I Hate This Weekend Every Year

The weekend before the Super Bowl is often a stern reminder that football is going to end very soon, and sports fans will enter the vortex of blandness (i.e. Toby Flenderson from The Office) between now and Opening Day of Major League Baseball. In an effort to combat this, the NFL moved the Pro Bowl to take place this weekend, instead of the weekend after the Super Bowl. It still doesn't solve the problem of the Pro Bowl being a complete waste of time because none of the players want to injure themselves or anyone else, but whatever. Apparently Bryant McKinnie felt the same way I do and decided to skip the B.S. that is the NFL All-Star Game.

Kurt Warner decided to hang up the jock strap this weekend. While The Beard never thought much of Warner as a human being, there is no doubt in his mind that Warner is for sure a Hall Of Famer, arguably first ballot. A brief look at the numbers, Warner has a better career passer rating than Joe Montana, Otto Graham, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Roger Staubach, Len Dawson, Sonny Jurgenson, John Elway and Troy Aikman to name a few. The only QB to average more passing yards per game in his career than Warner is Peyton Manning. The only other QB's to average more completed passes per game than Warner are Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. The only other QB to have a better career completion percentage is Chad Pennington. Better than Steve Young, Joe Montana, Aikman, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Bart Starr, and John Elway. Throw in 2 NFL MVP Awards, and 3 Super Bowl Appearances with 1 win should be enough for the voters.

After being rejected more than Neil Goldman on Family Guy, the Chicago Bears apparently are left with only Mike Martz to choose from for their offensive coordinator in 2010. While I certainly suggested the job shouldn't be given to Martz earlier, I also did predict that Martz would have to do some kissing if he were to get it. Apparently, he did exactly that yesterday as he traveled to Nashville to meet with Jay Cutler seemingly to convince Jay that running his offense will be a good thing. Also, supposedly Vikings QB Coach Kevin Rogers is on their radar after giving a great interview last week. Bottom line, if Martz is hired, it's a red flag that Lovie Smith is still calling the shots on who is hired on his staff. Martz and Lovie are friends, and Lovie has a bad habit of giving his friends jobs they don't deserve i.e. Bob Babich. Especially when Lovie's "people will want to come here" comment has already been proven to be yet another miscalculation at best, flat out lie at worst. Either way, it's becoming increasingly clear that the 2010 season is going to be a complete waste...

In other news this weekend, tough yet indicative loss for DePaul. Hawks with an understandable, yet still pretty bad loss after travelling 3 time zones to Carolina on Saturday. Herschel Walker added an MMA victory to his resume of WEIRD/RANDOM. Finally, Pat Summerall's old drinking buddy and running mate Tom Brookshier passed away this weekend. Long before Summerall was paired with John Madden in the booth, he was with Brookshier, and by most accounts led to some of the most legendary broadcasts of NFL games in the 1970's. The pair endured many late nights as they conducted "research" in the bars and watering holes of every city they broadcasted in, and at one point led to Brookshier saying the Louisville Cardinals basketball team had "a collective I.Q. of about 40".

So now it's onto next week, so we can watch the media try to dig up and manufacture some pre-Super Bowl hype. An early front runner that's emerged so far is "will he play or won't he play" featuring Dwight Freeney....

HAWKS WIN!

Keep it short and sweet: I was at the game tonight, and there was a playoff feel to the game from the moment the National Anthem started. It was a game that was worth every bit of hype that preceded it. Physical, Uptempo, and the refs put away their whistles and let both teams play. After jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead, the Sharks tightened up their defense, and slowly crawled back into it.

For the Hawks and their dead legs on this long road trip to hang in there and win it on Brouwer's OT Goal was a big statement into how good this team really is. Somehow The Beard has a feeling we might see these two teams go head to head in the playoffs this year.

Go Hawks!

Don't! Just.....DON'T...

Just in case we were going to have too much fun on Super Bowl Sunday, Tim Tebow and his mother decided to provide about 30 seconds of awkwardness at our respective Super Bowl parties by participating in a controversial anti-abortion ad. Terrific...terrrrrrific...

I can already envision the scene at the party. The ad runs, someone says something crass about the ad. Then someone else fires back at that person in disagreement. Arguing ensues, then it turns to bickering. A long, silent, and awkward pause for a good ten minutes takes place and the party officially becomes ruined.

Without the liberty of actually seeing the finished product, from what we've been told it will highlight Pam Tebow's decision to go against her doctor's recommendation of an abortion after she became ill on a mission trip to the Philippines and give birth to her 5th child that turned out to be Tim Tebow. The ad was paid for by the conservative christian (aren't "conservative" and "christian" pretty much the same word these days?) group Focus On The Family.

CBS has apparently never heard of the terms "slippery slope" or "Pandora's box" because that's exactly what they are exposing themselves to with this decision. This has nothing to do with The Beard's stance or Tim Tebow's stance, or anyone else's stance on abortion. This has to do with precedent. These types of political advocacy ads have never taken place during the Super Bowl to my knowledge, and airing this one opens the door for more extreme advertisements of hot button political issues such as gay marriage, or the death penalty to also be aired during the one event that should be free of all political affiliation or influence of any kind.

The Super Bowl ads have almost become as big as the game itself. Let's hope that CBS realizes that the risk they are assuming by airing this ad, is not worth the money they are receiving in the big picture.

O.W. Shaddock Rule : Thanks For The Memories Jim

Surprisingly there is some pretty strong backlash at the White Sox, mainly Ozzie Guillen's, decision to not bring Jim Thome back to the South Side for the upcoming 2010 season. Admittedly, it is a tough situation to let Thome go, especially considering he performed very well during his White Sox stint, enjoyed his time with the Sox immensely, did numerous appearances for charity willingly, and will forever be remembered for his 7th inning home run in Game 163 in 2008 (pictured left). Thome's reputation among White Sox fans, and in all of baseball is impeccable. The only people who have problems with Thome are those silly temperamental and illogical Cleveland Indians fans that don't understand anything about the business of baseball, or understand that the Indians couldn't afford to keep Thome even if they wanted to. Then again Indians fans have been historically slow to grasp the obvious sometimes.

