Thanks Seniors

I just want to highlight a few of the achievments of the senior class which will be playing its last regular season game today at Kidd Brewer Stadium. This senior class has been a huge part of the success of Appalachian State University over the last 5 years. In their time (with this year's playoffs still to come) they have 4 Southern Conference Championships, 2 National Championships, and a shocking win beating a top 5 Michigan at the Big House.

Armanti Edwards, QB
Mario Acitelli, OL
Malcolm Bennett, DT
Zach Brown, OL
Daniel Finnerty, DE
Cortez Gilbert, CB
Josh Jackson, RB
Justin Johnson, DL
Adam Kassouf, P
Jacque Roman, LB
Tavaris Washington, WR
Anthony Williams, DL

Hopefully a blowout of Western Carolina today will allow all of these guys to see the field at some point today (Armanti may need to sit out due to his knee injury). Hopefully, this won't be the last home game for these guys. I am eagerly anticipating the announcement Sunday of who we will get in the first round of the playoffs and if it will be a home game. Please make the drive to Kidd Brewer today. ASU could still top Montana for the highest attendance for the year in Division I-AA, but we need a monster attendance game, and these seniors deserve an incredible send off.

Potential Upset

I hate to say that I am worried this week that Appalachian State may look past an inferior opponent. Typically I wouldn't worry about this with coach Moore at the helm, but this week has a lot of scary ingredients. And this year's Mountaineers lack the discipline to instill my normal confidence.

First and most importantly App has a huge game next week which could decide the SoCon champion vs. Elon.

2nd UTC's head coach was the defensive coordinator of the team that knocked the Mountaineers out of the playoffs last year. Yes, he coached Richmond and UTC isn't the same patsy they have been in the past (3-3 in the SoCon).

3rd App is going to have to adjust to playing without one of their star offensive performers. Coco Hillary went down with a season ending injury to his right knee on Tuesday.

One interesting thing to look at is the schedule and how it has been a nice gradual warmup for Elon as the Mountaineers have gradually moved from Wofford, a pure run team, to gradually more passing offenses in GA Southern and Furman who are split fairly evenly between pass and run. Now they play a pass dominant team in UTC followed by pass happy Elon.

B.J. Coleman is the qb for the UTC Mocs. He transferred in from University of Tennessee where he didn't believe he got a fair shot. He is currently fourth in the SoCon at 209.1/ game total offense passing yards, 213.8/game and fifth in passing efficiency at 125.1 (Armanti is 2nd in country in both total offense at 361.9 yds, and passing efficiency at 167.9) . Nooga has given up only 9 sacks all year, but their running game is non-existent. Look for Jabari Fletcher, defensive end, to have a big day rushing the qb for App's d-line as he won't have to worry about the running game.

All this being said I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mountaineers play poorly in the first half and take over in the second half much like the Wofford game. App wins in the Rock this week and sets up the monster Elon matchup we have been waiting for on November 14th.


Go Apps.

Socon Weekend

We are heading into a weekend some may see as a formality as we head towards the matchup of the year between Appalachian State and Elon on November 14th. However the Mountaineers need to play as well as they did last week against Georgia Southern if they want to beat long time rival Furman. The Palladins play a bend but don't break style of pass defense. They can be vulnerable for plays in the short passing game. Look for Coco Hilary (who had his first 100 yd receiving game last week) Ben Jorden, and Matt Cline (9 catches in the first half last week) to have big days. It may be tougher to get the ball down field for big plays to Brian Quick. Defensively, App will have to watch out for the play action pass. Furman likes to establish the run first, and then catch the defense off guard with the pass. This could be a problem if the Mountaineers don't play disciplined football on that side of the ball. The best way to combat this may be to put some early scores on the board on offense and take away the threat of the run. The Paladins offensive line has only given up 5 sacks on the year (4th best in the country). So, Jabari Fletcher is going to have a tough task following his big game last Saturday.

Other games in the SoCon include Samford at Citadel 1 pm, Western Carolina at Chattanooga 2 pm, and Elon at Wofford at 1:30 pm. Barring a huge upset by Wofford, Elon should remain undefeated in conference.

