The Patriots and the Media

I see where a lot of online sites this week are announcing, or at least speculating, the end of the Patriots "run". A bunch of "Is Brady Washed Up"? and "Belichick Doesn't Know What He's Doing" type of articles.

Is that the case? Who knows.... All I know is in the NFL it's a marathon not a sprint. There's a reason they play 16 regular season games. Lot's of injuries are coming up for every team, that's just the way it is. Typically the team that can avoid those catastrophic injuries and who has the most depth, will be standing at the end.

The Jet's did a great job last week taking care of business and winning on their home field. They'll face each other again in week 11 but next time it'll be in Foxborough. I fully expect the tables to be turned then.

No secret NE's defense is going through a rebuilding year and to top it off, their top linebacker, Jerod Mayo, is out injured. However, so far, their issue hasn't been on the defensive side but on the offensive side of the ball.

If the offensive line can come together and protect Brady better (and quite frankly they can't do any worse than they did last week), this is an offense that's going to put up a minimum of 24 points a game. Wes Welker was out last week, but he's going to be back and once Brady gets his confidence back, this offense is deadly.

As to those predicting the end, I'd be careful about what you wish for!

Bill

Salisbury Steak?

And no I'm not talking about Nick Papathanasiou (inside joke there....)!

I'm referring to Sean Salisbury, the former NFL QB out of USC. After a long time on ESPN he mysteriously disappeared a while back with little mention. Well he's back in a big way with a lawyer, a PR firm, a book deal and a connection to lingerie - Salisbury's new job (go ahead, check it out, I know you want to).

Here's the rundown on Salisbury - Rumor has it, he was let go by ESPN for taking a photo of his penis on his iphone and showing it to various girls in the studio. He denies this and ESPN has no comment however he's writing a book about his 13 years at ESPN and plans on "exposing" people there based on his journals.... He's suing ESPN and threatening to sue the radio station in Dallas he worked for earlier this year (and also got fired from) along with the blog Deadspin where I'm hearing all this information from.

He's fired up and sending off emails left and right looking to sue anyone insinuating he did anything wrong. I'm probably next in line for posting this!

For all the details go here - Salisbury iphone tirade - You won't be disappointed!

Bill

3-0

Attention Trojan Bandwagon fans.

With the team from Troy getting their asses handed to them by a program that didn't win a game last year, the UCLA bandwagon spots are filling up fast!

After toppling a talented Kansas State squad on Sunday, the Bruins have moved to 3-0 and are looking to take control of the Pac 10 in 2 weeks as they travel to Palo Alto and take on a 2-1 Stanford team. Should be another great game for the young, hungry boys from Westwood.

Even without an injured "Fresh Prince from Bel Air" (starting Freshman QB, Kevin Prince) on Saturday, the Bruins easily handled the perenial juggernaut Wildcats out of the Big 12 on Saturday. UCLA's back up QB, Kevin Craft, did something their overrated cross town rivals couldn't do, which was win without their starting QB playing. Imagine that!

The top defense in the Pac 10 again was dominant and the young offense is methodically gaining confidence under the tutelage of offensive guru, Norm Chow. After taking next week off, look for the young Bruins to go into Stanford Stadium October 4th and hand the Cardinal an ass whooping.

Bill

Bruin Football

After dominating an underrated San Diego State squad last week, the Bruins take their perfect record on the road Saturday to face 1-0 Tennessee in Knoxville.

Tennessee overwhelmed an undermanned Western Kentucky team last week and it'll be interesting to see if they're up to the challenge of the Pac 10 and UCLA. Some Tennessee players to watch out for are QB Jonathan Crompton and freshman running back sensation Bryce Brown.

This'll be an opportunity for the young Bruins to show what they're made of. Game time is 1pm Pacific and will be televised by ESPN.

Tune in for all the action!

Bill

Tuesday Morning Ramblings

After a long, fun filled Labor Day Weekend, here's what's on my mind:

1) Football Season - Starts next weekend. I'm putting together my predictions for the year which will be out later on in the week. Expect to see a few surprises...

2) Seymour going to the Raiders - In one of the bigger football stories over the weekend, the NE Patriots traded 5 time All Pro defensive lineman to Oakland for their 2011 first round pick. Why 2011? Expectations are a rookie salary cap will take effect after the 2010 season. As it stands now, the high first round picks are guaranteed substantial amounts of money and if those picks don't pan out, the teams are in salary cap hell for a few years. With a rookie pay scale, the failed high picks will be easier to to absorb. Seymour's contract is up after this year, he's 30 years old and New England probably wasn't going to resign him anyway. Could this be another example of the Patriots schooling the Raiders, a la Randy Moss? We'll see.

