Arena League Starts!

I love the Arena League. I don’t follow it as closely as I used to when there were fewer teams and (ironically) the internet was a lot slower, but I try to keep an eye on it. The days when I was “scouting” for future NFL stars as part of my Mel Kiper wanna-be act are over, but I enjoy the sport.

So the AFL’s second season as part of the Disney/ABC/ESPN family begins today with the Dallas Desperados @ Georgia Force game on the big broadcast network. Actually the Los Angeles Avengers beat the New Orleans VooDoo 59-42 last night, which shows poor scheduling and hype management by the league. Speaking of subsidiaries, the Desperados are owned by the Cowboys, or at least by Jerry Jones. A couple of years ago, one of the Cowboys assistants, I think ST coach Joe Avezanno, spent his offseason as the Desperados HC.

Anyway, I’m going to lazily go through the Division Previews posted on the Arena League’s website and make quips about the players highlighted:

Southern Division -

Georgia Force: DE R-Kal Truluck - This guy with the odd name had a cup of coffee with the Redskins seven to nine years ago. QB Chris Greisen - Thought he might make it in the NFL or give the CFL a shot. I’m sure he’s gotten an NFL camp invite.

New Orleans VooDoo: QB Steve Bellisari - Ohio State is getting good at turning out interesting lower level QBs.

Orlando Predators: DB Kenny McEntyre - Thought he would have made the jump up to the NFL by now, but he’s 10 years in so it’s unlikely.

Tampa Bay Storm: WR/LB Lawrence Samuels - Good Lord, Redskins LT Chris Samuels’ older brother is STILL playing here and was leading receiver last season? He must be 40 by now! At one point I think the Storm offense consisted of Lawrence Samuels getting thrown to by Fred McNair (Steve’s older brother, not that guy who used to play with the Chiefs) and that might have been after having Jay Gruden (brother of Jon) as the QB.

Central Divsion -

Chicago Rush: QB Sherdrick Bonner - Finally leaves the Arizona Rattlers after forty seasons there. Aside from clipboard holding duties with the 1998 alcons Super Bowl team he hasn’t gotten any NFL work. Between #3 Bonner, then 30, starter Chris Chandler, then 33 and #2 Steve DeBerg, then 45, that must have been the oldest QB trio in a Super Bowl. I have a football card of Bonner as the QB for the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football, the early nineties incarnation of what became NFL Europe/Europa. There was also an NBC Dateline piece back in like 1998 or something where some of the Rattlers non-football jobs were profiled. Bonner was a sales agent in the Rattlers ticket office. He loves football. WR/OS Damian Harrell - Arena League WRs struggle in the NFL. Off the top of my head, Mike Furrey is the only one to do well, and he was brought in as a safety. Still, I’m surprised Harrell hasn’t gotten a look.

Colorado Crush: John Elway and I think Pat Bowlen’s joint venture. QB John Dutton - Once a low-level find pick in the NFL, now in the midst of a career in the 50 yard indoor war. DB Chris Angel - He has time to do this and his magic act? Oh, different guy.

Kansas City Brigade: These guys have been in business for two seasons already and I didn’t notice. QB John Fitzgerald - Is this the guy from Lafayette? He was coaching in af2 last season. WR Mike Horacek - Kurt Warner brought this guy into camp with the Rams one year, but he couldn’t hack it. WR Boo Williams - I think this is the big WR from the University of South Carolina and not the guy who was a TE for the Saints.

Grand Rapids Rampage: QB Adrian McPherson - Former wonderboy recruit at Florida State who got into some bizarre gambling and theft charges and got kicked off the team. After a year in the Arena League, I think he got drafted by the Saints and sat on their bench for a year before returning to the Arena League. QB James MacPherson - I nothing about this guy, but he is the back up here. Can they find a McPhearson or MacPhearson to play QB too? This is better than when the Saints had Billy Joe Hobert and Billy Joe Tolliver as QBs.

Western Division-

Arizona Rattlers: Ah, the post-Sherdrick Bonner era begins. WR Siaha Burley - Didn’t he already play for them? QB Jeff Smoker - Awww, he’s down here? It’s more fun for me to crack Waterworld jokes about NFL backups! DL Wendell Gaines - When he was a Cardinal, they actually used him as a goal-line TE. He’s the Rattlers all-time sack leader.

Los Angeles Avengers: They used to sell Spanish versions of their merchandise. One of these days I’m getting my Los Angeles Vengadores t-shirt. I’m not sure I’ve heard of anybody on this team. Some of the names look familiar, but in a vague way. Ha!

