Ok, here we are. The MLB season is over, culminating in my Boston RedSox winning the World Series. The college football regular season is rapidly coming to end and the conference championships are coming closer. Other fall collegiate sports are gearing up for their post-seasons, as the collegiate basketball season gets underway.
So much to talk about, and what thought keeps coming up in my mind of local interest? College football's Unitas Award.
What about the Heisman? Forget it. Both local candidates from UL and UK will NOT be invited to the DAC, (Downtown Athletic Club), in New York come early December. And that is REGARDLESS of what they do or do not achieve over these last few games in November.
Both Brian Brohm and Andre' Woodson are all but eliminated from consideration. Why? Because recent history suggests that they are out of it completely. Since 1997 NONE of the top 4-5 invitees for the Heisman award ceremonies have been from a team that had 4 or more losses on the season. Woodson MIGHT still make it, but UK has to win out AND the top 5 guys in front of Woodson have to slip up. Brohm is out of it completely.
I am sure I am going to take a ton of heat for this, but that is the reality of the situation. Both QB's could put up HUGE numbers and lead their respective teams to win out the rest of the year, and that would NOT make a difference. Again, it is because guys in front of them have slip in the national presence. And right now, those top 4 candidates are looking pretty strong. Right now, according to ESPN, the top 5 candidates are Matt Ryan (BC), Dennis Dixon (OR), Tim Tebow (FL), Pat White (WV), and Mike Hart (MI). Out of the top 15, Woodson checks in at #13, and Brohm is not listed at all. Basically, put a fork in them.
However, there IS a post season award that both can and will be considered for that is pretty prestigious in and of itself. And presented right here in Louisville. The Johnny Unitas Golden-Arm award, given each year to the best SENIOR QB. And with both Brohm and Woodson we are lucky to have two of the top QB's in the nation right here in the state. And how cool would is it to have these two guys fighting for this award in their home state?
So, here is the question: Which QB deserves the award?
First, they will have competition from Heisman candidates Matt Ryan and Dennis Dixon. But it is actually rare that even a Heisman winner gets both of these awards. And the primary reason is that the Unitas Award is based on the overall performance and that Sr QB's full body of work over their career, not just how well their team is doing or how good their Sr. year is.
But if you look at the body of the work that all of these Sr QB's have put together, (Ryan, Dixon, Woodson and Brohm), I think the CLEAR winner is Brian Brohm. The overall performance of his 4 years at UL overshadows the work that the other 3 have accumulated. Especially in the early parts of their careers. Brohm has been the starting QB since his Sophomore season, and his results speak for themselves. The highpoint of his career may not have been his MVP Orange Bowl award and leading his team the Orange Bowl victory, but actually may be THIS 2007 season. In a season where the UL football team is as dysfunctional as the NY Mets with 2 weeks to go in the baseball season, Brohm has been a MAJOR stabilizing force and reliable leader on the field. The past two seasons he suffered injuries and forced him to miss several games. But this season he has remained healthy, and incredibly prolific amid all sorts of horrific play and dubious coaching. As a result, I think this may be Brian Brohm's best year he has ever had. With Brian Brohm, I shudder to think where UL would be right now. And not because of his ability throwing the ball, but just his presence and ability to make the right choices.
So, in a year that Brohm could have, and maybe even expected, to win college football's most prestigious award, (Heisman Award), given to the supposedly "best football player", the best award for him might be to take home the award that epitomizes the real virtue of a true QB. The Unitas Award.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Is the time right for the Big East?
This week was the annual Big East media days to kick off, (or should I more correctly say, 'tip off'), the basketball season. The hottest topic among all of the coaches in attendance was the issue of the conference size, strength and schedule.
More and more we are seeing that the BBall coaches are becoming less and less enamoured with the current Big East makeup. One of the biggest topics centered around the Syracuse Orange getting a snub for the NCAA tournament last year with a very good record. That snub, and the imbalance of schedule regarding the strength of who is playing whom is driving a lot of the consternation.
Personally I agree.
So, I am very convinced that some type of changes are in the offing next year during the Big East conference annual meeting in June/July. What those changes are, is anyone's guess. Suggestions have ranged from "dumbing" down the in-conference schedule to even divisional play. As some of you may know I have for quite some time, almost from the start, have my take on what should be done, and once again I offer this as at least one possible solution.
I have never liked the idea of a large mega-conference format where everyone plays everyone. I actually like the idea of divisional play, and I really hope that it gets serious consideration during the off-season by the Big East schools. Divisional play in basketball, (and several other olympic sports that have more that 10 participating members), makes all the sense in the world to me. And for various reasons. In the current Big East configuration, with the BE having 16 member schools, splitting those members up into two 8-team divisions and having a full 14 game round-robin format would be ideal. You can then setup, if they so choose to, 2 to as many as 4, inter-division conference games just to ease the out of conferene scheduling. But I am thinking that with the strength of the BE conferene in bball, most AD's and cosches would opt out for non-conference games. Although I suggest that at 2 games be inter-divisional games just for rivalry sake.
The schools originally that were dead set against divisional play were those that did not participate in football. The thought, so they maintained, was that they needed to play some of those stronger football participating schools, (like UL, UConn, and Syracuse), to keep their conference strength of schedule up an bolster their RPI rating come NCAA selection sunday. They also wanted MORE schools available to play in the BE tournament at MSG, and the thinking was that with all schools playing everyone that would be a more "fair" breakdown. That has not worked out well so far. What has happened is that the league is SO competitive that they end up beating up on each other creating some mediocre in-conference records, which then the NCAA has to try and justify to other conferences. Those non-football schools though rely HEAVILY on the money brought in by the appearance in the NCAA tournament. Every year they miss costs them a lot of money that feeds their other athletic engines. So, I think the time is right for those schools to be finally willing to look at divisional play.
With 2 divisions of 8 teams, it not only allows for a true intra-divisional round-robin format, but also sets up a great bracket breakdown for the BE tournment in MSG every year. How are those divisions to be setup? Which schools would go in which divsions? Well, I have a suggestion, but I think the member schools themselves are better able to determine that. But here is my thought:
Break the schools down by relative geographic dispersion first, but give consideration to long standing rivalries.
For example:
Division A: Marquette, Notre Dame, DePaul, Cincy, UL, WVU, USF, Pitt
Division B: Georgetown, Providence, St. Johns, UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Villanova
Now, given that breakdown, with only 14 intra-divisional games, you could then also setup 2 other inter-divisional games which could cross over and keep some long running rivalries going. And that still only sets up a 16 game in-conference schedule, so OOC scheduling would give you at least 14 games, (and anymore schools play 32 regular season games), to play prior to the conference start.
But how to break down selection for the BE tournament? Here again is my suggestion. First, the top two teams from each division get a "bye" are seeded in the tournment for the 2nd round as the top 4 teams in the conference. That means the 1st round of 4 games includes 8 additional teams from both of the divisions, giving you a total of 12 of the total of 16 schools. Sorry but I do NOT think that EVERY team should be allowed to play in a post-season tournament. Some teams, some years, are just going to be bad, and should not play. And in this scenario, only the bottom 4 teams would be left out. But how to choose those 4? I suggest that be based on the total conference record and not their standing in their division. I understand that in some years one division might be much stronger than the other and due to weaker play the bottom two teams in each division might have better records but not be quite as strong a team. That just happens, that kind of situation though is very cyclical, and that is what MANY schools always seem to forget.