All that aside however, this is business. The White Sox have decided to go for a more balanced, versatile, and for lack of a better term "National League style" lineup with an emphasis on speed, defense, manufacturing runs, etc, in order to restore some consistency with the offensive production. Ozzie has always preferred a lineup of this variety, and there is definitely a sense that Guillen was behind every decision the White Sox made this offseason. Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel have 21 Gold Gloves between them. While never being accused of great defense at third base, Mark Teahen does provide a line drive hitter who will put the ball in play. Coupled with Mark Kotsay, Guillen plans to have the DH position wide open so he can specifically rotate a very deep bench, and keep these and other veterans as fresh as possible.

This leaves Jim Thome (and Jermaine Dye as well) as the square peg in the round hole. He's 39 years old, and he's not what the White Sox need, even in the role of a pinch hitter off the bench. He's clearly not the same hitter he used to be, and at some point the White Sox need to let go of the past. Let's not forget that the White Sox showed the door to their greatest player in franchise history Frank Thomas, to make room for Thome to be on the team in the first place. Let's also not forget, that the White Sox did the same thing to Ozzie Guillen that they did to Thome, when Ozzie was a player for them in 1998. It's a tough business, but it is the business of baseball, love it or hate it.

As O.W. Shaddock (John Matuszak) said in North Dallas Forty : "Every time I call it a game, you say it's a business. Every time I say it's a business, you call it a game!"

Jim Thome is a Minnesota Twin now, and The Beard is sending a big "Good Luck", and "Thanks For The Memories", to him.

Tiger Puzzle Piece

So Gerald Posner wrote this piece for our friends at thedailybeast.com describing the events that took place on Thanksgiving night between Tiger and Elin in detail. It draws information from two unnamed sources who are close with Elin, and it sheds a lot of light into just how Tiger ended up crashing his SUV while shoeless and how Elin ended up with a golf club in her hand.

Some of the new information that emerged from this piece has Tiger actually putting Elin on the phone with Rachel Uchitel in a desperate and lame attempt to convince Elin that their relationship was simply platonic. It also shows that Elin isn't stupid and is rather crafty herself. Elin waits until Tiger's nightly ambien takes effect, grabs his cellphone and sends Uchitel text messages posing as Tiger to get her to reveal herself as Tiger's 19th hole. Game, Set, Match, Nordegren.

Again, couldn't happen to a nicer guy, and it's simply awe-inspiring to see how far he is falling...

NFL Roundup

So The Beard once again went .500 in his NFL Playoff predictions:

The Jets offensive line didn't have the production they've shown this postseason, and only mustered 86 rushing yards against the Colts. That won't get it done. Mark Sanchez showed that he might be for real with some very nice throws particularly his second TD pass to Dustin Keller when he got destroyed as soon as the ball was released. The Colts defense made the necessary adjustments at half time though, and allowed the Jets zero 2nd half points. Peyton Manning continued to make his case that he might be the best quarterback ever in NFL History. Manning attacked and destroyed the Jets Safety's with deep throws, and as a result got Doug Plank fired as the Jets defensive backs coach. Plank has to be worth at least an interview for the open Bears D-Coordinator position doesn't he?


Brett Favre continued to show why he is the all time interception leader in NFL History by committing one of the most idiotic throws in NFL History to end the game and the Vikings Super Bowl run. Sure, Adrian Peterson fumbled too many times. Yes the vaunted Vikings defense didn't perform the way they have all season (did Jared Allen even play btw?). Absolutely that 12 men in the huddle penalty before the pick was really detrimental to the Vikings cause. None of that matters though, because if Brett Favre is supposed to be as good as all the Favre ass-lickers at ESPN/NFL Network/Fox/John Madden/CBS constantly say he is, he cannot make that play. That is inexcusable. High school qb's get yanked for making that kind of throw. Jay Cutler gets crucified (justifiably) for making throws like that. Maybe it's me, but I believe that 40 year old hall of fame bound quarterbacks know better than to make that throw back across the field right?


There are 9 other quarterbacks I would trust more in that situation than "The Almighty Vicodin" and they are as follows:

1. Peyton Manning
2. Tom Brady
3. Ben Roethlisberger
4. Eli Manning
5. Kurt Warner
6. Phillip Rivers
7. Carson Palmer
8. Drew Brees
9. Matt Ryan


The best part of the Favre throw? The Vikings Radio announcers immediate reaction to it. Give it a listen here.

Weekend Outlook

Some weird free agent baseball signings and uh "retirements" taking place in the last 48 hours. The Mets trading for Gary Matthews Jr. The Phillies signing Jose Contreras. The Kansas City Royals signing Rick Ankiel to their roster full of other teams garbage prospects who didn't work out. Then there's the bizarre case of Oakland A's prospect Grant Desme leaving his would be baseball career behind to enter the priesthood. This one is pretty silly and strange to The Beard. Grant has his whole life to enter the priesthood. He's only got a brief amount of time to play Major League Baseball. I understand the whole "calling" people feel but it's perfectly logical to ask why? Why throw it away when he doesn't have to? Didn't his god give him a gift to play? Isn't it a sin to waste the talents his catholic god gives him? It's very odd to say the least...

All the baseball dealings aside, this weekend is all about the NFL Championship Games. These games are always interesting, and most of the time they end up being better than the actual Super Bowl itself. All four of these teams are different from each other on both sides of the ball, and present interesting match ups. It's also interesting to note, that once again the NFL is still so over saturated, that a team with a 9-7 record is threatening to go to the Super Bowl for the second season in a row. Lets get to some predictions:

Jets v Colts : A lot of the spotlight is being focused on Peyton Manning's offense vs Rex Ryan's defense as the key match up for this game. I would submit that the focus should be the other way around. I think the big determining factor in this game will be the Jets offense, and how well they will be able to run the football against that very light front seven of the Colts. If the Jets are able to dominate the Time Of Possession, it keeps the ball out of Manning's hands and it will keep the Jet defense rested. Baltimore had a similar strategy last week, and it would have worked had they not fumbled 3 times. Shonn Greene is known to fumble, but Thomas Jones never does. The Jets also might have the best offensive line in football with 3 Pro Bowlers. Yeah Peyton Manning will get his yards, and the Colts might get a couple of TD's, but my prediction is Jets 26 Colts 20.

Vikings v Saints : We're being told that this is the game that will "vindicate" Brett Favre, and if the Vikings win, we should all not hate him anymore because all of this drama has led to a Super Bowl appearance. I guess we shouldn't hate Ray Lewis anymore because he won the Super Bowl too, if we follow that logic. Obviously since Ray Lewis doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from people with three digit I.Q.'s and long memories, Favre shouldn't get the benefit of the doubt either.

