So I've been catching up on the news, and it looks like you've had a pretty rough week. What, with you being forced to testify before Parliament and to shut down your long-running News of the World tabloid after it was discovered your people had illegally hacked the cell phone of a missing woman. Never mind the fact that the FBI is now investigating you for doing the same thing to 9/11 victims. And that Michelle Bachmann keeps doing stupid things faster than your boys at Fox News can make excuses for her. And that your top long-time assistant and confidante just skipped out on you. Yep, it's been a tough one. I feel for you, I really do.
Rupert in happier times.
So that's why I am writing today with a proposal to help restore some of your media glory and make you a hero to millions of Americans. You can not only redeem your image, but do a huge service to us sports fans on this side of the pond. And here's all you have to do--take down ESPN.
I know, I know, that sounds like a big task. Them being the worldwide leader and all. But hear me out.
If we've learned nothing else from the reaction to the Casey Anthony verdict, it's that Americans don't take too kindly to a perceived injustice. And ESPN just committed a doozie. They suspended Bruce Feldman, one of the finest journalists in sports, for having the audacity to work with former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach on his new book, Swing Your Sword, which details Leach's final days as coach and the behind-the-scenes work by ESPN analyst Craig James to have him fired.
ESPN has reportedly scheduled a book-burning party in the corporate parking lot for this afternoon. Bring your own marshmallows.
The saga of Adam James/Mike Leach/Craig James has been well-documented, so I won't go into it here. Suffice it to say, most football fans felt that Leach was given a raw deal by Texas Tech, with the complicity of Craig James and, directly or indirectly, ESPN.
Well, guess what? Thanks to the power of the Freedom of Information Act, Feldman uncovered emails which prove that, not only was Texas Tech looking for an excuse to fire Leach, but that Craig James and his PR firm were only too happy to do their dirty work and provide the ammunition to make that happen. And for outing one of their golden boys, ESPN was quick to commit yet another injustice by indefinitely suspending Feldman from his duties. And why did they do this? Because they can. Because there is no one out there who can both hold them accountable and is big enough to offer a legitimate alternative.
And that's where you come in, Rupert. There was a time when ESPN programming was actually good. It's been a long time, but it happened. Back before Craig Kilborn went Hollywood and Keith Olbermann started wearing Birkenstocks and Che Guevara shirts. Back before "The Decision" and all-Chris-Berman-all-the-time programming. And there was one simple reason: competition.
Back then CNN ran a nightly segment called Sports Tonight that went head-to-head with SportsCenter. In the early days, CNN actually had the superior product, which forced ESPN to raise it's game. As a result, SportsCenter improved as a show, its anchors (notably the team of Olbermann and Dan Patrick) became national phenomena and the rest is history. CNN pre-empted Sports Tonightduring the disputed 2000 presidential election and it never came back in its same form, leaving ESPN as the only game in town when it came to national sports coverage.
Fred Hickman and the late Nick Charles doing sports the way it should be done.
Rupert, America needs you to rescue us. Save us from ourselves. We mindlessly turn on SportsCenter and repeat meaningless sports catchphrases (Booyah!) simply because that's all we know to do. An entire generation of young Americans has grown up thinking that sports would not exist if it were not for ESPN. We need you to help us show them it's the other way around.. And you can do that by providing us with an alternative.
Sure, the public is doing what it can. Writers across the country have jumped to Feldman's defense. And Twitter users actually had #freeBruce trending higher than Harry Potter the day before the new movie opened. But we can't do it alone, Rupert. We are asking for your help.
Fox is the only entity in America who is ready to compete with the Disney/ABC/ESPN conglomerate. Your over-the-air Fox affiliates and the cable components of Fox Sports Net are in virtually every household in America. You already have the groundwork in place to go toe-to-toe with ESPN. All it needs is a little more initiative from you and we can finally offer American sports fans a real alternative, diminish the virtually unlimited power of ESPN and help right the injustice done to Bruce Feldman.
Here's what I am asking you to do:
Go national. While I enjoy the regional coverage of my favorite local teams on my Fox Sports Net affiliate, America is ready for another big fish in the pond. With the combined broadcasting power of all your various Fox sports stations, you could get your signal into almost as many households as ABC/ESPN. Yes, it'll take some money. But money is one thing you've got. Besides, you can take all the money you had planned on using to print News of the World and use it to boost your cable programming.
Be bold. Don't tiptoe around the subject. Let the world know that your objective is to take on Disney and ESPN. Hire a good graphic designer to come up with a new logo or mascot to reflect your mission. Maybe a cartoon fox with a sly smile and sharp teeth. And a mouse's tail dangling out of his mouth.
Don't skimp on the reporters. ESPN has gotten lazy. While there are certainly exceptions, ESPN does very little original reporting. And when they do, they usually get it wrong (see also Schad, Joe). They just steal from other sources and repackage the information with "ESPN sources report . . ." without giving proper credit. Don't make that mistake. Hire good writers for your website, ones who actually do real reporting. Guys like Bruce Feldman. It might cost you a little money in the short run to steal some guys away from ESPN and Sports Illustrated, but it will pay huge dividends in the long run.
