This Isn't Happening

If someone had told me in January that during the year 2006, The Dodgers would finally get rid of Jeff Weaver, only to watch him become a lights-out playoff pitcher who'd sinch a World Series for another team, AND told me that USC was going to have it's regular season winning streak snapped against the Oregon State Beavers, AND that the Broncos were going to lose a close game against Peyton Manning, AND that Red Auerbach was going to die, I'd have groaned and prepared myself for one of the worst sports years of my life. Now that all of those things have just happened in a single weekend, I'm in sports fan equivalent of intensive care. If I'm ever going to watch sports again, I'm going to have to ease into it, and just try to not let myself get hurt.
That might be tough because the crippling effect of this weekend wasn't just because of the losses for the teams involved, it was because of the dark clouds the weekend signaled over all their futures.

Weaver's superb post-season put a fine lid on a season when the Dodgers were constantly a day late and a dollar short, largely because of their running trend of getting bitten by former players. Whether it was Mike Piazza or Ceasar Izturis (Caesar Izturis!) killing them with game-winning hits in the regular season, or Lo Duca tagging two men out at the plate off of one throw from Sean Green in the playoffs. The Dodgers always, ALWAYS find a way to get bitten by their former players. Even the erratic Weaver, who no Dodger fan was sorry to see go, beat the Dodgers when he faced them as a Cardinal in July.

Now the Dodgers biggest stars, Maddox, Nomar, and Eric Gagne are no longer under contract. The price the team has to pay to keep them all in LA will probably be too high. It's a near certainty that at least one of them will be gone next year, and quite possible that they all could be. But the price of facing any of these dangerous players down the road might be higher.

USC didn't just lose to Oregon State this weekend, they were emberassed and exposed as an undiciplined team with too little direction from it's coaching(of course, if you read this blog, you allready knew that). SC's two point loss in Corvaliss may have been narrow, but as was the case in the Trojans' conference wins, the opposing team made things look better for the Trojans than they actually were. Oregon State's botched punt essentially gave USC a touchdown to keep them alive. The Beavers also had several untimely penalties that kept them from putting the game out of reach in the first half.

The Trojans committed four turnovers, (one coming on a should have been touchdown in the endzone) and
surrendured a humiliating punt return for touchdown on which none of the Trojans even looked interested in tackling the return man.

This is the Trojans' second season without Defensive Coordinator Ed Orgeron, and Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow. Already the precision and strategy that made the offense great are gone. So is the attitude and dicipline that enabled the defense to swarm quarterbacks and attack ball carriers.

Saturday's game in Corvalis wasn't just a loss for USC, it was proof that the Trojans are no longer the greatest program in College football. They're just another talented team. It wasn't farewell to the BCS Championship Game, it was farewell to a dynasty.

Speaking of bidding farewell to a dynasty. When I was finally able to turn the TV back on eight hours after the game I was greeted with the news that the patriarch of my favorite pro sports franchise had mercifully passed away. Red Auerbach's death came ten years after the Celtic's last championship and less than a week before the team starts its first season with a dance team.Red was always staunchly against using women in spandex to sell basketball (even eerily telling the Celtics, they'd get cheerleaders "over my dead body"), but then, he was also staunchly against using terrible teams to sell basketball too.

The Celtics are now in the second year of the fifth stage of their rebuilding process. They have one star (Paul Pierce), an unsuccessful coach and five players who are 21 or younger.
In other words, the team is really spinning it's wheels.

When I began following the C's in 1987, the team was begginning it's decline. The 1986 team's greatness was giving way to age and injury. The death of #1 draft pick Lenny Bias was still hanging over the franchise, and the death of Reggie Lewis was still to come. The Celtics haven't given fans of my generation much of anything to cheer for beyond the firing of Rick Pitino.

But there's something about Red. Something about the glint in his eye, the "I'm going to beat you, and you know it" smile, and the confidence puffing out of that fat cigar that makes us young fans feel good. Feel like, even though we've never seen a Celtics championship, that there's something about winning that only Celtics understand. That even though other teams may win, no one will ever win like Red won.

"Everyone keeps talking about the Lakers dynasty! Well, here's your dynasty, right here!!!!!!" -Red Hoisting the O' Brian Trophy after beating the Lakers in the Finals for the eighth time in eight tries. If you've ever wondered what the greatest quote in NBA history is, well, now you don't have to any more.

And really, that's what Red was about; Not X's and O's, but winning. When people think of Phil Jackson, they think of zen, or triangles. When they think Riley, Hair Gel. When you think about Red, the first word that comes to mind is "win". Auerbach was that smug old man that knew something you didn't and was going to beat you no matter what he had to do.