Favre's ultimate legacy will be that of a petulant, me-first, crybaby, and bald face LIAR he has been over the past 3 seasons. He lied twice to both the Packers, and Jets about his retirement. He also lied to the Vikings about it when he initially said thanks but no thanks because he didn't want to go to training camp. He threw so many people (Ted Thompson in particular) under the bus because they were guilty of the grievous crime of taking his "I'm Retired" press conference seriously and moving on with their franchise. He is all about Brett Favre, and Brett Favre only. Everyone else on the team is just going along for the ride.

It will all be for naught however, as the Saints offense will be too high powered for the Vikings defense to slow down. Saints 30-Vikings 23.

Have a great weekend everybody!

HUH?!

So apparently Sir Eldrick Woods, Esq, has been spotted at a sexual addiction clinic in Hattiesburg, MS. You mean THAT guy in the photo on the left might like sex too much?! C'mon! Apparently, until reports emerge otherwise, this is the real deal. Some other interesting aspects of this treatment, is that Elin would have to participate in the recovery process at the facility, and Tiger at one point might actually be hooked up to a polygraph. Ummmmm.....OK?

Is Tiger's problem really sex addiction? Doctor Drew Pinsky certainly isn't 100% sold that it is, and The Beard isn't either*. Sex is just one component of Tiger's problem, but it's not THE problem he has. Tiger's main problem, and source of all this turmoil in his personal life, is an out of control Ego, plain and simple. For most of his life, Eldrick has been surrounded by the bulletproof image of invincibility and perfection. He's also been surrounded by people, fans, media, enablers, smooching his posterior, stroking his ego (and occasionally more than just his ego), and telling him how awesome he is for the better part of two decades.

While in NO way is that an excuse for Tiger, it's more than plausible to suggest that all of that constant praise would start to get to any person's head after a while. They might actually start to believe that they can do anything they want, (i.e. Perkins Waitresses, and Porn Stars) despite being married to a former Swedish model. Couple that with the notion that Tiger more than likely didn't want to get married in the first place, and only did so to further enhance his image, and the picture of what his problem might be, starts to become clearer. That picture being his Ego, and overall arrogance in general, reached out of control levels long ago, and now it's finally time to pay the tab for all the emotional damage he's done.

So while Tiger's handlers may have come up with this idea to put him in Sex Addiction Rehab in order to make it seem like he's getting help, I'm not buying it. Unless the Rehab is called "Ego Rehab", or more appropriately, "Intensive Psychoanalysis Rehab", The Beard refuses to believe this is something Tiger wants to do, let alone needs to do.

We'll see if Elin feels the same down the road...


*I am not going to claim to be an expert on sex-addiction. I'm also not going to pretend I know the guy, or that I've even met him, or have ever been in the same zip code as him once upon a time ago. All that is known about Woods has been formulated from what I've seen, read, and heard about him, so take it with a grain of salt.

A Real Hall Of Famer

I know that Albert Pujols is tirelessly giving 100% of himself to the situation in Haiti, and can't stand it when someone wants to ask him about anything else. If he can somehow manage to take a 5 minute break and read this, maybe he'll have a better understanding of why questions about Mark McGwire and the rest of the Steroid Era will never go away until we get to the bottom of it.

I don't have many man-crushes in sports, but one of the few I have made the news this afternoon. Carlton Fisk came out swinging against Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and the rest of the guilty people involved in the Steroid Era today. He pulled no punches, offered zero empathy, got down to exactly why it's cheating, and acted like a true authentic Baseball Hall Of Fame member should act with regard to this entire situation. Bravo Carlton...bravo.

Fisk has always been a watchdog/crusader of sorts as to how the game should be played. Don't believe me? Go ask Deion Sanders. The irony of course is that Fisk indirectly had a hand in sparking interest in weight training being a gateway to prolong a Major League Baseball career. To the point where's Oakland A's then GM Sandy Alderson saw Fisk hit 37 home runs at age 37 in 1985, and instituted a weight lifting program across the entire A's organization the very next season.

Regardless, it still doesn't stop Fisk from being 100% correct, even though his math might have been a little off. Here's hoping more Hall Of Fame members follow Carlton's (and Goose Gossage's) lead and speak out against the players who have been caught, strongly suspected, or otherwise guilty until proven innocent of juicing. The fact of the matter is, MLB doesn't have a commissioner who's interested in getting to the bottom of it. The Players Union certainly isn't interested in getting to the bottom of it. The media and the fans can only go so far. Therefore, in the absence of real leadership, it's now up to members of the Hall Of Fame to take a stand. Let's hope that Fisk's comments today, are just the beginning...

Case Of The Mondays

Even on a holiday, Monday's still happen, especially to the Chicago Bulls. They suddenly remembered that Vinny Del Negro is still their coach and promptly lost to the Golden State D-Leaguers, in one of the most perplexing idiotic losses of the season. It's the kind of loss that makes people wonder if Tim Donaghy is far from a "lone wolf" as David Stern once described him. Either way, this Bulls team continues to be, in the words of former MLB pitcher Tommy John, "consistently inconsistent".

Apparently Mike Nolan has been thrust into the discussion for the Bears open Defensive Coordinator position. He ran a 3-4 based scheme with the Bronco's last season, which had some pretty effective results. He also managed to do so without worrying about wearing a suit on the sideline. The Beard cautions his readers to not get their hopes up. Besides the fact that Nolan will be one of the most sought after coaching hires, there exists one large fundamental flaw for him to not want to work for the Bears. That flaw is that the defensive scheme is still dictated by Lovie Smith. Lovie has gone out of his way to say that whomever the Bears hire, will have to commit to his obsolete Tampa 2 based system. Smith has also said that with the addition of Mike Tice as Offensive Line coach, Tice will have a significant say on the structure of the offense. Why?! How the hell is that possible?! It's very difficult to remember a time when a team hired the offensive line coach before the offensive coordinator, and promised the o-line coach that he will have input on what offense is run. If anyone else can name it, please let me know. So far this has all the makings of another self-destructive, lame duck 5-11 season in 2010.

