New Blog

I have a new blog and the post below will also the first post on my new blog. Follow me on my new blog at: http://www.goingontherecord.blogspot.com/

Rush to Judgment

This is a different type of topic than my normal posts. The topic I want to talk about today is a mix of sports and politics. Unless you’ve been hiding under rock the past few days you’ve probably heard about Rush Limbaugh’s interest in buying the St. Louis Rams. That of course ended yesterday as it was announced that Rush Limbaugh was dropped from the group of bidders. The reason? Rush Limbaugh has said some “divisive” things over the years. Let’s be honest here. He is being blackballed by the media, NFL players union, and other entities for his Donavan McNabb comments on ESPN many years ago. He said that McNabb was being overrated by the media because they want so badly for a black QB to succeed in this league.

Before I go any further, I would like to say I don’t really care for Rush Limbaugh. I rarely agree with most of the things he says and the way he says them. I’m not a fan of his style of “shock” radio. But just because I don’t agree with him it doesn’t mean I think what they are doing is fair.

Back when Rush made his comment, though insensitive and not politically correct, it was pretty close to the truth. Rush’s critical comments were meant as a slap in the face to the media and not necessarily geared towards McNabb.

Look back at McNabb’s history. Every other year the Eagles’ fan base has been trying to run this guy out of town. Back when Rush made his comments it was true that McNabb was being overrated. Since then McNabb has risen to his status of being labeled as an elite type QB. He no longer is overrated. In fact he’s actually underappreciated.

Rush could have worded it better but that’s not his style. He has made tons of money by being controversial and saying provocative things. That doesn’t make him a racist, as some are claiming. Not everything said and done is about racism. How are we ever going to move on from race if we keep using the race card as a weapon? I wish we could just all say that we are Americans. Not African Americans. Not Indian Americans. Not Mexican Americans and so forth. We are ALL Americans and we should stop labeling ourselves any different. Only then will we really move on past all this race stuff.

My point is that Rush should be given a fair chance to buy a team. His bid should be considered on business and not his opinions. There are many rappers/singers and controversial figures who own stake in professional teams throughout the sports world. In their songs they say and do things that could be labeled as “divisive” but it’s accepted because our society accepts it. They are in tabloids and involved in sex scandals and fights and on and on. Again, those things are accepted by the society we live in.

The NFL could have avoided all this stuff by just passing on the bid in a professional manor. They could have said they had a stronger offer and avoided all this nonsense. The players union made things worse by coming out against Limbaugh the way they did. And don’t get me started on Rev Al Sharpton, who also got in on the act. This guy has made a career of keeping people from moving on from racial issues. I say beware the profit seeking profit.

Rush Limbaugh is being attacked for his political beliefs and we shouldn’t attack people just because we don’t agree with them. Most of us have friends who we disagree with on religion and politics. That shouldn’t stand in the way of friendships or the way we do business. In the words of President Obama, "This is a teachable moment."

Pat Myself on the Back Day

I’ve been blogging long enough for me to see some of my best clips over the past few years. As for some of my bad clips, well you may have to dig for them yourself as it is more fun to pat myself on the back. So these quotes date back to my first post:


“ While I believe that (Darren) McFadden is a going to be a good RB I don’t believe he is the same can’t miss RB that Adrian Peterson was/is. To me, the best value at RB is Rashard Mendenhall, the junior at Illinois……I’m going out on a limb and saying that Mendenhall will have as good of if not better career as McFadden.”

“Another point I want to make about (Matt) Ryan is had he played for USC, for example, everyone would be foaming at the mouth that he's the next great QB and no way would he not be drafted at the number 1 slot. It's the truth.”

“There have been lots of moves in NFL free agency this past week. The move I want to talk about is the recent signing of Michael Turner by the Atlanta Falcons. Turner will no doubt be a huge addition to the Falcons. This move will definitely help the Falcons move on from the whole Mike Vick fiasco…… I guess now we’ll see what Turner is really made up of but I’m also curious to where he gets drafted in fantasy drafts. Off the top of my head, I’d select Turner in the late first round or early second round.”

“One more quick thing on the draft, so I'm on record. Michigan QB Chad Henne, is the second best QB in this draft. For a guy who'll go in the 2nd or 3rd round, he's the 2008 draft's best bargain.”

“Mark Sanchez is an impressive looking QB. He’s definitely an NFL first rounder in my book. He’s got a great arm, great poise, and very accurate. He has all of Matt Leinart’s strengths and none of his weaknesses.”

“I think Kiffin is a good coach but I think he would be better suited for the college game. He will make an excellent college coach. We’ll see if he ends up in college.”

“In the case of Mendenhall, he is out for the year and forgotten because of the season ending knee injury (it was actually a shoulder injury) he had early this year. He’s behind Willie Parker on the depth chart but I still believe in a year or two he’ll be the primary back for the Steelers. He was higher on my draft list at RB than super rookie RB Chris Johnson. I still believe in the long run, Mendenhall will be a better fantasy RB than Chris Johnson.”

“And just for the sake of being on the record, Ray Rice is also a RB I hold in high regard. If he ever gets 15-20 carries a game in Baltimore the kid will be good.”

“LeSean McCoy (RB) Pittsburgh- While all the draft experts currently have McCoy ranked near the bottom of the first round, and as the 3rd best RB, I view him as the best RB available in the draft.”