San Jose Sabercats: Your reigning Arena Bowl Champions! I think Al Noga finished his football career here, or was a coach. QB Mark Grieb - Another QB I thought might do something in the NFL, but didn’t. You gotta love AFL numbers, Grieb threw 100 TDs last year! The previously mentioned Adrian McPherson threw 51 in five games with Grand Rapids. DL Ronald Jones - Popeye Jones? The great NBA journeyman third string PF? Probably not. I never tire of this joke.

Utah Blaze: DL Dwayne Missouri - I always wanted to form a line with this guy, Winnipeg Blue Bombers DE Tom Canada and Cincinnatti Bengals LS Brad St. Louis. Have former Lions LB Antonio London behind them and get former Ohio State WRs Reggie Germany and David Boston to hang around with them. Yes I’m easily amused and yes, ESPN’s Bill Simmons is going to sue for gimmick infringement if I’m not careful. QB Joe Germaine - Another recent Ohio State guy. Careful up in Baltimore Troy Smith. Did Craig Krenzel just decide to go to medical school? Germaine is a good fit “down” here. WR Aaron Boone - He just signed to be utility IF with the Nationals. It’s hard to be a two sport athlete… OK, I’ll stop. HC Danny White - The sometimes forgotten not that bad Cowboy QB. He was coach of the Rattlers for almost as long as Sherdrick Bonner was QB there.

Eastern Division-

Cleveland Gladiators: Formerly of Las Vegas. HD RedZone Channel and Fox Sports Radio Host as well as Reston’s own Andrew Siciliano was their play-by-play guy. This might fit as Siciliano likes Cleveland, or at least the Indians for some reason. QB Raymond Philyaw - One of several Philyaws playing pro football, he was once the QB for, I think, the XFL’s Chicago Enforcers. Or it was the NY/NJ Hitmen. He’s otherwise an AFL lifer.

Columbus Destroyers: Geez, even Arena teams are leaving Buffalo. Actually, they’ve been in Columbus a while now. DL Kelvin Kinney - Hey! Another guy who had a cup of coffee with the Redskins. A Virginia State (yes, it’s a real school, Division II in Petersburg) boy made good! DL Winfield Garnett - I remember this guy at Ohio State and just figured since he was large and played big time college ball he had NFL stuff. Obviously I’m wrong.

Dallas Desperados - OL Aaron Gibson - Is this the Aaron Gibson who was a RT at the University of Wisconsin at 6′3″ 400 lbs.? I know that guy dropped down in the 350 lbs. range to play, briefly in the NFL. How does have the endurance to play Arena Ball? QB Clint Dolezel - Yet another guy who I thought would make the jump. This is why I scout for fun only. WR/DB Will Pettis - This guy is pretty good for the Arena League. DL Colston Weatherington - I actually thought he was still in the NFL. Needs to hang around Giants FB Madison Hedgecock. QB Chris Sanders - I know nothing about this guy, but if only he were ten years older he could have been throwing to WR Chris Sanders (Ohio State) and TE Chris Sanders (Texas A&M).

New York Dragons - Ah, the old company football team. I used to work for CA, and our company founder bought the former Iowa Barnstormers and moved them to Long Island. QB Aaron Garcia - Sherdrick Bonner of the Barnstormers/Dragons franchise. WR Kevin Swayne - Washed out of camp with the Jets, I think he played in the XFL too. WR Chris Anthony - This guy seems like he’s been there as long as Garcia. WR Damien Groce - back for another round. This is my nominal favorite team in the AFL.

Philadelphia Soul - Jon Bon Jovi and Ron Jaworski’s side project. QB Tony Graziani - I dimly remember a few fools thinking this guy was the Falcons future after Chris Chandler retired. Ha! WR Chris Jackson - Another good AFL lifer. WR Chris Horn - Turns up in the NFL occasionally, years ago I used to have to remember when seeing ‘Horn’ on the fantasy free agent wire that it was this guy not Joe. OL Martin Bibla - He was supposed to have NFL stuff coming out of the University of Miami.

And there you have it. I wonder what Spambots will attempt to link to this?

Let’s trade DT’s! Plus 2008 NFL Free Agency at 34 hours in.

Oh sure, Asante Samuel signed a free agent deal, leaving the New England Patriot machine for the Philadelphia Eagles.  And while the Washington Redskins are not in “cap hell” (the best thing that front office does is avoid this), the budget is tight enough that they’ve publicly said they’re going to be judicious this year with free agents.  Their only signing so far has been bringing back QB Todd Collins. 

However, the most interesting thing for me is how many trades there were yesterday and how most of them involved defensive tackles:

• Carolina Panthers - DT Kris Jenkins to New York Jets - 3rd, 5th round picks.
• Dallas Cowboys - DT Jason Ferguson to Miami Dolphins - undiscolsed picks.
• Green Bay Packers - DT Corey Williams to Cleveland Browns - 2nd round pick.
• Detroit Lions - DT Shaun Rogers to Cleveland Browns - CB Leigh Bodden, 3rd round pick.
• Minnesota Vikings - WR Troy Williamson to Jacksonville Jaguars - 6th round pick.
• New York Jets - LB Jonathan Vilma to New Orleans Saints - conditional 2009 pick.