So that is my suggestion. Modest proposal as it may be, if the BE does adopt a divisional format, I think you will see actually MORE schools from the BE getting into the NCAA tournament, only because the paring down of the schools will work in the BE's favor. Right now, I think the NCAA has to work too hard to figure out what are the better schools. In divisional format, I think it makes their job easier.
Also, if the BE does set up that situation, it also sets up a future blog for me about what the BE future makeup might be...(wink)....but that is a future blog.
More and more we are seeing that the BBall coaches are becoming less and less enamoured with the current Big East makeup. One of the biggest topics centered around the Syracuse Orange getting a snub for the NCAA tournament last year with a very good record. That snub, and the imbalance of schedule regarding the strength of who is playing whom is driving a lot of the consternation.
Personally I agree.
So, I am very convinced that some type of changes are in the offing next year during the Big East conference annual meeting in June/July. What those changes are, is anyone's guess. Suggestions have ranged from "dumbing" down the in-conference schedule to even divisional play. As some of you may know I have for quite some time, almost from the start, have my take on what should be done, and once again I offer this as at least one possible solution.
I have never liked the idea of a large mega-conference format where everyone plays everyone. I actually like the idea of divisional play, and I really hope that it gets serious consideration during the off-season by the Big East schools. Divisional play in basketball, (and several other olympic sports that have more that 10 participating members), makes all the sense in the world to me. And for various reasons. In the current Big East configuration, with the BE having 16 member schools, splitting those members up into two 8-team divisions and having a full 14 game round-robin format would be ideal. You can then setup, if they so choose to, 2 to as many as 4, inter-division conference games just to ease the out of conferene scheduling. But I am thinking that with the strength of the BE conferene in bball, most AD's and cosches would opt out for non-conference games. Although I suggest that at 2 games be inter-divisional games just for rivalry sake.
The schools originally that were dead set against divisional play were those that did not participate in football. The thought, so they maintained, was that they needed to play some of those stronger football participating schools, (like UL, UConn, and Syracuse), to keep their conference strength of schedule up an bolster their RPI rating come NCAA selection sunday. They also wanted MORE schools available to play in the BE tournament at MSG, and the thinking was that with all schools playing everyone that would be a more "fair" breakdown. That has not worked out well so far. What has happened is that the league is SO competitive that they end up beating up on each other creating some mediocre in-conference records, which then the NCAA has to try and justify to other conferences. Those non-football schools though rely HEAVILY on the money brought in by the appearance in the NCAA tournament. Every year they miss costs them a lot of money that feeds their other athletic engines. So, I think the time is right for those schools to be finally willing to look at divisional play.
With 2 divisions of 8 teams, it not only allows for a true intra-divisional round-robin format, but also sets up a great bracket breakdown for the BE tournment in MSG every year. How are those divisions to be setup? Which schools would go in which divsions? Well, I have a suggestion, but I think the member schools themselves are better able to determine that. But here is my thought:
Break the schools down by relative geographic dispersion first, but give consideration to long standing rivalries.
For example:
Division A: Marquette, Notre Dame, DePaul, Cincy, UL, WVU, USF, Pitt
Division B: Georgetown, Providence, St. Johns, UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Villanova
Now, given that breakdown, with only 14 intra-divisional games, you could then also setup 2 other inter-divisional games which could cross over and keep some long running rivalries going. And that still only sets up a 16 game in-conference schedule, so OOC scheduling would give you at least 14 games, (and anymore schools play 32 regular season games), to play prior to the conference start.
But how to break down selection for the BE tournament? Here again is my suggestion. First, the top two teams from each division get a "bye" are seeded in the tournment for the 2nd round as the top 4 teams in the conference. That means the 1st round of 4 games includes 8 additional teams from both of the divisions, giving you a total of 12 of the total of 16 schools. Sorry but I do NOT think that EVERY team should be allowed to play in a post-season tournament. Some teams, some years, are just going to be bad, and should not play. And in this scenario, only the bottom 4 teams would be left out. But how to choose those 4? I suggest that be based on the total conference record and not their standing in their division. I understand that in some years one division might be much stronger than the other and due to weaker play the bottom two teams in each division might have better records but not be quite as strong a team. That just happens, that kind of situation though is very cyclical, and that is what MANY schools always seem to forget.
So that is my suggestion. Modest proposal as it may be, if the BE does adopt a divisional format, I think you will see actually MORE schools from the BE getting into the NCAA tournament, only because the paring down of the schools will work in the BE's favor. Right now, I think the NCAA has to work too hard to figure out what are the better schools. In divisional format, I think it makes their job easier.
Also, if the BE does set up that situation, it also sets up a future blog for me about what the BE future makeup might be...(wink)....but that is a future blog.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The problem of bad calls....
Last friday night during the UL vs UConn football game we witnessed one of, if not the, most egregious bad calls in collegiate football history. You could say that the Oklahoma vs Oregon on-side kick call was worse, but in that situation, there were a lot of bodies flying around. In the case of the UL vs UConn game, what we saw was in that non-call of a clearly fair catch signal with the back judge standing not more than 10 yards away, looking dead on AT the UConn's return man Taylor, with NO other players around him, was nothing less than hideously stupid. And led to not only all of the opposing coverage players stop dead in their tracks, but also UConn's coverage team as well, it led to a touchdown, in a game where UL eventually lost by 7 points.
But the problem we saw friday night past, I believe, is FAR more large than this one bad call and how it did or did not effect the outcome of the game between UL and UConn. The problem of dozens of blown calls over the past few years, is symptomatic of the fact that in all by one sport, (including professional sports), all of the officials are PART-TIME employees of their craft. The ONLY sport that actually pays and retains officials as Full Time Employees, (FTE's), is Major League Baseball. And THAT for me is the problem.
How can we expect some sap official who spends half the year working at Home Depot in the hardware section, to be good at the craft of officiating a sport where every call and action is critical and vital to the outcome of a game, with literally millions of dollars riding on it? And while it is easy to see the millions in pro sports like the NBA and NFL, let's face it, even in college, post-season bowl games, sponsors and boosters are BIG money issues.
If officials spend half of the year wandering around working other jobs, and NOT spending the off season honing their craft by learning the rule book inside and out, as well as watching video and attending learning sessions to make themselves better, we will continue to see this type of extremely poor officiating continue, and even get worse as things move forward.
While pro sports have their own ways and worries of trying to deal with this problem, in the case of collegiate sports, the NCAA MUST step in soon and make this a top priority issue. And not just for the example of horrible play calls or non-calls like illustrated by the UL-UConn game. But also for the complete integrity of the game as a whole. We have already seen this past summer an NBA official admit to gambling on games, even those that he officiated. Do we REALLY believe that part-time officials at the collegiate level, guys who do NOT make this their living, and get paid paltry sums of money, are immune to the temptations of such outside influences as gambling?
