Story lines

There are some interesting story lines developing around sports right now. Some short term, some long term. I wanted to look at some...

Short term...

The Orlando Magic are one blown alley-oop away from being up 2-1 in the finals. Can they actually come back from down 2-0, or are they just making the NBA finals interesting?

Can the Penguins actually go into Detroit and pull off the upset?

Longer term stories to watch...

At some point this season the Yankees are going to win a game against the Red Sox. It could be tonight, it might not be until the next series. But will the Yankees inability to beat the Sox early in the season come back to haunt them late in the season? And on the flip side, how much could this early dominance by Boston play into the team winning the division?

Is David Ortiz actually showing signs of breaking out of his slump? He's riding a seven game hitting streak, and has had hits in 9 of his last 12. Even though it's the only time this season that he's had a hitting streak last more than three games, he hasn't exactly been tearing the cover off the ball. He's had only one multi-hit game in that stretch, and is 10 for 48 (.208) - even if you just look at his seven game hitting streak, he's a respectable 8 for 29 (.276), not exactly tearing the cover off the ball, but better. Right now it's a more compelling story than the Red Sox trials and tribulations at short stop. Will he or won't he?

As bad as Ortiz has been at the plate, Chien-Ming Wang has been worse on the mound for the Yankees. How far can they expect to go with a completely ineffective (defective?) Wang. They're already keeping their fingers crossed that AJ Burnett and Joba Chamberlain can stay healthy, what is their future (this season) going to look like if they have to rely on an imminently hittable Phil Hughes? And how long can Andy Pettitte go, with batters hitting over .280 against him?

I can't help but think over on the gridiron that the Patrick Pass signing was more or less to add depth at the position for training camp. Does he have a shot at the team? Sure, but I would be surprised if he were on the roster on opening day. Honestly, I would be surprised if he made it to the final cuts. It should be interesting to watch.

Of course, there's always the question of Tom Brady's knee, and how he will respond in game situations. A lot of people are talking about early season issues due to shaking the rust off, and while possible, I think Brady will get the time and reps to do that during the preseason games. What people aren't talking about is how the Patriots' schedule might impact their high-octane offense.

After the bye week in 2007, on the team's way to the only 16-0 regular season, the Patriots played seven consecutive cold weather games, four of which were in Gillette, the rest of which were at the Meadowlands, at Buffalo, and at Baltimore. In the coming season, after the bye the Patriots will play nine games. Four games are at home - Miami on November 8, the Jets on November 22, Carolina on December 13, and Jacksonville on December 27. Of those, only the Jets game starts later than 1:00, and the Miami game is early enough in the season that the weather may or may not be a factor.

Of the other five games, one is in Buffalo, three are either in domes or stadiums with retractible roofs (Indy, New Orleans, and Houston), and the other is in Miami. With about half of their remaining games being played either indoors or in warm places, the Patriots offense has a chance to really light things up...assuming Brady is perfectly healthy.

Outside of New England, these are the things to watch -

The play calling of the new staff in Indianapolis. This is going to go a long way towards determining where the Colts end up this season. Will it be a seamless transition from last year? Do all the coaches have a good instinct for the right defense at the right time? Will they find they have the right people at the right positions?

Is Rex Ryan the right man for the job in New York, and are they really going to make any noise with their current quarterback situation?

Can Chad Pennington stay healthy for the entire season? Pennington has struggled his entire career to put together back to back healthy seasons. When healthy he's a top ten QB in the league - no, he doesn't rack up big statistics, but he's smart and doesn't turn the ball over a whole lot, and wins, even with sub-par talent. If Pennington can't stay healthy, the Dolphins have no chance. Healthy, they can still get to the playoffs.

How is the Buffalo soap opera going to play out? Sure, they managed to get an extra weapon in Terrell Owens, but he's paired with, easily, the worst quarterback of his career (after dealing with Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Drew Bledsoe, and Tony Romo), and they open the season without their star running back for three games. If the team starts off 0-3 or 1-2, what's the likelihood that Owens will hold his tongue? The Bills are on the verge of becoming the AFC East's Bengals, or Raiders.

Speaking of the Bengals, after admitting to the press that he mailed it in back in 2008, are there any teammates that are going to trust Chad Ochocinco?

How's Jay Cutler going to fare without any legitimate, top-flight receivers?

How are teams like Denver, Cleveland and Kansas going to fare under their new regimes?

Will Lance Armstrong be ready for the Tour de France coming off his injury?

Off-hand, those are just some of the ones I can think of. Should be a fun year.

The coaches they are a changin'

Well, we've already seen Eric Mangini (Jets), Rod Marinelli (Lions), Romeo Crennel (Browns), and Mike Shanahan (Broncos) get their walking papers. There are other coaches that shouldn't be resting easy today, including; Jim Haslett (Rams), Herm Edwards (Chiefs), Marvin Lewis (Bengals) and, while I don't expect it, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a change in New Orleans at the expense of Sean Payton or one in Dallas at the expense of Wade Phillips. We already know that there will be changes in Seattle, and while it would surprise me, I think Jacksonville might consider a change. That's at least ten potential coaching changes in the offing.

Little more than 30 percent of the league's coaches could be collecting unemployment before this year's free-agent class has a chance to hit the market. I want to take a moment to go through each of the above and address some of the issues...

I'm not going to address Seattle as Mike Holmgren is leaving of his own accord, so let's start with Mike Shanahan. I've always felt that Shanahan was one of the league's more overrated coaches. I will give him credit for creating and running an offensive scheme that could probably make me a 1000 yard rusher in the NFL - and I'm a broken down 38-year old with bad ankles. However, for all his offensive genius, he's regularly missed in his search for the heir apparent to John Elway (consider, Bill Belichick, traditionally considered a keen defensive mind, has already had two quarterbacks perform up to snuff after Drew Bledsoe, then the best quarterback in franchise history, went down. Shanahan is on his third since Elway, the last two are journeyman back-ups, and the jury is still out on the current one).

A lot of people are surprised by the Shanahan firing. I'm not. Since Elway's retirement, Shanahan has had ten seasons of which he only had four seasons of more than nine wins. In his four seasons with Elway he had only one that had fewer than 12 wins. Even with the one 8-8 season in 1995, Shanhan averaged 12 wins per season with Elway as his quarterback. Since Elway's retirement Shanahan has averaged 9 wins per season and eight per season for the last three.

