Sports News

Sports News :Three kinds of coaching hires

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:52 +0000

So far, the Bucs’ search for a new head coach has led them down two paths. One, the retread – coaches with previous NFL head coaching experience such as Mike Sherman, Marty Schottenheimer, Wade Phillips and Brad Childress. The other path is NFL assistants such as the Titans’

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So far, the Bucs’ search for a new head coach has led them down two paths. One, the retread – coaches with previous NFL head coaching experience such as Mike Sherman, Marty Schottenheimer, Wade Phillips and Brad Childress. The other path is NFL assistants such as the Titans’ Jerry Gray and Bengals’ Mike Zimmer. The Bucs really haven’t explored college coaches. It’s probably a smart move as you will see.

So how does all this fit with recent NFL history? Well, let’s go back to the start of the 2000 season. Since then, a new coach has been named 83 times not counting interim coaches who only finished a season and were not retained. Of those 83 hires, 49 went from being NFL assistants to first-time head coaches. There were 26 who had previously coached NFL teams. And there were eight who coached in college the previous season. Some coaches fit in more than one category more than one time. Here’s a look at the three categories.

ASSISTANT TO FIRST-TIMER
By far, the most popular hire with 49. There have been complete and utter failures. Think Scott Linehan (Rams), Mike Nolan (49ers), Rod Marinelli (Lions) and, of course, Raheem Morris (Bucs). But there are plenty of successes. Super Bowl winners Mike Tomlin (Steelers), Mike McCarthy (Packers) and Sean Payton (Saints) went from an assistant to head coach. Jim Caldwell (Colts), Lovie Smith (Bears), Bill Callahan (Raiders), John Fox (formerly with the Panthers) and Ken Whisenhunt (Cardinals) made the Super Bowl with their first team. Of this season’s 12 playoff teams, eight are being run by former assistants in their first head coaching job: Tomlin, McCarthy, Payton, John Harbaugh (Ravens), Marvin Lewis (Bengals), Gary Kubiak (Texans), Mike Smith (Falcons) and Jim Schwartz (Lions).

RETREADS
Not the most flattering nickname and not always accurate. Take Jon Gruden. He had previous head coaching experience and was no castoff. The Bucs actually traded for him. Since 2000, 26 coaches with previous NFL head coaching experience have been hired for another bite at the apple, including Super Bowl winners Gruden, Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin and Tony Dungy. Of those, only Belichick, 36-44 with the Browns before winning three titles with the Patriots, could be considered a failure in his first job. Coughlin, Dungy and Gruden had success with their first teams. A very general rule of thumb: If a coach had little or no success in his first job (Dick Jauron, Chan Gailey, Eric Mangini), he has little or none in his next one. If he had previous success (Bill Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer, Dick Vermeil, Dungy, Gruden), he has some in his next job.

COLLEGE COACHES
Based on recent history, it’s a spectacularly bad idea to hire a college coach. Since 2000, eight coaches went from coaching college to being an NFL head coach. That includes Lane Kiffin, who went from being a college assistant to coaching the Raiders. Two had previous head coaching experience in the NFL: Pete Carroll and Dennis Erickson. The others were first-time NFL head coaches: Nick Saban, Butch Davis, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino and Jim Harbaugh. Of the eight, Harbaugh is the only one with a winning NFL record, going 13-3 in 2011 — his only season. One more stat: Of the 28 coaches who have won Super Bowls, only Bill Walsh, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer went from a college team directly to becoming a head coach and winning a Super Bowl with the team that hired him.

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Recent Sports News :Shooting from the lip/Jan. 16th edition

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …
Best announcing team
Normally, you don’t see a whole lot of praise in this space for CBS’s Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. But either they’re getting much better or I’m finally catching on. The two called Saturday night’s Patriots-Broncos

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Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …

Best announcing team
Normally, you don’t see a whole lot of praise in this space for CBS’s Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. But either they’re getting much better or I’m finally catching on. The two called Saturday night’s Patriots-Broncos game and for the second weekend in a row get this vote for the best announcing team.

Here’s what made them so good Saturday night: While most of the country focused on Tim Tebow mania, Nantz and Simms simply went out and called a football game. Tebow was far from being the story in the Patriots’ 45-10 victory, and Nantz and Simms didn’t try to shoehorn the Tebow angle into the broadcast.

