Dennis Dillon: Seahawks' slimmer Bryant striving for more sacks in 2012

Red Bryant was a 16-game starter for the first time in his career last season.

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

As a native Texan whose taste buds percolate at the aroma of pulled pork, chicken and dumplings, or sweet potato pie, he was oh so enticed to go home to Jasper this summer to put on the feed bag a time or two. Instead, he resisted the temptation and stayed in Seattle, where he trained a bit harder after the Seahawks' offseason program ended and dined on healthier foods like salmon and halibut.

As a result, a svelter Red Bryant is 20 pounds lighter, his weight having dropped from 345 to 325.

"Yeah, I had to give up a lot," said Bryant, chuckling at the idea of missing his favorite dish, fried catfish. "I stayed committed."

The Seahawks noticed a lighter Bryant when he reported for training camp.

"He was in great shape," defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. "You can just tell if you're watching tape. You see him run. On plays that are longer developing, you'll see him chase the ball. He's at a good weight right now, and I think that's where he feels comfortable."

After three mostly frustrating seasons in Seattle, Bryant emerged last year. He made 32 tackles, had one sack and intercepted two passes, including one for a 20-yard touchdown against Chicago.

The son-in-law of former Seahawks star defensive end Jacob Green, Bryant was offered Green's No. 79 jersey when Seattle picked him in the fourth round of the 2008 draft. At first, Bryant hesitated, knowing the standard he would have to live up to. Green is the Seahawks' all-time sacks leader and in the team's Ring of Honor. Also, Bryant came out of Texas A&M as a tackle, not an end.

"We were just extremely different," Bryant said. "But he finally convinced me to wear it, and that it would mean a lot to him. I'm making a niche, I'm making it my own way, but I'm definitely glad I'm able to make him proud by wearing his number."

Success did not come instantly. Bryant said he was "extremely frustrated" during his first two seasons because he wasn't able to get on the field often enough (he played in only 10 games and started just one). After coach Pete Carroll arrived in 2010, he and then defensive line coach Dan Quinn decided to move Bryant from tackle to end. Bryant started the first seven games that year but his season ended when he suffered a knee injury in an Oct. 31 game against Oakland.

At 6-foot-4, Bryant was a little tall for an inside lineman, and he sometimes found himself losing the leverage battle. On the outside, he's able to be more impactful because he can take advantage of his long legs and athleticism.

"When I first got here in 2009, he was just kind of figuring things out," Bradley said. "We had him inside, and he did some good things in there, but I think he was still trying to figure out the position. And then when we moved him outside, he just had a different outlook. He became confident in his abilities and truly felt at home there."

The Seahawks move Bryant around. Sometimes he lines up across from the tight end in a traditional 4-3 alignment. Other times he'll be head-up on the tackle in more of a 3-4 look. In nickel situations, Bryant might slide inside to tackle and rookie Bruce Irvin, Seattle's first-round draft pick, will come in to play end.

Bryant, 28, has carved out a reputation for being a good run stopper on the edge, but the Seahawks have challenged him to pressure the quarterback more. Right end Chris Clemons, who plays the "Leo" position in Seattle's defense, had double-digit sacks in both 2010 and 2011, but Seattle needs pressure from Bryant, too. Now that he has dropped some pounds, Bryant wants to show that he can be a versatile lineman.

"If a team feels like I'm (just) a run stuffer, maybe I can surprise a tackle and show him I'm quick enough to get around him," said Bryant, who doesn't have a sack through two games this season. "Just continue to work on things like that. I know it's going to pay off. I know it is."

Last season, Bryant also made his mark on special teams by blocking four kicks -- a pair of field goals at Cleveland in Week 7 and a field goal and an extra point against Washington in Week 12. Those plays weren't abnormal. Bryant blocked three field goal attempts at Texas A&M, where coaches instilled in him the importance of playing hard on every play.

Bryant was the first freshman in Texas A&M history to be voted on to the team's leadership council. He is one of the Seahawks captains and has developed into one of their leaders. Carroll sometimes asks Bryant to speak to the team before it goes out on the field for a game.

"I just tell the guys what I'm feeling at the time," Bryant said. "It's just something I feel, and I talk from my heart. I hope my teammates can relate to whatever it is at that particular time. I hope I can inspire them to go out and just give their all.

"A lot of guys respect how I go about taking care of my business. I was like that at Texas A&M, and I've been like that since I've been with the Seahawks."

Most men nicknamed "Red" have red hair. Not Bryant. His given name is Joseph Anthony Bryant, but he has been called "Red" since he was a baby. His mom thought he had some red tone in him, like his grandfather.

"She always told me my grandfather called me 'Red Man,' " Bryant said. "I've never heard my mom call me Joseph; she always called me 'Big Red,' her red baby. So it just stuck with me. When I go somewhere, or someone asks me my name, I say 'Big Red.' They always look at me funny, but that's my name."

Seahawks fans finally saw a full picture of Bryant last season, when he started all 16 games for the first time in his NFL career. Although he's somewhat still a work in progress, Bryant has high aspirations.

"Last season, everybody got to see me finish the season and see what type of player I want to reveal every time I have the opportunity to go out there," he said. "I always knew I could be a starter in this league; it was just getting the confidence and the opportunity to be able to do that. If there's anything a person can take from the way I play, I want them to know I play extremely hard, extremely passionate."

Bryant convinced the Seahawks. Instead of allowing Bryant to get away on the first day of free agency last March, they awarded him with a lucrative, five-year contract ($35 million, with $14.5 million guaranteed). But Bryant admits he considered making a coast-to-coast move after he learned that Patriots coach Bill Belichick expressed a keen interest in him.

"That was big," Bryant said. "Coach Belichick, when it comes to football, his resume speaks for itself. So when they showed interest in me, it helped validate what my father-in-law and my teammates and coach Carroll saw in me as a football player and what I bring to the table. It was a deep honor for me. I strongly considered (pursuing a contract with New England), but my heart was in Seattle."

Even if his stomach craved to be in Texas, near a plate of fried catfish.

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/dennis_dillon/09/19/red-bryant/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

11.40 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dave Doyle: Belfort looks to channel spirits of UFC underdogs past against Jones

Vitor Belfort (above) looks to follow in the footsteps of Matt Serra and Randy Couture, other UFC fighters who sprung huge upsets.

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

As the days wind toward UFC 152 on Saturday night at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, all parties involved in the main event between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Vitor Belfort are saying the right things.

Belfort's a former champion. Jones needs to respect his knockout power. Anything can happen in mixed martial arts.

"Its ridiculous," said UFC president Dana White. "[Belfort] has power in both hands. If the Vitor Belfort shows up that we've seen a million times, that explosive knockout power, if Vitor just stands out there and hangs out there the way he fights, this is a very dangerous fight for Jon Jones."

Sure, Belfort, a former 205-pound champion, is returning to his former weight class after three years at 185. Sure, he was neither Plans A, B, nor C for Jones' fourth defense of his title. And sure, Belfort opened as an eye-popping 13-to-1 underdog.

No matter, says Jones. "I learned really not to put anything towards the odds," the champion said. You know, people who look at the odds, they're the people who don't fight. You know, I fight. And I realize the dangers in this sport and it's, its a sport. It's a game where anyone can win at any time, so I don't focus on the odds."

Jones (16-1) is on an epic tear and is looking to make Belfort the fifth consecutive former UFC champion on his resume. Belfort (21-9) is 35 and only got the title shot after a well-documented chain of events which included the first-ever event cancellation in UFC history, the UFC 151 card which was scheduled for Sept. 1.

But the funny thing is, in a sport as volatile as MMA, you don't have to search far to find examples of fight postponements or injury fallouts which led to challengers, who were derided as being unworthy of their shot at the throne, rocking the sport's foundation with a memorable title victory.

The most famous such example was delivered by Matt Serra. UFC 151 was far from the first problem-riddled fight card; Serra was the ultimate beneficiary of a jinxed event less than six years ago.

