NFL Regular Season is over and so are the head coaching tenures of (at publish time of this post) 3 head coaches.
Detroit, Cleveland, and the NY Jets have all canned their head coaches. Happy trails to Rod Marinelli, Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini.
Straight to the point, here is the Sports Verdict's opinion on which NFL coaches should and should not be relieved of their duties. I will try to make this discussion shorter than the hour and a half me and Pleus spent on the subject in December 2003 in R 7 of Pi Kappa Phi...
"Should I Stay or Should I Go" (special thanks to the Clash, 1981)
Go!
Dallas- Wade Phillips- have to give credit here to Colin Cowherd, who said months ago that Wade Phillips was a "mushroom with a headset" Phillips needs to go, the locker room is in shambles, the offense under-performs in key games, Romo has not improved as a QB, T.O not being kept in check. A stronger personality needs to captain this ship.
Jerry Jones continues to say he is not changing head coaches... if this were a drinking game I'd call "bullshit!"
Kansas City- Herm Edwards- the man who is best known for his press conference quote "you play to win the game!" has not won many games recently. Only 2 this year and finished '07 spiraling downward. Not great talent in KC, especially at QB, but this team has no clue how to win close games.
Stay!
San Francisco- the 49ers are much better since Mike Singletary took over from Mike Nolan midseason. It's clear the players buy into his program. The Hall of Fame linebacker looks promising to turn around this once proud, now doormat franchise.
Tampa Bay- Jon Gruden- shut the hell up sports talk radio callers in and around Tampa! You have no QB, WR, and all of your RB's got hurt too! The defense is aging. Jon Gruden is an excellent football coach who understands running the football and what it takes to win. Who are you going to hire who is better?
Washington- Jim Zorn- Jason Campbell is improving and fact is, this franchise is still recovering from the tragic death of Pro Bowler Sean Taylor. Not a bad year any way you look at it.
Denver- Mike Shanahan- like Gruden, a proven winner. Talent on defense is shaky. I will say another playoff miss in '09 and a change may be in store, but not this year. Like Tampa, who are you going to hire that's better?
Already Gone! (thank you Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, etc)
Detroit- Rod Marinelli- 0-16, worst team in NFL history. we can quickly move on...
NY Jets- Eric Mangini- Just 2 years ago the Bill Belichick disciple was nicknamed "Mangenius." In 2008 his Jets started 8-3 only to finish 1-4 and miss the playoffs. After a preseason spending spree of $100 million plus on free agents AND Brett Favre, more is expected.
Cleveland- Romeo Crennel- like the Jets, Cleveland invested a lot in free agents and was a trendy pick as a playoff team in '08. No where close to expectations. Don't let the door hit you on the way out Romeo...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Football Monopoly Over?
Prior to the 2008 collegiate football season the UCLA athletic department took out an ad in the LA Times showing a picture of new head coach Rick Neuheisel.
The full-page ad declared in big letters "The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over"
thank you to Mat Swenson for sharing with me the following fact...
if USC beats Penn State on January 1st, USC and UCLA will have the same number of wins at the Rose Bowl, 3, during the time span of January 1 2008 to January 1 2009.
UCLA plays all of their home games at the Rose Bowl!
As for UCLA success at USC's homefield?
UCLA last won a game at the LA Coliseum in 1997.
Sorry Slick Rick, looks like the football monopoly in Los Angeles is as intact as ever. Maybe next year your Bruins will be able to muster up more than 7 first downs and more than 7 points versus 'SC, but I doubt it.
Even if UCLA does improve over the next several years, its hard to believe it will be without the cheating (NCAA rules violations) that led to your ouster from Colorado and Washington.
Fight On!
Nate
The full-page ad declared in big letters "The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over"
thank you to Mat Swenson for sharing with me the following fact...
if USC beats Penn State on January 1st, USC and UCLA will have the same number of wins at the Rose Bowl, 3, during the time span of January 1 2008 to January 1 2009.
