Enough is Enough!

“I’m healthy, I can play and there are teams out there that had interest, but they just didn’t need. They wanted me, but they didn’t need me. I’m not a player than can play by just wanting to play the game. I’m a guy that needs to win, and they go hand in hand . . . So please, understand when I say this. I’m not retiring. I am graduating. Today is my graduation day.”
~Junior Seau (who signed four days later with the New England Patriots)
No disrespect intended to Mr. Seau or his incredible career with the Chargers and Dolphins. After a couple of decent years with the Patriots an aging Seau retired again . . . then came out of retirement again. After the Patriots loss to the Ravens in the playoffs last year, Junior announced that it was his last game. But he still hasn't officially retired and is listed as an NFL Free Agent.

Why is it so hard for him to hang it up?
When Dan Marino was asked why he decided to retire, he may have summed up the feelings that many elite athletes experience as they get older:
"That is a good question. Boy, I really struggled with this. This has been the toughest month of my life as far as dealing with playing football or retiring. After the season, I pretty much thought that I was not going to play anymore and I felt that way for a while and I think it was because of the physical aspects of the game.
It kept coming back to how my legs felt during last season, going through the neck injury; not knowing whether I was going to be able to throw the football, and family reasons also, but Claire and the kids, they were great. They wanted me to play, to be honest with you. Really, it was my decision, a family decision and a health decision."
Marino later admitted that despite having established his legacy and having played his entire career with the Dolphins, he seriously considered an offer to lead the offense of the Minnesota Vikings.
Steve Young personally visited with Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos to listen to their offer soon after his retirement from the 49ers. Reggie White un-retired to spend a mediocre final season with the Carolina Panthers and the list goes on and on of players who have struggled with or even flip-flopped on the decision to call it quits.

Part of what made these guys great is that the the concept of quitting is foreign to them. While they know their physical skills are on the decline, their understanding of the game grows each year.
Deep down I think every one of them feels like if they got in the right situation with enough talent around them, they could go out like Elway, hoisting a SuperBowl MVP trophy in their final game. That's what they've played for their whole career, after dedicating countless days, weeks, months and years focused on winning a title, it's tough to decide it doesn't matter any more.
As an admittedly biased green and gold bleeding Packers fan, I bring this up as we have again arrived in Brett Favre season for the media.

You don't hear ESPN blasting guys like Derrick Mason for waffling about retirement because when it comes down to it, he could probably fly to The Moon and back and a story on him still isn't going to get the ratings as any text message or quote attributed to Brett Favre, Tim Tebow, Tiger Woods, Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, Terrell Owens, OchoCinco, etc. etc.
So while baseball season still has another month before it gets exciting, and with nothing noteworthy going on in basketball (or hockey or soccer, for what it's worth), the sports networks have latched on to the stories that will bring in the viewership and with that, the ever so important advertising dollars, by pissing and moaning about Brett.

The Vikings knew what they were getting when they signed Favre. An all-time elite quarterback in the twilight of his career whose body is breaking down and who is having a hard time deciding if the physical grind of practice is worth the sheer enjoyment of playing the game he loves each Sunday.
You don't hear the Minnesota coaches, players, or management complaining. Even the Viking fans are just begging and hoping for one more year to witness one of the all-time greats.

And yet the media feels that Brett owes them a direct answer, that he has no right to text his teammates about his situation without holding a press conference and telling all the reporters right now what his exact intentions are.
So they hurry and write stories calling him out as an attention whore.
Why?
Because they know a story with Favre's picture will get more clicks than a look inside the Atlanta Falcons training camp.

Get over yourself ESPN, FoxSports, and every other sports network out there! Yeah the guy doesn't want to go to training camp. Give him a break, all he did after missing camp last year was throw for 4,202 yards with 33 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions in his 18th season as a starter!
I did a little research to see how many quarterbacks in the history of the NFL had thrown over 30 TD's with less than 10 INT's in a season. Joe Montana never did, neither did John Elway, Dan Marino, Steve Young or Kurt Warner.
Drew Brees never has, and Tom Brady and Peyton Manning each have once. Sure the rules of the game are more aerial friendly than they have been in the past, but doesn't change the fact that the only other QB who hit the 30 TD benchmark with less than 10 picks last year was the man who replaced Brett in Green Bay, my guy Aaron Rodgers. (Man it's good to be a Packers fan!)
Not only that, but Brett Favre, the winner of 3 consecutive MVP's, the man many people believed was past his prime and whined should have hung it up 5 years ago, achieved career highs in QB rating (107.2) and completion percentage (68.4).

