Just for Kicks

The Yankees clinched the AL East and homefield advantage with a series-sweep over Boston over the weekend. Here was the NY Daily News backcover:


Can you imagine the photoshop work a Sox fan could do with that?

Shameless Self Plug

Our friends over at TV 40 (Dennis Casey & Co.) have a web poll on favorite radio show on their site.

If you like, you can vote by going there: TwoFatGuysWithNothingToDo.com. If you like my show, vote for me. But, if you like JMV, Dakich, or the two guys at 1070, then that's fine too.

This blog is a democracy, not a dictatorship.

Know the Enemy: Cardinals

Just minutes before after kick-off, it's another edition of Know the Enemy: Arizona Cardinals!

Disclaimer: some of the following is true, while the rest is completely and utterly false.

Matt Leinart
What you know about him: the former first round pick is considered to be a bust by many after losing his starting job to Kurt Warner a few years ago.
What you didn’t know about him: has a Super Bowl 43 commemorative beer bong.

Adrian Wilson
What you know about him: the Cardinals’ defensive captain is also the team’s emotional leader.
What you didn’t know about him: despite playing at the dangerous position of strong safety, he’s played in 90 games over the past six-plus seasons. If you divide that number in half, that’s how many games Bob Sanders has played during his five-year career.

Anquan Boldin
What you know about him: Larry Fitzgerald’s pouty sidekick still doesn’t have a new contract and yes, is still pouty about it.
What you didn’t know about him: set his family Christmas tree in on fire 20 years ago after not receiving a new Nintendo Power Glove from Santa.

Gabe Watson
What you know about him: the backup nose tackle was a two-time All-Big Ten selection while at Michigan.
What you didn’t know about him: as a 6’3, near 300-pound high school senior, Watson played both offensive and defensive tackle as well as kicker and punter for his Southfield High School team.

Larry Fitzgerald
What you know about him: considered by many to be the top receiver in the NFL, Fitzgerald graced the cover of NCAA Football ’05 after a successful career at Pitt.
What you didn’t know about him: his father, Larry Fitzgerald Sr., is a sports writer in Minneapolis who covered the Super Bowl for the Spokesman-Recorder. The headline the following day read as follows: Larry Legend: Fitzgerald’s go-ahead touchdown sets stage for Steelers comeback win.

Kurt Warner
What you know about him: has taken two teams, St. Louis and Arizona, to three different Super Bowls, winning once (1999).
What you didn’t know about him: his wife Brenda is always the big spoon.

BREAKING: Michigan Fan Disproves Gravity!

If you didn't already know, Michigan clinched a thrilling 36-33 victory over Indiana with a highly-controversial interception call late in the fourth quarter. The call has been almost universally panned, however UM fans can't understand why.

One UM fan went as far as to use his cell phone to snap pics of the play frame-by-frame off of his television (I'm sure that would hold up in court). You can find the whole post here, but this part was my personal favorite:

"Clearly Warren has the football at the end of this" is the explanation under the frame.

"Clearly?" What is "clear" about that grainy, pathetic, Paris-Hilton-sex-tape quality cell phone picture? As you already know, in the case of a dual-possession the ball goes to the offense (i.e. tie goes to the receiver). Does Warren "clearly" have the ball in that picture? What about Belcher's right hand? That angle is terrible.

My gripe isn't necessarily with the replay - maybe it wasn't indisputable enough to overturn the ruling on the field. But, how could you possibly in real-time think that Warren intercepted that ball and that Belcher didn't have possession? The real blown call was the call on the field.

The real reason IU lost was their inability to get 7's instead of 3's in the Red Zone, but I would've liked to see what they could've done had they been given the proper opportunity.

On a Wing and a Prayer...

For this entire week, I've been referring to Indiana's upcoming matchup at Michigan as a "Clash of Conference Leaders!" just because given the state of IU football, it feels really good to say that. The Hoosiers may be an underwhelming 3-0 (wins over Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan, and Akron), but just entering the Big Ten season unbeaten is a rarity for this program.