Finally, my uncle sent me an interesting article written a month ago in the Montreal Gazette. Here's the link to it. Jack Todd echos similar sentiments The Beard has expressed regarding Eldrick's self destruction, overall selfish, childish, and ego maniacal behavior that has always existed for those who bothered to pay attention to it prior to his wife catching him cheating. Todd also says some things that are a little goofy/inaccurate as well, namely calling Tony Dungy a "hero", writing that Jesse Helms was a South Carolina Senator (he was a North Carolina Senator), specifically going after Tiger's charitable efforts (Tiger has been plenty charitable with his foundation over his career) and suggesting that Earl Woods being alive would have prevented all this from happening, when Earl CHEATED ON HIS WIFE TOO!Again it's a two way street with Tiger. Yes he saw the opportunity to make as much money as he could by showcasing himself as a wholesome role model...no matter how shady, and exploitative his methods ended up being. He still needed a dance partner to pull it off, (i.e. mostly the myopic middle age male hero worshippers) and they bought his line of B.S. hook, line, and sinker. Sure people can be mad at him, No point in denying one's anger over their hero letting them down, but they better take a look in the mirror at themselves too. They played just as much of a part as he did, in making him the machine he was up until Thanksgiving Weekend...

Weekend Summary

Interesting weekend for the most part. The NFL Playoffs didn't have too much drama minus the last game. The Saints and Jets came through for The Beard. The Cowboys and Ravens did not. The Jets-Chargers game was the most interesting of all the action. Norv Turner continued to show why he couldn't win a one person beauty contest, let alone a winnable home playoff game. Yeah Nick Kaeding decided to not make any field goals, but he wasn't responsible for 10 San Diego Penalties, particularly in key situations. As this blog has pointed out before, penalties are all about discipline, and discipline starts with the Head Coach, and that's not even getting into the "To Onside or Not To Onside" situation late in the 4th quarter. Not to grasp the obvious or seem to be ex post facto expert, but with 1 timeout left AND the two minute warning, you kick it deep, or at the very least squib kick, in that situation. Field position possibilities alone dictate kicking it deep, especially when you're counting on your defense to get the ball back regardless. Maybe this is bigger than a "Martyball" problem after all huh Bolts fans?


The Late Gaines Adams...26 years old is way too young to die, regardless of an enlarged heart or otherwise. Apparently, the Bears and everyone else had no idea he had this condition. Adams is hardly the first athlete to die of this condition, and he won't be the last unfortunately. While he seriously underperformed, and Jerry Angelo vastly overpaid for him with a 2nd round draft pick, it's still a damn shame to say the least that Gaines is no longer with us.


The NHL Killing Machine known as the Chicago Blackhawks, pulled out an exciting, physical, and intense to say the least win against the hated Detroit Red Wings. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Hawks ended up besting the Chicken Wings in a shootout after one of the most up-for-grabs overtimes ever witnessed in a regular season hockey game. Antii Niemi tended a great game in goal with 35 saves, and Patrick Sharp ended up with the game winning shootout goal. The Hawks didn't do themselves any favors by committing more penalties than they needed to, thus allowing Detroit to climb back into the contest. The Hawks got plenty of chances to showcase their top 10 penalty killing however, and also showed that they are playoff ready, as this game definitely had a playoff feel to it. Here's to continuing to "Commit to the Indian!".


And yes Mark McGwire still is a liar, Tony LaRussa is still a liar, Jack Clark is awesome for speaking the truth, and the Cardinal fans seem plenty happy with being ostriches by burying their head in the sand. Nice standing ovation you Hawaiian shirt wearing freaks...

The Streak Continues...

Dayton dropped another loss to Xavier in Cincinnati this afternoon, but this one particularly stung worse than the others. As a friend of The Beard's pointed out to him, this is one of the least talented teams Xavier has featured, and it's one of the most talented teams Dayton has featured, yet the movie ends the same way it has since 1981.

The most galling aspect of this loss was that Dayton beat themselves again. Dayton out-rebounded Xavier 51-34, and had plenty of second chances at layups the entire game. Yet once again, free throws were the difference. Dayton went 16-25 at the line while Xavier clocked in with 24-30 clip at the line.

This isn't necessarily a "bad" loss tourney wise, but it doesn't help either. Dayton now drops to fourth in the A-10 and now has a conference loss on their record. The good news is that there's plenty of season left to try and secure a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Fun

"I did this for health purposes. There's no way I did this for any type of strength purposes. I truly believe I was given the gifts from the man upstairs of being a home run hitter, ever since I would say birth."

Swing and a miss Mark...

Weekend Outlook

Well, I'll be starting early on Saturday morning as the beloved Dayton Flyers travel to Xavier to take on the Mouseketeers on ESPN 2. The Flyers are looking to make history and end one of the most baffling losing streaks in the history of college basketball by beating Xavier in Cincinnati for the first time since 1981. Uncle Rico was still playing high school football the last time this happened. Will history take place? I don't know but I'll be Flyer'd Up for sure.

Also, the NFL Playoffs continue starting on Saturday as well. Here's my predictions for what they're worth:

New Orleans over Arizona
Baltimore over Indianapolis
Dallas over Minnesota
New York Jets over San Diego.

Have a great weekend everybody!

What Once Was, And What Could Be Again

Perry Fewell became the latest NFL assistant to not want to work for the Bears as he officially became the New York Giants Defensive Coordinator today. Lovie Smith's name has emerged as a possible candidate for the Head Coaching job at the University of Tennessee. Obviously The Beard and others think that would be just fine for all involved.The Bulls had nice victory against the Garnett-less, and Wallace-less Boston Celtics tonight. Gotta start somewhere though on this road trip and an interested Luol Deng, along with great defense and (dare I say it) an emerging Joakim Noah allows for the best chance of success this team has. The Blackhawks managed to calm down any panic from fans who can't handle two losses in a row with a 3-0 shutout of Le Blue Jacket De Columbus tonight as well.

All that aside, the focus of this post will be the DePaul Blue Demons struggling basketball program. The Blue Demons lost their 23rd straight Big East game to Providence tonight and lost Mac Koshwal for 2-4 weeks as well. Jerry Wainwright was launched, timely or untimely depending on your outlook, earlier this week and the question is who can DePaul find to take over as Head Coach? Seth Davis of SI.com has a few names here. Digger Phelps apparently wanted the job once upon a time ago. There have also been some other silly names like Robert Montgomery Knight aka The Big Red Sweater, and Isiah Thomas mentioned, but as Dan Bernstein said, John Wayne Gacy was probably the next name after Isiah on that coaching list.