UCLA plays all of their home games at the Rose Bowl!
As for UCLA success at USC's homefield?
UCLA last won a game at the LA Coliseum in 1997.
Sorry Slick Rick, looks like the football monopoly in Los Angeles is as intact as ever. Maybe next year your Bruins will be able to muster up more than 7 first downs and more than 7 points versus 'SC, but I doubt it.
Even if UCLA does improve over the next several years, its hard to believe it will be without the cheating (NCAA rules violations) that led to your ouster from Colorado and Washington.
Fight On!
Nate
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Great Sunday!!
Awesome Sunday of NFL football with an even better one on the horizon next week.
First of all, let me address Dick Enberg, CBS play-by-play voice for the Miami/KC game. He needs to be fired, yesterday. He doesn't know who is on the field, what down it is or the yards to gain.
How about calling the local Pop Warner game, Dick?
The Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals, both division leaders (Arizona has clinched a home playoff game!) are two of the biggest frauds this side of Bernard Madoff.
Denver's defensive effectiveness is on par with that of the Maginot Line in 1940.
Never in my humble few years of watching NFL have I seen a playoff-bound team look as uninterested as Arizona today in New England.
The Browns have zero offensive touchdowns over the last 5 games.
That's worth repeating, the Cleveland Browns have ZERO offensive touchdowns over the last 5 games.
Which former Patriot assistant is having more success?
Romeo Crennel in Cleveland or Charlie Weis at Notre Dame?
Charlie will be back in South Bend in '09
Romeo, 'where are thou Romeo?' Oh Romeo will not be in Cleveland in '09
Giants/Panthers Sunday night (NYG 34-28 winners in OT) perhaps the best game of the year to this point. From a neutral observer standpoint however, it was disappointing to see an officiating crew that called only 2 penalties in the game's first 55 minutes call 2 game-changing, shaky penalties in the game's final 5 minutes.
The first, a hand-fighting pass interference call in the endzone gave NY a first and goal at the Carolina 1. The second, a holding call on all-pro WR Steve Smith, negated a run that would have put the Panthers deep into Giant territory.
After the holding call that backed Carolina up, John Casey narrowly missed a 50 yard field goal with 4 seconds to go.
Without the penalty, the kick would have been much shorter.
Look for my Dolphins rant in the next few days!!!
Fight On!
Nate
First of all, let me address Dick Enberg, CBS play-by-play voice for the Miami/KC game. He needs to be fired, yesterday. He doesn't know who is on the field, what down it is or the yards to gain.
How about calling the local Pop Warner game, Dick?
The Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals, both division leaders (Arizona has clinched a home playoff game!) are two of the biggest frauds this side of Bernard Madoff.
Denver's defensive effectiveness is on par with that of the Maginot Line in 1940.
Never in my humble few years of watching NFL have I seen a playoff-bound team look as uninterested as Arizona today in New England.
The Browns have zero offensive touchdowns over the last 5 games.
That's worth repeating, the Cleveland Browns have ZERO offensive touchdowns over the last 5 games.
Which former Patriot assistant is having more success?
Romeo Crennel in Cleveland or Charlie Weis at Notre Dame?
Charlie will be back in South Bend in '09
Romeo, 'where are thou Romeo?' Oh Romeo will not be in Cleveland in '09
Giants/Panthers Sunday night (NYG 34-28 winners in OT) perhaps the best game of the year to this point. From a neutral observer standpoint however, it was disappointing to see an officiating crew that called only 2 penalties in the game's first 55 minutes call 2 game-changing, shaky penalties in the game's final 5 minutes.
The first, a hand-fighting pass interference call in the endzone gave NY a first and goal at the Carolina 1. The second, a holding call on all-pro WR Steve Smith, negated a run that would have put the Panthers deep into Giant territory.
After the holding call that backed Carolina up, John Casey narrowly missed a 50 yard field goal with 4 seconds to go.