In a way, they treated Tebow with respect by treating him as they would any other quarterback. They spent most of the night talking about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. That was the right call. After all, Brady was the story of the game.

Best and worst No. 2 announcing team
It’s stunning how much of a drop-off there is between Fox’s No. 1 football team (Joe Buck-Troy Aikman) and its No. 2 team (Kenny Albert-Tony Siragusa-Daryl Johnston). Albert is first-rate, but Johnston and Siragusa are masters of the obvious as well as hyperbole. Everything is "tremendous” and "incredible” and "unbelievable,” and rarely do they tell viewers something they don’t already know or can’t see for themselves. The fact they are considered Fox’s second-best team says more about Fox’s empty stable of broadcasters than "Moose and Goose.” I don’t know, maybe each would be better if they were split up.

Meantime, CBS’s No. 2 team of Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf is really like a No. 1 team. There isn’t much of a difference between those two and CBS’s top crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. In fact, keep going down CBS’s roster of football announcers. There’s Ian Eagle-Dan Fouts and Marv Albert-Rich Gannon. Either could be Fox’s No. 2 team.

One could question why Fox analysts such as Brian Billick and John Lynch weren’t in a booth over the weekend.

Best questions
Often when a guest joins the set of a pregame show, he is treated with kid gloves. But high praise goes out to CBS’s NFL Today for how it questioned Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Analyst Bill Cowher asked Suh about the perception that he’s a dirty player, and host James Brown asked Suh specifically about the Thanksgiving game when he kicked a Packers player. The CBS guys asked the questions with a respectful yet no-nonsense tone. And to his credit, Suh answered the questions. In the end, everyone came out looking good.

Most interesting conversation
I don’t always agree with everything said by Sun Sports hockey analyst Chris Dingman during the Lightning’s postgame shows, but it’s usually compelling. Actually, it makes for good television when the viewers don’t always agree with the broadcasters.

Host Paul Kennedy does a masterful job leading the former Lightning tough guy through a variety of topics. Sunday, they talked about the on-ice dustup between the Lightning’s Vinny Lecavalier and Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin, the rise in concussions in hockey and why the Lightning is struggling.

Again, you might not agree with Dingman’s thoughts, but they are worth your attention.

Best second choice
Hey, if you’re a Lightning fan and you’re looking for a team to adopt come playoff time — seeing as how the Lightning won’t be there — how about the Rangers? They’re young, play the game hard and have plenty of Lightning connections with former coach John Tortorella, assistant Mike Sullivan, Brad Richards and Ruslan Fedotenko. Plus, the NHL is a blast when there are playoff games at Madison Square Garden.

Worst trend
Know what I’m sick and tired of? Analysts swearing on the air. Add Shaquille O’Neal to the list. He thought he was off the air Thursday night during TNT’s Inside the NBA when he used a four-letter word. He wasn’t. Later, host Ernie Johnson made light of the whole thing by trying to put a bar of soap in Shaq’s mouth. That reminded me of when ESPN’s Lee Corso swore a couple of months ago on College GameDay and appeared the next week with a piece of tape on his mouth.

It’s not funny. It’s distasteful and even more so when networks try to make a joke of it. Seriously, how hard is it keep from swearing when you’re on television? It shouldn’t matter whether you’re in a commercial break or not. How about this: If you have a microphone, don’t swear. The networks, particularly the folks who run Inside the NBA, need to take this a little more seriously.

Favorite segment
Here is a little bell and whistle that can make a broadcast really good. During Saturday afternoon’s college basketball game between St. Bonaventure and Xavier on ESPNU, a box suddenly appeared in the corner of the screen. In it, analyst Doug Gottlieb, on tape, talked about the NBA prospects of Bonnies forward Andrew Nicholson. Simple, informative and entertaining. In addition, it was unexpected.

Worst word
The Lightning’s Guy Boucher is an outstanding coach and figures to be for a long time. But his too-often use of the word "adversity’’ is becoming tiresome. The more he uses it, the more it feels as if there’s a reason beyond the Lightning’s control as to why it is struggling. It feels like an excuse. Maybe he doesn’t mean it that way, but that’s how it comes off.

