What Should the Big Ten Do? Part 2!

This past Sunday I posted my opinions about what schools the Big Ten should add to the conference.

I found this article on The Quad, the New York Times College Sports Blog. It does a great job analyzing the college football demographics around the country:

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/

Pretty interesting right?

So after reading this, what do you think the Big Ten should do? Vote in my poll!

Grantland.com, My New Favorite Website And Their Open Letter to Jim Tressel

A couple of months ago, ESPN/ESPN.com writer extraordinaire, Bill Simmons, launched the website Grantland.com.

I have quickly become a big fan of the site. Great writing, not only on sports but also on pop culture.

This open letter to Coach Jim Tressel was posted yesterday, written by John Brandon. Excellent!

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6891889/dear-coach-tressel

You can follow Grantland.com on twitter, @grantland33.

Just Like All The Others? Jim Tressel's Transgressions

I had a long drive last night after finishing a business trip to St. Louis. Listening to sports talk radio 700 WLW out of Cincinnati, I was able to hear highlights of the Jim Tressel press conference and local Cincinnati reaction to the story.

Jim Tressel was obligated to report information he received in emails about Ohio State football players selling/exchanging memorabilia with a tattoo parlor owner in the Columbus area months before the information became public this past December. The players implicated have received 5 game suspensions to be served at the beginning of the 2011 football season.

Jim Tressel screwed up. He said as much in the press conference last night. Talk radio callers generally gave him credit for standing up and taking his punishment. I'm not so sure. First of all, he didn't come out and self report it. He was caught. He had to face his punishment.

Secondly, I have to wonder about the inconsistencies of the punishments related to this incident. The players received a 5 game suspension for selling the memorabilia. Jim Tressel, the man who is supposed to be their leader, the man who is supposed to set an example for these young men, withholds information he was obligated to provide to his superiors, and signed an NCAA certificate of compliance at the beginning of the 2010 season stating "he has reported any knowledge of possible violations to the institution". What is Coach Tressel's punishment? A 2 game suspension and $250,000 fine. The NCAA will probably add to this punishment. But shouldn't the coach receive a harsher punishment than the player?

My take? No defense for what Jim Tressel did. He didn't get fired because he beats Michigan, wins Big Ten titles, and has won a National Championship. The disappointment for me is Jim Tressel seems to hold himself to a higher standard as does The Ohio State University. Both the coach and the institution are no different than any other College football coach or program.

But in the end, who cares? All will be forgiven when Jim Tressel leads The Ohio State University to another win over Michigan, another Big Ten Championship, and another BCS Bowl game.

As reported in the Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/tressel-i-let-some-people-down.html?sid=101

I Think I Need to Get Out of the Prediction Game

I picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to win this year's Super Bowl.

I only predicted two of tonight's Oscar winners correctly. Aaron Sorkin for adapted screenplay (The Social Network) and a lucky guess on Natalie Portman for best actress in Black Swan. I didn't even see her performance.

I suck at predictions. Based on my track record, I am not picking the Cincinnati Reds for this year's National League Central Division Champs.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Phil Simms-Hypocritical NFL Analyst!

Phil Simms, CBS NFL Football announcer, decided to confront Desmond Howard yesterday at the NFL Xperience exhibit in Dallas due to criticism Desmond had made earlier in the year about Mr.Simms' son Matt, a quarterback at the University of Tennessee. Apparently Mr. Howard had made the comments earlier in the season on ESPN College Gameday. Security had to step in so that Mr. Howard could continue with his appearance.

This is not the first time that Phil has been oversensitive about criticism his sons have received. In 2005 Steve Young criticized Phil's son Chris for his poor play with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Phil attacked him verbally a day later in a press conference.

Pretty amazing reading Desmond Howard's twitter stream on the incident. The best coverage of the altercation comes from the blog http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/. It includes Desmond's twitter feed.

Here is the article link: http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/cops-stop-phil-simms-attack-on-espns-howard-29469

Phil Simms and CBS released a statement about the incident:

UPDATE (2:44p PT): In response to today’s incident involving Desmond Howard, Phil Simms released the following statement to sportsbybrooks.com through CBS:
"Desmond and I were having a private conversation that became heated. But at no time was there ever a chance of any physical confrontation or that I felt the police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us."

Was this really the forum to air your grievances Phil? In addition, aren't you critical of NFL players' performance during your telecasts? I know we are talking about your sons, but criticism from analysts at big time college football programs and in the NFL is part of the deal. Thinking there are plenty of fathers and mothers of young men you have criticized who may have been upset, but didn't choose to verbally attack you in public.

Phil Simms should resign as an NFL analyst. Or CBS should fire him. Now that I think of it, maybe posting this is a bad idea. Oh well, what are the odds I will run into Phil Simms anyway...

Phil Simms at NFL Xperience. sportsbybrooks.com

Desmond Howard at NFL Xperience. sportsbybrooks.com

Super Bowl Prediction-Steelers win 7th Title 24 to 17!

Mike Tomlin and The Steelers are Going to Win #7!

After much deliberation, I am predicting the Pittsburgh Steelers will win Super Bowl #7 tonight. Score? Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Green Bay Packers 17.

Take it to the bank!

A Great Weekend!

What a great weekend! My wife and I were able to go to Columbus and meet our great friends Beth and Jon McIntyre for the Ohio State/Penn State football game.

A little background. Jon and I graduated from Lakota High School in West Chester Ohio in 1981. Tammy, my wife, and Beth graduated from the same High School in 1982. Tammy and Beth graduated from Ohio State together, while Jon and I went to different schools.

Both of us got married in 1986. We have stayed friends ever since! It's hard to get together as much as we used to, with all of our kids being older (we each have three). In addition, we live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, while Jon and Beth have recently moved to Connecticut.

Living so far apart is what made getting together this weekend so special! We all arrived Friday afternoon, had dinner at Haiku (in the Short North area of Columbus) and then went to the Big Bang Piano Bar and Gordon Biersch (where my daughter, Mallory, a senior at Ohio State met up with us and brought along her friends).

Saturday was breakfast and off to campus to check out ESPN Gameday and then to the game.

Of course, Ohio State won (not without a battle in the first half from Penn State). After the game we went to Rubino's Pizza in Bexley, and had a little carry out desert from Mitchell's Steakhouse.

It was such a nice weekend. We were able to catch up on our kids, our jobs, quotes from our favorite movies ("that's a YP, not an MP" guess the movie), and our families.

It is great to have friends like Beth and Jon! Just wish we could get together more often!

Go Bucks!