Urban Legend

Fans or alums of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shouldn't be too dismayed that Blue and Gold didn't ink now-former Utah coach Urban Meyer to a long-term deal to coach the school's football team. Regardless of whether you think that the school should have fired Ty Willingham, after you read this I think you'd agree that Meyer is better off in Gainesville than you would have been with him in South Bend.

Now, I'm not playing a game with you, and, no Meyer's name is not referenced in the link, but his former school is, and you don't have to be an expert in higher math or logic to make the connection that I want you to make in reading the article.

I'll even give you a hint.

It's about graduation rates.

So the next time you think that one and only one coach is the answer in South Bend, you should do your homework on him.

The last time you didn't do your homework, you had a scandal because your then would-be coach had some truth-on-resume violations.

This time, you would have had a different issue, another whopper.

I don't know what or who is the answer for Notre Dame, but it's not the thus-far Teflon Urban.

So if you're a Notre Dame fan, cheer for the Fighting Irish to be patient and hire absolutely the right guy.

And one who will honor the legacy of those who have gone before him and make sure that a top-notch education still receives high priority in South Bend.

Winning isn't the only thing, not, at least, at the college level.

Winning the right way is.

Is Marion Jones from East Germany?

The International Olympic Committee apparently is trying to figure that out.

Thanks for the Memories

It's not everyday in the sports world that three titans retire at the same time.

But they did last night, and they deserve a tip of the hat from the sporting world, from all of us who started watching a game that really didn't exist on the world's stage say thirty years ago.

So have a good retirement, Mia, Joy and Julie. You three, along with Brandi and Kristin (not to mention Kristin, Brandi, Brianna, Michelle, Tiffeny and Kate) rival, relatively speaking, the initial classes in Baseball's Hall of Fame. Thirty years ago, young girls sat idly on the sidelines watching their brothers have all of the fun.

Thanks to their leadership, their good conduct, the outstanding examples they have set and, of course, their outstanding play (which at times has been without peer), girls' and women's soccer is a force in this country, and, with few exceptions (such as travel soccer for girls under eleven) a force for the good.

It's not every era where something great is created, and for my money the advent of girls' and women's soccer is a much more constructive item for society than, say X sports, and we should be thankful for the contributions of these women. Very grateful, as they have added something to the sporting landscape and changed our culture at the same time. That's not something that happens every day.

Great players?

Absolutely.

Great leaders?

You bet.

Even better citizens?

Certainly.

Thanks for remembering that aspect of your lives.

And thanks for remembering us and our kids too.

So I hope you had a blast in your last game, ladies, as the thanks that you received not only came from the stands, but also from kitchens, living rooms, rec rooms, family rooms, locker rooms and recess yards all over America.

Thanks for the memories.

Notes-Style Comments (With a Tip of the Hat to the Late Herb Caen)

Blogging from overseas. . .

1. "The One-Man's Junk is Another Man's Joy" Department. Click here to see what I mean. . . As for the college football coaching carousel, part of it has ground to a halt, as Cal's Jeff Tedford has received a five-year contract extension in Berzerkly. Given what he's done for that program, I'm surprised that the extension wasn't accompanied by a lifetime supply of tofu and sprouts and all the breakfasts that he can eat at Bette's Diner. . .Whither Rick Neuheisel? After all, now that Tedford has received his extension, Joe Paterno has more time at Penn State (as much, seemingly, as he wants), Urban Meyer has gone country at Florida and Kirk Ferentz seemingly is staying put at Iowa, the last report (and it's a month old) hints that the major schools are shunning the former Washington coach. The last time I had an inkling of shunning was in the movie Witness, when Kelly McGillis's character spoke of it in relation to the Amish and the Mennonites. That's serious stuff . . . Okay, so Neuheisel isn't JoePa (or even Lou Tepper), but he can coach and he admitted making a mistake. If Mike Price could resurface at UTEP (after what was reported to be a jaunty good time near Pensacola), then Neuheisel should resurface somewhere. And given the nature of his infraction (hijinks with high-stakes NCAA basketball tournament pool, as it was reported), it would seem that UNLV would be a nice fit. Guitar-playing coach in Las Vegas? That's not a bad act.

2. Is This Kid The Next Drew Henson? Duke hoops fans can breathe a sigh of relief that their already rich recruiting class got when two-sport star Greg Paulus signed a letter of intent to hoop there. Apparently, Paulus had wavered over the course of the past month as to what he wanted to do, and he's a Top-20 or so HS player. But, as good as a hoopster as he is, the reports over the past year had been that he is an even better football player -- the best QB prospect in HS. While playing basketball at Duke for Coach K is a great experience, you have to wonder whether the lure of the big bucks and the lingering spectre of what could have been will draw Paulus back to the gridiron if and/or when he realizes that his future in the NBA could amount to an end-of-the-bench role. That's not, of course, to say that's what Paulus's future is, but there is precedent for QBs who chose baseball to return to football, so why not QBs who choose basketball. After all, Paulus's hesitation in signing a letter of intent makes you wonder what he really wants to do. And how many HS seniors (let alone college seniors) really know that?

3. Baseball Hot Stove. Read a report that the Yankees are ready to sign their former farmhand, Eric Milton, who went 15-5 last year for the Phillies but had numbers worthy of the fifth starter of the Colorado Rockies (home games only). He gave up 43 homers and had a 1.5 WHIP, which means that the Phillies scored a bunch of runs for him. Milton was, I recall, a key part of the trade that brought the Yankees Chuck Knoblauch years ago. Yankee fans shouldn't be misled by the 15 wins, and they also should be frustrated if this is the best signing of a pitcher the front office can make. Especially if Carl Pavano ends up in Boston. . . I can see the MasterCard ad now in New York -- Payroll: $200 million. Money Tied Up in Jason Giambi's Contract: $72 million. Farm System: Useless. Agony of Being a Yankee Fan: Priceless. Okay, so it's not perfect, but the Yankees have a serious problem -- nothing to trade. The rich won't get richer here; they'll just spend more money to keep pace with Boston -- a pace that will have them gasping to keep up in the standings.

4. How the NFL Resembles "The Wizard of Oz." In the pre-season, the Seattle Seahawks were many pundits' pick to go to the Super Bowl. Now, they are 6-6 after blowing a late 10-point lead and losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 49-39 on MNF.

So here's the ditty:

The games we are a losin'
We might as well be boozin'
We're playing ourselves off the playoff chart
(da-doo-dah-doo-dah doo)

We might be doing better
If we wore an Eagles' sweater
If we only had a heart.

Harsh? Perhaps, but the team that was supposed to dazzle this year is 6-6 in a bad NFC. Again, this record raises the question of whether, with the exception of Andy Reid, coaches can make personnel decisions. Paul Holmgren went to Seattle with so much hope. If the Seahawks fail to make the playoffs this year, he could find himself looking for work. Imagine that, because it's hard to figure. And, if the Broncos fail to make the playoffs, Mike Shanahan likewise could find himself out of work, which probably would mark the first time that two Super Bowl championship coaches were fired in the same season.

Texas Politics Really Stink

Lyndon Johnson has been dead for a long time, but now this.

You would have thought that Mack Brown had more class than that, but there's something rotten in the State of College Football.

The Cal Bears belong in the Rose Bowl. Now they're in the Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech where, if they can reign in their disappointment, they'll beat the offensive circus from the Big 12 by a margin that Oklahoma typically saves for the Texas Longhorns.