In a follow-to my previous post on Western Kentucky (0-7) they may have their best chance at a win in a while as they play at North Texas (1-6) at 3 pm.

Go Apps

Cautionary Tale

As we head into the most important 4 weeks of the Appalachian schedule for the year, I, like many other Mountaineer fans wonder what else could be out there for the 3 time national champions. But, I think it is important to be aware of the possible consequences of stepping up to the FBS plate when your University may not be quite prepared for the jump. Western Kentucky University for the first time this year is eligible for the Sun Belt conference championship and bowl eligible. The school is ranked number 1 by ESPN. Unfortunately, the school is number 1 on the Bottom 10 List http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bottom10102109 . After 14 straight losses WKU is considered to be the worst team in all of college football. Western hasn't won a BCS game since beating Middle Tennessee on September 20, 2007. I imagine the school began making plans to move up to FBS play shortly after they won the FCS national championship in Jack Harbaugh's final year, 2002. That year they had a huge 12 win season, but it has been downhill since. David Elson took over in 2003 and put up 9 wins in each of his first 2 years. That was followed by two 6 win seasons. It spiked up to 7 wins in 2007 before the bottom fell out. WKU had 2 wins last year and are 0-6 going into a game against Middle Tennessee this weekend. They are riding a 14 game losing streak. This is what I fear could happen to our Mountaineers if they go to a lower level conference like the Sun Belt. I mean you go from a title to be proud of in FCS to a very low level bowl game as your pinnacle. I would hate to see ASU fall to the lows of the current Hilltoppers.


None of that pertains to this season, though. App is headed into the stretch that will define this season. They have a must win game against Georgia Southern (3-1 Socon record with a loss to Elon) at the rock this weekend (black saturday). That will be followed by games at Furman (3-1 Socon record with a loss to Elon), UTC (2-1 Socon record with a loss to GA Southern) at home, and at Elon (3-0 Socon record with wins over GA Southern and Furman).


Other Socon games this weekend include Chattanooga at Elon, Furman at Citadel, and Wofford at WCU. The Wofford game is inconsequential and I see Furman having a layup against the Bulldogs in Charleston (even though they took App to overtime down there). Chatty could give Elon a game, but I think Scott Riddle will put Elon over the top at home.



So, that leaves the most interesting game of the weekend in Boone on SportSouth at 3 pm. App's defense better step up compared to what they looked like giving up big play after big play last week to Wofford. GA Southern throws the ball a lot more than they have in their storied past, and Cortez Gilbert will be important coming back from his head injury last week in the Wofford College game. A loss here could signal a definite changing of the guard in the conference. I expect App will step up to the challenge and get the victory at home, but it won't be easy. GA Southern took them right to the wire in last year's game. The Mountaineers would break the Socon Football record with 16 straight conference wins with a victory on Saturday (Paul Johnson's GA Southern teams are the only other one's with 15 in a row).
Go Mountaineers!!!

SOCON Weekend

Number 10 Appalachian State has not been its impressive self so far this year. This means there is little room for error if they want to win their 5th straight Socon title and get the automatic bid into the playoffs. The defense has proven to be inconsistent as they have had issues lining up, tackling and giving up big plays. On the other side the offense has been impressive with Armanti Edwards back in the lineup after an offseason lawn mower accident. But the team has lacked some of its quick strike ability from the past along with some problems in the red zone. This could be attributed to Scott Satterfield, the former play caller, leaving in the offseason to become co-offensive coordinator in charge of the passing game and qb coach at Toledo. Brad Glenn has taken over the offensive play calling duties. Regardless, look for both sides of the ball to bounce back this week in a homecoming game against 0-5 North Carolina Central at 3:30 pm eastern time. Brian Quick could have a big day as the Eagles have shown mainly man defense all year. This will be the Mountaineer's last non-conference game of the regular season. ASU is now 2-0 in SOCON action.

