ticket sold will be donated to the fundraising program.

I can't think of another school that uses pink in their school colors, which makes the uniforms unique. Go here for a look at one from last year's Pink Zone game:

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/011910aab.html

If you want to see these uniforms in action, visit http://www.bigtennetwork.com/ to see the game broadcast online on Sunday, or the re-airing on The Big Ten Network on Monday, January 25th at 9:00am.

Ticket can be ordered through the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555. Penn State students can receive a buy-one, get-one ticket with ID.

For more information, and to find out how you can donate: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/pink-zone.html

- 30 -

So NOW is the time

2010-01-15T04:36:00.001-08:00

Sportsbusiness.com thought it would be instructive to analyze Mark McGwire's
coming-of-age statement that said, to the shock of a nation, he in
fact used steroids throughout significant parts of his baseball
career. Let's look at portions of the statement McGwire released on
January 11th, which can be found at:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ApgdzfwgubUXtvCGSqhH74I5nYcB?slug=ys-mcgwirestatement011110&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Here is the first gem from Big Mac:

>>>> Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis
Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able
to do five years ago.

Yeah, this sure isn't something you could have done in front of
Congress in 2005. Or when responding to Jose Canseco's book. Or any
of the other 1,761 days since your congressional testimony where you
didn't want to talk about the past.

That is how McGwire began his statement. I'm not kidding. As if
January 11th, 2009, was finally the day -- the only day -- that
McGwire could manage to summon the truth.

>>> I wish I had never touched steroids

Funny thing, but so do we.

>>> Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.

Interesting. I always thought that McGwire had MADE IT the steroid
era. We should probably stop reading McGwire's statement now,
because it can't get any more ludicrous. McGwire actually wants us
to believe that he was somehow a VICTIM of an "era," rather than
being responsible for it.

He was the one who made it the steroid era. But why take blame, when
you can sound like the victim? Kind of like Jay Leno.

>>> During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed
228 games over five years.

Wake me when he gets to the part that has to do with cheating the fans.

>>> I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years
when I took steroids

Hold on while I stop laughing.

Okay. I'm done. What McGwire is saying is that he
probably did not benefit
from the steroids. Which just further shows that McGwire doesn't get
it. He's kind of like the card counter who says "Sometimes I lost
money counting cards, sometimes I won," as if he never really gained
an advantage by cheating.

>>> The commissioner and the players' association implemented
testing and they cracked down

Yeah, and they would have done so years earlier, if you'd owned up to
what you had done.

>>> After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a
position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony,

Yes? And....? Please, go on. There is something missing from this
little gem which your lawyers laid out for you. Like finding out
just WHY you couldn't do this 5 years ago. Oh, right, right,
right... you told Bob Costas that your lawyers made you do it. That
your lawyers convinced you not to talk about the past. That your
lawyers were the meanies that dragged this out for 5 years. That
your lawyers kept you from being straight with everyone. So you must
have really been hurting all these years, just wanting to bust out
with the truth, but all the time, held back by those draconian old lawyers.

Again, McGwire refuses to take responsibility. But he probably did
not write any of this statement, so he can blame the lawyers for that, too.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has just one, and only one, option
now. He should suspend McGwire right now, ban him from baseball
indefinitely, and try to figure out what to do later. No other
punishment can possibly be warranted. To not suspend him would be to
condone the use of steroids, but worse, condone his failure to tell
the truth to congress, the game of baseball, its players, his
manager, and oh yeah, the Commissioner.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: WEEK # 12

2009-12-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

So three NFL teams are now 1-10, and they haven't even fired their
coaches. Which is more than can be said for Florida State and Notre Dame.

THE SCORE:
GREEN BAY (7-4) 34
Detroit (2-9) 12
THE STATS: GB QB Aaron Rodgers 28-39-348-0-3 TD, 124.7 rating.
THE STORY: Green Bay halts Detroit's 1 game winning streak.