Worst opening
This really happened: Turned on the Fox NFL pregame show Saturday just as it was starting. The crew — Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson – sang, "Hello … hello … hello” Three Stooges style. It quickly evolved into inaudible talking and uncontrollable laughter. I then turned the station.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Here’s the thing about Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. You can root for or against him. That’s your right. But he’s authentic. He’s not a phony. What you see is really who he is. Shouldn’t that be respected instead of ridiculed?
2. The Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady won their first Super Bowl 10 years ago. As of right now, after all this time, don’t they look like the best bet to win this season’s Super Bowl?
3. Pet peeve of the moment: NHL players I’ve never heard of who wear numbers higher than 40. If you’re going to wear a number that high, especially in the 80s and 90s, you need to be a superstar.

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Sports News :Bucs coaching options with a familiar look

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

As the Bucs’ coaching search continues, here’s a look back at, arguably, the best coaching hires over the past 10 years. Along with those names, our thoughts on the equivalents on the Bucs’ radar to replace Raheem Morris.
Mike Tomlin, Steelers
Tomlin was 35 with five years as

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As the Bucs’ coaching search continues, here’s a look back at, arguably, the best coaching hires over the past 10 years. Along with those names, our thoughts on the equivalents on the Bucs’ radar to replace Raheem Morris.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers
Tomlin was 35 with five years as a defensive backs coach and one as Vikings defensive coordinator when he was hired in 2007. He stepped into a stable franchise two years removed from a Super Bowl. So no surprise that he has had success in his five seasons: a 55-25 record, four postseason berths, two trips to the Super Bowl and a title.
Equivalent: Rob Chudzinski. The Panthers offensive coordinator coached in college but has been in the NFL since only 2004. He’s 43 and has three years of experience as a coordinator. Then again, the Bucs are in much worse shape than the Steelers team Tomlin inherited.

Sean Payton, Saints
Payton was 43 when he was hired. But he had a solid background: two seasons as the Eagles quarterbacks coach, four as a Giants assistant (three as offensive coordinator) and three as offensive coordinator/assistant head coach of the Cowboys. In six seasons at New Orleans, Payton is 62-34 with a Super Bowl title.
Equivalent: Mike Zimmer. The Bengals defensive coordinator has an extensive background as an assistant. He broke into the NFL in 1995 and has spent the past 12 seasons as a defensive coordinator (for three teams). He’s 55, making him older than Payton when he got the Saints job.

Jon Gruden, Bucs
It was 10 years ago the Bucs hired the 39-year-old. Before that, he spent three years as a Packers offensive assistant, three as Eagles offensive coordinator and four as Raiders coach. In seven seasons with Tampa Bay, he went 57-55 with three postseason berths and a Super Bowl title.
Equivalent: This one is hard. There’s Jim Caldwell. He was a quarterbacks coach for eight seasons when hired at 54 . Brad Childress was a quarterbacks coach for three seasons and offensive coordinator for four. And after hired at 50, his 39-35 record in four-plus seasons as Vikings coach looks like Gruden’s 38-26 in Oakland. But Gruden was much younger when hired.

Tony Dungy, Colts
Dungy had quite the resume when the Colts hired him before the 2002 season. He had spent 15 seasons as an assistant, nine as a defensive coordinator. Then there were six as Bucs coach, when he went 54-42 and made the postseason four times. Lack of playoff success led to his firing here, but he moved to Indianapolis and went 85-27 with seven playoff berths and a Super Bowl victory.
Equivalent: Mike Sherman. He went 57-39 in six seasons as Packers coach, three games better than Dungy in Tampa Bay. Like Dungy with the Bucs, he made the playoffs four times. Like Dungy with the Bucs, he had little success in the postseason.

Mike McCarthy, Packers
McCarthy put in solid work as an assistant before becoming coach of the Packers six seasons ago. He spent 13 years as an assistant, including five as Saints offensive coordinator and one as 49ers offensive coordinator. Since taking over the Packers, McCarthy is 66-33 with a Super Bowl victory last season and a 15-1 regular season in 2011.
Equivalent: Joe Philbin. Philbin spent 19 seasons in the college game. But his pro experience is along the same lines as McCarthy: nine years on the Packers staff, including five as their offensive coordinator.

Tom Coughlin, Giants
A coaching veteran. He knocked around college and pro staffs for 25 years, including three as coach of Boston College, before being hired by expansion Jacksonville in 1995 when he was 49. He spent eight seasons there, going 68-60 with four playoff berths, then took over the Giants in 2004 at age 58. In eight seasons with the Giants, Coughlin is 74-54. He has won a Super Bowl and is a win away from appearing in another.
Equivalent: Marty Schottenheimer. If you want to talk veterans, you can’t get much more veteran than Schottenheimer. He has 21 seasons as a coach with four teams. Overall, he is 200-126-1.

