Yesterday, the Lions played the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field and my B.S. meter went off.

After being dominated statistically for almost the entire game, the Lions found themselves with a chance to win a game with seconds left – which is a rarity for them. What is even more remarkable, is that Matthew Stafford was knocked out of the game with a concussion, and journeyman quarterback Shaun Hill had a chance to deliver.

:31 seconds left in the 4th, ball at the Bears 25, Hill takes a 7 step drop, and lets it fly. Calvin Johnson virtually teabags Bears defensive back Zack Bowman, catches the football with both hands, and gets both feet on the ground in the endzone. Then he proceeds to take a third step backwards, palms the ball in his right hand, falls to the ground, rotates his upper body, and slams the ball in the ground while still in his right hand. Sounds like a touchdown, right?

Nope.

The official nearest to the play (the linesman in the video) signaled touchdown, while the back judge (who isn’t even in the initial frame) signaled incomplete. It would make sense that the closest official to the play with an unobstructed view would call it, but that’s not what happened. The linesman was overruled by the back judge, and the ruling on the field was an incomplete pass. It was reviewed and it was determined to be an incomplete pass.

I can understand missing that play live. Calvin Johnson is a very large individual moving at a high rate of speed, missing it on replay however angered me. However, many people defend the call. Here is what Cris Carter had to say about it:

“In the endzone, the rules are different than in the field of play. . . In the endzone, it is either one knee,. . . or two feet, and you have to physically be able to hand the ball to the referee.”

I have several issues with this, but lets start with the obvious. If you pause the video at :31 and :35, you will see Calvin Johnson’s fingers on his left hand start in the endzone, then slide over the back line of the endzone. This happens before the ball makes contact with the ground. Once a player in possession of a ball leaves the field of play, the play should be whistled dead and considered over, right?

My second issue is that Cris Carter’s interpretation of the rule conflicts with what referee Gene Steratore says, “We don’t play with the two feet or one knee or anything of that scenario. We’re talking now about the process of the catch.”

Cris Carter explained that he knew the rule because of what he was told. So if Cris Carter interpreted the rule wrong, a guy who played football and now analyzes it for a living, isn’t it interpreting the rule correctly, then isn’t the rule a little ridiculous to begin with?

The entire wording of this mysterious rule regarding the process of the catch is as follows, “A player who goes to the ground in the process of attempting to secure possession of a loose ball (with or without contact by a defender) must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, there is no possession. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, it is a catch, interception or recovery.”

There’s one small problem with the NFL’s particular interpretation of this rule on this play, and it occurs at :30-:31. The rule states me must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground. That is pretty black and white. But by the definition provided in the NFL Digest of Rules, possession is, “when a player controls the ball throughout the act of clearly touching both feet, or any other part of his body other than his hand(s), to the ground inbounds.”

Wouldn’t possession after his very athletic posterior made contact with the ground end the process of the catch? The rule book says nothing about keeping the possession of the ball through the entire catch like Cris Carter and Gene Steratore claim, it only states that the player should maintain possession after the person makes contact (which we have already found out is anything but the hands) with the ground. Not to mention the fact he rolled onto his side. How many points of contact do you need to verify it with the ground? Sheesh.

So I guess technically, Calvin Johnson’s butt is the story here. They should probably examine it a little closer.

I was recently watching some re-runs of Dave Chappelle doing standup comedy. He did a bit entitled, “How old is fifteen, really?” His main point was the discepancies of the beliefs of how old the age of fifteen is.

His point (in its entirety) isn’t a whole lot different than the one that crossed my mind last night. How good is Boise State, really?

Part of what makes elite conferences elite is how deep they are. The Big 12 back in the mid-2000′s was critized for their lack of competitive football teams, often inciting nicknames like “Texas and the Eleven Dwarfs.” Being able to bring it every Saturday night is a better evaluator of a quality team than a one hit wonder.