THE SCORE:
Oakland (3-8) 7
DALLAS (8-3) 24
THE STATS: Dallas defense allowed just 13 points in last 2 games.
THE STORY: Oakland has scored only 115 points this season, which
makes them the suckiest team in a league filled with sucky teams.

THE SCORE:
NY Giants (6-5) 6
DENVER (7-4) 26
THE STATS: Denver defense holds Giants to 57 yards rushing, just
3-12 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: Gotta love the tradition of Thanksgiving football in
Dallas, Detroit, and, uh, Denver.

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (1-10) 17
ATLANTA (6-5) 20
THE STATS: TB QB Josh Freeman 20-29-250-0-2 TD, 118.5 rating.
THE STORY: Show of hands from whomever drafted Josh Freeman on their
fantasy team.

THE SCORE:
Miami (5-6) 14
BUFFALO (4-7) 31
THE STATS: Buffalo 24 4th quarter points.
THE STORY: Buffalo is getting $10 million a game to play 5 regular
season and 3 pre-season games in Canada. $10 million? That's almost
the price of a Super Bowl ticket.

THE SCORE:
Cleveland (1-10) 7
CINCINNATI (8-3) 16
THE STATS: CIN RB Larry Johnson 22-107.
THE STORY: 7th time this season that the Browns have scored in
single digits. That's 7 out of 11 games.

THE SCORE:
INDIANAPOLIS (11-0) 35
Houston (5-6) 27
THE STATS: Teams combine for 55 first downs, 10 scores, just 4 punts.
THE STORY: Colts earn the "z" next to their name in the
standings. That is, if you're on NFL.COM. On Sportsline, they got
the "y". Either way, it is a division title.

THE SCORE:
Carolina (4-7) 6
NY JETS (5-6) 17
THE STATS: CAR QB Jake Delhomme 4 interceptions, 0 touchdowns, 12.7
passer rating.
THE STORY: You know you're in trouble when your quarterback throws
almost as many interceptions as points your team scores.

THE SCORE:
Washington (3-8) 24
PHILADELPHIA (7-4) 27
THE STATS: PHL K David Akers 4-4 FG, 1-1 XP, 13 points, game winning
32-yard FG with 1:48 remaining.
THE STORY: Eagles 2nd straight 4th quarter win, but would be more
impressive if the wins were against tougher teams than Chicago and Washington.

THE SCORE:
SEATTLE (4-7) 27
St. Louis (1-10) 17
THE STATS: SEA RB Justin Forsett 22-130-2 TD
THE STORY: I'm not certain the last time the Rams threw for just 95
net yards passing, but I think they were playing on Katella Avenue at
the time. That's in Anaheim.

THE SCORE:
Kansas City (3-8) 14
SAN DIEGO (8-3) 43
THE STATS: SD QB Philip Rivers 21-28-317-0-2 TD, 135.6 rating.
THE STORY: Loved this matchup of all-purpose backs. San Diego's
Darren Sproles had 9-17 rushing, 5-66 receiving, 5-88 kick returns
for 171 all-purpose yards; Kansas City's Jamaal Charles was 17-93-1
TD rushing, 3-54 receiving, 2-61 kick returns, for 208 total
yards. Can I still drop Sproles and pick up Charles?

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (6-5) 3
SAN FRANCISCO(5-6) 20
THE STATS: SF QB Alex Smith 27-41-232-0-2 TDs, 96.8 rating.
THE STORY: Jacksonville had more first downs (18-15), more yards
rushing (96-52), and more yards passing (261-232). Naturally, they
lost by 17 points.

THE SCORE:
Chicago (4-7) 10
MINNESOTA (10-1) 36
THE STATS: Minnesota 537 total yards to 169 for Chicago.
THE STORY: Brett Favre for MVP, coach Brad Childress Coach of the
Year for bringing in Favre.