That's why so many of us still love the Celtics after all these years of ineptitude. We identify with that smug old man with the Cigar who was going to beat the other guy no matter what.

Now that the Celtics are in the spandex business, we'd all better have some pretty good memories.

The Broncos could have saved the weekend on Sunday because a win over the Colts would have legitimized the team as a Super Bowl contender. The Broncos played Indianapolis tight for all four quarters, but all I need to know about the team, I learned on their last drive.
With three and a half minutes in the game, and trailing by three the Broncos ran the ball on first down for no gain. They'd been running over the Colts the entire game, and the Colts had no choice but to stack the line and guard against the run.

I shouted, "Yes!" when I saw the Colts pass-vulnerable defense. And waited for Shanahan to drop the hammer.

Then the Broncos ran.

Their best bet was to throw on second down, even for short yards, and if they didn't get the first down, run on third when Indy wouldn't see it coming. Doesn't that seem more like Shanahan football than the predictable run for one yard on second down and an incomplete pass on third down?

It's against his nature, but the fact is that this season, Shanahan trusts his defense more than his quarterback. Against Kansas City that's fine. Against Indy it's not.

If you're going to beat a top team, you have to take the game from them, not hope they don't take it from you. That never works, and Shanahan doesn't usually think that way.

There are other theories for why Shanahan did what he did, but If he trusted Plummer at all, he would have passed on second. If his goal was just to run the clock out, he wouldn't have thrown on the next play. His thinking was, "If Plummer throws a pick here we're screwed. We're either going to win it on the ground, or kick."

They kicked, the Colts easily got into field goal range, game over. Super Bowl hopes dashed.

As well as Jake Plummer played on Sunday, it doesn't matter if Mike Shanahan doesn't trust him. And on Monday morning we all knew what the Broncos' ceiling is with him, and it's not the Super Bowl.

Here's hoping the Broncos give Jay Cutler a chance to take the team to a higher level before the window closes on the Broncos defense. Otherwise, I'm going to have a lot more bad weekends in the years to come.

Nepotism Loses Football Games: USC Mid-Season Report

My coverage of USC football has been pretty sparse this season and it dawned on me last week that it's really strange that I've posted waaay more about the Broncos than I have about the Trojans. Considering that I've only watched two Broncos games on tv and get the rest of my information from highlight shows, friends in the Rockies (who get all the games on CBS) and Denver newspapers.

By contrast, every USC home game is a huge day-long event for me that is anticipated for weeks in advance. I arrive at the stadium three hours before the game and never leave until well after the final gun sounds. I talk with fellow fans for hours about each game. So why, I asked myself, have I written almost nothing about the team that carries my largest investment of time, emotion, and thought? I'm best qualified to write about SC, so why don't I do it?

The only answer I've come up with is that I do this blog for fun, and thinking reminiscing on past USC games this season has been anything but fun.

Of course, I'm aware that the team I'm talking about is 6-0 and acknowledged to be among the top five in the nation, but not even that makes me happy.

Watching the other 6-0 SC teams, and even the 4-2 2002 team, I knew I was seeing something special. I knew I was watching a team that could and should win the national championship. Anyone who feels that way about this year's Trojans is delusional. And it's not going to get better, it's going to get worse.

Pete Carroll made the decision to return USC to mediocrity when he ran Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow out of town so he could give the job to his Godson, Lane Kiffen. That whole debacle made my stomach turn a bit, and reminded me of another story that should be making the whole Trojan family sick.

Bobby Bowden got a little big-headed after his national title at Florida State in 2000 and replaced his offensive coordinator with his son too. How's that turned out?

See if this sounds familiar. Mark Richt ran the offense at FSU from 1990 through 1999. During that stretch, Florida State was the best program in college football. They won their conference every season but one; they won two National Championships, and Richt coached two quarterbacks to Heisman Trophies.

Other than the years involved, that's exactly how Norm Chow's resume read at USC.

Mark Richt's last game at FSU capped an undefeated national championship, just like Norm's, and Mark Richt's replacement (using the term loosely) was the son of the Head Coach...Just like Norm's.

So if we want to see where USC is headed, we should look at where Florida State has been.

In 1990, the Seminoles remained strong. Winning 11 games, but losing in the National Championship game. Their offense did not score in the game.

Since then, It has won ten games or more only once and lost 3 or more every season. They've lost that many already this season, and are currently in last place.

Pete Carroll has built a mighty program at Southern Cal, and the team is still loaded with talent. But it is becoming more evident every game that the offense is a boat without a rudder.

Last week's game winning drive in the fourth quarter is being billed by the team as a confidence builder. "We showed there that we can play smashmouth football against anybody" Coach Steve Sarkisian bragged to the media.