The conferences themselves are also to blame here, for they, as decided by the NCAA, employ and maintain their conference affiliated officiating staffs. But that makes it even worse. You would think that the conferences, which bring in HUGE amounts of TV money would not want the incredible media beat down that is 100% justified and inevitable when horrible calls or non-calls are made that impact the outcomes of their own conference games.
Instead of issuing the required, "Mea culpa!" to the impacted schools of their own conference, what they SHOULD be doing is looking to greatly improve the status and skills of all of their officiating in every sport and level. And IMHO, that all starts with making officials full-time employees, so that they can be held much more accountable for their actions.
Well, that's my take on it anyway.......
But the problem we saw friday night past, I believe, is FAR more large than this one bad call and how it did or did not effect the outcome of the game between UL and UConn. The problem of dozens of blown calls over the past few years, is symptomatic of the fact that in all by one sport, (including professional sports), all of the officials are PART-TIME employees of their craft. The ONLY sport that actually pays and retains officials as Full Time Employees, (FTE's), is Major League Baseball. And THAT for me is the problem.
How can we expect some sap official who spends half the year working at Home Depot in the hardware section, to be good at the craft of officiating a sport where every call and action is critical and vital to the outcome of a game, with literally millions of dollars riding on it? And while it is easy to see the millions in pro sports like the NBA and NFL, let's face it, even in college, post-season bowl games, sponsors and boosters are BIG money issues.
If officials spend half of the year wandering around working other jobs, and NOT spending the off season honing their craft by learning the rule book inside and out, as well as watching video and attending learning sessions to make themselves better, we will continue to see this type of extremely poor officiating continue, and even get worse as things move forward.
While pro sports have their own ways and worries of trying to deal with this problem, in the case of collegiate sports, the NCAA MUST step in soon and make this a top priority issue. And not just for the example of horrible play calls or non-calls like illustrated by the UL-UConn game. But also for the complete integrity of the game as a whole. We have already seen this past summer an NBA official admit to gambling on games, even those that he officiated. Do we REALLY believe that part-time officials at the collegiate level, guys who do NOT make this their living, and get paid paltry sums of money, are immune to the temptations of such outside influences as gambling?
The conferences themselves are also to blame here, for they, as decided by the NCAA, employ and maintain their conference affiliated officiating staffs. But that makes it even worse. You would think that the conferences, which bring in HUGE amounts of TV money would not want the incredible media beat down that is 100% justified and inevitable when horrible calls or non-calls are made that impact the outcomes of their own conference games.
Instead of issuing the required, "Mea culpa!" to the impacted schools of their own conference, what they SHOULD be doing is looking to greatly improve the status and skills of all of their officiating in every sport and level. And IMHO, that all starts with making officials full-time employees, so that they can be held much more accountable for their actions.
Well, that's my take on it anyway.......
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Still ready for baseball in October?
Tonight the UL baseball team plays its last fall scrimmage in the annual "Pizza Bowl" at Patterson Stadium. If you get a chance, and weather permitting, try and get out to watch them. Louisville has four pitchers with pro potential on this staff in personages of BJ Rosenberg, Zach Pitts, Justin Marks and UL's version of "The Big Unit" in 6-foot-7 behemoth Bob Revesz. When Revesz releases the ball, he has already covered 25 of the 60 feet to home plate.
Should be a fun time.
There is other baseball happening tonight at The Jake. This where the struggling BoSox pitching staff will try to figure out SOME way of quieting the Indians bats and keeping the RedSox hopes of World Series appearance on life support. But the real drama that is baseball was actually last night when......nothing at all happened.
The real problem with baseball is that in a 7 game series and dead in the MIDDLE of a 3 game stand in Cleveland, MLB because of BAD FOX Sports programming left all of us baseball fans high and dry last night!
What the HELL?!
This was the single most stupid thing I have ever witnessed in MLB scheduling since, oh, how about insipid "inter-league" play. How can baseball expect to try to gather back some marketshare from an increasingly thinning sports viewing public. Just when you build up some interest and momentum, as a fan you are then left hanging and waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was NOT a travel day where the teams were changing ballpark venues.
The reason for this stupid "dead period" was MLB's decision to change the post-season schedule so that the World Series would start in the middle of the week in hopes to gain ratings. Ok, I get that, but to STOP a 3 game stand just to do that? That makes NO sense whatsoever. Especially when what the MLB COULD have done is push the playoffs up earlier in the schedule by just ending the season a few days earlier, rather than on a weekend, like they did. But instead, MLB decided to extend the season longer by adding more "off days" during the regular season.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is doing everything he can to ruin baseball for the "casual" baseball fan. It used to be that you could catch a Cubs or Braves game on WGN or TBS almost every day of the week during the season, but his idiocy of leadership is pushing more and more to "pay per view" types of situations, and this latest scheduling change in the middle of the ALCS is just another example of that.
I did the math and if you add up all of the "extra day off" during the playoffs this season, it add up to 9 total days! That is up and above counting any travel days.
For those of us who are fans of the "game of baseball" and not necessarily of any particular team, it breaks up the continuity of the game and artificially extends the season for no real gain, or even purpose.
Oh, well, as a fan I will still be watching, but the decisions made to extend baseball artificially, is about an insane as watching the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs in May during 80 degree weather.
Someday, these commissioner's are going to figure out that there IS a seasonal timeline to sporting events and that you should not screw around with it, regardless of whether you THINK you might be additional viewers or not. A concept that has yet turned out to be true.
Should be a fun time.
There is other baseball happening tonight at The Jake. This where the struggling BoSox pitching staff will try to figure out SOME way of quieting the Indians bats and keeping the RedSox hopes of World Series appearance on life support. But the real drama that is baseball was actually last night when......nothing at all happened.
The real problem with baseball is that in a 7 game series and dead in the MIDDLE of a 3 game stand in Cleveland, MLB because of BAD FOX Sports programming left all of us baseball fans high and dry last night!
What the HELL?!
This was the single most stupid thing I have ever witnessed in MLB scheduling since, oh, how about insipid "inter-league" play. How can baseball expect to try to gather back some marketshare from an increasingly thinning sports viewing public. Just when you build up some interest and momentum, as a fan you are then left hanging and waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was NOT a travel day where the teams were changing ballpark venues.
The reason for this stupid "dead period" was MLB's decision to change the post-season schedule so that the World Series would start in the middle of the week in hopes to gain ratings. Ok, I get that, but to STOP a 3 game stand just to do that? That makes NO sense whatsoever. Especially when what the MLB COULD have done is push the playoffs up earlier in the schedule by just ending the season a few days earlier, rather than on a weekend, like they did. But instead, MLB decided to extend the season longer by adding more "off days" during the regular season.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is doing everything he can to ruin baseball for the "casual" baseball fan. It used to be that you could catch a Cubs or Braves game on WGN or TBS almost every day of the week during the season, but his idiocy of leadership is pushing more and more to "pay per view" types of situations, and this latest scheduling change in the middle of the ALCS is just another example of that.
I did the math and if you add up all of the "extra day off" during the playoffs this season, it add up to 9 total days! That is up and above counting any travel days.