THE SCORE:
Arizona (7-4) 17
TENNESSEE (5-6) 20
THE STATS: TEN RB Chris Johnson 18-154-1 TD.
THE STORY: Tennessee has managed to win 5 straight games after
losing their first 6 games, which should be impossible. But this is
the NFL, which, "On any given Sunday, Monday, or Thursday...."

THE SCORE:
Pittsburgh (6-5) 17
BALTIMORE (6-5) 20
THE STATS: PIT QB Dennis Dixon 12-26-145-1-1 TD, 60.6 rating, 3-27-1
TD rushing as replacement for Ben Roethlisberger (concussion).
THE STORY: Pittsburgh goes from division contender to tied for 2nd
wild card. And they just lost a tiebreaker to the Ravens.

THE SCORE:
New England (7-4) 17
NEW ORLEANS (11-0) 38
THE STATS: NO QB Drew Brees 18-23-371-0-5 TDs, 158.3 rating.
THE STORY: The game was going so bad for New England, that Bill
Belichick was considering changing his luck by changing sweatshirts
at halftime.

- 30 -

The NFL Story, Week #4

2009-10-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

THE NFL STORY WEEK #4:

So the NFL wouldn't move the Monday Night Brett Favre vs. Green Bay
game at the Metrodome so that Major League Baseball could hold their
playoff game between the Twins and Tigers on Monday. I think we now
know which sport is the true national pastime, don't we???

THE SCORE:
CINCINNATI (3-1) 23
Cleveland (0-4) 20
THE STATS: CIN WR Chad Ochocinco 3-24-2 TD
THE STORY: Bengals have won last 2 games with just :14 and :04 (OT)
left on the clock. At this rate, they will run out of game time to play with.

THE SCORE:
Detroit (1-3) 24
CHICAGO (3-1) 48
THE STATS: Despite losing, Detroit had 25 first downs to 14 for
Chicago, and outgained Da Bears, 398 to 276.
THE STORY: Tough way for Detroit to end it's first winning streak --
of one game -- since the 2007 season.

THE SCORE:
Oakland (1-3) 6
HOUSTON (2-2) 29
THE STATS: HOU RB Steve Slaton 21-65-1 TD, 2-24- 1 TD receiving.
THE STORY: Oakland's record (1-3) perfectly balances out the Bay
Area San Francisco 49ers (3-1).

THE SCORE:
Seattle (1-3) 17
INDIANAPOLIS (4-0) 34
THE STATS: IND DE Robert Mathis 3 sacks.
THE STORY: Seattle's only win was against 0-4 St. Louis; combined
record of opponents in their 3 losses is 10-2.

THE SCORE:
Tampa Bay (0-4) 13
WASHINGTON (2-2) 16
THE STATS: Tampa Bay just 229 yards total offense.
THE STORY: The Redskins have been called the NFL's "best last-place
team" (see http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20090913019). I'm
not sure that's meant as a compliment.

THE SCORE:
Tennessee (0-4) 17
JACKSONVILLE (2-2) 37
THE STATS: JAX QB David Garrard 27-37-323-0-3 TD, 126.3 rating, 8-38 rushing.
THE STORY: Tennessee quickly becoming the darlings of suicide pools everywhere.

THE SCORE:
NY GIANTS (4-0) 27
Kansas City (0-4) 16
THE STATS: NY Giants WR Steve Smith 11-134-2 TD.
THE STORY: I couldn't help myself, so I looked it up. While Steve
Smith of the Carolina Panthers was on bye this week, in every game
this season, Steve Smith of the Giants had more catches and yards
than Steve Smith of the Panthers, and Steve Smith of the Giants has
more TDs (2) on the season than Steve Smith of the Panthers (0).

