The Dead Season

It's all quiet on the football front. Spring practices and games still two weeks to a month away for most schools.

The NBA, NHL and MLB spring training definitely bring no relief. The only thing that stirs my interest is the NFL combine and random recruiting/coaching.

Let's hit the combine:

• Good Lord! Oregon St. DT Stephen Paea threw up 225lbs 49 times! For those of you paying attention, that's a NFL combine record. I'm not sure how much that will translate to him being a great or even productive NFL player, but it's more interesting than watching baseball players button and unbutton their batting gloves as they wait for the pitcher to get comfortable. 

• In the knucklehead department, QB prospect Josh Portis just DOESN'T get it. Let's recap Portis's collegiate career
• Portis started his career at the University of Florida in 2005, but didn't receive a lot of playing time.
• Portis subsequently transfers to University of Maryland, where he is suspended for cheating on a test. On the field, Portis playing time drops and he eventually transfers.
• Now a starter at the California University of Pennsylvania, Portis excels on the field. Off the field, it's more of the same, in late 2010 Portis makes a deal to avoid a stiffer penalty for theft, stolen property and use of a stolen credit care.

That brings us to Portis at the combine. Portis is complaining that he didn't get a "fair shot" at the University of Maryland. Instead of debating the merits of Portis's reasoning why his academic cheating wasn't a big deal, I'll just go ahead and say Portis doesn't get it. What's "it"? Well, how about staying focused and not getting distracted at the combine? Do NFL execs want to hear a guy of questionable character complaining about the unfairness of his academic suspension? Probably not. I'm not sure where he'll go in the draft, but I can guarantee it's not where he thought he'd go when the 6'4'' highly-touted QB prospect signed his letter of intent to University of Florida. 

Separated at Birth?

The Resemblance is Uncanny.

It's Official. The ACC Sucks.

Every year the pre-season hype is the same. Virginia Tech is going to be great! FSU is back! Then reality sets in. It's week two of the college football season and all four of the ACC's ranked teams (Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, FSU, and Miami) managed to lose in the same week. That's impressive. Among this week's lowlights were:

FSU's former Heisman candidate QB Christian Ponder throwing for just over 100 yards and two picks in the team's loss to Oklahoma.

Miami's Jacory Harris throwing four interceptions in their loss to Ohio State. Jacory Harris was so bad he made Terrelle Pryor's 12 for 27 passing performance look impressive.

Virginia Tech losing to James Madison! Holy crap the Hokies are terrible. Virginia Tech came into the season with national championship aspirations. Now they find themselves 0-2 with one of those losses coming to a school not even in their division.

Oh well, I bet all these teams will be great next year! (I'm not sure if I can effectively convey my sarcasm online.)

You know it's bad...

when you agent is also throwing you under the bus for your yearly retire from or return to the NFL saga. Check out this quote from a Men's Journal Interview of both Favre and his agent, Bus Cook.

“Brett talked to goddamned Ed Werder at ESPN, says he needs ankle surgery. Now why did he do that? I’ve got Childress calling. I’ve got reporters calling all damn morning. Goddammit, why does he have to be such a goddamned drama queen? Play, don’t play, goddamn, people are getting sick of it. I’m getting sick of it! Why does he have to talk to these people? What good does it do? Ed Werder at ESPN! What’s he ever done for anybody other than say, ‘Look, look, Mommy, I got this first, ain’t I special?’ You got problems with surgery, talk to your wife. Why talk to goddamned Ed Werder?”

The rest of the article seems to touch on a lot of stuff that you hear about Favre every offseason (retiring, Mississipi stuff, etc.). In my opinion, Favre totally redeemed himself in the interview when he told Stephen Rodrick of the Men's Journal that earlier in the day he shot two possums on his Mississipi property because they had been "acting weird" and may have had rabies. For those of you who haven't seen one in person before, just Google image "possum." They are basically gigantic rats.


Photo by Jim Wright, Men's Journal

The NCAA's High Horse

For once, don't blame Facebook. The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the University of Florida football program faces secondary sanctions because coaches posted messages on a recruit's Facebook wall. According to Orlando Sentinel, Facebook walls are considered "open forums" in which coaches cannot send messages to their prospective recruits. If, however, the coach wanted to send a private message via Facebook, this would be permitted because it's similar enough to the private nature of an email.

In an attempt to defend the policy, the NCAA's associate director of communications, Cameron Schuh, claimed that "NCAA member institutions maintain concern over the level of intrusiveness the recruiting process can create for a high school student who is a prospective student-athlete."

Reducing the level of intrusiveness? Really? Can NCAA officials really say that is something they are really concerned about? I'm sorry, is this the same NCAA that has and continues to increase the number of bowl games almost every season? Didn't they also just increase the number of teams and games in the NCAA basketball tournament? The NCAA isn't really concerned about the instrusiveness that bowl games and NCCA tournament games have on student-athletes' education when they are bringing in sweet cash.

Lastly, if private communications between coach and prospective athlete are permitted, then why is text messaging banned? That's a private form of communication. The NCAA just arbitrarily makes disciplinary decisions and pretends to care about their "student-athletes." I'm guessing they believe that if they crack down on minor improprieties it helps prop up their image as an organization that promotes higher education and intercollegiate athletes. If you believe that though, you also probably think the horse in the picture is real. Also, best of luck to the NCAA if they want to try to keep up with the privacy policies of most social networking sites. It'll be tons of fun to adjust their rules against the rapidly changing nature of social networking.

Replacing Riley

Replacing QB Riley Skinner will be no small challenge for redshirt junior QB Skylar Jones. Cutting to the chase, there really isn't any way that Jones could possibly be a better passing quarterback than Skinner. Skinner, who is now competing to be Eli Manning's back-up on the Giants, left Wake Forest with 17 school records and 31 career victories. Last year Skinner threw for over 3,100 yards and passed for 25 tds while throwing just 12 ints.

In my opinion, the best case scenario is that Jim Grobe returns to a misdirection run-based offense that could take advantage of both Skylar Jones's athletic ability as well as Wake's veteran backfield. While Jones might not be the passer that Skinner was, he is certainly more athletic. According to the Wake Forest website, Jones has run a 4.33 40 yard dash and has a 35-inch vertical leap. Did anyone else notice Skinner's 40 yard dash time (5.07) at the NFL combine? Yikes that's slow. Jones's ability to run may give the Deacons a refreshing change of pace at the QB position. If Jones can throw on the run, then they could really give some ACC defenses fits.

In my opinion, this year's Wake team will look a lot more like Jim Grobe's teams from early on in his tenure at Wake. I expect to see a more run-based offense with lots of misdirection. I think Wake will finish the year around .500 with the possibility of sneaking into one of the smaller bowl games.

Sound Advice

Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans resigned following a very public DUI charge in which police noted that Evans had a pair of red panties on his lap when he was pulled over.

Evans should have totally listened to this guy's advice:



In other DUI news, Arkansas freshman offensive tackle Anthony Oden, who, at 6'8'' 328lbs, was expected to compete for a starting position, was recently charged with driving while intoxicated and without a license. Seriously! Why is it so hard for good athletes to have their driver's licenses on them??? Of note, Anthony is the brother of NBA player Greg Oden.