Tag Archives: college

“Sunday Ready” Robert Griffin III Makes A Succesful Debut

Posted on September 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

It used to be that a new NFL quarterback had time to develop and flourish over multiple season, not anymore.  There are many teams each year that need solutions for their QB position woes.  They want it fast and the best way to go now is with a top ten QB, rather than the veteran back up or fallen starting QB.  It is easier to go with a new QB and take a chance at their future.  The old system of getting a veteran QB is going away because teams just don’t want to be stagnate anymore.  Players like Cam Newton have done great things to changes the way teams look at top pick QB’s.

RG3 celebrates his 88-yard TD pass.
(Getty Images)

 

In April the Washington Redskins went in the direction that most teams are going.  That direction is with a top pick QB to be the future of their franchise.  With the second pick in the first round of the NFL Draft the Redskins selected Robert Griffin III (RG3).  RG3 had an incredible final season at Baylor in 2011 and won the Heisman Trophy.  RG3 has drawn many comparisons to Cam Newton, in terms of both athleticism and potential.

On Sunday RG3 made his highly anticipated regular season debut.  He led his Redskins into New Orleans to face the Saints and one of the best QB’s in the league Drew Brees.  Griffin got off to a great start completing his first 7 passes for 123 yards.  One of those passes was an amazing 88 yard pass to Wide Receiver Pierre Garcon.  Garcon was able to make it into the end zone for Griffin’s 1st NFL touchdown pass, which came in the 1st quarter.  Griffin’s 2nd touchdown pass came in the second quarter, a 5 yard toss to Aldrick Robinson.  Going into half time the Redskins were beating the Saints by a score of 20-14.

In the second half of the game Griffin led the Redskins down the field in position for 3 made field goal attempts.  The Saints tried to comeback in the second half but with a just a field goal, two touchdown passes and a 2 point conversion it was just not enough.  The Redskins won the game by a score of 40-32.

Griffin had an outstanding debut with 320 yards passing, 42 yards rushing, 2 touchdown passes and no interceptions.  The Redskins might just be back in a big way.  Griffin met all the expectations of the Redskin fans and his team, can he keep it up?  That will be the fun thing to watch for this season.

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Posted in NFL, sports

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NCAA Lays The Smackdown On Penn State Football Program

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

On Sunday morning the statue of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was taken down and put into storage.  The new school administration figured it was in the best interest in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky trail and Freeh Report to put the  statue away for now.  That did not save the football program from the NCAA’s president Mark Emmert and his wrath.  On Monday morning Emmert announced the punishment that the school would receive for the previous administration knowing and not reporting Sandusky’s criminal acts on minors.

The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert.
(photo by: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

The punishment levied on the school was announced as being unprecedented and it was exactly that.  The school will be fined $60 million, which is about what the football program generates in revenue during a single season.  The football team cannot participate in any conference championships or bowl games for the next 4 years.  The football program will be reduced in the amount of scholarships it can give out in the next 4 years.  Instead of the usual 25 scholarship the number will be reduced to 15.  The players on the football team will be allowed to transfer to other schools without having to sit out a year before being aloud to play again.

The most shocking punishment came down not on the school but their legendary former head coach Joe Paterno.  All of his victories that he received while coaching between the years of 1998-2008 were vacated.  The interesting twist to the punishment is that coach Paterno reached the record and broke the record for most wins by a college coach in 2001.  Paterno will no longer be considered the winningest coach in college football ever again.

Joe Paterno along with the former administration of Penn State led the football program down into the depths.
(photo by: Ned Dishman/Getty Images)

The NCAA really pulled no punches in this announcement.  It was the right decision.  The schools administration and Joe Paterno sat back after they knew what Jerry Sandusky was doing and did nothing about it.  Paterno instead of reporting the allegations he received about Sandusky went to the administrators of the school.  Paterno should have gone to the police, there is no chain of command when criminal acts of this sort are taking place.  The punishment on Paterno is correct and is going to leave the black mark on his legacy that he should have.

As far as the school goes their punishment is deserving as well.  Penn State should consider themselves lucky that they did not receive the “Death Penalty”, like the once great SMU received in the 1980s.  This way the school will at least have the chance to rebuild their legacy.  I think it will be very hard for them to do so.  The football program will  be tarnished forever.  What happened behind the scenes of that school’s football program over the last couple of decades is disgusting.

Sandusky is about to spend life in jail after being found guilty on over 40 charges of child molestation.  Joe Paterno is no longer considered the great man and coach he once was.  The school will have to deal with the results of bad decisions by many people.  This is the new legacy of Penn State football, let it sink in.

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The MLB Draft, Do You Care?

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 2 Comments

Bud Selig at the 2010 MLB Draft
(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The 2012 Major League Baseball Draft starts today.  Many baseball fans with the exception of the die hard fans don’t care about it or even know it happening today.  This will be the fourth year the 1st round has been televised.  Much like the NFL’s Draft, MLB will hold the event in New York City.  It will also start in prime time at 7pm EST.  There is however a big difference between the MLB Draft and the NBA and NFL Drafts.

The NBA and NFL have both had televised drafts for many year.  Both leagues have been really successful with their drafts.  Building fan excitement every year when the NFL draft approaches.  The NBA also has a lot of fan attention leading to their June draft every year.  Baseball wants very much to bring the same excitement to their draft.

The MLB draft will not reach the level of the other sports drafts anytime soon.  There are many things baseball has going against it.  One of the blaring problems is lack of star power and players the fans can connect with.  Many of the top players come out of the high school level.  Unlike football,  high school baseball is not followed as closely by many fans and usually only the die hard fans keep up with that level.  The other players come from college baseball which like the previous topic is not followed by fans has much as football or basketball’s college level.  Nor does college baseball get the same media attention during their season. There have been a few players that carried a lot of attention going into baseballs June Draft.  Two of the most recent “big hype” national media type stars where the Washington Nationals Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010. We won’t be seeing any baseball players going into the draft with the same media attention anytime soon.

When the stars are selected most don’t see the big leagues for at least a year.  Some players need 2 to 5 years to develop to be major league ready.  The NBA and NFL have the ability to excite fans with their drafts because the players will be on the field with the big clubs within months.  Many player go on to a lot of success even in their first year in the other leagues.  Baseball cannot do anything about this particular problem.  Its a system that has worked for many years, it just does not cater to the draft.

For decades baseball held their draft non televised.  In 2009 they started to air the 1st round on their MLB Network.  Many fans won’t watch because they just can’t.  The MLB Network is carried in far less homes than the networks that air the NBA and NFL Drafts.  If fans did tune in they would see a room with very charismatic (I am being sarcastic) MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and a bunch of team representatives and only a couple of players if any in attendance.  You would be better off just checking the internet to find out and not waste your time watching the broadcast.

MLB has a lot they need to work on to make the Draft watchable and to increase excitement for it.  The first thing they need to work on is getting more players involved in the event.  Having player in attendance would help the broadcast, with the players showing emotion and excitement when selected by the clubs.  The MLB needs to also work on getting the names and faces of the upcoming draft prospects out there.  They could broadcast high school games featuring top prospects.  Finally baseball needs to get a deal with a better network to air the event.  That probably won’t happen until they improve the first two problems I previously stated.

Baseball is a great game and the draft deserves just as much fan fare as the other leagues.  Until baseball can make the fans care we are going to have an event like we will see tonight, an unwatched and mostly unknown happening.

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