The other team that has emerged as a front runner for the Socon championship has been number 11 Elon (2-0 in conference). They had a big win against Furman last weeked as they scored twice in the final 2 seconds for a 19-12 victory. Terrell Hudgins set the NCAA Division I mark for career receptions. Furman led 12-10 until Adam Shreiner’s 37-yard field goal gave Elon a 13-12 lead with 2 seconds left. Shreiner’s kickoff was fumbled in the end zone and Elon’s Travis Greene recovered it for a touchdown for the final score. Elon's qb, Scott Riddle was 35 of 48 for 374 yards in the game. Elon will have Citadel (0-1) at home this week, 1:30 pm. The Bulldogs took Appalachian to overtime last weekend in Charleston, SC. We can only hope they can give Elon as much of a test as they gave App last weekend.

I wouldn't count Furman (2-1 in conference) out of the race, yet. The team's only conference loss so far came against Elon last week in a close game and we may end up seeing 3 teams with one conference loss this year. Furman is off this week before playing a strong defensive team in Samford (1-1) next week.

Georgia Southern is 2-1 in conference with their only loss coming to Elon. That loss was sandwiched by wins over Western Carolina and Wofford. They line-up out of conference on Saturday versus a UNC team whose offense has been a mess all season long. It would be great to see the Eagles knock off the Heels. That game will kick-off in Keenan stadium at 3:30 pm.

The final Socon game of the weekend is 1-1 UTC (beat Wofford, but lost to Furman) vs. 1-1 Samford (beat WCU, but lost to App). This one will start at 4 pm in Alabama.

It will be interesting to see how the picture at the top of the conference shakes out going into next weekend where App will have to shake off its inconsistency on both offense and defense if they want to handle 0-2 Wofford coming off a bye week.

66th Best Team Crowned

Congratulations to Penn State who proved a three way tie for 4th in the big 10 is equivalent to 66th in the country. This was a big jump from their season ending rpi of 68th in the country. Penn State comfortably beat Baylor 69-63 to gain a crown in what equateds to a second rate bowl game. Ed Dechellis, formerly of ETSU, made Papa Joe jealous with some postseason success for the Nittany Lions. This begs the question would you rather get spanked by quality competition (Southern Cal football) or beat mediocre competition (Baylor basketball). The Big 10 as a conference is split on this subject as we have seen in football Ohio State is a firm believer in getting spanked by quality competition. (Although, this doesn't explain why the conference has been chasing Notre Dame to join the league for years.) 36 bus loads of fans rode from State College, PA to Madison Square Garden in New York over spring break to see the game on Thursday night. This is a 4 hour drive from the Pennsylvania campus. Maybe someone should point the students to the beach.

As for Baylor it may be the last game coaching the Bears for head coach Scott Drew. He has been linked to the UGA job and the Memphis job since Calipari left. Tate has turned the program around in 4 years since taking the job over for a program in scandal. Four years ago junior Patrick Dennehy was shot and killed by former teammate Carlos Dotson along with other ncaa violations the program had been hit with.

P.S. Regarding a couple of teams that are actually relevant, sorry Dechellis, Is Jeff Capel headed to Arizona now that Tim Floyd of Southern Cal turned the job down? It would be a good time to leave now that the Griffin's will be gone next year.

I just hope Buzz Peterson holds out for more money from Appalachian State University. I think the school would be much better off spending their money on Melvin Watkins.

Fancher Needs To Go Part 2

The Mountaineer basketball team lost another embarrassing one yesterday. Appalachian State University just can't hold on to the ball. The team had 21 turnovers in this game, which is about average for the team this year. What does it take to get your team to hold on to the ball and take quality shots. Well, I would say good coaching and discipline. This team doesn't even listen to Fancher anymore. Isaac Butts routinely passes the ball out from 3 feet without even looking at the basket. The guards routinely throw the ball away. They are beating themselves which is a sign of bad coaching. The team dropped below .500 yesterday with the loss to conference newcomer Samford (14-15, 9-11 SoCon). (App is now 9-11 in conference, 12-17 overall). The team had an opportunity with a win to be in position for a bye for the first round of the Southern Conference tournament later this week. They were at home against a team that was 3-11 on the road coming into the game. App led by 5 at the half, but a Bulldog 23-4 run gave Sammy a 57-46 lead with 6 minutes to play. The game ended a 63-72 home loss. With the loss the Mountaineers will wind up as a 4 seed in the North Division. Since January 10th the team has been 2-8 in games decided by 5 points or less. App will play either GA Southern or Furman in the first round of the conference tournament (we won't know until after Monday's Furman vs. Wofford game). Appalachian beat Furman in their two meetings this year and GA Southern in their only meeting. I reiterate the cry to get rid of Fancher, but don't expect his contract to be bought out. I forsee one more dismal season under the current head man.