Texas versus Michigan in the Rose Bowl?

It doesn't sound right, does it?

But not as bad as Cal having to play Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl, which doesn't even take place on New Year's Day!

Apparently, other BCS Bowl teams -- better ones -- shouldn't mess with Texas, and you wonder if 'ol Lyndon himself is watching from above, and whether any of the posse who helped him steal south Texas votes in his Senate primary win in the late '40's were involved in this heist.

Cal, Jeff Tedford, Aaron Rodgers and J.J. Arrington deserved better. (As does Auburn, whose "third-place" finish once again demands a national playoff system). Cal was # 4 going into last weekend's bout with Southern Miss, ahead of Texas, won its road game and lost out on the Rose Bowl. Go figure.

The BCS had better take a long, hard look at its system again, because it is rotten.


SportsProf

SportsProf Is On The Road

Okay, a few points now that I'm in France (and note it's before the start of the Philadelphia-Green Bay football game).

1. I was going to blog that the major difference between Tampa Bay's Super Bowl team and the teams thereafter was the fact that Jon Gruden forced GM Richie McKay out of his job, which was odd given how well regarded McKay is throughout the league. While I still think that in the long term the coach who controls all the decisions on personnel and wins is the exception, and not the rule (for example, Andy Reid), Gruden won this particular round with Tampa Bay's whitewashing of Atlanta in Tampa this afternoon. That said, over the next five years, I think I'll bet on McKay's teams to do better than Gruden's.

2. Philadelphia-Green Bay. The Eagles will win this game by at least a TD for the same reason that they beat the Giants last week on the road. Most people think that they'll lose the ball game. Last week it was supposed to be Eli Manning's coming out party, and this week it's supposed to be how the physical Packers will beat up on the finesse-oriented Eagles. Except that it will not happen. And when Jeremiah Trotter does a face wash on Brett Favre in the nice Lincoln Financial Field grass, then people will realize that the Birds have a new attitude. And, remember, they still have a few weapons on offense named Owens and McNabb.

3. France. The French are in better shape than Americans, for two interrelated reasons. First, the sports on TV is from hunger. Basically, you get some soccer game on a feed and then either team handball or women's curling. No wonder why Parisians have a low incidence of heart disease despite their madly fattening breads, butters and cheeses. Why? Here's the second reason -- because of the paucity of sports on TV, they are out walking and doing things, and, therefore, do not have the paunches that come from the American act of plopping onto a comfortable couch, eating nachos, drinking a six pack and watching the hometown team on a Sunday. Food for thought, even for those who are driving around with "Boycott France" stickers on their cars.

I'll be blogging intermittently for the rest of the week, but I figured I'd get my two or three cents' worth tonight.

Au revoir,

SportsProf

Choosing Florida over Notre Dame

Suppose you're a HS kid. You're a good student, involved in activities, have a good SAT score. You're very motivated, and you are ambitious.

Now, in all likelihood you'll apply to a bunch of colleges, and you'll select them based on a variety of criteria. I'm not going to begin to point out what those are, but certainly the overall prestige of the school has to be one of them. Certainly the trademark of the school and what it will mean on your resume will matter to you.

Unless you're from Florida, have a parent who went to Florida, have a parent who is on the faculty at Florida, somehow get a full ride (or otherwise great aid package) o Florida or as a Floridian are considering your home-state school because of cost, you probably won't be considering The University of Florida at Gainesville. No offense to fans in Gatorland, but if you're that kid you'd probably want to leave the nest to pursue your higher education elsewhere -- unless one of those circumstances exists.

Because, if you're that kid, you'll gravitate toward the places where the best students go. Again, that's how the selection process works, and that's not to say, by the way, that Florida doesn't get good students, because to a certain extent it does, and for a variety of reasons. But we're talking about the hypothetical kid here, so let's keep on that train of thought. This post isn't meant to mean any disrespect to the University of Florida; it's just trying to put some things in perspective. And that perspective is that if you are to name the Top 25 academic schools in the country, Florida clearly won't make the list (and it probably won't make the list if you're trying to name the Top 25 academic schools in Division I-A, either).

Anyway, one of the schools that kid might consider is Notre Dame. Why? It's an excellent school, and if you're Catholic and want an all-American and Catholic experience, Notre Dame will be on your short list. It offers some fine extracurricular activities, has high standards, and offers a top-notch education. Few will quarrel with choosing Notre Dame, as it has its priorities in order.

So, if the hypothetical kid would choose Notre Dame fairly easily over the likes of a Florida (I am, of course, not making money the primary criteria here, as there's some room for this kid to get his folks to spend some more money or to take out a few more loans in order to pay for the Notre Dame experience -- and going to Florida as an out-of-stater cannot be cheap), what about the hypothetical coach? What would he do? And why?

It's surprising, to say the least, that Urban Meyer chose Florida over Notre Dame, and it's surprising for a variety of reasons. Here are a few of them:

1. Meyer had an out clause in his contract at Utah that would have enabled him to go to Notre Dame.

2. He was once an assistant at Notre Dame, and Notre Dame thought long and hard about hiring him when it hired Ty Willingham.

3. Notre Dame really wanted him badly, and Notre Dame alumni and fans viewed him as the answer to Notre Dame's current football woes. Very few people ever are wanted like that for a job in their lifetimes.

4. Notre Dame is a unique place, has a great football tradition (albeit a slumping one lately), and, yes, let's take the gloves off here, is a better school with better priorities (I'd stack up Notre Dame's graduation rate against that of virtually any other DI school). Sometimes when you write you have to make the call, and that call is not that hard to make.

5. Florida is in the seemingly "win at all costs" SEC, just canned a coach whose crime was that he didn't win the way Steve Spurrier did. Last year, a rival hoops coach told South Carolina coach Dave Odom that because of the way schools in the SEC did things, his school would only consider scheduling four SEC schools! The SEC has its eligibility mills, as it were, and the methods of some of its schools from time to time are questioned. By the NCAA, no less.

So, Notre Dame is struggling to find a football team that the school can once again be proud of, while the average SEC school is struggling to find a school that the football team can be proud of. That's a bit harsh, of course, a throwaway line, as it were, but here are some reasons why a football coach would choose Florida over Notre Dame:

1. It is in the SEC, which is one of the best football conferences in America. The quality of the football is excellent.
2. The admissions standards at Florida are (sufficiently) lower than those of Notre Dame, thereby enabling you to recruit from a larger pool of outstanding players.
3. The State of Florida is one of the most fertile recruiting grounds for college football programs.
4. They offered you $14 million over 7 years, a figure that not even Notre Dame can match.
5. It's easier to keep players eligible at Florida than at Notre Dame.
6. You have a better chance to win a national championship at Florida than at Notre Dame.

It's hard to figure out what goes through a football coach's mind, especially one who was comparing Notre Dame to Florida and then making a choice. If you're choosing solely on football grounds, the choice is easy. If you're an educator/coach, the choice probably presents some dilemmas. Needless to say, the factors that run through a coaching candidate's head are different from those that run through the head of that hypothetical HS kid seeking the best education possible.

But that statement, in and of itself, speaks volumes. It says that Notre Dame fans should take a deep breath and realize that there are other coaches that can fill the bill there. It says that Notre Dame fans should realize, if they hadn't already, that they cannot look to a football coach as a savior, only as a football coach. It says that Notre Dame might have been focusing its attention on the wrong guy, because typically you wouldn't say Florida and Notre Dame in the same breath. Even if you're a football coach.

