The Unsaintly Saints

One for the money!
Two for the show!
Three to get ready!
And...... $1500 for the first guy to take him out!

That was the motto in the New Orleans Saint's locker room from 2008 to 2010.  The saints defensive players were being payed under the table for targeting specific players.  In essence they were placing bounties on the star players of the other team to try to take them out of the game.  The players got $1000 for a player getting knocked out of the game and got $1500 for the player having to get carted off of the field.  It came to the pinnacle in the 2009 NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings where there was a $10,000 cash bounty placed on Brett Favre's head.

So "Bounty-gate" is fully underway and the investigation is just crucifying the Saints.  Not only did the Saints management know about the bounty system going on they lied to league officials about its presence in their organization.  Once all of this was found out NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell laid down the ban hammer on the Saint's franchise.  Putting some of the harshest sanctions on a NFL team in recent memory.  Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year starting on April 1st, G.M. Mickey Loomis was suspended for 8 games from the start of the season, assistant head coach Joe Vitt was also suspended for 6 games, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, they were fined $500,000 as an organization, and were stripped of two second round draft picks for this year.  All of these penalties were appealed back to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, except Gregg Williams, but he upheld all of the penalties.

Gregg Williams the man behind the bounty system at New Orleans, did not appeal his suspension.  Williams left the Saints organization last year and had recently hired over to the Ram's organization but hasn't coached or worked out with the team due to his suspension.  In his last time coaching as the Saints defensive coordinator he made some comments about players on their upcoming opponent (49ers) that essentially put the nail in his coffin so to speak.  Here is an excerpt from the story:

• On running back Frank Gore: "We've got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore's head. We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways."
• On running back Kendall Hunter: "Little 32, we're going to knock the f--- out of him."
• On quarterback Alex Smith: "Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head. Early, affect the head. Continue, touch and hit the head."
• On receiver Kyle Williams: "We need to find out in the first two series of the game, that little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion. We need to f---ing put a lick on him right now. He needs to decide. He needs to f---ing decide."
• On receiver Michael Crabtree: "We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna, or he wants to be a tough guy. We need to find out. He becomes human when we f---ing take out that outside ACL."
• On tight end Vernon Davis: "We need to decide how many times we can bull rush and we can f---ing put Vernon Davis' ankles over the pile.

In a sport of increasing violence the NFL is trying to stifle that with increased player protection and new rules to help reduce the risk of injury.  With this though, it not only puts a black eye on the Saints but on the NFL as a whole.  People still remember the infamous "Pacers-Pistons Brawl" which left a huge black eye on the NBA for a long time.  After the brawl happened, which not only included players but also fans too, the NBA had to do a lot to restore their image.  They revamped their social outreach programs with the players and also reinforced the dress code for players when coming to or sitting on the bench at games.  One can only wonder what changes are going to be made by the NFL and what this mark is going to leave for them.  I bet there are a lot of bruises though.

Elite Elliott

This week I was able to meet with Elaine Elliott.  Elaine was the head basketball coach of the University of Utah's women's basketball team for 27 years.  She retired from her head coaching position at the 'U' as the winningest coach in Mountain West history with a record of 582-234.  She led the Lady Utes to 15 NCAA tournament appearances and into the Elite Eight where they lost by three to the University of Maryland who would eventually end up winning the tournament.  I was able to talk to her and ask her some questions about recruiting and how it has changed over time.

Q.  How has recruiting changed from when you started as a coach to where it is now?

A.  "Initually it was much more regional, because there wasn't as much money in the game....Now to compete at the highest levels everybody has full scholarships, everyone has a full compliment of things they can get kids.  So a kid can make decisions not based on financial merits anymore.  They can really go wherever they want to go.  It's broadened it's nationalized.....  Beyond that, there hasn't been any major differences.  I still have to find kids that fit the program, that fit the school, and fit the area.  They need to fit the process and fit the standard."