Perhaps Williamson, Bodden and Vilma will all bulk up and start playing DT as well?  Looks like Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel want to redo that Browns DL.  Williams was the Packers franchise player and had 7.5 sacks last season.   Rogers is often a great player, but like Jenkins is getting larger, which is always worrisome with DTs.  Ferguson has been a good player but is coming off IR.  Jenkins was unhappy in Carolina.  I don’t know jack about Bodden, Vilma is a very good player but coming off IR and Williamson is a disappointment.  I believe he was drafted with one of the picks the Vikings got for Randy Moss.  He spent much of last season taking care of the affairs of, I think his grandmother, who had raised him and had just died.

Another inconsistent, but more productive WR, former Virginia Tech Hokie Ernest Wilford, left Jacksonville to sign with the Dolphins as did former Raider QB Josh of the Throwin’ McCown brothers.  The Dolphins signed four other free agents, most notably former Giants LB Reggie Torbor, whose last name is almost ‘Robot’ backwards and actually a pretty good LB.  McCown is a decent number 2 QB, though I wouldn’t be surprised if either he or his brother Luke (with Tampa Bay last season) had a one of these late career Chris Chandler/Vince Evans/Rich Gannon revelations and puts together a couple of good years as a starter.

In addition to Williamson, Jacksonville added the occasionally very good Jerry Porter from Oakland to their WR corps.  The Jaguars also added Cleo Lemon,  QB for most of last year’s miserable Miami Dolphins, to back up David Garrad.  Jags Player Personnel VP James Harris, the first black man to start at QB in an NFL game, seems to be making a point in stockpiling black QBs, but his choices have been brilliant.  I somehow saw a number of Dolphins games last year and Lemon showed usable back up ability between all the sacks, fumbles and interceptions.  Don’t ask me how I see this ability, I can’t explain it, but his TD:INT ratio was 1:1 on a hideous 1-15 team.

San Diego Chargers QB Billy Volek, at one point casually mentioned as either the successor to Steve McNair in Tennessee or the next free agent find, has quietly re-signed to be Philip Rivers back up.  The following words are strange to type: the Browns resigned Pro Bowl QB Derek Anderson.  We’ll see if Anderson still has ‘it’ this season, I think he does, or if he fades back into ‘enh’ play as another one-year wonder QB like Damon Huard.  QB Chris Redman, once one of the many QBs Brian Billick’s genius sought to develop in Baltimore, re-signed with the Atlanta Falcons.  For a guy who spent the previous year selling insurance, Redman put up some decent numbers throwing to Falcons’ “Roddy White and some disappointments” receiver corps.

The Bucs signed C Jeff Faine away from the Saints.  Guess that’s it for John Wade.

I’m still meaning to do a blog post on the more interesting guys who got cut so their teams could make salary cap, even if by the time it goes up half the guys will already have been signed somewhere else already.  I’m a nobody blogger, not a serious journalist.

Flapdoodle and Bosh

So College Signing Day passed a couple of weeks ago. I can’t even feign an interest in high school football and I never pay much attention to how Michigan, JMU or Maryland did in recruiting. The only thing making this period interesting for me was the kid in Nevada who faked being recruited to Oregon and California and was caught.

Listening to one-dimensional college sports fans is a Lake Wobegon experience: everybody has one of the top college recruiting classes. This is inevitably brought up when fans bitch about their coach “we had one of the top recruiting classes in the country, but now they all suck!” I have a friend who is a JMU sports cultist (even in I-AA football and mid-major men’s basketball this exists) who regularly proclaims this about our alma mater.

In a similar vein, the NFL Combine is now upon us. I do watch this. The spectacle is amusing enough and it’s always fun to file away spectacular performances to impress your friends later. As much time as they spend covering it, even the NFL Network guys admit that this is just running and jumping in spandex and that real game play is more important.

Another thing I like is the official height and weight measurements are published. You can go back and see how much college sports information staffs lie about their players during the regular college season. At the height of his junior year Heisman push, Heath Shuler grew to 6′4″ before showing up in Washington at 6′2″. Despite the linking of combine and draft information is on various internet sites this still happens some, except for running backs. It’s less likely these days to see RB sizes make the “consensus drift” from whatever they were in college to 6′, 225 lbs. I was very surprised not to see Adrian Peterson’s height and weight drift to that last year and so far neither Darren McFadden nor Jonathon Stewart’s measurables has either.

