Hardly Missing Marvin

We all know that the national media often times looks on the surface instead of going in-depth (i.e. OMG no Marvin Harrison = Colts struggle to make playoffs) with their analysis. In reality, I think Colts fans know that the team has essentially been without Marvin Harrison - at least the sure-fire Hall of Fame version of Marvin Harrison - ever since his knee injury early in the 2007 season.

This is not a knock on Marvin, or a proclamation that Anthony Gonzalez is the second-coming of Jerry Rice. It's just that if I was making a list of the potential question-marks and issues for the Colts entering the 2009 season, "how will they replace Marvin Harrison?" wouldn't crack the top ten. However, that topic seems to be all the national media wants to talk about, outside of Jim Caldwell's new job responsibilities.

In the 2007 Draft, the Colts may have taken the heir-apparent to Harrison in Anthony Gonzalez. A possession receiver that has deceptive speed is an attribute that both Marvin and Gonzalez share. With Harrison's departure, Gonzalez is now the #2 wideout, a spot that was taken by Harrison over the past two seasons. Here are their stats over that time:

Marvin Harrison
2007: 5 games, 20 rec, 247 yds, 12.4 avg, TD
2008: 15 games, 60 rec, 636 yds, 10.6 avg, 5 TD
Totals: 20 games, 80 rec, 883 yds, 11.0 avg, 6 TD

Per game averages: 4.0 catches, 44.15 yards, 0.30 TD

Anthony Gonzalez
2007: 13 games, 37 rec, 576 yds, 15.6 avg, 3 TD
2008: 16 games, 57 rec, 664 yds, 11.6 avg, 4 TD
Totals: 29 games, 94 rec, 1,240 yds, 13.2 avg, 7 TD
Per game averages: 3.24 catches, 42.75 yards, 0.24 TD

Obviously, you may have to take some of Marvin's numbers (or lack thereof) with a grain of salt because of the injury. However, at least from a production standpoint, it doesn't appear that the Colts will be losing a whole heck of a lot. Throw in the fact that Dallas Clark will often line up in the slot, and the Colts 1-2-3 receiving corps of Reggie/Gonzo/Clark shouldn't skip a beat with the absence of Marvin.

So, forget how the Colts will replace Marvin Harrison - they're already been moving in that direction for almost two full seasons. I'd be much more occupied with the real questions like how the offensive line is going to bounce back after a forgettable and injury-plagued 2008, how the new big bodies at defensive tackle will perform, where Joseph Addai goes from here, can Clint Session and Phillip Wheeler usher in a new, more aggressive Tampa-2 scheme under Larry Coyer, will the Special Teams finally be an asset instead of a detriment, etc.

Majors are what Matter

So, Tiger Woods won again, and it's not surprising that his latest victory is capturing the national headlines.

Coming off major knee surgery, Tiger has now won five Tournaments this year including back-to-back triumphs at the Buick and Bridgestone. I'm not going to say that accomplishment isn't impressive, and I’m not going to downplay what winning a Tournament means. But, are we getting a little too caught up in these low-level wins?

While wins in no-name Tournaments are good for the FedEx standings and the pocketbook, Tiger long ago graduated that level. Ask Peyton Manning how he feels about the 12 regular season wins last year and the MVP award. He’d tell you about the first round playoff exit. Ask Tom Brady about the record-setting 50 touchdown passes and perfect regular season in 2007, and he’d discuss being buried by a relentless Giants defense in the Super Bowl. Ask Tiger about his success this year, and I'm sure he'd retort with missing the cut at the British.

We measure all-time greats on MAJOR championships, and last time I checked, Tiger is still 0-for the year. So while people flip out and throw parades in the streets about the Bridgestone and the now-defunct Buick Open, I’ll stand idly by, just waiting.

Call me when he wins a Tournament that means something this year.

Ready for football?

Dear September,

Please get here soon.

Love,
Schultz

End of an Era for Braves Trio

It's always sad to see the truly great players realize that they can't compete anymore.

Recently, that happened to Greg Maddux, and to Tom Glavine. Unfortunately, it has now happened to John Smoltz.

As much as I enjoyed watching the Yankees bludgeon the Red Sox on Thursday night to halt their eight-game losing streak against their arch-rivals, I took no pleasure in the victory coming against a helpless Smoltz (3 1/3 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 4 BB). Smoltz is one of the true greats from this era, a shining light in the darkness of a time blanketed by performance-enhancing drug use. The same can be said for his former Atlanta Braves teammates.

Perhaps the greatest pitching trio in MLB history?

Smoltz was 42 years old, coming off a shoulder surgery, and a year-plus rehab, but still wanted to give it another shot. Tom Glavine won his 300th game in the final weeks of the 2007 regular season at the age of 41, but just two months ago was toiling away in Triple-A Richmond before being cut. At least Greg Maddux went out with some gas in the tank, pitching four scoreless innings of relief for the Dodgers in last year's NLCS before calling it quits.

I can't fault the guys for being competitive - when you've been playing on a Hall-of-Fame level for 20+ years, you get used to that mindset. However, similar to Emmitt Smith, Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Carlton, Jerry Rice, and even Michael Jordan, they hung on too long.