Calhoun and the Money

The economy sucks. I know this because I can't find a job. I can't find a job because companies don't have it in their budget. I'm not the only one. There are millions of us out there like us. And companies are not the only ones hurting in their budgets. States are dying too. Now a lot of them are hurting for various decisions and some of it is just flat out bad policy by state leaders. One of those states that is hurting in the state of Connecticut. And Jim Calhoun is by far the highest paid employee in the state. A reporter asked Jim Calhoun if he thought it was fair. Calhoun being Calhoun of course thought it was and the question is, is it?

Calhoun said he brought more to that school then he was paid. My initial inkling would that's accurate. But then there are those stubborn facts. As was reported in the Hartford Courant by Matthew Kaufman the $12 million is a revenue-only figure not a net profit. And it combines the direct basketball money with all department revenue. Also reported by the Courant was that only $7.3 million in revenue directly attributable to the men's basketball team from such sources as tickets, royalties, sponsorships, sports camps and alumni contributions. Add that to the Corporate sponsorship contracts that are not signed with a team but with an the athletic department. Those deals account for 20 million and figures that the men's team can access 5 million of that total. The school reported over $6.1 million in direct expenses to the team for travel, equipment, salaries and things like that. So from direct revenue and direct expenses you have a meager net of 1.2 million. (Ahh almost Calhouns Salary isn't it?) Now you have the 12 million revenue share which they don't break down by sport in Storrs. There is also the 18.8 million in Athletic expenses shelled out by the school that again they don't break down by sport. And they haven't said if basketball is even in that money. It could be that they get a cut or it could be they don't get a cut at all. Now all of this information in the Courant story would back up Calhouns overall statement (if not the exact amount) he provides more money than he gets. So the facts are in Calhoun's corner.

Then as Alumni and other will point out there is so much more. The school is on the map because of Calhoun. Before he went there it was a joke of a basketball program and it's football was 1AA. Did anyone outside of Connecticut go to the school? Now the football program is getting better by the year. Would of they moved up to 1-A and would that even be possible without the success of the basketball team? I would say no.

And as much as academics won't want to admit it, athletics make academics better. UConn is now a tier 1 school according to USNews and World Reports Rankings. When I was looking at schools many moons ago it not anywhere that close. Has it become a better school because more students want to go there because of the sports teams? I would say yes.

The Houston Chronicle talked about UConn in a story about the USNews rankings,- In 2007 the university received 21,080 applications for 3,200 spots, up from 13,800 five years earlier. Since 1995 the number of out-of-state students enrolling has doubled to 30 percent, and both graduation and retention rates have consistently improved.

Now there are numerous issues there including a state cash infusion to purposely up the rankings and I'm sure those rankings helped but there have been numerous studies that have shown that sports do in fact help schools academics. College sports are a big part of being a student and for a lot of students and alumni they want to root for competitive teams.

I will use my school as a point. Appalachian State won the Division 1-AA National Championship in 2005. The next year we had 10,000 more applicants. The next year we won again and again the number of applicants went up. It allowed the school to be more selective and getting a smarter student. The victories also gave the school more money in fundraising and merchandise licensing.

The same thing has happened to UConn. So yes Calhoun gets paid a lot but his overall impact on the school nationwide on it's reputation and it's academics seems almost to be a value. As it is on it's revenue. College sports aren't part of state bureaucracies. They are part of the capital market and Calhoun is going to be get paid somewhere so as long as he's not bankrupting the school, which he is not, he deserves to get paid what he can.