Don't be afraid to make ESPN the bad guy. Have you watched your own Fox News lately? It's very little news. It's basically 20+ hours a day of people yelling about how Barack Obama/MSNBC/Harry Reid are to blame for all of society's woes. Not trying to be political here, but you need to follow a similar model, at least to a point. You can't be afraid to pick a fight with the Mouse. Remind viewers constantly how ESPN is to blame for "The Decision". How ESPN has a huge conflict of interest in owning most of the bowl games they carry. How they suspend good journalists like Bruce Feldman for exposing one of their pretty boys, but look the other way when on-air personality Woody Paige gets caught plagiarizing stories. How ESPN is completely biased in favor of covering Texas sports and the Big 12, since they are now in bed with the Longhorns to to the tune of 20 years/$300 million. How ESPN convinced large numbers of people that poker is a sport. How ESPN is to blame for today's housing market. (OK, that last one might not be true. But then again, factual accuracy has never been one of your strongest suits, so people will expect it.)
But don't forget the sports. Some commentary and well-placed jabs at the expense of your competition will be fine. But the success of Fox Sports will ride on the quality of your programming. Look, no one's expecting you to to take down the worldwide leader overnight. Certainly, you won't have anything to compete with Monday Night Football. And their SEC and Big Ten football broadcasts will probably trump your Pac-12 and secondary Big 12 games. But you can go toe-to-toe with them in baseball. And, provided you don't hire Dick Vitale, it shouldn't be hard to best their college basketball coverage. Down the line, you'll have to pony up some money to win some bidding wars for better broadcast rights. But in the short term, the real key is going to be your sports highlight shows. Think about ESPN--they basically record SportsCenter twice a day, and then just keep replaying it over and over throughout the day until it's time for "Around the Horn". If you can keep your content fresh and provide a show that is entertaining and informative to the educated fan, I think you can go head-to-head with SportsCenter.
This has all been a long-time coming. I've thought for some time that the world needed some legitimate competition for ESPN. This latest saga with Bruce Feldman just showed me how badly we need it.
This is all a big task, I know. But I also know that you have never been one to back down from a challenge. You're the only one right now with the resources to help us right a wrong and end the Disney/ABC/ESPN monopoly on American sports coverage. This won't rehabilitate your public image overnight, but it will certainly make you a hero to millions of American sports fans.
So do it for yourself. Do it for Bruce Feldman. And, even though you're not one of us, do it for America
Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, American Sports Fans P.S. Fire Joe Buck.
While in town for tomorrow's ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club, Griffin is also doing his part to promote the Wendy’s High School Heisman which celebrates high school seniors across the country who excel in academics, athletics and community leadership. Since the program’s start in 1994, more than 305,000 students have been recognized by the program for their outstanding achievements both on and off the field.
Wes presses him on whether or not their would be another multi-time winner, whether he voted for himself in 1975, his thoughts on Nebraska joining the Big 10, how character should be weighed in Heisman voting in light of Reggie Bush and Cam Newton controversy, and has Griffin make an Oregon-Auburn prediction.
For more information about the High School Heisman program and the nomination process, visit http://www.wendysheisman.com or contact your local high school principal, guidance counselor or athletic director. “Like” Wendy’s High School Heisman on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wendyshighschoolheisman for program updates and to connect with alumni.
We broke the interview up into two segments. Below is the NCAA-focused portion.
We asked Sehorn specifically about the state of the USC program - which he deems a double standard compared to what other programs have faced for worse offecses. This lead to a conversation about the recent SI cover story, Confessions of an agent, in which Josh Luchs dimes out the entire industry.
Sehorn notes just how rampant agents, or more specifically their bag men, are on campuses, and how their is no apparent way to combat it:
"The NCAA turns a blind eye to it. They only want the ones that are obvious. They don’t understand that every single campus with talented kids who are going to be first or second round picks have...runners. He’s the one handing out the money...
It’s rampant. It’s everywhere. The universities are aware of it. They can’t stop it. There’s nothing you can do to it. Because the people who are associated with it aren’t physically agents. So you can’t suspend them. They’re not committing a crime yet. Because they’re not an agent."
Watch Part I:
Sehorn joined Johnson in promoting 1 Million Poses, a program in which for every Captain Morgan pose people upload to the brand's Facebook page, they will donate a dollar to promoting responsible drinking.
Man, what I wild offseason that was. With all the conference realignment/dealignment rumors out there, it seemed like college football was the talk of the summer. Heck, ESPN even took a break from Favre Watch 2010 to report some more (wildly inaccurate) Big 10 expansion rumors from Joe Schad. So, for us college football geeks, the good news was that we had plenty to discuss all summer. The bad news was that we had plenty to discuss, but it was still only summer.
But, finally, all the talk is behind us. Everybody is ready to go and I never thought I’d be so excited to tune into Versus and the Big 10 Network. So, without further ado, here are the Cynic’s 21 fearless preseason predictions that are guaranteed to be wrong. Unless they’re right, in which case I want a cut of whatever you won in Vegas.
Take me with you!
1. Winner Takes All
A non-BCS team will make the national championship game, but it’s not the one you think. Boise State’s title hopes will be done in week one when they lose to Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, TCU will quietly run the table and, thanks to the amazing power of poll voter inertia, magically move up the rankings to make the title game. But they’ll lose to Ohio State. (And yes, I know it’s blasphemous to pick a national title game that doesn’t have an SEC team in it.)
Hey, the crystal matches my sweater vest!