THE SCORE:
Baltimore (3-1) 21
NEW ENGLAND (3-1) 27
THE STATS: NE QB TOM Brady 21-32-258-0-1 TD, 100.8 rating, 5-11-1 TD rushing.
THE STORY: New England's 3 wins have been by 1, 16, and 6 points, an
average of 7.7 points per game. In 2007, the last time Tom Brady was
the everyday quarterback, the Patriots outscored everyone by an
average 19.7 PPG.

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (1-3) 10
MIAMI (1-3) 38
THE STATS: MIA RB Ronnie Brown 20-115-2 TD; Ricky Williams 16-85-1 TD.
THE STORY: Buffalo managed just 10 first downs, only 8 of which came
from the offense, 2 more from penalties. I'm not kidding.

THE SCORE:
NY Jets (3-1) 10
NEW ORLEANS (4-0) 24
THE STATS: Jets passing game: 112 yards passing, 3 INTs, 4 sacks.
THE STORY: Nice job, Saints, in beating the undefeated New York
Jets. Your reward? Your next game in 2 weeks is against the
undefeated New York Giants (4-0).

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (0-4) 0
SAN FRANCISCO(3-1) 35
THE STATS: San Francisco 35 points on just 228 total yards (3
touchdowns by defense).
THE STORY: St. Louis scored 3 touchdowns. No, not for the game, but
for the ENTIRE season.

THE SCORE:
Dallas (2-2) 10
DENVER (4-0) 17
THE STATS: Dallas just 3-14 on 3rd down conversions.
THE STORY: I've been watching all of the prime time football games
lately, and for a moment, I thought all of the Dallas games were
being played at home.

THE SCORE:
San Diego (2-2) 28
PITTSBURGH (2-2) 38
THE STATS: PIT RB Rashard Mendenhall 29-165-2 TD; 2-26.
THE STORY: Pittsburgh starts a 3-game winning streak. How sure am I
that they will win 3 in a row? Next they play Detroit (1-3) and
Cleveland (0-4).

THE SCORE:
Green Bay (2-2) 14
MINNESOTA (4-0) 21
THE STATS: MIN QB Brett Favre 24-31-271-0-3 TD, 135.3 rating.
THE STORY: What's the big deal with Favre playing against his old
team? He's played several games against Atlanta.

- 30 -

THE NFL STORY: Week #1

2009-09-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

So Barack Obama said "He's a jackass." At first, I thought he was talking about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, not Kanye West.

THE SCORE:
PHILADELPHIA (1-0) 38
Carolina (0-1) 10
THE STATS: PHL defense 5 interceptions.
THE STORY: Good thing that Philly won by 28 points, because there is probably some wacky playoff tiebreaker that they will need at the end of the season, like "Largest point differential by a visiting team against a conference opponent in the opening week."

THE SCORE:
SAN DIEGO (1-0) 24
Oakland (0-1) 20
THE STATS: SD RB Darren Sproles 9-23-1 TD, 5-43 receiving, 180 yards on 8 kick and punt returns.
THE STORY: I really like the idea of two Monday night games to start the season. But why don't they call this second game what it really is -- Tuesday Morning Football ?

THE SCORE:
Tennessee (0-1) 10
PITTSBURGH (1-0) 13
THE STATS: PIT QB Ben Roethlisberger 33-43-363-2-1 TD, 89.6 rating.
THE STORY: Pittsburgh won with just 36 yards rushing. 36 yards? That means that Pittsburgh moved the ball less than the size of my my backyard.

THE SCORE:
DALLAS (1-0) 34
Tampa Bay (0-1) 21
THE STATS: 0 punts hit the scoreboard.
THE STORY: Nice win for the Cowboys, but there is plenty of time left for them to collapse again.

THE SCORE:
Detroit (0-1) 27
NEW ORLEANS (1-0) 45
THE STATS: NO QB Drew Brees 26-34-358-1-6 TD, 137.0 rating.
THE STORY: Drew Brees threw touchdown passes to everyone on the Saints. I think even the cheerleader caught one.