The team was in command of its destiny until it lost four of its last six, including losses to the moribund division rival Raiders, and the struggling Bills. Two winnable games that would have made the final game against the Chargers moot.

In Kansas City, Herm Edwards' fate is held in the hands of whoever replaces long-time president Carl Peterson. If I were a betting man, I would say his days in KC are done. I like Edwards but feel he has some shortcomings as a head coach. He seems to make bad decisions in critical pressure situations, which is what lost him the job in New York. My guess is that he returns to a coordinator position.

In the Meadowlands Brett Favre was the coach-killer. Honestly, as little as I like Eric Mangini, that late season collapse should have signaled the end of Mike Tannenbaum who saddled Mangini with Favre.

The reasoning for dropping Mangini who had two winning seasons in his three years there was that Tannenbaum gave Mangini a revamped offensive line, a former MVP at signal caller, and a beast in the middle on defense - never mind that the collapse can almost wholly be laid at the feet of Favre, Tannenbaum's hand-picked savior of the franchise, or that the quarterback they cut in favor of Favre arguably had an MVP-type season, or that the beast of a nose-tackle wasn't fit enough to stay on the field and be effective in the fourth quarter.

So Mangini is looking for work. If he can't land a head coaching job, it should be interesting to see if anyone will take him on in some capacity. My guess is that Spygate burned a lot of bridges for him.

Rod Marinelli was the beneficiary of Matt Millen's handiwork finally coming to full fruition. Marinelli may or may not be a good coach, but getting stuck with Matt Millen's picks, it's hard to tell.

Crennel's undoing was having a locker room full of really talented guys that couldn't figure out what it took to win, and Jim Haslett - well, Haslett had a couple of issues working against him, not the least of which was that the Rams are just plain bad.

Also a problem for Haslett - the double standard in the application of the Rooney Rule.

Mid season the Rams wanted to give Haslett an incentive laden contract. If he met the incentives, he came back as head coach, if he didn't, then it was at the discretion of the Rams. The NFL decided, as Haslett was an interim head coach, that the provisions were in violation of the Rooney rule.

Here are my problems with that -

The spirit of the rule was that it open up interview opportunities for minority coaching candidates. The 49ers were allowed to sign their interim head coach, Mike Singletary, to an extension without having to interview anybody - so, in essence, Norm Chow, Romeo Crennel, and possibly soon to be unemployed Herm Edwards, and Marvin Lewis had no chance to interview for the HC position in San Francisco. Not to mention the obvious inequity in regards to the way the league handled two coaches in the exact same position based solely on the color of their skin.

Also, I fail to see how what the Rams did is significantly different to what the Cowboys did in signing their offensive coordinator to a contract stipulating that he becomes head coach when Wade Phillips leaves, or the fact that a similar contract exists in Seattle between the Seahawks and Jim Mora, Jr.

In essence, Haslett got screwed because the NFL decided to apply the Rooney Rule capriciously.

In Cincy I expect that Lewis will be gone after six turmoil-filled seasons during which he averaged fewer than seven wins per season, and broke the eight-win barrier only once. Hailed as a defensive guru, only once - this past season - were his defenses in Cincy ranked higher than 20th, and at 16th, they were barely in the top half of the league. The average rank for his defenses since getting the job - 23rd.

Midweek Ephemera

Congratulations to the Phillies.

The World Series was kind of a can't lose prospect for me this year. I was born in Philadelphia - the family moved to Boston when I was three - but most of my extended family remains in and around the City of Brotherly Love. I also taught there for five years before moving to Maryland. So, for the friends and family still there - enjoy the win.

As for the Rays - well, it was a good run. It would have been nice, in as much as it would have just been a wonderful metaphorical screw you to the Steinbrenner clan and their free-spending ways if the team with the second lowest payroll in all of baseball had walked away with the championship. And it just would have been made sweeter that the team that plays on Georgie's front porch did it.

Over on the hard-court it was nice to see the Celtics come up with a win on the same day they raised their seventeenth banner to the rafters in the Gahden. I think it was important for them to come out and get the win against fellow Eastern power Cleveland, but mostly, it was nice to see the green-and-white come out rise to the occasion on what was a very emotional night for some of the team. I would right about it more, but I think that Dave over at The Coffin Corner already has it covered.

Don Banks over at SI almost always has a tidbit or two that I hadn't yet put together. In his mid-season report, he noted something very interesting about the Brett Favre acquisition. For all the hoopla surrounding his acquisition, and the optimism about their improvement (at this point last season they were 1-6 as opposed to 4-3), they are, in essence, no better than they were this time last year - third place, trailing the Bills and the Patriots, and one game ahead of the bottom dwelling Dolphins. Sure, they're a lot closer to first than last season, but the Favre gambit has yet to translate into any sort of change in the standings.

With a Brady-less Patriots team, this really has got to be eating at Jets fans.

What's happened to the NFC South? Last season they sent three teams to the post-season, this season only the Titans are on pace to even have a winning season.

Speaking of paces, who do you like most for a winless season - the 0-8 Bengals, or the 0-7 Lions? Personally, I think that it's completely possible that both teams will succeed where so many bad teams have failed in delivering the first perfect season in the annals of sucking. But, hey, I'm just an optimist hoping to view perfection in back-to-back seasons.

Slipping away and the AFC North

They can feel it in the Big Apple. It was obvious last night.

A crowd of 51,000 in the Bronx watched in what can only be called reserved quiet as the Yankees went out of last night's game with a whimper. The bang was provided by the visiting Red Sox.

Through the two games the Sox have scored 18 runs against Yankee pitchers, with Dustin Pedroia and Jason Bay combining to drive in 10 runs. The only two Sox players that failed to score runs in the two games were Alex Cora and Kevin Cash, and Cora at least had an RBI, making Cash the only player who failed to contribute to the Sox' offensive outburst.

And the Yankees' $30-million man and clean-up hitter? The man who's supposed to be an offensive tour-de-force - Alex Rodriguez - is 2 for 9 (.222) in the series with one run scored on one batted in (home run), has left all eight men on that were occupying the base-paths during his at bats, and, overall, is batting .246 with runners in scoring position (he's batting .348 with the bases empty). This might be a radical thought, but maybe he should bat lead-off.