UFC 67 on Feb. 3, 2007 in Las Vegas was supposed to mark the culmination of The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback. In that season of the reality series, welterweights and middleweights who had been cut from the UFC were given a second chance in the company. The winner in each weight class was slated for a title shot against newly crowned champions, respectively, in Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, both of whom were scheduled to make their first defense.

The initial jolt to UFC 67 came when St-Pierre injured a knee in training, causing the postponement of his fight with Serra until UFC 69. Then, on the day before the card, Silva's would-be challenger, Travis Lutter, missed weight, causing the bout to be changed into a non-title affair, making Lutter to date the last UFC title challenger to miss weight for a championship bout. Silva won via second-round submission in a match in front of a Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd which bought tickets expecting two title fights, but instead got none.

Two months later, the other shoe from the cursed UFC 67 dropped: Serra, an 8-to-1 underdog, tagged St-Pierre in the early going with a big right hand and the champion was never able to recover. Serra opened up with a flurry of punches and won at 3:25 of the first round, making the charismatic Long Islander the most unlikely champion in modern UFC history.

While Serra's win over St-Pierre is regarded as the most stunning underdog story in UFC history, truth is, it came just one month after a fighter whom many felt had no business even stepping into the octagon strapped UFC gold around his waist after a major upset.

Former two-weight-class champion Randy Couture had been retired more than a year and was working as a color commentator when the opportunity to fight Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title came along.

Sylvia was originally slated to meet Brandon Vera, who at the time was considered a champion in the making, with a 9-0 record after his fast knockout of Frank Mir at UFC 65. But Vera got entangled in a legal dispute with his management team, which made him ineligible to fight. With no other suitable challengers available, Couture got the nod.

When the Couture-Sylvia fight was announced, consensus was that the former champion would get slaughtered. He was 43 years old and facing an opponent who was 11 years younger, six inches taller and 40 pounds heavier. While Sylvia today is a parody of his former self, at the time, the Maine native was at his career peak, with a 23-2 record and six straight victories.

Instead, Couture dominated Sylvia on March 3, 2007, in Columbus, Ohio. He dropped Sylvia with a gigantic overhand right in the bout's opening seconds and nearly finished him. Couture couldn't close out the fight, so he instead embarrassed his bigger foe by using his wrestling to control the bout for the remainder of the 25-minute fight, earning across-the-board scores of 50-45 to claim the title.

Jones, of course, is a far cry from Sylvia. For every example of a fighter pulling a title upset, there were plenty of evenings where bouts which looked one-sided in the champion's favor played out in practice as it did in theory.

But Couture and Serra's victories prove that which is considered impossible can in fact happen.

Serra was known as a jiu-jitsu guy going into his upset of St-Pierre. His win can be attributed to landing the lucky punch and then having the wherewithal to back it up.

Belfort, though, is known for his heavy hands. So even if he's also in need of a lucky punch against Jones, he goes in with a history of laying down the leather. The list of luminaries who woke up staring at the lights after being on the wrong end of a Belfort flurry over the years range from Wanderlei Silva to Rich Franklin to Matt Lindland.

Maybe that's way Belfort has taken a zen-like approach to the notion he doesn't stand a chance come Saturday night.

"It's the journey, man," Belfort said. "I'm 35 years old. I've been fighting for 17 years, and I've had great fights under my career. I'm just focusing on the process. I'm not worrying about what people say or what people think. I don't even care, you know?"

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/dave_doyle/09/19/ufc-upsets/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

11.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

NHL Lockout Notebook: Day 4

Caught in the crossfire: the ongoing collective bargaining dispute between NHL and NHLPA is not only angering fans, it's starting to hurt everyone from players, officials and league and team staff to mascots. (Photo by Wilfredo Lee/AP)

Now in Day 4, the lockout of NHL players by the owners has produced news on a number of fronts. Here's a round-up of some noteworthy items:

– The two sides did speak briefly on Tuesday and will have more informal discussions on Wednesday to see if they can restart formal talks. There is a sense in some quarters (as expressed by TSN and ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, The Ottawa Sun's Chris Stevenson and TSN's Bob McKenzie over Montreal's TSN 690 radio) that we're at a crucial moment, and a small window exists during the next week or two for the parties to start making progress. If regular season games start getting canceled, we should get set for a long stalemate. "If nothing happens," McKenzie said Wednesday morning, "we're going back to the dynamic of 2004″ when there was virtually no discussion between the sides for three months after the league declared the lockout.

The NHL's Bill Daly, who made a few media appearances in Toronto earlier this week, said over Toronto's TSN radio 1250, "It's been a totally different negotiation than it was in 2004-05. I think it's safe to say that occasionally we got together during the summer of 2004, (but) there wasn't much bargaining or exploring issues. I think we've plowed a lot of ground this summer. As I said, we haven't made much progress on the critical issues, but certainly we have a better framework to move forward if we can ever start making progress."

But Daly, like everyone, is frustrated that the sides have not found much to agree on with respect to what the league calls the "core economics," that is, the percentage of Hockey Related Revenue devoted to player salaries, which the league's opening proposal would reduce by 24 percent to 43 percent from the current 57. That number was revised to 47 percent last week but, presumably, that is now off the table, as Gary Bettman said it would be if the players did not accept it by Saturday night.

"A lot of the noise around this lockout is how it is not like 2004, when there was a disagreement over the fundamental financial structure of the game," writes Stevenson. "If both sides are entrenched in their philosophies, or one refuses to budge, the potential for a repeat of 2004-05 is just as real. That's the thought starting to creep into a few people's minds as this impasse lingers."

Collateral Damage: The first casualties of the lockout emerged this week when Ottawa Senators laid off employees and cut the hours of some others on Monday and the Florida Panthers followed suit on Tuesday, and among the casualties was the guy who dresses as the team mascot. On Wednesday, employees at the NHL offices were told they'd also be reduced to four-day work weeks, and a get a 20 percent pay cut starting Oct. 1 with future layoffs possible.

While attention has focused on non-players whose livelihoods will be adversely affected by the lockout, not enough has gone to the on-ice officials who won't work and get paid by the league if there are no games.

Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal reports that most of the officials won't work minor pro games and they aren't being asked to do their jobs in Europe. "Veteran NHL referees can earn up to $340,000 a year and linesmen earn about two-thirds of that during a typical season," he writes. "But they don't get paid when there's a lockout, although they can take out $5,000 in interest-free loans against their wages every month.

"The officials' current contract specifies they start getting paid on Sept. 1, but that was only for just two weeks, with the lockout starting on Sept. 15. During the last lockout, the on-ice staff lost an entire season's salary — just like the players."

"If this lockout is protracted, the guys have to start thinking of other options to provide family income," retired NHL ref Kerry Fraser told Matheson. "Some of the guys struggled last time. Nobody thought it was going to be the entire season. And when it was cancelled, guys were saying, 'God, now what do I do?'"

Paying the cost: We mentioned in a Red Light post on Tuesday how significant the matter of player insurance is to NHLers who will play professionally in Europe during the lockout. But what about the insurance for the vast majority of NHLers, who won't be plying their trade on those big 200 x 100 sheets of ice?

Kevin Allen of USA Today reports that the NHL cancelled the coverage of all the players  and their families, including medical and dental, and disability, life (including spouses), and accidental death and dismemberment. The NHLPA notified the players in a memo on Tuesday that they have made arrangements for the continuation of the coverage. However, the disability coverage does not cover the value of their NHL contracts. And any player who signs with a European club is not eligible for the PA's disability coverage which, as we noted in our post, has to be purchased by the club or the player himself.

Caravan on Skates: Those players not skating in Europe are looking for alternatives in North America. During the 2004-05 lockout, a group of NHLers tried forming the Original Stars Hockey League, which played four-on-four games with no body checking and it turned into a very short-lived rag-tag operation that only lasted two games (SI's Michael Farber described that disorganized organization here). Another four-on-four league was more successful, the McDonald's Caravan.  Organized by defenseman Joel Bouchard, it featured three teams of Francophone players that toured Quebec and donated their proceeds to charity. (Here's the press release announcing the Caravan.) That group played to full arenas and had their weekend games televised.