And, to an extent, it says that lower admissions, lower eligibility standards and winning ten or more football games a year are more important than the lofty aspirations of Notre Dame. At least for Urban Meyer.

And, it also might say that Notre Dame has to make a choice -- stick to your standards, and be lucky to hit the Top 25 every year or lower your standards, win more games, but then change what you're all about. The University of Chicago has the first Heisman Trophy winner about 70 years ago in Jay Berwanger, and while Amos Alonzo Stagg coached there at one time today its a DIII school where some of the brainiest kids you'd ever met go. The Ivies were once at the top of the college football heap -- over 70 years ago. But not any more. They're in Division I-AA. And Army and Navy played some classic games over 50 years ago. Today the games are still fun, but those schools are not vying for the national title. And some would argue those schools should be in Division I-AA.

Can Notre Dame continue to wake up the echoes? Can it somehow achieve what looks now to be one of college sports' Holy Grails -- be in the hunt for a national championship and still graduate almost all of its players with meaningful degrees? Or should it give up the ghost and realize that it has a better chance to win a hoops national title because of its high standards, that it should try to replicate Duke and Stanford with hoops and make football a lower priority?

I, for one, hope that Notre Dame doesn't give up, and I also think that Notre Dame can pull it off.

Notre Dame alums and fans, of course, will never quit on their football program. Like the Little Engine that Could, they're determined to help their program get back to the pinnacle.

But it won't be easy.

And, there are worse things in life than being put in the same category with the University of Chicago, the Ivies, and the service academies.

Such as being perennially on the list of Top 10 party schools, being on NCAA probation at least once a decade, and have a 20% graduation rate for your scholarship athletes.

Just win, baby?

How about giving our kids an excellent education in an increasingly competitive world?

That's where everyone should be cheering for old Notre Dame.

Memo to Donald Fehr (from Eliot Spitzer)

To: Donald Fehr

From: Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General, State of New York

Date: December 3, 2004

Re: The Use of Steroids in Major League Baseball

It has come to my attention this office that allegations have appeared in reputable newspapers that members of the Major League Baseball Players' Association are using illegal substances to enhance their performance.

To be blunt, I am shocked, outraged, distrubed and disappointed that some of the most elite athletes in the country could attempt to perpetrate a fraud on the American people and to violate the most sacred trust that the young men and women of America put in their baseball players. I have no alternative but to take the measures that we outline below (especially now that we've wrapped up most of our inquiry into the insurance industry).

Accordingly, the Attorney General of the State of New York demands the following:

1. A detailed list of all members of your association whose uniform sizes decreased after the 2003 season. (You can omit the name of David Wells, as we know that in order to obtain the girth that caused his back to spasm and miss a key start for the Yankees of my state, he did it by drinking opaque liquids and eating fatty foods. Actually, to our knowledge, we are not certain whether Mr. Wells' uniform size did shrink, after all).

2. A copy of the players' union's compliance policies with respect to the procurement of, and use of, banned substances.

3. The union's official response to the statement that author (and former player) James Bouton made in his book, Ball Four, that if a pitcher could take a pill that would guarantee that he would have a 20-win season, even if taking the pill would take five years off his life, he'd take it. Please advise if the union will close ranks with Mr. Bouton retrospectively in light of the new controversy or support him publicly on the grounds that his comments were his alone and not reflective of the position of the Major League Baseball Players' Association. And, if that's the case, then please advise as to what your position is on the topic of performance enhancing drugs, because our office has Googled the heck out of the internet and come up empty.

4. A copy of all documents, whether electronic or printed, that pertains to your compliance program, including, but not limited to, the training that your association provides its members, written tests of members to ensure that they are familiar with the policies. If you do not have any of the documents reflected in paragraph 1 or this paragraph, please explain why. A constable from our office will visit your offices at the close of business today to take protective custody of any document-shredding equipment that your association may have under its premises. There are many state and Federal laws that support this undertaking, including the Patriot Act.

5. That your membership, to the extent that this conduct has taken place or is taking place, cease and desist from procuring or using any substances that are either illegal or require the prescription of a licensed physician in order to use them.

6. That you, along with your membership, embrace change and take a leadership position with respect to the use of illicit substances so as to set a good example for the youth of America everywhere. While it is very much an American thing to be an active and vocal union, it is another thing to defend or condone the use of illicit drugs in the workplace. I know that one of your hobbies is philosophy, and I will share with you the following Chinese proverb (especially as it pertains to dealing with my office): "You don't always win by being right 100% of the time." In other words, give up the fight, show leadership, and stand up for the silent majority of your membership who is all about morals and family values and who decry the use of performance enhancing drugs in the national pastime. Your office may have the upper hand with that of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, but the tactics that your association has taken with team owners will not work with this office. To quote the prison warden in The Shawshank Redemption, "Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me." Please note the significance of my quoting a prison warden at an antequated prison in a cold, damp place. (Also, some political advice: in my state, Yankee fans think that Mr. Giambi is a true dog and that Mr. Bonds is a meanie, so if you parted with them publicly and let them hang out to dry, you could save yourself and your union a world of hurt. This is one time where you have to give something up.)

7. A stronger letter will follow, as will a subpoena or two, as well as thirteen public appearances by me in the next few days in which I will outline my plan to have one of my deputies replace you as the head of the Players' Association should you and Gene Orza refuse to cooperate with all of the requests of my office. Indictments may follow against certain members of your union for failing to cooperate with the laws of New York State while playing either at Yankee Stadium or at Shea Stadium. To quote my good friend, the Reverend Al Sharpton, if your membership does not sing, some of them will be spending some time in Sing-Sing.

8. Some type of clue as to how former Baltimore Orioles' OF Brady Anderson hit 16 HRs in 1995, 18 in 1997 and 50 in 1996. I have always wanted to know this, and I would consider it a personal courtesy if you honored this request.

I, along with many members of this office, are determined to ensure that we will do for the baseball industry what we have done for the securities and insurance industries -- guaranteeing that the integrity of the game will continue forever.

It was good seeing you and Mr. Orza at the John Kerry fundraiser at The Pierre in October, and I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes you shared with me about Rickey Henderson, Oil Can Boyd and Mark Fidrych.

Best regards,

Eliot Spitzer

Baseball's Ugly Problem

I've meant to blog on this topic for a while, but the news of Jason Giambi's experiments in pharmacology have put this topic on the front burner for me again.

Steroids. Human Growth Hormone. The fact that the Major League baseball players have the best (and most aggressive) union in the world. The fact that this story begged to be told for so long. Yes, that's right, it begged to be told, and, quite frankly, the baseball media took a powder on it.

Oh, sure, they reported that steroids could be a problem, but that's all they really did. They saw players' body shapes change and head sizes grow, they saw the massive acne on backs, hair loss and scars on butts from where players injected the juice -- and they wrote precious little about it. I recall Curt Schilling's being quoted as saying that he once slapped a teammate on the butt in the locker room and either got stared or yelled at because he really had hit a sore spot. I recall several writers' writing that they had a dilemma -- be true to journalism and write the obvious story, or be true to your career and don't, because, if you did, you'd lose access to the teams and the players. They just wouldn't talk to you.