2. The Best of the Rest
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Florida
Orange Bowl: Miami vs. Nebraska
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. UConn
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Wisconsin
3. Hype Springs Eternal
With Tebow, McCoy and Bradford all finally gone, this year’s Heisman race is as wide open as ever. The finalists will be:
Oklahoma wide receiver Ryan Broyles. Missed two games last year with a broken shoulder blade and still set the school record for receptions.
TCU quarterback Andy Dalton. Be the top player on a team in the title game, and you get an automatic invite to New York. It’s a rule or something.
Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett. It’s also a rule that you have to have at least one SEC player invited to the party. Mallett is the one most likely to put up the big numbers.
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The hype on Pryor is too great this year for him not to get an invite. And if tOSU runs the table, he’ll have earned it.
Oregon RB LaMichael James or Oregon St. RB Jacquizz Rogers. Depends on whichever Oregon team has a better season.
Pryor will carry home the trophy.
Gratuitous Heisman pose shot.
4. This time next year, Butch Davis and Rich Rodriguez will still be involved in lawsuits against their respective schools after being fired at the end of the season, but both schools refusing to pay their buyouts, arguing they were fired for cause after running afoul of the NCAA.
5. Other BCS-conference coaches looking for a job: Dan Hawkins (Colorado), Mike Stoops (Arizona), Ron Zook (Illinois) and Tom O’Brien (North Carolina State).
6. Steve Spurrier will announce his retirement from coaching at the end of the season.
7. Lee Corso will announce his retirement at the end of the season. And will be replaced by Steve Spurrier.
8. Joe Paterno will announce he’s coming back for 2011, mainly because he wants to be in the Big 10 with “that young whippersnapper” Tom Osborne.
9. Miami head coach Randy Shannon will be a hot name rumored for a couple of NFL openings, but will ultimately stay with the Canes.
10. Western Kentucky will extend their nation’s-worst losing streak to 32 games by the end of the season.
Football has not been kind to Big Red.
11. Tim Tebow will be referenced at least 15 times during every Florida Gators broadcast this year. And at least 5 times in every Denver Broncos broadcast.
The world’s most popular backup quarterback.
12. With Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers announcing his retirement, the “Mike Leach for AD” campaign will be in full force by the end of the season.
13. USC will find a half-eaten cheese sandwich that Reggie Bush accidentally left behind in 2004. They will send it back.
14. At least 5 walk-ons will start for North Carolina this season. Because everyone else has been suspended.
How many times did I tell you not to Tweet about going to your agent’s stripper parties while your tutor wrote your term papers for you?
15. Joe Schad will report something that is actually true. (Hey, it’s gotta happen eventually, right?)
16. People will make 54,376,232 jokes about the Big 12 having 10 teams and the Big 10 having 12. And they’ll think they’re being funny every time. And they’ll be wrong every time.
7-Eleven didn’t change their name when they started staying open 24 hours. Now let it go.
17. Since Jeremiah Masoli was ruled ineligible, Ole Miss coach Huston Nutt will go after other soldiers-for-hire. But the Rebels will still finish last in the SEC West.
On the upside, B.A. Barracus will make 2nd team all-conference at linebacker.
18. Virginia Tech will upset Boise State in Week One. Tyrod Taylor will jump to the top of the Heisman watch lists. And then Virginia Tech will then gift wrap the ACC title for Miami with the same two inexplicable conference losses the Hokies always seem to manage.
19. Top 25 team (not named North Carolina) most likely to tank this season: #19 Penn State. A freshman QB, a suspect offensive line and road trips to Alabama, Iowa and Ohio State are not good omens.
20. Unranked team most likely to join the party: You heard it here first, Connecticut will win the Big East.
Yes, I’m sure we’re not talking about women's basketball.
21. Player most likely to be benched at least three times this season: South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia
The Big East Tournament gets started today. As we have said time and again, this is hands down the best conference tournament in all the land. Many of the men that start play today will one day wear an NBA jersey. With that in mind, let's talk about the Big East studs that never quite lived up to the hype in the NBA. Of course, names will be forgotten and omitted so please chime in with your choices. Also, this will kick start at the year 1990. So there. These are in no particular order.
1. Derrick Coleman, Syracuse - Most noted for coining the phrase "Whoop-de-damn-doo" Coleman didn't have a terrible NBA career which gives you the idea of the kind of player people thought he would be. Top pick of the New Jersey Nets he was a five tool player that never really seemed super interested in dominating the way he was capable. Still made an All-Star team and helped rejuvenate the Nets but I think we can all agree, we expected more. Bright side to this, since retirement DC has done amazing things for the city of Detroit in trying to that area back on its feet, and there is your silver lining for the day.
2. Hasheem Thabeet, UCONN - The jury is still very much out on Thabeet but since he just got sent down to the D-League and was the second overall pick in the NBA draft last spring he has to find his way onto the list. Personally, doubts started creeping in on this guy after Dejuan (I'm missing both ACLs) Blair absolutely owned him in a Big East showdown last year. Still, he is still very much a raw talent who will be given a chance to right the ship.
3. Scoonie Penn, Boston College - Scoonie get's thrown in the mix here for his time at Boston College before they left for the ACC and Scoonie left for Ohio State. This guy was a heck of a player in college and ended up not really putting together much of an NBA career. Teamed with Michael Reed on OSU, I thought Penn would be the better NBA players, which shows why I have no personnel responsibilities in the NBA. Won Big East Tourney MVP in 1997, eventually drafted by the Hawks but has spent most of his time playing for a variety of clubs overseas.
4. Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh - Another guard that was electric, the Co-Big East Player of the Year in 2002 Knight was a game changing player for Pittsburgh and it feels like he was the guy that helped get them on this prolonged run of success we have seen the Panther enjoy over most of this past decade. After college it was a few years in the D-League, some overseas action and now he is back coaching. The fact that big brother Brevin Knight who perhaps didn't have the NBA build was able to sustain a nice run in the NBA always kind of surprised me when Brandin wasn't able to hook on with a team.
5. Tim Thomas, Villanova - I read the book "7 Seconds" a few years back and it chronicled the Phoenix Suns for an entire season. Late in that season the Suns need Tim Thomas and it's mentioned that the coaches let TT know if he just turns it on for a few months they will help him find a nice contract in the off-season. Tim Thomas puts on a stellar run and that is all you need to know about him. A world of talent, great size, can shoot from deep, and spent just enough time on the Knicks to rile up that whole toughness episode with the New Jersey Nets. Was only in college briefly which tells you alot about his NBA expectations at the time.
6. Felipe Lopez, St. John's - Felipe Lopez's wikipedia page says it all, "Unrealistic expectations hounded López from the start, beginning with an appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated before he even played one college game." Lopez still had a stellar freshman season putting up a little over 17ppg in attempting to be the latest savior for St. John's. He goes down as one of the greats of all-time for St. John's but it never translated for the NBA. Drafted in the first round by the Spurs he ultimately bounced around the league before ending up overseas.
7. Jason Lawson, Villanova - He was a power in the middle for Villanova in the late 90s, think the Kerry Kittls era. There isn't much on the net about him but going off memory he was a force and pretty much balanced out what Kittles was doing on the outside. From there he parlayed his Nova days into just one season in the NBA. Honestly my first thought here was Eddie Griffin of Seton Hall. Talk about talented, and hyped. Then he got into a fight with Ty Shine in the locker room, spent a short period in the NBA and sadly passed away not that long ago.
8. Troy Bell, Boston College - MVP of the 2001 Big East Tourney, another inclusion prior to Boston College leaving the Big East (why did they leave again?). Was named Big East Player of the Year over Carmelo Anthony and broke the BC record for scoring held by Dana Barros. So you get the idea, he was nasty in college. Drafted high by the Celtics at 16 overall, ended up doing most of his damage in the NBA with the Grizzlies. Tried to catch on with Hornets in 2005 and that was that.
9. Joe Alexander, West Virginia - We heard for a long time about his impressive hops, they are still there as far as I can tell. Alexander was a big contributor for the Mountaineers in the post Gansey-Pittsnogle era. The 8th overall pick of the draft in 2008 Alexander was picked by the Bucks and now is on the Bulls where he hasn't done a whole heck of alot. Somewhat in the same boat as Thabeet in that his career is still very early and he was sent down to the D-League, but there is time to get things turned around.
10. Terry Dehere, Seton Hall - Perhaps the best player Seton Hall had in the 1990s, Dehere was Big East Player of the Year and Tourney MVP in 1993. Holds a bunch of Pirate records including most points scored in a career but was then drafted by the Clippers, a bad omen for even the most talented. Strung together a six year career with stops in Sacramento and Vancouver before calling it a career. Averaged just 8 points per game over the course of his career.
As we've reached the halfway point of college football's regular season, we’re starting to get a real handle on who are contenders (Bama) and who are pretenders (LSU, Ole Miss). So here are some random observations on the first half of the season.
Dadgum
Remember the days when people actually respected Florida State’s defense? When guys like Deion Sanders, Peter Boulware and Derrick Brooks struck fear in the hearts of opposing quarterbacks? This season, however, the Seminoles have given up 28 or more points in four of six games marked (and they lost one of the other two). The heat is only getting hotter on Bobby Bowden, and this very non-Florida State-like defense is a big reason.
At this rate, Allstate may be able to hire the real Bowden for next season.
Does Anybody Want to Win the Big 12 North?
In the early days of the Big 12, the North ruled the roost. Nebraska, Kansas State and Colorado were perennial top-ten teams, while Mack Brown was beginning to wake the sleeping giant in Texas and Oklahoma suffered through John Blake. In recent years, however, the tide has turned, with OU and UT being national title contenders every year and the north struggling through scandals at CU, the retirement of Bill Snyder at KSU and the Steve Pederson/Bill Callahan debacle at Nebraska. Early on this season, however, I thought that maybe this was the season the Bis 12 North could finally give their Southern counterparts a run for their money. Then week 7 happened. Nebraska, just a week removed from a big win at Missouri to put them in the driver's seat in the division, pissed down their leg in a 31-10 home loss to Texas Tech.
Then, later that night, previously undefeated Kansas choked at Colorado (yes, that Colorado). Missouri looked gimpier than Blaine Gabbert's ankle in a 33-17 loss at Oklahoma State. When your "big" wins are over Texas A&M and Baylor, it doesn't speak well for your division.
Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh is one of the North's bright spots. But even he's not good enough to make up for Nebraska's bizarrely inconsistent offense.
Where Have You Gone, JaMarcus Russell? Uh, Wait, Scratch That.