So far Chris, son of Howie, Long has performed well enough to consider being stood up as a 3-4 end-backer. So had Ohio State end-backer Vernon Gholston. Dexter Jackson, WR from Evil Appalachian State, camein with a very nice 4.37 in the 40. The Redskins already have two guys like him, but there should be room in the gawdawful Buccaneer receiver corps of Joey Galloway and some dudes. Outside of his rookie year, Michael Clayton has been so injured and unproductive, letting George Clooney play in a leather helmet might be as good. Everybody likes what Arkansas RB Darren McFadden and Michigan OT Jake (no known relation to Howie) Long did.

So far, top 40 yard dash time is East Carolina RB Chris Johnson with 4.24 seconds, top 225lbs. bench press is a tie between Gholston and Jake Long with 37 reps, top vertical leap is 39″ for Auburn RB Carl Stewart, at a position where it probably doesn’t matter. Among WRs and DBs it’s a tie between Tennessee State DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Kentucky WR Keenan Burton at 38.5″ with Purdue’s Dustin Keller top TE at 38″.

NFL in Toronto

So back at the beginning of the month, the Buffalo Bills announced they had reached a deal to play some games in Toronto. The deal was for a total of eight games, three preseason and five regular season, to be played starting this year through 2012, at the building formerly known as SkyDome, the Rogers Center. This caused some transborder anguish.

Buffalo Bills fans have been haunted by the grumblings that the Bills might move to Toronto for a while now. Even down here in Washington, DC I hear this. Since Jim Kelly’s arrival the Bills have done well attendance wise, but team management just grouses about western New York’s population not growing and its economy struggling. I have no idea if the latter is true, but it seems probable. Then the bridge talk begins about how running a NFL team is ever expensive and the need to think out of the box to new sources of revenue, like that huge, rich city up the QEW.

The Bills’ Canadian partners are Rogers Communications, which owns the Blue Jays among others things and Maple Leaf Sports, which owns the Maple Leafs and Raptors. The football team that currently plays at the Rogers Center, the CFL’s Argonauts, gets a small cut in the deal, with their season ticket holders getting in the priority pool for Bills game tickets. Bills fans are also in said pool.

I don’t know what Canadian football fan opinion is, but I have better things to do than troll around fan boards and other football blogs to gauge this. I’d guess hostile, as the hardcore CFL fans are often flinty about the NFL and rather a lot of Canadians seem to regard Toronto as a foreign city, sort of the way rather a lot of Americans feel about New York. The CFL commissioner issued a neutral public statement on the matter while noting that the CFL and NFL were working on an agreement between the two leagues. The Argonauts are obviously on board, but the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who are actually closer to Buffalo, have opted out of letting their season ticket holders in the priority pool, pending the two leagues reaching an agreement.

I’ve always been hostile to regular season overseas games by North American sports leagues, not so much for the games themselves, but because it leads to boring crazy talk about “eventually setting up eight NFL teams in Indonesia” as part of growing revenues in a globalized marketplace. The NFL, NBA and MLB do this once a year mostly to pump up their overseas merchandise and TV revenues, but also to give off an aura of international importance and forward thinking. It wouldn’t do for a league executive to say “We hope to sell more t-shirts and jerseys, building up to a game that would be an occasional local novelty. There isn’t sustained interest in our sport here (or there’s a local version of it) but there are enough people here with money who want a cool-looking shirt to wear. Like those people in U.S. wearing EPL or Bundesliga jerseys.” Always, there needs to be a throw away line regarding setting up a local division of the league in whatever market is being emphasized (recently it’s been Ma and Pa Wong’s Old Country, China) that will compete against the parent league. Only once in many years of buzzing about overseas marketing have I heard a sports talking head concede that this was part of a long, long term plan that may never result in, say a true baseball World Series with the New York Yankees playing the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

I shouldn’t care, it’s not my money that will be spent on marketing these endeavors and I inevitably turn the radio or TV off when the discussion comes about. The NFL isn’t a public entity and most football journalists aren’t going to use their resources to investigate, but I wonder if they really make money on the various exhibition and regular season games played in Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and Japan? I know NFL Europe was heavily dependent on papering the events with free tickets to American military personnel in Germany. They’re no longer with us.

As for this, I really like the CFL and want to see them continue. The CFL regular season has a partial overlap with the NFL season and I doubt the Argos and Bills could co-exist in Toronto. As much as I like the idea politically and philosophically, it’s probably impossible for people in Buffalo to form some kind of public-trust that will run the team and keep them there like the Packers in Green Bay, or the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. I find myself in the odd position of hoping the games fail.