Last night on “Game Night” on ESPNRadio there was a text sent in about Boise State. The college football analyst on the show (whose name escapes me, sorry) said that he fully expected Boise State to be ranked no lower than fourth in the upcoming preseason polls. This is extremely important – if you don’t have a high preseason ranking, it’s almost impossible to sneak into a BCS bowl.

Their biggest opponent is the first game of the season – versus Virginia Tech. If they win, and have some BCS powerhouses with one loss at the end of the year, Boise is playing in a National Championship. Boise State isn’t stupid. They have done this before.

Losing late in the season hurts more than early in the season. If they lose to Virginia Tech, the loss isn’t as fresh on the minds of the voters. If they win, their status as a non-BCS power is validated. Plus, playing Virginia Tech so early ensures that they won’t be as good, while Boise State is chomping at the bit for validation. To them, they are Goliath with the David complex.

There’s no possible way that they could receive validation for what they do during they year because they haven’t done anything. In 2009, they were 2-0 against the top 25. It’s a good percentage, but it isn’t that impressive. When you factor in that one win over a top 25 was against another non-BCS school, with over a month to prepare for them, and the other school was the first game of the year, it starts to become clear.

They are still riding the coattails of their win over Oklahoma in 2006, where again, they had a month to prepare. Boise isn’t stupid.

That most damning evidence of Boise State’s below average accomplishments? Since the win that garnered all of the fame for Boise in 2006, they have only won one game against a ranked opponent not in week one or a bowl game. That’s flat out pitiful. Loss to #14 Hawaii in 2007, win to #17 Oregon in 2008, loss to #11 TCU, win over #16 Oregon in 2009, and a win over #3 TCU. They’re 4-2 against ranked opponents since their win over Oklahoma, and in two of the wins they were outplayed. You know another team that has went 4-2 over a [b]four[/b] year span against ranked opponents, then gets ranked? South Carolina went 2-3 versus ranked opponents alone in 2009, yet probably won’t even sniff the top 25.

But last year while Boise State was beating up on world beaters such as Toledo, and New Mexico State, everyone else was fighting tooth and nail for the success that has just been handed to Boise because of one win four years ago. The only way to become relevant is to consistently play BCS talent, week in, and week out, unless you’re Boise. You get handed a Fiesta Bowl for the second year in a row against the only team in a BCS bowl you could have beaten, and you almost screwed it up both times. Thank God you only did it once, then I’d have nothing to write about.

But if you’re Boise, there is no need to move to a particularly stronger conference, which is just what they did. Moving to a strong conference risks what they have worked so hard to accomplish, winning the occasional big game, blowing out everyone in their conference, and being enabled by sports writers all over the country – just for playing mediocre football teams.

Instead, they moved to the Mountain West Conference. Now they don’t play New Mexico State in conference, they’ve upgraded to bigger and better teams, like Wyoming, San Diego State, and UNLV. No one can say that they didn’t try to better their prospects by moving conferences, and no one can blame them for not trying. Boise isn’t stupid.

In a society that is looking for a handout, Boise State, while intentionally taking this title or not, is the nation’s posterchild.

Boise is sort of like the kid that we all knew when we were in school that qualifies as a resource student but isn’t stupid, he’s just lazy. He probably makes straight A’s on the color-coded tests and scored a 30 on a modified ACT. Congratulations, you’re good at being mediocre. No it’s fine, you can stick with your modified tests while Alabama takes the Biology, Organic Chemistry, and Calculus II tests back-to-back-to-back, then if he fails one, you not only appear more intelligent, you feel more intelligent. If that’s what you need to feel relevant, there’s no reason to change. You’ve been facilitated under a flawed system and given all the benefits you don’t deserve.

I’m not saying Boise is bad, I’m saying they haven’t done anything to prove their worth, and they won’t until they stop getting attention. I guess we will never know how good Boise State is, really.

