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Bar Chat

10/16/2014

The Power of the SEC West

NFL Quiz: Name the seven running backs to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Answer below.

NFL Bits

--What a devastating Sunday night for the Giants in Philadelphia. Not only did they get blown out, 27-0, they lost key wide receiver Victor Cruz to a torn patellar tendon in his knee that normally has a recovery time of 9 to 12 months. Yes, yet another reason why you grab the cash when you can, as Cruz did last year. Prior to the 2013 season, he signed a five-year, $43 million extension ($45M+ including his original 2013 salary), which a week or two after signing he said he wasn’t happy with, complaining he deserved more.

But he did still get $15.6 million guaranteed, plus his salaries for the last two years, including this one. Bottom line, he should be fine. If his recovery didn’t go well, though, the Giants could release him next summer, I’m thinking. That’s football.

[And so much for being concerned about Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy, who rushed 22 times for 149 yards.]

--Since I read the Washington Post every day I get my fill of the Washington sports scene and just as with every NFL fan base, it’s funny how quickly attitudes change. For example, Redskins fans were tired of Robert Griffin III before his latest injury and were screaming for Kirk Cousins. Well, that hasn’t worked out too well. 

“The hopes and dreams for the Kirk Cousins Era, carried enthusiastically by Washington fans who believed the 26-year-old quarterback might be able to challenge the injured Robert Griffin III for a starting job, died Sunday, following another crushing Redskins defeat, this time at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals.

“The death was confirmed by Washington Post columnist Jason Reid, who wrote that Cousins ‘should have no problems pinpointing why he failed,’ and Post writer Liz Clarke, who called Cousins the team’s ‘chief liability.’....

“In his NFL career, Cousins – who is 0-4 as Washington’s starter this season – now has 18 interceptions in 13 games.”

Hey, y’all want Geno Smith? He has 28 picks in 22 games.

--Speaking of Geno, for the better part of the 1 ½ years he has been a Jet, I have been careful in my comments. He clearly has athletic ability, and after the first six quarters of the season I thought he had taken great strides over last season, but then the guy regressed all over again the last 18 quarters. Presto, 1-5 record heading into New England, Thursday night.

What I’ve been careful about, though, is with discussions concerning his intelligence. Here’s what we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt. He’s, err...not in the least bit media savvy.

So on Monday, Geno was on a conference call with Patriots reporters and talked about his “topsy-turvy” season, which hasn’t really been topsy-turvy. It’s just been, you know, turvy. [Derivative of turdy.]

“I think, obviously, with everything that goes on with the media, a lot of things are, I would say, miscommunicated, and then it just gets misprinted and then misunderstood.

“I don’t have any quarrels with anything. The main thing is that we just have to find a way to get a win. The hardest part about it all is losing. With the effort, the time that we put in, the preparation that we put in throughout the week, coming up with game plans – we always have a really good game plan going in – and then obviously we haven’t executed as well as we’d like. Those things are tougher than I guess what can be said and what is portrayed out there in the media.”

“Look...every pro athlete works his butt off to prepare for every game he plays, and part of every pro athlete’s burden is the reality of being in a results-oriented business: You either win or you lose. Smith did curse at a fan after he got booed during a home game two weeks ago. He did miss a meeting (albeit accidentally!) on the night before a game the following week. He has turned the ball over in every game this season. And the Jets are 1-5 and have lost five games in a row. Just a hunch, but all of that might explain a lot of what gets ‘portrayed out there in the media’ about Geno Smith.”

--Back to the Redskins, Sally Jenkins / Washington Post:

“It’s mid-October, yet Washington’s football fans once more feel like they’re drinking flat beer. The team is in last place in the NFC East, which makes 2014 no different from 2013, 2011 or 2010, and the conversation already has shifted to how many needs will have to be filled in the offseason. Well, let’s count. There’s the offensive line, which plays with all the enthusiasm of gravediggers; the secondary, which can’t stop a seam route or a deep ball; the defensive line, which can’t seem to mount a consistent pass rush; and then there is the matter of finding a quarterback who isn’t so easily breakable either physically or mentally.

--The 2013 Dallas Cowboys gave up a franchise-record 6,645 yards, third-most in NFL history, and, as the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer points out, the three best players from that group – defensive linemen DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher, now in Denver and Washington, and linebacker Sean Lee, done for the season with a knee injury, are missing.