Sorry it had to end this way John. Just like this image, I'll put the rocky, career-ending tenure with Boston in the "FORGET FOREVER" compartment of my brain.

Enjoy the game, and $90 pizza!

As we've seen recently in sports, new stadiums have taken price gouging to a new level. I haven't yet been able to make it back East to go to the new Yankee Stadium, but my father has. He said in the suites that 16 oz. domestic drafts were $24, and that a Coke was $15. He also went by a sweatshirt stand that had a $85 Yankee Universe hoodie, and $30 t-shirts.

But, it looks like Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys have made the new Yankee Stadium look like Big Lots.

According to Steven Sipple of Lincoln Journal World in Nebraska, a large cheese pie pizza (sorry, I forgot you guys don't call it "pie" out here) will cost $90 in their luxury suites. Want some beer to wash it down? Feel free to buy a 12-pack of domestic cans - for $66! You could actually pay $156 for a 20-inch no-topping pizza and 12 beers. That's quite a large gap between a Crazy Eight Deal ($8.88) from Avers in Bloomington and a 12-pack of Busch Light ($7.45).

Another question: how much for toppings? Let's say that the average large pie pizza costs $14, and the average additional topping is $2 (talking about the premo stuff here, like bacon or something weird like pineapple). That means that the average additional topping price is 14.2% of the cost of an average large pie pizza.

So, let's do the math: 14.2% of $90 (cost at new Cowboys Stadium) is $12.78. That means that a large pepperoni pie pizza would cost over $100 in the Cowboys luxury suite.

With those high prices, we've officially reached a new low.

UPDATE: turns out that the no-topping pie pizza actually will cost $60 (thanks to Yahoo! Sports blog Shutdown Corner). That's still ridiculous.

Gripes with the "Greatest Coaches Ever" list

If you know me, then you know I love lists. The reason why I love lists is because there's always something that you disagree with.

Sporting News put in a nice effort, listing the top 50 all-time coaches in sports history.

Here is where I had a couple of gripes:

- Dean Smith (#8) ahead of Bobby Knight (#16)? Smith won only two titles with players such as Michael Jordan, Antwan Jamison, Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Eric Montross, and Billy Cunningham in his tenure. Knight was able to squeeze three out of Isiah Thomas (the only NBA All-Star he ever coached at IU), Steve Alford, Kent Benson, Landon Turner, and Dean Garrett. Knight did more with less.

- I love Joe Torre (#32) as much as anybody, but there's no way he's a better manager than Tony LaRussa (#41). No offense to Torre, but I don't think that's even an argument.

- I have a big problem with Bo Schembechler (#36) being ahead of some great college football coaches including Ara Parseghian. Schembechler was a great coach, but he never won a National Championship. How could a coach that never won a National Title be considered one of the best 50 ever - in all of sports? Bo was just 2-6 all-time in the Rose Bowl, and just 5-12 in bowl games overall. His Michigan teams did win lots of Big Ten Championships, but only finished in the top three in the final rankings just twice in 21 seasons. Parseghian won two National Titles and his Notre Dame teams finished in the top five eight times in his 11-year tenure in South Bend.

Bo Schembechler (1969-1989)
Career record: 194-48-5 (80% winning pct.)
National Championships: 0
Bowl record: 5-12 (2-6 in Rose Bowl)
Top five: 7 times in 21 seasons

Ara Parseghian (1964-1974)
Career record: 95-17-4 (83% winning pct.)
National Championships: 2
Bowl record: 3-2 (ND not allowed to play in bowls until 1969)
Top fives: 8 times in 11 seasons

- While we're talking about former ND coaches, what about Frank Leahy? Four National Championships, a 107-13-9 overall record (which includes a 11-0 season with Boston College in 1940), and finished at least third in seven of his eleven seasons with the Irish. I think he at least deserves an honorable mention.

- As a former (crappy) wrestler, I have to say that I was amazed that the legendary Iowa coach Dan Gable didn't make this list. His Iowa teams won 15 National Championships in 21 years, including a record nine-straight from 1978-86, and had a 355-21-5 record in that span. More notable omissions from the "other" sports - Doc Counsilman (IU swimming): six NCAA titles, 23 Big Ten titles, and produced 48 Olympians who won a total of 46 medals (26 Golds); Anson Dorrance (UNC women's soccer): 19 NCAA titles in 27 seasons; John McDonnell (Arkansas men's track & field): 42 NCAA titles across the three track & field seasons in 27 seasons. If you're going to include everybody, then give everybody a fair shake.

Camp Time!

A couple of Colts notes while Training Camp gets underway this morning from Terre Haute:

- First round pick Donald Brown signed at the last minute meaning that Indy will have their full complement of rookies from last April's Draft class.

- At his press conference on Friday, head coach Jim Caldwell said that there would be some small changes at Camp now that he is in charge. He didn't get specific, but it sounded important.

- Caldwell also pretty much ruled out any Michael Vick sightings. He said the team "liked their situation at Quarterback".

- Both Tom Moore and Howard Mudd have been retained, just with new titles. Both will add "Senior" ahead of Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach.

- The following players will start Camp on the PUP list: Bob Sanders (shocking!), Adam Vinatieri, Sam Giguere, Marlin Jackson, Charlie Johnson, and Antonio "Mookie" Johnson.