1. HOUSTON TEXANS – Texans, Schaub, coaching staff just keep getting it done. Defense solid
2. ATLANTA FALCONS – All they do is win. Ryan, offense, weapons, Defense may be good enough.
3. NEW ENGLAND PATS – Traveled and beat Miami. Offense improving. Defense may need help.
4. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS – Harbaugh might be outthinking the box. Niners need to score. Rams?
5. DENVER BRONCOS – Peyton and Broncos on fire. Defense solid. Can Fox not screw it up?
6. CHICAGO BEARS – Blew great opportunity against Seattle. Defense solid but tired in 2nd half.
7. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS – Wilson the key. Cornerbacks punishment looms large. Lynch a monster.
8. BALTIMORE RAVENS – Slip at home vs. rival Steelers. Should have won that game. Flacco key.
9. GREEN BAY PACKERS – Huge game this weekend. Detroit dangerous. Schwartz may be GONZO.
10. NEW YORK GIANTS – Inconsistency killing Giants. Skins offense wore their defense OUT 2nd half.
11. PITTSBURGH STEELERS – The definition of TEAM. Great comeback win over Ravens. Just win.
12. CINCINNATI BENGALS – Host Cowboys this weekend. Boys better on the road. Best Defense wins
13. WASHINGTON REDSKINS – HUGE win on Monday nite. Robert Griffin’s team. D stepped it up!
14. TAMPA BAY BUCS – Backdoor cover in Denver but still a loss. Beat up Philly comes to town.
15. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS – Incredible comeback and story here. I still don’t think Colts are good.
16. ST. LOUIS RAMS – Two games against Niners put them here. Need to be more consistent.
17. MIAMI DOLPHINS – Stayed close to Pats. Team is better than record. Constantly improving.
18. MINNESOTA VIKINGS – AP is an alien. Nothing else explains what he is doing. Vikes hang tough.
19. DALLAS COWBOYS – Boys playing better but still something missing. Defense weak. Injuries.
20. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS – Brees pressing. Team tiring out after run. Defense isn’t helping much.
21. CLEVELAND BROWNS – 4-8 but much better than that. Tough defense. Not last year’s Browns
22. NEW YORK JETS – “Big” 7-6 win last week after benching Sanchez. Not even an OK team now.
23. CAROLINA PANHERS – At least Cam and Panthers going in right direction. Could finish strong.
24. DETROIT LIONS – Blew game against Colts in 4th quarter. Schwartz not buying any green bananas
25. BUFFALO BILLS – I love Chan Gailey but not as a HC. Hopefully their next hire will have success.
26. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS – Norv, Smith calling realtors in Diego. No chance to save their jobs.
27. ARIZONA CARDINALS – Lindley must have pictures of coaching staff with hookers. I’m confused.
28. TENNESSEE TITANS – Titans trying hard but not much happening. Personnel is the problem.
29. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES – Thought they were gonna beta the Boys. Rookie QB has some talent.
30. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS – Henne is king of J-ville! Now they can score. Have to stop people now.
31. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS – Horrible week for the Chiefs. Tragedy and a win but who cares? Romeo?
32. OAKLAND RAIDERS –Looked worse than I thought they would last week. Personnel needs boost.

New coaches needed for the Cowboys, Lions, Chargers, Jets, Cards, Jags, Bills, Eagles, Titans, and Chiefs. Who will replace these guys?
New GM’s in Miami, San Diego, New York Jets, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Philly, Carolina, Tennessee, and Kansas City.

It’s no secret that I’m a big San Francisco Giants fan. Having played Little League ball with Giants manager Bruce Bochy and staying in touch after seeing him playing minor league ball one day back in 1980, I’ve pulled for every team he’s been with since.  He managed the San Diego Padres for 13 years and I was there sitting in great seats watching him play in Atlanta, then New York in 1999 when they upset the Braves, only to lose in the World Series in four games to the loaded New York Yankees.  That season the Padres payroll was around 35 million. The Yankees spent 200 million.  Still, it was exciting as hell to watch and Boch made all of that possible for a small-time baseball guy like me.