Movie Review-House Bunny

So I'm bored and killing an evening with the best of them and get House Bunny on demand. It was a penny so I think I can hold on my dignity. Oh and there was a female in my presence so I can look at myself in the mirror.

The premise in case you don't know is that a former Hef girlfriend gets booted from the Playboy Mansion so she ends up the House mother for a sorority that can't get any girls to pledge them and is about to get booted from campus. The popular sorority for some reason despises this struggling sorority and wants their house. Anna Faris is lead actress and Emma Stone is the leading college girl who Anna Faris' character takes under her win. Anna Faris obviously got an extra trainer as she's rocking a six pack during the movie. Now the movie is written by the same two girls who wrote Legally Blonde which made Reese Witherspoon a star and Anna Faris was hoping they would do the same here. Only it misses the mark. Anna Faris is one of the few comedic actresses in Hollywood that is attractive and can be funny as she's shown in the Scary Movies and the underrated role in Just Friends but sadly not this time. It's not really Miss Faris' fault but the stereotypes of the characters are boring and not thought out. The leading voice of the "hot" sorority does the cliched bitchy chick thing to what you would expect. And to be honest it's not the actresses fault but the jokes and themselves. But what would I change about the movie to make it better? I haven't a clue. Like I said the premise and Miss Faris could of succeeded but the jokes are just way way way way too played out. So pass on it. You've seen the jokes before. And you've seen them done much better before. You've seen the love plot lines before and you've seen them done much better. So sit at home drink your beer and pop in Old School, Road Trip or whatever college movie gets you to laugh. Hell pop in Revenge of the Nerds but save the 5 bucks and pass on House Bunny. It's going to take about 6 beers for you to laugh and enjoy it. Maybe 7.

NCAA Sham

There are going to be 3 new members to the NCAA selection committee next year. It will be interesting to see how their respective conferences fare when it comes down to getting an extra bid or two into the tourney for their bubble teams. Wake Forest Athletic Director, Ron Wellman (ACC), Big Sky Conference commissioner Doug Fullerton, and Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe are replacing SEC commissioner Mike Slive, Tom O'connor, George Mason's (CAA) AD, and Chris Hill, Utah's AD (WAC). Not surprisingly, the power conferences are gaining a seat on the committee. Usually the power conferences don't like to allow mid-majors to get their hands in on any decisions that may affect revenue. There are currently 10 members of the selection committee. The current members come from the following conferences: Pac 10, SEC, CAA, Mountain West, Mid-American, Big West, Big 10, Big East, Southland, and Atlantic 10. I would say that is representation from 6 mid to low majors and 4 reps from the big boys. The new configuration next year will make it 5 reps from the power conferences and 5 from the mid to low majors. We see this type of representation in the decision making process with football as well. You would think we would have learned from the British as far as taxation without representation goes with NCAA football. Hopefully, we will one day see a revolt by the non-bcs conferences in football to create a playoff system or at least give a shot to a deserving team like Utah in a national championship game. The NCAA is a sham of a monopoly.

College Baseball

It is exciting to see baseball in the air again, but you don't have to go to either Arizona or Florida to see the nation's pastime in the spring. College baseball is a great product which is far overlooked by the masses. The College World Series has become a great event every year. Starting this weekend teams will begin working towards that penultimate moment. Up in the high country the Mountaineers will travel to Jacksonville State to start their slate. Jacksonville State was the Ohio Valley champion last year. The Mountaineers are trying to return to the regionals for the first time since they capped a 6 consecutive year streak with at least 30 wins in 1986. Matt Andress is the ace of the staff with 8 wins last year (the most for a Mountaineer in 19 years). They also return 5 players who averaged at least .300 last year.

But the season actually got started last night or this morning however you want to look at it. Central Michigan and Florida Gulf Coast threw their first pitch at 12:01 am on Feb. 20th in Fort Myers. Wichita State, Temple and Samford also played under the unusual format

Other highlights of the weekend include Oregon State playing for the first time in 28 years, and a Big East Big 10 challenge. Clemson and Charlotte play this weekend. It will be interesting to see if Clemson can bounce back from missing the postseason for the first time in 21 years. #11 Louisville is also up against #24 Florida.