For those of us who are fans of the "game of baseball" and not necessarily of any particular team, it breaks up the continuity of the game and artificially extends the season for no real gain, or even purpose.
Oh, well, as a fan I will still be watching, but the decisions made to extend baseball artificially, is about an insane as watching the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs in May during 80 degree weather.
Someday, these commissioner's are going to figure out that there IS a seasonal timeline to sporting events and that you should not screw around with it, regardless of whether you THINK you might be additional viewers or not. A concept that has yet turned out to be true.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Nebraska situation vs Louisville issues
In case anyone might get the wrong impression, this article is NOT about whether Nebraska would interview Tom Jurich for its vacant AD spot after firing Steve Pederson yesterday; nor is it about whether Jurich would consider such a move. This is NOT about anything of the kind.
What I do want to do is compare the relative situations between UL and Nebraska football. I find it extremely fascinating how the two situations parallel each other, and how the fan base and the actions taken by Nebraska is so very different than UL, but for the exact same basic reasons.
First, look at the two schools record this year, and the expectations coming in. Nebraska was ranked 16th in the AP and 17th in the Coach's poll in the preseason. While UL had one of the most successful years ever in their history, Nebraska had a good season in 2006, finishing only 9-5, but did win the B-12 North and played in the B-12 Championship game. Ok, yeah, they lost to Oklahoma, and then lost their bowl game vs Auburn in the Cotton Bowl. But losing to teams like those in post-season games, while disappointing, is hardly anything to be upset over. Note that this all happened in the 3rd year of HC Bill Callahan's tenure. So as a result, expectations for the Huskers were big coming into 2007. They were the heavy favorites to win the B-12 North, and could even have their shot at a BCS game.
And then the season started. The Huskers on defense this season have looked like Louisville West this season. Averaging giving up over 40 points in all three of their loses this season, including last saturday's worst home loss ever to Oklahoma State. (Not Oklahoma mind you, Oklahoma STATE).
So what was the reaction to this horrible start by a team that was to be a "contender" for the B-12 conference title? A firing of the Athletic Director. (Now, I realize that there are being reported some other issues with Pederson and the job he was doing at Nebraska; such as employee dissatisfaction and job morale issues. Still, none of those appeared to be big problems back in June/July when the Nebraska administration extended Pederson's contract for 5 years. Those only became "issues" as criteria for dismissal once the football team's season tanked.)
Now, compare that with the reaction of Louisville where the season this year has been, well, to be kind, far below what people have thought it would be. Including pundits like Phil Steele, among others. But at no time has the UL fan base, or the UL administration had anything but continued faith in UL VP of Athletics Tom Jurich, to fix the problems with this football team and with the coaching staff where/if applicable.
The question is: How much does the AD truly and really impact the final W-L column of the football program?
Is not that the responsibility of the HEAD FOOTBALL COACH?? The AD's job, whether it be in Louisville, or in Nebraska, is to provide all the tools and means necessary for the football HC to build a football program that will result in wins on the field. Making sure of things like facilities, fund raising, NCAA compliance, and even player eligibility are all in order. The only other function is the fact that the AD is responsible for hiring the HC's for every sport the university offers, but it is the HC's job to put together a coaching staff that can teach the game fundamentals, techniques, schemes and methods which result in positive success on the football field. It just seems ridiculous to hold an AD responsible for the W-L records of any of the sports teams. Either from a "firing" of the AD because of it, or of a "the AD has to fix this" perspective. Both, for me, seem to be not focusing on the real problems at hand.
The real issues, for both schools, has been horribly inconsistent play by the defense, as well as some key injuries and poor game management in other phases of the game.
Yes, UL won a very key game up in Cincinnati over the weekend. One in which the UL DL played a big part in. But, given this team's track record they could turn around this week and make UConn look like the New England Patriots. The biggest key to UL's win over Cincy this past weekend were the turnovers they created, and the ones that the Cincy defense did not. That is not necessarily a trend that you want to depend on every week to get you a win. But I am digressing.
The point here to this issue for me, is that I think that that Head Coach's of each respective program at not taking enough responsibility for the current state of each respective program. With UL, you can be a little more forgiving because it is a first year coach, but how can you give a 4th year HC a nod of approval, and then turn around and fire the AD for on field performance? Conversely, how can the UL fan base give unwavering support believing that JURICH, not Kragthorpe, will "fix" UL's football on the field success? When I see both Pederson and Jurich on the practice fields with a whistle, a game plan, and putting kids through drills, them maybe I will accept that. Until then, I think it is a bit unfair and a little naieve to expect the AD of any school to have that sort of on the field impact.
What I do want to do is compare the relative situations between UL and Nebraska football. I find it extremely fascinating how the two situations parallel each other, and how the fan base and the actions taken by Nebraska is so very different than UL, but for the exact same basic reasons.
First, look at the two schools record this year, and the expectations coming in. Nebraska was ranked 16th in the AP and 17th in the Coach's poll in the preseason. While UL had one of the most successful years ever in their history, Nebraska had a good season in 2006, finishing only 9-5, but did win the B-12 North and played in the B-12 Championship game. Ok, yeah, they lost to Oklahoma, and then lost their bowl game vs Auburn in the Cotton Bowl. But losing to teams like those in post-season games, while disappointing, is hardly anything to be upset over. Note that this all happened in the 3rd year of HC Bill Callahan's tenure. So as a result, expectations for the Huskers were big coming into 2007. They were the heavy favorites to win the B-12 North, and could even have their shot at a BCS game.
And then the season started. The Huskers on defense this season have looked like Louisville West this season. Averaging giving up over 40 points in all three of their loses this season, including last saturday's worst home loss ever to Oklahoma State. (Not Oklahoma mind you, Oklahoma STATE).
So what was the reaction to this horrible start by a team that was to be a "contender" for the B-12 conference title? A firing of the Athletic Director. (Now, I realize that there are being reported some other issues with Pederson and the job he was doing at Nebraska; such as employee dissatisfaction and job morale issues. Still, none of those appeared to be big problems back in June/July when the Nebraska administration extended Pederson's contract for 5 years. Those only became "issues" as criteria for dismissal once the football team's season tanked.)
Now, compare that with the reaction of Louisville where the season this year has been, well, to be kind, far below what people have thought it would be. Including pundits like Phil Steele, among others. But at no time has the UL fan base, or the UL administration had anything but continued faith in UL VP of Athletics Tom Jurich, to fix the problems with this football team and with the coaching staff where/if applicable.
The question is: How much does the AD truly and really impact the final W-L column of the football program?
Is not that the responsibility of the HEAD FOOTBALL COACH?? The AD's job, whether it be in Louisville, or in Nebraska, is to provide all the tools and means necessary for the football HC to build a football program that will result in wins on the field. Making sure of things like facilities, fund raising, NCAA compliance, and even player eligibility are all in order. The only other function is the fact that the AD is responsible for hiring the HC's for every sport the university offers, but it is the HC's job to put together a coaching staff that can teach the game fundamentals, techniques, schemes and methods which result in positive success on the football field. It just seems ridiculous to hold an AD responsible for the W-L records of any of the sports teams. Either from a "firing" of the AD because of it, or of a "the AD has to fix this" perspective. Both, for me, seem to be not focusing on the real problems at hand.