Shenanigans

I’m not a journalist or media observer, so my instincts aren’t great on this, but the Patriots Spygate story looks like it’s going to brew in an interesting way. Our key shady character (no, not Beli-cheat!) is Matt Walsh, once upon a time Patriots video assistant, now working as a golf pro in Hawaii. There’s some stuff brewing, a silly lawsuit filed on behalf of some eighth-string DB who was on the Rams roster for Super Bowl 36 and various disgruntled fans, Walsh and the NFL haggling over an indemnity offer (if Walsh took recordings form the Patriots he can be sued) and Senator Arlen Specter (PA - he’s a Steeler fan, but represents Eagles fans too, of course) floating the possibility of investigating the case more.

Walsh has done of lot of insinuating to ESPN that he has “evidence” which I’m assuming means he has either recordings of the Rams’ walkthrough or a memo from someone on the coaching staff or management telling him to do it. As a counter, Pats V.P. Scott Pioli has alleged Walsh made secret audio recordings of their conversations, resulting in Walsh’s termination in 2003.

I have no interest until an investigation gets rolling. I was rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but only because I wanted to see them go 19-0 and stop hearing the ‘72 Dolphins and their fans talk about their exclusivity. Had they been 14-2 in the regular season, I would have been in the unhappy position of rooting for the Giants. The NFL really would rather not deal with this anymore, having given Belichik and the Pats a lashing over taping the Jets, so any investigation they run will have to be pushed by some combination of the government, fans or the media. As a small government guy, I’d rather the Senator not waste his time doing this, but we may end up with a “back-door” government investigation via the lawsuit.

With the first post-Mitchell Report Spring Training beginning for Major League Baseball, more and more baseball players are coming out and issuing vague apologies for using some kind of performance enhancing drug. Hank Steinbrenner, Yankees VP and apparently new public authority figure for the team, tried to deflect the attention from baseball by pointing out the NFL likely has more HGH and steroid abuse. Steinbrenner said the ever-responsible ‘they’ (presumably a media and government coalition) was giving football and basketball a free pass.

How did he miss pro-wrestling on that list? I’m not sure how the NBA doesn’t get looked at on this, or what kind of testing they have. I’d guess the players being leaner helps them avoid scrutiny. The reason the NFL doesn’t get as much scrutiny is because it started addressing this twenty years ago when Steve Courson did his big expose in Sports Illustrated and Lyle Alzado was assumed to have died from steroid-related complications. The NFL has had a testing policy for a long time and regularly suspends guys, even stars like Shawne Merriman. With a bit of planning a player can avoid getting caught, but the NFL makes a token effort and did so before too many outsiders started squawking.

For those wondering, WWE has a somewhat questionable and sporadic drug-testing program. That program was reactivated last summer following wrestler Chris Benoit’s murder/suicide with his wife and son. A number of wrestlers were caught, plus a few more whose names turned up on the client list of a dubious pharmacy, though the reported punishment was scaled to the performer’s rank in the company. I can’t recall if WWE’s distant competitor, TNA Wrestling, has a program.

Last week was a bad week for dogs owned by NFL players, though mayhem was not as widespread as with Michael Vick’s dogs.

Adam Archuleta, the Redskins signature bad free agent signing, and his girlfriend, Playboy August 2001 Playmate Jennifer Walcott, had their two chihuahuas poisoned. The dogs were staying with Archuleta’s mom in Arizona. Maybe someone was trying to break into Ma Archuleta’s place? Bored, malicious neighborhood kids? After being mercifully traded out of Washington, Archuleta was benched by old mentor Lovie Smith in Chicago this past season.

Meanwhile, Antonio Pierce, who should still be the Redskins MLB (apologies to London Fletcher), got a court summons for neglecting one of his pit-bull terriers. Two of his dogs got out while he was out at the Super Bowl and one was judged to be malnourished by the local SPCA which filed the complaint. Pierce got the dogs back and I presume will have to pay a fine. This is a much happier ending.

Adam “Pac-Man” Jones plead no contest last week to his final outstanding criminal charge, obstructing a police officer, in Georgia. This was from February 2006. The August 2006 miscellaneous drunk and disorderly in public from Tennessee was thrown out by the judge in January of this year. He got a plea-bargain in his most infamous case, the February 2007 Las Vegas stripclub fight that I’ve never made an effort to understand, last December. So Pac-Man is ready to apply for reinstatement. How long before the Raiders and Redskins get in a bidding war to offer for him? Or do the Titans keep him and note he’s now right under the law? Hopefully, I won’t have to see him in TNA anymore, though I’ll probably stop watching them soon.

Incidentally, Kathy Urbanski, the wife of Tommy Urbanski, not the baseball drills DVD guy but the guy who got paralyzed in the Vegas fight, is planning to sue the NFL for damages. She claims the commish Roger Goodell promised the NFL would help with medical bills, but has since reneged on the promise. The NFL says they never made such a promise.

