ESPN has been losing its edge since ABC took it over. But their coverage of their EW Shrine game was the worst so far. The bone heads at ESPN failed to give complete lineups with numbers. In a normal game, draft nicks like me could get the player numbers from the college pages of the ESPN website. But evidently they couldn’t afford to buy the game program from a local vendor after spending so much money on the big ESPN bus parked in the stadium. I have been unable to find the numbers anywhere on the net so far.

They did show the names and numbers of the QBs, RBs, and WR/TE. But those names are repeated regularly throughout the coverage. More than half the time, they did not give the name of the tackler which would have helped to identify some of the players on the D side. The O linemen were totally anomalous because even when they committed a penalty, the announcer usually ignored the name of the offender. Sometimes, the camera man would help us out with a closeup of the player.

So it was up to us to study the tape as closely as possible to get the numbers associated with the players. In a tradition of the game, the players regularly trade decals which further hinder recognition by the viewing audience.

As a service to our readers, I will provide the list of as many as I can to anyone that emails me at wesmith2001@hotmail.com. I will have a report on the results of my analysis of the play Wednesday here.

Now understand that ESPN stands for Economic Suspension of Programing for No reason. Anyone that bothered to tape a replay of a college football game has found how it takes 2 hours to see about 15 minutes of football. A typical broadcast contains the touchdown followed by a commercial break followed by the extra point. Then there is another commercial break followed by the kickoff. At that point a commercial break is interrupted by the phrase “due to time constraints we move ahead to further action…” That of course is followed by another commercial break.

This is the bottom line. IF ESPN wants to be the leader of sports broadcasting, it is going to have to tighten up its programming. If things continue to slide like they have been, it won’t be worth watching. Thank heavens that the NFL Channel is covering the Senior Bowl.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday morning at 11. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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There is no question that a number of wins by the Florida State football team under Coach Bowden will disappear due to the educational assistance scandal being investigated by the NCAA. But there is a much bigger and more significant issue here than FSU, Bowden wins, for college football. The situation is a indictment of the US educational system in all grades and those that we pay with our tax dollars to run it.

The public schools in general, particularly those in the inner cities of our nation, are a joke and represent the greatest single challenge to our nations future we face. The cry we here from our politicians in both parties is “we need more money for schools.” That is also a joke. Year after year we give them more and more money without any significant  improvement. The popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Private schools around the country educate our children far better at a fraction of the expense. How? Because they are not unionized and can terminate a bad teacher instantly rather than letting them stay because they have union protection. The private schools also do not have large bureaucracies, multiple levels of management, automatic salary increases based on longevity rather than ability, and indirect overheads like costly health care programs that come with a negotiated contract.

In the inner cities, our politicians have promised for the 62 years I have been around that if we vote for them they will fix what is wrong with our schools. But at best they just throw more money at the problem and claim they have done what they could. But when the parents ask for school vouchers to use their tax money to send their children to private school, the elected officials refuse—that would hurt the teachers unions which are providing re-election funds to those very politicians.

Slow learners far too often are either passed on to the next grade or ignored because it takes too much time to bring them up to the level of the rest of the class. Great athletes in this category like those that were admitted to FSU and many other universities around the country were passed on because the high school wanted to give them a chance to take advantage of their unique abilities. Then colleges want to help themselves and the players by allowing them to participate in their sport. But colleges are not equipped to take a player from a 2^nd or 3^rd grade educational level to a point where they can do college work.

The biggest frauds in the system are those at the NCAA that are “shocked” that such things are going on. Who are they kidding? Have they talked to recent graduates of big city schools? Have they spent any time watching what happens on a daily basis there? I have taught at the high school and college levels. I have seen the problem from both sides of that fence. It isn’t pretty.