Q.  What are some key attributes that you look for in an athlete that you recruit?

A.  "For us it was always the character, the ability for kids to play on a team.  We've never been a star kind of team, we don't go after or have never been able to recruit McDonald's All Americans kids like that.  So our kids have to be the kids that really appreciate what a team is about, playing basketball for the right reasons, and coming to your school for the right reasons...... We really want to try to get kids that are going to come and make the most of that and not be real singular in their mindset."

Q.  With Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube how have those things changed the way that you recruit or the way that you look at recruits?

A.  "What they've changed is that they've really put another work burden on the coaching ranks.  Updating, upkeeping, staying current with who you are what your program is, what you want people to see about you, what your brand is, keeping it available on all of the new social media outlets is time consuming.  It's good in that it really has created  the need to really be good at putting your brand together.....  In terms of finding players it hasn't changed that.  In communication with players, finding the right ways for them.  Whether it's directly from you or through some of these third party sites cause they're pretty controlled right now for recruiting, but they're going to open up tremendously in the next couple years."

Thanks again to Coach Elliott for taking the time out to meet with me and sit down and answer some questions.

March Madness and Bracketology

Well call the doctor!  There's a disease that is sweeping the nation and it's called March Madness.

March is the only month of the year that there are more brackets that are filled out than paper work.  Where there are more amateur bracketoligists than you can count.  It is a crazy time!

Now i don't gamble (for the most part) but the only two times that I do are: March Madness and the Superbowl.  I won my Superbowl bet so hopefully i'll win one of my brackets.

Right now you can't go to any sport magazine's website with out getting bombarded with info on the teams.  You have "experts" all choosing the winner and picking the winners.  Although picking the perfect bracket is practically impossible.  In fact a professor did the math its a 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance of getting it right, so that's a one-in-100 million trillion.  I'll take a line from 'Dumb and Dumber' here and say "So you're saying there's a chance!"  That's basically what keeps us coming back for more.

Bracketology has become an unofficial science with an unproven method.  Some people choose their brackets by the numbers game (me), some do it by the colors of the jersey's, some do it by the mascots, and others just guess on it.  You can go here to get a printable bracket and join the rest of America in the madness.  One local writer, David Gale, chose BYU to win it all, I think its more of a joke though.  

So who is going to win it?  Might as well ask a fortune teller that question, its anyone's guess.  Although Vegas is guessing that Kentucky will win it as they are a 5-2 favorites and then Ohio State is the second favorite with a 6-1 line on them.  So if I was a betting man I would choose Kentucky..... or Michigan State...... or Florida State..... or North Carolina...  Shoot, choose anyone really just not a number 16 seed.

TCU "stoned"-frogs and Linsanity cont.

Well this is kind of old but I still thought it was interesting.  A few weeks ago the Big 12 and new member TCU had a bit of a problem on their hands.  There was a drug bust on campus that had 17 students arrested and 4 of those players were on the TCU football team.  During the 6 month investigation the suspects were caught selling marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, and perscription drugs.  One of the players, Tanner Brock, had originally told an undercover cop that 60 players should have failed a surprise drug test and that he had failed it for sure.  Later it was revealed that only 5 players tested positive for large amounts of marijuana. There were 11 other players that had trace amounts but were within the margin of error for the test.

This probably couldn't have come at a worse time for TCU.  With their departure from the Mountain West to the Big 12 they wanted a squeaky clean record.  Now that may have been tarnished.  With Gary Patterson viewed as one of the best college football coaches, leading TCU to a 2 BCS bowls, and then getting them into the coveted "big boy league" of the Big 12 things were looking good.  Now they seem to be falling apart at the seems.  Not only has it hurt their public image it's starting to hurt their recruiting too.  Well on February 1st this year (national signing day) Coach Patterson ordered a drug test after a recruit decided not to sign with them because the recruit had heard of rampant drug use there.

Committing Lin-sanity to the Lin-sane asylum

This is Lin-sane, Lin-sanity, Lin-sational.

He is the man of the hour.  Jeremy Lin with no shortage of nicknames (The Lin-anator, Super Lin-tendo, Lin-credible, Lin-derella man, Linfluenza, and Lin-sanity) has become a sports icon.