The issue for The Beard really is...haven't we been stuck in the same movie for nearly 15 years now? Wasn't Pat Kennedy supposed to come in from Florida State circa 1997, re-establish the pipeline of recruiting/signing the best Chicago High School basketball players, and resurrect the once storied Blue Demons to perennial Final Four contender? Some of that did actually happen with Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons, and Lance Williams having significant, yet all too brief careers at DPU. DePaul did make the tournament a couple of times, in 2000, and in 2004 under Dave Leitao. Something happened on the way to heaven however, and DePaul never seemed to get the ship turned around, or build on their success, and the wheels of mediocre to BAD seasons kept on spinning.

So once again the Demons find themselves in the same predicament they had when Joey Meyer was launched over a decade ago. Is there a way out of it? In this blog's view, yes there is but the order is a tall one since it would largely depend on financial resources. The current feeling is that DePaul doesn't have the money to go out and hire a "name" coach like Steve Lavin, or Rick Majerus, and that the facilities are in desperate need of a total tear down. This may or may not be true, but one thing that is certain is the best thing DePaul has going for them is their conference. The Big East is a Big Boy conference, and it just might be alluring enough to get a name coach interested. The rub of being in such a conference, is that DePaul can't be afraid to pony up the money it will need to close the deal on hiring a big time coach. Not to mention, the resources it takes to maintain or upgrade their ability to recruit elite players from the city.

Whether or not this will happen is a mystery. The Beard is hopeful that DePaul can turn it around. DePaul is still the only sports team I grew up with that made me cry after a loss (1987 Sweet 16 loss to LSU), and DePaul's Fight Song still takes me back to the time when DePaul was fun to watch, and the possibility of a National Championship was a real one.

More Mark McLiar

We'll keep this short and sweet since there's not too much new news going on today. The Bears interviewed Mike Tice and Ken Zampese. No clear cut candidate really emerging at this point. Greg Blache retired. Wonder if he ever found out that sacks aren't "overrated"? Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports excellently summarizes the Lane Kiffin (and his smoking hot wife Layla) bolting Rocky Top for the Men of Troy situation. And Haiti is a very dire, depressing situation, and serves as a reminder that yes indeed things can get worse.

With that in mind, the focus will continue to remain on the McGwire fallout. The New York Daily News has a fascinating story regarding the unnamed FBI Agent that sold McGwire steroids nearly 20 years ago. The Informant also states that McGwire was taking 4 very potent steroids including two veterinary steroids, for a substantial amount of time. This is a far cry from the "very low dose" McGwire tried to snowball past Bob Costas and the rest of the world on Monday. It's not out of the question, to wonder if this is one of several upcoming stories from all the dealers McGwire may have had. I'm sure there are several more people, that know and/or will suddenly remember with great detail exactly how many performance enhancers McGwire wanted, took, liked, and disliked over his career.

Another interesting column was written by Howard Bryant, author of the wonderful book "Juicing The Game", regarding McGwire's admission. Bryant has always been a very classy writer in terms of taking a shot at a guy, yet he has always been objectively balanced by calling things for what they are. He does so again with this column, and makes several great points, most astutely observing that Bonds and Clemens at the very least could have the argument attached to them of "They were Hall of Famers before they juiced". McGwire definitely cannot have that argument attached to him, and as a result, his omission from the Hall of Fame is much more certain.

Balls Deep

Lots of sports news making the rounds the past 48 hours. Here are some that seem to be the most interesting:

Plenty of Mark McLiar fallout stories (a ton from this link alone) taking place, post his supposed confession. From Jose Canseco calling LaRussa and McGwire liars. A supposed FBI informant telling the NY Daily News that McGwire was using "super-potent anabolic steroids for about a decade", and not nearly the "very low" amount McGwire suggested he took during his interview with Bob Costas last night. Goose Gossage drawing the line in the sand for all the juicers' Hall of Fame eligibility. Ari Fleischer apparently bizarrely coordinating McGwire's entire confession from start to finish. Bud Selig continuing to try and save his legacy by calling the steroid era "...a thing of the past..." , and justifiably getting destroyed for saying such a ridiculous thing by both the USADA, and WADA. Phil Rogers and Chris DeLuca finally realizing what the rest of us with 3 digit I.Q.'s and common sense have known all along. Imagine that, juicers should not be allowed into the Hall of Fame because it's cheating? Better late than never huh fellas? DeLuca btw, thinks that Greg Maddux is the only player that will be Hall of Fame eligible that won't have any questions about steroid use. Apparently Chris hasn't heard of guys named Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. Bottom Line-if McGwire thought that his admission last night, and subsequent fudging of the facts of his steroid use would be enough to settle things once and for all, he obviously was mistaken. His Pandora's Box is getting swung open in a major way, and the damage could be way more substantial than anything he might have imagined.

How do you replace a successful scumbag, dirtball head coach? You get a young scumbag, dirtball head coach to replace him, although what he has in youth/arrogance, he lacks in success. With the random and conspicuous departure of Pete Carroll aka "Captain Happy" to the Seattle Seahawks, Lane Kiffin has been named the head coach of USC after one tumultuous season at the University of Tennessee. To call this randomly surprising would be an understatement. In some ways, Lane is perfect for the USC job. He's an arrogant, immature, young punk who runs his mouth way too much to the point of getting sanctioned by the NCAA. The only problem was, Lane already had a job and he made a commitment to UT's players, coaches, recruits, students, alumni, athletic director and university president that he would be their head coach. Now that USC has stolen him, what's to stop some NFL team from stealing him from USC down the road? Why would USC put themselves in a position to trust Lane, when he's already proven that he can't be trusted? The initial opinion of The Beard is that Lane and USC deserve each other. It will be fun watching who will screw who over at the end of this movie, especially when all the inevitable sanctions will be handed down as punishment for the cheating that went on during Captain Happy's watch.

The Chicago Bears first two choices for the Offensive Coordinator position have been eliminated. Jeremy Bates would rather take his chances in Seattle, and the Packers understandably told the Bears "kiss my @ss" when the Bears asked to interview Tom Clements. Now it appears that Ken Zampese (Ernie's son) will interview first for the open job. OK, it appears that he might be qualified, and he's certainly got the dreaded "up and coming" label associated with him. He's as good a prospect as any, but it's anybody's guess who the Bears will end up hiring for both open positions. Whoever it is, the best chance for success will be their ability to immediately innovate with the pieces they have available on the roster, and it must translate into wins because this is not a rebuilding job, but rather a "win now" task at hand.