So what do we do about this mess? First, throw the bums out. If the politicians are not part of a real solution, they are part of the problem. Second, support those candidates that call for educational vouchers. Vouchers create real competition which will force bad schools to improve or close. Either alternative is fine with me. Third, the NCAA has to recognize the problem and make special categories for those players that have the talent to play college sports but are not educationally advanced enough to do the work. Last, the colleges must be limited as to how many of these athletes they can accept and must provide them the special help they need. The schools must be held accountable for helping these players get the basics they need to be able to do college work within a reasonable time frame.

Football is the largest single area where this problem is the most obvious. There is no effective “developmental” league that is not educationally based where a player that either is not able to or is not at all interested in doing college work. If the NFLPA really wants to help future players, let both the league and the union put money into a football school. Several young men mentioned in the ESPN “Outside the Lines” program have become successful NFL players. Give them the football, social and financial education they need and forget forcing them to go to college. The NBA established the developmental league but then showed an unbelievable level of hypocrisy by requiring players to be out of high school 1 year before being eligible for the draft. That has caused the “one and done” fiasco putting more youngsters that only want a professional athletic career to pretend they are college students.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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College

Pac10 Championship—sort of

Oregon beat Oregon State 37-33 for the league title and the Rose Bowl ticket. In the end, it was the running and passing of the Ducks that won the game. The Ducks will give Ohio State all they want.

SEC Championship We finally get to see #1 Florida against #2 Alabama. It should be a defensive struggle again this year like it was last season. However, Bama seems to have a little more explosiveness to their O than the Gators. The game will be determined by turnovers and will be low scoring and close. The Bama D is as good as the Florida D so the game will depend on the QB’s ability to move the ball on the opponent. Most experts think that Bama will win but I can’t go against Tebow. When the game is in the balance he always seems to find a way to win.

Big12 Championship

#3 Texas will have their way with a good but too young #22 Nebraska team in this game. The game will be the showcase for QB Colt McCoy and should elevate him to a Heisman award as much for his body of work as for this season. The Huskers are a year away from challenging for a B12 title.

#5 Cincinnati @ #15 Pitt

The Bearcats are playing for a BcS game and should win. Pitt looked very ordinary last week in a loss to West Virginia. I expect the Cats’ D to be too much for the talented but turnover prone Panthers.

USA Conference Championship

If you haven’t seen Houston QB Keenum, take a look at this game. He is fun to watch. The Houston O is a wide open passing game that will throw the ball all over the East Carolina D. Nobody is going to want to get paired with Houston in a bowl game.

NFL

Eagles @ Falcons

QB Vick makes his return to Atlanta but won’t be a factor. Both teams are chasing after a playoff spot. The loser will likely be out of the race. The Falcons play well at home but the Eagles should win.

Titans @ Colts

QB Young will have his winning streak ended with a thud but most likely it won’t be his fault. The Titan D has been playing better with Young at QB because he has been able to keep drives alive with his legs. The problems in the pass D of the Titans will be exploited by Manning. The Colts won’t blow them away because they tend to play down to competition but the Colts will win.

Cowboys @ Giants

Well, it’s December and time for the Boys to take their annual dive. Everything points to a Boys win but Romo doesn’t play well after Turkey day. The Boys need a win to keep up on the Eagles. I have to think that the Boys will find a way to lose rather than Giants winning the game.

Vikings @ Cards

IF QB Warner plays, this should be a good close game filled with offense. But I don’t think he will and the Vikes will win. QB Leinart couldn’t beat the Titans last week and folds under a good pass rush. The Vikes turn up the heat on D and win the game.

Ravens @ Packers

The Ravens have struggled in the last couple of weeks but should find the Pack D a little easier to run on. But in the end, the Pack O will be too much for an aging Raven D. Pack wins in a close game.

Seattle fires their GM.

Tim Ruskett, the GM that replaced Coach Holmgren in that role. Some people are assuming that Holmgren will come back to take that job along with the Presidency of the team. I don’t think that will happen. Holmgren didn’t have a great history drafting players. Check out my analysis of his draft history on NFLDraftDog.com.

Browns lose all hope.