Going from a D- League player to getting cut by two NBA teams to now becoming a sports superstar that has taken the USA (and part of Canada) by storm.  Two weeks ago Jeremy Lin was still sleeping on his brother's couch because he didn't know how long he'd be with the New York Knicks.

Jeremy Lin was born in Palo Alto, California and later went and played his college ball at the Harvard University.  He graduated with an degree in economics and is now a starting point guard in the NBA.  You don't have to have a degree in economics to know that pays the big bucks.  Well actually Lin is making a very modest salary right now of only $762,195 this year.  If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on that going up after this season.

So why is Lin getting so much attention.  Is it because he outplayed Kobe "The Black Mamba" Bryant?  He schooled Ricky Rubio?  Maybe it was because he went beast mode and clutched the game winning shot against the Toronto Raptors?  If you ask Floyd Mayweather why he's getting so much attention he'll tell you its because he's asian.  He tweeted this a couple of nights ago.

"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise"


Yeah that may be part of it Floyd, but did you know that Jeremy Lin is the only player since the NBA-ABA merger to score the most points in his first 5 starts?  It could also be the Cinderella/Under dog story that everyone loves to hear about.  A kid coming out of high school with no scholarship offers, walks onto his college team, goes undrafted in the NBA and now is starting and dominating.  It's Lin-credible!

So why is Lin getting so much attention?  Well it's because of the media!  It seems like recently the media wants a "media darling" so that they can write stories about.  Do any of you remember Jimmer-mania?  Now the only time that we here about Jimmer is when he's not playing.  How about more recently (even though Jimmer-mania  was only like a year ago) Tebow-mania?  Because of Tebow-mania we now have this wonderful song by DJ Steve Porter.

 

How will Lin turn out?  That is a good question.  If we look at the past "media darlings" recently  they haven't been that great.  Jimmer has had a  horrific rookie year with glimpses of his former greatness.  Tebow's quarterback numbers were  probably worse than some offensive linemen's if they tried it.  He completed less than 50% of his passes for the year and going 12 TD's to 6 INT's. That's bad.....

There is a reason that so many overnight sensations are just that, overnight sensations.  It's because they can't sustain it for a long time to become one of the greats (Elway, Young, Montana, Jordan, Bryant, Etc.).  Now Lin has played lights out the last 7 games leading the Knicks back up to a .500 record, but we'll see if he can keep the flow up once Carmelo Anthony returns back to the starting line up with him.  Only time will tell.

Oh yeah, Lin likes to just be called Jeremy.

Tuesday's With Bryan

Well most of you know that my favorite sport is college football.  If you know that then you also probably know that I'm also a fan of the BYU Cougars too.  Well this past week I was able to catch up with Bryan Kehl who was a former cougar.  Here is his bio from the BYU website to all of his stats.  He is revered in the eyes of many cougar fans as one of the best to play at BYU.  It was a great honor and privilege of mine to catch up with one of my heroes.  After his time at BYU Bryan went on and was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2008 NFL draft going in the 4th round.  He played with them for 2 seasons before being released by them in his third.  He would be picked up by the St. Louis Rams where he has found a comfortable home for now and hopefully for a long time.

I was able to catch up with the 4 year NFL pro and talk to him about his recruitment process and how things have changed.  I asked him about his recruitment process and what teams tried to recruit him.  He told me that the only teams that really showed any interest were the University of Utah, Harvard, and BYU, but that BYU was the only one that he ever really wanted to go to.  I asked him how things have changed over the years for recruiting with the implementing of social media.  Bryan told me that its changed it a ton.  The biggest thing is that it gives kids a lot more exposure in getting their film out to coaches.  It was harder for kids like him to get noticed by some of the big name programs, the local ones heard about him but not some of the bigger ones.  The internet age has changed how coaches and players do the recruiting process.  It makes it possible for more schools to see you but if you're not careful (i.e. Facebook and Twitter comments) they can also hurt you really fast.

When asked about the rules that the Rams have for using social media he referred me to the NFL policy which states:

"The growth of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has created important new ways for the NFL and clubs to communicate and connect with fans.  The NFL has been at the forefront of the use of new media and will continue to emphasize innovative and appropriate use of these new forms of communication."