Then, 5 years ago, after his team won the NL West Division only to get bounced early from the playoffs in San Diego, he asked then Vice President of Operations Sandy Alderson, who had just arrived in San Diego, for an extension.  Alderson, who I don’t care for much anyway because he’s a “Moneyballer”, an executive that doesn’t put that much emphasis on managing and more on studying numbers, flat turned Bochy down.  I remember talking to him on the phone the day after that happened and he was pretty upset.  He had one year existing on his contract with the Padres but wanted to extend the contract as soon as possible to make sure he had some future considerations without waiting till the next season started.  Bochy then did a very smart thing.  He asked the cocky Alderson for permission to talk to other teams.  The cocky Alderson complied. 48 hours later there was a press conference in San Francisco. The Giants Brian Sabean, who had been on the hot seat for a while there, filled his vacant manager’s spot in San Francisco with Bochy, the player’s manager, to come in and take care of a sensitive situation. They had just finished a disappointing year and also had a cancer in the clubhouse by the name of Barry Bonds.  The deal was, and I’m speculating just a bit here because Boch never told me this,  was Bonds would be there one year and then leave. That would have been my deal for sure.  Boch put up with the distractions, the clubhouse with no leadership, where their one great player was all about himself and his records and his pursuit of the home run record, and did the best he could to rebuild the team and the clubhouse the way he wanted.

Fast forward to 2010 when the Giants had a roster full of youth, pitching, and free agents like Cody Ross and Mike Fontenot and Aubrey Huff.  Their pitching was second to none in the National League. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Johnny Sanchez, and Barry Zito were tough. The Giants won the division on the last day of the season with a 1-0 win over San Diego, who at one time had a 10 game lead in the West.  The winning run that last game was scored by Johnny Sanchez, a Giants pitcher who isn’t a Giant anymore, but when he was teamed with Dave Righetti, had some of the most outstanding numbers in baseball each year. This team in 2010 did not hit the ball particularly well and averaged only 4.2 runs per game.  In early August, in addition to some weekly numbers I would send Boch, I calculated how many games the Giants needed to win in EACH series till the end of the season.  I told him that he would need to win 92 games to beat the Padres.  The 1-0 nothing game over the Padres on the last day of the regular season was their 92^nd win!  The fact was that the Giants were doing just what they needed to do to get to the playoffs.

Fast forward to the 2010 Playoffs where they were matched up  and had to beat the only team in the league with pitching that could compare to theirs.  They beat the Braves with some great pitching and timely hitting and a hot free agent outfielder named Cody Ross.  Then they had one more team to beat to go to the Series and ended up beating the Phillies in 6 games.  I was at the 6^th game in Philly when Juan Uribe “fisted” a ball into the right field stands and almost got my butt kicked in one of the stadium bathrooms because I was wearing a Uribe jersey!  I actually left that game at the end of the 7^th inning because it was getting late and I had to do my radio show the next morning in Columbia, Maryland. I also didn’t want to get my butt kicked.   I pulled over on Route 95 and celebrated when the final out was made to send them to the Series about 30 miles south of the stadium.  Hell, I might have been in Delaware by then. Either way, it felt pretty damn good.

My next stop was going to be Arlington/Dallas, Texas where the heavily favored Texas Rangers would play games 3, 4, and 5 if needed against the Giants.  I stayed close to the stadium but hung out with Boch and his family and friends in the Ritz Carlton with the team and their biggest fans the entire time.  It was great.  I gave Boch a ride to the ballpark every day (he likes to drive in a regular car instead of the team bus) because he gets there so early.  The rest is history. I told him to tell the guys that they weren’t going back to San Francisco and he was thinking the same way.  They won it all the night of the 5^th game and finally a great baseball player, coach, and manager had his ring.

This year is a bit like Déjà Vu to me.  It’s a similar story.  The only difference was the Giants were close or in the lead of the division the entire season.  The Rockies had no pitching and a lot of injuries.  The Padres were pretty bad all season long because of their youth movement, and the Dodgers NEVER played the way they were expected the entire season.  The Dodgers were sold for 2.15 million dollars earlier this season.  Then a blockbuster trade was made which led all the so called “experts” to proclaim that it was just a matter of time till the Los Angeles Dodgers ousted the Giants and won the NL West division.  That never materialzed.  The Dodgers had no chemistry, no real coaching in my opinion, and a group of highly paid players who weren’t well…. playing.  To be fair, they had some big injuries during the season too.  The Giants, on the other hand, added a couple of not so well known players who did more than was expected of them.  Marco Scutaro, who I’ve always loved because of his incredibly w/k ratio numbers, was exactly what the Giants needed.  For the first time in years, the Giants hitters were getting on base and scoring more runs.  Their pitching was not as good as in previous years, but was still good enough to win enough games to win the division.  They wrapped up the West with almost two weeks left in the season.