The Browns lost their best player on D—NT Rogers and best player on O—RB Lewis to the IR. What will hurt even more, their best player overall in Mr. Everything, Cribbs. Cribbs let a kickoff free ball lay in the end zone against the Bengals. That was not a brain cramp; it was a signal that he has given up on the team, the coaching staff and his chance for getting the contract that he was promised. Again, I will comment on this more in my weekly article on NFLDraftDog.com.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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1 Florida @ Miss St.

The Gators will face a pretty good O in the Bulldogs. QB Lee has a passer rating of 112.3 and RB Dixon averages 5.2 per run. The Dogs have struggled on D against good teams. In losses to Auburn, 7 LSU and 13 Georgia Tech they gave up a total of 121 points. They will give up quite a few against Florida as well. Florida this year seems to loose concentration in games against lessor teams. That is particularly true when a tough game is next up. The Gators will play Georgia next which is a big rival. Florida will win but it could be closer than it should be.

Tennessee @ 2 Alabama

Bama has taken over the top spot in some of the rankings and that is well deserved. It has outplayed Florida against better competition. Bama has beaten 3 ranked teams and won the games easily. Their D is playing outstanding ball giving up just 9 points in the last 2 games against ranked teams. The Bama O has played well with QB McElroy having a 137.6 passing rating and 2 RBs averaging over 5 per carry.

Tennessee had a nice win last week over Georgia but faces 2 ranked teams in the next 2 weeks. The D has played well but the O is inconsistent. QB Crompton has been streaky but is completing less than 58% with 13 TDs and 9 picks. He has a set of good receivers as well. He has racked up a lot of the numbers against 2 teams. RB Hardesty averages 5.4 per carry. The O has struggled against good defenses. They will struggle badly against Bama. Bama wins.

3 Texas @ Missouri

The Horns tend to play with less energy after the Oklahoma game. But they have way too much for the Tigers. Missouri lost a lot in graduation or the draft and is not a physical team. They will be pushed all over the field by Texas and the Horns win.

4 Boise State @ Hawaii

Boise is 4^th but has no chance of playing for the national championship. I don’t want to hear any crying from State fans because if they want to play for a title they need to schedule more than 1 tough opponent. The only ranked team they played was Oregon. The rest of their schedule is too weak to get the spot over a 1 loss SEC or Big 12 team. They will win at Hawaii and get a nice tan at the same time.

Louisville @ 5 Cincinnati

Cincy may have lost their QB Pike in the game against South Florida. Pike has led the team to 244 points in 6 games. His replacement is Collaros is an untested sophomore. Pike’s status is unknown. The Cincy D has played well and should have no problem with the Cards or next week against Syracuse. However, they have 4 tough games to end the season and will need Pike if they want to win out.

6 Iowa @ Michigan St.

Iowa has 2 tough road games left on its schedule and this is one of them. Iowa has a shot at the big game if it ends the season undefeated. Either Alabama or Florida will lose at least 1 game when they meet in the SEC Championship game. That leaves only Texas as the other candidate. The Hawk O is inconsistent but seems to show up in big games. If Iowa gets by MSU their only other road game is at Ohio State.

The MSU D is very tough with 12 sacks in the last 3 games. They stopped last year star RB Green on 4^th and 1 to preserve a win over Iowa. The game is at night and it is MSU’s best shot to get to a New Years Day Bowl. The Spartans may be more dangerous than the Buckeyes to Iowa’s hopes. Iowa will win in a close game.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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1 Florida @ 4 LSU

QB Tim Tebow is reportedly going to start the game Saturday. In the first couple of series watch to see if he is running the ball and if he is using his head rather than risking it by sliding or going out of bounds before he takes a monster hit. The risk is once you have had a concussion you are more susceptible to them in the future. He has hurt his draft status because of the injury. A broken arm or knee would not have done as much damage as a concussion to his ranking in the draft.

The Florida running game beside Tebow is going to have to pick up the slack better than it did after the injury against Kentucky. Despite Tebow going out in the middle of the 3^rd quarter, he still was the leading rusher in the game. No other back got 100 yards or more than 12 carries. Tebow got 16 in a little over a half of football.