For a contrast, and maybe this illustrates how the seasons have gone for the two teams, Kevin Youkilis, who's currently batting clean-up behind David Ortiz, is batting .281 with the bases empty, but .360 with runners in scoring position. To take the comparison a step further - Youk is batting .429 and has 12 RBI with the bases loaded. A-Rod: .100 with 4 RBI.

With Jon Lester on the mound this afternoon against Mike Mussina, I would say today's game is a toss-up, giving the Sox a 50-50 chance at a sweep.

With 30 games left, in the season, more than 60 percent of them at Fenway for the Sox, the Yankees likely have to get to at least 94 wins, and probably 95 just for a playoff bid. That would be a gaudy and unrealistic 25-5 record for the final 30 games of the season.

It's time for the Yankees to begin looking at some of their minor leaguers, to see who the future of the team really is.

And on to the AFC North...

I don't see any major issues changing the face of this division from last year. Injuries and quarterback problems are issues for almost all of these teams.

4. Ravens - They may have found their quarterback of the future, but the future isn't now in Baltimore yet. They'll be in games and play teams tough, but they're at least a year away from being good. I'm guessing at six wins.

3. Bengals - Carson Palmer is already banged up, Chad Johnson is playing through a shoulder injury, and the team is so short at wide out that they resigned resident thug Chris Henry, whom the team claimed they would never re-sign when they cut him. And he can't play in the first month due to a four game suspension. This is not going to be the high powered offense we're used to. If they win more than seven, it will be something of a miracle, and, given their defensive woes, they could end up with four wins on the season.

2. Browns - They haven't looked good in the pre-season, but there's a lot of potential here. Their biggest issue remains on the defensive side of the ball. If they manage to work that out, this team could make some noise. As it is, they aren't surprising anyone this season, so I wouldn't be surprised at 8-8.

1. Steelers - I think that Pittsburgh takes the division - possibly at 9-6. Their biggest problem could be something of a lingering hangover from getting beat-up by other elite teams such as the Jaguars and Patriots late in the season. Only three of the Steelers wins last season came against teams that won at least ten games, and only one was a playoff contender. This season they face teams nine times that either won ten or made the playoffs last season. They have to play better against good teams, or this division might be sending an 8-8 division champ to the big show, and I guarantee, that team will be one and done.

Four thoughts about recent events

With the exception of Matsuzaka, the pitching and defense remained a problem for the Red Sox in their three game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. That said, the hitting has come around - Hell, David Ortiz has heated up, and last among the regulars with a .250 batting average.
Here are some numbers for the rest of the American League to consider - the Sox lead the majors with a .295 team batting average, hits (472) and a .461 slugging percentage, and lead the AL in On Base Percentage (.366), Runs Batted In (228), and Runs (239). If the bullpen solidifies and the rest of the pitching staff solidifies, it's going to be a long season for the challengers in the AL East.

I've read about a lot of different things done to bust out of a slump, but I never needed to know about Jason Giambi and his gold thong. What's more, I never needed to know that Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter have worn his thong.
That's right, the Yankees have shared underwear that is essentially butt-floss. Even by my standards...ew.

Staying on the Yankees, as always, the team was a popular choice to win the AL East. They were picked along with the Tigers and Mariners by some. All three are dead last in their respective divisions, and the best of them (record-wise), the Yanks, would remain in last even if they swapped divisions with the last place team in any other division in baseball.
The flip side for the Yankees - they're at 20-24 through 44 games this season...exactly where they were this time last year. Unfortunately, their pitching is no better than it was this time last year either.

The Bengals released Odell Thurman. Not a big surprise, the team has finally decided to do some house cleaning, getting rid of troubled wide-out Chris Henry, and now Thurman who just came off a two year suspension.
Thurman will likely get one last shot, probably on a team like the Raiders and at the veteran minimum, bit the veteran linebacker has effectively destroyed any of the real market value of his talent by being a complete butt-head off the field.
When the Bengals are cleaning house, it is, in essence, a new day in the NFL, and boneheads like Henry, Thurman, and Adam Jones need to pay attention because all that money they thought they were going to have is going to evaporate in a hurry.

Thoughts and observations

Evidently in football terms it's five strikes and you're out.

The Bengals finally cut troubled wide receiver Chris Henry after what is really his sixth run-in with the law, fifth arrestable offense, since being drafted in 2005. That included four arrests in a twelve month period.

Henry, a player with an enormous amount of potential, has not been able to stay on the field in any of his three seasons due to legal and behavioral issues. In three seasons he has averaged 11.67 games per season, each year - playing in fewer and fewer games each progressive season, going from 14, to 13, and finally to eight games.

The latest charges, essentially assault, are added to a list that includes corruption of minors, DUI, concealed weapons, and possession of marijuana charges.

Bottom line, Henry is, for all intents, the offensive version of Pacman Jones without having shown quite the same talent level. Will he get another chance? Possibly, but it is likely that chance will be, like Pacman's, his last.

T.O. Redux

Over the years there has been a lot of defense of Chad Johnson's antics because he hasn't been the divisive force in the locker room that Terrell Owens has been. I've always felt they were closer in personality than most of the apologists did.

It could be seen at times on the sideline last year as the Bengals struggled, and Johnson, at times took shots at Carson Palmer during the post-game.

Now Johnson appears to be trying to engineer his exit from Cincinnati a-la TO from Philly.

For my money, I hope the loudmouth gets suspended. I'm sick of these spoiled players - wide-outs in particular - whining about the contract they signed and the situation they put themselves into.

This is a problem the NFL needs to address at some point.

The Pawtuckett Express...

Pitching insurance policy Bartolo Colon had a more than solid outing in Pawtucket facing one batter more than the minimum in a five inning start. He gave up only one hit.

With the Red Sox poised to activate Josh Beckett for a Sunday start, two things happen. The Sox once again have depth in the rotation with seven potential starters -

Beckett
Matsuzaka
Lester
Wakefield
Tavarez
Buchholz
Colon

I expect that Clay Buchholz will be the odd man out with Beckett about to be activated. That puts Buchholz on the Pawtucket express unless someone like David Aardsma has options left. Otherwise expect Buchholz to head to Rhode Island for more seasoning while Julian Tavarez takes the fifth spot in the rotation.