When spanning the long history of Indiana football, it's hard to find many post-Korean War wins of great magnitude, especially against powerhouse Michigan. IU hasn't won in Ann Arbor since 1967, and hasn't beaten the Wolverines anywhere since a 14-10 win in Bloomington during the 1987 season. That year is the only time in school history, that Indiana defeated both Michigan and Ohio State in the same season (hard to believe).

The opening line has the Hoosiers getting 21 points - if they're able to cover that, or even play Michigan within 10-14 points, then the trip will be a success. A win on Saturday is unecessary and frankly unrealisitc for this Indiana team, but they have a chance to prove that they're not a conference lightweight.

A close loss (moral victory?) to a ranked opponent on the road should give IU confidence going to hopeless Virginia, and then at home against Ohio State in the most critical three-game stretch of the entire season. If the Hoosiers can survive this stretch, even at 1-2 as long as they hang with Michigan and Ohio State, then their bowl hopes are more than just a pipe dream.

Know the Enemy: Dolphins

Just minutes before kick-off, it's our first edition of Know the Enemy: Miami Dolphins!

Disclaimer: some of the following is true, while the rest is completely and utterly false.

Chad Pennington
What you know about him: Chad finished 2nd in the MVP voting last season to Peyton Manning after leading Miami to a ten-win turnaround.
What you didn’t know about him: Chad sometimes dozes off in team meetings after staying up late at night play Hello Kitty Island Adventure on his PC.

Ricky Williams
What you did know about him: the former Texas star was spurned on Draft Day by Bill Polian, and taken behind Edgerrin James instead.
What you didn’t know about him: Ricky’s favorite activity besides football is smoking and watching Planet Earth in HD.

Yeremiah Bell
What you know about him: the Dolphins’ leading tackler in 2008, signed a four-year, $20 million extension over the summer
What you didn’t know about him: after not being landing a scholarship out of high school in Winchester, Kentucky, Yeremiah worked for $8 and hour in a Kentucky steel mill.

Tony Sparano
What you know about him: the only coach in NFL history to lead a one-win team to the playoffs the following year.
What you didn’t know about him: the similarities between himself and the fictional Tony Soprano are only in name, weight, and their shared love of sliced proscuitto.

Pat White
What you know about him: perhaps the future poster-child of the Wildcat offense, the gimmicky athlete is currently the #2 quarterback behind Chad Pennington.
What you didn’t know about him: has been drafted four times by Major League Baseball teams, including the Angels twice (2004, 2007), the Reds (2008), and the Yankees (2009).

Joey Porter
What you know about him: loud-mouth leader of Miami’s defense.
What you didn’t know about him: though most people may think he’s a jerk, Joey and his wife opened up a Day center for special needs children in California.

Ronnie Brown
What you know about him: the fifth-year running back is one-half of Miami’s two-headed rushing attack.
What you didn’t know about him: Ronnie Brown was the first person to draft Ronnie Brown in each of his four fantasy leagues.

The Gauntlet of Emotions...

Great: Indiana 38, Akron 21
After struggling to put away both Eastern Kentucky and Western Michigan, the Hoosiers finally turned in a dominating performance. The three-headed rushing attack of Darius Willis, Trae Burgess, and Demetrius McCray was potent, and Ben Chappell was solid once again. Zips QB Chris Jacquemain was suspended for the game, but you can't blame that on Indiana. 3-0 starts in Bloomington are more rare than 40,000+ crowds.

At the very least, a bowl-berth for IU looks like more than just a pipe dream. If they can win at Virginia (who is 0-3 with a loss to William & Mary) in two weeks then two wins in Big Ten play is certainly feasible. Saturday's game at Michigan will tell us a lot about this team.