The other aspect of the Florida game will be how effective will Tebow be in passing. He has yet to prove to most scouts that he is an NFL quality QB prospect in part because of questioned arm strength and partly because he has to change from a pure spread to an NFL style offense. That is not an easy transition. QB Brantley is a talented backup but does not offer the leadership that Tebow offers. If Tebow can’t go or has to come out, look for the Gators to run more and depend on Brantley to throw less to try not to lose the game. The game plan will become a lot more conservative.

LSU has its own concerns on offense. They are home and playing at night which is one of the best venues in college football. But the team ranks 80^th in the nation in scoring TDs in the red zone. FGs are not going to beat Florida. They are going to have to score TDs.

QB Jefferson is 19 and the youngest QB starting in the SEC. He needs some help from the play caller if he is going to do better against the veteran Florida D than he has against the likes of Vanderbilt or Louisiana-Lafayette. They need him to do less reading and more rolling out. That should also help reduce the rush from the Gator front 7. He seems more comfortable reading half the field in a roll out than trying to read the entire field from the pocket.

Another problem LSU has in scoring inside the red zone is that they have not proven that they can run the ball into the endzone. That results in the D playing the pass exclusively inside the 20.

If Tebow plays the Gators win. If not, they lose.

Colorado @ 2 Texas

This is a trap game for Texas. They get Oklahoma next week. Traditionally Texas wins the game before the Red River Rivalry but not by much. Colorado is not a good team. It has lost to both Colorado State and Toledo. Look for a closer than expected game with the Horns winning.

3 Alabama @ 20 Mississippi

This game would have carried a lot more hype had not Ole Miss lost to South Carolina. Alabama is an outstanding team with a crushing D. This is QB Snead’s chance to prove he is a top NFL prospect. So far he has show the potential but not the production in big games. In what most people think was his highpoint in the defeat of Florida last year he was 9 for 20 for 185 and 2 TDs with 1 int. Not what he needs to prove his value.

Alabama can not look past Ole Miss because it has #25 SC, a road game at Tennessee and home against LSU in the next 3 weeks. This is put up or shut up time for the Tide. They need a big win here to prove their worthiness for the #3 spot. They will win but not by enough to satisfy the home folks.

Boston College @ 4 Virginia Tech

BC has had Tech’s number the last few years. But this year should be different. VT wins comfortably.

Wisconsin @ 9 Ohio State

The key to this game will be the ability of Wisconsin to run the ball with their outstanding O line against the D line of OSU. The Badgers are still trying to find out exactly who they are. They better find out before 3:30 on Saturday or it will be a long day. OSU wins but struggles as it always does.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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TN @ JK The Titans are in serious trouble. Just like the rest of those that watch and are fool enough to try to prognosticate NFL games, I thought the Titans would come around. They have had a ton of injuries on D and on the O line but that is no excuse. They are bad and there are no answers on the bench (see my column on Will Vince Young ever become an NFL QB?). The Titans are out of the playoffs for the first time in a while.

Jacksonville had their game blacked out. They are really struggling to get their attendance up. The only hope to keep the team in place beside a winning streak which won’t happen is to play some games in Orlando. They won’t do that and will end up moving. The 7 of you that have the NFL Network can see Jacksonville games after midnight on that channel.

BA @ NE The Pats took the one path to beat the Ravens that I have seen—Jump ahead and make them a pass first team. The 14 point 2^nd quarter by the Pats put the Ravens behind and they gave up on the run. That was not wise because Rice averaged 9.4 yards per attempt but got only 11 carries. The loss pulled the Ravs even with the Bengals who they play next week. The Pats were able to pull even with the Jets in the loss column with their fall to the Saints. I still believe that the Pats are the class of the AFC East.

NJ @ NO The Saints untold story is their D. They stopped the Jet O cold and held them to 10 points. The O has carried the Saints for years but now under former HC Williams they are playing very well on D. Look for them to make the NFC South their personal playground. The Jets will be fine and should make the playoffs as a wild card behind the Pats. They are a good team but Sanchez has to have some time to become a NFL QB.