Without the penalty, the kick would have been much shorter.
Look for my Dolphins rant in the next few days!!!
Fight On!
Nate
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Least Credible Award in Sports: The Heisman Trophy
Each season the Heisman Trophy Trust awards college football's "Most Outstanding Player" the Heisman Memorial Trophy.
In pro sports, talk of MVP Awards usually begin around the mid-way point of the season, usually on barely-listenable AM talk radio shows in towns like Deland, FL.
With the Heisman Trophy, this is far from the case. Heisman chatter begins months before the season begins and get nationwide attention from major media outlets of all medium.
Universities have been known to spend 6 figures promoting their athletes. The most (in)famous case was the University of Oregon's 2001 purchase of a monster billboard in NYC to plaster a super-sized photo of QB Joey Harrington.
A Heisman trophy can result in huge financial benefits for the school of the winner, the stakes are high.
****Side Note: Harrington did not win the Heisman, but did get drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft to be the face of the Detroit Lions. How has that worked out?***
In 2008, the three finalists for the Heisman were Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow.
They are the quarterbacks for the teams ranked 1, 2, and 3 by the AP and BCS.
There are 66 BCS Conference teams (including Notre Dame). Each team has 22 starters.
That's 1450 (approx) college football first team players in BCS conferences
Consider all else equal, the odds that the Quarterbacks on the top 3 teams to be the 3 "Most Outstanding Players" in college football is (approx) 311 million to 1!!!
2008 is not an aberration, there is a consistent pattern that has emerged over this decade. Any honest look at this pattern, something you will never hear from anyone at the deeply financially invested empire that is ESPN/ABC (owned by Disney Corp.), shows the true criteria for the Heisman Trophy goes something like "Feel-Good Quarterback from top 5 team."
Let's examine the winners since 2000.
Listings below include: year, player name, position, school, and AP national ranking at time of award.
Keep in mind, the award, according to its mission statement, is supposed to go to "The Most Outstanding Player" in college football. Position and team success are never mentioned!
2008 Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma 2
2007 Tim Tebow QB Florida 9
2006 Troy Smith QB Ohio St 1
2005 Reggie Bush RB USC 1
2004 Matt Leinart QB USC 1
2003 Jason White QB Oklahoma 3
2002 Carson Palmer QB USC 5
2001 Eric Crouch QB Nebraska 4
2000 Chris Weinke QB Florida St 3
a few quick stats about college football's 'Most Outstanding Player' over the past 9 years
8 of 9 were quarterbacks
9 of 9 came from teams ranked in the top 10, 8 of 9 from teams in the top 5
the 1 non-quarterback was a running back on the number 1 team and from the school that was two-time defending national champions
I will grant the Heisman says nothing about how a player will fare in the NFL, but certainly it can be expected the 'Most Outstanding Player' in CFB would be at least a contributor at the next level.
Palmer (at least until his knee injury in January '06) and Bush have been solid if not excellent professionals.
Eric Crouch and Jason White were Canadian Football League or Arena Football League (Bon Voyage AFL!) material at best.
Chris Weinke was ushered out of the NFL after a few uninspiring years in Carolina and San Francisco (2 wins out of 20 career starts).
Troy Smith will likely never ascend above back up, a spot that Matt Leinart has appeared to settle into as well (though he may get another shot).
Tim Tebow will likely return to Gainesville in '09 or be a second day draft choice this spring if he does skip his senior year.
Scouts do like the NFL potential of Sam Bradford, we will see.
Going back to 1992 allows us to include NFL bust quarterbacks Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel and Gino Torretta- all of whom played for teams ranked in the top 3 at the time of their Trophy.
In the few days since Bradford's win, sports writers have cried foul over either Tebow or McCoy's misfortune with the Heisman voters.
No one calls for Alabama Offensive Tackle Andre Smith or USC LB Rey Maualuga.