Or worse. They could hit you. With a bat. Or have someone from their entourage do so. And, the writer (or writers) then would have been wondering why, instead of being rewarded with a Pulitzer for uncovering a bad scandal, they got put on night court coverage, perhaps at a remote suburban bureau. Break the story, hit it hard, and break your sportswriting career.

Except, of course, when the news/evidence hits you in the face and you cannot avoid it. Which is now, because of the news as to what Jason Giambi testified to. And this news raises a bunch of questions, as follows:

1. Will the MSM put sportswriters on the story or real investigative reporters on the story? I hope they put the latter, because the former are conflicted, might be too close to the situation (which could create ethical problems), and are not skilled in writing the investigative piece. This is front-page news, and it's worthy of front-page reporters.

2. How will Major League Baseball's spin machine go into overdrive here? This could be the one case where the owners and players lock arms, sing "Solidarity Forever" and try to close ranks and bury the story as a family issue that needs no outside intervention. The owners will say the right things publicly (that they have a policy, that the policy will work, that this is really an overblown problem), but if you're an owner with one star and he's suspected of being on the juice, you're not going to shoot yourself or your team in the foot because it's not in your economic interests to do so. Forget about setting an example for the kids (and, really, the heck with them, because they're too busy playing soccer anyway). Go into damage control immediately, even if it means taking a weak moral stance.

3. As for the union, well, they'll fulfill their duty and defend the players to the max, which is what you would expect, and it's too hard to be critical of that stance. That said, if the union is too strident on an issue like this, it will get steamrolled, because there are winds of change in the air. Memo to Donald Fehr: embrace the change and champion them, stick up for the majority of players who do things the right way, and you and your union will come out smelling like a rose. If you do not, I think that the product on which your clients so richly depend -- the sport itself -- could suffer worse than it did after the 1994 strike. Know your membership -- there are boatloads of players who are royally pissed that they lost money because their stats paled in comparison to some juiced-up opponent or teammate. What about their interests? Who speaks for them? Memo to Donald Fehr: you do.

And this time, memories will be longer.

One thing is for sure: this story will get hotter and will linger over Major League Baseball for many months to come. Forget the nice story about the Boston Red Sox, forget the hot-stove talk about which free agent will go where, forget the story about how the Yankees are an organizational mess with a bad farm system and some (really) bad contracts, forget all of that.

For now, the story is steroids, and the entire sporting world is watching.

And let's hope that when facing the really fat pitch (the really juicy story), the mainstream sports media doesn't fan this time.

It's time for the baseball writers to hit in the clutch.

Ty Willingham and Notre Dame

I have a lot of thoughts on this subject and some related topics, so I'll try to address them in as logical a fashion as possible.

First, read Eric McErlain's post on the topic at Off-Wing Opinion. He put a lot of thought into creating this post, and it does a very good job of teeing up all of the issues surrounding Ty Wilingham's firing and the expectations (perhaps unrealistic) of Notre Dame fans.

Second, I posted a while back on Notre Dame's scheduling. I can't say that the post is relevant now, but I think that given Notre Dame's mindset, they can still contend for the national title if they alter their scheduling just a bit. I recall a quote from an SI article years ago about a philosophical Division III coach in California who said he scheduled 3 games against teams he could beat, 3 against teams that in all likelihood he couldn't beat, and 3 games that were toss-ups, figuring that this type of schedule would be a good thing for his kids. Well, I think that if Notre Dame modifies that philosophy a bit, they might have something. A chance to win lots of games and still contend in the B.C.S. sweepstakes.

Third, I posted in the late summer about the quarterback situation in Jacksonville. Why Jacksonville, you might ask, as their offense is about average and yes, Byron Leftwich is the starter and a budding star? Why? Because all three quarterbacks -- Leftwich, David Garrard and Quinn Gray -- are African-American. And this is important precisely because no one has talked about it. I believe it's the first time in NFL history that all of a team's quarterbacks are African-American, and the nice part of the story is that no one uses the term "black quarterback" anymore. How long did it take for that term to be eradicated from the vocabulary of some members of the football media and some football fans? That's a big deal in my book.

Fourth, the Jacksonville story is very important because at some point college football at the Division I-A level has to evolve to the point where we're not talking about "African-American head coaches," just coaches who win and lose, coaches who graduate their players, coaches who are good at calling plays in the clutch and coaches who aren't, and coaches who you'd want your kids to play for. I am certain that as a society we'll get there some day, but now college football has taken a step backwards this year, with the resignations/firings of Tony Samuel at New Mexico State, Fitz Hill at San Jose State and now Tyrone Willingham at Notre Dame. That leaves only two African-American head coaches out of 117. It's clearly not enough.

I don't know enough about the Notre Dame situation to comment on Tyrone Willingham's abilities as a football coach, except to say that from what I saw of him at Stanford and at Notre Dame he's a class act and a good football coach. The question, of course, for Notre Damers (some of whom tend to hold others to much higher standards than they hold themselves, but, then again, I think most sports fans fall into that category at times), is whether he could have been a great one, because Notre Dame is always on the lookout for the next Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy or Ara Parseighan (or even Lou Holtz). Apparently, the Notre Dame decisionmakers didn't think so, and they decided to make a change.

I don't agree with what Notre Dame did, and I do think that a school that prides itself on going against the grain (i.e., by stressing high admissions standards) could have gone one or two years further by letting Coach Willingham reap the benefits of at least two of his recruiting classes (i.e., given him two more years). That would have been fair, but as I posted earlier today, A.D.'s at Division I-A schools have lost their patience, and so has Notre Dame.

In hiring Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame made a big statement, that it really was a special place in so many ways. Unfortunately, in firing Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame showed, to a certainly degree, that it is just like everyone else, and, most particularly, Nebraska and Florida, both of which also showed very little patience for reasonably good coaches.

There's nothing special about that. Instead of bucking the trend, the Fighting Irish decided to run with the flock.

They talk about waking up the echoes in South Bend, Indiana year-in and year-out. Only time will tell what echoes emerge -- those from the glory days, or those from the brouhaha of conflicting opinions that surrounds this particular controversy.

But beyond Notre Dame, let's hope that in the same way sportswriters and sportscasters don't use the term "black quarterback" any more, the novelty of having an African-American head coach at a Division I-A school will wear off as well.

The time for that novelty to vanish from the college football landscape is long past due.

How College Football Could Become Like the NHL

Okay, so the headline is a teaser. After all, we're not at the point where the owners of the major college football teams will be locking out their players at any time soon. TV ratings are better, and, yes, there probably is some overpopulation in Division I-A the way there is in the NHL (see, for example, Temple, Army, Duke and the other perennial candidates for the Potato Bowl -- for the two teams that get mercilessly mashed during the regular season). So, there aren't that many comparisons.

Except, perhaps, one.

And it's somewhat glaring.

It's called impatience.

Last year, Nebraska canned Frank Solich, the Tom Osborne protege, after going 9-3. Apparently the only thing worse in Lincoln, Nebraska than an allergy to corn products is failing to win 10 or more games in a season.

This year, Florida axed Ron Zook, who wasn't doing all that badly, except, perhaps, suffering from the "He's not Steve Spurrier" disease. And, finally, Notre Dame canned Ty Willingham after only three years, and despite his commitment to academic excellence that perhaps has been unparalleled in South Bend. Zook wasn't winning enough, especially when compared to rivals in Tallahassee and Miami, and Willingham wasn't winning nearly enough, and, to a degree, he wasn't beating Purdue, Michigan State and Boston College and was 7-8 against ranked teams.