It is great to hear the crack of the bat again even if it is metal (that is an argument for another day).

According to a recent Sports Illustrated article the NFL is trying to persuade the Raiders and 49ers to share a new stadium in Santa Clara. This seems like a no brainer during current economic conditions which is probably why Al Davis wouldn't go along with it. The proposed cost of a new stadium is $916 million dollars. Surely less of that cost would be passed on to the taxpayers if two teams were able to contribute dollars and corporate sponsors to the project. If the two teams decided to build seperate stadiums they would need to pay for a second locker room, practice facilities and office space. It just makes too much sense to combine these costs like the Jets and Giants have done at the Meadowlands. The NFL has traditionally offered teams a 150 million dollar loan for a new stadium. This amount would be doubled if two teams would play in the facility. Santa Clara would be on the hook for 136 million plus a 2% tax on local hotel rooms (which would hopefully bring in an additional $35 million). More money would be obtained through seat licenses and naming rights. This type of creative economic restraint is too good for the NFL to ignore. Unfortunately, it is more likely that Al Davis will refuse to be part of a deal and further stick it to California residents. This is all in a state which is in one of the worst economic states right now from the current recession.

Baseball Salary Cap

It is time for baseball to add a hard cap. Red Sox principal owner John Henry once again made this plea. He first made this statement 5 years ago in response to the Yankees having an unfair advantage compared to every other team in Major League Baseball. After seeing how this offseason has gone down it is undeniable. In the current marketplace every team is afraid to make big signings due to the recession. The Yankees have made 3 of the largest signings in MLB history in the same environment. It is like this team is on another planet monetarily not bothered by the issues of mere mortals. I know a cap is unlikely to take place under the weak leadership of Selig, but it needs to happen for the health of the game. MLB is the only major american sports league that doesn't have one and the competition is the most lopsided. If one good thing could come out of the current economic crisis it would be a MLB hard salary cap.

Movie Review-The Rocker

So its' a Tuesday night and I'm bored. What to do, what to do. So I watch the Rocker with Rainn Wilson. Not the best movie. Actually it was quite bad. With two of us on the couch I think we had one real laugh the entire movie. Rainn Wilson did what he could with the movie. It was just bad from the start. What he did do was make the 40 year old loser that couldn't let go of his rock dreams kind of enduring which made finishing the movie possible. The music was ok. I'm not sure if it was Teddy Geiger original's or what not but it could of been worse. Emma Stone was fine as the punk rocker chick. Didn't bring anything to the table. Didn't take anything off of it. I would break into the problems with plot but lets be honest when the story is a 40 year old hair band rocker gets in a modern 90's mellow rock band and makes it big there is no point beginning. Oh and the 80's hair band is still a huge band releasing chart topping CD's 20 years later I mean come on. But like I said there is no point in going into that. Anyway I give it 9 Beers. That's what it would of taken to be funny and enjoy watching it. If you had to sit through it you would survive and without permanent brain damage. Well except for all the beer it would of taken to make it enjoyable. With what's out there these days that's not that bad.

Fancher has got to go.

Well it's his ninth season and App has no shot at the tourney and for that it's about time they find a new coach. Now I like Fancher but he's an average coach. And that's not good enough. App has been to the tourney exactly twice in it's history and that has to change. I don't expect us to make it every year, especially with Davidson and Bob McKillop not going anywhere. Then figure Bobby Cremons is at College of Charleston and we have a problem. There are too many young coaches out there that could make a move with the program. The biggest complaint of the team is that they are good athletes (since Fancher is apparently a solid recruiter for a school like App) but they have no discipline and are all over the place. That was the problem last year. If App could get a solid coach and get the program going maybe the Southern Conference would actually raise up the mid major level and send more than just one team to the tourney for the first time in it's history.

