Knowshon Moreno, Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan and David Garrard enter pivotal seasons where they will be scrutinized if they do not perform at a high level.
The Eagles seemingly came out of nowhere to sign Nnamdi Asomugha as they eye a trip to the Super Bowl.
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Amongst the cavalcade of minor holidays, Flag Day is perhaps the most well-received and most ingrained. While on my way to the store this morning to mourn the death of sausage magnate Jimmy Dean by purchasing a few tubes of his great product, I noticed that nearly every house was sporting a flag.
I was going to go off on a ?false patriotism? tangent until I thought about my neighborhood. I live in a very diverse little enclave. My neighbors to the north are Laotian, my neighbor to the south is a second-generation American from Poland. At least half the people on my street are of recent Asian migration, and nearly half my son?s preschool classmates are of Mexican or Asian descent. Many of the houses I passed by are home to Mexican nationals or recently naturalized citizens, and they proudly flew the American flag just as much as the Dutch descendants (I live in Holland, MI after all) do on their homes. With all the hubbub about what?s going on in Arizona, it?s pretty cool to see so many different ethnicities celebrating being in America, if only for a day by a token display of a flag.
$.01--When it?s not Flag Day, I often fly my Ohio State banner on my front porch. Living in Michigan, that often causes some serious consternation, though with the recent decline of the UM football program that has largely subsided. But with the recent Big Ten expansion and impending implosion of the Big 12, it takes on a different meaning.
Adding Nebraska makes complete sense for the Big 10. It?s a storied football program, it fits geographically, and the academics blend well. Adding a western anchor to balance out Ohio State and Penn State in football greatly strengthens the entire conference, aside from the fact it allows for a conference championship game. The question now becomes, what comes next for the Big Ten?
We?ll find out very soon (likely Tuesday) what happens to the rest of the Big 12, namely Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. I don?t see any current Big 12 programs other than Missouri fitting in the Big Ten, though a trustee for a Big Ten school did inform me late last week that Texas has indeed seriously approached the Big Ten about membership. As for the Big Ten, the million dollar elephant in the room is Notre Dame, which keeps vacillating between defiant independence and the sober reality that the new mega-conferences being formed likely dooms them to increasing irrelevance. Their decision holds the key to the Big Ten?s plans.
If Notre Dame joins, expect the conference to add just one more school, likely Missouri or perhaps Rutgers. If the Irish pass, look for a bigger Big Ten as they try to counter the omission of the Irish with sheer numbers: Maryland, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers, Kansas, even Cincinnati and Louisville enter the picture. No matter the outcome, this is certainly not your father?s Big Ten anymore. Sorry Dad, you?re going to have to learn some new rivalries, though at least the Buckeyes will now only have to face Wisconsin twice every six years.
$.02--It won?t be your father?s Pac-10 anymore either. Multiple sources are now reporting that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are joining Colorado in defecting from the Big 12 to the Pac-10. That is a huge fundamental influx of power to the Pac-10, one that sure appears to shift the power of that new conference distinctly eastward. With USC getting whacked hard for serious NCAA violations and Oregon having their own issues, it?s very likely that the newcomers will absolutely dominate the existing members in the foreseeable future.
That?s an interesting decision by the current Pac-10 members--essentially relegating themselves to second-class citizens in favor of increased revenue. For the middle-rung programs (Oregon State, Stanford, Arizona, Cal, UCLA) it almost certainly ends any hopes they ever could harbor of winning a conference title or achieve even regional prominence. It?s a major step backwards for most existing members, but I doubt they really care. I?ve seen estimates where the new mega-conference will increase football television revenues up to 250%. For Washington State and Arizona State, that?s free money for continuing to be largely non-competitive. For USC, it?s a nice cushion for their inglorious fall from grace.
$.03--One of the side effects of all this conference shuffling is quite unfortunate and quite overlooked. This almost certainly is the death knell for ?minor? men?s sports, which envelops every sport that isn?t football or basketball. The travel expenses created by these geographically vast and remote mega-conferences make sports like baseball, swimming, and volleyball absolutely impossible to justify. What shred of hope these programs had after the decimation at the hands of the unintended misapplication of Title IX is now all but gone. There?s simply no way schools will increase their budgets for other men?s sports to accommodate the new travel costs, not in this economic climate.