How LSU got to be a top-5 team is beyond me. Their 13-3 loss against Florida illustrated just how bad the Tigers’ offense is. Not taking anything away from Florida’s defense, but that score said a whole lot less about Florida’s D than it did about LSU’s terrible offense. LSU currently ranks 91st in scoring offense and 112th in total offense. Sure, their defense (14th in scoring defense; 35th in total defense) is good enough to win them some games. But a top 5 team should at least have a semblance of balance, something Les Miles’ squad is sorely lacking.
Speaking of unbalanced . . .
Fear the Potato
OK, raise your hand if you had Idaho in the "Who Will be Bowl Eligible Before Oklahoma, Ohio State and USC" pool. Anyone?
I first heard about this story early in the week and I wanted to write about it then. The only problem was, frankly, I found it hard to believe. It sounded like ESPN had decided to start producing their own soap opera. But after checking with some friends in Nebraska and confirming it's legit, I just had to pass it along.
Rex Plock. 1920-2009
The fine gentleman above was Rex Plock. He passed away last Sunday at the age of 89. In the course of his interesting life, he was a World War II vet, a farmer and a restaurant owner. He was also the greatest college football fan ever. And when you finish reading this story, you'll see that I'm not even exaggerating.
Plock was a lifelong Nebraskan, who loved his Huskers. No big shocker there, but here's where it gets interesting. In failing health, he lapsed into a coma from which his doctors and family didn't expect him to wake up. However, six days later, on the day before Nebraska's key Big 12 showdown against Missouri, he suddenly woke up and declared that his one last wish was to watch the Cornhuskers beat the Tigers on Thursday. Just like that, he lapsed back into the coma.
But our story doesn't end there--the next day, he came out of his coma AGAIN, just in time for the game. For three quarters, it looked like he wouldn't get his wish as Nebraska's offense and special teams were as bad as the Missouri weather. But in the fourth quarter, the Husker offense exploded to the tune of 27 unanswered points to win going away.
With his final wish fulfilled, Rex Plock slowly drifted away before passing away on Sunday, presumably still with a smile on his face.
Wanting to see your favorite team win a big game is one thing. Coming out of a coma--twice--to see them do it? That's the stuff of legend.
So Rest in Peace, Mr. Plock. You are the greatest college football fan ever.
"Welcome home, Rex. We'll have the game on the infinity-inch big screen. St. Peter made his famous 'Angel's Punch' and Mother Teresa is bringing nachos."
One Great Season is a brand new Web site by a college football fanatic and former sportswriter, John P. Wise. Throughout the season, he’ll travel across the country to cover a game in a different city every weekend. The short-term project will offer daily updates — words, still pictures, short video clips and more — to the Web site, and the longer-term project will delve more deeply into the traditions and cultural and regional differences between each state, region or conference as they relate to America’s most exciting sport, all leading up to the BCS Championship game in January.
This is an incredibly ambitious task. While others have attempted it in the past, John’s vision is one that will thrive on interaction from fans both locally and across the sports-loving nation.
As such, John needs your help.
Go to his site and check out the section called 30 Thousand Helpers — That is where you can make a donation of any amount, but all he is asking is for just a $1 contribution. Even if you’re unable to donate, please take a look around the site for a minute. Hopefully you’ll see something you like.
Good friend of HHR, Eric Angevine, heads to Omaha to visit and pay homage to Rosenblatt Stadium, the College World Series' home since 1950, which will be shutting down.
2003: OU made the title game despite being blown out in their conference championship game
2004: OU got the nod over an unbeaten Auburn for the right to be demolished by USC
2008: Due to Big 12 rules that use BCS rankings as a tiebreaker, OU went to the title game instead of Texas, who had beaten the Sooners on a neutral field
Without getting into a debate over whether or not Oklahoma was the right choice in each of these years, nobody can claim that the Sooners haven’t been among the biggest beneficiaries of the BCS system. Well, we may now know how this keeps happening: it turns out that former OU quarterback (and congressman) J.C. Watts is a lobbyist for the BCS.
Rep Joe L. Barton (R-TX) introduced legislation to prohibit the NCAA from advertising its national champion in football UNLESS that champion was produced via a playoff.
The Congressman said:
"It's interesting that people of good will keep trying to tinker with the current system, and to my mind it's a little bit like -- and I don't mean this directly -- but it's like communism. You can't fix it. It will not be flexible. Sooner or later you're going to have to try a new model."
The St. John's Red Storm, formerly the Redmen, and before that just the Johnnies are looking for a new mascot to accompany the Red Storm name. Some of these options are just hilarious, please feel free to vote on your choice. Personally I like the Thunderbolt with the prefabricated six pack abs.
It appears President Barack Obama is not done yet in the state of Michigan. On the heels of Michigan State's lackluster performance in last night's NCAA Men's National Championship Game against the University of North Carolina, the President has announced plans to find a replacement for longtime head coach Tom Izzo.
The Spartans, coached by Izzo, fell to North Carolina by a lopsided score of 89-72 in what had been billed as a boost for the spirit of the state of Michigan, still reeling over the struggles of the auto industry. Apparently the loss was too much for Obama- who recently replaced General Motors Head Rick Wagoner- to handle. In a White House speech, Obama said that college basketball teams and Michigan State in particular, must stand on their own, not as "wards of the state" supported by tax dollars.