“Somehow, the ragtag remainders have come together and formed a unit that’s significantly stronger than last season, a defense that has outplayed its No. 15 ranking.” [Ed. yards per game]

Of course it helps that Tony Romo is playing very solidly, 11 TD-5 INT, and DeMarco Murray has been all-world at running back, 785 yards, at least 100 in each of the team’s first six as it sprinted out to a 5-1 start.

By the way, as Farmer notes, the only other back to have 100+ in his first six games is Jim Brown in 1958. I find that incredible.

Dallas hosts the Giants this Sunday in a game that will have some mighty ratings.

--Speaking of ratings, the Denver Broncos replaced the Dallas Cowboys as America’s favorite team, according to a Harris Poll. The Cowboys had been No. 1 the previous six years.

The Giants are now No. 2, with Green Bay No. 3 and the Cowboys No. 4. Pittsburgh is fifth, Seattle sixth.

However, the poll was taken Sept. 10-17 and with the Cowboys’ fast start one wonders what the results would be today.

--The NFL Players Association released its quarterly report of merchandise sales (officially licensed product) and Russell Wilson is on top, ahead of Peyton Manning. 

College Football

--This weekend it’s all about 2 Florida State hosting 5 Notre Dame. Oh, there are other games. Washington (5-1) at 9 Oregon is important for the Ducks’ renewed playoff hopes. And teams like 4 Baylor (at a surprisingly solid West Virginia), 7 Alabama hosting 21 Texas A&M, and 8 Michigan State at Indiana, obviously can’t stumble. 3 Ole Miss is not going to have a problem at home against Tennessee.

Locals in these parts are anxious to see Rutgers at 13 Ohio State and I’ll be tuning into that one.

--But back to Florida State, ESPN reported that the university’s compliance department has begun an investigation into whether Jameis Winston signed autographs for money, as I wrote might be the case last time. 

It turns out after the Syracuse game on Saturday, coach Jimbo Fisher asked Winston if he had signed for money and Winston told Dumbo, according to ESPN’s source, that he did not.

Dumbo then told reporters he wasn’t concerned, even though the same authentication business, James Spence Authentication, certified 500 autographs of Georgia running back Todd Gurley and had supposedly done something similar for Winston.

Fisher said after Saturday’s game, ‘Kids sign things all the time. So what do you want them to do, stop signing stuff? We could make them not have any fans from that standpoint and not sign for anybody. That’s what it’s going to come to, and that’s a shame for college football, that somebody exploits a kid. Now if they’re getting paid for it, then I don’t have any knowledge of that.”

Anyway, ESPN reported on the exact serial numbers assigned for various signed Florida State memorabilia.

Separately, regarding the upcoming university student conduct code hearing involving Winston and the alleged December 2012 sexual assault of another FSU student, Coach Fisher said he’s confident his Heisman QB will not miss any games the rest of the season.

Asked why he felt so confident, Fisher said on Monday, “I know the facts of the case. The facts haven’t changed in the case. We know the report and know everything out there....We’ve been through this.” [Jared Shanker / ESPN.com]

A former Florida Supreme Court justice is going to serve as an independent hearing official. As of this post, it’s not known which of the three available will end up being selected, but the person will consider the evidence, determine if Winston violated any of the FSU student codes in question and then determine a punishment, if any. [Mark Schlabach / ESPN.com]

David Cornwell, an attorney advising Winston, is miffed that Florida State is going through with a hearing nearly two years after the incident, arguing the decision “seems motivated to protect FSU’s interests and respond to media pressure.”

Cornwell is right...even if his client is wrong. Cornwell says that FSU’s own sexual harassment policy stipulates that complaints will “generally not be investigated” after one year.

--According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Mississippi State spent $15.3 million on football in fiscal 2013, which ranks them just 58th out of the 65 schools in the five richest conferences (including independent Notre Dame). Alabama, by contrast, spent $41.5 million on football expenses, which is first. As a story in the Wall Street Journal puts it, Mississippi State winning a national championship would be like the Oakland A’s winning the World Series.

[Auburn is second in spending, followed by Notre Dame.]

“The SEC West is truly remarkable. It is 90% dominance, which is to be admired, and 10% snake charmer.

“No man behind a curtain has worked levers more deftly.