If the rumors about the Indiana and BYU coaching positions are true, there will be 15 open Division I-A head coaching jobs after today. And there undoubtedly will be more, as some coaches will move from one DI-A school to another, thereby creating more vacancies. (There's a good link to an Ivan Maisel article on ESPN.com, but unfortunately my blogger has acted up and I can't create the link; check it out, though, as it's very informative).

It's one thing, of course, when a coach has had an ample opportunity to turn a program around, where he's had the ability to reap the benefits of his first two or three recruiting classes, and, say, after six or so years his teams are a collective 26-46 or soemthing like that, with a questionable graduation rate and some off the field problems. That type of record could compel a change. And no one would argue with that.

But what I'm seeing now is a much more severe pressure to win now or else get fired, either because the alumni are basically impatient or because the school in question sees large sums of BCS monies slipping away because it cannot muster say two more wins a season. If that pressure continues to mount across the board in Division I-A, then a head coach's tenure could be, well, rather tenuous.

Like two years, perhaps, or three years, max.

Just win, baby.

Which would make Division I-A football just like the National Hockey League (and, to a lesser extent, the National Basketball Association), where teams go through coaches the way Kojak used to go through lollypops or the way Paris Hilton goes through bathing suits. And those are not flattering analogies to say the least.

Division I-A college football is a mess right now, as it is having serious problems defining what it really wants to be. It needs a playoff system, but doesn't have one, and if three voters flip flop Cal and Texas in the next AP vote (which could happen if Cal doesn't stomp on Southern Mississippi on Saturday), then because of three writers located somewhere in the country, Texas could be in a BCS bowl game and Cal could not be playing on New Year's Day or after, even if it's only loss was a close one to #1 USC. It needs to reform itself to put the "scholar" back in "scholar-athlete", and it needs to ensure that its programs are not mere "eligibility mills" but help their players graduate with meaningful degrees that could lead to solid jobs down the road.

In fact, it needs more Notre Dames, fewer Ohio States.

But the trend is just the opposite.

Too much patience, I will concede, could lead to malaise and mediocrity. Too little patience, though, could lead to something much worse.

Corruption. Cheating. Disregard of a player's best interests.

None of which, the last time I checked, serve the usually lofty goals of institutions of higher learning everywhere.

Frank Solich, Ron Zook, Ty Willingham.

There will be many others.

And I'm not so sure that the programs who have made those decisions are better off/will be better off for these changes.

Patience. It's one of the first thing people in leadership are taught. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you cannot build a solid program without building brick by brick. That type of building can take years.

But destroying good programs and foundations because of the weakness of a school's leadership can take only weeks.

Which leads me to the ultimate questions:

1. How much is a national championship worth?

and

2. Are we absolutely sure that we really know what a champion is today?

Remember the Name

I have a hunch, and I don't go on hunches. I suppose that somehow, some way, going with your gut is different from going on a hunch, but I just cannot explain it. I don't know enough about this particular player to say I have a gut feeling that he's going to be a very good one, but I have some inkling that he'll play for some serious money once he's done playing his college basketball.

(In contrast, when I saw a young low-round draft pick pitch for the Red Sox AA affiliate several years ago, my gut feeling told me that this kid, who pitched complete games, didn't walk many batters and gave up very few earned runs, would be a very good pitcher in the majors. It took a little while, and he had to recover from an injury, but now Carl Pavano is the toast of the free agent class and the subject of a bidding war among teams that will make serious runs for the World Series in the next several years).

So who is this kid? First, he's not a baseball player. He's a college basketball player. Second, while his team is undefeated, I don't think anyone is expecting a whole lot out of them this year. Perhaps an NIT berth, but I don't think that a trip to the Big Dance is in the cards. Still, his story is an interesting one, and he's been to the Big Dance before.

Which is where I first saw him, a gangly kid out of a Philadelphia suburb who no one in Philadelphia really knew about because he hardly spent any time in HS in the Philadelphia area. He went to two different Philadelphia area high schools and four in four years, as his college bio points out. So, it wasn't like he was heralded the way a Mustafa Shakur was, or a Hakim Warrick, a John Salmons, a Matt (or Pat) Carroll. No, he was just some kid who would take a more circular route to the big time, or, at least, a bigger time.

I saw him three years ago, in the play-in game to the NCAA Tournament, where he led his school, Northwestern State, to a victory over Winthrop, with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 9 (yes 9!) blocked shots. When they said he was from Philadelphia, I was thinking how did St. Joe's, Temple or LaSalle miss this kid? Or Villanova, even?

They missed him because either they didn't know he was there, he flew under the radar screen, or he hadn't accomplished enough to make the coaches at those fabled programs notice him. So, Phil Martelli, John Chaney, Billy Hahn and Steve Lappas can be given a pass. Mostly everyone else missed this kid, too. Four high schools in four years? If he weren't 6'11", he might have been playing NAIA Division II ball in Northern Alaska.

But somehow he made it to Division I, to Northwestern State in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Say Natchitoches ten times in a row quickly if you can, and you'll get bonus points if you can tell me what conference Northwestern State plays in.

After he excelled at Northwestern State, D'Or Fischer transferred to West Virginia, where he is now a senior. The Mountaineers are 3-0, and Fischer is averaging 10 points, 6 boards and almost 3 blocks per game. He blocked 124 shots last season, good for second in the Big East (behind a kid named Okafor) and third in the country.

Now, his overall numbers aren't Emeka Okafor's numbers (whose are?) and he won't make anyone forget Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning or Shaquille O'Neal. Fair enough. But the college game isn't just for the blue chips, the kids who get their pictures in the back of the Blue Ribbon Guide while in HS or get featured in The Sporting News' feature magazine that is devoted exclusively to HS players. No, it's also about the kids who blossom late, who work their butts off at the low Division I schools, the junior colleges in the middle of nowhere (such as the one that Arthur Agee went to in Hoop Dreams), who then emerge onto the scene with their play exclaiming, "Hey, take a look at me, I can play this game with anyone."

Because those kids are worth watching too. And on that one night in March of 2001, there was the gangly kid from Philadelphia (and a few other places) who blocked 9 shots with a large group of NCAA hoop fans watching. That night was D'Or Fischer's coming out party, and he's made the most of his opportunities ever since.

Al McGuire would have called him an "Aircraft Carrier."

The kids in Philadelphia's famed Sonny Hill League would call him a ball player.

So remember the name, D'Or Fischer.

And try to catch a West Virginia game this year.

College Football Coaching Merry-Go-Round

In September, I posted about who might succeed Joe Paterno at Penn State. While JoePa seems ensconced (for now) in State College, the post is somewhat relevant because there are several hot college football head coaching jobs open, and some of the candidates I identified might be among the short lists to fill them.

1. In case you didn't hear, the Notre Dame job just opened up. I mean, literally, like within the past hour. Tyrone Willingham is out, and the rumor is that Urban Meyer, who is no longer interested in the Florida job, is the prime candidate to be the next man to fill one of the three toughest jobs in America (the other two: President of the United States and Mayor of New York City). Remember that name, Urban Meyer, as he has done an outstanding job with Utah this year.