There's talk that the Caravan might be revived in Quebec, according to Tim Panaccio of CNS Phily.com with teams from both Montreal and Quebec and perhaps others.

Crunching Numbers: Does the NHL have a "lockout addiction?" That's what Wayne Scanlan of The Ottawa Citizen wonders in his profile of one alienated fan. Scanlan  did the math that reveals, "No professional sport shuts down more frequently than the NHL, now starting it's fourth work stoppage since 1992.

"In that time span, the NHL has missed 1,698 games due to labor issues, compared to 938 for Major League Baseball, 788 for the NBA and a big fat zero for the most popular league in North America, the NFL. The meter is about to run again, adding to hockey's 1,698 total as the NHL prepares to interrupt a schedule that is supposed to begin on Oct. 11. Considering that the two sides remain deeply entrenched, with players wanting the NHL to adopt revenue sharing while the league advocates clawing back player salaries, this could take a while to resolve."

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://nhl-red-light.si.com/2012/09/19/nhl-lockout-notebook-day-4/?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

10.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stewart Mandel: Alabama-LSU national title rematch remains unlikely; more Mailbag

Though they're currently ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP Poll, it seems unlikely Alabama and LSU will meet in the BCS National Championship again.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Later in this column, we're going to take a trip down memory lane and revisit a prominent figure from Mailbags past. Hint: It's a lady.

In the meantime, looking back at more recent history, the first Mailbag mention last year of a possible Alabama-LSU rematch came on Oct. 18. I, of course, dismissed the notion as silly and presumptuous. Whoops. I should probably not repeat that mistake ... but c'mon. We haven't even reached Week 4!

Here we go again! Everyone has said two SEC teams will never be in the National Championship Game again. Being still early in the season, LSU and Alabama are head and shoulders above the rest of college football. If the game Nov. 3 in Tiger Stadium is close, what's the chance we possibly see a repeat of last year?
-- Derek, Baton Rouge

So with USC now out of the picture (sure they could bounce back, but let's be real, their lack of depth was exposed), are we doomed to another year of SEC oppression?
-- Adam Lienau, Not the South

News flash: USC was never the country's lone non-SEC team capable of winning a national championship. The reason it may seem that way is because several other viable contenders have yet to play their first meaningful games.

Oregon, overlooked all preseason amid the USC hype, has continued to fly under the radar thanks to three opening games against non-AQ opponents. This week the third-ranked Ducks face No. 22 Arizona, and if Chip Kelly's team hangs half a hundred on Rich Rodriguez's Wildcats (it's averaging 54.0 points), I expect Oregon will become a standard part of the conversation. No. 4 Florida State plays the showcase game against Clemson this week. If it wins, people are going to start looking at the Seminoles' schedule and realizing just how few obstacles they have the rest of the way. No one's really seen No. 6 Oklahoma play yet, but they will against No. 15 Kansas State this weekend. In fact, it feels like the entire Big 12 has had a bye to this point. I'm eager to see No. 8 West Virginia and No. 12 Texas face tougher conference competition.

And as vulnerable as USC looked last weekend, I wouldn't rule the Trojans out just yet, either. They lost on the road to a team that went 23-3 over the last two years. It happens.

It's entirely possible Alabama and LSU are indeed the cream of the crop again. The Tide have outscored their first three opponents (including two preseason top-10 teams) 128-14, and a purportedly inexperienced defense has pitched consecutive shutouts. I'm certainly not picking against them anytime soon. Meanwhile, the Tigers have won their first three games by a margin of 145-31, but I'd like to see them play someone better than Washington, which has the look of a 6-6 team, before fully jumping on board. This week's opponent, Auburn, might not be any better.

That brings up a different point. One reason to feel confident in Alabama and LSU's running the table outside of their own meeting is the rest of the SEC West doesn't look nearly as imposing as it did before the season. In fact, it's pretty darn bad. On the other hand, the East may produce a champion this year (possibly Georgia) with an actual chance of winning in Atlanta.

Finally, at the risk of looking stupid again, I'd be willing to bet three months of Andy Staples' barbeque expenses that voters will not allow another SEC rematch this year. There was too much backlash to last year's game, and even though it's not voters' fault the second game was lopsided (Alabama may well have beaten a different opponent by far more than 21 points), the dissatisfaction is still going to factor into their thought process. The public desperately wants to see the SEC play someone else, and they're going to get their wish. I don't know who that team will be, but you might want to tune in this weekend for possible clues.

This Saturday, I would watch Florida State-Clemson, Oklahoma-Kansas State and Notre Dame-Michigan if they were televised in separate time slots. Instead, I will watch only one of those night games and none earlier in the day because there are none worth watching. Do the networks really garner better overall ratings by having such premier games go head-to-head at night rather than spreading them throughout the day?
-- Gary Swider, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

The migration of more big games to primetime began six years ago when ABC figured out it could draw better ratings on Saturday nights by showing college football instead of scripted dramas or second-rate reality shows. We had previously counted on the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) to show the biggest games in the afternoon, with nighttime spots primarily reserved for ESPN's SEC and ACC broadcasts or Fox Sports Net's old late-night Pac-10 games. But with FOX joining the fray this year, yet another marquee game moves from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7:30 or 8 (like Kansas State-Oklahoma). Even NBC is even doing it now, as with Michigan-Notre Dame this week.

The result, unfortunately, is fans are now forced to pick and choose between high-profile matchups. Last year in Week 3, ABC garnered a very good 5.8 rating for its primetime game, Oklahoma-Florida State. A year earlier it notched a 4.7 for Texas-Texas Tech. This year it got just a 3.2 for Notre Dame-Michigan State. ESPN's Florida-Tennessee broadcast, which overlapped during the second half, produced a 3.1, and FOX's USC-Stanford showing netted a 2.5. Granted, there was a lot more buildup leading into that Oklahoma-Florida State game last year, but you can usually count on Notre Dame to draw a big audience, especially against a top-10 team. However, if you combine the ratings for the head-to-head ABC and FOX games you get 5.7 -- almost identical to ABC's number last year.

On the bright side, the afternoon options should improve once teams get into conference play and there are multiple games of interest in each league. Unfortunately, though, the cluttered primetime lineup is here to stay.

Stewart, through three weeks, Ohio State's Braxton Miller has accounted for 988 yards, 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions. Through three weeks in 2007, Tim Tebow had 1,027 yards, 13 touchdowns and only one interception. Does Miller have any chance to repeat Tebow's feat of winning the Heisman as a sophomore playing for Urban Meyer? Or will the Buckeyes' lack of postseason eligibility take him out of the race?
-- Josh L., Columbus, Ohio

It's a good question. Miller is already starting to pop up in the top five of various Heisman watches -- but it's early. I certainly think he can continue putting up his current numbers over the course of the season (though probably not Tebow's 51 touchdowns in 2007), but as the year progresses, our attention will increasingly turn toward the BCS race, one in which the Buckeyes won't be involved. Will Miller get overlooked? It's possible. Last year, USC folks felt the Trojans' ineligibility cost Matt Barkley a trip to New York. Then again, Barkley and his team started slow and had to play catch-up. Miller is already gaining acclaim, and his team has yet to lose.

My guess is if Miller has a truly spectacular season, his team's postseason status won't affect him very much. Ohio State needs to win, and he needs to perform well in big games. Other than that, he plays for one of the most visible teams in the country, and the votes are tallied before the bowl games. And lest we forget, Tebow's team lost three regular-season games the year he won the Heisman. Florida was playing for the Capital One Bowl by late October, yet he still ran away with the trophy. Miller could do the same, but he'd have to truly distinguish himself. If, for example, Geno Smith keeps putting up the same gaudy numbers and West Virginia contends for the Big 12 title, the advantage goes to Smith.