The real issues, for both schools, has been horribly inconsistent play by the defense, as well as some key injuries and poor game management in other phases of the game.
Yes, UL won a very key game up in Cincinnati over the weekend. One in which the UL DL played a big part in. But, given this team's track record they could turn around this week and make UConn look like the New England Patriots. The biggest key to UL's win over Cincy this past weekend were the turnovers they created, and the ones that the Cincy defense did not. That is not necessarily a trend that you want to depend on every week to get you a win. But I am digressing.
The point here to this issue for me, is that I think that that Head Coach's of each respective program at not taking enough responsibility for the current state of each respective program. With UL, you can be a little more forgiving because it is a first year coach, but how can you give a 4th year HC a nod of approval, and then turn around and fire the AD for on field performance? Conversely, how can the UL fan base give unwavering support believing that JURICH, not Kragthorpe, will "fix" UL's football on the field success? When I see both Pederson and Jurich on the practice fields with a whistle, a game plan, and putting kids through drills, them maybe I will accept that. Until then, I think it is a bit unfair and a little naieve to expect the AD of any school to have that sort of on the field impact.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
UL coach under fan fire
It is the halfway point for the University of Louisville football season. Louisville is currently sitting at 3-3 on the season, having lost two games at HOME vs teams with a combined W-L record of 4-8. With the other loss being to UK on UK's home field. So the question has to be asked, where does this leave UL for the remainder of the season?
UL now has 6 games remaining with 4 of them road games. Oddly, this might be a blessing in disguise. UL has played abysmally at home this season, while showing at least SOME form of clean effort and play when going on the road. UL did lose to UK in Commonwealth Stadium, but actually led in the game with less than a minute to play, and were it not for a horrible defensive breakdown, might have come away with that victory. Add to that they did go on the road to NC State and admittedly beat a very poor Wolfpack team, but did so by playing much more sound in every aspect of the game. So maybe going on the road will actually be the best thing for this team. The problem is, the teams that UL plays get harder and harder on the road. And like the UK game, most of the rest of the teams UL plays on the road have the date with UL circled as one they want to 'payback' UL for.
First up is Cincinnati this weekend who not only is sitting in the top 20 and 6-0 on the season; UL has also beaten UC 7 of 8 times they have faced each other. And UC badly wants this game to prove they are a legitimate team. After that comes another road trip to UConn with a very much improved Huskie team, but is still very young. That might be UL's best chance to steal a game on the road, but it will not be easy. As for the other road games, @ WVU and @ USF. UL has yet to ever beat USF in Raymond James Stadium, even when going in with a much better team and none of the problems that this one faces. Add to that the Bulls are also undefeated @ 5-0 and ranked in the top 10 in the nation, and things do not look good at all there. Morgantown is one of the toughest places to play in, in the nation. WVU is ALWAYS dangerous. The 'Eers have had a lot of problems early this season with key injuries, but are still 5-1 headed into the meat of the Big East conference, with their only loss at the hands of the aforementioned USF Bulls in RJS. So, if UL has ANY chance at a post-season bowl game THE "must win" game of the year has to be against either UC or UConn. My guess is it will be the UConn game.
All of that is assuming that UL wins BOTH of their remaining home games, mind you. Given UL's ability to throw in MAJOR klunkers on their home field, even against VASTLY inferior teams, by no means do the games against Pitt and Rutgers at home look like they are "easy wins". It could come down to UL needing BOTH the UC AND the UConn games on the road to be bowl eligible.
Which brings up the real issue here. Why is this UL team so HORRIBLY bad when playing at home? If it were not for the fact that this team just so "out-classed" its two early season opponents, (FBS doormat Murray State, and nearly winless Middle TN State, (1-5)), UL could already by completely out of contention for a bowl game.
The fans have completely revolted against new HC Steve Kragthorpe, and what we see now is a completely fractured fanbase seperating into three VERY distinct groups. Those groups are the "fire Kragthrope now", "give Kragthorpe 2 years" and the smallest group, (of which I consider myself), the "jury is still out". I believe that the last group is probably the most realistic. I am not even close to saying, "get rid of Kragthorpe", but I am just as far away on the issue of saying that "Kragthorpe is the best coach for UL". Personally, I wrote this season off as a rebuilding one after the Middle Tennessee game. UL looked worse in that game that they won, as they ever have in any game that they have LOST in the past 8 years. At this point, for me, I do not care if this team does get to a bowl game or not. The major problem for me, is that during NONE of the first 6 games has there been any phase of the game, (defense, offense, special teams, or even kicking), that has shown marked, or even steady improvement from one game to the next. NONE. And more than anything else that disturbs me the most. If anything, there has been a backslide of areas that early in the season looked very strong. For example the offense has not produced in the past two home games in the first half and in both cases had to rely on offensive heroics in the last few minutes of the game to even make the games close at the end. The UL offense, on their home field, even BLANKED in the first quarter of their game against Utah, and only scored 7 total points for the 1st half. The punting game that last year avg nearly 34 yds per kick looks like it is a kindergarten kickball team. And the ST kick coverage is at best marginally better than the coverage last year that gave up an avg return of 20+ yards.
This lack of game to game improvement, and even backsliding, is a big sign of problems that go a LOT deeper than just "kids not buying into the system", or, "bad kids that need to be weeded out", "poor coaching by the assistants", "lack of communication from the coaching staff about the team", or even, "poor game planning/scheming/preparation by the coaching staff". For me, it speaks that the whole system is faltering. From coaching staffs not on the same page, to kids being confused and then getting angry and acting out, to a total lack of on-the-field discipline and communication. Still, even with all of that concern, I am not ready, after only half of a season, to say that Kragthorpe should go. No, instead what I will be watching is to see what off-season changes are made. Nothing can or will be "fixed" during this season, of that I am convinced. So I am just going to ride this out this season, and not make any judgments based on what I see on the field, or the results in the W-L column for this season. Instead, I want to see what happens in the off-season. Will there be coaching changes in the staff? (I'm about 99.9999% sure on that one) How will that effect recruiting? Will there be a ton of position shifts of the current players? Will there be a lot of kids transferring out? If so, how many are underclassman, (sophomores and freshman), vs current juniors? How will that impact the senior leadership next season, as well as the off-season team-led workouts? Will this coaching staff become more open and forthright with the fan base about the internals of the team? (Which brings up a sidebar note. I VERY much believe that a great deal of the animosity some of the UL fan base have with this coaching staff is the LACK of straightforward communication about the team. When things are going great, everyone, from coach's to CEO's of companies are afforded the luxury of being tight-lipped. But when things are going wrong, fans and stockholders alike want answers. They want to know, not only that issues ARE being addressed, but HOW they are being addressed. This does not mean that they have to, or even should, know the exact tactics or problems, but that there is a clear and distinct course of action being taken. So far, this staff, and the UL Athletic Department as whole has failed miserably on that. However, I do give Kragthorpe a big shout-out for at least throwing the fan base a bone and now releasing NFL type player injury information. That I think at least shows a sign of offering some sort of olive branch.)
