Bye bye, Ty
So I see Notre Dame has fired Tyrone Willingham.
I must admit, I'm rather surprised. Of course, when you're a school that insists on carrying the illusion of being a football powerhouse, it's easy to surrender to your unrealistic expectations.
The 1980's are over, people.
If the Irish are doing this because they think they can lure Urban Meyer to South Bend, then that's reasoning I follow. I don't see Meyer going there, though.
If you were a hot commodity in the coaching market and had a choice between ND and Florida, for example, which would you pick? The school with stringent academic standards, or perhaps the school in a talent-rich state with the not-so-tough scholastic requirements?
It doesn't matter, though. Notre Dame might find a hotshot young coach, but they won't find a time machine.
Week 12 fantasy football
I'm not off to a very good start, with Mike Vanderjagt kicking a bunch of extra points (and missing one) again this week and Thomas Jones basically doing nothing.
Come on, Hines Ward. Burress is out, so you SHOULD have a big game. I really need it. I need my trade for Chris Brown to pay some dividends this week too.
Thursday's NFL games
For those of you stopping by, you will be occasionally treated to my expertise in picking games against the spread.
So far this year, I've been pretty bad at it. So it can only get BETTER, right?
Indianapolis at Detroit (+8)
At first, you may look at this game and wonder why the hell the Lions are only getting 8. They can't score, and the Colts obviously can. But if you've paid attention to previous Thanksgiving Day games, you'll remember that the Lions have pulled some pretty impressive upsets in the past. Not only that, but 8 points is a pretty big number.
Enough of that blather. The Colts will cover - big time. This will be an absolute blowout.
Chicago at Dallas (over/under: 36):
I'm not picking this turd against the spread. Both teams are starting rookie quarterbacks (I still can't believe Craig Krenzel is actually playing in the league). Both teams are end zone challenged. The Bears have a pretty good defense.
36 isn't much of a number, but I'm still taking the under.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas, Dad
The greatest idea (I can't take credit for it, though) for a Christmas present ever:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C6ECG/002-1432390-7383219?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
Well, that's one less present I'll have to shop for.
A commish with a clue
Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season on Sunday. It's nice to see David Stern step up and lay the wood to someone who obviously is making his league look ridiculous.
In an earlier post I questioned the merits of fining a player $50,000 when he's making 10 million dollars. Well, Stern answered that question. Artest's suspension is without pay, costing him about $5 million.
Way to go, commish.
Pistons-Pacers
Some general thoughts about Friday night's nonsense at the Palace:
1) I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone (including Pacers coach Rick Carlisle) say that the Indiana players were "fighting for their lives."
Huh?
Let me ask you this: if you were sitting in the stands, and 6'7" Ron Artest - known to be a raging psychopath - came charging at you, who would be fighting for their life?
If you're 5'9" like myself, which is about average, it's safe to say you should be terrified. Hell, if you're 6'4" and that nutjob comes at you, you'd better be concerned.
If Artest and his buddies hadn't wandered into the stands, they wouldn't have been "fighting for their lives."
2) Stephen Jackson really wanted a piece of Lindsey Hunter, didn't he? He's only got about 6 or 7 inches on the guy. What a hardass. Memo to Stephen: you're not very bright for charging into the stands either. The next time you wanna do that, you may want to do it in a city like Utah. Detroit isn't the place to show how bad you THINK you are - just ask your buddy Fred Jones.
3) The only way to deter this nonsense on both ends - fans and players - is jail time. Hitting NBA players in their wallets isn't going to make a dent. What's 50k to Artest, Jackson, or Jermaine O'Neal? As for the fans, here's to hoping police get as many of them identified as possible and make an example of them.
MSU football
Ah, the joys of Michigan State football.
A week after obilterating #4 Wisconsin 49-14, the Spartans went to Penn State (1-6 in the Big Ten before today) and lost 37-13.
How does this happen? If you've been following MSU football as long as I have, you're used to this stuff by now. Every year, the Spartans either:
a) beat a team they have no business beating (see last week).
b) lose to a team that ranges from below average (see today) to wretched (see the season opener against Rutgers, which lost to NAVY today 54-21).
c) manage to do both.
I believe that talent-wise, MSU has one of the five best teams in the Big Ten. Michigan is certainly more talented, as are Iowa and Wisconsin (last week notwithstanding). You could make a case for Purdue or Ohio State; I've seen little of the former and was hardly impressed by the latter when they beat us here.
So really, it comes down to coaching. Before the Wisconsin game, MSU was facing a three game season. MSU had to win all three to go to a bowl game, and got off to a great start last week. But getting killed by a horrible PSU team tells me John L. Smith didn't have his guys ready for Senior Day in Happy Valley.
John L. is getting 1.6 million dollars a year to coach here, which is a joke. We had better start seeing some 8 and 9 win seasons starting next year, or else. I told a friend today I'd buy his bus ticket out of town.
Drew Stanton is a wonderful talent, and I really hope we don't squander some potentially great seasons of his with anymore of the garbage we saw today.