More importantly, Favre led Minnesota to a 13-3 record and their first playoff victory in five years. He carried the Vikings on his back within 3 points of the Super Bowl. And yeah he threw the final interception in the NFC Championship in a desperate situation because of a stupid penalty, but if that's all you take away from that game, then you missed something special.
What I saw was the ol' graybeard absorbing shot after shot (including a dirty high-low that would've warranted a lifetime suspension had it even been attempted on Tom Brady) and just picking himself up and keeping his team in a game they had no business being in after all the fumbles and pressure applied by a very good Saints team. A man who had already been to two SuperBowls doing everything to get to just one more, until he could do no more.So if that's the last game I ever see you play in, thanks for the memories Brett. I can now go back to hating the Vikings and hoping to see Green Bay bring the Lombardi Trophy back home. If not, then you know I'm pulling for you to win it all this year and go out like Elway did. Either way, I'm still throwing on my #4 Packers jersey after church every Sunday from September - January.

What the heck is this? Russia?

Okay NCAA, this is getting out of hand. OK I get it, you want to make sure that you keep the student in the student athlete. I agree, but you know you are making millions and millions of dollars off of them so I think you need to relax a little on the punishments to the schools.
But this is absolutely uncalled for. A Boise State recruit was killed in a car accident. But due to the fact that he hadn't signed his letter of intent yet Boise state was unable to say or do anything about his funeral. They had to act like they had never heard of him before. What is up with that? Seriously? They couldn't even send flowers! How would this affect anything? I don't want to sound insensitive here but the dude is dead! You're not trying to buy his loyalty so he wont go to another school! And not one school will file a complaint because they feel that this gave Boise State a competitive advantage over them. So NCAA get your act together and realize that your rules are outdated and need to be looked at. And sometimes an exception to the rule is actually the right thing to do.

What the Heck Is This? Russia?!?!

Hello my fellow fantasy footballar friends,

I have a question which I have ran by the commissioner and he informed me that I need to get a majority to follow this idea to get it passed. We currently have it where if we want to make a trade we have to wait to see if it's ok with everyone else. I understand the reasoning, it's to keep people from stacking their team when other managers come to the realization that their team won't make the playoff's. example: Trading Chris Johnson for Tim Tebow, or for a kicker in week 10

I think that with the group of guys that we have, we really don't need to regulate eachother or have to worry about with BS trades...I mean I don't think that anyone wants to get suspended for the next season. We talked about this a little last year and a really good point that was made was. "If MAC and MICROSOFT want to make a business deal they don't have to wait until IBM say's that they are ok with it.

The major reason I want to get rid of the current waiting period is because I want the new player on my roster the moment the two managers feel confident about the trade. Come on men, together we can make this happen!

What Do You Think Is This Kid A Catholic or A Convict...Probably Both!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Big Game Bob?

Program Savior

No one can disrespect what Bob Stoops has done for the Sooner program. He has an outstanding win-loss percentage, a multitude of Big 12 Titles, and a phenomenal number of appearances in BCS bowls. In 11 years, Oklahoma has only lost two games at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium by a combined 6 points (to TCU and Oklahoma State, respectively). Bob Stoops will likely go down as one of the greatest coaches in college football history. I don't know how many coaches have had as much success in their entire life as Bob did from 2000-2010, but I'm guessing probably only a select few. He has restored greatness to a proud program that has again become a breeding ground for NFL talent.

Boomer Sooners Already Peaked? (downside of the pinnacle, summit, apex, golden climax)

The question I bring up today is, have we seen the best already? For a coach who has already been to the top, is there any way to go up? Or is it all down hill from here?