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Recent Sports News :Bruins fan can’t take ThunderBug’s joke

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

This video is from Tuesday night’s Lightning-Bruins game at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. ThunderBug, the Lightning’s mascot, has a little fun by spraying a guy in a Bruins shirt with Silly String. The Bruins fan apparently has no sense of humor. He goes bonkers and tackles the mascot. Then security escorts the fan from the section. Later, however, the Lightning did allow the fan to return to his section. Maybe the fan wishes they hadn’t. He had to stick around and watch the Lightning beat the Bruins, 5-3.

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Latest Sports News :Shooting from the lip/Jan. 23rd edition

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …
Best coverage
ESPN takes a lot of criticism from sports fans for a variety of reasons, but there’s no doubt that it is the destination station whenever there is breaking sports news. Case in point: ESPN’s Sunday coverage of the death

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Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …

Best coverage
ESPN takes a lot of criticism from sports fans for a variety of reasons, but there’s no doubt that it is the destination station whenever there is breaking sports news. Case in point: ESPN’s Sunday coverage of the death of Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno.

ESPN’s coverage was comprehensive and compelling, informative and engrossing. For several hours Sunday morning, SportsCenter ignored all other stories in sports and concentrated solely on the Paterno story. And yet the broadcast never grew boring or monotonous. The network reeled in one guest after another, from former Penn State players to coaches to analysts, all offering unique perspectives on Paterno’s life and career. Anchors Bob Ley, Rece Davis and Lindsay Czarniak were impeccable in shaping the story with their interviews, which were powerful and emotional. ESPN walked the fine line of celebrating Paterno’s storied career while not ignoring the controversial final chapter of his life.

In the end, folks likely fall into one of three groups when it comes to Paterno. There are those who have nothing but the utmost respect for Paterno’s impact on and off the football field. There are those who will only remember Paterno for the scandal that cost him his job and tarnished his reputation. And then there are the rest, which fall somewhere in the middle. No matter which group you’re in, if you watched ESPN’s coverage, you really had no right to complain. ESPN practiced fair journalism and told the whole story. As a television viewer, what more could you want?

Worst guest
No. Please tell me I didn’t see CBS NFL Today pregame host James Brown "interviewing” the E-Trade talking baby Sunday.

Shame on you, CBS! All season, I’ve been heaping praise on the NFL Today. I’ve bragged about how the show cut out all the horseplay and silliness. I’ve passed along kudos for dumping the juvenile behavior, unnecessary laughter and annoying horseplay in favor of good, solid football talk. And then you go out and interview a fake person? Really?

A season’s worth of smart decisions and commendable television nearly ruined for the sake of a 30-second bit that wasn’t only not funny, but felt like a shameless plug. Ugh!

Best analyst
It feels like ESPN basketball analyst Doris Burke calls two games a night and about 20 games a week. You can hear her calling men’s and women’s college basketball, as well as NBA games. Sure, she knows the game of basketball, but her analysis goes way beyond describing pick-and-rolls and zone defenses. She talks expertly about the players and teams of the games she calls; clear evidence that the amount of homework she puts in must be enormous. Proof of that was listening to her call Saturday’s Syracuse-Notre Dame game. There were times when it felt like she was so knowledgeable that she was the hometown analyst — for both teams.

If I was named president of my own sports network, Burke would be one of my first hires.

Biggest beef
I don’t like it when those who help call the games are the ones to present trophies to the winners of the NFL’s conference championship games. On Sunday, it was Fox’s Terry Bradshaw and CBS’s Jim Nantz. It just seems like a line is being crossed because the announcers tend to get a little too chummy with the players, coaches and owners. That’s not a criticism, necessarily, of the broadcasters. They are thrown into the middle of a celebration, and it’s almost impossible for them to look objective.

Worst idea
Last week, Rangers and former Lightning coach John Tortorella took some heat for acting a bit rude to NBC’s Brian Engblom during an in-game interview from the bench. Which leads to this point: Let’s end this in-game interview junk. If these interviews ever offered any insight at all, I’d be all for them. But the coaches rarely say anything of interest. In the end, it feels like the only reason the networks interview the coaches during the game is just to prove they can. And that’s not a good enough reason to distract a coach.

