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NO JESSICA SIGHTINGS
CHARLOTTE — Haven’t seen hide nor hair of Jessica Simpson here in beautiful Bank of America Stadium but the Panthers fans have done a really good job of making you Jess fans not miss her. Well, you Jess fans who can actually see the games.
There are several males sporting blonde wigs and pink Tony Romo jerseys. Not pretty, but funny.
Oh yeah, there’s a football game being played. Dallas is up 17-7 at the half but lost Terrell Owens, Terence Newman, and Jay Ratliff to first-half injuries.
One other thing, the guy who sang the national anthem is a recording artist who must be having an off night. I almost put my hat back on while he was singing. Just kidding.
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Brian Westbrook’s Play
I’ve gotten several emails wanting me to explain why Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook decided against scoring a touchdown against Dallas last week.
The reason? Westbrook is a team player. Had he scored, Dallas would have gotten the ball back and could possibly scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick and scored another touchdown to win the game. With the Cowboys out of timeouts, his play assured his team of a win.
The odds of Dallas pulling off a miracle weren’t great, with only about two minutes left in the game but the fact Westbrook had played out this scenario in his head makes him one of the most heads-up football players I’ve ever seen.
On a team that’s not going to make the playoffs, Westbrook wasn’t concerned about his own statistics. He put the team first. He gets huge marks for being a team guy.
And speaking of statistics, many fantasy leagues were affected by Westbrook’s play. I read about owners who were irate because he cost them a playoff game in their eyes. Well, it’s fantasy league football and if you had Westbrook on your team this season, you probably won more than your share of games due to his exploits.
The guy can play for me any day.
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HGH, the invisible enemy
Human Growth Hormone has proven to be a formidable enemy and how fast its pathology is detected will determine if baseball continues to live in the dark when it comes to its drug problem.
Baseball’s drug policy isn’t the best but neither is football’s. I believe if HGH is ever detected, it will blow the roof off all major sports. Right now, you can’t catch what you can’t see. Steroids is no longer the enemy because steroids can be detected. Now the science community has its hands full finding this invisible enemy.
You hear these athletes all saying, “I’ve never tested positive for anything” and it makes you wonder if these are the guys on HGH. My hope is the sports doctors are keeping these “clean” urine samples so when science catches up with HGH, we will know who broke the rules, even if that player is long retired.
The Steroid Era. Brutal.
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Petrino would make a good used car salesman
That headline is an insult to used car salesmen everywhere. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has whiffed on his latest two investments — quarterback Michael Vick and recently departed coward/coach Bobby Petrino. Good riddance to both.
Petrino reportedly shook hands with Blank hours before leaving a handwritten letter to his players saying he was taking the head coaching job at Arkansas. This came after he alienated the veteran leadership of this team with his inflexible personality and questionable front office skills which included the release of defensive tackle Grady Jackson, the team’s best run stopper.
Judging from what Blank and the Falcon players are saying, Petrino lied to them about his intentions and he’s obviously a quitter. The Falcons are better off without him. My sympathy goes out to the Arkansas players. I hope that contract is laced with potential penalties if this snake oil salesman bolts again. Can’t wait to see what line of bull he feeds potential recruits. Who is going to believe this guy?
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College football is begging for a playoff!
Don’t know if you read my column regarding college football’s need for a playoff system but Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi had an interesting piece of pricelessness regarding the coaches poll votes of Central Florida’s George O’Leary’s and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden.
Bianchi’s Blast: “Central Florida’s George O’Leary ranked his own team five spots ahead of the South Florida Bulls, who finished with an equivalent record and beat the Knights 64-12 earlier this season. What, getting beat by half-a-hundred wasn’t impressive enough for O’Leary? Meanwhile, Bobby Bowden ranked Oklahoma four spots behind Missouri even though the Sooners finished with the same record as the Tigers and beat them twice this season. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. I’m hearing Bobby’s planning to vote for Adlai Stevenson in the upcoming presidential primaries… .”
