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Locker
Room Chatter
with Peter Murphy
January 15, 2007
Frozen Tundra
College football:
Right after the bowl selections, the discussion centered on who should be # 2, after USC choked at UCLA. You can look it up, but my comment was “We might never know who is better, Michigan or Florida. But we already do know that Michigan is NOT the best team in the country. We now get to find out if Florida can be that team.” Of course, I didn’t give the Gators much chance either, but I was amused by comments by others in the sports media who, on January 2nd, declared they wanted to see Boise State take on Ohio State. Clearly, Florida was being dismissed, which is ironic since the SEC always gets high marks in football, and in fact, of the last 15 years, 4 SEC teams have been crowned national champions (Bama, Tennessee, LSU and now Florida).
But Florida shouldn’t get too cocky. They had played iffy at times in the regular season and were lucky to be there. They probably caught Ohio State flatfooted. But for 50 years, teams have gone a month or so without playing before the Bowls, so 35 days, vs. 50 days, enough about the long layoff already. Injuries on celebrations, and 4th down gambles may have cost the Buckeyes up to 17 points during the final. The bottom line, as Urban Meyer teaches us, it’s okay to bitch your way into a high coaches’ poll ranking.
If the bowls can be used as a gauge, always an iffy proposition given the NIT quality to some of the games, then the SEC and Big East were the big winners. The 3 most anticipated bowls (Rose, Sugar, and BCS) ended with SEC routs, and/or Big Ten humiliations, so we may conclude that the SEC really was strong, and the Big 10 was puffed up. And we can conclude that Brady Quinn and Troy Smith should finish up the second semester strong, get their degrees, just in case.
Notre Dame, yet again in too high of a bowl for their talent, lost again. It seems ND can only win a bowl when they are a truly elite (Top 5), with both-sides-of-the-ball depth. Otherwise, the richer bowls snub other worthy teams for the Notre Dame payday, and ND is overmatched. As for Weis, it’s up to him to shore up the defense, to improve on their record in tough games. In 2 years, ND is 1-5 in big games, 6-0 against the Pentagon, and 14-1 against assorted Big East, Big 10 and Pac 10 squads of little consequence.
Nick Saban is going back to school, and should make the SEC even stronger. One thing I can’t understand about the Alabama head coaching affair is why some people thought Mike Shula deserved to stay, because he won 10 games only a year ago. Since NCAA football is really a business, I think it’s okay for a school with a rich tradition to have a short fuse when it comes to coaching positions. There’s too much at stake to entrust the legacy to someone who is only average. Shula was 1-19 against top teams, never coached a comeback win, and had a lousy record against key school rivals. His 10-win year was with players recruited under a prior regime, and most importantly, they had a terrible offense, his supposed specialty. The proof will be in the pudding: If Alabama was wrong to fire him, how come no other Division 1 program will ever hire him to be a head coach? His name has not been mentioned once. Even Ty Willingham, the last coach dumped by an all-time football program after only a few years, and soon after winning 10 games, is coaching in the Pac 10 now. You have seen the last of young Shula. Does anyone notice a family resemblance with the career of David Shula, once the youngest head coach in the NFL, also hired because of lineage, was a failure (he was replaced by Bruce Coslet for Pete’s sake) and also never heard from again. If Shula has a third son in the coaching, I bet his new nickname is Jeb.
NFL:
Jets & Giants
Mercifully, the Giants season ended last week, with mixed results. Sure 8-8 is not really worthy of the playoffs, but don’t be sad, Giants fans. At least they went down fighting, and were competitive in most games they lost. Tiki retiring is probably the main concern, but all in all, they are well positioned to compete for another playoff slot. And only 25 other teams can say that. I figure injuries to Toomer, Pettigout, and Strahan cost them 2 losses, so they could have won the only decent division in the conference. Also, in 2006, they played a tough schedule, playing all 5 of the other playoff teams in the NFC (2-5), and the Colts, Texans, and Jaguars, Falcons, Panthers (2-3) none of which had losing records. So they were 4-0 vs. teams with losing records. All this while living through an unprecedented soap opera of a season not involving Terrell Owens.
Strahan should bounce back strong, given that his wife just cleaned him out. Despite his advanced age, he’ll be playing like a poor and hungry man. And as for Eli Manning, since it’s only his 3rd year, the jury is still out. How good he becomes next year, or in five years will be determine if the trade for him was a bust. One thing seems certain, he is not the mini-Peyton they thought they were getting when they overpaid on draft day.