DA @ DV The luck continued but so did an above average effort by the D. The Bronco D has played above their heads and has contributed the most to their 4-0 start. Dallas is in trouble. Romo has yet to prove he can make it happen in tough spots. The playoffs are going to be tough for the Boys that are now in effect 2.5 games behind the Giants because they are 2 games back in the loss column and lose the tiebreaker. The running game is struggling because the passing game is not as effective as it should be. The O line is a problem but so are the backs. Neither Barber nor Choice got 4 yards a carry. That is the standard for an average running game.

SD @ PT The Steelers got another win by showing their grit. They held off the Chargers on a 2^nd half rally that netted 28 points. The Steelers scored 10 in the 4^th to win the game. Mendenhall got out of the dog house just in time to run for 165 yards and 2 TDs. He was the difference between this win and last weeks lost to the Bengals. The Steelers are now 2-2 but 1.5 games behind the Bengals. They should still get to the playoffs but will it be as the Division champ or a wild card. The wild card route is a tough road to get to the Super Bowl.

GB @ MN The Pack was able to keep Peterson under control and allowed him only 2.2 ypa. But by focusing on the running game, Favre went to work. He threw for 3 TDs and 271 yards. The Pack gave up on the running game too soon. Grant was averaging 4.6 per carry but got only 11 attempts. The Vikes are on their way to the 1^st seed in the playoffs and that should carry them to the NFC Championship game.

TB @ WA The Redskins saved Coach Zorn from getting fired or worse. They stumbled to a 16-13 win over the totally inept Bucs. This was the stinker game of the week and lived up to that title. Between Johnson (TB) and Campbell (WA) there was only 276 yards of passing! If you were thinking that the Ds played really well, you would be wrong. Neither guy could hit the water from a sinking boat in the middle of the Atlantic.

CN @ CL Check out my full report on NFLDraftDog.com tomorrow.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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QB News:

Miami: QB Chad Pennington is likely out for the season. According to ESPN, he suffered a torn capsule in his shoulder. He is getting a second opinion. I hope he can recover from the injury. He has always had the head of a coach, the heart of a lion and the arm of a chicken. But he is a perfect QB for the Dolphin O. Former 2^nd round pick Chad Henne from Michigan will start for the time being.

St. Louis: QB Mark Bulger has a rotator cuff injury. He will miss significant time.

Tampa Bay: Coach Morris announced that Josh Johnson will be the starter replacing Byron Leftwich who will be the #3 QB behind rookie Josh Freeman.

Cleveland: Brady Quinn was replaced by Derek Anderson to start the second half. As usual, no information has been made public about who will start next week against the Bengals. He will announce his latest victim on Wednesday.

Quinn has shown nothing in 2+ games. Anderson moved the ball much better in the 2^nd half but threw 3 picks. In my opinion, Mangenus will select Anderson but he should stick with Quinn. We all know that Anderson is not going to get this team back to respectability. Let the kid play. The team is not going anywhere this year anyway. I will have a lot more to say about the Browns Wednesday on NFLDraftDog.com

Teams that are in some trouble:

Dolphins – The team was not going to repeat as division champion anyway. But they are 0-3 and Pennington is hurt. They will not make the playoffs.

Browns – They may get the #1 draft choice overall but Mangini will trade it for a bag of balls.

Titans – This team will recover. They are much better than both the Jags and the Texans. But at 0-3 the playoffs are in question.

Chiefs – Who cares?

Redskins – What do you expect when you have a bad QB and a rookie O Coordinator?

Bucs – This is the worst team in the NFC and that is saying a lot.

Cowboys – If the Boys don’t win tonight Jerry Jones is going to have to fire his coach before the end of the season—the sooner the better.

Panthers – The QB problem is going to keep the team from getting better. Matt Moore is their backup! Good planning guys.