THE SCORE:
Miami (0-1) 7
ATLANTA (1-0) 19
THE STATS: Atlanta 0 turnovers to Miami's 4.
THE STORY: The Falcon's Matt Ryan threw a touchdown pass to some guy named Ovie Mughelli that was totally overlooked in fantasy drafts, while the Dolphin's Chad Pennington threw one to some guy named Ricky Williams who was also overlooked in most fantasy drafts.

THE SCORE:
NY JETS (1-0) 24
Houston (0-1) 7
THE STATS: NYJ RB Thomas Jones 20-107-2 TD.
THE STORY: Houston RB Steve Slaton (17 yards) is now tied for 55th place among the top rushers in the NFL.

THE SCORE:
DENVER (1-0) 12
Cincinnati (0-1) 7
THE STATS: Teams were nearly even in total yards, Cincinnati 307 to 302 for Denver.
THE STORY: The Broncos and Bengals managed to score just 6 points in the first 59:22, but 13 points in the final :38 seconds.

THE SCORE:
Jacksonville (0-1) 12
INDIANAPOLIS (1-0) 14
THE STATS: IND WR Reggie Wayne 10-162-1 TD.
THE STORY: Johnny Unitas was called "the greatest quarterback ever" by Sports Illustrated after he died. Peyton Manning now has as many regular season (118) and Super Bowl wins (1) as Unitas. Hopefully, Manning won't have to die for SI to call him "the greatest ever".

THE SCORE:
MINNESOTA (1-0) 34
Cleveland (0-1) 20
THE STATS: Minnesota 225 yards rushing.
THE STORY: Brett Favre was a perfect 25-for-180 yards and 3 touchdowns in his hand-offs to Adrian Peterson.

THE SCORE:
Kansas City (0-1) 24
BALTIMORE (1-0) 38
THE STATS: Baltimore 501 total yards to 188.
THE STORY: The Kansas City quarterback, who's name is not Matt Cassell, passed for 16-24-177 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 116.1 rating. You win a free ticket to next week's game versus Oakland if you know his name (answer below).

THE SCORE:
Washington (0-1) 17
NY GIANTS (1-0) 23
THE STATS: NYG DE Osi Umenyiora 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 defensive TD.
THE STORY: Umenyiora played for the first time since an injury wiped out his entire 2008 season. The media used the time to learn how to write and pronounce his name.

The Kansas City quarterback is Brodie Croyle.

THE SCORE:
St. Louis (0-1) 0
SEATTLE (1-0) 28
THE STATS: SEA TE John Carlson 6-95-2 TD.
THE STORY: The Rams need only 2 wins to match last year's total. And it is already unclear whether they can get them.

THE SCORE:
SAN FRANCISCO(1-0) 20
Arizona (0-1) 16
THE STATS: Arizona loses in spite of outgaining San Francisco in total yards, 299 to 203.
THE STORY: So what are the stats on a team coming off a Super Bowl loss, starting 0-1, and making it back to the Super Bowl?

THE SCORE:
Chicago (0-1) 15
GREEN BAY (1-0) 21
THE STATS: GB WR Greg Jennings 6-106-1 TD, 2-pt conversion.
THE STORY: Lambeau fans booed when Minnesota highlights were shown at the stadium. Why don't they just close all state offices on November 1st and call it a state holiday when Brett Favre brings the Vikings to Green Bay?

THE SCORE:
Buffalo (0-1) 24
NEW ENGLAND (1-0) 25
THE STATS: New England 2 TDs in final 2:06.
THE STORY: The Jets organization has been fined for failing to put Brett Favre on the injury report last season, in spite of his nursing a torn biceps tendon. What about fining the Patriots for putting Tom Brady on the injury report too often?

- 30 -

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

2009-06-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

Don Fehr, the soon-to-be former executive director of the Major League
Baseball Player's Association is calling it quits after more than 25
years at the helm of the strongest players union in professional sports.