Michigan State University Board of Trustees had assembled various plans to get the school back on proper footing including but not limited to: increased recruiting, unveiling yet another alternate uniform, and using Magic Johnson by any means necessary. These plans were all summarily rejected by the White House leaving Obama to again step in and find a replacement.
With this announcement the coaching carousel continues to turn that has recently seen John Calipari take over at Kentucky and Sean Miller at Arizona. No replacement for Izzo has yet to be named, but according to a source within the White House, the following pool of candidates are being considered: Bobby Knight, Rick Pitino, Isiah Thomas, and 98 year old John Wooden.
When questioned at his White House speech exactly what he is doing interfering with college basketball, Obama shot back, "Have you seen my bracket? I had UNC winning this whole thing, don't you watch ESPN?
Jim Calhoun has a point. Big time college athletic programs are worth their weight in gold to their respective universities both in terms of revenue and national exposure. He earns his keep.
Locally, Greg Schiano goes through the same shit with people bitching about his $1m tax-payer funded salary, despite him raising Rutgers' profile infinitely over the course of the last several years, and bringing in dollars that accompany it.
Yeah times are tough. Suck it up like everyone else. Don't hate on Calhoun or Schiano or anyone else who earns a buck because you are a lowly newsman in a dying medium.
This week, as college standouts showcase their talents before pro scouts at the NFL Combine, players of all skill levels hope to raise their draft stock and secure the lucrative contracts that come with playing in country's premiere sports league. This is a far cry from the practices that accompanied the golden years of professional football, when it was still struggling against baseball, boxing and horse racing for both legitimacy and the public's attention.
One man in that era (along with those associated with his stardom) helped shape the League as we know it today, by transforming both the college and pro game and its perception with the public.
Harold "Red" Grange is considered the greatest college football player who ever lived. While "Western" football was looked at as far inferior to the Ivys of the East, the Illinois standout legitimized the sport as one that appealed beyond the silver-spooned campuses of Yale, Penn and Princeton and paved the way for programs in the Midwest to showcase some of the country's best talent.
Known for his effortless gait, the Galloping Ghost's legacy is one that has rarely been looked at in depth, despite his unprecedented contributions to the game. At a time when most college players, especially superstars, capitalized on their stardom by forgoing the stigmatic notion of turning pro in favor of a white collar desk job, Grange's decision to sign with the Chicago Bears turned the college football community on its head. With Grange bringing tens of thousands of fans to pro stadiums across the country, he created a frenzied rush by other teams to emulate the Bears' model of signing and showcasing a major entertainment attraction.
Grange wasn't alone. His chief confidant-turned-agent, a noted con man named C.C. Pyle, saw the potential that the floundering NFL had, and flaunted it to his and his client's financial benefit (as well as that of NFL owners...when Grange was in town, at least).
It came a cost. Literally fresh off his college season, Pyle booked the Ghost and his Bears on a grueling nationwide barnstorming tour that often had the team playing 2-3 games a week.
While his health, and subsequently performance, suffered, Grange was still a box office hit, as fans clamored to witness the rumored legend that was so eloquently painted by respected sports writers of the day.
We recently caught up with the author to discuss his book.
HuggingHaroldReynolds: Red Grange is widely considered the greatest college football player ever and is often credited with legitimizing the professional game. Yet, until your latest biography on him, few major accounts of his life have been published. Why are football's golden years and its players often overlooked, and what made you decide to fill the void and pen a piece on the Galloping Ghost?
Gary Andrew Poole: Football hasn't always been a super-popular subject. Of course, there have been some excellent books written about football, but the publishing industry considered it a second-tier category in the sports genre. Baseball, golf and even boxing have traditionally dominated the sports bookshelf. (There is a cottage industry in Babe Ruth biographies.) But football has become our national game so there is more interest in it from publishers, authors, and readers. I have noticed that more quality football titles have been written over the last couple years. You can look at last fall in which a whole bunch of football books were released, including Jeff Pearlman's Boys Will Be Boys and Michael Rosenberg's War As They Knew It. Many of the books have been about more recent history. I thought there was a real gap in books about the early history of the game. I was shocked that no major publisher had tackled the Grange story. Not only did I think there was a great narrative to tell, I thought Grange--the Babe Ruth of football--was an overlooked figure. Many people consider Grange the most important figure in football, both college and pro; ESPN named him the greatest ever college football player; he was America's first national football hero and thanks to his charismatic and conniving manager, he was America's first sports commodity as well. I just thought there needed to be a major biography of this guy.
You also asked about why football of this era gets overlooked. Baseball, boxing, and just about every other major sport, haven't drastically changed over the years, but football looks much different. Baseball--minus the steroids era--is pretty much the same game that was played in the 1920s. But football was a radically different game in the 1920s. At its highest levels it was an exciting game, but it was more of an endurance sport (players often played the whole game, offense and defense); passing was a smaller element because the ball was wider and more difficult to throw; and kicking played into strategy much more (it wasn't unusual to punt on first down to backup your opponent). I wanted to give people a context to appreciate it, and to understand how football has evolved. It is virtually impossible to compare statistics and there isn't much film footage, even of Grange, the greatest player of that era. Through my book's narrative, I try and give modern readers a sense of the game, and the drama playing on and off the field.