Seahawks – Starter Matt Hasselbeck is out and backup Seneca Wallace is in. That is trouble for the team that is already 1-2. The only thing they have in their favor is the fact that the St. Louis Lambs are in their division.

Lambs – The Lambs are going to fight the Browns for the 1^st pick overall. They have less talent but perhaps are better off in the locker room.

We will look at the College game and NFL teams going in the right direction later in the week.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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I don’t often have good things to say about Washington D.C. or the US Congress. But in this case, they are using the right approach in challenging the BcS—Follow the money.

Sen. Hatch of Utah undoubtedly has his constituents in mind when he pushed for hearings on the BcS. I have no problem with that. The current economic problems could have been avoided had not Congress tried to force social engineering into legislation on the US financial system. At least Hatch is not trying to buy votes by giving away money!

Most major football colleges are public institutions. They get tax payer dollars to help finance their activities including many athletic departments. It is the popularity of college football that generates money for the BCS. Because the “lessor” conferences are not included in the automatic cut of the pot of gold that BcS generates, they don’t share in the bounty unless one of their teams is in one of the games. Then they split a team share and not a league share.

There are some aspects of anti-trust law that could be applied to the BcS. That however must focus on distribution of money and not forcing college presidents to accept a playoff. Let’s face it. The Presidents’ excuses for not allowing a college football playoff contain less truth than the average speech by Castro. The excuses are a sham and if they believe that we accept them as truth, they must think we are a collection of ignorant jerks. Since many of us have had the “advantage” of being educated by the institutions they represent, it tells us a lot about how seriously they take their main business.

College Presidents, the ones that are primarily responsible for voting down any playoff system, are greedy pinheads. That is why I have suggested a number of times that if you want a playoff in college football, contact the big contributors and ask them to tell the pinheads no playoff no money. If enough deep pockets did that, we would have a playoff this season.

Congress will get the attention of the pinheads. Maybe it will lead to a more equitable division of the money but probably not. Maybe it might even lead to a change in the BcS that would come closer to a playoff. That is a long shot. At the very least, it will bother the pinheads. I can get behind anything that makes the seats of the pinheads a little less comfy.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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Comment of the month: #4427 “ANALYSIS: NFLPA Executive Director Smith has a revolt on his hands!” from robertinseattle

Comment:

And YOU are absolutely right. Just like Gene Upshaw. The NFLPA doesn’t and doesn’t want to represent the retired players. It’s been very clear for years. But then, that also means the NFLPA and its Executive Director is obligated by law to return any and all money ever held or spent from the disability and pension funds that they’ve been sitting on or controlling for years. That money was part of the total 60% share of gross revenues paid by the owners and earmarked specifically for those retirement funds.

That aside, even pension experts are stunned to see the levels of abuse and thievery that these guys have been enduring for the past 25 years. There is absolutely NO legitimate Union that can legally withhold pension and disability benefits for ANY reason whatsoever (unless they made the rule up themselves). No Big Three automaker’s Union (the UAW) ever went back to their retired workers to tell them they were cutting their benefits when they went on strike. They would have had a strike inside a strike! Have the NBA or MLB Unions ever threatened their retired members that way in the past?

Robert, I just have nothing to add. Well done.

Updates on previous columns:

Donte Stallworth got a pass on DUI Manslaughter.

This week Commissioner Goodell told another suspended player, Mike Vick, that he will not even consider the issue of reinstatement until he completes his house arrest. The critical question is when will Goodell consider reinstatement for Stallworth. According to the reports, Stall is under house arrest for 2 years. Goodell should treat Stall the same way.

God must hate the Cleveland Browns—My first column.

This week Browns WR Joe Jurevicius sued the Browns and the Cleveland Clinic for negligence over a staph infection that cost him last season and perhaps his career. It should be remembered that JJ is a Cleveland native and attended games as a kid.

The NFL survey said that the entire league had only 33 cases of staph from 2006-08. The Browns have had 6 players with staph and a total of 8 separate infections.