2. You probably heard that Stanford has axed Buddy Teevens, the one-time Dartmouth football star and coach who spent three losing seasons at The Farm (he replaced Willingham). The Cardinal also suffered its worst loss in its Big Game against Cal in 74 years a few weeks ago, when the #4 Golden Bears opened up a bottle of whup-ass and beat Stanford 41-6. Could it be that Willingham goes back home to The Farm? Clearly, his coaching days are not over.

3. Well, if it's true that Notre Dame considered Meyer when it hired Willingham after the George O'Leary creative writing (resume category) fiasco took place, it also could be true that it didn't think it was going anywhere with Willingham and wanted to act on Meyer before a top BCS program landed him. Which is fine, because Florida certainly would have filled that bill. But now that Steve Spurrier is in South Carolina and Meyer seems to be on Notre Dame's one-person short list, the most recently unemployed NFL coach, Butch Davis, who re-built Miami in the 90's after the Dennis Erickson years, seems to be the top candidate in Gainesville.

Stanford, Florida, Notre Dame.

Illinois, San Jose State, New Mexico State.

Who's next?

One Reason Why Yale is Better Than Harvard

Click here to find out.

Thanks to Dave Sez for venturing out of Tobacco Road and into the hallowed halls of ivy for this special report.

There's the Heisman and Then There's

The Good Man.

Everyone knows who the Heisman favorites are, and those players are all good players in their own right. I haven't watched enough college football to have a favorite, know that sometimes regional writers vote for their players because familiarity can bring some favoritism, and that unless there's a real consensus pick, anything can happen. I also don't think that this trophy has the luster that it once had. Maybe it's because there are so many games, so many awards and so many bowls, that I'm oversaturated with both good reporting and inaccurate hype about college football. Whatever the analysis, the player who wins the Heisman is an outstanding college football player.

I frequently look for a different story, one about a kid who has hung in there, who has beaten back adversity, and who rises to the occasion when the opportunity presents itself. And that's a rare story. Because there are enough kids of character who get hurt early in their career who stay at it, make good contributions, and are the types of people that all programs just love to have. All of those kids deserve publicity, and many get them at the local level.

But there's one kid this past season who deserves a good bit of recognition. To be fair, in the weekly reports about his team's play, this player gets his share of attention because he plays a skill position and because he plays it very well.

Alvin Pearman, Jr. is a senior RB at Virginia who went into the season as a back-up behind Wali Lundy, only to replace Lundy as the feature back after a few games. He had suffered a serious knee injury a few years ago, but he stayed at it, rehabbed, and, well, he's rushed for over 1000 yards this season and has 26 catches to boot. Do a Google search, and you'll see blurbs about how Alvin Pearman led the way with 100 plus yards and a few touchdowns.

You can't do much better than that. Especially if you didn't start the season as number one on the depth chart. Pearman's is a very nice story, and he gets my award as one of the good men in college football.

I don't know whether Mel Kiper, Jr. has him on any draft boards, but one would think that his fortitude and his numbers, taken together, will get him a long look in an NFL camp in the summer of 2005.

Dave Sez is one of blogdom's resident ACC experts, so I'd welcome his take on UVA's now-star running back. But from this vantage point, Pearman is one of the many players that Cavalier fans have had to crow about all season long.

But in my book, he gets a Good Man.

Once Burned, Twice Shy, Three Times. . . What?

What's the first word that comes to your mind when you say "Jeff George"?

Your first thought?

As a football fan, do you come up with anything complimentary other than "great talent, big disappointment," or something like that?

Well, not only has George at best mystified and at worst infuriated those for whom he has played, he also hasn't played in three years. And, given that the average NFL career is something along the lines of three and a half years, that's almost a lifetime.

Which means that either the Chicago Bears know something that we don't, or they're desperated, plain and simple, conceding that their Craig Krenzel experiment hasn't worked, that Krenzel should consider going to medical school sooner than later, and that they honestly think that George is a different player from the one who got into shouting matches with his coaches on the sidelines. Whatever the case, the next starting QB for the Chicago Bears will be, yes, Jeff George.

The Bears had a good buzz going about them earlier on in the season, a good defense, and an exciting new coach in Lovie Smith. No one expected them to do much this year, and the fact that they've made a good showing bodes well for the future. They have a good base on which to build.

Which is puzzling why they've signed George, since he won't be their starter, at least for now; Chad Hutchinson, the Dallas castoff, will be. George has always thought of himself as the primary guy, but perhaps he's also desperate, looking for any NFL deal he can get.

Desperate Bears, desperate George, it doesn't sound like a good match to me. Especially if George starts to spout off about the ills of the Chicago offense and why he should be the starter -- not only for the remainder of this year, but next year as well.

Because if that happens, then there will be a serious crack in the foundation that the Chicago Bears started to create last year when they hired Lovie Smith.

Signing Jeff George is not a move that a team building for the future makes. Signing any QB that has had a 3-year layoff is not a move that a team building for the future makes. What could he have been doing during that time off that makes him ready even to carry the clipboard on the sidelines?

Good luck to both the Chicago Bears and Jeff George, because they'll need it.

Remember the Tigers!

Princeton 3, Washington 1.

That's the University of Washington in Seattle, for those who might have had any inkling that the Tigers were playing Division III Washington University in St. Louis.

That's NCAA women's soccer, and that was the Elite 8 last night in the chilly weather at Princeton's Lourie-Love field, where the Tiger squad beat the visitors from the Pac-10 to make it to the NCAA's Final Four.

That is not a misprint.

The Final Four.

No athletic scholarships, no easy rides, no BCS-type of conference, no big recruiting budgets, no fancy places to play.

Nothing like that.

It's the Ivy League, remember?

But somehow, some way, the Tiger women earned their right to play today's UCLA-Ohio State winner in the Final Four next week in North Carolina.

It's the first time that an Ivy women's soccer team has made the NCAA Final Four.

And it's big news.

Because in a world where the North Carolinas of the world dominate, it does make you wonder how a school like Princeton, with more varsity-level sports than the next two or even three BCS-type schools combined (if you check out their websites, you'll see how few varsity programs some Division I-A football schools have), with only 4,500 or so undergraduates, got this done.

It's an amazing accomplishment, one to be savored on the beautiful central NJ campus for many years to come. A big win for the little guys, er, little women, as it were.

But why stop there?

U Dub, as they call it, will certainly remember these Tigers.

And perhaps the schools who meet the Princeton women in the Final Four will as well.

Carolina, here they come!

Talking Turkey About Quarterbacks

I was talking with my father-in-law today about quarterbacks, as he spent more time watching the Colts dismantle the Lions than I did, which is very big of him given that he's from Baltimore and has really never forgiven the Irsays for moving the team out of town to that gridiron hotbed of Indianapolis in the middle of the night many years ago. I chalk up his watching to the fact that on Thanksgiving you watch the teams that the networks give you. Nothing more, nothing less. (The average Baltimorean still bristles at the loss of the beloved Colts in the mid-1980s).

That said, he asked a question which I'll answer at the end of this post, which is which QB has the highest single-season rating for a QB?

This question caused me to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website to check out all-time QB ratings, and what you will find there is so surprising if you're not an intense fan that you'll question the overall wisdom of the rating system. Well, at least I will.

Here are the top 10, at least going into this season, with 1500 attempts required to make the list:

1. Kurt Warner 97.2
2. Steve Young, 96.8
3. Joe Montana, 92.3
4. Jeff Garcia, 88.3
5. Peyton Manning, 88.1
6. Daunte Culpepper, 88.0
7. Brett Favre, 86.9
8. Otto Graham, 86.6
9. Dan Marino, 86.4
10. Trent Green, 86.1.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Of course.