Just when I thought you were going to ignore another classic, absolutely bizarre Holy War, you go and post something like this ... AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF.
-- Nick Driggs, Los Angeles

If I know Utah fans like I think I do, they'll invite me right in for tea and strumpets.

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/stewart_mandel/09/19/alabama-lsu-national-title-contenders/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

10.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Albert Chen: Rich Thompson is finally back in the majors -- but for how long?

Rich Thompson's speed has made him a valuable late-game asset for Tampa Bay this month.

Mark LoMoglio/Icon SMI

They always asked him what he was doing still hanging around. What was he waiting for, exactly? These were not ridiculous or rude questions. There were stories written about him, calling him a modern-day Moonlight Graham, and these stories were nice -- but at some point he'd have to let go of the dream, wouldn't he? When they asked why he was still in the game after all these years he didn't really have much of an answer, other than that he didn't know anything else but baseball. Sometimes he would say he was waiting for a call-up so he could make enough money to buy a car. He wasn't kidding.

The story of the 33-year-old rookie ballplayer who would never let go could begin on an April night eight years ago. Rich Thompson was 25 then, and on that night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, anything seemed possible. Thompson had begun the year on the Royals' big league club, his wife, Teresa, his mom, Anne, his sister and his uncle were all there that night. Rich entered the game in the 10th inning as a pinch runner, stole second and scored the winning run. That was a good night. A week later, on April 20, he stepped up to the plate against Cleveland's Tim Laker, and grounded into a double play to end the ninth inning. That was his only major league plate appearance before he was sent back down to the minors, but there were no tears then -- it wouldn't be long, everyone thought, before he'd be back in the Show.

Eight years passed. The next call-up never came. He shuttled between organizations. He and Teresa had three kids, born in three different states. He spent his offseason selling home mortgages over the phone and caddying at golf courses for $100 a loop to support his family. He was a light-hitting outfielder who could always run faster than just about everyone else, but this was a time when teams didn't seem all that interested in a player who could do little else but run. As the years passed, he got the question all the time: What was he hanging around for?

"From the outside looking in, most people think, You're in your 30s playing Triple-A baseball, there's something wrong with your head," says Thompson, who led the International League in stolen bases in 2011 with 48. "I always felt like I was close. That may have been wishful thinking. Most players, they get a break. I just never got mine."

Here he is now, sitting at his locker at Camden Yards in Baltimore, the most improbable rookie in all of baseball -- after years of waiting, he's back in the majors, now being used as a late-inning pinch running specialist, an unlikely weapon for the Tampa Bay Rays, who are fighting for their lives and running out of time in the American League playoff race. Late in games now, the 33-year-old rookie -- knowing he's going to be called upon to make something happen, at a time of year when one run can be the difference between making the postseason and watching it from home -- can barely sit still in the dugout.

"It's the adrenaline," he says, all that energy bottled up for all those years.

* * *

The low point? So many to choose from: There was the time he was demoted back down to Double-A so another player could play at Triple-A; there were the many times he was put on phantom disabled lists; there was the time he was demoted to Double-A while his second son, William, born seven months early, was in the hospital. There was 2008, when he had the best spring training of his life with the Red Sox, only to be cut outright after spring training was done. "By that point so many people he came up with weren't playing anymore -- it happens someday to everyone," says Teresa, "and we thought Rich's time had come."

He began to consider, for the first time, life without baseball, and he decided to take classes in accounting. Three weeks later the Phillies were calling, and he had a job again. "We were always hopeful and expecting that he'd get another chance, but that had lasted for about five years" -- until around 2008, says Teresa. "After that, I think he was just playing because he loved what he was doing."

Five years passed until that day in May 2012 when Thompson was in his car, on his way to an elementary school to read to students. He got a call on his cellphone: it was his manager at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Ryne Sandberg, to tell him that he'd been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays --- he was being sent straight to the big league team. Thompson pulled over and called his wife, who was at the checkout line at Target, and "he was crying and talking so fast I couldn't understand him," says Teresa.

Within 24 hours he was in a game as a pinch runner for the Rays, taking a lead off first base. The following day, he started for the Rays, stole two bases, and, after 1,388 minor league games, recorded his first-ever major league hit; his RBI single made him the oldest AL position player in to get his first major league hit since Minnie Mendoza in 1970. When he was sent back down to the minors later that month, he wasn't necessarily expecting a call-up in September -- after all these years, he's always prepared for disappointment -- but at the end of August, the Rays promoted their 33-year-old rookie, who even at his age, is as fast as the team's fastest burners, B.J. Upton, Desmond Jennings, and Elliot Johnson.

"Rich is right there with them," says Tampa Bay bench coach Dave Martinez. "He's very deceptive, with these long strides. The other day he scored on a ball hit to second base. The guy bobbled it, and I looked up and Rich was rounding third. I remember turning to [manager] Joe [Maddon] and saying, 'He's going to score.' And he did. Standing up."

On Sept. 2, Thompson, facing Toronto's Aaron Laffey, recorded his second major league hit -- "to prove that the first one wasn't a fluke," he says. The Rays have since been using Thompson as a player who can change a game late with his speed, and he's stolen three bases since Sept. 8.

"We love having this guy on the bench right now, any time we get a chance to put him in the game when we need a run or two we get him in the game," says Martinez. "These guys are hard to find, a guy who can come right off the bench and steal a base or two and score, on a double in the gap. A few years ago we had Fernando Perez on the roster on playoffs to pinch run, and he was so valuable for us. Rich can be the same kind of weapon for us."

But time is running out on the Rays. After their 7-5 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday night, they dropped to 6 games out of a playoff spot. With his team's playoff chances suddenly looking dim, Thompson doesn't know how many days he has left in the big leagues.

Is this the beginning, or is this the end? "At the start of the year," says Teresa, "I didn't know what he was going to do after this year, because he passed the CPA exam, he was going to be done with the classes he needs for his master's by December. I really didn't know if he's going to re-sign to play, or just become an accountant. Then all this happened."

Earlier this summer Thompson was offered a job with an accounting firm in Tampa. The other day he came home and started talking to Teresa about it. After all these years, though, the wife knows better. "He may act like it's a possibility, and I know he's always prepared to walk away from the game if he needed to or if we needed to make ends meet," she says. "But he just loves it. He's just so happy playing it. I can't imagine him not playing."

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/albert_chen/09/19/rich-thompson-rays/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

09.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Andy Staples: Arkansas searching for answers with dream season already lost

Interim coach John L. Smith has given his critics an arsenal of ammunition, but Arkansas' struggles aren't his fault.

Ryan A. Miller/Icon SMI

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The group included trustees, wealthy donors and even a head of state. As a steady rain fell last Friday, they gathered on one of the luxurious suite levels of Reynolds Razorback Stadium and did what Arkansas people do. They called the hogs.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

They all called, from Arkansas chancellor G. David Gearhart to mega-donor and Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones to Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli, who learned to call the Hogs as a business administration student at Arkansas in the early 1970s.

Pig!

They came for a "topping off" ceremony on the eve of the Razorbacks' game against top-ranked Alabama. This ceremony was originally intended to kick off a weekend that might see Arkansas vault into national title contention. A crane would lift a beam into place on the construction site that will become the Arkansas football program's palatial, $40 million facility. The muckety-mucks, many of whom wrote the checks to make the construction of that facility and the recently approved $23 million "Student-athlete Success Center" possible, would revel in the ascension of their beloved Razorbacks.

Sooey!

Even a week earlier, on the eve of a game against lightly regarded Louisiana-Monroe, no one expected the ceremony would close with an explanation from athletic director Jeff Long. Then the Warhawks stunned the Razorbacks in overtime. An explanation, even if not explicitly demanded, was certainly required. Here, in its entirety, is the explanation Long provided.