Uneasy: Notre Dame 33, Michigan State 30

It was a game that the Irish, and more specifically, Charlie Weis absolutely had to have. That being said, John Tenuta's blitz-happy scheme still isn't creating enough pressure, and the Spartans did what they pleased through the air (8.9 ypa). Jimmy Clausen (3oo yds, 2 TD) was terrific again, even though one of his favorite targets in Michael Floyd was lost for the season with a broken collarbone.

The game also included an atrocious incompletion call on what should've been a Floyd touchdown. He caught the pass in the end zone, came down with two feet, fell to the sideline, and when his back hit the ground, the ball came out. The second that he came down with possession and at least a foot down, that's six points. If the college replay officials can't get it right, then maybe there shouldn't be replay at all.

Nauseating: Northern Illinois 28, Purdue 21

After gushing about the Boilers' gutty performance at Oregon all week long, this loss didn't exactly make me look good. The Huskies dominated the time of possession, running 83 plays to Purdue's 56. They bottled up Ralph Bolden (only 16 touches), who entered the week leading the nation in rushing, and rattled off 280 yards of rushing offense. One of the main culprits was former North Central star Chad Spann, who finished with 80 yards and two scores. The game against Notre Dame Saturday at Ross-Ade is a must-win if Purdue wants to get themselves into bowl contention.

Colts sign Hank Baskett

With the injury to Anthony Gonzalez, the Colts have decided to bring in veteran Hank Baskett. The 27-year old who was cut earlier in the week by the Eagles, is a big target (6'4) for Peyton Manning and has been decently productive in four NFL seasons (72 catches).

The best thing about Baskett, is that he brings his wife, former Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, to Indianapolis.

Let me be one of the first to say welcome aboard, Hank!

Smart Facts

Keith Smart's legacy goes far beyond The Shot. Some fun facts about Smart that you may not know:

- Smart barely played on his high school team - not reaching 5'7 until his junior year. He broke his wrist his senior year, thus ending his career. He worked at McDonald's for three years after graduating.

- Smart originally went to Garden City Community College in Kansas at a student, and had no plans at playing basketball on a collegiate level. He was one of two juco transfers welcomed in by Bobby Knight, the other being Dean Garrett from the City College of San Francisco.

- On his recruiting visit to Bloomington, Smart spent most of the day sitting in classrooms and talking to professors. This impressed him to the point where he cancelled his remaining visits and committed to Indiana, spurning Georgetown, N.C. State and LSU.

- The Most Outstanding Player of the 1987 NCAA Final Four, scored 12 of his 15 poins in the second-half of the Championship game over Syracuse. However, that was far from being his best performance of the Tournament. Smart was a rebound away from a triple-double in IU's 107-90 second-round win over Auburn with 21 points, 15 assists, and 9 rebounds.

- He spent six years as head coach of the Fort Wayne Fury in the CBA. He finished his playing career as a player/assistant coach with Fort Wayne in 1996. He played only one season in the NBA (1988-89), which spanned 12 total minutes, and Smart scored two career points.

- Smart tried out for the 1988 Summer Olympic team, and during tryouts he roomed with Syracuse's Derrick Coleman for a full week. Smart said that the two never discussed the outcome of that title game.

- Smart could be the reason that LeBron James is in Cleveland. Why? He was the interim head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second half of the 2002-03 season following the firing John Lucas and was just 9-31 during his tenure. That included just two wins over the final two months of the season, and allowed the Cavs to have the best chance at securing the top overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

- He has coached the Lativa National Team (2009 European Championships), and the Dominican Republic National Team (2005 FIBA Americas Championships).

You can catch our conversation with Keith on The Zone podcasts page.

What Now?

One thing that I kept hearing during the entire Colts' offseason was how much depth this team now has. I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Depth? How so?" Indy is deep at several spots like DB (Jennings, Powers, Bullitt, Silva) and TE (Tamme, Santi, Robinson). But at other spots, specifically WR, there was no depth at all.