Now look, I understand expressing your opinion, and I completely understand why you want people to listen to what you have to say. It is a symbol of importance, leadership, and substance, especially if you are a member of the media. But when a person in authority makes an idiotic statement just for the sake of mass deliberation, I have officially lost respect for them.

ESPN.com writer Bill Simmons made the mistake of saying something he shouldn’t have in a chat. I’m willing to give him a pass. It happens. So instead of repealing what he said, he… elaborated on it? Even on the surface, ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons comparison of Tiger Woods’ recent problems to Muhammad Ali’s exile in 1970 is moronic.

Simmons writes, “When Tiger Woods returns to golf, he will face a level of pressure that well surpasses anything any other transcendent athlete has faced in my lifetime.”

The phrase, “level of pressure” pushes my soul to irate levels. I hate to let you in on something Bill, but Tiger Woods doesn’t care about you. Tiger Woods could careless about what you, and the rest of your buddies in Bristol think about his personal life. You all write about him as if you have never done anything wrong.

Maybe you don’t want to acknowledge it, but I’ll say it for you. Tiger looks at the rest of us like we are inferior, because we are. The only pressure on Tiger Woods while he is on the course is if he should use a four or five iron. The size of his gallery when he plays only feeds his complex. The proof of his complex is evident in the allegations of the numerous women he has been with. He has the right to have that complex. You as fans gave it to him. Maybe he hasn’t earned the right to cheat on his wife, but that is between them. It isn’t our (us as sportswriters) place, and it isn’t yours either.

If anything, this entire “scandal” taught me one thing, and that is, the media as a whole is irrational. I know a lot of sports minded people, and none of them care about this “scandal.” Who exactly is going to be applying all of this pressure to Tiger? This “scandal” is an indirect proclamation from the American media that they are unable to put things in their clear perspective.

Muhammad Ali was sent to jail during the prime of his career, and was accused by most of the nation of being unpatriotic. Simmons completely fails to mention that after he was arrested, and convicted, he was BANNED from boxing. I’m going to repeat that for the slow, he was BANNED from boxing for about three years.

Tiger cheated on his wife. Wait, you mean he really didn’t break the law? He didn’t go to jail? He really didn’t kill anyone while driving drunk? He didn’t kill a limo driver? And he wasn’t doing drugs?

But yes, Tiger Woods will have a much tougher time rebounding.

Even ignoring all of that, Tiger Woods doesn’t owe you anything. He doesn’t. You keep watching his ads then buy the products he endorses, you keep going to golf courses, and you keep feeding the lunacy involving all of this, and idolizing him in your own mind. It doesn’t change a thing. He is his own person. Tiger Woods doesn’t care what you do in your spare time, so you should probably meet him halfway.

Stick to your internet chats, Bill.

So when a drug dealer who stole numerous things from our school, was suspended multiple times, and managed to graduate on time, I learned not to take everything through the advise of others. I learned everything isn’t exactly as it seems. It was probably the most valuable thing I learned in my educational process.

The NFL combine is the ultimate reason why you should NEVER take any of these workouts seriously when evaluating anyone.

I had posted an article earlier about how NFL scouts are not very good at evaluating talent. Well, that is very true, and it is because they use the “same unproven measureables,” to evaluate talent. Part of the problem is the NFL combine.

Why does it matter that Tim Tebow has a 38.5 inch vertical jump? Why don’t they time how many MPH each quarterback can throw the ball? Why don’t they do something similar to the NFL QB Challenge?

Why is Trent Williams even participating in vertical jump? Sure, 34 inches for an offensive lineman is impressive, but why would he ever need that at his position?

Something else that bothers me is, why do they run the 40 yard dash without pads? How many times do NFL players run without pads on during a game? Wearing pads is significant because pads are going to effect 5’5, 160 pound Trindon Holliday more than 5’10 200 pound Jahvid Best. Even though their 40 times are almost identical, Best would run the 40 faster than Holliday in pads. 10 pounds of pads would effect someone who is 160 pounds more than someone who is 200 pounds. It is common sense. It is nothing more than speed vs. power.