“The Southeastern Conference’s glamour division not only has five or six (or seven) of the country’s best football teams, it also employs the best advertising team since Dos Equis.

“It is ‘the most interesting division in the world.’....

“Forget that Arkansas has never won the SEC, or that Monday marks the two-year anniversary of the Razorbacks’ last conference victory: Oct. 13, 2012. The Hogs defeated Kentucky that day and have since lost 15 consecutive league games through Saturday’s 14-13 almost-win against Alabama.

“Yet, Arkansas received 10 points in Sunday’s Associated Press poll, which extrapolates nationally to No. 34.

“Texas A&M (5-2) lost games by 32 points and is ranked two AP posts ahead of Stanford, the defending Pac-12 champion. Stanford has two heartbreakers, by six total points, at home to USC and on the road at Notre Dame.

“No one would dispute the SEC’s divisional dominance. Its shell game is to allow you to make comparisons only against other teams within the conference.

“It’s a solid, brilliant strategy that also happens to tick some people off.

“The SEC West has four teams ranked in the AP top 10.

“The only ‘true’ quality nonconference road victory among those four schools was Auburn’s win at Kansas State....

“Mississippi State is on a beeline to the four-team playoff with a no-questions-asked non-conference schedule of Southern Mississippi, South Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham and Tennessee-Martin.

Of course Mr. Dufresne is partial to the Pac-12, but he has some good points. Such as “Three Pac-12 teams in this week’s top 25 – Stanford, USC and Arizona State – play nonconference games against Notre Dame....

“Another Pac-12 team, Utah, has already won at Michigan this year, while Oregon played defending Big Ten champion Michigan State.

“Oregon and Michigan State are 5-1 and ranked in the top 10.

“In the coaches’ poll, however, No,. 6 Michigan State is three spots higher than Oregon. Michigan State, in the AP poll, is one spot ahead of No. 9 Oregon.

“Alabama, citing concerns about future SEC scheduling, canceled a home-and-home series with Michigan State.

“The Crimson Tide didn’t want to take the game if the SEC decided to go to a nine-game schedule. The SEC decided to stay at eight.

“Oregon, not Alabama, plays at Michigan State next season.

“Alabama’s last nonconference road game at an opposing team’s stadium was...Penn State in 2011.”

--So Miami’s kicker, Michael Badgley, the kid from my home town of Summit, NJ, is actually doing OK. He was 2 for 2 on field goals in the Hurricanes’ 55-34 win over Cincinnati last weekend and is now 5 of 6, the only miss being from beyond 50. Heck, he might stick around in the sport a while, Badgley being a freshman. [Ken V., yes, I forgot again. I need to stick post-its all over the place to remind myself.]

It was during the 1954 Cotton Bowl that Lewis gained his claim to fame, coming off the sideline to tackle all-American Rice halfback Dicky Moegle near the 50-yard line as Moegle was on his way to a 95-yard touchdown run. After bringing him down, Lewis ran back to the bench, but Moegle was credited with a touchdown. 

Lewis said after that he “was just too full of Alabama.” Rice won the game, 28-6, and the two players appeared on Ed Sullivan’s show two days later.

--Regarding the Sayreville (NJ) High School football/hazing scandal, Penn State did revoke the scholarship of Myles Hartsfield, whose name I’m listing simply because it’s everywhere these days, two days after New Jersey police took him and six others into custody in connection with four separate incidents of hazing.

What I didn’t know is that the kid, who was both a running back and defensive back, was ranked as the No. 28 athlete in the country by Rivals.com.

Ball Bits

--The amazing Kansas City Royals took a 3-0 series lead over Baltimore on Tuesday with a 2-1 victory, thanks in no small part to the glove of third baseman Mike Moustakas.

As Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce said, “It’s hard to take advantage of mistakes when they’re not making any.”

Out of 34 teams to trail 3-0 in a best-of-seven major league postseason series, the only team to come back and win was the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. [Can’t believe that was ten years ago already.]

--After Kolten Wong’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday gave the Cardinals a 5-4 victory, St. Louis reliever Randy Choate’s wild throw to first in the bottom of the tenth on Tuesday allowed the Giants to escape with a 5-4 win as the Giants took a 2-1 series lead.

The Cardinals were playing without their most valuable player, catch Yadier Molina, who is out with an oblique injury.