"I want to say a few things about last week's football game. It's been the topic of everybody around this state and around Fayetteville. I want to make it very clear to all of you here today with us. One game does not make a season. One game does not define a program. One game does not indicate the success or failure of a program. One game does not cause me to doubt the direction of our athletics program. With your help, we're building a program that can compete year-in and year-out with the very best in this conference and in this nation. Six years running, the national championship in football has come from this conference. We'll be successful. We'll not be deterred. We'll not be discouraged. And make no mistake about it, the future of the University of Arkansas Razorback athletics is very bright."

All of them -- the trustees, the big-money donors, even the head of state -- cheered. Then they called the hogs again. The following afternoon, Alabama beat Arkansas 52-0.

John L. Smith, the head coach Long hired after he fired Bobby Petrino in April amid a salacious scandal, could find no words to describe the loss or to console his team. Tyler Wilson, the all-everything quarterback who missed the Alabama game because his linemen failed to block Louisiana-Monroe's pass rushers a week earlier, knew exactly what to say. He said some of his teammates quit, and he wasn't wrong. Later, Wilson would say he delivered that message through the media because he knew the Arkansas people needed to hear it. Someone had to say it. Someone had to prove the Razorbacks gave a damn.

How did it all fall apart so quickly? How did a team set up to be one of the best in school history hit the skids in mid-September?

It's easy to blame Smith, who once parlayed two good seasons at Louisville into the Michigan State job before crashing and burning in East Lansing. Plenty have blamed him. Whether it's the distraction of his recent bankruptcy filing or his poor game-preparation decisions or his insistence that people SMILE! during a period of pigskin mourning, Smith has given his critics an arsenal of ammunition. But it isn't Smith's fault.

Some have blamed Long, who fired Petrino and who hired Smith. Petrino had gone 21-5 the previous two seasons, and with Wilson returning for his senior season and Alabama and LSU coming to Fayetteville, this was Arkansas' best chance to win the SEC West -- a title which would make the Hogs automatic national championship contenders. To listen to some of the callers on Bo Mattingly's statewide radio show, it wasn't a big deal that Petrino manipulated the university's usual hiring process to give his mistress a job and then lied to Long's face after an April 1 motorcycle crash exposed the whole sordid mess. The man won, and that mattered more than the school's integrity or the millions of dollars the school might be on the hook for in hiring discrimination lawsuits had Petrino remained employed. That's what the Petrino apologists think, and they blame Long. But it isn't Long's fault, either.

Regardless of Arkansas' coach or QB, the Razorbacks' defense wouldn't have been able to stop Eddie Lacy and the Crimson Tide.

Ryan A. Miller/Icon SMI

The blame falls on Petrino, who flushed a potential dream season not because he gave into his libido, but because he let his libido affect the football program's payroll. It was an act of colossal stupidity from a man who, while far from lovable, had proven quite wily when calling plays or building college football programs. Every nadir Arkansas hits this season can be traced back to the moment when Petrino had the brilliant idea that Jessica Dorrell, who had recruited him so well, should assist in the Razorbacks' recruitment of players. Everything else -- the motorcycle crash that exposed the relationship, the firing, the hiring of Smith -- only served to highlight the absurdity of that decision.

Still, some of the heartbreak over the on-field events of the past two weeks is a bit melodramatic. In all the January-to-April excitement about Wilson's decision and Petrino's offensive acumen and tailback Knile Davis' return from injury, certain key losses were glossed over. Without defensive end Jake Bequette, would the Razorbacks be able to rush the passer as well? Who would replace the leadership of linebacker Jerry Franklin or the ball-hawking of safety Tramain Thomas? Is the SEC not a defense-first league, even for the team with the explosive offense? Anyone who watched the Alabama game objectively could see that even had Petrino -- Bobby, not Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino -- called the plays and had Wilson been healthy, the Hogs' defense wouldn't have stopped Alabama enough for Arkansas to win. Taking away the touchdown drive Arkansas gift-wrapped with a snap over punter Dylan Breeding's head, Alabama scored five touchdowns and a field goal on its first nine possessions. Petrino and Wilson would not have matched that pace against one of the nation's top defenses. The Hogs would have faced similar problems against LSU, which also enjoys ramming the ball down the throats of opposing defenses while terrorizing the opposing quarterback with a seemingly endless string of athletic freaks.

So maybe that's the better way to look at this: It's not as big of a mess as it seems, because it didn't cost the Razorbacks what many in Arkansas think it cost them. Arkansas was going to finish No. 3 in the SEC West this year even if Petrino had never been fired and Wilson had never gotten hurt. Looking at the schedule objectively, the Razorbacks can still finish No. 3 in the West. Wilson hopes to be cleared in time to play against Rutgers on Saturday. A win wouldn't count in the conference standings, but it might salvage some wounded pride. Then the Hogs face, in order, Texas A&M, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Tulsa. The Aggies are a relative unknown under first-year coach Kevin Sumlin, but the Tigers also went to overtime with Louisiana-Monroe and have an anemic offense. Kentucky and Ole Miss are the worst teams in their respective divisions. By the time the Razorbacks take a break from SEC play to face the Golden Hurricane, they could be 4-1 in the league and 6-2 overall. That's the best-case scenario, but it isn't that far-fetched if Wilson returns to health.

A midseason resurgence probably won't be enough to win Smith the job permanently. Long insists Smith's candidacy will be considered, but the events of the past two weeks have doomed Smith to an exit once his 10-month contract ends. Plenty of rank-and-file fans have called for Smith to be fired now. After all, there is precedent. Long's predecessor, Frank Broyles, once fired football coach Jack Crowe the day after a season-opening loss to The Citadel. But Long believes more chaos won't solve anything. Neither will a weekly evaluation of Smith's performance. "I'm not going to come out each game and talk about the job he's doing," Long said last Friday. "That doesn't do anybody any good in my opinion. We'll play the season out, and then we'll know by the end of the season what direction we're headed."

More than anyone else, Bobby Petrino deserves blame for flushing away Arkansas' chances of a dream season.

AP

At the moment, Long is doing exactly what he said he'd do after he fired Petrino: looking for a coach and continuing to raise money to fulfill his $300 million athletic facilities master plan. "We brought coach Smith back there to hold this program together. We were obviously in a very difficult situation at that time," Long said. "He wanted to come back and help us, and that's what he did. I said at the time that I'm conducting a coaching search. That hasn't changed."

Long also understands the recent history of the Arkansas football program. In the year before Long hired Petrino in December 2007, fans had split into factions. One group supported coach Houston Nutt. Another rebelled against Nutt after he chased off offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn -- the beloved former coach at nearby Springdale High -- and quarterback Mitch Mustain following the 2006 season. One fan even used the state's open records law to obtain Nutt's phone records. The records showed the coach had exchanged 2,104 text messages with a local television news anchor in four months, and after that information got out, the conflict between pro-Nutt and anti-Nutt camps escalated and didn't end until Nutt took off for Ole Miss shortly after the 2007 season. This is the fan base Long must please, so it's no wonder he is pleading for unity. "We talk about pulling together and not apart," Long said. "We know with this program in this state, we have to pull together. We've seen what happens when we pull apart."

Long is convinced he has an elite job to offer. The construction outside the stadium suggests the next coach will have a dazzling array of resources with which to build a winning program. That new coach will still have to find a way to compete against Alabama, but remember, the Crimson Tide were the ones losing to Louisiana-Monroe five years ago. Things change, and football is cyclical. That's important to consider after two losses rocked the Arkansas program to its core. "It doesn't make what we're doing any less important or any less correct," Long said. "I think we're on the right path."

Two losses do not define a program. How that program responds to those losses can, though. At the moment, all those who call the hogs face a choice. They can wallow in the mud, or they can raise their voices together and try to make the best of an already lost season.

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/09/19/arkansas-football-big-picture/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

09.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Paul Daugherty: From sweeping floors to the end zone, Bengals' Hawkins living dream

Bengals wideout Andrew Hawkins is making the most of his shot at the NFL and is out to prove he can be a gamebreaker.