What the rest of us saw is a Junior quarterback crapping his pants AT HOME with a 21 point lead against one of the worst defenses in the Pac-10. Booty was playing so bad at that point, he was only allowed to throw one pass on the drive. It was was a four yard screen, which he missed by three yards.

The Trojans have enough talent to run up the middle 12 times on the same drive against ASU, but what's going to happen when Booty assumes the fetal position against Oregon or Notre Dame? What's going to happen when Lane Kiffen's ultra-predictable play calling becomes an easy read for Jeff Tedford's defense?

Lane Kiffen has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to make in-game adjustments, and an inability keep defenses guessing with play calling. His refusal to throw the ball against Texas when it was working cost SC the National Championship last year. This year, the Trojans are running on fumes of former glory, and coasting into mediocrity.

Seperated at Birth?

As a Trojan, choosing sides for the UCLA-Notre Dame game on Saturday I think I felt a little of what Grady Little must have gone through this season when he picked a relief pitcher from the Dodger Bullpen. I didn't particularly like any of my options, and I knew whomever I picked stood an excellent chance of doing something stupid to let me down in the end.

But, cheering for UCLA in the fourth quarter I was continually impressed by their ability to put pressure on Quinn and stifle the Irish offense. I had been equally impressed by Cowan's ability to come off the bench and make big throws against the supposedly much improved (snicker) Notre Dame defense on the road.

So when the UCLA defense forced a punt midway through the fourth quarter and forced the Irish to punt, it felt like UCLA had a good chance to fight its way through the echos and come up with the upset. The Bruins had been averaging almost seven yards per pass attempt, and the Irish we're reeling, so it seemed like the obvious move to run some play action, and have Cowan work the underneath routs the Irish had been giving him all game. All the Bruins needed was one good scoring drive to put the game on ice.

But Karl Dorrell didn't want to mount another scoring drive. He wanted the game to be over right then and there.

UCLA was the unranked team visiting the national powerhouse. UCLA was the team that did not have a national championship, or even a conference victory on the line. UCLA was a team the lead in the fourth quarter with nothing to lose, and a program establishing win to gain. But then in a moment, UCLA ceased to be the hunter, and became the hunted.

UCLA averadged less than one yard per carry on Saturday, but Dorrell ran the ball anyway. Ran it again and again. Terrified of an incomplete pass stopping the clock. Terrified, he would have to play more football. His fear played right into the Irish's hands. UCLA had two possessions the rest of the game. They ran six plays that gained a net seven yards.

On Defense, they went away from the blitz packages that had been effective at forcing Quinn into bad situations the whole game. Instead, they used a prevent defense that allowed for the short passes that Notre Dame's offense thrives on. Begging the Irish to take anything but the endzone on it's last possession, Quinn took everything the Bruins gave him. That was enough.

When Notre Dame Senior Receiver Eddie Vedder caught one of those short passes and stumbled through the Bruin's secondary for the game winning touchdown, you'd have had to have been Dorrel himself to be surprised at the outcome.

UCLA's gameplan had worked for three and a half quarters. Then it was abandoned. By changing gears at the most critical point in the game, Dorrell was assuming his team would fail if he allowed them to continue. He was to afraid to find out if his team was good enough emphatically win game. It was so much easier to find out if the Irish were good enough to steal it.

UCLA's players worked hard and effectively for for 54:30 at Notre Dame Stadium. Dorrell's cowardice stole the last 5:30 from them. And that was all the Irish needed.

Go Broncos.

If you guys haven't seen this. You need to.

SOURCES: Cardinals to Throw Away Season

For the Cardinals sake, I hope one of two things.

One, I hope ESPN's "sources" are wrong, though Denny Green's non-endorsement of Kurt Warner as the starter against Atlanta deosn't appear to be good news for Warner. Maybe Coach Green is playing head games with Warner, who knows? But after the Josh McCown, Shaun King, and John Navarre QB carousel which may have ruined the Cardinals 2004 season, I think Denny Green is crazy enough to go through with it and play Matt Leinart.

Two, should Matt Leinart start against Atlanta next week, I hope it goes much better than I expect. While Matt Leinart looked poised in preseaon and is clearly the future QB of the franchise, to thrown him in now may spell F-I-R-E-D for Denny Green come January. Leinart has neither the running game or offensive line to help him succeed as a rookie. This was supposed to be the year the Cardinals broke through and made the playoffs, not the year to experiment with the new toy. Warner did have a very bad game against the Rams, but it was one game. Warner was also the Player of the Week during week one. Why not give him a little more time to see which Kurt Warner is the real Kurt Warner?