Overcome By Time: Bowls of Many Kinds

I got lazy and fell behind on blogging about several bowl games I watched. Let’s get caught up shall we…

The Super Bowl - Perhaps it was because I was slightly rooting for the Patriots, but this Super Bowl didn’t feel like one of the best ever while watching it. Only after thinking about did I realize that this was a really great game. I won’t say greatest I’ve ever seen. Leaving out those where I had a rooting interest, that honor still goes to Super Bowl XXV with the Giants and Bills or XXXII with the Broncos and Packers. Historically, Super Bowls I, III, V, VII, XXII, XXIII, XXXIV are of at least equal merit. However the stopping of the undefeated Patriots Machine, with Glitter Boy QB and Coach Evil is a great achievement. So is the neat achievement of having consecutive Manning brothers win the Super Bowl. The manner of the victory, late in the fourth quarter, keyed with Eli Manning scrambling out of the pass rush to throw a pass completed after a spectacular catch by career special teams goon David Tyree to set up a winning touchdown. Dan Patrick, on his syndicated radio show, spent last week trying to generate names for the catch. I think he settled on “The Clutch.”

Since a New York team is involved, the noise around the game was a bit overblown. Eli Manning’s hot streak has be interpreted as his ascension to elite status; I’m in the pool of fans who want to wait until next year. I’m still convinced he has an above average career, but nothing more ahead of him. The Giants, as underdogs are wont to do, cast themselves as the greatest underdogs ever, a bunch of rogue misfits, blah , blah. As if no other teams would want Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Antonio Pierce or Palxico Burress among others. Most football journalists and broadcasters went with the Patriots, but it’s not like no one picked the Giants. Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman and Merrill Hoge were among the few who went with New York.

Pro Bowl - I actually watch this stupid thing most years. I’m a sucker for all star games and watching everybody kind of goof around and wear strange uniforms is fun. What I saw of this year’s same was fine. I missed Adrian Peterson’s performance which was the main highlight. I was surprised that Umenyiora showed up for the game; lots of guys who play in the Super Bowl don’t show for the Pro Bowl. Then again, he was the only Giant. Not that unusual to my recollection that the Super Bowl champs don’t have a lot of guys in the Pro Bowl.

Most jarring for me was seeing Chris Samuels and Chris Cooley on the field at the same time wearing the number ‘21′ jersey. The Redskins announced that all the team’s Pro Bowlers would wear the number ‘21′ in honor Sean Taylor, but it saddened me to be reminded of his murder. The Washington Post ran a nice picture the day after the Pro Bowl with Cooley, Samuels and long snapper Ethan Albright walking together on the sidelines wearing number ‘21.’

Senior Bowl - No overriding narrative from me watching the game, just random notes.

• Colt Brennan (Hawaii) started for the South and looks like the Arena League QB I think he is. He’s sloppy and telegraphed the throws I saw. He has tools to be a CFL QB, but needs some time in the AFL.
• Jacob Hester (LSU) lined up some at FB, but I didn’t see much from him. At his size he shouldn’t play FB in the NFL. He’s got a nice Ladell Betts/Aaron Stecker career of short-term starter, third-down and utility special teams back ahead of him.
• Chad Henne (Michigan) made a crap throw on his first TD pass, but Lavelle Hawkins (California) made a terrific adjustment to make the score.
• Sedrick Ellis (Southern Cal) and Turner Laws (Notre Dame) had very good games on the DL. Ellis won this year’s Pat Tillman award for Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.
• Dan Connor (Penn State) always made his tackles but seemed to show some of his lack of bulk. I’m guessing his 230 lbs. list weight is an upward exaggeration. Still he is in place to make the plays, and there’s time to bulk up (hopefully legally) in the NFL.
• Matt Forte (Tulane) had a great game as a RB and earned his MVP award.
• Not a lot of punting, but Matt Dragosavich (North Dakota State) hit a fantastic 69 yard punt.
• Helmets - Kentucky got nice new ones and I didn’t notice. Then again, they don’t usually get the SEC national game on CBS. The LSU guys were wearing white LSU helmets, which I’ve never seen until this game.
• Guys who I saw play well, but of whom I have little other intelligent comment: Wesley Woodyard OLB Kentucky (small), Martin Rucker TE Missouri, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie DB Tennessee State (skinny), Harry Douglas WR Louisville, Andre (brother of Reche) Caldwell WR Florida.
• Other Stuff - Part of the game’s pageantry involves having lots of women wearing big dresses with hoop skirts. This year’s ladies got to do so in the rain for much of the game. I’m going to miss the “Joe’s Diner” ads for the NFL playoffs with Joe “Clifford” Montana and his improbably diverse and quirky clients. The city of Mobile ran “Come Back to Mobile” ads. Good luck. Wonder if they need computer programmers….

