FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Dave, I understood the effort at humor, but was responding to the underlying implications. Was that inappropriate? Guess I should have treated it with similar lame humor.
No hurt feelings; just trying to make a serious point, which can be hard on Fan Nation.

Looks like McDaniels was right to try to trade him.
Cutler is another spoiled athlete with a million dollar throwing arm, and mush for brains, who thinks the world doesn't appreciate him right now and it's unfair.

Agreed, they can't tackle. However, after age 35 or so that's a little valued skill, while education and brains count increasingly at those and later ages.
I enjoy a good football game, but it is a game, not real life. Real life is what you go to college to prepare for, academically, spiritually, and socially-develop the whole person.
I'm sure some do develop that way at 'Bama, but I'm not convinced it that institution's primary objective. Winning the BCS Championship appears to be the higher priority.

That would work, and the Geek Subdivision graduates will be the ones the 'Bama grads will be working for ten/twenty years later!

It'll be a negotiated settlement, worked out by the attorneys.

Ready for some heresy?
As a 70 year-old ND graduate, who began listening to the games over sixty years ago, I believe the college football world has changed in the past twenty years, primarily due to the money being paid by the NFL. A high school athlete who feels he has the potential to make the NFL wants a college program that grooms him for that career, and academics and a well-rounded college maturation experience is secondary.
Thus, unless a youngster has academic aspirations, or very influential parents who want their son to be educated, the probabilities of the elite HS athletes choosing ND have declined markedly in the past two decades. Charlie Weis has shown he can recruit, but I believe a lot of that was due to his implied promise to prepare them for the NFL, and he didn't recruit the depth at all positions, particularly defense, that is needed to sustain a top twenty program year after year.
Thus, it is time for ND to step back, acknowledge that unless it is willing to adopt the practices of college programs that have been successful in recent years (athletic dorms and dining halls, academic programs tailored to "jocks", lower admission standards, and a blind eye to low level anti-social behavior, year-round "training" etc.) they will not be able to compete in this quasi-professional development league for the NFL.
I'd be disappointed if the school made those compromises. I believe it is time for them to begin scheduling schools that have similar academic values, and believe their mission is to educate the whole student, not run a minor league program for the NFL. At one time Harvard and Yale played for the national title, then they realized they couldn't maintain their academic standards if they wanted to compete with the college programs that arose after WWII. ND is facing a similar Rubicon crossing today. Will they cross that river? I hope not. I'm happy to watch them play competitive ball against Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford etc. and once in a while have a team that rises to the BCS Bowl game level, but still educates young men to grow up as well-rounded human beings.
I'll probably hear a lot from fellow Domers who couldn't disagree more, and from supporters of the top twenty programs who will emphatically deny their schools compromise etc. We all know about denial.

Well said.
CW has proven ND can recruit top talent (except linemen and Def. Backs), academic standards notwithstanding.
Charlie is an offensive tactician, not a Head Coach strategist; the whole job is clearly too big for him to get his arms around.
Prior experience as the head coach of a significant Div I team is a prerequisite for the job at ND.

What??
Johnny Boy played well while with the Sox; we just didn't want to pay him the ransom the Yankees were willing to pay to sign him.
Penny lost it in the second half; might as well have been the batting practice pitcher used for the Home Run Derby at the All Star game.
Yes, yes, please sign him Yankees!

Some random responses to earlier posts, and other thoughts:

>Rivals HS talent ratings are interesting, but the real test of a coach's recruits is the NFL draft a few years later. ND hasn't had more than a couple of top draft picks in any year in quite a few years. Under Holtz and earlier they had multiple picks in the first three rounds each year.

>Academic standards will eliminate some prospects, but it isn't fatal to ND. However, the expectations ND has for the "student/athlete" when the arrive on campus is also a hurdle. Most of the SEC/ACC,PAC 10/BIG 10 etc schools that figure in the top twenty year after year cut a lot of slack for their athletes. ND doesn't and loses five/ten players a year who either transfer voluntarily or are asked to leave.

>ND publicly acknowledged it is easing off on its scheduling about three/four years ago, when the AD said, in effect, they have to stop scheduling too many top programs each year and build in a few breathers, particularly in the early part of the season. Isn't that what most of the big powers do, including some of them scheduling I AA programs (and getting beaten as did Michigan)?

>The turnover in ADs at ND in the past decade (I think the current AD is the fourth in that period) probably has something to do with the apparent indecisiveness and instability of ND's athletic programs (not just football; their approach to NCAA hockey has been very confusing).

>Charlie W. has got to win respectably this year. Going to a BCS Bowl would help--unless they go and get hammered and embarassed. Winning eight and losing the rest, but losing without looking like they are totally outclassed might also save him his job.