UPDATE: Phew!

World Ends, Cardinals Hardest Hit

Ah, the traditional slow start by the Arizona Cardinals. Except this year (and last year too, but really this year) it wasn't supposed to happen. The new stadium was here. The stadium is sold out. The Edge is in town. Kurk Warner is (cough) healthy (cough). Fitz and Boldin are the among the best receiver duos in the league. Another successful draft. Everything was coming together so...perfectly.

But of course, the games still had to be played. And, of course, three red zone turnovers don't help win games.

By dropping the game against the Rams yesterday, the Cardinals now find themselves looking up at the Rams and the Seahawks in the division and hanging out with the Niners at 1-2.

To make matters worse, this was a game the Cardinals desparately needed. The next three weeks have the Cardinals at Atlanta, then home for Kansas City and Chicago, not an easy stretch. Following that, the Cardinals travel to Oakland then to Green Bay before their bye week following week 8. If the Cardinals hope to push for the playoffs, they really need to find a way to be at least 4-4 when they go into their bye week.

The good news is that Edgerrin James ran better than the first two weeks. If he can keep it up and if Warner can get back on track the Cardinals should be okay. Cardinal fans are holding their breath.

Mr. President, call in the National Guard! Send as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! They need emergency help!"

That's a Shannon Sharpe quote from- Geez. Can this be true!?- ten years ago on the sidelines of a Bronco rout of New England. Ten years, and it's still the first thing that comes to mind for any Bronco fan when the Patriots come up. Pats fans haven't forgotten it either. Other than fans in Cleveland, no one outside the AFC West hates the Broncos like New Englanders, and it all goes back to Sharpe's vociferous celebration. Of course, that was back when Clinton was in the White House, and everyone knew the President would not call in the national guard. No matter what happened to the Patriots. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but since Bush took the White House in 2001, the Patriots have established a modern NFL Dynasty. But even with all their titles, and (unprecedented military spending by the US) they still can't seem to do much about the Broncos.
The Patriots have won three Super Bowls in five years, but the Broncos are 5-1 against them since their first title year in 2001. No other team who's played the Pats four or more times in that stretch even has a winning record.

Watching a Shanahan-Belichick battle always brings to mind the cliche of a chess match as Belichick comes up with defensive schemes to match Shanahan's offensive attack. I loved watching what Belichick did to keep Plummer from rolling outside the tackles on his bootlegs, and Then seeing Shanahan come up with ways to make the Pats pay for putting pressure on the Tackles. Shanahan won that battle, but the difference for the Broncos last night was their phenomenal Defense.

Knowing that the Patriots' receiving corps were severely depleted, the Broncos set out to take away the Patriots' powerful running game. In spite of averaging 165 yards rushing this season, New England ran for only 50 yesterday. Fewer than the number of pass attempts by Tom Brady (55) Twenty seven of the Patriots last twenty-eight plays were passes. Not even Indianapolis would like that ratio.
But as good as the defense was, the first real appearance by the Broncos offense was a huge story for fans in Denver. Jake Plummer's ratio of four interceptions to zero touchdowns had been causing a controversy that was threatening the Broncos season. But yesterday, Plummer threw two TD passes and no INT's against the most complex defense in the league. In the process, he reminded everyone that he, not Mike Shanahan, was the person who could end the QB controversy the fastest. And he did something more. Time and time again, when there was nothing going on a play, he accepted it and threw the ball away. You could almost hear the releived chants all the way from Denver every time he thought about throwing into triple coverage, and tossed the ball out of bounds instead. IN-COM-PLETE!

A poll in the Rocky Mountain News reports that nearly 80% of fans in Denver are back supporting Jake. With the fans at his back, and The first Monday night game in Denver in years coming up next, the Broncos should have plenty of momentum to get them through the bye-week and ready for Baltimore.

WCB INVESTIGATION: Are Big XII schools really schools at all? ---Update

This just in, ESPN's Pat Forde now has a column out about the Boren letter to the Big XII. In it he mentions that David Boren is not only the President of the University of Oklahoma, he was also governor of the state and served as a US Senator. So I did a little research on this and it is true. Boren was governor of Oklahoma from 1975-1979, and served as us Senator for 15 years from 1979-1994 (1994 being the year all the bums got kicked out in Clinton's first mid-term).

So the problem could be worse than I thought. We could be dealing with not only a phony University, but a phony STATE. This guy was governor!

And here's something, there's strong suspicion that he's a closeted trans-sexual From what I can gather, there was a rumor in the media that there was a sexually abusive legislator in the state legislator as Boren was running for federal office. Here's a couple of quotes from Boren's website: Boren's Website!