After years of being one of the elite offenses in the NFL, the Colts took a step back last year. Most of that can be attributed to injuries across the offensive line (mainly Ryan Lilja and Jeff Saturday) and the ineffectiveness of Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes on the ground. But, the passing attack was never in doubt - until now.

Anthony Gonzalez sprained ligaments in his knee during Sunday's win over Jacksonville and now will miss at least a month. Not to be Debbie Downer, but when it comes to sprained ligaments for a guy that relies so much on speed, I'd lean closer to six weeks.

The Colts have three active wideouts on the depth chart: Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, and Pierre Garcon. Reggie had 10 catches in the win over the Jaguars, while Collie and Garcon have combined for 9 catches in their entire career.

There have been some names throw around like Marvin (of course), Amani Toomer, and Matt Jones, but none of those are even semi-realistic possibilities. So, Indy will have to make due with what they have: a heavy-reliance on Reggie Wayne, and more-frequent use of Dallas Clark in the slot.

The effect of Gonzo's injury may rely on whether or not the Colts continue to struggle with the running game. If opposing defenses are confident in stopping the run even with their base four-man or three-man front, then they'll be able to blanket Wayne and make Collie or Garcon beat them.

Losing Gonzalez isn't a death sentence, but it's certainly not a good way to start the season.

Sorry...

I wanted to apologize for the lack of updates recently. I had been planning to write an extensive NFL preview over the weekend but I've been recovering from Notre Dame's latest heartbreaking loss:



Back tomorrow with a Colts recap.

Week 1 Impressions

It was a 50/50 week as I was both impressed and concerned with many things involving the local college football teams of interest...

INDIANA 19, Eastern Kentucky 13 - After storming out of the gates, the IU offense stalled and was actually shutout by the Colonels for the entire second half. When you're a football program like Indiana, you have to take every win - no matter how they come. That being said, whatever slim delusions hopes Indiana has of competing for a bowl game berth certainly weren't backed up by this performance. IU ran for 73 yards on 31 carries (2.4 ypc). Sure, EKU was stacking the box, but if the Hoosiers can only generate 2.4 ypc against a I-AA school, what are they going to be able to do against even the middling Big Ten teams like Purdue and Illinois? One of the lone bright spots was the play of former Ben Davis star Tandon Doss, who caught 8 passes for 125 yards.

North Texas 20, BALL STATE 10 - To say this wasn't the start that Stan Parrish had envisioned would be the understatement of the century. The Mean Green, which won one game last season, dominated the Cardinals on both sides of the ball. In fact, Ball State's performance can be summed up by this:

PURDUE 52, Toledo 31: Sure the defense couldn't get stops and Toledo generally did whatever they wanted on offense (493 yards), but you have to be impressed with the play of the young offense, which was a big question mark entering 2009. Joey Elliot wasn't great, however he didn't need to be as Purdue ran all over the Rockets. Sophomore Ralph Bolden fulfilled some of the promise he showed in Camp running for 234 yards and junior WR Keith Smith looks like the new go-to-guy (8 rec, 117 yds, TD). I doubt you'll see the same offensive production next week at Oregon, but it was certainly an encouraging sign.

NOTRE DAME 35, Nevada 0: You may see Nevada and think "who the hell is that?" Yet the Wolf Pack - picked to finish 2nd to Boise State in the WAC - is no slouch even though Notre Dame may have made them look that way. This was a team that ranked 5th in total offense last season while averaging 30 points per game. Also, Colin Kaepernick (189 total yards, 2 INT) is probably the 2nd or 3rd best quarterback Notre Dame will face all season. On offense, Jimmy Clausen had more touchdowns (4) than incompletions (3), and Michael Floyd (4 rec, 189 yds, 3 TD) showed why he belongs on the short list (Dez White, Julio Jones) of the best wideouts in the entire country.

All in all, Notre Dame lived up to the hype (for one week), Purdue may be better than we thought, Ball State may be worse than we thought, and Indiana is still Indiana.