Too funny. And he’s right. It’s imbecilic to have coaches whose livelihoods depend on winning to be given this much power to influence who plays in the best bowl games.
This BCS thing is getting sillier by the minute.
UT pass defense needs to reverse this trend…
I was horrible at math in high school but even my simplistic use-my-fingers method of computing couldn’t miss out on the brutal trend that started last season.
At the end of the 2006 season, the Longhorns were ranked 99th in pass defense nationally. Right now, Texas is 109th.
If the trend continues, Texas should be 119th by this time next year. That would make the Horns the worst pass defense in the country. Maybe that’s an alarmist’s point of view but it’s a trend I noticed.
Perhaps, Duane Akina and Co. will find a way to put the clamps to Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter, the nation’s 15th ranked passer, and hopefully ease inside the top 100 by the end of the Holiday Bowl.
OU: Big 12 champs
SAN ANTONIO — I picked Texas to win the Big 12 at the beginning of the season. What was I thinking? Well, I thought Texas would be better.
Factor in all the injuries, the arrests, the bad karma…it all adds up to another Oklahoma Big 12 title. Bob Stoops has five conference titles now after tonight’s 38-17 win over top-ranked Missouri.
Now he’s campaigning for a spot in the national championship game. Can’t blame him for that. He just beat the No. 1 ranked team and swept Missouri 2-0 in the season series. All these two-loss teams…what to do. What a mess. Bring on a playoff.
End of 3Q; OU in Control
If the Tigers lose this one, they will go back to the third quarter when they drove 68 yards to the Oklahoma 25-yard line, only to come away with nothing after a sack and penalty thwarted the drive.
OU did what good teams do, it scored. The game’s first turnover, a pick by OU LB Curtis Lofton led to another score and a 28-14 lead after three.
Hard to imagine OU blowing a two-touchdown lead but I was in Boulder when OU squandered a 24-7 lead and lost 27-24. Don’t see that happening again.
First West Virginia blows a chance to play for a national title. Now it appears that Missouri’s doing the same.
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End of 2Q: Did Pinkel borrow Mack’s chart?
SAN ANTONIO — One half down and the (insert soft drink sponsor here) Big 12 football championship is knotted at 14.
Can’t believe Mizzou coach G. Pinkel went for a two-point conversion in the second quarter. Is it really that important to be tied in the second quarter? I know…you have all the momentum now, yada, yada, yada. It was funny to hear all the writers ripping into GP when he held up two fingers following Chase Daniel’s TD scramble.
Then after the trick play resulted in a two-point catch by Mizzou tight end Martin Rucker, the yells turned to whispers of “it was still a bad call.”
Classic game pitting a finesse team against a power team. OU will win if it eliminates the penalties. But Missouri has to be feeling good about its chances now.
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End of 1Q: Advantage OU
SAN ANTONIO — It’s evident that neither team played its best ball in the first quarter but the Sooners are only down 3-0, despite committing six penalties in the opening 15 minutes.
My advice to Missouri would be to give a heavy dose of RB Tony Temple to keep the Sooners’ offense off the field. Temple has run pretty well between the tackles but needs more totes. That may take some pressure off QB Chase Daniel, who is pressing a bit early on.
Chris Brown just scored for OU on the first play of the second quarter. We’re about to find out if Missouri is here to win or here to compete.
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Mizzou or OU?
SAN ANTONIO — The scene around the River Walk down here is reminiscent of the Alamo Bowl.
It seems the team in black and gold seems to have the more enthusiastic fan base, just like Iowa’s was against favored Texas.
Of course, that doesn’t mean anything. Texas won the Alamo Bowl even though it would have preferred to be in a more high profile bowl. OU has a lot more to play for today, as do the Tigers.
I’m picking Oklahoma by 3. Call me a traditionalist.
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Less Les is more in this case
Sad to hear LSU coach Les Miles make excuses after losing in overtime to Arkansas.
He called college football’s overtime system “perfect” then proceeded to say if teams were given a tie for an overtime loss instead of a loss, his team would still be in the national championship chase.