HHR: Illinois coach Bob Zuppke essentially rolled the dice in terms of recruiting given his aversion to many of the practices and because of his own personal philosophies, and almost missed out in landing Grange. Had Grange not gone to his home-state university, would history have been different and what is that chance that the football world would have missed out on one of its greatest talents?
GAP: That's a hell of a tough question. Along with Michigan's Fielding Yost and Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, Bob Zuppke was one of that era's greatest coaches. He was very creative and invented the "flea flicker," among other plays. He was also more than willing to pass the ball, which was looked upon as pretty crazy back in that era. Grange really thrived under Zuppke, and in turn Zup's reputation was forever tied to Grange's success, but Zup couldn't lower himself to beg a 17-year-old kid to play football for Illinois. He would have been embarrassed to act like Lane Kiffen, Charlie Weiss, Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll or other modern coaches as they glad-hand a high school kid...If Zup could have watched modern recruiting practices he would puke. Zuppke saw football as a way to learn discipline and leadership, and he believed that playing football at a university was an honor; football was a maker of men, not an end to itself. After his last college game, Grange decided to turn pro, which was shocking to Zuppke and the rest of the college football establishment. Zuppke, a surrogate father to Grange, was upset and didn't really talk with his greatest pupil for a couple years.
Would history be different without the Zuppke-Grange partnership? Zup would devise his whole game plan around Grange, and he was also very good at motivating the Galloping Ghost. So I don't know. If Grange would have gone to Michigan or Notre Dame, he might have had more consistently good players around him, but he would have been in much more plodding offenses...Zuppke and Grange formed a perfect storm: Zuppke's creativity as a coach, and Grange's creativity as a runner. But no matter where Grange played, I am guessing he would have excelled. In several of his greatest games, he almost single-handedly won the contests. Grange would have a terrible team around him and he was still able to dominate and even astonish some of the best teams in the country. Those games, in which Grange had to overcome great adversity, created his legend.
HHR: C.C. Pyle is painted throughout the book as a con-man. While the physical ramifications of Grange's career have undoubtedly been negatively affected by their association, has Grange's reputation and legacy at all been tarnished by Pyle's involvement?
GAP: Maybe Pyle hurt Grange's reputation, for a time, back in the 1920s, but Pyle was his own force of nature and I think the public came to realize that Grange had benefited from the relationship in many ways. I think the public simply saw Grange as naïve.
HHR: Despite his unsavory ways, Pyle in many ways can be credited as being one of the innovators who helped shape both the game as we know it today, as well as the role agents have taken in modern sports. Can you elaborate?
GAP: Many people see Pyle as a conman and I go to great lengths to narrate his rather dubious dealings, but I also see Pyle as a creative force, and an overlooked figure in sports history. He was Grange’s Col. Parker (i.e. Elvis’ manager). It was Pyle's plan to make Grange into a pro, which was outlandish in the 1920s because pro football was a joke. Pyle also realized that marketing the pro game and creating stars resonated with the public. Pyle was an entertainer, an old vaudeville guy who had many connections in Hollywood. He understood the power of movies, sports imagery, and the press, and he had the smarts to create schemes for Grange, many of which vaulted Grange from great college football player to cultural icon. Without Pyle, Grange might have been remembered as a great college player, but nothing more. For better or worse, he paved the way for Drew Rosenhaus and his ilk.
Photo: Pro Football HoF Grange signing pro contract with Bears co-owners Edward Sternaman and George Halas (left) and Grange's manager C.C. Pyle (right).
HHR: A handful of East Coast sports writers played a large role in legitimizing the pro game by bringing it to the masses. Luckily, in their eyes, Red lived up to expectations. Had Grange not performed the way he had in the Illinois-Penn game, how different a course would the sport have taken?
GAP: Let me give the HHR readers a little context. Back in 1925, Illinois went to Philly to play the University of Pennsylvania. Penn was considered a national championship contender (the national title nonsense was as big a clusterf*!k back in the '20s as it is today). Except for Red Grange, Illinois was not a very good team. Penn was expecting to rout the Illini. All of the big time New York writers came to Philly to watch the contest. They were half-expecting to see Grange fall on his face, but he single-handedly took over the game and ran for 363 yards and three touchdowns. They were astonished. He already had a national reputation but playing on the East Coast and dominating a great team made him into the equivalent of Babe Ruth, and in fact many of the writers were saying he was more popular than Ruth. The florid writing and the newsreels featuring Grange made him into a demi-god.
Then Grange decided to turn pro. This move was greeted with great skepticism by the press, but fans loved the idea. In the 1920s, many people worked on Saturdays and it wasn't always easy to get tickets to college games—the tickets were expensive, and many people were living in cities so getting to a place like South Bend, Indiana wasn't always so easy. Grange took the game to people and they gobbled it up. He went on a nation-wide barnstorming tour and he sold out games in Chicago, New York, Boston, D.C., Tampa, New Orleans, Los Angeles...everywhere. The football wasn't always so great because Grange and his teammates were playing several games a week but Grange's tour helped legitimize the game. The media was tracking Grange across the country, and after the tour he starred in a movie and endorsed many products, and then tried to break the NFL by starting his own league. He was quite powerful and popular. He became exceedingly rich through pro football in a time in which most players were making $200 a game. Pro football would have eventually become more popular, I am guessing, but Grange really jumpstarted the pro game and created legitimacy, not only with fans but players. He made it ok for a college player to join the pros. George Halas said what television is to the modern era, Grange was to the earlier era.