Well that was unexpected….

So suddenly the Redskins elevate newly arrived OC Jim Zorn to HC. My first impressions are skeptical. I don’t like hiring HCs who don’t have at least two years of coordinator or assistant head coach experience and am uncomfortable with immediately elevating someone whose prior experience was as a position coach. As something of a counter to my trepidation, Mike Tice was elevated to Vikings HC from OLC. Tice was a clown at times, but was a serviceable HC. Hopefully Zorn won’t be pressuring Redskins players for Super Bowl tickets next year.

At least we don’t have to worry about to new HC clashing with the OC, unless Zorn has a split personality. How very odd this has all been. I wonder if he will be acting as an unofficial interim HC, holding things down until Bill Cowher or somebody more interesting becomes available next year? Sure, it’s a completely stupid idea, but when it comes to the NFL in the greater Nation’s Capital Area, we’re in the market for crazy! Obviously if the first Seahawk QB coaches the team to 14-2 or something, the (silent) interim tag comes off.

Lane Kiffin Never Mind and Assistants Everywhere

Nothing further ever came out of the ESPN story about Raiders HC Lane Kiffin being in trouble. Supposedly Al Davis had a resignation letter drafted for Kiffin’s signature, but things have calmed down and we have another year of the Boy Wonder by the Bay. Say, he has a new assistant…

James Lofton takes the WRC job with the Raiders. Lofton had trouble with the Charger wideouts; let’s see how he does with Raiders’ gang, whose two top guys were a starting QB and safety in college, but have become occasionally very good NFL receivers.

Jim Mora is now formally announced as successor to Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Interestingly the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which mandates interviewing at least one non-European ancestry assistant for a HC vacancy, makes an exception for contractually named successors.   Tony Sparano hires former Gibbs 1.0 era OC Dan Henning for the OC job in Miami.

Former Redskins Associate HC - Offense Al Saunders takes over as OC in Saint Louis and brings his son Bob, a random assistant for the Redskins, with him.  Former Assistant HC - Defense Gregg Williams assumes the DC job in Jacksonville, vacated when the nondescript Mike Smith took the HC job in Atlanta.  Williams had interviewed as DC in Saint Louis, this could have been another bitter ex-Redskin coaches situation like when the Chargers had Norv and the Marty de Sade coaching together.

Redskins RBC and minor legend Earnest Byner returns for another year after interviewing for the same job in Tampa Bay.  Redskins QBC Bill Lazor, ironically losing his job because of Jim Zorn, heads to Seattle for Jim Zorn’s old job. Zorn claims part of the attraction in the DC area for him is that he can hang out with his old pal Steve Largent now. Zorn’s primary WR in Seattle, Hall of Famer Largent is working as a telecommunications lobbyist after serving in the House of Representatives. I now think less of Largent, even if he was more or less on my side politically.

Gibbs brought back assistants Joe Bugel, Don Breaux and Jack Burns and gave them a series of largely redundant titles. Bugel actually coached the offensive line and will return for another year. It is generally assumed by fans that Breaux and Burns didn’t really do much than hang around and occasionally say something. Now Burns is gone from the team, while Breaux is a consultant.

Bucs bring in Greg Olson as QBC, replacing Paul Hackett. Olson had been OC for the injury-crippled Rams offense this season. I remember Hackett’s name being kicked around for HC jobs a few years ago. Ancient Bucs’ offensive lineman George Yarno is in as Assitant OLC. I didn’t notice this all year, but Jon Gruden’s brother Jay is back on the Bucs staff as an Offensive Assistant. It seems he never left. The younger Gruden spends his offseason as the HC of the Arena League’s Orlando Predators. I thought he quit the Bucs staff since he spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons as the Predator’s starting QB. This is odder still since Gruden had retired and been inducted into the AFL’s Hall of Fame in 1999, after spending the better part of his career as the QB for the Tampa Bay Storm.

Redskinscentric Coaching Talk

The Redskins now are down to Jim Fassel, Ron Meeks and Steve Mariucci for head coach. Giants DC Steve Spagnuolo had the now standard very long interview at Dan Snyder’s house this week before returning to New York and getting a big raise as Giants DC. Patriots OC Josh McDaniel was never interviewed.

There are a lot of angles I could explore with this, particularly since my last HC search post. However, once the assistant coach changes started happening without a HC in place, I gave up any hope the Redskins’ HC search would be done in a sensible fashion and have lost interest in analyzing the matter in depth. My short opinion is that Fassel and Mariucci are unimpressive retreads who could potentially do well. Considering the odd way the team is organized their previous experience could be useful. Were the team management and coaching structure a bit more orthodox, I’d give Meeks the job to see what he can do. However taking over this job as your first head coaching job is a grim task and if I were him I’d work more magic with the Colts’ defense and see what non-Bengals or non-Raiders job is available next year.