Worst reaction
True, Syracuse was undefeated and No. 1 in the country, but isn’t Notre Dame basketball a little too established for its fans to rush the court as they did Saturday when the Irish beat a Syracuse team missing one of its better players? You’re bigger than that, aren’t you, Notre Dame?

After all, this is the same program that snapped UCLA’s 88-game win streak in 1974. You got to rush the court that day. Rushing the court for any other game feels pointless. Actually, the most impressive victory of the weekend wasn’t Notre Dame beating Syracuse, but Florida State going on the road and beating Duke.

Best line
Here’s a great story from Bob Raissman of New York’s Daily News. A listener called into Bruce Murray’s radio on Sirius XM Radio last week and tried to argue that Trent Dilfer was a better quarterback than Dan Marino because Dilfer won a Super Bowl and Marino did not.

Later, Dilfer was a guest on Murray’s show. When told that a caller claimed Dilfer was better than Marino, Dilfer said, "That caller is an idiot.”

Three things I liked on television this weekend
1. Nice job by Tampa Bay’s own Shaun King on NBC Sports Network’s coverage of Saturday night’s NFLPA Collegiate All-Star Game. The 1010-AM radio host and former Bucs quarterback shows great poise on TV. It would be wise for NBC Sports Network to give him regular work.
2. The Big Ten Network’s coverage Saturday night of the Joe Paterno situation was unexpectedly impressive. This was early in the story when there weren’t many details other than Paterno being in "serious” condition. Still, the Big Ten Network shined.
3. Sunday’s Manchester United-Arsenal game on Fox, believed to be the first English Premier League match on U.S. major network television, was good, although I wasn’t crazy that CNN host and Arsenal fan Piers Morgan was involved. It made it feel a bit gimmicky, but it didn’t ruin the broadcast.

Three things that popped into my head
1. As if this NFL season could get any worse for the good folks of Indianapolis. Not only did their beloved Colts nearly go winless and have the worst record in the league, now they have to suffer the indignity of the Patriots coming to town for the Super Bowl.
2. After watching Steven Tyler screech his way through the Star-Spangled Banner before Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, I’d be ticked off if I auditioned for American Idol and didn’t make it to Hollywood because Tyler didn’t think I was good enough.
3. USF is now 5-2 in the Big East, which is tied for third and ahead of UConn, Notre Dame, Louisville and Pitt. It also means the Bulls should be getting way more than 3,000 people for home games.

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Sports News :Nike founder Phil Knight defends Joe Paterno

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Here’s video of Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight speaking at the memorial service of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. Knight defends Paterno over the Jerry Sandusky alleged abuse case, and criticizes the university’s board of trustees, as well as the investigation.

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Here’s video of Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight speaking at the memorial service of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. Knight defends Paterno over the Jerry Sandusky alleged abuse case, and criticizes the university’s board of trustees, as well as the investigation.

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Sports News Online :Someone doesn’t like the Bucs hire

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg isn’t crazy about the Bucs hiring Greg Schiano as coach. Actually, you could go a step farther. He hates it. Among Rosenberg’s thoughts:
How do you go from Tony Dungy to Jon Gruden to Raheem Morris to Greg Schiano? Does that seem like progress

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Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg isn’t crazy about the Bucs hiring Greg Schiano as coach. Actually, you could go a step farther. He hates it. Among Rosenberg’s thoughts:

How do you go from Tony Dungy to Jon Gruden to Raheem Morris to Greg Schiano? Does that seem like progress to anybody on this planet? If Schiano fails (did I say "if?) then whom will the Bucs hire? The nearest high school coach?

And …

Schiano is a lousy game coach. And if he was a lousy game coach in college, where the schemes (generally) are not as sophisticated, how can he outfox guys like Sean Payton, Jeff Fisher, John Fox or Tom Coughlin, who have been winning in the NFL for years? (Those guys are all on the Bucs’ 2012 schedule, by the way.)

And …

Greg Schiano? He isn’t qualified for this. The things he did well at Rutgers — getting the community to believe, recruiting, taking academics seriously — don’t matter in the NFL. I love when unconventional moves work in the NFL, but this is beyond unconventional. I don’t know how you win the NFC South with a guy who had 11 years to win the Big East and never did.

To read Rosenberg’s entire column, click here.