Why Nickelback sucks

By popular demand, here's the clip that we were talking about on yesterday's show of Nickelback's How You Remind Me and Someday:



Same (expletive) song.

Grab your smedium Affliction shirt, your hair gel, and cranberry vodka and rock out!

Baby Steps

After decades of being a punchline, Indiana University Football has decided they've had enough.

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The school put millions of dollars into upgrading their ancient facilities, and a stadium that was dwarfed by most Texas high school football venues. The changes will be debuted tonight during IU's opener against Eastern Kentucky (8 PM kick).

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The facelift doesn't mean that IU will see instant success (see: Rivers, Joan) - far from it. But, for the first time, it's an indication that people actually care about this program which has been an afterthought for years in Bloomington.

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It's always been accepted that Indiana is a basketball school, and football season is just an excuse to get hammered between Dunn and Woodlawn on Saturday mornings. Hoosier fans have accepted the barbs from their Purdue rivals (and others) to the point where they are completely numb to the jokes and insults about their football team.

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Apparently new athletic director Fred Glass is sick of taking it.

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IU's renovations finally makes Memorial Stadium look legit

Will a new weight room attract the top recruits in football-rich Ohio? No. Will new football offices save Bill Lynch's job? Probably not. Will a Stadium enclosure automatically turn Indiana football from doormat to perennial Rose Bowl contender? Doubtful.

Howeverm when people care, they don't shrug off 3-win seasons. They don't put up with losses to MAC schools. They don't regard their football season as basketball season's waiting room.

Most improtantly, they don't accept their football program being a punchline.

Pressure Cooker

This billboard can be seen above the legendary Linebacker Inn (bar), only about three blocks from my parents' place on Angela Drive:

The heat is on, Charlie.

Witch Hunt at UM

As a lifelong Notre Dame fan, it's hard not to love what's going on up in Ann Arbor these days.

It's also hard to believe any of it.

Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan program are embroiled in controversy over accusations that the UM staff is overworking the players - nearly double the amount of hours allowed by the NCAA.

When I first heard of the report, I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical. I'm no expert of Rich Rodriguez, but two things I do know are A) he's a jerk, and B) people don't like him. I'm not surprised that former players or some current players that are unhappy have decided to go after him.
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The problem is that "voluntary" workouts aren't really voluntary. That's the case at Michigan, as it is at USC, at Oklahoma, at Florida, and at any big-time college football program. But before putting Rodriguez's head on a platter, read the rule book (I listed the ones I deemed to be relevant):

"The NCAA does not credit the following under the 20 allowable involuntary hours per week:

a. Training-table or competition-related meals;
b. Physical rehabilitation;
c. Dressing, showering or taping;
… h. Medical examinations or treatments;
… m. Voluntary individual workouts, provided these workouts are not required or supervised by coaching staff members, except that such activities may be monitored for safety purposes or conducted by the institution's strength and conditioning personnel who have department wide duties.
n. The provision of videotapes to a student-athlete by an institution's coach that include a personalized message and athletically related information (e.g., discussion of plays, general workout programs, lectures on strategy related to the sport), provided the viewing of the videotape by the student-athlete is voluntary;
p. Use of an institution's athletics facilities (which may be reserved) during the academic year or summer by student-athletes, provided the activities are not supervised by or held at the direction of any member of an institution's coaching staff."

After reading all of that, there is no possible way that the Michigan players were working double the hours (40-50 involuntary hours) per week. That would mean that counting the voluntary hours, they'd be spending 100+ hours on football each week. Do the math - it's just not possible.

It makes me sick to defend Michigan, but I think a lot of these accusations are fueled by the fact that people just don't like Rich Rodriguez.

All of that being said, I have a feeling that this is going to turn out a lot like the Billy Gillispie situation at Kentucky and that's too bad for Michigan fans.

Under three-loss Lloyd, they had no idea how good they had it.