3) Merriman arrested - Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman was arrested over the weekend for supposedly choking realty "star" (and I use that term loosely...) and girlfriend Tila Tequila. Here's another example of "she said/he said". He claims she was drunk and was going to drive and he was trying to stop her. I'm not sure who to believe here....

4) Bradford out for 2-4 weeks - Last season's Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford went down in the first game of the year with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder and will miss the next month. Here's an argument for why he should have gone into the draft last year. He, most likely would have been the number 1 pick if he'd turned pro, and using what Matthew Stafford got as the number 1 pick, he'd have a guaranteed $45 million in the bank right now. People were down on Sanchez for turning pro, but he's guaranteed close to $30 million after being selected 5th. Depending upon how Bradford recovers, he may now drop in the draft and potentially costing himself $10-20 million dollars. Is it worth it?

5) Vick reinstated - Michael Vick was told he'll be reinstated after the first two weeks. He's played in a couple preseason games and the "outrage" has been very minimal. Looks to be a great sign by the Eagles. People in our country want to forgive and forget. Let this be a lesson for those baseball players out there that formally did steroids but keep denying it. Are you listening Rocket????

6) U.S. Open - There's a rumor the US Open is going on. I must have missed the memo....... Seriously, does anyone out there care about tennis anymore? Not sure where tennis "jumped the shark" but it has.

7) UCLA Football - 1-0 baby! They dominated that perennial national football power San Diego State last week, coming away with a 33-14 victory. The defense was suffering and the young offense got a foothold in the second half and came on. Freshman quarterback, Kevin Prince, gained confidence as the game went on and looks to be the real deal. This weekend they travel to Knoxville and take on the University of Tennessee. UT will be out for revenge as UCLA knocked them off in the opener last year at the Rose Bowl. Should be a great test for the young Bruins!

Bill

Rings, rings, Rings, rings....

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend. I had a chance to spend a beautiful weekend in Coronado with friends and watching the South Coast Warriors play some exciting baseball in a 16U Travel Ball tournament. Now, now, I know you're jealous, as I'm sure you wish you could spend your holiday weekends sitting in 95 degree heat in Chula Vista, Ca watching a bunch of 15/16 year old boys play baseball.

A little background - The South Coast Warriors are a 15U travel team comprised mostly of the Frosh/Soph team from last year at El Toro High School. For this tournament they added a couple incoming Freshman and decided to play in a San Diego 16U tournament.

Here's what happened:

Saturday - Shane Jones took the mound in the opening game versus the Valley Warriors. After a rough first inning, he settled down and limited the Valley Warriors to 2 runs. SC Warriors keep plugging away and by the end had done enough to come away with a 5-2 victory.

In the second game, the South Coast Warriors took on the traditionally strong program of the ABD Mustangs. Timely hitting, pitching and a Mitchell Tolman 2 run walk off double ended the mercy after 5. Nick Villar wowed the crowd with a tape measure home run to left.

2 and 0 after day 1, all's good!

Sunday - 8am game against Baseball Ballers White. Ballers had put together two teams for this tournament which watered down their talent. They hung around the Warriors for a couple innings, but when the Warrior bats came alive, they couldn't match the fire power. Nick Villar with another home run and doubles by Jayson Yano, Nick Paglialonga, Byron Manzo, Dan James and Daniel Conmy supplied the runs. Final, 12-0 Warriors.

Game 2 - A back and forth affair with the Chula Vista Green Sox. With the Chula Vista Little Leaguers winning the Little League World Series last week, many jokes were tossed around about possibly seeing some of them in the game. At one point we thought we saw Luke Ramirez drive up in a Cherry Red Gremlin, but it turned to be a 35 year old Hispanic man with a pony tail........... Oh well. As I said, this one went back and forth. Warriors took an early lead but Chula Vista came back and took the lead in the 5th. In the 6th, after holding the Green Sox in the top half of the inning, the Warriors came up looking to tie. Two quick outs and it looked like the Warriors would need to do something in the 7th. However Tyler Brashears worked a walk and the tieing run was aboard. At this point a lot of clock watching started as time was running out. These games have a 2 hour, no new inning rule in effect (written in the tournament rules). Being home team, the Warriors would be assured to bat again, as long as the 6th ended in less than 2 hours. To make a long story short, the batter following Brashears also got on, then a passed ball brought the tieing run to third. The next batter unfortunately grounded out to SS ending the inning. At that point, everyone looked to the home plate umpire for time. It was 1:58 he announced. Warriors went to take the field to play the last inning, when out of no where the home plate umpire calls out "game over"! He decided it was close enough on time, so that was that. The Green Sox jumped into their Gremlins and sped off, while the Warriors stayed on the field until the Tournament Director could give a ruling. Of course he wasn't there and had to be called. 20 minutes later, he finally hears the story and agrees the game shouldn't have ended, but it is what it is and rules the Green Sox won 5-4.