Clearly, it is impossible to be CFB's 'Most Outstanding Player' if you play offensive line or any position on defense.
I'm obviously the first guy to say that championships are won with great defenses and an offensive line that can control the line of scrimmage.
McCoy!!! No, Bradford!!! It's got to be Tebow- he waves his arms to the crowd and gets dirt on his face!!!
What a total joke. Rename the award what it is.
"Feel Good Quarterback from Top 5 Team"
Fight On,
Nate
In pro sports, talk of MVP Awards usually begin around the mid-way point of the season, usually on barely-listenable AM talk radio shows in towns like Deland, FL.
With the Heisman Trophy, this is far from the case. Heisman chatter begins months before the season begins and get nationwide attention from major media outlets of all medium.
Universities have been known to spend 6 figures promoting their athletes. The most (in)famous case was the University of Oregon's 2001 purchase of a monster billboard in NYC to plaster a super-sized photo of QB Joey Harrington.
A Heisman trophy can result in huge financial benefits for the school of the winner, the stakes are high.
****Side Note: Harrington did not win the Heisman, but did get drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft to be the face of the Detroit Lions. How has that worked out?***
In 2008, the three finalists for the Heisman were Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow.
They are the quarterbacks for the teams ranked 1, 2, and 3 by the AP and BCS.
There are 66 BCS Conference teams (including Notre Dame). Each team has 22 starters.
That's 1450 (approx) college football first team players in BCS conferences
Consider all else equal, the odds that the Quarterbacks on the top 3 teams to be the 3 "Most Outstanding Players" in college football is (approx) 311 million to 1!!!
2008 is not an aberration, there is a consistent pattern that has emerged over this decade. Any honest look at this pattern, something you will never hear from anyone at the deeply financially invested empire that is ESPN/ABC (owned by Disney Corp.), shows the true criteria for the Heisman Trophy goes something like "Feel-Good Quarterback from top 5 team."
Let's examine the winners since 2000.
Listings below include: year, player name, position, school, and AP national ranking at time of award.
Keep in mind, the award, according to its mission statement, is supposed to go to "The Most Outstanding Player" in college football. Position and team success are never mentioned!
2008 Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma 2
2007 Tim Tebow QB Florida 9
2006 Troy Smith QB Ohio St 1
2005 Reggie Bush RB USC 1
2004 Matt Leinart QB USC 1
2003 Jason White QB Oklahoma 3
2002 Carson Palmer QB USC 5
2001 Eric Crouch QB Nebraska 4
2000 Chris Weinke QB Florida St 3
a few quick stats about college football's 'Most Outstanding Player' over the past 9 years
8 of 9 were quarterbacks
9 of 9 came from teams ranked in the top 10, 8 of 9 from teams in the top 5
the 1 non-quarterback was a running back on the number 1 team and from the school that was two-time defending national champions
I will grant the Heisman says nothing about how a player will fare in the NFL, but certainly it can be expected the 'Most Outstanding Player' in CFB would be at least a contributor at the next level.
Palmer (at least until his knee injury in January '06) and Bush have been solid if not excellent professionals.
Eric Crouch and Jason White were Canadian Football League or Arena Football League (Bon Voyage AFL!) material at best.
Chris Weinke was ushered out of the NFL after a few uninspiring years in Carolina and San Francisco (2 wins out of 20 career starts).
Troy Smith will likely never ascend above back up, a spot that Matt Leinart has appeared to settle into as well (though he may get another shot).
Tim Tebow will likely return to Gainesville in '09 or be a second day draft choice this spring if he does skip his senior year.
Scouts do like the NFL potential of Sam Bradford, we will see.
Going back to 1992 allows us to include NFL bust quarterbacks Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel and Gino Torretta- all of whom played for teams ranked in the top 3 at the time of their Trophy.
In the few days since Bradford's win, sports writers have cried foul over either Tebow or McCoy's misfortune with the Heisman voters.