There was a ridiculous amount of Redskins fan anger when Gregg Williams was fired. Given the demeanor and “logic” of the complaining, much of it seemed to be displacement anger at Snyder towards Joe Gibbs’ departure, using Williams as a proxy. Gibbs left of his own accord of course, but the rejection of Williams represented to many fans a rejection, best typified in a Washington Post column by the decreasingly sensible Tom Boswell, of what Gibbs had accomplished in his second reign. Not helping things was the idea that Williams had been formally named as Gibbs’ successor. Apparently untrue, or else Snyder paid the alleged penalty clause in the contract.

The angry calls were quite formulaic: The players love Williams and would run through a wall for him, The Redskins were finally building something good, Well we beat the Giants and we could have gotten hot like them, All these other candidates suck, Now Jason Campbell has to learn a new system, This defense was all that held the team together, How insulting is it to interview him four times for ten hours each time, Gibbs and Williams had more playoff runs in the second coming than all the other post Gibbs coaches had combined….

I believe Williams would have been the most sensible choice for continuity. However there is no guarantee that he would have kept Al Saunders as OC, so Jason Campbell might have to learn a new system anyway. Gibbs 2.0’s two playoff runs were desperate, though exciting, runs in December, but the team barely scrapped into the playoffs each time. Is it worth keeping that legacy? My fond memories of Gibbs are based on his first tenure and less his second. Vinny Cerrato was formally named Executive Vice President for Football Operations and supposedly doesn’t work well with Williams. You can argue Vinny isn’t qualified for that job, I would, but since he has that job you don’t want a coach that can’t work with him. Given that, and I can’t believe I’m typing this, Snyder made a reasonable decision.

Washington Post Redskins beat writer Jason LaCanfora did some intelligence analysis of the Jim Zorn and Greg Blache hires. He determined that both had links to Mariucci and his unnamed league sources indicated that Fassel has blessed the hiring of both as well. USA Today NFL Writer Larry Weisman ran another scenario from his unnamed league sources that claimed the Redskins wanted to interview Steve Spagnuolo as part of their initial batch of candidates, but the Giants kept winning playoff games so the process had to be dragged out as late as it did. Apparently Pete Carroll was talked to by the Redskins but wanted total control of team. That won’t fly with Dan Snyder. Bizzarely, Marty Schottenheimer’s name comes up in discussions; apparently he and Snyder are on better terms since Schottenheimer’s was fired at the end of the 2001 season. It is even stranger that former Redskins RB John Riggins, whose radio show is produced and broadcast by Snyder’s Redskins Radio, is the leading proponent of this theory.

As it is, my guess is the Redskins will probably hire Fassel in the next few days. Until either Vinny Cerrato proves himself a good GM (and he’s gotten better recently, though that might just be Gibbs’ influence) or a better GM is hired, my expectations for my Burgundy and Gold neighbors in Ashburn are minimal.

The Plague is Up North Too!

So David Asper is the Executive Vice-President of Can-West Global Communications. Asper is offering to take over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a community owned team, I guess, like the Green Bay Packers. He would like a new stadium built (the current one is 54 years old) for the Bombers and his proposal is to split the cost three ways between himself, the Province of Manitoba and the Canadian Government.

Oh please.  American sports team owners grouse about their team’s stadiums and arenas not turning enough profit and demanding the government help them, often entirely, pay for a new one. Upon moving into the new arena or stadium, the team insists on getting the bulk of the parking and concessions revenue and if the government owns the facility, deeply discounted rent.  Apparently, a prospective Canadian owner wants in on this as well.

I don’t read deeply on the CFL.  From the handful of articles I’ve read on the internet over the years and talking to actual Canadians, the CFL is modestly popular nationwide, with its core popularity being in the Western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The league has only recently started to get its head out of financial troubles and that might be partially due to the NFL giving them a loan.

My point is that this doesn’t seem to be the type of organization  that could get a way with asking the government to help them with infrastructure, yet here we are.  I could understand if an NHL franchise tried that.  Maybe they have?  Perhaps the Blue Bombers are popular enough (they are in Manitoba) that Asper thinks he has a shot with that?  The Canadian Government’s Treasury Board President (if Wikipedia is correct, his job is to allocate government resources) is not pleased with the amount of cash expected from the government.  Best of luck to the Province of Manitoba and the Canadian Federal Government in making a would be private entity pay for its own stadium.

In other Blue Bomber news, the team hired a guy named Dan Daniel to be their secondary coach. I’m easily amused.  Also, all-time CFL TD leader Milt Stegall, who has been in the CFL ever since the Bengals jettisoned him back in 1992, will be coming back for another season with the team.