Fast forward to present.  Here we are again.  I was getting tweets, texts, and calls from all kinds of people last night.  I’m so superstitious ( I still coach baseball) that I wore the same pair of sweat pants three days in a row, sent Boch similar texts each day, and never went to see a game in San Francisco because I’ve never seen them play at home. I had his jersey draped over one of my chairs. (When I wore it one game they lost) I went hatless and will continue to do so until they lose (if they lose).  I have his Sue Burns memorial jersey hung on a door handle in the TV room.  I de-jinxed all the beat writers for the Giants constantly on twitter and even texts to me refused to talk about “what if”.  Hey, baseball is a game without a clock. Like Yogi says, “It ain’t over till it’s over!” He’s right.  Now I plan for hopefully another Déjà vu moment.  I’m booked to get into Detroit on Friday, see my buddy Boch, his family, and his players, then hopefully drive him to the ballpark every day, put nothing but positive thoughts in his head, and make sure he gets enough sleep. (He needs his sleep) That’s my job, and hopefully when it’s all said and done, the San Francisco Giants and their great manager, coaches, team and fans, will be celebrating again after their 4^th win of the series……….

A reminder that we will be on the Sports Junkies this morning at 9:40 am.

We also finally finalized the contract with the Nationals. We had been waiting on the actual contract from the Nationals for quite some time.

I hope to see you tomorrow evening at Casino Night. Please pre-purchase your tickets if you haven’t already. We are now well over 200 people.

www.KKCasinoNight.eventbrite.com

Thanks-

Rob Hahne
Sports Plus
For all of your league, team and corporate needs in apparel, uniforms and equipment.

Liz,

I read your piece on the loss of competitive cheerleading at Maryland and I too think it’s sad that this is happening. It’s sad in this day and age that ANY sport is lost at the college level. However, I’d like to tell you who the real culprit is and has been for many years when it comes to unequal treatment of “secondary” sports in Division 1 programs across the country.

I don’t have the exact numbers here but bear with me. I’ll do the best I can. I wrestled and played baseball at East Carolina University in 1970-74. ECU was an up and coming university that now has well over 20,000 full time students, a 4 year med school, and has become pretty well known especially in the Mid-Atlantic region. When I wrestled at ECU, we were ranked in the top 20 each year in wrestling. Our football program was coming into its own with Sonny Randle as head coach, then Pat Dye, then Ed Emory. Skip Holtz, Lou’s son even coached there. ECU had a string of something like 8 bowl games in a row until this season.

Our baseball program was a very competitive program even back in the 50’s and 60’s. It has continued to be a top 25 program usually each year in Division 1. They run a GREAT college baseball program at ECU.

There hasn’t been a wrestling team at ECU since 1982 when the Athletic Department got rid of it’s “non-revenue” supported programs. That happened when Pat Dye left and similar to what’s happening right now at the University of Maryland, alumni were mad and quit giving money to athletics. When I was wrestling at ECU, we won three Southern Conference championships in a row and took 7 wrestlers to the NCAA tournament each year. We were ranked as high as number 8 in the country when I was there. The program continued to prosper until the date they got their pink sheet.

Let’s look at two men’s sports I’m very familiar with. Wrestling fully vested gets just 9.9 full scholarships total and Baseball gets 11.9 in the NCAA Division 1 allocations. Usually wrestling has anywhere from 20-25 good kids in the room. In a good Division 1 program, most of these wrestlers are either state champs in high school or better. There are fewer than 100 division 1 wrestling programs left in the U.S. There are tons of Division 2 and 3 and JUCO programs but there is one reason that wrestling and now competitive tumbling are falling by the wayside…..COLLEGE DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL!

For some reason, football is considered a men’s sport even though there is NO alternative sport for the women. Division 1 football programs fully vested get 85 FULL SCHOLARSHIPS. (It might be 86) Let me repeat that..85 FULL SCHOLARSHIPS. As I said before baseball just gets 11.9 full scholarships even though baseball has a roster of 35 players. Making a Division 1 baseball roster is INCREDIBLY HARD and most of these kids are pro prospects at one time in their careers. That means the average Division 1 baseball player gets less than one-third of a scholarship. It doesn’t work that way usually. Most of the time the great high school players get full or more than half of a scholarship and the rest of the players get nothing. High School baseball is incredibly successful and as you know, IS OUR NATIONAL PASTIME! Even though football is really the most popular college and professional sport as we all know.

Let’s quickly analyze the FOOTBALL situation. If FOOTBALL gets 85 full scholarships, here’s the breakdown for them. You can only put 11 men on the field in football on offense or defense, correct? So let’s say that we give a Division 1 football team their first AND second string players a FULL SCHOLARSHIP each year. Let’s ALSO give the starting punter and kicker a full ride OK? That’s a total of 46 FULL SCHOLARSHIPS. Wait a minute, WE STILL HAVE 39 FULL SCHOLARSHIPS TO GIVE AWAY FOR FOOTBALL!! OK, let’s give them another 14 scholarships for their THIRD STRING PLAYERS WHO MAY PLAY A LITTLE BIT, BUT MAY NEVER SEE THE FIELD AT ANY TIME IN THEIR CAREERS!! You would think that more than a half scholarship would be plenty for a kid who might never play, right? That’s a total of 60 full scholarships.