Now I'm not one to normally call for firing of App coaches and I debated Moore's future for hours after the 2004 6-5 season. I said anyone who wanted him fired was an idiot because you had a coach that was making the playoffs most seasons, gave us a shot at a title, was a good guy, and was happy at App and would never leave. You don't fire someone like that even after a subpar season. Turns out I was right since he went on to win 3 National Championships and counting. Not to mention the greatest upset in college football history, the amazing Michigan victory.

Some may say the same thing about Fancher adding that he has won the North three times and has beaten Davidson a couple of times and has had a shot at winning the SoConf most years. True but he hasn't one it yet. And with Moore he was winning the Conf title and gave us a few shots at the National Title. But Fancher hasn't even gotten in the Conf Championship game. He had some good moments with the 06-07 season beating UVA and co but in nine years that's all he has. App lost in the Semis of the tourney that year. Then he wasted Minter's senior season.

Maybe I'm demanding but all I want is occasional tourney appearances and frankly there isn't a reason why that can't happen. But until we can get a coach that can discipline the talent he brings in it's not going to happen and it's going to be another 20 years before we make the tourney again. And I don't want to be forty before I get to pencil in App in my bracket again. So I say mix it up and bring in someone who can make that happen.

Phelps Getting Raw Deal

I have to say I'm thrilled Phelps won't be prosecuted for smoking pot. So Phelps smoked some pot. Big freaking deal. Have you been on a college campus these days? Who isn't? The man was just tested god knows how many times in the last 6 years and hasn't tested positive for a performance enhancer or anything. Months after the Olympics he wants to try something or do something he might find enjoyable. Well he's freaking earned it. He's been busting his ass for his entire life for this moment and after one of the greatest displays in the history of sport he wants to blow off some steam and have some fun. Fine let him. The guy's entire life has been in a pool. His dad left his family when he was young and he doesn't have a relationship with him. He was made fun of as a kid for being a giant dork and for being oddly shaped his entire life. He's had his problems and found happiness in a pool. That odd shape, god knows how many hours in the pool working his ass off, and a drive few on this planet have led him to the mountaintop. The man has made ridiculous goals for his life and unlike yours truly and most of America actually reached them. If he wants to blow off some steam and live in the moment, fine let him. It's his prerogative. Hell, so he wants to hook up with Vegas cocktail waitresses when he could be pulling top talent. Fine.. It's his damn right. Hell, I don't care if he burns out and becomes the next Bruce Jenner. He's earned it. All I can do is thank him for his clean athletic display this summer. Something I will never forget as I was jumping up and down (and actually got my ass of my couch) screaming fro him (and his team) to win the race. It was incredible. So Michael thank you for winning some gold and showing us what sports can be and what its' like to watch a once in a generation athlete. Now if you want to go have some fun, god bless you. Go have fun, you've earned it. Just don't quit. We need you back in the pool in London.

Becks Back to LA

How great is it that the MLS stuck to their guns and made Becks come back. Beckham tried to force the league to allow a buyout of his contract of his 2 month loan to AC Milan. I mean this guy knew he was coming to a lesser league and taking a chance so he could become more marketable in the United States and get his foot in the door for potential future ownership and development camps. That doesn't even mention the ability for his wife to make a few bucks in Hollywood and for his family to be able to go to school in an english speaking country.

After accepting the huge dollars and coming to the states he failed to perform, or really try, as he played along with Landon Donovan on a squad which has consistently missed the playoffs. After not playing through numerous injuries he tried to force the Galaxy's hands and make them move him to Milan. Becks stated this would be the only way he would have a chance to play in the World Cup for Britain in South Africa. Well for one, maybe he should have considered this before accepting the huge dollars in the states. Secondly, maybe he should prove himself to be the league savior he was brought in as or at least get the Galaxy to the playoffs. He might rejuvenate his chances to play for his international side. The MLS/Galaxy were right not to give him away to AC Milan. It was a business decision. The Galaxy contract was reported as 250 million dollars (depending on how you count it with marketing opportunities) and it is a responsibility to a league and team that Becks cannot just throw away. He was brought in as a savior to soccer in the United States and if you ask me Blanco from Mexico has done more in 2 years than Becks has. Beckham has performed well for 2 months in Italy. It is time to bring that performance to training camp in LA on March 9th.