But the biggest reason the NFL combine is a joke, is what Gerald McCoy told the NFL Network. The prospects at the combine go through a strenuous screening process talking to scouts. When McCoy was asked which was the craziest question someone had asked him, he replied, “Someone asked me if I wore a g-string or a jock strap when I played.”

It doesn’t say what team asked McCoy which he planned to wear, but I guarantee that it was the Oakland Raiders. Only a team run as poorly as the Raiders would find the importance in finding a defensive tackle that can simultaneously store his enormous contract on his person while playing. But, it is also possible that they also could be looking for a self-sufficient player. Every once in awhile, players get hungry on the job. McCoy is 300 pounds, and you know that the big boy knows how to eat.

It’s hard to blame them for asking though. Those football pants don’t have pockets, you know.

Americans like football. They also like baseball, basketball, and hockey. You want know why we like them? I asked a friend of mine that today, and his reply was, “Because we always have.” Sure, that’s a pretty good reason but think a little harder.  WHY we like it to begin with? We invented figure skating,  skateboarding, and snowboarding. Why aren’t those sports largely popular?

Because the ultimate determining factor of the winners in the last three sports are judged on the opinion of a third party. In football, you cross the goal line, you get six points. If you run around the bases and touch home in baseball, it’s one point. You may not agree that Jeter hit a homer in the 1996 ALCS, and you’re pretty sure that Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinart into the endzone, but the fact still remains that the Yankees and Trojans both won the game.

Yes, there were unfortunate calls that changed those games, but the course of the game was altered more by the players than the judgment calls of officials. Concrete facts happen during a game that cannot be reversed by officials. If you lose, your goalie is more responsible for mishandling the puck behind the net, than the official missing the skate in the crease late in the game. Figure skating, skateboarding, and snowboarding are all “scored” largely abstract in in the judgment of the athletes competing in those sports. Americans love to recognize the fact that the United States is a melting pot of cultures making our country so great, but generally love to dismiss opinions dissimilar from their own.

That, and Americans like points. We like points because they’re concrete. We like points because points (not to be confused with “scores”)  aren’t debatable like a 5.7 from the Russian figure skating judge.

Judged competitions are recipe for controversy, and controversy is a disaster in sports. It doesn’t matter what it is, controversy brings short term attention, but you lose fans in the end almost every time. I love short track speed skating, but I was quickly turned off to it after the 500 meter final.

If you weren’t living under a rock you know that American skater Apolo Anton Ohno, who was skating for his like billionth medal, was disqualified for interfering with Francois-Louis Tremblay. Unlike most, I have no problem with this. I have no problem with Ohno being disqualified. Hey, if you touch another skater and the person falls causing you to gain, expect to be DQ’d. Don’t even have qualms about it, don’t pout, bend over and accept it. As a fan, if you boo the official, you should watch something else. The official is doing nothing more than upholding the integrity of the sport, which is always more important than the outcome, ratings, or anything else. The only reasonable thing that an athlete or fan can ask for is to enforce the rule universally.

But that didn’t happen.

On the video (click “was disqualified…”) it shows Ohno placing his hand on Tremblay’s hip, and shows Tremblay falling onto the ice, and skidding into the boards. Ohno never extended his hand implying he never pushed Tremblay.  However, if the official felt that Ohno interfered with Tremblay, he should have been DQ’d.

The part that troubles me, starts around :24 on the video. The video shows the eventual Canadian gold medal winner Charles Hamelin touch South Korean Si-Bak Sung. Not only does he touch the South Korean, he proceeds to move his hand into his arm pit region (:26), push upward, and deposit him to the ice.

So if you’re keeping score at home, if you extend your arm towards another competitor you’re not DQ’d. If you don’t, you are. Confused? Me too. But speed skating gets even weirder.