He has an interesting point but his timing is questionable. Don’t make these comments after a 50-48 loss. It comes across as politicking, Les. You had your chances against Kentucky and Arkansas and came up short both times.
Instead of bemoaning the current system, get the LSU president to campaign for a playoff system in college football. He would have plenty of support.
Favre’s great but…
IRVING — Watching Brett Favre return to his previous MVP form has been fun but all the adulation given to him at the beginning of today’s game against Detroit by FOX? Perhaps a bit much.
All this feel-good love from champions in other sports — Larry Bird, George Foreman, Wayne Gretzky, and Lance Armstrong, all extolling Favre’s virtues and giving thanks for him still being in the NFL. Even Muhammad Ali sent in a quote for the feature saying: “I’m the greatest, you’re the latest.”
I enjoy Favre as much as the next guy but sometimes the media goes overboard in its praise. And when Favre struggles, he sometimes gets a little more leeway than some other QBs out there. Sure he’s earned it and he’s a future Hall of Famer but sometimes enough is enough.
That said, ol’ Brett will be a big part of my column from the Dallas-New York Jets game.
Don’t stop at Bonds..
So the feds finally got their man. Big Bad Barry Bonds has been indicted for perjury and now we know for sure that he did steroids. But if they think that the battle ends here, the government is sadly mistaken.
Bonds is one man who has apparently been found guilty of steroid use. The worse thing that could happen would be for the powers that be to believe that baseball’s pseudo-war against drugs is over. He is not the Steroid Era all by himself. To not continue the investigation would not be fair to real baseball fans and the players who played clean. When will they start digging into Mark McGwire’s past? What about Sammy Sosa? Nicer guys than Barry? Sure. Above suspicion? No way.
Wanna impress baseball fans? Go after the others. All of them. Bonds’ asterisk is one thing but he hit homers off pitchers who were on steroids. He stole bases off catchers who were on steroids and he watched in left field as home runs hit by players on steroids sailed over his head into the stands.
In the words of Rain Man, “There’s lots of’em.” Find them. Expose them.
Barry’s abrasive attitude and of course, his numbers, made him a prime target for this investigation. I’m sure there are nice guys on that list of names. We’re waiting to hear those names. And more important, we’re waiting to see if the feds pursue indictments against those names with the same zealousness they pursued Bonds and BALCO.
Hey feds, we’re watching.
Leach got off easy
Mike Leach can pay a $10,000 fine out of his back pocket and while new Big 12 commish Dan Beebe acted swiftly to fine the Texas Tech coach for his comments about the officiating in Saturday’s 59-43 loss to Texas, Leach got off easy.
The fine amount was the most ever levied against a coach in this conference and it was twice what the Big 12 fined Kansas’ Mark Mangino three years ago but I think $20,000 would have been a more suitable punishment. His comments could have even warranted suspension but I’m sure the league was a bit hesitant to set that precedent.
The big difference between Leach and Mangino? The KU coach apologized for his comments. Don’t see any apology coming from Leach.
Email reaction to Leach’s comments
In case you haven’t read my column on Saturday regarding Mike Leach’s comments about the officiating in the 59-43 loss to Texas, here it is.
I’ve received several emails from readers, some pro-Leach, some anti-Leach. Here are a few of my favorites.
Cedric - you leave out of your article the number of opportunities the refs could have called holding on UT but only chose to call it on Tech to call back a touchdown. You’re right Tech held … you and the Austin ref are looking the other way in that UT did all game long … though they were never called for holding. You and I both know UT has always had the benefit of team friendly refs forever. I graduated from UT in ‘71 … we didn’t need much help in my four years at The University (I didn’t play football)but even Alumni know the close calls usually go our way. Great thing for us but you ought to be more objectived than the refs and at least admit the refs can call holding on every play on both teams and in this case it was most convenient that it called a touchdown back against the opponents… only. And if Mike is right that this ref, for the second year in a row, is an insurance agent or whatever making his living in Austin … that’s a travesty … he isn’t about to alienate his market with a “questionable” call against the home team. The idea that refs are above and beyond temptation and corruption should have gone out when Bobby Knight was proven right this year about the integrity of some round ball officiating. In any case UT doesn’t need friendlier-than-they-should-be refs to win and they ought to refuse to have a hometown ref on the field just to avoid the taint of it all! Thank-you — W.