As much as OU has dominated the Big 12 since Coach Stoops' arrival, their record when matching up with other conferences in bowl games over the last 7 years has been . . . well, dismal. Yes they've been playing in big games against high ranked opponents and it is an accomplishment just getting that far, but has anyone else fared as poorly in big games recently? I don't know if I've ever heard as much hate for a conference as the Big 10 or as much disdain for a team as I did for Ohio State for their miserable performances in consecutive national championship games, but have they been any worse than the Big 12 champs?

The Mike Stoops Factor

Late in 2003, Bob's brother and defensive coordinator Mike left Oklahoma to become the head man for the University of Arizona Wildcats. Following the younger Stoops' departure, the Sooners were utterly dominated in the Big 12 Championship by Kansas State. Despite the pounding they took in the conference championship, OU was still selected over USC to play in the B(C)S Championship, and then lost to LSU.

Over the next 6 years Oklahoma won 2 bowl games. Two.

Yes, two.

The first win was a 3 point victory gained over the Oregon Ducks off a Brady Leaf interception. The other was a come-from-behind 4 point win over Stanford in the Holiday Bowl. Yes that is the same Stanford that hadn't been to a bowl game since 2001. Sure the Cardinal had a nice season going 6-3 in conference play in a down year for the PAC-10, but this was hardly a program defining victory for Oklahoma. Ok, I get that Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham were out for that game and were replaced by their 5 star recruit backups who had played the whole season in their places, but why couldn't a team that had 2 of the top 4 picks of the NFL Draft playing in their last college game display a little more dominance?

I digress, a win is a win and I won't scrutinize the Sooners any more for the times they took care of business. But let's talk a little about the losses. Three and a half years later, OU apologists are still throwing out excuses for the loss to Boise State, but never mention the performance in the BCS bowls the year before or the year after. Out of all the BCS bowls, most experts expected the biggest blowout in January 2008 to be Oklahoma over West Virginia. The Sooners were one of the most sure fire bets for college pick 'em that year. The result? West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28, a 20-point loss.

It's not only the performance in bowl games that has taken a dive in since Mike Stoops left town. OU owned Texas in the Red River Shootout from 2000-2004, but has only beat the Longhorns once since then. I'm not going to definitely say that Mike is the reason, but if Arizona is able to win a couple of PAC-10 titles in the next few years, that may become the universally accepted theory.

So . . .

What's going on? Has Oklahoma become the San Diego Chargers of college football? Great regular seasons, but not able to get it done when it counts? Is Bob going to gain back the "Big Game" title? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Who In The World Do You Think You Are?

Pat Haden has been appointed the new AD at USC... Ok, it's true that the former AD should have had better control over his program...But, this Pat guy is coming in and his first line of business is to return the Heisman Trophy that Reggie had earned because it's bad for USC's new image...Oh! And, they are going to scrub the Reggie's #5 Jersey off the wall? What a douche!

This is just a cheap PR trick trying to put the focus on Reggie Bush and off of the program...I mean come it's not like he killed his wife and the dude she was bangin'. (By the way OJ's heisman is still sitting pretty there in USC trophy case) Honestly, have we ever heard of Reggie getting fightin' Irish drunk, getting in fights, shooting himself in the leg, raping girls in Georgia Bars, drug abuse? The answer is NO! We haven't! Up until lately the only negative thing you've ever heard about Reggie Bush is that he hasn't lived up to his college hype.

I wonder if USC really wants to separate it's self from the contributions of Reggie Bush does that mean that the University will give back all the money he made for them? Not to mention the money that will be made by future recruits who worshiped Reggie as a kid and want to come to play where Reggie Bush played...

To sum up my rant, who in the world does Pat Haden think he is? Get off your high horse, I mean honestly you act like Reggie just ran over your dog or something. USC needs to just put it behind them and win more game and stop putting all the blame on a kid who just wanted to give his family a better house in a safer neighborhood and the money... What 18 year old would turn down that kind of cash if they were promised that no one would find out? Would you?

Boise State vs Virginia Tech

I don't care.

No one that happens to not be on the Bronco Bandwagon does.

However, when there are articles like this it's easy, very easy, to root against someone because of the incredible cockiness.

Thanks,

---Coach Matlock---