It would surprise me if the P.E. wasn't active early and often this season as Theo Epstein and Terry Francona work to get the right mix between the pen and the rotation.

Just a wild guess, but if Kyle Snyder doesn't work out his issues, I believe that we're looking at Snyder designated or released, Tavarez going back to the pen and a rotation from one to five of Beckett, Matsuzaka, Colon, Wakefield, and Lester by the end of May.

Puzzling Predictions...

Sports Illustrated and a number of other outlets have picked the Yankees to win the American League East this season.

After what the team did last season with a suspect pitching staff, I will not rule them out for post-season contention. However, I have to question the wisdom of picking a team to win whose best, most consistent pitcher, Andy Pettitte, against whom opponents batted over .280 for two consecutive years.

Their potential ace, Chien-Ming Wong, has put up back to back 19-win seasons, but has been plagued by inconsistency, getting smacked around at times by the better teams, or failing to come up big when needed. Number three starter Mike Mussina, once an innings eater and solid number two, has approached 200 innings only once in the last four seasons, had an ERA below 4.40 only once during that same span, and seen opponents bat below .276 only once in that span, with a high of .311 last year.

The other two pitchers are Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy who may or may not be ready for the glare of the bright lights of New York.

Even with the line-up the Yankees have, that's a lot to overcome.

Caveat Emptor

Buyer beware.

Everyone has something to sell. Everyone. Me? I'm trying to sell the idea that I might indeed have a clue as to what I'm writing about...not everyone buys, particularly not my wife.

At least retail is honest about it. For the rest of us...well, let's just say you have to pay closer attention to what's being sold...

Let's go through some of the people and groups making sales pitches out there -

Scott Boras/Alex Rodriguez - A-Rod is the car that Boras is trying to sell. He's like a Jaguar- a sleek, pretty bauble of a car with a 12 cylinder engine that has a tendency to crap out on you at the worst possible moment. In 2004 when the Yankees needed a $30 million bat to save them from Mo Rivera's struggles, A-Rod disappeared like J.D. Salinger from the public eye.

Buyers need to beware of the slick, used-car salesman Boras, and his shiny toy of a product, A-Rod. Consider - even in a (contract) year in which A-Rod set career highs in RBI's (156), OBP (.422), and slugging (.645), hit the second most homers (54), and third highest batting average (.314), Boras is going out of his way to get potential buyers to NOT look at his client's post-season failings in that same career year - in a year in which A-Rod led the league in RBI's, he knocked in one in this year's post season.

So during a season in which A-Rod averaged an RBI per every 3.7 at bats, he had one in 15 during the postseason. Even adding in the 8 he had during the 2004 playoffs, this is what he has done in baseball's second season since then - 9 RBI's in 94 at bats, or one for every 10.4 at bats. For his career he has knocked in a run for every 4.9 at bats in the regular season, that has dropped off to one for every 8.6 at bats in the postseason, a number that has gotten progressively worse with each passing season.

This doesn't include the following facts that I have mentioned in other posts - for the first three seasons after A-Rod left Seattle, the team averaged in the vicinity of 10 more wins per season; after he left Texas, they averaged eight more wins per season; the Yankees have average almost four fewer per season, decreasing from 111 wins per year to 94 this year. And, here's the kicker, he has failed to help any team he has been on advance to the World Series. Buyer beware.

The first half of the Patriots schedule - What they are trying to sell? Professional football. How? By complaining that the Patriots are doing things they shouldn't be...like scoring a lot. The people who need to beware? The fan-bases of the Jets, Dolphins, Cowboys, Chargers, Bills, Bengals, Redskins and Browns. Really, the fans of the Cowboys, Jets, Dolphins, and Redskins in particular.

Those teams, those four mentioned at the bottom of that last paragraph, were the ones that started the complaints of how the Patriots are playing offense this year (well, the Jets complained about something else, and maybe they should be more worried about what's happening on the field than on the sideline - if this were European soccer, they and the Dolphins would be well on their way to playing in a semi-pro league). One Redskin, who shall remain unnamed in this post, accused the Patriots of disrespecting the game in an effort to deflect attention from the fact that what the Patriots really disrespected was the Redskins highly regarded defense.

As just about every former coach, player, and most pundits have said - there's no mercy rule in the NFL, if you don't like a team scoring on you, then do something about it. Rolling over and playing dead when you get down by a couple of touchdowns is what really disrespects the game.

Buyer...beware.

The National Press - The national press, in an effort to build up this weekend's game between the Pats and Colts, are trying to sell the Patriots as the evil empire with the merciless coach who won't take his foot off the pedal once he's driven the opposition into the ground. The Colts are the perennial good guys of the league with the owner doing everything he can to make a stadium happen in his host city, and the brilliant, but nice head coach in Tony Dungy.

Let's look at some of the facts in this - yes, the Patriots are running the score up on people and annihilating their opponents. However, it's not like the Colts under Dungy have never done this. The following was ganked from the Boston Globe's Eric Wilbur, via Dave at The Coffin Corner -

W, 49-14
W, 41-10
W, 41-9
W, 51-24
That quartet of one-sided scores comes to you courtesy of the 2004 Indianapolis Colts from a November-December period during which Peyton Manning and Company annihilated the Texans, Bears, Lions, and Titans, respectively. And, you know it's funny, I don't remember one person whining about them running up the score.

Tony Dungy, the good-guy coach in all of this, did not call off the dogs. Dungy has also publicly associated himself with groups that have well known anti-gay stances (but I suppose that's okay, because everyone knows that on one is gay in the locker room). Focus on Family, the group with which Dungy is most closely associated has been referred to by a number of people as "rabidly anti-gay." Last I checked, Bill Belichick has never aligned himself with any hate groups that hide behind a thin veil of legitimacy by claiming to be family advocates.

Let's look at Jim Irsay - still public enemy number one in Baltimore. Still the only owner that gets more of a rise out of Baltimore fans that Peter Angelos. For those who have forgotten, Irsay, the so-called nice guy owner, packed the Colts up in the dead of night and broke his lease with Baltimore County in an effort to move the team to Indy. Irsay did this against league wishes. Yeah, he's a good guy.

