(10): Georgia state House of Representatives: Their resolution urging the NCAA to create a college football playoff system decried the “politics” of the sport and concluded fans deserve a champion “crowned after winning the title on the field of play and not in a popularity poll." Uh, fellas? I’m more turned off by the politics of politics than the politics of sports. Not to mention how the PAC money you guys grovel for like a 47-year-old stripper on stage at 1:45 a.m. drives your own popularity contests, routinely won by the candidates with the cash to buy every 30-second spot on the nightly news for six weeks leading up to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
(9) Arlen Specter: The U.S. senator from Pennsylvania was shameless — even by politicians’ standards — in using the Super Bowl week pulpit to threaten NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with the prospect of appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter wants Goodell to explain why the Spygate tapes were destroyed and, oh-by-the-way, discuss the NFL’s antitrust exemption. That’s as subtle as Larry Csonka on third-and-goal from the 1. Any chance that the senator’s real motivation is that he still can’t accept the 24-21 loss by his beloved Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX? Because this ain’t something for the U.S. Senate to be bothering with, even if the Patriots have been cheating all along.
(8) Mike Marshall: The wrestling coach at Central Cambria High agreed to resign in order to avoid criminal charges after being accused of biting one of his wrestlers on the leg. The bite caused bruising but did not draw blood, a Pittsburgh police spokesman said, and the student agreed to not prosecute in return for Marshall agreeing to resign.
(7) Golf tournament photographers: Tiger Woods ran into more problems with the Fourth Estate over the weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic as shutterbugs — professional and amateur — distracted him with the clicking of shutters during his backswing. Critics accuse golfers of being babies because baseball players hit 95 mph fastballs in front of stadiums full of screaming fans. But it’s not a tiny noise that affects golfers, it’s having nearly total silence suddenly broken — in mid-swing — that distracts them.
(6) Central Arkansas men’s basketball: How weak is your schedule when you have a 13-9 record but your RPI rating is only 295th out of 341 NCAA schools. Throw out the opener, a 27-point loss to Kentucky, and they’ve played 21 games against a roster of opponents obscure enough to be part of a Dennis Miller monologue. Ecclesia? Rhema? Central Methodist?
(5) NHL parity: Whatever happened to the good ol’ days of having a dynasty like the Montreal Canadiens to hate and misfits like the Kansas City Scouts to pity? Twenty-one of 30 teams are within eight games of .500 with the season already two-thirds over.
(4) Buffalo City School District: McKinley High and district officials suspended girls basketball player Jayvonna Kincannon from school for seven weeks for (a) trying to get on the agenda of the Buffalo Board of Education to speak in support of a fired assistant coach, (b) leaving school on two occasions without approval and (c) wearing a hoodie. I think I just heard Bill Belichick mumble, “Oh, &@$&#. I’m @&@&#^% up the %^@&@* arse when we play the Bills at the Ralph next season.”
(3) Miami Heat (9-36): The death spiral in the form of a 1-18 record since Christmas Day continues. I’d much sooner leave my kids with Britney Spears for the weekend than let them watch a Miami Heat game.
(2a) Jeremy Wariner: The defending Olympic champion in the 400 meters asked his coach to take a pay cut on their new contract. No big deal except the coach is Clyde Hart, his Baylor mentor and the man whose 4-by-4 relays earned All-America status 26 straight years and won 14 NCAA titles, which means he knows more about quarter-milers than Penn State knows about linebackers. Telling Clyde Hart that he’s too expensive is like giving God grief for resting on the seventh day. You just don’t do it, Jeremy. Ever.
(2b) Michael Johnson: The man who won the 400 in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics also is a former Hart pupil and works as Wariner’s agent, so he obviously played a role in strong-arming the coach. Hey, Michael, you turned out to be one of the two or three greatest long sprinters ever because of the coaching you got from Clyde Hart. Without him, you would have gone down as one of the 25 finest Pan-Am Games runners of the decade. So show a little respect.
(1) Rich Rodriguez: Anyone else think he’ll need to change his name from “Rich” to “Broke” by the time this tiff with West Virginia is over? R-Rod wants to avoid paying the $4 million buyout he owes for accepting the Michigan football job and says the school ought to have to prove financial harm first because WVU’s administration “forced” his departure by reneging on verbal promises. Here’s free advice, Rich: If you wind up in court, WVU can produce a piece of paper detailing the $4 million penalty clause — with your signature on it or, at the very least the preceding contract with “only” a $2 million poison pill. And the judge is going to tell you that compared to a signed contract, verbal agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
dont blame arlen, he didnt get a reply back from his letter until THURSDAY when he mailed it weeks ago. dont blame him for responding to a response faster than the comish office.
congress cleaned up baseball, let them clean up football because they dont it themselves. any league that has a guy get suspended for HGH and make the pro bowl in teh same year obviously doestn care about football. bring weis, brady, kraft, and belichek into congress and let them talk
Coach Poor-Rod, LOL
The 47 year old stripper will beg early when the patrons are sobber. If it is closing time, standards go out the window. Availablility is the key. Desperation would seem to help that.
zdeane: I don't see how anyone can make a case that Congress cleaned up baseball. Palmiero, Sosa and McGwire told the pols to go screw thremselves in the 2005 hearings. The improvements that have taken place since were already in the pipeline by then.
As for Spygate, it's major overkill for the Senate Judiciary Committee to be getting involved in a sports controversy. And the implied threat -- talk to me or kiss your anti-trust exemption good-bye -- is simply outrageous.
Arlen Specter is an ####. Just for the record, this is the same man that came up with the single bullet theory regarding the JFK assasination. Maybe he is still looking for the proof in that!
I am John Moriello, a sportswriter for a little more than a decade before catching the World Wide Web bug in 1995. I've since worked on a variety of online projects. In my spare time, I am president of the New York State Sportswriters Association . We are concerned primarily with covering high school sports, including producing weekly rankings in the major team sports and the selection of all-state teams.
