I think it was clear that the Indianapolis Colts were the better team on the field last Sunday against the Jets. Obviously, I do not have the coaches’ tape for the game, but I cannot recall a single time in the second half when Peyton Manning was hit – - even slightly – - by the Jets’ pass rush. And, in the absence of a huge pass rush, Peyton Manning and the Colts’ receivers took turns abusing Dwight Lowery, a second year cornerback from San José State.
Oh, while I was typing that last paragraph, the Vikings fumbled again…
Back about Thanksgiving, the Colts and the Saints were still undefeated and people were already beginning to “debate” the merits of the teams resting starters at the end of the season or trying for an undefeated season. In the midst of that debate, I suggested that Jim Caldwell and Sean Peyton probably knew their teams well enough that they would make a decision that would not hurt the team. However, I said that either or both coaches would be second-guessed to death unless their teams made it to the Super Bowl. Voila! The Saints and the Colts are in the Super Bowl so whatever calculus each coach used to arrive at his decision, the one thing that is for certain is that it worked.
Meanwhile, we do have to endure the Pro Bowl this weekend. As I have been watching the ESPN promo for the game where they say that “86 NFL Stars” will be on the same field at the same time this Sunday in this classic match up, I have to say that I resonate with that promo. It does not make me want to see the game – - you would need to have me at gunpoint and in shackles to get me to do that – - but it does resonate.
There are 86 players in the game and more than anything, I would like to “eighty-six” the game. It resonates…
The Pro Bowl is in Miami this year. That might lead you to believe that the Pro Bowl game would cut some slack by Greg Cote in the Miami Herald. I do not think that is the case, but you make the call:
“Miami’s only Pro Bowl selection, tackle Jake Long, dropped out because of an unspecified injury, continuing the long-standing NFL tradition of players bowing out with fake injuries because being selected is great on account of incentive bonuses, but actually playing in the Pro Bowl is worse than an anterior cruicate ligament tear.”
“I don’t wanna say a lot of players drop out, but because of the attrition, your neighbor, Fat Eddie, is now the first alternate to start at left guard for the AFC.”
Last week, I said that the story that Tiger Woods had checked into a rehab program for sex addiction had the whiff of a PR move all over it. I got this e-mail from a sometimes reader whom I will identify only as a “pressbox wag”:
“Tiger? Makes sense. He already had a swing coach; now he has one for his putts.”
I doubt that would make it into any edition of any fine family newspaper around the country so I include it here because it is meritorious. However, that leads me to pose another question for your consideration regarding the sex rehab therapy angle to this matter:
When/If Tiger Woods emerges from that clinic and ultimately proclaims he is in recovery from his affliction, will that be sufficient to rehab his public image?
On the other hand, will he need to invoke a newly focused religious commitment in addition to the secular therapeutic cure and apply that salve to his image?
People talk about the coaching carousel in college football every year for good reason. There is a lot of movement within those ranks. In fact, there are 120 Division 1-A head coaching jobs out there and of those 120 head coaches only two have been in the same job for 20 or more years now that Bobby Bowden has ceded his job to his successor. Obviously, Joe Paterno is one of them. Paterno started as an assistant coach at Penn State in the Truman administration and became the head coach in the early days of Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty”. It took me a while – - and a hint that the other college head coach with 20 years in the same position was in a BCS Conference – - to get the second member of this club. Frank Beamer at Va Tech has been the head coach there since 1987. As Tony Kornheiser would say:
“That’s it. That’s the list!”
Ooops, the Vikings just fumbled again…
In the world of college basketball, might the folks who run the Big East suggest to DePaul that the Blue Demons should consider competing in a slightly less strenuous conference? DePaul is 1-7 in conference this year having won their only Big East game a week ago today over Marquette. The last time they won a Big East game, the Dow Jones Industrial Average may have been around 14,500…
Finally, Florida International University’s record in men’s basketball stands at 7-16 in Isiah Thomas’ first year as the head coach there. A couple of weeks ago, Greg Cote had this comment in the Miami Herald:
“FIU basketball was 5-13 entering Saturday’s game. I looked to the Bible for comfort, turned to the Book of Isiah (Thomas), and read my favorite psalm: ‘Thou shalt develop an exit strategy that, lo, saves face while getting thou the hell out of here.’ “
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…