Complete Idiot or Duplicitous Liar?

There has been a TON of things happening since the last blog post. The NFL Playoffs are in full swing, plenty of upsets and a completely wild shootout in the Arizona desert took place. Pete Carroll has decided to jump ship from a soon to be sanctioned and penalized USC football program for the safety of the Seattle Seahawks. The Bears are ready to get serious about their open coaching positions. Jerry Wainright getting fired, etc.

Those of you familiar with me though, are aware that everything that has happened is taking a big backseat today, in light of the Mark McGwire news that he did in fact use steroids, HGH, and other performance enhancers throughout his career. So let's get to it!

Tony LaRussa, upon the heels of announcing McGwire would be his hitting coach in St. Louis this season, predicted that McGwire would address these long standing allegations, suspicions and finally "talk about the past" before spring training this year. Today apparently became that day as McGwire issued his 20 minute statement admitting steroid use throughout his playing career to set everything in motion. A good start for him in some ways. McGwire then went on MLB Network to be interviewed by Bob Costas, and erased any momentum or good will he might have established in completely liberating himself of the guilt he has been carrying for some time now.

After shedding a bunch of tears (much like he did in the beginning of his March 17, 2005 testimony in Congress) McGwire gave wishy-washy answers at best when it came to the specifics of his steroid use. He left out or claimed he didn't remember the names of steroids he used, only admitting he preferred pills not injectables. He gave vague terms of "very low doses" when asked how much did he take. McGwire gave inaccurate time tables of when/how long he was using steroids during his career. He claimed that the only reason he said he's "not hear to talk about the past" was because he wasn't given immunity. Then, in a final measure of delusion, he said "I did this for health purposes. There is no way I did this for any type of strength purposes." and "There's no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I've had as a baseball player..." Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Let's start with some establishment of facts. I'm not here to argue that steroids should be banned in all sports, or that they're worse than doing crack cocaine, or any of the other histrionic debates that are associated with Performance Enhancing Drugs. That's another argument for another time. I AM of the mindset however that Steroids, HGH, PED's should not be in Major League Baseball, and we'll just leave it at that for today. I've read many books, and studied the Steroid Era very carefully over the years, I've heard varying accounts of McGwire's and other ballplayers drug use, as well as the owners and fans tacit approval of it. Here is the timeline of all the important developments of the Steroid Era. The most important entry I'd ask people to pay attention to is what happened on June 7, 1991. Even though you will see, read, and hear everyone in the media say that there were "no rules" against taking steroids, Fay Vincent issued a memo to every club saying that steroids have been added to the Banned Substance List. Meaning that even though they hadn't agreed to testing, taking steroids was against the rules of MLB going all the way back to 1991.

That being said, let's now get into the meat of McGwire's "admission"and it's relation to the title of this post. Either McGwire is a complete idiot, or a duplicitous liar based on his comments today. For him to say he doesn't remember the names of the drugs he took, and his attempt to pass it off as a low doses is very weak on his part. Every steroid user I've known, seen, talked to, or read about knows exactly the name of the steroids they're taking, how much of it they're taking, and what else they can cocktail it with during use, and what drugs they need to take after they cycle off of them. The know and remember simply because they need to know all of this to get the best results possible. So either McGwire is a complete idiot for not bothering to know about these things, or he is lying right through his tears in the hopes of fooling people into believing that steroids really didn't help him that much.

McGwire said he first tried steroids between 1989 and 1990, went off them, and then went back on them in 1993. However, when looking at the numbers there was very little, to no change in either his body type, or his production during 1989-1990. In 1991 though, there was a significant drop in both Batting Average, Home Runs, OBP, and RBI's to the point where Tony LaRussa benched him for the last game of the season so he could keep his batting average above the Mendoza Line. In 1992 however, his production returned, complete with mullet, goatee, and 30 lbs of added muscle, to take the American League by storm until a heel injury sidelined him in August that season. People covering McGwire at the time were aware, or at the very least heard rumblings that he first started taking steroids in 1992, and it's long been accepted as truth among the beat writers covering him at that time. So either he's a complete idiot for not being able to read a calendar, or he's a duplicitous liar for trying to fool people into believing that one of his most productive years was not responsible because of steroid use.

The main point he made that really leaves a big hole in his armor is McGwire's belief and conviction, that steroids did not help him become a better ball player, that he wasn't taking them to become bigger and stronger but rather for "health benefits", and that steroids in general don't make baseball players better than what their natural ability allows them to do. First of all if that's the case, then why is he so sorry that he took them? Secondly, what "health benefits" did he take them for? Steroids don't treat injuries. If anything, they cause more injuries, than anything else. Did he have anemia? Was he a burn victim? Maybe it was for other side effect purposes, which could be maybe his back didn't have enough acne on it? Maybe his testicles were too big, and they needed to shrink? Other than that, there's not too many actual health reasons to take steroids. The only other benefit left to gain from them is abnormal levels of muscle mass and strength. Third, if steroids don't make you a better player, then why did all those home run records shatter so quickly during the Steroid Era? Obviously because they DO make you a better ballplayer. They're Performance Enhancing Drugs, and by definition they help you play better than your natural ability. So once again, either McGwire is a complete idiot for not being logical, or he is a liar because he wants people to believe that steroids were not responsible for his success in his career.

Oh but it continues. Don't think I'm going to give Tony LaRussa a free pass. LaRussa has said on at least two separate occasions that he believes McGwire was clean, here and here. LaRussa has taken every opportunity to bully people and be as stand off-ish as possible whenever the subject of McGwire or steroid use on his teams has come up. He has made so many outlandish comments over the years, including his bitching about Steve Wilstein invading McGwire's privacy when Wilstein saw that bottle of Andro in McGwire's locker in 1998. LaRussa has shown the class and maturity of a spoiled brat when it comes to this subject because it becomes clear with each passing day that no manager benefited more from the Steroid Era than him, which leads to the repeated question. Is LaRussa a complete idiot for being totally ignorant for not knowing about the steroid use on his teams, or is he a duplicitous liar for trying to get people to believe that there is no such thing as steroids, McGwire's achievements were all natural, and that he really is a great manager and not just a guy who fills out a lineup card and hopes for 2 three run homers to win games 8-6?