>My personal concern is that the stress of the job with his weight issues is harming his health; he may quit on his own initiative if he can't win, feeling that he is slowly killing himself (and he's got the money now to retire to a less stressful life).

Go Irish!

A woman who waits a year before filing a criminal complaint of sexual harassment etc. is bound to be questioned as to her intent.
Either she's gaming the situation, or she's so tramatized it took her a year to come forward, or she's plain stupid.
Take your pick.

Winslow is a TO wannabe, but without the talent to get the legitimate media attention that TO gets for his sometimes spectacular play.

Indians were never on the brink of the WS.
They just played over their head for one season. The years before and after were their real level.

Doesn't anyone remember? Moss enrolled at FSU and was subsequently kicked out of the program by Bobby Bowden before he played, due to getting busted smoking MJ.
Then he went to Marshall.
As an ND grad, I agree that the school holds the scholarship athletes in all sports to a reasonable level of academic achievement, but lets not get all rightous about our ND's academic standards.
Many other schools, as the poster above notes, have academic expectations of their players. You will note, however that they are not programs that, for the most part, contend for Top Ten ranking or BCS Bowls. The SEC schools, the ACC, the Big Ten, and Pac Ten, and many other programs that lead the polls year in and year out all have very challenging academic programs, and ALSO have very flexible academic criteria for scholarship students on revenue generating teams.
ND will probably not contend for top ranking in football and B-ball in the foreseeable future for those reasons, but so long as they field teams that are competitive and also schedule some of the schools that maintain academic standards like ND's then the alumni will have to learn to live with it. We can't have it both ways.

Pap is an air-head, engages mouth before brain often. He's a better than average closer, though he's given us Sox fans some heartburn more often than not this year.
He will probably move on from the Sox as soon as he gets to free agency, since he's made it clear he isn't interested in a long-term deal until he tests the market (I think he's eligible in two/three years), and we know the Sox won't pay big in the free agency market unless his performance is gold standard for the next few years.
Risky strategy, if his effectiveness declines he could leave a lot of money on the table, but if he keeps winning/saving, he could strike it rich--amybe with the Yankees who love to spend money.
The Sox are already grooming some successor candidates, so I think they realize it's just a matter of time. In the meantime, he's entertaining to listen to if you don't take him too seriously, This is not a Mensa candidate.

None of us knows what managing Rondo is really like, so if the GM and Coach both indicate Rondo is becoming a prima donna, we might listen. They may have tried to deal with him behind closed doors but he isn't listening, so they go public to indicate to Rondo how serious they are.
Too many of these young professionals in sports are unable to grow up and behave with maturity; if Rondo is becoming a team distraction then get rid of him. I have to believe the big three are not willing to put up with too much attitude from a young guy who still needs some maturing, both B-ball wise and also attitude-wise.

Back to Manny, in case anyone else cares.
I've been expecting him to screw up the Dodgers clubhouse, just as he did for the Sox; it was just a matter of time.
He's an airhead, a male bimbo, and thinks he can pretty much ignore the common courtesies and the traditions of baseball.
He will cover this up with lots of excuses, aided by his agent and chief enabler, and will come back in July acting as if it was all a "misunderstanding".
The really interesting question is what is his marketplace value now, after signing a one year deal with the Dodgers. At his age his reflexes are slowing, and without chemical assistance he may not be the hitter he was a few years ago, even last summer.
Thank God he is out of the Sox clubhouse; he is poison.

All this talk about replacing Girardi may be overlooking the fact that many good manager candidates, including Mattingly, may not want to work for the current team management, particularly after the way Torre was treated.
Hank 'n Hal are a couple of members of the lucky gene club, and Cashman is a Yes Man; the team is disfunctional because it starts at the top. As bombastic as the old man was, he knew how to run an organization, like him or not.

Another soap opera in the Bronx.
ARod was always a showboat and egomaniac; he's a distraction in a clubhouse, and his need for media attention insures the team is getting blasted regularly in the media.
For all of us Red Sox fans, this is a joy to watch play out. Let's hope it lingers all season!

If the Yankees do throw at Youk in the next three days it will be a hell of a brawl; both teams are ready to establish who is in charge of this division!

Anyone want to set odds on the prospects for an NFL strike/lockout in 2011?
Also, what are the odds the owners will outlast the players in a strike in a down economy?

The real question is, can Vick make it back to the NFL?
He was a marginal QB, lots of motion but relatively inaccurate and ineffective. Can he make it as a runner, or a defender; more important, will his ego let him take such a "demotion", even if he needs the money?
After a couple of years in prison will his physical skills still be there? He's not a youngster anymore and if I'm an NFL GM I'm starting out skeptical that he can contribute meaningfully to my team. I'd take a low cost chance if I didn't mind the negative publicity from PETA and others, but not get my hopes up.