As for the Jets, they’re still a tier below the elite teams, and unfortunately one plays in their division, so they have their work cut out for them. But they seem to be headed in the right direction. I’ve never been enamored by Chad Pennington, whose weak arm is more of a concern on shorter throws than on deep ones. It’s too easy to defend him when the Jets are in a must-pass situation. Mangini, a Belichick disciple will probably have no trouble cutting him loose if it comes to that (see Bledsoe, Ty Law, Terry Glenn, Lawyer Milloy).
Playoffs
That silence you hear is the sound of agents for Hollywood’s young hotties NOT calling Tony Romo to set up “dates”. Parcells was right about holding off on the anointing oils. The end of Dallas’s season was probably the reason Mike Holmgren was so calm after bowing out in O.T. vs. Chicago. He knew he didn’t deserve to still be in the playoffs. Bears-Saints should be interesting, the better team having to play in the elements. Will Reggie Bush still launch himself at the end of every run if he’s landing on Frozen Tundra? (The Bears will import Tundra from up north before the game).
In a strange twist, an unheralded Colts defense is rising to the occasion, while Peyton Manning, always someone to watch in the post-season, is struggling. With the victory over the Ravens without a TD and 2 more picks, it would appear that the Colts D is carrying Peyton. But Manning clearly outplayed Steve McNair, who is on a 2-5 stretch in post-season, and has 6 career post-season TD’s against 11 interceptions, but who is rarely ever criticized (see what evading one sack and playing hurt gets you, a near total pass). Imagine the indignity for McNair of having your epitaph read: “NFL Player, known for toughness. Lost a playoff game at home against Peyton Manning. After a bye, if you can believe it”.
Peyton’s next game will be telling. Or will it? If they lose to the Patriots, it will be to a team that no one can ever seem to beat in the playoffs. Peyton, 5-6 lifetime in the playoffs is 5-4 not counting games against the team that no one ever beats in the playoffs. If you also exclude games Vanderjagt blew, he’s 5-2.
I give the Patriots credit for coming back on the Chargers, but if ever a game appeared fixed... Tom Brady was great when it mattered, unless you count the fumble on 3rd and 10 when down 14-10, or the interception on 4th and 5, down 21-13 with 6 minutes (yes, a pick downfield is smarter than throwing one away under pressure, in terms of field position, good one Tom). In both of these non-clutch plays by Brady, the Chargers shot themselves in the Shottenheimer, one with a personal foul, the other with an ill-timed fumble. I actually can’t blame the coach for this devastating loss. I wish I knew more Chargers fans so I could make fun of them. They stole a page from the Giants playbook (see 2002 playoffs, the Trey Junkin game). This sets up a huge game at Indy for the AFC berth in the Super Bowl. This will be the matchup I’ve dreamed of, like imagining Mariano Rivera vs. Derek Jeter with the season on the line. This will settle once and for all, who is responsible for Patriot success, Bill Belichick, or Adam
Vinatieri.
Baseball:
Hot Stove League
A lot of names changing teams, but not many big ones. Barry Zito was the biggest free agent signing. Despite concerns about him, the Mets could have used him, since they intend to contend, and he’s better than their 5th, 4th, and 3rd starter, perhaps their 2nd and 1st starter as well. In the one league without a salary cap, you might as well go all the way, right?
And what’s up with Barry Bonds, blaming an unknown journeyman for his alleged drug test failure. Doesn’t he know that he should have blamed Miguel Tejada, since Raffy Palmeiro already blazed that trail? But this episode will give the league and the Giants more ammunition if they want to absolutely prevent Bonds from surpassing Hank Aaron. Age, no good pitches to hit, federal investigations, and drug suspensions may prove to be too many obstacles for Bonds. I’d say it’s no better than 50-50 as far as him breaking the record now.
No surprise with the Hall of Fame voting, with Gwynn and Ripken getting high marks, and McGwire falling way short. I wonder how many voters who held back on McGwire because of his one-dimensionalism, or doubt over the entire steroid-era, or specifically because of his St. Patrick’s Day 2005 testimony?
As I disclosed before, my ballot agreed with those selections, but I didn’t do enough to sway my BWAA comrades in selecting Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, heroes of the 70s and 80s. Rice will probably get in eventually, but only has 2 more shots with us. After that, the veterans committee will have to do the trick, as may also be the case with Steve Garvey and Dave Parker, two players that don’t get a lot of respect from the writers. In terms of peers they played with, which of these players are more deserving than Tony Perez or Robin Yount, who are enshrined in Cooperstown?
There’s only some surprisingly small number of days before Pitchers and Catchers. And you know what that means. It means there’s only about 11 weeks until the season starts, and a mere 7 months before the pennant push begins in earnest. It’s so exciting!!!!
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[ Peter Murphy has previously
written for a Long Island publication under the pen-name Cheek
O'Escuala and for an undisclosed financial publication under the
name G. O'Bond.]
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