The bottom line is, McGwire is only confessing halfway. He blew another chance to really cleanse his conscience and set the record straight. By only admitting he juiced, but shying away from specifics, and expressing his naive beliefs that steroids didn't make him the player he was, he only made things worse. Maybe now we can understand why he really wasn't there to talk about the past in 2005....because now it seems he doesn't to want to remember any of it, or more importantly doesn't want us to remember it.

Taking Off

Congrats to that supreme charlatan jerk Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide for winning the National Championship last night. Alabama's defense has always been good, but apparently they're smart too by deciding to see if Colt McCoy could take any hard hits (he can't).

I'll be off for the weekend, but we'll have plenty to digest after the NFL Playoffs this weekend.

The Other "Hawk"

It's time once again for the annual, "Get Pissed Off About the Baseball Hall Of Fame Voting Results" ceremony. Not too much to get mad about this year however. Bert Blyleven and his 60 career shutouts once again got the shaft, and Roberto Alomar apparently still is serving his penance for spitting in John Hirschbeck's face. Both will get in next year though. Other than that, the voters actually tried to be somewhat consistent with this years lone player enshrinee Andre Dawson. I'll explain momentarily...

Please understand, that if The Beard had his way, he would kick people out of the baseball hall of fame, that have already been enshrined. The Hall should be for the very minuscule elite players that played the game. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Cy Young, Willie Mays, Walter Johnson, Ted Williams, Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson, Tris Speaker, Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux, and not too many more after that. Everyone else can pretty much take a hike because they don't belong among those types of elite players. Since this is not realistically possible though, we'll deal with the reality of the situation as it currently stands.

The Beard has long felt that Jim Rice and Andre Dawson were not great players, but just really good for a long time, with flashes of greatness scattered in between. Andre Dawson however, was clearly a better player than Jim Rice both in terms of power (438 Homers for Dawson, 382 for Rice), Gold Gloves (8 for Dawson, 0 for Rice), and base stealing (Dawson stole 314, Rice stole 58). Couple that with Dawson winning his lone MVP award on a last place 1987 Cubs team. The most impressive part about Dawson is that he is one of three players ever to have over 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases. The other two, are two guys named Barry Bonds and Willie Mays.

So since they put Jim Rice in, logically they would have to put Dawson in, and they did the right thing today. So congrats to Andre Dawson. He is one of the very few Cubs The Beard always respected over the years, and it's good to see him get recognition for his achievements.

Upcoming Redemption, or All The Kings Horses??? (Part II)

The trio of Ted Phillips, Jerry Angelo, and Lovie Smith also announced an opening for the Defensive Coordinator position as well. They also announced that they will seek someone from outside the organization for this hire as well (i.e. NOT Rod Marinelli). The Beard has made no secret of his displeasure of Lovie's exposed Tampa 2, and apparently Jerry Angelo has had enough of it as well judging by his comments today. Lovie Smith still admirably believes in his scheme, which really shouldn't be too surprising since he's proven himself to be a Tony Dungy Tampa 2 Drone rather than defensive innovator. The good news for Bears fans, is that it will not be Lovie's hire this time, even though he still thinks he's going to have an input on who gets the job.

Some of the names that have popped up include the recently fired by the Buffalo Bills Perry Fewell, Herm Edwards, and Mike Zimmer. Fewell worked for Lovie with the Bears before. Herm Edwards goes back a long way with Lovie to their Tampa days. Both of those names are brought up simply because Lovie has worked with them before, but that's exactly the type of thing the Bears are trying to get away from. Otherwise what's the point of going outside the organization?

Zimmer on the other hand, is one of the hottest names in the NFL for a possible HEAD Coach, NOT Defensive Coordinator. There is no reason to believe he would make a lateral move to be the Defensive Coordinator of the Bears, when plenty of other teams would hire him to run the whole show. The only way Zimmer would even consider the Bears, is if he were to be paid as much as a head coach. The Bears obviously aren't interested in doing that because if they wanted to pay "Head Coach Money" for someone, they would have fired Lovie today and hired/paid for a new Head Coach.

It's been mentioned on this blog before, but it bears (pun) repeating. A year ago, the Green Bay Packers had similar issues, (mainly defensive) plaguing their team. The Packers had their quarterback, a horrible offensive line, a capable tailback, and competent receivers. They went out and hired Dom Capers, and put together arguably the most complete defense in the league, and are back in the playoffs with as good a chance as anybody to go to the Super Bowl this season.

As much vitriol and nausea the Packers cause this blog, it is always wise to study the ways of one's adversary. They have given the Bears a blueprint on how quick turnarounds in the NFL can happen. Lets see how well the Bears will learn the lesson, by hiring a defensive innovator who understands what system will work best with his personnel, rather than falling in love with a scheme.

Upcoming Redemption, or All The Kings Horses??? (Part I)

Today was the day that someone with real power spoke at Halas Hall. His name was Ted Phillips, and when he spoke, both sides of his mouth were moving. He was (fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective) joined by Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith, and announced that while 2009 was his most frustrating year as Bears Team President, he believes that continuity is the quickest way to bring the Bears back to the level of Super Bowl Contender. I guess firing the Ron Turner and 5 other assistants is a part of "continuity" in Ted's world, but let's not get sidetracked with that detail at the moment.

The Bears have done either one of two things. They have either begun their self stated "bolt tightening"...whatever the hell that means, or they have decided to try shoving this massive amount of elephant excrement under the carpet to see if it goes away. Time will tell what eventually was or wasn't accomplished today. The one certain is that the Bears are now in the market for both an Offensive and Defensive Coordinator. For now in Part I, let's take a quick look at some of the names that have popped up for O.C.:

Mike Martz : Martz wasted no time expressing his interest in the Bears O-Coordinator opening. Just months after getting on the Bash Jay Cutler bandwagon, he now says he's "excited" at the possibility of working with Jay. While The Beard won't pretend to know anything about X's and O's, the job should not be given to Martz. Aside from the amount of kissing Martz would have to do if he were to get the job, there are other, much more relevant reasons to not give the job to him. Namely, the lack of field turf as a playing surface in Soldier Field, the bad history quarterbacks have of getting destroyed by the lack of protection/very deep routes receivers are asked to run, Matt Forte not being Marshall Faulk, and Martz's variation of the Air Coryell requiring a rank and file pocket passer, instead of a rollout/throw on the run, veteran QB like Cutler.

Charlie Weis : Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! Seriously, Charlie is rumored to being going to the Chiefs. Good luck having to tolerate someone who was responsible for some of the most dubious losses in Notre Dame history and still acts like he invented football.