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Latest Sports News :Shooting from the lip/Jan. 28th edition

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

The latest from the world of sports …
Worst events
The NFL’s Pro Bowl and NHL’s All-Star Game will be played Sunday, making Sunday among the most irrelevant days in sports. Sorry, but the Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star Game just don’t float our boat. Here is one opinion

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The latest from the world of sports …

Worst events
The NFL’s Pro Bowl and NHL’s All-Star Game will be played Sunday, making Sunday among the most irrelevant days in sports. Sorry, but the Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star Game just don’t float our boat. Here is one opinion on the five worst sporting events.
1. Pro Bowl. No blitzing, no blocking of punts, intentional grounding is legal. We get that no one wants to get hurt, but this is a glorified practice, not a football game.
2. NHL All-Star Game. We love hockey. And yes, this is more of a celebration of the sport than an actual game. But there have been way too many 12-11 type games to make this enjoyable anymore.
3. Home Run Derby. If we hear Chris Berman yelling, "back … back … back” one more time, it’s going to get ugly up in here. Where’s the appeal in watching players taking batting practice?
4. Triple-A All-Star Game. We pick on this game because it’s always played the day after the MLB All-Star Game, and it’s the only thing on TV that night. It’s fun to watch for about six pitches. Then you start looking for Law & Order reruns.
5. MLB draft. You haven’t heard of 99 percent of the players. There are no trades, and only in the rarest of instances does a drafted player step immediately into the big leagues.

Media tidbits
* A documentary on legendary Jets quarterback Joe Namath debuts Saturday at 9 p.m. on HBO. The 90-minute film, titled Namath, was produced by HBO Sports and NFL Films and will be shown at various times throughout the next several weeks on HBO’s family of stations.
* ESPN kicks off more than 110 live hours of Super Bowl television and radio coverage from Indianapolis starting Monday. More than 25 on-air personalties, including those who have combined for 19 Super Bowl rings, will be on location.
* Meantime, the NFL Network kicks off more than 100 hours of live coverage from Indianapolis starting Monday. The network will have more than 30 analysts, reporters and hosts on location who have combined for 18 Super Bowl rings.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, as an American, absolutely has every right to boycott going to the White House to show his displeasure with the U.S. government. But maybe that means he should not be considered to represent the United States in international competitions, including the Olympics.
2. Sure, you feel a bit bad for the Rutgers kids who signed up to play for Greg Schiano. But are those criticizing Schiano suggesting he could have never taken another job?
3. Speaking of Schiano, what would have happened if he turned down the Bucs’ offer? Would the Bucs really have offered the job to Mike Sherman?

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Sports News :First impressions of Greg Schiano

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Lousing up an opening news conference is hard to do.
Unless new Bucs coach Greg Schiano came out Friday dressed in fishnet stockings and called Pol Pot his hero, his Tampa Bay inauguration likely was going to go down in the win column. After all, in opening news conferences, you don’t

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Lousing up an opening news conference is hard to do.

Unless new Bucs coach Greg Schiano came out Friday dressed in fishnet stockings and called Pol Pot his hero, his Tampa Bay inauguration likely was going to go down in the win column. After all, in opening news conferences, you don’t have to explain how that fourth-quarter lead got away or defend some lamebrain fake punt call.

Opening news conferences are about the hopeful future, not the disappointing past. They’re about all the things you are going to do right because you have yet to do anything wrong. They’re about potential and promise and optimism.

We saw that Friday when Schiano was introduced as the new Bucs coach, and for a moment, you couldn’t help it. You wanted to strap on some pads, charge out into the streets and look for someone to pancake.

But there was more to Friday than unicorns and rainbows. Here are five impressions from Schiano’s opening news conference.

He seems like a head coach
Remember Raheem Morris’ first news conference? He looked like a guy who had never stood on a podium before. You know why? He had never stood on a podium before.

Morris seemed nervous. He looked like a man in way over his head. Not Schiano. He feels like a head coach, a CEO, a guy who knows what the heck he is doing.

He was cool. He was calm. He spoke confidently but not arrogantly. He was idealistic yet realistic. Schiano wasn’t predicting double-digit wins or putting an expiration date on Super Bowl promises. Instead of telling fans what they wanted to hear, he told them what they needed to hear. There’s work to be done. Lots of it. And it felt like he was already rolling up his sleeves.

He seems like a disciplinarian, for now
Schiano came in with a catch-phrase: TBA. It stands for trust, belief and accountability.