Becks arrived in LA in July of 2007 with much hoopla, but few results. He had 2 goals and no assists that year while being on the 3rd worst team in the league. He followed that performance with 5 goals and 10 assists while being on a team with the worst record in MLS. Regardless of his performance on the pitch this season the United States experiment will most likely be over due to an out clause in his 5 year contract. If the Brit doesn't want to be here he can go back to Europe then.

I couldn't agree more with your statements on the need for baseball to get clean. But as I look through the people that have gotten caught is it purely coincidence that so many of these guys have signed huge contracts to play for the Yankees? It is clear that this team holds their players to a higher standard (no facial hair) and expects performance. This has led to a whole list of players who have been willing to cheat rather than dealing with the immediate pressure of poor performance in New York. These same players will most likely rue the decisions they have made later rather than sooner. I mean look at Petitte (and Clemens probably won't go to the hall) But it must be something to do with team culture as well. After all you don't see these problems with the Mets (unless you are talking about Gooden's coke habit). It would be interesting to see how many more of the Yanks are on the dirty 100 list. I also like to say no Bosox player other than Clemens has been outed as of yet. Anyways, I hope we eventually get to see the whole dirty 100 list. The reason Schilling is calling for this is he knows he is clean, but will always be under suspicion along with every player of the era until all of the dirty 100 are outed. I have questions about Andruw Jones his stats have certainly dropped off. I hope Selig makes one good decision for the game and releases the list so the entire game can heal from this blight on the game. I would like to think the game has cleaned up somewhat from this era but the truth is that the technology of the enhancing drugs is always ahead of the testing. I guess the game is never going to be perfect whether we talk about the Black Sox, gambling in baseball or roids. I just hope we have begun the process of healing from the latest scandal. YANKEES SUCK!!!!

Roid's In Baseball

Well another day, another baseball player comes out and says he used 'Roids. Shocking. Like a lot of people I'm disappointed. No, that's notr true. I'm pretty damn upset but baseball did it to itself and Selig telling Christy Brennan with USA Today that he's thinking of suspending A-Roid http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2009-02-11-bud-selig-steroids-baseball_N.htm is just flat out silly. It was supposed to be confidential. The argument of his 97 report is a joke since he wrote then turned a blind eye and had to know what was going on in the game. But that's a conversation for another day.
The point is I know it was illegal in the country and illegal in other sports but it wasn't in baseball. At least not formally once they threw out Fay Vincent. What the dirty car salesman should do (besides retire in shame for ruining the game) is get up and say enough is enough. We're testing everyone and we're doing random tests every week. They are testing for HGH and they are testing for everything. It needs to be like the Olympics. What could the players union say? --No. We refuse testing since all of the stars have come out and said they need it to perform.

What leg do they have to stand on? This is something I've never understand. If the average person has to pass a drug test for work why the hell shouldn't a professional athlete? Hell you don't hear the arguments in other sport. No you only hear it in baseball because Donald the Tyrant hates the owners so much he won't give a leg. I do enjoy the irony of A-Roid being brought down because the union screwed him. Way to go Orza. Way to be so concerned about your 10 Balco guys that you have ruined (or soon to ruin) 104 of your players. Well done. But I digress. My point if I had to take a drug test to work at freaking Taco Bell there is no reason why the players shouldn't. And if Selig comes out and actually takes a stance and demands it (something I would find as shocking as a HR king actually being clean) how could the Union possibly fight it?

So my hope is that Selig for once will actually come out with force and take a hard line and force the testing issue. Use the public sentiment for something useful that will actually clean up the game and not live in the blind past you helped create. Force mandatory testing, including HGH, for all players at least twice during the year. Oh and this time how about you don't warn the players they are being tested. Then maybe you can have one bright mark on your tenure as commish besides cheating tax payers out of money to build all brand new stadiums which you always brag about as one of your biggest accomplishments. But that's a conversation for another day.