I have no personal issue with the Colts on the field. Manning is a supremely talented quarterback (please take a cue from Brady and cut back on the public endorsements - its annoying enough to make me look forward to seeing you get your head handed to you). The team is talented. However, the general manager and owner have whined whenever things didn't go their way, the head coach is a bigot, and the press is selling a serious double standard here.

Once again...buyer beware.

The sporting gods love irony....

Consider the following in the NFL -

The following head coaches, former offensive coordinators, were hired for their offensive acumen. These men were supposed to bring the "O" to teams that already had the defense in place -

Brian Billick, Ravens - offensive coordinator of the record setting Minnesota offense that featured Chris Carter and Randy Moss at wide receiver. Currently the 24th overall offense and head coach of team that at no time under his tenure was a top 16 offense.

Scott Linehan, Rams - Former offensive coordinator of the Vikings and Dolphins is head coach of the dead last offense in the league right now.

John Gruden, Buccaneers - The former Eagles offensive coordinator is presiding over a team that's 26th overall.

Sean Payton, Saints - This former Giants offensive coordinator currently has the 27th ranked offense.

Mike Shanahan, Broncos - Shanahan was an offensive coordinator many times over between college and the pros including previous stints with Denver and Oakland. Right now his offense is ranked 25th.

Andy Reid, Eagles - The former Green Bay offensive coordinator now presides over the 21st ranked offense.

Brad Childress, Vikings - The former Eagles coordinator was the hot commodity during the off-season coaching carousel before the 2006 season. Now there are whispers that he's already on his way out in Minnesota as his team struggles along with the 22nd ranked offense.

On the other side of the coin are former defensive coordinators Eric Mangini, Marvin Lewis, Wade Phillips, and Romeo Crennel whose teams are all ranked 20th or worse in overall defense.

Mangini, Jets - Those calling for the ouster of quarterback Chad Pennington might want to take a closer look at the Jets defense, currently ranked 28th overall.

Lewis, Bengals - The architect of the championship defense in Baltimore currently presides over the second worst defense in the league. Only the Dolphins are statistically worse.

Phillips, Cowboys - The man calling the plays on the sidelines in San Diego last year is now coaching a team with the 21st defense. Why again are so many people calling this the third best team in the league right now?

Crennel, Browns - The beleaguered Crennel has a legitimate chance of bringing the long-suffering Browns to the post-season in spite of a defense that currently ranks 30th due to a soft schedule. However, if the team fails to straighten out some the defensive failings between now and then, it's going to be one and done in the playoffs.

As for why I wrote this? The way the Patriots are going this season, Josh McDaniels is going to be the hot coaching commodity come the off-season. Of course general managers will ignore what they ignored with Brian Billick - the personnel. Does this make McDaniel a bad coach with good players?

Of course not.

However, in their quest to find their man, GM's make more out of results on the field in regards to a coach's hand in player performance in order to justify their hire. Sometimes the coach just has shinier toys to play with where they were.

So, that's what an off game looks like...

Patriots 34, Bengals 13.

Tom Brady had his lowest completion percentage of the season at a gaudy 78.1.

Randy Moss had his lowest yardage total at 102.

The offense put up only 34 points.

For other teams these offensive numbers would increase the respective averages associated with each. On the Patriots its bringing the overall numbers down.

And, oddly, in spite of the 21-point loss, the Bengals defense did appear to slow down the Patriots a little. Of course the only time Cincy really stopped them they had 12 men on the field.

A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, and the Patriots have yet to face their toughest opposition, but could 16-0 really be within reach? Not something I would normally put out there, but with this team you have to wonder.

NFL Questions: AFC North

For the last couple of years this division was supposed to be a powerhouse on the verge - the Browns got defensive guru and Bill Belichick disciple Romeo Crennel to run the show and a collection of exciting young players, the Steelers and Ravens were models of consistency, and the Bengals were on the rise. With retirements, age, and other issues that have surfaced, it's now a division with a lot of questions...

Baltimore Ravens - Does Steve McNair have enough in the tank to get this team to the playoffs? Honestly, watching the way McNair ran down at the end of the season, I don't think the question is about Super Bowl chances - I don't think that can even be discussed with this team until they make the post season and McNair shows some life. None of the other questions about this team matter if McNair can't get the job done.

Cincinnati Bengals - There are so many questions here, mostly having to do with suspensions (see Odell Thurman, Chris Henry), but the team proved they could weather those distractions for at least one season, so it stands to reason that they could do it for another (although it could catch up to them). No, the big question here is whether or not they can stop the run.

Like the Indianapolis Colts last year, the Bengals gave up big yardage on the ground. Unlike the Colts, the Bengals couldn't overcome that - nor did they have the player that could come in, when healthy, and stop the run. If they can force teams into shoot-outs and take away the other team's ability to grind out a lead, this could be a big year for them. Otherwise, expect more of the same.

Cleveland Browns - So many questions, but of greatest significance to the Browns - Who's the leader? Charlie Frye, Brady Quinn? Whoever the brain-trust decides is the leader will go a long way to determining whether Romeo Crennel continues as a head coach, or if he returns to a coordinator roll. Either way, Crennel had best hope that the left tackle the team drafted is the dominant left-tackle they're projecting him to be. Otherwise, he better have the resumes ready.

Pittsburgh Steelers - Following their win in one of the worst Super Bowl games ever in regards to the quality of football played, the Steelers picked up where they left off - playing bad football. The first question that pops to mind is whether or not Big Ben can carry the load, but I think the important question is how does a veteran locker room respond when ownership passes on the player's choice for head coach? Steelers players, it was reported, were hoping that one of the incumbent coordinators with whom they were familiar would be offered the job. Instead, it went to Mike Tomlin - a relative youngster in his thirties with a penchant for the 4-3. The Steelers run a 3-4, have for years, and that's the type of personnel that Pittsburgh currently has.

Can they play his brand of football, and, more importantly, are they willing?

The NFL offseason - putting the FUN back in dysFUNction

This has been a busy offseason for the NFL - the Pacman Jones and Chris Henry suspensions, the impending Tank Johnson suspension, the Michael Vick investigation. And this is just the tip of the iceberg with other players like Green Bay linebacker Nick Barnett being arrested and a tenth Bengal in the last 14 months getting picked up.

While it seems like the NFL is a refuge for violent offenders and yes, the number is rising every year, the proportion of males given to criminal behavior in society as a whole is still larger proportionately than the number in the NFL.