I have a ton of questions about this staff right now. But none of the questions I have can, or will, be answered for a while yet. I think this HC deserves every chance to put the pieces in place he thinks he needs to fix the problem. But one thing he cannot do, is after the season, bunker down and not even communicate out to the fans what is being done. For Kragthorpe to survive at UL he needs to lose a little bit of his "stubborn" streak and really make an effort to allow the fans to embrace him. I think they can, and will, but right now, the issues on the field and the apparent cavalier attitude toward them is causing a lot more fans to head towards that "fire Kragthorpe now" group than the other two.
UL now has 6 games remaining with 4 of them road games. Oddly, this might be a blessing in disguise. UL has played abysmally at home this season, while showing at least SOME form of clean effort and play when going on the road. UL did lose to UK in Commonwealth Stadium, but actually led in the game with less than a minute to play, and were it not for a horrible defensive breakdown, might have come away with that victory. Add to that they did go on the road to NC State and admittedly beat a very poor Wolfpack team, but did so by playing much more sound in every aspect of the game. So maybe going on the road will actually be the best thing for this team. The problem is, the teams that UL plays get harder and harder on the road. And like the UK game, most of the rest of the teams UL plays on the road have the date with UL circled as one they want to 'payback' UL for.
First up is Cincinnati this weekend who not only is sitting in the top 20 and 6-0 on the season; UL has also beaten UC 7 of 8 times they have faced each other. And UC badly wants this game to prove they are a legitimate team. After that comes another road trip to UConn with a very much improved Huskie team, but is still very young. That might be UL's best chance to steal a game on the road, but it will not be easy. As for the other road games, @ WVU and @ USF. UL has yet to ever beat USF in Raymond James Stadium, even when going in with a much better team and none of the problems that this one faces. Add to that the Bulls are also undefeated @ 5-0 and ranked in the top 10 in the nation, and things do not look good at all there. Morgantown is one of the toughest places to play in, in the nation. WVU is ALWAYS dangerous. The 'Eers have had a lot of problems early this season with key injuries, but are still 5-1 headed into the meat of the Big East conference, with their only loss at the hands of the aforementioned USF Bulls in RJS. So, if UL has ANY chance at a post-season bowl game THE "must win" game of the year has to be against either UC or UConn. My guess is it will be the UConn game.
All of that is assuming that UL wins BOTH of their remaining home games, mind you. Given UL's ability to throw in MAJOR klunkers on their home field, even against VASTLY inferior teams, by no means do the games against Pitt and Rutgers at home look like they are "easy wins". It could come down to UL needing BOTH the UC AND the UConn games on the road to be bowl eligible.
Which brings up the real issue here. Why is this UL team so HORRIBLY bad when playing at home? If it were not for the fact that this team just so "out-classed" its two early season opponents, (FBS doormat Murray State, and nearly winless Middle TN State, (1-5)), UL could already by completely out of contention for a bowl game.
The fans have completely revolted against new HC Steve Kragthorpe, and what we see now is a completely fractured fanbase seperating into three VERY distinct groups. Those groups are the "fire Kragthrope now", "give Kragthorpe 2 years" and the smallest group, (of which I consider myself), the "jury is still out". I believe that the last group is probably the most realistic. I am not even close to saying, "get rid of Kragthorpe", but I am just as far away on the issue of saying that "Kragthorpe is the best coach for UL". Personally, I wrote this season off as a rebuilding one after the Middle Tennessee game. UL looked worse in that game that they won, as they ever have in any game that they have LOST in the past 8 years. At this point, for me, I do not care if this team does get to a bowl game or not. The major problem for me, is that during NONE of the first 6 games has there been any phase of the game, (defense, offense, special teams, or even kicking), that has shown marked, or even steady improvement from one game to the next. NONE. And more than anything else that disturbs me the most. If anything, there has been a backslide of areas that early in the season looked very strong. For example the offense has not produced in the past two home games in the first half and in both cases had to rely on offensive heroics in the last few minutes of the game to even make the games close at the end. The UL offense, on their home field, even BLANKED in the first quarter of their game against Utah, and only scored 7 total points for the 1st half. The punting game that last year avg nearly 34 yds per kick looks like it is a kindergarten kickball team. And the ST kick coverage is at best marginally better than the coverage last year that gave up an avg return of 20+ yards.
This lack of game to game improvement, and even backsliding, is a big sign of problems that go a LOT deeper than just "kids not buying into the system", or, "bad kids that need to be weeded out", "poor coaching by the assistants", "lack of communication from the coaching staff about the team", or even, "poor game planning/scheming/preparation by the coaching staff". For me, it speaks that the whole system is faltering. From coaching staffs not on the same page, to kids being confused and then getting angry and acting out, to a total lack of on-the-field discipline and communication. Still, even with all of that concern, I am not ready, after only half of a season, to say that Kragthorpe should go. No, instead what I will be watching is to see what off-season changes are made. Nothing can or will be "fixed" during this season, of that I am convinced. So I am just going to ride this out this season, and not make any judgments based on what I see on the field, or the results in the W-L column for this season. Instead, I want to see what happens in the off-season. Will there be coaching changes in the staff? (I'm about 99.9999% sure on that one) How will that effect recruiting? Will there be a ton of position shifts of the current players? Will there be a lot of kids transferring out? If so, how many are underclassman, (sophomores and freshman), vs current juniors? How will that impact the senior leadership next season, as well as the off-season team-led workouts? Will this coaching staff become more open and forthright with the fan base about the internals of the team? (Which brings up a sidebar note. I VERY much believe that a great deal of the animosity some of the UL fan base have with this coaching staff is the LACK of straightforward communication about the team. When things are going great, everyone, from coach's to CEO's of companies are afforded the luxury of being tight-lipped. But when things are going wrong, fans and stockholders alike want answers. They want to know, not only that issues ARE being addressed, but HOW they are being addressed. This does not mean that they have to, or even should, know the exact tactics or problems, but that there is a clear and distinct course of action being taken. So far, this staff, and the UL Athletic Department as whole has failed miserably on that. However, I do give Kragthorpe a big shout-out for at least throwing the fan base a bone and now releasing NFL type player injury information. That I think at least shows a sign of offering some sort of olive branch.)
I have a ton of questions about this staff right now. But none of the questions I have can, or will, be answered for a while yet. I think this HC deserves every chance to put the pieces in place he thinks he needs to fix the problem. But one thing he cannot do, is after the season, bunker down and not even communicate out to the fans what is being done. For Kragthorpe to survive at UL he needs to lose a little bit of his "stubborn" streak and really make an effort to allow the fans to embrace him. I think they can, and will, but right now, the issues on the field and the apparent cavalier attitude toward them is causing a lot more fans to head towards that "fire Kragthorpe now" group than the other two.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
NLCS - Rockies vs DBacks????
Ok, first off, I want to see a show of hands by anyone who picked the Colorado Rockies to face off in the NLCS vs the Arizona Diamondbacks back in April when the MLB season began. Anyone?.............Didn't think so.