"League policy allows for the use of social media or networking sites (including Twitter and Facebook) by players, coaches and football operations personnel up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game following media interviews.

The use of these sites by these individuals is not permitted during the game, including halftime.  No updates are permitted to be posted by the individual himself or anyone representing him during this prohibited time on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account."

Bryan summed it up by saying "Just be smart with it, don't put anything offensive out there for people to read."


I guess that being in the NFL is just like every other job.  You have to be careful with what you post on  the internet or it could get you fired.

Warm Up Those Fax Machines

Well today is the day.

Today is Christmas for college coaches and recruiting sites around the nation.  What am I talking about?

It's National Signing Day!!

For those of you who don't know what today is here is a little recap.  Throughout the year football coaches recruit players to come and play for their college.  A player may have one scholarship offer too booku scholarship offers.  Either way once today hits they make a decision on where they'll be playing their college football next year.  Now during the recruiting season a player can "commit" to a school meaning that he tells the coaches he'll sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) to play there next year, but until he signs that LOI he can go play anywhere he wants.  Some kids commit and then decommit and then commit to another school 1, 2, and even 3 times during this whole process.  A letter of intent is basically the equivalent of a professional athlete signing a contract. The recruits then fax in the signed letters to the coaches and it makes it official.  Recruiting experts will give an athlete anywhere from 1 to 5 stars.  One being able to walk and being able to utter a sensible sentence at the same time, and 5 for being gifted with extreme athleticism and very talented at their position.  Now these experts are always right.  Who can argue with an inexact science?  There are so many factors that go into how a recruit will turn out.  Like injuries, school, home sickness, etc.  You're better off looking into a crystal ball sometimes then trying to predict what a recruit will do 4 years down the line for your program.

Now why has today turned into such a special day?  Well because some people view today as a day of foreshadowing for the things to come.  Many believe that if you get the best recruiting class then you have the best chance to win the national championship.  Although the last time that the team that had the number one recruiting class won the national championship was back in 2006 with the Florida Gators.  Many coaches say that they put little to no weight in the recruiting rankings and that they focus more on the types of players that best fit their system.  So why then does today turn into such a big day?  Well that easy, it's one word.  Us.  We make it a big day.  It's all about supply and demand.  "We" the fan want another thing to brag about.  We tell ourselves "Okay, so we didn't win the National Championship (or the conference) but its okay because we beat our (insert rival here) in recruiting".

If you have ESPNU there is no use in looking for basketball games or highlights at all today.  It's been taken over by National Signing Day, They've had coverage going since about 9 A.M. Eastern time on recruits choosing their schools.  Who knew that high school gyms or living rooms could be changed into press conference rooms so fast.  The lights, cameras, reporters, and all of the attention can all be very alluring for some of these kids that just want some attention.  In 2008 one kid got a little too wrapped up in the whole idea of being recruited.  His name was Kevin Hart and he always wanted to play college football.  So with news crews, T.V. cameras, and reporters there he made his decision.  He was going to play college football at the University of California!  Everyone was ecstatic for him.  This was a dream come true for him.  There was just one little problem for him.  No, it wasn't grades.  It was that Cal had never offered him a scholarship to play there.  It was a hoax and everyone bit hook, line, and sinker.  Kevin later issued a public apology to everyone about the hoax and the mayhem that he had caused.  Recently Kevin did sign an actual letter of intent to play for Missouri Western State.  To read an update on his story you can check out this link on ESPN.

All in all today is a media frenzy of these high school athletes who have done what? Nothing, really.... Sure a lot of them are great kids and are active in helping out their communities but all in all they haven't really done anything to garner this much attention besides being athletic.  So what do you get with the media crowning you as having the best recruiting class of the year?  Just bragging rights for that year.  No extra points in the polls, no free 'W' in the win column, just bragging rights.  So how will this recruiting class turn out for your favorite team?  Well I guess we'll have to check back in a couple of years and see how these recruits turned out.