It also tramples the concept of ?student-athlete?. Let?s say you are a baseball player for Washington State. Your conference schedule now sends you on an expensive, expansive road trip to Lubbock for a pair against Texas Tech, then a jaunt to Stillwater to face the Cowboys. In order to contain costs, it will almost certainly mean a visit to Norman or Austin as well. That?s a minimum of six days away from Pullman, and that means loads of missed classes. All that time on the road costs serious dollars for the players themselves as well. The daily stipend barely covers bare necessities, and extending these trips means bigger phone bills, more trips to the hotel snack machines and the Subway down the street. The players can?t hold jobs to fund these excursions and the NCAA refuses to allow them to accept one penny of additional support.
If the NCAA has any integrity at all (I?m not sure they do!), something major has to change. It?s high time to divvy up all those hundreds of millions of football dollars into increasing the support for the other athletes, not just the other sports in general. Give the players more pocket money on road trips, and allow individual sport boosters to supplement that as well. If a generous alumni benefactor group wants to give the men?s volleyball team a nice dinner at Applebee?s on day four of the 6-day roadie, let them. If a prominent alumnus wants to augment the scholarships for women?s field hockey players, allow it as a recruiting advantage for that school. At least then it?s out in the open and not some shady, behind-the-scenes mischief that has just sunk the USC football, basketball, and women?s tennis teams. It simply makes too much sense not to happen...which is why the NCAA will never do it.
$.04--Since I am ostensibly an NFL writer, here?s 5 NFL quickies...
--Vince Young?s early morning strip club altercation is further proof that he?s just not ready to handle leading the Titans. Franchise QBs simply don?t put themselves in situations like that, certainly not after Ben Roethlisberger's exploits.
--Every person around the Browns that I?ve talked with, and that number counts more than one hand, raves about rookie RB Montario Hardesty. He?s drawing early comparisons to Michael Turner, and his football IQ is ?off the charts?. He?ll need to be great, because the QB battle has been ?a continual display of crappiness?, according to one daily observer.
--Things keep spiraling downward for the Carolina Panthers. Starting LB Thomas Davis is lost for the season with a torn ACL, further decimating a defense that already must replace all four starters up front. Pair that with the loss of the two leadership stalwarts on offense in Jake Delhomme and the recently retired Muhsin Muhammad, and this Panthers team continues to look worse all the time.
--You might have missed it, but LenDale White was unceremoniously dumped by the Seahawks recently. They traded for him during the draft, and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll coached White at USC. There was immediate chatter on some message boards about ?Team X should pick him up?, but here?s the cold reality: LenDale White is fat, lazy, and apathetic about his career. If Pete Carroll trades for him and lets him go so quickly, it?s over folks! There are legit legs to the Marshawn Lynch-to-Seattle rumors though.
--He?s taken a beating in the media, but the early star of OTAs in Oakland is Darrius Heyward-Bey. After sleepwalking though a miserable rookie season, the former 1st rounder showed up in great shape, both physically and mentally. He has quickly mind-melded with new QB Jason Campbell, and even his harshest critics are praising how awesome DHB has been so far. It?s not even practice in pads yet so jumping to conclusions is premature, but the arrow is pointing straight up for DHB.
$.05--I spent the weekend in Cleveland, which was quite the focus of many a sporting eye. From Stephen Strasburg pitching against the dreadful Indians, to the Browns ever-popular (seriously) OTAs, to the Tom Izzo-to-the-Cavs talk, there was a lot of sporting news. But I quickly picked up on the main topic du juor: LeBron. And Team LeBron probably won?t like it, either.
There is some major, palpable LeBron fatigue in Cleveland. It?s not that the fans don?t want him back, but rather there is a very real sense that everyone is sick of this ongoing soap opera of where LeBron will play. I understand his need to feel wanted, but trust me when I say Clevelanders are genuinely tired of it. If you would have told me six months ago that the attitude of Cleveland regarding Lebron would be what it is today, I?d have called you insane. But there is now a pall of overkill, and the King?s crown has lost even more luster. Don?t get me wrong, 99.5% of all Cleveland wants LeBron back. But if he does choose to leave, it?s not going to be as mentally and emotionally devastating as most once thought. That?s a real loss for LeBron, who apparently admires Brett Favre?s offseason spotlight-retaining regimen a little too much for most tastes.