Just to give readers a little more context, the great sportswriter W.C. Heinz wrote a profile of Grange in 1958, and I think it personifies an older generation’s awe of The Galloping Ghost.
“When I was ten years old I paid ten cents to see Red Grange run with a football. That was the year when, one afternoon a week, after school was out for the day, they used to show us movies in the auditorium, and we would all troop up there clutching our dimes, nickels or pennies in our fists.
“The movies were, I suppose, carefully selected for their educational value…but I remember only the one about Grange.
“I remember, in fact, only one shot. Grange, the football cradled in one arm, started down the field toward us. As we sat there in the dim, flickering light of the movie projector, he grew larger and larger. I can still see the rows and rows of us, with our thin little necks and bony heads, all looking up at the screen and Grange, enormous now, rushing right at us, and I shall never forget it. That was thirty-three years ago.”
HHR: As a journalist, what is your impression of (and perhaps appreciation for) the poetic nature journalists in the 20's portrayed athletes in the absence of 24/7 televised coverage, and ultimately in helping modern historians to piece together facts? Is the notion that many of them protected athletes by glossing over unsavory facts hurt their credibility, especially as we witness the opposite extreme today? Were they preserving or forging facts/reality?
GAP: I actually wrote an essay about this same subject in the Columbia Journalism Review (January/February issue); the article-- Back to the Future: How sports writing can recapture its relevance-- delves into the history of sport writing, the impact of the Web and blogs, and how modern sports writing could be better.
But to directly answer your question: Some of the story leads went over-the-top but when you get into the guts of many of the game stories, there is an enormous amount of reporting and wonderfully rendered detail. Did they protect athletes? To some degree. But I wouldn't simply categorize it as glossing over unsavory facts; I don't think the sports writers were blindly protecting athletes. Remember, a lot of these sports writers had been in World War I, child mortality rates were higher, life was harsher...Sports were seen as games, as a relief from the struggles of life. There was a maturity and perspective on sports. We live in a different era, and sports and athletes are taken more seriously. Did 1920s writers gloss over too much? Perhaps, or maybe they had a more realistic view of human nature and a more mature perspective. As our society has become more educated and softer and athletes have become richer and treated as outsiders, we have taken a harsher, more adversarial, and cynical view of athletics.
But I don't think the writers ignored everything. Grange allegedly had a kid out of wedlock and the writers wrote about it; they talked about his pathetic vaudeville act when he was gong broke; when he was playing terribly and a member of his entourage started a riot in the stands, the press talked about it. I spent three years reading newspaper articles of the early era of sports writing. There is a stereotype that sports writers were protecting everyone and I just don't think that rings true. Some of the writers were pretty damn harsh. Like in any era, there is good writing and bad writing/good reporting and bad reporting, but in the earlier era there was a maturity level; a sense of human nature, its glories and foibles. Sports is an important subject and it deserves dogged reporting. But in modern journalism an athlete will be caught doing some nefarious act and the foaming-at-the-mouth tone demonstrated by the press often seems ridiculous, false, hypocritical, and rather immature to me.
By the way in the researching and writing of my book I didn't rely simply on newspaper accounts. I decided to take a modern approach to my subject and dig deeper than my 1920s compatriots. It was an exhaustive effort. To give events more perspective, I dug up courts records, police reports, oral histories, etc. from the 1920s. I didn't want to write a love letter to Grange and the era; I wanted to write a real story. For example, I spent a year finding Grange's "illegitimate" daughter. So I used newspaper accounts in my book, but I always tried to double-check the journalists of the day with primary sources, as well.
HHR: With the uncertainty of professional football in the 20's, Grange's dive into the pros was a calculated gamble to capitalize on both his popularity and physical ability. Had he and Pyle not taken the path they chose, between the barnstorming and the ramped up publicity machine, how long would it have taken the NFL's founding fathers, most of whom were football purists despite the knocks on the pro game, to realize the commercial appeal and marketability of the stars?
GAP: Pre-Grange, the NFL was doing ok: a few thousand people would come to the games. Grange joined the NFL and Pyle promoted him like crazy. People came in droves to watch Grange and he sold out stadiums all over the country. The next season the NFL owners were promoting individual stars. But I think they would have figured it out eventually.
HHR: Throughout the book, Grange is put on the same Mount Rushmore of sports with Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Bobby Jones. For the benefit of our young readers, is there any modern day athlete whose impact and ability can be most likened to Red?
GAP: In his glory days, he was the kind of guy people had to see. He brought drama to the game. He seemed to always perform in the clutch. He was a Tiger Woods- like figure.
HHR: Your website is brilliant and vibrant. Tell us a little about your podcast, some of your other projects and what's next for GAP.
GAP: Thanks. We worked hard on it, and I really hope people check it out, particularly the Experience section of the site. As for my podcast, it mostly has interviews with me on my book tour, but I am hoping to put more on it--interviews and essays--in the near future. I also have a blog. It is called In The Fray and I typically highlight great sports writing, post commentary, and write some other observations. For the last several months it has become a chronicle of my book tour, but I am phasing out the navel-gazing and getting back to its original mission. As for other projects, I am working on some articles, and I am also working on a new book proposal, which is another sports book but set in modern times.
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