Ahhh, the arrogance of Longhorn newspaper personnel and Mike Leach….Mike must have a short memory how his Lubbock resident line judge and a UT AD official who, as replay official, stole a game from the Univ of Oklahoma in Lubbock in 2005. As for the Bible and Crystal crew, all Sooner fans blanche anytime either of these crews officiates an OU game, especially the OU/UT game. The appearance of evil and evil are one and the same. The Big XII conference officials have enough games to officiate that these two Austin-based, UT connected, crews have no business officiating any game in Austin, a game in which UT is one of the participants, or a game involving UT’s two primary rivals, OU or aTm. If they don’t like it, send them to the SEC games and take an SEC crew. All of you are full of crap. — John G.
Thanks for your column about Coach Leach and the officials. I was astonished at the preferential treatment officials gave UT. And Texas would have won anyway. It was unnecessary.
The TV commentator agreed on at least 2 of the calls that the officials were wrong. They made no mistakes in favor of Tech that I am aware of. I remember Randy Christal as an official at Texas games from at least the 80s when we both were working for the same person (Bob Bullock). He seemed like a nice guy.
I also remember other questionable calls in favor of Texas over the years. Does this crew ever make mistakes in favor of opponents? What percentage? I was so embarrassed I called a Tech fan/friend to apologize and say how I wish the game could have fair officiating. Has anyone written a book about officiating at Texas games? Now I definitely want to know more!
Please let us know what happens to Coach Leach and let us know how many, if
any, officials have been removed for bias or incompetence.
—Thanks, E.
It is funny to hear Coach Leach go off on the officiating. He specifically called it unfair that an Austin native was on the crew and made a series of bad calls against his team. Two years ago, Oklahoma was beating Tech and from the second quarter on, started making a “series of bad calls” to keep Tech in the game. On the final ‘Victory” drive, three bad calls alone were made, including a fourth down completion nearly two yards short of the first down, yet they got the first down anyway. The funny thing about it was that a Lubbock member of the officiating crew made the two most crucial bad calls. However, at that time, Coach Leach just said that was the breaks of game. My, how the worm has turned! — G.R.
Charles was great except…
Texas Tech wanted no part of Jamaal Charles in the first half and Charles’s 18 carries for 165 yards and a touchdown was testament to that fact.
I have to disagree with Texas’ use of him at the end of the first half though. Charles sat as the Longhorns went to their two-minute offense with Chris Ogbonnaya (a better pass blocker than Jamaal) in the backfield. With three timeouts remaining, it would have been nice to see Charles in there running it. But it appears that Greg Davis had decided he would throw it in the last two minutes.
At least someone found a way to stop Jamaal. Too bad it was the home coaching staff.
Byrne should let Fran go now
Watching the Aggies over the last two weeks, I saw a team playing hard but not with a lot of spirit. I haven’t been around the team for the whole season, but it’s easy to see when a team is playing to not lose instead of playing to win. The soul is gone from this team and a 6-7 finish is entirely possible.
I’ve openly questioned some coaching decisions Dennis Franchione has made in games I’ve attended and others I’ve watched on television. He clearly was a bad fit for this program and it’s not going to get any better. Missouri will be a nightmare and Texas will be playing for a BCS game, assuming they get by a struggling Tech team Saturday.
I know AD Bill Byrne said he’d evaluate Fran at season’s end but this is a time when he should pull the trigger now and get a new guy in here. That way, you will have two regular season games, a month or so before the bowl game and then the offseason before spring football. That’s roughly three months to get someone here.