This is probably the biggest surprise in all of baseball. Even if you had picked a team coming out of the NL-West to play in the NLCS, it would have been most probably the Dodgers. Afterall, back in the spring the Dodgers tore through their spring training. Had a pretty good staff of starting pitchers in the rotation, and good fielding. But once the season began things in the NL-West just completely blew up in every prognosticators face. People thought, that with San Diego's veteran pitching staff that they would be in the mix in the NL West, but certainly not one of the top teams in the nation. The D-Backs were picked to finish 3rd at best, and the Rockies were picked anywhere but in front of either the Padres or the Dodgers.
Almost everyone of the MLB media wonks and gurus back in April were picking a Mets vs also-rans in their NLCS matchups. Most picked the Dodgers, although a few did pick Milwaukee. But almost none of them picked a team out of the NL West, and those that did, picked the Dodgers. But absolutely NOONE picked TWO teams from the NL West to be playing for the pennant. No way, no how...and if they tell you now that they did, they are lying. (BTW, I picked the Dodgers to win the NL West...so just shows you how much I know about this too, huh?)
The D-Backs are probably the biggest surprise of the two only because their pitching staff is overall the youngest in the nation. (Cue Dick Vitale and his 'diaper dandy' spiel) Brandon Webb is not only the ace of the staff for Arizona, and a young gun, hard-throwing right-hander; but also is a homegrown Kentucky kid that we can be proud of playing on the biggest stage in baseball. He grew up in Ashland, KY and played for UK. He made his full MLB rookie season in 2004 with the DBacks, (although he made his debut in 2003), where he got "schooled" his rookie season by the MLB hitters, going 7-16 in 35 games he appeared in. But for a rookie he had a good season ending it with a 3.59 ERA. The following year he trimmed that to 3.54, and then again down to 3.10, and finally this season he is down to a 3.01 ERA and won 18 games over his 34 regular season appearances. Webb is showing all the signs of maturing into one of the best pitchers in the majors, and again, he is a Kentucky-bred kid. If you have not seen him pitch, then tomorrow's opening game of the NLCS is your chance. This kid is very good.
Again, the Arizona D-Backs were on NOONE's radar screen back in April, and yet behind an incredibly young pitching staff, they are in the NLCS. If they go no further it will still be one of the biggest surprises in MLB.
If the D-Backs are one of the biggest surprises then the Rockies is one of MLB's biggest shockers. Behind only the complete meltdown of the NY Mets. Where the Mets meltdown was shockingly bad, the Rockies late season surge was just as shockingly good. On Sep 16th. Colorado was sitting 4-5 games out of the NL West lead, behind both the D-Backs and the Padres. Not only that, they were behind both the Phillies and the Padres in the NL Wildcard race by about 3.5 games; and they had just come off a 3 game losing streak. So, what did the Rockies do? Nothing but win 12 of their last 13 games of the season while knocking the Padres completely out of the wildcard race, by taking 3 games @ San Diego and 2 of 3 from the NL West leader Arizona at Coors Field. Colorado is THE hottest team in baseball right now, and is riding an incredible streak. And if you have ever been to Coors Field, the Rockies fans deserve this. They are some of the best fans in all of baseball. Not to mention that Coors Field is, IMHO, very probably the most beautiful ball park in the nation. Not the best, mind you, just the most beautiful. When you can sit in the stands and get the Rocky Mountains with their snowpeaks as the backdrop, you can not help but just become "rocky mountain high". The place is gorgeous.
As I started off with, this NLCS matchup will not only be the biggest surprise; I think it will be one of the best matchup's of the post season. I am a big RedSox fan, and will look at their matchup vs the Indians later on, but right now, at least for the first game of the NLCS, I am going to enjoy watching this matchup of strong Rockies hitters vs young and talented D-Backs pitching. Who am I rooting for? I guess because of the local ties, I will hope for the D-Backs. But I also lived in Denver for a couple of years, so the Rock's have a special place in my heart. Whatever the outcome, it will be a great matchup...one that I hope goes 7 games. Not because I can not decide who should win, but because I would like to see both of those "cinderella" teams get every ounce of the experience of the NLCS that they can.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to give a HUGE shoutout and kudos to TBS for their coverage so far of the MLB divisional playoffs. Primarily two aspects, their camera work, and more importantly, the play-by-play and color commentators. TBS went out and found GREAT "baseball announcers" and excellent "ex-baseball players" who have been just wonderful to listen to. These guys KNOW baseball. And they keep their focus on the games and on the field. They do not go off on rants about funnel cakes or Britney Spears, but instead show respect for a grand game, and the players efforts by being focused on the game of baseball. I know of lot of people out there love those, "human interest" story crap. But as sports fan of the Tank McNamara character SweatSox variety, I can tell you this, "WE HATE THAT CRAP!!!!" If you want to learn about how so-and-so has had such a difficult time raised by his blind-in-one-eye, crippled grandmother who sits in the rain to watch him play, TURN ON LIFETIME CHANNEL YOU NANCY!!! This is BASEBALL, and there's NO room for any of that touchy-feely crap in baseball! (stepping down off of soapbox now)....
Until next time, enjoy the game, and remember, the last two words of the national anthem are, "Play ball!"
This is probably the biggest surprise in all of baseball. Even if you had picked a team coming out of the NL-West to play in the NLCS, it would have been most probably the Dodgers. Afterall, back in the spring the Dodgers tore through their spring training. Had a pretty good staff of starting pitchers in the rotation, and good fielding. But once the season began things in the NL-West just completely blew up in every prognosticators face. People thought, that with San Diego's veteran pitching staff that they would be in the mix in the NL West, but certainly not one of the top teams in the nation. The D-Backs were picked to finish 3rd at best, and the Rockies were picked anywhere but in front of either the Padres or the Dodgers.
Almost everyone of the MLB media wonks and gurus back in April were picking a Mets vs also-rans in their NLCS matchups. Most picked the Dodgers, although a few did pick Milwaukee. But almost none of them picked a team out of the NL West, and those that did, picked the Dodgers. But absolutely NOONE picked TWO teams from the NL West to be playing for the pennant. No way, no how...and if they tell you now that they did, they are lying. (BTW, I picked the Dodgers to win the NL West...so just shows you how much I know about this too, huh?)
The D-Backs are probably the biggest surprise of the two only because their pitching staff is overall the youngest in the nation. (Cue Dick Vitale and his 'diaper dandy' spiel) Brandon Webb is not only the ace of the staff for Arizona, and a young gun, hard-throwing right-hander; but also is a homegrown Kentucky kid that we can be proud of playing on the biggest stage in baseball. He grew up in Ashland, KY and played for UK. He made his full MLB rookie season in 2004 with the DBacks, (although he made his debut in 2003), where he got "schooled" his rookie season by the MLB hitters, going 7-16 in 35 games he appeared in. But for a rookie he had a good season ending it with a 3.59 ERA. The following year he trimmed that to 3.54, and then again down to 3.10, and finally this season he is down to a 3.01 ERA and won 18 games over his 34 regular season appearances. Webb is showing all the signs of maturing into one of the best pitchers in the majors, and again, he is a Kentucky-bred kid. If you have not seen him pitch, then tomorrow's opening game of the NLCS is your chance. This kid is very good.