Fehr will no doubt be anointed soon. Not to the Baseball Hall of Fame,
mind you, but by some sportswriter who will say that Fehr should be in
the Hall, much like sportswriter Bob Ryan has said that former baseball
union chief Marvin Miller should be enshrined.

But aren't honors like the Hall of Fame reserved for people who made the
game better?

Fehr's legacy is hard to pinpoint just yet, given that he presided over
two work stoppages in baseball, the loss of a World Series, and well,
all that pesky drug business.

I know what you're thinking, and yes, if the job of a union leader is to
get the best deal for his constituents, then Fehr did a great job since
taking over the union in 1983 from Ken Moffett.

But at what price? Fehr's hard stance led to an almost predictable,
quadrennial fear by fans that baseball would not get started in the
spring, would have to stop somewhere in the middle of the season, or
worse yet, not finish a season.

Not even two World Wars could stop the World Series. But Donald Fehr
could.

In 1994, the player's strike and contentious labor situation led Major
League Baseball to cease play on August 12th. The playoffs and World
Series were cancelled when a collective bargaining agreement could not
be reached. That strike damaged the entire history of baseball. While
there is lots of blame to go around for that, Fehr should have his.

That 1994 strike continued well into 1995, causing the 1995 season to be
reduced to a 144 game schedule. There was also the "forgotten" strike in
1985. It only lasted 2 days, but it was no fun for those of us working
in baseball. I was part of the front office staff for a National League
baseball club in Flushing, New York, and it was a difficult few days, as
we had no idea what was going to happen to our lives or the game of
baseball that we loved.

Players, on the other hand, had no such fears. Unlike their blue collar
union brethren who walk picket lines, the players lost precious little
salary. The season was extended or games squeezed in, to make up for
lost games due to work stoppages. The players got paid, and paid well.

When $1 million wasn't enough of an average salary, Fehr got it up to $2
million. When that wasn't enough, he got the players to more than $3
million, and still climbing.

Climbing like the price of that ticket to Yankee Stadium. So Fehr's
outstanding representation of the owners was at the cost of higher
ticket prices and crass commercialism in baseball.

And then there was the drug testing. Fehr stonewalled on the issue as
long as he could, even as his own constituents were shooting more and
more junk into their butts. The players, the game, and the integrity of
its statistics all took a hit.

But Fehr insisted the problem wasn't all that big a deal, until the
evidence mounted. Then he claimed that he had underestimated the extent
of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in baseball. To be
fair, there is some subtle evidence that he really did not know. He was
so confident that steroid use was minimal, that he agreed to a deal
whereby limited drug testing of ballplayers would occur, and a higher
level of testing and punishment would kick in only if the random testing
reached a 5% plateau. That level was reached, meaning that AT LEAST 1
in 20 players were cheating.

So Fehr was either ignorant of the extent of drug use in Baseball,
stupid for allowing wider drug testing if the 5% threshold was reached,
or criminal in trying to block further testing if he knew what was going
on.

And Fehr left Baseball as the only sport without a salary cap.

So Don Fehr leaves his post having made the lives of baseball players
better. We're just not certain that the game of baseball is better.

- 30 -

BASEBALL WINTER MEETINGS: Day 1 (Sunday, Dec 7th)

2008-12-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

While the Bollagio hotel gets the most attention around this time of year, during the Baseball Winter Meetings, there is even more sports business going on at the accompanying minor league hotel.

This year, the Hilton Hotel and convention center and the next-door Las Vegas Convention Center was the home of the minor league Baseball Winter Meeting activities, and the annual job seekers program.

While the majority of minor league executives trickled into town for Monday's big business seminars, several of them were already in place on Sunday, lecturing hundreds of aspiring sports management employees.

The job seeking program starts off with the Business of Baseball Workshop. This is the seminar sponsored by Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities for around 450 mostly young people who payed $225 ($175 in advance) to listen to stories from experienced minor league executives.