No...the dysfunction that I want to talk about isn't the criminals as I have so often littered our headlines of late. I want to take a quick look at the NFL's dysfunctional franchises.

1. The Bengals - The Queen City's grid-iron entry gets the top ranking by default with close to 20 percent of the team making for a police line-up. Marvin Lewis has his work cut out as he goes about trying to change the culture of criminality in his lockerroom.

2. The Raiders - A few lucky bounces are all that kept this team from going 0-16 last season and now the players are whining that practices are too tough. Al Davis is going to be dead before this team wins again.

3. The Bears - How often does a team make it to the Super Bowl, only to have the defensive tackle go to jail, linebacker hold out, a defensive lineman throw the starting quarterback under the bus, and the ownership get involved in a protracted and ugly contract negotiation with the winningest head coach they have had since Ditka left. Anyone really think that this team is really going to make it to the Super Bowl again.

4. The Falcons - Everything that comes out of here is either done to enable Michael Vick, or make excuses for him, which I suppose amounts to the same thing. If Vick gets indicted in the dogfighting probe, and subsequently suspended, it could be the best thing to happen to this team.

5. The Vikings - It seems like whenever news comes out of the Dome in regards to the purple, it's about how Childress has already lost the locker room, what some player has done wrong, or what horrible personnel move that the team has made.

"It is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right," and other thoughts

The above quote was ganked from the AP report on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's decision to suspend Titans corner Adam "Pacman" Jones for the 2007 season and Bengals receiver Chris Henry for the first half of the season. Goodell went on to explain, "These players and all members of our league have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis."

According to the report, both the Bengals and Titans are publicly supporting the commissioner's ruling and Jones can even make it back before the end of the season if he plays ball with his employers...

He could be reinstated before season's end if he adheres to a strict set of conditions set by the NFL that include no further involvement with law enforcement; counseling, education and treatment under league and court-ordered programs; follows restrictions on his activities agreed to with the Titans; and a community-service program submitted to the league for review and approval.

Ranting on contracts...

Check out Bitterfans for an elaboration on my rant about Asante Samuel and his contract SNAFU.

T'ain't a sport...it's an activity...

Could somebody explain to me why golf gets so much play on ESPN? When golf ratings are high, they're in the realm of baseball, but that's the exception, not the rule. According to golf-blogger Geoff Shackelford, this year's season opening event, the Mercedes, had a ratings drop of 44 percent from last year. If I dropped 44 percent of my body weight, I'd be hospitalized - if not dead.

And on the golf note - is it just me, or is getting a green blazer possibly the lames award in sports? Super Bowl/ World Series rings, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Lombardi Trophy...green jacket. And...I know she hasn't been in the news in a couple of months now, but it's only a matter of time before she's back, but could we lay off reporting anything about Michelle Wie until she actually wins something? Is that too much to ask?

Tumblin' Dice...

Last week Daisuke Matsuzaka made his Major League debut against a weak Kansas City line-up and looked like he came as advertised. Tomorrow he faces a somewhat better Seattle Mariners line-up. Should be interesting to see what happens...for now he's looking pretty damn good. The offense on the other hand...

Rim Shots...

Pacman's about to get ghosted and no power-pills left to eat...
Right now the smart money is on the concept that cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones will not play another down for the Tennessee Titans in light of all of his extra-curricular activities. There is an additional belief that he will be suspended for the season next year.

This poses a question - If the Titans release Jones and no one picks him up next season because they don't want money tied up in a player who can not play, then he isn't really serving a suspension under league rules, is he? It should be interesting to see if his career goes away because of all this, or if he just does (despite all his claims of innocence in regards to the Vegas incident, it does appear that he was caught on camera inciting the melee that ensued).

Man of Steel rolls the dice and they come up snake-eyes...
So Joey Porter, after signing a contract to become a Miami Dolphin, assaults a Bengal in Vegas over trash talking in relation to his former team the Steelers and could face up to a year in jail time for his transgression. While it's unlikely that he will serve that sort of time (if any at all), it was not the smartest move in the world - particularly with the league scrutinizing this sort of behavior.

Pitching in the Venezualan Penal League...
Former big league closer Ugueth Urbina, a former member of the Red Sox (amongst other teams), was convicted of attempted murder. According to the AP Report, Urbina, "was accused of joining a group of men in attacking and injuring workers with machetes and pouring gasoline on them at his family's ranch, located about 25 miles south of Caracas."

I had heard that Urbina was charged at the beginning of this case, but - in all honesty - I don't know enough about the case to say whether Urbina got shafted or not. I can say that the man has not had a good couple of years, starting with the kidnapping of his mother in September of 2004 (she was rescued five months later).

Extracurricular activities reshaping 2007 NFL rosters

Ah - nothing like the moron patrol to change a general manager's plans...

Consider some of the following -

Chicago Blues -
Tank Johnson, recently sentenced to spend the next four months in jail for violating his probation on gun charges, is likely to be facing a minimum four game suspension from the league when next season starts. While the jail sentence should end in time for Johnson to attend training camp, the violation puts him in violation of common terms in all NFL contracts and, as such, will cost him 25 percent of next year's paychecks.

What it will cost the Bears is a change in the off-season philosophy. The Bears know they will likely be without the services of their starting nose tackle for a portion of the beginning of next season. While the team's schedule hasn't been announced, its opponents have and they will be facing at least nine out-of-division opponents who will try to pound the ball on them in the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Saints, Seahawks, Broncos, Chiefs, and Chargers.

For a team that already has holes in their secondary due to free-agency, and one pissed-off franchised linebacker, this alters what the general manager has to do both in free-agency and the draft. Act of God is one thing, act of Tank has gotta hack Jerry Angelo off.

Tennessee Waltz -
Pacman never learned that the blue ghosts are only good in the video game. When they're in blue in real-life, they're probably cops.

Adam "Pacman" Jones evidently had two run-ins with Georgia police which recently came to light. Evidently Jones never informed his employers of these run-ins and speculation is that these charges are going to result in a plea as well as a possible season-long suspension from the NFL under the same contract provision that is likely to cause Johnson to miss games.

The rampant speculation is that the volatile Jones has played his last game as a Titan, which led to the signing of former Colt Nick Harper in the first place.