It's probably the case that Kurt Warner is no longer #1 after this season's performance, and there wouldn't be a lot of grid justice if Warner were to have retired after last season with "rated" as the #1 QB ever. Well, maybe I'm overstating the case, because no professional or amateur pro football pundit would dare have Warner anywhere close to his top 10. Ditto for Jeff Garcia and Trent Green. Ironically, Otto Graham, who won more championships than probably the next 2 or 3 guys put together, rates only as #8.

But it gets worse.

Johnny Unitas, who some rate as the best ever, comes in at #48. It's hard to name 5 QBs you would rather have had ahead of Unitas, let alone 47. And among those 47 are Mark Brunell (#12), Aaron Brooks (#22), Neil O'Donnell (#25), Ken O'Brien (#34), Jeff George (#35), Steve Beurlein (#37), Tony Eason (#41), Elvis Grbac (#42), Mark Rypien (#44) and Jim Everett (#45).

Aaron Brooks? He could lose his starting job after this season. Ken O'Brien and Tony Eason? Yes, they were part of that great QB class of 1983 that had 6 QBs drafted in the first round. The others were John Elway (and we'll get to him in the next paragraph), Todd Blackledge (who, taken at #7, eclipses O'Brien and Eason as the worst QB taken in the first round that year), Jim Kelly and Marino, who, ironically, was the last QB taken that year after an interception-laden senior season at Pitt. O'Brien had a few good years with the Jets, and Eason never really got it going in New England. Grbac ahead of Unitas? You have to be kidding.

That's bad enough, but John Elway comes in at #39, right behind Dan Fouts, who is rated #38. Quite frankly, it's hard to think of 10 QBs you'd rather have than Elway, and 15 you'd rather have than Fouts, who I still contend was the best pure passer I had seen until Peyton Manning, and that includes Dan Marino.

Now, Joe Namath comes in at #123, and I think that there's some merit to a low ranking for Namath. Charismatic as he was and is, Namath had more career interceptions than TDs, and he get all-time QB points for having helped put the old American Football League on the map, which is unfair to the other QBs. Namath was certainly an American original, but I could name 40 QBs I would rather have had than him. And I like Joe Namath.

Other interesting names among the Top 100 are Jeff Blake (#50, which is just hard to figure), Jay Fiedler (#51), Bill Kenney (#57), Erik Kramer (#59), Gary Danielson (#60), Jon Kitna (#64), Wade Wilson (#65), Scott Mitchell (#69, just behind Ken Stabler), Steve Bono (#70), Tim Couch (#71, right ahead of Sid Luckman and Norm Van Brocklin), Rodney Peete (#82, right behind Earl Morrall), Tony Banks (#89), Bubby Brister (#90), Jay Schroeder (#95) and Trent Dilfer (#99).

Sorry, whoever created this stat, but it fails simply because Bubby Brister is in the Top 100. And if that's not enough evidence, then Rodney Peete at #82 is Exhibit B. And Steve Bono, a perennial (good) backup at #70 is Exhibit C. You get the idea.

Read the whole thing, and you can comment as to what you think. But the bottom line is that an all-time Top 10 has to include Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Brett Favre and Roger Staubach. And my guess is that Messrs. (Peyton) Manning, Culpepper, McNabb and others might enter into the conversation before they're done. Somehow, the figures just don't tell the whole story here.

And the best single-season passing rating -- Steve Young, a gaudy 112.8 in 1994. Click here to read the best single-season QB ratings.

You can click on Sports Blah for some good hot-stove baseball talk, but this stuff is great fodder for hot-stove football talk.

And remember, unlike baseball, where the numbers tell a lot of the story, in football, the numbers don't tell you nearly as much.

At least the ones that they show us in the MSM and beyond.

Where's the Beef?

Okay, so this isn't the most appropriate question to ask on Thanksgiving Day, but Page 2 of ESPN.com recently published a list of the heaviest and lightest position players in the NFL. Remember the days when guards weighed about 250? Well, they don't even weigh that in the Ivy League any more.

Some of these fellows are ready for the Sumo circuit, while others look more suited to contact sports such as basketball instead of collision sports like football. Take a look at the list, and then see what you think.

For example, the 49ers have the lightest tackle in the game, a 279-pound LT named Kyle Kosier who might be light enough to have stayed with the real LT, but, then again, his team is 1-9 and I haven't heard Kosier's name mentioned with those of Walter Jones, Jonathan Ogden, Willie Roaf and Orlando Pace lately, have you? So, perhaps, he's just a symbol of an out-sized, overmatched team.

Bottom line is that some of these men need to eat many helpings at their Thankgsiving Day feast to gain some much needed mass, while some of these guys need to eat only the protein and lay off the stuffing and the pies that will be served up for dessert. After all, opposing players qualify as protein, don't they? Especially opposing quarterbacks.

But, then again, the Broncos' two guards are the lightest in the league at their positions, and, last time I checked, the Broncos move the ball as well as anyone in the NFL. Which means, of course, that to a certain extent, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog (and how many times have you heard that one?). (There are those, of course, who have questioned the methods of the offensive linemen of the Broncos for years, but we'll leave that discussion for a different day).

There are some good light guys, such as pinball-type RBs Warrick Dunn and Brian Westbrook, but at some point in the season those guys would qualify for finalists in the Mr. Human Bruise contest. That said, I, for one, do believe that in the NFL size matters. The 5'9, 165 running back that was the best you ever saw in HS gets supplanted in college by the 6', 200 running back who can run just as fast as and well as the guy you saw in HS, except he can knock over some opponents, and, then, with certain exceptions, that guy gets supplanted in the NFL by the 6'2", 225 RB who can just maim people and who hits the holes just as fast. That's the way it is. Bigger, stronger, faster, harder hitting.

Why? Because, like anything else, where there's serious competition for jobs, the meritocracy is fierce. That said, there is plenty of room in the league for the Teddy Bruschis, the Dan Kleckos, the Dunns and the Westbrooks, because the last time I checked, the games aren't won in the weigh room or the weight room.

They play the game on some kind of turf, not scales.

Food for thought? Most definitely.

Things To Be Thankful For

If you're NBA Commissioner David Stern, you're thankful that the Friday Night Fight in Detroit was not worse. And it could have been a lot worse.

And, of course, you're thankful for the rapid emergence of LeBron James. Kobe Bryant as Heir Jordan? Maybe, but #23 in Cleveland is everything that the NBA had hoped he would be. And more.

If you're a fan of Iowa Hawkeyes football, thank the Iowa administration for having the smarts to ink head football coach Kirk Ferentz to a contract extension through 2012. Things are looking mighty bright for Iowa football. Click on the link and read what TigerHawk, a non- sports-blogging website that waxes eloquent on sports when Iowans are involved.

If you're a fan of Iowa Hawkeyes basketball, thank Coach Steve Alford for (finally) molding a very promising squad together. The Hawkeyes beat Louisville and Texas on back-to-back days, and both were ranked in the Top 20 or so. TigerHawk is so involved either with the political landscape or expressing his glee about Kirk Ferentz that he (or his brother, Charlottesvillain) have yet to wave the black-and-gold flag about the Hawkeyes hoops team. So click here for the official site of the Iowa Hawkeyes to get with the program (literally).