"I can tell you accountability doesn’t work unless it’s consistent,” he said. "It doesn’t work unless there’s consequences. You’re always best when you know where the boundaries are. When you don’t know where the boundaries are, you start drifting. You end up in a bad place, and you don’tknow how you got there.”

Sounds great. Then again, it’s easy to be tough when talking about hypothetical problems in the future as opposed to real problems the night before a must-win game.

What do the players think? Do they need discipline?

"We weren’t winning, so we need something,” running back LeGarrette Blount said.

He’s essentially a college coach
When Schiano talks about career highlights, the best he can offer is beating the likes of Pitt and Louisville. This line is already making the rounds among the doubters: How can Schiano win the NFC South when he never even won the Big East? Speaking of which, it seems like a thousand teams have come through the Big East, but the Saints and Falcons most certainly did not.

Yes, he was an NFL assistant once, but that was back in the late 1990s — a hundred years ago in NFL time.

It’s also true that most recent college-turned-pro coaches have been unholy messes. But as Schiano points out, seven or eight coaches get fired every year, and they’re not all former college coaches.

"Everybody has trouble,” he said. "It’s a competitive league.”

He has plenty of work to do
Schiano admitted he doesn’t know a lot about the Bucs roster other than it has a good core of young players. He can’t tell you the preciseness of the receivers’ routes or the quickness in the first step of the tackles. Most of you reading this have watched Josh Freeman more than Schiano has. He doesn’t have a staff yet. He preaches "trust,” but you can’t have trust while you’re still learning everyone’s name.

You get the impression that he and general manager Mark Dominik still have to sort out who is in charge of what and how much input one has in the other’s area of expertise. It’s like a couple. They’ve had a nice first date, but it’s a long way from saying it will be a happy marriage.

There’s a lot to like, so far
With four beautiful children, a lovely wife and a proud set of parents who were all smiles Friday, Schiano says family is a priority. He considers himself a man of faith. He is well respected by his former players at Rutgers.

He quoted John Wooden on Friday and called Joe Paterno a mentor. He smartly dropped names such as Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Warren Sapp. Not only did he win Friday’s news conference, he ran up the score.

Just one problem: The opening news conference is the easiest opponent Schiano will ever face while coaching the Bucs.

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Sports News :Shooting from the lip/Jan. 30th edition

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:51 +0000

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …
Most enigmatic coverage
Fox had another UFC mixed-martial arts card in primetime on Saturday — the second ever and the first of four in 2012. So far, Fox has had some rotten luck. The first card back in November featured one fight

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Looking back at a weekend of televised sports …

Most enigmatic coverage
Fox had another UFC mixed-martial arts card in primetime on Saturday — the second ever and the first of four in 2012. So far, Fox has had some rotten luck. The first card back in November featured one fight that lasted less than one round. On Saturday, there were three fights and all went the distance, making for a boring night.

Early numbers are that Fox won Saturday night among adults 18-to-49, but that viewership was down compared to the first primetime broadcast in November.

I still doubt that the UFC is going to make serious inroads on network television, simply because most casual viewers don’t know the fighters and their backgrounds well enough to have a vested interest in the outcomes. It’s the same problem boxing now has and, in some ways, it’s the reason European soccer has never become hugely popular in this country. It’s not that people don’t like it. They just don’t know enough about the people.

As far as the UFC, Fox needs to use these primetime events to give us more of the up-close-and-personal stories that we used to see on old Olympic coverage. Back in the day, ABC was smart enough to realize that most viewers didn’t know a thing about some skier from New Hampshire or gymnast from Arizona. So it taught us about them — not just their careers, but who they were as people — and made us care as we watched them compete. Fox needs to do the same with these fighters that 99 percent of us don’t know. Because if we don’t know, we don’t care.

Best announcer
ESPN’s Chris Fowler has to be included among the smoothest announcers in all of sports. His work on College GameDay is superb, especially when you consider he does it without the use of a Teleprompter or cue cards.

And Fowler was the shining star in ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open. The work of Fowler and analyst Patrick McEnroe during Sunday’s instant classic men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was every bit as good as the match. In fact, the broadcast made Sunday’s incredible final even more enjoyable.

The key wasn’t what Fowler and McEnroe said, but what they didn’t say. Their willingness to let the tennis do the talking made the broadcast so good. After all, no words could trump that action on the court between two remarkable players at the top of their games. Announcers in every sport could take a cue from how Fowler and McEnroe called Sunday’s final.