In the women’s 3000m relay final, South Korea was disqualified after a Chinese skater’s blade touched the South Korean skater, causing the Chinese skater to fall.  Normally, this doesn’t sound too unreasonable, except that this was right after a pass, and the Chinese skater ran into the back of the SK skater. There is actually a rule called “cross-tracking” that says that basically says that a skater’s path cannot be impeded.

Just to put that in every day terms, if you get rear ended sitting at a stop sign because 85 year old grandpa swears that he isn’t too old to drive, it is your fault. You didn’t get out of his way.

The judge of the women’s race, Jim Hewish, received tons of death threats from SK faithful. This likely forced a Canadian judge to officiate Ohno’s race.

In football, you can’t blame the official for the bogus 15 yard pass interference with five seconds left in the game. There’s too much that your team could have done to either score, or hold the opposing offense earlier in the game. In speed skating, the official holds all the power. So if Jim Hewish might have accidentally-sorta-kinda-possibly-totally screwed your nation out of a gold medal in 2002, he can do it again, er… just… did.

You know what, maybe it’s not so bad that the Olympics only come every four years.

There will be no entries this weekend, but look for one by Tuesday morning!

I heard that a lot as I was growing up, but it never made sense to me. Sure, it may be true, but many people use the phrase to rationalize bad, erratic, or  presumptive behavior. I never could understand how that justified anything, and I still haven’t to this day. So when I see something like this, I shake my head and feel for blue collar NFL football players.

You don’t have to look very far to find careers that have been made in the NFL because of misfortune, luck, or sheer determination.

The player in the first video, Joe Webb (QB – UAB 6’4 220) has the prototypical size for an NFL quarterback, yet is already labeled as a failure in the NFL without taking a snap at QB. I believe in second chances, but when it comes to being close minded, NFL scouts are scared to even give first chances. I don’t know anyone in recent memory that can jump over 7 dummies that is projected to be drafted in the 7th round. Well, now I do.

Scouts often get too caught up in physical statistics. They are too focused on finding that  quarterback with the rocket arm, the perfect build, or the total package. I can’t really blame them though. Most of the time, they will dismiss a quarterback completely with a small flaw such as a long throwing motion, but they will take the poor cerebral quarterback quarterback that can’t diagnose a dime from a quarter (pun intended). No quarterback that has been labeled as short, slow, or untalented has never succeeded in the NFL… EVER.  The point is, no two quarterbacks are alike, and to evaluate every quarterback through the same unproven measureables is lunacy at best.

Joe Webb is just one example of why the NFL needs a minor league system. There is too much talent in the NFL draft that is evaluated improperly every year to not have one. If MLB gains enough money per year (along with the Minors) to keep them going, the NFL should have no problem doing the same.

Don’t give me this garbage about NFL Europe either. Putting American football with American players in cities scattered throughout Europe is about as likely to fail as a minor league cricket organization in the United States. There’s just no market for it. Why would a player want to go to Europe to play in front of crowds smaller than what they played for in college, in a far away place, and at a discounted rate? The business plan was doomed from the start. Move the teams back to the United States, and you at least give yourselves a fighting chance, AND develop players.

The way it stands now, most teams don’t even know what they have until someone gets hurt. There’s no telling how many careers in the NFL that never were because of close mindedness. Now that there is no minor league system, players that were improperly labeled don’t even have a fighting chance the NFL Europe gave. There are plenty of undrafted free agents, that go on to do amazing things, that are forced to go through other routes to the NFL because of these preconceived notions.

But, life isn’t fair.

At that time, I was 6’1, 150 pounds, and 16 years old. Those things considered, a 5.15 in the 40 is still pathetic for my size. I waited for it to heal, ran it again, and clocked in at 4.98. Not atrocious, but below average. I was never a fantastic baseball player, but I had enough quickness to maintain positions in the middle infield, and all three outfield positions on a couple summer league baseball teams.