AT ONE TIME NOT LONG AGO, FOOTBALL HAD FEWER THAN 60 FULL SCHOLARSHIPS AND DID JUST FINE!! At one time, players played both offense AND defense, but I’m just pointing that out.

My point is this. FOOTBALL DOESN’T NEED 85 DAMN FULL SCHOLARSHIPS TO RUN A GREAT PROGRAM! Many kids want to go to a Division 1 school and still tryout for the team anyway. These kids are called WALK-ONS. If football programs need to have 85 kids in their program, 60 FULL SCHOLARSHIP KIDS are PLENTY to start with and I’d bet that several of the 25 walk ons that are allowed to practice with the team and possibly play in the games are as good as many of their recruits to begin with. How many great high school players do you know that were missed by recruiters. Quite a few, right?

Back to the baseball comparison. Baseball has 35 kids on their roster in Division 1. They have 11.9 FULL vested scholarships. That’s almost EXACTLY FUNDING ONE THIRD OF THEIR ROSTER EACH YEAR. WRESTLING IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING with only 9.9 full scholarships. FOOTBALL FUNDS THEIR ENTIRE ROSTER AND GETS A TOTAL OF 85 FULL RIDES A YEAR!!

That Liz, is ridiculous. If that blonde riding Bobby Petrino’s motorcycle had been a freshman, I guarantee she would have gotten a full ride to play football at Arkansas….just kidding but you get my drift.

Football does bring in the majority of money for University athletic programs. We all know that. I don’t argue that, but that’s not the other sports’ faults. EVERYONE loves going to the football games in the fall. It’s part of the college experience and the alumni experience, and the parental experience of having kids in college. HOWEVER, other sports that raise far less money from admission and season tickets SHOULD NOT BE PENALIZED BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT FOOTBALL!

Athletic Directors for years have been bullied by football coaches and programs. Heck, in many instances, the person who becomes the AD when one is fired and a new one hired is A FORMER FOOTBALL COACH!! In the past there have been instances where THE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH WAS THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR!

If we’re going to complain and bring Title IX into the equation and discussion of right and wrong, I say this. Title IX has made a huge difference in making it so women can compete equally in college sports. I would say without question that it’s EASIER for a young woman to get a college scholarship at the Division 1 level than it is for a young man in any sport EXCEPT football. There are FOOTBALL recruits and players that get 4 years paid for academically that NEVER SEE THE FIELD AS A PLAYER. That is a FACT! THEY NEVER PLAY! NEVER!

I get calls each spring from college softball coaches around the country (my daughter plays Division 3 at Gettysburg..no money available at all in Division 3) but I’ve been Vice Chairman of the Baseball Committee in Fairfax County for almot 10 years. I’m still Chairman of Reston Youth Baseball and I’m currently the head wrestling coach at South Lakes High School in Reston. I own and coach a college summer league team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. I even have a sports radio show on Sundays in New York. So you could say I know my way around.

I’m telling you Liz and I hope you take this problem and run with it, that football, NCAA Division 1 football is 99% of the problem that it is so hard for other sports, especially men’s smaller collegiate sports, to get a fair shake with the scholarship and money situation. Somebody needs to call out college football for what they are. Even though they raise such a LARGE share of money because of their teams and programs, they also WASTE more money than anyone should be allowed to do.

Maryland is having some money problems for sure. Much of that is just budgetary and alumni driven, just like I described of ECU’s problems in the past. Gary Williams left and a new coach was hired. Ralph Friedgen was fired and a new, not very popular coach was hired. On the positive side, a new baseball coach from Vanderbilt, Erik Bakich, has taken the baseball program in two years and reached places they haven’t seen in more than 30 years. Kerry McCoy, a former Olympic wrestler, took over a program that Pat Santoro started changing a few years ago and has been a top 10 NCAA team the past three or four years. Santoro is at Lehigh now and they have a great, thriving, growing program also. Those two sports get a TOTAL of 21.8 scholarships each year when they are fully vested. That is approximately 64 full scholarships fewer than football gets.

The problem isn’t Title IX or the implementation of it. It has served its purpose and continues to do so and in most cases is taken care of exactly as it is written to be taken care of.

The problem is the HUGE number of total scholarships that football seems to think they need. Believe me…they don’t. They really don’t.