ABACAUSA.COM

On Sunday Cincinnati Bengals wideout Andrew Hawkins caught a pass and ran 50 yards for his professional life. The run began after a 10-yard throw from Andy Dalton. In truth, it started five years, three teams, one reality show and a bunch of failed tryouts ago.

We'll get back to that little ballet, so symbolic of the run Hawkins has made to reach the NFL. First, a little background.

For some players, the NFL is a leather briefcase. For others, it arrives in a brown bag. "I was just praying for a chance,'' Hawkins said this week.

Lots of prayers. Lots of time for praying. Five years' worth.

Hawkins prayed while sleeping on a friend's couch for several months in 2008 and 2009, after working a 16-hour shift at a wind-turbine factory in Toledo. He prayed before the Cleveland Browns invited him to a rookie minicamp the following spring, and he prayed after they cut him. He was appropriately grateful when the Detroit Lions gave him a job, even if it was as an intern in their personnel department. The Lions thought Hawkins would make a fine scout.

When Michael Irvin invited him to be one of 12 finalists on his reality TV show, 4th and Long, Hawkins prayed that Irvin would like what he saw. Imagine that, praying for the benevolence of Michael Irvin.

The winner would get a contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Hawkins finished second. He was thankful for the opportunity. He went to play football in Canada.

Two years later, when Hawkins signed with the St. Louis Rams, he prayed that this would be his time. He prayed again, through tears, when the Rams let him go after one practice.

"I'm a very spiritual person,'' he said.

So was Job.

Maybe the view from the top of the mountain is better when you start on the ground floor. Hawkins might be on a high today, after that 50-yard TD catch against the Browns. It wasn't long ago he was sweeping floors in a factory. That was at night, usually. During the day, Hawkins caddied at Inverness, a posh country club in Toledo.

Hawkins attended the University of Toledo, where he was a productive player, a three-year starter, at least until third-down-and-long, when his coach would take him out "for a taller receiver.'' Hawkins is 5-foot-7.

He was so desperate to play more, Hawkins volunteered to return kicks and play cornerback. His senior year, he did both. Needless to say, when his college career ended, no NFL teams called. That's when his odyssey began.

He slept on a couch. His closet was the shelf above the washer and dryer. He swept floors, he carried golf clubs, he served as a grad assistant to Toledo's receivers. He finished his degree.

The Browns called the following spring. Hawkins went to the rookie minicamp and did well enough that he was told he would be signed. "The days and months go by, and you never hear anything,'' Hawkins says.

The Browns went the proverbial "different direction.'' They signed a linebacker.

Hawkins kept working. His former defensive backs coach at Toledo had joined the Lions. He got Hawkins the internship. Hawkins watched the players on the field, and felt he was as good as or better than any of them. Offered a long-term internship that likely would have led to a full-time job as a scout, he turned it down.

Back on the couch, he saw the ad for Irvin's TV show. He put together a video of his highlights, from college and at the Cleveland minicamp. He added some of his back story. What football reality show wouldn't want a part-time caddie and sweeper of factory floors?

"I sent them 20 copies of that tape,'' Hawkins laughs. Three weeks later, he was in Los Angeles, one of 60 hopefuls. He made that cut, but eventually lost out to another wideout, Jesse Holley.

Hawkins then went to Canada, a favored spot for all NFL dreamers. He won consecutive Grey Cups with Montreal, catching passes from all-time CFL passing leader Anthony Calvillo - "the Brett Favre of the CFL,'' Hawkins says - and learning from coach Marc Trestman.

At the end of his first season with the Alouettes, the Browns again expressed interest. During the last game of the season, just after the Browns called, Hawkins broke his ankle.

More prayers.

In January 2011, the Bengals asked him to work out. Hawkins knew the area. His older brother, Artrell, had played at the University of Cincinnati, and was a Bengals' second-round draft pick. He did well enough at the workout, Cincinnati wanted to sign him. He held off: The Rams had called, too. He headed to St. Louis, for yet another audition.

The Rams offered him a contract. Hawkins signed it. The Bengals had Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, and a few other NFL-worthy receivers. "The Rams didn't have anybody,'' Hawkins recalls.

The lockout hit. By the time it ended, the Rams had drafted two wideouts and signed a few more. "The little guy from the CFL was the low man on the totem pole,'' Hawkins says. The Rams cut him on the first day of camp.

More prayers. The man's knees were getting sore.

"Another workout, another failure. Every time I'm on the cusp, something happens,'' Hawkins recalls thinking. "I've come to this point so many times. Is it worth it? I don't know. Maybe it's not meant to be.''

The Bengals claimed Hawkins off waivers. They didn't have Ocho or T.O. anymore. They had a rookie quarterback and a rookie offensive coordinator. When Jordan Shipley was lost early in the year, they needed a slot receiver. Finally, Hawkins would get a chance.

Coaches can't teach whatever it is that makes Andrew Hawkins run. Agility and quickness are in the DNA, or not. You can't coach a receiver to be 6-5 or, in Hawkins' case, 5-7. Nor, if you are a coach, can you let a player's stature define him.

On Sunday, in the third quarter of a close game, Andy Dalton scrambled to the right, looking, looking. . .

He saw Hawkins to his left. He threw back across his body. Hawkins made the catch, 10 yards away, "in space'', as the NFL types like to say. For the first time in his football life, Hawkins had some room.

He cut right, then left, back over the middle and across the field. Five years of what had seemed like aimless running, coming together on one, broken-down play.

Hawkins reached the end zone untouched. It was his first NFL touchdown. The play was a SportsCenter highlight for two days. Few watching knew it was five years in the making.

"All those things happened for a reason,'' Hawkins says.

"Pieces of my puzzle,'' he calls them. From the Browns minicamp, he got some video. From the reality show, some exposure. From Canada, the experience of Calvillo and the smarts of Trestman. From all of it, validation that good things happen to people of faith.

"I keep my dreams to myself,'' he says. "That way, people can't shoot them down.

"I've been to the other side. I came in the back way. Every game is a blessing. There's a thin line between starting in the NFL and working in a factory. One bad decision and I'm on the wrong end of it.''

He had 23 catches last year, 10 already this year. Very likely, Hawkins' size will limit his role. Hawkins isn't Rudy, but he's not Calvin Johnson, either. If he stays healthy, he will make a nice living and live his dream. He will leave knowing that he earned it all.

Paul Daugherty is a columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/paul_daugherty/09/19/andrew-hawkins/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

09.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Andy Glockner: Ohio Valley stacked with return of Murray State, addition of Belmont

Kerron Johnson averaged 13.8 points and 5.2 assists per game for Belmont last year.

David E. Klutho/SI

Conference USA hasn't done it. Neither has the MAC or Missouri Valley. Even the Horizon League, with its extended run of significant success, doesn't qualify for this exclusive list. In fact, outside of the top 10 or so conferences in America, only one league has put a team into the NCAA tournament's round of 32 in each of the last three seasons: the Ohio Valley Conference.

Having produced a top-10 team last season, and with multiple pro prospects and former Atlantic Sun heavyweight Belmont in the league this year, OVC no longer stands for "the Other Valley Conference." The league that famously made Dick Vitale do a headstand 25 years ago is doing just fine today, thanks. A combination of on-court success and improved talent levels on many rosters has created heady, optimistic times in the usually low-spotlight conference.

"The league is really good, and hopefully with the addition of Belmont, it gives us an opportunity to maybe have a two-bid league," said Murray State coach Steve Prohm, who went 31-2 in his debut season last year. "It won't happen every year, but some years it may present itself."

Often nestled just above other small Southern conferences in overall performance and well below some in basketball budgets, the OVC has actually been a quality talent producer for many years. Ever since streetball legend James "Fly" Williams starred for Austin Peay in the 1970s, the league has developed a number of solid future pros, including Kevin Duckworth, Anthony Mason, Carlos Rogers, Bubba Wells, Popeye Jones and Kenneth Faried. Tennessee Tech's Kevin Murphy was a second-round pick this year by the Utah Jazz, and NBA scouts are eagerly eyeing current seniors Isaiah Canaan (Murray State) and Robert Covington (Tennessee State).