No one calls for Alabama Offensive Tackle Andre Smith or USC LB Rey Maualuga.
Clearly, it is impossible to be CFB's 'Most Outstanding Player' if you play offensive line or any position on defense.
I'm obviously the first guy to say that championships are won with great defenses and an offensive line that can control the line of scrimmage.
McCoy!!! No, Bradford!!! It's got to be Tebow- he waves his arms to the crowd and gets dirt on his face!!!
What a total joke. Rename the award what it is.
"Feel Good Quarterback from Top 5 Team"
Fight On,
Nate
Monday, December 15, 2008
Unreal...
December college hoops are rarely worth mentioning, but if you did not see it last night, the end of the Syracuse/Cleveland State game from the Carrier Dome is worth your 30 seconds.
Syracuse, in the white uniforms is ranked number 11 and undefeated. When the clip begins Syracuse is trailing by 2 points and has the ball with about 20 seconds to play. Cleveland State is wearing the green uniforms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XU7qhNcjSc
Heisman critique coming here shortly.
Fight On,
Nate
Syracuse, in the white uniforms is ranked number 11 and undefeated. When the clip begins Syracuse is trailing by 2 points and has the ball with about 20 seconds to play. Cleveland State is wearing the green uniforms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XU7qhNcjSc
Heisman critique coming here shortly.
Fight On,
Nate
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Welcome to the Sports Verdict
thank you for subscribing to my blog!
as you can tell from the title, my blog will center around sports topics. I want to thank my fellow USC alums/Pi Kapp brothers for encouraging me to start this blog.
From the time I was a young child sports have been a passion of mine. As I have grown older, this passion has only grown greater. A public relations major from the elite Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California, I enjoy critiquing media.
One of the main missions of my blog is to critique sports media and analyze how they attempt to influence the public while pushing their own agenda and financial interests. I firmly believe this is an issue that threatens the future of sports, especially collegiate football, and must be addressed.
A true sports nerd (thank you Sean Tiernan!) in the truest sense, my blog will include many random rants about anything sports that I feel worth mentioning at the time.
I've been lucky in my 27 years to have traveled the USA attending hundreds of sporting events, I will share my past experiences and update my upcoming games as appropriate.
As with any blog, reader feedback is essential. I encourage comments and disagreements. I have been wrong many times in the past and will be wrong many more times in the future.
As much as possible please support your opinions with facts. Please try to avoid saying 'Team A sucks and will get murdered by Team B' without giving anything concrete to back it up. I can turn on ESPN and hear comments like the aforementioned, my blog is an attempt at sports dialogue a notch above ESPN.
Again, thank you for your interest and please invite your friends and family.
Fight On,
Nate
as you can tell from the title, my blog will center around sports topics. I want to thank my fellow USC alums/Pi Kapp brothers for encouraging me to start this blog.
From the time I was a young child sports have been a passion of mine. As I have grown older, this passion has only grown greater. A public relations major from the elite Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California, I enjoy critiquing media.
One of the main missions of my blog is to critique sports media and analyze how they attempt to influence the public while pushing their own agenda and financial interests. I firmly believe this is an issue that threatens the future of sports, especially collegiate football, and must be addressed.
A true sports nerd (thank you Sean Tiernan!) in the truest sense, my blog will include many random rants about anything sports that I feel worth mentioning at the time.
I've been lucky in my 27 years to have traveled the USA attending hundreds of sporting events, I will share my past experiences and update my upcoming games as appropriate.
As with any blog, reader feedback is essential. I encourage comments and disagreements. I have been wrong many times in the past and will be wrong many more times in the future.
As much as possible please support your opinions with facts. Please try to avoid saying 'Team A sucks and will get murdered by Team B' without giving anything concrete to back it up. I can turn on ESPN and hear comments like the aforementioned, my blog is an attempt at sports dialogue a notch above ESPN.
Again, thank you for your interest and please invite your friends and family.
Fight On,
Nate
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