Again, the Arizona D-Backs were on NOONE's radar screen back in April, and yet behind an incredibly young pitching staff, they are in the NLCS. If they go no further it will still be one of the biggest surprises in MLB.
If the D-Backs are one of the biggest surprises then the Rockies is one of MLB's biggest shockers. Behind only the complete meltdown of the NY Mets. Where the Mets meltdown was shockingly bad, the Rockies late season surge was just as shockingly good. On Sep 16th. Colorado was sitting 4-5 games out of the NL West lead, behind both the D-Backs and the Padres. Not only that, they were behind both the Phillies and the Padres in the NL Wildcard race by about 3.5 games; and they had just come off a 3 game losing streak. So, what did the Rockies do? Nothing but win 12 of their last 13 games of the season while knocking the Padres completely out of the wildcard race, by taking 3 games @ San Diego and 2 of 3 from the NL West leader Arizona at Coors Field. Colorado is THE hottest team in baseball right now, and is riding an incredible streak. And if you have ever been to Coors Field, the Rockies fans deserve this. They are some of the best fans in all of baseball. Not to mention that Coors Field is, IMHO, very probably the most beautiful ball park in the nation. Not the best, mind you, just the most beautiful. When you can sit in the stands and get the Rocky Mountains with their snowpeaks as the backdrop, you can not help but just become "rocky mountain high". The place is gorgeous.
As I started off with, this NLCS matchup will not only be the biggest surprise; I think it will be one of the best matchup's of the post season. I am a big RedSox fan, and will look at their matchup vs the Indians later on, but right now, at least for the first game of the NLCS, I am going to enjoy watching this matchup of strong Rockies hitters vs young and talented D-Backs pitching. Who am I rooting for? I guess because of the local ties, I will hope for the D-Backs. But I also lived in Denver for a couple of years, so the Rock's have a special place in my heart. Whatever the outcome, it will be a great matchup...one that I hope goes 7 games. Not because I can not decide who should win, but because I would like to see both of those "cinderella" teams get every ounce of the experience of the NLCS that they can.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to give a HUGE shoutout and kudos to TBS for their coverage so far of the MLB divisional playoffs. Primarily two aspects, their camera work, and more importantly, the play-by-play and color commentators. TBS went out and found GREAT "baseball announcers" and excellent "ex-baseball players" who have been just wonderful to listen to. These guys KNOW baseball. And they keep their focus on the games and on the field. They do not go off on rants about funnel cakes or Britney Spears, but instead show respect for a grand game, and the players efforts by being focused on the game of baseball. I know of lot of people out there love those, "human interest" story crap. But as sports fan of the Tank McNamara character SweatSox variety, I can tell you this, "WE HATE THAT CRAP!!!!" If you want to learn about how so-and-so has had such a difficult time raised by his blind-in-one-eye, crippled grandmother who sits in the rain to watch him play, TURN ON LIFETIME CHANNEL YOU NANCY!!! This is BASEBALL, and there's NO room for any of that touchy-feely crap in baseball! (stepping down off of soapbox now)....
Until next time, enjoy the game, and remember, the last two words of the national anthem are, "Play ball!"
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
First of hopefully many more
Welcome! First, my name is Jeff. But for this blog column you can call me Top Row Joe.
This is the start of what I hope will be one of many blog entries for and about sports in and around the Louisville, KY sports scene. Most of the time I will probably be writing about the local sports scene, primarily University of Louisville sports; but as I am also a big Major League Baseball fan, (specifically the Boston RedSox and the Chicago Cubs), I will also include some entries on other sports as well. I will from time to time include some opinions on sports-related issues and news that do not normally get covered in the local Louisville Sports media. Such sports news and breaking topics that effect all of sports, like for example, the recent headlines of Marion Jones, and the doping and steroid use in sports at all levels. Things like rules changes, or even off-season NFL, MLB trades. I may even throw in a few NHL and hockey items. I am not a fan of the NBA or professional basketball, and as such have very little to no knowledge of that sport. But very few people have knowledge of all sports.
This is not meant to be a purely "objective news" report, but instead just a personal fan opinion take on the topics in and around the sports world as it may relate to local sports interest in the Louisville, KY area. Again, these will be "OPINION" pieces. And as such, some you may agree with, some you will not. Some might make you laugh, others make you so angry you want to hunt me down and kill my pets. I understand that. But just remember, these are one person's opinion. We all have one, and this one is mine.
What I do hope to gain from this? Actually, very little. I am just "Top Row Joe" fan, who loves sports. Like most of you, I have a life and career that does not depend on sports in any way, shape or form. I am not a media wonk, nor do not have I any association with any team, school or sport. I did play both football and baseball in both high school and some in college, and sports is a big part of my social life. But now, only as a fan. I am not a "big money" booster of any kind of program or team. And I have very little "inside" information or contacts. What I am, as I said, is just a fan. A fan that I hope will help give the other "Top Row Joe's" a little voice, because here, the only "spin" you will read is that formulated from the guy that most of are. The one that sits in the top row, the crazy one, the one that everyone talks about as "needing a life". That's me, and that's a lot of you as well.
This is the start of what I hope will be one of many blog entries for and about sports in and around the Louisville, KY sports scene. Most of the time I will probably be writing about the local sports scene, primarily University of Louisville sports; but as I am also a big Major League Baseball fan, (specifically the Boston RedSox and the Chicago Cubs), I will also include some entries on other sports as well. I will from time to time include some opinions on sports-related issues and news that do not normally get covered in the local Louisville Sports media. Such sports news and breaking topics that effect all of sports, like for example, the recent headlines of Marion Jones, and the doping and steroid use in sports at all levels. Things like rules changes, or even off-season NFL, MLB trades. I may even throw in a few NHL and hockey items. I am not a fan of the NBA or professional basketball, and as such have very little to no knowledge of that sport. But very few people have knowledge of all sports.
This is not meant to be a purely "objective news" report, but instead just a personal fan opinion take on the topics in and around the sports world as it may relate to local sports interest in the Louisville, KY area. Again, these will be "OPINION" pieces. And as such, some you may agree with, some you will not. Some might make you laugh, others make you so angry you want to hunt me down and kill my pets. I understand that. But just remember, these are one person's opinion. We all have one, and this one is mine.
What I do hope to gain from this? Actually, very little. I am just "Top Row Joe" fan, who loves sports. Like most of you, I have a life and career that does not depend on sports in any way, shape or form. I am not a media wonk, nor do not have I any association with any team, school or sport. I did play both football and baseball in both high school and some in college, and sports is a big part of my social life. But now, only as a fan. I am not a "big money" booster of any kind of program or team. And I have very little "inside" information or contacts. What I am, as I said, is just a fan. A fan that I hope will help give the other "Top Row Joe's" a little voice, because here, the only "spin" you will read is that formulated from the guy that most of are. The one that sits in the top row, the crazy one, the one that everyone talks about as "needing a life". That's me, and that's a lot of you as well.
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