Throw in new league member Belmont's Kerron Johnson, and the OVC has a heavy-hitting trio of top talents, with multiple other players from last season's all-league teams also returning. The talent influx has raised the stakes on the court, and in turn, also in recruiting.

"The one thing you realize is you gotta get those guys if you're gonna win in this league now, be a dominant program or put yourself in position to win a conference championship," Prohm said. "You've got to have elite perimeter guys, you have to have good guys up front."

It's team success that gets leagues noticed, though, and if you count Morehead State's opening-round win in 2009, the OVC has had a team walk happily off an NCAA tournament court in each of the past four seasons. That's tremendous by almost any league's standards, and the extra win shares coming to the league in the upcoming seasons should help budget lines and allow for more selective scheduling. Teams like Murray State and Belmont may have trouble getting on people's schedules, but even a couple fewer buy games replaced by winnable ones for teams lower in the league could provide a nice RPI/KenPom boost. Combine that with a good team at the top racking up a record like Murray State did last season, and suddenly there may be an NCAA tournament safety net available.

With Belmont now in the fold, there's no questioning the quality atop the league, even if the two presumed favorites may not be as good as they were last season. Murray State returns leading man Canaan and athletic shot-blocker Ed Daniel but has lost a trio of significant senior contributors and also Latreze Mushatt to an Achilles injury, meaning four important rotation guys need to be replaced. That doesn't even count guard Zay Jackson currently being suspended from team activities in the wake of an automobile incident where two people were injured. Prohm is going to have to sift through a lot of options and hope that he can find a couple more Donte Pooles, long-time reserves who step up when given starter's minutes.

Belmont, which has all-Atlantic Sun guard Ian Clark to go with Johnson, will be significantly smaller this year having graduated Scott Saunders and Mick Hedgepeth, its frontcourt standouts from last season. Coach Rick Byrd said the Bruins will stick with their system that annually yields one of the more efficient offenses in the nation, but as they weren't able to land a preferred option at the five in this year's recruiting class, they'll have to somewhat modify their approach.

Does this flux open the door for someone like Tennessee State, which was the only squad to beat the Racers during the regular season last year (on the road, no less), and lost the rubber match in the OVC final in the final seconds? In addition to Covington, an unselfish 6-foot-9 forward with a balanced inside-outside game, the Tigers have other solid rotation guys back and will put new coach Travis Williams' stamp on what was a CIT team last season, the Tigers' first postseason appearance since 1994.

"We're not going to change it up too much, but we're going to have my DNA and what I totally believe," Williams said. "I believe in a defensive-minded team. I believe in no excuses, no attitude, no bad body language."

Because of Belmont's arrival, the league has changed to a two-division format, and Murray State looks set to benefit in year one. The Racers play Belmont and Tennessee State once apiece, and both of those games are at home. That said, throw in traditional league heavyweight Austin Peay and a Tennessee Tech team that returns a first-team all-league talent in scoring/rebounding guard Jud Dillard, and there is plenty of reason to watch and wonder. This shouldn't be the runaway last season was for the Racers, and all of the coaches are looking forward to both the challenge and the opportunity.

"It might make a tougher path to the NCAA tournament than we've faced," Byrd said about his program's maiden OVC voyage after a dominant period in the Atlantic Sun, "but I also think playing people like that, having people like that in your league, improves your own program."

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/andy_glockner/09/19/ohio-valley-belmont-murray-state/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Steve Rushin: Some unwritten football rules that need to be etched in stone

Giants coach Tom Coughlin (right) took issue with Greg Schiano's decision to have his team rush QB Eli Manning while he was attemping to take a knee in the final seconds of Sunday's game.

AP

The chief problem with unwritten rules is that they're not written down. Until Moses descended from Mt. Sinai with two inscribed tablets, man could plead ignorance while coveting his neighbor's ox. "Was that wrong?" as George Costanza asked his boss after a desktop rendezvous with the cleaning woman. "Should I have not done that? If I had known that sort of thing was frowned upon ..."

Costanza came to mind on Sunday at the Meadowlands when Tampa Bay Bucs coach Greg Schiano had his defense bull rush the Giants offensive line while quarterback Eli Manning took a knee in the waning seconds of the game. NFL coaches have a longstanding "rule" against such behavior, but that rule is unwritten, and rules aren't really rules until they're literally chiseled in stone.

Who knew, for instance, that the NFL would rather not have its officials openly root for a team they're officiating? The league pulled replacement ref Brian Stropolo from the Saints-Panthers game three hours before kickoff on Sunday after learning that the side judge, a resident of New Orleans, was a passionate Saints fan, to judge by his Facebook page, which featured photographs of him tailgating in full team regalia. If the ref had known that sort of thing was frowned upon ...

But he never got it in writing. The movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn said, "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on." And the same goes for unwritten rules. But that's a problem easily solved. To avoid future misunderstandings, I've put many of football's unwritten rules on paper, or at least onto the Internet. Coaches, players, reporters and officials, please print and laminate to a wristband:

• Officials should not proudly proclaim a favorite team, especially in games they're refereeing. You might be in violation of this rule if: The flag you've thrown is a Terrible Towel. You signal first down with an oversized foam finger. You study a replay and announce: "Upon further review, Tom Brady is a dreamboat."

• Do not bull rush the quarterback who has taken a knee. In fact, common sense says don't bull rush anybody who has taken a knee, because that person can only be (1) proposing marriage, (2) salting away a victory or (3) Tebowing. (Possibly all three, in the case of the Jets' backup quarterback.)

• Never chastise the opposing coach -- in front of a live television audience, in the postgame handshake spectacle -- for violating the preceding rule. In baseball, this is called "showing him up," and it is a worse sin than ox-coveting.

• Never ask Bill Belichick his reason for doing something. (For instance: "Why doesn't Wes Welker start anymore?") Whatever Belichick does on a football field is, ipso facto, the right thing to do. And anyway, the coach's explanation will not illuminate his way of thinking, but rather shine a light on the folly of your question. The brilliant mind is like a desert horizon, never drawing nearer, no matter how fast you speed toward it.

• While receivers are entitled to celebrate touchdowns by dunking the football over the crossbar, defenders may not attempt to impede them in any way. No one knows why this is so; it's just the way it goes. So don't try to take a charge, or worse still, to force the would-be dunker to the perimeter, where he'll have to settle for a mid-range jump shot. We don't have time for any of this.

• Receivers: You are allowed to simply hand the ball to an official after scoring. If that official then produces a Sharpie and asks you to sign the ball in question, you are required to decline.

• If a player is estranged from the college he attended, he may claim a fictional alma mater during televised introductions. But that fictional alma mater is required to be, in every instance, the "School of Hard Knocks." Players may not claim to have graduated from "Altered State," "Whatsamatta U" or "South Harmon Institute of Technology."

• There are rules of etiquette, heretofore unwritten, that all must adhere to when "under the pile." They go like this: My nostrils are not the finger holes on a bowling ball -- kindly refrain from using them as such. Please don't employ my sternum as leverage when rising to your feet. (It's bad enough when airline passengers lever themselves up by my seatback when getting up to use the john, turning me into a catapulted projectile.) There are other rules, but if you just remember the following children's books you'll always be in compliance: Hands Are Not For Hitting and Teeth Are Not For Biting and Groins Are Not For Kneeing.

Steve Rushin is the author of The Pint Man, a novel. Purchase it here. Also check out steverushin.com.

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/steve_rushin/09/19/football-unwritten-rules/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

06.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cliff Corcoran: O's' magic continues; Rays fading fast

Chris Davis hit a two-run, ninth-inning single to extend the game against the Mariners.