"During his first race for federal office the Legislator held a press conference to deny a rumor that he was a closeted homosexual. As any Oklahoman who followed politics in the decade knows, that is exactly what David Boren did in 1978. Taking an oath on a white Bible, he swore that he was straight. Signorile reports that the accusation of the Legislator being homosexual surfaced during the summer. The banner headline "Sex Charge A Lie, Gov. Boren Replies" appeared on the front page of The Daily Oklahoman on August 11, 1978."

So it turns out, he didn't used to be a woman.

OR DIDN'T HE!? Here's the next paragraph on the web page:

"The match on the press conference and accusation of homosexuality would be enough to create strong suspicion that the sexually abusive Legislator was indeed Boren. But there is more. The Legislator supported the Supreme Court nomination of both Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, as did Boren. The Legislator was reported to be a married man with children at the time of the 1978 Senate race. In 1978 Boren was married to his second wife Molly Shi, and had children by a previous marriage."

What does this have to do with last Saturday's Oregon game? Nothing. I just think it's hilarious. Especially because the stuff on the web page is so poorly written, I can't really tell what' actually happened, nor am I sure why they put all the Damning evidence against him as the last mention of it, and never gave any evidence that the "rumored legislator" wasn't Boren other than the fact that he swore on a white Bible that he wasn't.

What kind of legal system does Oklahoma have? If you call a press conference and swear on a white Bible then you're exonerated from all charges? Is the fact that Pac-10 officials haven't sworn on a white Bible the reason that they look so guilty? This is fascinating.

Dodgers!

Last night the Dodgers looked like they were going to give away a crucial series vs. San Diego at home I was cursing myself for my last Dodger post and wondering why I keep letting the bums suck me in. Then the Bums reminded me.

If you don't know what's happening in Southern California baseball, the Dodgers came into the stadium last night fighting for their
lives with like a week left of baseball to be played, knowing that if
they couldn't beat their division rivals at home in September, they
probably don't deserve a chance at October.

So here's the scene at The Stadium. It's a Monday night, but the ravine is packed, sold-out. Vin Scully
kept mentioning over and over how it felt like the playoffs,
"like a Friday and a Saturday night, all rolled into one." I think that means it was electric. I love Vin
Scully, but anyway...

I tune into the game in the 1st and watch Brad Penny (the Dodgers'
"ace") take the mound and give up four runs in the top of the first.
The phenomenon of Dodger aces getting hammered is getting remarkably unremarkable this September.

In the third inning, I leave to go to the concert with Gage (that gets
it's own post) and the Dodgers were losing 4-1. When I came home, I
was about to go to bed when I got online to see how bad the damage
was. When I saw what happened I ran to a TV and started looking for
highlights. I didn't find any, but I found Prime Ticket replaying the
game, and well, I'd just had 12:30am In-n-Out, Myka was looking at an
all nighter with homework, and The Dodgers had done something
that only three teams had ever done before, and no team had done since
the early 60's. Plus, they did it with the season on the line in the bottom of the 9th.

I stayed up to watch it.

Fast-forward to the eighth inning. The Dodgers came back from the
four run deficit, and the game is tied game at four, only to watch Jonathan
Broxton (surprise!) give up two more runs, giving the Pads a 6-4 lead.

In the bottom, the Dodgers scored again, leaving the Padres a one-run
edge going into the 9th.

They then extended that edge to a cliff, scoring three more, and going
up on the Dodgers by four runs, again.

So all the faithful head for the exits, as Jeff Kent comes up to lead-off
the bottom of the 9th.
Then, the Padres decided that it wasn't worth closer Trevor Hoffman's
effort to come in for the save with four runs of insurance, so they
sent in some guy named Adkins.

And Kent took him deep. The few thousand left in the stands clapped and
we're glad they'd leave with something nice to remember the game, and
the season by.

Then JD Drew came up. And wouldn't you know it, but he homered, too.

So then, everyone starts thinking, "Hey, we're only two runs back
here. With no outs. If Martin gets on, then the tying run is at the
plate, and... we can make a run at these guys!"

The Padres must have thought that too because Hoffman was jogging out to
get the save before Drew's bomb even cleared the fence.

Scully mentions when Hoffman last blew a save vs. the Dodgers. I don't remember the year exactly, but I do remember that it started with a 19.

Then, Martin Homered. The first pitch.

Then, a guy named Marlin Anderson homered...
The first effing pitch.
Even guys the Dodgers pulled off the bench were homering.

So we go to extras.

And of course, the Dodger bullpen was involved, so the Padres got
another run in the top of the tenth before Kenny Lofton leadoff the
bottom for the Blue.