Day 2 ends on a down note, however the Warriors have done enough to get the 4th seed for the Monday playoffs.

Monday - 8am game against the 5th seeded Spring Valley Stingers. Well not much "stinging" went on as Jordan Wirth threw 5 innings of shut out ball, Villar "jacked" another and the Warriors moved into the semi's against the number 1 seeded Bonita Legends. Final 8-0.

1pm start time, so the Warriors had some free time between games and got a chance to see some of the San Diego lifestyle. With so many options, what did they do? Went to the mall! Shaky's Pizza offered air conditioning and arcade games, just what every 15 year old boy wants... The hit game was "Deal or No Deal". Played just like the tv show except instead of winning money, you could win tickets. The big prize was 200 tickets, which at a $1 to play, was a good return on your investment if you played smart. Did the boys play smart? As Whitney Houston would say, "hell to the no"! No one ever excepted the Bankers offers and instead just kept pushing the "no deal" button and taking it to the end. Most ended up with less than 10 tickets won. However Andrew Kincade won big, as his suitcase did hold the 200 ticket maximum, so next time I buy a lotto ticket, I'm bringing AK47......

Game 5 - Semi's, Warriors vs. Legends. Legends were the number 1 seed and big... Most were Juniors in high school and held a large size advantage over the smaller Warriors. Brashears took the mound and stepped up to the challenge. Thru 3, Brashears shut them down with an assortment of mid 80's fastballs, cutters and curves. The Warriors played their game, drawing some walks and hitting a couple doubles and took a 5-0 lead. In the 4th, following a couple Warrior errors and a walk, some big "Legend" launched a granny over the right field fence and we had a ball game. In the 5th, the Legends pushed 2 runs across and took a 6-5 lead. Neither team scored in the 6th so we went to the 7th with the Warriors needing a run to stay alive. The bats came alive and big hits from Portanova and Paglialonga gave the Warriors an 8-6 lead to hold. Brashears had run out of gas and when "Hells Bells" started playing, Shane Jones entered. Ah la Trevor Hoffman, Shane threw a mixture of off speed stuff which kept the Legends off balance and held them to 1 meaningless run. Off to the finals!

3rd Game of the Day - Warriors versus the San Diego Gamers. Another large team for the Warriors to face. It was evident from the beginning, all the games and the high heat index had taken it's toll on the Warriors and they came out flat. Shane started but the Gamers were "game" and were looking for the off speed pitches. He went three innings and held his own, but it wasn't mean't to be. Jake Tredwell came on and limited the Gamers the rest of the way. The Gamers put up 5 runs and strong pitching held the Warriors to 2, giving the Gamers the win and tournament title.

It was a great weekend for the Warriors. They played up in age and showed they could hold their own against some very high level San Diego teams. The weather was beautiful, they got in 7 games over 3 days, placed second (and getting Rings.... yippee.....), played "Deal or No Deal" and thought they had multiple Luke and Kiko sightings.

All and all, I'd say it was a success!

Bill

Not A Good Time To Be An Offensive Coordinator

With the news today that Turk Schonert was fired as offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills, it's brought the total of 3 Offensive Coordinators released in the last week. And all this with the regular season starting next week. What gives?

Two were new (Schonert and Jagodzinski in Tampa Bay) and the other was going into his second year (Chan Gailey in Kansas City). I know there's a lot of pressure to win and win now, but still, if you're going to hire someone and then fire them before the regular season even starts, what's the point? Whatever happened to continuity, management stability and building a winning organization from the bottom up?

Look at some of the successful organizations in football:

1) Pittsburgh - How many head coaches have they had in the last 40 years? 3

2) New England - The most successful team the last decade, has had one head coach, and the only time they've switched coordinators is when one leaves to take a head coaching job elsewhere. Which has been 4.

3) Indianapolis - Have one Super Bowl win but could easily have 3. Their head coach retires, and they promote within, keeping the continuity going. Any doubt they'll be good again this year?

Why don't these teams (and others like them) have yo,yo winning, losing seasons? Because of stability. They've set up their philosophy of how they want to be run and bring in their guys from upper management, down to the 53rd player on the roster.

When's the last time you heard any of those teams fire a coordinator? This decade? Honestly I don't remember, which probably means it hasn't happened.

Something to think about.....

Bill