Three years later, I’m 6’2, 160 and I would be delighted to run a sub 5.0 40 yard dash.

I used to sit in class and talk sports in high school with a lot of “know-it-all’s” that used to rag on athletes such as Emmitt Smith, and talk about how “slow” they were. I always found it interesting that they, as well as myself, would love to be as fast as several “slow” athletes.

So it was to much frustration when I came across this.

Needless to say, my jaw dropped to the floor. 4.43? At 50? Just to put into context exactly how fast that is, Cowboys star and scatback Felix Jones ran a 4.44 at the 2008 combine. Felix Jones is a fast man. Dante Hall ran a 4.41. Dante Hall is a faster man.

Instead of researching alternative energy, maybe we should use that money research what makes Darrell Green so fast. Then we can just run wherever we want instead of drive.  Maybe we can set up a charity race with Darrell Green to help earthquake victims. Darrell Green vs. Tony Dorsett 2.0?

I might just have to put Darrell Green on my dodgeball team.

American skater, Tanith Belbin

Tanith Belbin provides a small relief from the seemingly endless monotony, but even this babe can’t save figure skating for most casual Olympic viewers. I often find that the Summer Olympic games are much more enjoyable to watch than the Winter Olympic games. There just isn’t much to get excited about.

Curling? No.
Biathalon? What?
Cross Country Skiing? I’d rather blow a gerbil.

So that brings the total to four of fifteen Olympic events that are absolute garbage. Consider the fact that the bobsled, luge, and skeleton are pretty much the same event, about a third of the Winter Olympics is a joke. It took the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili to even get a blip of life in the ratings, and even that didn’t help. (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2010-02-23-nbc-olympics_N.htm) If tragedy can’t do it, nothing will.

Outside of ice hockey, the non-cross country snow events, and speed skating, the Winter Olympics are regrettable. Something has to save the Winter Olympics. But what can be done? After ruling out elf bowling, seal clubbing, beer pong, and lightly frozen water polo, with horses, it came to me like a dream involving Mila Kunis.

Olympic. Dodgeball.

And before you blow it all to pieces hear me out. The ratings grab won’t be just because of the violence, it will draw superstars from many sports. But this is rather unprecedented, so what would the rules be? I propose:

-7 on 7

-Make the court 125 feet long, and 75 feet wide. (This is a bit larger and an NBA court.)

-Draw a line down the middle, and don’t let either team pass it. Call it “half court.” Give each team 5 balls made from hardened foam.

-If you’re hit, you’re out. If you catch it, the person who threw it is out. If either team has less than 2 people, either team can cross “half court”

But now that you have the rules, who would possibly play? Well to be good in dodgeball, you have to throw hard, have good agility, and have a great set of hands. You’re going to have a tough time recruiting major league pitchers due to the Winter Olympics being right in the middle of when they typically report to camp. You can’t take NBA players because they’re in the middle of their season. So, ThatOneSportsGuy had to be creative.

US Team:

Chad Ochocinco – Now, most stars won’t want to join, but Ochocinco will do anything for the limelight. At 6’1, he’s not too big of a target, has fantastic agility, and is a fantastic athlete.

Tony Azevedo – He was the captain of the U.S. Water Polo Team in Beijing. I want a guy who is at least used to throwing a ball similar to a dodgeball.

Antwaan Randle El – He’s 5’10. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. He was a QB in college at Indiana, and runs about a 4.5. If there is a better dodgeball prototype out there, I’d like to see it.

Wes Welker – He’s got the best hands in the NFL, he’s 5’9, and he was a QB in high school. Sign him up.

Michael Vick – Not very many people know this, but in 2000, Mike Vick was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 30th round.

Brad Smith – One of the better QB turned WR’s gets the slot here. He’s the biggest person on the team so far, but he’s also got a 40 inch vertical.

Troy Perkins – Goalie for D.C. United. We don’t know how hard he can throw, but we know he can catch.