He walked. "And the Dodgers have a Rabbit on base,
representing the tying run." Scully remarked.

Then, Nomar Homered.

Vin did his patented silent treatment to let the pandemonium in the
stadium tell the story, and as Nomar jumped into the pile at Home
Plate you could hear Randy Newman on the PA system singing
"Rollin' down... Imperial High-WAY..." Then Vin broke in with,

"I forgot to tell you...The Dodgers are in first place."

It's just another perfect day.
I love LA.

What's a BAD Win?

Coaches always say, "It was a good win" in their press conferences. But is there such thing as a BAD win? I submit to you the Denver Broncos 9-6 home OT win over the Kansas City Cheifs. It was a game Denver HAD to win (considering their inability to win at Arrowhead) to compete for the AFC West title this year. And they did, but aside from that, there's not much on the offense for Denver fans to be happy about. The long dependable running game sputtered against KC's unproven (but possibly very good) defense, and Jake now has five givaways on his stat sheet to go with zero touchdown passes. The Broncos have scored one touchdown in two games and that's not going to get them back to the AFC title game. It's not even going to get them past .500.

.....

Denver's problem now is deciding what to do about their offensive problems. Red Zone efficiency is the team's achillies heel, and has been since Jake Plummer took over the offense. My knee jerk reaction to this is that it's time to give Jay Cutler some reps in games. Yeah. I said it, put him in the game. He's got the ability, the only worries about Cutler center around the fact that he's a rookie and he doesn't know the offense, so he'll make dumb mistakes at critical times that really cost the Broncos. Well isn't that what Plummer is doing now? Isn't Plummer just a 32 year-old version of a first round draft pick? Isn't he the guy with all kinds of talent, the guy who can make electric plays, but also has a tendancy to overestimate his own ability and force things that aren't there? Isn't he the guy who forgets what the coaches told him in crunch time and just wings it? Isn't he the guy who's a lock for a turnover when the chips are down? And aren't those the EXACT things you'd worry about if you played a rookie? So what's the difference?
I know this is pretty much a complete 180 from last week's Bronco rant, but someone tell me what we have to lose by playing Cutler. I really think that if we don't get the offense together next week, it's time to pull the trigger.

....

On the plus side, two weeks with no touchdowns allowed! We're becoming the 2004 Bears!

Stanford Alums' Bush Investigation Fails to Make Stanford's Football Team Any Better

Yahoo! Sports released findings of its long running investigation of former USC running back Reggie Bush on Thursday. But the bitter Stanford grads' publication of alledged wrongoing by the NFL rookie did not stop the Cardinal from dropping to 0-3 on Saturday. The report alledged that Bush and his family violated NCAA rules by accepting cash and gifts from marketing agents during the 2005 season. It did not however help the Stanford's defense stop Navy as the Midshipmen gained 368 yards rushing, and defeated the Cardinal by four touchdowns.

According to the report, the Bush family received the equivalent of nearly $100,000 dollars from two marketing agents. That being more than two dollars for every fan in the non-sellout crowd on hand for the first game at the state-of-the art, New Stanford Stadium.

After the game, Stanford coach Walt Harris exressed optimism that more muckraking by the fledgling Nor-Cal journalists could still help turn the season around, "Hey, we've hardly scratched the surface of guys we can try to bring down." He said, "Pretty much every big-name college player is getting paid by someone, so there are still pleanty of people we can disparage in order to elevate our own image." He then added, "How 'bout that Tiger Woods?"

Yahoo! Attempted to bolster the effect of the report by publishing a number of damning opinion columns reminding readers of the serious nature of the allegations, but even that did not stop USC from recording a win on Saturday and shockingly doubling the attendance of Stanford's stadium debut.

Yahoo!'s allegations also, did not alter the fact that Bush rushed for 113 yards and one touchdown in USC's win against the Cardinal last season.

The Illini's tough schedule continues

(This post is dedicated to my friend Nate who doesn't think I follow University of Illinois sports before basketball season starts.)

Quick, how many BCS conference college football teams do you think could start their season with Games against Eastern Illinois, Rutgers, and Syracuse, and not only not be accused of scheduling cupcakes, but could actually lose two of those games in blowouts? Outside of the Big East, I can think of...one.
Illinois was destroyed 33-0 at perennial doormat Rutgers last week and this week they face a Syracuse team that's lost eleven games in a row including one last week that saw them blow a double OT game at home after two Iowa penalties gave them six, that's S-I-X chances at the endzone from inside the five yard line.

But, given that the team the 'Cuse took to 2OT was #14 Iowa, they could potentially roll over Illinois.