Al Saunders : Al is the one name that is intriguing, and coincidentally he's another Air Coryell disciple. Saunders' variation of the scheme seems to be much more of a conservative approach than Martz's, with a stronger emphasis on protection and running game. As evidenced by the success he had as K.C.'s offensive coordinator with Priest Holmes. Al's scheme also doesn't seem to need dominant receivers like Martz's variation either, as it's focus isn't stretching the field deep to open up the running lanes up front.

Again who knows who they will hire? The key will be that whoever they give the job to, will have to understand not only Cutler's strengths and weaknesses, but also the 10 other guys on the field with Jay. Essentially this means being the opposite of Ron Turner which involves coming in with a system and trying to shoehorn the pieces into it.

Tiger Beat

So the acclaimed and quick tempered writer Buzz Bissinger decided to stop yelling at Will Leitch about how much he hates blogs for a moment, and wrote an article for Vanity Fair discussing the rise and ongoing fall of the Goliath of Golf, Eldrick Woods. My disagreement with Buzz's views on blogs aside, as usual Bissinger delivers the goods on a very well written and not too different take on Tiger's downfall than The Beard's.

Bissinger accurately points out that the reason the wrath exists has very little to do with Tigers' wandering pinnazio. The wrath exists mainly because Tiger (and IMG) carefully crafted and manufactured his superhuman image over the years of a down to earth, wholesome family man in order to make the Tiger Woods brand as much money as it could possibly make. This approach worked only too well, and unfortunately led to way too many grown-ass (mainly middle aged men) adults to flat out WORSHIP Tiger, when they themselves should have known better. Now that the downfall of Tiger's hero worship has begun, it has served as yet another stark reminder that athletes and sports figures are not heroes. As Cassius says in Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Anyway, I thought you would enjoy reading it.

All Hail Jay Cutler, but Lovie and his D still both suck and blow

Nothing really new to post here after today's Bears victory over the Lions that hasn't been posted before. Jay Culter once again carried this team to victory despite Ron Turner's play calling, and Lovie's inept at best, godawful at most accurate defense. Lovie's vaunted Tampa 2 made Daunte Culpepper look like a competent QB this week...repeat...DAUNTE CULPEPPER! Culpepper hasn't done anything since 2004, yet against the Bears Defense went 23/34 for 262 yards and 2 TD's.

It's going to be a very interesting week at Halas Hall. The Beard is predicting Lovie will be retained, Ron Turner will be sacrificed, and the Bears will say their defense was bad because they didn't have Urlacher this year, but it will be fine next year. Obviously there is plenty of room for disagreement regarding the defense, but again it will be an interesting and defining week at Halas Hall...

Weekend Nuggets

I apologize for the lateness of my posts. NYE is a time consuming holiday, so here are a few random observations, most of them bowl intensive, I had over the weekend:

Holiday Bowl : Yeah Ndamukong Suh only had 3 tackles (1 for loss), but for those who watched the game saw that he was subjected to numerous double, sometimes triple teams throughout the game. He was also a big part of a Nebraska defense that was responsible for a measly 6 first downs, 109 yards of offense, and recorded the first Holiday Bowl shutout in 32 years. Suh is one of the most intriguing defensive lineman to enter the draft, and his dominance is so obvious that even Mel Kiper has him ranked #1 overall on his big board.

Capital One Bowl : In a surprising display of Big Ten Pride, the Penn State Nittany Lambs rose to the occasion and defeated LSU in a rain soaked, mud-laden field. While LSU definitely had a hand with their unbelievably poor clock management in the end, Penn State won another bowl game for the corpse of Joe Paterno. The only thing that was really terrible about this game was class act Daryll Clark, doing his best Curt Schilling 1993 World Series imitation, and turning his back to Collin Wagner's winning kick to put PSU ahead for good, because he couldn't handle the stress of the situation. That is bush league garbage. Clark should know that it's important for ALL his teammates to watch the kick, and be supportive no matter what the outcome of the kick is. Not only did Clark show that he doesn't have the nuts to play big time football, but he also showed that he's not above displays of "Hey look at me" in clutch situations. Shame on him.

Gator Bowl : Speaking of corpses, Bobby Bowden and his Free Shoes University Criminoles went out with a victory over West Virginia. The only thing that is memorable of this game is that it showed the short memory of the media. Once again they attempted to deify Bowden, while overlooking glaring academic fraud, shoplifting and shoe deals, along with countless other infractions that have occurred under Bowden's watch. This game only further exemplifies that prostitutes and buildings get classier as they get older. "Eat your heart out Florida State" indeed.

Rose Bowl : In yet another display of Big Ten Pride this weekend the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Oregon NikeDucks in this years Rose Bowl. The most notable aspect of this game was the effort shown by the much ballyhooed Terelle Pryor. Coming into the game with a partially torn knee, Pryor went 23 of 37 for 266 yards and 2 TD's. He also orchestrated a key fourth quarter 13 play, 81 yard, 6 minute drive that ensured the victory. It was good to see the Big Ten continue to answer the bell in the bowl games this year, as well as see Pryor start to live up to the sometimes unrealistic expectations that have been thrust upon him. Plus Ohio State needed this win to end a rather humiliating bowl record the past three seasons.

Sugar Bowl : Tim Tebow once again tried to desperately prove to the world that god exists by playing college football at an exceptional level. While he once again failed to prove there is a god, he certainly proved that he will go down as one of the best qb's to ever played college football. Much like Andre Ware, Ty Detmer, Eric Crouch, Chris Weinke, Danny Wuerffel, Gino Torretta, Charlie Ward, Jason White, and Troy Smith, Tebow will get to watch NFL games from his couch like the rest of us in no time. No matter what is actually happening in the bizarre situation that is Urban Meyer, Florida continued to show that they are among the elite of college football.

Dayton Flyers : The Flyers ventured into The Pit against New Mexico, and once again decided to get in their own way, and prevent a victory by playing nervous. It was a shame too, because in this blogs view Dayton definitely had the better team, but were so anxious the first ten minutes that they had to play catch-up the rest of the game. They did manage to get the lead in the second half, but it was quickly squandered by inopportune turnovers and poor shot selection. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't a bad loss since they lost to a team in the top 25. Still though, Dayton must play better than that, and history shows that Brian Gregory is the kind of coach that knows this.