“Jeremy Maclin (WR) Missouri- Crabtree is at the top of everyone’s draft lists at WR. I think that Maclin is THE premier WR that is entering the draft and will have the most immediate impact. Maclin will be an outstanding punt returner as well.”

Well that's just a few things I dug up. I think I've done well for the most part. I have a few misses on player evaluations but for the most part I think I have a pretty good track record. I'm going to keep evaluating football talent on here because that's what I love to do. Some of these evaluations are still in progress but we've seen enough to get a feel for which way they are leaning. Keep coming back from time to time as I will continue posting my thoughts on future players.

Death to the Coach’s Poll

It’s time that the college football world to wake up. This is the easiest argument I have ever made. The Top 25 Coaches Poll should be done away with. Why? Because the coaches only know two teams. They know their own team and they know their next opponent. Please tell me when do these “one game at a time” guys actually get to see another team play? They don’t. These guys are buried in practice and film watching for 16 hours a day. They don’t watch games like the writers or the fans do. And when they're not knee deep in game planning they are knee deep in recruiting. Recruiting is a year round sport. If a coach is eating and breathing bettering his football program there is no time left to sit down for 3 hours to watch a single game during the season. So again I’ll ask the question, what are they basing their votes on? ESPN News highlights?

NFL's next great Wide Receiver

Every once in a while there comes a player who is a can’t miss wide receiver. Wide receiver, in my opinion, is the toughest position to evaluate from the college level to the pro game. A lot of great college WRs are serviceable in the NFL. I’m not saying it’s hard to evaluate them in general. I’m saying it’s hard to see which guys actually will dominate the NFL like they did in college.

Last year the guy was Michael Crabtree. I’m on record as saying I don’t think he’s going to be great in the NFL. My opinion is that he will probably be a good receiver but he won’t meet expectations of being a true great.

Guys like Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald come along every once in a few years. You know w/o a doubt they are going to be natural stars. Those guys have the ball catching ability and playmaking ability that will fit in with any offense. (And I still think that Calvin Johnson has more ability than Larry Fitzgerald. Just wait until Stafford actually develops.)

This year there is another talent like that coming through the draft. The hype around Oklahoma State WR, Dez Bryant, is legit. The next great super receiver will be playing on a lucky NFL team next year. He has all the tools similar Calvin Johnson. He has the size, speed, body control, and ball catching skills that Calvin and Fitzgerald have. Bryant is a big play waiting to happen on every snap. If you get a chance to watch a Oklahoma State game do yourself a favor and watch for Bryant. To me, he is part Calvin Johnson and part Brandon Marshall and I can’t wait to watch him play on Sundays.

Garrett deserves THE blame

Dallas Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett deserves the blame for the current wreck that is the Dallas Cowboys. In my seemingly annual “Dallas Cowboys are going down the drain” post, I want to call out the guy that the media has been giving a free pass to. Jason Garrett is the problem with the Cowboys. When Garrett signed that big contract I called Jones out on how bad of a signing that was. The guy hasn’t proved anything and got a huge contract. He may be smart and well spoken and even may sound like he knows what he’s talking about. That hasn’t translated to anything on the field.

Truth is there is no track record to keep giving this guy praise. It’s popular to pick on Tony Romo. He is more fun to blame. Romo has proven he can play. Garrett no longer has an excuse now that Terrell Owens is gone. TO called Garrett and Romo out last year and they threw him under the bus. TO may be nuts, and how he handles adversity is always news worthy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Garrett is a gadget loving play caller. His plays have very little continuity. He doesn’t know how to use play action. He doesn’t know the art of mixing and setting up plays. He calls random pass plays and he loves to line up in shotgun no matter the down and distance. These kinds of coordinators drive me nuts. It’s all show with complex routes and formations. The pass plays are more sideline to sideline than down the field. Most of the running plays are draws. The downfield plays are forced and it’s frustrating. You have to work very hard for every play because of the complexity.

Garrett has three very good RBs and should be utilizing them into giving the Cowboys an identity. Then setup play action and take some of the burden off of Tony Romo to open up the downfield passing. But it’s not going to happen. Garrett is terrible and Jerry Jones is hard headed and won’t admit he was wrong. It was he and his son who “discovered” Garrett off of a bad Dolphins team 3 years ago. He was their QB coach. I said it in my post about Garrett back then and I’ll say it again, no one was knocking down the door to sign then QB coach Garrett. Jones will hold on because he CAN’T be wrong. Meanwhile the ‘Boys will continue to be an average football team. Romo will continue to get the blame and eventually Wade Phillips will be fired. The only hope for the ‘Boys is maybe they’ll hire Mike Shannahan after another disastrous season.

New RB to the watch list

There is a new RB that has caught my eye. I’ve seen him play two games and I’ve been very impressed with his toughness and between the tackles running. University of Tennessee Senior RB Monterio Hardesty is riding under the radar due to the Vols bad record. He also was a bit drowned out from super freshman Bryce Brown coming to play at UT. Hardesty has NFL vision. He sees the hole and he hits it hard. He may not have the 4.4 speed, though I am not sure of his 40 time, but he’s fast enough to play at the next level. He’s style isn’t being a HR hitter. He stands at 6' 1" and weighs in at 215. He is a bruiser but with his exceptional vision he can be a great RB in the NFL. And just because he isn’t track fast doesn’t mean he isn’t football fast. I think he’s a second round pick next year and I think his pro career will make much more noise than his college career. Let’s see what smart GM pounces on this kid.