Analysis: It’s about time someone from the Browns sued the team and the hospital. I hope he wins a pot of money. Maybe that would make both organizations clean up their act. I will be rerunning the first article tomorrow for those of you that have not seen it.

MLB Hall of Fame and the steroids era

This week we found out that Sammy Sosa was another of the players that failed the 2003 test. What a shock that was. Sosa went from a Pee Wee Herman clone to Bluto in one off season. We all knew something was fake about his new found muscles.

Mangenious and his Magical Bus trip

There is still no word on how the NFLPA investigation into the issue is going but the union is also looking into claims that the Browns OTAs have been too long and physical.

Analysis: The way the team has played over the last 15 years, they need all the practice they can get.

Niblets fresh off the cob

Steelers owner Dan Rooney is confirmed by the Senate to be Ambassador to Ireland.

The Rooney family is class all the way. We wish him luck in his new job.

OTA facts and miss information.

Out of SF—QB and former 1^st overall pick Alex Smith is gaining ground against Shaun Hill to be the starting QB. Translation: We really want to dump Smith and will lie to increase his value.

Out of his mind—WR Plaxico Burress’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is shopping his client around the league and has indicated that 5 teams including the Jets may have expressed interest. Translation: Burress’ best chance of escaping a long sentence is that the prosecuting attorney is a Jets fan.

Out of Atl—Watch out for a new and improved QB Matt Ryan. He has had an entire off season to work within the system. The Falcons may not improve their record but look for Ryan to have a better year than 08. Translation: I think this is accurate. The D still needs work but Ryan is the real thing.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

Related Posts:

• Are teams better off with first time coaches?
• Before you fire your head coach…
• Niblets from around the net for 4/18/09
• Is George Kokinis ready for the big time?
• Analysis: Mangini is defensive about the Defense.

American Football Coaches Association announced Wednesday that the final vote by individual coaches for the USA/Coaches Poll will not be made public. The ONLY vote of coaches that is made public is the final poll. The other polls really don’t care to anyone anyway.

AFCA executive director Grant Teaff said the change will contribute to “making our poll the best poll it can possibly be.” The USA/Coaches poll helps decide which 2 teams play for the BcS Championship will not be released. According to a study done for the organization by Gallop, the votes for the final poll should be kept private to help promote accuracy in the result. WHAT?

I thought that the secret ballot was the very seed of evil. That’s why the President and Congress are so intent on making workers vote for or against unionization in public including union “organizers” with the so called Employee Free Choice Act.

Seriously, the coaches want cover from the criticism that has resulted from their previous votes. Several SEC coaches at their league meeting have already spoken out against the change. That list includes Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) and Mark Rick (Georgia). This change will take effect in the 2010 season unless the decision is reversed.

This is just another step further away from anything that has a sliver of legitimacy of a true national championship. It is pure arrogance because the coaches don’t want to be criticized for their vote. Even worse, it makes a system that is devoid of benefit to the fans who are the customers of college sports even more worthless. Even if there was not collusion between voters to fix the game, this move indicates that they are looking to do that in upcoming years.

The fact is that the ONLY way fans are ever going to get a true playoff in division 1 football is for the big contributors to colleges around the country to cut off their donations until the pinhead president of the school stops voting against a playoff and becomes a supporter. The only thing that college presidents understand is money. Money is the only thing that will get them to change their minds.

I personally stopped tradition of call ins to the Ohio State president during the half time of OSU football games. After Pres. Gee had decried the lack of money from the taxpayer via the Ohio Legislature, I asked him why he didn’t help erase the deficit by cutting his salary in half. He refused to answer the question. The radio station that carried the OSU games never had a call in segment to him at half time again.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

Related Posts:

• Analysis: Congress is using the right approach against the BcS
• Congress and the White House are putting pressure on the BcS to change it’s format.
• There are reasons that OSU is a professional bridesmaid.
• Utah blows another hole in Airship B(C)S
• Analysis: Will the College Spread Offense work in the NFL?