As an Illini supporter, I'm just glad they haven't started the Big Ten schedule yet. They didn't win a single conference game last year, and last year's team only lost to Rutgers 33-30.

DOG Quotes

(I'd love to make this a DOG "Quote of the Day" because I think it's one of the best things on TV, but I just don't see the show often enough. So I'll just call it a running feature and put the quotes up as I find them. By all means, feel free to supplement with finds from your own viewing)

Here's DOG responding to his wife when she went shopping and brought him home some fancy, name brand clothes:

"This isn't my name. I don't wear someone else's name on my shirt. No Honey. No names. I wear Jesus or Harley Davidson. That's it."

OH COLD CRUEL WORLD!!! How long must I wait until Monday Night Football?!

At first I thought ESPN's MNF ads were clever. They capitalized nicely on the catchy theme song, and the role the show plays as a social fixture in the fall.

But now that the season has started, were getting these countdown ads. It's like, "Tuesday. It's all about last nights game, you're talking about it all day, even though you aren't a Raider fan or a Charger fan, you've found that the Raiders-Chargers game was the highlight of your pathetic week. And now, even though you aren't a Steelers fan or a Jags fan, all you can think about is next Monday's random matchup!"

I had no idea that my life was so pathetic that all I thought about every hour of every day was how long it was until the Monday Night Football game between two teams I don't care about. Thanks for cluing me in ESPN.

Twisting the Knife

I was just talking to a friend tonight about the way former Dodgers tend to twist the knife when we play them the first time. Specifically, the way Paul LoDuca snapped Eric Gagne's save streak.

Tonight Caesar Izturis, my former favorite Dodger won his first game against his former team with a two-out walk off double in the bottom of the 11th.

Damn Dodgers.

Arizona Cardinals undefeated!

1-0, Cardinal fans. The Arizona Cardinals broke in their new stadium in style offensively, putting up 34 points on the 49ers. Defensively, they gave up 27 points in the highest scoring game of week one. However, with a trip to Seattle this weekend, the 0 in the L column may not last long.

How much improved is Reggie Bush's high school teammate Alex Smith? He looked very good against a Cardinal secondary that should be the strength of the Cardinal defense. The Rams intercepted Jake Plummer three times in week one. This upcoming Sunday, the 49er home opener against the Rams should be a good indication of where Alex Smith is at.

Is Arizona going to have success running the ball this year? Although Edge only put up 73 yards in the opener, and the team ran for 84, the Cardinals should improve as the season wears on. With the very limited action Edgerrin James saw in the preseason and with the offensive line of Arizona still coming together as a group, week one's running performance should not be an indicator of the difficulties the Cardinals faced last year with the run. If the line gets settled in and if the coaches find the plays that work the best with James, the running game should significantly improved from last season. This must happen in the Cardinals have hopes to make the playoffs.

I love the Raiders!

I don't know who ESPN thinks they are, but they're gonna have TBS' lawyers at their door today. The Superstation has been working hard to identify itself as the cable network for comedy, and then ESPN goes and puts the Raiders on in prime time in the most publicized Monday Night Football ever? Aaron Brooks & company got sacked nine times last night (say in Ferris Beuler's principal's voice). "Nine times". En route to a shutout. Now that's what I call "very funny"

I think we're to the point where we can call Al Davis the Fidel Castro of Football. He had a good run in the 70's but now he's just a failed dictator and all the fans in Raider nation are starving. Cuba draws the ire of the entire Western Hemisphere for being the last bastion of communism there, and Davis has made his the Raiders the only team in sports that is considered the #1 rival of every single other team in it's division. The only debate in my mind is over who's worse, Raider fans or Communists. It's a tough call, but I think I sort of feel sorry for the starving Cubans. Raider fans are getting what they deserve.

Kuo! That guy's good!

The Dodgers are 3-4 seven games into their longest road trip of the season, but after a four game split at Shea Stadium over the weekend, I'm feeling more optimistic about the team than I was even before they went 1-2 against the lowly Brewers. One of the biggest reasons is Hong-Chih Kuo. And it's not just the fact that the Dodgers just happened to find the 25 year old, Taiwanese version of Pedro Martinez in their minor league system just in time for the division race and the post-season, it's that stuff like that has been happening to them all year.

Throw rookie Andre Eithier into left field, he hits .325, and has a cannon arm. Plug Russell Martin in at Catcher and all of a sudden the pitchers are all pitching better and you've got a .290 #6 hitter with at least ten good years ahead of him to get better. Why wouldn't there be a rookie reliever somewhere in the system who's had Tommy John's surgery twice but can still throw six shut-out innings of 96 mph fastballs against the leauge's best offense?