Now what to do? Someone petition the IOC, and watch the ratings explode. But don’t put it on MSNBC  like you did USA vs. Canada, morons.

Kiffin left, Carroll right. Photo courtesy of LA Times.

The sun rises late over the California coast line, and the fans are forced to sit and wonder the direction of their program. The departure of Pete Carroll has been something of note in regards to the program at Southern California, and questions arise over the new hire, Lane Kiffin.

While some defend the hire, I believe that his assistant coaches are more qualified for his position than he is. Monte Kiffin, Lane’s father, is one of the most established defensive coordinators in the last 30 years. Ed Orgeron returns to USC to where he served as the Assistant head coach. Now, he’s the defensive line and recruiting coordinator.

Two fantastic coaches take a backseat for a 30 something year old head coach whose career coaching record is 12-21. So it is easy to wonder how someone with arrogant attitude, lack of maturity, and a slew of secondary violations during his college campaign could now have the head position at the most decorated college football factory over the last decade. Kiffin’s reputation for making ridiculous statements earned him a spot nearly equal to Mike Tyson, Curt Shilling, and Charles Barkley. This shotgun approach to fame turned off many college football fans, myself included, but the people making the decisions took notice. In today’s times, you don’t have to have talent to sing. I guess the next fad will be coaches that can’t coach.

But, the hire could be worse. Really? Yes, really. They could have kept Pete Carroll.

Since rivals began ranking recruits and teams in 2002, USC has been ranked accordingly:

2002 – 13th
2003 – 3rd
2004 – 1st
2005 – 1st
2006 – 1st
2007 – 2nd (only had 18 recruits)
2008 – 8th (only had 19 recruits)
2009 – 4th (only had 19 recruits)

What is remarkable, is that USC put up those numbers without signing a lot of players every single year. Just to show how well USC did, let’s look at Alabama.

2002 – 30th
2003 – 49th
2004 – 15th
2005 – 18th
2006 – 11th
2007 – 10th
2008 – 1st
2009 – 1st

Anyone see the difference between USC and Alabama? USC gets whoever they want and goes 9-4, Alabama strikes gold and wins a national championship. You could go to the zoo, and have all the animals you could ever want, but they’re still barnyard animals if you don’t have a good zookeeper.

Pete Carroll has been described in the last two weeks on ESPN as, “A great defensive mind,” and “A great talent evaluator,” and “a guy that builds players up.” Really? Because I could go 5-4 in the all powerful PAC-10, his talent was evaluated just as well as the guy at rivals that sits behind a desk making 35k a year, and I’ve never seen so many 5 star players go to a place and just rot.

For such a great coach, he sucks at coaching.

You have a guy like Taylor Mays, and you lose 4 conference games by giving up 7 yard runs up the middle and long bombs, play after play? How does that happen? “Oh one of the 6 4 star linebackers that we recruited just went to jail, that’s why we can’t stop the run…” Give me a break. Hell, you’re SITTING in the worlds largest hot bed of football talent. All you have to do is open the door, and your recruits trip on it. Why CAN’T you win the national championship every other year? Who do you have to compete with? Stanford, UCLA, Fresno State, and UNLV? The occasional Oregon and Utah? You can’t beat THEM?

Even his last stint in the NFL failed. So what are they going to do? Take an underachieving coach, and a perennially underachieving NFL franchise and try again? How is that going to help your program, Seattle?

But for the same reason that no one notices that Pete Carroll is a horrible coach, they also don’t notice that USC is the perfect situation. Reason? There are other things to do in Southern California. If you didn’t have professional teams on top of USC geographically, the heat would have been applied at the end of the 2005 season after the loss to a, surprise, INFERIOR Texas team.

But you’re lucky Pete, no one saw through your inadequacies. But with the splash made by Lane Kiffin into SoCal, I don’t know that Lane will be able to get away with everything you did.

Then again, that job is impossible to fail.