The fee includes a one-year subscription to PBEO's online job posting forum, available from http://www.pbeo.com.

The workshop's agenda included officers from all over minor league baseball (we use that term in the lower case, not the "Minor League Baseball" which refers to the governing body of affiliated minor league teams).

Seamus Gallivan, Promotions Coordinator of the Corpus Christi Hooks emceed the entire day. More than a dozen speakers included Dave Chase, President and General Manager of the Memphis Redbirds, Nikki Becker, Vice President of Communications for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, and Manny Colon, Assistant, Player Development, for the Florida Marlins.

They all recalled their days of seeking their first jobs in baseball, and how they came to hold their current positions.

Ms. Becker advised job seekers to always say "YES" whenever asked to do anything by team management. She told stories of how she has done everything from pulling tarp in the rain, to putting on a hot, sweaty, mascot uniform.

A distinguished panel of speakers included Sam Bernabe, General Manager of the Iowa Cubs, Ken Young, President of the Norfolk Tides, and the Pawtucket Red Sox President, Mike Tamburro.

Mr. Bernabe described his experience of securing his first baseball job at the 1983 Nashville Baseball Winter Meetings, as an intern, then later becoming the general manager of the team, and more recently, a part owner of the Iowa Cubs.

Mr. Tamburro discussed his memories of "The Longest Game" in professional baseball history, the famous game on April 18th (and June 23rd), 1981, a game which lasted 33 innings. He went on to say that he bought the Pawtucket franchise when it had financial problems several years later.

Ken Young added that his start in baseball was through his position in the food service industry, and suggested that starting in food service was a good entry into a professional baseball career. He also advised the job seekers to carefully consider whether they wanted to work in baseball. "You might not like working in sports, and it might not be the thing for you," he said.

Particularly interesting was Pat O'Conner, the President and CEO of Minor League Baseball. His discussion was entitled "Positioning Yourself for Success," and was another engaging 30 minutes of both reality and inspiration for the job seekers.

O'Conner described his ascent from an intern with the minor league central office, which he referred to as the "N.A.", to it's top executive.

The "N.A." is the old nickname for teams affiliated with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. The NAPBL was the name of the governing body before they embraced what once was considered a demeaning term, "Minor Leagues." Hence, the governing body of the Major League affiliated teams is now called "Minor League Baseball."

O'Conner channeled the old John Fogerty song, "Centerfield." He suggested that young job seekers attitudes should be "Hey, general manager, put me in the front office, I'm ready to play."

The names change, but the success stories of the panelists seems to be the same every year, and for many of the panelists, their stories of their baseball careers started with jobs secured at previous the Winter Meetings.

There is lots of advice to be had for these near-or-recent college grads seeking their break in professional front office sports. The prevailing advice seems to be that in order to make it in baseball, you must be willing to do everything. And by "everything," that means sell.

Sell tickets, sell scorecard advertisements, sell radio time. If you can sell, you have a job in baseball, according to several panelists.

We'll describe some of the available jobs at these meetings in another installment from the Winter Meetings.

SIGHTINGS FROM THE HILTON HOTEL TODAY: San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavey with a woman who our spies called an "11".

- 30 -

Welcome to our new look at the Baseball Winter Meetings

2008-12-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to sportsbusiness.com interactive sports marketing and management forum.

We are reintroducing our forum in a blog-style format. This will allow us to reach our visitors with more articles and features, while maintaining the chat, contests, and articles for which we are moderately famous.

We thought the 2008 Baseball Winter Meetings would be the perfect time to kick-off our new look. The Meetings is one of the premiere sports business events of the year. There are baseball promotion forums, job seeker programs, and the most interesting baseball products trade show this side of Sports Authority.

Keep checking here for our commentaries on selected activities at the Baseball Meetings.

We hope you will keep coming back to sportsbusiness.com not just to read, but to participate with your own comments and articles.

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