--Arizona hired Chip Hale to replace Kirk Gibson as the Diamondbacks manager; Hale being a former third base coach for Arizona and a manager in their minor league system for six seasons.  He was most recently with Oakland as bench coach under Bob Melvin.

--The Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman away from the Tampa Bay Rays and named him president of baseball operations, while former GM Ned Colletti was shifted into an advisory role at the side of CEO Stan Kasten.

Friedman was executive vice president of baseball operations in Tampa and did a terrific job with the Rays’ puny payroll. Just 37, Friedman is the new-age baseball executive, being a former analyst at Bear Stearns who later worked at a private equity firm. As the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga put it, “(Friedman) understands markets and how players are best acquired in each one – draft, trade, free agency and foreign.”

But now he’s dealing with some of the following contracts, assuming these players aren’t moved.

Adrian Gonzalez: $71 million over the next four years.

Carl Crawford: $62.25 million over the next three years.

Andre Ethier: $56 million over the next three.

Matt Kemp: $128.5 million over the next five.

Zack Greinke: $102 million over the next four.

--Forgot to mention last time that Sang-Moon Bae of South Korea won the season opener on the 2014-15 wraparound PGA Tour season, the Frys.com Open, his second tour title.

--Tiger Woods lost his top spot as the most valuable individual athlete to LeBron James, according to Forbes 2014 rankings. [Based on financial impact...such as in calculating “their endorsement income, less the average endorsement income of top 10 athletes in the same sport.”]

--The New Jersey state Senate approved a bill that writes into law an action to allow sports betting in my state. We still have a ways to go, plus Gov. Christie wants a judge to clarify that its action is OK. The goal is to have the senate and assembly approve the bill before its heard in federal court.

--Armin Zoggeler retired. Who is Armin Zoggeler? He is the first athlete to win a medal in the same individual event (in his case, the luge) at six consecutive Olympics. He won bronze in luge singles in 1994, silver in 1998, gold in 2002 and 2006, and bronze in 2010 and 2014.

--From Reuters: “Police are investigating allegations of attempted match-fixing in badminton after two leading Danish professionals alerted the authorities.

“The Badminton World Federation confirmed on Monday that it has reported the incidents to police and would be cooperating in an on-going investigation.

“Two of Denmark’s leading players, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus and Kim Astrup, told the BWF through its betting ‘whistle blower’ system that they were approached in June and invited to conspire with others to fix matches.”

Shocking. A scandal in the sport of shuttlecocks.

--From Reuters: “A 60-year-old American was killed by a camel which escaped from its pen and attacked him at a wildlife center he owned in the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, local emergency services said on Tuesday.”

This was not a great way to go. A spokesman said, “It dragged him, climbed on top of him, was kicking him, biting him and sat on top of him.”

--Here I’ve been writing of the brown recluse spider the last few weeks and I saw in the New York Daily News that “A venomous spider bite caused the bacterial infection that ultimately killed a 10-year-old Montana boy, an autopsy revealed.

“Keith P. was running wild in a flag football game on Oct. 4. Nine days later he was dead, the result of a leg infection caused by a brown recluse spider bite, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.”

Man, that sucks. Between spiders and fruit bats (carriers of Ebola), you can never be too sure about anything these days.

Top 3 songs for the week 10/12/85: #1 “Oh Sheila” (Ready For The World) #2 “Money For Nothing” (Dire Straits) #3 “Take On Me” (a-ha)...and...#4 “Saving All My Love For You” (Whitney Houston) #5 “Part-Time Lover” (Stevie Wonder) #6 “Lonely Ol’ Night” (John Cougar Mellencamp) #7 “Dancing In The Street” (Mick Jagger/David Bowie) #8 “Cherish” (Kool & The Gang) #9 “Miami Vice Theme” (Jan Hammer) #10 “Dress You Up” (Madonna...bored to tears...goin’ back to ‘60s...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Seven to rush for 2,000 yards in a season...

Eric Dickerson 2,105, 1984, Rams
Adrian Peterson 2,097, 2012, Vikings
Jamal Lewis 2,066, 2003, Ravens
Barry Sanders 2,053, 1997, Lions
Terrell Davis 2,008, 1998, Broncos
Chris Johnson 2,006, 2009, Titans
O.J. Simpson 2,003, 1973, Bills

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