Ted S. Warren/AP

The Orioles and Mariners held the standings hostage well into Wednesday morning with one of the longest games of the season, and when the Orioles ultimately emerged victorious (of course) they pointed a boney finger at the Rays. The Tigers and Dodgers hope no such finger is pointed at the seasons of Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw (and thus themselves). Out East, it rained.

1. 18 And Life

It took 5 hours and 44 minutes and 18 innings, 15 of which were scoreless, but the Orioles finally emerged victorious just before 4 a.m. ET, beating the Mariners 4-2 to win their 14th straight extra inning game and pull into a technical first-place tie with the rained-out Yankees atop the American League East. The game was just the third this season to last 18 or more innings (the Pirates 19-inning victory over the Cardinals remains the longest of the year, coincidentally played on Aug. 19 while this one was played on Sept. 18) but marked the sixth time the Orioles have played past the 12th inning, each time emerging with the victory.

The Orioles, who still trail the Yankees by one game in the loss column, are now 14-2 in extra-inning games, and their only two losses beyond regulation came on consecutive days in April at home against the Yankees. Their 16 extra-inning games are by far the most in the American League, and their .875 winning percentage in those games is by far the best in the majors (the A's, who are 9-3, .750, rank second). Perhaps most impressively, the Orioles are undefeated on the road in extra innings, with nine of their 14 extra-inning wins, including Tuesday night's coming when the other team had last licks.

There's certainly a significant amount of good fortune involved in that, but it is also a testament to the Orioles' bullpen, which has been their chief strength throughout the season. Winning close games in which their bullpen held tiny leads was the primary way they managed to be five games above .500 despite being outscored by 36 runs in the first half of the season. On the season, their bullpen ERA of 3.13 is sixth in the majors despite the fact that they are also fourth in total relief innings. Only three teams have recorded more saves, and only the Rockies' relievers have recorded more wins. On Tuesday night, seven Orioles relievers combined for 12 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out 16 against three walks and six hits with repurposed starters Jake Arrieta (3 1/3 innings), Steve Johnson (3 IP), and winning pitcher Tommy Hunter (2 IP) doing the heavy lifting. The Orioles have now played 55 extra innings this season and their bullpen has allowed just five runs in those frames, good for a 0.82 ERA.

Expanded rosters aided the Orioles on Tuesday night, as both teams easily made it through 18 frames using eight pitchers each without a position player so much as getting loose in the bullpen. Still, the construction of the Baltimore bullpen is a credit to the organization's flexibility regarding pitchers' roles, a throwback to Earl Weaver's Eighth Law, that "the best place for a rookie [or in this case, unproven starting] pitcher is in long relief." Lefty starters Brian Matusz and Randy Wolf have also worked out of the Baltimore 'pen this month, with Matusz getting two outs on Tuesday night, and the success of such repurposed arms should be in some measure shared with manager Buck Showalter's use of his relievers.

Tuesday night, the Mariners fell prey to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, to which the O's have added a corollary this season, "never get involved in an extra-inning game with the 2012 Baltimore Orioles."

2. Death Ray

The Orioles 18-inning win in Seattle may have been the final nail in the coffin of the 2012 Rays' season. Or rather, the Ray's 7-5 loss to the dysfunctional and disemboweled Red Sox earlier (far, far earlier) in the evening may have been the final nail. With that loss and the Orioles' win, the Rays are now six games behind in both the AL East and wild card races (that's six games behind the second-place O's in the wild card race and 6 1/2 behind the first-place A's). With just 14 games left on the Rays' schedule, the last seven of which are against the division-leading White Sox and Orioles, it would take a baseball miracle for Tampa Bay to make the postseason.

With the Rays effectively out of the hunt, slipping a half game behind the Tigers in the wild card race, where Detroit hadn't been a factor in a while, that reduces the wild card race in the American League to a battle between the second-place team in the AL East (be it the Yankees or Orioles) and the Angels, who beat the Rangers 11-3 on Tuesday night to stay three games behind the O's and climb within 3 1/2 of the A's.

Looking at their remaining schedules, the Angels, already at a disadvantage because they're trailing in the standings, have a tough schedule remaining, with five more against the Rangers and three against the White Sox as well as their final six games on the road (three in Texas, three in Seattle). By contrast, the Orioles' only remaining games against a team with a winning record are their final three in Tampa Bay, though the Rays will very likely have been eliminated by the time those games come around. The Yankees, meanwhile, host the A's for three games this weekend, a potentially crucial series, but otherwise play teams with losing records and finish at home against the Red Sox.

3. Maxed Out?

Having lost to the division-leading White Sox in the finale of their season series on Monday, the Tigers were already in a tough spot entering their final 15 games. However, things might have gotten worse on Tuesday night despite the fact that Detroit pounded the wild card-leading A's 12-2, slipping past the Rays in that race. As important as that win was, and with the White Sox also winning it was absolutely crucial, the key event in the game occurred when starter Max Scherzer was unable to return after two innings and 44 pitches due to shoulder fatigue.

Scherzer had an MRI after the game which showed no structural damage, but he won't be allowed to throw for a couple of days, after which he will be re-evaluated. That sets up the possibility of him missing his next start, with rookie Drew Smyly likely taking his place, while the possible presence of a significant injury remains. Scherzer didn't betray any visible discomfort in his two innings of work on Tuesday night. However, none of his 44 pitches on Tuesday night broke 94 miles per hour, his fastball sat around 93, and his last two four-seamers were clocked at 90 mph. Per TexasLeaguers.com, Scherzer's average four-seam fastball in his first three starts this month came in at 95.4 miles per hour. That's average, meaning as many were above 95.4 as below.

In his last 16 starts prior to Tuesday night, dating back to mid-June, Scherzer had gone 11-2 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 5.07 K/9, and 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings. Whatever slim hope the Tigers still have of making the postseason may just evaporate completely if Scherzer is unable to continue contributing at that level over the season's final two weeks.

4. Tragically Hip

Hip specialist Dr. Bryan Kelly told the Dodgers that Clayton Kershaw won't do any more damage to his right hip by pitching through what Kelly and team doctor Neal ElAttrache each independently diagnosed as an impingement, meaning the joint is pinched during rotation. However, the Dodgers remain cautious if not out-right pessimistic about both Kershaw's ability to pitch through the injury and the wisdom of having him do so. Kelly's opinion allowed Kershaw to resume throwing on Tuesday, but the Dodgers are going to take a wait-and-see approach to putting Kershaw back in the rotation and say they will not allow him to pitch if his hip remains painful.

Kershaw did make one start after initially reporting the pain in his hip earlier this month, allowing just one unearned run on three hits in seven innings against the Diamondbacks in Arizona, a start made on two extra days rest prompted by the injury. Kershaw's five strikeouts in that game were fewer than he had racked up in any of his previous eight starts, but that might be nitpicking. The biggest issue is that Kershaw and the Dodgers are running out of time. The Cardinals won Tuesday night while L.A. was idle, and by Thursday morning there will be just 13 games left on the Dodgers' schedule. The best case scenario might be two more starts from Kershaw at something less than full health.

5. Rain, Rain, Go Away

A big storm on the east coast washed out three games with potential pennant implications on Tuesday, leaving idle the Dodgers, who were to open a series in Washington, DC, the Phillies, who were set to play the second of three games against the Mets in Queens, and the Yankees, who were going to start Andy Pettitte for the first time since a comebacker broke his ankle in late June. With the season almost over and those teams in the playoff hunt, all three games will be made up this week.

The Phillies and Mets will simply play on Thursday, a scheduled off-day for both teams and only the smallest of inconveniences for Philadelphia, who head home on Friday to face the Braves and have an off-day on Monday. That game will start at 7:10 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the Yankees, who were to open a series against the Blue Jays Tuesday night, and Dodgers will both play double-headers on Wednesday.

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://si.com/2012/writers/cliff_corcoran/09/19/orioles-do-it-again/index.html?eref=si_writers
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

02.38 | 0 komentar | Read More