Easier said than done because the list of potential replacements include coaches are who are head coaches (Tuberville, Tedford, Spurrier) at other programs. Tough days in College Station but I believe letting Fran go is a huge step in the right direction. Buy him out and start over, Bill.
Colts can beat New England
Sure the New England Patriots are being hailed by some as the greatest team in the history of American football but I would not be so fast to count out the defending world champions Sunday afternoon.
Indianapolis may be better than they were when they won this thing in January and that’s being said with the full knowledge that New England has undergone a massive upgrade at the wide receiver position with the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and the league’s new slot machine, Wes Welker.
Indy gets this one at home and has everything to play for. Peyton Manning has played more than his share of games in the Foxborough snow and would love the comfort of the RCA Dome when the teams meet again in the postseason.
Three questions for Sunday:
Will it matter that the Patriots don’t run the ball? With Tom Brady on pace to throw 60 touchdown passes, New England has made rushing the ball a non-factor so far. Let’s see if the Colts’ ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis get after TB, who has thrown only two picks all year.
Will the loss of Marvin Harrison be a factor? Sure. Harrison, a Patriot killer in the past, is expected to miss this one, putting a lot of pressure on Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Colts try to run it 25-30 times to keep the Pats’ offense off the field. Could be a bid day for RB Joseph Addai.
Will Belichick run up the score if he gets ahead? Heck yeah. He’ll put up 50 if he can. A couple of guys in the New England press told me at the Cowboy that Bells is upset about how the league handled Spy Gate and his way of getting even is to try and humiliate every team New England plays. Word to the wise: get Brady out of there if you get up big, because somewhere, there’s an angry coach who will order a hit on the eventual league MVP if believes Belichick is out to embarrass him.
What do you think? As of this post, I’m still on the fence. I’m leaning toward the Patriots but I could see the Colts winning a close one on Vinatieri’s foot. Send me your thoughts.
Romo gets his dollar$
It’s about time Dallas gave Tony Romo his money. According to ESPN, the Cowboys about to sign Romo to a six-year, $67.5 million contract with $31 million guaranteed. Romo is arguably the third best quarterback in the league behind Brady and Manning, so this move makes sense.
Good for that kid. Hopefully the rumors of a tryst with Britney Spears aren’t true. He can buy a nicer quality of “date” with all the Benjamins he’s going to be making. I guess Jerry Jones didn’t want to see him blow up the Eagles’ questionable secondary this Sunday and up his value even more.
Priest Holmes
ESPN.com’s Elizabeth Merrill wrote an interesting story on former Longhorn running back Priest Holmes, who is back playing for the Kansas City Chiefs after missing the last two seasons with a neck injury.
Holmes is apparently back healthy at age 34 and looking to play a few more seasons. This is a different cat, as you will find out if your read this. Check it out.
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Let’s hope the HGH suspects learned a lesson from Barry Bonds. Come clean now and take what ever lumps you are dealt! Andy Pettitte already has (sort of). For some reason I think Andy had more than 2 instances of bad judgement like he has said. No
... read the full comment by wb | Comment on HGH, the invisible enemy Read HGH, the invisible enemy
Why is HGH being classified as a steroid? All it does is help the healing process for older people. It does nothing for strength or endurance so why is it being classified as a steroid. Finally someone on ESPN came out with what I just said and still it’s
... read the full comment by Rick | Comment on HGH, the invisible enemy Read HGH, the invisible enemy
You’re entirely correct that your headline is an insult to used car salesmen everywhere. I sold cars for a while, and I don’t appreciate being included in the same THOUGHT as a lying little weasel like Bobby Petrino.
... read the full comment by Brent | Comment on Petrino would make a good used car salesman Read Petrino would make a good used car salesman
Give me a break!!! All of the media and many fans hold coaches to a different standard BUT if you got offered a fantastic pay raise at a different company you are telling me you would turn it down, especially if the situation was better where you were
... read the full comment by Good Grief!! | Comment on Petrino would make a good used car salesman Read Petrino would make a good used car salesman
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