Meantime, I wish Folwer and Chris Evert had talked more during the women’s final between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, if only to drown out the maddening shrieks, squeals and screams from Azarenka and Sharapova. I don’t know how tennis can legislate this. But it needs to do something because, honestly, the screaming made that match unwatchable.

Best documentary
Namath, the 90-minute HBO documentary about legendary NFL quarterback Joe Namath, is well worth your time. There aren’t any real surprises, but it’s a comprehensive look at Namath’s life, from growing up in Beaver Falls, Pa., to playing at Alabama to playing and living in New York to his recent years. The film doesn’t skip anything, including the cringe-worthy moment on Monday Night Football in 2003 when a drunk Namath told ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber that he wanted to kiss her. Namath talks about the incident, as does Kolber publicly for the first time. That’s just a small portion of the documentary, but shows how no stone is left unturned.

Best next analyst
If you’re Peyton Manning, why would even think about playing again? You’ve won a Super Bowl, you have been a league MVP, you’re a first-ballot Hall of Famer, you have plenty of money. Why risk not being able to walk or stand up straight when you’re 50?

There seems to be little doubt that within 10 minutes of Manning’s retirement, he will get calls from every network about coming to work as an analyst. Actually, he likely already has had such conversations.

Where would he be the best fit? He seems like a better studio analyst than a game analyst. He likely would get lost in the shuffle among ESPN’s cast of thousands. Fox, CBS and the NFL Network could use him, but each would have to dump someone to make room.
That leaves NBC. He could join analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, or NBC could just swap Harrison out for Manning. (Although I’m a fan of Harrison, too.) Either way, NBC seems like the best fit.

But don’t you get the impression Manning is going to play next season?

Strongest opinion
Speaking of NBC’s Rodney Harrison, he deserves kudos for saying on the air, after the Pro Bowl, that right now he trusts Eli Manning more in the clutch than his former teammate, Tom Brady. That could not have been easy for him to say.

Best line
You gotta love Rangers coach John Tortorella. When interviewed during Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game, Tortorella joked about fining a player ,000. NBC analyst Pierre McGuire told Tortorella that the NHL Players Association might not like that.

Tortorella deadpanned, "They don’t like anything.”

It was the best moment of, sadly, a boring all-star game. That isn’t mean to slam the NHL because there is no way, really, to spruce up the game’s drama without risking injuries. All those zig-zag, no-look, dipsy-doodle moves that have become a staple of the All-Star Game are fun to watch until you realize that no one would even think about those moves in a real game for fear of getting pasted into the boards.

What makes the broadcast somewhat annoying is listening to the analysts rave about such moves as if this were a game with real checking and defense. Don’t tell us about how "sick” or "incredible” a move was when the defensemen are putting up as much of a fight as an orange pylon.

Worst conflict
I’ll keep banging this drum, apparently to no avail: it drives me crazy to watch ESPN personalities do commercials with the athletes they cover. On Sunday, I noticed an ad for ESPN’s NBA coverage that featured announcer Mike Breen and analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Jon Barry alongside NBA stars Deron Williams of the Nets and Kyrie Irving of the Cavs. No one can convince me that it isn’t a conflict of interest for ESPN personalties to do commercials, and presumably socialize while shooting such commericals, with the athletes they cover and critique.

Biggest switch
Golf fans likely were annoyed Sunday evening when CBS left its first tournament of the season, the Farmers’ Insurance Open, during a playoff at 7 p.m. to switch over to new episode of 60 Minutes. Viewers were directed to turn to the Golf Channel for the rest of the tournament. As it turned out, the tournament lasted only another 10 minutes as Brandt Snedeker defeated Kyle Stanley on the second playoff hole, but there was no way CBS could know that the tournament would end there. It’s hard to blame CBS because 60 Minutes is one of the network’s staple shows and should get preference over what, ultimately, is not that significant of a tournament.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Three letters that came to mind while watching Sunday night’s NFL Pro Bowl: zzz.
2. Did you see Novak Djokovic’s speech after winning the Australian Open? Doesn’t get much classier than that, folks.
3. In women’s tennis, the last four majors have produced four first-time major winners. Some, such as ESPN’s Chris Evert, say that’s great. I disagree. Any sport is better when there is a dominant player or team or a great rivalry.

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