If you're Penn hoops coach Fran Dunphy, you're thankful that your team rebounded from two awful pastings at the hands of Providence and Wisconsin when they delivered a mauling of their own against cross-town rival Drexel last night. The same way Ben Franklin once said that there's no such thing as a good war or a bad peace, there's probably, to coaches anyway, no such thing as a bad win or a good loss. And while Dunphy did say he saw some progress in the 33-point loss to the Badgers (it's really hard to imagine what), what he saw last night was encouraging -- a team that shot 11-14 from behind the arc and that clearly established soph forward Mark Zoller as a secondary option to senior swingman Tim Begley.

If you're a Princeton Tigers hoop fan, you're thankful that a Tiger frosh scored in double figures in one of the first three games in recent memory. Frosh F Noah Savage (who is from the Princeton area and went to the Hun School, which is only notable because a Savage went to Hun, which raises the question whether the Tigers are going to recruit players named Dervish, Vandal and Visigoth at any time in the near future) had 12 points in a 2 OT loss at Wyoming on Monday night. The loss was disappointing, but that Savage has made a key contribution so early is most encouraging (as is the notion that Penn has yet to develop a PG to really run its team, as jr PG Eric Osmundsen didn't show much in last night's lopsided victory over Drexel -- when the Quakers don't have a PG who can really run the show, they don't win the Ivy title).

If you're Temple hoops coach John Chaney, you're thankful for a big, physical team with a strong PG in Mardy Collins and an 18-point season-opening win over Georgetown last night. That's good news for the Owls, who have not received a ton of publicity this year but who might just return to the NCAA hoops tournament.

If you're a Phoenix Suns fan, you're grateful that ownership signed PG Steve Nash as a free agent and doubly grateful that he has blended so well with Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire. Yes, San Antonio and Minnesota are formidable, as is versatile Seattle and aging Sacramento, but Phoenix may be the most exciting team in the West.

If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, well, if you don't know what you're thankful for or if you're not thankful, then you need a serious clue. But you're thankful for the killer instinct that John Henry and Larry Lucchino brought to the team's front office, thankful for the Curt Schilling trade, and thankful for the grit that your team showed during the last half of the season and in the playoffs.

If you're a college football fan, you're thankful for a very intriguing season thus far, the BCS notwithstanding. You're grateful for the emergence of Utah and Boise State into the BCS picture, some wild games that Oklahoma played, upsets all over the place, from Michigan State's trouncing of Wisconsin to some exciting Oklahoma games to the very close and entertaining early-season contest between USC and Cal, to Navy's getting a bowl bid, to seeing Lou Holtz retire after a distinguished career (although his team certainly gave him something to remember with its literal slugfest against archrival Clemson in what now turned out to be the season finale because neither team will accept a bowl bid as self-flagellating punishment for the brawl that took place in their game), North Carolina's upset over Miami, Penn State's winning its last two regular-season games (and preserving some dignity for Coach Joe Paterno) and many, many other wonderful moments. Most likely, there are many more to come. And, of course, you're hopeful that the national championship, as much as possible, can be decided on the field and not on some Cray supercomputer.

If you're an ACC hoops fan, you are thankful that no one can argue, at least right now, that any conference is better than yours in basketball. And it's not even close. Depending on how the seedings go, you could have four ACC teams in the Elite 8 come the NCAA tournament, as that's how strong the ACC is this year. If you have any doubts about that statement, how about this one: Duke is not among the top 3 teams in the league this year.

If you're a baseball fan, you're thankful that money cannot buy championships. Put differently, you're thankful that the team that spends the most money cannot buy championships simply by spending the most money (although you're concerned that if your team isn't in the top 10 in spending, it might not have a chance to win the World Series). And, if you do not like the Yankees, you're thankful that they have a weak farm system with few prospects to trade, meaning that George Steinbrenner will create more of a pressure cooker and higher expectations after he signs very expensive free agents and then realizes that while he might have an "A" list lineup, he has a "B" list pitching staff. Offense sells tickets; defense and pitching win championships. Even in Joe DiMaggios' heyday, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, who had rather high ERAs relative to their era, were able to get people out. Repeatedly.

If you're an NHL fan, be thankful that all that's gone so far is this season. And not you're home team or the league, period.

I, for one, am thankful for a variety of aspects of the sporting world, among them (in no particular order, and I'm sure I have forgotten a few):

1. The majesty of the World Series, the beautiful shots of Fenway Park, in particular, the long, parabolic fly balls that you watched rise into the nighttime sky, wondering whether they were far enough and fair enough to turn the tide in a very compelling drama, where you looked at every pitch as something that could change the direction of world history, the bloody sock of Curt Schilling, and the never-say-die bats of guys named Ramirez, Ortiz, Bellhorn, Damon, Nixon, Varitek and many others. I haven't found a more compelling drama in sports in a while (and, sorry, ESPN, but so far your made-for-TV stuff has been lacking.).

2. The back-and-forth with readers and fellow bloggers, especially those to whom I have linked and who link back from time to time. And to those who have linked to me and to whom I haven't linked back yet, please have patience with me, as I'm more toward the technical Luddite end of the continuum and have to get to my template to update it.

3. Hot-stove discussions, drafts, the personnel aspects of rosters, coaching changes, and that sort of thing. For example, how have the Philadelphia Eagles managed to stay stop the NFC East, even with three great coaches coaching their division rivals? Have Jeffrey Lurie and Joe Banner simply adopted a football version of "dollar-cost-averaging" or some form of portfolio management in keeping their roster evergreen with talent? It seems that way. How do people become college basketball coaches? Or why? Have you looked at Blue Ribbon and the alma maters of a plurality of assistant coaches? They certainly aren't household names, and they certainly didn't play big-time college basketball. For example, N.C. State Coach Herb Sendek didn't hoop at an ACC school. Far from it. He played his college hoops at the very academically inclined Carnegie Mellon, which is probably where you'd expect a guy named Herb to play his college hoops. And the assistants went to Division II or III schools, and they're all looking to get ahead. For those who make it to the top, well, there's no doubt that they've paid their dues.

4. The burgeoning rivalry between ESPN the Magazine and Sports Illustrated for the hot stories, which, I believe, will make SI younger and more hip and ESPN the Magazine less the sports magazine world's "Pimp Your Ride" edition that it probably had been prone to be. This competition will bring out the best in both, although I wish that ESPN would literally waste less paper and write in a print that the average middel-aged person with progressive glasses can read. I liked the SI article on the Vermont men's hoops program better (in this week's edition), but ESPN scooped SI, as its article came out first. This should be an interesting rivalry down the road.

5. I like watching my kids play sports and games and watch the pure joy of the effort. Yes, I live in one of these areas where kids can play travel sports as early as the age of 7 1/2, and while I think that's one of the craziest ideas I have ever heard (they shouldn't play "travel" until they're 11 in my opinion), the sports are very much fun. When we all remember that sports are supposed to be fun, we're all better off. They should remember that in Detroit, in Indianapolis, in South Carolina, and, for that matter, everywhere else.

I could go on and on, as it's a wonderful time of the year. It's time tomorrow to go outside while the food is cooking and toss around a football, even if it's a little chilly, rainy or muddy where you are. It's time to watch the Thanksgiving Day games, even if Dallas is bad and Detroit can't quite climb the mountain yet. And it's time to catch up with family with no distractions, eat a bunch of good food.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!