When the Dodgers won the division in two years ago, you could smell it before it happened. They'd look cooked in the bottom of the seventh and then Sean Green would hit a huge Home Run, or Steve Finley would get a clutch hit at just the right time. They had so many miracle, come from behind wins that you knew something special was happening. You knew they were destined to win the division, and this season, the Dodgers are going to win the division again, and you can feel it because of the Rookies. They're popping up in just the right places at just the right times to put the team over the top.

The Mets had two big wins vs the Dodgers this weekend, and should still be the favorites to win the inevitable NLCS matchup with the Dodgers next month, but who's spot would you rather be in? The Mets, watching the stars fade before your eyes? Or the Dodgers, going into Pedro's ball park, and pulling a kid who looks like the next great pitcher out of a hat? My wife (raised in a Mets house) read me something last week that called the Mets, "Where talent goes to die". This season, the Dodgers have re-asserted themselves as the organization where talent is born.

Broncos have more to worry about than just loss to Rams

Heading into last season, Mike Shanahan was 10-1 in season- openers, so Broncos fans were shocked when the team started 2005 with a loss to a non-playoff team with a rookie head coach. That disappointment soon gave way to optimism when the Broncos won their next five games, went 13-3 and broke another Shanahan pattern, that of turning a strong start into a mediocre finish.

But this year's opening loss to a rookie head coach seems more portentous than last as the inevitable QB controversy between Jake Plummer and Jay Cutler was moved from where Broncos brass scheduled it, 2008, to last night.

It might have seemed that the controversy was inevitable given the reputation of Jake the Snake and the way the Broncos traded up to draft a prodigious QB out of college. But the standard development track for a quarterback is a year of clip board, and a year of backup time before moving into the limelight. In the NFL, Even physical specimens like Carson Palmer require a year of learning complex defensive and offensive schemes before becoming field generals.

That all seemed fine in Denver considering that in 2005 Plummer's troublesome INT total dropped to a career-low 7 from his 20 in 2004. And Jake lead the Broncos to their first AFC title game since you-know-who was under center.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, Cutler's stellar pre-season was immediately followed by Jake Plummer throwing three interceptions, and losing a fumble, projected through 16 games, the total of 72 giveaways would be a career high for any quarterback, even Plummer.

To his credit, the fumble was mostly the fault of Rookie Mike Bell's weak pass blocking, and it could be said that one of the Interceptions was the fault of the receiver. But those excuses aren't going to quiet the voices of the fans in Denver.
Right now, Jay Cutler doesn't know the offense well enough to step in and lead the Broncos. He said as much yesterday. But if Jake Plummer doesn't prove that he can return to 2005 form in a big hurry, the Broncos may well conclude that they have nothing to lose by going with the rookie.

If they haven't already. Last year Plummer recovered from a slow start, and performed exactly as his coaches hoped he would. The result left the Broncos short of the Super Bowl. If Broncos management thought that the best case scenario with the Plummer was good enough, they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to acquire Cutler.


Cutler may well be the best leader for the franchise over the long term, but if he takes over this year, Broncos fans would need to demonstrate patience with the young player as he goes through his learning curve. And they certainly never did that when the team was nurturing a young John Elway.

Bronco fans should learn from the fans in Cincinnati who's wait for Palmer was rewarded with a Pro Bowl third season. The fact of the matter is, the success of the 2006 season almost certainly still depends on whether we see Jake the Great, or Jake the Snake. Regardless of who's holding his clipboard.

........

However, in spite of the controversy, I see some defenite bright spots for the Broncos. They had two running backs average better than six yards per carry, and their defense didn't allow a touchdown, even when Plummer's fumble handed the ball to the Rams' offense inside the five yard line. It looks like the Broncos defense could be even better than last year.

Mission Statement

The purpose of the West Coast Bias is to serve as a forum for any sports fan looking for a reprive from the cliche'd coverage of the mainstream sports media. For, instance if you don't care if Bill Parcells is getting along with T.O. and you never did, the West Coast Bias may be for you.

If it bothers you that a golfer is being called, "the greatest athlete of all-time", that Vince Young is publicised as a top NFL prospect, or that Danica Patrick became the most famous racecar driver in the world without winning a race This blog is for you.

If the only baseball team you hate more than the Yankees is the Red Sox, or if you wish Mike Vanderjagt could have been on Peyton Manning's team forever, Welcome home.

West Coat Bias! Por Fin!

It's finally happened. The West Coast Bias has a home on the World Wide Web. It's a Saturday when SC didn't play, Arizona got smacked in Death Valley and Utah played NAU. But we're on boys. We're on

Buenvideo a WCB todos!

Welcome everyone to the West Coast Bias! The internet home for West Coast Sports fans.