I'll have the Porterhouse -
I'm not saying that this will necessarily result in league discipline, but don't be surprised if linebacker Joey Porter misses a couple of games next season before debuting with the Dolphins for his alleged assault of Bengals tackle Levi Jones. Unless the charges are dropped, Porter was cited by Las Vegas police for misdemeanor battery, I'm guessing that the NFL will come down pretty hard on him - especially considering that the Player's Union has expressed an interest in stemming the police reports associated with its membership.

Just one suggestion to the NFL - do not ever consider Vegas as an expansion site. It seems that whenever NFL player news comes out of there it always involves a police report.

How are these guys not on the Bengals?

According to a December article in the Washington Post approximately 35 NFL players were arrested over the previous 12 months – since then there has been at least one more arrest of a Bengal, which means that the Bengals which account for 3.125 percent of the active players in the league account for approximately 25 percent of the arrests.

I would like to propose a rule change: Any player arrested for a felony offense, or on drug charges is to immediately be traded to the Bengals for a player of equal value for tracking purposes. Once there are no players left of equal value without criminal records, then the Raiders will become the new repository for said players.

The following are the folks that I can’t believe that the Bengals personnel office missed on (and these are just the ones I can remember), keeping in mind that some have been acquitted and some are still facing their day in court –

Offense -

Ruben Droughns, RB Browns – Arrested in May 2006 on one count of assault and two counts of harassment. Also acquitted of earlier drunk driving infraction.

Michael Vick, QB Falcons – Repeated links to marijuana including the recent fiasco at a Miami airport when Vick refused to surrender a water bottle to homeland security officials. Also, has a known alias (Ron Mexico) that is linked to a sex-related civil suit.

Koren Robinson, WR Vikings/Packers - Released during training camp after being arrested on charges of drunken driving and fleeing from police.

Randy Moss, WR Raiders – Past links to marijuana use and resisting arrest. Currently doing everything in his power to get traded including yell and swear at his new head coach.

Ricky Williams, RB Dolphins – Drug issues.

Defense -

Joe Cullen, Asst Coach D Line, Lions – Arrested twice during 2006. In August for an alleged indecent and obscene conduct issue at a fast food drive-in. The second at the beginning of September was for alleged drunk driving

Terrence Kiel, S Chargers - arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents at the team's practice facility in September on charges of transporting and possessing a controlled substance.

Steve Foley, LB Chargers - Shot and wounded by an off-duty police officer after a high speed chase for which Foley was charged with drunken driving.

Dwight Smith, S Vikings - Cited by Minneapolis police for indecent conduct in a stairwell outside a downtown nightclub with an unnamed woman.

Sean Taylor, S Redskins – As of last January was facing three counts of aggravated assault and potentially faced up to 46 years in prison. Also has had an issue with spitting on other players.

Adam “Pacman” Jones, CB Titans – Arrested for assault for spitting on a woman at a nightclub in October. Also had a previous run in for which he was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

Ricky Manning Jr, CB Bears - Arrested was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon in April.

Tank Johnson, DT Bears – Arrested several times over the last couple of season for a variety of offenses including felony gun charges, six misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of a weapon without a Firearm Owner's Identification card and aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

Championships, fans and trashtalk

Trash talk amongst team fan bases is tradition. The more intense the rivalry, the more the trash talk. Of course, as fans, we often get into ruts to prove our points - utilizing facts that had relevance once, but, due to recent developments, no longer have impact.

For example - no Colts detractor can talk about Dungy's or Manning's inability to win the big one...well, they could, but they would come off as petty and in denial, much like most of Barry Bonds's supporters at this point.

As a life-long member of Red Sox Nation, my favorites are the ones that no longer have any impact on Red Sox fans (except for the truly insecure), but are still used by Yankees fans when they're put on the defensive. Such as; "yeah, well the Yankees won 26 World Series." The problem, that Yankees fans don't seem to understand, is that sports is a "what have you done for me lately" world, and the Sox have won more recently than the Yanks, so we really just don't care. While not happy about things like the Buckner gaffe (which wasn't completely his fault - there are plenty of other places to point the finger in 1986), and the 1978 meltdown, a lot of that gets washed away by 2004.

2004 provides us Sox fans with the best fuel of all for not only did we win the series that year, but it gave us the gift that will keep on giving until the Yankees win the series again - the Yankees are now the OWNERS of the WORST MELTDOWN IN POSTSEASON HISTORY. That takes a lot of sting out of just about any trash talk a Yankees fan can try to throw out there.

(Fill in team here) suck! Amusing, but holds no real value for me, but I'm not into trash talking. I'd rather discuss the merits of a team on a head-to-head/player-by-player basis - Would you rather have Brady over Manning/Varitek over Posada/the San Francisco Giants braintrust condoning illegal behavior or the Cincinnati Bengals braintrust condemning it (but having difficulties finding a solution)? You know...that sort of thing. That being said, I have to admit - the Raiders really do suck. Anyone interested, I'm willing to elaborate, but have a hunch I don't need to. Also, hard to argue with someone saying the Atlantic Division in the NBA sucks, but I addressed that earlier.

Unfortunately, not all fans have the good sense to understand that you stay away from certain subjects where death is involved. It is what has prompted players to go into the stands after fans (a couple of years back a pitcher left the bullpen to go after somebody that had the good grace to comment on the pitcher's stillborn son). It is also why I was not disappointed in the final score of this year's Super Bowl, in spite of the fact that I don't like the Colts.

I know the guy pictured above does not represent all Chicago fans, but somebody needed to say something to him - because that sign was not just classless, it was tasteless and it was not the only one of its ilk at the NFC Championship game.

Should They be Nervous?

Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson was questioned by Miami police in regards to the shooting death of a Miami man. According to a statement released by the Bengals to the Associated Press, "Chad has confirmed to the club that he cooperated with Miami Police earlier this week as part of an investigation. Police have characterized this as a routine procedure and have stressed that Chad is not a suspect or even a person of interest in this case."

The AP report states that the man, Curtis Tavares Dopson, "was shot near the doorway of a duplex he moved into about four months ago." The report was unclear as to whether it was a duplex that Dopson had moved into or that it was one that Johnson had moved into.

Johnson was questioned as to what his relationship might have been with the deceased and what connection he had in relation to the shooting.

While I'm sure that the Bengals are happy that the police are saying that Johnson isn't a suspect, or person of interest, recent player behavior might dictate concern for the team's front office. If this shooting happened in Johnson's doorway and he knew the deceased, management has to be concerned that new evidence could quickly change the status of their star receiver.

Given the last year's worth of off-the-field issues, I can't imagine that the Bengals brain trust is happy about this report.

I can almost hear the hands wringing in Cincy from here.

And another Bengals update...

Troubled Bengals receiver Chris Henry is trading in his tiger stripes for prison stripes for two days. According to an AP report the receiver "was sent to jail for two days on Thursday after pleading guilty to allowing minors to drink alcohol in his hotel room last spring."
Henry appears to be the Bengals' teflon player, having avoided significant jail time while pleading guilty in three previous criminal cases.
In the lastest case, according to the report, "Henry originally was charged in Covington with three counts of unlawful transaction with a minor. Police said he brought alcohol for three females -- ages 18, 16 and 15 -- in a Covington motel room April 29. One of the three, Monica Beamon, 18, was charged with murder in Cincinnati last September."
Lovely company he keeps.
Henry was sentenced in this case to 90 days, but the judge suspended all but two. For his repeated transgressions on this as well as drug and weapons charges combined he has been sentenced to a total of 120 days, only two of which he is spending in a jail, two years probation, and 100 hrs of community service, the equivalent of 12.5 business days working a standard eight hour shift.
Meanwhile a 20 year old man is serving ten years (see last post) in a Georgia prison for having consensual sex when he was a minor with another minor. Something isn't right here

Arrested Development

Marvin Lewis has gotta hate his job right about now.

During Lewis's tenure as head coach of the Queen City's football franchise approximately 20 percent of his players have displayed a preference for prison stripes to those of the majestic Tiger for which the team is named. I only bring this up because it has been reported that cornerback and first round draft pick from last year Jonathan Joseph has been arrested on drug charges, adding him to eight others that have been arrested in the last twelve months, and at least the tenth in the last two and a half years.
According to the AP report, Coach Lewis stated "We've tried to allow guys to both mature as men and mature as players. But the thing we continue to find is they've got to be constantly coached, policed and corrected so that at times of adversity, we can do the right things."
Considering that most of these guys had well documented problems in college that made it to the local press, there really is no excuse for Lewis to be easy on these guys (another statement he made to the press). Can he be watching over them 24/7? No. But he certainly doesn't have to be playing them, and it is within the team's purview the fine the buggers for this sort of behavior.
In the regular season the roster has 53 players, 47 of whom are active on Sunday. Ten arrested is then over 21 percent of the active roster.

I would call the following a roll call, but rap sheet seems more appropriate (keeping in mind, I am only listing arrests, not convictions);

Justin Smith, DE, 1st Round - DUI 10/2004
*Odell Thurman, LB, 2nd Round - DUI 9/2006
Erich Steinbach, G, 2nd Round - Boating under the influence 8/2006
Matthias Askew, DT, 4th Round - Resisting arrest 8/2006 - release did nothing to send a message to other Bengals trouble children.
Deltha O'Neal, CB, DUI 12/2006
AJ Nicholson, LB, 5th Round - Burgalury, grand theft 6/2006
Frostee Rucker, DE, 3rd Round - Spousal Battery, vandalism 6/2006
*Reggie McNeal, WR, 6th Round - Resisting Arrest, drug charges 12/2006

The last is a one man rap sheet...the following is just a sample as Henry has been arrested four times since the end of/late in 2005...
*Chis Henry, WR, 3rd Round -
12/2005 - pulled over in Northern Kentucky for speeding and marijuana was found in his shoes. He was also driving without a valid driver's license, and without auto insurance.
1/2006, he was arrested in Orlando for multiple gun charges including concealment and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was reported to have been wearing his Number 15 Bengals jersey at the time of his arrest. Henry pleaded guilty to in both cases and avoided jail time in both cases.
Cincinnati media reported in 5/2006, that Henry is being investigated by Covington police in connection with a sex crime, which allegedly occurred in a hotel room in Covington, Kentucky early on April 30, 2006. No charges have yet been filed, and on May 24, 2006, Covington police reported that there is no proof anything happened and that the alleged victim might now face charges for filing a false police report.

* It's just interesting to note that when Thurman was nailed for his DUI, he was serving a 4-game substance abuse suspension and in the vehicle with him were McNeal and Henry.

The Year in brief review

I'm going to keep this short. With a thanks ahead of time to Chuck Dickens...

It was the best of times (talk to the fans of the Cardinals, Steelers, Heat, etc.), it was the worst of times (see Floyd Landis, Duke Lacrosse, the Oakland Raiders), it was the age of wisdom (Jim Leyland), it was the age of foolishness(Dallas Cowboys signing Terrell Owens), it was the epoch of belief (fans of teams everywhere as their teams' seasons began), it was the epoch of incredulity (can't help it, back to the TO thing)...

It's been a busy year in the sports world - Let's handle this in Clint Eastwood fashion...

The Good...
Paul Tagliabue retired as commissioner from the NFL beginning a new era in pro football.
The Detroit Tigers gave fans of any team everywhere reason for hope with their worst-to-first Cinderella story.
The Steelers became the first 6th seed in the playoffs to win the Super Bowl, becoming a Cinderella story of their own.
George Mason making it to the final four.
The New Orleans Saints.

The Bad...
Red Auerbach passed away and the NBA began its first season in its history sans the man with the cigar.
Basketbrawl in Madison Square Garden.
The passing of Kirby Puckett at a young age.
Isaiah Thomas and Matt Millen in charge of professional sports franchises.
Terrell Owens continued need to have the spotlight on himself, even if its for the wrong reasons.
The way in which Joe Paterno's coaching career might end.
The Cincinnati Bengals.

The Ugly...
As mentioned previously, the Duke Lacrosse scandal.
The doping throughout cycling which saw some of cycling's biggest names banned from competing in the Tour de France and the incompetent way in which testing and storing samples continues to be done by international anti-doping authorities, which have now cast doubts on their implication of Floyd Landis, and the way in which the appeals process is being stalled while his career is on hold pending the hearing.
Italian soccer officials implicated in match fixing still being allowed to oversee World Cup matches.
The mess that is the Raiders entire organization.
Same for the Knicks.